UC-NRLF 
 
 
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BINDERS. 
 
 OE ST. PLYMOUTH. 
 
 [BRARY 
 
 "HE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CAL [FORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 Rollin R. Winslow 
 
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 PRIKTF..D AND PUBLISHED BY 
 
 VHE JLONBON FRUHTING ANfiJ FFFHJSiiLIINC 
 
II I S T E Y 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 or- 
 
 AMERICA: 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 BY 
 
 TALIAFEEEO PEESTON SHAFFNEB, LLD., 
 
 1 
 
 MEMBER OF THE BAR OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ; 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OP ARTS; THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY; AND THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OP LONDON; FELLOW 
 
 OF TUE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES OF COPENHAGEN, AND OF THE LITERARY SOCIETY OP 
 
 ICELAND; FOREIGN MKMBEU OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF BERLIN, ETC. 
 
 foitjj Sktttl 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA ; PORTRAITS OF THE PRESIDENTS ; 
 
 MAPS, VIEWS, ETC., TC. 
 
 VOL. II 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 
LOAN STACK 
 GIFT 
 
E/7? 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 ABOLITION PARTY, 533, 657; candidate for president, 
 
 657, 665 6C8. 
 
 Aborigines of America, condition of, described by Presi 
 dent Monroe, 457. 
 Adams, John, minister to the court of St. James, 51 ; 
 
 arrival of in England, and cordial reception by the 
 
 king and ministers, 52 ; elected vice-president of the 
 
 United States, 85; president, 180, 217; address to 
 
 congress on difficulties with Franre, 181, 186. 
 Adams, John Quincy, president, 453. 
 Adet, M., minister from the French republic, complains 
 
 of American policy, 1/8; announces the suspension 
 
 of diplomatic relations, 179. 
 Africcin slave-trade with America, the, 142 ; opposed by 
 
 Rhode Island, 145 ; abolished, 173. 
 African company, the, 143. 
 Alabama, prohibitory laws of, relative to the slave-trade, 
 
 172 ; the state of, organised and received into the 
 
 federal union, 429. 
 
 Alexandria, surrender of, to Captain Gordon, 391. 
 Algiers, war with proclaimed, 411 413; treaty, 414. 
 
 corsairs of, their depredations, 219. 
 concessions to the Dey of, by the United States, 
 
 220. 
 
 Alien and sedition laws of 1796, 239, 240. 
 Alvarado, combined expedition against, 604. 
 Ambrister and Arbuthnot executed for inciting the 
 
 Indians to war, 423. 
 
 Amelia Island, suppression of piracy at, 425. 
 Ampudia, General, takes command of the Mexican army, 
 
 551 ; reproved by General Taylor, ib. 
 Annapolis, convention of, 71. 
 Anti-federalists, the party of, 81. 
 Arkansas admitted into the Union, 527. 
 Armistead, General, takes command in Florida, 505 ; 
 
 operations against the Indians, 506 ; relieved from 
 
 duty, 508. 
 Army of the west, organisation of the, 580. 
 
 Pacific, the, 588. 
 Army, inflammatory addresses to the American, 39 ; mu- I 
 
 tinous conduct of, at Philadelphia, 43. 
 Articles of confederation signed, 3. 
 Assumption Bill, discussion on the, in congress, 103. 
 Attakullakulla, a chief of the Cherokees, visit of to I 
 
 Charleston, 205. 
 Autumn campaign of 1837 ; notice of, 493. 
 
 BAINBRIDGE, Captain, surrender of, to the Tripolitans, 
 225. 
 
 Baltimore, preparations for the defence of, 384 ; repulse 
 of the British at, 393. 
 
 Bank of the United States chartered, 411 ; deposits re- 
 moved, 525. 
 
 Barataria, the island of, 394. 
 
 Barron, Commodore, takes command of the Mediter 
 ranean fleet, 236. 
 
 Battles at sea, between the French and Americans, 185. 
 
 Bell, John, candidate for president, 667. 
 
 Beresford, Commodore, enters the Delaware, and bom 
 bards Lewistown, 338. 
 
 Blackhawk war, 457. 
 
 Bladensburg, battle of, 385 ; defeat of the American 
 troops, 387. 
 
 Blennerhasset, connection of, with Burr, 269. 
 
 Blue Licks, the battle of, 17, 18. 
 
 Bounty for volunteers, 356. 
 
 Boxer sloop surrendered to the United States sloop 
 
 Enterprise, 344. 
 Boyd s Creek, battle of, 208. 
 Breckenridge, John C., elected vice-president, 667; 
 
 nominated for president, ib. 
 Brock, General, death of, 300. 
 
 Broke, Captain, capture of the Chesapeake by, 342. 
 Bryant s Station, assault of, by Girty, 14 ; retreat of the 
 
 Indians, 16. 
 
 Buchanan, James, elected president, 667. 
 Buena Vista, battle of, 571 573 ; defeat of Santa Anna 
 
 at, 574. 
 Burr, Colonel, candidature of, for the presidency, 251 ; 
 
 duel with General Hamilton, ib. ; secret expedition of, 
 
 269 ; denounced by the federal government, 270 ; 
 
 trial and acquittal of, 271. 
 Butler, General, put to death by the Indians, 131. 
 
 CALHOUN, John C., elected vice-president, 453, 455 ; 
 death of, 665. 
 
 California, American troops in, 584 ; insurrection in, 
 suppressed, 591 ; admitted into the Union, 661. 
 
 Canada, projected invasion of, 291 ; failure of General 
 Hull s expedition, 292 ; of General Van Rensselaer s, 
 301; abortive attempt of General Smith, 302 ; the 
 design abandoned, ib. ; General Harrison s advance, 
 329 ; battle on the Thames, 330. 
 
 Candidates for the presidency in 1796, 215. 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guy, pacific mission of, 35. 
 
 Carolina, North, the convention of, 79. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, candidate for president, 657. 
 
 Central Mexico, invasion of, 598. 
 
 Cerro Gordo, battle of, 606608. 
 
 Cessation of hostilities, by order of Washington, 44. 
 
 Chalmette, defeat of British troops at, 400. 
 
 Champlain, naval successes on Lake, 337, 381. 
 
 Changes in the cabinet, 357. 
 
 Charleston, evacuation of, by the British troops, 29, 33. 
 
 Cberokees, grand council of the, 198 ; deputation from, 
 to the king of Great Britain, ib. ; cession of territory 
 by the, ib. ; join the English in expelling the French 
 and Shawnees from the Upper Ohio, 199; destruction 
 of their settlement. 200203 ; sue for peace, 204 ; 
 territory occupied by them in 1776, 206; determine to 
 extirpate the white race, 207 ; retaliation and destruc 
 tion of their villages, 207 ; deputation from, to Gen 
 eral Jessup, 494. 
 
 Chesapeake, the, attacked by a blockading force of the 
 British, navy, 271 ; proceedings of the United States 
 government thereupon, ib. ; the harbours and waters 
 of the United States interdicted to British vessels, 272. 
 
 Chesapeake frigate surrendered to the Shannon, 342. 
 
 Chihuahua taken possession of by Colonel Doniphan, for 
 the United States, 583. 
 
 Chippawa, battle of, 362 ; defeat of the English, 363. 
 
 Circular letter to the ratifying states, 3. 
 
 Clarke, Ransome, his narrative of a massacre by the 
 Indians, 480. 
 
 Clay, Henry, candidate for president, 456, 534 ; death, 
 665. 
 
 Clinch, General, removed from the military government 
 of Florida, 484. 
 
 Clymer, Mr., of Pennsylvania, his remarks on titles, 89. 
 
 Coacoochee, escape of, from Fort Marion, 495; inter, 
 view with Colonel Worth, 511, 512; address of, ib., 
 513 ; liberated, ib. 
 
 027 
 
u 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cochrane, Vice-admiral, letter of, to Monroe, 390. 
 
 Cockburn, Admiral, enters the Chesapeake bay with his 
 squadron, 338 ; destructive operations of, 339. 
 
 Columbia, district and extent of, 104. 
 
 Cotnenga, capitulation of, 594. 
 
 Commissioners appointed to arrange the differences with 
 France, 182; ordered to leave Paris, 183 ; again ap 
 pointed by the United States government, 187. 
 
 Compromise, Missouri, 435 ; in 1850, 659. 
 
 Concessions to the United States army, 43. 
 
 Conciliatory measures initiated by the British govern 
 ment, 34 ; of the Adams administration towards 
 France, 182. 
 
 Confederation, organisation of, 8; failure, 68, 69. 
 
 Confederate states, debt of the, in 1783, 66. 
 
 Congress of 1779, deliberates on report of committee 
 referring to Maryland and Virginia, 7 ; proclamation 
 by, 9 ; ordered to be read in places of worship, 1 1 ; 
 manifesto of, ib. \ announces an alliance with France, 
 12; insulted by the Pennsylvanian troops at Phila 
 delphia, 43 ; the first congress of the United States, 
 82 ; members of, 84 ; General Washington elected 
 president, 85; his inauguration, ib.; discussion in 
 reference to titles of president and vice-president, 87 ; 
 meet in January, 1790 ; speech of the president, 105 ; 
 vote of medals to Captains Hull, Decatur, Jones, and 
 other officers, for gallant conduct, 312 ; second session 
 commenced, 354 ; president s message to, ib. ; autho 
 rises negotiations for peace, 406 ; proceedings of, 407. 
 
 Connecticut, cession of, to the federal government, 57 ; 
 law of, against immigration, 76. 
 
 Constellation, the, action of, with the French ship La 
 Vengeance, 188. 
 
 Constitution, the, escape of, from a British squadron, 
 304 ; destructive operations of, 339. 
 
 Constitution, the, of 1787, 72 ; amendments to the, 76 ; 
 ratified by congress, 77 ; by the states, 78. 
 
 Continental scrip, value of the, in 1780, 63. 
 
 Convention of Annapolis, the, 71. 
 
 Cooper, James Fennimore, notes of, on the success of 
 the Intrepid, 228. 
 
 Craig, Lieutenant-colonel, at St. John s Island, 24. 
 
 Crawford, Colonel, captured by Indians, 20 ; torture and 
 death of, 21, 22. 
 
 Cypress Swamp, surprise of Indians at the, 491. 
 
 the Big, Indian population of, 509 ; 
 
 desperate warfare in, 510. 
 
 DADE, Major, killed by the Indians, 479. 
 Dallas, George M., elected vice-president, 534. 
 Deciitur, Lieutenant, gallant enterprise of, before Tripoli, 
 
 226 ; honours conferred upon by congress, 228 ; 
 
 encounter with a Tripolitan, 230. 
 
 Destruction of American towns by British troops, 336. 
 Diplomatic relations with France, 177. 
 Disembarkation of General Scott s army at Vera Cruz, 
 
 600 ; besieges the place, 601. 
 Dodd, Ensign, escape of, from the Indians, 136. 
 Doniphan, Colonel, expedition of, to Chihuahua, 582 ; 
 
 takes possession for the United States, 583. 
 Douglas, Stephen A., candidate for president, 607. 
 Drake, Lieutenant, heroism of, at Fort Recovery, 136. 
 
 EATON, Mr. William, expedition of, against Tripoli, 237. 
 Electoral ballot for the presidency of the United States, 
 
 85, 121, 216, 251, 268, 272, 310, 418, 449, 453, 455, 
 
 456, 528, 531, 534, 656, 666, 667, 668. 
 Ellskawatawa, the Shawnee prophet influence, crimes, 
 
 and death of, 278. 
 
 Emancipation, the question of, discussed, 433. 
 Essex frigate, captures the Alert, 303 ; capture of, in 
 
 the bay of Valparaiso, by Captain Hillyer, 370. 
 Estill, Captain, station of, attacked by the Wyandots, 
 
 13 ; defeat of, and death, 14. 
 
 Everett, Edward, candidate for the vice-presidency, 667. 
 Everglades, escape of the Indians to the, 508. 
 Excise laws enacted, and the result, 139. 
 VOL II. 
 
 Executive departments of the United States government 
 organised, 87 ; power of removal from the, 94 ; dis 
 cussion upon, 95. 
 
 FEDERAL CONVENTION at Philadelphia, 72. 
 - Union, extent of the, in 1810, 
 
 273; its 
 
 aggregate population, 274. 
 Federalists, 82 ; derivation of the name, ib. 
 Fillibusters, bands of, at Galveston, 421. 
 Fillmore, Millard, elected vice-president, 657 ; president, 
 
 664 ; candidate, 667. 
 Financial affairs of the United States in 1786, 65, 67; 
 
 in 1813, 314; in 1814, 409, 411. 
 Flag of the United States, 420 ; established, 428. 
 Florida, East, ravages of the Indians in, 482. 
 
 - settlement of, 266, 445 ; purchased from Spain, 
 
 444, 447, 448 ; disputed title to, 446 ; purchase ratified 
 
 by Spain, 448. 
 Florida, military operations in, 482, 488 ; admitted into 
 
 the Union, 658. 
 Fort Erie, siege of, 365 ; repulse of the British at, 367 ; 
 
 a successful sortie from, 368 ; the result, 309. 
 Fort George captured by the Americans, 323. 
 
 Mellon attacked by the Seminole Indians, 491. 
 
 Prince George, massacre of hostages at, 199. 
 
 Recovery attacked by the Indians, 135. 
 
 - Stephenson, defence of, by the Americans, 320. 
 
 Franklin memorialises congress against slavery, 154. 
 
 state of, 210; proclamation by Governor 
 
 Martin, 211 ; the design abandoned, 212. 
 
 Fremont, Colonel, expedition of, to Oregon and Cali 
 fornia, 585 ; operations of, in the latter, 580 ; arrival 
 at Monterey, 587 ; appointed military governor of 
 California, 588, 594 ; progress of the army, 589 ; 
 pardon s Don Jesus Pico, 593 ; joins the forces of 
 Stockton and Kearney, 594 ; dispute with the latter 
 on a point of authority, 595 ; superseded in command, 
 596 ; seeks an interview with General Kearney, 597 ; 
 court-martial held on, ib. ; retires from the service, 598. 
 
 Fremont, John C., candidate for the presidency, 667. 
 
 French troops, embarkation for the West Indies, 38. 
 
 republic, difficulties with, 1 74 ; refusal of, to 
 
 receive a minister from the United States, 180. 
 
 French intrigues amongst the Indians, 198 ; scheme for 
 the extirpation of the English, 199. 
 
 French influence, decline of, in America, 2G5. 
 
 GAINES, General, superseded in his command in Florida, 
 by General Scott, 484. 
 
 Genet, citizen, minister from the French republic, re 
 ception of, at Charleston, 176. 
 
 Gentry, Colonel, death of, in the Cypress Swamp, 477. 
 
 Ghent, the treaty of 1814, 408. 
 
 Girty, Simon, interview of, with Colonel Crawford, near 
 the Sandusky, 19. 
 
 Gleig, the Rev. George, his account of the fall of Wash 
 ington city, 389 ; attempt of to justify the conduct of 
 the British commanders, 390. 
 
 Governmental epochs previous to the confederation, 9. 
 
 Grant of American territory to the Sieur Crozat, by the 
 king of France, 258 ; the grant surrendered, 259. 
 
 Greene, General, operations of, in South Carolina, 23, 
 24 ; retreat of, from Charleston, 31 ; sufferings of his 
 army, 32 ; thanks of congress to, 34. 
 
 Grenville, Mr., commissioned by the British govern 
 ment to negotiate a peace, 38. 
 
 Guerriere, the, surrenders to the United States frigate 
 Constitution, 305. 
 
 Guristerrigo, chief of the Creek Indians, strategy of, 
 defeated by General Wayne, 27; midnight attack by, 28. 
 
 HALE, John P., candidate for president, 665. 
 
 llalleck Tustenugge, interview of, with General Armi- 
 stead, 506; treachery, 515; meeting with Colonel 
 Worth, 519; sent to Horse-Shoe Island, 521. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, head of the treasury, 122; killed 
 in a duel with Colonel Burr, 251. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Kentucky, invasion of, 12; district of, 111 ; convention 
 of 1784, id.; separated from Virginia, 112; proposed 
 new state, 113 ; memorial of, to congress, 115 ; taken 
 into union, 116; prohibits the importation of slaves, 
 172; declaration of rights, 242; opposition of other 
 states, 245. 
 
 King, Fort, Indian attack, 478; massacre, 479. 
 - William K., elected vice-president, 666. 
 
 Knight, Dr., peril and escape of, 22. 
 
 Knox, Henry, appointed secretary of war, 90. 
 
 LAFAYKTTK, General, revisits the United States, 454. 
 
 Lane, Colonel, death of, 489. 
 
 Lands assigned to the Indians in 1842, 122. 
 
 La Salic, explorations of, on the Mississippi, 255. 
 
 Laurens, Lieutenant-colonel, operations of, in South 
 Carolina, 25, 26 ; death of, 30. 
 
 Lawrence, Captain, his heroic defence of the Chesapeake, 
 342 ; funeral honours rendered by the British, 343. 
 
 Law s, John, Mississippi scheme, 260; its failure, 261. 
 
 Lee, Lieutenant-colonel, night march of, towards Charles 
 ton, 24, 25. 
 
 Leslie, Major-general, proposed retreat of from Charles, 
 ton, 29 ; design to carry off negroes frustrated, 30. 
 
 Letters of marque issued, and the result, 378. 
 
 Life in the slaveholding states, by General Quitman, 441, 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, elected president, 667. 
 
 Loudon, Fort, surrender of, 201. 
 
 Louisiana, discovery of, 254 ; settlement of, 257 ; ceded 
 by France to Spain, 265 ; projected invasion of, 395. 
 
 Lundy Lane, battle of, 36-1. 
 
 Lyon, Matthew, tried for breach of the sedition laws, 241. 
 
 MADISON, James, elected president, 272. 
 
 M Mahon, Major, death of, 136. 
 
 Maine, the state of, admitted into the Union, 429. 
 
 Mandarine, massacre of the whites at, 515. 
 
 Maryland, instructions to delegates from, 4 ; objections 
 of, recorded by congress, 5. 
 
 Massachusetts, cession of territory by the state of, 54. 
 
 Massacre by Indians, at the confluence of the Flint, 422 ; 
 reprisals at Mickasauky, 423. 
 
 Matthews, General, appoints commissioners to regulate 
 the delivery of slaves, 31. 
 
 May, Captain, gallant exploit of, in Mexico, 555. 
 
 Mediterranean, United States fleet in the, 220 ; engage 
 ment of the Enterprise and Tripoli, ib. ; operations 
 before Tripoli, 221, 222; the blockade raised, ib. 
 
 Memorial of the proprietors of Indiana, 7. 
 
 Mexicans, defeat of, at San Jacinto, 542 ; rupture of, 
 with the United States, 547 ; defeat of, at Palo Alto, 
 554 ; at Cerro Gordo, 609. 
 
 Mexican revolution, the, 549. 
 
 Mexico, geographical and historical sketch of, 535 ; the 
 city of, 537 ; Spanish conquest of, 538 ; invasion of, 
 by General Taylor, 556; plan of the campaign, 557, 
 567 ; provisional government of, 558 ; advance of 
 General Scott to, 617 ; defence of the city, 618 ; 
 grandeur of the scenery of, 616. 
 
 Micanopy, defeat of the Indians at, 480 ; flight from, 492. 
 
 Michigan admitted into the Union, 528. 
 
 Michilimackinac, surrender of the fort of, 292 ; attempted 
 recovery of, 369. 
 
 Mickasaukies, a clan of the Florida Indians, 477. 
 
 Military operations in the north, 27 J. 
 
 Militia of the eastern states, difficulties respecting, 289. 
 
 Minnesota admitted into the Union, 667. 
 
 Mississippi, the territory of, 59. 
 
 river, proposed cession of the right of naviga 
 tion to Spain rejected, 114. 
 
 Missouri question, the, 431; constitution of, 436; 
 issues, 440. 
 
 Monroe, Mr., accredited minister to France, 176; re 
 called, 180; policy of, 450. 
 
 Monroe, Secretary, correspondence of, with Vice-admiral 
 Cochrane, 391. 
 
 Monterey, battle of, 560 564 ; surrender of, ib. 
 
 Hnmlin, Hanihal, elected vice-president, G67. 
 Harmur, General, expedition and defeat of, 126, 127. 
 Harney, Colonel, escape of, from the Indians, 504 ; 
 
 operations of, in Florida, 507. 
 Harrison Fort, brave defence of, 298. 
 
 Governor, interview of, with Tecumseh, 272; 
 prepares to check his turbulent conduct, 279 ; conces 
 sions of the chief, 2SO ; battle of Tippecanoe, 2S1 ; 
 defeats the Indians, 282 ; takes command of the Ken 
 tucky levies, and relieves forts Harrison and Wayne, 
 296 ; operations on Lake Erie, 298 ; attacks the In 
 dians, 315; surrender of the American troops, and 
 their massacre by the Indians, 317 ; erects Fort Meigs, 
 318; besieged by the British and Indians, 319 ; pre 
 pares for a campaign, 327; successes in Canada, 330 ; 
 resip-ns, 332 ; elected president, 531 ; death of, id. 
 
 Hartford convention, the, 403. 
 
 Harts-horn, Captain, bravery of, and death, 136. 
 
 Haspetaske, a Seminole chief, obstinacy of, 514 ; inter 
 view with Colonel Worth, ib. 
 
 Holaloochee, a Seminole chief, notice of him, 501. 
 
 Holmes, Captain, gallant exploit of, 361. 
 
 Holston, settlements on the, 209. 
 
 Hornet, United States sloop of war, successful enter 
 prise of, 341. 
 
 Hostilities commenced with the French republic, 185. 
 
 encouraged with the Indians, 128; British 
 interference deprecated, ib. 
 
 IBHKRVII.LE, first governor of Louisiana, operations of, 
 in the Natchez country, 262. 
 
 Illinois, organisation of the state of, 273 ; territorial 
 government of, 429 ; admitted to the federal union, ib. 
 
 Immigration, restrictive laws respecting, 75, 76. 
 
 Indian Key Island, massacre upon, 505. 
 
 Indians, necessity for the removal of, explained, 458 ; 
 President Jackson s opinion thereon, 459 ; dissatisfac 
 tion of the tribes, 461 ; defeat of Major Stillman by, 
 462 ; atrocities perpetrated by them, 463 ; defeated by 
 Major Dewent, ib. \ retreat of Blackhawk, 464 ; pur 
 suit and dispersion of the, 465 ; an incident of the 
 conflict, 466 ; speech of Blackhawk, 467 ; atrocities of, 
 in Georgia, 487; sues for peace, 499 ; treachery of, 504. 
 
 Indian chiefs of the twelve tribes meet United States 
 commissioners to negotiate peace, 138. 
 
 Indian wars in the north-west territory, 125; Harmar 
 defeated, 128 ; St. Clair s defeat, 129, 130. 
 
 Indian depredations, 196. 
 
 Indians, treaty with, to terminate the war, 209. 
 the Creek, 347 ; battles with, 348, 349. 
 
 Intrepid, daring enterprise of the, before Tripoli, 234 ; 
 destruction of, 235. 
 
 Iowa admitted into the Union, 658. 
 
 JACKSON, General, operations of, against the Creek 
 Indians, 347350; battle of Tonopeka, 351 ; defeat 
 of the Creeks, 352 ; interview of with Watherford, an 
 Indian chief, 332 ; submission of the Creeks, 353 ; 
 treaty arranged, ib. ; entry into New Orleans, 402. 
 
 Jackson, President, message of, on Mexican affairs, 548 ; 
 censure of, 427 ; ditto, expunged, 529. 
 
 Java, the, surrenders to the Constitution, 307. 
 
 Jay, Mr., proposition of, to surrender the navigation of 
 the Mississippi to Spain for twenty years, 114. 
 
 Jefferson ordinance, the, of 1784, 55. 
 
 - Mr., foreign secretary, advice of, to General | 
 Washington, 122; elected president, 251; inaugura 
 tion to office, 252 ; re-elected in 1804, 268. 
 
 Jessup, General, report of, on military operations in 
 Florida, 486; proceedings of, 491, 500; resigns com 
 mand in Florida, 502. 
 
 Johnson, Richard M., elected vice-president, 528. 
 
 KANSAS TERRITORY, 666. 
 
 Kearney, General, appointed to the command of the 
 
 army of the west, 580; proceedings of, 581; march 
 
 of, 590, 591. 
 
IV 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Montgomery, Mrs., the murder of, 507. 
 Montreal, unsuccessful expedition against, 335. 
 Moose Island, landing of a British force at, 383. 
 Morris, Commodore, dismissed, 223. 
 
 NATCHEZ INDIANS, account of the, 262 ; disputes of, 
 with French settlers, 203 ; treachery of the latter, ib. ; 
 extermination of the tribe, 264. 
 
 National bank established, 120 ; operations of, 412. 
 
 Naval operations in 1800, 191: in 1812, 303305: in 
 1814. 573; force on the lakes, 308, 360, 380; suc 
 cesses there, 309. 
 
 Navy of the United States at the commencement of the 
 war of 1812, 290. 
 
 Nebraska territory, 666. 
 
 Negroes, 1-iws against kidnapping of, 169. 
 
 New England, slavery in, 167. 
 
 Jersey, report of delegates from, on the articles of 
 
 confederation, 2. 
 
 New Orleans, preparations for the defence of, 369 ; 
 martial law proclaimed in, 397 : approach of the 
 enemy, 399 ; destruction of the Caroline, ib. ; repulse 
 of a British force at, 401. 
 
 New York evacuated by the British troops, 45 ; sta 
 tutes of, against immigration, 76 ; blockaded by a 
 British squadron, 341. 
 
 Neutrality of the United States between France and 
 England, 175. 
 
 North Carolina, cession of territory by the state of, 60 ; 
 laws of, against slavery, 171. 
 
 Northern frontier, military operations on the, 358, 359. 
 
 North Point, battle at, 292 ; defeat of the British, 393. 
 
 North-west territory, cession of, by Virginia, 54 ; the 
 question before congress, (JO ; population, 25.4. 
 
 OCONOSTOLA, surprise of Fort Loudon by, 201 ; pre 
 pares to attack Fort Prinre George, 202. 
 
 Octiarche, plot of, discovered, 517. 
 
 Ohio, the state of, received into the federal union, 253. 
 
 Okeechobee, battle of, 498. 
 
 Old dominion, derivation of the term, 111. 
 
 Operations on the northern frontier in 1813, 321. 
 
 O|>posiiion to the Indian war, 133. 
 
 Orders in council of the British government, 286 ; their 
 repeal, id. 
 
 Ordinance, Jefferson s, of 1784, 55. 
 
 of 1787, respecting public lands, 53. 
 
 for government of the north-west territory, 61. 
 
 Oregon admitted into the Union, 667. 
 
 Osceola, Seminole chief, hostility of, 4/8 ; his aim, 482 ; 
 demands a parley, 483 ; escape and death, 41)5, 496. 
 
 Otalke-Thloko, Seminole prophet, notice of, 503. 
 
 PACIFIC, the army of the, 588. 
 
 Parades, overthrow of his administration, 613. 
 
 Parker, Sir Peter, defeat and death of. 391. 
 
 Parties, political, 82, 444, 525, 655. 
 
 Party caucuses, the, 417. 
 
 Peace, definitive treaty of, with Great Britain, signed at 
 Paris, 48. 
 
 Peace with the French republic, 192. 
 stipulations for a treaty of, 409. 
 
 Pennsylvanian troops, mutinous conduct of, at Phila 
 delphia, 43. 
 
 Pcnsacoli, operations before, 394 ; surrender of, 395. 
 
 Perrine, Dr., death of, at Indian Key Island, 505; 
 escape of his family, 506. 
 
 Perry, report of his defeat of Guristerrigo, 28. 
 
 - Captain, in command on Lake Erie, 327 ; suc 
 cesses of, 328, 329 ; operations of, in the Pacific, 605. 
 
 Personal Liberty bills, 661. 
 
 Philadelphia, loss of, before Tripoli, 234 ; attempt to 
 destroy the ship, 226. 
 
 Pico, Don Jesus, sentenced to death, and pardoned, 593. 
 
 Pierce, Franklin, elected president, 660. 
 
 Pike, General, death of, before York, 322. 
 
 Pinckney, Mr., ordered to quit the French territory, 180. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Piracy, the importation of slaves declared to be, 444. 
 Population of the colonial states in 1(588, 1755, 1790, 
 
 119; distribution of the white and coloured, in 1790, 
 
 119. 
 Pre.-ident, the first of the United States, 85 ; debate as 
 
 to his successor, 119. 
 President, message of, on the war in Florida, 521. 
 
 on the termination of the Indian 
 
 warfare, 520. 
 
 President frigate, surrender of the, 376. 
 Presidential elections. Sec Electoral Ballot. 
 Prevost, Sir George, repulse of, at Sackett s Harbour, 
 
 526. 
 Proctor, Colonel, censured for the massacre on Raisin 
 
 river, 318 ; repulsed at Fort Stephenson, 320. 
 Provisional treaty of peace with Great Britain, 44. 
 Public debt of the United States, discus.-ion on the, 138. 
 Puebla, surrender of, to General Worth, 611 ; descrip 
 tion of, 612. 
 
 QCAKF.RS, memorial against the slave-trade, 152. 
 Quecnstown, the battle of, 299. 
 
 Quincey, Josiah, speech of, against the independence of 
 the territory of Orleans, 267 ; debate thereon, 268. 
 
 RF.NSSELAFR, General Van, attacks the British at 
 Queenstown is defeated, and surrenders, 299, 300; 
 resigns his command, 301. 
 
 Report of delegates on the articles of confederation, 1. 
 
 Representatives in congress ; number of, under the con 
 stitution of 1789, and the census of 1790, 118. 
 
 Resolutions of a council of officers upon a mutinous ad 
 dress to the army, 42. 
 
 Restrictions upon the freedom of United States citizens, 
 75, 76. 
 
 Restriction, Missouri, 435. 
 
 Return of General Washington to New York, 2.3. 
 
 Revenue, United States, system of, discussed, 96. 
 
 Rhode Island, opposition of, to the convention, 80 ; con 
 stitution of, ib. ; joins the federal union, 106 ; law of, 
 against slavery, 145. 
 
 Rice, Fort, attacked by Indians, 22. 
 
 Rockingham s pacific tendency towards tne United States, 
 37. 
 
 Royal African Company, incorporation of the, 145. 
 
 Russian mediation for peace between the United States 
 and Great Britain, offered and declined, 313. 
 
 SACKF.TT S; HARBOUR, defeat of a British force at, 326. 
 
 Salaries of the president and officers of the United States, 
 96, 97 ; of the senators, &c., 98. 
 
 Sally and the Sandwich, an unfortunate mistake, 189. 
 
 San Jacinto, battle of, 542. 
 
 Santa Anna, General, taken prisoner, 543 ; enters Vera 
 Cruz in triumph, 558 ; in command of the Mexican 
 army, 569 ; defeat of at Buena Vista, 575, 576. 
 
 Savannah, abandonment of, by the British troops, 29. 
 
 Scott, General, appointed to the command of Florida, 
 484 ; unsuccessful campaign of, 485 ; ordered to 
 Columbus, Georgia, 486; appointed to command in 
 Mexico, 509 ; expedition of, against Vera Cruz, 599 ; 
 victory of, at Cerro Gordo, 609, 610 ; proclamation of, 
 613; state of his army, 614; reinforcement of, 615; 
 advance to the city of Mexico, 617 ; candidate for 
 the piesidency, 666. 
 
 Seal, the national one of the United States, 42*5. 
 
 Secretaries of the United States government, the, 90, 94. 
 
 Seminole war, outbreak of, 419 421; second war com 
 menced, 471 ; proposed removal of the. tribe to Ar 
 kansas rejected, 472, 473; preparation of for war, 
 475 ; first act of hostilities, 470 ; removed, 477. 
 
 Seneca Indians, deputation from, 123. 
 
 Shannon and Chesapeake, engagement between the, 342. 
 
 Shawnees, territory of the, 197 ; displaced by the Che- 
 rokees and Chickasaws, ib. 
 
 Shay, Daniel, resistance of to the tax laws, 65. 
 
 Sherwood, Lieutenant, conflict of with the Indians, 507. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Sioux, outrages by the, 457. 
 
 Slave ratio for taxation, 118; treatment of, on board 
 ship, 149; prices of slaves, 150. 
 
 Slave-trade, 142, 145, 146, 163; abolition of, 443. 
 
 Slavery, institution of, in America, 142; recognised by 
 the British parliament, 147; colonies rejecting, 150 
 Jeffer>ou clause against it in the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, rejected by congress, 1 50 ; constitution based 
 upon, 151 ; memorial of the Quakers against, 152, 
 105; action of congress thereon, 153, 157; alarm of 
 the southern states, 155; report on memorials, 156; 
 decree of congress, 160; Fugitive Slave Bill passed, 
 f b. ; opposition of the colonies, 162; laws respecting 
 the children of slaves, 164 ; attempt to prohibit it in 
 Missouri, 434 ; a compromise, 435, 605 ; consequent 
 agitation, 437 ; Cliiy s compromise adopted, 439 ; as 
 constituted in the United States, 441. 
 
 Somerset, James, a slave, claims his freedom in London, 
 and obtains it, by the dictum of Lord Mansfield, 148. 
 
 South Sea, conjecture respecting the, in 1048, 64. 
 
 South Carolina, laws of, regarding slavery, 1C6, 170; 
 nullification, 409. 
 
 Spanish Florida, affairs of, 424. 
 
 St. Clair, Colonel, operations of, in Georgia, 26 ; junction 
 of, with Lieutenant-colonel Greene, ib. 
 
 St. Clair, General, appointed to the command of the 
 army in the west, 128 ; defeated by the Indians, 131 ; 
 appointed governor of Ohio, 253. 
 
 St. Dennis, expedition of, up the Red river, 258. 
 
 St. Lawrence, the, retreat of a British force upon, 302. 
 
 Star-spangled Banner, the patriotic song, 428. 
 
 Stoat, Commodore, operations of, 587. 
 
 Stockton, Commodore, naval movements of, 588. 
 
 Stonington. attack on the village of, 383. 
 
 Stony Creek, surprise of an American force at, 324. 
 
 Stripes and stars, discussion upon the, 427 
 
 TALBOT, Silas, notice of, 189. 
 
 Tariff, the, of 1831- 2, 469, 470. 
 
 Tax levied upon the thirteen states by congress, 117. 
 
 Taylor, General, appointed to command the army in 
 Florida, 502 ; operations of, in Mexico, 550 ; battle of 
 Palo Alto, 553 ; defeats Santa Anna at Buena Vista, 
 574 ; elected president, 656 ; death, 664. 
 
 Tecumseh, notice of, 275 ; attends a council at Vin- 
 cennes, 276; his defiance, 277 ; death of, 331. 
 
 Tennessee, state of, admitted to the Union, 195 ; Indian 
 occupancy of, ib. \ condition of, 214. 
 
 Territorial government of the United States, 213. 
 
 Texas, settlement of, 539; revolution in, 540, 549; 
 independence declared, 541 ; annexation of, to the 
 United States, 544 ; diplomatic correspondence of, 
 545 ; boundary question, 550. 
 
 Thanksgiving, day for general, proclaimed, 50. 
 
 Thornton, Captain, captured by the Mexicans, 552. 
 
 Titles, discussion in congress respecting, 87, t8. 
 
 Tobacco, surrender of, to Commodore Perry, 605. 
 
 Treaties with the Indians enumerated, 205. 
 
 Treaty of 1794, with Great Britain, 193. 
 
 Tripoli, war of the United States with, 219; arrogant 
 demands of the Dey of, 220 ; bombardment of, 229, 
 232, 233 ; peace with, declared, 238 ; compensation 
 demanded, 415. 
 
 Trippe, Lieutenant, heroism of, before Tripoli, 231, 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Trist, Nicholas P., commissioner to Mexico, 613. 
 Tnucton brig, loss of the, 604. 
 Tunis, vacillating conduct of the Bey of, 239. 
 Tyler, John, inaugurated president, 532. 
 Typees, attack upon the, by Captain Porter, 370. 
 
 VAX BUREN, Martin, elected vice-president, 456; pre 
 sident, 528 ; renominated, 531, 656. 
 
 Vera Cruz, General Scott s expedition against, 600 ; 
 siege of, 601, 602 ; surrender of, 603. 
 
 Vermont, laws of, against immigration, 76 ; joins the 
 Union, 107; independent state of, recognised, 108; 
 New York opposes, 109, 110. 
 
 Vindication of the army in Mexico, by Scott, 614. 
 
 Viiginia, ratification of articles of confederation by 
 deputies from, 3 ; progressive increase of territory 
 by, 6 ; cession of territory by, 54 ; slavery in, 144 ; 
 prohibitory laws of, respecting slavery, 168. 
 
 WAHOO SWAMP, battle of the hummock at, 489, 490. 
 
 War, the, with America, denounced by the British par- 
 liament, 35. 
 
 War, the, of 1812, with Great Britain cause of, and pre 
 parations for, 284 ; declaration of, 285, 288. 
 
 War policy of the United States, 355. 
 
 Warren, Admiral, in the Chesapeake, 339 ; holds a council 
 of war, 340 ; attacks Hampton, ib. ; outrages per 
 petrated by the force of, 341. 
 
 Washington, General, correspondence of, with Sir Guy 
 Carleton, 35 ; project of the army to make him king, 
 39 ; indignant remonstrance of, 41 ; addresses a council 
 of officers upon the subject, 62 ; resolutions adopted, ib. ; 
 orders a cessation of hostilities, 44 ; resigns command 
 of the army, 45; farewell order to the troops, ib. ; 
 enthusiastic reception at New York, 46 ; takes leave of 
 his officers, ib. ; acceptance of his resignation by con 
 gress, 47 ; departure of, for Mount Vernon, 48 ; letter 
 of, on the state of the confederation, 69 ; chosen pre 
 sident, 85; inauguration speech, 86; habits of, 93; 
 elected a second time to the presidential chair 121; 
 speech on the Indian war of 1792, 134 ; policy of, with 
 France, 178; message to congress, 179; declines a 
 third election to the presidency, 178 ; farewell address 
 of, 218 ; resumes the command of the army, 184 ; his 
 death, 247 ; proceedings in congress thereon, 248. 
 
 Washington city, situation and plan of, 104 ; defences of, 
 384 ; taken possession of by the British troops under 
 General Ross, 388 ; destruction of shipping and pro 
 perty at, ib. ; the outrage reprobated in England, 390. 
 
 Wayne, General, operations of at Savannah, 27 ; his 
 inflexibility, 29 ; preparations of, for an Indian cam 
 paign, 134 ; defeat of the Indians by, 138. 
 
 Wrtuinpka, skirmish with Indians at, 482. 
 
 Whisky rebellion, the, 189. 
 
 Wisconsin admitted into the Union, 653. 
 
 ^,\ itlilacoochee, battle of, 481. 
 
 Wool, General, Mexican campaign of, 568. 
 
 Worth, Colonel, assumes command in Florida, 508 ; 
 operations of, in the Big Cypress Swamp, 509 ; inter 
 view of, with Coacooehee, 512; military governor of 
 Vera Crv.z, 603. 
 
 Wyandots, the chief of the tribe of, killed, 138. 
 
 York (Toronto), battle of, 311 ; surrender of, 312. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 VIEW OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA (Viynette). 
 
 DEATH OF THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 
 
 BOARDING OF THE "CHESAPEAKE" BY THE CREW OF THE "SHANNON." 
 
 VIEW ON THE HUDSON RIVER. 
 
 VIEW OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA, CANADA SIDE. 
 
 PORTRAITS OF PRESIDENTS JOHN ADAMS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, JAMES MADISON, 
 
 JAMES MONROE, AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 PORTRAITS OF PRESIDENTS ANDREW JACKSON, MARTIN VAN BUREN, WILLIAM H. 
 
 HARRISON, JOHN TYLER, AND JAMES K. POLK. 
 PORTRAITS OF PRESIDENTS ZACHARY TAYLOR, MILLARD FILLMORE, FRANKLIN 
 
 PIERCE, AND JAMES BUCHANAN. 
 
 MAPS AND BATTLE-FIELDS. 
 
 SIEGE OF CHARLESTON BY THE BRITISH, 1780. 
 
 SEAT OF WAR IN NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA, 1781. 
 
 VIRGINIA, DISTRICT OF YORKTOWN, 1781. 
 
 SIEGE OF YORKTOWN SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH, 1781. 
 
 UNITED STATES, ACCORDING TO THE TREATY, 17S3. 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES, AS RECOGNISED BY THE FRENCH, 1085. 
 
 DISTRICT OF MAINE, AS PUBLISHED BY MITCHELL, 1755. 
 
 NIAGARA DISTRICT AND BATTLE-FIELDS, 1814. 
 
 ST. LAWRENCE RIVER SEAT OF WAR, 1814. 
 
 WABASII VALLEY, TIPPECANOE, 1812. 
 
 WESTERN FRONTIER SEAT OF WAR, 1814. 
 
 LOWER LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI, 1815. 
 
 BATTLE-FIELD OF PLAINE CHALMETTE, NEW ORLEANS, 1815. 
 
 NORTHERN MEXICO INVASION BY THE AMERICAN ARMY, 1815. 
 
 CENTRAL MEXICO- INVASION BY THE AMERICAN ARMY, 1316. 
 
 SIEGE OF VERA CRUZ BY THE AMERICANS, 1816. 
 
AN SUN COlAxTV *; 
 
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 (i\-||.l)ll.\l.l. LONDON 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AME1UCA. 
 
 THE election of Abraham Lincoln to the 
 presidency of the United States, on the 
 6th of November, 1860, was looked upon 
 by the southern states, represented by the 
 conservative parties of the country, as a 
 declaration of war. It was known that he 
 entirely owed the accident of his election 
 to the faction diametrically opposed to 
 southern interests ; and the conclusion was 
 natural that he must, perforce, select his 
 counsellors from amongst the prominent 
 men of that faction, and consult their pre 
 judices and views in his administration of 
 the power placed in his hands. The feeling 
 of dissatisfaction created by this state of 
 affairs, at length found vent in threats of 
 resistance ; and the southern states has 
 tened to go out of a Union which could no 
 longer offer a guarantee for the protection 
 of their rights, or any permanent sense of 
 security. They felt that the domination of 
 the daily increasing hostile feeling of the 
 north, would eventually, and in detail, de 
 stroy their institutions, confiscate their pro 
 perty, and imperil the lives of their people. 
 The state of South Carolina was the first 
 to take action in this matter ; and, without 
 wasting time in useless argument, and with 
 little preparation for war, it determined, 
 by the free exercise of its authority as a 
 sovereign state, to separate itself from 
 the Union. A convention was accordingly 
 summoned ; and on the 20th of December, 
 1860, an ordinance of secession, dissolving 
 the compact between the state of South 
 Carolina and the other states united with 
 it under the constitution of the United 
 States of America, was resolved upon by 
 an unanimous vote, and recorded in the 
 following words : 
 
 "An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the 
 State of South Carolina, and other States united 
 with her under the compact entitled The Con 
 stitution of the United States of America. 
 
 " We, the people of the state of South Carolina, 
 in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, 
 and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the 
 ordinance adopted by us in convention on the 23rd 
 day of May, in the yearof our Lord, 1788, whereby 
 the constitution of "the United States of America 
 was ratified ; and also all acts, and parts of acts, of 
 
 VOL. ii. a 
 
 the general assembly of this state, ratifying the 
 amendments of the said constitution, are hereby 
 repealed ; and that the union now subsisting between 
 South Carolina and other states, under the name of 
 the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." 
 
 The secession ordinance was immediately 
 followed by a declaration of the causes 
 which had provoked it. In this document, 
 it was alleged that the people of South 
 Carolina, in convention assembled, had, on 
 the 2nd of April, 1852, declared that the 
 frequent violations of the constitution of 
 the United States by the federal govern 
 ment, and its encroachments upon the 
 reserved rights of the states, fully justified 
 South Carolina in its withdrawal from the 
 federal union; but, in deference to the 
 opinions and wishes of the other slave-" 
 holding states, it forbore, at that time, 
 to exercise such right. That, since that 
 time, such encroachments have continued 
 to increase, and further forbearance had 
 ceased to be a virtue. 
 
 Numerous grounds for dissatisfaction 
 were then enumerated; and it proceeded 
 thus : "A geographical line has been drawn 
 across the Union ; and all the states north 
 of that line, have united in the election of 
 a man to the high office of president of the 
 United States, whose opinions and purposes 
 are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted 
 with the administration of the common 
 government, because he has declared that 
 the government cannot endure, perma 
 nently, half slave, half free ; and that the 
 public mind must rest in the belief that 
 slavery is in the course of ultimate extinc 
 tion." Pursuing this deprecatory tone, the 
 declaration concludes by saying, that " sec 
 tional interest and animosity will deepen 
 the irritation ; and all hope of remedy ia 
 rendered vain by the fact, that the public 
 opinion at the north has invested a great 
 political error with the sanction of a more 
 erroneous religious belief. We, therefore, 
 the people of South Carolina, by our dele 
 gates in convention assembled, appealing to 
 the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
 rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly 
 declared that the union hitherto existing 
 
u 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 between this state and the other states of 
 North America, is dissolved ; and that the 
 state of South Carolina has resumed her 
 position among the nations of the world as 
 a separate and independent state, with full 
 power to levy war, conclude peace, contract 
 alliances, establish commerce, and to do all 
 other acts and things which independent 
 states may of right do." 
 
 In pursuance of this declaration, the 
 representatives of South Carolina, in con 
 gress, on the 24th of the same month, 
 addressed the following communication to 
 the speaker of the house of representa 
 tives : 
 
 Sir, We avail ourselves of the earliest oppor 
 tunity, since the official communication of the intel 
 ligence, of making known to your honourable body, 
 that the people of the state of South Carolina, in 
 their sovereign capacity, have resumed the powers 
 heretofore delegated by them to the federal govern 
 ment of the United States, and have thereby dis 
 solved our connection with the house of representa 
 tives. In taking leave of those with whom we 
 have been associated in a common agency, we, as 
 well as the people of our commonwealth, desire to 
 do so with a feeling of mutual regard and respect 
 for each other cherishing the hope that, in our 
 future relations, we may better enjoy the peace 
 and harmony essential to the happiness of a free 
 and enlightened people. 
 
 " JOHN M QuEEN. W. W. BOYCE. 
 
 " M. L. BONIIAM. J. I). ASHMOKE. 
 
 " Dec. 24th. 
 " To the Speaker of the House of Representatives." 
 
 On the 19th of the month, the secession 
 leaders at Charleston had issued orders 
 that no more federal soldiers should be 
 permitted to enter the forts in that har 
 bour ; and as the position of the garrison 
 at Fort Moultrie, under the command of 
 Major Anderson, would have been ex 
 tremely hazardous in the event of any hos 
 tile demonstration by the secessionists, that 
 officer determined on removing his troops, 
 stores, and munitions to Fort Sumter, 
 where he would be better able to defend 
 himself from an attempt to dislodge him. 
 It was accordingly reported in the fort, 
 that an attack was meditated by the people 
 of Charleston, and that the removal of the 
 women and children to a place of safety 
 was desirable. In furtherance of this idea, 
 three schooners were engaged, and loaded 
 with what was supposed to be the bedding 
 and household effects of the families belong 
 ing to the garrison. It was reported that 
 the people and goods were to be landed at 
 Fort Johnson, or James Island, in the 
 direction of which they affected to sail. 
 
 Soon after 9 P.M., the schooners and their 
 
 freight being well under weigh, the whole 
 of the garrison, with the exception of 
 some half-dozen men, left for an ulterior 
 purpose, embarked in boats, and rowed to 
 Fort Sumter, which thus received a con 
 siderable addition to the force already sta 
 tioned there. Here they found the in 
 dividuals sent forward by the schooners, 
 with a large quantity of warlike stores 
 which they had contrived to bring from 
 Fort Moultrie. The object of Major An 
 derson being so far successfully accom 
 plished, he considered his position suffi 
 ciently tenable to hold out until he could 
 receive instructions or reinforcements from 
 the federal government. 
 
 Meantime, the men left at Fort Moultrie, 
 as soon as the last boat had left the fortifi 
 cations, began to spike the guns, to cut 
 down the flag-staff, to burn the gun-car 
 riages, and to damage the fortifications in 
 such points as might render them no longer 
 defensible. 
 
 The conduct of Major Anderson was 
 subjected to severe criticism. On the one 
 side it was looked upon as a masterpiece 
 of strategy ; on the other, as totally unwar 
 ranted, and provocative of hostilities. Of 
 the latter opinion was the secretaiy at war 
 of the federal government, who, in conse 
 quence of what he looked upon as a viola 
 tion of good faith, tendered the resignation 
 of his office ; and it was accepted by the 
 then president of the United States, James 
 Buchanan. 
 
 On the 29th of the same month, com 
 missioners from South Carolina transmitted 
 to the president of the United States, 
 a notification of their powers to treat 
 with the federal government for the de 
 livery of the forts, magazines, lighthouses, 
 and other real estate, with their appur 
 tenances, within the limits of South Caro 
 lina, and also for an apportionment of the 
 public debt, and for a division of all other 
 property held by the government of the 
 United States as agent of the confederated 
 states, of which South Carolina was re 
 cently a member ; and, generally, to nego 
 tiate as to all other measures and arrange 
 ments proper to be made and adopted in 
 the existing relation of the parties, and 
 for the continuance of peace and amity 
 between that commonwealth and the gov 
 ernment at Washington. 
 
 The commissioners then proceeded to 
 state, that, in the execution of the trust 
 confided to them, it was their duty to 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 furnish the president with an official copy 
 of the ordinance of secession, by which the 
 state of South Carolina had resumed the 
 powers she delegated to the government of 
 the United States, arid had declared her 
 perfect sovereignty and independence. 
 
 They further stated, that they had been 
 prepared to enter upon the negotiation with 
 the earnest desire to avoid all unnecessary 
 and hostile collision, and so to inaugurate 
 the new relations, as to secure mutual 
 respect, general advantage, and a future of 
 good-will and harmony beneficial to all the 
 parties concerned. " But/ continued the 
 document, " the events of the last twenty- 
 four hours render such an assurance im 
 possible. We came here the representatives 
 of an authority which could, at any time 
 within the past sixty days, have taken | 
 possession of the forts in Charleston harbour; : 
 but which, upon pledges given in a manner ! 
 that we cannot doubt, determined to trust 
 to your honour rather than to its own i 
 power. Since our arrival here, an officer ! 
 of the United States, acting, as we are j 
 assured, not only without, but against your 
 orders, has dismantled one fort and occupied I 
 another; thus altering, to a most impor- | 
 tant extent, the condition of affairs under 
 which we came." The commissioners then 
 state, that until such circumstances are 
 satisfactorily explained, they must suspend 
 all discussion upon arrangements for the 
 adjustment of mutual interests : and, in 
 conclusion, they urged the immediate with 
 drawal of the troops from the harbour of 
 Charleston ; which, under existing circum 
 stances, were a standing menace that ren 
 dered negotiation impossible, and threat 
 ened speedily to bring to a bloody issue, 
 questions which ought to be settled with 
 temperance and judgment. 
 
 The reply of Mr. Buchanan to this com 
 munication, after recapitulating the state 
 ments and arguments adduced, unequivo 
 cally deprecated the event which had pro 
 duced the difficulty, and referred to a me 
 morandum of instructions given to Major 
 Anderson for his guidance at Fort Moultrie ; 
 in which it was observed 
 
 " You are carefully to avoid every act which 
 would needlessly tend to provoke aggression ; and 
 for that reason you are not, \vithout necessity, to 
 take up any position which could be construed into 
 the assumption of a hostile attitude; but you are 
 to hdd possession of the forts in the harbour, and, if 
 attacked, you are to defend yourself to the last cx- 
 tremity. The smallness of your force will not 
 permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of 
 
 the three forts; hut an atlack on, or attempt to 
 take possession of either of them, will be regarded 
 as an act of hostility, and you may then put your 
 command into either of them which you may deem 
 most proper to increase its power of resistance. 
 You are alxo authorised to take similar steps when 
 ever you have tangible evidence of a desiyn to pro 
 ceed to a hostile act." 
 
 " These," wrote the president, " were the 
 last instructions transmitted to Major An 
 derson, before his removal to Fort Sumter ; 
 and, under the circumstances, it is clear 
 that Major Anderson acted upon his own 
 responsibility, and without authority un 
 less, indeed, he had tangible evidence of a 
 design to proceed to a hostile act on the 
 part of South Carolina, which has not yet 
 been alleg ed." 
 
 The first impression upon the mind of 
 the president, upon learning that Anderson 
 had left Fort Moultrie, and taken possession 
 of Fort Sumter, was to command him to 
 return to his former position, and await 
 there the contingencies referred to in his 
 instructions ; but, before any step could be 
 taken to that end, intelligence reached the 
 federal government, that the authorities of 
 South Carolina, without waiting for expla 
 nations, had assumed a hostile aspect that 
 the Palmetto flag floated out to the breeze 
 at Castle Pinckney ; and that a large mili 
 tary force of the .states had also taken pos 
 session of Fort Moultrie, covering the two 
 federal forts with the flag of South Carolina, 
 instead of that of the United States. 
 
 " At this gloomy period of our history," 
 observes the president, "startling events 
 succeeded each other rapidly. On the very 
 day (the 27th of December) that possession 
 of these two forts was taken, the Palmetto 
 flag was raised over the federal custom 
 house and post-office in Charleston; and 
 on the same day, every officer of the cus 
 toms collector, naval officer, surveyor, and 
 appraiser resigned their offices. In the 
 harbour of Charleston we now find three 
 forts confronting each other, over all of 
 which the federal flag floated only four 
 days ago ; but now, over two of them, this 
 flag has been supplanted, and the Palmetto 
 flag has been substituted in its stead. It 
 is under all these circumstances that I am 
 urged immediately to withdraw the troops 
 from the harbour of Charleston; and am 
 informed that, without this, negotiation is 
 impossible. This I cannot do this I will 
 not do." 
 
 He then states, that, while writing, he 
 \ had received information from Captain 
 
IV 
 
 THE CIVIL AVAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 Humphreys, in charge of the arsenal at 
 Charleston, that, on Sunday, the 30th, it 
 was taken by force by the authorities of 
 South Carolina, the munitions of war be 
 longing to it being worth half a million of 
 dollars. He concluded by observing, that 
 while it was his duty to defend Fort Sumter, 
 as a portion of the public property of the 
 United States, against hostile attack, he did 
 not perceive how such a defence could be 
 construed into a standing menace against 
 the city of Charleston. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1861, the reply 
 of the president was acknowledged by the 
 commissioners; who, after recapitulating 
 the events which had led to the existing 
 state of affairs between South Carolina and 
 the federal government, and combating the 
 arguments used by Mr. Buchanan in sup 
 port of his policy, expressed themselves as 
 follows : 
 
 " By your course you have probably ren 
 dered civil war inevitable. Be it so. If 
 you choose to force this issue upon us, the 
 state of South Carolina will accept it ; and 
 relying upon Him who is the God of Jus 
 tice, as well as the God of Hosts, will 
 endeavour to perform the great duty which 
 lies before her, hopefully, bravely, and 
 thoroughly. 
 
 " Our mission being one for negotiation 
 and peace, and your note leaving us without 
 hope of a withdrawal of the troops from 
 Fort Sumter, or of the restoration of the 
 status quo existing at the time of our arrival, 
 and intimating, as we think, your determi 
 nation to reinforce the garrison in the har 
 bour of Charleston we respectfully inform 
 you that we purpose returning to Charleston 
 to-morrow afternoon." 
 
 This document, signed by the three com 
 missionersMessrs. R. W. Barnwell, J. II 
 Adams, and James J. Orr was rejected by 
 the president, with the following indorse 
 ment : 
 
 " Executive Mansion, 3| o clock, Wednesday 
 " This paper, just presented to the president, is o 
 such a character that he declines to receive it." 
 
 Pending this correspondence, the attitud_ 
 of the authorities at Charleston became 
 decidedly warlike. A censorship was exer 
 cised over the telegraph, and a military 
 patrol nightly watched over the safety o 
 the city. Steps were taken to prevent tin 
 reception of supplies of any kind at For 
 Sumter, and thus force the garrison t 
 evacuate the place. At Castle Pinckney 
 Commander 1 ettigru forbade boats to ap 
 
 proach the wharf head, and the river front 
 
 of the city was carefully guarded. The 
 rsenal, which had been taken possession 
 f as before stated, was given in charge to 
 he Palmetto guard, a hundred strong. At 
 he same time the convention passed an 
 >rdinance to define and punish treason ; 
 
 which, in addition to offences already de 
 clared treason by the general assembly, 
 jrovided that treason against the state 
 hould consist in levying war against it, 
 .aking part with its enemies, and affording 
 hem aid and comfort. The penalty for 
 ;his was to be death. 
 
 The secession of South Carolina from the 
 Union, was followed, on the 9th of January, 
 L861, by that of the state of Mississippi. 
 On the llth of the same month, Alabama 
 
 and Florida followed ; on the 20th, Georgia ; 
 
 on the 26th, Louisiana ; and, on the 1st of 
 February, Texas. The whole of the cotton- 
 producing states, with the exception of 
 Arkansas, had thus seceded from the 
 Union ; and, with the exception also of 
 Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbour, and 
 Fort Pickens, below Pensacola, the southern 
 authorities had possession of every fort, pre 
 viously garrisoned by federal troops, within 
 the limits of the confederate territory. 
 
 Events now hastened towards a crisis. 
 On the morning of the 9th of January, a 
 steam-ship, the Star of the West, with a 
 reinforcement of troops for Fort Sumter, 
 was signalled at the entrance of Charleston 
 harbour. As the vessel approached in the 
 direction of Fort Sumter, a shot from a 
 battery on Morris Island crossed her bow : 
 the flag of the United States was immedi 
 ately displayed, but it brought upon her the 
 guns at Morris Island and Fort Moultrie. 
 Her head was then turned, and she again 
 put out to sea. A flag was immediately 
 sent by Major Anderson to Governor 
 Pickens, to inquire if this act had the 
 sanction of the state government ; notifying 
 that, unless it was disclaimed, he should 
 regard it as an act of war, and Udopt reta 
 liatory measures. Governor Pickens, in 
 his reply, justified the conduct complained 
 of; and the matter was then immediately 
 referred by Major Anderson to the federal 
 government. 
 
 On the 21st of January, Jefferson Davis, 
 of Mississippi, and representing that state 
 in the federal congress, withdrew from the 
 senate ; and as his speech, on retiring from 
 the representative functions, seems to em 
 body most of the arguments upon which 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 the right of secession is based, the following 
 summary of it will not be out of place : 
 
 " I rise for the purpose of announcing to the 
 senate, that I have satisfactory evidence that the 
 state of Mississippi, by solemn ordinance in con 
 vention assembled, has declared her separation 
 from the United States. Under these circum 
 stances, of course, my functions terminate here. It 
 has seemed to be proper that I should appear in 
 the senate, and announce that fact, and to say 
 something, though very little, upon it. The occa 
 sion does not invite me to go into the argument, 
 and my physical condition will not permit it; yet 
 something would seem to be necessary on the part 
 of the state I here represent, on an occasion like 
 this. It is known to senators who have served 
 here, that I have for many years advocated, as an 
 essential attribute to state sovereignty, the right of 
 a state to secede from the Union. If, therefore, I 
 had not believed there was justifiable cause if I 
 had thought the state was acting without sufficient 
 provocation still, under my theory of government, 
 I should have felt bound by her action. I, how 
 ever, may say I think she had justifiable cause, and 
 I approve of her acts. I conferred with the people 
 before that act was taken, and counselled them, 
 that if they could not remain, that they should take 
 the act. I hope none will confound this expression 
 of opinion with the advocacy of the right of a state 
 to remain in the Union, and disregard its constitu 
 tional obligations by nullification. Nullification 
 and secession are, indeed, antagonistic principles. 
 Nullification is the remedy which is to be sought, 
 and applied, within the Union, against an agent of 
 the United States, when the agent has violated con 
 stitutional obligations, and the state assumes for 
 itself, and appeals to other states to support it. 
 But when the states themselves, and the people of 
 the states, have so acted as to convince us that 
 they will not regard our constitutional rights, then, 
 and then for the first time, arises the question of 
 secession in its practical application. That great 
 man who now reposes with his fathers, who has 
 been so often arraigned for want of fealty to the 
 Union, advocated the doctrine of nullification, 
 because it preserved the Union. It was because of 
 his deep-seated attachment to the Union that 
 Mr. Calhoun advocated the doctrine of nullification, 
 which he claimed would give peace within the 
 limits of the Union, and not disturb it, and only be 
 the means of bringing the agent before the proper 
 tribunal of the states for judgment. Secession 
 belongs to a different class of rights, and is to be 
 justified upon the basis that the states are sovereign. 
 The time has been, and I hope the time will come 
 again, when a better appreciation of our Union 
 will prevent any one denying that each state is a 
 sovereign in its own right. Therefore, I say I 
 concur in the act of my state, and feel bound by it. 
 It is by this confounding of nullification and seces 
 sion that the name of another great man has been 
 invoked to justify the coercion of a seceding state. 
 The phrase, to execute the law, as used by Gen. 
 eral Jackson, was applied to a state refusing to 
 obey the laws, and still remaining in the Union. I 
 remember well when Massachusetts was arraigned 
 before the senate. The record of that occasion 
 will show that I said, if Massachusetts, in pursuing 
 the line of steps, takes the last step which separates 
 her from the Union, the right is her s, and I will 
 
 neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her; 
 but I will say to her, God speed !" Mr. Davis 
 then proceeded to argue, that the equality spoken 
 of in the Declaration of Independence, was the 
 equality of a class in political rights ; referring to 
 the charge against George III. for inciting insur 
 rection, as proof that it had no reference to the 
 slaves. " But we have proclaimed our independence. 
 This is done with no hostility or any desire to 
 injure any section of the country, nor even for our 
 pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solid 
 foundation of defending and protecting the rights 
 we inherited, and transmitting them unshorn to 
 our posterity. I know I feel no hostility to you 
 senators here, and am sure there is not one of you, 
 whatever may have been the sharp discussion 
 between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the 
 presence of my God, I wish you well. And such is 
 the feeling, I am sure, the people I represent feel 
 towards those whom you represent. I therefore 
 feel I but express their desire, when I say I hope 
 and they hope for those peaceful relations with you, 
 though we must part, that may be mutually bene 
 ficial to us in the future. There will be peace if you 
 so will it, and you may bring disaster on every part of 
 the country, if you thus will have it. And if you 
 will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our 
 fathers, who delivered them from the paw of the 
 lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear ; 
 and thus putting our trust in God and our own 
 firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate and 
 defend the rights we claim. In the course of my 
 long career, I have met with a great variety of men 
 here, and there have been points of collision 
 between us. Whatever of offence there has been 
 to me, I leave here. I carry no hostile feelings 
 away. Whatever of offence I have given, which 
 has not been redressed, I am willing to say to 
 senators in this hour of parting I offer you my 
 apology for anything I may have done in the 
 senate ; and I go thus released from obligation, 
 remembering no injury I have received, and having 
 discharged what I deem the duty of man, to offer 
 the fullest reparation at this moment for any injury 
 I have ever inflicted." 
 
 Events now progressed rapidly towards 
 a crisis. A convention of delegates from the 
 seceding states, assembled in congress at 
 Montgomery, Alabama, on the 4th of Feb 
 ruary ; and, on the 8th, adopted a form of 
 constitution for the confederate states. The 
 following day, the congress proceeded to 
 the election of a president and vice-presi 
 dent ; and the unanimous choice centred 
 on Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, for the 
 first, and Alexander H. Stephen, of Georgia, 
 for the second of those important trusts. 
 On the 18th of the month, Mr. Davis was 
 inaugurated, and delivered the following 
 address : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate 
 States of America, Friends, and Fellow-Citizens, 
 Called to the difficult and responsible station of 
 chief executive of the provisional government which 
 you have instituted, I approach the discharge of 
 the duties assigned me with an humble distrust of 
 my abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in 
 
VI 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 the wisdom of those who are to guide and aid me 
 in the administration of public affairs, and an 
 abiding faith in the virtue and patriotism of ^the 
 people. Looking forward to the speedy establish 
 ment of a permanent government to take the place 
 of this, and which, by its greater moral and physi 
 cal power, will be better able to combat with the 
 many difficulties which arise from the conflicting 
 interests of separate nations, I enter upon the 
 duties of the office to which I have been chosen, 
 with the hope that the beginning of our career as a 
 confederacy may not be obstructed by hostile oppo 
 sition to our enjoyment of the separate existence 
 and independence which we have asserted, and 
 which, with the blessing of Providence, we intend 
 to maintain. 
 
 "Our present condition, achieved in a manner 
 unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates 
 the American idea that, governments rest upon the 
 consent of the governed, and that it is the right of 
 the people to alter and abolish governments when 
 ever they become destructive to the ends for which 
 they were established. The declared compact of 
 the Union from which we have withdrawn, was to 
 establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, pro 
 vide for the common defence, promote the general 
 welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our 
 selves and our posterity ; and when, in the judgment 
 of the sovereign states now composing this con 
 federacy, it has been perverted from the purposes 
 for which it was ordained, and ceased to answer the 
 ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal 
 to the ballot-box declared that, so far as they were 
 concerned, the government created by that compact 
 should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted 
 the right which the Declaration of Independence of 
 1776 defined to be inalienable. Of the time and 
 occasion of its exercise, they, as sovereigns, were the 
 final judges, each for itself. The impartial, en 
 lightened verdict, of mankind will vindicate the rec 
 titude of our conduct; and He who knows the hearts 
 of men will judge of the sincerity with which we 
 laboured to preserve the government of our fathers 
 in its spirit. 
 
 " The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of 
 the states, and which has been affirmed and re 
 affirmed in the Bills of Kihts of the states subse 
 quently admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably 
 recognises in the people the power to resume the 
 authority delegated for the purposes of govern 
 ment. Thus the sovereign states here represented, 
 proceeded to form this confederacy ; and it is by 
 the abuse of language that their act has been de 
 nominated revolution. They formed a new alli 
 ance, but within each state its government has 
 remained. The rights of person and property have 
 not been disturbed. The agent through whom 
 they communicated with foreign nations is changed ; 
 but this does not necessarily interrupt their inter 
 national relations. Sustained by the consciousness 
 that the transition from the former Union to the 
 present confederacy has not proceeded from a dis 
 regard on our part of our just obligations, or anj 
 failure to perform every constitutional duty movec 
 by no interest or passion to invade the right o 
 others anxious to cultivate peace and commerce 
 with all nations if we may not hope to avoid war 
 we may, at least, expect that posterity will acqui 
 us of having needlessly engaged in it. Doublj 
 justified by the absence of wrong on our part, anc 
 by wanton aggression on the part of others, ther 
 
 an be no cause to doubt that the courage and patri- 
 tism of the people of the confederate states will be 
 ound equal to any measures of defence which soon 
 heir security may require. 
 
 " As an agricultural people, whose chief interest is 
 he export of a commodity required in every manu- 
 acturing country, our true policy is peace, and the 
 reest trade which our necessities will permit. It 
 s alike our interest, and that of all those to whom 
 ve would sell, and from whom we would buy, that 
 here should be the fewest practicable restrictions 
 apon the interchange of commodities. There can 
 )e but little rivalry between ours and any manufac- 
 uring or navigating community, such as" the north 
 eastern states of the American Union. It must 
 ollow, therefore, that mutual interest Avould invite 
 rood-will and kind offices. If, however, passion or 
 ust of dominion should cloud the judgment or 
 nfluence the ambition of those states, we must 
 )repare to meet the emergency, and maintain, by 
 he final arbitrament of the sword, the position 
 vhich. we have assumed among the nations of the 
 arth. 
 
 <; We have entered upon a career of independence, 
 and it must be inflexibly pursued through many 
 vears of controversy with our late associates of the 
 northern states. We have vainly endeavoured to 
 iBcure tranquillity, and obtain respect for the rights 
 ,o which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a 
 choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separa 
 tion, and henceforth our energies must be directed 
 o the conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity 
 of the confederacy which we have formed. If a 
 ust perception of mutual interest shall permit us 
 peaceably to pursue our separate political career, 
 my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled. 
 But if this be denied us, and the integrity of our 
 territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but 
 remain for us with firm resolve to appeal to arms, 
 and invoke the blessing of Providence on a just 
 cause. 
 
 " As a consequence of our new condition, and 
 with a view to meet anticipated wants, it will be 
 necessary to provide a speedy and efficient organi 
 sation of the branches of the executive department 
 having special charge of foreign intercourse, finance, 
 military affairs, and postal service. For purposes 
 of defence, the confederate states may, under ordi 
 nary circumstances, rely mainly upon their militia; 
 but it is deemed advisable, in the present condition 
 of affairs, that there should be a well-instructed, 
 disciplined army, more numerous than would 
 usually be required on a peace establishment. I 
 also suggest that, for the protection of our 
 harbours and commerce on the high seas, a navy 
 adapted to those objects will be required. These 
 necessities have, doubtless, engaged the attention 
 of congress. 
 
 " With a constitution differing only from that of 
 our fathers in so far as it is explanatory of their 
 well-known intent freed from sectional conflicts, 
 which have interfered with the pursuit of the gen 
 eral welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that 
 the states from which we have recently parted may 
 seek to unite their fortunes to ours, under the gov 
 ernment which we have instituted. For this your 
 constitution makes adequate provision; but beyond 
 this, if I mistake not, the judgment and will of the 
 people are, that union with the states from which 
 they have separated, is neither practicable nor 
 desirable. To increase the power, develop the 
 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 VII 
 
 resources, and promote the happiness of the con 
 federacy, it is requisite there should be so much 
 homogeneity that the welfare of every portion 
 would be the aim of the whole. Where this does 
 not exist, antagonisms are engendered which must 
 and should result in separation. 
 
 " Actuated solely by a desire to preserve our own 
 rights, and to promote our own welfare, the sepa 
 ration of the confederate states has been marked by 
 no aggression upon others, and followed by no 
 domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have 
 received no check ; the cultivation of our fields 
 progresses as heretofore ; and even should we be 
 involved in war, there would be no considerable 
 diminution in the production of the staples which 
 have constituted our exports, in which the com 
 mercial world has an interest scarcely less than our 
 own. This common interest of producer and con 
 sumer can only be intercepted by an exterior force 
 which should obstruct its transmission to foreign 
 markets a course of conduct which would be detri 
 mental to manufacturing and commercial interests 
 abroad. Should reason guide the action of the gov 
 ernment from which we Lave separated, a policy so 
 detrimental to the civilised world, the northern states 
 included, could not be dictated by even a stronger 
 desire to inflict injury upon us; but if it be other 
 wise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and 
 the sufferings of millions will bear testimony to the 
 folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In the 
 meantime there will remain to us, besides the ordinary 
 remedies before suggested, the well-known resources 
 for retaliation upon the commerce of an enemy. 
 
 "Experience in public stations of a subordinate 
 grade to this which your kindness has conferred, 
 has taught me that care, and toil, and disappoint 
 ments are the price of official elevation. You will 
 see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to 
 tolerate ; but you shall not find in me either want 
 of zeal or fidelity to the cause that is to me an un 
 deserved distinction one which I neither sought 
 nor desired. Upon the continuance of that senti 
 ment, and upon your wisdom and patriotism, I rely 
 to direct and support me in the performance of the 
 duties required at my hands. 
 
 " We have changed the constituent parts, but 
 not the system of our government. The constitu 
 tion formed by our fathers is that of these confede 
 rate states. In their exposition of it, and in the 
 judicial construction it has received, we have a 
 light which reveals its true meaning. Thus in 
 structed as to the just interpretation of that instru 
 ment, and ever remembering that all offices are but 
 trusts held for the people, and that delegated 
 powers are to be strictly construed, I will hope, by 
 due diligence in the performance of my duties, 
 though I may disappoint your expectation, yet to 
 retain, when retiring, something of the good-will 
 and confidence which will welcome my entrance 
 into office. 
 
 "It is joyous, in the midst of perilous times, to 
 look around upon a people united in heart, when 
 one purpose of high resolve animates and actuates 
 the whole ; where the sacrifices to be made are not 
 weighed in the balance, against honour, right, 
 liberty, and equality. Obstacles may retard, but 
 they cannot long prevent the progress of a move 
 ment sanctioned by its justice, and sustained by a 
 virtuous people. Reverently let us invoke the God 
 of our fathers to guide and protect us in our efforts 
 to perpetuate the principles which, by His blessing, 
 
 they were able to vindicate, establish, and transmit 
 to their posterity; and with a continuance of His 
 favours ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hope 
 fully look forward to success, to peace, and to pros 
 perity." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated to the 
 office of president of the United States on 
 the 4th of March ; and, at this time, the 
 financial condition of the Union was satis 
 factory : the balance of monies in the trea 
 sury amounted to six millions, applicable to 
 current expenses ; and the receipts from the 
 customs were estimated to average 80,000 
 dollars per day. 
 
 On the 5th of March, General Beau- 
 regard, formerly a major in the United 
 States service, was appointed by President 
 Davis to the command of the forces as 
 sembled at Charleston, for the investment 
 of Fort Sumter ; and, shortly afterwards, 
 a summons was dispatched by two of his 
 aides, to Major Anderson, to evacuate the 
 fort, and resign it to the government of 
 South Carolina. The reply was prompt 
 and soldier-like : he declined compliance 
 with a demand which his sense of honour 
 and of obligation to his government pre 
 vented him acceding to. The major was 
 then informed, about three o clock on the 
 morning of the 12th of April, that the 
 fire of the confederate batteries would open 
 on Fort Sumter in one hour from that 
 time. As the ammunition in the fort was 
 scanty, and there was no possibility of 
 further supply, Major Anderson resolved 
 not to return the fire until daylight. 
 
 At twenty minutes past four, the fire of 
 the batteries poured upon the fort from every 
 side : the most destructive effects being 
 produced by a masked battery of heavy 
 columbiads on Sullivan s Island. At 7 A.M. 
 this fire was replied to from the fort with 
 great vigour, but without any perceptible 
 effect upon the besiegers, whose shot told 
 with terrible precision upon the fort. The 
 officers quarters were, in a very short time, 
 reduced to a state of ruin ; and a tower was 
 so completely demolished, that not one 
 brick was left standing upon another. 
 Thrice during the day the barracks caught 
 fire : at 6 P.M. the fire ceased from the 
 fort ; but that from the confederate bat 
 teries continued, at intervals of twenty 
 minutes, throughout the night. Towards 
 midnight, General Beauregard addressed 
 a second communication to Anderson, in 
 dicating his wish to spare an unnecessary 
 effusion of blood, and requesting he would 
 
via 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 appoint a time for evacuating the fort. 
 This was responded to by the major favour 
 ably : his position was no longer tenable ; 
 his ammunition expended; and the last 
 biscuit had been eaten some thirty- six 
 hours previous ; and as any reinforcement 
 or supply of provisions was impossible, the 
 major consented to evacuate Fort Sumter 
 at noon on the 15th, provided, in the mean 
 time, orders to the contrary should not 
 reach him from his government, and that 
 necessary means of transport were pro 
 vided. In accordance with this arrange 
 ment, the Isabel troop-ship came down the 
 harbour, and anchored off the fort on Sunday 
 morning, ready to embark the garrison, and 
 convey it to New York. The terms of 
 surrender were, that the troops should re 
 tain all private property ; should march out 
 with side and other arms, with the usual 
 honours ; and that they should salute and 
 take with them their flag. It is remark 
 able that not a single individual was killed 
 on either side in this bombardment and 
 defence ; but in firing the salute to the flag, 
 one man was killed, and four badly wounded 
 by accident.* 
 
 The president of the United States issued 
 a proclamation, calling for 75,000 volun 
 teers to suppress the insurrectionary move 
 ment ; and, at the same time, the govern 
 ment of the confederate states summoned 
 32,000 men to the ranks of the army of 
 independence. On the 19th of April, the 
 blockade of the southern ports was de 
 clared. On the 29th of the same month, 
 the state of Virginia sent five delegates to 
 the confederate congress at Montgomery; 
 and, on the 6th of May, a league, offensive 
 and defensive, was announced with Ten 
 nessee. On the 18th of the month, the 
 state of Arkansas was formally admitted 
 into the confederacy ; and an ordinance of 
 secession was passed unanimously by the 
 convention of North Carolina, on the 21st 
 of the same month. At the same time, the 
 navy-yard at Gosport, opposite Norfolk, 
 Virginia, with an immense store of mate 
 riel and munitions of war, was destroyed 
 by the United States officers in charge, to 
 prevent it falling into the hands of the 
 secessionists : the vessels in the harbour 
 were scuttled and fired; and the value of 
 the property destroyed amounted to 
 50.000,000 dollars. 
 
 The neutral policy of England was de- 
 
 " The first gun, in the present conflict, was 
 fired at Fort Sumter, on Henry Clay s birthday, 
 
 clared by proclamation on the 13th of 
 May, and all British subjects were for 
 bidden to take part in the war on either 
 side. 
 
 The seat of government of the con 
 federate states was removed from Mont 
 gomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, 
 on the 20th of May. 
 
 A further addition to the United States 
 army was ordered by President Lincoln, in 
 the early part of the month, to the extent 
 of 42,000 men; and 18,000 were also re 
 quired for the navy. 
 
 By a sudden, but simultaneous, move 
 ment, under the immediate direction of 
 the United States government, every tele 
 graph office throughout the Union was 
 visited by the marshals and other autho 
 rities at 3 P.M. on the 20th of May, and 
 the entire records and despatches of the 
 preceding twelve months were seized. It 
 was intended, by this extraordinary and 
 arbitrary proceeding, to obtain evidence of 
 the designs and operations of the south, 
 and of the complicity of such parties in 
 the north friendly to the secession, as the 
 confidential telegrams passing from one to 
 the other might probably furnish. As the 
 seizure in every place was made at the 
 same moment, by preconcerted arrange 
 ment, no warning could be given that 
 might lead to the destruction of the written 
 evidence. A vast amount of miscellaneous 
 correspondence was thus collected by the 
 United States government; and, amongst it, 
 was doubtless some evidence of importance 
 as regarded the inculpation of individuals 
 in the northern states, which, if not imme 
 diately acted upon, served at least as a 
 basis upon which, at the proper time, to 
 found prosecution and punishment. In 
 short, by this raid upon the telegraph offices, 
 the federal government expected to obtain, 
 as it were, the master-key to the hidden 
 designs of the confederates, and the names 
 of their agents within the federal borders. 
 
 The first aggressive movement, on the 
 part of the north, was arranged to be an 
 advance from the Potomac along the 
 Orange and Alexandria and Central roads, 
 towards Richmond ; while another invading 
 army should be thrown into Virginia from 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland. In accord 
 ance with this project, Alexandria was oc 
 cupied, on the 21st of May, by throwing 
 some 8,000 federal troops across the Poto- 
 
 and the fort surrendered on Thomas Jefferson s 
 birthday." Reldlion Record, p. 78. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 IX 
 
 mac; the Virginia forces evacuating the 
 town, and falling back to the Manassas 
 Junction, where the main body of the con 
 federate troops was stationed, under the 
 command of General Bonham. The occu 
 pation of the city was accomplished under 
 cover of the night ; and a number of the 
 confederate troops, unconscious of danger, 
 were made prisoners at their quarters. In 
 this affair, Colonel Ellsworth, of the New 
 York Fire Zouaves, was shot by the keeper 
 of an hotel, while in the act of carrying 
 away a Palmetto flag, which he had taken 
 from the summit of the building. 
 
 The federal government had now secured 
 the most important passages into Virginia ; 
 viz., the town of Alexandria, and Fortress 
 Monroe. On the 25th of the month, 
 Hampton bridge was also taken possession 
 of by three regiments of United States 
 troops. On the following day, General 
 M Clellan issued an address to the people 
 of Western Virginia, announcing that the 
 federal government did not intend to in 
 terfere with their rights in holding slaves, 
 but ivould rattier protect them therein. On 
 the last day of the month, an engagement 
 took place at Aquia Creek, thirty-five miles 
 below Washington, on the Potomac, be 
 tween the United States gun-boats, the 
 Freeborn, Anacosta, and Pawnee, and some 
 shore batteries. The result of the affair, 
 which was resumed on the 1st of June, 
 and continued for five hours, was simply 
 the destruction of the railroad depot and 
 some buildings on the shore of the creek. 
 
 General Beauregard assumed the com 
 mand of the confederate troops at Manassas 
 Junction on the 3rd of June. 
 
 On the 10th, a federal force of about 
 4,000 men, under General Pierce, at 
 Hampton, was collected at Little Bethel, 
 Virginia, and from thence advanced to 
 surprise some 1,800 confederate troops, 
 intrenched at Great Bethel, about nine 
 miles south from Hampton, and twelve 
 north-west of Fortress Monroe. The assail 
 ing troops marched at midnight ; but, 
 through some mistake, the main body came 
 suddenly upon the party thrown out in 
 advance ; and, expecting it was a patrol of 
 the enemy, opened fire upon it. By this 
 mishap two men were killed, and nine 
 teen wounded; and by the same mistake 
 an alarm was given, and the mid 
 night surprise was foiled. Under such 
 circumstances nothing remained but to 
 attempt to carry the intrenchment by the 
 
 VOL. II. b 
 
 bayonet; which, however, failed. The at 
 tack was gallantly made, and as gallantly 
 repulsed. For a short time a battery of how 
 itzers was occupied by the federal troops, 
 who were subsequently driven out of it by 
 a charge of the 1st North Carolina regi 
 ment. A second blunder, on the part of 
 the federal officers, decided the conflict. 
 A body of 250 of the Vermont men were 
 again mistaken for confederates by Colonel 
 Townsend, of the New York 3rd regiment, 
 who thereupon ordered his men to fall 
 back ; and a body of Zouaves in front, find 
 ing themselves unsupported, also retired, 
 and thus threw away every chance of vic 
 tory : the order to retreat was then given. 
 Among the casualties on the federal side, 
 the loss most deeply felt was that of Major 
 Winthrop a name famous in American 
 annals who fell pierced through the breast 
 while standing on a log, and attempting, 
 by his gestures, to rally his men to a final 
 charge. Besides this officer, the federals 
 lost thirteen killed and thirty wounded, and 
 several others were missing after the battle. 
 The loss of the confederate troops amounted, 
 it is said, to seventeen killed. The return 
 of the discomfited troops to Hampton created 
 much alarm and disappointment. 
 
 In consequence of some demonstrations 
 by the federal commanders in the valley of 
 Virginia, it was deemed prudent to with 
 draw the confederate troops at Harper s 
 Ferry ; and they accordingly retired to 
 Winchester. The troops left in two co 
 lumns one with the intention of joining the 
 force at Manassas ; the other marching in 
 the direction of Leesburg. Previous to the 
 retirement of the troops, the splendid rail 
 road bridge over the Potomac, which had 
 been deemed one of the most beautiful 
 structures of the kind in America, was 
 partially destroyed ; and many large and 
 important buildings were also blown up 
 and reduced to a mass of ruins. In the 
 course of the retreat from Harper s Ferry, 
 an immense boulder, of about a hundred 
 tons weight, was precipitated from the Point 
 of Rocks upon the road below, which it 
 entirely obstructed. This, however, was 
 subsequently removed by blasting ; and the 
 track then passed over the crushed frag 
 ments, some of which were scattered over 
 the bed of the canal, leaving scarcely room 
 for the passage of the canal boats. 
 
 Immediately after the evacuation of 
 Harper s Ferry, it was reported that a 
 force, under General Paterson, had crossed 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 the Potomac at William sport. The con 
 federate troops were immediately directed 
 to take a position that should place them 
 between Winchester and Paterson s force. 
 This movement disarranged the plan of the 
 latter, and he recrossed the river. General 
 Johnstone then marched to Winchester, 
 where his army was in a position to repel 
 the advance of M Clellan from the west, or 
 of Paterson from the north-east, and also 
 to form a junction with General Beauregard 
 when requisite. 
 
 The armed steamer, Sumter, the first 
 vessel of the confederate navy, ran the 
 blockade of New Orleans on the 1st of 
 July, and proceeded on a cruise in search 
 of federal vessels. This war-ship, destined 
 to act a conspicuous part in the war, was 
 commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, 
 and had a picked crew of sixty-five men 
 and twenty marines. 
 
 On the 2nd of July, the Potomac was 
 again crossed by Paterson s force; and 
 Colonel Jackson whose brigade had been 
 sent to the neighbourhood of Martinsburg, 
 to support a corps of observation on the 
 line of the Potomac, under Colonel Stuart 
 fell back before him, but not without 
 inflicting severe loss upon the federal 
 troops, from whom he took forty-five pri 
 soners, without himself losing a man. 
 
 Congress assembled at Washington on 
 the 6th of July ; and in the message of the 
 president, it was asked" to give the executive 
 government legal means to make the contest 
 a short and decisive one, by placing at its 
 control for the purpose, at least 400,000 
 men, and 400,000,000 of dollars." The men, 
 he said, "were quite ready and willing to 
 take arms for the support of the govern 
 ment; and the money asked for war pur 
 poses was quite within the ability of the 
 country to supply." The request was 
 responded to by the senate on the llth of 
 the month, by passing a bill authorising 
 the employment of 500,000 volunteers, 
 and the appropriation of 500,000,000 of 
 dollars, for the purpose of suppressing the 
 rebellion. 
 
 General Paterson proceeded to invest 
 Martinsburg; and, on the 15th of the month, 
 his advance from that place was notified 
 by Colonel Stuart. On reaching Bunker s 
 Hill, nine miles from Winchester, the 
 federal commander halted for a day; and, 
 on the 17th, moved his left wing towards 
 Smithfield. From this movement it was 
 inferred that he intended to attack the 
 
 confederate line on its right flank. The 
 intent of the federal general was, however, 
 soon discovered to be to hold Johnstone 
 in check, while a powerful force, under 
 M Dowell, moved upon General Beauregard 
 at Manassas. 
 
 The battle of Rich Mountain, fought on 
 the llth of July, between a confederate 
 force of about 2,000 men, under the com 
 mand of Colonel Pegram, and a federal 
 army of 8,000 men, commanded by General 
 Rosencranz, ended in the defeat of the 
 former ; who, after a most determined and 
 gallant resistance, were compelled to aban 
 don the position, and retire with con 
 siderable loss. Hotly pursued by the 
 enemy, they at length stood at bay at Car- 
 rock s Ford, where they severely punished 
 the advancing federalists; and, after con 
 tinuing the fight until nearly every car 
 tridge had been expended, and securing the 
 passage of their artillery, they continued 
 the retreat until they reached Monterey, 
 where they joined the division of General 
 Jackson. In the battle at Carrock s Ford, 
 General Garnett fell ; and the result of the 
 action to the confederate arms, showed a loss 
 of thirty-seven killed and wounded, besides 
 the baggage of the force, a part of which 
 was used in blocking the road against the 
 enemy s artillery. 
 
 The defeat at Rich Mountain was con 
 sidered, on both sides, as an important 
 affair. It was announced to the govern 
 ment, by General M Clellan, as a signal 
 victory. " Our success," he wrote, " is 
 complete, and secession is killed in the 
 country." The catastrophe certainly in 
 volved the surrender of an important dis 
 trict of North- Western Virginia ; but the 
 loss was more than atoned for by the 
 favourable intelligence that, about the same 
 time, reached the confederate government 
 at Richmond, from other quarters. On the 
 day that the disasters at Rich Mountain 
 were reported, accounts arrived of suc 
 cesses over the federal arms in Missouri, 
 and of the blow given to the invaders 
 at Carthage, on the 5th of the month, 
 when General Sigel was defeated by 
 Governor Jackson ; and the federal arms 
 received a repulse that made the Missouri 
 campaign one of the most successful of the 
 war. 
 
 In the advance of General Paterson s 
 force towards Winchester, Virginia, it came 
 up with a division of the confederate army 
 under Colonel Stuart, at Bunker s Hill, 
 
TEE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 about five miles from Martinsburg. The \ 
 Union troops consisted of the 21st and 23rd 
 Pennsylvania volunteers, the Rhode Island 
 battery, and the 2nd regular cavalry. The 
 attack was commenced by the confederate 
 cavalry, 600 strong, which dashed at the 
 federal infantry, not perceiving the battery 
 in its rear. The infantry at, once opened 
 their lines, and the Rhode Island artillery 
 pouring in a discharge of grape and shell, 
 emptied the saddles of Stuart s force, and 
 sent it reeling back in confusion. As soon 
 as the ranks were thus broken, the federal 
 cavalry made a vigorous charge, and en 
 tirely routed their assailants. On the follow 
 ing morning, nevertheless, General Pater- 
 son s entire force moved from Bunker s 
 Hill, in the direction of Charlestown, about 
 nine miles distant, and situate at right 
 angles with the Winchester road, the pro 
 posed advance upon that town being aban 
 doned. 
 
 A number of skirmishes, in which victory 
 alternated, between the combatants, took 
 place during the month of July, without 
 producing any substantial advantage to 
 either party : but at length, on the 21st, 
 the memorable battle of Manassas placed 
 the wreath of victory upon the standards of 
 the confederate army. This event was, 
 however, secondary to the first great event 
 of the war the battle and rout of Bull-Run, 
 which preceded it by three days. 
 
 Bull-Run, within the line of which 
 General Beauregard had placed his de 
 fensive force, constitutes the northern 
 boundary of Fauquier county, dividing it 
 from Fairfax ; and it was upon its banks, 
 about three miles to the north-west of the 
 junction of the Manassas Gap with the 
 Orange and Alexandria railroad, that the 
 memorable action of the 18th of July was 
 fought. The Run is a small stream, flowing 
 nearly from west to east, to its confluence 
 with the Occoquan river, about twelve miles 
 from the Potomac, and draining a very 
 considerable district of country, from its 
 source to within a short distance of the 
 Potomac at Occoquan. Roads traverse 
 and intersect the surrounding country in 
 every direction. The banks of the stream 
 are rocky and precipitous ; but there are 
 many fords, which have been long in use, 
 and, of course, were well known. At one 
 of these, Mitchell s Ford, the passage is 
 about equi-distant between Centreville and 
 Manassas, which are some six miles apart. 
 
 The threatened advance to Richmond, 
 
 by the federal General M Dowell, brought 
 the two forces opposite each other at this 
 memorable spot ; and, anticipating the in 
 tention of the federal commander, Beau- 
 regard had already concentrated his force 
 within the lines of Bull-Run ; and, on the 
 morning of the 17th, the confederate troops 
 rested on that stream, from Union Mills 
 Ford, to the Stone bridge, a distance of 
 about eight miles. The next morning the 
 movements of the enemy became threaten 
 ing; and, at length, he appeared in great 
 force in front of the position occupied by 
 the brigade under General Bonham, which 
 held the approaches to Mitchell s Ford. 
 About mid-day, the federal force opened 
 fire with 20-pound rifle guns, from a hill 
 about a mile and a-half from Bull-Run. 
 The fire was ineffectual for mischief; and 
 the confederate troops, reserving their fire, 
 waited for the opportune moment to act. 
 
 After a short delay, a light battery was 
 pushed forward by M Dowell s force; where 
 upon, Kemper s battery, attached to Bon- 
 ham s brigade, which occupied a ridge on 
 the left of the Centreville road, poured in a 
 discharge of solid shot, that had the effect 
 of driving back the enemy s battery, and 
 its supports. This repulse, for some time, 
 held the federals in check; while Kemper s 
 guns were withdrawn across Mitchell s Ford, 
 to a spot previously indicated, commanding 
 all the direct approaches to it. 
 
 " In the meantime," says the historian 
 of the first year of the war, " the enemy 
 was advancing in strong columns of in 
 fantry, with artillery and cavalry, on Black 
 burn s Ford, which was covered by Gen 
 eral Longstreet s brigade. The confederate 
 pickets fell back silently across the ford, 
 before the advancing foe. The entire 
 southern bank of the stream, for the whole 
 front of Longstreet s brigade, was covered, at 
 the water s edge, by an extended line of skir 
 mishers. Taking advantage of the steep 
 slopes on the northern bank of the stream, 
 the enemy approached under shelter, in 
 heavy force, within less than a hundred 
 yards of our skirmishers. Before advancing 
 his infantry, the enemy maintained a fire 
 of rifle artillery for half-an-hour ; then he 
 pushed forward a column of over 3,000 
 infantry to the assault, with such a weight 
 of numbers as to be repelled with difficulty 
 by the comparatively small force of not 
 more than 1,200 bayonets, with which 
 Brigadier-general Longstreet met him. The 
 repulse of this charge of the enemy, was 
 
Xll 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 an exhibition of the devoted courage of our 
 troops the most brilliant incident of the 
 day. Not one yard of intrenchment, or 
 one rifle-pit, protected the men at Black 
 burn s Ford ; who, with rare exceptions, 
 were, on that day, the first time under fire, 
 and who, taking and maintaining every 
 position ordered, exceeded in cool, self- 
 possessed, and determined courage, the 
 best- trained veterans. Twice the enemy 
 was foiled and driven back by our skir 
 mishers and Longstreet s reserve companies. 
 As he returned to the contest with increased 
 numbers, General Longstreet had been re 
 inforced from Early s brigade, with two 
 regiments of infantry, and two pieces of 
 artillery. Unable to effect a passage of 
 the stream, the enemy kept up a scattering 
 fire for some time. The fire of musketry 
 was soon silenced, and the affair became 
 one of artillery. The enemy was superior 
 in the character as well as in the number 
 of his weapons; provided with improved 
 munitions, and every artillery appliance ; 
 at the same time occupying the command 
 ing position. In the onset, the fire of the 
 confederates was directed against the federal 
 infantry, whose bayonets, glistening in the 
 sun, alone indicated their presence and 
 force. This drew the attention of a battery 
 on a ridge, which commanded the position ; 
 but for a time the aim of the federals was 
 inaccurate. This at last was corrected, and 
 shot and shell fell thick, and burst in the 
 midst of the confederate battery, which, 
 nothing daunted, continued its destructive 
 fire. By degrees, the battery was then 
 advanced, by hand, out of the range which 
 the enemy had ascertained. From this 
 new position the confederate guns con 
 tinued their deadly fire, until, at length, 
 that of the enemy slackened : the intervals 
 between their discharges grew longer and 
 longer, and finally ceased. It was then 
 visible to the confederate army, that the lines 
 of their baffled enemy had broken, and that 
 the whole army was flying in wild confusion 
 and titter rout, strewing their line of re 
 treat with castaway guns, blankets, and 
 knapsacks, and dotting the route they had 
 taken with the wounded and killed of their 
 army." 
 
 The repulse at Bull-Run only stimulated 
 the federal commander-in-chief to further 
 efforts; and, having quickly determined 
 upon his order of battle, General Scott, on 
 Sunday, the 21st of July, ordered General 
 M Dowell to advance on Manassas. " The 
 
 movement was generally known in "Wash 
 ington, and congress had adjourned for the 
 purpose of affording its members an oppor 
 tunity to attend the battle-field. Yictory 
 was looked upon as inevitable; and so 
 generally was the idea taken up by the in 
 habitants of the sovereign city, that people 
 of all classes of society hurried, in every 
 species of vehicle, across the Potomac, that 
 they might be in time to see the grand 
 tournament which was to decide the for 
 tunes of the south, and the supremacy of 
 the northern states." 
 
 Orders were issued by General M Dowell 
 for the grand army of the Potomac to be in 
 motion, en route for its different positions, 
 so that they might be reached before day 
 break of the 21st. It was also commanded 
 that each man should have four days 
 rations cooked, and in their haversacks ; 
 anticipatory of their gaining Manassas, and 
 holding it until supplies could reach them 
 by rail from Alexandria. 
 
 On the part of the confederates, it does 
 not appear that any preconcerted plan of 
 battle had been formed ; and that the whole 
 of the movements depended upon the de 
 velopment of the enemy s designs, and the 
 tact, activity, and energy called into action 
 to meet the exigencies of the occasion. 
 General Johnstone being the senior in 
 rank, assumed command of the confederate 
 forces then concentrating at Manassas ; but 
 as he entirely approved the tactics of 
 General Beauregard, he did not at all 
 interfere with the carrying out the designs 
 of that officer. 
 
 Returning to the narrative before referred 
 to,* it is said that the effective confede 
 rate force, of all arms, ready for action in 
 the field, on that eventful morning, was less 
 than 30,000 men, divided into eight bri 
 gades, occupying the defensive line of Bull- 
 Run. In his entire ignorance of the 
 enemy s plan of attack, General Beauregard 
 was compelled to extend his force along 
 the stream for some eight or ten miles, 
 while the enemy developed his purpose. 
 He had abandoned his original plan of 
 marching on Manassas by the town routes 
 from Washington and Alexandria, and had 
 resolved upon turning the left flank of the 
 confederate army. 
 
 Soon after sunrise on the 21st, the 
 enemy appeared in force in front of a posi 
 tion held by Colonel Evans, at the Stone 
 bridge, and opened a brisk cannonade. In 
 * The First Year of the War; p. 117. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 this quarter the two armies were engaged 
 in slight skirmishes for more than an hour, 
 while the main body of the federals was 
 marching through the Big Forest, to cross 
 Bull-Run some two miles above the con 
 federate left, and thus to take the southern 
 forces in flank and rear. This movement 
 was discovered in time to check its pro 
 gress, and ultimately gave opportunity to 
 form a new line of battle, nearly at right 
 angles with the defensive line of Bull-Run. 
 
 The enemy having crossed the stream, 
 began his detour from the turnpike, at a 
 point nearly half-way between Stone bridge 
 and Centreville, pursuing a winding nar 
 row track of a rarely used road, through a 
 dense wood, until near the Sudley road. 
 The column numbered 16,000 men of all 
 arms, with twenty-four pieces of artillery, 
 eighteen of which were rifled guns. 
 
 The brigade of General Burnside here, 
 as well as at Fairfax Court-house, led the 
 advance; and, about 9.45 A.M., debouched 
 from a wood in sight of the position occu 
 pied by General Evans, and about 500 
 yards distant from the Louisiana battalion 
 commanded by Brigadier Wheat. An at 
 tack upon the latter was immediately made, 
 and continued with vigour for more than 
 an hour ; but so determined was the valour 
 with which the assailants were resisted, 
 that, galled and staggered by the torrents 
 of fire poured upon them by Wheat s bat 
 talion, reinforcements were called for, and 
 arrived, increasing the attacking force to 
 3,500 bayonets, and eight pieces of ar 
 tillery, opposed to less than 800 men, and 
 two 6-pounder guns. But, despite these 
 great odds, the confederate troops main 
 tained their front to the enemy for more 
 than an hour, when General Bee came to 
 their aid with his command. The joint force, 
 little exceeding five regiments, with six 
 field-pieces, was now opposed to 15,000 
 federal troops. A fierce and destructive 
 conflict ensued : a withering fire poured 
 fast from either side ; while the numerous 
 artillery of the federals swept the con 
 federate lines. 
 
 The action now became general : more of 
 the federal brigades had been brought into 
 the conflict ; and heavy losses were sus 
 tained on both sides. At length the order 
 was given by General Bee to retire. As the 
 shattered battalions fell back, the slaughter 
 was deplorable ; and the enemy fondly 
 imagined the field won. News of victory 
 was carried to the rear; and, in less than 
 
 an hour afterwards, the telegraph had 
 flashed the intelligence through all the 
 cities of the north, that the federal troops 
 were completing their victory, and, ere 
 night, the struggle would be over for ever 
 with the southern states. 
 
 The exultation thus occasioned, was, how 
 ever, but of short duration, and its intensity 
 rendered the disappointment that followed 
 doubly mortifying. The retreat of the con 
 federate troops was arrested by the energy 
 and resolution of General Bee, aided by 
 the support of the Hampton Legion, and 
 the timely arrival of General Jackson s 
 brigade, which consisted of five regiments. 
 " A moment before," it is recorded, " Gen 
 eral Bee had been well-nigh overwhelmed 
 by superior numbers. He approached Gen 
 eral Jackson with the exclamation " Gen 
 eral, they are beating us back." To which 
 the latter responded " Sir, we ll give them 
 the bayonet." Bee immediately rallied his 
 overtasked heroes with the words " There 
 is Jackson, standing like a stone wall.* 
 Let us determine to die here, or to con 
 quer." 
 
 Up to this moment the event of the day 
 was undecided. The enemy, considering 
 himself master of the field, was advancing 
 large bodies from his centre, to complete 
 the victory already supposed to be within 
 his grasp. Beauregard, who had watched 
 the course of the battle from a hill com 
 manding the whole panorama, found, to 
 his infinite chagrin, that orders he had 
 given in the morning for a division on the 
 flank and rear of the enemy at Centreville, 
 had miscarried, and that it was necessary 
 new combinations should be adopted to 
 meet the arrangements of the federal com 
 manders. 
 
 "About noon, the scene of the battle 
 was unutterably sublime. The hill occupied 
 in the morning by Generals Beauregard, 
 Johnstone, and Bonham, and their staffs, 
 placed before the spectator a grand moving 
 diorama, of which the accompaniment was 
 the roar of artillery, which rolled round 
 the base of the hill like protracted thunder- 
 bursts. For one mile in length the valley 
 seemed a boiling crater of dust, smoke, and 
 fire. Occasionally, the yells of the con 
 tending forces, as they advanced towards 
 each other in the mortal strife, and alter 
 nately fell back, were heard above the roar 
 of the artillery." 
 
 The condition of the field became, at 
 
 * Hence the sobriquet, " Stonewall" Jackson. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 length, desperate : the left flank of the 
 confederate force was overpowered, and 
 instant support was necessary to avert in 
 evitable defeat. Fortunately for the south 
 ern cause a reinforcement was at hand. At 
 this moment, the Generals Johnstone and 
 Beauregard galloped upon the field, and 
 were instantly occupied in the reorganisa 
 tion of the troops that had so gallantly 
 withstood the shock of battle, and the 
 weight of superior numbers. With the 
 colours of the 4th Alabama regiment borne 
 by his side, General Johnstone charged to 
 the front, and confidence was at once re 
 stored. General Beauregard took the com 
 mand of the left wing, while Johnstone 
 retained the supreme direction of the whole 
 army ; and the battle was again re-estab 
 lished. But the aspect of affairs was criti 
 cal in the extreme. Beauregard s force 
 in front of the enemy, at this moment 
 numbered 6,500 infantry and artillerists, 
 with thirteen guns, and two companies of 
 Stuart s cavalry. 
 
 The enemy s force bearing down upon 
 his position, consisted of a body of 20,000 
 infantry, seven companies of regular 
 cavalry, and twenty-four pieces of im 
 proved artillery. Besides these overwhelm 
 ing odds, heavy reserves of infantry and 
 artillery were massed in the distance around 
 the fords of the river, visibly ready to ad 
 vance at any moment. 
 
 Conscious of this vast disparity of force, 
 General Beauregard, as he posted his lines 
 for the impending shock of battle, addressed 
 the troops in words of encouragement and 
 confidence. He was answered with loud 
 and eager cheers, and all felt assured of 
 victory. 
 
 While these events were taking place in 
 the confederate army, the federals had 
 taken possession of a plateau occupied in 
 the morning by General Bee. Here some 
 batteries were placed, and brought into 
 immediate action, playing with destruc 
 tive effect upon the forward battalions 
 of the southern army. At length, about 
 2 P.M., General Beauregard gave orders 
 for the right of his line to advance and 
 recover the plateau. The attempt was made, 
 and, for a moment, was successful. The 
 federal lines were broken, and swept back 
 from the open ground ; but, reinforced by 
 fresh regiments, the troops were rallied, 
 recovered their ground and guns, and re 
 sumed the offensive. 
 
 But the success was only transient. A 
 
 second effort for the recovery of the dis 
 puted ground was made by General Beau- 
 regard, in which the whole line shared, 
 and himself led in person. The result of 
 this impetuous movement was, that the 
 entire open ground was swept clear of the 
 enemy, and the plateau remained finally in 
 the possession of the confederate troops, 
 with the greater part of the batteries placed 
 upon it by the federals. At this juncture 
 General Bee was mortally wounded, at the 
 head of the 4th Alabama regiment ; and 
 Colonel Burton also fell, shot through the 
 heart. This officer was struck while grasp 
 ing the standard of his regiment, and 
 calling upon the remnants of his troops to 
 follow him. After he had fallen, he said 
 to the men who gathered round him "To 
 your ranks ! They have killed me ; but 
 never give up the field." The last com 
 mand of this noble soldier was implicitly 
 obeyed : his men silenced and captured the 
 battery he had died to obtain. 
 
 The conflict raged with terrific vigour. 
 The enemy, driven back on several points, 
 fought with desperate resolution, and had 
 rallied under cover of a strong reserve 
 posted on a plateau, near the intersection of 
 the turnpike and the Sudley or Brentsville 
 road, whence demonstrations were made to 
 outflank and drive back the left of the 
 confederate force, and to cut it off from 
 Manassas. It is unnecessary to detail the 
 movements by which this design was frus 
 trated. 
 
 At length, the federal commander made 
 his last effort to retrieve the fortune of 
 the day : but a simultaneous attack by the 
 confederate force, on his front, his right 
 flank, and rear, was irresistible. Forced 
 over the narrow plateau made by the in 
 tersection of the roads mentioned, he was 
 driven into the fields, where all order and 
 discipline was lost; and the masses com 
 menced to break up in every direction 
 towards Bull-Run. The whole of the ar 
 tillery advanced to the last scene of con 
 flict, had fallen into the hands of the con 
 federates : the entire force was demoralised 
 and utterly beaten ; and there were no 
 possible combinations by which the success 
 of the confederates could be further dis 
 puted. 
 
 From the long-contested hill, the retreat 
 ing masses of the federal host were seen 
 rushing over the country, in fierce haste, 
 as the panic in their rear gathered strength 
 and utterance. The rout had become 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xv 
 
 general. The fields were covered by 
 swarms of soldiers, madly rushing from the 
 echoing yells and mocking cheers of their 
 victors. 
 
 The fugitive host was pursued, but did 
 not need such pursuit to complete its dis 
 organisation. The discomfited troops were 
 followed to within range of the federal 
 position at Cub-Run bridge, when a shot 
 took effect upon a crossing team ; and the 
 waggon being overturned, obstructed the 
 passage of the bridge. As the frightened 
 masses crowded towards this chance of 
 escape, the confederate guns made deadly 
 havoc with the train-carriages and artillery 
 waggons, which were quickly shattered 
 into useless fragments. Cannon and cais 
 sons, ambulances and train-waggons, inter 
 mingled with hundreds of soldiers, rushed 
 down the hill in one common heap, strug 
 gling and screaming, to cross the stream 
 and get away from their pursuers. 
 
 Sights of wild and terrible agony met 
 the eye in every direction. The retreat 
 did not in the least slacken until Centre- ! 
 ville was reached ; and there the sight of j 
 Miles brigade, the reserve, formed in order 
 on the hill, seemed somewhat to reassure 
 the van of the fugitives. But the rally was 
 soon ended by a few discharges of artillery, 
 which the confederates had got into posi 
 tion. The rout was renewed, and teams 
 and men poured on, passing their own camp, 
 and rushing frantically for the distant 
 Potomac. The road over which the grand 
 army of the Potomac had but recently tra 
 versed southward, gay with unstained ban 
 ners, and echoing with shouts of antici 
 pated triumph, was now, for more than ten 
 miles, covered with the fragments of a 
 panic-stricken and scattered army. Such 
 were the results of a single day s disaster. 
 
 It is impossible, we are told, to conceive 
 a more deplorable spectacle than was pre 
 sented in Washington on the night of the 
 21st of July, as the remnants of the force 
 came struggling in. During the evening 
 of the previous day, it had been reported, 
 in the federal capital, that the army had 
 achieved a brilliant and decisive victory ; 
 and the elation of the people was excessive. 
 But, the next morning, the news of the 
 defeat was brought by successive arrivals 
 of panic stricken fugitives. One of the 
 boats from Alexandria was nearly sunk by 
 the mass of retreating soldiers upon its 
 decks. Others rushed to the depot, to con 
 tinue their flight from Washington ; and 
 
 the authorities were compelled to put ifc 
 under a strong guard, to keep off the fugi 
 tives who struggled to get on the northern 
 trains. Some fled wildly into the country ; 
 and many escaped across the Susquehanna, 
 compelling the negroes whom they met, to 
 exchange their clothes with them for the 
 uniforms : and thus, for four or five days, 
 was the excitement kept up, and increased 
 by momentary apprehensions of the advance 
 of the confederate army, flushed with vic 
 tory, and intent upon further conquest. 
 For some unaccountable reason this impor 
 tant step was not taken, and the opportu 
 nity offered for a crowning triumph to the 
 confederate arms was lost. 
 
 The loss on both sides, in this tremendous 
 affair, was serious. The confederate troops 
 lost 300 killed, 1,483 wounded, and 150 
 missing. The federal army also counted 
 481 killed, 1,011 wounded, and 1,216 miss 
 ing : giving a total, on the one side, of 
 1,902 ; on the other, of 2,708. The southern 
 reports of the federal loss, estimated it, in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners, at upwards 
 of 4,500, besides twenty-eight pieces of artil 
 lery, 5,000 muskets, nearly half a million of 
 cartridges, a garrison flag, and ten colours ; 
 sixty-four artillery horses, harnessed ; 
 twenty-six waggons, and a large amount 
 of camp equipage, clothing, and other pro 
 perty, abandoned in the flight. 
 
 The result of the rout of Bull-Run, 
 and the yet more deplorable failure at 
 Manassas, necessitated a change in the 
 military government of the United States. 
 General Scott was, therefore, virtually 
 superseded ; and General G. B. M Clellan 
 received an appointment to the command 
 of the army of the Potomac. His fitness for 
 the important trust will be hereafter seen. 
 The new commander was a favourite, in 
 consequence of some successes in North- 
 Western Virginia, which had been exag 
 gerated into great victories. He was only 
 in his thirty-fifth year. 
 
 The determination of the southern people 
 to establish the independence of their 
 country at all hazards, and at any cost, 
 may be conceived from the following an 
 nouncement and invitation, published in 
 the Richmond Whig, on the 24th of July, 
 and reproduced in most of the secessionist 
 papers : 
 
 " [THE DEVOTED BAND] The shortest path to 
 
 peace is that which carries havoc and desolation to 
 
 our invaders. It is believed that there are five or 
 
 I ten thousand men in the south ready and willing 
 
XVI 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA, 
 
 to share the fate of Curtius, and devote themselves 
 to the salvation of their country. It is proposed, 
 that all who are willing to make this sacrifice, shall 
 arm themselves with a sword, two far-shooters, and 
 a carbine each ; and meet, on horseback, at some 
 place to be designated, convenient for the great 
 work in hand. Fire and sword must be carried to 
 the houses of those who are visiting these blessings 
 upon their neighbours. Philadelphia, and even 
 New York, is not beyond the reach of a long and 
 brave arm. The moral people of those cities can 
 not be better taught the virtues of invasion than 
 by the blazing light of their own dwellings. 
 
 "None need apply for admission to the Devoted 
 Band, but those who are prepared to take their life 
 in their hand, and who would indulge not the 
 least expectation of ever returning. They dedicate 
 their lives to the destruction of the enemies of 
 their country." 
 
 On the 25th of the month, Fort Fillmore, 
 New Mexico, was surrendered to the con 
 federate government, by Major Lynde, of 
 the United States army, and the officers 
 and men under his command. The whole of 
 the stores and munitions of war were given 
 up : the men were released on parole. 
 
 By the 1st of August, General Rosen- 
 cranz reported Western Virginia to be 
 entirely cleared of armed bodies of con 
 federates. On the 5th of the same month, 
 the declaration of independence of the state 
 of Missouri, was proclaimed by Governor 
 C. F. Jackson, who, thereupon, called 
 for 50,000 volunteers. At the time this 
 proclamation was issued, there was no mili 
 tary organisation of any kind in the state, 
 nor had there been a militia muster for 
 more than fifteen years. The state was 
 entirely without arms, and without ammu 
 nition ; " and, in this condition, with a noble 
 enthusiasm, and a gallantry that put to the 
 blush the poor excuse of helplessness 
 (offered, in the early part of the struggle, 
 by Maryland, to excuse a cringing sub 
 mission to tyranny, and a despicable fear 
 of consequences), the state of Missouri re 
 solved alone, and unaided, if need be, to 
 confront and resist the despotic rule of the 
 federal government, and to fight it to the 
 issue of liberty or death." 
 
 The progress of the war in Missouri was 
 in favour of the south. On the 6th of 
 July, General Price arrived at Carthage, ac 
 companied by Brigadier-general M Culloch 
 and Major-general Pierce, of the Arkansas 
 state forces; bringing with them about 
 2,000 men, whose arrival was welcomed 
 with joy by the Missourians in camp. On 
 the following day, the force, under the re 
 spective commands, proceeded en route for 
 Cowskin Prairie, in M Donald County, near 
 
 the Indian territory. The federal generals, 
 instead of forcing a battle, had determined 
 to form a junction at Springfield thus in 
 advertently leaving the confederate troops 
 opportunity for organisation. While at 
 Cowskin Prairie, General Price received 
 considerable reinforcements, making the 
 numerical strength of his force about 
 10,000; but more than one-half of the 
 number were without arms. Nevertheless, 
 the confederate generals decided to march 
 upon Springfield, and attack and rout the 
 enemy in his position. To that end their 
 forces were concentrated at Capville, in 
 Barry County, from whence they proceeded 
 in the direction of Springfield, ninety miles 
 distant, General M Culloch leading the 
 advance. 
 
 On arriving at Cane Creek, the general 
 received information that the federals had 
 left Springfield, and were advancing upon 
 him in great force, their vanguard being 
 already within seven miles of him. After 
 two or three days skirmishing by the 
 pickets of the respective forces, the immense 
 superiority of the enemy induced General 
 M Culloch to propose a retrograde move 
 ment, as he looked upon the unarmed men 
 as incumbrances, and deemed the undisci 
 plined condition of both wings of the army 
 likely to produce disastrous consequences 
 in the event of an engagement. This view 
 of the case did not, however, accord with 
 the opinion of General Price, who wished 
 for an immediate advance ; and being sup 
 ported in his opinion by his officers, a fight 
 was resolved on, General M Culloch being 
 requested to lend arms from his command 
 for such of the Missouri troops as were 
 unprovided with them ; but this requisition 
 he declined acceding to. In the course of the 
 same evening M Culloch received a general 
 order from General Polk, commander of the 
 south-western division of the confederate 
 army, to advance upon the enemy in Mis 
 souri. He accordingly held another con 
 sultation with the officers of the two divi 
 sions, and offered at once to march upon 
 the troops from Springfield, provided he 
 had the chief command of the force. In 
 this exigency the conduct of General Price 
 was beyond all praise. He replied that he 
 was not fighting for distinction, but for the 
 defence of the liberties of his countrymen, 
 and it was indifferent to him what position he 
 occupied so that the end was accomplished. 
 He said he was ready to surrender, not 
 only the command, but his life also, as a 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xvu 
 
 sacrifice to the cause for which he was in 
 arms; and with a magnanimity of which 
 history preserves but few examples, he 
 turned over the command to General 
 M Culloch, and took a subordinate posi 
 tion in a contest which he felt sure would 
 end in triumph to the confederate flag. 
 
 General M Culloch, on assuming the 
 command, issued a general order that all 
 the unarmed men should remain in camp, 
 and that all such as had arms, should get 
 their guns in condition for service, provide 
 themselves with fifty rounds of ammuni 
 tion, and be in readiness to march at twelve 
 o clock that night. The army was divided 
 into three columns : the first commanded 
 by General M Culloch ; the second by Gen 
 eral Pierce ; and the third by General Price. 
 At the hour specified, the whole of the 
 troops were in motion in the direction of 
 Springfield ; but on arriving at the spot 
 near which they expected to meet the 
 enemy, it was discovered that the federal 
 troops had retired the previous day. En 
 couraged by this retrograde movement, the 
 confederate troops followed in pursuit a 
 distance of twenty-two miles, twelve miles 
 of the route being without water, as the 
 men had no canteens with them. 
 
 " The weary army," says the annalist, 
 "encamped on the night of the 8th at Big 
 Spring, about two miles from Wilson s 
 Creek, and ten-and-a-half south of Spring 
 field, in a deplorable condition, their bag 
 gage trains having been left behind, and 
 their beef cattle also : the troops had not 
 eaten anything for twenty-four hours, 
 having been supplied with half rations 
 only during the previous ten days. In this 
 emergency they satisfied the cravings of 
 hunger by eating green maize, without a 
 particle of salt, or a mouthful of meat ; but 
 they bore the privation with the patience 
 that became brave men and good soldiers, 
 without a murmur. On the following day 
 the troops moved to Wilson s Creek, and 
 there encamped, that they might be con 
 venient to some large fields, from which 
 they could supply themselves with green 
 maize, which constituted their only repast 
 for two days." 
 
 The troops were ordered to be ready at 
 9 P.M., to take up the line of march to 
 Springfield, for the purpose of attacking the 
 enemy at daybreak. The effective force 
 of General M Culloch, was 5,300 infantry, 
 fifteen pieces of artillery, and 6,000 irregu 
 lar horsemen, armed with flint-lock mus- 
 
 VOL. II. C 
 
 kets, rifles, and shot-guns. In consequence 
 of the threatening aspect of the weather, 
 the order to march was countermanded ; 
 but on the following morning, before sun 
 rise, the federals, who had reached a posi 
 tion they desired, made a general attack 
 upon the camp ; General Lyon leading on 
 their left, and General Sigel on their right 
 and rear; and from each of these points 
 batteries suddenly opened upon the weary 
 and surprised troops. M Culloch s column 
 was soon ready for the contest, which 
 began fiercely, and now became general. 
 After several desperate charges upon the 
 enemy s force, Sigel s corps was driven 
 back in confusion, and completely routed. 
 Having thus cleared their front and rear, 
 the attention of M Culloch was directed to 
 the centre, where General Lyon was press 
 ing upon the Missourians with all his 
 strength. A terrible fire of musketry was 
 now kept up along the whole line of the 
 hill on which the enemy was posted, and 
 the summit was covered with dead and 
 wounded. The battle was fiercely contested ; 
 and General M Culloch, in his official re 
 port, says " No two opposing forces ever 
 fought with greater desperation; inch by 
 inch the enemy gave way, and were driven 
 from their position. Nothing could with 
 stand the impetuosity of our final charge: 
 the enemy fled, and could not again be 
 rallied." 
 
 The battle of Wilson s Creek lasted about 
 six hours, and ended in signal defeat for 
 the federals, whose force was stated at from 
 nine to ten thousand, and consisted for the 
 most part of well-disciplined, well-armed 
 troops, the greater portion of them belong 
 ing to the old army of the United States. 
 Their loss was reported to be about 2,000, 
 in killed, wounded, and prisoners, besides 
 six pieces of artillery, several hundred 
 stand of small arms, and some standards. 
 In this encounter, Major-general Lyon, the 
 chief in command, was killed. In General 
 M Culloch s official report, the loss of the 
 confederate troops was stated to be 265 
 killed, 800 wounded, and thirty missing. 
 Shortly after this battle, the confederate 
 army returned to the frontier of Arkansas. 
 
 On the 20th of August, a skirmish took 
 place at Hawk s Nest, Kanawha Valley, 
 Virginia, between a confederate force, 
 under General Wise, and a body of Ohio 
 volunteers. The confederates were, how 
 ever, repulsed, with the loss of fifty killed 
 and wounded. 
 
XV1U 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 The confederate congress having passed 
 an act empowering the president to appoint 
 two commissioners, to be sent to Europe in 
 the interest of the southern confederacy ; 
 and also an act to aid Missouri in her effort 
 to expel the invaders of her soil President 
 Davis, on the 21st of August, signified his 
 approval of the measures, and directed them 
 to be immediately carried out. The state 
 of parties in the north continued most 
 excitable ; and on the 22nd of the month, 
 the leading democrats of Montgomery, 
 county Ohio, issued a circular protest 
 against " the traitorous course of the Val- 
 landigham clique," and urged the demo 
 cratic party to give strength and vigour 
 to the federal government, by a stern 
 and uncompromising resistance to every 
 measure tending to embarrass it. 
 
 A skirmish occurred between the 7th 
 Ohio volunteers and a confederate force, 
 while the former were at breakfast in their 
 quarters at Summerville, Nicholas County, 
 Western Virginia. The volunteers soon 
 recovered from their surprise, and, after an 
 obstinate struggle, managed to cut their 
 way through their asailants, upon whom 
 they inflicted serious loss, in which them 
 selves also participated, having reported 
 above 200 men killed, wounded, and 
 missing. 
 
 On the 29th of August, a naval expedi 
 tion from Fortress Monroe, under the 
 command of Commodore Stringham and 
 Major-general Butler, reduced two forts at 
 Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, making 
 prisoners 715 men, among whom was 
 Commodore Barren, the confederate com 
 mander. The victors also captured fifteen 
 guns in this affair, without the loss of a 
 single man. Three vessels, laden with 
 coffee and provisions, and two life-boats, 
 with a large store of ammunition, also fell 
 into the hands of the captors. In the re 
 duction of forts Hatteras and Clarke, 
 the assailants were much favoured by the 
 relative position of the two places, which 
 stood on each side of an inlet across the 
 sand-bar at Hatteras. These defences were 
 supposed to protect the channel, and each 
 was mounted with heavj - guns ; but as the 
 rifled ordnance carried with the expedition, 
 enabled the federals to shell the forts at a 
 range of nearly three miles, and had ac 
 tually thrown twenty-eight into them 
 within eight minutes one of the forts, 
 unable to withstand the shower of mis- 
 silrs thus discharged, surrendered ; and, 
 
 on being occupied by the enemy, its guns, 
 which, by some neglect, had not been ren 
 dered unserviceable, were turned against the 
 opposite defence of the channel, and its 
 surrender became inevitable. Commodore 
 Barron proposed to evacuate the fort with 
 the honours of war; but this proposition 
 was rejected by General Butler, who in 
 sisted upon an unconditional surrender. 
 Eight hundred federal troops were left to 
 garrison the two forts, which became an 
 important acquisition to the captors. 
 
 About the same time, a more serious, 
 and, as regards the secessionists, a far more 
 important, struggle was in progress at 
 Lexington, Missouri, between a Missourian 
 force, under General Price, and a detach 
 ment of federal troops and home guards, 
 commanded by Colonel Mulligan, who were 
 en route from Lexington to Warrensburg, 
 to seize the bank in that place, and 
 capture the principal inhabitants of Johnson 
 County, in obedience to the instructions of 
 General Fremont. The incidents of this 
 affair will be best related in the words of 
 General Price, who, in his official report to 
 Governor Johnson dated from Camp Wal 
 lace, Lexington, September 23rd, 1861 
 says "After chastising the marauding 
 armies of Lane and Montgomery, and 
 driving them out of the state ; and after 
 compelling them to abandon Fort Scott, as 
 detailed in my last report, I continued my 
 march towards this point, with an army 
 increasing hourly in numbers and enthu 
 siasm. On the 10th inst., just as we were 
 about to encamp for the day, a mile or two 
 west of Rose Hill, I learned that a detach 
 ment of federal troops and home guards 
 were marching from Lexington to War- 
 rensburg, to rob the bank in that place, 
 and plunder and arrest the citizens of 
 Johnson County, in accordance with Gen 
 eral Fremont s proclamation and instruc 
 tions. Although my men were greatly 
 fatigued by several days* continuous and 
 rapid marching, I determined to press for 
 ward, so as to surprise the enemy, if possi 
 ble, at Warrensburg. Therefore, after 
 resting a few hours, we resumed the route 
 at sunset, and marched, without inter 
 mission, until two o clock in the morning, 
 when it became evident that the infantry, 
 very few of whom had eaten a mouthful in 
 twenty-two hours, could march no further. 
 I then halted them, and went forward with 
 the larger part of my mounted men, till 
 we came, about daybreak, within view of 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xix 
 
 Warrensburg, where I ascertained that the 
 enemy had hastily fled about midnight, 
 burning bridges behind them. The rain 
 began to fall about the same time. 
 
 "This circumstance, coupled with the 
 fact that my men had been fasting for 
 more than twenty-four hours, constrained 
 me to abandon the idea of pursuing the 
 enemy that day. My infantry and artillery 
 having come up, we encamped at Warrens- 
 burg, whose citizens vied with each other 
 in feeding my almost famished soldiers. 
 An unusually violent storm delayed our 
 march the next morning till about ten 
 o clock ; but we then pushed forward 
 rapidly, still hoping to overtake the enemy. 
 Finding it impossible to do this with my 
 infantry, I again ordered a detachment to 
 move forward ; and, placing myself at their 
 head, continued the pursuit to within two- 
 and-a-half miles of Lexington, when I 
 learnt that the enemy was already within 
 the town. It being late, and my men 
 fatigued by a forced march, and utterly 
 without provisions, I halted for the night. 
 
 "About daybreak the next morning, a 
 sharp skirmish took place between our 
 pickets and the enemy s outposts. This 
 threatened to become general. Being un 
 willing, however, to risk a doubtful en 
 gagement, when a short delay would make 
 success certain, I fell back two or three 
 miles, and awaited the arrival of my in 
 fantry and artillery. These having come 
 up, we advanced upon the town, driving in 
 the enemy s pickets, until we came within 
 a short distance of the city itself. Here 
 the enemy attempted to make a stand ; but 
 they were speedily driven from every posi 
 tion, and forced to take shelter within their 
 intrenchments. We then took our position 
 within easy range of the college, which 
 building they had strongly fortified, and 
 opened upon them a brisk fire from Bled- 
 soe s battery (which, in the absence of Cap 
 tain Bledsoe, who had been wounded at 
 Big Dry Wood, was gallantly commanded 
 by Captain Emmett M Donald), and from 
 Parson s battery, under the skilful command 
 of Captain Guibor. 
 
 " Finding, after sunset, that our ammu 
 nition the most of which had been left 
 behind on the march from Springfield 
 was nearly exhausted, and that my men, 
 thousands of whom had not eaten a par 
 ticle in thirty-six hours, required rest and 
 food, I withdrew to the Fairground, and I 
 encamped there. My ammunition waggons 
 
 having been at last brought up, and largo 
 reinforcements being received, I again 
 moved into town on Wednesday, the 
 18th inst., and began a final attack upon 
 the enemy s works." 
 
 General Price then describes the relative 
 positions of the different corps of his army, 
 with the instructions to each, and continues 
 his report thus : " Shortly after entering 
 the city, on the 18th, Colonel Rivers, who 
 commanded the 4th division in the absence 
 of General Slack, led his regiment and 
 Colonel Hughes along the river bank, to 
 a point immediately beneath, and west of 
 the fortifications; and, having there been 
 reinforced, Colonel Rivers, in order to cut 
 off the enemy s means of escape, proceeded 
 down the bank of the river to capture a 
 steam-boat, which was lying just under 
 their guns. Just at this moment, a heavy 
 fire was opened upon him from Colonel 
 Anderson s large dwelling-house, on the 
 summit of the bluffs, which the enemy 
 was occupying as a hospital, and upon 
 which a white flag was flying. Several 
 companies of General Harris s command, 
 and the gallant soldiers of the 4th division, 
 who have won, upon so many battle-fields, 
 the proud distinction of always being among 
 the bravest of the brave, immediately rushed 
 upon, and took the place. 
 
 " The important position thus secured 
 was within 125 yards of the enemy s in 
 trenchments. A company from Colonel 
 Hughes regiment then took possession of 
 the boats, one of which was richly freighted 
 with valuable stores. General M Bride s 
 and General Harris s divisions, meanwhile, 
 gallantly stormed and occupied the bluffs 
 immediately north of Anderson s house. 
 The possession of these heights enabled our 
 men to harass the enemy so greatly, that, 
 resolving to regain them, they made upon 
 the house a successful assault, and one 
 which would have been honourable to them, 
 had it not been accompanied by an act of 
 savage barbarity the cold-blooded and 
 cowardly murder of three defenceless men, 
 who had laid down their arms, and sur 
 rendered themselves as prisoners. The 
 position thus retaken by the enemy, was 
 soon regained by the brave men who had 
 been driven from it, and was thenceforward 
 held by them to the very end of the contest." 
 After describing the breastworks thrown 
 up for the protection of the troops, by earth 
 works and bales of hemp, which were 
 pushed forward by the men as the action 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 proceeded ; the general says " These de 
 monstrations, and particularly the con 
 tinued advance of the hempen breastworks, 
 which were as efficient as the cotton bales 
 at New Orleans, quickly attracted the 
 attention, and excited the alarm of the 
 federals, who made more daring attempts 
 to drive us back. They were, however, 
 repulsed in every instance by the unflinch 
 ing courage and determination of our men. 
 * * * About 2 P.M. on the 20th, and after 
 fifty-two hours of continuous firing, a white 
 flag was displayed by the enemy on that 
 part of their works nearest to Colone 
 Green s position ; and, shortly after, another 
 was displayed opposite to Colonel Rivers 
 I immediately ordered a cessation of al 
 firing on our part, and sent forward one o: 
 my staff to ascertain the object of the flag, 
 and to open negotiations with the enemy, 
 if such should be their desire. It was 
 finally, after some delay, agreed by Colonel 
 Marshall and the officers associated with 
 him for that purpose by Colonel Mulligan, 
 that the United States forces should lay 
 down their arms, and surrender themselves 
 prisoners of war to this army. Those term 
 were ratified by me, and immediately 
 carried into effect. 
 
 " Our entire loss, in this series of engage 
 ments, amounts to twenty-five killed, and 
 seventy-five wounded. The enemy s loss 
 was much greater. The visible fruits of 
 this almost bloodless victory are great 
 about 3,500 prisoners; among whom are 
 Colonels Mulligan, Marshall, Peabody, 
 White, Grover, Major Van Horn, and 118 
 other commissioned officers; five pieces of 
 artillery, and two mortars; over 3,000 
 stand of infantry arms, a large number of 
 sabres, about 750 horses, many sets of 
 cavalry equipments, waggons, teams, am 
 munition ; more than 100,000 dollars worth 
 of commissariat stores, and a large amount 
 of other property. In addition to all this, 
 I obtained the restoration of the great seal 
 of the state, and the public records, which 
 had been stolen from their proper cus 
 todians, and about 900,000 dollars in 
 money, of which the bank at this place 
 had been robbed, and which I have caused 
 to be returned to it. 
 
 " This victory has demonstrated the fit 
 ness of our citizen soldiers for the tedious 
 operations of a siege, as well as for a dashing 
 ciiarge. They lay for fifty-two hours in the 
 open air, without tents or covering, regard 
 less of the sun or rain, and in the very 
 
 presence of a watchful and desperate foe, 
 manfully repelling every assault, and pa 
 tiently awaiting my orders to storm the 
 fortifications. No general ever commanded 
 a braver or a better army. It is composed 
 of the best blood, and the bravest men of 
 Missouri." 
 
 Some of the incidents connected with the 
 fight at, and the surrrender of Lexington, 
 are worth notice. The latter event is attri 
 buted, by the federal reports, mainly to the 
 cowardice of the home guard, by whom 
 the white flag was twice displayed, con 
 trary to the orders, and without the 
 knowledge, of Colonel Mulligan, whose 
 indignation at the humiliating act was 
 excessive, but unavailing. "At 4 P.M. on 
 Saturday," writes the correspondent of the 
 Chicago Tribune, " the federal forces, having 
 laid down their arms, were marched out of 
 the intrenchments to the tune of Dixie/ 
 played by the rebel bands. They left be 
 hind them their arms and accoutrements, 
 reserving only their clothing. The boys 
 of the brigade, many of them, wept to 
 leave their colours behind. * * * The 
 scenes at the capitulation were extraordi 
 nary. When the men stacked their arms, 
 Colonel Mulligan shed tears. General 
 Price had ordered that the men should not 
 be insulted by word or act, assigning as a 
 reason, that they had fought like brave 
 men, and were entitled to be treated as 
 such." When Colonel Mulligan surren 
 dered his sword, General Price asked him 
 for the scabbard. Mulligan replied that 
 he had thrown it away. The general, 
 upon receiving his sword, returned it to 
 him, saying, he disliked to see a man of 
 his valour without a sword. Mulligan 
 refused to be paroled, upon the ground 
 that his government did not acknowledge 
 the Missourians as belligerents. While 
 awaiting his exchange, Colonel Mulligan 
 and his wife became the guests of General 
 Price, the latter surrendering to them his 
 carriage, and treating them with the most 
 obliging hospitality. 
 
 The privates were first made to take the 
 oath not to serve against the confederate 
 states, and then were put across the river, 
 and, in charge of General Rains, marched 
 the same day to Richmond, and from thence, 
 on the following, to Hamilton, a station on 
 the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, when 
 they were told they were free to go where 
 ,hey pleased. " While on this march they 
 experienced generous and humane treat- 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xxi 
 
 merit, both from General Rains and from 
 the residents along the route. Such is the 
 statement of several of our men. General 
 Rains ordered an entire flock of sheep to 
 be given to them, and there was no time 
 lost in apportionment or appropriation. The 
 inhabitants also liberally gave them pro 
 visions. Waggons were provided for those 
 unable to walk, either from wounds or 
 fatigue, -and the whole party thus came 
 through with extraordinary expedition."* 
 
 Another incident exhibited the feeling 
 of the people thus invaded. An eye-wit 
 ness of the whole affair says " I saw one 
 case that shows the confederate style of 
 fighting. An old Texan, dressed in buck 
 skin, and armed with a long rifle, used to 
 go up to the works every morning about 
 seven o clock, carrying his dinner in a tin 
 pail. Taking a good position behind a 
 stump or a bush, he banged away at the 
 federals till noon ; then rested an hour; ate 
 his dinner ; after which he resumed opera 
 tions till 6 P.M., when he returned home to 
 supper and a night s sleep. The next day, 
 a little before seven, saw him, dinner and 
 rifle in hand, trudging up street to begin 
 again his regular day s work ; and in this 
 style he continued till the surrender. "f 
 
 The campaign in Missouri continued 
 with varied success, the operations some 
 times resulting favourably to the confede 
 rate, at others to the federal side. The 
 capture of Lexington had thrown a halo 
 of triumph over the troops of General 
 Price ; but, at this stage, he found himself 
 suddenly arrested in his progress by the 
 retrograde movements of the confederate 
 forces under Generals Pillow and Hardee, 
 both of which had been withdrawn from 
 the state. General M Culloch, also, had 
 retired to Arkansas ; and thus Price was 
 left, with his comparatively trifling force, 
 to sustain the pressure of a federal army 
 70,000 strong, and, at the same time, 
 almost destitute of ammunition. This 
 exigency was aggravated by the refusal of 
 General M Culloch to furnish an escort for 
 the train from Jackson s Port, Arkansas, 
 that was to bring a supply, and, eventually, 
 by his stopping the transit altogether. 
 Under such circumstances, General Price 
 had no alternative but to make a retrograde 
 movement, even in the midst of victory, or 
 to allow himself to be surrounded by a 
 formidable enemy. 
 
 * Document 33 Rebellion Record, vol. iii., p. 74. 
 t Ibid., p. 76. 
 
 Unfortunately, when he had determined 
 upon this movement for the safety of his 
 army, he had no means of transport for 
 the greater portion of his troops, and 
 no choice left but to disband a con 
 siderable portion of his forces, advising 
 those who could not remain with him, to 
 take care of their arms, and hold them 
 selves ever ready to obey his summons 
 once more to the battle-field. 
 
 The movements of General Fremont 
 encouraged Price to attack him ; the con 
 federate general being determined not to 
 abandon Missouri without a battle. But at 
 the very moment when his gallant band 
 were anticipating victory, intelligence 
 reached the camp that the federal com 
 mander had been superseded, and that it 
 was deemed necessary to withdraw the 
 Union troops from their advantageous posi 
 tion at Springfield. They were harassed 
 during their retreat by the confederate 
 troops, and sustained serious loss at Occola. 
 Price then again fell back to Springfield 
 for forage and supplies, and, for the present, 
 terminated his campaign in Missouri. 
 
 The hostile operations on both sides as 
 sumed a desultory and fitful character 
 during the remainder of the year, no event 
 of any real importance occurring to give a 
 decided preponderance to either of the 
 combatants. A spirited engagement near 
 Leesburg, in October, dispelled the mo 
 notony of the war at. this juncture, and 
 added fresh lustre to the arms of the con 
 federates. 
 
 The federal troops, under General Stone, 
 were directed to cross the Potomac on the 
 20th of October, and drive the secession 
 troops out of Virginia. The army crossed 
 in two divisions the one commanded by 
 Colonel Devins, at Harrison s Island, equi 
 distant from Edward s Ferry and from 
 Leesburg : the other division, under Colonel 
 Baker who assumed the command of all 
 the federal troops on the Virginia side of 
 the river crossed at Conrad s Ferry ; the 
 whole force being between seven and eight 
 thousand strong. To meet these, there was 
 the brigade of General Evans, which had dis 
 tinguished itself in the decisive victory at 
 Bull-Run, consisting of four regiments in 
 position at Goose Creek : a division con 
 sisting of four companies of the Mississippi 
 regiment, under the command of Lieute 
 nant-colonel Jenifer, watched the approach 
 of the enemy in the direction of Lees 
 burg. A Virginia regiment, under Colonel 
 
XX11 
 
 THE CIVIL WA.H IN AMERICA. 
 
 Hunton, was afterwards sent to the support 
 of the Mississippians ; and, about noon, 
 both divisions were hotly engaged in strife 
 with the invaders. 
 
 As the latter were able to send continual 
 reinforcements to the troops, General Evans 
 saw the necessity for bringing the contest 
 to an issue before his brigade had become 
 exhausted. He therefore directed Colonel 
 Featherstone to hasten with his regiment 
 to the support of Colonel Burt, who had 
 become hard pressed by the enemy, and 
 the action was continued with unabated 
 vigour for more than two hours. At 
 length the federals were pushed nearer the 
 banks of the river ; and their commander, 
 Colonel Baker, having fallen, Evans seized 
 the opportune moment, and ordered the 
 final charge. The narrative already re 
 ferred to,* says of this incident of the day 
 "The rout of the enemy near the bluffs of 
 the Potomac was appalling. The crossing of 
 the river had gone on until 7,500 men, 
 according to the report of General Stone, 
 were thrown across it. Some of these never 
 saw the field of battle. They had to climb 
 the mud of the bluff, dragging their dis 
 mounted guns after them before they could 
 reach the field, expecting to find there a 
 scene of victory. The difficult ascent led 
 them to a horrible Golgotha. The forces 
 that had been engaged in front were already 
 in retreat ; behind them rolled the river, 
 deep and broad, which many of them were 
 never to repass ; before them glared the 
 foe. The spectacle was that of a whole 
 army retreating tumbling, rolling, leap 
 ing down the steep heights ; the enemy 
 following them, killing and taking prisoners. 
 The one boat in the channel between the 
 Virginian shore and the island, was speedily 
 filled with the fugitives. Hundreds plunged 
 into the raging current j and the shrieks of 
 the drowning added to the horror of sounds 
 and sights. * * * The last act of the 
 tragedy was the most sickening and ap 
 palling of them all : a flat boat, on return 
 ing to the island, was laden with the 
 mangled, the weary, and the dying. The 
 quick and the dead were huddled together 
 in one struggling, mingled mass ; and all 
 went down together in that doleful river, 
 never again to rise." 
 
 An attempt by the federals, under Gene 
 rals Grant and M Clernand, upon a con 
 federate force under General Polk, at Bel- 
 inont, a village on the Missouri shore, on 
 The First Year of the War; p. 205. 
 
 the 7th of November, was attended with 
 results equally disastrous to the troops of 
 the Union ; and, after an engagement of 
 some duration, which, at one time, appeared 
 likely to end in the defeat of the confede 
 rates, the critical moment was seized by 
 Polk, who had brought reinforcements 
 from Columbus ; and he ordered that the 
 enemy should be driven into the river. 
 The order was obeyed with enthusiasm : 
 the federals gave way, and the pursuit was 
 continued until the retreat became a rout. 
 The loss of the confederates in this affair, 
 amounted, in killed, wounded, and missing, 
 to 632 ; that of the federals was estimated 
 at treble the number. A proposition of 
 General Polk to the federal General Grant, 
 for an exchange of prisoners upon this 
 occasion, was rejected by the latter, who 
 refused to recognise a southern confederacy. 
 
 On the same day the affair of Belmont 
 was decided, an attack was made, by a fleet 
 of the United States, upon Forts Walker 
 and Beauregard, at the entrance of the 
 harbour of Port Royal. The fight con 
 tinued for five hours before the batteries 
 were silenced, and the Union flag again 
 floated over the soil of South Carolina. 
 
 On the 31st of October, General Scott 
 announced his resignation of the command 
 of the United States army, upon the ground 
 of advanced age and infirmity; and, on 
 the following day, the same was formally 
 accepted by the president of the United 
 States. The veteran was succeeded by ; 
 General M Clellan. General Fremont 
 having, about the same time, signed an 
 agreement with General Price, of the con 
 federate army, for an exchange of prisoners 
 of war (with a stipulation that, in future, 
 none others than men actually engaged in 
 warfare should be arrested), was, on the 
 2nd of November, relieved of his command 
 in Missouri, General Hunter being ap 
 pointed to succeed him. 
 
 It was about the 8th of November, 1861, 
 that the affair of the Trent very nearly led 
 to a rupture between the United States 
 government and that of Great Britain. 
 The occurrence was as follows : The British 
 mail steamer, Trent, on her homeward 
 voyage, having called at the Bahamas for 
 mails, &c., was overhauled by the United 
 States steam-ship of war, San Jacinto, Cap 
 tain Wilkes, in the Bahama channel, and 
 searched. On board the mail steamer, and 
 under the protection of its flag, were Messrs. 
 Mason and Slidell, commissioners for the 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xxm 
 
 southern states to the governments of I 
 France and England ; who, with their suites | 
 and families, were proceeding to Europe. 
 The two gentlemen, and their secretaries, 
 were forcibly removed from the British 
 ship to the ~San Jacinto, and conveyed as 
 prisoners to a port in the United States. 
 The occurrence gave occasion for a vast 
 display of exultation on the one side, and 
 of ind ignation on the other; but the ab 
 ducted commissioners having been restored 
 to liberty, and forwarded to Europe, upon 
 the demand of the British government, the 
 affair ended with the mere expenditure of 
 some diplomatic correspondence ; and the 
 amicable relations of the Russell and Seward 
 cabinets remained unaltered. It was not, 
 however, to the pacific influence of Mr. 
 Yallandigham, of Ohio, that this consumma 
 tion was arrived at; as, on the 16th of De 
 cember, that gentleman proposed a resolu 
 tion for the adoption of congress, eulogistic 
 of the conduct of Captain "Wilkes, and 
 urging the president "to approve and 
 adopt the act in spite of any menace or 
 demand of the British government." It 
 is curious to trace subsequent events in 
 connection with this gentleman. 
 
 The island of Roanoke, situate between 
 the sounds of Croatan and Roanoke, was, 
 on the surrender of forts Hatteraa and 
 Clarke, only secondary, as a defensive posi 
 tion, to Fortress Monroe : it became the 
 key which unlocked all north-eastern 
 North Carolina to the federals, and, conse 
 quently, exposed Portsmouth and Norfolk 
 to imminent danger. Such being its im 
 portance, it was very soon threatened 
 by one of the most formidable naval arma 
 ments yet fitted out by the north, which 
 was placed under the command of General 
 Burnside, of Rhode Island ; while, at the 
 same time, its means of protection from 
 attack seem to have been wholly inadequate, 
 either by land or water, to resist the force 
 brought to bear against it ; which consisted 
 of seven armed vessels, and thirty gun 
 boats and schooners, conveying from 15,000 
 to 20,000 men. The confederate force on 
 the island amounted to less than 2,000. 
 
 The same neglect that had left the 
 island without defensive works, had also 
 prevented the arrival of sufficient means 
 of transport for the troops, in case the 
 evacuation of the island should become 
 necessary. The consequence followed, that 
 when the officer in command, Colonel Shaw, ; 
 after being driven from his defences, retired 
 
 to the northern end of the island, intending 
 to cross with his whole force, no transports 
 were at hand to receive it. He had, there 
 fore, to choose between sacrificing his few 
 troops in a hopeless and unequal struggle, 
 or surrendering them as prisoners of war; 
 and he resolved upon the latter course. 
 The loss of the federals, in this unequal 
 contest, was officially reported as fifty 
 killed, and 222 wounded. The southern 
 returns of the confederate loss, gave twenty- 
 three killed, fifty-eight wounded, and sixty- 
 two missing ; the remainder of the force 
 became prisoners of war. The Union gen 
 eral claimed 2,527 prisoners of all ranks, 
 3,500 stand of arms, more than seventy- 
 five tons of ammunition, and other materiel 
 of war. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary incidents 
 of the war, and which, in degree, took it 
 out of all parallel with modern warfare, 
 occurred in December, 1861. Desiring to 
 strike a blow at the capital of the south 
 from which it could never recover, the 
 federal government resolved upon the de 
 struction of the harbour of Charleston, by 
 sinking at its entrance a whole fleet of 
 vessels laden with granite. Accordingly, 
 on the 17th of December, sixteen ships, 
 varying in tonnage from 270 to 500 tons, 
 deeply laden with the blocks, sailed from 
 Port Royal, under convoy; and having 
 arrived at their destination, proceeded with 
 their vindictive purpose. The whole of the 
 ships were sunk in the main channel, across 
 the bar; and, on the 20th of the month, 
 the commander of the fleet wrote 
 " The work of the expedition is a complete 
 success : the bar is paved with granite, and 
 the harbour a thing of the past."* 
 
 In February, 1862, Fort Donalson, situate 
 on a high bluff of Cumberland river, and, 
 in a military sense, the key to Nashville, 
 was invested by a federal force of some 
 40,000 men, under the command of General 
 Grant. The possession of this fort was of 
 the highest importance, as, from it, Nash 
 ville could be reached in a few hours. An 
 ticipating the probability of an attack in 
 this quarter, General Pillow had been 
 ordered to proceed thither, and take the 
 command ; and, by his energy and tact, the 
 works were quickly got into as good a state 
 of defence as circumstances permitted. The 
 armament of the batteries consisted of thir 
 teen guns, of various calibres ; but the site 
 of the fortification was untenable on the 
 * Rebellion Record, vol. iii., p. 508. 
 
XXIV 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR, IN AMERICA. 
 
 land side, being commanded by adjacent 
 heights : a line of intrenchments, some 
 two miles in extent, was, however, occupied 
 by southern troops. On the 18th of the 
 month, a shot from one of the enemy s 
 gun-boats proclaimed the commencement 
 of a struggle which was maintained for 
 several days and nights. The fire speedily 
 became general ; and, throughout the day, 
 the federal troops kept up a steady and 
 continuous fire of all arms upon the trenches. 
 Several attempts were also made to carry 
 the works by charges simultaneously made 
 on different points ; but so determined was 
 the resistance, that no advantage whatever 
 was obtained during the first day. Through 
 out the night the fire of the federals con 
 tinued to pour upon the confederate lines, 
 without any other result than that of stimu 
 lating the defenders 10 increased exertion. 
 About 3 P.M. on the following day, the 
 federal armament, which had been aug 
 mented by the arrival of fresh gun-boats 
 and war- steamers, advanced towards the 
 fort in the form of a crescent, and opened 
 a deadly fire, but with little effect ; while, 
 on the other hand, the well-directed shots 
 from the defences told severely upon the 
 boats, several of which were compelled to 
 fall out of range. In short, the pro 
 ceedings of the first two days were decidedly 
 favourable to the confederate troops. 
 
 Still the odds were so great, that it be 
 came evident the reduction of the fort 
 could be but a question of time, unless, by 
 some energetic movement, the federal army 
 could be dislodged from its position on the 
 left of the defences, and so leave a way 
 open for the garrison to pass into the open 
 country, towards Nashville. To this end 
 a consultation was held, and it was deter 
 mined to remove from the trenches under 
 cover of the night, and attack the federals 
 in their position by daybreak. The move 
 ment was accordingly made in two divi 
 sions, sufficient troops being left in the 
 trenches for their defence. After a fierce 
 contest, which lasted more than nine hours, 
 the advantage rested with the federal army. 
 A council of general officers was thereupon 
 called ; the result of which was the dis 
 union of the army General Buckner 
 considering there was no alternative but 
 to surrender; while Generals Pillow and 
 Floyd positively refused to submit, deter 
 mining to force their way through the 
 federal lines. They accordingly withdrew 
 with their troops ; and General Buckner, 
 
 having now the sole command of the 
 remaining force, sent a flag of truce, 
 requesting an armistice of six hours to 
 negotiate terms of capitulation. The propo 
 sition being acceded to, the Union flag 
 was eventually raised over Fort Donalson. 
 Meantime Generals Flo}^d and Pillow, with 
 their troops, were making good their re 
 treat towards Nashville, without a pur 
 suing enemy to embarrass them. 
 
 The fight at Fort Donalson had occupied 
 four days and four nights. The loss on both 
 sides was very great, and the carnage 
 dreadful. For more than two miles the dead 
 of both armies lay thickly strewed in and 
 before the trenches, mingled with all the 
 shattered trophies of the battle-field. The 
 fall of this fortress was disastrous, because 
 the safety of Nashville depended upon its 
 capability to protect it from the advances 
 of the federal troops ; and the evacuation of 
 the latter city now became the only means 
 of saving the confederate army. The capital 
 of Tennessee, accordingly, was abandoned 
 to the federal commander. 
 
 The first regular congress of the con 
 federated states of America assembled at 
 Richmond, in Virginia ; and, on the 18th of 
 February, 1862, opened its first session. 
 
 j Thirteen of the slaveholding states were 
 represented. Maryland and Delaware had 
 not united with the new confederacy; and 
 Kentucky and Missouri informally sent 
 delegates. 
 
 The conduct of Generals Floyd and 
 Pillow, in connection with Fort Donalson, 
 gave great dissatisfaction to the govern 
 ment of the southern confederacy; and a 
 message from President Davis, to congress, 
 on the llth of March, declared the official 
 reports unsatisfactory, and announced that 
 the two generals had been relieved from, 
 command. 
 
 The chequered progress of the war on 
 land, was occasionally varied by the naval 
 
 exploits of the belligerent parties. The 
 first of these, which resulted advanta 
 geously to the confederates, occurred on 
 
 I the 12th of October, 1861, near the mouth 
 of the Mississippi. Upon this occasion, a 
 partially submerged iron ram, named the 
 Manassas, attacked the federal blockading 
 fleet at the head of the Passes, and suc 
 ceeded in sinking one ship, the Preble, and 
 in driving the rest of the blockading fleet 
 out of the river. The next effort of the 
 confederate navy had a yet more trium 
 phant consummation. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 XXV 
 
 In the course of the destruction of the 
 Davy-yard at Norfolk, shortly after the 
 war broke out, the steam- frigate Merrimac 
 had been burnt out, sank, and her engines 
 greatly damaged. As, however, the bot 
 tom of the hull, boilers, and the heavy and 
 costly parts of the engine were but little 
 injured, it was proposed, of them, to con 
 struct a casemated vessel, with inclined 
 iron-plated sides, and submerged ends. 
 This plan of submerging the ends of the 
 ship, and the eaves of the casement, was 
 the peculiar and destructive feature of the 
 new ship, and had never before been 
 adopted in naval architecture. The novel 
 construction was named the Virginia ; and, 
 besides that vessel, which carried ten guns, 
 the confederate squadron in the James 
 river, under the command of Flag-officer 
 Franklin Buchanan, consisted of the steamer 
 Patrick Henry, twelve guns ; steamer 
 Jamestown, two guns ; and three gun 
 boats the Ttazer, Beaufort, and Raleigh 
 each carrying one gun : making, in the 
 whole, twenty-seven pieces of ordnance of 
 various calibre. 
 
 About an hour before noon, on the morn 
 ing of the 8th of March, the Virginia, 
 accompanied by the Raleigh and Beaufort 
 gun-boats, left the navy-yard at Norfolk, 
 and proceeded to Newport News, for the 
 purpose of engaging the federal frigates, 
 Cumberland and Congress. At this time 
 the latter vessel was lying close to the bat 
 teries at Newport News, but a little below 
 them. As the Virginia passed the Con 
 gress, she gave her a broadside, which was 
 returned with little effect on the other 
 side. Standing rapidly on for the Cum 
 berland, which Buchanan had determined 
 to sink with the pi ow of his ship, the jeers 
 and bravado of the federal ship s crew were 
 distinctly heard on board the iron-clad ; 
 but the amusement was suddenly inter 
 rupted by a discharge from the Virginia s 
 bow gun, which swept from one end of the 
 Cumberland s deck to the other, and carried 
 carnage through the ship. In a few 
 minutes after, the Virginia struck her on 
 her starboard bow, and, in fifteen minutes, 
 the Cumberland sunk with all hands on 
 board, her guns being fought to the last, 
 and her flag still flying at the peak. 
 
 The Congress was now the object of the 
 Virginia s attention; and, after receiving 
 one harmless broadside from the former, 
 she opened upon her with such terrible 
 effect, that her colours were speedily 
 VOL. IT. d 
 
 lowered, and replaced by white flags at the 
 gaft and half-mast, and another at tha 
 main. A great part of the crew took to tho 
 boats, and escaped on shore ; and, in con 
 sequence of the treacherous conduct of 
 those remaining on board, and of the shore 
 forts, which opened fire while the white flags 
 were yet flying, the Congress was destroyed 
 by hot shot and incendiary shell. The ex 
 plosion of the magazine was of terrific 
 effect. At this juncture, the federal steam- 
 frigates, Minnesota and Roanoke, and the 
 sailing frigate St. Lawrence, came up from 
 Old Point, and opened fire upon the Vir 
 ginia, but without any serious effect. The 
 Minnesota soon grounded in the north 
 channel, and at nightfall the Virginia 
 anchored off Sewell s Point. 
 
 The next morning (Sunday) the work of 
 death was resumed ; but the federal ships, 
 Roanoke and St. Lawrence, had retreated 
 to Old Point during the night, their place 
 being supplied by the Monitor (Ericson. 
 battery), which had come up to assist the 
 Minnesota. As day broke, the latter vessel 
 was observed, with two tugs alongside to 
 assist her off. The evolutions of the Moni 
 tor were wonderful, and the rapidity of her 
 movements excited the admiration of those 
 who would gladly have destroyed her. 
 The fire from the Virginia continued with 
 out interruption ; and at length a shot, 
 well directed upon one of the tugs, decided 
 the fate of the vessel it had been sent to 
 aid. A great white column ascended from 
 the gallant ship : the boiler of one of the 
 tugs had been exploded by a shot, and 
 death and carnage covered the deck of the 
 Minnesota. 
 
 The Monitor declined further contest, 
 and ran into shoal water ; and the Virginia 
 steamed back to Norfolk, accompanied by 
 the cheers of victory. As she passed up 
 the river, the spars of the Cumberland were 
 yet seen above the water ; but, of the Con 
 gress, there was not a trace of its existence 
 visible. The events of the past forty-eight 
 hours were wonderful. Within that peiiod 
 the Virginia had successfully encountered 
 the whole naval force of the enemy in the 
 neighbourhood of Norfolk, amounting to 
 2.890 men, and 230 guns; had sunk tho 
 Cumberland frigate, with the greater part 
 of her crew of 360 men ; had destroyed 
 the Congress frigate, and crippled the 
 Minnesota. Such an action might well be 
 reckoned as one of the most important 
 incidents of the war. 
 
XXVI 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 The battle of Elkhorn, or Sugar Creek, 
 in the north-west portion of the state of 
 Arkansas (which was fought almost simul 
 taneously with that in Hampton Roads), 
 was certainly, in its duration and intensity, 
 one of the most remarkable that had yet 
 occurred since the commencement of the 
 The conflict, which extended over 
 
 war. 
 
 three days, ended in the retreat of the con 
 federates, under General Van Dora, after 
 sustaining a loss of 1,100 killed, 2,500 
 wounded, and 1,000 prisoners. _ Among 
 the killed, on the confederate side, were 
 the Generals M Culloch and M Intosh. 
 The loss of the federals, under General 
 Sigel, was reported at 212 killed, 926 
 wounded, and about 170 missing. 
 
 Again disaster followed the southern 
 flag. On the 4th of March, the town of 
 Newborn, in North Carolina, was taken 
 possession of by the federals, under General 
 Burnside, who achieved a complete victory 
 over the confederate force, after a short 
 but severe contest, which gave the victors 
 about 500 prisoners, fifty pieces of cannon, 
 and a large quantity of arms and muni 
 tions of war. 
 
 An attack was opened, on the 16th of 
 March, upon the confederate works on 
 Island No. 10, in the Mississippi river, by 
 a federal fleet of gun and mortar-boats, 
 under the command of Flag-officer Foote ; 
 which, after holding out for twenty-three 
 da3 s, was at length surrendered, in conse 
 quence of the construction of a military 
 canal outflanking the position, and render 
 ing it untenable. The estimated loss, in 
 property and stores, was stated to be equal 
 to 378, 000 dollars. The retreat of the 
 confederate force was interrupted by Gen 
 eral Pope, who succeeded in cutting off a 
 very considerable portion of both men and 
 materiel. 
 
 The battle of Winchester Heights, val 
 ley of Virginia, between a confederate 
 force, under General J. Ason, and the Union 
 troops, commanded by General Shields, on 
 the 23rd of March, also terminated in the 
 defeat of the former, with considerable loss. 
 
 On the 6th of April, the catalogue of 
 disasters to the confederate arms, was in 
 creased by the defeat of Generals John- 
 etone and Beauregard, who, with a force of 
 some 45,000 troops, made an attack upon 
 a federal force under General Grant, at 
 Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and sus 
 tained severe loss. The sacrifice of life 
 was immense on both sides. 
 
 An almost uninterrupted succession of 
 skirmishes, with results alternating favour 
 ably to both sides, continued to the close 
 of the first year of the war, without pro 
 ducing any advantage of real importance 
 to either. The ocean of blood exhibited to 
 the astonished world by the fratricidal 
 quarrel, was merely swollen by the tribu 
 tary streams poured into it by these minor 
 butcheries. But the main object of either 
 party seemed as far from attainment as 
 ever. Meantime the hatred and vindictive- 
 ness of the belligerents had increased in 
 intensity, and led to acts of ferocity, on 
 the part of the northei n generals and their 
 troops, that are without parallel in the 
 history of modern warfare. The struggle 
 had assumed the character of a war of 
 extermination on the one part, and of a 
 determination of self-defence on the other. 
 On each side men fought for a purpose ; 
 but those purposes were opposite as the 
 poles. The north combated for the Union 
 and absolute supremacy ; the south for 
 the protection of its homes, its altars, and 
 its people. On this account, the sympa 
 thies of Europeans were with the latter, 
 and the occasional triumphs of the former 
 were regarded with indifference, if not with 
 regret. 
 
 But there was yet a blow impending 
 over the southern confederacy, which alone 
 was wanting to cast a gloom over the tri 
 umphant struggles of the first year of the 
 war. On the 24th of April, Admiral Far- 
 ragut, after having bombarded the forts 
 Jackson and St. Philip, on the Mississippi, 
 below New Orleans, succeeded in passing 
 them, and scattering the small confederate 
 fleet stationed for the protection of the 
 city, anchored within twenty miles of 
 it. On the following day he appeared 
 before the place, and demanded its uncon 
 ditional surrender ; and, after three days 
 negotiation, it was evacuated by the con 
 federate troops, and abandoned to the 
 captors. The incidents connected with 
 this disaster are of so interesting a cha 
 racter as might justify a volume upon that 
 subject alone. On the 1st of May, General 
 Butler, whose name has acquired unen 
 viable notoriety from his conduct to the 
 inhabitants, took possession of the city. 
 The importance of this event to the con 
 federate cause cannot be estimated. It 
 was a heavy blow, which destroyed the 
 secession influence in Louisiana, and sepa 
 rated the state from Texas and Arkansas ; 
 
TIIE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 XXVll 
 
 diminished the resources and supplies of 
 the confederacy, by the loss of one of the 
 most extensive and prolific grain and cattle 
 countries within its limits ; yielded to the 
 federals the unmolested navigation of the 
 lower Mississippi, with all its advantages as 
 a base of operations; and, finally, led to the 
 virtual abandonment of all Louisiana. Such 
 were the results of the surrender of New 
 Orleans. 
 
 From the commencement of the war, the 
 great object of the federal government, 
 next to the unconditional subjugation of 
 the southern states, was the possession of 
 Richmond; and, for the accomplishment 
 of this event, which could only be attain 
 able by elaborate and tedious operations on 
 the frontier of Virginia, no efforts were 
 spared. The disasters on the Mississippi 
 frontier, and in other directions, had 
 induced the southern government to adopt 
 the policy of concentrating its forces in the 
 interior of Virginia ; and thus, in the direc 
 tion of Richmond, there were arrayed two 
 of the greatest numerical armies that had 
 ever confronted each other on a single field. 
 A succession of skirmishes, or rather of 
 battles, ensued for the possession, and, on 
 the other hand, for the protection, of the 
 coveted city, which it was not yet decreed 
 should fall into the hands of the northern 
 invaders. 
 
 On the 25 th of May, a formidable attack 
 was made by the confederate troops upon 
 the force of General Banks, at Winchester, 
 the result of which compelled him to retire 
 with considerable loss. According to the 
 federal account, even the women of Win 
 chester fired upon the retreating troops, 
 who, on the following day, succeeded in 
 recrossing the Potomac. Of the fifty-three 
 miles traversed in this retreat, thirty-five 
 were passed over in one day. Three days 
 afterwards, a reinforcement of 18,000 men, 
 with heavy artillery, joined General Banks 
 at William sport, and his army was again 
 in a position to advance. 
 
 On the 28th of the month, General 
 Porter s division was dispatched by General 
 M Clellan to the north of Richmond, and it 
 succeeded in capturing Hanover Court 
 house, after a sharp conflict, in which 
 several hundred were lost on both sides. 
 Porter next proceeded to break the commu 
 nication of the Virginia Central railroad, 
 which he effected in three places ; while, at 
 the same time, the bridge over the South 
 Anna river was destroyed, and the con 
 
 federate force in front of General M Dowell, 
 on the Bowling-green road, was cut off 
 from the main force at Richmond. The 
 last day of the month was signalised by 
 the commencement of a battle at the Fair 
 Oaks, or Chickahominy, between the federal 
 troops, under General Casey and others, 
 and a confederate force, which was out 
 numbered, and compelled to retire. On the 
 following day the contest was renewed, and 
 finally closed with the discomfiture of the 
 southern troops. A novel expedient was 
 resorted to by the federal commanders on 
 this occasion a balloon was held in posi 
 tion, at an elevation of 2,000 feet, over the 
 field of battle ; from which, by means of a 
 telegraph wire, information was conveyed 
 to General M Clellan of the movements of 
 the confederate forces during the contest ; 
 thus enabling him to direct his troops to 
 every point threatened, and meet the enemy 
 with the advantage of superior force. The 
 loss to the confederate army, upon this 
 occasion, was estimated by northern ac 
 counts at 8,000, including five generals. 
 The confederate side also claimed the ad 
 vantage in the encounter. 
 
 A gun-boat expedition from Memphis 
 having arrived up the White river, Ar 
 kansas, on the 13th of June, an attack 
 was made upon a confederate battery, near 
 St. Charles, and about eighty-five miles 
 from the river s mouth. During this en 
 gagement, the federal gun-boat, Mound City, 
 received a shot through her boiler, which 
 destroyed her; and, of a crew of 175 men, 
 but fifty were saved. The battery was 
 eventually captured. 
 
 In consequence of the expected approach 
 of the federal troops, the state archives in 
 Mississippi were removed for safety, on the 
 16th of June, from Jackson, the capital, to 
 Columbus, on the Alabama frontier. 
 
 At this period there was continual skir 
 mishing between the troops before Rich 
 mond ; but, as it was not General M Clellan s 
 policy to risk a battle, nothing of importance 
 took place beyond the fact that he felt 
 compelled to change the base of his opera 
 tions ; and, on the 24th of the month, the 
 army was put in motion for that purpose, 
 and took a position on the banks of the 
 James river. The three divisions of the 
 federal army, up to this time, under the 
 command of Generals Banks, Fremont, 
 and M Dowell, were consolidated into one 
 body, styled the " Army of Virginia," under 
 the command of General Pope. This change 
 
XXV 111 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 was said to be consequent upon the request i 
 of General Fremont to be allowed to resign j 
 his command. 
 
 The battle of Mechanicsville was fought 
 on the 25th of June, between a confederate 
 force under General Jackson, and the 
 federal troops, commanded by General 
 M Call. The latter were defeated with great 
 loss, and compelled to retreat along the 
 northern side of the Chickahominy. On 
 the 27th, the battle was resumed by General 
 Jackson ; and, after an obstinate engage 
 ment, the federals were enabled to recross 
 the river, and join the main body of 
 M Clellan s army. 
 
 On the 29th of the month, the confederate 
 force again advanced from Richmond, upon 
 the federal troops stationed near Fair 
 Oaks and Peach Orchard Station, and 
 compelled them to retreat. The most san 
 guinary effect of this encounter was dis 
 played near Savage s Station, where the 
 Union troops, who had fallen back from 
 Peach Orchard, were driven from their 
 position with immense loss. On the 30th, 
 the fighting was resumed at White Oak 
 Swamp, with great vigour on both sides, 
 and continued until the following day, the 
 advantage remaining with the confederates. 
 The battle of Malvern Hills, which finished 
 the operations in this quarter for a time, 
 was fought on the 1st of July, and barely 
 enabled M Clellan to hold his position at 
 an immense sacrifice of life. The losses of 
 the federals, under this commander, between 
 the 24th of June and the 1st of July, 
 amounted, by the Union accounts of killed, 
 wounded, and missing, to a gross total of 
 15,224 men. 
 
 General Burnside effected a junction 
 with M Clellan s corps on the 8th of 
 July; and, on the following day, Presi 
 dent Lincoln visited the camp of the latter 
 general on the peninsula. The confederate 
 force, under General Lee, retired from be 
 fore M Clellan s position on the 10th, 
 without giving battle. 
 
 General Halleck was now appointed gene- 
 ral-in-chief of the land forces of the United 
 States, his head-quarters being at Wash 
 ington. 
 
 A dashing exploit of the iron-clad con 
 federate gun-boat Arkansas, resulted in her 
 running the blockade of the Yazoo river 
 on the 15th of July, and passing through 
 the whole Union fleet in the Mississippi 
 river; during which feat, no less than 
 seventy-three of her heavy shots struck the 
 
 opposing vessels, and ultimately enabled 
 her to take refuge under the batteries at 
 Vicksburg. An attempt to sink the boat 
 was made during the night, by Commodore 
 Farragut s squadron, without success. 
 
 General Pope, on assuming command of 
 the Union forces in Virginia, issued orders 
 to the troops that they should thenceforth 
 subsist on the country they passed through. 
 He also directed that all telegraph wires, 
 &c., destroyed by the confederate irregular 
 troops, should be repaired or restored at the 
 expense of the residents in the neighbour 
 hood ; and that all guerillas captured should 
 be immediately shot. About the same time, 
 all the property of the confederate General 
 Twiggs was confiscated to the Union by 
 order of General Butler. 
 
 Among the other expedients resorted to 
 by the federals, in this war, for the reduc 
 tion of a besieged town or fortress, that of 
 cutting canals, by which either to isolate 
 them or to destroy the surrounding country, 
 was frequently practised. One of such canals 
 was accordingly cut near Vicksburg, for 
 the purpose of shortening the Mississippi; 
 and, about the latter end of July, the pro 
 ject was completed, but was ineffective for 
 the desired purpose. In consequence of this 
 disappointment, the siege of Vicksburg was 
 for the present abandoned. To check 
 the alleged arbitrary and wanton outrages 
 perpetrated by the northern troops, with 
 the sanction of their commanding officers, 
 the confederate military authorities, by a 
 general order signed by the adjutant- 
 general, declared Major-general Pope, Bri 
 gadier-general Stein wehr, and all officers 
 under their command, to be without the 
 pale of military law, and not to be treated 
 as soldiers, if captured, but as felons. The 
 immediate cause of this extreme measure 
 were the orders issued by the federal com 
 manders, for arresting and putting to death 
 guerillas, and for seizing and spoiling the 
 persons and property of citizens of the 
 southern confederacy. To keep pace with 
 this retaliatory measure, General Butler, 
 in command at New Orleans, imposed a 
 heavy tax upon the citizens ; while General 
 Rousseau, in command of some federal 
 troops at Huntsville, Alabama, directed 
 that, in order to prevent the firing into 
 railroad trains by confederate partisan 
 troops, twelve of the most prominent and 
 influential secessionists should be arrested ; 
 ! and that, on each train, one of such persons 
 \ should be placed. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 :<:: ix 
 
 During this month, the force under 
 General M Clellan gradually withdrew 
 from its position in Virginia; and General 
 Pope also commanded the retreat of his 
 army from the Rapid an to the Rappahan- 
 nock river, towards Washington. 
 
 The advance of a confederate force towards 
 Richmond, Kentucky, was attempted to 
 be checked by the Union forces under 
 General Manson, who commanded a bri 
 gade of the army of the Ohio ; but, after a 
 desperate struggle of two days, the con 
 federates remained masters of the field, 
 having driven back Manson s brigade, which 
 reported a loss of 200 killed, 700 wounded, 
 and 2,000 prisoners. The contest at Brit- 
 ton s Lane, Tennessee, which occurred 
 on the 1st of September, gave a result 
 more favourable to the federals. 
 
 On the 3rd of the same month, General 
 Pope having sustained a series of defeats, 
 applied to be relieved of his command, 
 and was transferred to the department of 
 the north-west. In his report of the Vir 
 ginia campaign, he attached all the blame 
 of his successive reverses to the bad con 
 duct of the subordinate generals. 
 
 On Sunday, the 14th of September, Gen 
 eral M Clellan, by rapid marches, overtook 
 a confederate force on the march from 
 Frederick city to Hagerstown, Maryland. 
 After a sharp contest with a regiment com 
 manded by Colonel M Rae, Generals Reno 
 and Hooker, commanding the right and 
 centre, carried the heights ; while General 
 Franklin, with the left, obtained possession of 
 Burketteville Gap. On both sides the loss 
 was very heavy ; that of the federals being 
 officially reported as a total of 2,325 : the 
 confederates , killed and wounded, amounted 
 to 600. General Reno was killed. 
 
 Maryland Heights, near Harper s Ferry, 
 were garrisoned by a Union force, under 
 Colonel Ford; and the strength of the 
 position, in reference to the first-mentioned 
 place, was much depended on. On the 
 14th of the month, Colonel Miles, in com 
 mand, addressed the following characteris 
 tic order to Colonel Ford : 
 
 " Since I returned on this side, on close inspec 
 tion, I find your position more defensible than it 
 appears when at your station, covered as it is at all 
 points by the cannon of Camp Hill. You will hold 
 on, and can hold on, until the cows tails drop off." 
 
 Not with stand ing this injunction, Colonel 
 Ford gave orders to "spike and dismount 
 the guns, and fall back upon Harper s 
 Ferry ;" he having, at the time, with him a 
 
 force of 3,975 men, and several heavy guns, 
 in excellent position. 
 
 On the 16th of the month, the capture 
 of flarper s Ferry, by the confederate 
 troops under General T. J. Jackson, was 
 announced by the following despatch of 
 that officer : 
 
 " Yesterday God crowned our arms with an 
 other brilliant success, in the surrender of Har 
 per s Ferry, of Brigadier-general White, and 11,000 
 troops, and a number of small arms; seventy- 
 three pieces of artillery, and about 300 waggons, in 
 addition to other stores. Of these there is a large 
 amount, and also of garrison equipage. Our loss 
 was very small." 
 
 The same day, Munfordsville, Kentucky, 
 also surrendered to the confederates, who 
 took the federal garrison of 4,000 men, and 
 ten pieces of cannon. The want of ammu 
 nition was alleged to be the cause of sur 
 render. 
 
 At Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, 
 Maryland, a severe and sanguinary battle 
 took place on the 17th of September, 
 beginning at daybreak, and lasting until 
 night. General Lee had been reinforced 
 by General Jackson, from Harper s Ferry, 
 with 40,000 men ; and General M Clellan 
 had also been reinforced with about the 
 same number, making the force on each 
 side about 100,000. In the early part of 
 the day the confederate troops had de 
 cidedly the advantage ; but, towards the 
 close of the action, they were forced to 
 retire, followed by General Burnside, who, 
 after succeeding in crossing the creek, 
 was held in check, and prevented further 
 advance. The southern troops finally with 
 drew during the night. M Clellan s des 
 patch of the 20th of September, gave the 
 federal loss in this affair as 2,010 killed, 
 9,416 wounded, and 1,043 missing: that 
 of the confederates is not known. 
 
 General Butler, in command of New 
 Orleans, with a view to ascertain the extent 
 of secessionist opinion, ordered all Ameri 
 cans, male and female, above the age of 
 fourteen, to renew, or take their oath of 
 allegiance to the government of the United 
 States, under pain of fine and imprison 
 ment, with hard labour. He also required 
 them, at the same time, to render an ac 
 count, verified, of all real and personal 
 property they were possessed of. He 
 further ordered all persons holding money, 
 or other property, in trust for persons in, or 
 sympathising with, the confederate service, 
 not to pay or hand over the same without 
 an order from the military head- quarters, 
 
XXX 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 under the penalty of having to refund a 
 similar amount to the United States. 
 
 In the beginning of October several con 
 flicts occurred at and near Corinth, Mis 
 sissippi, which eventually resulted in favour 
 of the federal commanders ; but, on the 
 other hand, the successful raids of the con 
 federate cavalry, in Maryland and Penn- 
 8} r lvania, more than balanced the advantage 
 so obtained. On the last day of the month, 
 General M Clellan s wing of the^ army of 
 the Potomac commenced crossing into Vir 
 ginia, opposite Berlin. 
 
 On the 4th of November, General 
 M Clellan was relieved from the command 
 of the army of the Potomac, and Major- 
 general A. F. Burnside was ordered to 
 succeed him. On the 12th of the same 
 month, Major-general Joseph Hooker suc 
 ceeded General Porter in the command of 
 the 5th army corps of the army of the 
 Potomac. 
 
 On the llth of December, the city of 
 Fredericksburg, Virginia, was bombarded 
 by the federal troops, who, under cover of 
 the fire, threw pontoons over the Rappa- 
 hannock, and crossed that river. One hun 
 dred and forty- three guns were then brought 
 to bear on the town, and utterly destroyed 
 it. On the following day, three divisions of 
 the army, under Generals Sumner, Hooker, 
 and Franklin, attacked the confederate 
 lines, and were repulsed with immense 
 loss. General Burnside, who commanded 
 in chief, ordered several assaults to be 
 made, but without success; and the close 
 of the day found both armies in their posi 
 tions of the morning, with a vast amount of 
 dead and wounded on either side. The 
 loss of the federals in this affair, was re 
 ported, by General Burnside, to be 1,512 
 killed, 6,000 wounded, and 100 prisoners. 
 The gross loss on the confederate side, 
 was estimated at something less than 
 1,805. So decisive was the repulse of the 
 federals, that, during the night of the 
 15th, and morning of the 16th, the whole 
 of the army of the Potomac was with 
 drawn, by General Burnside, from before 
 Fredericksburg ; and, crossing the Rappa- 
 hannock, took a position on the north side 
 of the river. The retreat was effected with 
 so much secrecy, that the confederate force 
 was not aware of Burnside s departure till 
 after the pontoon bridge had been removed. 
 
 By this signal deieat, the almost uni 
 versal faith in. the invincibility of the 
 federal arms was rudely shattered ; and the 
 
 depressing influence of the result of the 
 battle of Fredericksburg, became evident 
 in the popular agitation that succeeded 
 the event throughout the northern states. 
 Among both military and civil populations, 
 the overthrow of the army of the Potomac 
 was productive of most undisguised discon 
 tent ; and to allay this in some degree, and 
 avert from the Lincoln cabinet a wrath no 
 longer silent, the president felt it prudent 
 to issue the following notification to the 
 army : 
 
 " Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. 22nd. 
 " To the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 "I have just received your commanding general s 
 preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. 
 Although you were not successful, the attempt was 
 not an error, nor the failure other than an accident. 
 The courage with which you, in an open field, 
 maintained the contest against an intrenched foe, 
 and the consummate skill and success with which 
 you crossed and recrossed the river in the face of 
 the enemy, show that you possess all the qualities 
 of a great army, which will yet give victory to the 
 cause of the country and of popular government. 
 
 " Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and 
 sympathising with the severely wounded, I congra 
 tulate you that the number of both is comparatively 
 small. 
 
 " I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks 
 of the nation. 
 
 "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." 
 
 General Burnside, on his part, hastened, 
 by a letter to the general- in-chief, Halleck, 
 to exonerate the executive government 
 from all responsibility as regarded his 
 defeat. 
 
 General Butler was superseded in the 
 command of New Orleans, on the 16th of 
 the month, by General Banks. The vale 
 dictory address of General Butler to the 
 inhabitants of New Orleans, ran as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " I do not feel that I have erred in too much 
 harshness, for that harshness has been exhibited to 
 disloyal enemies of my country, and not to loyal 
 friends. To be sure, I might have regaled you 
 with the amenities of British civilisation, and yet 
 been within the supposed rules of civilised warfare. 
 You might have been smoked to death in caverns, 
 as were the covenanters of Scotland, by the com 
 mand of a general of the royal house of England ; 
 or roasted like the inhabitants of Algeria, during 
 the French campaign : your wives and daughters 
 might have been given over to the ravisher, as 
 were the unfortunate dames of Spain in the Penin 
 sular war ; or you might have been scalped and 
 tomahawked, as our mothers were at Wyoming, by 
 the savage allies of Great Britain, in our own revo 
 lution ; your property could have been turned over 
 to indiscriminate loot, like the palace of the 
 emperor of China; works of art which adorned 
 your buildings might have been sent way, like 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 the paintings of the Vatican ; your sons might have 
 been blown from the mouths of cannon, like the 
 sepoys at Delhi ; and yet all this would have been 
 within the rules of civilised warfare, as practised 
 by the most polished and the most hypocritical 
 nations of Europe." 
 
 On the 23rd of the month, a proclama 
 tion of the president of the southern con 
 federacy, denounced General Butler for 
 hanging a citizen of New Orleans, named 
 W. B. Mumford, and ordered that the 
 general and any of his officers who might 
 be taken prisoners, should be hung in re 
 taliation. 
 
 An unsuccessful attempt to obtain pos 
 session of Vicksburg was made on the 27th 
 of December, by an expedition commanded 
 by General Sherman, which had proceeded 
 about eighteen miles up the Yazoo river 
 on the previous day, and there landed a 
 force, by which the advanced works of 
 the confederates, about six miles in the 
 rear of the city, were attacked. The garri 
 son was driven from its first and second 
 lines of defence on the 27th and 28th of 
 the month, and the federal troops advanced 
 to within two miles and a-half of the city : 
 but a confederate reinforcement having 
 come up, the tide of battle turned against 
 the assailants, who were compelled to re 
 treat with considerable loss. In conse 
 quence of this failure, General Sherman 
 was superseded in his command by General 
 M Clernand, and the expedition against 
 Vicksburg was abandoned. 
 
 The battle of Murfreesboro commenced 
 on the last day of the year, and finished on 
 the 4th of January, 1863, with a doubtful 
 triumph for either party. The confede 
 rates certainly retired from the field in 
 good order ; but the federal general, Rozen- 
 crans, on the other hand, reported " Our 
 entire success on the 31st was prevented 
 by the surprise of the right flank; but, 
 alter three days hard fighting, we have 
 beaten the enemy." The cost of the vic 
 tory being, to the federal government, 
 1,500 killed, 6,000 wounded, and 4,000 
 prisoners. 
 
 The 3 r ear 1862 had thus closed upon 
 some eighteen months of a fierce and ruth 
 less war, in which all the evil passions of 
 human nature had full development in 
 deeds of blood, without any appreciable ad 
 vantage to either of the combatants. 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1863, General 
 Burnside resigned the command of the 
 army of the Potomac, and was succeeded 
 
 by General Hooker, in whose military 
 talent great confidence was reposed. 
 
 The emancipation decree of President 
 Lincoln occasioned considerable distrust 
 and apprehension, even among his warmest 
 supporters ; while, by those opposed to his 
 policy, it was denounced as a firebrand 
 that would only keep alive and augment 
 the intensity of the hatred that existed 
 between the peoples of the two great sec 
 tions of the republic. The governor of 
 Kentucky, in a message to the legislature 
 of that state, recommended it to reject the 
 proclamation, which, he declared, " would 
 inflict upon Kentucky a direct blow; fire 
 the south into a mass of inexhaustible 
 hate, and destroy all hope of restoring the 
 Union." The most alarming aspect of the 
 proclamation, was pointed out to be, the 
 usurpation of the powers of government by 
 the president, under the specious plea of 
 military necessity ; and the governor called 
 upon the legislature to record its protest 
 against the proclamation. 
 
 Early in the month, the town of Galves- 
 ton, Texas, was taken possession of by a 
 confederate force ; and, about the same 
 time, five steamers, protected by cotton 
 bales, with troops on board, attacked the 
 federal gun-boats, and captured the Harriet 
 Lane, after her officers, and nearly all her 
 crew, had been shot down. Two gun 
 boats escaped; but the flag-ship of the 
 federal flotilla, with Commander Renshaw 
 on board, was blown up, with its com 
 mander and. crew. The remaining portion 
 of the fleet returned to New Orleans. 
 
 The ill-fated Monitor foundered at sea, 
 on Tuesday, the 9th of January, and twenty- 
 three of her crew, enclosed as it were in an 
 iron safe, from which there could be no 
 escape, perished with her so speedily did 
 the prestige of this monster of the deep, 
 rise, culminate, and decline. 
 
 Towards the end of the month, General 
 M Clernand s expedition landed on the 
 Louisiana side of the Mississippi, five miles 
 below the mouth of the Yazoo river, in 
 view of Vicksburg ; and two brigades of the 
 force were immediately detailed for the 
 works to enable the canal, commenced by 
 General Williams in 1862, to change the 
 course of the river, which was then at its 
 height at Vicksburg ; and it was expected 
 the enterprise would be successful, at least 
 to the extent of permitting the passage of 
 gun-boats and transports to a point below 
 the city. 
 
XXX11 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 At this time the confederate force massed 
 in and about Charleston, was represented to 
 amount to about 30,000 men : from 15,000 
 to 20,000 more were stationed on James 
 Island ; two regiments of infantry, and two 
 artillery companies, garrisoned the batteries 
 on Sullivan s Island; Fort Sumter con 
 tained a force of about 700 men, and the 
 fort on the middle ground was also well 
 manned; 1,000 men were stationed on 
 Morris Island ; and the entire shore of 
 Charleston harbour bristled with heavy 
 ordnance. Besides these preparations for 
 defence, two iron-clad batteries, constructed 
 for the protection of the harbour, had been 
 completed, and were afloat, ready for action. 
 
 A naval engagement took place at the 
 mouth of Charleston harbour on the 31st 
 of January, which had the effect, for a time, 
 of inspiring hopes that the blockade at that 
 place had been opened. The details will 
 best appear from the despatches; the first 
 of which simply reported, that two iron-clad 
 gun-boats, the Chicora and Palmetto State, 
 with their tenders, had crossed the bar at 
 1 A.M., to attack the blockading fleet. The 
 second despatch was as follows : 
 
 " Charleston, January 31st. 
 
 " This morning, the gun-boats Palmetto State, 
 Captain Rutledge, and Chicora, Captain Tucker, 
 accompanied by three small steamers all under the 
 command of Commodore Ingraham made an attack 
 on the blockaders, and succeeded in sinking two, 
 and crippling a third. The engagement com 
 menced at 4 A.M., when the Palmetto State, with 
 Commodore Ingraham on board, opened fire upon 
 the federal gun-boat Mercedita, carrying eleven 
 guns, and 158 men, which was soon sunk in five 
 fathoms of water. Her commander, Captain Stell- 
 wagen, with a boat s crew, came on board and sur 
 rendered. One shot pierced her boiler, going right 
 through. Captain Stellwagen and crew were 
 parolled by Commodore Ingraham. Captain Tucker, 
 of the Chiciira, reports sinking another federal 
 gun-boat, and the disabling of a third, the steam 
 ship Quaker City. The latter was set on fire by 
 the Chicora, and hauled down her flag to surrender, 
 but afterwards managed to escape, using only one 
 wheel, being very seriously damaged. The number 
 of the blockading fleet outside, at the time of the 
 attack, was thirteen, with two first-class frigates, 
 the Susquehanna and the Canandiagua. The 
 federal loss was very severe. It was a complete 
 success on our part, with not a man hurt. Our 
 gun-boats were not even struck. All the block 
 aders have disappeared ; there is not one to be seen 
 within five miles, with the strongest kind of glasses. 
 Our boats are now returning to Charleston." 
 
 The spirit of wanton, irremediable mis 
 chief was still active among the bellige 
 rents ; and the destruction that could not 
 be effected by the acknowledged and legiti 
 mate usages of war, was sought by means 
 
 as indefensible as they were cruel. Thus, 
 in order to flood the country in the neigh 
 bourhood of Vicksburg, the federals cut 
 the banks on the Mississippi side of the 
 river, twelve miles below Helena, and on 
 the Louisiana side, opposite Lake Provi 
 dence. The town of De Soto, opposite 
 Vicksburg, was thereby submerged, and 
 the damage occasioned was irreparable and 
 useless. 
 
 On the 9th of February, the entire federal 
 fleet had been reported in front of Vicks 
 burg, with all the mortar-boats in position 
 for an attack ; but, up to the 20th, no de 
 monstration had been made. 
 
 The affair of Commodore Ingraham with 
 the blockading squadron, at the mouth 
 of Charleston harbour, gave occasion for 
 some diplomatic correspondence between 
 Mr. Mason, on behalf of the confederate 
 states, and Earl Russell; the result of 
 which merely established the assumption 
 that, when the people of the south had, by 
 their own exertions, valour, and sacrifices, 
 achieved the independence of their country, 
 Great Britain would recognise the fact ; but, 
 until then, would afford no countenance to 
 the struggling people. 
 
 It will be recollected that, from the 
 first, any idea of mediation between the 
 belligerent states was repudiated by Earl 
 Russell, on the part of the British govern 
 ment. That of France, undeterred by ques 
 tions of "expediency," made a proposition 
 to the United States government, with a 
 view to solve the difficulties, or, at least, 
 mitigate the sacrifices which the two bel 
 ligerent sections were compelled to make. 
 But the friendly proposal was rejected; 
 and the committee upon foreign relations 
 at Washington, in a report to the senate, 
 after adverting to the French offer of in 
 tercession, resolved, " that any idea of me 
 diation or intervention is impracticable, 
 unreasonable, and inadmissible : also, that 
 any offer of interference so far encourages 
 rebellion, and tends to prolong the contest, 
 and that congress will therefore be obliged 
 to regard any further attempt in the same 
 direction as an unfriendly act." The reso 
 lutions further expressed regret that the 
 foreign powers had not already informed 
 the southern chiefs that the work in which 
 they were engaged was hopeless, and that a 
 new government, with slavery as its corner 
 stone, and with no other declared object of 
 separate existence, was so far shocking to 
 civilisation, and to the moral sense of 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 xxxin 
 
 mankind, that it must not expect welcome 
 or recognition in the commonwealth of 
 nations. And, finally, the resolutions ex 
 pressed an unalterable purpose to prosecute 
 the war until the rebellion was suppressed. 
 
 On the 5th of March, a battle took place 
 between a confederate force, under General 
 Van Dora, and the federals, commanded by 
 General Coburn, at Springville, Tennessee, 
 thirteen miles south of Franklin, which 
 terminated in the defeat of the latter. The 
 force under Coburn consisted of three regi 
 ments of infantry, 500 cavalry, and one 
 battery of artillery. Of the infantry, 
 scarcely any escaped with life ; but the 
 cavalry and artillery, by a desperate ma- 
 ncDuvre, were saved. 
 
 One of the expedients resorted to by the 
 government of President Lincoln, was that 
 of declaring free, arming, and enrolling 
 the negro populations of such of the 
 southern states as were, for the time, occu 
 pied by federal troops; and, in carrying 
 out this project, arms were distributed, and 
 regiments organised, consisting entirely of 
 negroes, with a few whites as superior 
 officers. 
 
 An unsuccessful attempt, by Commodore 
 Farragut, to pass the batteries, and obtain 
 the control of the Mississippi, between Port 
 Hudson and Vicksburg, was made on the 
 14th of the month, under the following 
 circumstances : The Hartford, with the 
 commodore on board, accompanied by the 
 Albatross iron-clad, advanced with five 
 other steamers, to force the passage ; but 
 the Port Hudson batteries opened upon 
 them with terrific effect, and an engage 
 ment ensued, which lasted from 10 P.M. 
 until the following day. The Hartford 
 and Albatross succeeded in getting past 
 the batteries; but all the other vessels 
 were driven back, except the steamer Mis 
 sissippi, which grounded immediately before 
 the batteries, and was blown up. The 
 movement was intended to be covered by 
 the advance of General Banks towards 
 Springfield ; but he, after throwing out 
 some reconnoitring parties, retired : and as 
 nothing serious was intended, the general, 
 on his return to Baton Rouge, issued an 
 order, stating that the object of the ex 
 pedition was accomplished, and was "an 
 entire success." 
 
 On the 7th of April, a formidable attack 
 was made on the defences of Charleston, 
 by a federal fleet of iron-clads, four of which 
 opened fire upon the batteries of the har- 
 
 voi,. n. c 
 
 bour, and were promptly answered. The 
 object of the federal commander was to 
 pass the batteries, and shell the city ; but 
 the undertaking failed. From Fort Moul- 
 trie, on Sullivan s Island, on their right; 
 from the guns on Morris Island, on their 
 left; and from Fort Sumter, directly in 
 front of the advancing fleet, the fire soon 
 became overpowering. The Iron- clad, the 
 largest of the federal vessels, refusing to 
 obey her rudder, drifted on shore; but, 
 after some time, was got off, and taken out 
 of range. The action was then resumed 
 by the whole of the remaining fleet, and a 
 concentric fire of shot and shell continued 
 until 5 P.M. By this time the Ironsides, 
 crippled and disabled, had withdrawn from 
 the fight ; and the Keokuk, still more seri 
 ously damaged, had sunk off Morris Island. 
 When, on the following morning, the 
 rising sun shed light on Charleston har 
 bour, the hostile fleet was still inside the 
 bar ; but inactive and powerless for mis 
 chief, so far as Charleston city was con 
 cerned. 
 
 In its passage up the harbour, the fleet 
 came upon a network of obstructions, 
 stretching across the channel, from Sumter 
 to Moultrie; from Sumter to Cumming s 
 Point ; and from Fort Ripley to Fort John 
 son. It was found impossible to surmount 
 these impediments; and, after an engage 
 ment, which lasted from 3 A.M. till 5 P.M., the 
 fleet retired, with five out of the nine iron 
 clads damaged, and one sunk. During the 
 last thirty minutes of the engagement, the 
 federal fleet again received a concentric fire 
 from the confederate batteries, which it was 
 impossible for any vessel to remain long 
 under. The federal commanders then de 
 termined that it was useless to renew the at 
 tack, and the fleet returned to Port Royal. 
 
 On Monday, April 27th, the federal 
 army, commanded by General Hooker, 
 commenced the passage of the Rappa- 
 hannock; and, by the following Wednes 
 day, the whole force had crossed that 
 river. Proceeding forward in the direc 
 tion of Fredericksburg, his right wing had, 
 on Thursday the 30th, reached a point 
 near Spottsylvania Court-house, his left 
 resting on the Rapidan, at Ety s Ford, and 
 his centre on Chancellorsville, a few miles 
 south-west of Fredericksburg. The hostile 
 forces were, at this time, in close proximity, 
 and skirmishes were frequent. On Friday 
 evening, at 6 P.M., an attack was made on 
 the right flank of the federal army by 
 
XXXIV 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 General Jackson, and a general battle 
 immediately ensued. During the night of 
 Thursday, the federals had occupied them 
 selves in throwing up formidable breast 
 works, to resist a probable attack from the 
 direction of Fredericksburg ; but, as the 
 confederate force advanced from a contrary 
 direction, they were, of course, useless. 
 Hooker, finding himself thus outflanked, 
 after a short but ineffectual struggle, aban 
 doned the works, and retired towards 
 Chancellorsville, sustaining considerable 
 loss in his retrograde movement. The 
 pursuit was interrupted by the darkness of 
 the night ; but, on the following day, Gen 
 eral Jackson pressed the retiring federals 
 closely on their right, while General Lee 
 assailed them in front, the carnage on both 
 sides being tremendous. Shortly after 
 midnight, on the morning of Sunday, 
 May 3rd the hostile armies occupying 
 lines directly parallel with the Plank road, 
 leading from Fredericksburg to Orange 
 Court-house the federal army advanced 
 to the attack, the line of battle extending 
 from Chancellorsville to Wilderness Swamp, 
 in Spottsylvania, cutting across the Plank 
 road at an acute angle. Upon every point, 
 the most determined valour or reckless 
 desperation was shown by the combatants ; 
 but, after one of the most sanguinary 
 battles of the war, the federal troops were 
 beaten from the field, and fell back towards 
 the Rapidan, at its confluence with the 
 Rappahannock, some sixteen miles above 
 Fredericksburg. So ended the battle of 
 Chancellorsville. But, while it was yet 
 raging, General Sedgwick, with an over 
 whelming force, advanced from the Rappa 
 hannock, below Fredericksburg, upon Gen 
 eral Early, who, with one division only, 
 held Mary s Heights, near Fredericksburg ; 
 the weakness of the post being discovered 
 by means of a flag of truce, sent into the 
 confederate lines upon a pretext of obtain 
 ing time to bury the dead. After a short 
 but desperate resistance General Early was 
 compelled to retire, and Sedgwick took 
 possession of the heights, with a number 
 of prisoners, and five guns. The advantage 
 thus obtained was, however, but of short 
 duration, as on General M Lans arriving 
 with his division to the assistance of General 
 Early, the heights were again carried by 
 the confederate troops, General Sedgwick 
 and his force being driven into the valley 
 of the Rappahannock, and forced to abandon 
 the guns and prisoners they had taken. 
 
 The result of this battle was the retreat 
 of General Hooker and his force to the 
 north side of the Rappahannock ; and the 
 movement was effected under circumstances 
 that materially added to the mortification 
 of defeat. About 5 A.M. on Tuesday, the 
 rain commenced pouring down in torrents, 
 deluging the roads, tearing up the cordu 
 roys, sweeping away bridges, and threaten 
 ing the destruction of the pontoons, upon 
 which the safety of the federal troops now 
 mainly depended. The river had swollen 
 with unusual rapidity, and soon submerged 
 the ends of the pontoons so much as to 
 render crossing impracticable. The upper 
 pontoon was then taken up, and used to 
 lengthen the others ; and, after several 
 hours of hard labour, the bridges were 
 once more ready. It was now evident that 
 General Hooker meditated the abandon 
 ment of a position he found no longer 
 tenable, and the retreat from which was 
 hourly becoming more difficult. The order 
 was therefore given, on Tuesday, to re- 
 cross the Rappahannock. To this end 
 new roads were cut towards the river ; the 
 waggon-trains and reserve artillery were 
 sent to the rear, and the evacuation of the 
 position commenced. 
 
 To prevent the enemy s suspicion of a 
 retrograde movement, pine-boughs were 
 spread upon the pontoons, that no noise 
 might be made in crossing ; and, about 10 
 P.M., the troops began to fall back the 
 1st corps being the first to cross the river ; 
 the 5th remaining in the intrenchments, 
 to cover the retreat. By 3 A.M. on Wed 
 nesday, the waggon and mule trains, and 
 artillery, had all safely passed over, and 
 the infantry was then crossing by two 
 bridges, at United States Ford. Before 
 sunset, the waggons, extra caissons, and 
 pack -mules, were all collected at Falmouth ; 
 and, by the same time, the wounded were 
 removed from the hospitals, and sent on to 
 Washington. 
 
 A despatch of the 7th of May, from 
 Washington, stated, that it had been ascer 
 tained, from the front, that the army of 
 the Potomac had arrived, with all its ma 
 teriel, at its old quarters at Falmouth. 
 It also averred, that the " demonstration" 
 of General Hooker had not been a disaster, 
 but simply a failure, owing to the imprac 
 ticability of the position which the army 
 had gained. Less than three-eighths of 
 the whole force was said to have been 
 engaged, or could be so, owing to the 
 
THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 ground being covered with forest, and 
 without any practicable roads. The entire 
 loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 
 reported as not exceeding 10,000 men. 
 
 That, even in the federal army, there 
 were various opinions as to the effect of the 
 retreat, is evident from the following re 
 marks, written on the 7th of the month : 
 " The grand army of the Potomac is once 
 more in its camp, safe from danger. The 
 second experiment for the overthrow of the 
 rebellion has been attempted on the bluffs 
 of the Rappahannock, and failed. In our 
 shattered columns, our decimated batteries, 
 our scattered trains, and the wards of our 
 crowded hospitals, we read the painful 
 history of this disaster a history unpre 
 cedented in its character, and deeply hu 
 miliating to the nation." 
 
 General Stoneman, with a strong force 
 of cavalry, had been detached from General 
 Hooker s army for " special service," and 
 was eminently successful in his raids 
 upon the confederate positions, having dis 
 arranged all the railroad communication 
 between the head-quarters of the army of 
 the Potomac and Richmond : one party 
 also extended its operations to James 
 river, destroying the canal and much 
 valuable property, While this destruction 
 was going on in the direction of Richmond, 
 three regiments were dispatched to destroy 
 the railroad bridges across the Chickaho- 
 miny, and, if possible, to penetrate into 
 Yorktown. The success of this portion of 
 the expedition is shown by the following 
 communication : 
 
 " Yorktown, Virginia, May 7th. 
 " To Major-general Halleck. 
 " Colonel Kilpatrick, with his regiment (the 
 Harris light cavalry), and the rest of the 12th Illi 
 nois, has just arrived at Gloucester Point, opposite 
 this post. They burnt the bridges over the 
 Chickahominy ; destroyed three large trains of pro 
 visions in the rear of Lee s army ; drove in the 
 rebel pickets to within two miles of Richmond ; 
 and have lost only one lieutenant and thirty men, 
 having captured and paroled upwards of 300 
 prisoners. The cavalry have marched nearly 200 
 miles since the 3rd of May. They were outside 
 of the fortifications of Richmond on the 4th ; 
 burnt all the stores at Aylett s Station, on the 
 Mattapony, on the 5th ; destroyed all the ferries 
 over the Pamunkey and Mattapony, and a large 
 depot of commissariat stores, near and above the 
 Rappahannock, and came in here in good condi 
 tion. Il is one of the finest feats of the war." 
 
 It was, doubtless, with a view of learning 
 from the general s own lips the cause of 
 his retrograde movement, that the presi 
 
 dent of the United States, accompanied by 
 General Halleck, visited the camp at Fal- 
 mouth, on the morning of the 7th of May ; 
 and, after holding a conference with Gen 
 eral Hooker, returned to Washington, 
 whence, on the following day, the subjoined 
 report was issued : 
 
 " Washington, May 8th. 
 " To the Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 "The president and general-in-chief have just 
 returned from the army of the Potomac. 
 
 " The principal operations of General Hooker 
 failed ; but there has been no serious disaster to 
 the organisation and efficiency of the army. 
 
 " It is now occupying its former position on the 
 Rappahannock, having recrossed the river without 
 any loss in the movement. 
 
 "Not more than one-third of General Hooker s 
 force was engaged. General Stoneman s operations 
 have been a brilliant success. Part of his force 
 advanced to within two miles of Richmond, and 
 the enemy s communications have been cut in 
 every direction. 
 
 " The army of the Potomac will speedily resume 
 offensive operations. 
 
 " EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War." 
 
 It is now time to return to an event 
 immediately connected with, but subse 
 quent to, the battle of Fredericksburg, and 
 to place upon record the costly sacrifice 
 which the confederate cause was doomed 
 to make, as one of the results of its 
 triumph. This will be best narrated in 
 the following official despatch from General 
 Lee to the confederate government. 
 
 " Milford, May 3rd 
 
 " Yesterday General Jackson penetrated to the 
 rear of the enemy, and drove him from all his posi 
 tions, from the Wilderness to within one mile of 
 Chancellorsville. 
 
 " He was engaged, at the same time, in front by 
 two of Longstreet s divisions. Many prisoners were 
 taken, and the enemy s loss in killed and wounded 
 is large. This morning the battle was resumed. 
 
 " He was dislodged from all his positions around 
 Chancellorsville, and driven back towards the Rap 
 pahannock, over which he is now retreating. We 
 have again to thank Almighty God for a great 
 victory. I regret to state that General Paxton was 
 killed ; General Jackson severely, and Generals 
 Heth and A. R. Hills slightly, wounded. 
 
 "R. E, LEE, General commanding." 
 
 The publication of this intelligence 
 created intense excitement in Richmond; 
 and the announcement that " Stonewall" 
 Jackson was among the wounded, aroused 
 the sympathy of the whole population, so 
 universally was he esteemed for his noble 
 and soldier-like qualities. "The intelli 
 gence," said the Richmond Whig, "that 
 Jackson is severely wounded, will bring 
 the prayer to millions of lips that his injury 
 may not be mortal, and that it may not 
 
XXX VI 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 
 
 keep him long from the field." As the 
 news spread through the south, the regret 
 of the people for a calamity that imperilled 
 a life so valuable, became intense. " Our 
 victory on the Rappahannock," said the 
 Richmond Examiner, " has cost us dear in 
 the severe wounds unfortunately received 
 by the great and good General Jackson. 
 His condition is now, we learn, as favourable 
 as could possibly be expected, and he will 
 doubtless recover ; and is not, we trust, lost 
 to active service. We could better spare a 
 brigade or a division. It would be grievous 
 to think that his banner will never more 
 flash out upon the Yankee rear, and throw 
 them, at its first gleam, into headlong 
 rout, with the sudden outcry Jackson s 
 corning ; that the stern eye of the hero 
 will never more light with a warrior s joy 
 as he launches brigade after brigade upon 
 the stubborn foe, until the hated flag stoops, 
 and the columns reel and break, and fly 
 with the vengeful confederate cheer ringing 
 in their ears. Our foe will exult in the 
 disaster to Jackson ; yet the accursed bullet 
 that brought him down was never moulded 
 by a Yankee. Through a cruel mistake in 
 the confusion, the hero received two balls 
 from some of his own men, who would all 
 have died for him." 
 
 These too sanguine anticipations were 
 fallacious. On Sunday, the llth of Janu 
 ary, this noble soldier succumbed to the 
 effect of amputation and pneumonia, and 
 the cause of the southern states was de 
 prived of one of its chief supports in the 
 field. 
 
 General Lee, on receiving intelligence 
 of Jackson s misfortune, immediately wrote 
 him as follows : " I cannot express mv 
 regret at the occurrence. If I could have 
 directed events, I should have chosen, for 
 the good of the country, to have been 
 disabled in your stead. I congratulate you 
 upon the victory which is due to your skill 
 and energy." 
 
 The inexorable fiat had gone forth, and 
 one of the ablest generals of the south 
 ceased to exist. The mournful fact was 
 announced to the army by the follow 
 ing order of General Lee, on the llth 
 of May. 
 
 " With deep grief the commanding general an 
 nounces to the army the death of Lieutenant-gen 
 eral Jackson, who expired upon the 9th, at 8.15 
 P.M. The daring, skill, and energy of this great 
 and good soldier, by a decree of an alhvise Provi 
 dence, are now lost to us. But while we mourn his 
 death, we feel that his spirit Kves, and will inspire 
 the whole army with his indomitable courage, and 
 unshaken contideuce in God, as our hope and 
 strength. 
 
 "Let his name be a watchword for his corps who 
 have followed him to victory on so many fields. 
 Let officers and soldiers imitate his invincible de 
 termination to do everything in the defence of our 
 beloved country." 
 
 We close this outline account of the 
 " Civil War in America" while the armies 
 are confronting each other in different 
 sections of the country. Would that it 
 had been our province to have recorded 
 the peaceful settlement of the unnatural 
 strife! 
 
 I 
 
HISTORY 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, AND HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATION ORGANISED; PROCEEDINGS AND PROCLAMATIONS OF THE FEDEBAL CONGRESS. 
 
 THE independence of the United States of 
 America was virtually achieved when Coru- 
 wallis surrendered his glittering sword and \ 
 7,000 crimson-uniformed troops to Lee, in 
 the presence of the allied armies, upon the ; 
 plains of Yorktown, Virginia, on the 19th 
 of October, 1781. The American armies | 
 had won but few battles during the long 
 and eventful epoch of the revolutionary 
 war ; but their strategetical retreats were , 
 in many instances equivalent to victories ; ! 
 and, on the other hand, they were losses to 
 the British forces. The invading army of 
 Cornwallis had been, from time to time, 
 crowned with successes, which, to the Bri 
 tish, seemed to be but the certain and pro 
 gressive steps to the final overthrow of the 
 revolutionists ; and, in the realisation of this 
 hope, none were more sanguine than the 
 king and his minister, Lord North. In 
 spite of their fond anticipations and most 
 resolute prosecution of the war, the sur 
 render of the British army at Yorktown, 
 secured to the American colonies their in 
 dependence, and, in the end, was the cause 
 of the fall of North and his ministry in 
 Great Britain. These events, however, we 
 have given in the preceding volume ; and 
 it now becomes necessary that we should 
 recur to the political affairs of the federal 
 union, the organisation of the confederation, 
 and such other events and proceedings which 
 transpired in the colonial jurisdiction, having 
 a bearing upon the great issue of the re 
 volutionary epoch, and the formation of an 
 independent American nationality. These 
 we shall consider, respectively, in their 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
 chronological order of occurrence, avoiding, 
 as much as possible, a complication of the 
 federal and state affairs, as each was inde 
 pendent of the other. Yet, at the same time, 
 while they were " as distinct as the billows, 
 they were one as the ocean." The people, 
 who were the recognised source of every 
 sovereign power, fully appreciated the force 
 of .ZEsop s fable, illustrating the strength of 
 union by the bundle of sticks : when united, 
 no power could sever them ; but when di 
 vided, they were easily broken. And al 
 though the states were individually sove 
 reign, yet they achieved their independence 
 through an organic unity as one nation ! 
 
 In the first volume* we gave an ac- 
 | count of the proposition to organise a federal 
 i government, by a compact, styled " Articles 
 of Confederation," which were to be ratified 
 by the respective states through their legis 
 lative assemblies, representing the sovereign 
 people of the thirteen independent states of 
 America. This proposed organic instru 
 ment was adopted in congress on the loth 
 of November, 1777, and immediately there 
 after transmitted to the respective states for 
 adoption. 
 
 On the 23rd of June, 1778, congress 
 called upon the delegates of the respective 
 states for a report upon the articles of 
 confederation, submitted in the previous 
 year. The delegate from New Hampshire, 
 being called on, informed congress that the 
 state, in its general assembly, had agreed to 
 the articles as they then stood, and had 
 empowered its representatives in congress 
 * Ante, p. 352. 
 
REPORTS OF DELEGATES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1778. 
 
 to ratify them. The delegates from Mas 
 sachusetts Bay, being called on, reported 
 that the general court of that state had 
 instructed them to propose sundry amend 
 ments. Among them were propositions 
 to change the rule of apportionment, so as 
 to allow the scale to be varied from time 
 to time : another had respect to the mili 
 tary quotas to be furnished by each of the 
 states ; and another proposed that the 
 assent of the nine states should be suffi 
 cient to form the confederation. A vote 
 was taken on the various changes proposed, 
 and they were all rejected. The delegates 
 from Rhode Island were then called on ; 
 and they reported that they were in 
 structed to propose sundry amendments ; 
 among which was one to change the ninth 
 article, so as to read, after the words 
 "benefit of the United States," "pro 
 vided, nevertheless, that all lands within 
 these states, the property of which, before 
 the present war, was vested in the crown of 
 Great Britain, or out of which revenues 
 from quit-rents arise, payable to the said 
 crown, shall be deemed, taken, and con 
 sidered as the property of these United 
 States, and disposed of and appi-opriated by 
 congress for the benefit of the whole con 
 federacy ; reserving, however, to the states 
 within whose limits such crown lands may 
 be, the entire and complete jurisdiction 
 thereof." This proposition was negatived, 
 nine states being against, and one for it. 
 Sundry other immaterial changes were pro 
 posed, but all were negatived. 
 
 The delegates from New York were then 
 called on ; and they reported that they had 
 instructions to ratify the articles, with a 
 proviso, that they should not be binding on 
 the state of New York until all the other 
 states in the Union had ratified them. On 
 the 25th, a report was received from the 
 New Jersey delegates ; which was very 
 elaborate, and presented several proposi 
 tions for the consideration of congress. 
 Among them were 1st. That each delegate 
 of congress should be required to take an 
 oath, to be binding upon him while a dele 
 gate, to faithfully discharge the trust in 
 him reposed. The report stated, that " the 
 laws and usages of all civilised nations 
 evinced the propriety of an oath on such 
 occasions ; and the more solemn and im 
 portant the deposit, the more strong and 
 explicit ought the obligation to be." 2nd. 
 It was proposed that the sole and exclusive 
 power of regulating the trade of the United 
 2 
 
 States with foreign nations ought to be 
 clearly vested in the congress; and that 
 all revenues arising therefrom should be 
 used for purposes of the common weal of all 
 the states. 3rd. The legislature proposed 
 that the United States should be pro 
 hibited from keeping a standing army in 
 time of peaco. 4th. That the value of the 
 taxable property, upon which the assess 
 ments were made upon the states for con 
 tinental purposes, should be valued every 
 five years. 5th. The boundai-ies and limits 
 of each state ought to be fully and exactly 
 fixed, and made known, within five years 
 from the formation of the confederation. 
 6th. " The ninth article provides, that no 
 state shall be deprived of territory for the 
 benefit of the United States. Whether we 
 are to understand that by territory is in 
 tended any land, the property of which was 
 heretofore vested in the crown of Great 
 Britain, or that no mention of such land 
 is made in the confederation we are con 
 strained to observe, that the present war, 
 as we always apprehended, was undertaken 
 for the general defence and interest of the 
 confederating colonies, now the United 
 States. It was ever the confident expecta 
 tion of this state, that the benefits derived 
 from a successful contest, were to be general 
 and proportionate ; and that the property 
 of the common enemy, falling in conse 
 quence of a prosperous issue of the war, 
 would belong to the United States, and 
 appropriated for their use. We are there 
 fore greatly disappointed in finding no pro 
 vision made, in the articles of confederation, 
 for empowering the congress to dispose of 
 such property but especially the vacant 
 and unpatented lands, commonly called 
 I the ci own lands for defraying the expenses 
 i of the war, and for such other public pur- 
 poses as might be deemed necessary. The 
 \ jurisdiction ought, in every instance, to be- 
 j long to the respective states within the 
 charter, or determined limits of which such 
 lands may be seated ; but reason and justice 
 must decide, that the property which existed 
 in the crown of Great Britain previous to 
 , the present revolution, ought now to be 
 long to the congress, in trust for the use 
 and benefit of the United States. They 
 fought and bled for it in proportion to their 
 respective abilities, and therefore the re 
 ward ought not to be predilectionally dis 
 tributed. Shall such states as are shut out 
 by situation from availing themselves of 
 the least advantage from this quarter, be 
 
AD. 1778.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE NEW JERSEY OBJECTIONS. 
 
 left to sink under an enormous debt, whilst 
 others are enabled, in a short period, to 
 replace all their expenditures from the 
 hard earnings of the whole confederacy ? 
 7th. With respect to the apportionment of 
 the land forces, the ninth article provides 
 that they are to be furnished by the several 
 states, in proportion to the white population 
 in each. In the Act of Independence we 
 find the following declaration : We hold 
 these truths to be self-evident; that all men 
 are created equal ; that they are endowed 
 by their Creator with certain unalienable 
 rights, among which are life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness. Of this doctrine, 
 it is not a very remote consequence, that 
 all the members of every society, be the 
 colour of their complexion what it may, 
 are bound to promote the interest thereof, 
 according to their respective abilities. They 
 ought therefore to be brought into the 
 account on this occasion. But admitting 
 necessity or expediency to justify the re 
 fusal of liberty, in certain circumstances, to 
 persons of a particular colour, we think it 
 unequal to reckon upon such in this case. 
 Should it be improper, for special local 
 reasons, to admit them to bear arms for the 
 defence of the nation ; yet, we conceive the 
 proportion of forces to be embodied, ought 
 to be fixed according to the whole number of 
 inhabitants, in a state where the inhabitants 
 are all whites. Both those who are called 
 into the field, and those who remain to till 
 the ground, and labour in mechanical arts, 
 and otherwise, are reckoned in the estimate 
 for striking the proportion of forces to be 
 furnished by that state. Ought even a part 
 of the latter description to be left out in 
 another ? As it is of indispensable neces 
 sity, in every war, that a part of the inhabi 
 tants be employed for the uses of husbandry 
 and otherwise at home, while others are 
 called into the field, there must be the 
 same propriety that owners of a different 
 colour, who are employed for this purpose 
 in one state, while whites are employed for 
 the same purpose in another, be reckoned 
 in the account of the inhabitants in the 
 present instance. 8th. That a census of 
 the states should be taken every five years ; 
 And, 9th. With respect to the determination 
 of certain questions by the sanction of nine 
 states of the Union, the proportion to deter 
 mine questions considered as specified in 
 the ninth article, should be increased in 
 proportion to the number of states in the 
 Union thereafter." These several questions, 
 
 or alterations, proposed by the state of New 
 . Jersey, were considered by congress, and. 
 i rejected. The delegates from the state of 
 Pennsylvania were then called upon ; when 
 they reported that they had been instructed 
 to propose several alterations; most of which, 
 however, were mere verbal changes to the 
 articles. The vote was taken on the re 
 spective propositions, and all of them were 
 rejected. 
 
 The delegates from. Virginia being called 
 on, informed congress that they were em 
 powered to ratify, on behalf of their state, 
 the articles of confederation as they then 
 stood. The delegates from South Carolina 
 reported, that they were instructed to 
 propose sundry amendments to the arti 
 cles. A vote was taken, seriatim, on the 
 twenty-one propositions, and the whole of 
 them were rejected. The delegates from 
 Georgia had not received any instructions 
 from, their state ; but they gave assurances 
 that the articles would be ratified by that 
 state. Delaware and North Carolina did 
 not have delegates in congress at that time, 
 and no reports were received from them, 
 except informally, which indicated an ulti 
 mate ratification of the articles by those 
 states. 
 
 After the reception of the reports from 
 the delegates of the respective states, a 
 committee was appointed to prepare the 
 form of ratification to be signed by the 
 delegates of those states which had accepted 
 the articles of confederation ; and, on the 
 26th of June, the committee reported a cer 
 tificate. The articles of confederation, with 
 the ratifying certificate, were ordered to be 
 engrossed on a roll of parchment ; which 
 was duly executed, and reported by the 
 enrolling committee on the 9th of July, 
 1778, when the blanks were duly filled 
 with that date, and the instrument was 
 then signed by the delegates of the states 
 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, 
 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 
 Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Vir 
 ginia, and South Carolina. The delegates 
 from the states of New Jersey, Delaware, 
 and Maryland, informed congress that they 
 bad not yet received powers to sign the 
 articles. North Carolina and Georgia, 
 whose legislatures had ratified them, were 
 not at that time present in congress. 
 
 On motion, a committee was appointed to 
 prepare a circular letter, to be addressed to 
 the non-ratifying states, informing them 
 what states had signed the articles, and 
 
 3 
 
ARTICLES PARTIALLY RATIFIED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1779. 
 
 desiring the others to authorise their dele 
 gates to join in the ratification as soon as 
 possible. The circular was addressed to the 
 governors of the respective states of New 
 Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, North Caro 
 lina, and Georgia ; and it stated, that " con 
 gress, intent upon the present and future 
 security of these United States, has never 
 ceased to consider a confederacy as the 
 great principle of union, which can alone 
 establish the liberty of America, and ex 
 clude for ever the hopes of its enemies." 
 And after explaining the reasons for the 
 rejection of the various alterations, the 
 circular assured the governors, that it onty 
 remained for their states "to conclude the 
 glorious compact, which, by uniting the 
 wealth, strength, and councils of the whole, 
 may bid defiance to external violence and 
 internal dissensions, whilst it secures the 
 public credit both at home and abroad. 
 Congress is willing to hope that the patrio 
 tism and good sense of your state will be 
 influenced by motives so important." The 
 circular requested the governor to lay the 
 subject before the legislature of the state, 
 with the desire that the delegates might be 
 empowered to ratify the articles with all 
 convenient dispatch. This communication 
 did not hasten the formation of the con 
 federation, because there were serious ob 
 jections to the articles on account of the 
 retention of the western territory by the 
 Virginia militia forces, under the com 
 mand of Clarke, as the domain of that 
 state. Congress, however, continued to 
 indulge the hope that, after more delibe 
 rate reflection, the proposed confederation 
 would be formed, and thus bring into 
 existence an American nation. We have 
 already given some of the objections, as 
 signed by the state of New Jersey, against 
 the articles proposed ; but the most resolute 
 opponent of the measure was the state of 
 Maryland not on account of any particular 
 clause or principle embraced in the organic 
 code recommended for ratification; but that 
 state insisted upon the relinquishment of 
 the western territory by Virginia, before 
 the formation of the proposed government. 
 The legislatures of the different states 
 did not fail to consider the propriety of an 
 early establishment of the confederation ; 
 and, one by one, yield to the conditions of 
 the articles recommended in 1777. In No 
 vember, 1778, New Jersey declared, by its 
 legislature, that it continued to believe in 
 the correctness of the views communicated 
 4 
 
 to congress, on a former occasion, by that 
 state, against the confederation ; especially 
 with reference to the territorial question : 
 but, on a further consideration of the sub 
 ject, the legislature declared, that, "under 
 the full conviction of the present necessity 
 of acceding to the confederacy proposed, 
 and that every separate and detached state 
 interest ought to be postponed to the 
 general good of the Union ; and, moreover, 
 in the firm reliance that the candour and 
 justice of the several states will, in due time, 
 remove, as far as possible, the inequality 
 which now subsists : therefore, the state of 
 New Jersey consents to waive its objections 
 in the premises." The authority for sign 
 ing the articles of confederation, were pre 
 sented to congress by the delegates of that 
 state, on the 25th of November, 1778 ; and, 
 on the 26th, the articles were formally 
 signed by them in congress. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1779, the Virginia 
 delegates, under instructions from the legis 
 lature of that state, signed the articles of 
 confederation. On the 21st, the delegates 
 from the state of Connecticut, laid before 
 congress a letter from that state, authorising 
 them to ratify the articles conjunctively 
 with the twelve states which had agreed to 
 them, leaving to Maryland, then the only 
 state declining to ratify, the liberty to join 
 the confederation whenever it desired. On 
 the same day, the delegates from Maryland 
 presented certain instructions from their 
 state respecting the articles of confedera 
 tion. This official document declared, that, 
 " although the pressure of immediate cala 
 mities, the dread of their continuance from 
 the appearance of disunion, and some other 
 peculiar circumstances, may have induced 
 some states to accede to the present con 
 federation, contrary to their own interests 
 and judgments, it requires no great share 
 of foresight to predict, that when those 
 causes cease to operate, the states which 
 have thus acceded to the confederation, 
 will consider it as no longer binding, and 
 will eagerly embrace the first occasion of 
 asserting their just rights, and securing 
 their independence. Is it possible that 
 those states, who are ambitiously grasping 
 at territories to which, in our judgment, 
 they have not the least shadow of exclusive 
 right, will use, with greater moderation, 
 the increase of wealth and power derived 
 from those territories, when acquired, than 
 what they have displayed in their endea 
 vours to acquire them ? We think not 
 
A.D. 17/9.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE MARYLAND OBJECTIONS. 
 
 We are convinced, the same spirit which 
 hath prompted them to insist on a claim so 
 extravagant, so repugnant to every prin 
 ciple of justice, so incompatible with the 
 general welfare of all the states, will urge 
 them on to add oppression to injustice. If 
 they should not be incited by a superiority 
 of wealth and strength to oppress, by open 
 force, their less wealthy and less powerful 
 neighbours, yet the depopulation, and, con 
 sequently, the impoverishment of these 
 states, will necessarily follow, which, by an 
 unfair construction of the confederation, 
 may be stripped of a common interest in, 
 and the common benefits derivable from, 
 the western country. Suppose, for in 
 stance, Virginia indisputably possessed of 
 the extensive and fertile country to which 
 she has set up a claim : what would be the 
 probable consequences to Maryland of such 
 an undisturbed and undisputed possession ? 
 They cannot escape the least discernment. 
 
 " Virginia, by selling, on the most mode 
 rate terms, a small proportion of the lands 
 in question, would draw into her treasury 
 vast sums of money ; and, in proportion to 
 the sums arising from such sales, would be 
 enabled to lessen her taxes ; with land cheap, 
 and taxes low, comparatively considered 
 with the lands and taxes of an adjacent 
 state, would quickly drain the state thus 
 disadvantageously circumstanced, of its 
 most useful inhabitants its wealth ; and its 
 consequence in the scale of the confederated 
 states would sink of course. A claim so 
 injurious to more than one-half, if not the 
 whole of the United States, ought to be 
 supported by the clearest evidence of the 
 right. Yet what evidence of that right 
 has been produced ? What arguments have 
 been alleged in support of either the evi 
 dence or the right? None, that we have 
 heard of, deserving a serious refutation. 
 
 " It has been said by some, that the dele 
 gates of a neighbouring state have declared 
 their opinion of the impracticability of 
 governing the extensive dominions claimed 
 by that state ; hence, also, the necessity 
 was admitted of dividing its territory, and 
 erecting a new state, under the auspices 
 and direction of the elder, from whom, no 
 doubt, it would receive its form of govern 
 ment, to whom it would be bound by some 
 alliance or confederacy, and by whose coun 
 cils it would be influenced. Such a measure, 
 if ever attempted, would certainly be op 
 posed by the other states as inconsistent 
 with the letter and spirit of the proposed 
 
 VOL. 11. c 
 
 confederation. Should it take place by 
 establishing a sub-confederacy imperium in 
 imperio, the state possessed of this extensive 
 dominion, must thus either submit to all 
 the inconveniences of an overgrown and 
 unwieldy government, or suffer the autho 
 rity of congress to interpose at a future 
 time, and to lop off a part of its territory to 
 be erected into a new and free state, and 
 admitted into the confederation on such 
 conditions as shall be settled by nine states. 
 If it is necessary for the happiness and 
 tranquillity of a state thus overgrown, that 
 congress should hereafter interfere and di 
 vide its territory, why is the claim to that 
 territory now made, and so pertinaciously 
 insisted an ? We can suggest to ourselves 
 but two motives : either the declaration of 
 relinquishing, at some future period, a por 
 tion of the country now contended for, was 
 made to lull suspicion asleep, and to cover 
 the designs of a secret ambition ; or, if the 
 thought was seriously entertained, the lands 
 are now claimed to reap an immediate 
 profit from the sale. We are convinced, 
 policy and justice require that a country, 
 unsettled at the commencement of this war, 
 claimed by the British crown, and ceded to 
 it by the treaty of Paris,* if wrested from 
 the common enemy by the blood and trea 
 sure of the thirteen states, should be con 
 sidered as common property, subjected to 
 be parcelled out by congress into free, con 
 venient, and independent governments, in 
 such manner, and at such times, as the 
 wisdom of the assembly shall hereafter 
 direct. Thus convinced, we should betray 
 the trust reposed in us by our constituents, 
 were we to authorise you to ratify, on their 
 behalf, the confederation, unless it be fur 
 ther explained, and amended by an article 
 conformable to the sentiments expressed." 
 
 This most extraordinary document was re 
 quested to be read before congress, and 
 inserted verbatim in its records. Copies were 
 sent to all the states, by Maryland; thus 
 indicating, in unmistakable language, its de 
 termination not to unite in the confederation 
 without an amendatory clause, requiring a 
 division of the western territories, for the 
 benefit of the whole confederacy. Not only 
 was the domain lying north-west of the 
 Ohio embraced within the demands of Mary 
 land, but the territories east of that river, 
 and west of the Appalachian chain of moun 
 tains, were considered by that state common 
 
 * This treaty was that made in 1764, after the 
 fall of Montreal. 
 
NORTH-WEST TERRITORY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1779. 
 
 property. Reference was made in the docu 
 ment to the sales of lands, at that time 
 authorised by Virginia, in the west; and 
 the proceedings were strongly condemned 
 by Maryland, for the reason, as alleged, 
 that the lands did not belong to Virginia, 
 but to the United States in common. On 
 the other hand, Virginia held that vast 
 country by its own arms, by the choice of 
 the people residing in the west, and by au 
 thority of its charter. The state had not 
 the means to pay the militia, who had held 
 the lands and protected the western settlers 
 from the incursions of the savages ; and, as 
 a compensation for their invaluable services 
 in the defence of the Union, and particularly 
 the western parts of Virginia, Maryland, 
 Pennsylvania, and New York, the for 
 mer state stipulated to give soldiers, in 
 compensation for their services, lands, which 
 were to be located in the western part of 
 Virginia ; and for that purpose land-offices 
 were opened in Kentucky, and in the other 
 countries west of the mountains. 
 
 The Maryland letter, declining to join 
 the confederacy, was formally but coldly 
 received by the other states ; and the ex 
 pressions respecting Virginia were con 
 sidered to be discourteous by the legislators 
 of that state. The act of Maryland being 
 couched in language offensive to the people 
 of Virginia, who had sacrificed more than 
 all the other states in the same service 
 many valuable lives, and much of its but 
 limited revenue had the effect of retarding 
 the surrender of the north-west, by Vir 
 ginia, to the general government. From 
 the foregoing statements, it will be seen 
 that, so late as 1781, it was not possible to 
 form the confederation without either the 
 state of Maryland or that of Virginia re 
 ceding from the positions they had assumed 
 upon the land question. The former re 
 fused to join the proposed new government 
 unless the latter surrendered its claim to the 
 western territory ; and, on the other hand, 
 Virginia declined to accede to the condi 
 tions required. At that time all the forces 
 in the west, excepting those at Fort Pitt, 
 were under the authority of the state of 
 Virginia; and the proceedings of congress, 
 August 21st, 1779, evidence the right of 
 Virginia in the premises. For example, on 
 that day, the committee, to whom was re 
 ferred the report of the Board of War on 
 the letter from Major-general Phillips, sub 
 mitted their opinion, "That, as the im 
 prisonment of Lieutenant-governor Hamil- 
 6 
 
 ton was the act of the executive power of 
 the state of Virginia, to whom it properly 
 belonged to decide on the treatment suit 
 able to his conduct; and, as the American 
 prisoners of war in New York have hitherto 
 been denied the liberty of communicating, 
 to any public body within the United States, 
 the severities exercised upon them, congress 
 ought not to indulge Major-general Phillips 
 with forwarding his letters and papers re 
 specting the said Hamilton. Thus it will 
 be seen that congress fully recognised the 
 two classes of prisoners, and especially its 
 non-jurisdiction over Hamilton, a prisoner, 
 taken at Fort Saekville, post St. Vincent, 
 in February, 1779, by Colonel Clark. 
 
 The state of Virginia, under its colonial 
 charter, had no western limit ; and the suc 
 cess of its arms had greatly extended its 
 occupancy, even to the Mississippi. These 
 acts were looked upon by the other states 
 with a considerable degree of jealousy. In 
 October, 1779, Colonel Broadhead informed 
 i congress, that some Virginians, from Yohia- 
 gania and other western counties, had 
 i crossed the Ohio river, " and had made 
 : small improvements on the Indians land, 
 i from the river Muskingum to Fort M ln- 
 tosh, and thirty miles up the branches of 
 the Ohio ; and that he had ordered the tres- 
 | passers to be apprehended, and the huts to 
 ; be destroyed." On the reception of this 
 I communication, congress ordered that a 
 copy of it be sent to the governor of Vir 
 ginia, with the request that he should pre 
 vent a repetition of similar acts, as such 
 invasions were calculated to increase the 
 difficulties with the Indians, who were, at 
 that time, a very strong ally of the British. 
 But the legislature of the state of Virginia 
 was not disposed to interfere against the 
 settlement of the west, especially as the 
 territory belonged to its dominion, the right 
 having been secured by its arms. The 
 jurisdiction of Virginia over the regions 
 west of the Appalachian mountains, and of 
 the Ohio river particularlv, was denied 
 by land speculators, and by a portion of 
 the delegates in congress from other states. 
 After Virginia had determined to open 
 offices in October, 1779, for the sale of 
 lands, Mr. Paca, a delegate from the state 
 of Maryland, in the month of November, 
 made a proposition in congress, to request 
 the state of Virginia not to place the lands 
 of the west subject to entry. After con 
 siderable discussion, it was resolved by con 
 gress, " that it be earnestly recommended 
 
A.D. 1779.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE INDIANA PURCHASE. 
 
 to the state of Virginia, to reconsider their 
 late act of assembly for opening their land j 
 office ; and that it be recommended to the ! 
 said state, and all other states similarly cir- I 
 cumstanced, to forbear settling, or issuing 
 warrants for unappropriated lands, or grant- i 
 ing the same during the continuance of the 
 present war." This communication, was 
 received by the governor of Virginia; but 
 being disinclined to admit the right of con 
 gress to interfere in the affair, he continued 
 the policy of his state respecting the western 
 lands. 
 
 The proposition of the delegate from the 
 state of Maryland, was founded upon a me 
 morial presented by the proprietors of cer 
 tain lands called " Indiana," west of the 
 Appalachian mountains; lying between the 
 Laurel Hill and the Ohio river. The me 
 morial was sent to congress in September, 
 1779, and stated "That on the 3rd day of 
 November, 1768, at a general congress with 
 the Six Nations and other Indians, held at 
 Fort Stanwix, in consideration of the sum 
 of 80,916 10s. tid., the amount of the 
 value of the damages sustained by the 
 traders, the said six united and indepen 
 dent nations, the true and absolute owners 
 and proprietors, did grant a tract of land 
 called Indiana/ described as follows ; viz , 
 beginning at the southerly side of the 
 mouth of Little Kenhawa Creek, where it 
 empties itself into the river Ohio, thence to 
 and along the Laurel Hill until it strikes the 
 river Monongahela, thence down the stream 
 of the said river, according to the several 
 courses thereof, to the southern boundary- 
 line of the province of Pennsylvania ; thence 
 westerly along the course of the said province 
 boundary-line, as far as the same shall ex 
 tend ; and from thence, by the same course, to 
 the Ohio river ; thence down the said Ohio to 
 the place of beginning." The memorialists 
 further stated, that the said purchase was 
 well known by the state of Virginia; and 
 that, by order of the king of Great Britain, 
 in council, before the commencement of the 
 war, it was separated from the dominion of 
 Virginia, which, in right of the crown, that 
 state claimed over it, as a part of the domain 
 known as Vandalia. The proprietors of 
 "Indiana" declared, in their memorial, 
 "that the said tract of country cannot 
 remain subject to the jurisdiction of Vir 
 ginia, or any particular state, but of the 
 whole United States, in congress assembled ; 
 that some acts of the state of Virginia, 
 directing the sale of the lands, for the par 
 
 ticular benefit of that state, seem intended 
 to defeat the interposition of congress." 
 The memorialists requested congress to 
 take some acts to prevent the state of Vir 
 ginia from selling the said lands, until the 
 " owners of the tract of land, called Van 
 dalia, of which Indiana was a part," could 
 be fully heard, and their rights considered, 
 having in view, at the same time, the 
 " support of the sovereignty of the United 
 States."* 
 
 On the 6th of September, congress took 
 into consideration the report of the com 
 mittee, to whom were referred the instruc 
 tions of the general assembly of Maryland 
 to their delegates in congress, respecting 
 the articles of confederation ; the declara 
 tion therein referred to ; the act of the legis 
 lature of New York, on the same subject; and 
 the remonstrance of the general assembly 
 of Virginia. The report of the committeo 
 stated that they deemed it unnecessary to 
 revive a discussion of the merits of the case, 
 as that had been fully entered into on the 
 adoption of the articles of confederation in 
 1777. They were of opinion that a further 
 discussion of the subject would be unwise, 
 and not calculated to attain a happy end ; 
 and they thought it most advisable, "to 
 press upon those states which can remove 
 the embarrassments respecting the western 
 country, a liberal surrender of a portion of 
 their territorial claims, since they cannot 
 be preserved entire without endangering 
 the stability of the general confederacy ; to 
 remind them how indispensably necessary 
 it is to establish the federal union on a fixed 
 and independent basis, and on principles 
 acceptable to all the respective members 
 how essential to public credit and con 
 fidence to the support of our army to the 
 vigour of our councils, and success of our 
 measures to our tranquillity at home, our 
 reputation abroad to our very existence as 
 a free, sovereign, and independent people ; 
 that they are fully persuaded the wisdom 
 of the respective legislatures will lead them 
 to a full and impartial consideration of a 
 subject so interesting to the United States, 
 and so necessary to the happy establish 
 ment of the federal union ; that they are 
 confirmed in these expectations by a review 
 of the before-mentioned act of the legiala- 
 
 * The proprietors of the " Indiana Purchase" 
 were citizens of New Jersey; and the legislature of 
 that state appointed an agent, Captain Morgan, to 
 memorialise congress in behalf of the proprietors in 
 the premises. 
 
CONFEDERATION ORGANISED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1781. 
 
 ture of New York, submitted to their con 
 sideration ; that this act is expressly cal 
 culated to accelerate the federal alliance, by 
 removing, as far as depends on that state, 
 the impediment arising from, the western 
 country ; and, for that purpose, to yield up 
 a portion of territorial claim for the general 
 benefit/ The committee presented a reso 
 lution, which was adopted, requesting the 
 respective states to consider the views 
 expressed in the report; and "that the 
 legislature of the state of Maryland be 
 earnestly requested to authorise its dele- 
 j gates in congress to subscribe the articles of 
 confederation," and to have faith in the 
 ultimate equitable termination of the issue. 
 On the 12th of February, 1781, the 
 delegates from the state of Maryland, laid 
 before congress an act of their state, em 
 powering them to subscribe and ratify the 
 articles of confederation. That act was 
 coupled with a preamble, declaring 
 " Whereas, it hath been said that the 
 common enemy is encouraged by this state 
 not acceding to the confederation, to hope 
 that the union of the sister states may be 
 dissolved ; and therefore prosecutes the war 
 in expectation of an event so disgraceful 
 to America ; and our friends and illustrious 
 ally are impressed with an idea, that the 
 common cause would be promoted by our 
 formally acceding to the confederation. 
 This general assembly conceives that this 
 state hath, from the commencement of the 
 war, strenuously exerted herself in the 
 common cause; and fully satisfied that, if 
 no formal confederation was to take place, 
 it is the fixed determination of this state to 
 continue her exertions to the utmost, agree 
 able to the faith pledged to the Union ; from 
 an earnest desire to conciliate the affection 
 of the sister states, to convince all the 
 world of our unalterable resolution to sup 
 port the independence of the United States, 
 and the alliance with his most Christian 
 majesty, and to destroy for ever any appre 
 hension of our friends, or hope in our ene 
 mies, of this state being again united to 
 Great Britain." The legislature of Mary 
 land thus exhibited a degree of conciliation 
 that did great honour to the state; though, 
 at the same time, it declared that it did not 
 relinquish, nor did it intend to relinquish, 
 any right or interest, with the other states, 
 to the "back country;" declaring, however, 
 that it relied upon the justice of the several 
 
 * Notwithstanding the solemnity of the compact, 
 in the formation of the " perpetual union," eleven 
 
 <S 
 
 states thereafter, with respect to the said 
 claim. 
 
 On the 1st day of March, the delegates 
 for the state of Maryland formally signed 
 and ratified the articles of confederation. 
 This act completed the formation of the 
 national union, under the article adopted 
 in 1777. Over four years had been em 
 ployed in the establishment of a united 
 government ; and in that time the enemy 
 had continued to hope for a restoration of 
 the royal power in some of the colonies, 
 by which the others might be compelled to 
 return to their allegiance. 
 
 On the 2nd of March, the congress of the 
 new government assembled ; although the 
 change only required the clerk of that body 
 to head the proceedings with the new title. 
 From this date commenced the " Confedera 
 tion of the United States ;" an important 
 step towards the establishment of a nation ! 
 Each of the states retained " its sovereignty, 
 freedom, and independence ; and every 
 power, jurisdiction, and right, which was 
 not, by the articles of confederation, ex 
 pressly delegated to the United States." It 
 was to be " a firm league of friendship," 
 j " a perpetual union," for their common 
 i defence and mutual welfare. It was to 
 enable the whole to resist all attacks made 
 upon them, or any one of them. Such was 
 the solemn obligation entered into by the 
 respective colonies, one with the other. It 
 was not to be an agreement for the time 
 being ; but it was to continue for ever : it 
 was irrevocable ; and no state reserved the 
 right to withdraw from the new govern 
 ment, or to dissolve the nation. The ar 
 ticles formed a compact ; and each of the 
 thirteen colonies signed that perpetual 
 league, and thereafter sent delegates to the 
 national congress. Before that date, con 
 gress had no power to enforce its decrees, 
 except permissively ; and each of the states 
 had a right to withdraw from that body 
 whenever it desired. Legally considered, 
 it was only an advisory convention, as 
 sembled for specific purposes, and to con 
 tinue during the war, unless earlier dis 
 solved by circumstances, as might be deter 
 mined by each or any of the states autho 
 rising its creation. The ratification of the 
 articles of confederation changed the status 
 of congress, and made that body a tribunal 
 of the " perpetual union,"* independent of 
 any state jurisdiction. 
 
 of the thirteen states seceded from the confedera 
 tion, and formed a constitutional government in 
 
A.D. 1781.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [GOVERNMENTAL EPOCHS. 
 
 We have now traced the efforts of the 
 colonial states, from their earliest govern 
 mental epochs to the formation of a nation, 
 known under one name, style, or title the 
 " Confederation of the United States of 
 America." One hundred and seventy-four 
 years had passed since the first settlement 
 was made at Jamestown, Virginia ; and 
 within that long period, but few changes 
 had been made in the government of the 
 colonies until within a short period anterior 
 to 1781. The people throughout the colo 
 nies were loyal to their government ; and 
 whenever they found it necessary to resist 
 measures attempted to be enforced by the 
 crown s authority, it was not because they 
 were disloyal, but because they were more 
 loyal than the administrators of the exec 
 utive or sovereign power. Within the 
 period mentioned, the following govern 
 mental epochs transpired ; namely 
 
 1st. The thirteen separate colonial, char 
 ter, or patent governments, exercising 
 powers derived from the throne of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 2nd. The rebellion, which ended in the 
 declaration of independence, July 4th, 1776. 
 
 3rd. The revolutionary period, dating 
 from July 4th, 1776, from which time the 
 common interests of the colonies were 
 managed by a congress, or a convention, 
 composed of delegates from the respective 
 colonial governments in revolt, until 1781, 
 
 4th. The confederation of the United 
 States, organised as a "perpetual union," 
 and intended to be a national government, 
 March 2nd, 1781.* 
 
 During the whole revolutionary struggle, 
 the continental congress had been almost 
 constantly in session, and was engaged in 
 devising ways and means for the mainte 
 nance of the armies, conducting the foreign 
 affairs, keeping peace between the states, 
 and such other acts as might tend to unite 
 the efforts of the people, individually and 
 collectively, towards the consummation of 
 their independence and nationality. It 
 levied the quotas upon the states for men 
 and moneys, and distributed them in such 
 manner as, in its judgment, would be most 
 likely to subserve the common weal. Many 
 proclamations were issued, requesting the 
 people to unite on certain days, in " fasting 
 
 1789, with Washington at its head; by which the 
 other two states Mere left as the only elements consti 
 tuting the government of 1781 ; though, practically, 
 the union then formed was dissolved by the majo 
 rity in 1789. 
 
 vain. 
 
 * And to these may be added a fifth, embracing 
 the constitutional epoch, commencing with the for 
 mation of that government in 1789, under the con 
 stitution adopted in the national convention of 
 1787. 
 
 
 
 and prayer" in humble thanks to the 
 Creator for the blessings enjoyed ; to be 
 seech His benign favour and guardian care 
 of the armies of the republic in all their 
 efforts for the spread of freedom ; and to 
 confound their enemies then invading dif 
 ferent regions within the dominion of the 
 states. These measures were respected with 
 the most profound veneration, and fervent 
 were the millions of prayers that ascended 
 to heaven upon those august occasions, not 
 only from the sacred desk of the church, 
 but also from the fireside of the cottage, 
 the log-cabin, and from beneath the forest 
 tree in the wilds of the far west. Sublime, 
 indeed, was the spectacle, when every man, 
 woman, and child of the New World, united, 
 with fervent hearts, to invoke the protection 
 of that King whose throne was in heaven, 
 and to whom the earth was but as a foot 
 stool. 
 
 It was the practice of congress to issue 
 proclamations, from time to time, explain 
 ing to the people the condition of pub 
 lic affairs ; and, at the same time, appeal 
 to them for their co-operation, in every 
 possible manner, to maintain their freedom, 
 and unqualified independence. Among 
 these may be cited the following. "Three 
 years have now passed away since the 
 commencement of the present war a war 
 without parallel in the annals of mankind. 
 It hath displayed a spectacle the most 
 solemn that can possibly be exhibited. On 
 one side we behold fraud and violence, 
 labouring in the service of despotism ; on 
 the other, virtue and fortitude, supporting 
 and establishing the rights of human nature. 
 You cannot but remember how reluctantly 
 we were dragged into this arduous contest ; 
 and how repeatedly, with the earnestness 
 of humble entreaty, we supplicated a redress 
 of our grievances from him who ought to 
 have been the father of his people. In 
 vain did we implore his protection ; in 
 vain appeal to the justice, the generosity of 
 Englishmen of men, who had been the 
 guardians, the assertors, and vindicators of 
 liberty through a succession of ages; men 
 who, with their swords, had established the 
 firm barriers of freedom, and cemented it 
 with the blood of heroes. Every effort was 
 For, even whilst we were prostrated 
 
CONGRESSIONAL MANIFESTO.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.P. 1781. 
 
 at the foot of the throne, that fatal blow 
 was struck which separated us for ever. 
 Thus spurned and insulted thus driven by 
 our enemies into measures which our souls 
 abhorred we made a solemn appeal to the 
 tribunal of unerring wisdom and justice ; 
 to that Almighty Ruler of princes whose 
 kingdom is over all. 
 
 " We were then quite defenceless. With 
 out arms, without ammunition, without 
 clothing, without ships, without money, 
 without officers skilled in war ; with no 
 other reliance but the bravery of our people 
 and the justice of our cause we had to 
 contend with a nation great in arts and in 
 arms, whose fleets covered the ocean, whose 
 banners had waved in triumph through 
 every quarter of the globe. However un 
 equal in this contest, our weakness was still 
 further increased by the enemies which 
 America had nourished in her bosom. Thus 
 exposed, on the one hand, to external forces 
 and internal division ; on the other, to be 
 compelled to drink of the bitter cup of 
 slavery, and to go sorrowing all our lives 
 long in this sad alternative we chose the 
 former. 
 
 " But, however great the injustice of our 
 foes in commencing this war, it is by no 
 means equal to that cruelty with which 
 they have conducted it. The course of their 
 armies has been marked by rapine and de 
 vastation. Thousands, without distinction 
 of age or sex, have been driven from their 
 peaceful abodes to encounter the rigours of 
 inclement seasons ; and the face of heaven 
 has been insulted by the wanton confla 
 gration of defenceless towns. Their vic 
 tories have been followed by the cool mur 
 der of men no longer able to resist; and 
 those who escaped from the first act of car 
 nage, have been exposed, by cold, hunger, 
 and nakedness, to wear out a miserable ex 
 istence in the tedious hours of confinement, 
 or to become the destroyers of their country 
 men ; of their friends ; perhaps dreadful 
 idea ! of their parents or children. Nor 
 was this the outrageous barbarity of an in 
 dividual, but a system of deliberate malice, 
 stamped with the concurrence of the British 
 legislature, and sanctioned with all the for 
 malities of law. Nay, determined to dis 
 solve the closest bonds of society, they have 
 stimulated servants to slay their masters in 
 the peaceful hour of domestic security. 
 And, as if all this were not sufficient to 
 slake their thirst for the blood of unoffend 
 ing brothers, they have excited the Indians 
 10 
 
 against us ; and a general, who calls him 
 self a Christian a follower of the merciful 
 Jesus hath dared to proclaim to all the 
 world his intention of letting loose against 
 us whole hosts of savages, whose rule of 
 warfare is promiscuous carnage ; who re 
 joice to murder the infant smiling in its 
 mother s arms ; to inflict on their prisoners 
 the most excruciating torments ; and ex 
 hibit scenes of horror from which nature 
 recoils." 
 
 The address proceeded to denounce the 
 treatment of the prisoners by the British, 
 and asserted that those held by the Ame 
 ricans were humanely cared for. It re 
 minded the people of their past successes, 
 and that their condition had been vastly 
 strengthened by their own exertions, ai.d 
 by repeated special dispensations of Provi 
 dence. The efforts of the British to bribe 
 some members of congress, officers of the 
 army, and influential citizens, were de 
 nounced in very strong language. It 
 warned the people not to be " ensnared by 
 the insidious offers of peace ;" not to be 
 " lulled with the fallacious hopes of peace." 
 The congress frankly told the people 
 " Your sovereign alliances cannot secure 
 your country from desolation, your habita 
 tions from plunder, your wives from in 
 sult or violation, nor your children from 
 butchery. Foiled in their principal design, 
 you must expect to feel the rage of disap 
 pointed ambition. Arise, then ! to your 
 tents ! and gird you for battle. It is time 
 to turn the headlong current of vengeance 
 upon the head of the destroyer. They have 
 filled up the measure of their abominations, 
 and, like ripe fruit, must soon drop from 
 the tree. Although much is done, yet much 
 remains to do. Expect not peace whilst 
 any corner of America is in possession of 
 your foes. You must drive them away from 
 this land of promise a land flowing, in 
 deed, with milk and honey." 
 
 The address then spoke of the bankrupt 
 condition of the national treasury, and ad 
 mitted the almost hopeless prospect of any 
 ultimate redemption of the paper issue. 
 But, at the same time, congress reminded 
 the people of the consequences of a failure to 
 maintain their independence, with respect 
 to the heavy taxes that would be forced 
 upon the states far greater than would be 
 required to redeem the continental circula- 
 tion. It suggested to the several legislatures 
 to sink their respective issues, so that there 
 might be but one kind of bills, and thereby, 
 
A.D. 1781.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PATRIOTIC APPEALS. 
 
 amongst other reasons, lessen the liability 
 of being counterfeited. It also advised the 
 people to live economically, husband all their 
 resources, and even suffer for some time ; 
 all having in view an ultimate triumph. 
 The address was closed by the following : 
 " It is to obtain these things that we call 
 for vmir strenuous, unremitted exertions. 
 Yet do not believe that you have been, or 
 can be, saved merely by your own strength. 
 No ! it is by the assistance of Heaven ; and 
 this you must assiduously cultivate, by acts 
 which Heaven approves. Thus shall the 
 power and the happiness of these sovereign, 
 free, and independent states, founded on the 
 virtue of their citizens, increase, extend, 
 and endure, until the Almighty shall blot 
 out all the empires of the earth !" 
 
 By resolution, congress recommended the 
 ministers of the gospel, of all denominations, 
 to read, or cause to be read, immediately 
 after divine service, the above address to the 
 inhabitants of the United States of America, 
 in their respective churches and chapels, 
 and other places of religious worship. 
 
 The following most significant manifesto 
 was circulated by congress very generally 
 throughout the states ; and it had a very 
 great effect in stimulating the people to 
 increased energy against the invading 
 armies. The manifesto declared, that " the 
 United States, having been driven to hos 
 tilities by the oppressive and tyrannous 
 measures of Great Britain; having been 
 compelled to commit the essential rights of 
 man to the decision of arms ; and having 
 been at length forced to shake off a yoke 
 which had grown too burdensome to bear 
 they declared themselves free and inde 
 pendent; confiding in the justice of their 
 cause confiding in Him who disposes of 
 human events. Although weak and unpro 
 vided, they set the power of their enemies 
 at defiance. In this confidence they have 
 continued through the various fortunes of 
 the several bloody campaigns, unawed by 
 the power, unsubdued by the barbarity, of 
 their foes. Their virtuous citizens have 
 borne, without repining, the loss of many 
 things which make life desirable. Their 
 brave troops have patiently endured the 
 hardships and dangers of a situation fruitful 
 in both, beyond former example. 
 
 " The congress, considering themselves 
 bound to love their enemies, as children of 
 that Being who is equally the Father of 
 all ; and desirous, since they could not pre- , 
 vent, at least to alleviate the calamities of 
 
 war, have studied to spare those who were 
 in arms against them, and to lighten the 
 chains of captivity. The conduct of those 
 serving under the king of Great Britain, 
 hath, with some few exceptions, been dia- 
 metrically opposite. They have laid waste 
 j the open country, burned their defenceless 
 i villages, and butchered the citizens of 
 America. Their prisons have been the 
 slaughterhouses of her soldiers, their ships 
 of her seamen; and the severest injuries 
 have been aggravated by the grossest in 
 sults. Foiled in their vain attempts to 
 subjugate the unconquerable spirit of free 
 dom, they have meanly assailed the repre 
 sentatives of America with bribes, with, 
 deceit, and the civility of adulation. They 
 have made a mock of religion by impious 
 appeals to God whilst in the violation of his 
 sacred command. They have made a mock 
 ! even of reason itself, by endeavouring 
 to prove that the liberty and happiness of 
 America could safely be entrusted to those 
 who have sold their own, unmoved by the 
 sense of virtue or of shame. Treated with 
 the contempt which such conduct deserved, 
 they have applied to individuals. They 
 have solicited them to break the bonds of 
 allegiance, and imbue their souls with the 
 blackest crimes. But fearing that none 
 could be found, through these United States, 
 equal to the wickedness of their purpose, 
 to influence weak minds, they have threat 
 ened greater devastation. 
 
 " While the shadow of hope remained 
 that our enemies could be taught, by our ex 
 ample, to respect those laws which are held 
 sacred among civilised nations, and to com 
 ply with the dictates of a religion which 
 they pretend, in common with us, to believe 
 and revere, they have been left to the in 
 fluence of that religion and that example. 
 But since their incorrigible dispositions can 
 not be touched by kindness and compassion, 
 it becomes our duty, by other means, to 
 vindicate the rights of humanity. We, 
 therefore, the congress of the United 
 States of America, do solemnly declare and 
 proclaim, that if our enemies presume to 
 execute their threats, or persist in their 
 present career of barbarity, we will take 
 such exemplary vengeance as shall deter 
 others from a like conduct. We appeal to 
 God, who searcheth the hearts of men, for 
 the rectitude of our intentions ; and in His 
 holy presence declare, that as we are not 
 moved by any light and hasty suggestions 
 of anger or revenge, so, through every poa- 
 
THE WAR IN THE WEST.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1781. 
 
 sible change of fortune, we will adhere to 
 this our determination." 
 
 This manifesto had but little effect in 
 lessening the hardships of the American 
 prisoners in the hands of the British ; and 
 as there was no lessening of the severe 
 treatment by the invading armies, the 
 Americans were not moderate in retalia 
 tory measures ; and many of the cruelties 
 inflicted upon the people, remain unknown 
 to the present generation uninscribed 
 upon the historic page of the past. 
 
 Congress announced the alliance with 
 France in a long proclamation to the people, 
 reminding them of the difficulties that they 
 had surmounted, and of their prospects in 
 the future. The document concluded with 
 the following advice : "Fill up your bat 
 talions ; be prepared in every part to repel 
 the incursions of your enemies ; place your 
 several quotas in the continental treasury; 
 lend money for public uses ; sink the emis 
 sions of your respective states ; provide 
 your armies and fleets; and, for your allies, 
 prevent the produce of the country from 
 being monopolised : effectually superintend 
 the behaviour of public officers ; diligently 
 promote piety, virtue, brotherly love, learn 
 ing, frugality, and moderation; and may 
 you be approved, before Almighty God, 
 worthy of those blessings we devoutly wish 
 you to enjoy." This document was scat 
 tered throughout the country, and it had a 
 great effect in rallying the people to make 
 further efforts to defeat the British armies. 
 The alliance with Louis XVI. led them to 
 believe that, in a few months, the struggle 
 would be ended : they did not anticipate an 
 increase of the British forces as a conse 
 quence of that alliance. 
 
 The foregoing extracts of the proceedings 
 
 of congress, show the tone and character of 
 the state papers in that epoch of trouble. 
 There were many more of like tenor; all 
 having in view the maintenance of the 
 armies, an unyielding resistance to the Bri 
 tish forces, and an ultimate realisation of 
 the independence desired. Congress was 
 constantly engaged in measures calculated 
 to promote the welfare of the states, and the 
 establishment of the American nationality : 
 but these proceedings may readily be in 
 ferred in the consideration of the move 
 ments of the armies, and from the inci 
 dental references made of them from time 
 to time, in connection with other subjects 
 of more especial import. 
 
 With respect to the states, there were no 
 particular changes of government, except 
 ing a few revisions of constitutional clauses, 
 intended to perfect the style of government 
 adopted. The legislature was generally 
 engaged in the administration of the affairs 
 of state, and such other measures as were 
 deemed promotive of the national welfare. 
 Nearly all the states having adopted con 
 stitutions, it became necessary for the legis 
 lature of each to commence the government 
 under the new organic instrument ; and in 
 the fulfilment of this responsibility, the 
 best talent of the state was employed. 
 
 Having thus reviewed the political affairs 
 of the country, national and state, we shall 
 now proceed to notice the movements of 
 the armies of the respective belligerent 
 powers; and, in the first place, we shall 
 briefly describe a few of the struggles be- 
 
 v O O 
 
 tween the pioneers of the west, and the 
 savage tribes of those forest wilds. The 
 country was rich, the foliage beautiful, and 
 the climate genial ; but these could only be 
 enjoyed at the greatest hazard of life. 
 
 the 
 
 west continued to be the field upon which 
 the savage tribes, in alliance with the 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE INVASION OF KENTUCKY ; BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS ; INDIAN TORTURES. 
 
 \ 
 
 noble and heroic pioneers, their wives and 
 children. The warfare was one of singular 
 cruelty, and, to an extraordinary degree of 
 
 British at Detroit, employed their toma- barbarity, waged against individual families, 
 hawks and scalping-knives murdering the and organisations of men, in martial array, 
 L 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ESTILL S DEFEAT. 
 
 upon the open field, or grouped together 
 behind the wooden walls of the frontier 
 stockade. The savages, in small bands, 
 were led on by British heroism and mili 
 tary skill ; thus combining the highest 
 science known to civilisation, and the bru 
 talities common to barbarism. The year 
 1782 was remarkable for several bloody 
 conflicts between the whites and the red 
 men along the whole settled frontier, from 
 the confluence of the Monongahela and 
 Alleghany rivers, at Pittsburg, to the 
 mingling of the Ohio and Mississippi waters ; 
 making a line of warfare of over 1,000 
 miles. On the southern side of the Ohio 
 river, the whites, from the Atlantic slope, 
 had settled in great numbers in Western 
 Virginia, and particularly in the more 
 genial region of Kentucky. 
 
 The fall of Yorktown, in October, 1781, 
 was received by the pioneers of the west 
 with great joy ; and, from that moment, 
 they, in common with the people of the 
 coast states, felt sanguine of an early termi 
 nation of the war. At the same time, 
 however, the inhabitants of the west an 
 ticipated serious difficulties with the Indians 
 during the year 1782 ; and they fully 
 prepared to meet their enemies, whether of 
 the white or red races. The forts were 
 strengthened ; the garrisons increased with 
 experienced soldiers from the armies east 
 of the mountains ; and the magazines were 
 filled with fresh supplies of ammunition. 
 The stockades, scattered over the country, 
 were improved by the construction of picket 
 fences, and an enlargement of the clearing 
 around them, so as to prevent the Indians 
 from coming near enough to the stations to 
 be within the range of their rifles. It was 
 the practice of the savages, in warfare, 
 never to fight in an open field, but always 
 from behind trees ; and the greater the 
 clearing around the stockade, so was the 
 means of defence increased. The surren 
 der of Governor Hamilton, in February, 
 1780, had paralysed the British officials 
 in Canada West; and the invasions of 
 Kentucky, from that period, depended upon 
 the enterprise of the savages, led on by 
 their own chieftains, or by renegade 
 whites ; such, for example, as the notorious 
 Simon Girty. 
 
 In the month of May, 1782, a party of 
 about twenty-five Wyandot warriors, in 
 vested Esteli s station, situated on the south 
 side of the Kentucky river. One white 
 man was killed, and a negro was taken pri- 
 
 VOL. 11. 1) 
 
 soner, who informed the savages that the 
 station was strongly defended, and that it 
 could resist a siege for many weeks. The 
 Indians, not being disposed to waste their 
 time in the hopeless efforts to reduce 
 the station, proceeded to destroy the 
 cattle and all other property that was ex 
 posed ; after which, they retreated leisurely 
 towards Hinkston s station, situated at the 
 forks of the Licking river. After the 
 savages had departed, Captain Estill sent 
 messengers to the neighbouring stations, 
 and sounded the trumpet for assistance. 
 Within an hour, he had at his command a 
 company consisting of twenty-five brave 
 and resolute riflemen, mounted on good 
 horses, ready for a pursuit of their enemy, 
 and fully determined to exterminate them, in 
 order to put a stop to further invasions ; as 
 it was thought, that if summary vengeance 
 were inflicted upon this small band of roving 
 warriors, it would tend to prevent others 
 from entering Kentucky. 
 
 Captain Estill, with his mounted rifle 
 men, overtook the Wyandots near the forks 
 of the Licking, where the stream was very 
 narrow, and easily crossed. The Indians 
 were leisurely ascending the hill on the 
 opposite side, when, to their surprise, Estill s 
 men fired upon them, mortally wounding 
 their chieftain. The attack was so sudden, 
 that the savages, in a state of consternation, 
 commenced to run ; but their leader com 
 manded them to stand firm, and fight. The 
 order was promptly obeyed ; and, in a mo 
 ment, each of the Wyandots was statioued 
 behind a tree, of dimensions sufficiently 
 large to shield the body. In the meantime 
 Estill and his men had dismounted and 
 formed a line of battle, as well as could be 
 done, in the woods, each adopting the tree 
 mode of warfare. This was a most sin 
 gularly arranged battle; the numbers were 
 about equal in daring and skill, as marks 
 men ; neither had the advantage ; and their 
 means of defence were identical. Each 
 fought in his own way, and only fired when 
 sure of his mark. Thus the forces entered 
 into the contest ; the Indians on the one 
 side of the stream, and the Kentuckiaus 
 on the other. 
 
 The firing from these combatants was 
 deliberate; though, in many cases, they 
 were shot down while taking aim. In 
 this manner, the sanguinary contest was 
 conducted for more than an hour, when 
 Estill observed that at least one-fourth of 
 his men had been killed, and that the loss 
 
 13 
 
SIEGE OF BRYANT S STATION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1752. 
 
 of the Wyandots was about the same. The 
 affair then became one of desperation on 
 both sides, and there was no chance of 
 escape, had either been disposed to have 
 attempted it. The contest continued with 
 increased energy for another hour, with 
 equal loss to the combatants, when Captain 
 Estill clearly perceived that his success 
 could not be of any value if it were at 
 tained by the loss of his followers. He then 
 ordered six expert men to ascend the stream 
 a short distance, cross over, and approach 
 the enemy s rear ; but, while this manoeuvre 
 was taking place, the Indians perceived that 
 the firing from the Kentuckians had won 
 derfully slackened. They were not aware, 
 however, that it resulted from the division 
 of the force, having in view an attack upon 
 their rear by a detachment. Supposing the 
 whites to be nearly all killed, the Indians 
 made a rapid charge across the creek ; and, 
 with tomahawks in their hands, forced a 
 hand-to-hand engagement, which compelled 
 the whites, then in less numbers than the 
 savages, to retreat with great slaughter. 
 Estill and about three-fourths of his men 
 were killed ; and besides these, many others 
 were wounded. About one-half of the 
 Wyandots fell upon that occasion ; but the 
 number wounded was never ascertained. 
 The red men won the victory, though at a 
 serious loss, after an engagement of two 
 hours. The Indians buried their dead, 
 scalped the whites, and then retreated with 
 their bloody trophies to the north side of 
 the Ohio river. Thus ended the memorable 
 battle, known, in the annals of Kentucky, as 
 " Estill s defeat ;" and although not suc 
 cessful, it evidenced the character of the 
 Kentuckians for unswerving bravery. 
 
 After this fatal engagement, the Indians 
 gathered their warriors from the different 
 villages on the Scioto and Muskingum rivers, 
 with the intention of making a grand and 
 final invasion of their old hunting-grounds, 
 and exterminating the white race, then so 
 rapidly settling upon the lands which had 
 afforded them provisions and raiment for 
 centuries in the past. In a very short time, 
 an army, consisting of about 1,000 warriors, 
 of different tribes, was organised under 
 the command of Simon Girty ; and, in 
 the month of July, commenced its march 
 towards the Kentucky settlements. This 
 army of savages crossed the Ohio river, 
 near the mouth of the Licking, and was 
 divided into several detachments or bands, 
 and then ordered to march in different 
 14 
 
 directions, with instructions to attack, at 
 the same time, the several stations within 
 that vicinity, so as to prevent the collection 
 of the whites at their respective fortified 
 tockades. One band of the detached war 
 riors committed some depredations at Hoy s 
 station, and took two boys as prisoners. 
 When the kidnapping of the boys was as 
 certained by the whites, Captain Holder 
 raised a party of seventeen men, pursued the 
 Indians, and overtook them near the Upper 
 Blue Licks. A spirited engagement took 
 place, which resulted in the defeat of the 
 Kentuckians, with the loss of four men 
 killed. 
 
 On the night of the 14th of August, 
 1782, the main army of the Indians, con 
 sisting of about 600 warriors, under the 
 command of Simon Girty, surrounded 
 Bryant s station, situated on the southern 
 bank of the Elkhorn. The station con 
 sisted of about forty cabins, placed in pa 
 rallel lines, connected by strong palisades, 
 and garrisoned by about forty men ; but 
 this force, however, was assisted by the 
 women and children of the place. The 
 Indians made their approach to the station 
 very stealthily ; so much so, in fact, that 
 they were not seen until they had sur 
 rounded it. Most of the whites were in the 
 enclosure; and those who were without, 
 after they had discovered the presence of 
 the savages, cautiously and safely entered 
 the station. The Indians were not aware 
 that their presence had been discovered, 
 and Girty arranged his warriors around the 
 fort in such manner as he thought would 
 ensure its conquest. The spring that fur 
 nished water for the garrison was outside, 
 about 150 yards distant; and around that 
 place one detachment of the Indians was 
 placed in ambush. Another detachment 
 was ordered to display itself immediately 
 in front of the fort ; while others were sta 
 tioned in ambush at different places and 
 directions near to the clearing. All this 
 had been arranged during the night of the 
 14th of August ; and, on the morning of the 
 15th, the attack was to be made on the 
 opening of the gates N of the station. 
 
 News had been received of the attack on 
 Hoy s station, and several of Bryant s gar 
 rison had prepared to proceed to that place, 
 and render such assistance as might be in 
 their power; and when the gates were 
 opened for their departure, the Indians, 
 supposing an attack upon them was in 
 tended, suddenly appeared, and, with savage 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BRYANT S STATION. 
 
 yells, fired upon those who were leaving the 
 garrison. The inmates of the station were 
 thrown into consternation, and the women 
 were struck with terror. It was but a few 
 moments, however, before the garrison were 
 in arms and ready for battle. Among the 
 inhabitants of the station were brave and 
 experienced marksmen, who, too, were fami 
 liar with Indian warfare, and knew how to 
 consider their strategetic plans. They pro 
 ceeded to place every part of the station in 
 a condition to be defended. The gates were 
 strengthened, the loopholes partially closed, 
 the picket-fences and bastions repaired, and, 
 in every other respect, the place was hur 
 riedly prepared for resisting the siege then 
 made evident by the presence of the savages. 
 Messengers escaped from the fort, and hur 
 ried to other stations, to communicate the 
 intelligence of the siege, and to procure 
 assistance. 
 
 The arrangement to meet the enemy 
 being completed, thirteen young men, who 
 volunteered especially for the service, were 
 sent out of the fort to attack the decoy 
 party of the Indians, with orders to fire 
 upon them with great rapidity, and make 
 as much noise as possible ; intending to 
 convey the idea that the station was 
 strongly garrisoned, and desired an engage 
 ment. The thirteen men were ordered not 
 to pursue the Indians if they retreated ; 
 as it was well understood, that if they 
 fell back, it was evidence of others being 
 in ambuscade; and the retreat was in 
 tended for the purpose of decoy. To meet 
 this strategy, those who remained in the 
 garrison took positions on the opposite side 
 of the fort, with their guns cocked, ready 
 to discharge them at the savages the 
 moment they appeared from their hiding- 
 places. The firing of the detachments was 
 soon heard ; and, from the discharge of the 
 rifles, it was believed that the contest was 
 very serious ; and this opinion was strength 
 ened when it was perceived that the firing 
 was heard to recede from the station. At 
 this time, Simon Girty, with about 500 
 resolute warriors, made a rapid approach 
 upon the western gate, intending to force 
 his way into the station ; upon accomplish 
 ing which, he knew no quarter would be 
 shown to the inhabitants. They attempted 
 to rush over the supposed undefended pali 
 sades ; but, to their surprise, when they 
 had nearly reached them, the Kentuckians 
 fired several volleys of rifle-balls, which 
 resulted in killing many of their bravest 
 
 warriors, and wounding many others. The 
 assault at once ended, and the savages, with 
 wild cries, dispersed in different directions. 
 Their consternation was so great, that Girty 
 could not, for the time, rally them to make 
 a renewed effort ; and within two minutes 
 there was not an Indian to be seen. At 
 the same time, the party who had sallied 
 out of the station to make an attack upon 
 the decoy detachment of the savages, with 
 out the loss of a single man, came running 
 into the fort at the opposite gate, in high 
 spirits, having killed several of the Indians 
 in the skirmish. Flushed with success, the 
 same brave hearts were anxious to enter 
 into some other enterprise calculated to de 
 feat the invaders.* 
 
 After the failure of the assault, Girty 
 rallied his warriors, and urged the chief 
 tains to press forward with simultaneous 
 attacks ; and, within a few minutes, the 
 engagement was renewed with increased 
 vigour. The firing on both sides was con 
 tinued untill two o clock in the day, when 
 reinforcements from the other stations were 
 approaching. Girty was aware of the de 
 parture of the messengers, and he placed 
 his men in ambuscade to prevent the rein 
 forcements from entering the fort. About 
 one mile from the station, the road ran by 
 the side of a very large field of maize ; on 
 the opposite side of the field, there was a 
 thickly-grown wood. A detachment of 
 about 300 Indians stationed themselves in 
 the corn-field and in the woods, so as to 
 successfully fire upon the reinforcements 
 as they passed along the narrow road. As 
 the mounted Kentuckians approached this 
 spot, they did not hear any firing in the 
 direction of the fort, and they supposed the 
 siege had been discontinued. With that 
 impression they entered the narrow lane ; 
 when, to their great surprise, they were 
 fired upon from both sides of the road ; but, 
 owing to the rapid rate they passed the 
 savages in ambuscade, they all escaped un 
 hurt. Thus successful, they hurried on, 
 entered the fort, and prepared to take part 
 in its defence. Besides the mounted rein 
 forcements, there were others who were on 
 their way to take part in the defence of the 
 station. These were on foot, and advancing 
 through the corn-field where the firing on 
 the mounted men took place. They ran to 
 the place of battle, arriving there after the 
 horsemen had escaped ; and then, to their 
 surprise, they found that they were cut off 
 * Marshall s History of Kentucky. 
 15 
 
E SIEGE ABANDONED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 the station, and nearly surrounded 
 by the 300 savages. Fortunately, the guns 
 of the Indians having just been fired at the j 
 mounted men, were not loaded, or the 
 whole of the men on foot would have been 
 killed. On discovering the presence of the 
 whites, so boldly coming to them, the red 
 men were taken by surprise, and, for a 
 moment, they knew not what to do ; but so 
 soon as they perceived that the whites \ 
 came to a halt, and showed symptoms 
 of hesitation, the Indians commenced a 
 hideous yell, and made signs for a toma- , 
 hawk attack, those in the rear hurriedly 
 loading their rifles. The Kentuckians were 
 scattered in the corn-field, reserving their 
 fire for the surest aim ; they hurriedly 
 retreated towards Lexington station ; but 
 in their progress, they met Girty and a ; 
 small band of Indians, who were coming to 
 the assistance of those who had been placed j 
 in ambush. The firing between the com- 
 batants became very active, and continued 
 for upwards of an hour ; by which time the 
 whites reached their station, having only ! 
 lost six of their men. Girty was slightly j 
 wounded ; and how many of the savages 
 were killed was never ascertained. After 
 this skirmish, the siege was resumed with 
 an apparent determination to conquer the 
 station at any cost ; but, about seven o clock, 
 when the sun was fading behind the range 
 of hills near by, the savages became dis 
 couraged, not having, up to that time, 
 killed a single man of the fort. Girty 
 finding that the Indians were not disposed 
 to continue the siege, endeavoured to 
 effect a surrender of the garrison under 
 promise of protection. Pie assured the 
 whites that they should not be injured if 
 they placed themselves under his banner ; 
 but if they refused to yield, his 600 warriors, 
 with a large reinforcement then expected, 
 would destroy their cabins, and kill every 
 one of them. In answer, the Kentuckians 
 informed Girty, that they had no confi 
 dence in his word of honour; that they 
 well knew his character ; and as they ex 
 pected reinforcements from the other sta 
 tions, they were not disposed to surrender 
 to him under the then existing, or any 
 other circumstances. The Indians feared 
 the consequences of another day s delay, as 
 the whites from the other stockades were 
 sure to arrive before the next morning ; 
 and, therefore, they determined to retreat, 
 which they did during the night. The 
 garrison assumed that the Indians did not 
 16 
 
 consist of a very large force, and it deter 
 mined to pursue them on the arrival of the 
 reinforcements from the other stations. 
 The attack had commenced on the morning 
 of the loth of August; on the 17th the 
 Indians retreated ; and, shortly after their 
 departure, the Kentuckians began to arrive, 
 soon swelling the force to near 200 men, 
 most of whom were officers of distinc 
 tion. Among them were Boone, Trigg, 
 Todd, Harlan, M Bride, and M Gary, all 
 of whom were experienced and expert 
 " Indian fighters." These men consulted 
 together as a council of war ; and they de 
 termined to pursue the savages, and either 
 exterminate or expel them from the country. 
 We learn, from the local historians of Ken 
 tucky,* that Colonel Daniel Boone, accom 
 panied by his youngest son, headed a party 
 from Boonsborough ; Colonel Trigg com 
 manded the force from the neighbourhood 
 of Harrodsburg ; and Colonel Todd com 
 manded the force from Lexington. Nearly 
 a third of the whole combined force, con 
 sisting of 182 men, was composed of com 
 missioned officers, who had hurried from 
 their respective places of abode for the 
 relief of Bryant s station ; and these men took 
 posts in the ranks for the time being. 
 Spies were immediately sent forward to 
 follow the trail of the Indians, and to ascer 
 tain their numbers. The Kentuckians 
 knew that the Indians had at least double 
 their own force, and possibly more ; but 
 they were anxious to pursue the savages, 
 and take the chance of defeating them by 
 surprise. At the same time, Colonel Logan 
 was raising a large force in Lincoln county, 
 and was expected at Bryant s station the 
 next day. By that time the Indians would 
 have been north of the Ohio river. On that 
 account the council of war determined to 
 follow the enemy without further delay ; 
 and on the afternoon of the 18th, they 
 departed from. Bryant s station, on an ex 
 pedition the most memorable in the Indian 
 struggles of the west. 
 
 Soon after the departure of the Ken 
 tuckians from Bryant s station, they per- 
 j ceived that the Indian trail was very wide ; 
 and from the evidences of their delay in 
 retreating, they anticipated and desired a 
 ; pursuit. The scouts returned from time to 
 j time, and reported that the savages were 
 prepared for a defence in case of an attack ; 
 that the main body could not be reached 
 by way of a surprise; and, notwithstanding 
 * Marshall, M Clung, Butler, and others. 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS. 
 
 they halted at many places, they kept in 
 their rear a constatit watch. In the front 
 rear, and on the two flanks, Indians wei e 
 stationed at least a mile from the main 
 body of their army, to serve as guards, for 
 the purpose of giving a timely warning of 
 the Kentuckians approach : at the same 
 time, however, they left marks along their 
 trail to indicate that they did not anticipate 
 a pursuit. Boone and his men gravely dis 
 cussed the state of the case ; and they came 
 to the conclusion that the Indians could 
 not be surprised, and that their number was ! 
 very large, consisting, beyond doubt, of the ] 
 best warriors of the north-west. The Ken- 
 tuckians encamped on the night of the 
 18th, in the woods, without tents, with no 
 other covering than the canopy of heaven 
 and the forest foliage. The horses grazed 
 upon the wild grass, then in abundance 
 along the margins of the streams. During 
 the night the officers and men assembled 
 together ; and after a full and general con 
 sultation, it was determined to engage the 
 savages at the earliest possible moment 
 during the next day. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 19th 
 of August, the Kentuckians mounted their 
 horses, and continued in the pursuit 
 of the Indians ; and, by ten o clock 
 in the morning, the red men were seen 
 near the Lower Blue Licks, ascending the 
 sloping hills which were covered with 
 a small quantity of undergrowth. The 
 pursuit was continued with increased 
 energy ; and, on reaching the southern 
 bunk of the Licking, they saw many of the 
 Indians leisurely ascending the rocky 
 ridge on the northern side of the stream ; 
 and after reaching the summit, they halted, 
 held a few moments consultation, and then 
 disappeared over the hill. Boone and his 
 co-officers fully understood the movement 
 of the savages, and determined to prepare 
 for the battle then inevitable. The officers 
 met in front of the ranks which con 
 sisted of the mounted men, and a part of 
 those on foot and held a council of war. 
 The wild and lonely aspect of the country 
 around them, their distance from any 
 point of support, and the certainty of their 
 being in the presence of a superior enemy, 
 appear to have inspired a portion of these 
 intrepid men with the most serious reflec 
 tions. They were familiar with Indian war 
 fare ; and they knew that the savages were 
 desperate in battle, and that each warrior 
 equalled a Kentuckian. In perfect silence 
 
 the men gazed upon Boone and Todd, to 
 see, from their appearance, their probable 
 fate. Boone addressed the council, and 
 expressed the opinion " that their situation 
 was critical and delicate ; that the force 
 opposed to them was undoubtedly nume 
 rous, and ready for battle, as might readily 
 be seen from the leisurely retreat of the 
 few Indians who had appeared upon the 
 crest of the hill ; that he was well ac 
 quainted with the ground in the neigh 
 bourhood of the Lick ;* and was apprehen 
 sive that an ambuscade was formed at the 
 distance of a mile in advance, where two 
 ravines one upon each side of the ridge 
 ran in such a manner, that a concealed 
 enemy might assail them, both in front 
 and flank, before they could be apprised of 
 their danger." If it was determined to 
 make an attack, he deemed it advisable 
 that one-half of their force should march 
 up the river to a place where it made a 
 bend in an elliptical form ; cross at the 
 Rapids, and then approach the enemy s 
 rear at the same time that the other divi 
 sion made the attack in front. He advised 
 that the ground should be carefully recon 
 noitred before the army crossed the stream ; 
 then act upon positive information, and, in 
 the meantime, consider the expediency of 
 waiting until the arrival of Colonel Logan 
 with his division, who was supposed to 
 be marching towards that place. These 
 questions were seriously and fully dis 
 cussed ; some advocating an attack, and 
 others a halt until Logan arrived with his 
 men. The latter seems to have been the 
 most approved. M Gary was anxious to 
 have an engagement with the savages ; he 
 hated them beyond all description; and their 
 presence in Kentucky seemed to have made 
 him frantic with rage ; but he was in the 
 minority at the council. He urged an im 
 mediate attack, and argued that they could 
 defeat the savages by a bold and resolute 
 charge upon them. The other officers dis 
 agreed with M Gary, and expressed the 
 opinion that they were not prepared to 
 meet the enemy, who evidently mustered in 
 very strong force. In the meantime the 
 scouts returned, and reported that none of 
 the savages were to be seen for some dis 
 tance ahead; certainly none between the 
 river before them and the Lick, about a 
 mile distant. On the reception of this in 
 formation, M Gary and a few others ad 
 vanced, and, by general consent, the rest 
 * See page 449, vol. i., as to meaning of " Lick." 
 
 17 
 
KENTUCKIANS DEFEATED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 of the army followed, although it was 
 against the general wish. When the Ken- 
 tuckians arrived near to the place where 
 they expected the Indians to lay in am 
 bush, the whole force assembled within a 
 "Lick-opening/ * and formed into three 
 lines Colonel Todd commanding the 
 centre, Trigg the right, and Boone the left 
 lines ; while Captain Harlan, with twenty- 
 five picked men, formed an advance 
 guard. The scouts reported that some of 
 the Indians lay concealed in a small 
 valley near the horse-shoe bend of the 
 river, but a short distance from the Lick ; 
 but they knew not the position of the main 
 body of the savages. The Kentuckians, 
 having completed their organisation, pro 
 ceeded in the direction of the Indians, seen 
 by the scouts ; and, in a few moments, 
 Trigg s battalion was seriously engaged by 
 a large force of the enemy, concealed in 
 the grass, which resulted in the death of 
 Trigg, and a few of his men. The death of 
 the commander threw the Kentuckians into 
 confusion ; and, not anticipating at that 
 moment a formidable battle, they were in 
 different about keeping themselves organ 
 ised. The Indians perceiving that the 
 whites were in confusion, hastened an at 
 tack from a hill situated on the right, which 
 resulted in their defeat. This disaster 
 placed Todd s division in danger; and, in 
 a few moments, his right flank was fired 
 upon with fatal effect. At the same time, 
 Harlan, with his twenty-five men, was at 
 tacked in front, and the whole of them, 
 except three, were killed. The destruction 
 of Harlan s men exposed Todd s division to 
 an attack in front, which was conducted, 
 upon the part of the savages, with a won 
 derful degree of tact and determination. 
 In the meantime, the Indians had reached 
 the rear from the right flank, and were 
 rapidly destroying that part of the division. 
 The other forces rallied to the relief of the 
 shattered column, and the battle became 
 general, desperate, and bloody. The Ken 
 tuckians concentrated their men ; and in a 
 few moments the savages came from their 
 concealment, and rushed into the battle 
 with the most demon-like fury. Within a 
 few minutes, Todd, Trigg, Harlan, M Bride, 
 and young Boone, lay dead upon the earth, 
 beneath the feet of the combatants. The 
 Indians gradually extended their line to 
 turn the right of the Kentuckians, in order 
 
 * A " Lick-opening" is a place containing earth 
 impregnated with salt, and cleared of trees. 
 18 
 
 to cut of their retreat, as they then per 
 ceived the result of the battle. Colonel 
 Boone observed the movement, and ordered 
 a defence of the position; but the impe 
 tuosity of the savages, and their great 
 number, prevented the whites from obtain 
 ing any advantage by a change of posi 
 tion ; and, failing in this last effort, they 
 were compelled to retreat. The Indians 
 were elated with their victory pursued the 
 Kentuckians, and most cruelly slaughtered 
 great numbers of them between the battle 
 ground and the river. At the ford, while 
 they were attempting to cross, the savages 
 rushed upon them, and killed many. The 
 river was crowded with horsemen ; and 
 those on foot mingled with the Indians, 
 who were unsparing in the use of their 
 tomahawks. The pursuit continued for 
 some ten miles beyond the ford, though 
 there were but few killed after they had 
 crossed the river. Those who survived re 
 turned to Bryant s station. Thus ended 
 the memorable battle of the " Blue Licks." 
 It was a contest between brave and despe 
 rate men warriors of great experience and 
 resolution. The victory fell to the lot of 
 the savages ; the defeat to the Kentuckians : 
 and though disastrous to the latter, yet 
 the conflict was one of very great impor 
 tance to the people of Kentucky, as it im 
 pelled them to exhibit a determination to 
 prevent any further invasion of that country. 
 Shortly after this disastrous battle, Gen 
 eral George Rogers Clark raised an army, 
 composed of Kentucky volunteers, for the 
 purpose of invading the Indian country, 
 and inflicting upon them such a chastise 
 ment as would prevent the occurrence of 
 another battle within the limits of Ken 
 tucky. The whole country was in mourning 
 for the noble pioneers, whose blood had 
 covered the late battle-field. The great 
 calamity had plunged the entire population 
 into despondency; and their hearts were 
 troubled about the future. Clark was the 
 man for the occasion; and it was not diffi 
 cult for him to raise the required number 
 of men. In September, 1782, this chieftain 
 of the west marched, with his thousand 
 riflemen, to the banks of the Ohio, at the 
 mouth of the Licking river. Here they 
 fully prepared themselves for the most de 
 termined conflict with the despised savages 
 upon the opposite shore. The army crossed 
 the Ohio, and marched to the Indian towns 
 on the Miami and Scioto rivers, without the 
 slightest interruption. The Indians fled 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE SCIOTO INVADED. 
 
 in every direction as the Kentuckians ad 
 vanced; the latter destroying the villages 
 and implements of husbandry. Five of their 
 towns, and all the provisions that could 
 be found, were consumed. Twelve savages 
 were killed. This martial array threw the 
 Indians into consternation ; and, from 
 thence, Kentucky was freed from, further 
 invasions of the savages. 
 
 "We shall now leave the intrepid Ken 
 tuckians, and proceed to give a few brief 
 accounts of the conflicts upon the Upper 
 Ohio and the Scioto rivers; but the pen 
 cannot fully describe the cruelties inflicted 
 by the opposing races upon each other. 
 
 On the 25th of May, 1782, 480 men, 
 living upon the western frontiers of Penn 
 sylvania and Virginia, assembled at the old 
 Mingo Indian town, below Fort Pitt, pre 
 paratory to an invasion of the Sauduskey 
 country, for the purpose of exterminating 
 the Indians of that region. It was, in fact, 
 to be another Moravian massacre ; and the 
 fate of those who embarked in it must to 
 some extent be beyond the pale of sym 
 pathy. The cruel and savage massacre 
 that had been perpetrated in 1780,* was, on 
 this occasion, not repeated by the whites, 
 but by the red men. Williamson, who had 
 commanded a company consisting of some 
 ninety men, and composing a part of the 
 expedition of 1780, proposed to command 
 this new enterprise ; but, to his mortifica 
 tion, the men elected Colonel William 
 Crawford, who, against his inclination, was 
 induced to accept the position, particularly 
 as he saw but little disposition upon the 
 part of the volunteers to conform to military 
 discipline. 
 
 Their proceedings were conducted with 
 great secrecy and caution ; and, notwith 
 standing this care, the Indian spies dis 
 covered their rendezvous on the Mingo 
 Bottom, and ascertained their number and 
 destination. They visited every encampment 
 after the departure of the expedition ; and, 
 to their surprise, they ascertained that " no 
 quarter was to be given to any Indian, 
 whether man, woman, or child." 
 
 The expedition followed " Williamson s 
 trail" through the burnt Moravian villages ; 
 and, on the 6th of June, arrived at a 
 village on a branch of the Sanduskey. Here, 
 
 * Ante, vol. L, p. 560. 
 
 f This battle was fought three miles north of 
 Upper Sanduskey. 
 
 This interview has been given on very good 
 
 authority ; but the well-known character of Girty prefer. 
 
 instead of meeting with the Indians and 
 plunder, as Williamson and his ninety men 
 bad, during the preceding expedition, 
 they found nothing but vestiges of desola 
 tion. A few deserted huts were seen, but 
 the intended victims had fled to the Scioto 
 villages. The Indian spies had warned 
 them of the approach of the " pale faces," 
 and they timely abandoned their places of 
 abode to the approaching enemy. Craw 
 ford assembled a council, at which it was 
 determined to march onward the next day ; 
 and if they failed to meet the savages, then 
 to retreat. At two o clock on the 7th, the 
 advanced guard, while passing through a 
 bush prairie, was attacked by a large 
 body of Indians, who had hid them 
 selves in the high grass and hazel bushes 
 of the prairie. In a few moments the 
 action became general, and continued in 
 cessantly until about seven o clock in the 
 evening.f The whites, having the advantage 
 of position, lost but few men ; but the 
 Indians suffered severely, and were driven 
 from the prairie. During the night, both 
 armies occupied positions near to each 
 other ; and the men lay upon their arms 
 to be ready for an attack. Simon Girty 
 was a leader among the savages; and, during 
 the night, he managed to get within speak 
 ing distance of Crawford. Girty advised 
 him to escape by a certain direction ; and if 
 he did not, he and all his men would be 
 surrounded and taken, as the Indians were 
 three times stronger than the whites. 
 Girty gave Crawford the details of certain 
 signals that would be made during the 
 night, so that he might know what course 
 to pursue in order to make his escape. J 
 On the morning of the 8th, the Indians 
 were seen to be moving in large numbers, 
 in various directions on the plains around 
 them ; and some of them were engaged in 
 carry ing off the dead and wounded of the pre 
 vious day s battle. Crawford held a council 
 of war ; and their predicament was seriously 
 discussed by the officers present. Colonel 
 Williamson proposed marching, with 150 
 volunteers, to Upper Sanduskey ; but Craw 
 ford opposed the plan ; stating that the 
 Indians, whose numbers were hourly in 
 creasing from all directions, would attack 
 and conquer their divided forces in detail. 
 
 compels us to believe that it was a plan of Girty 
 to secure Crawford and his men as prisoners for 
 certain tribes which were under his influence, 
 so that he could dispose of them as he might 
 
CRAWFORD TAKEN PRISONER.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 It was then determined to retreat, and 
 preparations were made to move off after 
 dark ; and, in the meantime, the men 
 were to bury the dead. 
 
 The Indians, perceiving the intention of 
 Crawford to retreat, about sunset attacked 
 him with great fury in all directions, ex 
 cept towards Sanduskey ; but soon termi 
 nated the engagement. In the course of 
 the night, the army commenced its re 
 treat ; regained their old trail by a circuitous j 
 route, and continued on it with but slight 
 annoyance from the enemy. When the 
 retreat commenced, unfortunately, a large 
 number of the whites, erroneously judging 
 that the Indians would follow the main 
 body, broke off into small parties, and 
 made their way towards the Ohio in dif 
 ferent directions. These the Indians pur 
 sued for several days with such activity, 
 that but few escaped, and some of them 
 were killed almost within sight of the river. 
 Soon after the retreat began, Colonel 
 Crawford, having missed his son and several 
 of his relatives, halted, and unsuccessfully 
 searched the line for them as it passed on ; 
 and then, owing to the weariness of his 
 horse, was unable to overtake the retreat 
 ing army. Falling in company with Dr. 
 Knight and others, the} kept on until the 
 third day, when they were captured, 
 and taken to an Indian encampment in 
 the vicinity, where they found nine of 
 their men. They were then prisoners of 
 Pipe and "Wyngenund, noted Delaware 
 chiefs, who proved to be the most cruel of 
 that barbarous tribe. On Monda}-, the 10th 
 of June, the prisoners were conducted 
 towards Tyemochte, about thirty miles dis 
 tant, near to a Delaware town, a few miles 
 north-westerly from the site of Upper San 
 duskey, where the execution of Crawford was 
 to take place.* The Indians were seventeen 
 in number; and they had eleven prisoners, 
 and four scalps, which were to them in 
 valuable trophies. Colonel Crawford was 
 very desirous of seeing Simon Girty, whom 
 he had known in former years ; and, for that 
 purpose, was conducted, under the Indians 
 guard, to the presence of the notorious re 
 negade. Girty promised to do all he could 
 to save the lives of the prisoners, but he did 
 not give positive assurance that he could 
 effect the object desired, as the savages 
 were very bitter against them, and were 
 anxious to avenge the previous incursions 
 of the whites. On the llth, Crawford and 
 * Doddridge s Notes of the Western Wars. 
 20 
 
 his men nine in all were painted black, 
 and the Indians informed them that they 
 were going to see their friends at the Shaw- 
 anese towns. They were conducted undir 
 the directions of Pipe and Wyngenund, the 
 two Delaware chiefs, assisted by other 
 Indians. Crawford and Knight were kept 
 back and apart from the other prisoners. 
 They had proceeded but a short distance 
 when they saw four of their men lying dead, 
 by the pathway, tomahawked and scalped. 
 After reaching within half a mile of their 
 destination, the remaining five prisoners, 
 who had been kept in advance, were placed 
 with Crawford and Knight. The whole 
 were required to sit down upon the earth ; 
 and while thus seated, some squaws and 
 boys present tomahawked the five men, one 
 of whom was named John M Kinly, for 
 merly an officer in the 13th Virginia regi 
 ment. M Kinly s head was cut from the 
 body by an old squaw ; and with the greatest 
 manifestation of pleasure, she kicked the 
 head about upon the ground. The young 
 Indians brought the scalps to Crawford, 
 and exhibited the bloody trophies with feel 
 ings of great pride. Crawford and his 
 companion, Knight, were then conducted 
 towards the place of destination ; and had 
 travelled but a few miles, when Simon 
 Girty, with several Indians on horseback, 
 overtook them. Girty held some conversa 
 tion with Crawford ; but spoke to Dr. Knight 
 very contemptuously, and refused to shake 
 hands with him; after which occurrence 
 the savages hastened him onwards. Every 
 Indian that the prisoners met on the journey, 
 struck them with their clubs. The parties 
 having arrived at a place which seemed to 
 be acceptable to the savages, they all 
 halted, and a large fire was made. Girty 
 informed Knight that it had been deter 
 mined to send him forward to the Shawa- 
 nese town. After the fire had been kindled, 
 Crawford was stripped of his apparel, and for 
 some minutes he stood a naked man, not 
 knowing his fate . He was ordered to its 
 down by the fire ; and they then beat him 
 with sticks and their fists, or anything 
 that they could lay their hands upon. 
 Knight was also beaten, but not stripped. 
 The savages tied a rope to the bottom of a 
 post which was about fifteen feet high; bound 
 Crawford s hands behind his back, and fast 
 ened the rope to the ligature between his 
 wrists. The rope was long enough to allow 
 him to sit down, and walk around the post. 
 Crawford began to see signs indicating that 
 
A.I). 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CRAWFORD BURNT. 
 
 he was to be cruelly tortured to be slowly 
 burnt to death. In this situation he called 
 to Girty, who had been a silent spectator 
 of what had transpired, and asked him if 
 the Indians intended to burn him ? Girty 
 sullenly responded, " Yes." The prisoner : 
 fully appreciating his situation, and the 
 determination of the savages, informed 
 Girty that he would bear his sufferings 
 patiently, and die as a man. While the 
 fire was progressing rapidly, Crawford 
 thought he would make another effort to 
 save his life, and sent for Wyngenund, the 
 chief, whom he had known in former 
 years. The chief came to him while he 
 stood bound to the post, and made himself 
 known to the prisoner. Crawford appealed 
 to him for protection ; but the chief in 
 formed him that he would have extended 
 to him his friendship and protection 
 under any other circumstances; but he 
 had placed himself in a situation beyond 
 the power of his friends to serve him. 
 He had joined " that execrable man 
 Williamson and his party the man 
 who but the other day murdered such a 
 Dumber of Moravian Indians, knowing 
 them to be friends ; knowing that he 
 ran no risk in murdering a people who 
 would not fight, and whose only business 
 was praying. Crawford informed the chief 
 that lie came with the expedition so as to 
 prevent the murdering of any more of the 
 Moravians : but this the chief would not 
 believe. Wyngenund told him that he had 
 gone with his army of pale-faces to their 
 town, and finding it deserted, he turned on 
 the path towards the other tribes. If he 
 had been in search of warriors only, he 
 would not have gone thither. Our spies," 
 said the old warrior, " watched j r ou closely. 
 They saw you while embodying yourselves 
 on the other side of the Ohio. They saw you 
 cross the river, where you encamped for the 
 night ; where you turned off from the 
 path to the deserted Moravian town : they 
 knew you were going out of your way; 
 your steps were constantly watched, and 
 you were suffered quietly to proceed until 
 you reached the spot where you were 
 attacked." After this statement Crawford 
 felt that there was but little hope ; but he 
 ventured further, and offered to reward 
 Wyngenund if he would save him : but, in 
 answer, he was told that it was not pos 
 sible ; but that if Williamson had been 
 taken, then he might have been saved : as 
 he had escaped, it was not in his power to 
 VOL. 11. E 
 
 stay the hand of revenge. He told him 
 that " the blood of the innocent Moravians, 
 more than half of them women and chil 
 dren, cruelly and wantonly murdered, calls 
 loudly for revenge. The relatives of the 
 slain, who are now among us, are resolute, 
 and determined to have it." Crawford then 
 said " My fate is then fixed ; and I must 
 prepare to meet death in its worst form." 
 To this the warrior responded in the 
 affirmative ; and by that time the fire had 
 sufficiently advanced to enable the savages 
 to commence their work of torture. At 
 that moment Wyngenund bade Crawford 
 farewell ; retired to his wigwam, and 
 turned his eyes from the victim of that 
 revenge which was soon to overtake the 
 prisoner at the stake. 
 
 The fire having attained the required 
 progress, the Indians began to prepare for 
 the dreadful execution. Pipe, a Delaware 
 chief, made a speech to the Indians, who 
 numbered about forty men, seventy squaws, 
 and boys. What the speech was, no one 
 knows ; but at its conclusion, the savages, 
 men, squaws, and boys, yelled a hideous 
 and hearty assent to what had been said. 
 Crawford then expected to be marched 
 into the blazing fire near him, hoping to 
 have but a moment to endure the dread 
 ful sufferings ; but a speedy death was not 
 sufficient to satisfy the bloodthisrty savages; 
 and, in fact, it seemed difficult for them to 
 fix upon a mode sufficiently painful for the 
 occasion. Pipe s speech having inspired the 
 savages with the most lively spirits, and 
 the yells having ceased, the men then took 
 up their guns, and shot powder into Craw 
 ford s body, from his feet as far up as his neck. 
 Some seventy charges of powder having 
 thus been shot into him, his whole body 
 was black, blistered, and bleeding. His 
 pains were most excruciating, but he bore 
 them with the most singular fortitude. 
 While involuntarily writhing in great 
 agony, the savages crowded around him, 
 and cut off his ears, close to his head. At 
 that moment some traders arrived from the 
 Lower Sanduskey, for the purpose of pur 
 chasing him, having heard of his being a 
 prisoner from runners who were present at 
 his capture; but the savages could not be 
 induced to slacken in their work of torture. 
 The fire was twenty feet from the post to 
 which Crawford was tied; it was made 
 of hickory poles ten feet long, and kindled 
 so as to make a solid fire in the middle 
 when thev had burnt into two pieces. The 
 
 21 
 
THE LAST INVASION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 poles having been thus divided in the | 
 centre, the Indians took up the pieces, and I 
 applied the blazing end to the naked body, 
 then black and swollen from the powder 
 that had been fired upon it from their 
 guns. The savage tormentors presented 
 the burning faggots to all parts of the 
 body ; and some of the squaws took boards 
 of bark, upon which they carried large 
 quantities of burning embers, and poured 
 them on to his body, from the crown of his 
 head to his feet. Having been tied so that 
 he could move, he was able to change his 
 position a few feet; but his writhing was 
 to them a pleasant and really joyful sight. 
 In a few minutes he had nothing but coals 
 of fire to walk upon, his hair burnt from 
 his head ; his whole body was black, swollen; 
 and, in many places, the blood poured forth 
 from the cracks made by the bursting of 
 his skin. The agony was great, though it 
 did not reach his vitals. The fiends applied 
 their means of torment externally, so as to 
 prolong his sufferings. In the midst of these 
 excruciating pains, Crawford appealed to 
 Girty to shoot him, and thus end his life, 
 and stop the savages in their horrid work. 
 Simon Girty was not a man of humane 
 feelings, and there was no sympathy to 
 be got from him. He heeded not the calls 
 of Crawford, except to say he had no gun ; 
 and, with a smile to his savage band, cheered 
 them on in their barbaric deeds. These 
 proceedings seem to have occupied some 
 two hours, when he was allowed a little 
 respite from further appliances. Crawford, 
 at this period of his sufferings, besought 
 the Almighty to have mercy on his soul : 
 his voice was feeble ; and, though he bore 
 his torments with great fortitude, yet the 
 body was fast yielding to the grasp of death. 
 He continued to suffer in great agony for 
 nearly two hours longer, when he lay down 
 on his belly exhausted, and anxious to 
 breathe his last. At this moment an Indian 
 approached him with his knife, and cut 
 from the crown of his head the crisped 
 scalp ! An old haggard-looking squaw got 
 a board, and carrying upon it some coals of 
 fire and ashes, laid them on his back and 
 body while he was lying upon the earth. 
 Crawford felt the fire to be reaching his 
 vitals, and he again rallied upon his feet, 
 and began to walk around the post. The 
 poles having been rekindled, the Indians 
 again applied the blazing ends to his body; 
 but he was less sensible to pain ; and his 
 indifference to the faggots lessened the 
 22 
 
 desire of the savages to prolong the torture. 
 Having undergone this most extraordinary 
 treatment and suffering, beyond the power 
 of pen to describe, he fell to the earth ; and, 
 though not dead, Crawford refused to show 
 signs of pain. He was then dragged to the 
 fire ; his body laid upon the heaps of coals ; 
 and, with the remaining faggots, his body 
 was soon in flames : in a few minutes his 
 soul passed into eternity ! 
 
 Before Crawford was dead, the Indians 
 held a council, and determined to execute 
 Dr. Knight, who had been a spectator of 
 Crawford s sufferings; and, on the conclusion 
 of the council, Girty approached Knight, 
 and told him to prepare for death ; that he 
 was not to be executed at that place, but he 
 was to be burnt at the Shawanese town ; 
 and with a braggart s oath, declared that he 
 need not expect to escape death, but that 
 he should suffer it in all its extremities. 
 Knight was then taken to Captain Pipe s 
 house, about three-quarters of a mile from 
 the place of Crawford s execution, where he 
 was bound all night. The next day, June 
 12th, the Indians untied him, painted his 
 face black, and then started for the 
 Shawanese town, some forty miles distant. 
 They passed the spot where Crawford s 
 bones were crumbling to dust ! The 
 Indians called Knight s attention to the re 
 mains of his big captain, and the scenes 
 around them ; they then, after giving the 
 scalp yell, started on their journey.* They 
 travelled about twenty- five miles, and then 
 encamped. Knight was securely tied ; but 
 early in the morning he was released for a 
 few moments, when he made his escape. 
 
 In the month of September, a large force, 
 consisting of about 600 warriors, crossed the 
 Ohio river, near Fort Henry, and attacked 
 the stations in that vicinity ; but their suc 
 cess was exceedingly limited. A detach 
 ment was sent to take Fort Rice, situated 
 on Buffalo Creek, about twelve miles, in 
 terior, from the Ohio river. The fort was 
 very strongly constructed of logs, and con 
 tained a very large amount of valuable 
 chattels. After having surrounded the fort, 
 the attack was made by the 600 warriors 
 early in the evening. There were only 
 six men in the fort, one of whom was 
 killed at the commencement of the siege ; 
 and the defence was from that time main 
 tained by the five others. The firing con 
 tinued until two o clock in the morning, 
 with considerable loss to the Indians. Each 
 * Doddridge s Western Notes. 
 
A.D. 17S2.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE ARMY ON THE COAST. 
 
 of the men in the fort had extra guns, and 
 the women assisted in loading them, which 
 enabled the men to successfully repulse 
 each advance of the savages, killing 
 many of them after they had approached 
 within a few feet of the fort. Fearing 
 the arrival of reinforcements, the savages 
 abandoned the siege. This was the last 
 invasion of the Indians on the south side 
 of the Upper Ohio. The white and the 
 
 red man have ever been antagonistic; no 
 perpetual peace has existed between them. 
 Civilisation seems to have required the 
 sacrifice of many lives, in order to attain 
 possession of the vast continent of Ame 
 rica. To faithfully describe the toil and 
 sufferings of these hardy pioneers, who 
 settled within the regions of the savage 
 tribes of America, require powers given to 
 but few men. We have them not. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES ; EVACUATION OF SAVANNAH AND CHARLESTON ; CLOSE OF THE 
 CAMPAIGN IN THE SOUTH; THANKS OF CONGRESS. 
 
 THE surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at York- 
 town and Gloucester, left nothing more oi 
 importance to be effected in that direction ; 
 and General Washington, therefore, with 
 the greater portion of his force, returned to 
 the vicinity of New York, the only post of 
 real importance remaining in the hands of 
 the British commanders. Here he occupied 
 some time in maturing his plans, and urging 
 congress to exertions that should enable 
 him to resume active operations with such 
 vigour and resources, as might effectually 
 put an end to the struggle that was 
 exhausting the country. He was then in 
 no condition to attempt the reduction of 
 New York; and General Carleton, on his 
 part, had ample reason for not seeking hos 
 tilities beyond the protection of his lines. 
 Thus, during the greater part of the year 
 1782, the operations of Washington were 
 limited to the obstruction of communica 
 tions, and some casual skirmishes of no im 
 portance such being the chief indications 
 of a war whose fires were fast dying out. 
 Both parties were, in truth, weary of the 
 contest, and disposed to look favourably 
 upon any step that might facilitate the 
 approach of peace. 
 
 In South Carolina and Georgia, similar 
 inaction prevailed. From the beginning 
 of December, 1781, General Greene had 
 held uninterrupted possession of the former 
 state, with the exception of its capital 
 Charleston and a small extent of land 
 
 around it. The occasional sallies of the 
 garrison were for the purpose of obtaining 
 provisions and plunder, rather than for 
 conquest. The weakness of Greene s force 
 prevented him from making any attempt 
 to dislodge the enemy; and he therefore 
 contented himself by covering the country 
 with his light troops, while he completed 
 preparations for taking the field as soon as 
 the cold season set in, and sufficient rein 
 forcements joined him. 
 
 Greene had long been buoyed up by a 
 hope, that, in the event of the surrender of 
 Yorktown, the French fleet would be dis 
 patched to co-operate with him in the 
 siege of Charleston. But neither arguments 
 nor expostulations could prevail upon the 
 French admiral to move in that direction, 
 or even to assist in transporting to some 
 convenient port the reinforcements destined 
 for the southern army. Consequently, the 
 detachment from the army of Washington, 
 which was sent, under the command of 
 Generals St. Clair and Wayne, to the aid 
 of Greene, was compelled to encounter the 
 fatigue and hardships of a long march over 
 land, and through districts laid waste by 
 the desolating hand of war. 
 
 As soon as Greene was advised of the 
 departure of this reinforcement, he resolved 
 at once to resume active operations; and, 
 if possible, complete the deliverance of the 
 small tract of land still in the hands of the 
 enemy in the state of South Carolina ; and 
 
 23 
 
MILITARY MOVEMENTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1781. 
 
 that accomplished, to make a grand and 
 decisive effort for the liberation of Georgia. 
 By the end of October he had succeeded in 
 replacing the guns lost in the previous 
 campaign ; and had been joined by between 
 six and seven hundred volunteers and 
 recruits from North Carolina and the 
 mountains. 
 
 Circumstances rendered the present junc 
 ture favourable to his projects. The moral 
 courage of the enemy had been wofully 
 shaken by the late affair at the Eutaws ; 
 and although a portion of the country 
 between the Cooper river and the Edisto, 
 with the islands along the coast, was still 
 in their possession ; while General Stewart, 
 with nearly 3,000 men, lay encamped at 
 "Wantoot a post retained at Fairlawn 
 and a garrison of 400 infantry, with some 
 militia, and 150 cavalry, posted at Dor 
 chester, on the Ashley ; yet all these 
 troops were, more or less, affected by dis 
 ease ; and the mortifying recollection of 
 defeat, added not a little to the deleterious 
 effects of the season among troops scarcely 
 yet acclimatised. It is true that, with ail 
 these drawbacks of ill-health and depressed 
 spirits, the English army in South Carolina 
 was still superior to the American, both in 
 numbers and appointments : but Greene 
 had confidence in his men, and in the jus 
 tice of his cause ; and he did not hesitate to 
 beard the lion in his den. 
 
 On resuming the offensive, Genei-ai 
 Greene determined to place the base of 
 his operations between Charleston and 
 Savannah. The district south of the Edisto 
 appeared to be eligible for his purposes ; 
 and, on the 18th of November, he put his 
 army in motion. After crossing the 
 Congaree river, he left the main body under 
 the orders of Colonel Williams, whom he 
 directed to advance, by easy and prescribed 
 stages, to the Four Holes a branch of the 
 Edisto ; while himself, at the head of the 
 light troops, advanced, by forced marches, 
 to Dorchester, with the intention of sur 
 prising the post. In this, however, he was 
 foiled : the enemy obtained intelligence of 
 his approach, and drew in the British out 
 posts concentrating them at Dorchester, 
 and merely keeping in Greene s front a 
 few patrols to watch and report his 
 movements. With these some occasional 
 skirmishes occurred ; in one of which Lieu 
 tenant-colonel Hampton, by a spirited at 
 tack, drove them back upon the main body 
 with very considerable loss. 
 24 
 
 Disappointed in the hoped-for surprise, 
 General Greene reconnoitred the position 
 of the British force, intending to accom 
 plish by assault what he hoped to have 
 effected by stratagem ; but, in the course 
 of the day, his advance became known to 
 the English garrison, and its commander 
 immediately gave orders to prepare for de 
 parture. Under some singular panic, this 
 officer destroyed his stores of every kind, 
 and fell back in the night, down the 
 isthmus, never halting until he reached the 
 Quarter House, about seven miles from 
 Charleston. By a simultaneous movement, 
 Stewart, who lay with his force at Goose - 
 creek Bridge seven miles to the east of 
 Dorchester broke up his post also, and 
 retreated upon the same point. After de 
 voting a few days to the examination of 
 the country vacated by the enemy, Greene 
 turned his steps in the direction of his 
 troops encamped at the Four Holes. The 
 next operation was to cross the Edisto, and 
 advance to the Round O a place situated 
 between that river and the Ashepoo, about 
 rifty miles from Charleston, and seventy 
 from the confluence of the Wateree and 
 Congaree. This point gained, and mea 
 sures taken for the security of the country 
 in his front, he dispatched Brigadier 
 Marion, with some militia, to the east of 
 Ashley River, with orders to guard the 
 district between that river and the Cooper. 
 At the same time, Lieutenant-colonel Lee 
 was sent down the western side of the 
 Ashley, with orders to approach St. John s 
 [sland by gradual advances, and place 
 himself in a strong position within striking 
 distance of it. Previous to this, North 
 Carolina had been completely restored to 
 the Union. The troops from the last 
 abandoned post, and from Wilmington, with 
 some additional infantry, and the cavalry, 
 under Major Craig, were stationed on 
 St. John s Island, where most of the cattle 
 collected for the British were depastured, 
 where forage was abundant, co-operation 
 with the garrison of Charleston convenient, 
 and from whence infantry might be readily 
 transported, by interior navigation, to 
 Savannah. The object of Lee was to 
 ascertain with exactness the strength and 
 position of Craig ; and some time was de 
 voted by that officer to the purpose. In 
 the meantime, demonstrations were made, 
 and reports circulated, showing the inten 
 tion of Greene to pass Ashley River, and 
 to fall upon Charleston by surprise, as soon 
 
A.U. 1782.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. {THE MIDNIGHT MARCH. 
 
 as the reinforcement under St. Clair and 
 "Wayne should arrive. For this purpose 
 only one or two nights in a month suited, 
 as it was requisite the tide of ebb should 
 be nearly expended about midnight the 
 designed hour for passing to the island : 
 it was also desirable to have the benefit of 
 moonlight when the island was reached. 
 All requisite intelligence had been ac 
 quired, the chances calculated, the decision 
 arrived at ; and the hour for execution drew 
 
 near. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Craig, with his in 
 fantry, was posted at a plantation not far 
 from the eastern extremity of the island ; 
 the cavalry being cantoned about six miles 
 from the main body, at different farmhouses 
 on the western quarter. At low water, the 
 inlet dividing St. John s from the main, 
 was passable by infantry at two points 
 only : that at the western extremit} , being 
 full of large rocks, could only be used by 
 day, the route in deep water being from 
 rock to rook, across chasms and broken 
 ground. The other passage was about 
 midway between the eastern and western 
 extremities ; and here no natural difficulty 
 existed, as, in the last of the ebb tide, 
 the depth of the water was not more than 
 waist-high. This path was guarded by 
 two galleys, one above, the other below it, 
 within 400 yards of each other, and as 
 near to the ford as the channel would 
 allow. 
 
 A careful examination of the position, 
 together with his observation of the manner 
 in which the captain of the galleys per 
 formed night dut) , suggested to Lee the 
 possibility of passing the galleys with his 
 infantry without being perceived. It was 
 now only necessary to find a point at 
 which his cavalry could cross ; and this 
 being done, the day was fixed for the 
 enterprise, which, through an unfortunate 
 blunder, ended in disappointment and 
 chagrin. 
 
 On the 12th of January, 1782, the dis 
 position for battle was made ; the infantry 
 being arranged in two columns that of 
 Lieutenant-colonel Lee on the right, that 
 of Laurens on the left. The cavalry were 
 also divided into two squadrons one-third 
 being attached to the infantry ; while the 
 other two-thirds, under Eggleston, were 
 directed to strike at the enemy s dragoons ; 
 and as soon as they were secured, to hasten 
 to the support of the infantry. " Every 
 necessary arrangement being made/ writes 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Lee, "we resumed our 
 march ; and, after a few miles, the cavalry 
 filed to our left to gain its station on the 
 river. Within an hour from this separa 
 tion we got near the marsh, which, on this 
 side, lines the river at the place where the 
 infantry was to pass. Here the infantry 
 again halted, and deposited their knapsacks ; 
 and the officers, dismounting, left their 
 horses. The detachment again moved 
 every man in his place, and every officer 
 enjoined to take special care to march in 
 sight of his leading section, lest, in the 
 darkness of the night, a separation should 
 happen. After some time, our guides in 
 formed us that we were near the marsh. 
 This intelligence was communicated from 
 section to section, and the columns were 
 halted, as had been previously concerted, 
 that every officer and soldier might pull 
 off boots and shoes, to prevent the splash 
 ing which they produced when wading 
 through the water ; to be renewed when we 
 reached the opposite shore. The order was 
 cheerfully executed by the troops. Enter 
 ing on the marsh, we moved very slowly, 
 every man exerting himself to prevent 
 noise. The van, under Captain Rudolph, 
 reached the shore, and proceeded, in con 
 formity to orders, without halting, into the 
 river. Lee, coming up with the head of 
 the column, accompanied by Lieutenant- 
 colonel Laurens, halted, and directed a 
 staff officer to return and see that the 
 sections were all up. We now enjoyed the 
 delight of hearing the sentinels from each 
 galley crying All s safe, when Rudolph, 
 with the van, was passing between them. 
 
 " No circumstance could have been more 
 exhilarating, as we derived from it a con 
 viction that the difficulty most to be appre 
 hended would be surmounted, and every 
 man become persuaded, from the evidence 
 of his own senses, that an enemy assailed 
 in this way would be found off his guard, 
 and therefore that delay was certain. At 
 this moment the staff officer returned with 
 information that the rear column was miss 
 ing. Laurens immediately went back to 
 the high land, with some of the guides and 
 staff officers, to endeavour to find it. The 
 affliction produced by this communication 
 is indescribable. At the very moment when 
 every heart glowed with anticipations of 
 splendid glory, an incident was announced 
 which menaced irremediable disappoint 
 ment. Hour after hour passed ; messengers 
 occasionally coming in from Laurens, but 
 
 25 
 
AMERICANS REINFORCED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 no intelligence gained respecting the lost 
 column. At length the tide, which was be 
 ginning to flood when the van passed, had 
 now risen so high as to compel the recall of 
 Rudolph, even had not the morning been 
 too far advanced to permit perseverance in 
 the enterprise. A sergeant was sent across 
 the inlet with orders for the return of the 
 van, and the column retired. Rudolph 
 found the water, which had not reached the 
 waist as he passed, up to the breast as he 
 returned. Nevertheless every man got back 
 safe the tallest assisting the lowest, and the 
 galley sentinels continuing to cry All s safe. 
 
 " We soon regained our baggage, when 
 large fires were kindled, and our wet troops 
 dried themselves. Here we met General 
 Greene, who had, in conformity with his 
 plan, put his army in motion to draw near the 
 scene of action, lest a body of troops might 
 be pushed across the Ashley to intercept the 
 attacking corps in its retreat from the 
 island, and with a view of compelling the 
 galleys to abandon their station, that Lee 
 might retire on the next low tide where he 
 had passed. Greene received, with regret, 
 the unexpected intelligence ; rendered the 
 more so, as he was well assured the enemy 
 would learn the intended enterprise, and 
 consequently that it could not be again 
 attempted. 
 
 " As soon as day broke, the last column, 
 which had been completely bewildered, and 
 was, if possible, more unhappy at the occur 
 rence than its chagrined and disappointed 
 comrades, regained the road taken in the 
 night, and was now discerned by those who 
 had been searching for it. Laurens re 
 turned with it to our baggage-ground, most 
 unhappy of the unhappy. On inquiry, it 
 was ascertained that the leading section, 
 instead of turning into the marsh, continued 
 along the road, which led to a large planta 
 tion. Here the error was discovered ; to 
 which was added another. Instead of re 
 tracing his steps, the senior officer, from 
 his anxiety to rejoin without delay, inarched 
 through some fields, under the guidance of a 
 negro, it being the nearest route ; and again 
 got lost, so very dark was the night : nor 
 
 * Memoirs of the War in the Southern Depart 
 ment of the United States, p. 382. 
 
 t Writing to General Greene on the 28ih of Feb 
 ruary, Wayne says " The duty we have done in 
 Georgia was more difficult than that imposed upnn 
 the children of Israel : they had only to make bricks 
 without straw ; but we have had provision, forage, 
 and almost every other apparatus of war to procure 
 without money ; boats, bridges. &c.. to build with- 
 
 2G 
 
 was he even able to reach the road until the 
 approach of daylight. Thus was marred the 
 execution of an enterprise surpassed by none 
 throughout the war, in grandeur of design, 
 and equalled by very few in the beneficial 
 effects that were sure to result from its 
 successful termination/ * 
 
 General Greene felt the disappointment 
 most keenly ; but both officers and men 
 had done their duty, and censure attached 
 to no one but the guide who had deserted 
 the column in the dark. Suppressing his 
 regrets, the general addressed the troops 
 in the kindest terms, thanking them for 
 the zeal and alacrity which they had dis 
 played, and attributing the failure to an 
 accident beyond their control. 
 
 Although compelled to abandon his de 
 sign against Craig, Greene was, nevertheless, 
 resolved that the enemy should not quietly 
 retain his position on the island ; and, 
 ordering up a boat from the Edisto, he 
 opened fire upon the galleys, and drove 
 them from their stations. Lieutenant- 
 colonel Laurens then passed over to the 
 island ; but the enemy had disappeared, 
 and the island was free ! 
 
 The long-expected reinforcements under 
 St. Clair and Wayne, had reached the army 
 on the 4th of January ; and, on the 9th, the 
 latter commander, though still suffering from 
 wounds received in the Virginia campaign, 
 was detached " to reinstate, as far as might 
 be possible, the authority of the Union 
 within the limits of Georgia." To effect 
 this important object, the means given 
 him were 100 regular dragoons, 800 
 undisciplined Georgia militia, and about 
 the same number of state cavalry : and 
 with this scanty force, compared with the 
 magnitude of the end to be accomplished, 
 by substituting activity for discipline and 
 skill, and boldness for numbers, "he, in 
 the short space of five weeks, drove the 
 enemy from all his interior posts, cut off 
 Indian detachments marching to his aid, 
 intercepted the forage of his main bod}% 
 and, on the laud side, penned him up, in a 
 great degree, within the narrow limits of 
 the town of Savannah. "-j- 
 
 out materials, except those taken from the stump ; 
 and what was more difficult than all, to make Whigs 
 out of Tories. But this we have effected, and have 
 wrested the country out of the hands of the enemy, 
 with the exception only of the town of Savannah." 
 Again, in a letter to a friend, the general says 
 " In the five weeks we have been here, not an 
 officer or soldier with me has once undressed, ex 
 cepting for the purpose of changing his linen. The 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CREEK INDIANS. 
 
 As soon as the arrival of the American 
 force became known to General Clarke, who 
 commanded in Georgia, he directed the offi 
 cers in charge of his outposts, to lay waste 
 the country with fire, and retire with their 
 respective troops, and all the provisions and 
 stores they could collect, into Savannah. 
 This order being rigidly executed, the 
 whole district around the capital was de 
 vastated. The effect of thus crowding 
 together the troops and inhabitants, was 
 soon apparent in the condition of both ; the 
 former indignant at being cooped up within 
 the town of Savannah by about 300 rebels, 
 while the British force mustered 2,500 men 
 fit for duty ; and the latter impatient at 
 the inactivity of so large a body of troops, 
 and the inconveniences inflicted by their 
 presence. To guard against a mischievous 
 development of this state of feeling, General 
 Clarke, undeterred by the possible conse 
 quences, considered it expedient to invoke the 
 aid of his Indian allies, two parties of whom 
 the one composed of Chocktaws, the other 
 of Creeks began their march early in May, 
 for the British camp. The former having 
 the shorter distance to travel, were the first 
 to reach the environs of the town, where, 
 by Wayne s vigilance and address, they 
 were met, and nearly all captured. Instead 
 of treating them as enemies, the general 
 merely retained two or three of the prin 
 cipal chiefs as hostages; and sent the 
 remainder back to their homes, with a 
 lecture on the folly of adhering to a power 
 that was no longer able to protect them. 
 To prevent the recurrence of such a mishap, 
 as the Creeks were now daily expected, 
 General Clarke, on the 20th of May, de 
 tached Colonel Browne, with a strong party 
 of horse and foot, to meet them at Ogheechee, 
 about four miles to the west of Savannah. 
 This movement became known to Wayne, 
 who determined to intercept the party on 
 their return, which would necessarily be by a 
 long and narrow causeway, skirted on both 
 sides by swampy ground. This pass he 
 determined to take possession of; and, by 
 great energy and perseverance, was able to 
 reach it with the head of his column about 
 midnight, but found the enemy in closer 
 proximity to it than he had expected. Still, 
 without a moment s hesitation, he ordered 
 
 actual force of the enemy, at this moment, is more 
 than three times that of mine. What we have 
 been able to do has been done by manoeuvring 
 rather than by force." Sparke s Biography, vol. iv., 
 p. 63. 
 
 the small party with him, consisting of one 
 company of infantry, and a single section of 
 dragoons, to charge the advancing column ; 
 an order which, in his official report of the 
 affair, he says, " was obeyed with a vivacity 
 and vigour, which, in a moment, and with 
 out burning a grain of powder, defeated 
 and dispersed the whole force of the enemy." 
 In this spirited action, Colonel Douglas, 
 and forty men of the royal troops, were 
 killed ; about twenty taken prisoners ; and 
 a valuable acquisition made of horses and 
 muskets. 
 
 For some unknown cause, the principal 
 chief of the Creeks, Guristersigo, did not 
 arrive at the rendezvous with his warriors 
 on the 20th of the month, and conse 
 quently escaped the defeat to which Browne 
 and his Indian allies had been subjected : 
 he soon, however, became acquainted with 
 their disaster, and determined to avenge 
 it. Accordingly, accompanied by some 
 guides, he passed through the whole state 
 of Georgia unperceived, except on one occa 
 sion by two boys, who were instantly killed ; 
 and having reached the vicinity of Wayne s 
 camp on the 23rd of June, he resolved to 
 aim his first blow at a picket of the American 
 force, stationed at Gibbon s Plantation, 
 directly on the route to, and not far distant 
 from, Savannah. There happened to be 
 two plantations so called in the same range 
 of country, both of which were occasional 
 stations for the American troops. At this 
 juncture, General Wayne, with the main 
 body of his force, occupied one ; while the 
 other was, on the same day, held by a picket 
 guard. Not only to avoid Wayne, but to 
 carry off this picket, became the object of 
 the Indian chief; and he acquired, as he be 
 lieved, sufficient intelligence to enable him 
 to succeed in his purpose. 
 
 In pursuance of a system he had adopted 
 to avoid being surprised, General Wayne 
 moved nightly, and alternately, from one 
 post to the other. Of this fact Guristersigo 
 was ignorant, and he calculated upon meet 
 ing with the picket, and the picket only; 
 but it so happened, that the night he had 
 selected for his attack, was one on which 
 Wayne, with the main body, would hold 
 possession of the post against which the 
 Indian warrior intended to operate. Late 
 in the evening of the 22nd, Wayne 
 had exchanged posts with his picket, 
 and shortly after was joined by the light 
 infantry, under Captain James Parker, 
 who had been, for several days, closely 
 
 27 
 
ATTACK BY THE INDIANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 watching Savannah. As his men had been 
 much fatigued by their late tour of duty, \ 
 Parker was ordered to camp near the ar- j 
 tillery in the rear. Knowing but of one 
 enemy namely, the garrison of Savannah j 
 Wayne gave his entire attention to that 
 quarter only ; and conscious, from the pre 
 cautions he had adopted, that no movement 
 could be made by the enemy in Savannah 
 without his notice, he forbore to burden 
 the troops with the protection of his rear, [ 
 which he considered unnecessary. A single 
 sentinel only, from the quarter-guard, was 
 posted in that direction, on the main road 
 leading through the camp to the town, 
 and on the very path by which Guristersigo 
 intended to approach the post. 
 
 Soon after nightfall, the Indian chief, at 
 the head of his warriors, emerged from the 
 deep swamps in which he had lain con 
 cealed, and gained the road. He moved in 
 profound silence, and, about three in the 
 morning, reached the vicinity of the camp, 
 where he halted, and made his disposition 
 for the attack. Believing that he had to 
 deal with a very small detachment only, 
 his plan was simple, and might, had the 
 case been so, have been efficient. Preceded 
 by a few of the most subtle and daring of 
 his comrades, directed to surprise and kill 
 the sentinel, he held himself ready to press 
 forward with the main body upon the signal 
 to advance. This was not long delayed : 
 the party in front speedily encompassed the 
 solitary sentinel, and in silence killed him, 
 when the signal being given, Guristersigo, 
 with his band, rushed forward, and, with 
 terrific yells, fell upon the rear of the Ame 
 rican force. Aroused from sleep by the 
 unexpected din, the light infantry sprang 
 to their arms ; the matrosses closed with 
 their guns ; and, in a short time, Gurister 
 sigo became sensible of his mistake. The 
 following details of this exciting affair are 
 given by Major-general Perry. After re 
 ferring to the disposition of Wayne s force 
 on the night of the 22nd, he proceeds to 
 say " When the attack was made, it was 
 with such fury and violence, at a dead time 
 of the night, when the men were in pro 
 found sleep (except the guards), with yell 
 ing and the use of their tomahawks, spears, 
 scalping-knives, and guns, that our men 
 were thrown into disorder. Wayne and 
 myself had thrown our cloaks about us, and 
 laid down near each other, when we were 
 roused by the noise. We immediately rose, 
 and proceeded a few steps in the direction 
 28 
 
 of it, when Captain Parker met us, and, 
 addressing me (then lieutenant-colonel), in 
 formed me of the attack, and that the sud 
 denness of it had confused the men. I 
 immediately suggested that they should be 
 rallied behind the house. They were, with 
 some exertion, collected. I then placed 
 myself at their head, with Captain Parker, 
 and ordered them to charge through the 
 enemy to the regiment ; and the charge was 
 made with celerity and firmness, though 
 the struggle was severe ; but the bayonet 
 did great execution amongst the Indians. 
 General Wayne, with the cavalry, had now 
 come up, and charging upon the rear of 
 the enemy, put them to flight ; then turn 
 ing to the left, he encountered the main 
 body of the Indians, among whom, he 
 charged with terrible slaughter." In this 
 conflict Wayne was dismounted, his horse 
 being killed under him ; and Guristersigo, 
 fighting bravely, was also killed.* Seven 
 teen of his warriors and his white guides 
 fell by his side ; the rest fled, pursued by 
 the troops. Twelve of the Indians were 
 taken, and, it would seem, were deliberately 
 put to death by command of General Wayne, 
 after the contest was over, under the fol 
 lowing circumstances ; which certainly de 
 tract from his reputation for humanity. 
 Lieutenant-colonel Perry, who was in pur 
 suit of the flying enemy, observed some 
 Indians on a road leading through the 
 swamp. While reconnoitring them, several 
 of the chiefs advanced about twenty or 
 thirty steps, and halted, apparently uncer 
 tain whether the approaching troops were 
 friends or foes. Perry observing that all the 
 party had hid themselves in the swamp, ex 
 cept the few mentioned, waved his sword for 
 the latter to come up, which they accordingly 
 did, and were immediately placed under 
 guard. Shortly afterwards General Wayne 
 joined, with the main body of his troops : 
 he appeared in good humour until he per 
 ceived the Indian prisoners, when his coun 
 tenance changed, and he asked Perry, in a 
 very peremptory tone, how he could think 
 of taking those savages prisoners ? Perry 
 related the circumstances under which the) r 
 were decoyed, or rather invited into his 
 power; and observed that he thought it 
 wrong to put them to death after they 
 
 * " After receiving an espontoon and three bayo 
 nets in his body, encouraging his warriors all the 
 while, he retired a few paces, composedly laid himself 
 down, and died without a groan or struggle." 
 General Parker, in Lee s Memoirs of the Jf nr. 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SAVANNAH ABANDONED. 
 
 became prisoners ; but Wayne immediately 
 declared they should not live, and they 
 were accordingly put to death."* 
 
 The immediate fruit of this victory was 
 117 pack-horses, laden with peltry. The 
 dispersion of the Indian allies of Clarke 
 was complete ; while the cost to the Ameri 
 cans did not exceed twelve killed and 
 wounded. As soon as Wayne had buried 
 his dead, and taken care of the wounded, 
 he changed ground as usual, but continued 
 in the neighbourhood of the enemy, whom 
 he watched with untiring vigilance, as he 
 felt assured that an attempt to evacuate 
 Savannah could not be much longer deferred 
 by the British commander. 
 
 It was about the period of these occur 
 rences that the British government re 
 solved to abandon all further offensive 
 operations in America, and gave orders for 
 the evacuation of Georgia. As soon as this 
 determination became known to the mer 
 chants, and others, of Savannah, a deputa 
 tion from the town, under protection of a 
 flag of truce, visited the American camp, 
 for the purpose of ascertaining on what 
 conditions the British subjects would be 
 permitted to remain, with their property, 
 for a given term after the departure of the 
 British garrison. To this inquiry, Gen 
 eral Wayne replied, that whenever the 
 garrison should withdraw, he would protect 
 the persons and property of all who might 
 remain ; but that the ultimate disposal, 
 both of one and of the other, belonged to 
 the civil authority of the state. As this 
 answer was not sufficiently satisfactory, a 
 second deputation waited upon the general, 
 with a view of fixing definitely the terms 
 on which they might remain in the place. 
 Succeeding in their object, they became 
 assured of safety ; and discontinuing their 
 preparations for removal, were found in 
 the place when Wayne took possession on 
 the llth of July, the day on which General 
 Clarke completed his evacuation, and re 
 tired from the capital of Georgia, after 
 holding it three years. 
 
 The abandonment of Savannah was fol 
 lowed, in August, by the meeting of the 
 general assembly of Georgia at Augusta, 
 and the exercise of the civil authority of 
 the Union was completely re-established 
 throughout the state. Brigadier Wayne, 
 having no longer an enemy to deal with in j 
 that direction, now proceeded with his 
 corps to South Carolina, by order of Gen- 
 
 * Perry s Narrative, in Lee, p. 409. 
 VOL. II. F 
 
 eral Greene, who, concentrating his own 
 troops, drew nearer to Charleston, and 
 confined his operations to the single object 
 of preventing the enemy from deriving any 
 subsistence from the country. 
 
 In the same month of August, the in 
 tention to evacuate Charleston was an 
 nounced by the British commander of that 
 place, in general orders. He nevertheless 
 continued to employ his force in occasional 
 predatory excursions, for the purpose of 
 procuring provisions necessary not only 
 for the daily support of the army, and the 
 swarm of loyalists by which he was en 
 cumbered, but also for their maintenance 
 until the first should be established in their 
 future quarters, and the last be transported 
 to their intended settlements. Small parties 
 were therefore detached, in various direc 
 tions, through parts remote from the Ame 
 rican army, to collect rice, corn, and meat 
 for the garrison, &c. This mode of victual 
 ing several thousands of people, was found 
 too precarious to be depended on; and 
 Major-general Leslie addressed a note to 
 General Greene, explaining the motives of 
 his military inroads ; and proposing to dis 
 continue them on condition of being per 
 mitted to purchase from the country such 
 supplies as might be requisite during his 
 continuance at Charleston. Sound policy 
 compelled the American commander to 
 refuse this proposition, although the con 
 cession would have been as beneficial to 
 his own ill-fed and ill-clothed troops, as it 
 could possibly have been to the British. 
 
 Foiled in this scheme for procuring 
 supplies without further effusion of blood, 
 Leslie now determined to acquire by force 
 what had been refused him as a favour, 
 and proceeded to the execution of his pur 
 pose, regardless of consequences to the in 
 habitants, yet regretting the useless waste 
 of the blood of brave men, who would be 
 thus thrown into daily collision with each 
 other. Although supported by marine co 
 operation, and the facilities of interior 
 navigation, it required strong detachments 
 from his army to act effectively ; and these 
 he proceeded to set in motion. Parties 
 were sent out daily to seize provisions near 
 the different landings, and to bring them 
 by water to Charleston. This, in many 
 instances, was accomplished before the 
 inhabitants could be collected to defend 
 their property ; and the mischief and waste 
 occasioned by the haste with which such 
 operations were conducted, was enormous. 
 
 29 
 
CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 17S2. 
 
 Among other parties employed on this 
 duty was a detachment of light infantry, 
 which, attended by some armed vessels, 
 passed along the interior navigation as far 
 as the Combahee river, and arrived at the ; 
 ferry there on the 25th of August. The \ 
 soldiers immediately began to collect and I 
 remove provisions to the transports which ; 
 accompanied the expedition, for the pur- 
 pose of conveying whatever might be ob- j 
 tained, to Charleston. As General Greene 
 felt assured that Leslie would carry his 
 menace into effect, a light corps, under 
 Brigadier Gist, was kept in readiness to 
 move upon any point necessary to coun- , 
 teract the attempts he might make. As 
 soon, therefore, as the movement of the j 
 British detachment became known, Gist 
 was ordered to advance in pursuit. Ac 
 cordingly, after a long and rapid march, 
 the brigadier reached the vicinity of the 
 enemy, then at Page s Point, on the Com 
 bahee, and, at the same time, was joined 
 by Lieutenant-colonel Laurens,* who had 
 commanded the infantry under Gist, but, 
 at the time of the departure of the light 
 corps, was confined to his bed by a sickness 
 not sufficiently severe to restrain him from 
 the path of duty. Upon overtaking the 
 corps, he solicited and obtained permission 
 of the brigadier to put himself at the head 
 of the van ; and perceiving that the enemy 
 were making preparations to retire, he 
 determined, with his small force, though 
 out of supporting distance, to make an 
 attack upon them. The bold decision was 
 instantly carried into execution ; but his 
 force was inadequate to the attempt, and 
 Laurens fell at the head of his little band, 
 " closing his short and splendid life in the 
 lustre of heroism." Gist, by this time, had 
 got up with the main body of his force, and, 
 after a sharp and sanguinary contest, drove 
 the enemy to their shipping, and captured 
 one of the vessels laden with their plunder. 
 Leslie, finding this mode of providing 
 for his troops unsatisfactory, relinquished 
 the predatory excursions upon the main 
 land, and confined his operations to the 
 islands along the coast, and such parts of 
 the country contiguous to the internal 
 navigation, as could be reached without 
 falling in contact with the American troops. 
 Although it was well known to all parties 
 that Charleston would be evacuated by the 
 
 * Son of Henry Laurens, president of congress in 
 1777, and afterwards a prisoner in the Tower of 
 London. See vol. i., p. 632. 
 30 
 
 British troops, the preparations for their 
 departure proceeded but slowly ; and, at 
 length, from certain indications of a pur 
 pose, apprehensions began to be entertained 
 by the owners of the numerous bodies of 
 negroes within the enemy s lines, that it 
 was intended, with the removal of the 
 army, to carry off their slaves. These 
 suspicions were represented to Governor 
 Matthews, who addressed a note to General 
 Leslie on the subject, reminding him of the 
 act of confiscation passed by the legislature, 
 from the operation of which had been 
 exempted all debts due to British mer 
 chants, and claims on real estate, under 
 marriage settlements. These two funds, 
 added to that arising from the confiscation 
 of estates, furnished a valuable resource ; 
 and Matthews assured General Leslie, that 
 if the negroes were removed with the 
 retiring army, he would appropriate such 
 resource in remunerating his fellow-citizens 
 for the loss of their property. 
 
 As this announcement seriously affected 
 the loyalists in Charleston, the British 
 commander was soon beset with appeals 
 and remonstrances ; and, with a view to 
 reconcile the interests of all parties, a nego- 
 | tiation was opened by commissioners, who 
 i had full powers to treat ; and their pro 
 ceedings terminated in a compact, on the 
 10th of October, to the following effect; 
 viz., "That all the slaves of the citizens 
 of South Carolina, now in the power of 
 the Hon. Major-general Leslie, shall be 
 restored to their former owners as far as 
 practicable ; except such slaves as may have 
 ! rendered themselves particularly obnoxious 
 ; on account of their attachment and services 
 ! to the British troops, and such as had spe 
 cific promises of freedom." To compensate 
 for this concession, the faith of the state 
 i was pledged, that none of the debts due to 
 i British merchants, or to persons banished, 
 i should be attached or withheld ; and that 
 no act of the legislature should thereafter 
 i pass for confiscating or seizing the same. 
 It was further stipulated, that no slaves 
 restored to their former owners by virtue 
 of the agreement, should be punished, by 
 the authority of the state, for having left 
 their masters, and attached themselves to 
 the British troops ; and it was particularly 
 recommended tiiat their respective owners 
 should forgive them for the offence. It 
 was also stipulated, that no violence or insult 
 should be offered to the persons or houses 
 of the families of such persons as were 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [COMPACT BROKEN. 
 
 obliged to leave the state for their adhe 
 rence to the British government, when the 
 American army should take possession, or 
 at any time afterwards, so far as it might 
 be in the power of the authorities to prevent 
 it. Finally, it was agreed that the two 
 American commissioners should be per 
 mitted to reside in Charleston, on their 
 parole, for the purpose of assisting in the 
 execution of the compact. 
 
 So far, all seemed smooth and of easy 
 adjustment; but the first movement of the 
 retiring enemy exhibited a design to evade 
 the conditions agreed upon. To effect 
 the arrangement, Governor Matthews 
 had given authority and a flag to two 
 commissioners, to repair to the vicinity 
 of the British lines, with instructions to 
 receive such negroes as should be delivered 
 from the garrison. Two other commis 
 sioners had also authority and a flag 
 given them, to reside in Charleston, and 
 forward the delivery of the negroes to the 
 parties waiting without the garrison to 
 receive them. Matthews invited the citi 
 zens of the state to attend, for the purpose 
 of reclaiming their negroes ; and impressed 
 upon them the expediency of looking over 
 any faults that had been committed. Under 
 such circumstances great expectations were 
 raised that the slave property taken from 
 the inhabitants would be restored to them 
 without delay or difficulty ; but such was not 
 the case. The first persons to be removed 
 by Leslie were the loyalist families ; for 
 whom St. Augustine had been selected as 
 a place of residence ; and a number of 
 vessels were prepared for their transport. 
 When going on board, they took with them 
 about 200 negroes ; and this proceeding 
 coming to the knowledge of the American 
 commissioners, was looked upon by them 
 as a violation of the compact. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the commissioners 
 appointed to reside in Charleston, on the 
 part of the Americans, they waited on 
 Major-general Leslie, and were received 
 with courtesy, and expressions of a desire to 
 facilitate the object they had in view ; but, 
 upon discovering the abduction of the ne 
 groes, they demanded permission to examine 
 the ships bound to St. Augustine, with the 
 exception of those bearing the king s pen 
 dant ; in which, instead of an examination, 
 the word of the commanding officer to re 
 store all the slaves on board, was forced upon 
 them as an equivalent. By this means, 
 however, and the search, so far as allowed, 
 
 they found and claimed 136 negroes. 
 When they attended to receive these on 
 shore, they found only seventy-three landed; 
 and they claimed the residue of the 136, to 
 be forwarded to the other commissioners 
 without the lines. To this the reply was, 
 that no negroes would be delivered until 
 restitution was made of some soldiers said 
 to have been captured by a detachment of 
 General Greene s army ; and the refusal was 
 attempted to be justified in a letter to the 
 commissioners ; but as no suspension of 
 military operations had been suggested, 
 much less stipulated, it was impossible 
 that the capture of the soldiers could be 
 justly construed into a violation of the con 
 tract referred to. The American commis 
 sioners, however, forwarded the letter of the 
 deputy adjutant- general to Governor Mat 
 thews, who immediately wrote to Leslie, 
 that he considered the engagement between 
 them, respecting the negroes, at an end ; and 
 recalled his commissioners from Charleston. 
 In consequence of this intimation, the 
 American commissioners returned home ; 
 and the negroes, seduced and taken from 
 the inhabitants of South Carolina in the 
 course of the war, remained subject to the 
 disposal of the enemy. According to Lee, 
 " they were successively shipped to the West 
 Indies ; and it is asserted, upon the autho 
 rity of the best- informed citizens of South 
 Carolina, that more than 20,000 slaves were 
 lost to the state in consequence of the war. 
 Of these, not an inconsiderable number 
 were appropriated by British officers, and 
 sold for their benefit in the West Indies."* 
 Preparations for the embarkation of the 
 army progressed so slowly, that Greene, 
 who never sincerely believed that peace was 
 near at hand, began to doubt the sin 
 cerity of the pacific professions that had 
 accompanied General Leslie s announcement 
 of his intended evacuation of Charleston. 
 His anxiety about the condition of his army 
 became almost overwhelming; for its dis 
 tressed condition, with respect to clothing, 
 and the daily increasing difficulty of subsist 
 ing it, made him look forward to the depar 
 ture of the British troops with a solicitude 
 that became hourly more painful. He had 
 endeavoured to negotiate a contract for the 
 supply of his army with provisions, and to 
 secure winter clothing for his troops; but 
 all his efforts to accomplish the first were 
 vain. The devastation of the country, the 
 neglect of the culture of the soil, and the 
 * Lee s Memoirs, p. 410. 
 31 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 bankrupt condition of the class of indi 
 viduals theretofore opulent and influential, 
 operated to render all his efforts nugatory. 
 The evacuation of Charleston presented the 
 only chance of surmounting these various 
 difficulties ; and it now seemed, that if the 
 event was long deferred, the dispersion of 
 his army would become inevitable. 
 
 At this juncture, Governor Matthews, 
 through his influence with some of the 
 royalists in Charleston, who had resolved to 
 throw themselves on the mercy of their 
 countrymen, contrived to obtain a small 
 quantity of the most necessary articles of 
 clothing; and this fortunate acquisition, 
 added to a supply forwarded from Phila 
 delphia, enabled the general to cover the 
 most naked of his army ; while the unceasing 
 exertions of the state commissary and the 
 quartermaster-general, produced an agree 
 able change in the supply and quality of 
 provisions. Still the situation of the army 
 in South Carolina was, and had been, most 
 deplorable, as may be conceived from the 
 following extract from an official letter of 
 General Greene, written on the 13th of Au 
 gust : " For upwards of two months past, 
 more than one-third of our army was naked, 
 with nothing but a breech cloth about them, 
 and never came out of their tents ; and the 
 rest were as ragged as wolves. Our con 
 dition was little better in the article of pro 
 visions. Our beef was perfect carrion ; and 
 even bad as it was, we were frequently 
 without any. An army thus clothed, and 
 thus fed, may be considered in a desperate 
 situation." 
 
 If it could be necessary to add to the 
 above details, in order to show the ex 
 tent of endurance exhibited by the brave 
 men who comprised the southern army 
 tinder General Greene, in the campaign of 
 1782, we might refer to unquestionable 
 authority upon the subject, and learn that, 
 of this heroic band of patient sufferers, one 
 half were, in the autumn of that year, with 
 out shoes that there was scarcely a blanket 
 to ten men that numbers of them could 
 hardly get together rags enough to enable 
 them to appear on parade that every little 
 strip of cloth of any description was eagerly 
 picked up, and, when fastened together by 
 thorns, supplied the place of clothing. 
 Tufts of moss, on the loins and shoulders, 
 were their only protection from the chafing 
 of the musk( ts and cartouch boxes. Small 
 as the army was, there were 300 men with 
 out arms ; and more than 1,000 in such a 
 32 
 
 state of nudity, that it was only in cases of 
 the most desperate necessity they could be 
 put on duty.* 
 
 We have seen the nature of the fare 
 with which these men were provisioned. 
 Frequently compelled to eat almost putrid 
 meat, without bread or rice ; at other times 
 rationed upon rice, without meat or bread ; 
 without liquors of any kind ; and at last 
 upon the point of being deprived of salt it 
 was not at all surprising that sickness 
 should become the attendant of such com 
 plicated miseries; and thus, as summer 
 
 miseries 
 
 advanced, the diseases of the climate began 
 to rage with unexampled violence. In the 
 month of July, the camp had been moved 
 to Ashley Hill, about sixteen miles from the 
 capital a position favourable in a military 
 point of view, but fatal to the health of 
 the army. Here it was, nevertheless, com 
 pelled to remain, until the evacuation of the 
 city enabled Greene to change his position. 
 In the meantime, disease, in its most malig 
 nant form, raged around him, and prostrated 
 the strongest of his host. The atmosphere 
 became so corrupt as to be almost in- 
 supportably offensive, even at a consider 
 able distance from the camp ; the general 
 himself was seized with fever, and officers 
 and men were stricken down alike. It would 
 be difficult, in military annals, to find a 
 parallel case of more intense suffering, and 
 more heroic endurance, than that exhibited 
 by the army before Charleston. 
 
 At length the preparations for departure 
 by General Leslie and his garrison began 
 to assume a definite character, and the 
 doubts that had been entertained on the 
 subject, gave way to an agreeable certainty. 
 The American general still held his posi 
 tion at Ashley Hill, thus shutting up every 
 avenue to intercourse between town and 
 country ; and the enemy, no longer seeking 
 to interrupt the arrangement, fixed all his 
 attention upon the facilities for withdraw 
 ing from the state, and avoiding unnecessary 
 conflict. On the 13th of December, the 
 embarkation of the miltary stores, ordnance, 
 and baggage, commenced, and the following 
 day was fixed upon for the evacuation. 
 The morning gun of the 14th was the 
 signal for embarking. General Wayne 
 who, with the legion and light infantry, 
 had for some days previous, by order of 
 Greene, placed himself near the Quarter 
 House, for the purpose of entering the town 
 
 * Sparke s Biography of General Greene, vol. xx., 
 p. 371. 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CHARLESTON EVACUATED. 
 
 as soon as the British should have with 
 drawn had previously received a message 
 from Leslie, intimating a wish to preserve 
 the town from injury, which might be 
 effected, provided the British were not 
 molested in their embarkation, and that 
 they were not fired upon after getting on 
 board. This proposition was reported to 
 Greene, who directed Wayne to accept it ; 
 and, accordingly, no attempt was made to 
 disturb the embarkation, which took place 
 without confusion or disorder. As the 
 British retired from their advanced posts, 
 Wayne advanced and took possession of 
 them at the head of 300 light infantry, a 
 detachment of eighty horse, and a corps of 
 artillerymen, with two 6-pounders. With 
 this force he followed the departing columns 
 through the city to the place of embarka 
 tion, carefully preserving such a distance 
 as to prevent any chance of collision be 
 tween the two armies. " But the Ameri 
 cans were moving under the excitement of 
 triumph, and pressed close upon the foot 
 steps of their enemies. You march too 
 fast for us, was the cry from the British 
 ranks ; and then Wayne would halt his 
 men for awhile, to increase the distance. 
 By 11 A.M., the embarkation was com 
 pleted ; and the American army, marching 
 into the town with drums beating and 
 colours flying, took post at the State House." 
 And now approached the most interesting 
 moment of this proud day for the army of 
 the south namely, the triumphant entry of 
 the general whose wisdom, firmness, and 
 endurance, had led his devoted army to 
 this glorious consummation of their toils 
 and sufferings. At three o clock the same 
 afternoon, he entered Charleston, riding 
 side by side with Governor Matthews; 
 followed by Major-generals Moultrie and 
 Gist : thirty of Lee s dragoons preceded 
 the military and civil authorities ; then 
 came a long line of officers and citizens, 
 with the members of the governor s council ; 
 and a body of 180 cavalry brought up the 
 rear. "Every balcony, door, and window 
 was crowded ; the streets were thronged 
 with hundreds of all ages, eagerly struggling 
 for a sight of the man to whom they were 
 indebted for this day of rejoicing; who 
 had restored them to their homes and their 
 fortunes, and was now bringing back to 
 them a sure pledge of future peace and 
 prosperity in the minister of the civil 
 power. For some time a silence almost 
 solemn reigned over the assembled multi 
 
 tudes, whose feelings were at first too deep 
 for utterance, and could find no expression 
 but in tears. At last, on a sudden, as if 
 by common consent, there broke forth one 
 deep, long shout of triumph and con 
 gratulation, mingled with benedictions and 
 welcomes. " God bless you, gentlemen ! 
 welcome home, gentlemen !" issued from 
 every lip. Young and old joined in the 
 heartfelt greeting of that auspicious day, 
 and tears of joy bedewed the cheeks of 
 all. 
 
 On the 15th, the civil authority resumed 
 its functions, under Governor l_atthews, 
 and the din of arms yielded to the gentler 
 voice of peace and industry. Thus was the 
 metropolis of South Carolina restored to 
 the United States, after having been in the 
 possession of the enemy from the 12th of 
 May, 1780, the period of its surrender to 
 Sir Henry Clinton. On the 17th, the 
 transports, with the British troops, crossed 
 the bar and stood out to sea. The fleet 
 consisted of 1,300 sail. Part of the ships, 
 having on board loyalist families and their 
 negroes, steered for St. Augustine, the capi 
 tal of St. John s county, Florida, under 
 convoy, dispatched from Kingston for the 
 purpose ; other of the transports, with 
 troops and loyalists, went to New York, 
 under protection of some British ships of 
 war. Many families elected to proceed to 
 England in a small division of the fleet, 
 under charge of the Adamant, of 50 
 guns ; and the remainder of the fleet, with 
 troops and loyalists, was conducted to St. 
 Lucia, by the Narcissus, of 20 guns. 
 
 Happy at being delivered from the se 
 verity of martial law, and a garrison life, 
 the inhabitants of the city, who had con 
 tinued there during the occupation of the 
 enemy, now set to work to repair the 
 damage sustained by their families ; while, 
 in the country, the exiled patriots collected 
 from all quarters, and resumed possession of 
 their estates and property. During the 
 occupation of Charleston by the British 
 troops, the citizens had suffered an accumu 
 lation of evils, without a prospect of relief; 
 and there was scarcely one inhabitant, 
 however obscure in character, or humble in 
 station, whether true to one party, or 
 changing with the times, who did not 
 partake of the general distress, and pant 
 for the hour that should bring them de 
 liverance from it. 
 
 The despatches of Major-general Greene, 
 announcing the evacuation of Charleston, 
 
 33 
 
CONCILIATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 were transmitted to the commander-in- 
 chief on the 19th of December, and were, 
 by him, forwarded to congress, which, on ! 
 the 17th of January, 1783, resolved, "That j 
 the thanks of the United States, in congress 
 assembled, be presented to Major-general 
 Greene, for his signal and important ser 
 vices ; and that he be assured that congress 
 retains a lively sense of the frequent and 
 uniform proofs he has given of prudence, 
 wisdom, and military skill during his com 
 mand in the southern department." It 
 was also resolved, "That General Greene 
 be desired to present the thanks of the 
 United States, in congress assembled, to 
 the officers and private soldiers under his 
 command ; who, in all the vicissitudes of 
 season, under the numerous inconveniences 
 of long and rapid inarches, in a country 
 plundered and desolated by an enemy 
 greatly superior in force, have surmounted 
 every difficulty and danger, and manifested 
 such bravery, perseverance, and fortitude, 
 as to do honour to themselves and to the 
 cause they have so zealously nd success 
 fully supported."* 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that notwith 
 standing the extremity to which the troops 
 comprising the army of the south were 
 frequently reduced for want of sufficient 
 food and clothing to say nothing of the 
 want of pay, in which inconvenience they 
 shared equally with their compatriots in 
 the army under General Washington at 
 no time, during the most arduous period of 
 their sufferings, were they stimulated to 
 exhibit the impatience, bordering on abso 
 lute mutiny, that disgraced other portions 
 of the continental armies. Their efforts 
 for the independence of their country were 
 not tainted by selfishness, nor did their 
 impatience of suffering excite them to 
 measures which could only embarrass con 
 gress and its officers, and tend rather to 
 postpone than accelerate the object they 
 were in pursuit of. With nerve to suffer, 
 they had also magnanimity to endure ; 
 and their patience and fortitude were ulti 
 mately rewarded by the grateful thanks of 
 the country, which owed so much to their 
 valour, and yet eveu more to their pa 
 triotism. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CONCILIATORY MEASURES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ; EFFORTS TO NEGOTIATE ; MUTINY OF THE 
 ARMY; DISBANDING OF THE TROOPS; EVACUATION OF NEW YORK; RETIREMENT OF GENERAL 
 WASHINGTON; PEACE PROCLAIMED ; THE DEFINITIVE TKEAXY ; RECEPTION OF THE FIRST AMERICAN 
 AMBASSADOR BY GKORGE III. 
 
 WE have seen that the surrender of Lord 
 Cornwallis, and the army under his com 
 mand, at Yorktown, coupled with the events 
 of the war between Great Britain and the 
 continental powers, had, by degrees, im 
 pressed upon the British nation a conviction 
 of the necessity for sheathing a sword that 
 could no longer be used with advantage 
 or honour in a struggle with people d e- 
 terrnined to be free. France, Spain, and 
 the Netherlands, on the one hand, and the 
 united people of America on the other, 
 presented odds against the single-handed 
 assertors of the royal " right divine" to 
 do wrong ; that rendered further indul 
 gence in the pastime of war dangerous, as 
 well as difficult, when opposed to the wishes 
 * Journal nf Congress, vol. viii., p. 90, 
 - 34 
 
 of a nation ; and, fortunately for the infant 
 republic, in this respect, the opinion of the 
 English people was not in unison with the 
 desire of their sovereign. 
 
 The efforts of Lord North s ministry to 
 humour the wishes of George III., by con 
 tinuing the war in America, resulted in its 
 being driven from power ; and the in 
 fluence attached to the formal declaration, 
 of the British parliament that the war 
 ought to cease was considerably augmented 
 by the acknowledged fact, that it had 
 already drained the resources of the coun 
 try ; and while it heavily increased the 
 burthens of the people, and thinned the 
 ranks of their armies, the object for which 
 such costly sacrifices were made namely, 
 the subjugation of " the revolted colonies," 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CONCILIATORY POLICY. 
 
 and their restoration to British rule, had be 
 come less attainable than ever. All parties, 
 therefore, towards the close of 1782, were 
 agreed that it was time the useless waste of 
 blood and treasure should cease, and that 
 further pursuit of an object confessedly im 
 practicable, should be abandoned. The 
 national debt had already been increased 
 by 100,000,000, and more than 50,000 
 men had been sacrificed to an idea of con 
 quest which could not be realised. It was 
 time, then, to think of peace ; and the dis 
 cussions upon the events of the war, in the 
 British parliament, crowned by the resolu 
 tion adopted by the House of Commons, on 
 the 4th of March, 1782 that " it would 
 consider as enemies to his majesty and the 
 country, all those who should advise or 
 attempt a further prosecution of the war on 
 the continent of North America" ex 
 pressed, very fairly, the sentiments of the 
 whole country upon the subject. 
 
 This famous vote was immediately fol 
 lowed by a change of administration, and 
 by instructions to the general commanding 
 the British troops in America, to inaugu 
 rate a policy of conciliation. 
 
 Sir Guy Carleton, who succeeded Sir 
 Henry Clinton as commander-in-chief on 
 the American station, arrived at New York 
 on the 5th of May, 1782, bearing instruc 
 tions " to use all honourable means to bring 
 about an accommodation with the United 
 States ;" and, in pursuance of such orders, 
 he at once proceeded to offer the olive- 
 branch to a people who were naturally dis 
 posed to behold in him only the heartless 
 representative of arbitrary power, and the 
 instrument by whom, if possible, they were 
 to be coerced to obedience and slavery. 
 Instead of this, to the astonishment of all, 
 and with a courtesy to which, in their pre 
 vious intercourse with the royal com 
 manders, the generals of the United States 
 armies had been utter strangers on the 7th 
 of May, two days after he had landed upon 
 the American continent, Sir Guy Carleton 
 notified to General Washington his arrival, 
 and the policy it was his intention to adopt 
 in his relations with the continental autho 
 rities. "Having," he said, "been ap 
 pointed by his majesty to the command of 
 the forces on the Atlantic Ocean, and joined 
 with Admiral Digby in the commission of 
 peace," he " embraced the occasion of his 
 arrival in America, to transmit certain 
 papers, from the perusal of which," he ob 
 served, " your excellency will perceive what 
 
 dispositions prevail in the government and 
 people of England toward those of America, 
 and what further effects are likely to follow. 
 If the like pacific dispositions should pre 
 vail in this country, both my inclination 
 and duty will lead me to meet it with the 
 most zealous concurrence. In all events, 
 sir," he continued, " it is with me to declare, 
 that if war must prevail, I shall endeavour 
 to render its miseries as light to the people 
 of this continent as the circumstances of 
 such a condition will possibly permit." 
 
 Sir Guy Carleton, in conclusion, said " It 
 was my intention to have sent, this day, a 
 similar letter of compliment to congress, 
 but am informed it is previously necessary 
 to obtain a passport from your excellency, 
 which I therefore hope to receive, if you 
 have no objection, for the passage of Mr. 
 Morgan to Philadelphia, for the above pur 
 pose." 
 
 The enclosures referred to, consisted of 
 copies of the votes of the British parlia 
 ment, and a copy of the bill which had 
 been brought in and passed on the re 
 commendation of the minister, authorising 
 his majesty to conclude a peace, or truce, 
 with the country still denominated "the 
 revolted colonies of North America." 
 
 The letter of Sir Guy Carleton reached 
 General Washington as he was about clos 
 ing a despatch to congress; and he embraced 
 the opportunity to forward it, with the 
 papers enclosed, to the president, for the 
 purpose of being submitted to the considera 
 tion of the house, together with a copy of 
 his reply to the British commander-in- 
 chief; in which he acknowledged the receipt 
 of the communication ; and further said 
 "I have to inform your excellency, that 
 your request of a passport for Mr. Morgan 
 to go to Philadelphia, will be conveyed to 
 congress by the earliest opportunity ; and 
 you may rest assured that I will embrace 
 the first moment to communicate to you 
 their determination thereon. Many incon 
 veniences and disorders having arisen from 
 an improper admission of flags at various 
 posts of the two armies, which have given 
 rise to complaints on both sides ; to pre 
 vent abuses in future, and for the con 
 venience of communication, I have con 
 cluded to receive all flags from within your 
 lines, at the post of Dobbs Ferry, and no 
 where else, so long as the head-quarters of 
 the two armies remain as at present." 
 
 The letter of General Washington, en 
 closing the correspondence and paper?, 
 
 85 
 
DOUBTS OP WASHINGTON.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 being laid before congress on the 14th of ; 
 May, it was resolved, " That the com- ! 
 mander-in-chief be, and hereby he is 
 directed, to refuse the request of Sir Guy j 
 Carleton of a passport for Mr. Morgan, to 
 bring despatches to Philadelphia." 
 
 The application of the British com- 
 maiider-in chief, with its concomitant cir 
 cumstances, was looked upon with suspicion, 
 as introductory to a scheme for propos 
 ing negotiations with congress, or the 
 several states, without the concurrence of 
 their allies ; and thereby to sow disunion, 
 and give cause of offence, where it was 
 manifestly the interest of the Americans to 
 pursue a directly opposite course. General 
 Washington, on bis part, had little faith in 
 appearances, and was not disposed to place 
 reliance upon a mere expression of good 
 will, that was not followed by some definite 
 proposal or act. The papers brought by 
 Sir Guy Carleton, and transmitted by him, 
 as before men ticked, reached Washington 
 while he was busily engaged in address 
 ing a circular to the chiefs of the several 
 state governments, suggesting every motive 
 that should incite them to vigorous action, 
 better proportioned to the existing exigen 
 cies of the Union, and the state of public 
 affairs ; and with a prudent doubt of the 
 impression those documents might make 
 upon public opinion, he considered it ex 
 pedient to express his own views in the 
 letters he was about to dispatch to the local 
 governments. " I have," he said, "perused 
 those debates with great attention and care, 
 with a view, if possible, to penetrate their 
 real design ; and upon the most mature 
 deliberation I can bestow, I am obliged to 
 declare it as my candid opinion, that the 
 measure in all its views, so far as it regards 
 America, is merely delusory, having no 
 serious intention to admit our independence 
 upon its true principles ; but is calculated 
 to produce a change of ministers, to quiet 
 the minds of their own people, and reconcile 
 them to a continuance of the war; while 
 it is meant to amuse this country with a 
 false idea of peace, to draw us from our 
 connection with France, and to lull us into 
 a state of security and inactivity ; which, 
 taking place, the ministry will be left to 
 prosecute the war in other parts of the 
 world ivith greater vigour and effect. 
 Your rxcellency will permit me, on this 
 occasion, to observe, that even if the nation 
 and parliament are really in earnest to ob 
 tain peace with America, it will undoubt- 
 36 
 
 edly be wisdom in us to meet them with 
 great caution and circumspection, and by 
 all means to keep our arms firm in our 
 hands ; and, instead of relaxing one iota of 
 our exertions, rather to spring forward 
 with redoubled vigour, that we may take 
 advantage of every possible opportunity, 
 until our wishes are fully obtained. No 
 nation yet suffered in treaty by preparing 
 (even in the moment of negotiation) most 
 vigorously for the field. The industry 
 which the enemy are using to propagate 
 these specific reports, appears to me to be 
 a circumstance very suspicious ; and the 
 eagerness with which the people, as I am 
 informed, are catching at them, is, in my 
 opinion, equally dangerous."* 
 
 The suspicions of Washington were nou 
 rished by the tone of intelligence received 
 from Europe. Either to avoid a direct 
 acknowledgment of the independence of 
 the United States, or to obtain peace, on 
 terms more favourable than could be ex 
 pected, from a conjoint negotiation with all 
 the powers engaged in the war, the utmost 
 address had been used by the British cabinet 
 to detach its enemies from each other, and 
 so break the compact by which they had 
 engaged to make common cause with Ame 
 rica, until its independence was acknow 
 ledged by Great Britain. Thus propositions 
 were submitted to France and Spain, tending 
 to an accommodation of difference with 
 those powers separately ; and the mediation 
 of Russia was accepted, to procure a sepa 
 rate peace with Holland. At the same time 
 inquiries were made of Mr. Adams, the 
 American minister at the Hague, which 
 seemed to contemplate a similar object 
 with the United States. All these political 
 manoeuvres were communicated to congress, 
 and furnished additional motives for doubt 
 ing the sincerity of the British cabinet; 
 but, whatever might have been the motive 
 which actuated the court of St. James s on 
 this subject, the resolve of the American 
 government to enter into no separate treaty 
 was unalterable. The universal feeling was 
 strengthened by resolutions of the several 
 states, expressing the objection of the latter 
 to separate negotiations, and declaring 
 those to be enemies to America who should 
 attempt to treat without the authority of 
 congress. 
 
 Whatever may have been the ulterior 
 design of the English government in thus 
 seeking to break up the confederacy of the 
 * Marshall s Life of Washington, vol. iv., p. 560. 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 European powers with the United States, 
 the effect of the parliamentary votes referred 
 to, and perhaps the private instructions 
 given to the British general, restrained the 
 latter from further hostilities ; and, at the 
 same time, the state of the American army 
 was such as to incapacitate General Wash 
 ington from any offensive operations before 
 the posts held by the enemy. The cam- 
 paign of 1782 consequently passed away 
 without furnishing any military events of 
 importance on the part of either army. 
 The pen was now, for a time, to supersede 
 the sword, and to consummate its triumphs. 
 
 The pacific mission of Carleton, although, ! 
 ostensibly, purely military, soon softened 
 down the acerbities cf war; and, at length, 
 both parties began to look forward with 
 some degree of confidence to the prospect of 
 eventual peace. France also invited con 
 gress to send plenipotentiaries to Paris, in 
 anticipation of a meeting of the represen 
 tatives of the mediating powers ; and, ac 
 cordingly, Messrs. Jay, Laurens (who had 
 so long been detained a prisoner in Eng 
 land), and Jefferson, were sent to France, 
 with almost unlimited powers, to act in con- 
 cert with Mr. Adams, who then represented 
 the United States at the French court ; and 
 Dr. Franklin, who was about leaving Eng 
 land for America at the time, was requested 
 to remain and assist in the deliberations. 
 The emperor of Germany, and the empress 
 of Russia, being the mediators, Vienna 
 was fixed upon as the place of negotiation ; 
 but, at the very threshold, difficulties arose 
 respecting the basis on which the proceed- j 
 ings were to be conducted. The American ! 
 commissioners refused to appear in any other 
 character than as representatives of an in 
 dependent nation ; while the British cabinet 
 made the dissolution of the league between 
 France and the United States, an essential 
 preliminary to any negotiation whatever. 
 To this neither France nor America would 
 consent, and the mediatory scheme was con 
 sequently abandoned. 
 
 The Marquis of Rockinghara, who suc 
 ceeded Lord North as prime minister of 
 Great Britain, was sincerely desirous of 
 peace with America ; and, as the members 
 of his cabinet were in perfect accord with 
 
 * The following memorandum, in reference to this 
 point, was found among the papers of Dr. Frank 
 lin: "Immediately after the death of Lord Rock- ! 
 in^hani, the king said to Lord Shelburne, I will he 
 plain with you. The point next my heart, and which 
 1 am determined, be the consequence what it may, 
 ne\er to relinquish but with my crown and life, is 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
 him upon the subject, he soon deter 
 mined to make another effort to secure 
 his object, although opposed both by the 
 king and by Lord Shelburne, so far as the 
 recognition of the independence of the 
 United States was concerned.* Mr. Oswald, 
 a merchant of eminence, was thereupon 
 sent, in a semi-official character, to Paris, 
 to ascertain the views of all parties ; and the 
 Count de Vergennes expressed his readiness 
 to enter into negotiation, in concert with the 
 American plenipotentiaries, and proposed 
 that Paris should be the seat of the neces 
 sary deliberations. These points were ac 
 ceded to by Mr. Oswald, on the part of 
 Great Britain : but a new difficulty arose. 
 The commission granted to Mr. Oswald, 
 instead of recognising the independence of 
 the United States in the first instance, pro 
 vided only for the acknowledgment of it in 
 an article of the proposed treaty ; and Mr. 
 Jay objected to proceed without a distinct 
 and unqualified admission that America 
 was a free and independent nation. This 
 difficulty occasioned further delay. "If Lord 
 Shelburne/ said Mr. Jay to Oswald, " moans 
 to have the United States friends, as he 
 cannot have them for subjects, the inde 
 pendence must be acknowledged in the be 
 ginning. While their independence is not 
 acknowledged directly or indirectly, they 
 will be obliged, by the treaty, to continue 
 annexed to France till such acknowledg 
 ment is made, and so to fight the battles 
 and promote the views of France. Inde 
 pendence must be acknowledged, that so 
 the Americans may be separated from 
 France, and a peace be accomplished. " At 
 length, it was found impossible to overcome 
 the objections of the American plenipoten 
 tiaries ; and, after considerable delay, Mr. 
 Oswald s commission, which gave him power 
 to treat with "the colonies or plantations 
 in America," was recalled, and a new one 
 was forwarded to him, in which the words 
 " United States" were substituted for " colo 
 nies and plantations." 
 
 The frequent communications between 
 Jay and Oswald, aroused the suspicion of 
 the French minister, that some plan was on 
 foot to effect a separate treaty ; and he 
 warmly remonstrated with the American 
 to prevent a total unequivocal recognition of the 
 independence of America. Promise to support me 
 on this ground, and I will leave you unmolested on 
 every other ground, and with full power as the 
 prime minister of this kingdom. " Franklin* t 
 Works, vol. v., p. 326. The promise was given, 
 but the support was valueless. 
 
STATE OF THE ARMY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 plenipotentiaries on the subject, as well as ! 
 with congress ; and the latter, to remove all 
 cause for doubt or jealousy, immediately i 
 resolved that it would enter into no discus 
 sion of any overtures for pacification, but 
 in confidence and in concert with the 
 French king. While, thenceforth, at Paris, 
 events were progressing towards the much- 
 desired peace, we return to the state of 
 affairs in America. 
 
 During the early part of August, General 
 Washington received a communication from 
 Sir Guy Carleton and Admiral Digby, 
 which announced that the ministry of Lord 
 Rockingham had dispatched Mr. Grenville, 
 a member of the House of Commons, to 
 Paris, invested with full powers to treat 
 with all the parties at war ; and that nego 
 tiations for a general peace had already 
 commenced. 
 
 It was stated by Carleton and Digby, in 
 the correspondence above referred to, that, 
 in order to remove all obstacles to a peace, 
 the king of Great Britain had commanded 
 his minister to inform Mr. Grenville that 
 the independence of the thirteen provinces 
 was to be proposed by him in the first in 
 stance, instead of being made a condition of 
 a general treaty ; but that such proposition 
 would be made in the confidence that the 
 loyalists would be restored to their posses 
 sions, or that full compensation would be 
 made to them for whatever confiscations 
 might have taken place. The announce 
 ment thus made by Sir Guy Carleton was 
 shortly after followed by another, in which 
 he declared that he could discern no further 
 object of contest, and that he disapproved 
 of all further hostility both by sea and 
 land, which could now only tend to multi 
 ply the miseries of individuals, without a 
 possible advantage to cither nation. In 
 consequence of this opinion, he stated that 
 he had, soon after his arrival in New York, 
 restrained the practice of detaching parties 
 of the Indians against the frontiers of the 
 United States, and had recalled those pre 
 viously engaged in those sanguinary in 
 cursions. 
 
 The apparent disinclination of the British 
 commanders to act offensively, the pacific 
 temper exhibited by the cabinet of London, 
 and the strength of the position occupied 
 by the American troops, gave ample assur 
 ance that no further military operations 
 would be undertaken. The French troops, 
 therefore, in October, marched to Boston, 
 in order to embark for the West Indies, 
 (58 
 
 and Washington placed his army in winter 
 quarters. Abroad affairs looked cheerful, 
 and little doubt existed that, before the 
 close of the year, the much-desired peace 
 would be effected : but a thorn was rankling 
 in the side of America, and the irritation ; 
 occasioned by it furnished cause for serious \ 
 apprehension in the mind of Washington. j 
 The whole army was writhing under a ! 
 sense of neglect and suffering; and the 
 conviction that its discontent and impa 
 tience was not unreasonable, gave increased 
 poignancy to the regret which the com- 
 mander-in-chief felt at such a crisis, and 
 for such a cause ; added to which, he saw 
 much reason to fear that congress possessed 
 neither the power nor the inclination to 
 fulfil its engagements to the army; and 
 the officers who had wasted their fortunes 
 and their prime in unrewarded service, 
 could not look, undismayed, at the prospect 
 which peace was about to unveil to them. 
 Although they had brought the struggle to 
 
 1 * 
 
 a triumphant issue, yet the country was im 
 poverished to almost the last degree ; so 
 much of its territory had been laid waste : 
 its commerce, also, was nearly annihilated ; 
 a heavy burden of debt weighed like an in- 
 ubus on the people ; and the circulating 
 medium had become so much deteriorated, 
 that, by a decree of congress, it was no 
 Longer current. Added to this, an army of 
 some ten thousand men were heavy credi 
 tors of congress, through their pay being 
 necessarily in arrear. They had been as 
 sured of prompt payment at the close of 
 the war an event which seemed almost 
 immediate ; and that the disbandment of 
 the army would follow was not doubted. 
 But so crippled was the government in its 
 pecuniary affairs, that justice to these brave 
 men was out of the question at the junc 
 ture. The temper of the soldiers was not 
 viewed without alarm : many feared open 
 insurrection, and, it might be, civil war, 
 when the order for disbanding should issue ; 
 and some circumstances which preceded 
 that order gave additional strength to such 
 apprehensions. 
 
 Soon after going into winter quarters, a 
 petition was presented to congress, on behalf 
 of the officers, begging that the arrears of 
 pay might be issued to them, and that imme 
 diate payment might be made in commuta 
 tion of the half-pay stipulated by the regu 
 lations of October, 1780. A committee 
 was appointed to watch the proceedings of 
 congress in this matter, and to promote the 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AN ADDRESS. 
 
 interests of the array in the prosecution of 
 its just claims to satisfaction. It was mani 
 fest that congress had no means with which 
 to meet those claims, and that it could only 
 recommend the case of the army to the re 
 spective states, to which portions of it locally 
 belonged. The proposition for the officers 
 to receive half-pay for life met with little 
 favour, for it was seen to be impossible, in 
 the circumstances of the country, that it 
 could be realised. Thus a gloomy and dis 
 satisfied spirit prevailed in the camp; and, 
 in the midst of the disquietude and anxiety 
 that ensued, the commander-iu-chief, who 
 was using all his influence, and taking un 
 ceasing pains to promote the views of his 
 fellow- soldiers, received a letter from an 
 officer of rank ; in which the writer, in the 
 name of the army, expressed distrust of the 
 stability and credit of a republican govern 
 ment, and proposed the establishment of an 
 independent monarchy ; at the same time 
 intimating the desire of the army to make 
 the commander-in-chief KING. To this 
 unexpected and extraordinary communica 
 tion Washington made quick reply, sternly 
 rebuking the writer. He declared that no 
 event, during the war, had given him, so 
 much pain ; that he was at a loss to con 
 ceive what part of his conduct had given 
 encouragement to such an address ; and, 
 while he avowed his earnest desire to see 
 justice done to the army, declared his firm 
 adherence to republican principles. He 
 concluded thus : " Let me conjure you, 
 then, if you have any regard for your 
 country, concern for yourself or posterity, 
 or respect for me, to banish those thoughts 
 from your mind, and never communicate 
 as from yourself, or any one else, a senti 
 ment of the like nature." 
 
 The memorial of the officers was laid 
 before congress, and a warm debate en 
 sued, which ended in disappointment ; the 
 house separating without coming to any 
 resolution. This result produced a vio 
 lent ferment among the officers ; and the 
 irritation soon spread from them through 
 the whole army. In the midst of the 
 excitement, the following anonymous invi 
 tation was circulated in the camp : 
 
 " NOTIFICATION. 
 
 " A meeting of the general and field officers is 
 requested at the Public Building, on Tuesday next, 
 at eleven o clock. A commissioned officer from 
 each company is expected, and a delegate from the 
 medical staff. The object of this convention is to 
 consider the late letter from our representatives in 
 
 Philadelphia, and what measures, if any, should be 
 adopted to obtain that redress of grievances which 
 they seem to have solicited in vain." 
 
 On the same day an address to the army 
 was circulated, calculated, by its eloquence 
 and inflammatory tone, to give increased 
 vehemence to the resentment which had 
 | already begun to exhibit itself, and to ren 
 der still more serious the subsequent mea 
 sures of impatient and now almost des 
 perate men. The document commenced 
 thus : 
 
 " A fellow-soldier, whose interest and 
 affections bind him strongly to you ; whose 
 past sufferings have been as great, and 
 whose future fortune may be as desperate as 
 yours, would beg leave to address you. 
 Like many of you, he loved private life, 
 and left it with regret. He left it, deter 
 mined to retire from the field with the ne 
 cessity that called him to it, and not until 
 then not until the enemies of his country, 
 the slaves of power, and the hirelings of 
 injustice, were compelled to abandon their 
 schemes, and acknowledge America as ter 
 rible in arms as she had been humble in 
 remonstrance. With this object in view, 
 he has long shared in your trials, and 
 mingled in your dangers. lie has felt the 
 cold hand of poverty without a murmur, 
 and has seen the insolence of wealth with 
 out a sigh ; but, too much under the direc 
 tion of his wishes, and sometimes weak 
 enough to mistake desire for opinion, he 
 has, until lately, very lately, believed in the 
 justice of his country. He hoped, that as 
 the clouds of adversity scattered, and as the 
 sunshine of peace and better fortune broke 
 in upon us, the coldness and severity of gov 
 ernment would relax, and that more than 
 justice that gratitude would blaze forth 
 upon those hands which had upheld her in 
 the darkest stages of her passage from im 
 pending servitude to acknowledged inde 
 pendence. But faith has its limits, as well 
 as temper ; and there are points beyond 
 which neither can be stretched, without 
 sinking into cowardice, or plunging into 
 credulity. This, my friends, I conceive to 
 be your situation. Hurried to the very 
 verge of both, another step would ruin you 
 for ever. To be tame and unprovoked 
 when injuries press hard upon you, is more 
 than weakness ; but to look up for kinder 
 usage, without one manly effort of your own, 
 would fix your character, and show the 
 world how richly you deserve those chains 
 you broke. * * * After a pursuit of 
 
 39 
 
IKGK \TITUDB DEPICTED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [A.D. 1782. 
 
 seven long years, the object for which we 
 set out is at length brought within our 
 reach. Yes, my friends, that suffering 
 courage of yours was active once : it has 
 conducted the United States of America 
 through doubtful and bloody war. It has 
 placed her in the chair of independency, 
 and peace returns again to bless whom ? 
 a country willing to redress your wrongs, 
 cherish your worth, and reward your ser 
 vices ? a country courting your return to 
 private life, with tears of gratitude and 
 smiles of admiration ? longing to divide 
 with you that independency which your 
 gallantry has given, and those riches which 
 your wounds have preserved ? Is this the 
 case? or, is it rather a country that tram 
 ples upon your rights, disdains your cries, 
 and insults your distresses ? Have you not, 
 more than once, suggested your wishes, 
 and made known your wants to congress ? 
 Words and wishes which gratitude and 
 policy should have anticipated rather than 
 evaded. And have you not lately, in the 
 meek language of entreating memorials, 
 begged from their justice, what you could 
 no longer expect from their favour ? How 
 have you been answered ? # * # * 
 If this, then, be your treatment, while 
 the swords you wear are necessary for the 
 defence of America, what have you to ex 
 pect from peace, when your voice shall 
 sink, and your strength dissipate by divi 
 sion when those very swords, the instru 
 ments and companions of your glory, shall 
 be taken from your sides, and no remain 
 ing mark of military distinction left but 
 your wants, infirmities, and scars ? Can 
 you, then, consent to be the only sufferers 
 by this revolution, and, retiring from the 
 field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness, 
 and contempt ? Can you consent to wade 
 through the vile mire of dependency, and 
 owe the miserable remnant of that life to 
 charity, which has hitherto been spent in 
 honour ? If you can go and carry with 
 you the jest of Tories and the scorn of Whigs 
 the ridicule, and, what is worse, the pity 
 of the world. Go starve and be forgot 
 ten ! But, if your spirit should revolt at 
 this ; if you have sense enough to dis 
 cover, and spirit enough to oppose tyranny, 
 under whatever garb it may assume ; whe 
 ther it be the plain coat of republican 
 ism, or the splendid robe of royalty ; if 
 you have not yet learned to discriminate 
 between a people and a cause between 
 men and principles awake ! attend to your 
 40 
 
 situation, and redress yourselves. If the 
 present moment be lost, every future effort 
 is in vain; and your threats, then, will be 
 as empty as your entreaties now. 
 
 I would advise you, therefore, to come 
 to some final opinion upon what you can 
 bear, and what you will suffer. If your 
 determination be in any proportion to your 
 wrongs, carry your appeals from the pub 
 lic to the fears of government. Change 
 the milk-and-water style of your last me 
 morial ; assume a bolder tone decent, but 
 lively, spirited, and determined ; and sus 
 pect the man who would advise to more 
 moderation and longer forbearance. Let 
 some other men who can feel as well as write, 
 be appointed to draw up your last remon 
 strance ; for I would no longer give it the 
 suing, soft, unsuccessful epithet of memo 
 rial. Let it be represented in language 
 that will neither dishonour you by its 
 rudeness, nor betray you by its fears ; what 
 has been promised by congress, and what 
 has been performed ; how long, and how 
 patiently you have suffered ; how little you 
 have asked, and how much of that little 
 has been denied. Tell them, that though, 
 you are the first, and would wish to be the 
 last to encounter danger though despair 
 itself can never drive you into dishonour, 
 it may drive you from the field ; that the 
 wounds often irritated, and never healed, 
 may at length become incurable ; and that 
 the slightest mark of indignity from con 
 gress now, must operate like the grave, and 
 part you for ever ; that, in any political 
 event, the army has its alternative. If 
 peace, that nothing shall separate you from 
 your arms but death : if war, that courting 
 the auspices and inviting the directions of 
 your illustrious leader, you will retire to 
 some unsettled country, smile in your turn, 
 and mock when their fear cometh on. 
 But let it represent, also, that, should they 
 comply with the request of your late me 
 morial, it would make you more happy, and 
 them more respectable. That while war 
 should continue, you would follow their 
 standard into the field ; and, when it came 
 to an end, you would withdraw into the 
 shade of private life, and give tho world 
 another subject of wonder and applause ; 
 an army victorious over its enemies, vic 
 torious over itself." 
 
 The officers to whom this effusion was 
 addressed, were already too well inclined 
 to believe in the indisposition of congress 
 to remunerate their services j and it con- 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [JOSEPH JONLS. 
 
 sequently found a response in many bosoms. 
 Like the train to which a torch is applied, 
 the passions quickly caught its flame ; arid 
 nothing seemed to be required but the 
 meeting, convened for the succeeding day, 
 to communicate the conflagration to the 
 combustible mass, and produce an explosion 
 that might be ruinous. Fortunately for 
 the destinies of America, General Wash 
 ington was in camp ; and on the circular 
 being placed in his hands, he did not hesi 
 tate to regard it as an act of rebellion, not 
 only against congress, but against all mili 
 tary authority whatever ; and he immedi 
 ately summoned a meeting of the officers 
 for the following Saturday ; at which, after 
 hearing the report of the committee of the 
 army, he directed that, "after mature deli 
 beration, they should decide what further 
 measures ought to be adopted, as most 
 rational, and best calculated to attain the 
 great and important object in view." The 
 senior officer in rank present, was requested 
 to preside, and report the result of their de 
 liberations. 
 
 On the following day, General Washing 
 ton reported the affair to the president of 
 congress; to whom he also forwarded copies 
 of the addresses, with the expression of a 
 wish, that the measure he had taken to 
 dissipate a storm which had gathered so 
 suddenly and unexpectedly, might be ac 
 ceptable to that body ; assuring them, that 
 in ever} vicissitude of circumstance, he 
 would continue his utmost exertions to pro 
 mote the welfare of his country, under the 
 firm expectation that congress had the real 
 intention of doing ample justice to the 
 army, as soon as circumstances should per 
 mit it to do so. 
 
 In a letter to Joseph Jones, one of the 
 delegates to congress from Virginia, the 
 com mander-in -chief entered at length into 
 the history of this great irregularity, at the 
 same time doing justice to the claims of the 
 officers. " It may be necessary," he writes, 
 " that it should be known to you, and to 
 such others as you may think proper, that 
 the anny, though very irritable on account 
 of their long-protracted sufferings, have 
 been apparently extremely quiet while their 
 business was depending before congress, 
 until four days past. In the meantime, it 
 should seem, reports have been propagated 
 in Philadelphia, that dangerous combina 
 tions were forming in the army, and this at 
 a time when there was not a syllable of 
 the kind in agitation in camp. It also ap 
 
 pears, that upon the arrival of a certain 
 gentleman from Philadelphia in the camp, 
 such sentiments as these were immediately 
 and industriously circulated. That it was 
 universally expected the army would not 
 disband until they had obtained justice; 
 that the public creditors looked up to them 
 for a redress of their grievances, would 
 afford them every aid, and even join them 
 
 ! in the field, if necessary ; that some mem 
 bers of the congress wished the measure 
 might take effect, in order to compel the 
 public, particularly the delinquent states, 
 to do justice : with many other suggestions 
 of a similar nature. From whence, and a 
 variety of other considerations, it was gene 
 rally believed that the scheme was not 
 only planned, but also digested and ma 
 tured in Philadelphia, and that some 
 people have been playing a double game 
 spreading at the camp and in Philadelphia, 
 reports, and raising jealousies equally void 
 
 | of foundation, until called into being by 
 their vile artifices ; for, as soon as the 
 minds of the army were thought to be pre 
 pared for the transaction, anonymous invi 
 tations were circulated, requesting a general 
 meeting of the officers the next day. At 
 the same instant, many copies of the ad 
 dress to the officers of the army were scat 
 tered in every state line of it. So soon as 
 I obtained a knowledge of these things, I 
 issued the order of the llth, transmitted to 
 congress, in order to rescue the foot that 
 stood wavering on the precipice of despair, 
 from taking those steps which would have 
 led to the abyss of misery while the pas 
 sions were inflamed, and the mind trem 
 blingly alive with the recollection of past 
 sufferings and present disappointments. I 
 did this upon the principle, that it is easier 
 to divert from a wrong to a right path, 
 than to recall the hasty and fatal steps that 
 have been already taken. It is commonly 
 supposed, that if the officers had met, agree 
 ably to the anonymous summons, resolu 
 tions might have been formed, the con 
 sequences of which may be more easily 
 conceived than expressed. Now they will 
 have leisure to view the matter more calmly 
 and seriously." 
 
 After some pertinent strictures upon the 
 mistaken policy adopted with respect to 
 the unliquidated claims of the army, 
 General Washington concluded his letter 
 thus : " Let me entreat you, therefore, 
 my good sir, to push this matter to an 
 issue ; and, if there are delegates among 
 
 -il 
 
RESOLUTIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 17*2. 
 
 you who are really opposed to doing justice 
 to the army, scruple not to tell them, if 
 matters should come to an extremity, that 
 they must be answerable for all the in 
 effable horrors which may be occasioned 
 thereby." 
 
 The council of officers summoned by the 
 general order of the commander-in-chief, 
 assembled on the 15th, under the presi 
 dency of General Gates. As soon as the 
 proceedings commenced, General Washing 
 ton entered the hall, and read an eloquent, 
 solemn, and convincing address, on the 
 critical state of things then existing in the 
 army, and on the duty of every patriotic 
 officer, and soldier, to frown upon the 
 disorderly and insurrectionary movement 
 which had been attempted. Taking off 
 his spectacles to wipe them, the general 
 remarked, that " his eyes had grown dim 
 in the service of his country, but that 
 he had never doubted her justice." Again 
 he appealed to the patriotism and good 
 sense of the officers, and entreated them to 
 rely on the justice of congress, and the 
 gratitude of the country; designating the 
 anonymous address as the work of some 
 British emissary, whose object was dis 
 grace to the army, and ruin to the cause 
 for which it had fought, and suffered, and 
 endured. Then repeating, in public, the 
 remonstrances he had used in private to 
 different officers, he withdrew amidst the 
 respectful greetings of the assembly. 
 
 After General Washington had retired, 
 a brief discussion ensued, and a series of 
 resolutions were immediately drawn up 
 and adopted ; of which the following pas 
 sages are part : 
 
 Resolved, That the unanimous thanks of the 
 officers of the army be presented to his excellency 
 the commander-in-chief for his excellent address, and 
 the communication he has been pleased to make to 
 them ; and to assure him that the officers recipro 
 cate his affectionate expression, with the greatest 
 sincerity of which the human heart is capable. 
 
 Resolved unanimously, That at the commence 
 ment of the present war, the officers of the American 
 army engaged in the service of the country from the 
 purest love and attachment to the rights and liberties 
 of human nature, which motives still exist in the 
 highest degree; and that no circumstances of distress 
 or danger shall induce a conduct that may tend to 
 sully the reputation and glory which they have ac 
 quired at the price of their blood and eight years 
 i aithful servitude. 
 
 llesolcvd unanimously, That the officers of the 
 American army view with abhorrence, and rejtct with 
 disdain, the infamous propositions contained in a late 
 anonymons address to the officers of the army, and 
 resent, with indignation, the secret attempts of some 
 unknown persons to collect the officers together in a 
 
 manner totally subversive of all discipline and good 
 order. 
 
 The above resolutions of the officers were 
 transmitted to congress by the commander- 
 in-chief, with an energetic appeal from 
 himself to the justice and patriotism of 
 that body ; which will ever stand upon re 
 cord as an illustration of the firmness and 
 wisdom that distinguished his patriotic 
 career. By it we see that, while he sym 
 pathised with his neglected and wronged 
 brother soldiers, he checked every symp 
 tom of insubordination on their part ; 
 and, in the same document by which 
 he communicated the result of the mea 
 sures which he had taken with such energy 
 to repress their attempt to bring the mili 
 tary power to bear against the civil autho 
 rities, he pleaded their cause before the 
 great council of the nation with fear 
 lessness and energy. The letter to con 
 gress, which stands conspicuous among 
 its records, stated his conviction, that 
 " the result of the proceedings of the 
 grand convention of officers, will be con 
 sidered as the last glorious proof of 
 patriotism which could have been given by 
 men who aspired to the distinction of a 
 patriotic army ; and will not only con 
 firm their claim to the justice, but will 
 increase their title to the gratitude of their 
 country." The commander-in-chief then 
 said " Having seen the proceedings, on 
 the part of the army, terminate with perfect 
 unanimity, and in a manner entirely con 
 sonant to my wishes; being impressed with 
 the liveliest sentiments of affection for those 
 who have so long, so patiently, and so 
 cheerfully suffered and fought under my 
 immediate direction; having, from notions 
 of justice, duty, and gratitude, sponta 
 neously offered myself as an advocate for 
 their rights ; and having been requested to 
 write to your excellency, earnestly entreat 
 ing the most speedy decision of congress 
 upon the subjects of the late address of the 
 army to that honourable body ; it now only 
 remains for me to perform the task I have 
 assumed, and to intercede in their behalf, 
 as I now do, that the sovereign power will 
 be pleased to verify the predictions I have 
 pronounced, and the confidence the army 
 have reposed in the justice of their 
 country." After referring to his corres 
 pondence on a similar occasion, some time 
 previous, he proceeded to observe " By 
 the preceding remarks, it will readily be 
 imagined, that instead of retracting and 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CONCESSIONS. 
 
 reprehending, from further experience and 
 reflection, the mode of compensation so 
 strenuously urged in the enclosures, I am 
 more and more confirmed in the senti 
 ment; and, if in the wrong, suffer me to 
 please myself with the graceful delusion. 
 For if, besides the simple payment of their 
 wages, a further compensation is not due 
 to the sufferings and sacrifices of the officers, 
 then have I been mistaken indeed. If the 
 whole army have not merited whatever a 
 grateful people can bestow, then have I 
 been beguiled by prejudice, and built 
 opinion on the basis of error. If this 
 country should not, in the event, perform 
 everything which has been requested in the 
 late memorial to congress, then will my 
 belief become vain, and the hope that has 
 been excited void of foundation. And if, 
 as has been suggested for the purpose of 
 inflaming their passions, the officers of 
 the army are to be the only sufferers by 
 this revolution ; if, retiring from the field, 
 they are to grow old iu poverty, wretched 
 ness, and contempt ; if they are to wade 
 through the vile mire of dependency, and 
 owe the miserable remnant of that life to 
 charity, which has hitherto been spent in 
 honour, then shall I have learned what 
 ingratitude is ; then shall I have realised a 
 tale which will embitter every moment of 
 my future life. But I am under no such 
 apprehensions. A country rescued by their 
 arms from impending ruin, will never leave 
 unpaid the debt of gratitude/ 
 
 These extraordinary, but certainly not 
 unexpected, proceedings on the part of the 
 army, and the arguments of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, produced the concurrence 
 of nine states of the Union, in favour of a 
 resolution commuting the half-pay pre 
 viously conceded to the officers, into an 
 immediate payment, equal in the gross to 
 live years full pay. But there was a diffi 
 culty iu realising this arrangement to the 
 satisfaction of the recipients, as the value 
 of the resolution depended on the success of 
 the requisitions to the different states to 
 place permanent funds in the hands of 
 congress, that would enable it to redeem 
 the certificates in which the payments were 
 made at par. This was found impracti 
 cable at the moment, and the financier s 
 notes soon became depreciated in value, 
 notwithstanding the receivers in the dif 
 ferent states were instructed to take them 
 in payment of taxes, as also to take them 
 up, whenever tendered. 
 
 The pledge which he had given to his 
 brother soldiers, to use his utmost influence 
 with congress on their behalf, was thus 
 redeemed, so far as Washington was con- 
 corned ; and it was through no neglect of 
 their interests by him, that fresh difficulties 
 and further delays kept alive a feeling of 
 resentment in all ranks of the service. 
 
 The dissatisfaction among the officers j 
 was, however, for a time, appeased, but 
 the bulk of the army itself was still discon 
 tented with its treatment. Three months* 
 pay had been promised to each soldier ; but, 
 as it was not immediately forthcoming, the 
 men thought, probably, that they would do 
 well to follow the proposed example of their 
 officers, and appeal to the fears of congress, 
 which was then sitting at Philadelphia. 
 Accordingly, in June, 1783, a letter, de 
 manding immediate pay, was presented to 
 that body, by a deputation from the Pcnn- 
 sylvanian troops, who had just returned 
 from the south ; and simultaneously, a part of 
 the troops quartered at Lancaster, marched 
 to Philadelphia, for the purpose of enforcing 
 the demand by their presence. Alarmed at 
 the aspect of affairs, and indignant at the 
 insult, congress desired that the militia 
 might be called out for their protection ; 
 but the council of Pennsylvania, with Pre 
 sident Dickensou at their head, demurred, 
 alleging that it would only provoke irrita 
 tion to do so; and, moreover, that the 
 militia would not act, unless some serious 
 outrage were committed. The troops, on 
 reaching the city, were joined by those in 
 barracks there ; and the united mass, headed 
 by seven sergeants, immediately marched 
 upon and surrounded the state-house, where 
 congress and the council had assembled, 
 and were then in session. The demand for 
 immediate payment of arrears, and of the 
 three months gratuity, was peremptory ; 
 but there was no means of complying with 
 it ; and the mutineers were at last induced 
 to disperse, on being allowed to choose a 
 committee to represent their grievances in 
 a becoming manner. 
 
 Congress, which felt itself doubly insulted 
 by the refractory soldiery, and the pusilla 
 nimity of the Philadelphia state council, 
 adjourned in disgust to Princeton, where 
 it was received with great respect. The 
 commander-in-chief, on being apprised of 
 the mutinous conduct of the soldiers, imme 
 diately dispatched 1,500 men, for the pro 
 tection of congress, and to disperse the 
 mutineers. This was happily effected with- 
 
 43 
 
PROVISIONAL TREATY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 out difficulty ; but several of the most for 
 ward among them were handed over to 
 the provost-marshal; and, having been 
 tried by a court-martial, were condemned to 
 die. All of them were, however, pardoned 
 through the intercession of Washington. 
 
 It now became a warmly agitated ques 
 tion where congress should permanently 
 hold its sittings, since Philadelphia had 
 proved herself so incapable of protecting it. 
 One party advocated a federal city being 
 established on the Delaware ; another, on 
 the Potomac : Maryland offered Annapolis ; 
 New York, Kingston, on the Hudson ; 
 while the council of Philadelphia apolo 
 gised, and endeavoured, by protestations of 
 regret for the past, and of better behaviour 
 in future, to win back the important 
 assembly to their city but in vain. It was 
 then agreed that two federal cities should 
 be established, at which congress might 
 alternately hold its sittings. In the mean 
 time, Annapolis and Trenton were to be 
 used for the purpose ; the ensuing session 
 being ordered to be held at Annapolis. 
 The following year it met at Trenton, but 
 adjourned to New York.* 
 
 The provisional treaty between the 
 United States and Great Britain being 
 merely eventual, it furnished no security 
 against a renewal of hostilities, if either 
 party should desire to hazard the further 
 chances of war ; and some apprehensions 
 were entertained that the difficulties op 
 posed to a general pacification would not 
 be removed without such a contingency 
 arising. Fortunately, a letter from the 
 Marquis Lafayette, dated the 24th of 
 March, brought to General Washington 
 intelligence that all difficulties had been 
 surmounted, and that every obstacle to a 
 general peace had been removed. The 
 communication, though not strictly official, 
 was sufficiently authenticated to be relied 
 on ; and orders were immediately issued, re 
 calling all armed vessels cruising under 
 the authority of the United States. Early 
 in April, the copy of a declaration pub 
 lished in Paris, and signed by the Ame 
 rican commissioners, notifying the ex 
 change of ratifications of the preliminary 
 articles between Great Britain and France, 
 was received, and the cessation of hostili- 
 
 * Congress continued to meet, annually, on the 
 first Monday in November, in the city of New 
 York, until the constitutional government trans 
 ferred its sessions to Philadelphia, and from thence 
 permanently to Washington, in 1800. 
 44 
 
 ties was immediately announced to the 
 army by the Commander-in-chief, in general 
 orders, from which the following passages 
 are extracted : 
 
 " The cornmander-in-chief orders the 
 cessation of hostilities between the United 
 States of America and the king of Great 
 Britain, to be publicly proclaimed to-mor- 
 
 | row, at twelve o clock, at the New Build- 
 
 !ing; and that the proclamation which will 
 be communicated herewith, be read to-mor 
 row evening, at the head of every regi 
 ment and corps of the army ; after which, 
 
 | the chaplains, with the several brigades, 
 will render thanks to Almighty God for all 
 his mercies, particularly for his overruling 
 
 | the wrath of man to his own glory, and 
 causing the rage of war to cease among the 
 nations. Although the proclamation before 
 alluded to extends only to the prohibition 
 of hostilities, and not to the annunciation 
 of a general peace, yet it must afford the 
 most rational and sincere satisfaction to 
 every benevolent mind, as it puts a period 
 to a long and doubtful contest, stops the 
 effusion of human blood, opens the pros 
 pect to a more splendid scene, and, like 
 another morning star, promises the ap 
 proach of a brighter day than hath hitherto 
 illuminated the western hemisphere. On 
 such a happy day, which is the harbinger 
 of peace a day which completes the eighth 
 
 I year of the war it would be ingratitude 
 
 j not to rejoice it would be insensibility not 
 to participate in the general festivity. 
 
 " The commander- in-chief, far from en 
 deavouring to stifle the feelings of joy in 
 his own bosom, offers his most cordial con 
 gratulations on the occasion, to all the 
 officers of every denomination, to all the 
 troops of the United States in general, and, 
 in particular, to the gallant and persever 
 ing men who had resolved to defend the 
 rights of their invaded country, so long as 
 the war should continue. For these are 
 the men who ought to be considered as the 
 pride and boast of the American army ; 
 and who, crowned with well-earned laurels, 
 may soon withdraw from the field of glory 
 to the more tranquil walks of civil life." 
 
 The attention of congress was now 
 directed to the reduction of the army at 
 any time a critical operation ; and, in the 
 
 ! existing state of the continental funds, one 
 by no means exempt from danger. Never- 
 
 I theless, affairs were so regulated, that by 
 the middle of June, the soldiers were daily 
 returning home, in good order, if not in 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [LAST ORDERS. 
 
 uninterrupted good humour ; and, on the 
 18th of the month, General Washington, by 
 a circular letter, addressed to the several 
 governors and presidents of the United 
 States, announced his intended resignation 
 of the command of the army ; and ex 
 pressed his views as to the measures wliish 
 he deemed essential to the welfare of the 
 states, and to the happiness of the people. 
 " There are," said he, " four things 
 which I humbly conceive are essential to 
 the well-being, I may say to the existence, 
 of the United States as an independent 
 power : 1st. An indissoluble union of the 
 states, under one federal head. 2ndly. 
 A sacred regard to public justice. 3rdly. 
 The adoption of a proper peace establish 
 ment. And, 4thly. The prevalence of that 
 pacific and friendly disposition among the 
 people of the United States, which will in 
 duce them to forget their local prejudices 
 and politics, to make those mutual conces 
 sions which are requisite to the general 
 prosperity, and, in some instances, to sacri 
 fice their individual advantages to the good 
 of the community. Those are the pillars 
 on which the glorious fabric of our inde 
 pendency and national character must be 
 raised." The important document con 
 cluded thus : " It remains, then, to be my 
 final and only request, that your excellency 
 will communicate these sentiments to your 
 legislature at their next meeting, and that 
 they may be considered as the legacy of 
 one who has ardently wished, on all occa 
 sions, to be useful to his country ; and who, 
 even in the shade of retirement, will not 
 fail to implore the Divine benediction upon 
 it. I now make it my earnest prayer 
 that God would have you, and the state 
 over which you preside, in his holy pro 
 tection. That He would incline the hearts 
 of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of sub 
 ordination, and obedience to government : 
 to entertain a brotherly affection and love 
 for one another, for their fellow-citizens of 
 the United States at large, and particularly 
 for their brethren who have served in the 
 field." 
 
 On the 2nd of November, General Wash 
 ington issued his farewell orders to the 
 armies of the United States ; in which, after 
 some prefatory observations, he said "It 
 only remains for the commander-in-chief 
 to address himself once more, and that for 
 the last time, to the armies of the United 
 States (however widely dispersed the indi 
 viduals who composed them may be), and 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
 to bid them an affectionate, a long farewell. 
 But, before he takes his final leave of those 
 he holds most dear, he wishes to indulge 
 himself a few moments in calling to mind 
 a slight review of the past; he will then 
 take the liberty of exploring, with his mi 
 litary friends, their future prospects; of 
 advising the general line of conduct which, 
 in his opinion, ought to be pursued ; and he 
 will conclude the address by expressing the 
 obligations he feels himself under for the 
 spirited and able assistance he has expe 
 rienced from them in the performance of 
 an arduous office." Invoking the Divine 
 blessing upon his late gallant companions, 
 he concluded with the expression of his 
 wishes that ample justice might be done 
 to them by the country ; and finally said 
 " With these wishes and benedictions the 
 commander-in-chief is about to retire from 
 service. The curtain of separation will 
 soon be drawn ; the military scene to him 
 will be closed for ever."* 
 
 Although orders were received by Sir 
 Guy Carleton to evacuate New York, so 
 far back as the month of August, it was 
 not until the 25th of November that his 
 arrangements for departure were com 
 pleted, and the place delivered up to the 
 Americans. To prevent any disorder that 
 might interrupt the amicable designs of the 
 several commanders, a detachment of the 
 continental army, under the command of 
 General Knox, marched from Haerlem to the 
 Bowery Lane in the morning, where they 
 remained under arms until about 1 P.M., 
 when the British troops had evacuated their 
 posts, and began to embark their rear 
 guard. General Knox, with his force, then 
 advanced and occupied the city, and the 
 former immediately returned to the Bowery, 
 to receive General Washington and Gover 
 nor Clinton, whom he escorted into the 
 capital of the state, followed by the deputy- 
 governor, and members of council, the 
 officers of the army, citizens, and the 
 speaker of the assembly ; and thus, amidst 
 the acclamations of the people, and every 
 possible demonstration of patriotic joy, the 
 undisputedjpossession, by the Americans, of 
 their own country was formally consum 
 mated. 
 
 Dunlop, from an eye-witness of the event, 
 has given a description of it in his His 
 tory of New York, from which we extract 
 the following passages : 
 
 " On that memorable day, the 25th of 
 * Edwards Life of Washington, vol. ii., p. 130. 
 
 45 
 
NEW YORK ENTERED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.I,. 1782. 
 
 November, General Washington entered 
 the city by the Bowery, the only road at 
 that time, accompanied by his friends and 
 the citizens, mostly on horseback. At an 
 appointed hour the British troops had em 
 barked, and their gallant fleet was standing 
 to sea over the bay. 
 
 " The military of the American army 
 were under the command of General Knox, 
 who took immediate possession of the fort, 
 and prepared to hoist the American colours, 
 and lire an appropriate salute. The British, 
 after taking down their flag, had knocked 
 off the cleats and slushed the flagstaff/ so 
 as to prevent the American colours from 
 being hoisted ; but, after an hour s hard 
 labour, in which a sailor-boy played a dis 
 tinguished part, the American standard 
 was hoisted on Fort George, by this same 
 sailor-boy a true type of bold, } T oung 
 America and a salute was fired of thirteen 
 rounds immediately, and three hearty 
 cheers were given. 
 
 " At the time the flag was being hoisted, 
 the river was covered with boats filled with 
 soldiers, to embark on board the shipping 
 that lay at anchor in the North river. The 
 boats at the time lay on their oars, stern to 
 shore, to observe the hoisting of the Ame 
 rican colours ; during which time they pre 
 served a profound silence. The boats 
 rowed off to their shipping when the salute 
 of thirteen guns was fired."* 
 
 The military career of the illustrious 
 George Washington was now on the point 
 of terminating ; but, previous to divesting 
 himself of his functions as commander-in- 
 chief of the American armies, he felt it his 
 duty to take formal leave of those who had 
 been so long the companions and sharers of 
 his trials and his triumphs. The parting 
 ceremonial was fixed for Thursday, the 4th 
 of December ; on which day, at noon, the 
 principal officers of the army assembled at 
 Francis s Tavern, in New York, where the 
 general had taken up his quarters. Shortly 
 after the company had met, Washington 
 entered the room, amidst the cordial greet 
 ings of his comrades. At this moment, the 
 circumstances which had produeed the oc 
 casion, the scene before him, and the ordeal 
 he had imposed upon himself by taking 
 this last farewell, filled him with emotions 
 too powerful to be concealed. At length, 
 after the customary salutations, the general 
 called for a glass of wine, and, turning to 
 the company, said " With a heart full of 
 * Dunlop s History of New York, vol ii., p. 157. 
 46 
 
 love and gratitude I now take leave of you : 
 I most devoutly wish that your latter days 
 may be as prosperous and happy as your 
 former ones have been glorious and honour 
 able." Having drank, he continued " I 
 cannot come to each of you to take my 
 leave, but shall be obliged if eacli of you 
 will come and take me by the hand." 
 General Knox, being the nearest, turned 
 towards him, when Washington, incapable 
 of utterance, grasped his hand and em 
 braced him. In the same affectionate 
 manner he also took leave of each of the 
 officers as they successively passed before 
 him. In every eye sparkled the tear of 
 manly sensibility ; while not a word was 
 spoken to break the dignified silence and 
 tenderness of the scene. As soon as he 
 had thus given expression to his feelings 
 towards the army he had so gloriously 
 commanded, through the officers who had 
 shared his confidence and merited his 
 esteem, he left the room, and, passing 
 through a guard of honour, composed of a 
 corps of light infantry, walked to White 
 hall, where a barge was in waiting to convey 
 him to Paulus Hook ; the whole company fol 
 lowing iii mute and solemn procession, with 
 dejected countenances, that testified feelings 
 no language could adequately describe. 
 Having entered the barge, Washington 
 turned to the company, and waving his 
 hat, bade them a silent adieu. The courtesy 
 was returned simultaneously by each of the 
 mournful company; and, long after the barge 
 had pushed off, and was fast receding from 
 sight, the silent and dejected band of 
 heroes ceased to gaze upon their beloved 
 leader, and returned mournfully to the 
 place at which they had first assembled. 
 
 On the 8th of December, Washington 
 arrived at Philadelphia, for the purpose 
 of rendering his accounts to the proper 
 department of government. These were 
 entirely in his own handwriting, and every 
 entry was vouched. The whole sum, which, 
 in the course of the war, had passed through 
 his hands, amounted only to 19,306 11s. 9d. 
 Not a cent was charged or retained as a 
 recompense for personal services ; and the 
 actual disbursements had been managed 
 with such economy and fidelity, that all of 
 them were covered by the before -mentioned 
 moderate sum. In the capital of Penn 
 sylvania, he was received with a regard 
 bordering on enthusiasm, by all orders 
 of the citizens, public and private ; and, 
 on his resolve to retire from command, 
 
A.TX 1783.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [WASHINGTON RETIRES. 
 
 becoming known, a universal feeling of re 
 gret prevailed. After handing his military 
 accounts to the comptroller, Washington 
 hastened to Annapolis, where congress was 
 then in session, for the purpose of resigning 
 into its hands the authority with which it 
 had invested him. On the 19th he arrived 
 there; and, on the following day, having 
 reported himself, and, at the same time, 
 intimated the purpose of his visit, he 
 requested to know whether it would be the 
 pleasure of congress that he should tender 
 his resignation in writing, or at an au 
 dience. Duly appreciating his high worth, 
 and the importance of the contemplated 
 act, it was resolved to give all dignity to 
 the ceremonial, and that his resignation 
 should be received at a public audience at 
 noon on the following Tuesday. 
 
 Accordingly, in pursuance of this resolu 
 tion, on Tuesday, December 23rd, 1783, 
 the house of congress was thronged with 
 members, foreign officers of state, the chief 
 functionaries of the American republic, and 
 an immense number of anxious citizens of 
 every rank. The legislative and executive 
 officers of the state, the general officers of 
 the army, and the consul-general of France, 
 were admitted on the floor of congress. 
 The representatives of the sovereignty of 
 the Union remained seated and covered ; 
 the spectators were standing and uncovered. 
 Exactly at noon, with military precision, 
 General Washington entered the assembly, 
 and was conducted by one of the secretaries 
 to a chair. After an interval of breathless 
 silence the president rose, and informed 
 him that the United States, in congress 
 assembled, were prepared to receive his 
 communications. Upon this, " the general 
 rose with that dignity which never forsook 
 him, and which the greatness of the occa 
 sion elevated into majesty;"* and addressed 
 congress as follows : 
 
 " Mr. President, The great events, on which my 
 resignation depended, having at length taken place, 
 J have now the honour of offering my sincere con 
 gratulations to congress, and of presenting myself 
 before them to surrender into their hands the trust 
 committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of 
 retiring from the service of my country. 
 
 " Happy in the confirmation of our independence 
 and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity 
 afforded the United States of becoming a respectable 
 nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I 
 accepted with diffidence a diffidence in my abili 
 ties to accomplish so arduous a task, which, how- 
 
 * Cyrus Edmond s Life of Washington, vol. ii., 
 p. 120. 
 
 t Journals of Congress, vol ix., p. 13. 
 
 ever, was superseded by a confidence in the rec 
 titude of our cause, the support of the supreme 
 power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. 
 
 "The successful termination of the war has veri 
 fied the most sanguine expectations; and my gra 
 titude for the interposition of Providence, and the 
 assistance I have received from my countrymen, 
 increases with every review of the momentous 
 contest. 
 
 " While I repeat my obligations to the army in 
 general, I should do injustice to my own feelings 
 not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar ser 
 vices, and distinguished merits, of the gentlemen 
 who have been attached to my person during the 
 war. It was impossible the choice of confidential 
 officers to compose my family should have been 
 more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend in 
 particular those who have continued in the service 
 to the present moment, as worthy of the favourable 
 notice and patronage of congress. 
 
 " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this 
 last act of my official life by commending the 
 interests of our dearest country to the protection of 
 Almighty God, and those who have the super 
 intendence of them to his holy keeping. 
 
 " Having now finished the work assigned me, I 
 retire from the great theatre of action; and bidding 
 an affectionate farewell to this august body, under 
 whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my 
 commission, and take my leave of all the employ 
 ments of public life."f 
 
 He then advanced to the chair, and de 
 livered his commission to the president, 
 with a copy of the address. On resuming 
 his place, the president addressed him in 
 the following terms : 
 
 " Sir, The United States, in congress assembled, 
 receive with emotions too affecting for utterance, 
 the solemn resignation of the authorities under 
 which you have led their troops with success 
 through a perilous and a doubtful war. Called 
 upon by your country to defend its invaded rights, 
 you accepted the sacred charge before it had found 
 alliances, and whilst it was without funds, or a 
 government to support you. You have conducted 
 the great military contest with wisdom and forti 
 tude, invariably regarding the rights of the civil 
 power throughout all disasters and changes. You 
 have, by the love and confidence of your fellow, 
 citizens, enabled them to display their martial 
 genius, and transmit their fame to posterity. You 
 have persevered till these United States, aided by a 
 magnanimous king and nation, have been enabled, 
 under a just Providence, to close the war in free 
 dom, safety, and independence ; on which happy 
 event Ave sincerely join you in congratulations. 
 
 " Having defended the standard of liberty in the 
 new world having taught a lesson useful to those 
 who inflict, and to those who feel oppression, you 
 retire from the great theatre of action with the 
 blessings of your fellow-citizens ; but the glory of 
 your virtues will not terminate with your military 
 command ; it will continue to animate remotest 
 ages. 
 
 " We feel with you our obligations to the army 
 in general, and will particularly charge ourselves 
 with the interests of those confidential officers who 
 have attended your person to this affecting moment. 
 
 . We join you in commending the interests of 
 
 47 
 
TREATY OF 1783.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1783. 
 
 our dearest country to the protection of Almighty 
 God, beseeching him to dispose the hearts and 
 minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity 
 afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable 
 ration. And for you, we address to Him our 
 earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be 
 fostered with all His care that your days may be 
 happy as they have been illustrious ; and that He 
 will finally give you that reward which this world 
 cannot give."* 
 
 At the conclusion of this interesting cere 
 mony, General Washington exchanged salu 
 tations with the members of congress, who 
 rose as he retired from the house ; while a 
 dense mass of his fellow-citizens crowded 
 around his path, and testified their love 
 and gratitude by loud and repeated accla 
 mations. Passing through the enthusiastic 
 populace, he immediately set out for his 
 seat at Mount Vernon, in Virginia, where 
 he happily arrived ; and, in a letter to 
 Governor Clinton, written three days after 
 wards, said " The scene is at length 
 closed. I feel myself relieved of a load of 
 public care, and now hope to spend the re 
 mainder of my days in cultivating the 
 affections of good men, and in the practice 
 of the domestic virtues. " But he was not 
 yet allowed to enjoy the full repose he de 
 sired : for several months after reaching 
 Mount Vernon, almost every day brought 
 him the addresses of an affectionate and 
 grateful people ; and it was not by ad 
 dresses only that the attachment of the 
 public was made manifest. After the pro 
 clamation of peace, congress unanimously 
 resolved that an equestrian statue, of 
 bronze, with a suitable inscription, and 
 basso-relievos representing the principal 
 events of the war, should be erected in the 
 capital; and the legislature of his own 
 state of Virginia, at the first sitting after 
 his resignation, also passed a resolution for 
 the erection of a marble statue, with an 
 inscription commemorative of his worth, in 
 the quadrangle of their capital. 
 
 The provisional treaty of peace between 
 the United States and Great Britain, was 
 signed on the 30th of November, 1782, at 
 Paris, after a prolonged negotiation, which 
 had commenced in the early part of that 
 year. The stipulatory proceedings of this 
 provisional convention were strictly re 
 garded in the final treaty subsequently 
 completed. The preliminary engagement 
 was declared to be based upon the principles 
 of equity and reciprocity ; and his Britannic 
 majesty acknowledged the several states, 
 * Journals of Congress, p. 14. 
 48 
 
 respectively, to be free and independent. 
 The armistice was issued and signed, on 
 ;he 20th of January, 1783, at Versailles, 
 pari passu, with the exchange of prelimi 
 nary articles of peace between France and 
 Great Britain. The American commis 
 sioners had been provided with full powers 
 to represent their government, under date 
 of June 15th, 1781 ; and the British com 
 missioners were authorised to complete the 
 permanent treaty of peace, under date of 
 May 14th, 1783; and after a lengthy con 
 vention, held from day to day at Paris, the 
 commission signed the following definitive 
 treaty of peace between the British and 
 United States governments, on the 3rd of 
 September, 1783. 
 
 In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided 
 Trinity : It having pleased the Divine Providence 
 to dispose the heart of the most serene and most 
 potent prince, George the Third, by the grace of 
 God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, 
 defender of the faith, Duke of Brunswick and 
 Lunenburg, arch treasurer and prince elector of the 
 holy lioman empire, &c., and of the United States 
 of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and 
 differences that have unhappily interrupted the 
 good correspondence and friendship, which they 
 mutually wish to restore ; and to establish such a 
 beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the 
 two countries, upon the ground of reciprocal advan 
 tages and mutual convenience, as may promote and 
 secure to both perpetual peace and harmony : and 
 having for this desirable end, already laid the 
 foundation of peace and reconciliation, by the pro 
 visional articles, signed at Paris, on the thirtieth of 
 November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
 two, by the commissioners empowered on each 
 part, which articles were agreed to be inserted in, 
 and to constitute the treaty of peace proposed to be 
 concluded between the crown of Great Britain and 
 the said United States ; but, which treaty was not 
 to be concluded until terms of peace should be 
 agreed upon between Great Britain and France ; 
 having since been concluded, his Britannic majesty 
 and the United States of America, in order to carry 
 into full effect the provisional articles above-men 
 tioned, according to the tenor thereof, have consti 
 tuted and appointed, that is to say his Britannic 
 majesty, on his part, David Hartley, Esquire, mem 
 ber of the parliament of Great Britain ; and the 
 said United States, on their part, John Adams, 
 Esquire, late commissioner of the United States of 
 America at the court of Versailles, late delegate in 
 congress from the state of Massachusetts, and chief 
 justice of the said state, and minister plenipotentiary 
 of the said United States, to their high mightiness 
 the states-general of the United Netherlands ; Ben 
 jamin Franklin, Esquire, late delegate in congress 
 from the state of Pennsylvania, president of the con 
 vention of the said state, and minister plenipoten 
 tiary from the United States of America at the 
 court of Versailles ; John Jay, Esquire, late pre 
 sident of congress, and chief justice of the state of 
 New York, and minister plenipotentiary from the 
 said United State* at the court of Madrid ; to be the 
 
A.D 1783.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TREATY OF 1783. 
 
 plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing 
 the present definitive treaty ; who, afier having reci 
 procally communicated their respective full reports, 
 have agreed upon, and confirmed the following 
 articles : 
 
 ART. I. His Britannic majesty acknowledges the 
 said United States, viz. New Hampshire, Massa 
 chusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Planta 
 tions, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl 
 vania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro 
 lina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free, sove 
 reign, and independent states ; that he treats with 
 them as such ; and for himself, his heirs, and suc 
 cessors, relinquishes all claims to the government, 
 proprietary, and territorial rights of the same, and 
 every part thereof. 
 
 ART. II. And that all disputes which might arise 
 in future, on the suhject of the boundaries of the 
 said United States, may be prevented, it is hereby 
 agreed and declared, that the following are, and 
 shall be their boundaries, viz. from the north-west 
 angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is 
 formed by a line drawn due north from the 
 source of Saint Croix River to the Highlands ; 
 along the said Highlands, which divide those 
 rivers that empty themselves into the river 
 St. Lawrence from those which fall into the At 
 lantic Ocean, to the north-westernmost head of Con 
 necticut River, thence down along the middle of 
 that river, to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; 
 from thence, by a line due west on said latitude, 
 until it strikes the River Iroquois, or Cataraquy; 
 thence along the middle of said lake until it strikes 
 the communication by water between that lake and 
 Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said com 
 munication into Lake Erie, through the middle of 
 said lake until it arrives at the water communica 
 tion between that lake and Lake Huron ; thence 
 along the middle of said water communication into 
 the Lake Huron ; thence through the middle of 
 said lake to the water communication between that 
 lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Su 
 perior, northward of the Isles Royal and Philipeaux, 
 to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of 
 said Long Lake and the water communication 
 between it and the Lake of the Woods; thence 
 through the said lake to the most north-western 
 point thereof, and from thence on a due west course 
 to the river Mississippi; thence by a line to be 
 drawn along the middle of the said river Missis 
 sippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part 
 of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, 
 by a line to be drawn due east from the determina 
 tion of the line last mentioned in the latitude of 
 thirty-one degrees north of the equator, to the 
 middle of the river Apalachicola, or Catahouchi ; 
 thence along the middle thereof to its junction with 
 the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. 
 Mary s River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a 
 line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. 
 Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy, to its 
 source, and from its source directly north to the 
 aforesaid Highlands, which divide the rivers that 
 fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall 
 into the river St. Lawrence ; comprehending all 
 islands within twenty leagues of any part of the 
 sh ires of the United States, and lying between lines 
 to be drawn due east from the points where the 
 aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the 
 one part, and East Florida on the other, shall, re 
 spectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic 
 
 Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or hereto 
 fore have been, within the limits of the said pro 
 vince of Nova Scotia. 
 
 ART. III. It is agreed that the people of the United 
 States shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, the right 
 to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bunk, and 
 on all the other banks of Newfoundland ; also, in 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in 
 the sea where the inhabitants of the United States 
 shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such 
 part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fisher 
 men shall use (but not to dry or cure the same on 
 that island), and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks 
 of all other of his Britannic majesty s dominions in 
 America; and that the American fishermen shall 
 have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the un 
 settled bays, harbours, and creeks of Nova Scotia, 
 Magdalen Island, and Labrador, so long as the 
 same shall remain unsettled ; but so soon as the 
 same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not 
 be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish 
 at such settlement, without a previous agreement 
 for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors, 
 or possessors of the ground. 
 
 ART. IV. It is agreed that creditors, on either 
 side, shall meet with no lawful impediment to the 
 recovery of the full value in sterling money, of all 
 bonajide debts heretofore contracted. 
 
 ART. V. It is agreed that the congress shall ear 
 nestly recommend it to the legislature of the re 
 spective states, to provide for the restitution of all 
 estates, rights, and properties of persons resident 
 in districts in the possession of his majesty s arms, 
 and who have not borne arms against the United 
 States. And that persons of any other description 
 shall have free liberty to go to any of the thirteen 
 United States, and therein to remain twelve months, 
 unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the resti 
 tution of such of their estates, rights, and proper 
 ties as may have been confiscated ; and that con 
 gress shall also earnestly recommend to the several 
 states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or 
 laws regarding the premises, so as to render the 
 said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with 
 justice and equity, but with that spirit of concilia 
 tion, which, on the return of the blessing of peace, 
 should universally prevail. And that congress shall 
 also earnestly recommend to the several states, 
 that the estates, rights, and properties of such last- 
 mentioned persons who may be now in possession, 
 the bona Jiile price (where any has been given) 
 which such persons may have paid on purchasing 
 any of the said lands, rights, or properties, since 
 the confiscation. And it is agreed, that all persons 
 who have any interest in confiscated lands, either 
 by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall 
 meet with no lawful impediments in the prosecution 
 of their just rights. 
 
 ART. VI. That there shall be no future confisca 
 tion made, nor any prosecutions commenced against 
 any person or persons, for, or by reason of, the part 
 which he or they may have taken in the present 
 war ; and that no person shall, on that account, 
 suffer any future loss or damage, either in his per 
 son, liberty, or property ; and that those who may 
 be in confinement on such charges, at the time of 
 the ratification of the treaty in America, shall be 
 immediately set at liberty, and the prosecutions so 
 commenced be discontinue!). 
 
 ART. VII. There shall be a firm and perpetual 
 peace between his Britannic majesty and the said 
 
 49 
 
THE NEGOTIATIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1783. 
 
 states, and between the subjects of the one and the 
 citizens of the other; wherefore all hostilities, both 
 by sea and land, shall then immediately cease : all 
 prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and 
 his Britannic majesty shall, with all convenient speed, 
 and without causing any destruction, or carrying 
 away any negroes, or other property of the Ameri 
 can inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, 
 and fleets from the said United States, and from every 
 port, place, and harbour within the same ; leaving 
 in all fortifications the American artillery that may 
 be therein ; and shall also order and cause all archives, 
 records, deeds, and papers, belonging to any of the 
 said states, or their citizens, which, in the course of 
 the war, may have fallen into the hands of his 
 officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to 
 the proper states and persons to whom they belong. 
 
 ART. VIII. The navigation of the river Missis 
 sippi, from its source to the ocean, shall for ever re 
 main free and open to the subjects of Great Britain, 
 and the citizens of the United States. 
 
 ART. IX. In case it should so happen that any 
 place, or territory, belonging to Great Britain, or to 
 the United States, should have been conquered by 
 the arms of either from the other, before the arrival 
 of the said provisional articles in America, it is 
 agreed that the same shall be restored without diffi 
 culty, and without requiring any compensation. 
 
 ART. X. The solemn ratifications of the present 
 treaty, expedited in good and due form, shall be 
 exchanged between the contracting parties, in the 
 space of six months, or sooner, if possible, to be com 
 puted from the day of the signature of the present 
 treaty. In witness whereof, we, the undersigned, 
 their ministers plenipotentiary, have, in their name, 
 and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our 
 hands the present definitive treaty, and caused the 
 seals of our arms to be affixed thereto. 
 
 Done at Paris, this third day of September, in 
 the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred 
 and eighty-three. 
 
 D. HARTLEY. 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 In finally arranging the conditions of 
 the treaty which was to give repose to 
 Europe, and stability to the existence of a 
 new republic, questions respecting boun 
 daries, the fisheries, and compensation to 
 the loyalists, came frequently under discus 
 sion, and, from time to time, interrupted 
 the amicable progress of the negotiations 
 with obstacles that required great tact and 
 ability to remove. The question of boun 
 daries was not of easy solution ; and the 
 American commissioners were compelled to 
 exhibit a very great degree of determina 
 tion, in order to secure the north-eastern 
 and north-western boundaries, as described 
 in the treaty. The British commissioner 
 insisted on making the Ohio river the 
 western boundary; and it was urged with 
 a considerable degree of plausibility. The 
 different colonial charters, it was alleged, 
 only extended to that river ; but this 
 50 
 
 assertion was based upon the fact, that the 
 French had occupied the Mississippi valley 
 for many years prior to the fall of Mon 
 treal, in 1762, and claimed the whole west 
 to Spanish Louisiana, lying west of the 
 Mississippi river. Dr. Franklin and Mr. 
 Jay were disposed to yield to the demands 
 of the British commissioner; but Mr. 
 Adams was resolute in his purpose to re 
 tain the north-west as territorial property 
 of the states. He declared that the wes t 
 was then, and had been for several years, 
 held by the Virginia army, under General 
 Clark, and that the country thus occupied 
 was the rightful property of the federal 
 states. The boundaries, however, were 
 finally agreed upon; but the other ques 
 tions to be settled were equally difficult of 
 solution, particularly the fisheries. The resti 
 tution of the property that had been confis 
 cated, as belonging to loyalists, was found to 
 be almost impossible; nevertheless, a compro 
 mise was fixed upon. At one time, however, 
 the British ministry, by its agents, insisted 
 on a stipulation either for a restitution of 
 loyalists property, or for compensation, be 
 fore proceeding further with the negotiation ; 
 and they intimated that a refusal would be 
 a great, if not an insuperable, obstacle to 
 peace between the two countries. To this 
 demand, the American ministers replied^ 
 that they had no authority to stipulate for 
 a restoration of the property, even if that 
 were now practicable ; and that no com 
 pensation would be made or agreed to, 
 unless Great Britain, on its part, would 
 agree to make restitution to American citi 
 zens for the heavy losses they had sustained 
 by the unnecessary destruction of private 
 property. The ultimatum was agreed to 
 by the British ministry, after a great deal 
 of discussion ; and the negotiations at 
 length produced the preliminary and the 
 definitive treaties. 
 
 Upon the ratification of the treary reach 
 ing the United States, a committee was 
 appointed, " to prepare a proclamation for a 
 day of solemn prayer and thanksgiving to 
 Almighty God, to be observed throughout 
 the United States of America, on the ex 
 change of the instruments of ratification of 
 the definitive treaty of peace between tho 
 United States of America and his Britannic 
 majesty, and tho happy completion of the 
 great work of independency and peace to 
 these states." 
 
 Peace having been fully confirmed be 
 tween the United States and the British 
 
A.D. 1785.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ADAMS AT ST. JAMES S. 
 
 governments, it became necessary for the 
 former to dispatch envo} s to the different 
 courts of Europe. The most delicate and 
 responsible position was that of minister to 
 the court of St. James s; and there were 
 but few Americans really qualified for that 
 place. John Adams was appointed ; and 
 in May, 1785, he arrived in London, where 
 lie was received with very great respect, 
 perhaps not so much for his nation, as for 
 his own personal greatness. The selection 
 of Mr. Adams was one of peculiar pro 
 priety ; and he soon exhibited an ability, as 
 minister, that marked his diplomatic career 
 as a model for future generations. 
 
 Early after his arrival in London, Mr. 
 Adams had an interview with the Marquis 
 of Carmarthen, the secretary of state, who 
 named him, with the respect due to his posi 
 tion, as minister plenipotentiary. During 
 the interview, the marquis informed Mr. 
 Adams, that it was customary for every 
 foreign minister, at his first presentation to 
 the king, to make his majesty some com 
 pliments conformable to the spirit of his 
 letter of credence ; and Sir Clement Cottrell 
 Dormer, master of the ceremonies, also in 
 formed him, " that every foreign minister 
 whom he had attended to the queen, had 
 always made an harangue to her majesty ; 
 and he understood, though he had not 
 been present, that they always harangued 
 the king. Respecting this subject, Mr. 
 Adams informed his government, that, 
 " on Tuesday evening, the Baron de Lyn- 
 den called upon me, and said he came 
 from the Baron de Nolken, and they had 
 been conversing upon the singular situation 
 I was in ; and they agreed in opinion that 
 it was indispensable that I should make a 
 speech, and that that speech should be as 
 complimentaiy as possible. All this was 
 conformable to the advice lately given by 
 the Count de Vergennes to Mr. Jefferson ; 
 so that, finding it was a custom established 
 at both these great courts, and that this 
 court and the foreign ministers expected 
 it, I thought I could not avoid it, although 
 my first thought and inclination had been 
 to deliver my credentials silently, and 
 retire." 
 
 At one o clock, on Wednesday, the master 
 of the ceremonies called upon Mr. Adams, 
 and went with him to the secretary of state s 
 office in Cleveland-row, where the Marquis 
 of Carmarthen cordially received him. 
 
 After a short conversation, Lord Car 
 marthen invited Mr. Adams to go with 
 
 him in his carriage to court. When they 
 arrived in the ante- chamber, the ceil de 
 bixuf of St. James s, the master of the cere 
 monies met him, and attended him, while 
 the secretary of state went to take the com 
 mands of the king. While Mr. Adams 
 stood in this place, where all ministers were 
 accustomed to stand upon such occasions, 
 always attended by the master of the cere 
 monies the room very full of ministers of 
 state, lords, and bishops, and all sorts of 
 courtiers the Swedish and Dutch ministers 
 went to Mr. Adams, and entertained him 
 until the Marquis of Carmarthen returned 
 from the king, and desired him to go with 
 him to his majesty. He then went with 
 his lordship, through the levee room, into 
 the king s closet. The door was shut, and 
 he was left with his majesty and the secre 
 tary of state alone. Mr. Adams made three 
 reverences one at the door, another about 
 half-way, and a third before the presence 
 according to the usage established at that 
 and all the northern courts of Europe ; and 
 then he addressed his majesty in the follow 
 ing words : 
 
 " Sire, The United States of America have 
 appointed me their minister plenipotentiary to your 
 majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your 
 majesty this letter, which contains the evidence of 
 it. It is in obedience to their express commands 
 that I have the honour to assure your majesty of 
 their unanimous disposition and desire to cultivate 
 the most friendly and liberal intercourse between 
 your majesty s subjects and their citizens, and of 
 their best wishes for your majesty s health and 
 happiness, and for that of your royal family. The 
 appointment of a minister from the United States 
 to your majesty s court will form an epoch in the 
 history of England and of America. I think myself 
 more fortunate than all my fellow-citizens, in having 
 the distinguished honour to be the first to stand in 
 your majesty s royal presence in a diplomatic cha 
 racter ; and I shall esteem myself the happiest of 
 men, if I can be instrumental in recommending my 
 country more and more to your majesty s royal 
 benevolence, and of restoring an entire esteem, 
 confidence, and affection, or, in better words, the 
 old good nature and the old good humour between 
 people, who, though separated by an ocean, and 
 under different governments, have the same 
 language, a similar religion, and kindred blood. 
 
 " I beg your majesty s permission to add, that, 
 although I have some time before been entrusted 
 by my country, it was never in my whole life in a 
 manner so agreeable to myself." 
 
 The king listened to every word he said 
 with dignity, but with an apparent emo 
 tion, and answered as follows : 
 
 " Sir, The circumstances of this audience are so 
 extraordinary, the language you have now held is 
 so extremely proper, and the feelings you have dis 
 covered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I 
 
 51 
 
THE KING S SPEECH.] 
 
 [A.D. 1785. 
 
 must say that I not only receive with pleasure the 
 assurances of the friendly dispositions of the Unitec 
 States, but that I am very glad the choice has fallen 
 upon you to be their minister. I wish you, sir, to 
 believe, and that it may be understood in America, 
 that I have done nothing in the late contest bul 
 what I thought myself indispensably bound to do, 
 by the duty which I owed to my people. I will be 
 very frank with you. I was the last to consent to 
 the separation ; but the separation having been 
 made, and having become inevitable, I have always 
 said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet 
 the friendship of the United States as an inde 
 pendent power. The moment I see such sentiments 
 and language as yours prevail, and a disposition to 
 give to this country the preference, that moment I 
 shall say, let the circumstances of language, religion, 
 and blood have their natural and full effect." 
 
 Mr. Adams reported the following con 
 clusion of the interview : " The king then 
 asked me whether I came last from France ? 
 And upon my answering in the affirmative, 
 he put on an air of familiarity, and, smiling, 
 or rather laughing, said, There is an 
 opinion among some people that you are 
 not the most attached of all your country 
 men to the manners of France/ I was 
 surprised at this, because I thought it an 
 indiscretion, and a departure from the dig 
 nity. I was a little embarrassed ; but, de 
 termined not to deny the truth on one 
 hand, nor leave him to infer from it any 
 attachment to England on the other, I 
 threw oft" as much gravity as I could, and 
 assumed an air of gaiety, and a tone of de 
 cision as far as was decent, and said, That 
 opinion, sir, is not mistaken ; I must avow 
 to your majesty I have no attachment but 
 to my own country/ The king replied, as 
 quick as lightning, An honest man will 
 never have any other/ 
 
 The king then said a word or two to the 
 secretary of state, and then turned round 
 and bowed to Mr. Adams, as was customary 
 with sovereigns when they give the signal 
 to retire. Mr. Adams then retreated, step 
 ping backward, as was the etiquette, mak 
 ing his last reverence at the door of the 
 chamber. The master of the ceremonies 
 joined him the moment of his coming out 
 of the king s closet, and accompanied him 
 " through the apartments down to his car 
 riage, passing several stages of servants, 
 gentlemen-porters, and under-porters, who 
 roared out like thunder, as he went along, 
 Mr. Adams s servants Mr. Adams s 
 carriage. " 
 
 On the 9th of June, Mr. Adams was pre 
 sented to the queen by Lord Ailesbury, her 
 lord-chamberlain, having been attended 
 to his lordship, and introduced to him, by 
 52 
 
 the master of the ceremonies. The queen 
 was attended by her ladies ; and Mr. Adams 
 made his compliments to her majesty in the 
 following words : 
 
 " Madam, Among the many circumstances 
 which have rendered my mission to his majesty 
 desirable to me, I have ever considered it as a prin 
 cipal one, that I should have an opportunity of 
 making my court to a queen, whose royal virtues 
 and talents have ever been acknowledged and 
 admired in America, as well as in all the nations of 
 Europe, as an example to princesses, and the glory 
 of her sex. Permit me, madam, to recommend to 
 your majesty s royal goodness a rising empire, and 
 an infant virgin world. Another Europe, madam, 
 is rising in America. To a philosophical mind, like 
 your majesty s, there cannot be a more pleasing 
 contemplation than the prospect of doubling the 
 human species, and augmenting, at the same time, 
 their prosperity and happiness. It will, in future 
 ages, be the glory of these kingdoms to have peopled 
 that country, and to have sown there those seeds of 
 science, of liberty, of virtue, and, permit me, madam, 
 to add, of piety, which alone constitutes the pros 
 perity of nations, and the happiness of the human 
 race. 
 
 " After venturing upon such high insinuations to 
 your majesty, it seems to be descending too far to 
 ask, as I do, your majesty s royal indulgence to a 
 person who is indeed unqualified for courts, and 
 who owes his elevation to this distinguished honour 
 of standing before your majesty, not to any circum 
 stances of illustrious birth, fortune, or abilities, but 
 merely to an ardent devotion to his native country, 
 and some little industry and perseverance in her 
 service." 
 
 The queen answered as follows : 
 
 " I thank yon, sir, for your civilities ta me and 
 my family, and am glad to see you in this country." 
 
 After a short conversation with Mr. 
 Adams, the queen made her courtesy, and 
 he made his reverence, and retired into 
 the drawing-room ; where the king, queen, 
 princess royal, and the younger princess, 
 her sister, all spoke to him very obligingly. 
 
 It was necessary, in order to guard 
 against false reports and malicious fictions, 
 to reoVice to writing what had been said in 
 the audiences with the king and queen ; and 
 it was the custom of all ministers to trans 
 mit such compliments to their courts. Mr. 
 Adams transmitted the foregoing to his 
 government ; and concluded his report with 
 the following opinion: "As the court 
 knew very well that the eyes of all nations 
 were fixed upon these audiences, it may 
 be fairly concluded from them, that it is 
 i-he intention of the royal family, and of 
 :he ministers, to treat America like other 
 foreign powers.*" 
 
 * Charles Francis Adams Life and Writings of 
 John Adams, vols. i., iii., and vii. 
 
A.D. 1780.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE PUBLIC LANDS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PUBLIC LANDS; CESSIONS TO THE CONFEDERATION; DISPUTED BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE STATES; 
 ORDINANCE OF 1787; SHAY S REBELLION; STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 THE " Ordinance of 1787" was enacted by 
 the confederation congress, and was one of 
 the most memorable acts passed by that 
 legislative body : it established a political 
 policy respecting the north-western terri 
 tory, that has been observed by statesmen 
 with the most unswerving fidelity. It was 
 a compact, the parties to which were the 
 confederated government upon the one 
 part, and the commonwealth of Virginia on 
 the other part. The latter surrendered its 
 absolute sovereignty over that vast country 
 without demanding the slightest remunera 
 tion, only requiring from the confederation 
 a due respect for the pledges made by the 
 legislature of Virginia to the soldiers who 
 had toiled for the conquest. By the com 
 pact, the general government became pos 
 sessed of a vested power, or jurisdiction 
 over the north-west, and the faith reposed 
 in it has been most patriotically adminis 
 tered. It is not our purpose to discuss the 
 force of the " Ordinance of 1787," as such 
 a consideration more properly belongs to 
 the political history of the government ; 
 but we shall group together such facts, re 
 specting the history of that important in 
 strument, as properly belong to a work of 
 this character; and, at the same time, we 
 shall give an account of the different ces 
 sions of public lands made by the states 
 claiming the same, whether under the royal 
 charters, or by military conquest and occu 
 pancy. 
 
 The legislature of Maryland having re 
 fused to ratify the articles of confederation, 
 congress passed a resolution on the 6th of 
 September, 1780, earnestly recommending 
 the states having claims to the western 
 country, to pass such laws, and give their 
 delegates in congress such powers, as might 
 effectually remove the only obstacle to the 
 final ratification of the said articles, by 
 making a surrender of at least a part of 
 their territorial claims, since they could not 
 be preserved entire without endangering 
 the stability of the general government. 
 New Jersey had ratified the articles ; but 
 with it that state urged a common proprie 
 torship of the western lands. Delaware 
 
 VOL. n. i 
 
 fully appreciated the merits of the New 
 Jersey resolutions, and concurred in them ; 
 as did, in fact, nearly all the other states 
 similarly situated : but of these none were 
 more resolute than the state of Maryland, 
 as it declined to ratify the articles until 
 Virginia ceded the western lands to the 
 federal government, for the use and benefit 
 of all the states of the Union ; and its legis 
 lature denied the right of Virginia to hold 
 the north-west territory as its sole pro 
 perty. 
 
 On the 10th of October, 1780, congress 
 passed a resolution, declaring, "that the 
 unappropriated lands that may be ceded or 
 relinquished to the United States by any 
 particular state, pursuant to the recommen 
 dation of congress of the 6th day of Sep 
 tember, 1780, shall be disposed of for the 
 common benefit of the United States, and 
 be settled and formed into distinct repub 
 lican states, which shall become members 
 of the federal union, and have the same 
 rights of sovereignty, freedom, and indepen 
 dence as the other states ; that each state, 
 which shall be so formed, shall contain a 
 suitable extent of territory, not less than 
 100, nor more than 150 miles square ; or 
 as near thereto as circumstances will admit : 
 that the necessary and reasonable expenses 
 which any particular state shall have in 
 curred, since the commencement of the 
 present war, in subduing any British posts, 
 or in maintaining forts or garrisons within 
 and for the defence, or acquiring any part 
 of the territory that may be ceded or relin 
 quished to the United States, shall be re 
 imbursed." This resolution was sent to all 
 the states, and it was hoped that it would 
 produce a happy result ; and in that expec 
 tation congress was not disappointed, as, on 
 the earliest opportunity thereafter, the state 
 of New York authorised its delegates to 
 make the desired transfer of the public 
 land held by that state. In obedience to 
 the legislative behest, the delegates of New 
 York, on the 1st of March, 1781, made a 
 formal transfer of all that state s right to 
 certain western lands to the federal con 
 gress, for the benefit of all the states of tho 
 
 53 
 
 I 
 
VIRGINIA CESSION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1783. 
 
 Union. In the act of authorisation passed 
 by the legislature, it was particularly de 
 clared, that the said delegates should be 
 empowered to sign such necessary convey 
 ance, and "to limit and restrict the boun 
 daries of the state in the western part 
 thereof, by such line or lines, and in such 
 manner and form as they shall judge to be 
 expedient, either with respect to the juris 
 diction, as well as the right or pre-emption 
 of soil, or reserving the jurisdiction in part, 
 or in whole, over the lands which may be 
 ceded or relinquished, with respect only to 
 the right or pre-emption of the soil." 
 
 This was the first cession of lands made 
 to the federal government; and whether 
 or not it had any influence with the other 
 states, we are unable to divine. On the 
 next day, however, the state of Maryland 
 ratified the articles of confederation, not 
 because it relinquished its claim with the 
 other states to the western lands, but solely 
 for the purpose of promoting the common 
 welfare of the nation, by establishing a 
 union of the states, the better to secure 
 their independence. 
 
 By the treaty of peace with Great Bri 
 tain, each of the states was recognised as 
 an independent sovereignty ; and the state 
 of Virginia, having effected the dislodg- 
 ment of the British in the west, it became 
 the possessor of that vast region ; which, 
 together with Kentucky, made it an empire 
 of about 341,352 square miles an area 
 nearly equal to the whole of the other 
 states. The legislature of Virginia, influ 
 enced by a desire to promote the interest of 
 the nation, and effect the most good for the 
 greatest number, agreed to cede the domain 
 lying north-west of the Ohio river to the 
 federal government, upon certain conditions, 
 having respect to its future organisation 
 iiito states. 
 
 With the view, therefore, of promoting 
 the general weal, a law was enacted, on 
 the 20th of October, 1783, authorising the 
 delegates of that state, in congress, to con 
 vey to the confederation, upon certain con 
 ditions, for the benefit of the United States 
 in common, "all right, title, and claim, as 
 well of soil and jurisdiction held by the 
 state of Virginia, to the territory or tract of 
 country within the limits of the Virginia 
 charter, situated, lying, and being to the 
 north-west of the river Ohio," upon the 
 condition "that the territory so ceded shall 
 be laid out and formed into states, contain 
 ing a suitable extent of territory, not less 
 54 
 
 than 100, nor more than 150 miles square, 
 or as near thereto as circumstances will 
 admit ; and that the states so formed shall 
 be distinct republican states, and admitted 
 members of the federal union, having the 
 same right of sovereignty, freedom, and in 
 dependence as the other states." It was 
 further conditioned, "that the necessary 
 and reasonable expenses incurred by this 
 state, in subduing any British posts, or in 
 maintaining forts and garrisons within and 
 for the defence, or in acquiring any part of 
 the territory so ceded or relinquished, shall 
 be fully reimbursed by the United States ;" 
 and it was stipulated that commissioners 
 should be appointed to adjust those claims. 
 The French and Canadian inhabitants, 
 and other settlers of Kaskaskia, St. Vin 
 cent, and the neighbouring villages, who 
 professed themselves citizens of Virginia, 
 were to have their possessions and titles 
 confirmed to them, and they were to be 
 protected in the enjoyment of their rights 
 and liberties. A quantity of land, not ex 
 ceeding 150,000 acres, promised by the 
 state of Virginia, was to be allowed and 
 granted to General George Rogers Clark, 
 and to the officers and soldiers of his regi 
 ment, who marched with him in the Illi 
 nois expedition, in 1778, when the posts of 
 Kaskaskia and St. Vincent were reduced ; 
 and to the officers and soldiers that joined 
 Clark s army subsequent to 1778 to be laid 
 off in one tract, the length not to exceed 
 double the breadth, in such place, on the 
 north-west side of the Ohio, as a majo 
 rity of the officers should elect ; and 
 then, thereafter, to be divided among the 
 grantees, according to the laws of Virginia. 
 It was further stipulated, that, in case the 
 quantity of good land on the south-east 
 side of the Ohio, between the Green and 
 the Tennessee rivers, which had been re 
 served, by law, for the Virginia troops in 
 the continental service, should prove in 
 sufficient for their legal quantities, the defi 
 ciency should be made up to the said troops 
 in good lands, to be laid off between the 
 Scioto and the Miami rivers, on the north 
 west side of the Ohio ; and as to the re 
 mains of the territory ceded, it was to bo 
 common property for the whole federal 
 union. 
 
 The deed of cession, containing the fore 
 going stipulations, transferring to the con 
 federation the north- west territory, was 
 received in congress, March 1st, 1784, 
 signed by Jefferson, Hardy, Lee, and 
 
A.D. 1784 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ORDINANCE OF 1784. 
 
 Monroe, the delegates from that state. 
 When that important instrument was pre 
 sented, a motion was made to accept it as 
 proposed by the legislature of Virginia. 
 Mr. Beatty, from New Jersey, who was not 
 willing to recognise the right of Virginia 
 to the said territory, offered an amendment 
 to the motion to receive the deed ; namely, 
 " Provided always, that the acceptance of 
 the said cession, in manner and form afore 
 said, shall not be considered as implying 
 any opinion, or decision of congress, re 
 specting the extent or validity of the claim 
 of Virginia to the western territory, by 
 charter, or otherwise." The vote on this 
 amendment was taken by states, and stood 
 ayes, 3 ; noes, 7. The motion to accept 
 was then adopted. After the cession was 
 consummated, congress appointed a com 
 mittee, consisting of Jefferson, from Vir 
 ginia ; Chase, from Maryland ; . and Howell, 
 from Rhode Island, to prepare a plan for 
 the temporary government of the western 
 territory. 
 
 The committee reported the plan of gov 
 ernment, and, on the 19th of April, it was 
 taken up for consideration. Mr. Spraight, 
 from North Carolina, made a motion to 
 strike out the following clause : " That 
 after the year 1800 of the Christian era, 
 there shall be neither slavery nor involun 
 tary servitude in any of the said states, 
 otherwise than in punishment of crimes 
 whereof the party shall have been convicted 
 to have been personally guilty." The 
 question was, Shall the words, moved to be 
 struck out, stand ? By the following vote 
 the clause was rejected. The ayes were 
 New Hampshire, Foster and Blanchard ; 
 Massachusetts, Gerry and Patridge ; Rhode 
 Island, Ellery and Howell ; Connecticut, 
 Sherman and Wadsworth ; New York, 
 De Witt and Paine ; New Jersey, Dick ; 
 Pennsylvania, Mifflin and Montgomery. 
 The noes were Maryland, McHenry and 
 
 * A report, submitted to congress in April, 1784, 
 thus stated the law regulating the mode of determin 
 ing the voting in congress : " That the legislatures 
 of the several states be informed, that whilst they 
 are represented in congress by two delegates only, 
 the required unanimity for conducting the most 
 important public concerns can be rarely ex 
 pected. That if each of the thirteen states should 
 be represented by two members, five out of twenty- 
 six, being only a fifth of the whole, may negative 
 any measure requiring the voice of nine states; that 
 of eleven states now on the floor of congress, nine 
 being represented by only two members from each, 
 it is in the power of three out of twenty-five, 
 making only one-eighth of the whole, to negative 
 
 Stone ; Virginia, Hardy and Mercer ; South . 
 Carolina, Read and Beresford. Hand of 
 Maryland, and Jefferson of Virginia, voted 
 aye ; but their colleagues carried their 
 states for the negative. North Carolina 
 was divided, Williamson voting aye, and 
 Spraight, no.* Several other amend 
 ments and alterations were proposed ; some 
 of which were rejected, and others adopted. 
 On the 23rd of April, the report amended 
 was agreed to ; namely : 
 
 Resolved, That so much of the territory ceded, 
 or to be ceded, by individual states of the United 
 States, as is already purchased of the Indian in 
 habitants, and offered for sale by congress, shall be 
 divided into distinct states, in the following manner, 
 as nearly as such cessions will admit : that is to 
 say, by parallels of latitude, so that each state shall 
 comprehend, from north to south, two degrees of 
 latitude, beginning to count from the completion of 
 forty-five degrees north of the equator; and by 
 meridians of longitude, one of which shall pass 
 through the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio, and 
 the other through the western cape of the mouth of 
 the Great Kenhaway ; but the territory eastward 
 of this last meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, 
 and Pennsylvania, shall be one state, whatever may 
 be its comprehension of latitude. That which may 
 lie beyond the completion of the forty-fifth degree, 
 between the said meridians, shall make part of the 
 state adjoining it on the south; and that part of 
 the Ohio which is between the same meridians, 
 coinciding nearly with the parallel of thirty-nine 
 degrees, shall be substituted so far in lieu of that 
 parallel, as a boundary line. 
 
 That the settlers on any territory so purchased 
 and offered for sale, shall, either on their own peti 
 tion, or on the order of congress, receive authority 
 from them, with appointments of time and place, 
 for their free males of full age within the limits of 
 their state, to meet together, for the purpose of 
 establishing a temporary government, to adopt the 
 constitution and laws of any one of the original 
 states, so that such laws, nevertheless, shall be sub 
 ject to a like alteration by their ordinary legisla 
 ture ; and to erect, subject to a like alteration, 
 counties, townships, or other divisions, for the elec 
 tion of members for their legislature. 
 
 That when any such state shall have acquired 
 20,000 free inhabitants, on giving due proof thereof 
 to congress, they shall receive from them authority, 
 with appointments of time and place, to call a con- 
 such a measure; notwithstanding that by the arti 
 cles of confederation, the dissent of five out of 
 thirteen, being more than one-third of the number, 
 is necessary for such a negative. That, in a repre 
 sentation of three members from each state, not 
 less than ten cf thirty-nine could so negative a 
 matter requiring the voice of nine states ; that, from 
 facts under the observation of congress, they are 
 clearly convinced, that a representation of two 
 members only from each state was injurious ;" and 
 it was recommended to the states to send at least 
 three members, " as the most injurious consequences 
 may be expected from the want of such represen 
 tation." Many of the states sent only one delegate, 
 I by which unanimity in congress was nttained. 
 
CONFLICTING TITLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1785. 
 
 vention of representatives, to establish a permanent 
 constitution and government for themselves. Pro 
 vided that both the temporary and permanent 
 governments be established on these principles as 
 their basis : 
 
 1st. That they shall for ever remain a part of 
 this confederacy of the United States of America. 
 
 2nd. That they shall be subject to the articles 
 of confederation in all those cases in which the 
 original states shall be so subject, and to all the 
 acts and ordinances of the United States in congress 
 assembled, conformable thereto. 
 
 3rd. That they in no case shall interfere with the 
 primary disposal of the soil by the United States in 
 congress assembled, nor with the ordinances and 
 regulations which congress may find necessary for 
 securing the title in such soil to the bondjlde pur 
 chasers. 
 
 4th. That they shall be subject to pay a part of 
 the federal debt, contracted, or to be contracted, to 
 be apportioned on them by congress, according to 
 the same common rule and measure by which 
 apportionments thereof shall be made on the other 
 states. 
 
 5th. That no tax shall be imposed on lands, the 
 property of the United States. 
 
 6th. That their respective governments shall be 
 republican. 
 
 7th. That the lands of most resident proprietors 
 shall in no case be taxed higher than those of resi 
 dents within any new state, before the admission 
 thereof to a vote by its delegates in congress. 
 
 That wheresoever any of the said states shall 
 have, of free inhabitants, as many as shall then be 
 in any one of the least numerous of the thirteen 
 original states, such state shall be admitted by its 
 delegates into the congress of the United States, on 
 an equal footing with the said original states ; pro 
 vided the consent of so many states in congress is 
 first obtained, as may at the time be competent to 
 such admission. And in order to adopt the said 
 articles of confederation to the state of congress 
 when its number shall be thus increased, it shall be 
 proposed to the legislatures of the states originally 
 parties thereto, to require the assent of two-thirds 
 of the United States in congress assembled, in all 
 these cases wherein, by the said articles, the assent 
 of nine states is now required, which, being agreed 
 to by them, shall be binding on the new states. 
 Until such admission by their delegates into con 
 gress, any of the said states, after the establish 
 ment of their temporary government, shall have 
 authority to keep a member in congress, with a 
 right of debating, but not of voting. 
 
 That measures, not inconsistent with the prin 
 ciples of the confederation, and necessary for the 
 preservation of peace and good order among the 
 settlers in any of the said new states, until they 
 shall assume a temporary government, as aforesaid, 
 may, from time to time, be taken by the United 
 States in congress assembled. 
 
 That the preceding articles shall be formed into 
 a charter of compact ; shall be only executed by 
 the president of the United States in congress 
 assembled, under his hand, and the seal of the 
 United States; shall be promulgated; and shall 
 stand as fundamental constitutions between the 
 thirteen original states, and each of the several 
 states now newly described ; unalterable from and 
 after the sale of any part of the territory of such 
 state, pursuant to such resolve, but by the joint 
 
 56 
 
 consent of the United States in congress assembled, 
 and of the particular state within which such 
 alteration is proposed to be made. 
 
 The question on the adoption of this re 
 port was unanimous with states and dele 
 gates, excepting South Carolina and its 
 delegates. 
 
 The reception of the Virginia deed of 
 cession, and the adoption of the preceding 
 plan of government, since usually called the 
 "Jefferson Ordinance of 1784," quieted the 
 discussions among the states, originating 
 from the north-west territorial question ; 
 and, from that epoch, an harmonious and 
 prosperous career of the new nation was 
 confidently anticipated. 
 
 The vast domain, then supposed to be 
 of great value, more then sufficient to pay 
 off the public debt, was given to the nation 
 without any other consideration than 
 patriotism. . The legislature authorised 
 the cession to be made, October 20th, 
 1783 ; and, in March of that year, news of 
 the peace had been received in America. 
 The articles of confederation had been 
 fully ratified in 1781 ; the preliminary 
 treaty of peace had been signed in 1782 ; 
 and, by both of the instruments, the full and 
 absolute sovereignty of Virginia over its 
 vast empire was recognised ; while, in 
 the realisation of its power, that state made 
 the noblest sacrifice that had ever distin 
 guished a sovereign state, and executed 
 a deed conveying its " great north-west" to 
 the federal union. 
 
 On the 19th of April, 1785, the general 
 court of Massachusetts authorised its dele 
 gates in congress to transfer to the federal 
 government, all the lands claimed by that 
 state under its charter, lying upon and 
 south of Lake Ontario, according to certain 
 boundaries then described. The states of 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts claimed all 
 that part of the country which was within 
 the breadth of their respective charters ; 
 and the state of New York had also an 
 intermediate claim to the same territory. 
 The cession of Massachusetts and New 
 York included an insulated tract, commonly 
 called " The Triangle," lying on Lake Erie, 
 west of the state of New York, and north 
 of Pennsylvania.* The charter of Con 
 necticut covered the same lands, thus 
 triplicating the title, as we shall presently 
 more fully explain. Besides the conflict 
 ing titles originating from the charters of 
 
 * This tract of land was subsequently sold by the 
 federal government to the state of Pennsylvania. 
 
A.D. 1786.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CONNECTICUT CLAIMS. 
 
 the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, 
 and New York, the proprietors of Pennsyl 
 vania supposed their grant to extend north j 
 to the "endless mountains;" and in some 
 of the old manuscripts it was carried to the 
 south shores of Lake Ontario. The Indian 
 tribes, known as the " Six Nations," 
 occupied the disputed territory ; and their 
 warriors were too numerous to permit the 
 encroachments of either of the states, ex 
 cept under especial purchases ; and, as New 
 York was more immediately adjacent to 
 those powerful tribes, it had opportunities 
 of purchasing the Indian titles not enjoyed 
 by either of the other states. 
 
 The cession of Connecticut to the federal 
 government was made on the 14th of Sep 
 tember, 1786, and, as its claims were more 
 energetically pressed than those of the other 
 states mentioned, we shall explain more in 
 detail the history of its alleged title. 
 
 Prior to, and during the revolution, the 
 state of Connecticut claimed an immense 
 range of laud to the west, by virtue of a 
 patent from Charles II., king of Great 
 Britain ; which bore date April 20th, 1662. 
 The subsequent grant given by Charles II., 
 in 1661, to his brother, the Duke of York 
 and Albany, for the lands lying upon the 
 Hudson river, lapsed upon the Connecticut 
 chartered territory. This charter included 
 all the mainland of New England, begin 
 ning at St. Croix, extending to the rivers 
 Connecticut and Hudson, " together with 
 the said river, called Hudson River ; and 
 all the lands from the west side of Connec 
 ticut River, to the east side of Delaware 
 Bay." The title was enforced against the 
 Dutch, who then held the country called 
 New Netherlands, by an expedition of three 
 ships, which compelled Governor Stuyve- 
 sant to surrender his dominion on the 27th 
 of August, 1664. The claim of Connecti 
 cut extended from 41 to 42 2 north lati 
 tude, from the Narraganset river in the east, 
 to the South Sea in the west, embracing the 
 vast and unexplored regions in the bound 
 less west. The whole of Lake Erie was, 
 at that time, supposed to be south of 41 
 north latitude, the line running across the 
 supposed site of the Niagara Falls. This 
 was according to the French, Spanish, and 
 English maps of 1660 ; and even so late as 
 the year 1703, the whole of Lake Erie was 
 supposed to be south of latitude 41 north. 
 But in the course of time, the surveys 
 placed the lake more to the north, as now 
 known, leaving a large strip of land be 
 
 tween latitude 41 north, and the south 
 shore of the lake. The subsequent grant 
 to the Duke of York had, as all the other 
 grants, a boundless west. Pennsylvania, in 
 1749, was placed in the king s maps, as 
 extending north to Lake Ontario ; and the 
 province of New York was limited east of 
 a line drawn due north and south, inter 
 secting the most eastern part of Ontario. 
 Connecticut seems to have been limited to 
 almost within its present boundaries, on all 
 the maps that we have examined in the 
 king s library, issued, or prepared in manu 
 script prior to 1776 ; and in no case have 
 we been able to find, either in the French 
 or English libraries, that the territory of 
 that state extended as far west as the 
 Hudson. It must be remembered, too, that 
 much of the territory owned and occupied 
 by the Six Nations of Indians, was claimed 
 by France in 1738 ; but, at the same time, 
 the British crown did not recognise that 
 right, notwithstanding the actual existence 
 of some twenty-nine French forts, scattered 
 over the vast western country for the pur 
 pose of maintaining the title by possession. 
 Connecticut, however, set up its claim to 
 all the lands westward to the South Sea at a 
 very early date ; and we have found, on 
 one of the king s maps, a recognition of 
 the disputes between the provinces, in re 
 gard to their boundaries, as early as 1736. 
 On a map, prepared especially for the king, 
 in 1738, it is said " The limits of Massa 
 chusetts province with New York, Connec 
 ticut with New York, New York with New 
 Jersey, and Pennsylvania with Maryland, 
 are not yet finally determined, owing to 
 some ambiguity in the description of the 
 territory of the several grants, and to the 
 tedious and expensive progress such dis 
 putes are always attended with." The 
 same map restricts Connecticut to its pre 
 sent boundaries, and extends Pennsylvania 
 northward of its present limits into the 
 "endless mountains, with its northern 
 boundary on the Mohawk river." Mason 
 and Dixon s survey, made in 1768, fixed 
 the southern line between Maryland and 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The 40 of north latitude was the most 
 northern boundary of Virginia, west of 
 Pennsylvania; and the territory belong 
 ing to Virginia, lying north of Wheeling 
 Creek, commonly known as the " pan 
 handle," was recognised as west of Penr 
 sylvania, and within the jurisdiction of 
 the province of New York, which was then 
 
 57 
 
WESTMORLAND DISTRICT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1782. 
 
 supposed to embrace all the territory north 
 of the Virginia boundary and south of the 
 Hudson Bay Company s line, fixed by the 
 Treaty of Utrecht, in 1712. From these 
 facts it will be seen, that the grants given 
 to the American settlers were so vaguely 
 defined, that disputes followed each case in 
 after years. 
 
 We have presented the foregoing facts 
 to show that Connecticut had, for many 
 vears anterior to the revolution, claimed 
 lands in the west under its charter of 1662 ; 
 and also, that the vast territory in the 
 north-west was recognised as a part of, and 
 within the jurisdiction of the province of 
 New York, in 1738; and, further, we may 
 add, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro 
 lina, and Georgia, all held grants, then 
 understood to run westward of the Missis 
 sippi river, into the boundless and unex 
 plored regions. The French military posts, 
 in the valley of the Mississippi, along the 
 lakes and the rivers, even to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, held and garrisoned prior to the 
 fall of Montreal, in 1762, established the 
 fact that the British titles were not beyond 
 question. We may mention, too, that the 
 crown of Great Britain, in 1730, claimed 
 the regions known as Louisiana, lying west 
 of the Mississippi ; and it would seem that it 
 was its practice, after 1712, to claim the 
 whole continent, except so much of it as 
 was actually partitioned under the Treaty of 
 Utrecht. 
 
 The Penn grant, dated March 4th, 1681, 
 was for the lands lying on the west side 
 of the Delaware river, extending north 
 ward to 43 north latitude ; which of course 
 covered a part of the territory alleged to 
 have been embraced in the Connecticut 
 charter, traversing it at right angles. 
 For nearly a century after its charter was 
 obtained, Connecticut neglected, or perhaps 
 abandoned its claim to the lands lying west 
 of New York. After it had disposed of all 
 its domain in the eastern part of its colonial 
 jurisdiction, a company was formed for the 
 purpose of occupying the lands alleged to 
 lie within the limits of its charter on the 
 Susquehanna, in the province of Pennsyl 
 vania. The company was established in 
 1753 ; and, in 1754, a purchase was made 
 from the Indians, comprising the Six Na 
 tions, of a large tract of land at Wyoming. 
 In 1774, the settlement was formed into a 
 political district, called Westmorland ; and 
 the inhabitants sent a representative to the 
 Connecticut legislature. 
 58 
 
 These proceedings aroused the proprie- 
 ;ors of Pennsylvania, and they immediately 
 secured deeds from the Indians for the same 
 ands, and then the chiefs refused to sign 
 the conveyance to the Connecticut pur- 
 hasers. The Pennsylvanians being at the 
 place of dispute, granted lands to any per 
 sons who would settle thereon ; and, as a 
 consequence, the Penn proprietors rallied j 
 o their support a very large number of 
 people ; and, in a short time, they attempted 
 to expel the holders under the Connecticut 
 grants from that part of the country. At 
 this epoch, the legislature of Connecticut 
 transmitted to the crown lawyers in Eng 
 land certain questions, with respect to its 
 rights in question; and the first inquiry 
 resulted in favour of the title of Connecti 
 cut, upon the grounds, however, of prior 
 charter. But, while the question was still 
 being examined by the crown lawyers, the 
 revolutionary war commenced, which sus 
 pended the disputes for the time being. 
 While these proceedings were taking place, 
 the confederation was formed, and then 
 it became the duty of congress to settle 
 all disputes between states with respect to 
 their boundaries. A petition was received 
 by congress, November 3rd, 1781, "from 
 the supreme executive council of the com 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania, presenting the 
 matter of dispute between the said state 
 and the state of Connecticut; respecting 
 sundry lands lying on the east bank of the 
 Susquehanna." Due notice was served 
 upon the authorities of Connecticut ; and 
 after much delay, commissioners were ap 
 pointed to adjust the matters of difference, 
 and agents were employed by the two 
 states at issue to appear before the said 
 commission, and advocate their respective 
 claims. Unfortunately for Connecticut, its 
 title-papers were then in England, and, on 
 account of the war, they could not be ob 
 tained in time to be used at the hearing ; 
 and, being thus circumstanced, the agents 
 desired a postponement of the case until 
 after the termination of the war. The 
 commissioners, however, met at Trenton, 
 New Jersey, December 30th, 1782, and 
 heard the evidence presented by the re 
 spective agents, and " the cause was well 
 argued by the learned counsel on both 
 sides/* The court then pronounced its 
 judgment; namely "We are unanimously 
 of opinion, that the state of Connecticut 
 has no right to the lands in controversy. 
 We are also unanimously of opinion, that 
 
A.D. 1786.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY. 
 
 the jurisdiction and pre-emption of all the , 
 territory lying within the charter boundary 
 of Pennsylvania, and now claimed by the 
 state of Connecticut, do of right belong to 
 the state of Pennsylvania." This decision 
 was received by congress; but, from consi 
 derations of policy, it was never acted upon. 
 After this decision, Connecticut was unable 
 to maintain its claim to the lands upon the 
 Susquehanna, and lying within the limits of j 
 Pennsylvania. That state, however, never 
 ceased to claim, the right to the said land 
 until September 14th, 1786, when it ceded 
 to the confederation all its territory in the 
 west, claimed under its charter, excepting 
 a tract of 120 miles in length, adjoining, 
 and west of the state of Pennsylvania. 
 Congress accepted the cession, waived any 
 claim under it for the Westmorland dis 
 trict, and admitted the reservation specified 
 in the deed of cession. 
 
 A part of the reserved lands, amounting 
 to about 500,000 acres, was granted by 
 Connecticut to the inhabitants of New 
 London, Fairfield, and Norwarlk, whose 
 property had been destroyed by the enemy 
 during the revolutionary war.* Such, in 
 deed, was the claim of Connecticut to the 
 lands in Pennsylvania, and west thereof, 
 under its charter of 1662 ; but it was only 
 a "claim." It was settled, however, in a 
 manner that effected some good to the 
 noble people who had lost their property 
 under the Vandalisms of Arnold. 
 
 South Carolina ceded its public domains, 
 beyond certain specified limits, to the fe 
 deral government on the 9th of August, 
 1787. This territory was situated west- 
 wardly to the South Sea, and, in some re 
 spects, was lapsed by the Georgia grants. 
 A charter was granted, in 1638, by 
 Charles II., to Sir Robert Heath, for the 
 range of territory stretching to the south 
 ward of Virginia, from 36 N. lat., and 
 named Carolina ; which became, ulti 
 mately, divided, and respectively called 
 " North" and " South ;" and the latter 
 continued as a proprietary until 1719, 
 when it became a royal colony, with 
 boundaries subject to alteration by the 
 crown, from time to time, as circumstances 
 
 * The remainder of this tract was sold in 1795; 
 and the money received from the sale was invested, 
 and now constitutes a fund for the support of 
 schools throughout the state. The title of Connec 
 ticut to the reserved lands in Ohio was legalised by 
 congress in 1800. The territory, now forming part 
 of the state of Ohio, is still called "New Connecti 
 cut," or " Western Reserve." 
 
 might require.f North Carolina was 
 formed into a separate jurisdiction by a 
 patent from Charles II. to Lord Claren 
 don and others, for all the territory be 
 tween 30 and 36 N. lat. ; extending from 
 the Atlantic to the South Sea or Pacific 
 Ocean. The patent for Georgia was granted 
 by George II. to a company of philanthro 
 pists in 1732 ; and its trustees having sur 
 rendered the charter, a royal government 
 was formed, in 1752, for the same terri 
 tory. J Its southern boundary was ori 
 ginally the Alatamaha river, and thence 
 westwardly, with a parallel of latitude pass 
 ing by the source of that river. The terri 
 tory lying between the rivers Alatamaha 
 and St. Mary s, was annexed to it by the 
 king s proclamation of the 7th of October, 
 1763 ; and though not positively expressed 
 by that instrument, it appears by the com- 
 mission given to Governor Wright, dated 
 20th of January, 1764, that the colonial 
 jurisdiction extended to the river Mis 
 sissippi, as far south as 31 N. lat., 
 which, according to the proclamation, 
 formed the northern boundary of the new 
 I British province of West Florida. On a 
 statement submitted by the Board of Trade, 
 the boundaries were altered ; and it appears 
 ] from the second commission, given to Gov- 
 I ernor Johnstone of that province, and from 
 l those of the subsequent governors, Elliot 
 { and Chester, that West Florida, from the 
 6th of June, 1764, and thence, as long as 
 it continued under the British government, 
 j was bounded on the north by a parallel of 
 latitude passing by the mouth of the river 
 Yazous, or about 32 30" N. lat. 
 
 South Carolina and Georgia were the 
 only states which had any claims to 
 lands lying south of 35 N. lat., westward 
 of the former ; and, according to some ot 
 the earlier manuscript maps, which we 
 have examined in the King s Library, the 
 jurisdiction of South Carolina extended 
 from its present boundaries west of Georgia, 
 to and beyond the Mississippi river. By 
 the cession of these two states, the United 
 States acquired the title to the track of 
 country subsequently known as the Mis 
 sissippi territory, extending from 31 to 
 
 t Ante, vol. i., p. 130. 
 
 j Ibid., vol. i., p. 153. 
 
 The state of Georgia ceded to the United Stales 
 its western lands April 24th, 1802, in consideration 
 of the sum of 1,250,000 dollars, which was to he 
 paid out of the first proceeds from the sales of lands 
 in the ceded territory, as an indemnity for expenses 
 incurred by that state in the Creek wars. 
 
 59 
 
CAROLINA CESSION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1786. 
 
 35 N. lat., bounded on the west by 
 the Mississippi river, and on the east by 
 the river Chatahouchee, and by a line 
 drawn from a place on that river, near 
 the mouth of the Uchee creek, to Nickajak, 
 on the river Tennessee. The cession from 
 South Carolina of August 9th, 1787, was 
 for "all the territory or tract of country 
 included within the river Mississippi, and 
 a line beginning at that part of the river 
 which is intersected by the southern boun 
 dary line of the state of North Carolina, 
 and continuing along the said boundary 
 line until it intersects the ridge or chain 
 of mountains which divides the eastern 
 from the western waters ; then to be con 
 tinued along the top of the said ridge of 
 mountains until it intersects a line drawn 
 due west, from the head of the northern 
 branch of Tugoloo River to the said moun 
 tains, and thence to run a due west course 
 to the river Mississippi." 
 
 The state of North Carolina ceded to the 
 United States its vacant lands on the 25th 
 of February, 1790. On the ratification of 
 the federal constitution on the 13th of No 
 vember, 1789, the legislature of that state, 
 then in session, enacted a law authorising 
 its delegates in congress to sign a deed of 
 cession to the United States of its " back 
 country," known in part as the Cherokee 
 district, subject, however, to the land- 
 warrants that had been issued by the state, 
 principally for military services. In the 
 act of cession, it was made a condition, 
 " that no regulation made, or to be made 
 by congress, shall tend to the emancipation 
 of slaves." This clause was inserted for 
 the purpose of checking the Quakers, in 
 their efforts to induce congress to adopt 
 emancipation measures, and to prevent 
 them from further "annoying congresi 
 about slavery." The lands transferred to 
 the jurisdiction of the federal government 
 by North Carolina, were situated beyond 
 the Appalachian chain of mountains, within 
 the breadth of its charter; that is to say, 
 between 35 and 36 30 N. lat., the 
 last parallel being the southern boun 
 dary of the state of Virginia and the dis 
 trict of Kentucky, extending from North 
 Carolina proper, to the Mississippi river 
 embracing the territory since known by 
 the name of Tennessee. 
 
 The territory ceded by each of the 
 
 southern states, hereinbefore mentioned 
 
 except Virginia, was the subject of separat< 
 
 legislation by congress. Those made fr 
 
 60 
 
 STew York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, 
 were rectifications of their respective boun 
 daries, as parts of their charter titles 
 apsed ; and, from time to time, had 
 riginated conflicts with respect to juris 
 diction. The territory known as Vermont, 
 was a district of land claimed by the states 
 f New Hampshire and New York, and the 
 right of jurisdiction thereon was a question 
 solely of disagreement between those two 
 states : in other respects, the boundaries of 
 York were defined ; and such, too, was 
 case with the states of Rhode Island, 
 S^ew Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. 
 The government of the north-western 
 territory, ceded by Virginia, was the sub- 
 ect of special legislation in congress, by 
 ;he enactment of Jefferson s report, April 
 23rd, 1784 ; and, subsequently, by the 
 adoption of the ordinance of 1787. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1786, the "North-west 
 territorial question" was again considered 
 in congress, on the motion of Mr. Gray son, 
 from Virginia ; and, after considerable 
 discussion, and various propositions sub 
 mitted in the premises, it was resolved, by 
 an almost unanimous vote, " That the 
 legislature of Virginia be requested to take 
 into consideration their act of cession, and 
 revise the same, so far as t^ empower the 
 United States in congress assembled, to 
 make such a division of the territory of the 
 United States, lying northerly and westerly 
 of the river Ohio, into distinct republican 
 states, not more than five, nor less than 
 three, as the situation of that country, and 
 future circumstances may require." This 
 resolution was coupled with a preamble, 
 stating that it would be difficult to divide 
 the territory ceded by Virginia, according 
 to the rules adopted by that state, and 
 that it would be better to adopt natural 
 boundaries from time to time, as the new 
 states came into the Union.* 
 
 Before the legislature of the state of 
 Virginia modified the conditions of the 
 cession of the north-west territory of 1783, 
 according to the resolution passed by con 
 gress in 1786, the ordinance of 1787 was 
 enacted by congress ; and it was not until 
 the 30th of December, 1788, that Virginia 
 ratified and agreed to the conditions con 
 tained in the ordinance of 1787, differing 
 from the stipulations of the deed of cession 
 hereinbefore mentioned ; and more particu- 
 
 * The Virginia cession required that the divi 
 sion should be made according to longitudinal 
 lines. 
 
A.D. 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ORDINAIS CE OF 1787. 
 
 larly set forth in the fifth article of the 
 following document : 
 
 AN ORDlNANCE/or the Government of the Territory 
 of the United States, north-west of the river Ohio. 
 
 Be it ordained by the United States in Congress 
 assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes 
 of temporary government, be one district; subject, 
 however, to be divided into two districts, as future 
 circumstances may, in the opinion of congress, make 
 it expedient, 
 
 Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the estates both of resident and non-resident pro 
 prietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall 
 descend to and be distributed among their children 
 and the descendants of a deceased child in equal 
 parts ; the descendants of a deceased child or grand 
 child, to take the share of their deceased parent in 
 equal parts among them ; and where there shall be 
 no children or descendants, then in equal parts to 
 the next of kin, in equal degree; and among colla 
 terals, the children of a deceased brother or sister 
 of the intestate shall have in equal parts among 
 them their deceased parent s share ; and there shall 
 in no case be a distinction between kindred of the 
 vhole and half blood ; saving in all cases to the 
 widow of the intestate her third part of the real 
 estate for life, and one-third part of the personal 
 estate ; and this law relative to descents and dower 
 shall remnin in full force until altered by the legis 
 lature of the district. And until the governor and 
 judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, 
 estates in the said territory may be devised or 
 bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed 
 by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of 
 full age), and attested by three witnesses; and real 
 estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or 
 bargain and sale, signed, sealed, and delivered by 
 the person, being of full age, in whom the estate 
 may be, and attested by two witnesses, provided 
 such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be 
 acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, 
 and be recorded within one year after proper magis 
 trates, courts, and registers shall be appointed for 
 that purpose ; and personal property may be trans 
 ferred by delivery, saving, however, to the French 
 and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the 
 Kaskaskies, Saint Vincent s, and the neighbouring 
 villages, who have heretofore professed themselves 
 citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in 
 force among them relative to the descent and con 
 veyance of property. 
 
 Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That 
 there shall be appointed, from time to time, by 
 congress, a governor, whose commission shall con 
 tinue in force for the term of three years, unless 
 sooner revoked by congress ; he shall reside in 
 the district, and have a freehold estate therein, in 
 1.000 acres of land, while in the exercise of his 
 office. 
 
 There shall be appointed from time to time, by 
 congress, a secretary, whose commission shall con 
 tinue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked ; 
 he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold 
 estate therein, in 500 acres of land, while in the 
 exercise of his office. It shall be his duty to keep 
 and preserve the acts and laws passed by the 
 legislature, and the public records of the district, 
 and the proceedings of the governor in his executive 
 department, and transmit authentic copies of such 
 acts and proceedings every six months to the secre- 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
 tary of congress. There shall also be appointed a 
 court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom 
 to form a court, who shall have a common-law juris 
 diction, and reside in the district, and have each 
 therein a freehold estate in 500 acres of land, while 
 in the exercise of their offices; and their commis 
 sions shall continue in force during good behaviour. 
 
 The governor and judges, or a majority of them, 
 shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of 
 the original states, criminal and civil, as may be 
 necessary and best suited to the circumstances of 
 the district, and report them to congress from time 
 to time, which laws shall be in force in the district 
 until the organisation of the general assembly 
 therein, unless disapproved of by congress; but 
 afterwards, the legislature shall have authority to 
 alter them as they shall think fit. 
 
 The governor, for the time being, shall be com- 
 mander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and commis 
 sion all officers in the same below the rank of 
 general officers; all general officers shall be ap 
 pointed and commissioned by congress. 
 
 Previous to the organisation of the general 
 assembly, the governor shall appoint such magis 
 trates and other civil officers, in each county or 
 township, as he shall find necessary for the pre 
 servation of the peace and good order in the same. 
 After the general assembly shall be organised, the 
 powers and duties of magistrates and other civil 
 officers shall be regulated and denned by the said 
 assembly ; but all magistrates and other civil officers, 
 not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the con 
 tinuance of this temporary government, be appointed 
 by the governor. 
 
 For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the 
 laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all 
 parts of the district; and for the execution of pro 
 cess, criminal and civil, the governor shall make 
 proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from 
 time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay 
 out the parts of the district in which the Indian 
 titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and 
 townships, subject, however, to such alterations as 
 may thereafter be made by the legislature. 
 
 So soon as there shall be 5,000 free male inha 
 bitants, of full age, in the district, upon giving* proof 
 thereof to the governor, they shall receive authority, 
 with time and place, to elect representatives from 
 their counties or townships, to represent them in 
 the general assembly ; provided that, for every 
 500 free male inhabitants, there shall be one repre 
 sentative, and so on progressively with the number 
 of free male inhabitants shall the right of repre 
 sentation increase, until the number of represen 
 tatives shall amount to twenty-five, after which the 
 number and proportion of representatives shall be 
 regulated by the legislature ; provided that no person 
 be eligible or qualified to act as a representative 
 unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the 
 United States three years, and be a resident in the 
 district, or unless he shall have resided in the dis 
 trict three years, and in either case shall likewise 
 hold in his own right, in fee-simple, 200 acres of 
 land within the same : Provided also, that a free 
 hold in fifty acres of land in the district, having 
 been a citizen of one of the states, and being 
 resident in the district, or the like freehold and 
 two years residence in the district, shall be neces 
 sary to qualify a man as an elector of a represen 
 tative. 
 
 The representatives thus elected shall serve for 
 
 61 
 
NORTH- WEST TERRITORY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1787. 
 
 the term of two years, and, in case of the death of 
 a representative, or removal from office, the governor 
 shall issue a writ to the county or township for 
 which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, 
 to serve for the residue of the term. 
 
 The general assembly, or legislature, shall con- 
 sist of the governor, legislative council, and a House 
 of Representatives. The legislative council shall 
 consist of five members, to continue in office five 
 years, unless sooner removed by congress, any three 
 of whom to be a quorum ; and the members of the 
 council shall be nominated and appointed in the 
 following manner, to wit : As soon as representatives 
 shall be elected, the governor shall appoint a time 
 and place for them to meet together, and, when 
 met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in 
 the district, and each possessed of a freehold in 500 
 acres of land, and return their names to congress ; 
 five of whom congress shall appoint and commission 
 to serve as aforesaid ; and whenever a vacancy shall 
 happen in the council, by death or removal from 
 office, the House of Representatives shall nominate 
 two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, 
 and return their names to congress; one of whom 
 congress shall appoint and commission for the 
 residue of the term ; and every five years, four months 
 at least before the expiration of the time of service 
 of the members of council, the said House shall 
 nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and 
 return their names to congress, five of whom con 
 gress shall appoint and commission to serve as mem 
 bers of the council five years, unless sooner removed. 
 And the governor, legislative council, and House of 
 Representatives, shall have authority to make laws, 
 in all cases, for the good government of the district, 
 not repugnant to the principles and articles in this 
 ordinance established and declared. And all bills, 
 having passed by a majority in the house, and by a 
 majority in the council, shall be referred to the 
 governor for his assent: but no bill or legislative 
 act whatever shall be of any force without his 
 assent. The governor shall have power to convene, 
 prorogue, and dissolve the general assembly, when 
 in his opinion it shall be expedient. 
 
 The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, 
 and such other officers as congress shall appoint 
 in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of 
 fidelity, and of office; the governor before the presi 
 dent of congress, and all other officers before the 
 governor. As soon as a legislature shall be formed 
 in the district, the council and house assembled, in 
 one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to 
 elect a delegate to congress, who shall have a seat 
 in congress, with a right of debating, but not of 
 voting during this temporary government. 
 
 And for extending the fundamental principles of 
 civil and religious liberty, which form the basis 
 whereon these republics, their laws, and constitu 
 tions are erected ; to fix and establish those prin 
 ciples as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and 
 governments, which for ever hereafter shall be 
 formed in the said territory ; to provide, also, for the 
 establishment of states, and permanent government 
 therein, and for their admission to a share in the 
 federal councils on an equal footing with the origina 
 states, at as early periods as may be consistent with 
 the general interest : < 
 
 It is hereby ordained and declared, by the autho 
 
 rily aforesaid, That the following articles shall bi 
 
 considered as articles of compact, between thi 
 
 original states and the people and states in the saic 
 
 62 
 
 erritory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by 
 common consent, to wit : 
 
 ART. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a 
 >eaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be mo- 
 ested on account of his mode of worship or reli 
 gious sentiments, in the said territory. 
 
 ART. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory 
 hall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ 
 >f habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a pro- 
 >ortionate representation of the people in the legis- 
 ature, and of judicial proceedings according to the 
 course of the common law. All persons shall be 
 jailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof 
 hall be evident, or the presumption great. All 
 ines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual 
 )unishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be 
 leprived of his liberty or property, but by the 
 udgment of his peers, or the law of the land ; and 
 should the public exigencies make it necessary, for 
 the common preservation, to take any person s pro- 
 )erty, or to demand his particular services, full 
 sompensation shall be made for the same. And, 
 n the just preservation of rights and property, it is 
 understood and declared, that no law ought ever to 
 )e made, or have force in the said territory, that 
 shall, in any manner whatever, interfere with, or 
 affect private contracts or engagements, bondjide, 
 and without fraud previously formed. 
 
 ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, 
 jeing necessary to good government, and the hap- 
 jiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- 
 ;ion shall for ever be encouraged. The utmost 
 ood faith shall always be observed towards the 
 Indians ; their lands and property shall never be 
 ;aken from them without their consent; and in 
 ;heir property, rights, and liberty, they never shall 
 invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful 
 wars authorised by congress ; but laws founded in 
 justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be 
 made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, 
 and for preserving peace and friendship with them. 
 
 ART. 4. The said territory, and the states which 
 may be formed therein, shall for ever remain a part 
 of this confederacy of the United States of America, 
 subject to the articles of confederation, and to such 
 alterations therein as shall be constitutionally 
 made; and to all the acts and ordinances of the 
 United States, in congress assembled, conformable 
 thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said 
 territory shall be subject to pay a ;part of the 
 federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, and a 
 proportional part of the expenses of government, to 
 be apportioned on them by congress, according to 
 the same common rule and measure by which ap 
 portionments thereof shall be made on the other 
 states ; and the taxes for paying their proportion 
 shall be laid and levied by the authority and direc 
 tion of the legislatures of the district or districts, or 
 new states, as in the original states, within the time 
 agreed upon by the United States, in congress 
 assembled. The legislatures of those districts, or 
 new states, shall never interfere with the primary 
 disposal of the soil by the United States, in con 
 gress assembled, nor with any regulations congress 
 may find necessary, for securing the title in such 
 soil to the bond Jide purchasers. No tax shall be 
 imposed on lands, the property of the United 
 States ; and in no case shall non-resident proprie 
 tors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable 
 waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Law 
 rence, and the carrying places between the same, 
 
A.I). 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [STATE BOUNDARIES. 
 
 shall be common highways, and for ever free, as 
 well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to 
 the citizens of the United States, and those of any 
 other states that may be admitted into the con 
 federacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor. 
 
 ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said ter 
 ritory, not less than three, nor more than five 
 states ; and the boundaries of the states, as soon as 
 Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent 
 to the same, shall become fixed and established as 
 follows; to wit : the western state in the said terri 
 tory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, 
 and the Wabash rivers ; a direct line drawn from 
 the Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the 
 territorial line between the United States and 
 Canada ; and by the said territorial line to the 
 Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle 
 states shall be bounded by the said direct line, the 
 Wabash, from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the 
 Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the 
 mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial 
 line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern 
 state shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct 
 line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said terri 
 torial line : provided, however, and it is further 
 understood and declared, that the boundaries of 
 these three states shall be subject so far to be 
 altered, that, if congress shall hereafter find it ex 
 pedient, they shall have authority to form one or 
 two states in that part of the said territory which 
 lies north of an east and west line drawn through 
 the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. 
 And whenever any of the said states shall have 
 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such state shall be 
 admitted, by its delegates, into the congress of the 
 United States, on an equal footing with the original 
 states, in all respects whatever ; and shall be at 
 liberty to form a permanent constitution and state 
 government ; provided the constitution and govern 
 ment, so to be formed, shall be republican, and in 
 conformity to the principles contained in these arti 
 cles ; and, so far as can be consistent with the 
 general interest of the confederacy, such admission 
 shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when 
 there may be a less number of free inhabitants in 
 the state than 60,000. 
 
 ART. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor in 
 voluntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise 
 than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the 
 party shall have been duly convicted ; provided, 
 always, that any person escaping into the same, 
 from whom labour or service is lawfully claimed in 
 any one of the original states, such fugitive may be 
 lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person 
 claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid. 
 
 Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That 
 the resolutions of the 23rd of April, 1784, relative 
 to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same 
 are hereby, repealed, and declared null and void. 
 
 Done by the United States, in congress assem 
 bled, the 13th day of July, in the year of our 
 Lord, 1787, and of their sovereignty and inde 
 pendence the 12th. 
 
 At the time of the enactment of the Ordi- 
 * The eastern boundary of this part of the 
 country was never definitively settled until 1842, 
 when it was permanently fixed by the Ashburton 
 treaty. Further particulars respecting the eastern 
 boundary question will be considered hereafter, in 
 chronological order. 
 
 nance of 1787, the boundaries of the respec 
 tive states were fixed, excepting, perhaps, 
 between a few of the less unexplored dis 
 tricts. Massachusetts proper had been sur 
 veyed, but its district, or territory, called 
 Maine, lying east of New Hampshire, had 
 not defined boundaries.* New Hampshire 
 alleged a claim for the district of Vermont, 
 but in other respects its boundaries were 
 known. Rhode Island, Maryland, Dela 
 ware, and New Jersey had surveyed boun 
 daries; and so had Connecticut. That 
 state, however, claimed certain lands in the 
 west as hereinbefore described. Pennsyl 
 vania s western boundary had not been 
 fixed, though the extent of its territory was 
 generally admitted. New York had estab 
 lished a title to the western territory, ex 
 tending to Niagara and the lakes ; and it 
 resolutely claimed the district of Vermont.f 
 Virginia, by the cession of the north 
 western territory in 1784, had restricted its 
 jurisdiction to the south of the Ohio river ; 
 and, within a few years thereafter, the 
 people of the district of Kentucky proposed 
 the organisation of that part of Virginia 
 into a new state; in other respects the 
 boundaries of Virginia were known. North 
 Carolina held the territory more latterly 
 known as Tennessee ;J and the states of South 
 Carolina and Georgia held a lapsed title to 
 the lands lying westward of those states to 
 the Mississippi river, which was more sub 
 sequently known as the territory of Missis 
 sippi, all of which, beyond certain defined 
 boundaries, was ceded to the federal union. 
 
 We have now fully explained the titles 
 of the respective states to their territorial 
 dominion, whether arising from chartered 
 source, or from military conquest. The 
 different cessions vested the federal govern 
 ment with the exclusive jurisdiction over 
 vast and valuable regions ; and though the 
 public domain failed to yield the revenue 
 anticipated, yet they brought to the nation 
 credit, and, ultimately, very considerable 
 wealth. The further history of these un 
 settled, and, to a very great extent, unex 
 plored regions, will be given, from time to 
 time, as in fractions they became sovereign 
 and constituent parts of the republic. 
 
 In the progress of this history, we have 
 referred, occasionally, to the term " South 
 
 f The particulars respecting this claim will be 
 found hereinafter, on the admission of Vermont as a 
 state. 
 
 j The cession of this domain was executed in 1791. 
 
 South Carolina cession was under date of 1787, 
 and the Georgia cession was executed in 1802. 
 
THE SOUTH SEA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1648. 
 
 Sea :" and ere we close the consideration of 
 the territorial limits of the federal states, 
 we shall briefly explain the location of that 
 part of the boundary known and called by 
 the name of the " South Sea." The terra 
 proved to be a geographical error ; and the 
 Mississippi river, in its stead, became the 
 western boundary, and was so recognised 
 within the seventeenth century. The 
 British title, based upon discovery and oc 
 cupancy, was declared to extend westward 
 to the " South Sea ;" but for a long time 
 after the settlement of Jamestown, in 1607, 
 geographers supposed the Pacific Ocean, 
 then called the "South Sea/ was as far 
 east as the Mississippi river was found to 
 exist by Marquette, in 1673. The Spaniards 
 knew much more of America than the Eng 
 lish; they pushed their explorations far 
 into the interior in different parts; and 
 many of their discoveries were unknown to 
 the English until they rediscovered the 
 same regions. When Virginia was settled, 
 in 1607, the whole coast, to South America, 
 had been more or less explored; yet the 
 geographers at that period supposed the 
 Pacific Ocean was but a few hundred miles 
 from, and west of, the Atlantic Ocean. 
 The British government having, by the 
 discoveries of Cabot, in 1598, become the 
 proprietors of the Atlantic coast, the title to 
 the lands westward thereof to another ocean, 
 was supposed to lie also with that govern 
 ment; and, accordingly, the charters were 
 given to extend from the Atlantic Ocean 
 in the east, to the " South Sea in the west." 
 But while the British were engaged in 
 settling the Atlantic coast, the Spaniards 
 extended their explorations westerly of the 
 Mississippi river, and, by coast discoveries 
 and actual occupancy in the interior of the 
 continent, they became the proprietors of 
 the vast regions west of that river. The 
 French, too, were rapid explorers ; and by 
 their wonderful expeditions, established the 
 French title to the greater part of the Mis 
 sissippi valley east of the river, then called 
 Conception. The Spanish and French thus 
 restricted the British possessions to the ter 
 ritory lying between the Atlantic Ocean 
 and the Appalachian mountains. As an 
 illustration of the state of geographical 
 knowledge so late as 1648, we insert the 
 following extracts from official reports from 
 Virginia, of that date, which fully explain 
 the supposed position of the " South Sea." 
 
 "That for matter of their better knowledge of the 
 land they dwell in, the planters resolve to make a 
 64 
 
 further discovery into the country, west and by 
 south, up above the Fall, and over the hills; and 
 are confident upon what they have learned from 
 the Indians, to find a way to a west or south sea, 
 by land or rivers, and to discover a way to China 
 and East Indies, or unto some other sea that 
 shall carry them thither; for Sir Francis Drake was 
 on the back side of Virginia, in his voyage about 
 the world, in 37 degrees, just opposite to Virginia, 
 and called Nova Albion ; and, by the natives, kindly 
 used : and now all the question is only how broad 
 the land may be to that place from the head of 
 James River, above the Falls ; but all men conclude, 
 if it be not narrow, yet that there is and will be 
 found the like rivers issuing into a south sea, or a 
 west sea on the other side of those hills, as there is 
 on this side, when they run from the west down 
 into an east sea, after a course of 150 miles; but of 
 this certainty, Mr. Hen. Brigs, that most judicious 
 and learned mathematician, wrote a small tractate, 
 and presented it to that most noble Earl of South 
 ampton, then governor of the Virginia Company in 
 England, Anno 1623, to which I referre for a full 
 information." 
 
 In March, 1648, the same writer wrote 
 to his friends in England : 
 
 " And the Indians have of late acquainted our 
 governor, that, within five dayes journey to the 
 westward, and by south, there is a great high moun- 
 taine ; and at foot thereof, great rivers that run 
 into a great sea ; and that there are men that come 
 hither in ships (but not the same as ours be) ; they 
 wear apparell, and have reed caps on their heads, 
 and ride on beasts, like our horses, but have much 
 longer eares, and other circumstances they declare 
 for the certainty of these tilings. That Sir William 
 was hereupon preparing fifty horses and fifty foot, 
 to go and discover this thing himself in person, and 
 take all needfull provision, in that case requisite 
 along with him ; he was ready to go when these 
 last ships set sail for England in April last; and we 
 hope to give a good account of it by the next ship ; 
 God giving a blessing to the enterprise, which will 
 mightily advance and enrich this country; for it 
 must needs prove a passage to the South Sea (as we 
 call it), and also some part of China and the East 
 Indies." 
 
 Such was the idea that prevailed as late 
 as 1648, with respect to the " South Sea" 
 that is, geographers supposed that it was 
 about as far west of the Appalachian moun 
 tains as the Atlantic Ocean was east of them. 
 The people referred to by the Indians were, 
 perhaps, De Soto s expedition of 1585 ; 
 and a description of the Spaniards riding 
 upon their asses, had perhaps been handed 
 down by tradition to the then existing 
 generation of Indians, who thus uninten 
 tionally misled, the enterprising Britons 
 with respect to the " South Sea," between 
 which and the Atlantic Ocean, even at the 
 present day, lie extensive plains, valleys, and 
 mountains, untraversed by civilised man. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, and en 
 tering upon the history of the steps taken 
 
A.D. 1786.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SHAY REBELLION 
 
 for the establishment of a more permanent 
 and practicable government than had been 
 realised by the articles of confederation, we 
 shall briefly refer to the financial affairs of 
 the country, but more particularly with 
 respect to the federal debts. The army 
 was speedily reduced after the peace, in 
 1783,* the government only retaining 
 about 700 men, who were placed in garri 
 son at West Point and Pittsburg ; and the 
 most of these were, within that year, dis 
 charged. The government depended upon 
 the militia of the states, some of whom 
 were temporarily called into service, from 
 time to time, as required. The garrisons, 
 magazines, and arsenals, were placed under 
 the military observation of the militia. 
 The reduction of the army was indispensably 
 necessary, on account of the bankrupt con 
 dition of the treasury. No money could 
 be collected to pay the interest upon the 
 federal debts, nor was it possible to procure 
 enough to defray the current expenses of 
 the government. 
 
 The sources of income within the com 
 mand of the federal government, after the 
 revolutionary war, were limited to the state 
 quotas, and the proceeds resulting from the 
 sale of the public lands. The former was 
 uncertain, and the latter was very limited 
 scarcely sufficient to defray the necessary 
 surveys. It was the practice of congress 
 to levy the quotas upon the states ; and the 
 respective legislatures in nearly all of them 
 acted in good faith with the federal govern 
 ment, and levied taxes upon the people in 
 order to pay the said quotas. Thus far, all 
 was well ; but when the officers attempted to 
 collect the taxes, they met with very great 
 opposition ; and in some states it was dan 
 gerous to attempt the performance of their 
 sworn duty ; that is to say, the people 
 were not willing to pay the taxes for the 
 benefit of the general government. In the 
 state of Massachusetts there was a very 
 popular opposition to the payment of the 
 
 * The following table shows the number of 
 soldiers furnished by each of the states to the con 
 tinental army during the war. The table does not 
 include the states forces which were in actual service 
 as an army ; as, for example, Clarke s army under 
 the government of Virginia ; 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island 
 Connecticut 
 New Yoii . 
 New Jersey 
 Pennsylvania 
 Delaware . 
 
 12,497 
 67,907 
 
 5,908 
 31,939 
 17,781 
 10,726 
 25,678 
 
 2,386 
 
 Maryland , , 
 Virginia . .. 
 North Carolina 
 South Carolina 
 Georgia 
 
 13,912 
 
 26,678 
 
 7,263 
 
 6,417 
 
 2,679 
 
 Total . . 231,771 
 
 taxes ; and, in 1786, the people became so 
 excited and violent, that it was not difficult 
 for Daniel Shay, who had been an officer 
 in the revolutionary service, to raise an 
 army to resist the execution of the tax 
 laws. Besides the quotas required by the 
 general government, the states had become 
 involved, and it was difficult for them to 
 pay the interest coupons of their own obli 
 gations. With respect to Massachusetts, 
 the people of that state had been very 
 much burdened with taxes levied to meet 
 the quotas required by congress, the in 
 terest upon their state debt, and a part of 
 the principal which had matured. The 
 legislature had discharged its duty promptly, 
 and with exact fidelity towards the credi 
 tors ; but the federal quotas, and the prin 
 cipal and interest of the state debt, could 
 not be procured, except through the tax- 
 collector. The money had to come from the 
 people ; and in the execution of the laws, 
 the officers met with great opposition. The 
 people had been taxed beyond their ability 
 of payment, and they could not command 
 the money to meet their assessments. At 
 that time, the farmers were a year in 
 arrears, not having been able to realise 
 upon their products more than a sufficiency 
 for domestic necessities ; and thus, on ac 
 count of the scarcity of money, the annual 
 taxes lapsed upon them. 
 
 The legislature fully appreciated the 
 condition of the people ; and, at the same 
 time, it was anxious to maintain the 
 strictest faith towards its creditors. Laws 
 were passed intended to lessen the burden 
 of costs in the collection of debts, and for 
 such other purposes as were calculated to 
 restore confidence in the government. Not 
 withstanding the noble disposition mani 
 fested by the legislature, some of the people 
 were not willing to pay the taxes ; and 
 they assembled in mobs for the declared 
 purpose of interrupting the execution of 
 the laws. Shay assumed the command of 
 the insurrectionists, and prevented the 
 meeting of the legislature at Worcester. 
 His forces numbered about 2,000, and were 
 divided into three divisions, well equipped 
 and organised for military service ; the 
 most of whom, too, had served in the 
 continental army, and were experienced 
 soldiers. The rebel army was marched, 
 under the immediate command of Shay, to 
 Springfield, where they attempted to take 
 the government arsenal, then protected by 
 a small body of western militia, under the 
 
 65 
 
CONTINENTAL DEBT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1786. 
 
 command of General Shepherd. Shay 
 marshalled his army before the federal 
 troops, and made every indication of a 
 fixed resolve to take the arsenal at all 
 hazards ; and, after placing his force so as 
 to make an assault, he demanded a sur 
 render of the place. Shepherd refused, and, 
 by way of warning, fired his cannon over the 
 heads of the insurgents, and, at the same 
 time, made every possible preparation to 
 defend the arsenal. Shay then ordered his 
 men to advance, and not be intimidated by 
 this exhibition of power. As they ap 
 proached to within about one hundred yards 
 of the arsenal, Shepherd directed the 
 cannon to be fired upon the rebels, which 
 resulted in killing thi-ee men and wound 
 ing another. Finding that the government 
 forces were determined to fight, and not 
 quietly submit to be taken, the rebels broke, 
 and fled in confusion, crying murder. It 
 was impossible for Shay to rally them 
 again, for they hurriedly fled to their 
 homes, in different parts of the states, and 
 denied having been engaged in the insur 
 rection. Many of them were eventually 
 tried and convicted, of whom some were 
 sentenced to death, and others were dis 
 franchised for a term of years ; but none 
 were executed. It would not have been 
 good policy to have done otherwise than 
 inflict the mildest penalties, because the 
 popular opinion was in favour of the insur 
 gents. The effect of the outbreak, how 
 ever, was beneficial throughout the United 
 States, and, beyond doubt, prevented re 
 sistance to the laws in other parts of the 
 country. It had another effect, still more 
 important ; namely it proved the necessity 
 of a stronger national government than the 
 one then existing under the articles of con 
 federation. 
 
 According to a report, submitted to con 
 gress, April, 1783, the whole debt of the 
 confederation was, at that time, 42,000,375 
 dollars; of which 7,037,037 dollars were 
 due to France ; 671,200 dollars to Holland; 
 150,000 to Spain ; and the remainder con 
 sisted of the domestic debt and accumulated 
 interest. Of the sum due to France,!, 000,000 
 of livres was borrowed from the farmers in 
 general ; 3,000,000 from individuals ; and 
 the remainder was obtained from the crown, 
 either in cash or by its guarantee. Of the 
 domestic debt, the sum embraced the specie 
 value of the federal scrip, interest on loan 
 certificates, the army debt, and various 
 credits to sundries in the treasury books. 
 66 
 
 The foreign debt was bearing four and 
 five per cent., but the domestic debt was 
 obtained at six per cent. The federal scrip 
 had been issued to an enormous extent, and 
 was very much reduced in value ; in fact, 
 it was difficult to dispose of it for any ar 
 ticles of produce, as we shall presently more 
 fully explain. The holders of this scrip, 
 and the creditors generally, were pressing 
 upon congress for some kind of a liquida 
 tion of their claims ; and there was a very 
 great desire manifested by the representa 
 tives of the states, to make some sure and 
 permanent arrangement for the ultimate 
 payment of the national obligations. The 
 committee, in its report, appealed to the 
 justice and plighted faith of the several 
 states, to give the subject their proper con 
 sideration, and to reflect upon the conse 
 quences of rejecting the plan they proposed 
 for the adjustment of the national debts. 
 It reminded the people of the nation, that 
 " they were indebted to their illustrious 
 ally, who, to the exertion of his arms in the 
 American cause, had added the succours of 
 his treasures ; who, to his important loans, 
 had added liberal donations ; and whose 
 loans had carried the impression of his mag 
 nanimity and friendship. A part of the 
 debt was due/ said the committee, " to in 
 dividuals in a foreign country, who were 
 the first to give so precious a token of their 
 confidence in our justice, and of their friend 
 ship for our cause, and who are members 
 of a republic which was second in espousing 
 our rank among nations." Another class 
 of creditors, were the " illustrious and pa 
 triotic band of fellow-citizens," whose blood 
 and whose bravery had defended the liber 
 ties of their country ; who had patiently 
 borne, among other distresses, the priva 
 tions of their stipends, whilst the distresses 
 of their country disabled it from bestowing 
 them ; and who, even then, asked for no 
 more than such a portion of their dues as 
 would enable them to retire from the field 
 of victory and glory, into the bosom of 
 peace and private citizenship, and for such 
 effectual security for the residue of their 
 claims, as their country was then unques 
 tionably able to provide ; and with strict 
 fidelity and adherence to the paths of virtue 
 and honour, they confided in the federal 
 congress for a prompt settlement of their 
 claims. Besides these, there was another 
 class of creditors such, for example, as 
 those who had originally lent to the public 
 the use of their funds temporarily, and 
 
A.D. 1786.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CONTINENTAL MONEY. 
 
 afterwards had manifested their confidence 
 in their country, by receiving certificates 
 instead of cash payments ; and, in connec 
 tion with this class, may be mentioned 
 those who had furnished supplies of pro 
 duce or wares for the use of the federal 
 armies, and had quietly waited for a more 
 prosperous condition of the country for 
 their claims. The farmers were in the habit 
 of supplying the armies with provisions and 
 all kinds of forage, and taking a certificate 
 from the officers ; and these certificates 
 were in many cases passed from hand to 
 hand as a species of currency, without re 
 course to the indorsements. Among the 
 people there was but little money, as a cir 
 culating medium ; and, in consequence of 
 which, the entire trade of the country was 
 either by way of barter or transfer of the 
 army certificates currency. 
 
 The federal government was compelled to 
 resort to the issuing of credit bills as early as 
 1775, intending, however, to anticipate the 
 state quotas. This was the commence 
 ment of the paper circulation ; and as it 
 proved a success (immediately becoming the 
 circulating medium of the country), con 
 gress was tempted to increase the amount 
 from time to time, until 1779 inclusive, 
 when the aggregate issue amounted to 
 the sum of 241,500,000 Spanish dollars; 
 and of this sum, only 41,500,000 was ever 
 redeemed. Until about 1777 the bills 
 were readily taken at par, and were con 
 sidered as good as the specie circulation : 
 this confidence continued until that date, 
 by which time 20,000,000 dollars had 
 been issued by the federal government.* 
 But, in addition to the national paper 
 money, nearly all the states put in circu 
 lation bills of credit from their own trea- 
 
 * The following represents the value of the con 
 tinental paper currency. Thus, to pay an account of 
 100 dollars, it required 105 dollars in 1777; and in 
 February 1781, it required 7,500 dollars. 
 
 Months. 
 
 1777. 
 
 1778. 
 
 1779. 
 
 1780. 
 
 1781. 
 
 
 $ 
 
 $ 
 
 & 
 
 # 
 
 5 
 
 January . 
 
 105 
 
 325 
 
 742 
 
 2,934 
 
 7,400 
 
 February 
 
 107 
 
 350 
 
 868 
 
 3,322 
 
 7,500 
 
 March 
 
 109 
 
 370 
 
 1,000 
 
 3,736 
 
 Nothing. 
 
 April . 
 
 112 
 
 400 
 
 1,104 
 
 4,000 
 
 
 May . 
 
 115 
 
 400 
 
 1,215 
 
 4,600 
 
 
 June . 
 
 120 
 
 400 
 
 1,342 
 
 6.400 
 
 
 July . 
 
 125 
 
 425 
 
 1,477 
 
 8,900 
 
 
 August 
 
 150 
 
 450 
 
 1,630 
 
 7,000 
 
 
 September 
 
 175 
 
 475 
 
 1,800 
 
 7,100 
 
 
 October . 
 
 275 
 
 500 
 
 2,030 
 
 7,200 
 
 
 November 
 
 300 
 
 545 
 
 2,308 
 
 7,300 
 
 
 December 
 
 310 
 
 634 
 
 2,593 
 
 7,400 
 
 
 sury departments ; and, by the close of the 
 war, several hundred millions of this species 
 of money was in the hands of the people, 
 without the least prospect of ever being 
 redeemed. The value of the paper rapidly 
 fell to a nominal sum, until it became 
 worthless in 1781. 
 
 Early in 1777, congress endeavoured 
 to restore confidence in the paper cur 
 rency, and made an effort to borrow money, 
 with a view of maintaining the credit 
 of the country ; it authorised the estab 
 lishment of a lottery, and officers were 
 appointed in all the states to vend the 
 tickets. These resorts did not effect much 
 good ; and, in fact, it would seem, from the 
 events of that epoch, that they only has 
 tened the irretrievable insolvency of the 
 country. During the year 1778, over 
 60,000,000 dollars of the paper money was 
 issued, and put in circulation by the dif 
 ferent armies ; and besides this sum, enor 
 mous quantities of bills were issued by the 
 states. Sir Henry Clinton, the British 
 commander, knew the condition of the 
 federal finances that the government had 
 but little credit, and that the states were 
 equally embarrassed ; and, in order to 
 further interrupt the national credit, he 
 caused to be put in circulation, during the 
 latter part of 1778, a very large amount of 
 well-executed counterfeits of the continental 
 bills ; and these were hurried into circu 
 lation wherever they could be scattered 
 among the Americans. When congress 
 ascertained that a large quantity of the 
 counterfeits were in circulation, an effort 
 was made to cancel the genuine issue, 
 bearing the same date, by exchanging them 
 for new bills, and the old ones were au 
 thorised to be received into the public 
 treasury in payment for debts and taxes. 
 By the year 1779, the paper currency had 
 become reduced to a very great discount : 
 for example, it required 742 dollars to 
 purchase an article of merchandise of the 
 value of one dollar. At this epoch, the 
 federal armies had been successful in some 
 of their movements against the enemy, and 
 there was an increase of confidence in the 
 ultimate redemption of the continental 
 scrip, which caused it to circulate more 
 freely ; and, besides this circumstance, 
 congress exhibited some signs of faith 
 towards the creditors. On the 2nd of Jan 
 uary, 1779, it passed a resolution, request 
 ing the different states to promptly pay 
 their quotas, amounting, in the aggregate, 
 
 67 
 
FEDERAL DEBTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1786. 
 
 to 15,000,000 dollars for the year 1779; 
 and they were further requested to pay 
 into the federal treasury, the sum of 
 6,000,000 dollars, annually, for eighteen 
 years, from and after the year 1779; the said 
 sums making an aggregate of 128,000,000 
 dollars, to be employed as a sinking fund 
 for the redemption of the scrip emissions, 
 and loans of the United States, issued prior 
 to December 31st, 1778. 
 
 Notwithstanding the determination of 
 congress to maintain the value of the paper 
 currency, and the general credit of the 
 government, both of them continued to 
 lessen in value until they were compara 
 tively worthless. The continental debt had 
 vastly increased ; and, before the close of 
 1779, the paper issue had reached the sum 
 of 200,000,000 dollars, of which 40,000,000 
 was issued in that year. The debt to 
 France was about 7,500,000 dollars ; the 
 domestic debt was about 26,000,000 dollars; 
 and the foreign debt 4,000,000 : making an 
 aggregate of at least 237,500,000. And, 
 besides this enormous amount, the claims 
 against the government made the national 
 debt at least 250,000,000 Spanish dollars.* 
 
 In 1780 it was difficult to procure the 
 necessary supplies for the army, and the 
 farmers generally preferred to take the 
 simple receipts of delivery, as we have be 
 fore explained, from the officers, than re 
 ceive, in payment for their products, the 
 continental money. Congress called to 
 its aid the counsel of the most skilful finan 
 ciers ; and they, too, were unable to devise a 
 fiscal system that could relieve the govern 
 ment from its insolvency. Direct taxes 
 had been levied; but they could not be 
 collected : the effort had proved a complete 
 failure. There was no money among the 
 people, and it was impossible for them to 
 pay the taxes levied, either for the state or 
 federal governments. During this unfor 
 tunate condition of the national affairs, the 
 army was greatly in need, and the brave 
 and patriotic soldiers were compelled, by 
 actual want of food and raiment, to demand, 
 with resolute purpose, some provisions for 
 their support. With a view of procuring 
 
 * The continental scrip was signed, and, to a very 
 large amount, issued in sheets, several certificates 
 being on the same sheet of paper. Much of the 
 money was circulated by General Clark, in the 
 Illinois country ; and, as we were informed some 
 years since, by the old French settlers, the in 
 habitants used the " sheets of money" for window- 
 
 a temporary relief, congress was obliged to 
 require each state to furnish a certain 
 quantity of beef, pork, Indian corn, flour, 
 and the different articles of forage ; and 
 these were to be deposited at certain places, 
 as specified by the commander-in-chief of 
 the army. As a compensation to the 
 states, congress agreed to credit them ou 
 their quotas account, at a specie valuation. 
 But this plan failed to be executed, prin 
 cipally on account of the complicated 
 system adopted to carry it out ; and, in a 
 few months, it had to be abandoned. Dis 
 couraged by the progress of the British 
 forces, particularly in the southern states, 
 congress, in 1780, more seriously than ever, 
 considered the helpless condition of the 
 country ; and it seemed to have been of 
 opinion that desperate measures were neces 
 sary to be adopted ere the object of its 
 previous five years of toil had finally passed 
 from its power of realisation. During this 
 state of affairs, it requested the state legis 
 latures to enact laws declaring paper 
 money to be a legal tender at its nominal 
 value, and to be taken as specie for the dis 
 charge of all kinds of debts contracted to 
 be paid in cash. Some of the states enacted 
 such laws ; and it was not long ere the 
 people remonstrated with the government 
 against the enforcement of such an unjust 
 proceeding. The speculators hastened to 
 take advantage of the more honest people, 
 who became victims under the execution of 
 the " legal tender law," which compelled 
 them to take depreciated paper, then only 
 valued at the rate of twenty dollars for 
 each dollar. 
 
 Such was the melancholy condition of 
 the country so late as 1786 ; and there 
 seemed to have been but little prospect for 
 relief through the agency of the federal 
 congress. It was principally owing to the 
 financial embarrassment of the government, 
 and its inability to enforce the decrees of 
 congress, that Washington, and the patriots 
 of that period, were led to favour a change 
 in the confederated government, and the 
 substitution of a stronger and more prac 
 ticable national compact. 
 
 panes, as substitutes for glass, which was very 
 scarce on the frontiers. In this way several thoti- 
 sands of dollars were used to make a single 
 window of the log cabin. In 1781, a clay labourer 
 received 4s., or 120 per day. Forage that cost 
 2 16s. 4id., was settled by the payment of 
 2,216 13s. 4.d. 
 
 68 
 
A.D. 178G.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE CONFEDERATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION ; FEDERAL CONVENTION ; CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES ; 
 
 ORGANISATION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 THE confederation having proved a failure, 
 at least so far as it was intended to estab 
 lish a national government, the affairs of the 
 country became most singularly critical. 
 Revenue was required, but there was no 
 way to collect any moneys, except from the 
 states, and they were financially involved, 
 and required all that could be collected 
 from the people for their own necessities. 
 The war had ceased ; the colonies had 
 achieved their independence ; and the neces 
 sity for a federal government revenue was 
 not comprehended by many of the people 
 when called upon for the payment of taxes. 
 They had had a long and a desperate 
 struggle to attain their freedom ; and after 
 peace had been declared, the industrial 
 people were much disposed to allow poli 
 tical affairs to glide along with the least 
 possible attention, they preferring to con 
 fine themselves to the peaceful pursuits of 
 domestic life. The preliminary treaty of 
 peace with Great Britain was signed in 
 September, 1782 ; the armies were dis 
 banded, and then the different claimants 
 naturally expected settlements, and were 
 not willing to be put off with mere promises 
 to pay, as had been the case during the 
 war : they needed their money, in order 
 that they might embark in affairs of in 
 dustry. Besides the debts due to the 
 people of America, the foreign obligations 
 were pressed upon congress ; and the whole 
 welfare of the nation was, to some extent, 
 involved in their immediate liquidation. 
 As time passed, the states began to care 
 less for the general government, and more 
 for their individual sovereignty ; and the 
 tax-paying communities were mostly op 
 posed to investing the federal government 
 with powers to establish a revenue system, 
 except through the sovereign states. The 
 old soldiers, who had toiled through the 
 winter s blast and summer s scorching sun, 
 seem to have been of opinion that they had 
 done their part towards the achievement of 
 their common independence, and that they 
 ought not to be required to labour for the 
 payment of the debt incurred during the 
 war, then principally owing to the wealthier 
 VOL. n. L 
 
 classes, who had not shared in the daily 
 sufferings of camp life. The national debt 
 could only be paid by the levying of a 
 direct tax, or by duties on imports; and 
 the federal government had not the power 
 to execute either of these measures : all 
 that it could do was to apportion among 
 the states the sums required ; and then it 
 remained for them to raise their quotas, by 
 taxation or otherwise, according to their 
 own preferences. 
 
 The confederation congress had dwindled 
 into comparative insignificance on and 
 before 1786, and it was attended by but 
 few members, many times reduced to less 
 than a quorum. The principal or leading 
 men of the country remained at home, and 
 were engaged in the administration of their 
 own states ; and they seemed to have cared 
 but little for the national government. So 
 true was this the state of affairs, that Gen 
 eral Washington wrote to his friend, James 
 Warren, of Massachusetts, in October, 
 1785, that "the war, as you have very 
 justly observed, has terminated most ad 
 vantageously for America, and a fair field 
 is presented to our view ; but I confess to 
 you, my dear sir, that I do not think we 
 possess" wisdom or justice enough to culti 
 vate it properly. Illiberality, jealousy, and 
 local policy mix too much in all our public 
 councils for the good of the Union. In a 
 word, the confederation appears to me to 
 be little more than a shadow without the 
 substance, and congress a nugatory body, 
 their ordinances being little attended to. 
 To me it is a solecism in politics ; indeed, 
 it is one of the most extraordinary things 
 in nature, that we should confederate as a 
 nation, and yet be afraid to give the rulers 
 of that nation who are the creatures of 
 our own making, appointed for a limited 
 and short duration, and who are amenable 
 for every action, and may be recalled at 
 any moment, and are subject to all the trfils 
 which they may be instrumental in pro 
 ducing sufficient powers to order and di 
 rect the affairs of the same. By such a 
 policy as this the wheels of government are 
 cloo-sred, and our brightest prospects, and 
 
 69 
 
FEDERAL CONVENTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1786. 
 
 that high expectation which was entertained 
 of us by the wondering world, are turned 
 into astonishment ; and, from the high 
 ground on which we stood, we are descend 
 ing into the vale of confusion and darkness. 
 That we have it in our power to become 
 one of the most respectable nations upon 
 earth, admits, in my humble opinion, of no 
 doubt,, if we would pursue a wise, just, and 
 liberal policy towards one another, and 
 keep good faith with the rest of the world. 
 That our resources are ample and increasing, 
 none can deny ; but while they are grudg 
 ingly applied, or not applied at all, we give 
 a vital stab to public faith, and shall sink, 
 in the eyes of Europe, into contempt. It 
 has long been a speculative question among 
 philosophers and wise men, whether foreign 
 commerce is of real advantage to any 
 country ; that is, whether the luxury, effe 
 minacy, and corruptions which are intro 
 
 duced along with it, are counterbalanced 
 by the convenience and wealth which it 
 brings. But the decision of this question 
 is of very little importance to us. We have 
 abundant reason to be convinced that the 
 spirit of trade which pervades these states 
 is not to be repressed. It behoves us, then, 
 to establish just principles; and this can 
 not, any more than other matters of national 
 concern, be done by thirteen heads differ 
 ently constructed and organised. The ne 
 cessity, therefore, of a controlling power is 
 obvious ; and why it should be withheld is 
 beyond my comprehension." 
 
 The foregoing letter, from " the father of 
 his country," was decidedly in favour of 
 the establishment of a national government, 
 with the power and means to enforce its 
 decrees. The confederation he justly cha 
 racterised to be but a shadow ; and we may 
 add that its substance was invisible, or, at 
 least, it was so small a speck, that it could 
 not be practically distinguished. But while 
 these facts were well known to perhaps every 
 thinking man of the Union, there was a 
 very great reluctance to lessen the sove 
 reign power of the states by the organisa 
 tion of a government, in some respects, at 
 least, to be their superior. A proposition to 
 invest congress with any permanent power 
 other than what it held under the article 
 of confederation, could not have met with 
 favour, had it been advanced by the most 
 influential men of the Union. With such 
 state of feeling pervading the people, the 
 friends of the national unity were neces 
 sarily cautious in pursuing the objects o 
 70 
 
 their patriotic convictions ; and it was with 
 
 a full knowledge of these facts, that the 
 
 convention of commissioners was proposed 
 
 to assemble, in 1786, at Annapolis. In 
 
 1784, congress had requested the states to 
 
 permit that body to regulate the trade and 
 
 commerce of the seas, for the term of fifteen 
 
 years, having in view the raising of money, 
 
 ^hereby lessening the burden of taxes in 
 
 sach state ; but this proposition met with 
 
 avour in only four of the states, on ac- 
 
 iount of the decided disinclination to lessen 
 
 he absolute sovereignty ot the individual 
 
 states. 
 
 Ere the close of the year 1784, some of 
 the leading men of the larger states, fully 
 appreciating the decaying condition of the 
 onfederation, determined to use their in- 
 luence towards effecting remedial measures 
 x>r the preservation and perpetuity of the 
 Union, it being clear to their minds, that 
 unless immediate changes were made in 
 the articles of confederation, the federal 
 compact would cease to exist by abandon 
 ment. Governor Bowdoin, of Massachu 
 setts, in his message to the legislature of 
 that state, May 31st, 1785, broke the spell 
 that seemed to have bound the people of 
 all the states. He gave the necessary im 
 pulse to the propositions to rectify, by con 
 ference, the deficiencies of the confederated 
 government, and suggested to the legisla 
 ture of his state the appointment of special 
 delegates, to meet with those from other 
 states, for the purpose of settling and de 
 fining the powers with which congress 
 ought to be invested, in order to preserve, 
 with honour and dignity, the character of 
 the American Union.* 
 
 As Curtis informs us, this message caused 
 the adoption of the first resolution passed 
 by the legislature of any state, declaring 
 the articles of confederation to be inade 
 quate to the great purposes which they 
 were originally designed to effect, and re 
 commending a convention of delegates from 
 all the states, for the purpose of revising 
 them, and reporting to congress how far it 
 might be necessary to alter or enlarge the 
 powers of the federal union, in order to 
 secure and perpetuate its primary objects. 
 Congress was requested by the Massachu 
 setts resolutions, to recommend the pro 
 posed convention ; and, in the circular 
 letter addressed by Governor Bowdoin to 
 the president of congress, and to the gov 
 ernors of the respective states, he urgently 
 * History of the Federal Constitution, vol. i., p. 36. 
 
A.IX 1786.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION. 
 
 requested their co-operation in the measure 
 proposed. Besides these recommendatory 
 efforts, instructions were forwarded to the 
 Massachusetts delegates in congress, to 
 make every proper exertion to carry the 
 plan suggested into effect. 
 
 Previous to the proceedings of the gov 
 ernor and legislature of Massachusetts, 
 congress had transmitted a request to the 
 different states respecting the power to 
 regulate trade, and the proposition was at 
 that time pending before several legisla 
 tures. Under these circumstances, and 
 with opinions adverse to the Massachusetts 
 proposition, the delegates of that state did 
 not present the resolutions to congress; 
 and hence the enlightened efforts that ori 
 ginated with Bowdoin, failed to receive the 
 sanction and encouragement of the federal 
 congress ; and upon receiving explanations 
 from their delegates in congress, the legis 
 lature of that state repealed the proposition. 
 
 In November, 1785, a resolution was pro 
 posed in the house of delegates of Virginia, 
 having in view the authorisation of con 
 gress to collect revenue by means of duties 
 on foreign importations for a term of thir 
 teen years; to be uniform throughout all 
 the states. The period was limited, be 
 cause it was a well-known fact, that a per 
 manent authority could not be obtained 
 from all, if any of the states : and even 
 this restricted concession failed to pass the 
 house in which it originated. The friends 
 of reform were not idle in their noble work, 
 and they availed themselves of every op 
 portunity to illustrate the necessity of 
 amending the articles of confederation, so 
 that the national government might be 
 able to maintain the unity of the nation. 
 Amongst the most noted of the Virginians 
 who favoured the reform, were Washing 
 ton, Madison, Randolph, and Mason ; and 
 to these may be ascribed the credit of the 
 adoption of the resolution by the Virginia 
 legislature, January 21st, 1786, for the ap 
 pointment of a committee, which should meet 
 such commissioners as might be appointed 
 by the other states in the Union, at a time 
 and place to be agreed on, to take into consi 
 deration the trade of the United States; to 
 examine the relative situation and trade of 
 the said states ; to consider how far a uniform 
 system, in their commercial relations, might 
 be necessary to their common interest and 
 their permanent harmony ; and to report to 
 1 he several states such an act relative to this 
 reat object, as, when unanimously ratified 
 
 by them, would enable the United States, 
 in congress assembled, effectually to pro 
 vide for the necessities of the government; 
 that the said commissioners should imme 
 diately transmit to the several states copies 
 of the resolution for their appointment, 
 with a circular letter requesting their con 
 currence, and proposing a time and place of 
 meeting. 
 
 The commissioners appointed immedi 
 ately prepared the required documents, and 
 transmitted them to the respective states ; 
 proposing that the convention should as 
 semble at Annapolis, Marvland, on the 
 llth day of September, 1786. The pro 
 position was considered with more or less 
 favour by the different states ; but, as the 
 convention was expected to devise measures 
 for the purpose of promoting the commer 
 cial affairs of the country, with power only 
 to recommend to the respective legislatures, 
 the plan was concurred in by several states. 
 
 On the day specified in the Virginia cir 
 cular, the convention assembled at Anna 
 polis ; and there were present representa 
 tives from the states of Nettr York, New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Vir 
 ginia. The commissioners appointed by 
 the states of New Hampshire, Massachu 
 setts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, 
 did not attend. The states of Connecticut, 
 Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia did 
 not appoint commissioners. The conven 
 tion thus thinly attended, could not adopt 
 any definitive plan calculated to subserve 
 the immediate necessities of the country ; 
 and therefore it adjourned, after agreeing 
 to recommend the federal congress to con 
 vene another convention, to meet on the 
 second Monday in May, 1787, at Phila- \ 
 delphia. Concurring in the recommenda- 1 
 tion of the convention, congress adopted a 
 resolution, on the 21st of February, 1787, 
 requesting the states to appoint commis- ; 
 sioners, or delegates, to meet at Philadel 
 phia in the succeeding May, " for the sole ; 
 and express purpose of revising the arti 
 cles of confederation, and reporting to con 
 gress, and the several legislatures, such, 
 alterations and provisions therein, as shall, 
 when agreed to in congress, and confirmed 
 by the states, render the federal constitu 
 tion adequate to the exigencies of govern 
 ment, and the preservation of the Union." 
 
 In conformity with the preceding resolu 
 tion, all the states, except Rhode Island, 
 appointed delegates to meet in the proposed 
 convention. That state declined to take 
 
 71 
 
CONVENTION OF 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1787. 
 
 any part in the affair. It was a component 
 part of the confederation ; and it was not 
 inclined to disturb that national compact, 
 especially as any change in the articles of 
 confederation would, as then believed, have 
 reference solely to commercial affairs, and 
 transfer the custom system from the states 
 to the federal government ; a result seriously 
 a 1 verse to the interest of that state. Several 
 of the commercial states were very indif 
 ferent about meeting in the proposed con 
 vention ; but, as the result of its delibera 
 tions had to be submitted to the respective 
 legislatures, there was no apprehension of 
 any sacrifice of interest. 
 
 On the 14th of May, 1787, the conven 
 tion assembled in Philadelphia; George 
 AVashington, a delegate from Virginia, was 
 elected president. The object of meeting 
 was fully declared in the resolution passed 
 by congress, and repeated in the respective 
 letters of appointment. It was, " to revise 
 and amend the articles of confederation." 
 Early after the assembling of the delegates, 
 the idea of revising the articles was aban 
 doned, and the convention proceeded to 
 frame a constitution for the organisation of 
 a new government, and the establishment 
 of a consolidated nation. The confedera 
 tion had proved to be a failure ; and the 
 articles forming it could not be amended so 
 as to make it effective. All seemed to 
 admit the necessity of a constitutional gov 
 ernment, with powers and means to main 
 tain itself, and not to be dependent upon 
 the respective states for the ratification of 
 its own enactments. How to effect this 
 desideratum was a question most difficult to 
 solve. The convention, however, was com 
 posed of men who were patriots and states 
 men men who could see the wants of the 
 people, the necessity of protecting and per 
 manently establishing the liberty achieved 
 by the hard-fought battles of the revolu 
 tion, and that the prosperity of all the 
 colonies or states depended upon their unity 
 of interests, action, affection, and glory. 
 How to attain the great end desired 
 namely, a nation an American nation 
 engaged the serious thoughts of every dele 
 gate. Confident that their constituent 
 would appreciate the result of their labours, 
 they determined to deviate from their in 
 structions, and frame a government which, 
 in their opinion, would be more conducive 
 to the welfare of each and of the whole 
 The states were sovereign and independent 
 except so far as thev had delegated autho- 
 72 
 
 rity to the confederation ; and whether or 
 
 not they would ever consent to surrender 
 
 or delegate further power to a general gov- 
 
 rnment, was a question that could only 
 
 )e determined upon its submission to the 
 
 jopular consideration. The delegates had 
 
 aith in the wisdom and discretion of the 
 
 jeople, and that they would be willing to 
 
 surrender or delegate to the national gov- 
 
 rnment all needful powers to effect its suc- 
 
 essful continuance and permanency, not 
 
 only for and during their own natural lives, 
 
 t for their posterit) r not for an era or 
 x>r a century only, but for all time not 
 for the then existing people only, but for 
 enerations unborn. It was not to be a 
 onfederation, as of the cantons of Switzer 
 land, or as that of the duchies and sovereign 
 ties of Germany ; but they contemplated 
 the formation of a nation, to be united, 
 prosperous, and happy. They wished to 
 establish a temple of freedom as complete 
 a republican structure as was possible to 
 come from the genius of man. 
 
 The convention continued in session four 
 months ; and, on the 17th day of Septem 
 ber, 1787, the following organic national 
 instrument was adopted : 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 We the people of the United States, in order to 
 form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure 
 domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
 defence, promote the general welfare, and secure 
 the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos 
 terity, do ordain and establish this constitution for 
 the United States of America. 
 
 ART I. Section 1. All legislative powers herein 
 granted shall be vested in a congress of the United 
 States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be 
 composed of members chosen every second year by 
 the people of the several states, and the electors in 
 each state shall have the qualifications requisite for 
 electors of the most numerous branch of the state 
 legislature. 
 
 No person shall be a representative who shall not 
 have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and 
 been seven years a citizen of the United States, and 
 who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of 
 that state in which he shall be chosen. 
 
 Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor 
 tioned among the several states which may be in 
 cluded within this union, according to their respec 
 tive numbers, which shall be determined by adding 
 to the whole number of free persons, including 
 those bound to service for a term of years, and ex 
 cluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other 
 persons. The actual enumeration shall be made 
 \\ithin three years after the first meeting of the 
 congress of the United States, and within every 
 subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as 
 they shall by law direct. The number of represen 
 tatives shall Lot exceed one for every 30,000, but 
 
A.D. 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 each state shall have at least one representative ; 
 and until such enumeration shall be made, the state 
 of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, 
 Massachusetts eight, Khode Island and Providence 
 Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, 
 New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
 Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, 
 South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 
 
 When vacancies happen in the representation 
 from any state, the executive authority thereof 
 shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 The House of Representatives shall choose their 
 speaker and other officers ; and shall have the sole 
 power of impeachment. 
 
 Section 3. The senate of the United States shall 
 be composed of two senators from each state, 
 chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; 
 and each senator shall have one vote. 
 
 Immediately after they shall be assembled in con 
 sequence of the first election, they shall be divided 
 as equally as may be into three classes. The seats 
 of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
 the expiration of the second year, of the second 
 class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of 
 the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, 
 so that one-third may be chosen every second year ; 
 and if vacancies happen, by resignation or other 
 wise, during the recess of the legislature of any 
 state, the executive thereof may make temporary 
 appointments until the next meeting of the legisla 
 ture, which shall then fill such vacancies. 
 
 No person shall be a senator who shall not have 
 attained to the ag of thirty years, and been nine 
 years a citizen of the United States, and who shall 
 not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for 
 which he shall be chosen. 
 
 The vice-president of the United States shall be 
 president of the senate, but shall have no vote, 
 unless they be equally divided. 
 
 The senate shall choose their other officers, and 
 also a president pro ternpore, in the absence of the 
 vice-president, or when he shall exercise the office 
 of president of the United States. 
 
 The senate shall have the sole power to try all 
 impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, 
 they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the 
 president of the United States is tried, the chief 
 justice shall preside. And no person shall be con 
 victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
 members present. 
 
 Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not 
 extend further than to removal from office, and 
 disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
 honour, trust, or profit under the United States; 
 but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable 
 and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and 
 punishment, according to law. 
 
 Section 4. The times, places, and manner of 
 holding elections for senators and representatives 
 shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature 
 thereof; but the congress may at any time, by law, 
 make or alter such regulations, except as to the 
 places of choosing senators. 
 
 The congress shall assemble at least once in 
 every year, and such meeting shall be on the first 
 Monday in December, unless they shall by law 
 appoint a different day. 
 
 Section 5. Each house shall be the judge of the 
 elections, returns, and qualifications of its own 
 members, and a majority of each shall constitute a 
 quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may 
 
 adjourn from day to day, and may be authorised to 
 compel the attendance of absent members, in such 
 manner and under such penalties as each house 
 may provide. 
 
 Each house may determine the rules of its pro 
 ceedings, punish its members for disorderly beha 
 viour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel 
 a member. 
 
 Each house shall keep a journal of its proceed 
 ings, and from time to time publish the same, 
 excepting such parts as may in their judgment 
 require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the mem 
 bers of either house on any question shall, at the 
 desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on 
 the journal. 
 
 Neither house, during the session of congress, 
 shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for 
 more than three days, nor to any other place than 
 that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 
 
 Section 6. The senators and representatives shall 
 receive a compensation for their services, to be 
 ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of 
 the United States. They shall in all cases, except 
 treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be pri 
 vileged from arrest during their attendance at the 
 session of their respective houses, and in going to 
 and returning from the same ; and for any speech 
 or debate in either house they shall not be ques 
 tioned in any other place. 
 
 No senator or representative shall, during the 
 time for which he was elected, be appointed to any 
 civir office under the authority of the United States, 
 which shall have been created, or the emoluments 
 whereof shall have been increased, during such 
 time; and no person holding any office under the 
 United States shall be a member of either house 
 during his continuance in office. 
 
 Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall 
 originate in the House of Representatives ; but the 
 senate may propose or concur with amendments as 
 on other bills. 
 
 Every bill which shall have passed the House of 
 Representatives and the senate, shall, before it 
 become a law, be presented to the president of the 
 United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but 
 if not, he shall return it, with his objections to that 
 house in which it shall have originated, who shall 
 enter the objections at large on their journal, and 
 proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsidera 
 tion two-thirds of that house shall ngree to pass the 
 bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
 the other house, by which it shall likewise be 
 reconsidered, and if approved by two. thirds of that 
 house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases 
 the votes of both houses shall be determined by 
 yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting 
 for and against the bill shall be entered on the 
 journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall 
 not be returned by the president within ten days 
 (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been pre 
 sented to him, the same shall be a law, in like 
 manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress 
 by their adjournment prevent its return, in which 
 case it shall not be a law. 
 
 Every order, resolution, or vote to which the 
 concurrence of the senate and House of Represen 
 tatives may be necessary (except on a question of 
 adjournment), shall be presented to the president of 
 the United States ; and before the same shall take 
 effect, shall be approved by him, or being disap 
 proved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of 
 
 73 
 
THE CONSTITUTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1787. 
 
 the senate and House of Representatives, according 
 to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of 
 a bill. 
 
 Section 8. The congress shall have power 
 To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and ex 
 cises, to pay the debts and provide for the common 
 defence and general welfare of the United States ; 
 but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
 throughout the United States ; 
 
 To borrow money on the credit of the United 
 States ; 
 
 To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
 nmong the several states, and with the Indian 
 tribes ; 
 
 To establish a uniform rule of naturalisation, and 
 uniform laws on the subjectof bankruptcies through 
 out the United States ; 
 
 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and 
 of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and 
 measures ; 
 
 To provide for the punishment of counterfeit 
 ing the securities and current coin of the United 
 States ; 
 
 To establish post-offices and post roads ; 
 To promote the progress of science and useful arts, 
 by securing, for limited times, to authors and inven 
 tors, the exclusive right to their respective writings 
 and discoveries ; 
 
 To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
 Court ; 
 
 To define and punish piracies and felonies com 
 mitted on the high seas, and offences against the 
 law of nations ; 
 
 To declare war, grant letters of marque and re 
 prisal, and make rules concerning captures on land 
 and water ; 
 
 To raise and support armies ; but no appropria 
 tion of money to that use shall be for a longer term 
 than two years ; 
 
 To provide and maintain a navy ; 
 To make rules for the government and regulation 
 of the land and naval forces ; 
 
 To provide for calling forth the militia to execute 
 the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and 
 repel invasions ; 
 
 To provide for organising, arming, and disciplin 
 ing the militia, and for governing such part of 
 them as may be employed in the service of the 
 United States, reserving to, the states respectively, 
 the appointment of the officers, and the authority of 
 training the militia according to the discipline pre 
 scribed by congress ; 
 
 To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases 
 whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten 
 miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, 
 and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of 
 the government of the United States, and to exer 
 cise like authority over all places purchased by the 
 consent of the legislature of the state in which the 
 same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 
 arsenals, dockyards, and other neeful buildings ; 
 q.nd 
 
 To make all laws which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into execution the foregoing 
 powers, and all other powers vested by this consti 
 tution in the government of the United States, or 
 in any department or officer thereof. 
 
 Section 9. The migration or importation of such 
 
 persons as any of the states now existing shall 
 
 think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by 
 
 the congress prior to the year one thousand eight 
 
 74 
 
 hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be im 
 posed on such importation, not exceeding ten 
 dollars for each person. 
 
 The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
 not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion 
 or invasion the public safety may require it. 
 
 No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be 
 passed. 
 
 No capitation, or other direct tax, shall be laid, 
 unless in proportion to the census or enumeration 
 hereinbefore directed to be taken. 
 
 No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported 
 from any state. 
 
 No preference shall be given by any regulations 
 of commerce or revenue to the ports of any state 
 over those of another : nor shall vessels bound to, 
 or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
 duties in another. 
 
 No money shall be drawn from the treasury but 
 in consequence of appropriations made by law ; and 
 a regular statement and account of the receipts and 
 expenditures of all public money shall be published 
 from time to time. 
 
 No title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
 States : and no person holding any office of profit or 
 trust under them, shall, without the consent of the 
 congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
 title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, 
 or foreign state. 
 
 Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, 
 alliance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque 
 and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of credit : 
 make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in 
 payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post 
 facto law, or law impairing the obligation of con 
 tracts, or grant any title of nobility. 
 
 No state shall, without the consent of the con 
 gress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or ex 
 ports, except what may be absolutely necessary for 
 executing its inspection law ; and the net produce 
 of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on im 
 ports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury 
 of the United States; and aU such laws shall be 
 subject to the revision and control of the congress. 
 
 No state shall, without the consent of congress, 
 lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war 
 in time of peace, enter into any agreement or com 
 pact with another state, or with a foreign power, or 
 engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such 
 imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 
 
 ART, II. Section 1. The executive power shall 
 be vested in a president of the United States of 
 America. He shall hold his office during the term 
 of four years, and, together with the vice- 
 president, chosen for the same term, be elected, as 
 follows : 
 
 Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the 
 legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, 
 equal to the whole number of senators and repre 
 sentatives to which the state may be entitled in the 
 congress ; but no senator or representative, or per 
 son holding an office of trust or profit, under the 
 United States, shall be appointed an elector. 
 
 The congress may determine the time of choosing 
 the electors, and the day on which they shall give 
 their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 No person, except a natural born citizen, or a 
 citizen of the United States, at the time of the 
 adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the 
 office of president : neither shall any person be 
 
A.I). 
 
 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 eligible to that office who shall not have attained to 
 the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years 
 a resident within the United States. 
 
 In case of the removal of the president from office, 
 or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge 
 the powers and duties of the said office, the same 
 shall devolve on the vice-president; and the con 
 gress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, 
 death, resignation, or inability, both of the president 
 and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then 
 act as president, and such officer shall act accord 
 ingly, until the disability be removed, or a president 
 shall be elected. 
 
 The president shall, at stated times, receive for 
 his services a compensation, which shall neither be 
 increased nor diminished during the period for which 
 he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
 within that period any other emolument from the 
 United States, or any of them. 
 
 Before he enter on the execution of his office, 
 he shall take the following oath or affirmation : 
 
 " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will 
 faithfully execute the office of president of the 
 United States, and will, to the best of my ability, 
 preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the 
 United States." 
 
 Section 2. The president shall be commander-in- 
 chief of the army and navy of the United States, 
 and of the militia of the several states, when called 
 into the actual service of the United States ; he 
 may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal 
 officers in each of the executive departments, upon 
 any subject relating to the duties of their respective 
 offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves 
 and pardons for offences against the United States, 
 except in cases of impeachment. 
 
 He shall have power, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided 
 two-thirds of the senators present concur ; and he 
 shall nominate, and by and with the advice and 
 consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, 
 other public ministers and consuls, judges of the 
 Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United 
 States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise 
 provided for, and which shall be established by law ; 
 but the congress may, by law, vest the appointment 
 of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in 
 the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the 
 heads of departments. 
 
 The president shall have power to fill up all 
 vacancies that may happen during the recess of the 
 senate, by granting commissions which shall expire 
 at the end of their next session. 
 
 Suction 3. He shall, from time to time, give to 
 congress information of the state of the Union, and 
 recommend to their consideration, such measures as 
 he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on 
 extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or 
 either of them ; and in case of disagreement between 
 them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he 
 may adjourn them to such time as he shall think 
 proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other 
 public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be 
 
 * It is not our intention to define the meaning of 
 this or any other clause of the constitution; and 
 therefore we desire to be understood as presenting 
 the following as historical facts, which originated 
 the clause to which this is connected as a note. 
 
 Prior to the epoch of the constitutional conven 
 tion, some of the states enacted laws, which pre 
 vented the immigration of citizens from other states ; 
 
 faithfully executed, and shall commission all the 
 officers of the United States. 
 
 Section 4. The president, vice-president, and all 
 civil officers of the United States, shall be removed 
 from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, 
 treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde 
 meanours. 
 
 ART. III. Section 1. The judicial power of the 
 United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, 
 and in such inferior courts as the congress may, 
 from time to time, ordain and establish. The 
 judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, 
 shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and 
 shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a 
 compensation, which shall not be diminished during 
 their continuance in office. 
 
 Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all 
 cases in law and equity, arising under this constitu 
 tion, the laws of the United States, and treaties 
 made, or which shall be made, under their autho 
 rity ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
 ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty 
 and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which 
 the United States shall be a party; to controversies 
 between two or more states; between a state and 
 citizens of another state ; between citizens of dif 
 ferent states, between citizens of the same state 
 claiming lands under grants of different states, and 
 between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
 states, citizens, or subjects. 
 
 In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
 ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state 
 shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have origi 
 nal jurisdiction. In all the other cases before-men 
 tioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate 
 jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such ex 
 ceptions, and under such regulations as the congress 
 shall make. 
 
 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of im 
 peachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be 
 held in the state where the said crimes shall have 
 been committed; but when not committed within 
 any state, the trial shall be at such place, or places, 
 as the congress may, by law, have directed. 
 
 Section 3. Treason against the United States shall 
 consist only in levying war against them, or, in ad 
 hering to their enemies, giving them aid and com 
 fort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
 unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the 
 same overt act, or on confession in open court. 
 
 The congress shall have power to declare the 
 punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason 
 shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, except 
 during the life of the person attainted. 
 
 ART. IV. Section I. Full faith and credit shall 
 be given in each state to the public acts, records, 
 and judicial proceedings of every other state. And 
 the congress may, by general laws, prescribe the 
 manner in which such acts, records, and proceed 
 ings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 
 
 Section 2. The citizens of each state shall be en 
 titled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in 
 the several states.* 
 
 that is to say, a citizen of Virginia could not have 
 removed to some of the other states without being 
 liable to be expelled therefrom. Section 2, of 
 Article IV., was intended to guarantee the rights of 
 the citizens of any one state to remove into any 
 other state without hindrance. Notwithstanding 
 this agreement between the states, the following, 
 and others of the same tenor, were subsequently 
 
 75 
 
THE CONSTITUTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1787. 
 
 A person charged in any state with treason, 
 felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, 
 and be found in another state, shall, on demand of 
 the executive authority of the state from which he 
 fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state 
 having jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
 No person held to service, or labour, in one state, 
 under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, 
 in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be 
 discharged from such service or labour, but shall be 
 delivered up on claim of the party to whom such 
 service or labour may be due. 
 
 Section 3. New states may be admitted by the 
 congress into this Union ; but no new state shall be 
 formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any 
 other state; nor any state be formed by the junc 
 tion of two or more states, or parts of states, with 
 out the consent of the legislatures of the states con 
 cerned as well as of the congress. 
 
 The congress shall hlive power to dispose of, and 
 make all needful rules and regulations respecting 
 the territory, or other property, belonging to the 
 United States ; and nothing in this constitution 
 shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of 
 the United States, or of any particular state. 
 
 Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to 
 every state in this Union a republican form of 
 government, and shall protect each of them against 
 invasion ; and on application of the legislature, or 
 of the executive (when the legislature cannot be 
 convened) against domestic violence. 
 
 Aux. V. The congress, whenever two-thirds of 
 both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose 
 amendments to this constitution, or, on the applica 
 tion of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several 
 states, shall call a convention for proposing amend 
 ments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all 
 intents and purpose?, as part of this constitution, 
 when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of 
 the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths 
 thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification 
 
 enacted : "That when an inhabitant of the United 
 States (this state exceptecl) shall come to reside in 
 any town in this state, the civil authorities, or major 
 part of them, are authorised, upon the application 
 of the select men, if they judge proper, by warrant 
 under their hands, directed to either of the con 
 stables of said town, to order said person to be con 
 veyed to the state from whence he or she came. 
 
 " The select men of the town are to warn any 
 person not an inhabitant of this state, to depart 
 from such town ; and the person so warned, if he 
 does not depart, shall forfeit and pay to the trea 
 surer of such town one dollar and sixty-seven cents 
 per week. If such person refuse to depart or pay 
 his fine, such person shall be whipped on the naked 
 body, not exceeding ten stripes, unless such person 
 depart in ten days. If any such person return after 
 warning, he is to be whipped again, and sent away, 
 and as often as there is occasion." Statute of Con 
 necticut, 1792. 
 
 " The select men shall have power to remove 
 from the state any person who came there to reside. 
 And any person removed, and returning without 
 permission of the select men, shall be whipped, not 
 exceeding ten stripes." Statute of Vermont, 1801. 
 
 " If any stranger be entertained in the dwelling- 
 house, or out-house, of any citizen, for fifteen days, 
 without giving notice to the overseers of the poor, 
 he shall pay a fine of five dollars. If such person 
 continue above forty days, the justices can call on 
 76 
 
 may be proposed by the congress ; provided that 
 no amendment which may be made prior to the 
 
 ;ear one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in 
 any manner effect the first and fourth clauses in the 
 ninth section of the first article ; and that no state, 
 without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal 
 suffrage in the senate. 
 
 ART. VI. All debts contracted, and engagements 
 entered into, before the adoption of this constitu- 
 
 ion, shall be as valid against the United States, 
 under this constitution, as under the confedera- 
 
 This constitution, and the laws of the United 
 States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, 
 and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
 under the authority of the United States, shall be 
 the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in 
 every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the 
 constitution or laws of any state to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, 
 
 The senators and representatives before-men 
 tioned, and the members of the several state legis 
 latures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
 of the United States and of the several states, shall 
 be bound by oath or affirmation to support this 
 onstitution ; but no religious test shall ever be re 
 quired as a qualification to any office or public trust 
 under the United States. 
 
 ART. VII. The ratification of the conventions 
 of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establish 
 ment of this constitution between the states so rati 
 fying the same.* 
 
 Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of 
 the states present, the seventeenth day of Septem 
 ber, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 
 hundred and eighty-seven, and of the indepen 
 dence of the United States of America, the twelfth. 
 In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed 
 
 our names. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 President, and Deputy from Virginia. 
 
 the inhabitants of the town or city, and the person 
 may be sent to jail. And the justices may cause 
 such stranger to be conveyed from constable to 
 constable, until transported into any other state, if 
 from thence he came. If such person return, the 
 justices, if they think proper, may direct him to be 
 whipped by every constable into whose hands he 
 shall come : to be whipped, if a man, not exceeding 
 thirty-nine lashes; and, if a woman, not exceeding 
 twenty-five lashes; and so as often as such person 
 shall return." Statute of New York, 1801. 
 
 * In order to present the complete existing con 
 stitution, we deviate from chronological rule, and 
 append the following amendments. The first ten 
 were adopted by congress in 1789; the eleventh in 
 1793, and the twelfth in 1803. 
 
 There were twelve articles adopted by the con 
 gress of 1789, and transmitted to the states for 
 ratification; ten of them became parts of the con 
 stitution ; but the first two were rejected. Of these, 
 the first referred to the scale of apportionment and 
 congressional representation ; and the second de 
 clared, that " compensation for the services of the 
 members of congress shall not be changed, so as to 
 take effect until after an election shall have inter 
 vened." 
 Amendments proposed by Congress, and ratified by 
 
 the Legislatures of the several State*, pursuant to 
 
 the Fifth Article of the original Constitution. 
 
 ART. I. Congress shall make no law respecting 
 
A D. 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION 
 
 This constitution was reported to the 
 congress; and, from that body, was sent to 
 the respective states for ratification, in ac 
 cordance with the following proceedings of 
 the convention, the letter from General 
 "Washington, and the resolve passed by 
 congress : 
 
 In Convention, Monday, September 17, 1787. 
 Present: The States of New Hampshire, Massa 
 chusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro 
 lina, and Georgia. 
 Refofoed, That the preceding constitution be 
 
 an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the 
 free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
 speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people 
 peaceably to assemble, and to petition the govern 
 ment for a redress of grievances. 
 
 ART. II. A well-regulated militia being neces 
 sary to the security of a free state, the right of the 
 people to keep and" bear arms shall not be infringed. 
 
 ART. III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be 
 quartered in any house, without the consent of the 
 owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 ART. IV. The right of the people to be secure 
 in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against 
 unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
 violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon pro 
 bable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and 
 particularly describing the place to be searched, and 
 the persons or things to be seized. 
 
 ART. V. No person shall be held to answer for 
 a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a 
 presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except 
 in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in 
 the militia, when in actual service in time of war or 
 public danger; nor shall any person be subject for 
 the same orl ence to be twice put in jeopardy of life 
 or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal 
 case to be a witness against himself, nor be de 
 prived of life, liberty, or property, without due pro 
 cess of law ; nor shall private property be taken for 
 public use, without just compensation. 
 
 ART. VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the ac 
 cused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public 
 trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district 
 wherein the crime shall have been committed, which 
 district shall have been previously ascertained by 
 law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of 
 the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
 against him; to have compulsory process for ob 
 taining witnesses in his favour, and to have the 
 assistance of counsel for his defence. 
 
 AKT. VII. In suits at common law, where the 
 value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, 
 the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no 
 fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined 
 in any court of the United States, than according 
 to the rules of the common law. 
 
 ART. VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, 
 nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual 
 punishments inflicted. 
 
 ART. IX. The enumeration in the constitution 
 of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or 
 disparage others retained by the people. 
 
 ART. X. The powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the constitution, nor prohibited 
 VOL. II. M 
 
 laid before the United States in congress assembled ; 
 and that it is the opinion of this convention that 
 it should afterwards be submitted to a convention 
 of delegates, chosen in each state by the people 
 thereof, under the recommendation of its legisla 
 ture, for their assent and ratification ; and that 
 each convention, assenting to and ratify inar the 
 same, should give notice thereof to the United 
 States in congress assembled. 
 
 Resolved, That it is the opinion of this conven 
 tion, that as soon as the conventions of nine states 
 shall have ratified this constitution, the United 
 States, in congress assembled, should fix a day on 
 which electors should be appointed by the states 
 which shall have ratified the same, and a day on 
 which the electors should assemble to vote for the 
 
 by it to the states, are reserved to the states respec 
 tively, or to the people. 
 
 ART. XI. The judicial power of the United 
 States shall not be construed to extend to any suit 
 in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
 one of the United States by citizens of another 
 state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign 
 state. 
 
 ART. XII. The electors shall meet in their re 
 spective states, and vote by ballot for president and 
 vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
 an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; 
 they shall name in their ballots the ptrson voted 
 for as president, and in distinct ballots the person 
 voted for as vice-president ; and they shall make 
 distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, 
 and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and 
 of the number of votes for each; which lists they 
 shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the 
 seat of the government of the United States, 
 directed to the president of the senate. The presi 
 dent of the senate shall, in presence of the senate 
 and House of Representatives, open all the certifi 
 cates, and the votes shall then be counted. The 
 person having the greatest number of votes for 
 president, shall be the president, if such number be 
 a majority of the whole number of electors ap 
 pointed ; and if no person have such majority, then 
 from the persons having the highest numbers, not 
 exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as 
 president, the House of Representatives shall 
 choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But 
 in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken 
 by states, the representation from each state having 
 one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist 
 of a member or members from two-thirds of the 
 states, and a majority of all the states shall be 
 necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre 
 sentatives shall not choose a president whenever 
 the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before 
 the fourth clay of March next following, then tho 
 vice-president shall act as president, as in the case 
 of the death or other constitutional disability of the 
 president. The person having the greatest number 
 of votes as vice-president, shall be the vice-presi 
 dent, if such number be a majority of the whole 
 number of electors appointed ; and if no person 
 have a majority, then from the two highest num 
 bers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice- 
 president; a quorum for the purpose shall consist 
 of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and 
 a majority of the whole number shall be necessary 
 to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineli 
 gible to the office of president shall be eligible to 
 that of vice-president of the United States. 
 
 77 
 
REFERRED TO THE STATES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1788. 
 
 president, and the time and place for commencing 
 proceedings under this constitution. That after 
 such publication, the electors should be appointed, 
 and the senators and representatives elected ; that 
 the elec ors should meet on the day fixed for the 
 election of the president, and should transmit their 
 votes certified, signed, sealed, and directed, as the 
 constitution requires, to the secretary of the United 
 States in congress assembled; that the senators 
 and representatives should convene at the time and 
 place assigned ; that the senators should appoint a 
 president of the senate, for the sole purpose of 
 receiving, opening, and counting the votes for 
 president; and that, after he shall be chosen, the 
 congress, together with the president, should without 
 delay proceed to execute this constitution. 
 
 By the unanimous order of the Convention. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, President, 
 WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. 
 
 In Convention, September 17, 1787. Sir, We 
 have now the honour to submit to the consideration 
 of the United States in congress assembled, that 
 constitution which has appeared to us the most 
 advisable. 
 
 The friends of our country have long seen and 
 desired that the power of making war, peace, and 
 treaties, that of levying money and regulating com 
 merce, and the correspondent executive and judicial 
 authorities, should be fully and effectually vested 
 in the general government of the Union ; but the 
 impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to 
 one body of men is evident : hence results the ne 
 cessity of a different organisation. 
 
 It is obviously impracticable, in the federal gov 
 ernment of these states, to secure all rights of inde 
 pendent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for 
 the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering 
 into society must give up a share of liberty to pre 
 serve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must 
 depend as well on situation and circumstance as on 
 the object to be obtained. It is at all times diffi 
 cult to draw with precision the line between those 
 rights which must be surrendered and those which 
 may be reserved ; and on the present occasion this 
 difficulty was increased by a difference among the 
 several states as to their situation, extent, habits, 
 and particular interests. 
 
 In all our deliberations on this subject, we keep 
 steadily in our view that which appears to us the 
 greatest interest of every true American the con 
 solidation of our Union in which is involved our 
 prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national ex 
 istence. This important consideration, seriously 
 and deeply impressed on our minds, led each state 
 in the convention to be less rigid on points of in 
 ferior magnitude than might have been otherwise 
 expected ; and thus the constitution which we now 
 present is the result of a spirit of amity, and oi 
 that mutual deference and concession which the 
 peculiarity of our political situation rendered indis 
 pensable. 
 
 That it will meet the full and entire approbation 
 of every state, is not, perhaps, to be expected ; but 
 each will doubtless consider, that had her interest 
 
 * The constitution was ratified by the respective 
 states as follows : Delaware, December 7th, 1787 
 Pennsylvania, December 12th, 1787; New Jersey 
 December 18th, 1787 ; Georgia, January 2nd, 1788 
 Connecticut, January 9th, 1788; Massachusetts 
 February 6th, 1788; Maryland, April 28lh, 1788 
 78 
 
 been alone consulted, the consequences might have 
 )een particularly disagreeable or injurious to others ; 
 hat it is liable to as few exceptions as could rea 
 sonably have been expected, we hope and believe ; 
 hat it may promote the lasting welfare of that 
 country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom 
 and happiness, is our most ardent wish. 
 
 AVith great respect, we have the honour to be, sir, 
 rour excellency s most obedient humble servants. 
 By the unanimous order of the Convention. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, President. 
 His Excellency the President of Congress. 
 
 Whereupon congress passed the following resolu- 
 on : 
 
 Friday, September 28(h, 1787. Present : New- 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vir 
 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
 and Maryland. 
 
 Congress having received the report of the con 
 vention lately assembled in Philadelphia 
 
 Resolved, unanimously, That the said report, with 
 the resolutions and letter accompanying the same, 
 be transmitted to the several legislatures, in order 
 to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen 
 in each state by the people thereof, in conformity 
 to the resolves of the convention made and provided 
 in that case. 
 
 The constitution thus formally came be 
 fore the state legislatures. In some of them 
 it was promptly adopted ; in others it was 
 ratified, after much opposition ; and, in 
 others, it was rejected. It was not sub 
 mitted to the popular vote in the states ; 
 but it was considered in the legislatures 
 and in conventions, composed of delegates 
 elected for that purpose. In ten of the 
 states it was ratified, on and before the 26th 
 of June, 1788. These ten states proceeded 
 to organise under the new constitution ; 
 leaving the other three, viz., New York, 
 Rhode Island, and North Carolina, as rem 
 nants of the confederation organised in 
 1781, as a " perpetual union."* 
 
 In some of the states, the friends of the 
 constitution succeeded, after a long and 
 anxious effort, against the opposition of the 
 anti-federalists. The great struggle was in 
 Virginia ; and notwithstanding the consti 
 tution had received the ratification of nine 
 states the required number to form the 
 new government it cannot be doubted but 
 that the proposition would have been de 
 feated had Virginia refused its co-operation. 
 Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Madison, 
 and many other statesmen of national fame, 
 were citizens of that state, and their conn- 
 South Carolina, May 23rd, 1788; New Hampshire, 
 June 21st, 1788; Virginia, June 2Gth, 1788; New 
 York (conditionally), July 26th, 1778 ; North Caro 
 lina, November 21st, 1789; and Rhode Island, 
 May 29th, 1790. The Union was formed by the 
 first eleven states. 
 
A.-D. 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION. 
 
 sels were necessary in the consummation of 
 1 the constitutional government. Virginia 
 was one of the most powerful states, with 
 respect to wealth and population : it had 
 great influence ; and there was a greater 
 deference manifested towards it than per 
 haps to any of the other states; and, in 
 fact, the whole country seemed to recog 
 nise it as the leading sovereignty of Ame 
 rica. Had Virginia refused to ratify the 
 constitution, it is quite possible that it 
 would have influenced the state of New 
 York to reject that organic form of gov 
 ernment, particularly as the anti-federal 
 ists had a very large majority in its legis 
 lature. It would have been very difficult 
 for the new government to have gone into 
 operation with either of the great states of 
 Virginia, Pennsylvania, or New York 
 disconnected with it : the continuance of 
 either of them as an independent republic, 
 would have disconnected the territorial 
 jurisdiction of the constitutional govern 
 ment ; and opposing laws would have pro 
 duced conflicts, and perhaps wars, between 
 the respective powers. The non-accept 
 ance of the constitution by North Carolina, 
 did not disturb the minds of the people 
 forming the Union, because there seemed 
 to have been a general confidence, that 
 within a short period, that state would 
 become a part of the new government. 
 There was less respect for Rhode Island 
 than for any of the other states ; in fact, 
 there was a very decided feeling against 
 the people of that state in all parts of the 
 Union. Various causes produced this con 
 dition of public opinion ; the principal of 
 which was the disinclination of that state 
 to even unite in the convention of 1787. 
 
 The constitution having been adopted by 
 all the states except North Carolina and 
 Rhode Island, the new government was 
 formed without those states composing a 
 part of the Union. But before we proceed 
 to give an .account of the organisation of 
 the national government, we shall briefly 
 explain the reasons why the constitution 
 faded to receive the ratification of the states 
 of North Carolina and Rhode Island. In 
 the former, the proceedings of the con 
 vention were transmitted by the governor 
 to the legislature, on its assembling in 
 December, 1787, without expressing any 
 official recommendation. The documents 
 were gravely discussed ; and, after mature 
 deliberation, the legislature decided that it 
 iiad not the power to ratify the new plan 
 
 of government. The people had been re 
 cognised as the source of all sovereignty, 
 and the legislature could only exercise the 
 power delegated to it by them ; therefore, 
 the ratification of the proposed federal con 
 stitution was beyond the pale of its autho 
 rity. For this reason it Avas determined to 
 submit the question to the people, who 
 alone could transfer the required absolute 
 sovereignty to the federal government ; 
 and, in conformitj - with this decision, the 
 election of delegates, to assemble in con 
 vention on the 21st of July, 1788, was 
 ordered. The documents pertaining to 
 the subject, were printed and scattered 
 throughout the state ; the candidates dis 
 cussed the merits of the new federal scheme ; 
 and after a long and excited canvass, the 
 anti-federalists obtained a very large ma 
 jority. The delegates assembled at the 
 time specified, and the constitution was 
 discussed with marked ability by the re 
 spective parties until the 2nd of August, 
 by which time, the federalists saw very 
 clearly that it was not possible to procure 
 a ratification of the instrument, except con 
 ditionally. The absence of a "Bill of 
 Rights" was the principal objection ; but 
 besides this omission, there was consider 
 able opposition to many of its clauses. A 
 conditional ratification was of no value, 
 because no such provision was contemplated 
 by the rule of reference ; the states were 
 expected to accept of the plan as it was 
 submitted, and to depend upon the good 
 faith of the states to amend the instrument 
 from time to time, as circumstances should 
 require. The an ti- federalists, by a vote of 
 184 yeas to 84 nays, adopted a resolution, de 
 claring that a " Bill of Rights," and certain 
 other amendments, ought to be adopted by 
 another convention, to be called by con 
 gress, before the state of North Carolina 
 could unite in the formation of the federal 
 government under the proposed constitu 
 tion. This was equivalent to an absolute 
 rejection of the new constitution ; but, in 
 order to modify this decision, the conven 
 tion adopted a resolution, which declared, 
 that, "having thought proper neither to 
 ratify nor to reject it, and as the new 
 congress would probably lay an impost on, 
 goods imported into the states which had 
 adopted it, they recommended the legisla 
 ture of North Carolina to lay a similar 
 impost on goods imported into the state, 
 and to appropriate the money arising from, 
 it to the use of congress." 
 
 79 
 
CONSTITUTION IN RHODE ISLAND.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 17* 
 
 The state of Rhode Island was opposed 
 to the constitution for many reasons. The 
 elements which formed the opposition to 
 the constitution in the other states, received 
 in this jurisdiction additional strength, sus 
 tained by a combination of reasons, almost 
 beyond the power of the pen to describe ; 
 and, in some respects, unknown at the 
 present time.* The people of Rhode Island 
 continued in force their original charter 
 of 1644, only changing, by law, the declara 
 tion declaring its source of allegiance ; and 
 it was to them a constitution of the greatest 
 merit : at that time, too, it was believed to 
 be more democratic than the other state 
 organic systems. Curtis informs us,f that 
 the causes which influenced Rhode Island 
 to reject the constitution, were of two 
 classes namely, first, there had existed in 
 the state, for a considerable period, a des 
 potic and well-organised faction, known as 
 the "paper-money party." It had, for a 
 long time, controlled the legislature and 
 administration of the state, by supplying 
 the agricultural people with paper money, 
 which served as a convenient circulating 
 medium ; and the party in power seemed 
 to have had in view the entire liquidation 
 of the state debt by the paper issue, calcu 
 lating upon its depreciation from time to 
 time, and temporary cancelment after re 
 ceiving it for state dues, at heavy dis 
 counts. When the New England confede 
 ration of 1643 was formed by Massachu 
 setts, New Plymouth, New Haven, and 
 Connecticut, the colony of Rhode Island 
 and Providence Plantations was excluded 
 from fellowship in the confederation, be 
 cause there was no friendship between the 
 Plymouth colony and the followers of Roger 
 Williams. The exclusiveness exhibited in 
 the earlier days of the Massachusetts peo 
 ple, after the revolution, extended to Rhode 
 Island. The aristocratic class in that state, 
 composing communities, was unwilling to 
 join the constitutional union, for fear of 
 losing political power by distribution 
 amongst others. There was an ill-feeling 
 between the people residing in the towns 
 and those of the country between the 
 mercantile and agricultural classes be 
 tween the inhabitants of the towns of 
 Providence and Newport on the one side, 
 and the people of the agricultural districts 
 on the other. These antagonisms seemed 
 
 to be beyond the possibility of compromise. 
 The paper-money-circulation party was the 
 strongest when the federal constitution was 
 submitted to that state ; and it appears, 
 from reliable sources, that the anti-paper- 
 money party was the earliest to favour the 
 newly proposed federal government ; and 
 it was owing to feelings antagonistic to the 
 party first favouring the constitution, that 
 produced the opposition from the more 
 powerful agricultural classes. After the 
 constitution had been adopted by nine 
 states, in 1788 the requisite number to 
 establish the constitutional government 
 the people of Providence determined to cele 
 brate the event by processions and speeches 
 on the 4th of July of that year ; but the 
 country people became very indignant at 
 the movement, and they marched into Pro 
 vidence and broke up the celebration. With 
 so many antagonistic elements existing 
 among the classes in Rhode Island, the 
 constitution failed to receive an impartial 
 consideration, either from the people or the 
 govei nment. 
 
 When the general assembly received the 
 constitution at their session, in October, 
 1787, they decided to print the document, 
 and circulate it among the voting inhabi 
 tants. In February, 1788, the legislature 
 omitted to call a convention of electors to 
 consider the constitution, as had been done 
 in the other states ; but instead thereof, they 
 referred the adoption of that federal instru 
 ment to the freemen of the state, in their 
 several town-meetings, for the purpose, as 
 alleged by the federalists, of having it for 
 mally rejected. There were, at this time, a 
 little more than 4,000 legal voters in the 
 state ; and the federalists, who were but a 
 very small minority in the state, withdrew 
 from several of the town-meetings, and de 
 clined to vote, for sectional reasons. From 
 this circumstance the result of the election 
 was nearly unanimous against the constitu 
 tion. :}; The freemen of the towns of Provi 
 dence and Newport, after the defeat of the fe 
 deral measure by the towns, transmitted me 
 morials to the general assembly, in favour of 
 a state convention for the purpose of con 
 sidering the proposed constitution ; but this 
 request was not complied with. The state of 
 Rhode Island, therefore, refused to become a 
 member of the new federal government. 
 In conformity with the stipulations of 
 
 * History of the Constitution, vol. ii., p. 598. 
 t Ibid. J Ibid., vol. xxi., p. 002. 
 
 Tliis state remained an independent republic a common destiny 
 80 
 
 until May 29th, 1790, when it united with the other 
 states of the Union, and agreed to share with them 
 
A.D 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. 
 
 the constitution, the presidential electors of 
 the respective states that had ratified the 
 constitution, were chosen on Wednesday, 
 the 7th of January, 1789. This was the 
 first act of the United States ; it was the 
 first national measure carried into effect by 
 
 ; the ten states that had ratified the consti- 
 tution ; and although the government had 
 not been formed, yet the provisions of that 
 great organic instrument were brought into 
 operation by the ten states of the Union ; 
 and therefore, notwithstanding the gen 
 eral government had not been practically 
 organised, yet the United States, as a nation, 
 existed bv virtue of the constitution. The 
 mode of choosing the electors by the states 
 was not uniform. For example, the legis 
 lature of Virginia, in November, 1788, 
 divided the state into electoral districts, 
 and each of these divisions elected its own 
 presidential elector. In Massachusetts, the 
 people of each congressional district were 
 
 , authorised to nominate three candidates, 
 whose names were submitted to the general 
 court or legislature ; and from the names 
 proposed were selected the elector for the 
 district. Besides these, the legislature 
 elected two others from the citizens at 
 large. In the other states they were chosen 
 by the legislatures ; in some by a joint vote 
 of the two branches ; and, in others, by the 
 two houses separately. New York failed 
 to choose electors, notwithstanding the 
 state had agreed to waive, for the time 
 being, the amendments it had proposed as 
 a condition to its ratification of the constitu 
 tion. The governor, George Clinton, called 
 an extra session to assemble in the month 
 of November, for the purpose of taking 
 such steps as might be deemed neces 
 sary towards carrying into operation the 
 federal constitution. The legislature was 
 convened, and it proceeded 10 divide the 
 state into congressional districts, which 
 it did without any especial disagreement; 
 but, in the election of senators and pre 
 sidential electors, there originated a heated 
 contest between the federal and anti- 
 federal parties, that seemed to destroy all 
 hope of an ultimate amount of sufficient 
 federal strength to carry the state into the 
 constitutional government, notwithstanding 
 its former resolutions of ratification. The 
 legislature could not agree upon the mode 
 of election, and as to what should constitute 
 an election. The lower branches wished to 
 choose the senators by joint ballot ; the 
 members of each branch voting in common ; 
 
 but in this the senate would not agree, 
 ; because it would have resulted in the choice 
 of two anti-federal senators, as the majority 
 ; of the lower house, the most numerous 
 branch of the legislature, were anti-federal. 
 The senate was strongly federal, and was 
 1 not willing to yield to the proposition of 
 ; the house ; and, in return, contended that 
 the senators and electors should be chosen 
 by concurrent votes of the two houses ; and, 
 j by way of compromise, expressed a desire 
 to fix upon any plan of election that would 
 give each body the selection of one senator, 
 and one-half of the electors. The house 
 being firmly of opinion that its proposi 
 tion was the only one that should be adopted, 
 : declined to recede ; and, as the two branches 
 i could not agree, the legislature adjourned, 
 without electing either senators or electors. 
 In consequence of this disagreement tho 
 state of New York did not take part in the 
 election of president, nor had it a repre 
 sentative in the senate of congress during 
 the earlier part of the first session. 
 
 The different states having chosen their 
 apportioned electors on the day above- 
 mentioned, the next formality observed 
 under the constitution, was the election of 
 the president and vice-president of the new 
 nation. For that purpose, the electors of 
 each state assembled at their capitols, on 
 Wednesday, the 4th of February, and 
 voted for the candidates nominated on the 
 occasion. There was no concert of action 
 between the electors of the different states ; 
 there were no great party issues at that 
 time, and the selections were generally 
 with the view of effecting the greatest 
 good to the greatest number. There were 
 seventy- three electors, divided according 
 to the apportionment scale among the 
 states, and those of each assembled at their 
 respective capitols, and cast their votes for 
 the national executive. There was no 
 pomp and circumstance surrounding those 
 primitive assemblies ; they were composed 
 of patriots, who appreciated the responsi 
 bility of their positions as freemen and 
 representatives of the people composing 
 communities or sovereign states. Having 
 discharged their duties in voting for the 
 president and vice-president of the United 
 | States, the records of the assemblies wore 
 1 sealed, and duplicates deposited according 
 to law ; one of which was sent to the pre 
 sident of the senate of the United States, 
 to be opened by him before the two houses 
 of congress in joint session. 
 
 81 
 
THE FEDERALISTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 While the foregoing proceedings were 
 taking place, the states were engaged in 
 the election of their congressional repre 
 sentatives. Those which had ratified the 
 constitution in the aggregate were entitled 
 to fifty-nine members of the lower house ; 
 and the mode in detail of electing them, as 
 well as the senators, was left to be fixed by 
 the legislatures. The constitution declared 
 that the senators were to be chosen by the 
 state legislatures ; but it was not declared 
 whether the election should be by a joint 
 ballot of the two houses, or by the con 
 current votes of those two bodies : if the 
 iormer, the lower branch, being usually 
 three times the number of the senate, 
 would have the greater power ; but, if the 
 latter, the one would have a negative over 
 the other ; and, in that case, the senators 
 would have to receive the votes of each 
 house. The interpretation of the spirit of 
 the constitution was left to the states ; and 
 some of them determined upon a joint 
 ballot system, and others the concurrent ; 
 but the former soon thereafter became the 
 most popular, and was adopted in nearly 
 all the states. 
 
 At this period of the political history of 
 the states, there were two parties, the 
 " federalists/ and the " anti-federalists." 
 As we have already explained, these party 
 names were continued for some time after 
 the cause of their origination had ceased 
 to exist. The " federalists" were those 
 who favoured the constitution ; and the 
 "anti-federalists" were those who had op 
 posed the ratification of that instrument. 
 But, as the majorities had given the triumph 
 to the * federalists," the new government 
 was organised, and the issues between the 
 parties known by those names very soon 
 changed. 
 
 The origin of the term " federalist" 
 dated back to the confederation ; and, in 
 the proposition for the adoption of a con 
 stitutional government, the friends of the 
 newly-proposed government called them 
 selves " federalists," and their opponents 
 " an ti- federalists." The latter partisans 
 were of opinion that a transposition of 
 the names would have more correctly 
 represented their political views. The con 
 stitution contemplated the formation of a 
 government that was more than federal in 
 some respects a consolidated government, 
 having, in some things, unrestricted powers, 
 and self-sustaining, through its own inde 
 pendent sources of revenue ; and, on the 
 82 
 
 other hand, a federal government could 
 not be other than a league. The anti- 
 federalists were not opposed to a constitu 
 tional government ; but they desired the 
 adoption of certain amendments to that 
 organic instrument, in order to make it 
 more perfect. They were not opposed to a 
 union of the states ; but, on the contrary, 
 they declared themselves very warmly in 
 favour of that great measure. Four out of 
 the ten states that had ratified the consti- 
 tutio"n, proposed certain amendments, and 
 the anti-federalists were in favour of those 
 amendments ;* and, with their adoption, 
 they were warm advocates for the newly- 
 proposed government. The federalists were 
 in favour of the amendments, if they were 
 made to follow the formation of the new 
 government; but they were opposed to 
 them if made a condition of ratification. It 
 will be seen, from these explanations, that, 
 in 1789, the terms " federalists" and " anti- 
 federalists" were applied to those who 
 favoured or opposed the constitution as it 
 came from the convention of 1787. Hamil 
 ton, in 1787, was an " anti-federalist," 
 because he was opposed to the continuance 
 of the confederation of 1781, and was in 
 favour of a national government with 
 vested powers. In 1788 he was a " fede 
 ralist," because he was in favour of the 
 constitution ; and after that form of gov 
 ernment had been adopted, and no longer 
 a question, he was a " federalist," because 
 he favoured certain measures that origi 
 nated in the national congress. In this 
 latter sense the name received its political 
 import, and became so noted in subsequent 
 history. f 
 
 The different states pursued v^ry much 
 their own plans of electing their senators 
 and representatives in congress. The con 
 federation congress had fixed upon the first 
 "Wednesday in March, 1789, for the assem 
 bling of that body, under the constitution, 
 in the city of New York. This place was 
 selected as a compliment to Hamilton and 
 others, who were friends of the proposed 
 government, having in view, at the same 
 time, an influence upon the state of New 
 York, hastening it to an early adoption of 
 the constitution. 
 
 On the 4th of March, the day fixed for 
 the assembling of the first congress, eleven 
 states having ratified that organic instru- 
 
 * Those amendments, with but one exception, 
 were in subsequent years adopted. 
 
 f History of the Constitution, vol. ii., p. 497. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 merit, it was mortifying to the friends of 
 the new system, to find that there was 
 so much apathy pervading the country 
 respecting the general government ; that 
 there were present but eight senators those 
 from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con 
 necticut, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. There 
 not being a quorum present, the senate ad 
 journed from day to day, until thellth,when 
 it was agreed that a circular should be 
 transmitted to the absent members, re 
 questing their immediate presence. After 
 this, those present continued to adjourn 
 from day to day, until April 6th, when a 
 sufficient number to form a quorum ap 
 peared, and the senate of the United States 
 was organised by the election of John 
 Langdon, as temporary president. The 
 members of this historical assembly were 
 from New Hampshire, John Langdon 
 and Paine Wingate ; Massachusetts, Caleb 
 Strong and Tristram Dalton ; Connecticut, 
 William S. Johnson and Oliver Ellsworth ; 
 New York, Rufus King and Philip Schuyler; 
 New Jersey, William Paterson and Jonathan 
 Elmer ; Pennsylvania, William Maclay and 
 Robert Morris ; Delaware, Richard Bassett 
 and George Read ; Maryland, Charles Car 
 roll and John Henry ; Virginia, Richard 
 Henry Lee and William Grayson ; South 
 Carolina, Ralph Izard and Pierce Butler ; 
 Georgia, William Few and James Gunn ; 
 North Carolina,* Benjamin Hawkins and 
 Samuel Johnston. Of these, however, there 
 were but twelve present at the organisation 
 of the senate ; and New York had no sena 
 tors until the 26th and 27th of June, 
 when Rupert King and Philip Schuyler 
 appeared and took their seats. 
 
 The House of Representatives consisted of 
 fifty-nine members, arbitrarily apportioned 
 under the constitution, exclusive of those 
 contemplated to come from Rhode Island 
 and North Carolina; the whole to make sixty- 
 five. The states of Virginia, Massachusetts, 
 New York, Maryland, and South Carolina, 
 having a representation of thirty-five mem 
 bers, fixed upon the district system for the 
 choosing of their members. The legisla 
 ture of each divided the state into as many 
 
 * North Carolina was not represented in the first 
 session of this congress, not having at that time 
 accepted the constitution. 
 
 t The majority system required the candidate to 
 receive a majority of all the votes cast, whether by 
 the general ticket or by districts. The plurality 
 system gave the election to the candidate having : 
 the highest number of votes. Thus, suppose there 
 were but ten votes cast, divided between three can- 
 
 districts, according to population, as it was 
 entitled to congressional representation. 
 This plan was believed to be the proper 
 one to secure a fair expression of the 
 people ; and it was believed that the " dis 
 trict system" placed the representative 
 nearer to the people of the locality, practi 
 cally centralising his responsibility. The 
 states of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, 
 New Jersey, and Georgia, elected their 
 members by " general ticket :" thus, the 
 candidates having been announced, the 
 voters of each state cast their ballots for 
 the whole number of representatives the 
 state was entitled to send ; and the required 
 number having the majority of votes were 
 elected. The adoption of the " general 
 ticket" ballot, by the states above-men 
 tioned, was not so much for any supposed 
 advantage of the system, as for the purpose 
 of securing the election of the federal or 
 constitutional candidates. Had those states 
 been divided into districts, there would have 
 been several anti-federal candidates chosen, 
 notwithstanding a majority of the people 
 in the state might -have been federal. 
 
 In Connecticut, the voters in primary 
 meetings nominated fifteen candidates ; be 
 ing three times the number of representa 
 tives it was entitled to have in congress. 
 The names of the candidates thus nomi 
 nated were published; and, on a subsequent 
 day, the election was held, when the five 
 having the majority of votes cast were de 
 clared elected. The New England states 
 adopted the system of election by majori 
 ties, and the southern states adopted the 
 plurality system.f We deem it proper to 
 observe, however, that it was difficult to 
 adopt a uniform mode of election through 
 out the states ; and the constitutional con 
 vention of 1787, considered it wise to leave 
 each state to choose its electors, senators, 
 and representatives, according to its own 
 method. The convention adopted the prin 
 ciple of government and representation, 
 and the different states were then expected 
 to adopt the best system, having in view 
 the consummation of the principles of gov 
 ernment declared in the constitution. Each 
 
 didates, two of whom received three votes each, and 
 the third four votos, the latter was elected upon 
 the plurality system, although he received a mino 
 rity vote. The majority method often led to repeated 
 elections before a choice could be made ; and, in 
 many instances, to long-continued vacancies. The 
 system still prevails in a few of the New England 
 states. None of the states retain the old system of 
 electing by " general ticket." 
 
 83 
 
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 of the states having been independent sove 
 reignties or republics, had established 
 peculiar systems of government ; and the 
 convention of 1787 deemed it impolitic to 
 disturb their organic systems, especially a 
 there was a very fastidious disposition pre 
 vailing throughout the country to main 
 tain the absolute and unqualified sove 
 reignty of the states ; and any interference 
 with that feeling might have endangered 
 the adoption of the constitution. 
 
 The representatives of the respective 
 states were expected to assemble in the 
 city of New York, and organise the first 
 congress, on the 4th day of March, 1789. 
 We have already mentioned that the senate 
 failed to have a quorum until the 6th of 
 April. The House of Representatives failed 
 to organise until the 1st of April, when 
 Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, of Penn 
 sylvania, received a majority of votes, and 
 was elected the speaker of that body ; and 
 John Beckley, of Virginia, was elected 
 clerk.* The members of this first congress 
 were from New Hampshire, Nicholas Gil- 
 man, Samuel Livermore, Abel Foster ; 
 Massachusetts George Thatcher, Fisher 
 Ames, George Leonard, Elbridge Gerry, 
 Jonathan Grout, Benjamin Goodhue, Theo 
 dore Sedgwick, George Partridge ; Con 
 necticut Benjamin Huntinton, Jonathan 
 Trumbull, Jeremiah Wads worth, Roger 
 Sherman, Jonathan Sturges ; New York 
 John Lawrence, Egbert Benson, William 
 Floyd, Peter Sylvester, John Hathorn, 
 Jeremiah Van Renselaer ; New Jersey 
 Elias Boudinot, James Schureman, Lambert 
 Cadwalader, Thomas Sinnickson ; Pennsyl 
 vania Henry Wynkoop, Frederick Au 
 gustus Muhlenberg, Daniel Heister, Thomas 
 Scott, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzimons, 
 Thomas Hartley, Peter Muhlenberg ; Dela 
 ware John Vining ; Maryland William 
 Smith, George Gale, Daniel Carroll, Joshua 
 Seney, Michael Jenifer Stone, Benjamin 
 Contee ; Virginia AlexanderWhite, James 
 Madison, jun., John Page, Richard Bland 
 Lee, Samuel Griffin, Andrew Moore, Josiah 
 Parker, Theodore Bland, Isaac Coles, John 
 
 * Beckley continued to hold the clerkship of the 
 House of Itepresentatives through the successive 
 sessions, until 1797. f See Note, ante, p, 83. 
 
 J The constitution prescribes how the electors are 
 to proceed in their voting for the president and vice- 
 president; but the legislatures of the states fix upon 
 the mode of choosing the electors. South Carolina is 
 the only state that has adhered to the mode of 
 selecting them by the legislature. The people of 
 that state have never voted for electors, as practised 
 84 
 
 Brown ; South Carolina Thomas Tudor 
 Tucker, Edanus Burke, Daniel Huger, 
 William Smith, Thomas Sumter ; Georgia- 
 Abraham Baldwin, James Jackson, George 
 Mathews ; North Carolinaf John Steele, 
 Timothy Bloodworth, Hugh Williamson, 
 John Baptiste Ashe, John Sevier. 
 
 After the organisation of the House of 
 Representatives (April 1st), that body did 
 not proceed to business until the 6th of 
 that month, because the senate had not 
 been able to organise for want of a quorum. 
 Mr. Langdon having been elected presi 
 dent of the senate pro tempore, that body 
 ordered, that Mr. Ellsworth inform the 
 House of Representatives that a quorum of 
 the senate had appeared ; that a president 
 had been elected for the sole purpose of 
 opening the certificates, and counting the 
 votes cast by the electors of the several 
 states for a president and vice-president of 
 the United States ; and the members of 
 the House of Representatives were invited 
 to repair to the senate chamber, and witness 
 the opening and counting of the said ballots. 
 Mr. Ellsworth having returned to the senate, 
 and reported that he had given the notice, 
 according to the instructions of the senate, 
 Mr. Boudinot, from the House of Repre 
 sentatives, entered the senate, and informed 
 that body that the representatives were 
 then ready to attend the opening of the 
 electoral ballots. Within a few minutes 
 thereafter, the members of the house, headed 
 by the speaker, marched by twos to the 
 senate chamber, where they were seated on 
 chairs provided for them, in the aisles. A 
 senator and a representative were appointed 
 to act as clerks, to record the ballots ; and 
 then the president of the senate, pro tempore, 
 proceeded to open the sealed envelops con 
 taining the ballots of the electors, trans 
 mitted from the respective states. J The 
 votes cast by the electors were not for a 
 president and a vice-president separately, 
 but they were given for the names of two 
 persons ; and the one having the highest 
 number of votes became the president, and 
 the next highest the vice-president. The 
 
 at present in the other states ; and even so late as 
 1824, the states of Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, 
 .V York, Vermont, and South Carolina (then 
 one-fourth of the Union), selected their electors by 
 ;heir legislatures. In that year, there was no choice 
 or president by the electors, none of the candidates 
 laving received a majority of ballots, and the selec- 
 ion of that officer was determined by the House of 
 lleprtsentative", by Amendment XII. of the con 
 stitution. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HIST011Y OF AMERICA. [THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 
 
 electoral vote having been counted, the 
 result was found to be as follows : 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 =: 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 j 
 
 E 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 
 | 
 
 m 
 
 a 
 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 
 c 
 3 
 
 
 | 
 
 W 
 
 e 
 
 1 
 
 j 
 
 | 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 * 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 | 
 
 B 
 
 w 
 
 g 
 
 C 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 < 
 
 h 
 
 5 
 
 
 a 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 ,3 
 
 | 
 
 
 I 
 
 c 
 -= 
 
 d 
 
 a 
 
 g 
 
 H 
 
 
 ? 
 
 
 n 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 : 
 
 s 
 
 
 o 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 N. Hampshire 
 
 a 
 
 5" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 iii 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 in 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware . . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland .. 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 6- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia . . . 
 
 in 
 
 5 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 Total.... 
 
 69 
 
 M 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 i, 
 
 * 
 
 e 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 The president of the senate, pro lempore, 
 then declared George Washington duly 
 elected president, and John Adams vice- 
 president, of the United States. Charles 
 Thompson was appointed to notify George 
 Washington of his election ; and Sylvanus 
 Bourn was appointed to notify Mr. Adams 
 of his election. 
 
 Congress assembled in the old City Hall, 
 which was situated in Wall- street, oppo 
 site and fronting Broad-street.* The build 
 ing was prepared for the occasion by the 
 city of New York ; and, by resolution of 
 the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of 
 that city, the use of the building was ten 
 dered to the new government. In re 
 sponse, the president of the senate, April 
 14th, transmitted to the mayor an " ac 
 knowledgment of the respect shown to 
 the government," and accepted the offer 
 made of the City Hall for the use of 
 congress. 
 
 Mr. Adams received the notification of 
 his election at his residence in Quincy, and 
 at once prepared to proceed to New York. 
 He was visited, in Boston, by a multi 
 tude of friends ; and John Hancock, then 
 governor of Massachusetts, gave him a 
 magnificent entertainment. He then con 
 tinued his journey to New York, under 
 an escort of a troop of horse. On his 
 arrival at the Connecticut boundary, he 
 was received by a similar escort, and con 
 ducted through the state to the New York 
 state line, where, by order of Governor 
 Clinton, a similar reception took place. 
 At King s-bridge, a few miles above the 
 city, he was received by the joint com- 
 
 * The United States custom-house now occupies 
 the same site. 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
 mittees of the two houses of congress ; and 
 from thence, to his house in New York, he 
 was accompanied by the military of the 
 locality, the committee, and thousands of 
 citizens. 
 
 On the 21st of April, John Adams ap 
 peared, and was conducted to the presiding 
 officer s chair of the senate, and inaugu 
 rated vice-president of the United States. 
 Mr. Langdon made a complimentary speech 
 on the introduction of Adams, who, in re 
 sponse, addressed the senate in a speech, 
 congratulating the senators and the nation 
 upon the successful formation of the federal 
 union, the adoption of the constitution, and 
 the favourable circumstances that sur 
 rounded them in the establishment of the 
 new government ; and especially were 
 they blessed in having the co-operation of 
 the first president one who had led the 
 American armies to victory, and the 
 achievement of their independence. On 
 the 24th of April, a letter was received 
 from Mr. Thompson (who had proceeded to 
 Mount Vernon), informing the senate that 
 he had duly apprised George Washington 
 of his election ; whereupon a committee 
 was appointed to make preparations for his 
 inauguration. The president elect was 
 met at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, by 
 committees from the senate and house, 
 who returned with him to New York. On 
 his journey he was welcomed by the people, 
 as the " father of his country." 
 
 On the 30th of April, all arrangements 
 having been made, the members of the House 
 of Representatives, preceded by the Speaker, 
 entered the senate chamber, and took the 
 seats assigned to them ; and the joint com 
 mittee of the two houses of congress, pre 
 ceded by their chairman, agreeably to order, 
 introduced George Washington, the pre 
 sident elect of the United States, to the 
 senate chamber, where he was received by 
 the vice-president, who conducted him to 
 the chair, and informed him that the senate 
 and House of Representatives of the United 
 States were ready to attend him to take the 
 oath required by the constitution, and that 
 it would be administered by the chancellor 
 of the state of New York, Robert R. 
 Livingston; to which the president elect 
 replied that he was ready to proceed ; and, 
 being attended to the gallery, in front of 
 the senate chamber, which had been fixed 
 upon as the place for his inauguration, by 
 the vice-president, senators, representa 
 tives, and the other public men then pre- 
 85 
 
WASHINGTON INAUGURATED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 
 
 sent, the oath was administered. The pre 
 sident elect, having laid his right hand upon 
 open Bible, proceeded to repeat, after 
 
 an 
 
 the chancellor, as follows : " I do solemnly 
 swear that I will faithfully execute the 
 office of president of the United States, and 
 will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
 protect, and defend the constitution of the 
 United States." "Washington then bowed 
 his head, and kissed the sacred and holy 
 volume. During the august occasion, perfect 
 silence prevailed throughout the assembly ; 
 but, soon after the conclusion of the oath, the 
 chancellor, addressing the assembly, though 
 in an invoking attitude to the Creator, 
 proclaimed, "Long live George "Washington, 
 President of the United States."* This 
 proclamation was repeated by those present, 
 with a fervency and affection commensurate 
 with the dignity and interest of the occasion. 
 After a few minutes pause, Washington 
 rose from his seat, and addressed the repre 
 sentatives of the nations there assembled, in 
 substance as follows : 
 
 "Among the vicissitudes incident to life, 
 no event could have filled me with greater 
 anxieties than that of which the notification 
 was transmitted by your order, and received 
 on the 14th of the present month. On the 
 one hand, I was summoned by my country, 
 whose voice I can never hear but with 
 veneration and love, from a retreat which 
 I had chosen with the fondest predilection, 
 and, in my flattering hopes, with an immu 
 table decision as the asylum of my declining 
 years a retreat which was rendered every 
 day more necessary, as well as more dear to 
 me, by the addition of habit to inclination, 
 and of frequent interruptions in my health, 
 to the gradual waste committed on it by 
 time. On the other hand, the magnitude 
 and difficulty of the trust to which the voice 
 of my country called me, being sufficient 
 to awaken, in the wisest and most expe 
 rienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny 
 into my qualifications, could not but over 
 whelm with despondence one, who, inherit 
 ing inferior endowments from nature, auc 
 unpractised in the duties of civil administra 
 tion, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his 
 own deficiencies. In this conflict of emo 
 tions, all I dare aver is, that it has been raj 
 faithful study to collect my duty from 
 just appreciation of every circumstance bi 
 which it might be affected. When I wa 
 first honoured with a call into the service 
 of my country, then on the eve of an 
 * Proceedings of Congress, vol. i. 
 
 86 
 
 arduous struggle for its liberties, the light 
 in which I contemplated my duty, required 
 that I should renounce every pecuniary 
 compensation. From this resolution I have 
 in no instance departed ; and, being still 
 under the impressions which produced it, 
 I must decline, as inapplicable to myself, 
 ny share in the personal emoluments which 
 may be indispensably included in a per 
 manent provision for the executive depart 
 ment; and must, accordingly, pray that the 
 ecuniary estimates for the station in which 
 am placed, may, during my continuance 
 n it, be limited to such actual expenditures 
 the public good may be thought to 
 equire." 
 
 Having thus imparted his sentiments, as 
 hey had been awakened by the occasion 
 which brought them together, he desired 
 o take leave of them ; but not without 
 esorting once more to the Benign Parent 
 if the human race, in humble supplica- 
 ion, that since He had been pleased to 
 avour the American people with opportuni- 
 ies for deliberating in perfect tranquillity 
 and disposition, for deciding, with unparal 
 leled unanimity, on a form of government 
 "or their happiness, so His divine blessing 
 might be equally conspicuous in the en- 
 arged views, the temperate consultations, 
 and the wise measures on which the success 
 of government must depend. 
 
 After the conclusion of the president s 
 peech, the whole assembly proceeded to St. 
 Paul s chapel, where divine service was per 
 formed by the chaplain of congress. On 
 the conclusion of the religious cere 
 monies, the joint committee of congress 
 reconducted the president to his house. 
 The senators and representatives returned 
 to their respective chambers, and resumed 
 the business pending in those bodies prior 
 to the commencement of the inaugura 
 tion. 
 
 A joint committee was appointed by the 
 two branches of congress, to prepare an 
 answer to the president s speech. The 
 answer having been prepared by the com 
 mittee, and approved by the senate, on 
 the 7th of May it was presented to the pre 
 sident. The answer was written in beauti 
 ful language, and expressed the sentiments 
 of the whole nation. It said " The unani 
 mous suffrage of the elective body, in 
 your favour, is peculiarly expressive of the 
 gratitude, confidence, and affection of the 
 citizens of America, and is the highest 
 testimonial at once of your merit and their 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PRESIDENT S TITLE. 
 
 esteem. We are sensible, sir, that nothing 
 but the voice of your fellow-citizens could 
 have called you from a retreat, chosen with 
 the fondest predilection, endeared by habit, 
 and consecrated to the repose of declining 
 years. We rejoice, and with us, all Ame 
 rica, that, in obedience to the call of our 
 common country, you have returned once 
 more to public life. In you all parties con 
 fide ; in you all interests unite ; and we have 
 
 no doubt that your past services, great as 
 they have been, will be equalled by your 
 future exertions ; and that your prudence 
 and sagacity, as a statesman, will tend to 
 avert the dangers to which we are exposed, 
 to give stability to the present government, 
 and dignity and splendour to that country 
 which your skill and valour, as a soldier, so 
 
 eminently contributed to raise to iudepeu- 
 
 | dence and empire." 
 
 CHAPTER VII, 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS; EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS ORGANISED; POWER OF REMOVAL; SALARY OP 
 THE PRESIDENT; AND AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 ON the 8th of May, 1789, the senate pro 
 ceeded to consider, " What style or title it 
 will be proper to annex to the office of pre 
 sident and vice-president of the United 
 States, if any other than those given in the 
 constitution." It was proposed to address 
 the president by the title of " his excel 
 lency ;" but it was negatived ; and then a 
 committee was appointed, to confer with a 
 similar committee from the House of Repre 
 sentatives, with instructions to agree upon 
 and report titles for both officers. There 
 seemed to be an anxiety, upon the part of 
 the senate, to establish titles for the presi 
 dent and vice-president ; but the house was 
 decidedly opposed to their adoption or re 
 cognition in any form. The committees 
 met, but could not agree; and, on the 14th 
 of May, the senate committee reported the 
 disagreement; but recommended that the 
 title for the president should be c His High 
 ness, the President of the United States of 
 America, and Protector of their Liberties." 
 This report was postponed ; and, as a sub- 
 titute, it was agreed to declare, that, " from 
 a decent respect for the opinion and prac 
 tice of civilised nations, whether under 
 monarchical or republican forms of govern 
 ment, whose custom is to annex titles of 
 respectability to the office of their chief 
 magistrate; and that, in intercourse with 
 foreign nations, a due respect for the ma 
 jesty of the people of the United States may 
 not be hazarded by an appearance of sin 
 gularity, the senate have been induced to 
 
 be of opinion, that it would be proper to 
 annex a respectable title to the office of 
 president of the United States; but the 
 senate, desirous of preserving harmony with 
 the House of Representatives, where the 
 practice lately observed in presenting an 
 address to the president was without the 
 addition of titles, think it proper, for the 
 present, to act in conformity with the prac 
 tice of that house ; and that the titles be, 
 until otherwise ordered, to the President 
 of the United States/ Thus happily ter 
 minated a question which in itself was 
 nothing ; but it might have had a very 
 great influence in moulding public opinion 
 in favour of a practice that would have been 
 antagonistic to republican simplicity. The 
 House of Representatives took up the ques 
 tion of titles on the llth of May ; and Mr. 
 Parker, from Virginia, was opposed to a 
 further discussion of the subject with the 
 senate, as the house had determined not to 
 use any titles. Mr. Page, from the same 
 state, expressed himself against the propo 
 sitions of the senate. He did not conceive 
 the real honour or dignity of the president 
 or vice-president to consist in high-sound 
 ing titles. The house having decided 
 against the proposition of the senate, he 
 thought it behoved them to be explicit with 
 that body, and decline any further con 
 sideration of the subject. Indeed, he felt 
 himself a good deal hurt, that gentlemen 
 on the floor of the house, after having re 
 fused to allow the clerk to enter anything 
 
 87 
 
DISCUSSION ON TITLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 more than their plain names on the journal, 
 should be standing up and addressing each 
 other by the title, " the honourable gentle 
 man." He wished the practice could be got 
 over, because, in his opinion, it added neither 
 to the honour nor dignity of the house. Mr. 
 Lee, from the same state, was opposed to 
 the adoption of titles, but was in favour of 
 appointing the committee of conference re- | 
 quested by the senate, through a spirit of; 
 courtesy to that body. Mr. Tucker, from 
 South Carolina, who had opposed the pro 
 position to affix the titles, from the be 
 ginning of the consideration of the subject, 
 very warmly opposed any further action in 
 the premises. "What, sir!" said Mr. 
 Tucker, " is the intention of this business ? 
 Will it not alarm our fellow-citizens of the 
 whole Union, and give them just cause of 
 alarm ? They will say that they have been 
 deceived by the convention that framed the 
 constitution ! That it has been contrived 
 with a view to lead them on, by degrees, 
 to that kind of government which they 
 have thrown off with abhorrence ! Shall 
 we not justify the fears of those who were 
 opposed to the constitution, because they 
 considered it as insidious and hostile to 
 the liberties of the people ? One of its 
 warmest advocates, one of the framers of 
 it (Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania), has re 
 commended it as a pure democracy. Does 
 this look like a democracy, when one of 
 the first acts of the two branches of the 
 legislature, is to confer titles ? Surely not. 
 To give dignity to our government, we 
 must give a lofty title to our chief magis 
 trate ! Does the dignity of a nation con 
 sist in the distance between the first magis 
 trate and his citizens ? Does it consist in 
 the exaltation of one man, and the humilia 
 tion of the rest? If so, the most despotic 
 government is the most dignified ; and, to 
 make our dignity complete, we must give 
 a high title, an embroidered robe, a princely 
 equipage, and, finally, a crown and here 
 ditary succession. Let us, sir, establish 
 tranquillity and good order at home, and 
 wealth, strength, and national dignity will 
 be the infallible result." Mr. Turnbull, of 
 Connecticut, was in favour of the appoint 
 ment of the committee; and, in answer, 
 Mr. Burke, of South Carolina, was in hopes 
 the house would express its decided dis 
 approbation of bestowing titles in any 
 shape whatever. Mr. Goodline, from Mas 
 sachusetts, and Mr. Siney, from Maryland, 
 concurred in the opinion against the adop- 
 88 
 
 tion of titles. Mr. Madison was in favour 
 of the appointment of the committee through 
 courtesy to the senate. He was not op 
 posed to titles because he feared the danger 
 of any power they could confer; but he 
 was against them because they were not 
 very reconcilable with the nature of the 
 government, or the genius of the people. 
 Even if they were proper in themselves, he 
 thought they were not so at that juncture. 
 But his strongest objection was founded in 
 principle ; instead of increasing, he thought 
 they diminished the true dignity of the 
 first magistrate himself. If they gave 
 titles, they would have to borrow or invent 
 them. If they had recourse to the fertile 
 fields of luxuriant fancy, and deck out an 
 airy being of their own creation, it would 
 be a great chance if its fantastic proper 
 ties did not render the empty phantom 
 ridiculous and absurd. If they borrowed, 
 the servile imitation would be odious and 
 ridiculous ; they would have to copy from 
 the pompous sovereigns of the East, or 
 follow the inferior potentates of Europe ; 
 in either case, the splendid tinsel or gor 
 geous robe would disgrace the manly 
 shoulders of their chief. The more truly 
 honourable they would be, by showing a 
 total disregard of things of that nature ; 
 the more simple, the more republican they 
 were in their manners, the more rational 
 dignity they would acquire. Such were 
 the opinions of the Virginian statesman, 
 though he was anxious to commence a 
 courteous career with the senate. Mr. 
 White, of Virginia, was opposed to the 
 appointment of a committee ; and in this 
 Mr. Bland, of the same state, concurred. 
 Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, was of opinion 
 that the appointment of a committee might 
 lead the senate to suppose that the house 
 was disposed to yield to the adoption of 
 titles, and therefore he was opposed to the 
 proposition. Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, 
 wondered what titles the senate had in 
 contemplation to add dignity and lustre to 
 I the person that filled the presidential chair. 
 For his part, he could conceive none. 
 , Would it add to his fame to be called after 
 the petty and insignificant princes of Eu 
 rope ? Would styling him "His Serene 
 Highness," " His Grace/ or " Mightiness," 
 add one tittle to the solid properties he 
 possessed ? He thought it would not ; and, 
 < therefore, conceived the proposition to be 
 i trifling with the dignity of the govern 
 ment. Mr. Clymer, from. Pennsylvania, 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 made some very pertinent remarks upon 
 the occasion, lie said, the most impotent 
 potentates, the most insignificant powers, 
 generally assumed the highest and most 
 lofty titles. That they did not indicate 
 power and prerogative, was very observable 
 in the English history ; for when the chief 
 magistrate of that nation bore the simple 
 style of "his grace," or "highness," his 
 prerogatives were much more extensive than 
 since he had become " his most sacred 
 majesty." Titular distinctions were said to 
 be unpopular in the United States ; yet a 
 person would have been led to think other 
 wise from the vast quantity of " honourable 
 gentlemen" there were in America. As soon 
 as a man was selected for the public ser 
 vice, his fellow-citizens, with liberal hand, 
 showered down titles upon him, such as 
 " his excellency," or " honourable." He 
 ventured to affirm, that there were more 
 " honourables" and "esquires" in the 
 United States, than in all the world be 
 sides. He wished to check a propensity so 
 notoriously evidenced in favour of distinc 
 tion.* Through courtesy to the senate, a 
 committee was appointed ; but the result of 
 the conference was an abandonment, upon 
 the part of the senate, of the adoption of 
 titles. From thence no titles were recog 
 nised by the laws of the country, notwith 
 standing, as a matter of compliment, it was 
 customary between members to style each 
 other " honourable ;" but upon the official 
 records the title was unknown. The senate 
 and House of Representatives, having trans- 
 mitted to President Washington answers to 
 his inaugural speech, they received his ac 
 knowledgment under date of the 18th of 
 May ; and he stated, in his communication 
 to the senate " I now feel myself inex 
 pressibly happy in a belief that Heaven, 
 which has done so much for our infant 
 nation, will not withdraw its providential 
 influence before our political felicity shall 
 have been completed ; and in a conviction 
 that the senate will at all times co-operate 
 in every measure which may tend to pro 
 mote the welfare of this confederate re 
 public." 
 
 The executive and legislative branches of 
 the government having been duly organised 
 and in operation, the House of Representa- 
 
 * The remarks of Mr. Clymer were singularly 
 correct, and might, with propriety, be considered 
 pertinent at the present time. It has been the 
 practice to prefix the word "honourable" to the 
 names of members of congress, heads of depart 
 ments, president, and vice-president, not only while 
 
 tives proceeded to organise the administra 
 tive departments, under the executive 
 branch of the government. On the 21st 
 of May, it was proposed " to establish a 
 department of foreign affairs, at the head 
 of which shall be an officer, to be called 
 1 Secretary to the United States, for the 
 Department of Foreign Affairs remov 
 able by the president : a treasury depart 
 ment, at the head of which shall be an 
 officer, to be called Secretary to the United 
 States, for the Treasury Department re 
 movable by the president : a department 
 of war, at the head of which shall be an 
 officer, to be called Secretary to the United 
 States, for the Department of War remov 
 able by the president." This resolution 
 was passed by the House ; and a committee, 
 consisting of eleven members, was appointed 
 to prepare a bill for the organisation of the 
 respective departments ; and, in the month 
 of June, the bills were reported, passed 
 both branches of congress, and became 
 laws. The most important department was 
 that of the treasury ; and the financial con 
 dition of the government required for that 
 office the ablest mind in the country. The 
 foreign affairs, at that time, were not of 
 very material import; and it was only in 
 conformity with the customs of other 
 nations, that that department became of 
 superior rank ; and as it held that position 
 in the scale of distinction, the person to be 
 selected to occupy that post was expected 
 to be of more than ordinary abilities. The 
 department of war was purely administra 
 tive, requiring only executive powers ; and 
 the person selected for that place was ex 
 pected to be industrious and methodical. 
 For the foreign affairs department, the 
 president appointed John Jay, of the state 
 of New York, to serve pro tempore, until 
 the return of Thomas Jefferson, who had 
 been, since 1785, minister plenipotentiary 
 to France, and but recently recalled at his 
 own request. He, above all others, was 
 the most fitted to preside over the depart 
 ment having intercourse with the nations 
 of the world. He had been to Europe, and 
 was familiar with the systems of govern 
 ment and international politics of the Old 
 World ; and from his organisation of the 
 foreign relations of the new American 
 
 in office, but also after the expiration of their 
 terms. The title is often prefixed to the names of 
 members of the state legislature, and the judges of 
 inferior and superior courts. There is no autho 
 rity in law for the use of the title in any of the 
 above cases. 
 
 89 
 
THE SECRETARIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 government, the president and congress 
 anticipated the happiest results. William 
 Short was nominated to the senate on the 
 16th of June, and confirmed by that body : 
 on the 18th, as successor to Mr. Jefferson, 
 as minister to France. Mr. Jay, the pro 
 tempore secretary of foreign affairs, was a 
 lawj er and a diplomatist of distinction, 
 considering the limited experience afforded 
 during the short existence of the govern 
 ment. His mind was more devoted to 
 the law than politics; and his peculiar 
 fitness had already marked him as the pro 
 per person to preside over the judicial 
 branch of the government ; and, for that 
 reason, he was selected to serve but tem 
 porarily as secretary of foreign affairs. 
 
 The treasury department was, at that 
 time, the most important to the country ; 
 and as it required a secretary of the 
 greatest financial experience and ability, 
 Alexander Hamilton was selected for that 
 place. This distinguished statesman was a 
 very strong federalist an intimate friend 
 of Washington, and familiar with the fiscal 
 affairs of the government from its com 
 mencement. He was a lawyer of recog 
 nised distinction, and, in every respect, was 
 the best man for the treasury department of 
 the new government. 
 
 Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, was 
 appointed secretary of war ; and his long 
 experience in military affairs, enabled him 
 to establish a system that served the country 
 well ; and gave to the new nation an army, 
 freed from many of the embarrassments 
 common to that branch of service in the 
 government of the Old World. 
 
 By the formation of the three departments 
 above-mentioned, the executive branch of 
 the government was completed ; and the 
 next step taken by congress was the adop 
 tion of the judicial system contemplated in 
 the constitution. Oliver Ellsworth, of Con 
 necticut, was the author of the bill pro 
 posed ; and which, with a few amendments, 
 passed both houses, and became a law, Sep 
 tember 24th, 1789. The act established a 
 Supreme Court of the United States, to sit at 
 the seat of government semi-annually. It 
 was to have original jurisdiction in certain 
 specified cases, as required by the consti 
 tution ; but, in general, it was to be an 
 appellate tribunal. It was vested with ex 
 clusive jurisdiction over all controversies of 
 a civil nature, wherein a state became a 
 party, except in suits by a state against 
 one or more of its citizens ; in which case 
 90 
 
 it was given original, but not exclusive juris 
 diction. It was given such exclusive juris 
 diction in all suits or proceedings against 
 ambassadors, or other public ministers, or 
 their domestics, as a court of law could 
 have or exercise, consistently with the law 
 of nations.* The Supreme Court was vested 
 with appellate jurisdiction, both as to law 
 and fact, with such exceptions, and under 
 such regulations, as congress should make 
 " from time to time." 
 
 The act of congress, of 1789, establish 
 ing the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 created at the same time a federal judicial 
 system in all the states. The Supreme Court 
 was to consist of a certain number of judges, 
 who were to sit at certain times of the year, 
 as might be determined by congress, from 
 time to time, at the seat of government. 
 The states of the Union were to be divided 
 into as many circuits as there were Supreme 
 Court judges ; and as a part of the system, a 
 federal court was established in each state, 
 to be called the " District Court ;" over which 
 was to preside a " district judge," who was, 
 also, the associate at the sittings of the 
 " circuit courts," the Supreme Court judge 
 being the senior in those tribunals. From 
 these " circuit" and " district" courts, ap 
 peals were authorised to be taken to the 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 l A he act establishing the federal judiciary 
 having become a law, the president nomi 
 nated, on the 26th of September, 1789, John 
 Jay, of New York, to be chief justice ; and 
 John Rutledge, of South Carolina, William 
 Gushing, of Massachusetts, James Wilson, 
 of Pennsylvania, John Blair, of Virginia, 
 and Bobert II. Harrison, of Maryland, to be 
 associate judges. 
 
 On the same day that President Wash 
 ington presented the foregoing judicial ap 
 pointments, he transmitted to the senate 
 the nominations of Thomas Jefferson, of 
 Virginia, for the office of secretary of foreign 
 affairs ; and Samuel Osgood, of Massachu 
 setts, to be postmaster-general : all of whom 
 were unanimously confirmed. 
 
 We have now given all the necessary par 
 ticulars respecting the organisation of the 
 three branches of the government ; namely, 
 the executive, legislative, and judicial. The 
 executive department consisted of the presi 
 dent, assisted by the secretary of foreign 
 affairs, secretary of the treasury, the se 
 cretary of war and the navy,f and the 
 
 * Kent s Commentaries, vol. i., p. 300. 
 
 f The navy department was established in 1798. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENT AND THK SENATE. 
 
 postmaster-general. The legislative branch 
 consisted of the two houses of congress, 
 the senate, and House of Representatives. 
 The judicial department consisted of a su 
 preme, circuit, and district courts, over 
 wliich presided a chief justice and five asso- 
 ite judges. 
 
 We shall now notice a few of the for 
 malities observed by the respective branches 
 of the government during the administra 
 tion of President Washington, some of 
 which were abandoned within a few years 
 after the formation of the government. 
 Following the example of the king and the 
 parliament of Great Britain, the president 
 was in the habit of delivering, in person, 
 his annual message on the opening of con 
 gress. His speech was finally considered 
 by a committee, and an answer prepared, 
 which was submitted to the senate, or 
 house, as the case might have been ; and 
 then, if approved, was transmitted to the 
 president, who, in acknowledgment, briefly 
 responded with his congratulations.* With 
 respect to the making of Indian treaties, 
 the president consulted the senate first, and 
 then negotiated ; but the practice was soon 
 changed, and subsequent presidents nego 
 tiated first, and consulted afterwards. In 
 order to facilitate action upon executive 
 nominations, in August, 1789, the senate 
 adopted a rule, that when the president 
 transmitted nominations for confirmation, 
 the senate was to fix upon the day for their 
 consideration ; and the following rule was 
 fixed upon: "When the president of the 
 United States shall meet the senate in the 
 senate chamber, the president of the senate 
 shall have a chair on the floor ; be consid 
 ered as at the head of the senate ; and his 
 chair shall be assigned to the president of 
 the United States : that when the senate 
 shall be convened by the president of the 
 United States to any other place, the pre 
 sident of the senate, and the senators, shall 
 attend at the place appointed : that all 
 questions shall be put by the president of 
 the senate, either in the presence or absence 
 of the president of the United States ; and 
 the senators shall signify their assent or 
 
 i 
 
 dissent by answering, viva voce, aye or no." 
 These formalities were agreed upon in order 
 
 * During the periods that the congress assembled 
 at New York and Philadelphia, the presidents 
 delivered their speeches in person to the two houses 
 sitting in a joint session ; but after the removal of 
 the government to Washington, in 1801, it was not 
 convenient to assemble the two houses as had been 
 the practice during the administration of Washing- 
 
 to conform to an interpretation of the con 
 stitution, which required the advice and 
 consent of the senate on the confirmation of 
 appointments and the making of treaties. 
 That interpretation was evidently correct, 
 and expressed the meaning of the consti 
 tution first to advise with, and then to 
 obtain the consent of the senate to a 
 given nomination. On the 21st of Au 
 gust, the president transmitted to the 
 senate a communication as follows: "The 
 president of the United States will meet 
 the senate, in the senate chamber, at half- 
 past eleven o clock to-morrow, to advise with 
 them on the terms of the treaty to be ne 
 gotiated with the Southern Indians." Ou 
 the 22nd, at the hour mentioned, the pre 
 sident, accompanied by General Knox, the 
 secretary of war, attended the senate, and 
 laid before that body a statement of facts, 
 to which was appended a series of interro 
 gatories, for the purpose of getting the 
 advice and consent of the senate. On the 
 24th of August the senate resumed the 
 consideration of the terms of the proposed 
 Southern Indian treaty, the president and 
 secretary of war being present. The first 
 question was " Whether, in the then state 
 of affairs between North Carolinaf and the 
 United States, was it proper to take any 
 other measures for redressing the injuries 
 of the Cherokees, than the one suggested 
 by the president ?" The senate decided that 
 it was inexpedient to change the plans pro 
 posed by the executive. The fourth propo 
 sition presented to the consideration of the 
 senate for its advice, was embraced in the 
 question, namely " If the commissioners 
 should adjudge that the Creek nation of 
 Indians was fully represented at the three 
 treaties with Georgia, and that the cessions 
 of land were obtained with the full under 
 standing and free consent of the acknow 
 ledged proprietors ; and that the said 
 treaties ought to be considered as just and 
 equitable ; in such case, should the com 
 missioners be instructed to insist on a 
 formal renewal and confirmation thereof? 
 and, in case of a refusal, should they be in 
 structed to inform the Creeks that the arms 
 of the Union would be employed to compel 
 them, to acknowledge the justice of the said 
 
 ton and Adams ; and from thence the custom was 
 abandoned. Since that date, the president has 
 never delivered his annual message in person. 
 
 j The circumstances had reference to the fact, 
 that North Carolina, at that time, was not a mem 
 ber of the Union, not having, up to that time, ac 
 cepted the federal constitution. 
 
 91 
 
CONSULTATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 cessions ?" The senate, in concurrence with 
 the opinion of the president, decided in the 
 affirmative. The next question submitted 
 for the advice of the senate, was dependent 
 upon the result of the preceding proposition ; 
 namely " If the commissioners should 
 adjudge that the said treaties were formed 
 with an inadequate or unauthorised repre 
 sentation of the Creek nation, or that the 
 treaties were held under circumstances of 
 constraint or unfairness of any sort, so that 
 the United States could not, with justice 
 and dignity, request or urge a confirmation 
 thereof; in such case, should the commis 
 sioners, considering the importance of the 
 Oconee lauds to Georgia, be instructed to 
 use their greatest exertions to obtain a ces 
 sion of said lands ? And, if so, should the 
 commissioners be instructed, if they could 
 not obtain the said cessions on better terms, 
 to offer for the same, and for the further 
 great object of attaching the Creeks to the 
 government of the United States, the fol 
 lowing conditions: 1st. A compensation 
 in money or goods, the amount to be sti 
 pulated to be paid by the state of Georgia 
 at the period to be fixed, or in failure 
 thereof, by the United States. 2nd. A 
 secure post on the Alatamaha, or on St. 
 Mary s river, or at any other between the 
 same, as may be mutually agreed to by the 
 commissioners and the Creeks. 3rd. Cer 
 tain pecuniary considerations to some, and 
 honorary military distinctions to other in 
 fluential chiefs, on their taking oaths of 
 allegiance to the United States. 4th. A 
 solemn guarantee by the United States, to 
 the Creeks, of their remaining territory, and 
 to maintain the same, if necessary, by a line 
 of military posts ?" The foregoing were 
 determined in the affirmative by the senate. 
 The president then proposed the question 
 " If the said cessions should not be made 
 an ultimatum, should the commissioners 
 
 * The practice of consulting the senate before 
 entering upon the consideration of treaties has ! 
 been abandoned. The constitution, as interpreted 
 by the founders of the republic, has had but little 
 influence with modern statesmen. The advice of 
 the senate was sought for by Washington before 
 entering upon the negotiation ; and the consent of 
 that body was requested alter the conditions had 
 been agreed upon. Such was the practice of the 
 first administration, adopted in conformity Avith the I 
 interpretation of the constitution. At the present 
 time, treaties are made, and the senate know [ 
 nothing of them until actually signed; and thus its 
 " advice and consent" is requested in the nature of 
 a ratification. The senate has, in this manner, been, I 
 to a very great extent deprived of its freedom and 
 92 
 
 proceed and make a treaty, and include the 
 disputed lands within the limits which 
 should be assigned to the Creeks ?" The 
 senate decided in the negative ; but it was 
 determined that a temporary boundary 
 should be marked, making the Oconee the 
 line. It was to be stipulated in the treaty, 
 1 that a safe port should be secured to the 
 I United States, and in consideration thereof, 
 pecuniary and honorary rewards were to 
 be granted ; and it was determined by 
 j the senate, that the general objects of the 
 | treaties formed at Hopewell, with the 
 Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Chocktaws, 
 should be the basis of the treaty with the 
 Creeks. The whole of the conditions thus 
 submitted for the consideration of the 
 senate, before entering into any negotia 
 tions with the Indians, were decided con 
 formably to the wishes of the president ; 
 and after the advice had been obtained 
 from the senate, President Washington, 
 and General Knox, the secretary of war, 
 withdrew.* 
 
 Another important practice of Washing 
 ton s administration, though long since 
 abandoned, was the requiring the heads of 
 departments to appear in person, and 
 give explanations to congress upon any re 
 quired subject. In the month of July, the 
 I senate "ordered, that the secretary of 
 I foreign affairs attend the senate to-morrow, 
 and bring with him such papers as are 
 requisite to give full information relative 
 ! to the consular convention between France 
 and the United States." The secretary 
 appeared according to the resolution, and 
 ! made the required explanations. The 
 secretaries, however, were recognised as 
 under the executive, and they were held to 
 ! be of subordinate importance mere assis- 
 tants to the president. They were the 
 | creatures of the law, not of the constitu 
 tion; and, for that reason, Mr. Jefferson 
 
 independence in the premises. For many years 
 past, it has been the practice of the president to 
 conduct the treaty negotiation, through the secre 
 tary of state, even with foreign powers ; and after 
 signing, the instrument has been submitted to the 
 senate for confirmation as an administrative mea 
 sure, by which the political parties are arrayed ; and 
 whether the treaty be acceptable or not, the friends 
 or partisans of the president s administration are 
 expected to vote in favour of the same. Under 
 such circumstances, treaties are often ratified, and 
 appointments often confirmed, under a moral duresse 
 of the senate ; the weight of the executive, and 
 the inconvenience of rejection, leaving no chance 
 for the free action of the senate. Congressional 
 Debates. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CABINET MEETINGS. 
 
 was of opinion, that neither branch of 
 congress had a right to call upon the heads 
 of the departments for information or 
 papers, except through the president.* 
 
 Washington was a practical president; 
 he acted and performed faithfully the 
 duties of his office, with the least possible 
 ostentation. The secretaries were his aux 
 iliaries or assistants ; having in charge 
 certain bureaux of the executive branch of 
 the government. At that period there was 
 no recognised cabinet ; and, strictly speak 
 ing, there were no cabinet meetings, ac 
 cording to the usual ministerial consulta 
 tions practised in the old world. The pre 
 sident did, occasionally, assemble the three 
 secretaries together in council, not so much 
 to obtain from them advice, but chiefly to 
 give them instructions ; they were not 
 cabinet meetings similar to those of the 
 courts of Europe. There was no law re 
 cognising an executive or government 
 cabinet. The president drifted into the 
 practice of consulting with the secretaries, 
 from time to time, in after years; and this 
 consultation has been called a cabinet 
 council : taking the advice of the secretaries 
 was wholly a matter of choice with the 
 president, and he might have declined to 
 have assembled them in council during his 
 term of office ; but such a proceeding would 
 not have been courteous to the secretaries. 
 The cabinet, therefore, was an unauthorised 
 assembly, unknown to the constitution, and 
 the laws of congress. The secretaries, or 
 auxiliaries of the executive branch of the 
 
 * The formality observed at the commencement 
 of the government in 1789, of requesting the pre 
 sence of the head of a department to explain any 
 given question, has long since been abandoned; 
 and all communication between the houses of con 
 gress and the departments is by correspondence. 
 The change has not been satisfactory to the experi 
 enced statesman. It is now the practice to call for 
 information by a resolve of either house, and then 
 the secretary orders bis assistants to prepare the 
 necessary report. It occasionally occurs that the 
 clerk of the department is more competent than the 
 principal, and thus, by his superior abilities, secures 
 for his employer a reputation that he does not merit. 
 
 t The act of congress, of September 24th, 1789, 
 only established three departments; and within the 
 first fifty years thereafter, the number was increased 
 to eight; namely, the secretaries of state, navy, 
 war, treasury, interior, postmaster-general, and the 
 attorney-general; and these, with the president, 
 form what is called the cabinet. On a given day 
 of the week these different officers meet together at 
 the president s house, and assemble around a table, 
 the president acting as chairman. He then presents 
 to the ir.eeting such questions as he may deem im 
 portant, upon which he wishes the opinions of his 
 
 VOL. II. O 
 
 government, were increased in number, 
 from time to time, by acts of congress ; 
 and in this informal manner the cabinet 
 was created during AVashington s adminis 
 tration, f If the president, through his 
 secretaries or cabinet officers, failed to ac 
 cord with the legislative branch of the 
 government, there was no remedy provided 
 by the constitution, the executive and 
 legislative branches being created, by that 
 organic instrument, as co-ordinate. The 
 president was made responsible for the ad 
 ministration of the departments, and con 
 gress had no right to remove any official, 
 the power lying wholly with the former. 
 According to the long-established practice of 
 the British government, if the cabinet of 
 ministers, being the heads of the govern 
 mental departments, failed to command the 
 confidence of a majority in the House of 
 Commons, a ministerial disruption imme 
 diately followed, and the sovereign in 
 trusted the formation of a new cabinet to a 
 person enjoying the confidence of the ma 
 jority in the house. Such change pro 
 duces the defeat of one system of politics, 
 and establishes another. Not so, however, 
 with the constitutional government of the 
 American republic, founded in 1789. 
 
 The question as to the right of removal 
 of the executive appointments was ably dis 
 cussed in congress, when the bill was pend 
 ing for the establishment of the depart 
 ments. It was then argued, that the pre 
 sident could remove an officer after his 
 appointment had been confirmed by the 
 
 subordinates. Each in turn discusses the subject; 
 and sometimes a vote is taken upon the question, 
 the president voting as but one of the meeting. At 
 other times he requests the opinions of those pre 
 sent, and does not take a vote upon the affair, but 
 acts upon the information obtained, according to his 
 own judgment. After the president has nothing 
 further to present for the consideration of the meet 
 ing, the members of the cabinet, in turn, submit j 
 such questions as pertain to their respective depart- j 
 ments, upon which advice may be desired. The j 
 president and others discuss the measure submitted ; 
 and a vote may or may not be taken, as preferred by 
 the member proposing the subject for consideration. 
 Notwithstanding this formality, the president can 
 order his cabinet officers to do as he directs. He can 
 wholly disregaid their advice, as is sometimes the 
 case; and, if they fail to comply with his directions, 
 he removes them, and appoints others who will be 
 obedient. Prior to 1829, the postmaster-general 
 had been looked upon as the head of a bureau ; but 
 president Jackson invited William T. Barry, and 
 his successor, Amos Kendall, of that department, to 
 take a seat in his cabinet meetings; and, since that 
 day, the postmaster-general has been considered a 
 member of the cabinet. 
 
 93 
 
POWER OF REMOVAL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 senate. Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, was j 
 of opinion, that the power of removal lay 
 with the senate. " I shall," said Mr. Gerry, 
 " be glad to see how the heads of depart 
 ments are to be removed by the president 
 alone. What clause of the constitution is 
 it that gives this power in express terms ? 
 I believe there is none such. If there is a 
 power of removal, besides that by impeach 
 ment, it must vest somewhere. It must 
 vest in the president, or in the president 
 and senate, or in the president, senate, and 
 House of Representatives. Now, there is no 
 clause which expressly vests it in the presi 
 dent. I believe no one contends that it is 
 vested in the house, because that would be 
 that mingling of the executive and legisla 
 tive powers so much deprecated. I presume, 
 then, it will be granted, that if there is 
 such a power, it vests with the president, 
 by and with the advice and consent of the 
 senate, who are the bodies that appoint. I 
 think we ought to be cautious how we step 
 in between the president and the senate, to 
 abridge the power of the one, or increase 
 that of the other. If the power of removal 
 vests where I suppose, we, by this declaration, 
 undertake to transfer it to the president 
 alone. I cannot think we ought to attempt 
 to give the president authority to remove 
 from office, in cases where the constitution 
 has placed it in other hands." 
 
 Mr. Bland, of Virginia, was very decided 
 against the recognition of the right of the 
 president to remove from office. He said 
 " The constitution declares, that the presi 
 dent and the senate shall appoint ; and it 
 naturally follows, that the power which 
 appoints shall remove also. What would 
 be the consequence of the removal by the 
 president alone, he had already mentioned, 
 and need not repeat. A new president 
 might, by turning out the great officers, 
 bring about a change of the ministry, and 
 throw the affairs of the Union into disorder. 
 Would not this, in fact, make the president 
 a monarch, and give him absolute power 
 over all the great departments of govern 
 ment ? It signifies nothing that the senate 
 have a check over the appointments, becaus* 
 ha cau remove, and tire out the senate."* 
 
 * The earlier presidents of the United State 
 made but few removals ; and on coming into office 
 it was their practice to continue in the government 
 service the employes of the departments, and also 
 many of the principal officials, such as foreign 
 ministers, customs officers, and postmasters. Some 
 of them were continued over into two and three ad 
 ministrations. On the accession of General Jack- 
 
 He was of opinion that the president could 
 remove, with the consent, of the senate. 
 
 Mr. Madison was of opinion, that the 
 >ower of removal lay wholly with the pre- 
 ident. He did not concur with others in 
 he interpretation, that the officers gen 
 erally could only be removed by impeach 
 ment. " What," said he, " would be the 
 consequences of such construction ? It 
 would, in effect, establish every officer of 
 he government on the firm tenure of good 
 )ehaviour; not the heads of departments 
 only, but all the inferior officers of those 
 departments, would hold their offices during 
 *ood behaviour; and that to be judged of 
 Dy one branch of the legislature only, on 
 he impeachment of the other. If the con 
 stitution means this, by its declarations, to 
 ae the case, we must submit ; but I should 
 .ament it as a fatal error interwoven in 
 he system, and one that would ultimately 
 prove its destruction. I think it abso 
 lutely necessary that the president should 
 bave the power of removing from office ; 
 it will make him, in a peculiar manner, 
 responsible for their conduct, and subject 
 him to impeachment himself, if he suffers 
 them to perpetrate with impunity high 
 crimes or misdemeanors against the United 
 States, or neglects to superintend their con 
 duct so as to check their excesses." 
 
 The preceding embraces the substance 
 of the very lengthy argument held between 
 many of the members of the House of Re 
 presentatives, during the pendency of the 
 bill for the establishment of the executive 
 departments. The question was, Whether 
 or not the constitution placed the power of 
 removal of the executive departments within 
 the jurisdiction of congress, or whether the 
 authority was vested with the executive ? 
 The question was finally settled by a very 
 considerable majority voting in favour of 
 the interpretation of the constitution, de 
 claring the power of removal to be in the 
 president. 
 
 On the final vote on the bill for the estab 
 lishment of the department of foreign 
 affairs, the minority opposed to recognising 
 the power of removal to lay with the pre 
 sident, demanded the yeas and nays ; and 
 
 son to the presidency, in 1829, he commenced the 
 general removal system ; and during his first term 
 of four years, his removals exceeded in number 
 those of all the preceding presidents, embracing a 
 period of forty years. Since that time, political 
 parties have compelled the president to follow the 
 example of Jackson ; and the rule has been made to 
 include all employes of the government. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Mr. Sumpter, of South Carolina, expressed 
 a few words of despair for the perpetuity of 
 the Union. He said "The bill appears to 
 my mind so subversive of the constitution, 
 and, in its consequences, so destructive to 
 the liberties of the people, that I cannot 
 consent to let it pass without expressing my 
 detestation of the principles it contains. I 
 do it in this public manner, in order to fulfil 
 what I think to be my duty to my country, 
 and to discharge myself of any concern in 
 a matter that I do not approve."* The 
 bill was then passed by a majority of 
 twenty-nine to twenty- two. 
 
 The act for the organisation of the de 
 partment of foreign affairs, having been 
 passed^ and with it the principle of the 
 right of removal by the president, the 
 bill for the establishment of the war de 
 partment was next considered and passed ; 
 and following it was the one for organising 
 the treasury department. This bill created 
 considerable discussion in the house, espe 
 cially so much of it as authorised the secre 
 tary of the treasury to " digest and report 
 plans for the improvement and manage 
 ment of the revenue, and the support of the 
 public credit." Mr. Page, of Virginia, 
 
 who seemed to be exceedingly fearful of 
 
 . . i . 
 
 vesting too much power in the executive 
 
 branch of the government, observed 
 " That it might be well enough to enjoin 
 upon the secretary the duty to make, act, 
 and prepare estimates; but to go any 
 further would be a dangerous innovation 
 upon the constitutional privileges of the 
 house ; it would create an undue influence 
 within the walls, because members might 
 be led by the deference commonly paid to 
 men of abilities, who give an opinion in a 
 case they have thoroughly studied, to sup 
 port the minister s plan, even against their 
 own judgment. Nor would the mischief stop 
 here ; it would establish a precedent which 
 might be extended, until we admitted all 
 the ministers of the government on the 
 floor to explain and support the plans they 
 have digested and reported ; thus laying 
 a foundation for an aristocracy, or a detest 
 able monarchy." Mr. Tucker, from South 
 
 * The minority who opposed the bill, despaired 
 for the Union. They considered the recognition of 
 the power of removal in the president as calculated 
 to overthrow the Union, and vest in the executive 
 monarcliial power. This great struggle was the first 
 to test the zeal of congress men for the Union. The 
 two modes of removal suggested were first, by 
 the president absolute ; second, the removal to be 
 made by the president, by and with the advice and 
 
 Carolina, could " never agree to have many 
 bills originate and forced upon the house by 
 a man destitute of legislative authority, 
 while the constitution gives such power 
 solely to the House of Representatives." 
 Mr. Page again observed, he could " never 
 consent to establish by law this interference 
 of an executive officer in business of legisla 
 tion ; it might be well enough in an abso 
 lute monarchy, for a minister to come to a 
 parliament, with his plans in his hand, 
 and order them to be enacted ; but this 
 practice does not exist even in the limited 
 monarchy of Britain. The minister there, 
 who introduces his plans, must be a mem 
 ber of the House of Commons." Mr. 
 Gerry, of Massachusetts, said " If the 
 doctrine of having prime and great minis 
 ters of state was once well established, he 
 did not doubt but we should soon see them 
 distinguished by a green or red ribbon, or 
 other insignia of court favour and patron 
 age. He wished gentlemen were aware of 
 what consequences these things lead to, 
 that they might exert a greater degree of 
 caution." Several other members objected 
 to the proposition to authorise the secretary 
 of the treasury to recommend a fiscal 
 system for the year, believing that it might 
 lead to an undue exercise of authority, and 
 curtail, by practice and precedents, the 
 power of the house to legislate upon the 
 financial affairs of the government, espe 
 cially with respect to the organisation of bills 
 for the raising and appropriating moneys, 
 as contemplated to be exercised under the 
 constitution. On the other hand, Mr. Mad 
 ison, of Virginia, and some other members, 
 were in favour of delegating to the secre 
 tary of the treasury, full authority to com 
 municate their estimates and financial plans 
 to the house, believing that it would only 
 be information, and that the members 
 ought to be glad to receive suggestions to 
 facilitate them in legislating upon the bills 
 required to be passed by the house under 
 the constitutional provision, solely vesting 
 that power with that branch of the legis 
 lature. 
 
 The question was very ably discussed by 
 
 consent of the senate; and thirdly, by impeach 
 ment. The house decided in favour of the first; 
 and it was, we have no doubt, the most proper. 
 Experience has not sustained the apprehensions of 
 the minority. The rule adopted has worked well ; 
 and we do not suppose that any statesman, fifty 
 years after the date of the proceedings cited, would 
 have favoured the placing of it elsewhere than in 
 the executive. 
 
 95 
 
THE FIRST TARIFF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 the members of the house ; and the bill 
 finally passed, authorising the secretary to 
 " digest and prepare plans for the improve 
 ment and management of the revenue, and 
 the support of the government credit." 
 Thus ended the consideration of the bill for 
 the establishment of the treasury depart 
 ment. 
 
 The House of Representatives commenced 
 a discussion on the revenue system of 
 the country having especial reference to 
 " duties on imports" early in the month 
 of April, and the bill was considered in 
 that body several weeks before it passed 
 and became a law. That act has been re 
 cognised by some statesmen as having been 
 based upon " protective principles," and by 
 others upon a " revenue policy." The de 
 bates seem to indicate that the object of 
 the law was revenue, but that in the means 
 adopted to obtain the revenue, a protective 
 interest was carefully studied ; and with 
 many it was a governing principle. There 
 was a very large debt hanging over the 
 nation, and the creditors were anxious for 
 something being done to liquidate their 
 claims. At that time, however, it was not 
 necessary to even remind the legislators of 
 the country of the circumstance that there 
 were national debts, for every one was 
 equally determined to do all that was pos 
 sible to liquidate the claims against the 
 government, because they were just, and 
 ought to have been paid long ere that 
 epoch ; and besides the justice of the claims, 
 the representatives desired to maintain the 
 credit of the nation, having a consideration 
 for the future. The duties imposed were 
 very moderate, the ad valorems being five 
 per cent., seven and a-half, and twelve 
 and a-half ; imported pleasure carriages 
 were subjected to a duty of fifteen per 
 cent. ; and specific duties were graduated 
 to a very moderate scale. These taxes upon 
 imports gave satisfactory protection to the 
 industry of the country, and, at the same 
 time, the revenue was demanded by the 
 circumstances of the national treasury. The 
 discussions did not advocate, as a policy, a 
 protective tariff, nor was it necessary to 
 characterise the measure as such ; the revo 
 lutionary war had been terminated but six 
 years, and the American people were gene 
 rally more inclined to promote their own 
 manufactures than those of foreign nations, 
 excepting, perhaps, the fibre products of the 
 French looms. During the progress of 
 the bill a proposition was made by Mr. 
 06 
 
 Parker, of Virginia, to levy a tax of ten 
 dollars each upon the importation of slaves 
 from Africa;* but for reasons of policy, it 
 was thought best not to embrace the item 
 in the general schedule, but, at the proper 
 time, to consider the proposition in the 
 form of a distinct bill : with that view, Mr. 
 Parker withdrew the proposed amendment. 
 During this session of congress, the sala 
 ries of the president and other officials of 
 the government were fixed. The com 
 mittee to whom the subject had been re 
 ferred, reported in favour of allowing the 
 president an annual compensation of 20,000 
 dollars ; but in the house, by a vote of 
 thirty to seventeen, it was fixed at 25,000 
 dollars. The discussion upon the subject 
 was exceedingly interesting, and exhibited 
 the unanimous opinion entertained at that 
 time in favour of a plain and unostentatious 
 government. Some members of the com 
 mittee voted for 15,000 dollars ; others 
 were for a much larger compensation ; 
 some went so high as 70,000 dollars. In 
 the estimates, the sum of 15,000 was fixed 
 for the salary, and 5,000 for extraordinary 
 expenses, such as plate, carriages, horses, 
 and other items calculated to maintain the 
 dignity of the station. President "Wash 
 ington, in his patriotic ardour and love for 
 his country, at his inauguration, had in 
 formed congress that he was willing to 
 pursue the illustrious example he had set 
 during the period of the revolutionary calam 
 ity, and did not desire any compensation 
 for his services. Congress could not com 
 ply with the wishes of the president ; for 
 the constitution required that he should 
 receive a compensation, and it became the 
 duty of the legislative branch to provide 
 the means, and fix upon the sum for the 
 president s services. It was difficult for 
 congress to determine the style in which 
 the president should live ; no one expected 
 him to live in splendour, nor in penury; 
 and a moderate display was admitted to be 
 proper. The committee was satisfied that 
 the style would have to depend upon the 
 judgment of President Washington, leaving 
 the experience derived during his adminis 
 tration to determine the question. They were 
 sure that his efforts would give satisfaction to 
 the country, as he knew the way to blend 
 dignity and economy, and adopt such a 
 style of living as would best subserve the 
 public weal, and, at the same time, set an 
 
 * The subject of slavery, in an especial and gen 
 eral sense, will be fully presented in a future chapter. 
 
A.D. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SALARIES. 
 
 example for his successors. The president, 
 however, had expressed a wish that no 
 compensation should be given him, pre 
 ferring to serve his country without fee or 
 reward; and it might not be possible for 
 the succedeing presidents to incur a similar 
 loss of time and money; and besides, the 
 constitution required a sum to be fixed by 
 congress; therefore, after mature delibera 
 tion, it was deemed proper to fix upon a 
 liberal compensation, and leave the ques 
 tion as to style of living, to the well-known 
 patriotic judgment of Washington. 
 
 It was equally difficult for the house to 
 agree upon the proper salary for the vice- 
 president. This officer was required by 
 the constitution to preside over the senate ; 
 but it was generally admitted that his posi 
 tion was of more importance than the other 
 members of the legislative branch of the 
 government. His term of office was four 
 years precisely the same as the president ; 
 und he was elected by the same formalities. 
 At that time it was expected, by many, 
 that the vice-president would reside at the 
 seat of government; and, perhaps, co-operate 
 with the president in the general adminis 
 tration of the affairs of the nation ; and he 
 was expected " to be subject to extra ex 
 penses of living to maintain his dignity." 
 The question, as discussed in the house, 
 seemed to turn upon the point, whether 
 it was proper to provide an annual salary, 
 or a per diem compensation. It was finally 
 determined to fix upon the sum of 8,000 
 dollars as the vice-president s salary. 
 
 The compensation for the services of the 
 senators and representatives in congress, 
 was next considered. Various per diem 
 sums were proposed. Mr. Sedgwick of 
 Massachusetts, suggested a difference be 
 tween the allowance to senators and repre 
 sentatives the former to receive six dollars, 
 and the latter five dollars per day. Mr. 
 Jackson, of Georgia, was opposed to making 
 any distinction. He declared, that he was 
 unable to see the reasons for making the 
 difference. " Is it expected," said Mr. 
 Jackson, " that a senator shall eat more, or 
 drink more costly liquors, than a member 
 of the House of Representatives ? I pre 
 sume it is not ; their expenses must be 
 nearly equal. The duties of both houses 
 are equal, and the pay ought to be alike. 
 Now, unless gentlemen mean that we 
 should depress ourselves, and thereby set 
 the senate above us, I cannot conceive what 
 foundation there will be for a discrimina 
 
 tion." In answer to the above most singu 
 lar aim at equalisation, Mr. Lee, of Vir 
 ginia, said " I am in favour of the motion 
 for discriminating between the senate and 
 the house, because the constitution has done 
 it in a variety of modes. The qualifications 
 of the members of the former are superior ; 
 a senator must be a man advanced in life, 
 and have been nine years a citizen of the 
 United States ; while a younger man, who 
 has been but seven years a citizen, may 
 obtain a seat in the house. The constitu 
 tion has made a difference in the mode of 
 elections. The senators are selected with 
 peculiar care ; they are the purified choice 
 of the people, and the best men are likely 
 to be preferred those who have shown the 
 fullest proofs of their attachment to the 
 public interest, and evinced to their country 
 men their superior abilities. In order to 
 bring forth such characters to partake of 
 our public councils, I think every motive 
 of honour and of interest ought to be called 
 into action. If men are not brought forth 
 who will maintain their own dignity, and 
 promote the public interest by a firm and 
 independent conduct, regardless of every 
 risk, regardless of the voice of calumny, or 
 popular clamour, our government will soon 
 lose its importance and its energy. I con 
 template, Mr. Speaker, the senate as a 
 barrier between the executive and this 
 branch of the legislature, shielding the 
 people from any apprehension of being 
 attacked by an aspiring magistracy on the 
 one hand; and on the other, from being 
 desolated by the anarchy often generated 
 by a time-servingness to veering popularity. 
 But/ said the gentleman who last spoke, 
 there are as young men in the senate as in 
 the house. Although there be, the time 
 will come when none but the most venerable 
 and respectable of our citizens men whose 
 hoary heads are silvered over with the 
 honours of an experienced old age men 
 illustrious by their virtues and capacity, 
 will have the public confidence ensured to 
 them by the purity and notoriety of their 
 principles. Retirement and reflection ai e 
 incident to that period of life. It is such 
 men that a nation requires in the legisla 
 tive councils ; they are sought for, and, 
 when obtained, they are highly prized. 
 The wise and virtuous sage, who, from the 
 monitions of nature, has discovered that 
 his remaining years will be but few, must be 
 incited by every motive that can operate 
 on the human heart, to keep alive his 
 
 97 
 
SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 interest in human affairs. Honour may 
 stimulate the ingenuous mind; but pecu 
 niary rewards incite to action. Let it be 
 considered, that on our decision depend 
 the dignity of the legislature, and the 
 perpetuity of that government, the glory 
 and the hopes of the people of Ame 
 rica, which, if now disappointed, must 
 be succeeded by confusion and gloomy 
 despair." Mr. Madison, of Virginia, and 
 several other representatives, concurred in 
 making the distinctions; but, on the other 
 hand, several members spoke against the 
 policy. After a very lengthy and animated 
 discussion, the vote was taken, and it was 
 determined to fix the same per diem com 
 pensation for the senators and represen 
 tatives. 
 
 After the settlement of the question re 
 specting the salaries of the officials above- 
 mentioned, the house proceeded to consider 
 the various propositions for amending the 
 constitution, that had been suggested by 
 the states. Mr. Madison had been elected 
 by his constituents in Virginia, under the 
 pledge that he would use his best exertions 
 to procure certain changes in the constitu 
 tion, and, if possible, a Bill of Rights. Vir 
 ginia had proposed twenty alterations of 
 that organic instrument; Massachusetts, 
 nine amendments; South Carolina, four; 
 Pennsylvania, twelve; New Hampshire, 
 twelve; New York, thirty-two; North 
 Carolina, twentj^-six. Besides these, there 
 were minorities in other states in favour of 
 further alterations, which were supposed by 
 the majorities as not indispensably neces 
 sary at that time. After mature delibera 
 tion, seventeen amendments were adopted 
 by two-thirds of the House of Representa 
 tives. The senate reduced the number to 
 twelve, by omitting some, and coupling the 
 principles of two or more into one. The 
 twelve articles thus adopted by congress, 
 as amendments to the constitution, were 
 transmitted to the legislatures of the states 
 for their ratification. Ten of the articles 
 were adopted the other two were rejected.* 
 During the revolutionary period, and 
 
 * These and (he other amendments that have 
 been added to the constitution, will be found as a 
 note, vol. ii., p. 76. 
 
 f The sessions of the continental congress were 
 commenced as follows : September 5th, 1774 ; also 
 May 10th, 1775, at Philadelphia; December 20th 
 1776, at Baltimore; March 4th, 1777, at Phila 
 delphia; September 27th, 1777, at Lancaster 
 Pennsylvania; September 30ih, 1777, at York 
 (Yorktown), Pennsylvania: July 2nd, 1778, at 
 98 
 
 until the adoption of the constitution, the 
 stablishment of a permanent seat of gov 
 ernment was not possible, because the states 
 lad not formed themselves into a nation, 
 xcept in the nature of a league. The ar- 
 jcles of confederation did not produce a 
 unity of sufficient import to justify the cen- 
 ;ralisation of the governmental powers at 
 any fixed place. The continental congress 
 .ad been migrating from place to place, to 
 ratify sectional wishes ; though some of its 
 djournments had been necessitated during 
 ;he war, by the invasions of the enemy ; as, 
 !br example, its removal from Philadel- 
 3hia, in 1777, to Lancaster; and from 
 whence to New York (then called York- 
 town), Pennsylvania. f As the constitution 
 was framed with the idea of permanently 
 stablishing a nation and a republic ; " to 
 ibrm a more perfect Union ; establish jus 
 tice ; insure domestic tranquillity ; provide 
 for the common defence ; promote the gen 
 eral welfare; and secure the blessings of 
 liberty to ourselves and our posterity/ 
 it was quite natural that the attention of 
 congress should have been called to the 
 necessity of fixing upon some place to be 
 the permanent seat of government. The 
 inconvenience that had attended the re 
 moval of the archives the difficulty that 
 had been experienced in securing pro 
 per buildings to assemble in during the 
 war, and the general desire to be recog 
 nised in the Old World as a fixed nation, 
 added strength to the conviction in favour 
 of a permanent seat of government, as con 
 templated in Article I., section 8, of the 
 constitution. 
 
 On the 3rd of September, 1789, Mr. 
 Scott, a representative from the state of 
 Pennsylvania, started the question by the 
 introduction of a resolution in congress, 
 declaring, " that a permanent residence 
 ought to be fixed for the general govern 
 ment of the United States, at some conve 
 nient place, as near the centre of wealth, 
 population, and extent of territory, as may 
 be consistent with convenience to the navi 
 gation of the Atlantic Ocean, and having 
 
 Philadelphia; June 30th, 1783, at Princeton, New 
 Jersey; November 26ih, 1783, at Annapolis, Mary 
 land; November 1st, 1784, at Trenton, New Jer 
 sey; January llth, 1785, at New York, which, from 
 that time, continued to be the place of assembling, 
 until the adoption of the constitution in 17$9. 
 During the period of the confederation namely, 
 from 1781 to 1789 congress met annually on the 
 first Monday in November, and sometimes con. 
 tinucd during the greater part of the year. 
 
A.r. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SUSQUEHANNA. 
 
 due regard to the particular situation of the 
 western country." Before the resolution 
 was presented, the members from the New 
 England states and New York, had consid 
 ered the question among themselves, and 
 they had turned their minds to the banks of 
 the Susquehanna. The banks of the Dela 
 ware were more desirable to the eastern 
 members ; but they knew that the southern 
 representatives would not agree to a site so 
 far east ; and, in order to secure the next 
 most acceptable locality, they had agreed 
 upon the east bank of the Susquehanna. 
 As a part of the plan agreed upon, the 
 sittings of congress were to be continued 
 at the city of New York, until the neces 
 sary buildings could be constructed; and, 
 in accordance with this arrangement, Mr. 
 Boudinot, from New Jersey, presented a 
 resolution, and urged its adoption. The 
 proposition met with immediate opposi 
 tion from the southern members ; and Mr. 
 Lee, from Virginia, proposed a preamble, 
 declaring that the objects and purposes of 
 the constitution would be " best effected 
 by establishing the seat of government in 
 a station as nearly central as a convenient 
 water communication with the Atlantic 
 Ocean, and an easy access to the western 
 territory, will permit ; and that it will be 
 more satisfactory to the people of the United 
 States, and give them increased confidence 
 in the justice and wisdom of their govern 
 ment, to be assured that such a station is 
 already in the contemplation of congress ; 
 and that proper measures will be taken to 
 ascertain it, and to provide the necessary 
 accommodations" for carrying the constitu 
 tional plans into effect. The opinions de 
 clared by Mr. Lee were concurred in by 
 Mr. Madison, of Virginia, and some of the 
 other southern members. The motion was 
 defeated by a vote of 17 yeas and 34 
 nays. Mr. Tucker, of South Carolina, 
 then proposed that the merits .of each 
 locality should be discussed separately, and 
 that congress should not declare any 
 opinion respecting the fitness of the 
 place desired to be selected. Mr. Madison 
 thought that the question of the centre of 
 wealth ought not to be considered in the 
 selection of the geographical position, and 
 he moved to strike out that part of the 
 resolution offered by Mr. Scott. On the 
 question being taken, it was negatived by 
 a vote of yeas, 22; nays, 28. The ques 
 tion was then taken on Mr. Scott s resolu 
 tion, and carried by a vote of yeas, 32 ; 
 
 nays, 18. The proposition to locate the 
 permanent seat of government on the east 
 bank of the Susquehanna, was then dis 
 cussed with considerable excitement. The 
 eastern members considered that the Sus 
 quehanna was near the geographical centre 
 of the Union; in point of population, was 
 south of the centre; and it was believed 
 that the centre of population would not 
 vary for ages to come, because it was sup 
 posed that the population would incline 
 more towards the eastern and manufactur 
 ing states, than towards the southern and 
 agricultural districts. Mr. Jackson, from 
 Georgia, was opposed to the consideration 
 of the subject until after the states of 
 North Carolina and Rhode Island had 
 united under the constitution. He agreed 
 with the members from Virginia, and waa 
 sorry to see the matter precipitated, and to 
 learn that the members from New England 
 and New York had fixed on a seat of gov 
 ernment for the United States. He thought 
 sectional combinations were not proper; 
 and the news of their organisation ought 
 not to go out to the people. Jealousies 
 had already gone abroad ; and this sectional 
 coalition was calculated to blow the coals 
 of sedition, and endanger the Union. He 
 thought that other members of the Union 
 ought to have been consulted before any 
 place should have been selected by any 
 sectional representation. He asked " Are 
 the eastern members to dictate in this busi 
 ness, and fix the seat of government? 
 Why not come forward and demand of us 
 the power of legislation, and say, * Give us 
 up your privileges, and we will govern 
 you? If a part of the states have the 
 power to fix the seat of government, they 
 may as well take the government from the 
 other. This looks like aristocracy ; not the 
 united, but the partial voice of America to 
 decide." He denied the fact of the terri 
 torial centrality of the place proposed. 
 From the Susquehanna to the upper dis 
 trict of Georgia was 900 miles, and to the 
 eastern district of the Union it was but 
 400. He was of opinion that the Poto 
 mac was a better situation than the Susque 
 hanna. Mr. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, 
 was of opinion that the Delaware was 
 extreme eastern, the Potomac extreme 
 western, and the Susquehanna a fair com 
 promise, although south-west of the centre 
 of wealth, population, and resources of 
 every kind. He said -"In my view, on 
 the principle of population, it is far beyond 
 
 99 
 
SOUTHERN OPPOSITION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 the centre ; for I do not think it just, on 
 this subject, to take the constitutional com 
 putation. Will any gentleman pretend, 
 that men, who are merely the subject of 
 property or wealth, should be taken into the 
 estimate; that the slaves of the country 
 men who have no rights to protect should 
 be taken into view in determining the 
 centre of the government ? If they were 
 considered, gentlemen might as well esti 
 mate the black cattle of New England." 
 He objected to the Potomac, because " it 
 was not only unhealthy, but destructive to 
 northern constitutions. Vast numbers of 
 eastern adventurers have gone to the 
 southern states, and all have found their 
 graves there ; they have met with destruc 
 tion as soon as they arrived." Mr. Vining, 
 of Delaware, acknowledged that he was a 
 party to the bargain, though he had not 
 shared in making it ; but he was anxious 
 to act impartially ; and after maturely con 
 sidering the prospects of the west, he was 
 of opinion that the Potomac should be 
 selected. Mr. Heister, from Pennsylvania, 
 proposed Ilarrisburg as the most central 
 point, having in view the progress of the 
 west. Mr. Madison urged the adoption of 
 the Potomac as being the most acceptable 
 for the future western settlements, as the 
 Mississippi valley was nearer the east by 
 navigation on that river.* The prospects of 
 reaching the west by way of the Mohawk, 
 Juniata, and Potomac, were fully discussed, 
 and the superiority of each was energetically 
 advanced by the friends of those respective 
 routes. f The southern members urged a 
 postponement of the consideration of the 
 question ; and, on the other hand, the 
 eastern members urged immediate action, 
 and were determined to settle the question 
 at the earliest possible moment that they 
 could get a vote. 
 
 The discussions in the later part of the 
 day became somewhat sectional. Mr. Lee, 
 from Virginia, observed, that " since gentle 
 men would not admit of a moment s delay ; 
 since they seemed to declare that they had 
 
 * It was then intended to construct a canal to the 
 Ohio; but the progress of that enterprise has been 
 J slow. It was not until 18-A6 that the canal was 
 finished to Cumberland, one of its termini. Rail 
 ways have been introduced since the date of the 
 congressional discussion, and have changed the 
 facilities of reaching the seat of government. The 
 centre of population, by the census of 1860, was 
 in the north-western part of Virginia ; the geogra 
 phical centre was within the plains of the far west; 
 and the centre of wealth could not be ascertained 
 
 100 
 
 settled the matter without giving an oppor 
 tunity for full discussion ; since the house 
 was hurried to a decision on a point that 
 involved the welfare of the nation duty to 
 bis country! duty to the better half of the 
 territory of the United States, called on him 
 to come forward with another proposition." 
 He then moved to strike out the words 
 " east bank of the Susquehanna," and in 
 sert a declaration, " that the permanent 
 seat of government ought to be fixed some 
 where on the banks of the Potomac river." 
 Mr. Lee asked whether this government 
 was intended as a temporary or as a lasting 
 one ? Whether it was to be a fleeting 
 vision, or to continue for ages ? He hoped 
 the result would proclaim that the govern 
 ment was calculated for perpetuity, and 
 that the common interests of the country 
 had been consulted. If that were done, the 
 government would be removed to the Poto 
 mac ; if not, we should stop short of it : 
 and what would be the consequences ? He 
 was averse to sound alarms, or introduce 
 terror into the house ; but if they were 
 well founded, he thought it his duty. It 
 was well known with what difficulty the 
 constitution was adopted by the state of 
 Virginia. It was then said that there 
 would be confederacies of the states east of 
 Pennsylvania, which would destroy the 
 southern states ; that they would unite 
 their counsels in discussing questions rela 
 tive to their particular interests, and the 
 southern states would be disregarded. To 
 these suspicions it was answered, No ! It 
 was contended that the magnanimous policy 
 arising from mutual interests and common 
 dangers, would unite all the states, and 
 make them pursue objects of general good. 
 But if it should be found that there were 
 such confederacies as were predicted, that 
 the northern states did consult their partial 
 interests, and form combinations to support 
 them, without regarding their southern 
 brethren, they would be alarmed, and the 
 faith of all south of the Potomac would be 
 shaken. It would be shown to them, that 
 
 except upon fictitious values. The great question, 
 in I860, would have been one of facilities of com 
 munication. Thus places distant six weeks travel 
 from the Potomac, in 1789, were, at the latter date, 
 within one day by railway. 
 
 t These rivers were highly appreciated by the 
 Americans, as affording means of reaching the west ; 
 and yet, strange as it may seem, not one of the 
 three is of any value at the present day for 
 travelling, each having been superseded by the 
 railways constructed along their banks. 
 
A.D. 1789.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [POTOMAC PROPOSED. 
 
 what had been predicted by the enemies of 
 the constitution, had come to pass ; that the 
 northern states had not waited till the 
 government was organised before they 
 sacrificed the southern people to their own 
 interests. 
 
 Mr. Lawrence, from New York, thought 
 it was improper and unnecessary to hold 
 out terrors to the fancy of members. The 
 true way to convince them was to address 
 their understandings. Mr. Madison ex 
 pressed the opinion, that if a prophet had 
 risen in the Virginia convention that adopted 
 the constitution, and brought the declara 
 tions and proceedings of that day, respect 
 ing the selection of the permanent seat of 
 government, he firmly believed that Vir 
 ginia would not have been a part of the 
 Union at that moment. At this expres 
 sion, Mr. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, with 
 considerable warmth, said " Will it be con 
 tended that the majority shall not govern ; 
 and shall the minority, because they cannot 
 carry their points, accuse the house of a 
 want of candour ? Are we to be told that 
 an important state would not have joined 
 the Union had it known what would 
 have been the proceedings of this day ?" 
 He believed that a deliberation of six 
 weeks would not result in the change of 
 opinion of a single member, and he was 
 for immediate action. Mr. Madison con 
 tinued to urge a postponement of the ques 
 tion until another day. He did not wish 
 to address a determined and silent majority. 
 " No, sir, if this be the temper of to-day, 
 let me appeal to a more favourable temper 
 to-morrow. If gentlemen refuse this ap 
 peal, I must submit ; but I will, to the last 
 moment, assert my right, and remonstrate 
 against a precipitate decision." Mr. Burke, 
 from South Carolina, observed, that the 
 northern states had had a fortnight to 
 manage this matter, and would not now 
 allow the southern states a day. "What 
 was the conduct of gentlemen? A league 
 had been formed between the northern 
 states and Pennsylvania." A member from 
 the latter state denied the existence of the 
 alleged league. Mr. Wadsworth, from Con 
 necticut, said, with respect to bargaining, 
 he believed that it would reflect no honour 
 on either side of the house ; that he must 
 either give his vote then, or submit to more 
 bargaining : and he was willing that all 
 the bargaining should be exposed he 
 would not excuse himself ; he did not dare 
 vote in favour of the Potomac. He feared 
 
 VOL. n. 
 
 that the whole of New England would con 
 sider the Union destroyed if the seat of 
 government was located on that stream. 
 The house then adjourned, and on assem 
 bling the next day, the subject was again 
 considered, and, after a very lengthy dis 
 cussion, the question was taken on the sub 
 stitution of the Potomac for the Susque- 
 hanna, and negatived by a vote of yeas, 21 ; 
 and nays, 29. The southern members then 
 sought for the appointment of a commis 
 sion to examine various sites on the two 
 rivers; but the proposition was rejected. 
 The day having been occupied with the 
 discussion, the house again adjourned ; and 
 on meeting the next day, the consideration 
 of the subject was again resumed with 
 greater manifestations of sectionalism than | 
 on the preceding occasions. On the 7th of I 
 September, the resolution offered by Mr. 
 Scott was adopted. The following resolu 
 tion, previously offered, was then considered ; 
 namely " That the permanent seat of the 
 government of the United States ought to 
 be at some convenient place on the east 
 bank of the river Susquehanna, in the state 
 of Pennsylvania ; and that, until the neces 
 sary buildings be erected for the purpose, 
 the seat of government ought to continue 
 at the city of New York." 
 
 Mr. Lee proposed to strike out the words 
 "east bank of the river Susquehanna, in 
 the state of Pennsylvania/ and insert, in 
 lieu thereof, the " north bank of the river 
 Potomac, in the state of Maryland." It 
 was negatived by a vote of yeas, 21 ; nays, 
 29. It was then proposed to insert, " Wil 
 mington, Delaware," in lieu of the Susque 
 hanna, which was negatived by a vote of 
 yeas, 19 ; nays, 32. A motion was then 
 made to amend the resolution so as to refer 
 the subject to commissioners, with instruc 
 tions to examine " the various sites on 
 the Potomac, Susquehanna, and Delaware 
 rivers." This was negatived by yeas, 23 ; 
 nays, 28. Another amendment proposed to 
 insert, in lieu of the Susquehanna, the words, 
 " banks of either side of the river Delaware, 
 not more than eight miles above or below 
 the lower falls of the Delaware ;" yeas, 4 ; 
 nays, 46. It was then proposed to insert, 
 " banks of the Susquehanna," instead of the 
 " east bank ;" yeas, 26 ; nays, 25. A pro 
 position was offered to insert, after the 
 j word " Pennsylvania," the words, "or Mary 
 land ;" yeas, 25 ; nays, 26. A division on 
 the question was then called for by Mr. 
 Lee, and the vote was then taken on striking 
 
 101 
 
SUSQUEHANNA ADOPTED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1789. 
 
 out New York as the temporary seat of during that session. The friends of the Sus- 
 governrnent ; yeas, 24 ; nays, 27. The vote quehanna location ascertained that the sea- 
 was then taken on striking out the " city ate could not be induced to adopt that place 
 of New York," and inserting, in lieu thereof, for the permanent seat of government, and 
 the "borough of Wilmington, in the state the question was therefore permitted to pass 
 of Delaware ;" yeas, 21 ; nays, 30. A simi- 
 
 yeas, -Jl ; nays, 
 lar proposition was made to insert " Phi 
 ladelphia ;" yeas, 22 ; nays, 29. The ques 
 tion was then taken on the original resolu 
 tion, and was carried in the affirmative. A 
 resolution to appoint commissioners to make 
 a selection of a proper site "on the east 
 bank of the Susquehanna" was then con 
 sidered : various amendments were offered, 
 all tending to retard a definite settlement of 
 the question ; but, on taking the final ques 
 tion, it was carried in the affirmative by 
 yeas, 28; nays, 21. The committee was 
 then instructed to bring in a bill conform 
 ably to the resolutions passed. 
 
 over to the next session. 
 
 At the next meeting of congress, in Jan 
 uary, 1790, by joint resolution, it was de 
 cided that all unfinished business of the 
 preceding session was to be considered as 
 not having been acted upon by either 
 branch of congress.* During the earlier 
 part of the second session, the senate passed 
 a bill to locate the permanent seat of gov 
 ernment on the north bank of the Potomac 
 river. The bill was taken up in the house 
 on the 6th of July, and discussed for several 
 days ; and various propositions were made 
 to amend the senate bill. The question to 
 strike out " Potomac/ and insert " Balti- 
 
 On the 21st of September, the subject of | more," was negatived ; yeas, 23 ; nays, 37. 
 fixing on a permanent seat of government | On a motion to insert the "Delaware" yeas, 
 was resumed ; and on the 22nd the bill was 22 ; nays, 39. To insert " Germantown" 
 
 17. 
 
 passed, by a vote of yeas, 31 ; nays, 
 The bill was then sent to the senate, where 
 it was amended so as to read, that " a dis 
 trict of ten miles square, bounded on the 
 south by a line running parallel at one 
 mile s distance from the city of Philadel 
 phia, on the east side of the river Delaware, 
 and extending northerly and westerly, so 
 as to include Germantown." With this 
 amendment the bill was returned to the 
 house on the 26th of September, when it 
 was immediately considered. Mr. Jackson, 
 from Georgia, thought the bill was entirely 
 changed, and questioned the propriety of 
 the senate s action. " Who are those that 
 say to us," observed Mr. Jackson, " that 
 Germantown is the most proper spot that 
 can be selected ? They are the representa 
 tives of the state sovereignties ; where the 
 large and small states are equally repre 
 sented, the voice of the majority of the 
 people is lost in the inequality of that poli 
 tical branch of the legislature." A motion 
 was made to postpone the consideration of 
 the senate amendment until the next ses 
 sion ; which was negatived by a vote of 
 yeas, 25 ; nays, 29. Mr. Madison made a 
 motion to amend the bill, so as to continue 
 the laws of the state of Pennsylvania over 
 the proposed district for the seat of govern 
 ment, until congress should otherwise pro 
 vide by law ; yeas, 31 ; nays, 24. No fur 
 ther action was taken upon the measure 
 
 * This rule has been reversed ; but no unfinished 
 business can lapse from one congress to another; it 
 102 
 
 yeas, 25 ; nays, 36. Another motion, to 
 insert " Baltimore" yeas, 26 ; nays, 34. 
 On the 9th of July the question was taken on 
 the passage of the bill, which resulted in 
 the affirmative ; yeas, 32 ; nays, 29. The 
 bill contained the following clause : " That 
 a district of territory, on the river Potomac, 
 at some place between the mouths of the 
 eastern branch and the Connogocheague, 
 be, and the same is hereby accepted for the 
 permanent seat of the government of the 
 United States." 
 
 The measure became combined with 
 another question pending before congress 
 namely, the bill for the assumption of the 
 state debts. There was a strong sectional 
 party for each of the propositions, but 
 neither strong enough to command a majo 
 rity. The eastern and middle states were 
 for the assumption, and the southern states 
 were against it. The latter states were in 
 favour of locating the permanent seat of 
 government on the Potomac ; and the fornn r 
 were in favour of fixing it on the Susque 
 hanna. There was great dissatisfaction 
 between the respective parties, originating 
 from the proceedings of the house on those 
 measures. After considerable efforts to com 
 promise the difficulties, two of the southern 
 members, Lee and White from Virginia, 
 agreed to vote for the assumption, on con 
 dition that two of the northern members 
 change their votes in favour of locating the 
 
 will be remembered that two annual sessions consti 
 tute a congress. 
 
A.D. 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE ASSUMPTION- BILL. 
 
 seat of government on the Potomac. During 
 the discussion of these questions, Thomas | 
 Jefferson returned from, his mission to 
 France; and the president urged him to 
 act as a peacemaker among the members of 
 congress.* The great and trying question 
 had been lost in the House of Representa 
 tives. So high were the feuds excited on 
 the subject, that, on its rejection, business 
 was suspended. Congress met, and ad 
 journed from day to day, without doing 
 anything, the parties being too much out of 
 temper to do business together. The 
 northern members threatened secession and 
 dissolution of the Union. Hamilton was in 
 despair. Washington met Jefferson in the 
 street, and they walked to-and-fro, in 
 front of the president s door, for half-an- 
 hour ; and he described to him, pathetically, 
 the temper into which congress had been 
 wrought ; the disgust of those called the 
 creditor states ; the danger of the secession 
 of their members, and of the dissolution of 
 the Union. Various plans were suggested ; 
 and, finally, Mr. Jefferson agreed to co-ope 
 rate in making an effort to save the Union, 
 though at the sacrifice of some subordinate 
 principle; and, to effect the great end in view, 
 he held a consultation with a few friends I 
 the next day, when the arrangement was ; 
 made with Hamilton for the change of votes \ 
 as above mentioned, and thus compromise 
 the issues between the sectional parties, 
 and secure to each the measure regarded 
 by them as the most important. f The 
 assumption measure was a proposition that 
 originated with General Hamilton, the 
 secretary of the treasury, for the federal 
 government to assume the state debts, con- ! 
 tracted by them during the revolutionary 
 war, on account of the continental congress 
 in the nature of advances. It was thought 
 by many, that as these debts had been 
 created for the common good of the Union, 
 they ought to have been assumed by the 
 national government. In the aggregate, 
 these debts amounted to 21,000,000 of 
 dollars, and were divided among the states 
 as follows : New Hampshire, 300,000 
 dollars; Massachusetts 4,000,000; Rhode 
 Island, 200,000; Connecticut, 1,600,000; 
 New York, 1,200,000; New Jersey, 800,000; 
 
 * Speaking of the Assumption Bill, Mr. Jeffer 
 son, a few years subsequently, remarked, that it had 
 produced the most hitter and angry contest ever 
 known in congress, and was near dissolving the 
 Union. 
 
 t The bill declared, that the government was to 
 remove to the new city in December, 1800; and 
 
 Pennsylvania, 2,200,000; Delaware, 200,000; 
 Maryland, 800,000; Virginia, 3,200,000; 
 North Carolina, 2,200,000 ; South Caro 
 lina, 4,000,000; Georgia, 300,000. More 
 than half the aggregate was created by 
 the southern states, yet they seemed to 
 have been resolutely opposed to the assump 
 tion of those debts by the general govern 
 ment. The objections to the measures, as 
 alleged, were principally connected with 
 the fact that the debts were much larger 
 than the real value received; and it was 
 impossible to ascertain the legitimate debts 
 of either the general or state governments. 
 Many of the state liabilities were unknown, 
 and the sums above quoted were but ap 
 proximates. The act authorised the presi 
 dent to borrow 12,000,000 of dollars, for a 
 term of fifteen years, or so much thereof as 
 might be found necessary for the payment 
 of the national debt and interest that was 
 then due and unpaid. Another loan was 
 authorised for the payment of the domestic 
 debt, and in liquidation of the old conti 
 nental bills of credit. The act also autho 
 rised a loan to meet the state debts above 
 mentioned, based upon the transfer of new 
 bills of credit bearing a certain interest, 
 commencing from certain periods men 
 tioned in the bill. The faith of the United 
 States was pledged to meet the new en 
 gagements, and make up all equitable defi 
 ciencies of interest. The proceeds resulting 
 from the sales of the public domain belong 
 ing to the United States in the north-west 
 territory, were pledged to be employed in 
 the payment of the new obligations assumed 
 by the government ; and a tariff was arranged 
 on imposts, calculated to produce a very 
 large income, which, too, was to be applied 
 towards the liquidation of the national 
 debt. 
 
 When it was determined to locate, per 
 manently, the seat of government on the 
 banks of the Potomac, the states of Mary 
 land and Virginia authorised a cession of 
 territory for the purposes of the federal 
 government. In 1 788, the state of Mary 
 land passed an act to cede to the govern 
 ment a district of land, ten miles square. 
 In 1789, the state of Virginia passed a 
 similar act.;}; In 1790, congress accepted 
 until that date congress should hold its meetings 
 in the city of Philadelphia, 
 
 | In 1848, so much of the district as was ceded 
 by Virginia being all of that part lying south of 
 the Potomac was retroceded back to that state, 
 leaving the Maryland part only in the present dis 
 trict of Columbia, which embraces about sixty 
 
 103 
 
WASHINGTON CITY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 of these cessions, and a district was laid 
 out, taking about half from Maryland and 
 about half from Virginia the lines crossing 
 the Potomac river, so as to include Alex 
 andria in the district. The seat of govern 
 ment was named after WASHINGTON ; and 
 the territory, the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 The city was located on the banks of the 
 Tiber a small stream, emptying into the 
 Potomac river. Near its mouth was situated 
 Rome ; and the president s mansion was 
 built near that place. The city was laid 
 out under the directions of Washington, and 
 the places for the public buildings were all 
 selected by him. A plan of the city was 
 engraved, before the surveys were made, 
 and George Walker was sent, by Washing 
 ton, to London, for the purpose of selling 
 town lots. In March, 1793, Walker issued 
 a circular in London, stating, that " in con 
 sequence of the establishment of NATIONAL 
 FAITH, ORDER, and GOOD GOVERNMENT, by 
 the NEW CONSTITUTION, immense fortunes 
 have been amassed in America within 
 these three years past, by the national debt 
 and bank stock approaching to their full 
 value, as well as by the rapid rise in the 
 value of the back-lands. The public lots 
 in the city of Washington open the next 
 field for speculation in America, and there 
 is every probability of their being run up 
 to an enormous price, as soon as the public 
 buildings are considerably advanced ; for 
 although lands in America, from their 
 quantity, are less valuable than those in 
 Britain, yet lots in the cities generally sell 
 as high." Walker did not succeed in 
 selling many lots in London, and Washing 
 ton was compelled to get aid from his own 
 country, to complete the government build 
 ings. 
 
 The first session of congress adjourned 
 on the 29th of September, 1789 ;* and im 
 mediately thereafter, President Washington 
 set out on a tour to the New England 
 states, avoiding Rhode Island, then not a 
 member of the federal union. He passed 
 through Connecticut ; from thence pro 
 ceeding to Boston, where he was received 
 with distinguished honours. Governor 
 
 square miles, in the form of a right-angled triangle, 
 with its base upon the Potomac river. 
 
 * It must be remembered that a congress con 
 sists of a two-years term, commencing with the 
 4th of March. Each congress has two annual 
 sessions, and the representatives are elected for a 
 congress. The senators are elected for a term of 
 six years, or for three congressional epochs. 
 
 f It was the practice of Washington, and the 
 104 
 
 Hancock, at first, was disposed to over- 
 istimate the dignity of his official position, 
 as the executive of a sovereign state ; but 
 when he perceived that the president was 
 .ndifierent about his ideas of sovereignty, 
 ne yielded to a better judgment, and ex- 
 libited a due respect for the executive of 
 the nation. The president remained but a 
 ? ew days at Boston, and then proceeded to 
 S^ew Hampshire, and. from thence returned, 
 an interior route, to New York. On 
 ais journey he was received everywhere 
 with demonstrations of the greatest respect, 
 and the people did all that they could to 
 honour the executive of the new nation. 
 The effect of the journey was good, and did 
 much towards centralising the thoughts of 
 the people upon the new government. 
 
 During the recess of congress, and before 
 the end of the year, the executive and judi- 
 ial branches of the government were fully 
 organised. The affairs pertaining to the 
 respective departments were distributed 
 among the clerks, according to a well-pre 
 pared system. The Supreme Court assem 
 bled, and adopted rules to govern its pro 
 ceedings. Thus it was, step by step, that 
 the American nation was formed. 
 
 Congress assembled, pursuant to adjourn 
 ment, on the 4th of January, 1790. A 
 quorum appeared in the senate on the 6th, 
 and in the house on the 7th. On the 8th, 
 it was ordered in the senate, " That the 
 House of Representatives be informed that 
 the senate are ready to meet them in the 
 senate chambers, to receive any communi 
 cation the president of the United States 
 may be pleased to make to the two houses of 
 congress; and that the usual seats will be 
 assigned them/ The House of Represen 
 tatives having accordingly taken their seats, 
 the president of the United States came into 
 the senate chamber, and addressed both 
 houses of congress. f After congratulating 
 the members on the prosperous condition of 
 the country, and on the bright hopes in the 
 future, he informed them, that among the 
 interesting subjects which would engage 
 their attention, would be one having refer 
 ence to the common defence of the country. ! 
 
 elder Adams, to deliver their messages in person to 
 the two houses of congress in joint session ; but, i 
 during the administration of Jefferson, in 1801, after 
 the seat of government had been removed to Wash 
 ington city, the custom was changed, on account of 
 the inconvenience of assembling the two branches 
 of congress together in the same room. Since that 
 date, the president has never delivered his annual 
 message in person, 
 
A.D. 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE PRESIDENT S SPEECH. 
 
 " To be prepared for war," said Washing 
 ton, " is one of the most effectual means o 
 preserving peace. A free people ought noi 
 only to be armed, but disciplined ; to which 
 end, a uniform and well-digested plan i 
 requisite ; and their safety and interest re 
 quire that they should promote such manu 
 factures as tend to render them independent 
 of others for essential, particularly military 
 supplies." The president called the atten 
 tion of congress to the condition of the 
 Indians upon the frontiers, and counselled a 
 pacific but resolute policy : the foreign rela 
 tions were referred to as requiring the most 
 careful attention ; a uniform rule of natu 
 ralisation ; uniformity in the currency, and 
 in weights and measures the advancement 
 of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce 
 were recommended for the consideration of 
 congress. He was of opinion, that there 
 was nothing that could better deserve the 
 attention of congress than the promotion of 
 science and literature. " Knowledge, in 
 every country," said Washington, " was the 
 surest basis of public happiness. In one in 
 which the measures of government receive 
 their impression .so immediately from the 
 sense of the community as in ours, it is 
 proportionately essential. To the security 
 of a free constitution it contributes in va 
 rious ways by convincing those who are 
 intrusted with the public administration, 
 that every valuable end of government is 
 best answered by the enlightened confidence 
 of the people ; and by teaching the people 
 themselves to know and to value their own 
 rights ; to discern and provide against in 
 vasions of them ; to distinguish between 
 oppression and the necessary exercise of 
 lawful authority ; between burthens pro 
 ceeding from a disregard to their conve 
 nience, and those resulting from the inev 
 itable exigencies of society ; to discriminate 
 the spirit of liberty from that of licen 
 tiousness cherishing the first, avoiding 
 the last ; and uniting a speedy but tem 
 perate vigilance against encroachments, 
 with an inviolable respect to the laws." 
 These noble and patriotic views marked 
 * At the commencement of the government, the 
 president delivered a speech to the joint assembly 
 of the two houses of congress ; and the first part 
 was addressed to his " Fellow-citizens of the Senate 
 and House of Representatives." After having dis 
 cussed the general affairs of the nation, he then 
 proce.-ded to address the " Gentlemen of the House 
 of Representatives" with reference to the fiscal af 
 fairs. He concluded by directing his remarks to 
 the " Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Re 
 presentatives." This was the form observed by the 
 
 the character of Washington, and exhibited 
 his great wisdom and discriminating mind 
 with respect to bodies politic, the power 
 of the sovereign government, and the im 
 munities of the people composing it. The 
 president, after having delivered his speech,* 
 retired ; and then the two houses separated. 
 The answers from the houses of congress 
 to the president, expressed sentiments of 
 the highest respect and confidence; and, 
 at the same time, they promised to support 
 the executive in his administrative policy. 
 After the regular organisation of congress, 
 the respective bodies proceeded to legislate 
 upon the ordinary affairs of the natfon. 
 The state of Rhode Island had at this time, 
 January, 1790, not ratified the federal con 
 stitution, and was acting as an independent 
 republic. Its refusal to enter the Union 
 had incurred not only the displeasure of 
 the federalists in congress, but it acted in a 
 spirit of antagonism against that state ; 
 and so much so, in fact, that, on the 18th 
 of May, a committee to whom, had been 
 referred a certain resolution that had passed 
 the senate, "to consider what provision 
 will be proper for congress to make in the 
 present session, respecting the state of 
 Rhode Island" reported a bill " to prevent 
 the bringing of goods, wares, and merchan 
 dise from the state of Rhode Island and 
 Providence Plantations into the United 
 States ; and to authorise a demand of 
 money" for certain importations. The bill 
 Dassed by a vote of thirteen to eight. The 
 state of North Carolina had ratified the 
 Constitution on the 21st of November, 1789, 
 ,nd the president congratulated the nation 
 on the accession of that important state, in 
 iis annual address to congress in January, 
 1790. The federalists of Rhode Island 
 ,hen increased their efforts in behalf of the 
 Jnion ; and as North Carolina had become 
 a member of the government, the antir 
 federalists had no example to present to 
 ,he people to encourage them to remain in. 
 lependent. Eleven days after the passing 
 of the resolution above cited, the federal 
 )arty triumphed in Rhode Island, and that 
 overeign of Great Britain on the opening of par- 
 iament. Each house, after the president retired, 
 ippointed a committee to prepare an answer to the 
 ddress. This answer was reported to the house, 
 liscussed, amended, adopted, and thus formally pre- 
 ented to the president, who responded in writing 
 o the respective houses. This custom continued 
 until December, 1801, when Mr. Jefferson commu- 
 licated by message, directing the same to his " Fel- 
 ow-citizens of the Senate and House of Represen- 
 atives." 
 
 105 
 
RHODE ISLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 state, the last of the thirteen, ratified the 
 constitution, and became a member of the 
 federal union on the 29th day of May, 
 1790. 
 
 The people of Rhode Island having at 
 last agreed to enter the Union, the presi 
 dent of the United States was informed of 
 the fact, and with the greatest satisfaction 
 he transmitted to congress a special mes 
 sage ; namely : " Having received official 
 information of the accession of the state of 
 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 
 to the constitution of the United States, I 
 take the earliest opportunity of communi 
 cating the same to you, with my congra 
 tulations on the happy event, which unites, 
 under the general government, all the states 
 which were originally confederated ; and 
 have directed my secretary to lay before 
 you a copy of the letter from the president 
 of the convention of the state of Rhode 
 Island." This gratifying intelligence was 
 received throughout the country with re 
 joicings, and the people felt that they had 
 at last become a united and permanent 
 nation ; that they had formed a republic 
 that would continue for all time. 
 
 The constitution had been formed after 
 the most careful consideration, by the dele 
 gates of the respective states ; who, as true 
 patriots, seemed to have kept steadily in 
 view that which appeared to them of the 
 greatest importance " the consolidation of 
 the Union," and the establishment of a 
 NATION. The states surrendered certain 
 powers, and a great sovereignty was created 
 i the people became as ONE. 
 
 On the admission of North Carolina into 
 the Union, and with it the relinquishment 
 of that state s jurisdiction over the Cherokee 
 regions then in part known as Franklin 
 congress proceeded immediately to make 
 permanent peaceful arrangements with that 
 powerful tribe of Indians. With respect 
 to the Cherokees, the president transmitted 
 to the senate, on the llth of August, 1790, 
 a message requesting advice. He stated 
 that the treaty of Hopewell, signed on the 
 
 * All of these measures have been prominent in 
 the history of the government ; and, at times, one 
 pr more of them have produced excitements that 
 
 1st of September, 1785, had not been fully 
 respected by the whites ; and, notwithstand 
 ing he had issued a proclamation forbid 
 ding all unwarratable intrusions, and re 
 quiring all those who had settled upon the 
 hunting-grounds of the Cherokees to de 
 part, with their families and effects, without 
 loss of time, upwards of 500 families had, 
 in the meantime, settled upon the Cherokee 
 lands, exclusive of a large number of inhab 
 itants, who had located between the fork 
 of the French, Broad, and Holstein rivers. 
 " As the obstructions," said Washington, 
 " to a proper conduct on this matter have 
 been removed since it was mentioned to the 
 senate, on the 22nd of August, 1789, by the 
 accession of North Carolina to the present 
 Union, and the cessions of the lands in 
 question, I shall conceive myself bound to 
 exert the powers intrusted to me by the 
 constitution, in order to carry into faithful 
 execution the treaty of Hopewell, unless it 
 shall be thought proper to attempt to 
 arrange a new boundary with the Cherokee s, 
 embracing the settlements, and compen 
 sating the Cherokees for the cessions they 
 shall make." On this point the president 
 requested the senate s advice ; and that 
 body immediately passed a resolution, re 
 commending the president to carry out the 
 views he had expressed in his message, 
 assuring him that it would confirm a treaty 
 for the purchase of the Indian titles, pro 
 vided the annuity to be paid the Cherokees 
 did not exceed 1,000 dollars. During the 
 congress of 1790, various national measures 
 were considered : among them were bills 
 for taking the census of the states ; con 
 cerning the federal and state debts ; pro 
 viding a uniform rule of naturalisation ; 
 the African slave trade ; duties on spirits ; 
 bank of the United States ; public lands ; and 
 the abolition of slavery.* 
 
 During the recess of congress, the pre 
 sident visited Rhode Island, in honour of 
 its becoming a member of the Union. He 
 was welcomed by the people with great 
 
 endangered the perpetuity of the Union. The re 
 spective questions will be considered as belonging 
 to epochs of which they were the most important. 
 
 100 
 
A.I). 1781.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VERMONT 
 
 NT AND KENTUCKY ADMITTED AS STATES INTO THK UNION; CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT I 
 POPULATION OF THK STATKS ; THE FRONTIERS OF THE SOUTH AND WEST. 
 
 SHORTLY after the commencement of the 
 revolutionary war, the settlers of that 
 tract of land lying between the present 
 states of New Hampshire and New York, 
 declared themselves free and independent 
 a body politic, as a sovereign state and 
 the brave and hardy mountaineers of that 
 country readily united in every effort to 
 resist the British forces then invading the 
 northern states. The patriotic efforts of 
 those people, called Vermonters, were very 
 acceptable to the revolutionists ; but the 
 states of New Hampshire and New York 
 were not disposed to recognise their poli 
 tical independence. New Hampshire, how 
 ever, had granted certain lands within the 
 disputed district, and having acquired the 
 consideration for them, was disposed to 
 protect the rights of the people in every 
 possible manner. At the same time, the 
 state of New York claimed the proprietor 
 ship of the same lands, and proceeded to 
 sell and convey grants covered by the 
 New Hampshire sales. The claim of New 
 York was founded upon the grant given 
 by Charles II., in 1664, to his brother, the 
 Duke of York; which contained a grant, 
 among other things, of " all the lands from 
 the west side of the Connecticut river, to the 
 east side of the Delaware Bay." The state 
 of New Hampshire alleged that its juris 
 diction extended to the western longitude 
 of Massachusetts. In this state of things, 
 the settlers having once purchased their 
 property, and under the belief that the 
 New York claims were not valid, deter 
 mined to sever all political connection with 
 the disputing states, and form themselves 
 into an independent and sovereign power. 
 The war having spread the invading armies 
 over New York, that state could not do 
 more than quietly await the events of the 
 future, to make good its claims to the dis 
 puted territory. On the proposition to 
 form the confederation under the articles 
 of 1777, Vermont took early action towards 
 entering the Union, under its constitu 
 tional government, formed in that year ; 
 but its effects were thwarted by the oppo 
 sition of New York. The proposition for 
 
 the admission of the state of Vermont into 
 i the federal union, was pending for some 
 I years before congress ; and, at the same 
 time, the question, as a disputed boundary 
 issue between the states of New Hamp 
 shire and New York, was under considera 
 tion by the confederation, as a court of 
 arbitration. On the 7th of August, 1781, 
 the committee to whom the subject had 
 been referred, reported 
 
 "Whereas, the states of New Hampshire and 
 New York have submitted to congress the decision 
 of the disputes between them and the people in. 
 habiting the New Hampshire grants, on the west 
 side of the Connecticut river, called the state of 
 Vermont, concerning their respective claims of 
 jurisdiction over the said territory, and have been 
 heard thereon ; and, whereas, the people aforesaid 
 claim and exercise the power of a sovereign inde 
 pendent state, and have requested to be admitted 
 into the federal union of the United States of 
 America ; in order thereto, and that they may have 
 an opportunity to be heard in vindication of their 
 said claim : 
 
 " Hesofved, That a committee of five be appointed 
 to consider, with such person or persons as may be 
 appointed by the people residing on the New 
 Hampshire Grants, on the west side of the Connec 
 ticut river, or by their representative body, respect 
 ing their claims to be an independent state ; and on 
 what terms it may be proper to admit them into the 
 federal union of these states, in case the United 
 States in congress assembled, shall determine to 
 recognise their independence, and thereof make 
 report." N 
 
 The committee was instructed to give- 
 notice to the states of New York and New 
 Hampshire; and it was resolved that the 
 federal government would, in case it recog 
 nised the independence of Vermont, con 
 sider all the lands belonging to New 
 Hampshire and New York, respectively, 
 without the limits of Vermont, as coming 
 within the mutual guaranty of territory 
 contained in the articles of confederation ; 
 and that congress would guaranty such 
 lands, and this jurisdiction over the same, 
 against any claims or encroachments from 
 the inhabitants of Vermont. 
 
 On the 17th of August, 1781, the com 
 mittee reported the result of their labours ; 
 and, on the 20th, congress came to the 
 following conclusion : 
 
 " It being the fixed purpose of congress to 
 
 107 
 
VERMONT DISTRICT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1732. 
 
 adhere to the guaranty to the states of New Hamp 
 shire and New York, contained in the resolution of 
 the 7th instant: 
 
 " Resolved, That it be an indispensable prelimi 
 nary to the recognition of the independence of the 
 people inhabiting the territory called Vermont, and 
 their admission into the federal union, that they 
 explicitly relinquish all demands of lands or juris 
 diction on the east side of the west bank of the 
 Connecticut river, and on the west side of a line 
 beginning at the north-west corner of the state of 
 Massachusetts ; thence running twenty miles east of 
 the Hudson river, so far as the said river runs 
 north-easterly in its general course ; then by the 
 west bounds of the townships granted by the late 
 governor of New Hampshire to the river running 
 from South Bay to Lake Champlain ; thence along 
 the said river to Lake Champlain ; thence along the 
 waters of Lake Champlain to the latitude of forty- 
 five degrees north, excepting a neck of land be 
 tween Missiskoy Bay and the waters of Lake 
 Champlain."* 
 
 New York was the only state that voted 
 against the preceding resolution ; and the 
 delegates indicated that their state would 
 not accede to the proposed recognition of 
 the sovereignty of Vermont. The people of 
 Vermont were not disposed to restrict 
 themselves to the boundaries prescribed, 
 as they claimed all the territory lying 
 between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. 
 On the 1st of March, 1782, congress con 
 sidered a resolution, re-declaring the boun 
 daries above given, with but a few im 
 material changes ; and another, to the 
 effect, that unless the people of Vermont 
 did not desist from attempting to exercise 
 jurisdiction over the lands guaranteed to 
 New Hampshire and New York, and lay 
 without the boundaries fixed by the pro 
 ceedings of congress on the 20th of August, 
 1781, and should not, within a certain time, 
 agree to the conditions required as pre 
 liminary to becoming a state in the federal 
 union ; then, in that case, congress would 
 consider the neglect and refusal as a 
 manifest indication of designs hostile to the 
 United States ; and that all the pretensions 
 and applications of the inhabitants of the 
 district of Vermont, theretofore, made for 
 admission into the Union, as fallacious and 
 delusive; and that thereupon the federal 
 forces should be employed against the 
 inhabitants of Vermont; and that congress 
 would " consider all the lands within the 
 said territory, to the eastward of a line 
 drawn along the summit of a ridge of 
 mountains, or heights of land, extending 
 from the south to north, through the said 
 district, between the Connecticut river on 
 
 * The boundary is nearly the same as the limits 
 of Vermont at this time. 
 
 108 
 
 the east, and the Hudson river and Lake 
 Champlain on the west, as guaranteed to 
 the states of New Hampshii-e and New 
 York, respectively" east of the said line 
 to the former, and west thereof to the 
 latter. This proposition iailed to pass con 
 gress by the vote of states, though, of the 
 delegates present, there were 19 ayes, and 
 11 noes. 
 
 On the 1st of April, the Vermont com 
 missioners delivered a letter to congress, 
 declaring, that the state of Vermont had 
 invariably endeavoured to comply with the 
 recommendations of congress in such a 
 manner as was consistent with its obliga 
 tions ; that Vermont was under the govern 
 ment of the people inhabiting the east and 
 west union, or settlements, and they fer 
 vently desired to maintain the peace and 
 harmony of their fellow-citizens. The 
 commissioners, also, enclosed a series of 
 resolutions of the legislature of Vermont, 
 having in view a compliance with the pro 
 ceedings of congress ; and authorising them 
 to sign the federal articles whenever the 
 state should be admitted as a member of 
 the confederation. By an almost unani 
 mous vote the communication was referred. 
 On the 17th of April the committee re 
 ported favourably upon the documents 
 presented, and expressed the opinion, " that 
 the people of the district had fully complied 
 with resolutions of congress, as preliminary 
 to a recognition of their sovereignty and 
 independence, and admission into the federal 
 union of the states, and that the conditional 
 promise and engagement of congress of 
 such recognition and admission is thereby 
 become absolute, and necessary to be per 
 formed." Accompanying the report was a 
 resolution, declaring, " that the district or 
 territory called Vermont, be, and it is 
 hereby recognised and acknowledged by 
 the name of the state of Vermont, as free, 
 sovereign, and independent; and that a 
 committee be appointed to treat and confer 
 with the agents and delegates from the said 
 state, upon the terms and mode of the 
 admission of the said states into the federal 
 union." The vote on the resolution was 
 almost unanimous in the negative. The 
 state of New York had opposed the recog 
 nition of the sovereignty of Vermont, and, 
 by act of its legislature, had denounced the 
 proceedings of the people of that district, 
 respecting the formation of the new 
 state, and declared the people thereof 
 guilty of high treason. The legislature 
 
A.D. 1782.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NEW YORK OPPOSITION. 
 
 of New York transmitted to congress 
 a protest against the recognition of the j 
 independence of the state of Vermont, de- ( 
 claring that district to be domain of the 
 state of New York, guaranteed to be pro 
 tected by the United States, under the 
 articles of confederation. As the people 
 of Vermont had been outlawed by the legis 
 lature of New York, and had not been able 
 to obtain a recognition of their indepen 
 dence and sovereignty as a state, after 
 having nobly fought for the freedom of 
 the country in common with the people 
 of the other states, and, at the expense 
 of its blood and treasure, aided to repel 
 the invasions of the enemy although 
 they had conformed to all the requirements 
 prescribed by congress, there was mani 
 fested a disposition to resume their allegi 
 ance to the British government. Situated 
 as they were, it was but natural that the Ver- 
 monters should prefer a return to the king 
 rather than a submission to the sovereignty 
 of New York, and be subjected to the pen 
 alties of outlawry. In order to relieve the 
 disaflected district from their declared 
 entanglement, the legislature of New 
 York, in April 1782, passed sundry acts 
 to establish certain land titles, and for 
 granting pardon to those who had nul 
 lified its sovereignty. One of these 
 acts declared " Whereas, divers inhabi 
 tants residing in the north-eastern part of 
 this state, who have heretofore decried the 
 sovereignty and jurisdiction of the people 
 of this state, in and over that part of this 
 state, and by their unwarrantable combina 
 tion created commotions, to the great dis 
 turbance of the peace* and tranquillity of 
 this state, have, by their humble petition 
 to the legislature, represented that they 
 were seduced and misled, by artful and de 
 signing men, from their duty and allegiance 
 to the state ; and have, moreover, professed 
 a sincere repentance of their crimes and 
 misdemeanors, and implored the clemency 
 of government, and humbly entreated the 
 passing of an act of indemnity, oblivion, 
 and pardon; and the legislature being dis 
 posed to extend mercy, therefore be it 
 enacted," that the persons residing in the 
 said district of Vermont, bounded as here 
 inbefore given, "are hereby acquitted, par 
 doned, released, and discharged from all 
 treasons, felonies, and conspiracies what 
 soever, at any time heretofore done and 
 committed by them, or any of them, against 
 the people of the state of New York, as 
 VOL. n. Q 
 
 sovereign thereof, or against the govern 
 ment and authority derived from, or estab 
 lished by the said people ; all capital, cor 
 poral, or pecuniary punishment, fines and 
 forfeitures, judgments and executions, to 
 which they were severally liable in con 
 sequence of the crimes and offences afore 
 said, are hereby remitted and discharged, 
 and all and every the said persons shall be, 
 and hereby are, fully and wholly restored, 
 in person and estate, to the same state and 
 condition wherein they severally were at 
 any time before the said crimes and offences 
 were committed or perpetrated." By this 
 act, the people of the district were restored 
 to their political rights as citizens of the 
 state of New York. But there was still 
 another important consideration with the 
 people, which, in fact, had been the first 
 cause moving them to declare their sove 
 reignty namely, the conflicting land titles. 
 The colony of New Hampshire had issued 
 charters or grants covering much of the 
 district; and the state of New York denied 
 the validity of these titles, and for some of 
 the lands had issued other deeds of sale. 
 These lapsing of titles produced much ex 
 citement among the people who had settled 
 upon the lands in good faith under the 
 New Hampshire grants. For the purpose 
 of quieting the land title difficulties, the 
 legislature of New York enacted a law, de 
 claring that all grants of lands "made or 
 issued by the government of New Hamp 
 shire, and which were made or issued prior 
 to any charter, patent, or grant for the 
 same lands heretofore made or issued by 
 the government of the late colony now 
 state of New York shall be, and are hereby 
 ratified and confirmed to the respective 
 grantees, their heirs or assigns." For the 
 purpose of quieting the land claimants 
 under the Vermont government, it was de 
 clared, that " Whereas, many of the inhabi 
 tants residing within the district of country 
 above described, did, in or about the year 
 1777, declare themselves an independent 
 people, and did assume a government under 
 the name, style, and title of the government 
 of the state of Vermont; and the said gov 
 ernment hath made grants of land within 
 the said territory ;" therefore be it enacted, 
 "that all charters, grants, or patents for 
 lands, made or issued by the said govern 
 ment of Vermont, be, and the same are 
 hereby ratified and confirmed to the respec 
 tive grantees." Such were the proceedings 
 of the legislature of the slate of New York, 
 
 109 
 
THE COMPROMISE.] 
 
 [A.D. 1791. 
 
 intended to harmonise the people of Ver 
 mont, and win them to the sovereignty of 
 that state. But these acts failed to attain 
 the desired end. 
 
 The revolutionary war having virtually 
 terminated by the surrender of Cornwallis, 
 in 1781, the Vermonters had no longer an 
 opportunity to give apprehensions to the 
 federal states of their returning to the 
 king, by which the British government 
 could claim the district as a part of its 
 territory. Under these circumstances, and 
 the general " pardon and settling act," 
 passed by the legislature of New York, the 
 friends of Vermont, in the continental 
 congress, could not effect a recognition of the 
 independence of that district as a sovereign 
 state. The question was but little agitated 
 for several years, not because the disaffected 
 people were less determined to maintain 
 their alleged rights the dormancy was 
 owing to the general decay of the confede 
 ration. The federal government was re 
 garded as a failure, and the states seemed 
 to care but little for maintaining it, par 
 ticularly as the demands upon them for 
 monies to support the public credit, and 
 carry on the government, was, to some 
 extent, unavoidably oppressive. Another 
 effort was made to get admission into the 
 Union in 1787, but the applications failed 
 on account of the protest of New York. 
 The population of Vermont rapidly in 
 creased, and the state of New York found 
 it more difficult to establish its jurisdiction 
 in the declared rebellious district. The 
 proposition to form a federal constitution 
 in 1786, gave the Vermonters faith in the 
 prospects of an ultimate recognition of 
 their independence, and from that moment 
 they became more determined than ever to 
 maintain their sovereignty. Yielding to 
 the necessity of the case, the New York 
 legislature appointed commissioners in July, 
 1789, to settle all matters in controversy 
 with the government of Vermont, and to 
 acknowledge the independence of the state. 
 This happy decision of the New York legis 
 lature was duly appreciated by Vermont, 
 and a commission was appointed to arrange 
 the conditions, as preliminary to the recog 
 nition of its sovereignty. It was stipulated 
 that the state of Vermont should pay to 
 the citizens of New York, holding titles of 
 lands lapsing upon the "New Hampshire 
 grants," the sum of 30,000 dollars, to be 
 distributed according to some agreed scale ; 
 the western boundary was to run with the 
 110 
 
 middle of Lake Champlain, and the most 
 western boundary of the westernmost " New 
 Plampshire grant." These conditions were 
 accepted by the legislature of Vermont ; 
 and then New York, following the example 
 of Virginia with respect to Kentucky, 
 favoured the admission of the state of 
 Vermont into the federal union. The acts 
 of the respective legislatures of the two 
 states were transmitted to the president, 
 who laid them before congress on the 
 9th of February, 1791: on the 18th of 
 the same month an act of congress was 
 approved by the president for the ad 
 mission of the state of Vermont into the 
 Union. No formality was observed re 
 specting the nature of its constitution. 
 The state had been recognised by New 
 York as sovereign and independent ; and it 
 was with that evidence that Vermont was 
 admitted without question into the federal 
 union. The act of congress declared "Ver 
 mont having petitioned congress, on the 
 4th daj r of March, 1791, shall be received 
 into the Union, as a new and entire member 
 of the United States of America." There 
 was no constitution either submitted to, or 
 required by congress. 
 
 We have, in the preceding, briefly given 
 the history of Vermont, and its efforts to 
 attain its independence. It was the first 
 state that was admitted into the federal 
 union ; and certainly it was justly entitled 
 to the honour. The people of that noble 
 state had maintained their independence 
 against opposition from the states of New 
 Hampshire and New York ; and, besides, 
 they had won many laurels on the field of 
 battle. In the midst of all these difficulties 
 the people were resolute and united for the 
 ultimate realisation of freedom. Their 
 hardy lives had fitted them to enforce their 
 will, and resist the evasive policy of the 
 neighbouring states. To the honour of all 
 the parties, for much of the period occupied 
 by the revolutionary war, the domestic con 
 flict was allowed to rest each having 
 abandoned the home quarrel for the time 
 ! being, to unite against a common and fo 
 reign foe. After the war, the whole coun- 
 j try required tranquillity ; that long struggle 
 having produced a general desire for peace 
 with all the world, and especially between 
 i the colonies. They had conquered their 
 independence at a great cost ; and the re 
 sponsibility of maintaining it was fully ap 
 preciated. The people of Vermont, by their 
 I valuable services in the war, had proved 
 
A.D. 1783.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [KENTUCKY DISTRICT. 
 
 themselves resolute, fearless, and brave. 
 After the treaty of peace, they felt that 
 they had done their part in the achievement j 
 of the national glory ; and that glory they 
 were determined to enjoy as a sovereignty. 
 Great Britain was anxious to retain Ver 
 mont as a part of its possessions ; but to 
 all its entreaties the people of that district 
 remained inexorable. They were equally 
 firm with the state of New York. They 
 desired the independence and sovereignty 
 of their state ; and having fairly merited 
 those political immunities by their patriotic 
 conduct in the times of war and of peace, 
 they were successful, and achieved the great 
 desideratum on the 4th of March, 1791. 
 Thus a new and a brilliant star was added 
 to the federal galaxy. 
 
 While the mountaineers of the east were 
 struggling for sovereignty as a body politic, 
 the hardy pioneers in Kentucky were form 
 ing themselves into an independent state, 
 by concurrent authority of the federal con 
 gress and the legislature of Virginia. In 
 former chapters of this work we have re 
 ferred to a few of the thrilling incidents 
 that occurred in the west during the revo 
 lutionary border war. Kentucky was a part 
 of Virginia, and it was peopled by brave 
 adventurers from that state. They were 
 fearless, resolute, and intelligent, and no 
 thing could induce them to swerve from, 
 their views of propriety and right. 
 
 Early in the year 1783,* Kentucky was 
 erected into a judicial district, co-extensive 
 with the whole of its territory, from the 
 Big Sandy, in the east, to the confluence of 
 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in the west. 
 The first session of the court was held at 
 Harrodsburg, in May of that year. During 
 the summer, a court-house and a gaol were 
 erected, according to order, of " hewed or 
 sawed logs, nine inches thick," on the spot 
 where the town of Danville is situated. 
 
 The war with Great Britain having ter 
 minated, a large number of people, no 
 longer required in the service of the 
 country, were at liberty to seek new pur 
 suits ; and many of them settled in the 
 west, upon bounty or military lands. It 
 
 * Marshall s History of Kentucky. 
 
 t The origin of the term " Old Dominion," has 
 produced much controversy, and some authors 
 nave exhibited considerable ingenuity in account 
 ing for the term. We have carefully investigated 
 the old authorities, and have come to the con 
 clusion, that the term " Old" was common with the 
 people and on maps, as applied to Virginia, in 
 contradistinction from "New" Virginia, which, at 
 
 fell to the lot of Kentucky to receive a 
 large number of those hardy men ; and 
 with the increase of population, the neces 
 sity for a local government was the more 
 seriously required. The seat of govern 
 ment of Virginia was too far distant to be 
 of much benefit to the people of Kentucky ; 
 and, in order to secure " the most good to 
 the greatest number," the inhabitants 
 thought it wise to make an effort towards 
 the formation of a new state, and the erec 
 tion of an independent sovereignty. A 
 public assembly recommended, " that each 
 militia company in the district should, on. 
 a certain day, elect one delegate ; and that 
 the delegates thus chosen should assemble 
 in Danville, on the 27th of December, 
 17S4." The delegates were accordingly 
 elected, and, on the day indicated, they met 
 and organised themselves under the style 
 of a " convention." This was an event in 
 the history of " the land of blood" one 
 that made a mark in the pathway of its 
 career. They were representatives of the 
 people who were living in the forests of 
 this most western of inhabited regions, and 
 they were assembled in convention for the 
 purpose of adopting such measures as 
 would, in their judgment, best subserve the 
 public weal the spread of civil liberty. 
 They were not a dissatisfied band of poli 
 ticians, but they were pure and devoted 
 patriots, each loving the state of their 
 early years, and only desiring to sever 
 their allegiance for a reciprocal and mutual 
 good ; not to rival any other state of the 
 Union, but to further the same political 
 policy that had been established by the 
 " Old Dominion." f Virginia, in 1607, 
 extended from the southern to the northern 
 boundaries of the British authority in 
 America, and piece by piece had been 
 taken from it for the formation of other 
 colonies, provinces, or proprietaries ; and 
 the settlers of Kentucky proposed to fur 
 ther reduce the domain of that, the oldest 
 state of the Union. The delegates assem- 
 j bled in convention at Danville, and de- 
 I cided that it was expedient to organise a 
 new state by a constitutional separation, 
 
 an early epoch, embraced the country north of the 
 Potomac, including New England. The term 
 "Dominion" was used in legal documents; such as, 
 for example, " the colony and dominion of Vir 
 ginia;" the king (1626) "reserved to himself a 
 quit-rent of two shillings per annum for every 
 hundred acres of land, lying and situated within the 
 Dominion* of Virginia." The term, therefore, was 
 the " Old Dominion" of Virginia. 
 
 Ill 
 
A STATE PROPOSED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1736. 
 
 but that it had no power to act in the pre 
 mises. It recommended the election of 
 delegates from each of the counties of 
 Kentucky, to the legislature of Virginia ; 
 and that, at the same time, twenty-five 
 delegates to another convention should be 
 elected by the people. These delegates 
 having been chosen, assembled at Danville 
 on the 23rd of May, 1785, and resolved 
 that a separation from Virginia was neces 
 sary ; that an address to the people of 
 Kentucky be published ; and that dele 
 gates to another convention should be 
 elected in July, who were to assemble at 
 Danville in August following. The people 
 elected the new delegates, who met toge 
 ther at Danville, as had been prescribed. 
 Addresses were prepared and scattered 
 throughout the state ; a petition was adopted, 
 to be sent to the Virginia legislature ; and 
 the chief justice of the district, George 
 Muter, and the attorney-general, Harry 
 Innis, were deputed to present the petition 
 to the legislature, praying for a separation. 
 In 1785, the commissioners proceeded to 
 Williamsburg, then the seat of government 
 of Virginia, and presented the Kentucky 
 memorial ; and, after mature deliberation, i 
 the legislature, in January, 1786, passed ! 
 an act, almost unanimously, complying 
 with the wishes of the Kentucky conven 
 tion, excepting a few unimportant condi 
 tions ; among which were the following : 
 They required a fourth convention, to 
 assemble at Danville in September, 1786 ; 
 which should determine whether it were the 
 will of the district to become an inde 
 pendent state of the confederacy, upon the 
 conditions in the act enumerated in an 
 instrument well known in the history of 
 that state as the " Kentucky compact." 
 If the convention should determine upon 
 separation, they were required to fix upon 
 a day posterior to the 1st of September, 
 1787, on which the authority of Virginia 
 was to cease and determine for ever ; pro 
 vided, however, that previous to the 1st 
 day of June, 1787, the congress of the 
 United States should assent to the said act, 
 and receive the new state into the Union.* 
 The conduct of the legislature was re 
 ceived by the Kentuckians with very great 
 satisfaction ; and the generous course pur 
 sued by the state of Virginia, in according to 
 the people of its western country the privi 
 lege of separation, if they should prefer to 
 form an independent state, had the effect of 
 * Jutirnid oftlie Virginia Legislature, 1786. 
 112 
 
 increasing the affection of the people for 
 Virginia, and the measure was less favoured 
 immediately thereafter than it had been 
 the year previous. At the same time there 
 was considerable dissatisfaction with the 
 confederation government, which, as we 
 have repeatedly mentioned, was on a rapid 
 decline. The British had not surrendered 
 the western posts ; and the federal congress 
 had not taken any steps towards protecting 
 the settlers in the west from the incursions 
 of the savage tribes that continued to roam 
 in the north-west, unchecked by the British 
 forces stationed on the lakes. The people 
 of Kentucky had not only lost faith in the 
 federal government, on account of its 
 neglecting to protect the lives of the fron 
 tier settlers ; but they manifested the 
 greatest indignation at the proposition, 
 favoured in congress by several of the 
 north-eastern states, to yield to a foreign 
 nation, for twenty years, the right to navi 
 gate the Mississippi river and its tributa 
 ries to the ocean. The proceedings of the 
 federal government on the questions just 
 mentioned, rendered it doubtful, in the 
 opinion of the Kentuckians, whether or not 
 it was best to enter the Union ; and as Vir 
 ginia had made the admission a condition 
 of separation, it was seriously argued that 
 an independent declaration of severance 
 should be made. At that date there was 
 not a printing-press in Kentucky, nor was 
 there a mail- post to any part of that country. 
 The people were separated from the Atlan- 
 tic states by a wide and desolate wilderness ; 
 news travelled slowly ; and, in most cases, it 
 had to be repeated from one to the other, 
 each colouring the statements according to 
 caprice or circumstances. Ambitious men 
 were soon at work, and an independent 
 empire was by many seriously advocated. 
 
 The election of delegate to the fourth 
 convention took place early in 1786; and 
 among those chosen was General James 
 Wilkinson, of Fayette county. Wilkinson 
 was a man of great energy and talents ; he 
 knew the character of the country, and its 
 capabilities for maintaining itself inde- ; 
 pendent of an association with the federal 
 government. The general openly advo 
 cated the absolute independence of Ken 
 tucky, and the formation of a separate 
 empire, embracing the north-west and the , 
 regions south to the Gulf of Mexico, with j 
 the Mississippi river as its great highway. 
 Notwithstanding the popularity of Wilkin 
 son, and the strong feeling against the 
 
A.D. 
 
 1767.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 CONSENTS. 
 
 federal government particularly on ac 
 count of its having neglected to protect the 
 frontiers from the incursions of the north 
 west savage tribes the people of Kentucky 
 were true friends of the Union, and they 
 preferred to overlook the past, and hold 
 fast to those people who had achieved so 
 much during the long and bloody struggle 
 of the revolution. While these peaceful 
 efforts were being made towards the forma 
 tion of an independent state, the Indians of 
 the north-west were continually harassing 
 the settlers, murdering and plundering 
 wherever they could find a white person. 
 These bloody deeds of the savages aroused 
 the people of the whole west, and an army 
 of 1,000 men volunteered to join an expe 
 dition to the "Wabash valley, to chastise 
 the tribes located there, for their many 
 deeds of barbarism. These volunteers 
 assembled at Louisville, and elected General 
 George Rogers Clark to be their com 
 mander. Nine flat boats were loaded 
 with provisions and ammunition of war, 
 by subscription of the inhabitants of that 
 place, and were dispatched to a point in 
 the Wabash river, some fifty miles above 
 its mouth. The army marched across to 
 the place of rendezvous within a week ; but 
 the boats had not arrived. The army waited 
 for fifteen days, and still there were no 
 provisions for the army. The river had been 
 high, and a strong current had retarded the 
 progress of the boats ; and it was difficult 
 to "cordell," on account of the low banks 
 thus in part overflowed. The long delay 
 occasioned an abandonment of the enter 
 prise, because, as was believed by the 
 Kentuckians, the Indians had had time to 
 collect a superior force, and make all the 
 necessary preparation for their reception. 
 A detachment of three hundred was sepa 
 rated from the army, and went home ; and 
 this movement disorganised the remaining 
 700 men, who, too, refused to proceed any 
 further on the expedition. General Clark 
 urged them to remain a few days longer ; 
 but they were inexorable, and the com 
 mander was thus abandoned by an army 
 composed of men distinguished for bravery 
 and skill in the western mode of warfare. 
 
 The convention that was to have met in 
 September at Danville, had not been organ 
 ised, on account of the absence of a majority 
 of its delegates on the Wabash expedition ; 
 but, as that enterprise had failed, and the 
 men returned to their homes, a quorum of 
 the convention was obtained in January, 
 
 1787. The conditions of separation could 
 not be complied witli for want of time, and 
 I therefore it became necessary to seek 
 J further legislation in Virginia ; and, for 
 that purpose, the convention prepared, and 
 sent to the legislature, a memorial, request- 
 1 ing an extension of the time allowed for 
 I the formation of the new state. The legis 
 lature of Virginia promptly acted upon the 
 I memorial, but totally changed the condi 
 tions of the former law. It was now re 
 quired that delegates to another conven- 
 ! tion should be elected in August, 1787, to 
 I meet at Danville in September following, to 
 take into consideration the propriety of a 
 separation ; and if the convention should 
 decide by a vote of two-thirds of its mem 
 bers, then, by consent of congress, conforma 
 bly to the federal constitution, the new 
 state should be formed. The laws of Vir 
 ginia were to be in force in the district of 
 Kentucky until the 1st day of January, 
 1789 ; and it was further declared, as a 
 condition, that the consent of congress 
 I should be given for the formation of the 
 state, on or before the 4th of July, 1788. 
 The new act of Virginia became known in 
 Kentucky shortly after the fourth conven 
 tion already mentioned had, with great 
 unanimity, decided upon separation. The 
 news was received with considerable dis 
 pleasure, and much anger was manifested 
 by the people. The legislature of Virginia 
 had hoped that, by prolonging the time 
 for the consideration of the subject, the 
 people in Kentucky would change their 
 minds, and decide to remain as a part of 
 j Virginia ; but the effect was very different 
 : from that desired ; it made the people 
 almost unanimous for a separation. At 
 the same time, the people were aroused, 
 from one end of the district to the other, 
 about a proposition then under con 
 sideration between the federal government 
 and the Spanish minister ceding to Spain 
 the right to navigate the Mississippi river 
 for the term of twenty years, " in considera 
 tion of commercial advantages to be en 
 joyed by the eastern states alone/ Some 
 of the leading men of the state issued a cir- 
 ! cular letter to the people, proposing the 
 election of delegates, to assemble in conven 
 tion, to consider the proposition for the ces 
 sion of the Mississippi river, and to adopt 
 such measures as might be calculated to 
 prevent such a serious misfortune to the 
 j country. The treaty with Great Britain 
 I had placed the whole western area east of 
 
 113 
 
REPEATED DELAYS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 17S7 
 
 the Mississippi river, as the domain of the , 
 United States. Spain held the territory j 
 west of that river, and the Floridas east 
 of that river, and south, of 31 of N. lat. 
 France had large numbers of islands in the 
 "West Indies; and, a few years before, it 
 had owned all the lands west of the Ohio 
 and east of the Mississippi rivers, and the 
 vast Canadian regions. -These two Euro 
 pean powers desired the territory west of 
 the Appalachian mountains, and to the south 
 thereof, lying immediately east of the Mis 
 sissippi. Mr. Jay was willing to cede the 
 right of navigation of the Mississippi river 
 to Spain for the term of twenty years, in 
 consideration, as alleged, for certain advan 
 tages to be derived by the northern states, 
 seven of which strongly favoured the pro 
 position : but Virginia violently opposed 
 the scheme, and in due time instructed its 
 delegates in congress, " NEVER to accede to 
 any such cession/ 5 * The people of Ken 
 tucky transmitted to congress a memorial 
 against the surrender of the navigation of 
 the Mississippi; and the subsequent pro 
 ceedings of the federal legislatm*e indicate 
 that it had some influence in checking 
 the consummation of Mr. Jay s erroneous 
 policy. 
 
 The convention that had assembled, con 
 formably to the act of the Virginia legisla 
 ture, passed in 1787, by the most decisive 
 vote, decided in favour of separation, and 
 transmitted to congress a memorial request 
 ing the consent of that body to the separa 
 tion from Virginia, and its organisation 
 into a state of the Union. At the same 
 time, the legislature of Virginia was re 
 quested, by the people of Kentucky, to elect 
 a delegate to represent the district of Ken 
 tucky in the federal congress. This request 
 was granted, and John Brown, a represen 
 tative from Kentucky in the Virginia legis 
 lature, was elected, and, in 178 7, he took 
 his seat in the federal congress. Before 
 action could be taken upon the Kentucky 
 memorial by congress, the convention that 
 had met to frame a constitution for the 
 United States, completed its labours, and, 
 from that moment, the old congress declined 
 to legislate upon any subject except such as 
 was of national necessity, preferring to 
 leave all other questions for the considera 
 tion of the newly proposed government. 
 This delay defeated the Kentuckians again, 
 as it placed them precisely where they were 
 
 four years previously ; all their conventions 
 having resulted in naught. Again and 
 again had these " back- woodsmen" assem 
 bled in convention to perfect their sove 
 reignty in a legal and constitutional man 
 ner, and every time they had been baffled 
 on account of some immaterial form. The 
 Kentucky representative in congress con 
 strued its refusal to act in the affair 
 as resulting from jealousy of the New 
 England states, as their delegates did 
 not favour any proposition calculated to 
 strengthen the southern states in the federal 
 legislature. These delays began to have an 
 unfavourable effect with the people of Ken 
 tucky towards the Union. They seriously 
 discussed the erection of an independent 
 government ; and it seems, from the annals 
 of Kentucky, that the leading statesmen 
 were determined to assert their sovereignty, 
 as " congress did not seem disposed to pro 
 tect them ;" and, under the circumstances, 
 the district could not exert its strength as 
 a part of the nation. The discriminating 
 mind cannot but appreciate the singular 
 patience manifested by the Kentuckians at 
 this eventful period of their career. Year 
 after year they had been baffled in their 
 fond hopes of realising their political sove 
 reignty as a member of the federal union ; 
 and after the four years of continual effort, 
 they were no nearer the objects of their 
 desires than when they first began. It was 
 on account of these prolongations of the 
 time for their recognition as a state, that 
 the people of Kentucky opposed the new 
 federal constitution, and, by very large 
 majorities, elected anti-federal delegates to 
 the Virginia convention. 
 
 The sixth convention for the formation 
 of a state, assembled on the 28th of July, 
 1787. During the session of this body, the 
 intelligence of the postponement of the 
 Kentucky question in congress was re 
 ceived, and it produced strong feelings of 
 indignation among the delegates in the 
 convention. It was proposed to organise a 
 state by the adoption of a constitution 
 without further delay, except as to time for 
 the decision of the people in the district ; 
 but the plan was strongly opposed, and de 
 feated by a very large vote. It was finally 
 agreed that delegates to a seventh con 
 vention sin uld be elected in the following 
 October, who were to assemble in Novem 
 ber, " with powers to take the necessary 
 
 * On account of Mr. Jay s concurring in this pro- south and west, and never recovered the confidence 
 position, he became exceedingly unpopular in the j of the people of those sections of the country. 
 114 
 
A.T>. 1790.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [APPLICATION TO CONGRESS. 
 
 steps for securing the admission of Ken 
 tucky into the Union, to retain the naviga 
 tion of the Mississippi river, and to frame 
 a constitution," as preliminary to the recog 
 nition of the sovereignty of the state of 
 Kentucky. These respective questions were 
 seriously considered by the people ; and in 
 several districts the excitement was very 
 groat, some of the people being in favour 
 of decisive measures favouring indepen 
 dence, and others opposing them. These 
 parties were styled " court," and " coun 
 try," after the English custom : the former 
 was in favour of a strict adherence to the 
 government, and was led by Colonel 
 Thomas Marshall ; the " country party/ 
 led by General Wilkinson, was revolution 
 ary, and in favour of declaring the inde 
 pendence of the state. Both of these 
 gentlemen had great influence, and their 
 eloquence gave them great power over the 
 people. The election lasted five days; and 
 notwithstanding the "court party," headed 
 by Marshall, was largely in the majority, 
 Wilkinson was elected the only candidate, 
 however, of the " country party" that was 
 successful. 
 
 The seventh convention assembled at 
 Danville, in November, 1787, and pro 
 ceeded to consider the several propositions 
 submitted to it by the sixth convention. 
 While the subject of independence was 
 being incidentally discussed by General 
 Wilkinson, Mr. Brown, the late member of 
 the federal congress, informed the conven 
 tion, " that he did not consider himself at 
 liberty to disclose the private conference 
 held with Don Gardoqui, the Spanish 
 minister; but this much he would say, in 
 general that, provided they were unani 
 mous, everything that they wished for was 
 within their reach." The "court party" 
 having failed at the election, it was not 
 possible for Wilkinson to succeed in getting 
 many of the convention to favour any 
 plans calculated to encourage a separation 
 from the new republic; and, in order to 
 quiet the question finally before that body, 
 a resolution was offered, and carried by a 
 very large majority, " to appoint a com 
 mittee to draw up a decent and respectful 
 address to the legislature of Virginia, for 
 obtaining the independence of Kentucky, 
 agreeably to the late resolution and recom 
 mendation of congress." The address was 
 prepared and adopted by the convention, 
 which proved a death-blow to the " country 
 party." 
 
 In the meantime, the legislature of Vir 
 ginia authorised another election of dele 
 gates to an eighth convention, which was 
 to assemble at Danville in July, 1789, and 
 it was to have power to form a state govern 
 ment. While these proceedings were tak 
 ing place, the federal constitutional gov 
 ernment was organised, with Washington 
 as president; and it was then confidently 
 believed that there would be no more dif 
 ficulties thrown in the way of the organ 
 isation of the new state by the federal 
 union. The ninth Kentucky convention 
 assembled in July, 1790, and the Virginia 
 " act of separation" was formally accepted ; 
 and from thenceforth that instrument was 
 known and recognised as a " compact ;" 
 an agreement that could not be broken 
 without the consent of the contracting par 
 ties. The convention adopted a memorial 
 to the president and congress, praying for 
 an admission into the Union as an inde 
 pendent sovereign state. Another memo 
 rial was sent to the Virginia government, 
 requesting its co-operation in congress. Be 
 fore adjournment, provision was made for 
 the election of delegates to a tenth conven 
 tion, which was to assemble in April, 1791, 
 and form a state constitution. 
 
 President Washington having received 
 the memorial from Kentucky, presented it 
 to congress, with the following remarks, in 
 his annual address, delivered on the 8th of 
 December, 1790 ; namely : " Since your 
 last session I have received communications, 
 by which it appears that the district of 
 Kentucky, at present a part of Virginia, 
 has concurred in certain propositions con 
 tained in a law of that state ; in consequence 
 of which the district is to become a distinct 
 member of the Union, in case the requisite 
 sanction of congress be added. For this 
 sanction application is now made. The 
 liberality and harmony with which it has 
 been conducted will be found to do great 
 honour to both the parties ; and the senti 
 ments of warm attachment to the Union 
 and its present government, expressed by 
 our fellow-citizens of Kentucky, cannot fail 
 to add an affectionate concern for their par 
 ticular welfare to the great national im 
 pressions under which you will decide on 
 the case submitted to you." In the answer 
 of the senate to the president s address, as 
 surances were given that the requisite sanc 
 tion for the admission of Kentucky into the 
 Union would be given, anticipating the 
 happy effects to be expected from the senti- 
 
 115 
 
THE STATE ORGANISED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [A.D. 1792. 
 
 ments of attachment towards the Union, 
 which had been expressed by the patriotic 
 inhabitants of that district. In the House 
 of Representatives, the answer to the ad 
 dress of the president, declared, that " the 
 preparatory steps taken by the state of Vir 
 ginia, in concert with the district of Ken 
 tucky, towards the erection of the latter into 
 a distinct member of the Union, exhibit a 
 liberality mutually honourable to the par 
 ties. We shall bestow on this important 
 subject the favourable consideration which 
 it merits, and, with the national policy 
 which ought to govern our decision, shall 
 not fail to mingle the affectionate senti 
 ments which are awakened by those ex 
 pressed in behalf of our fellow-citizens of 
 Kentucky." On the 4th of February, 1791, 
 congress passed an act to admit the state of 
 Kentucky into the federal union, to take 
 place on the 1st of June, 1792 ; and, at the 
 same time, the people of Kentucky were 
 authorised to adopt a constitution prior to 
 the date of admission. Congress did not 
 reserve the right to inspect the constitution 
 when made, nor the privilege of approving 
 or disapproving the same. The state was 
 authorised to be formed ; and, on the day 
 fixed, the district became a member of the 
 Union without further formality. In De 
 cember, 1791, the delegates to the tenth and 
 last convention were elected. They assembled 
 at Danville on the first Monday in April, 
 1792 ; and at this meeting a constitution 
 was framed, as authorised by the act of 
 congress. The Virginia rule, authorising 
 each county to send a certain representative 
 to the legislature, was abandoned, and the 
 basis of representation was fixed upon the 
 number of inhabitants, which was a demo 
 cratic principle advocated by a large num 
 ber of statesmen at that time ; but it was 
 generally conceded that the elections by the 
 people should be, as had been fixed in the 
 federal constitution, restricted to the lower 
 branch of the legislature. The executive 
 or governor, the senate and judiciary, were 
 placed beyond the control of the people. 
 Their officials were to be chosen in a man 
 ner that was supposed to have been free 
 from the turbulent and exciting caprices of 
 popular elections. The governor was to be 
 chosen by electors, who were elected by 
 the people for that purpose every fourth 
 year. These electors, sitting as a college, 
 from time to time, were to appoint the 
 members of the state senate, selecting them 
 from different counties ; and the senate 
 116 
 
 elected its own president from any part of 
 the state. The judiciary were to be ap 
 pointed by the executive, and to continue 
 in office during good behaviour. The con 
 stitution having been adopted by the con 
 vention, the officers of the state were elected 
 in May, 1792 : Isaac Shelly, a gallant 
 officer, who had served at the battles of 
 Point Pleasant and King s Mountain, was 
 elected governor. On the 1st of June, 
 1792, Kentucky became a member of the i 
 federal union by the act of congress, passed 
 February, 1791 ; and, on the 4th of June, 
 the legislature of that state was convened 
 to complete the organisation of its govern 
 ment. The two bi anches having assembled 
 in joint session for the purpose, on the 6th 
 of June, Governor Shelly personally ad 
 dressed them in a brief speech. In reply 
 to the executive s speech, the legislature 
 voted an address,* promising a cordial co 
 operation in the administration of the 
 public affairs, f John Brown and John 
 Edwards were elected, on joint ballot, 
 senators to congress ; and, on the 5th of 
 November, 1792, they took their seats at 
 the opening of that body; and no other for 
 malities were required from them than the 
 presentation of their certificates of election. 
 
 On referring to the subject, in his annual 
 address, the president said " The adoption 
 of a constitution for the state of Kentucky 
 has been notified to me. The legislature 
 will share with me in the satisfaction which 
 arises from an event interesting to the 
 happiness of the part of the nation to which 
 it relates, and conducive to the general 
 order." The official answer of the senate 
 to the president s address, stated "The 
 organisation of the government of the state 
 of Kentucky, being an event peculiarly 
 interesting to a part of our fellow-citizens, 
 and conducive to the general order, affords 
 us particular satisfaction." Thus was 
 ushered into the Union that gallant state, 
 with its noble and chivalrous people. 
 
 In the early part of the autumn session, 
 in 1791, the apportionment system was 
 considered in the House of Representatives 
 with much sectional solicitude. The con 
 stitution had fixed upon a temporary rule 
 of apportionment until the census could be 
 taken : now the actual number of inhabi- 
 
 * The formalities practised by congress and the 
 president with respect to the mode of delivering the 
 annual address and answers thereto, were adopted in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 t Shaffner a Kentucky Register. 
 
A.B. 1791.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [APPORTIONMENT. 
 
 tants had been ascertained, and it was seen 
 that the representation in congress was not 
 according to population. For example, 
 Massachusetts, with 378,717 inhabitants, 
 had eight representatives ; and North Caro 
 lina, with 393,571, had but five represen 
 tatives. The question was full of compli 
 cations, originating from sectionalisms 
 between the northern and southern states : 
 but these difficulties were not new ; they 
 had existed since the first effort to form a 
 nation. In the confederation congress, the 
 representation was to consist of not less 
 than two, nor more than seven, members 
 from each state. All voting was done by 
 states, each being equal to the other. 
 When the articles of confederation were 
 framed and adopted in congress,* a valua 
 tion of land, and the other property enu 
 merated in the states, as the rule of propor 
 tion of taxation, was adopted, instead of 
 numbers of inhabitants, in consequence of 
 the impossibility of harmonising the dif 
 ferent ideas of the northern and southern 
 states, as to the rate at which slaves should 
 be counted ; the northern states, of course, 
 wishing to have them counted in a near 
 ratio to the value of white labour; and the 
 southern states wishing to diminish that 
 ratio. If the slaves had been counted in 
 full, the tax upon the southern states would 
 have been very heavy compared with the 
 ratio of whites. To reduce their taxes, the 
 southern states opposed the counting of 
 the slaves as the equals of white labour. 
 Those states would have preferred a nu 
 merical ratio, instead of a valuation of 
 lands and other property, if they had been 
 allowed to count the slave as but equal to 
 half a white. But the eastern states were 
 opposed to this rule of reduction; and if 
 the slaves had been reckoned as equals to 
 the whites, the taxes would have been less 
 in the northern states. In 1783, when it 
 was proposed to change the rule of propor 
 tion of taxation from land to numbers, the 
 first compromise, suggested by a delegate 
 from Connecticut, was to include only such 
 slaves as were between the ages of sixteen 
 and sixty. This was found to be imprac 
 ticable, because, in many cases, the ages 
 could not be established ; though the pro 
 portion would have been satisfactory to the 
 south, as the number under sixteen would 
 have been about one-half of the 440,000 
 slaves then supposed to be in the south. 
 It was finally agreed, on all sides, that, 
 * Curtis s History of the Constitution, vol. ii. 
 VOL. II. R 
 
 instead of settling the proportion by ages, 
 it would be better to fix it in absolute num 
 bers, and that the rate should be three- 
 fifths. The southern states agreed to the 
 proposition to pay into the national treasury 
 a tax levied upon them according to the 
 white population, and three-fifths of the 
 slaves ; that is to say, if Virginia had, as 
 was supposed, 280,000 slaves, and 252,000 
 whites, congress could have levied a tax 
 upon the state for the 252,000 whites, and 
 168,000 of the slaves being three-fifths 
 of the 280,000. If the tax were one dollar 
 per head, Virginia would have been debtor 
 to the national government the sum of 
 420,000 dollars. 
 
 In 1781, congress levied a tax upon the 
 thirteen colonial states, amounting to 
 8,000,000 dollars, which was apportioned 
 among the colonies; of which Pennsylva 
 nia paid 1,120,794 dollars; and Virginia, 
 1,307,594. The white population of the 
 former was about 340,000, and of the latter 
 about 220,000. The greater value of the 
 lands of Virginia gave to that state the 
 larger proportion. Three-fifths of the slaves 
 at that time amounted to 130,000 ; making 
 the total population in Virginia, upon the 
 three-fifths basis, about 350,000. The tax 
 able ratio would have been nearly the same 
 in the two states ; yet Virginia had to pay 
 186,800 dollars more than Pennsylvania s 
 assessment. Experience soon proved that 
 it was difficult to carry out the rule to tax 
 the lands by congressional assessment upon 
 the states; and in 1783, congress recom 
 mended, in conformity with the powers it 
 possessed under the articles of confedera 
 tion, that the quota should be according to 
 the number of free people, including three* 
 fifths of those bound to servitude exclud 
 ing Indians not taxed. This, however, was 
 not carried into effect, though eleven of the 
 thirteen states adopted it. The proportion, 
 as a representative basis, was subsequently 
 adopted by the constitutional convention. 
 
 In 1787, when the convention was fram 
 ing the constitution of the United States, 
 the interest of the eastern and southern 
 states occupied reversed positions. The 
 convention determined to adopt a represen 
 tation, in the lower house of congress, ac 
 cording to population, without regard to 
 land taxation. With this rule, the power 
 of the south would have been increased by 
 counting the slave as the equal of the 
 white. 
 
 As the constitution was being framed, 
 
 117 
 
SLAVE RATIO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1791. 
 
 the south expressed a readiness to have 
 representation and taxation regulated by the 
 same rule, and to count the slaves as tax 
 able at the same rate as the whites ; but, 
 in that event, representation must be upon 
 the same basis as the taxation. The north 
 ern states, on the other hand, resisted the 
 direct introduction of the slaves into the 
 apportionment as persons. Here was an 
 issue between the north and the south that 
 seemed to be beyond reconciliation. The 
 south insisted upon recognising the slaves 
 as persons; and the north opposed it, and 
 refused to consider them except as pro 
 perty. A solution of these complications, 
 however, was attained by compromise ; and 
 as Mr. Curtis interprets the proceedings of 
 that memorable assembly, it was founded on 
 mutual conciliation, and a desire to be just. 
 The two objects to be accomplished were, 
 to avoid the offence that might be given to 
 the northern states, by making the slaves, 
 in direct terms, an ingredient in the rule of 
 representation; and, on the other hand, to 
 concede to the southern states the right to 
 have their representation enhanced by the 
 same enumeration of their slaves that 
 might be adopted for the purpose of appor 
 tioning direct taxation. These objects were 
 effected by an arrangement proposed by a 
 delegate from Pennsylvania. It consisted, 
 first, in affirming the maxim, that repre 
 sentation ought to be in proportion to 
 direct taxation ; and then by directing a 
 periodical census of the free inhabitants, 
 and three-fifths of all other persons (slaves), 
 to be taken by authority of the United 
 States ; and that the direct taxation should 
 be apportioned among the states according 
 to this census of persons. Thus the rule 
 was proposed, by the delegate from Penn 
 sylvania, that the slaves should only be 
 counted as three-fifths. The vote on this 
 was as follows : Connecticut, Pennsylva 
 nia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 and Georgia ayes, 6: New Jersey, Dela 
 ware noes, 2. Massachusetts and South 
 Carolina were divided. In these early dis 
 cussions, the eight states north of Mason 
 and Dixon s line were considered as non- 
 slaveholding ; those south of it were called 
 slaveholding states ; and legislation, at that 
 early day, had thus assumed a sectional 
 bearing. The eight northern states had an 
 estimated population of 1,495,000 ; and the 
 southern states had 766,000 whites and 
 free negroes, and 520,000 staves three- 
 fifths of which would be 312,000 ; making 
 118 
 
 a representative basis of 1,078,000, and a 
 total population of 1,286,000. 
 
 The number of Representatives in Congress, accord 
 ing to the Constitution of 1789, and of the Census 
 of 1790, were 
 
 States. 
 
 
 
 Representation 
 by Constitution : 
 1789. 
 
 Representation 
 by Census : 
 1790. 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island 
 Connecticut . 
 New York . 
 New Jersey . 
 Pennsylvania 
 Delaware . 
 Maryland 
 
 k 
 
 
 3 
 8 
 1 
 5 
 6 
 4 
 8 
 1 
 6 
 10 
 
 4 
 14 
 2 
 7 
 10 
 5 
 13 
 1 
 6 
 19 
 
 North Carolina 
 South Carolina. 
 Georgia . . . 
 
 
 
 5 
 5 
 3 
 
 8 
 6 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total representatives in 1789, 65 ; total, according 
 to census of 1790, 97 excluding fractional and 
 the population of the districts of Maine, Vermont, 
 Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
 
 The ratio of representatives was finally 
 fixed, after a lengthy discussion by con 
 gress, in 1791, at 33,000, based upon a re 
 presentative population of 3,650,669, which 
 was composed of all the white inhabitants 
 in the states, and thre e- fifths of the slaves 
 therein.* 
 
 The population of America has never in 
 creased in any regular per-centage, because 
 the emigration from Europe has been irreg 
 ular ; and a greater proportion of the 
 emigrants have been males. In 1604 there 
 were but forty men living in Virginia ! 
 Immediately after the settlement of James 
 town, in 1607, the number rapidly in 
 creased; and in 1619, one year before the 
 landing of the Pilgrims, there were living 
 in Virginia, 2,400 whites, of whom 1.261 
 arrived there in that year. In 1624 there 
 were 2,575 white males, and 22 negroes. 
 There had been but little increase within 
 the preceding five years : the decrease by 
 disease was 353 ; killed by the Indians, 15 ; 
 and lost, 2. In 1630, the official report 
 stated that there were 2,500 inhabitants ; 
 in 1634, there were 4,914 ; and in 1636, 
 there were 6,925. In 1648, there were 
 about 15,000 whites, and 300 negro servants 
 in Virginia ; and at the same time, and only 
 twenty-eight years after the landing of the 
 Pilgrims, there were about 20,000 inhabi 
 tants in New England. 
 
 The following shows the population of 
 * Shaffner s Secession War in America. 
 
A.D. 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENT S SUCCESSOR. 
 
 the colonial states at three different epochs, 
 exclusive of negroes; the latter enumera 
 tion, however, is according to the official 
 census, taken by the federal government. 
 
 Colonies. 
 
 1688. 
 
 1755. 
 
 1790. 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 44.000 
 
 220,000 
 
 469,256* 
 
 New Hampshire . 
 
 6.000 
 
 30,000 
 
 226,255f 
 
 llhode Island . . 
 
 6.000 
 
 35,000 
 
 64.689 
 
 Connecticut . . 
 
 17,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 232,581 
 
 New York . . 
 
 20,000 
 
 100,01)0 
 
 314,242 
 
 New Jersey . . 
 
 10,000 
 
 26,000 
 
 179,954 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 
 12,000 
 
 250,000 
 
 424,099 
 
 Delaware . . . 
 
 600 
 
 8,000 
 
 46,310 
 
 Maryland . . . 
 
 20,000 
 
 85.000 
 
 208,649 
 
 Virginia . . . 
 
 48,000 
 
 85.000 
 
 603,24 8J 
 
 North Carolina \ 
 
 
 45,000 
 
 320,227 
 
 South Carolina > 
 
 8,000 
 
 30,000 
 
 140.186 
 
 Georgia . . ) 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 52,886 
 
 Totals . . 
 
 191,600 
 
 1,020,000 
 
 3,182,582 
 
 The population of the colonial territories, 
 at the commencement of the revolutionary 
 war, in 1775, was about 2,450,000, of which 
 about 400,000 were slaves, and about 55,000 
 free negroes. At the close of the war, in 
 1783, the population was about 3,000,000 ; 
 and, in 1790, it was 3,929,945. This rapid 
 increase was owing to the emigration from 
 Europe, and the increased domestic affilia 
 tion between the sexes, after the disband 
 ing of the continental army. 
 
 The following table shows the distribu 
 tion of the white and negro population, ac 
 cording to the census of August 1, 1790, 
 
 States 
 and Districts. 
 
 N. Hampshire . 
 
 Massachusetts . 
 
 Rhode Island ... 
 
 Connecticut .... 
 
 New York ... . 
 
 New Jersey.. . . 
 
 Pennsylvania ... 
 
 Delaware 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Virgfinia 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Districts of 
 
 Maine .... 
 Vermont 
 Kentucky 
 Tennessee 
 
 Total .. 
 
 White 
 Males. 
 
 70.940 
 1S2.672 
 
 31.844 
 115,119 
 161.822 
 
 86,667 
 217,736 
 
 23,926 
 107,254 
 227,069 
 147,504 
 
 73,298 
 
 27,147 
 
 49.132 
 44 746 
 32.211 
 16,648 
 
 White Free 
 Females. Negroes. 
 
 70,171 
 1S0.582 
 
 32.845 
 117.562 
 152.320 
 
 83,287 
 206,3ti3 
 
 22,384 
 101,395 
 215,046 
 140.710 
 
 66.888 
 
 25,739 
 
 46.870 
 40.398 
 28,922 
 15,365 
 
 630 
 5,4(i3 
 3,469 
 2,801 
 4,654 
 2,762 
 6,537 
 3,899 
 8.043 
 12.766 
 4,975 
 1,801 
 
 398 
 
 538 
 255 
 114 
 361 
 
 1,615,735|| 1,556,847 59,466 
 
 Slaves. 
 
 158 
 
 952 
 
 2.759 
 
 21,324 
 
 11,423 
 
 3,737 
 
 8,887 
 
 103.036 
 
 293.427 
 
 100.572 
 
 107.094 
 
 29,264 
 
 17 
 
 11,830 
 3,417 
 
 Total. 
 
 141,899 
 378,717 
 
 69,110 
 238,241 
 340,120 
 184,139 
 434,373 
 
 59.096 
 319.728 
 748,308 
 393,761 
 249.081 
 
 82,548 
 
 96.540 
 85.416 
 73,077 
 35,791 
 
 3,929,945 
 
 Including 96,002 in the district of Maine. 
 
 t Including 85,144 in Vermont. 
 
 j Including 61,133 in Kentucky. 
 
 Including 32,013 in Tennessee. 
 
 || Of this total, there were 813,308 males of sixteen 
 years of age and upwards; and the remainder, 
 802.327, were under sixteen years. 
 
 U This computation has not been verified by 
 subsequent history; and, in fact, within the first 
 sixty years thereafter, there were two vacancies in 
 
 We are not informed whether or not the 
 census included the sparsely settled pioneers 
 in the wild forests west of Georgia proper. 
 It did not include the people living in the 
 north-west territory, though there were but 
 a few hundreds in that extensive region, 
 the most of whom were French. 
 
 In the early part of the congressional 
 session of 1791, a question arose respecting a 
 successor to the president, in case a vacancy 
 should occur in the executive office ; the con 
 stitution not having provided for that con 
 tingency. It was proposed to empower " the 
 secretary of the senate for the time being ;" 
 but this was objected to, because, in that 
 case, the president would have the power to 
 appoint his successor. The chief justice 
 was thought by some to be the most proper 
 person to succeed in case of a vacancy; but 
 the objection to that proposition was the 
 provision of the constitution, which made 
 that officer the president of the senate in 
 case of an impeachment of the executive ; 
 and, besides, there was a general desire to 
 relieve the judicial officers irom any politi 
 cal functions. 
 
 No definitive arrangement was made 
 during that session, notwithstanding it was 
 generally conceded that the governmental 
 system was incomplete without a provision 
 in the premises. During the discussion, it 
 was singularly declared that, by computa 
 tion, a vacancy by the death of the presi 
 dent, could not reasonably occur oftener 
 than "once in 840 years." || The bill was 
 not passed at that session ; but the subject 
 was considered at the next, in 1792, when 
 the measure passed, establishing the suc 
 cessors of the president respectively, the 
 vice-president of the United States, the 
 president of the senate pro tempore, and 
 the speaker of the House of Representa 
 tives.** The successor to remain in office 
 during the unexpired term. 
 
 The most important national measure 
 considered by the congress of Washington s 
 first administration, was the proposition to 
 establish a national bank. The senate bill, 
 to incorporate the subscribers to the bank 
 
 the presidency by death Harrison, April 4th, 1841, 
 one month after his inauguration; and the other 
 was Taylor, who died July 9th, 1850, sixteen 
 months after his inauguration. Polk died June 
 15th, 1849, three months and eleven days after the 
 expiration of his term. 
 
 The same rule of succession continues to be 
 the law. During the whole period of the constitu 
 tional government, however, there has occurred but 
 two vacancies. 
 
 119 
 
NATIONAL BANK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1791. 
 
 of the United States, was lengthily dis- 
 cussed in the house, and finally passed by a 
 vote of thirty-nine to twenty, on the 8th of 
 February, 1791. The discussion com 
 menced on the 1st of the month, and 
 nearly every member of that body took 
 part in it. Among the advantages of a 
 national bank, stated in the debate, were 
 First, the aid it would afford to merchants, 
 who could thereby push their mercantile 
 operations further with the same capital. 
 Second the aid it would give to merchants 
 in the prompt payment of their customs. 
 Third it would aid the government to 
 punctually meet its obligations in case of 
 any deficiency in its revenue. Fourth it 
 would diminish usury. Fifth it would 
 save the wear of gold and silver, as the 
 coin would be kept in the vaults, the same 
 being represented by notes. Sixth it 
 would facilitate trade, by supplying the 
 means of remittances by its circulating 
 medium. Mr. Madison opposed the estab 
 lishment of the bank, and was of opinion 
 that it was neither constitutional or expe 
 dient. His arguments upon the measure 
 exhibit a degree and power of logic rarely 
 to be found in legislative proceedings. 
 Among the disadvantages cited were First, 
 the banishing of precious metals from cir 
 culation, by the substitution of the paper 
 medium, to supply the place of the coin. 
 Second it would expose the public and in 
 dividuals to all the evils of a run on the 
 bank, which would be a great calamity to 
 the country ; and a run might happen 
 from various causes, such as false rumours, 
 bad management of the institution, and 
 short crops. 
 
 The powers recognised in the bill were 
 declared to be 1st. Individuality, or con 
 stituting a number of citizens into one legal 
 artificial body, capable, by a fictitious name, 
 of exercising the rights of an individual. 
 
 2nd. Irresponsibility in their individual 
 capacity, not being answerable beyond the 
 joint capital. 
 
 3rd. Durability of a political existence 
 for a certain time, not to be afiected by the 
 natural death of its members. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 1792, the 
 second presidential election took place 
 when " the father of his country" was 
 again chosen by a unanimous vote. For 
 some time prior to the election, Washingtor 
 had determined to retire from public life 
 and he informed his friends of his inten 
 tions. He was then over sixty years o 
 120 
 
 age ; and, after having served so long in 
 camp life, he felt that his bodily infirmities 
 admonished him to retire to the quiet retreat 
 it Mount Yernon. Besides the fact that 
 t was Washington s desire to decline a 
 re-election, there were many who hud 
 pposed the adoption of the constitution, 
 )ecause it recognised the re- eligibility of 
 he president ; and the most prominent of 
 hose was Mr. Jefferson, then the secretary 
 f foreign affairs. Washington did not 
 wish to commit any act that would dis- 
 ppoint the friends of the constitution ; and 
 e preferred to retire, so as to set the 
 xample against the continuance in the 
 ^residency of any one individual longer 
 han the term prescribed by the constitu- 
 ion. During the recess of congress Wash- 
 ngton visited Mount Yernon, for the pur- 
 Dose of recovering his health. While in 
 ,he enjoyment of this temporary repose, 
 Jefferson addressed him a letter, in which 
 e described the condition of the country, 
 
 d the state of the public solicitude for the 
 government, and urged him not to decline 
 a re-election. The advice of Jenerson was 
 of great importance to Washington, parti 
 cularly as he had objected to the constitu 
 tion because it permitted the re-election of 
 the executive. Besides the urgent request 
 of Jefferson, many others, in whom the 
 president had great confidence, represented 
 that the perpetuity of the Union really 
 depended upon his serving another term : 
 it was the expressed wish of the nation. 
 Having been thus solicited, with a sense of 
 patriotism he consented to permit his name 
 to be used as a candidate for re-election. 
 
 In Jefferson s solicitude to induce Wash 
 ington to consent to serve a second term, 
 he had in view the suppression of a plan, 
 supposed to have been entertained by some 
 statesmen in the eastern states, to form a 
 monarchical government. To what extent 
 the plan was favoured no authentic record 
 can be found. Jefferson suspected Hamilton 
 and Adams, notwithstanding there was no 
 overt act to justify the fears entertained; 
 but, on the contrary, those distinguished 
 patriots had given their services, for many 
 years, to establish a government completely 
 republican. In answer to Jefferson upon 
 the subject, it has been reported that 
 Washington said, "he thought that there 
 were suspicions against a particular party 
 which had been carried a great deal too 
 far. There might be desires, but he did 
 not believe there were designs to change the 
 
A.D. 1793.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ELECTORAL BALLOT. 
 
 form of government into a monarchy. There 
 might be a few who wished it in the higher 
 walks of life, particularly in the great 
 cities ; but the main body of the people in 
 the eastern states were as steady for repub 
 licanism as in the southern. Recent pub 
 lications seemed to have in view the ex 
 citing opposition to the government, and 
 this had already taken place in Pennsyl 
 vania as to the excise law. Those articles 
 tended to produce a separation of the Union, 
 the most dreadful of all calamities ; and 
 whatever tended to produce anarchy, tended, 
 of course, to produce a resort to monarchical 
 government. He considered those papers 
 as attacking him directly; for he must be a 
 fool, indeed, to swallow the little sugar 
 plums here and there thrown out to him. 
 In condemning the administration of the 
 government, they condemned him ; for if 
 they thought measures were pursued con 
 trary to his judgment, they must consider 
 him too careless to attend to, or too stupid 
 to understand them. He had, indeed, 
 signed many acts which he did not approve 
 in all their parts, but he had never put his 
 name to one which he did not think eligible 
 on the whole. As to the bank, which had 
 been the subject of so much complaint, 
 until there was some infallible criterion of 
 reason, differences of opinion must be tole 
 rated. He did not believe that the discon 
 tent extended far from the seat of govern 
 ment. He had seen and spoken with many 
 in Maryland and Virginia during his last 
 journey, and had found the people con 
 tented and happy. He defended the as 
 sumption of the state debts, on the ground 
 that it had not increased the total amount 
 to be paid. All of it was honest debt ; and, 
 whether paid by the states individually, or 
 by the Union, it was still alike a burden on 
 the people. The excise he defended as one 
 of the best laws that could be passed, 
 nobody being obliged to pay who did not 
 elect to do so." 
 
 The election for president took place in 
 the latter part of the year 1792. The elec 
 toral votes having been cast in their respec 
 tive states, and forwarded to the seat of 
 government, were ordered to be opened on 
 the 13th of February, 1793. According to 
 a report of a joint committee of congress, it 
 was agreed that the sealed electoral ballots 
 should be opened by the president of the 
 senate ; that one person should be appointed 
 by each house to act as tellers ; and the 
 final result to be proclaimed by the presi 
 
 dent of the senate. On the day fixed upon, 
 the two houses assembled together in the 
 senate chamber, when the ballots were con 
 secutively opened, and formally announced. 
 The result was, the unanimous re-election 
 of Washington, and the re-election of 
 Adams by a very large majority. At that 
 time the constitution did not authorise the 
 votes to be given for the president and 
 vice-president separately, although it was 
 understood that the first name written was 
 the choice for the first of these positions : 
 thus, where a ballot was cast for Washing 
 ton and Adams, the former was to be pre 
 sident, and the latter vice-president. At 
 this election, Washington was the only re 
 cognised candidate for the presidency ; and 
 John Adams, George Clinton, Thomas Jef 
 ferson, and Aaron Burr were the candidates 
 for the vice-presidency : the two latter, 
 however, were not regular candidates ; and 
 the votes cast for them, were considered as 
 complimentary. , 
 
 The following shows the result of the 
 electoral vote, as announced by the presi- 
 
 above 
 
 U.OUI/ VI L1JG OCUUtC, WUL L11O VWKWWW UUUVO 
 
 mentioned : 
 
 
 For 
 President. 
 
 For Vicc-Presideiit. 
 
 States. 
 
 
 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Adams. 
 
 Clinton. 
 
 Jefferson. 
 
 Burr. 
 
 N. Hampshire 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 _ 
 
 _. 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Connecticut . 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vermont . . . 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York... . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey . 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware .... 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland . . . 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia .... 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky .... 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 8 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Georgia 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 132 ji 77 
 
 50 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 The administration of Washington ex 
 tended over eight years, or two terms; but 
 the policy pursued by him was not of any 
 particular caste ; and, in fact, he endea 
 voured to keep free from partisan organisa 
 tions. Adams, in the meantime, pursued a 
 similar course ; but such was not the case 
 with Jefferson, Hamilton, and many others, 
 occupying lesser positions in the govern 
 ment. Hamilton had been an active fede 
 ralist, and, through his influence, that party 
 succeeded in securing the ratification of the 
 constitution by the state of New York. He 
 had been intimately connected with the 
 government affairs before and after the 
 adoption of the constitution of 1787, and 
 
 121 
 
JEFFERSON AND HAMILTON.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1793. 
 
 he had great influence with the senators 
 and representatives in congress. Jefferson 
 had been absent, as minister to France, 
 from 1785 to 1789, having returned after 
 the government had been organised under 
 the constitution. He saw at once that 
 Hamilton was the master-spirit among the 
 legislators of the country, and that his 
 popularity was almost unbounded. Jeffer 
 son was a man of great power, and his ex 
 perience had been of importance to him 
 and his country. This circumstance was 
 not only known and appreciated by the 
 statesmen of that time, but it was fully 
 valued by Jefferson, and, perhaps, led him 
 to assume the position that ultimately pro 
 duced the organisation of the " republican" 
 party as an opposition to the " federal" 
 party. 
 
 In forming the government, Washington 
 endeavoured to unite the feelings of the 
 people ; and appointed, as heads of the 
 departments, leading persons of opposite 
 opinions : thus it was that Alexander Ham 
 ilton was placed at the head of the trea 
 sury, and Thomas Jefferson of the foreign 
 office. Both of these men were of the first 
 class of minds ; but in everything they 
 seemed to be antagonistic. Neither could 
 bear the ascendancy of the other, or submit 
 to be overruled without some manifestation 
 of resentment. Even when assembled in 
 council with the president, their opposing 
 passions were occasionally exhibited, much 
 to the detriment of public affairs. Wash 
 ington endeavoured to mollify the hatred 
 between them ; and, on several occasions, 
 told Jefferson that his suspicions of Hamil 
 ton were excessive. The opposition between 
 the two secretaries rapidly increased, and 
 the friends of each were soon involved in 
 the general feeling of antagonism. Hamil 
 ton had been placed at the head of the 
 treasury, that he might, as the most quali 
 fied man, bring order out of chaos. He did 
 so by proposing plans for funding the public 
 debt, for the assumption of the state debts, 
 for a national bank, a system of revenue 
 from taxation internal and external, and a 
 sinking fund.* Jefferson and his friends 
 violently opposed these measures, even after 
 some of them had been adopted by con 
 gress, and through their own participation. 
 It would seem, therefore, that these men 
 
 * L(fe of John Adams, by his grandson, Charles 
 Francis Adams. 
 
 The " republican" party was not opposed to 
 
 were not so much opponents of principles as 
 they were personal!} ; and it was from the 
 feud between them that the political parties, 
 "federal" and " republican, "f originated 
 the former headed by Hamilton, and the 
 latter by Jefferson. 
 
 The secretary of the treasury was strongly 
 supported by the lawyers, clergy, merchants, 
 and capitalists of the northern states ; but 
 the powerful agricultural class of the south 
 | was opposed to his fiscal measures. With 
 this latter class of Americans, Jefferson 
 became exceedingly popular ; and besides 
 the opponents of Hamilton, in the south, 
 there were many in the eastern states who 
 | were violently opposed to the Bank, the 
 I Funding Act, and other financial schemes 
 proposed by that distinguished statesman. 
 
 As between Jefferson and Hamilton, the 
 president seems to have managed to main 
 tain a neutral position ; but none other 
 save Washington could do so. This, how 
 ever, was the result of circumstances, over 
 which neither of the parties could exercise 
 any control. John Adams was less favour 
 ably circumstanced; and notwithstanding 
 the purity of his acts, and really sincere 
 and patriotic motives, he could not keep 
 himself free from the aspersions of either, 
 but particularly of Jefferson. As president 
 of the senate, he was necessitated to give 
 the casting vote on some important mea 
 sures, which indicated the principles fa 
 voured by him ; and, as they were not wholly 
 in unison, with Jefferson s ideas, he was at 
 once recognised as a federalist, or, as was 
 alleged, a Hamilton partisan. The " fede- 
 \ ral" and " republican" parties, practically, 
 came into organic existence during the 
 second term of Washington ; and as to 
 their principles and history, we shall give 
 full details as they chronologically trans- 
 : pired ; but, for the present, we shall omit 
 i their further consideration. 
 
 The Indians living upon the western and 
 southern borders of the states, had been, 
 prior and subsequent to the organisation of 
 the new government, committing serious 
 depredations upon the white settlements, 
 and had committed many horrid murders. 
 The Creek nation, living upon the head 
 waters of the Tombigby and Alabama rivers, 
 I had been in some respects badly treated by 
 the officials of the government ; and, as a 
 
 organisation, in opposition to the measures favoured 
 by the "federal party." At that epoch, the "fed 
 eralists" were only known as the advocates of certain 
 
 the federal government ; but it was a rival political i measures pending in congress. 
 
 122 
 
A.D. 1793.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 consequence, bands of this tribe wandered 
 into the Tennessee settlements, and mur 
 dered about one hundred of the whites. 
 Besides these combinations, a part of the 
 Cherokees, known by the name of Chick- 
 amagas, inhabiting five villages on the 
 Tennessee, or Cherokee river, had been for 
 a long time in the habit of plundering 
 and murdering the pioneer settlers in the 
 south-west, particularly those living upon 
 the Cumberland river. After maturely 
 considering the complaints alleged against 
 the whites by the Chickamagas, Washing 
 ton was of opinion that they had flagrantly 
 violated the treaty of Holstein, signed in 
 1791, by and between the United States 
 government and the Cherokee nations. 
 This powerful race of Indians inhabited 
 an immense region, situated on the head 
 waters of the Tennessee and Savannah 
 rivers the upper settlement being on the 
 former, near the shoals ; the lower settle 
 ment upon the Keovvee river; and the 
 middle settlement was upon the head waters 
 of the north branch of the Savannah. Im 
 mediately south of the Cherokees were the 
 Creeks, whose tribes extended in their 
 roamings to the Mississippi river acting 
 in hostile measures with other dissatisfied 
 tribes, scattered in the Lower Mississippi 
 valley. Washington used every possible 
 effort to satisfy these various tribes of 
 semi-savages, by treaties, presents, and 
 liberal annuities, conformably to the advice 
 of the senate ; but, notwithstanding his 
 humane efforts, many of the Indians yielded 
 to the advice of bad white men ; many of 
 whom were Spanish traders, and paid no 
 regard to the treaties that had been signed 
 by their chieftains. The president informed 
 congress, at its December session, 1793, 
 that there had been much anxiety demon 
 strated by the executive for peace with the 
 Creeks and the Cherokees. He had re 
 lieved the former with corn and with cloth 
 ing, and he had prohibited all offensive 
 measures against them during the recess of 
 congress ; and he had had prosecutions insti- 
 
 * The Six Nations of Indians composed a con 
 federacy, and t.ieir tribes occupied the vast regions 
 on both sides of the chain of lakes separating the 
 United States from the British possessions. When 
 first formed, there were but five nations; namely, 
 the Mohawks, Oneydoes, Onondagas, Cayugas, and 
 Leunekas. These were joined together as a league 
 or confederacy, without any superiority of the one 
 over the other. This union had existed for several 
 centuries, and BO far in the past, that the Christians, 
 200 years ago, could not ascertain the date of its 
 
 tuted against divers persons, who had been 
 guilty of interfering with those tribes, or 
 had violated the conditions of the treaty of 
 Holstein, and the treaty between the gov 
 ernment of Georgia and the Creeks. 
 
 The president firmly maintained his 
 promises, contained in the respective 
 treaties, and pursued an energetic policy 
 towards the whites, who had violated the 
 said treaties, and instigated the Indians to 
 acts of violence against the citizens of the 
 United States. By this policy he was suc 
 cessful, and ultimately secured the happiest 
 results peace and tranquillity to the 
 Indians and the whites. 
 
 In the west, the Indians were more de 
 termined to prevent the further spread of 
 civilisation ; and, for many years past, they 
 had annoyed the pioneers inhabiting the 
 whole line of frontier. The Six Nations,* 
 originally centralised in the western part of 
 New York, had, some years previous to the 
 formation of the constitutional government, 
 extended its confederacy by alliances with 
 the tribes living upon the shores of the 
 western lakes. Treaties were, from time to 
 time, made with that powerful Indianic com 
 bination, by which the government became 
 possessed of certain lands ; and, in return, 
 the Indians became the recipients of pre 
 sents and annuities. The several tribes 
 occasionally sent deputations to the pre 
 sident, for securing some additional protec 
 tion, a more faithful execution of the 
 treaties, or for the purpose of making new 
 engagements. In 1792, the famous chief, 
 Cornplanter, of the Seneca tribe, headed a 
 deputation, and visited the president ; upon 
 which occasion the great chief made an ex 
 cellent speech in behalf of the Indians. 
 
 The speech referred to the intrusion by 
 the whites upon their lands, fraudulent 
 purchases, the killing of unoffending In 
 dians, and other acts in violation of the 
 treaty stipulations. The chieftain said 
 
 " Father, The voice of the Seneca nation speaks 
 to you, the great councillor in whose heart the wise 
 men of all the Thirteen Fires (Thirteen States) 
 
 formation. In a general sense, the league has beer, 
 known in history as the Iroquois Confederacy; and 
 each of the nations belonging to the Iroquois 
 Republic, was divided into three tribes or families, 
 who distinguished themselves by three different 
 arms, or ensigns the tortoise, the bear, and the 
 wolf. In 1712, the Tuscaroras became the sixth 
 nation in the Iroquois Confederacy. In 1723, the 
 Necariages of Michillimacinac and Lake Huron 
 became the seventh nation ; and a few years subse 
 quent, the Mississagues became the eighth nation. 
 
 123 
 
CORNPLANTER S SPEECH.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1792 
 
 have placed their wisdom. It may be very small 
 in your ears, and \ve therefore entreat you to 
 hearken with attention; for we are about to speak 
 of things which are to us very great. When your 
 army entered the country of the Six Nations, we 
 called you the town destroyer; and to this day, 
 when that name is heard, our women look behind 
 them, and turn pale, and our children cling close to 
 the necks of their mothers. Our councillors and 
 warriors are men, and cannot be afraid ; but their 
 hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and 
 children, and desire it to be buried so deep as to be 
 heard no more. When you gave us peace, we 
 called you Father, because you promised to secure 
 us in the possession of our lands. Do this, and, so 
 long as the land shall remain, that beloved name 
 will live in the heart of every Seneca." 
 
 The chief then recited several instances 
 where wrongs had been done the Indians 
 by the whites ; to which Washington re 
 plied, that the injuries complained of had 
 been perpetrated before the new government 
 was established, and the management of 
 Indian affairs given up to it ; but that they 
 would now be protected. This answer was 
 not wholly satisfactory to Cornplanter, and 
 he rejoined in his characteristic style 
 
 " Father, Your speech, written on the great 
 paper, is to us like the first light of the morning to 
 a sick man, whose pulse beats too strongly in his 
 temples, and prevents him from sleep. He sees it, 
 and rejoices; but is not cured." 
 
 The chief incidentally referred to the in 
 cursions of the whites into their country, 
 in violation of the treaty, without any 
 effort upon the part of the government to 
 prevent their acts of violence and in 
 humanity. Of killing and robbing his 
 people, he said 
 
 " Three men and one woman have been killed at 
 Big Beaver Creek, and they were good people, and 
 some of the white people will testify this. Twenty- 
 seven men came from another state, and murdered 
 these men in the Quaker State, where they had 
 come to trade, and took away all the horses, and all 
 the goods they had purchased from the traders." 
 
 Washington listened attentively to the 
 red man s speech, and then, with indica 
 tions of displeasure at the conduct of the 
 whites, answered the chief that he was 
 very angry to hear of the murder and the 
 robbery, and that he would have the affair 
 inquired into. He promised to assist the 
 friends and relations of the Indians who 
 had been killed, and make them compensa 
 tion for the horses and property taken 
 and that he would do all in his power to 
 
 124 
 
 Dring the murderers to justice. He further 
 n formed the chief, that he considered the 
 ;rime as bad as if committed against so 
 many white people, and that he would use 
 he same endeavours to bring them to 
 punishment. 
 
 The remarks of the president gave the 
 deputation complete satisfaction, and they 
 were willing to return home, confident that 
 the assurances of the great father would be 
 trictly carried out. With such conviction 
 hey took a formal leave, as follows : 
 
 " Father, No Seneca ever goes from the fire of 
 lis friend until he has said to him, I am going. 
 We therefore now tell you, that we are setting out 
 or our own country. Father, we thank you from 
 our hearts, that we now know there is a country we 
 may call our own, and on which we may lie down 
 in peace. We see that there will be peace between 
 your children and our children, and our hearts are 
 very glad." 
 
 It was exceedingly difficult for the gov 
 ernment to prevent the white traders from 
 violating the treaties with the Indians ; and 
 nearly all the difficulties with those people 
 of the forest originated from the bad con 
 duct of that class of men that infested the 
 entire border, west and south. In nearly 
 every instance where the Indians were 
 faithfully protected, they had maintained 
 strict integrity with the government in the 
 observance of their treaty obligations. The 
 case of Pennsylvania goes far to sustain 
 this view of these semi-savages. The policy 
 of William Penn was that of justice and 
 humanity to the Indians, and his colony 
 was long exempt from the calamity of 
 savage hostility. It had been settled 
 seventy years from 1680 to 1753 before 
 an Indian killed one of its inhabitants, and 
 then in consequence of a disturbance in a 
 neighbouring province. Such an exemption, 
 for so long a time, and while all the other 
 colonies were involved in Indian wars from 
 their early settlement, while so honourable 
 to Penn s government, and to the inoffen 
 sive manners of the inhabitants, inaugu 
 rated by Penn, goes far to show that the 
 Indians were manageable by good treat 
 ment, and that, although savage, they were 
 ever subject to the influence of justice and 
 kindness, but, at the same time, desperate 
 and revengeful when they were wronged.* 
 
 * Abridged Debates of Congress, vol. i., p. 341. 
 
A.D. 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [WAR WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE INDIAN WARS IN THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY ; THE EXCISE TAX AND THE WHISKEY REBELLION OF 
 
 WEST PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the war of the revolution had 
 happily terminated, the hardy pioneers of 
 the western settlements had still a contest 
 to maintain, which, at times, seemed to 
 threaten their extermination. The Indian 
 nations inhabiting the regions of the great 
 lakes, refused to bury the hatchet when 
 the armies of Great Britain were with 
 drawn. In the autumn of 1787, the New 
 England Ohio Company was formed in 
 Boston, and a large tract of territory, in 
 the vicinity of the Muskingum and Scioto 
 rivers, was purchased from the general gov 
 ernment. The settlement of this purchase 
 began in the spring of 1788, when Gene 
 ral Rufus Putnam, with a party of settlers, 
 founded Marietta, at the mouth of the 
 Muskingum. The settlement of Marietta 
 was followed by the settlement of other 
 places on the Ohio, in rapid succession. 
 
 The Indians were opposed to the exis 
 tence of the towns north-west of the Ohio ; 
 and, in spite of the treaties entered into be 
 tween the general government and some of 
 their tribes, seemed actuated by a determi 
 nation that that river should form the 
 ultimate boundary between the United 
 States and the Indian country. The Mia- 
 mis were at this time the most prominent 
 of the western tribes. Their chief, Mishi- 
 kinakwa (which, interpreted, is understood 
 to mean Little Turtle), possessed more ta 
 lents than any savage warrior of his time. 
 By the force of native abilities and perse 
 vering, exertions, he had raised himself to 
 be the military leader of the confederate na 
 tives of the north-west. With an appa 
 rent purpose of extermination of the white 
 race in that region, they ravaged the fron 
 tier settlements of the United States. The 
 vicinity of the Ohio river, especially, was 
 the chosen scene of their barbaric atroci 
 ties. Boats were plundered, and their 
 crews murdered. Farms were destroyed, 
 and settlements burned ; and a large num 
 ber of people carried into hopeless cap 
 tivity. 
 
 _ The complaints from the western fron 
 tiers finally became so loud, in 1790, that 
 congress requested the secretary of war, 
 VOL. n. s 
 
 General Knox, to collect what information 
 he could, relative to the depredations by tho 
 Indians upon the pioneer settlements of that 
 region. An able report was the result of 
 the investigation ; in which it was stated, 
 that within two years past, more than 1,500 
 persons had either been murdered or carried 
 into captivity, and an immense amount of 
 property destroyed. 
 
 President Washington had exhausted his 
 Utmost endeavours to give security to the 
 north-western frontiers, by pacific arrange 
 ments, but they proved entirely unavail 
 ing ; and he finally felt it his duty to em 
 ploy such other means as were placed 
 in his hands, for the protection of the 
 country. Confirmed, by his experience, 
 in the opinion, that by vigorous offensive 
 operations alone, could a war with savages 
 be brought to a successful conclusion, he 
 projected an expedition against the hostile 
 tribes north-west of the Ohio, as soon as 
 the impracticability of peaceful measures 
 had become apparent. General Joseph 
 Ilarmar, then commanding at Fort Wash 
 ington,* was placed at the head of the 
 troops to be led against them 
 
 The plan of the expedition was, to march 
 into the heart of the Indian country, and 
 bring the savages to an engagement, if pos 
 sible ; but, in any event, to destroy their 
 settlements, and thus reduce them to term?. 
 General Harmar was considered an able 
 and experienced tactician ; a veteran officer 
 in the late revolutionary army ; and it was 
 presumed that he would experience little 
 difficulty in breaking up the haunts of the 
 Indians, and subduing them, especially if 
 they ventured to meet him in a general 
 battle. He had 320 troops put under him, 
 with authority to call upon the states of 
 Kentucky and Pennsylvania for quotas of 
 militia to increase his force to 1,500 men. 
 
 About the close of September, 1790, the 
 requisite number of men having arrived, 
 the army marched from Fort Washington 
 for the Indian country. Colonel Hardin, 
 a brave and experienced officer, was de- 
 
 * Situated on the site of the present city of Cin 
 cinnati. 
 
 125 
 
THE ARMY IN THE WEST.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 tached, with 600 men, with orders to pro 
 ceed in advance of the main body of the 
 army ; and, after a march of seventeen 
 days, through a wild and trackless region, 
 he arrived at the principal Miami village, 
 on the 16th of October. This village was 
 situated at the confluence of the St. Joseph s 
 and the St. Mary s rivers, now the site of 
 Fort Wayne, the capital of Allen county, 
 Indiana; the united streams being thence 
 known as the Maumee river, which 
 empties through Maumee Bay into Lake 
 Erie. This river is noted on some of the 
 earlier maps as the " Miami," and some 
 times alluded to, in publications, as the 
 " Miamis of the Lakes." But the rivers 
 subsequently distinguished by those names 
 (the Great and Little Miami) are tribu 
 taries of the Ohio, joining its waters in the 
 south -western corner of the state of Ohio. 
 
 On the approach of Colonel Hardin s 
 forces, the Indians set fire to their village, 
 and fled precipitately into the woods. About 
 five acres were enclosed by pickets, within 
 which the forces under Colonel Ilardin 
 encamped. In the burning buildings, 
 great quantities of grain were discovered; 
 and, on further search, much more was 
 found in holes in the ground, and which, 
 by order of Colonel Hardin, was all de 
 stroyed. At the same time, a detachment 
 of 300 men, under Colonel Trotter and 
 Major Rhea, marched out to reconnoitre. 
 They discovered the burning ruins of five 
 other villages, and saw some twenty-five or 
 thirty Indians. Thinking these a decoy, 
 they did not pursue them. 
 
 The following day, October 17th, Major 
 Fontaine, aide to General Harmar, with a 
 party, variously stated, of from 200 to 
 250 men, thirty of whom were regulars, 
 under Lieutenant Armstrong and Ensign 
 Hartshorn, proceeded on a reconnaissance 
 in search of the Indians. Numerous indi 
 cations of their track were discovered ; and 
 when at a distance of some six or seven 
 miles from the camp, they fell into an 
 ambush of not less than 1,000 warriors ; 
 and, in the conflict which followed, were 
 defeated. Under the circumstances, it 
 could hardly have resulted otherwise ; for 
 the militia (so reported General Harmar) 
 " shamefully and cowardly threw away 
 their arms, and ran, without scarcely firing 
 a gun ;" thus leaving the regulars to battle 
 against formidable odds; and it certainly is 
 remarkable that any of them should have 
 been enabled to escape. Twenty-three ol 
 126 
 
 ihem were killed or taken prisoners, and 
 seven finally saved themselves by flight. 
 Lieutenant Armstrong eluded capture by 
 plunging into a slough, and remaining 
 most of the night up to his neck in mud 
 and water. Ensign Hartshorn made an 
 equally narrow escape. In his flight he 
 stumbled over a log, which, as he fell, he 
 observed contained a cavity of sufficient 
 magnitude to admit his body. He crawled 
 into it, and eventually slipped away unob 
 served. While he lay in the hollow log, 
 be witnessed, from a knot-hole, the dreadful 
 torture, by roasting alive, of several of his 
 omrades on the same ground where they 
 bad been defeated. 
 
 The Indians, with that subtlety peculiar 
 to the race, had drawn the Americans after 
 them by their trail ; then dividing them 
 selves into two parties, turned back, on each 
 side of them, into a brush prairie, and there 
 lay concealed in the underwood, while their 
 pursuers came directly into the snare. The 
 Indians arranged themselves in ambush, so 
 as to commence the attack upoii the whites 
 on both flanks and rear. 
 
 On the day following, October the 18th, 
 General Harmar arrived, with the main 
 body of his command, at the principal 
 Miami village, having lost several of his 
 scouting parties on the march. Among 
 them was Sergeant Johonnet, who, after 
 his escape from the Indians, published an 
 account of his captivity, which is one of 
 the most interesting narratives on re 
 cord. 
 
 The next movements of General Harmar 
 are inexplicable by any principle of good 
 generalship. Why he should have com 
 menced a retreat without any further opera 
 tions against the enemy, it is not easy to un 
 derstand. If it be that he came to the con 
 clusion that any further efforts in the cam 
 paign would only result in further disaster 
 to his forces, and that, therefore, without 
 consulting his affairs, he decided to return 
 home if such were his decision, and had 
 he adhered to it he would have preserved 
 many valuable lives, even though at the 
 expense of his reputation ; but, as it re 
 sulted, he not only lost his reputation, but, 
 which was of far greater moment to the 
 country, many valuable lives were sacrificed 
 with it. 
 
 lie furnishes no journal of his marches 
 from place to place ; and we next find him 
 about eight miles on his return home, on. 
 the evening of the 21st of October. Here 
 
A.IX 1700.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DEFEAT OF THE ARMY. 
 
 he made a stand, and again detached 
 Colonel Hardin, with about 400 men, of 
 whom sixty were regulars, under the com 
 mand of Major Wyllys, of Connecticut, 
 with orders to return to the Great Miami 
 village intelligence having been received 
 by the general, that it was again in posses 
 sion of the savages and to bring on an 
 engagement with them. Besides Major 
 Wyllys, in command of the regulars, as 
 mentioned above, Colonel Ilardin had 
 with him Majors M Mullen and Fontaine. 
 They marched during the same night, and, 
 about daybreak on the morning of the 
 22nd, reached the confluence of the St. 
 Joseph s and the St. Mary s rivers, where the 
 force was divided into three columns. The 
 left division, commanded by Colonel Har 
 din, crossed the St. Joseph s, and proceeded 
 up its western bank : the centre, consisting 
 of the federal troops, was led by Major 
 Wyllys, up the eastern side of the river ; 
 and the right, under Major M Mullen, 
 marched along a range of heights which 
 commanded the right flank of the centre 
 division. They were soon met by a large 
 body of Indians, under the command of 
 Little Turtle, and other famous chiefs, and 
 a severe engagement ensued. The militia 
 retrieved their reputation, but the savages 
 fought with a desperation not to be over 
 come. Several of the bravest officers fell, 
 among whom was Major Fontaine, who, 
 having ordered his men to retreat, in a 
 " frenzy of courage," rode back himself 
 into the thickest of the enemy, "cutting 
 and slashing" till he was wounded and car 
 ried off by two of his men ; but he was 
 overtaken, killed, and scalped. The Indians, 
 after giving a semblance of fighting with 
 the regulars in front, seized the heights on 
 the right of the centre column, and attacked 
 the right flank of the centre with great 
 fury. Major Wyllys was among the first 
 who fell ; but the battle was still kept up 
 with spirit, and with considerable execu 
 tion on both sides. The remnant of this 
 little band, overpowered at length by num 
 bers, was driven off the ground, leaving 
 fifty of their comrades, besides two valuable 
 officers, Major Wyllys and Lieutenant 
 Frothingham, dead upon the field. The 
 loss sustained by the militia amounted to 
 upwards of one hundred men, among whom 
 were ten officers. After this engagement, 
 the detachment joined the main army, and 
 the troops returned to Fort Washington. 
 In the battles with the Indians, during 
 
 this expedition, many of them fought on 
 horseback, having their horses equipped 
 with a bunch of bells hanging down the left 
 side of their heads, and two narrow stripes 
 of red and white cloth, as pendants. The 
 Indians themselves were painted red and 
 black, in a manner to represent infernal 
 spirits. Their hideous and terrific appear 
 ance, added to the noise of the bells, and 
 the flapping of the pendent stripes of cloth, 
 rendered them so formidable to- the horses 
 of the militia, that they shrank back in 
 dismay ; and it was with the greatest diffi 
 culty they could be brought to the charge. 
 
 General Harmar, with what propriety it 
 is not easy to discern, claimed the victory. 
 He conceived, not entirely without reason, 
 that the loss of a considerable number of 
 men would be fatal to the Indians, although 
 a still greater loss should be sustained by 
 the Americans, because the savages did not 
 possess a population from which they could 
 replace the warriors who had fallen. The 
 event, however, did not justify the opi 
 nion.* 
 
 "The accounts of Harmar s campaign," 
 says Drake to whom we are indebted for 
 many of the details here given, obtained by 
 him directly from participants in the events 
 related "are of the most conflicting cha 
 racter ; no two agreeing in reference to im 
 portant details. His official account of it is 
 one of the most meagre documents of the 
 kind to be found anywhere. The most we can 
 get from it is, that he had been somewhere 
 to fight Indians, and had got back again to 
 Fort Washington, and had lost 183 men. 
 But where, or when, or how, he has left us 
 to conjecture. Judge Marshall has un 
 accountably placed it under the year 1791 ; 
 and Shallus, who is generally to be relied 
 on, places his march from Fort Washington, 
 and all his battles (which, by the way, he 
 never fought) under the date of Sep 
 tember 30, 1790. 
 
 " On reviewing the conduct of General 
 Harmar, in this affair, it would seem that 
 he was either crazy, or utterly devoid of 
 judgment. It must have been apparent to 
 every subaltern of his command, that the 
 first battle with the Indians had not only 
 increased their boldness, but their numbers 
 also. Then, at this very time, the troops 
 are marched off the ground, leaving the 
 savages in full triumph ; and when at a 
 safe distance from danger, a fifth part of 
 his forces is sent back into the very jaws of 
 * Marshall. 
 
 127 
 
REINFORCEMENTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.I>. 1791, 
 
 destruction. With these glaring facts in 
 full view, it is difficult to comprehend on 
 what ground a court-martial could honour 
 ably exonerate General Harmar of all 
 blame ; nor is it any easier to discover how 
 he could have been acquitted of unofficer- 
 like conduct with honour." 
 
 The inevitable effect of these disgraceful 
 defeats of the forces under General Ilarmar, 
 was to embolden the Indians ; and, under 
 such a leader as Mishikinakwa, to lead 
 them to entertain sanguine hopes of bringing 
 the Americans to their own terms. One 
 murder followed another in rapid succession, 
 attended by all the horrors peculiar to their 
 mode of warfare ; which caused President 
 Washington to take the earliest opportunity 
 of recommending congress to adopt prompt 
 and efficient measures for checking those 
 calamities ; and congress, acting upon the 
 suggestions of the president, authorised the 
 immediate raising and equipping of an army 
 of 2,000 men, to be employed in the me 
 ditated expedition into the Indian country. 
 Major-general Arthur St. Clair, governor 
 of the territory north-west of the Ohio, 
 was appointed Commander-in-chief. This 
 gentleman had served through the war of 
 the revolution with reputation, though it 
 had never beea his fortune to distinguish 
 himself. Other motives, in addition to the 
 persuasion of his fitness for the service, 
 conduced to his appointment. With the 
 sword, the olive-branch was still to be ten 
 dered ; and it was thought advisable to place 
 them in the same hands. The governor, 
 having been made officially the negotiator 
 with the tribes inhabiting the territories 
 over which he presided ; being a military 
 man, acquainted with the country into 
 which the war was to be carried ; possessing 
 considerable influence with the inhabitants 
 of the frontiers, and being so placed as to 
 superintend the preparations for the expe 
 dition advantageously, seemed to have 
 claims to the station, which were not to be 
 overlooked. It was also a consideration of 
 
 * It 5s well known that many Americans in 
 veighed loudly against the English of Canada, and 
 against the Canadian government, even charging 
 them with all the .enormities committed on their 
 frontier by the Indians. It is equally well known 
 that these charges were almost utterly groundless. 
 It is possible that some who held inferior offices 
 under government were secret abettors of the 
 Indian depredations ; and, in the attack known 
 in history as St. Glair s defeat, there was cause of 
 suspicion against the Canadians, as it was known 
 that many of them fought on the Indian side in 
 that battle. Mr. Weld, the intelligent traveller, 
 
 128 
 
 some importance, that the high rank he had 
 held in the American army, would obviate 
 those difficulties in filling the inferior 
 grades with men of experience, which might 
 certainly be expected, should a person who 
 had acted in a less elevated station be 
 selected for the chief command. 
 
 General St. Clair received his appoint 
 ment on the 4th of March, 1791, and pro 
 ceeded to Fort Washington, by the way of 
 Kentucky, with all possible dispatch, where 
 he arrived on the 15th of May. The diffi 
 culties which must impede the recruiting 
 service in a country where coercion is not 
 employed, and where the common wages of 
 labour greatly exceed the pay of a soldier, 
 protracted the completion of the regiments 
 to a late season of the year ; but the summer 
 was not permitted to waste in total inaction. 
 
 The act, passed in the last session, for the 
 defence of the frontiers, in addition to its 
 other provisions, had given to the president 
 an unlimited power to call mounted militia 
 into the field. Under this authority two 
 expeditions had been conducted against the 
 villages on the Wabash, in which a few of 
 the Indian warriors were killed ; some of 
 their old men, women, and children, were 
 made prisoners ; and several of their towns 
 and fields of corn were destroyed. The first 
 was led by General Scott, in May; and 
 the second by General Wilkinson, in Sep 
 tember. These desultory incursions had 
 not much influence on the war. 
 
 It was believed in the United States, 
 that the hostility of the Indians was kept up 
 by the traders living in their villages. 
 These persons had, generally, resided in, 
 the United States; and having been com 
 pelled to leave the country, in consequence 
 of the part they had taken during the war 
 of the revolution, felt the resentments which 
 banishment and confiscation seldom fail to 
 inspire. Their enmities were unjustly as 
 cribed, by many Americans, to the temper 
 of the government in Canada ;* but some 
 countenance seemed to be given to this 
 
 says " Many young Canadians, and in particular 
 those that were born of Indian women, fought on 
 the side of the Indians in the action against St. 
 Clair a circumstance which confirmed the people 
 of the states in the opinion they had previously 
 formed, that the Indians were encouraged and 
 abetted in their attacks upon them by the British. 
 I can safely affirm, however, from having conversed 
 with many of these young men who fought against 
 St. Clair, that it was with the utmost secrecy they 
 left their homes to join the Indians, fearful lest the 
 government should censure their conduct." Travels 
 in Canada, pp. 436 37. London : 1800. 
 
A.D. 1791.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ATTACK BY THE INDIANS. 
 
 opinion, by intelligence that, about the 
 commencement of the preceding campaign, 
 large supplies of ammunition had been 
 delivered from the British posts on the 
 lakes, to the Indians at war with the 
 United States. The president addressed a 
 letter to the secretary of state, to be com 
 municated to Colonel Beck with, who re 
 mained in Philadelphia, as the informal 
 representative of his nation ; in which he 
 expressed his surprise and disappointment 
 at this interference by the servants or 
 subjects of a foreign state, in a war prose 
 cuted by the United States for the sole 
 purpose of procuring peace and safety for 
 the inhabitants of their frontiers. 
 
 On receiving this communication, Colo 
 nel Beckwith expressed his disbelief that 
 the supplies mentioned had been delivered ; 
 but, on being assured of the fact, he avowed 
 the opinion that the transaction was with 
 out the knowledge of Lord Dorchester, 
 governor of Canada ; to whom, he said, he 
 should communicate, without delay, the 
 ideas of the American government on the 
 subject. 
 
 Although the most prompt and judicious 
 measures had been taken to raise the troops, 
 and to march them to the frontiers, there 
 was much time lost, as has already been 
 remarked, in getting them embodied in the 
 neighbourhood of Fort Washington ; Gen 
 eral Butler, with the residue, not arriving 
 until the middle of September. 
 
 The immediate objects of the expedition 
 were, to destroy the Indian villages on the 
 Maumee, to expel the savages from that 
 country, and to connect it with the Ohio 
 by a chain of posts, which would prevent 
 their return during the war. 
 
 On the 7th of September, the regulars 
 moved from their camp in the vicinity of 
 Fort Washington, and marching directly 
 north, towards the object of their destina 
 tion, established two intermediate posts, 
 Forts Hamilton and Jefferson, at the dis 
 tance of rather more than forty miles from 
 each other, as places of deposit and of 
 security, either for convoys of provisions, 
 which might follow the army, or for the 
 army itself, should any disaster befall it. 
 The last of these works, Fort Jefferson, 
 was not completed until the 24th of Oc 
 tober, before which time reinforcements 
 were received of about 360 militia. After 
 placing garrisons in the forts, the effective 
 number of the army, including militia, 
 amounted to nearly 2,000 men. With this 
 
 force the general continued his march, 
 which was rendered both slow and laborious 
 by the necessity of opening a road. Small 
 parties of Indians were frequently seen 
 hovering about them ; and some unimpor 
 tant skirmishes took place. As the troops 
 approached the country in which they 
 might expect to meet an enemy, about 
 sixty of the militia deserted in a body. 
 This diminution of force, was not, of itself, 
 an object of much concern. But there was 
 reason to fear that the example, should 
 those who set it be permitted to escape 
 with impunity, would be extensively fol 
 lowed ; and it was reported to be the in 
 tention of the deserters to plunder convoys 
 of provisions which were advancing at 
 some distance in the rear. To prevent 
 mischiefs of so serious a nature, the general 
 detached Major Hamtranck, with the first 
 regiment, in pursuit of the deserters, and 
 directed him to secure the provisions with 
 a strong guard. The army, consisting now 
 of about 1,400 rank and file, continued its 
 march ; and, on the 3rd of November, 
 encamped on a commanding ground, about 
 fifteen miles south of the Miami villages. 
 The right wing, under the command of 
 General Butler, formed the first line, and 
 lay with a creek, about twelve yards wide, 
 immediately in its front. The left wing, 
 commanded by Colonel Darke, formed the 
 second ; and between the two lines was an 
 interval of seventy yards. The right flank 
 was supposed to be secured by the creek, 
 by a steep bank, and by a small body of 
 troops ; the left was covered by a party of 
 cavalry, and by pickets. The militia 
 crossed the creek, and advanced about one- 
 fourth of a mile in front, where they also 
 encamped in two lines. On their approach, 
 a few Indians, who had shown themselves 
 on the opposite side of the creek, fled with 
 precipitation. It was the general s inten 
 tion to throw up a slight work at this 
 place, for the security of his baggage ; and> 
 after being rejoined by Major Hamtranck, 
 to march unencumbered, and expeditiously, 
 to the destruction of the Miami villages. 
 In both these designs, however, he was 
 frustrated. 
 
 The next morning (November 4th), about 
 half-an-hour before sunrise, immediately 
 after the troops had been dismissed from 
 parade, an unexpected attack was made upon 
 the militia, who fled in the utmost confusion, 
 and, rushing into the camp, through the first 
 line of the government troops, threw them 
 
 129 
 
ST. CLAIR S DEFEAT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.B. 1791. 
 
 into confusion. The exertions of the officers 
 to restore order were not entirely success 
 ful. The Indians pressed closely upon the 
 heels of the flying militia, and intrepidly 
 engaged General Butler. The action in 
 stantly became severe. The fire of the 
 assailants, passing around both flanks of the 
 first line, was, in a few minutes, poured 
 furiously on the rear division of the Ame 
 rican army. Directed most intensely 
 against the centre of each wing, where the 
 artillery was posted, it made great destruc 
 tion among the artillerists. The Indians, 
 firing from the ground, and from the shelter 
 of the woods, were scarcely seen but when 
 springing from one cover to another. Thus 
 advancing closely up to the American lines, 
 and to the very mouths of their cannon, 
 they fought with the most reckless and 
 daring intrepidity. 
 
 As is usual in such cases, the soldiers ex 
 hibited that unequal conduct inseparable 
 from humanity. While some of them per 
 formed their duty with the utmost resolu 
 tion and bravery, others were paralysed 
 with dismay and terror. Of this state of 
 things, the officers were, as usual, the vic 
 tims. With a contempt of danger which 
 the occasion called for, they exposed them 
 selves to the most imminent perils ; and, in 
 their efforts to change the fortunes of the 
 day, were cut down in great numbers. 
 
 It soon became evident that the fire of 
 the Americans could produce, on a con 
 cealed enemy, no considerable effect, and 
 that the only hope of victory was placed in 
 the bayonet. At the head of the second 
 regiment, which formed the left of the left 
 wing, Colonel Darke made an impetuous 
 charge upon the enemy, forced them from 
 their ground with severe loss, and drove 
 them about seventy-five or a hundred rods. 
 lie was followed by the right wing; but 
 the want of a sufficient number of riflemen 
 to press this advantage, deprived him of 
 the benefit which ought to have been de 
 rived from this effort ; and, as soon as he 
 gave up the pursuit, the Indians renewed 
 their attack. In the meantime, General 
 Butler was mortally wounded ; the left of 
 the right wing was broken ; the artillerists, 
 almost to a man, killed ; the guns seized, and 
 the camp penetrated by the enemy. With 
 his own regiment, and with the battalions 
 commanded by Majors Butler* and Clarke, 
 
 * Major Butler, although his leg had been 
 broken, mounted on horseback, and led his bat- 
 talion to the charge. 
 
 130 
 
 Colonel Darke was ordered again to charge 
 with the bayonet. These orders were exe 
 cuted with intrepidity and momentary suc 
 cess. The Indians were driven out of the 
 camp, and the artillery recovered. But 
 while they were pressed on one point by 
 the bravest of the American troops, their 
 fire was kept up from every other with 
 fatal effect. On several occasions, par 
 ticular corps charged them, always with 
 partial success ; but no general effort could 
 be made ; and in every charge a great loss 
 of officers was sustained, the consequences 
 of which were severely felt. Instead of 
 keeping their ranks, and executing the 
 orders which were given, a great propor 
 tion of the soldiers flocked together in 
 crowds, and were shot down without resis 
 tance. To save the remnant of his army 
 was all that remained to be done ; and, 
 about half-past nine o clock in the morning, 
 General St. Clair ordered Colonel Darke, 
 with the second regiment, to charge a body 
 of Indians who had intercepted their re 
 treat, and to gain the road. Major Clarke, 
 with his battalion, was ordered to cover the 
 rear. These orders were executed, and a 
 disorderly and tumultuous flight now com 
 menced. The pursuit was kept up for about 
 four miles, when, fortunately for the sur 
 viving Americans, the greed for plunder, 
 which is a constitutional passion with 
 savages, called back the victorious Indians 
 to the deserted battle-ground, where the 
 spoils of their vanquished foes were to be 
 gathered up. The routed troops continued 
 their flight a distance of about thirty miles, 
 when they reached Fort Jefferson, most of 
 them throwing away their arms and accou 
 trements on the road. At this place they 
 met Major Hamtranck, with the first regi 
 ment; and a council of war was called to 
 deliberate on the course to be pursued. As 
 this regiment was far from restoring the 
 strength of the morning, it was determined 
 not to attempt to retrieve the fortune of the 
 day; and, leaving the wounded at Fort 
 Jefferson, the troops continued their retreat 
 to Fort Washington. 
 
 The loss on the part of the Americans, 
 in this disastrous battle, when compared 
 with the numbers engaged, was very great. 
 Thirty-eight commissioned officers were 
 killed upon the field, and 593 non-commis 
 sioned officers and privates were slain and 
 missing. Twenty-one commissioned officers, 
 several of whom afterwards died of their 
 wounds, and 242 non-commissioned officers 
 
A D. 1791.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RESULT OF THE BATTLE 
 
 and privates, were wounded. Among the 
 dead was the brave and much-lamented 
 General Butler. This gallant officer had 
 served through the war of the revolution, 
 and had, on more than one occasion, dis 
 tinguished himself in a remarkable manner. 
 The account of his death is revolting. As 
 has already been stated, he was mortally 
 wounded, and, in the precipitate flight, left 
 xipon the field of battle. The well-known 
 and infamous Simon Girty approached him, 
 and observed him writhing with severe pain 
 from his wounds. Girty knew him, and 
 spoke to him. Knowing that he could not 
 live, General Butler begged of Girty to put 
 an end to his misery. This Girty refused 
 to do; but, turning to an Indian, told him 
 that the dying officer was the Commander- 
 in-chief of the American army ; upon which 
 the Indian at once drove his tomahawk into 
 the head of the dying soldier. Several 
 other Indians now coming up, after taking 
 off his scalp, they took out his heart, and 
 cut it into as many pieces as there were 
 tribes engaged in the action, and divided it 
 among them. All manner of brutal and 
 revolting acts were committed upon the 
 bodies of the unfortunates who had fallen in 
 battle. 
 
 In the list of those who shared the fate 
 of General Butler, were the names of many 
 other excellent officers, who had participated 
 in all the toils, the dangers, and the glory 
 of that long conflict, which terminated in 
 the independence of their country. At the 
 head of the list of wounded, were Lieu 
 tenant-colonels Gibson and Darke, Major 
 Butler, and Adjutant- general Sargent, all 
 of whom were veteran officers of great 
 merit, who displayed their accustomed 
 bravery on this unfortunate day. 
 
 The weight of the fire, and the circum 
 stance of his being attacked nearly at the 
 same moment in front and rear, led Gen 
 eral St. Clair to the opinion that he was 
 overpowered by numbers. The intelligence 
 afterwards collected, would make the Indian 
 force to consist of from 1,000 to 1,500 war 
 riors. Of their loss no estimate could be 
 made ; the probability is, that it bore no 
 proportion to that sustained by the Ameri 
 can army. 
 
 As the public had confidently anticipated 
 a successful campaign, the news of this dis 
 aster came upon it like a peal of thunder 
 from an unclouded sky ; and it was loth 
 to believe that the general, who had been 
 unfortunate, had not been culpable. Gen 
 
 eral St. Clair requested, with earnestness, 
 that a court-martial should sit on his con 
 duct ; but this request could not be granted, 
 because the army did not furnish a suffi 
 cient number of officers of a grade to form 
 a court for his trial on military principles. 
 Late in the session (1792), a committee of 
 the House of Representatives was appointed 
 to inquire into the cause of the failure of the 
 expedition ; whose report, in explicit terms, 
 exculpated the commander-in-chief. This 
 inquiry, however, was instituted rather for 
 the purpose of investigating the conduct of 
 civil than of military officers ; and was not 
 conducted by military men. More satisfac 
 tory testimony in favour of General St. Clair, 
 is furnished by the circumstance that he 
 still retained the undiminished esteem and 
 good opinion of the president. He pub 
 lished a narrative in vindication of his con 
 duct, which, at the present day, few will 
 deem was required. What he says of his 
 retreat we will give in his own words. 
 
 " The retreat was, you may be sure, a 
 precipitate one. It was, in fact, a flight. 
 The camp and the artillery were aban 
 doned ; but that was unavoidable, for not a 
 horse was left alive to draw it off, had it 
 otherwise been practicable. But the most 
 disgraceful part of the business is, that the 
 greater portion of the men threw away their 
 arms and accoutrements, even after the pur 
 suit, which continued about four miles, 
 had ceased. I found the road strewed with 
 them for many miles, but was not able to 
 remedy it ; for, having had all my horses 
 killed, and being mounted on one that could 
 not be pricked out of a walk, I could not 
 get forward myself; and the orders I sent 
 forward, either to halt the front, or prevent 
 the men from parting with their arms, were 
 unattended to." 
 
 General St. Clair did everything that a 
 brave general could do. He exposed him 
 self to every danger, having, during the 
 action, eight bullets shot through his 
 clothes. He had been afflicted, for several 
 days, with a severe disease, under which he 
 was still suffering at the period of the battle, 
 and which must have greatly afflicted him. 
 But, though unable to display that activity 
 which would have been so serviceable in 
 this severe conflict, neither the feebleness 
 of his physical frame, nor the perils of his 
 situation, could prevent his delivering his 
 orders with judgment and self-possession. 
 The following extract from his official letter, 
 will show both his own situation and his 
 
 131 
 
EFFECTS OF THE DEFEAT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1792. 
 
 opinion of the behaviour of his troops, pre 
 vious to their tumultuous retreat : " I have 
 nothing, sir, to lay to the charge of the 
 troops (during the action) but their want 
 of discipline, which, from the short time 
 they had been in service, it was impossible 
 they should have acquired ; and which 
 rendered it very difficult, when they were 
 thrown into confusion, to reduce them again 
 to order ; and is one reason why the loss 
 has fallen so heavily upon the officers who 
 did everything in their power to effect it. 
 Neither were my own exertions wanting ; 
 but, worn down with illness, and suffering 
 under a painful disease, unable either to 
 mount or dismount a horse without assis 
 tance, they were not so gi eat as they other 
 wise would or perhaps ought to have been." 
 
 In no conflict recorded in the whole 
 Indian history of America, did the savages 
 display greater bravery and inflexible de 
 termination than in this battle with the 
 forces under General St. Clair. 
 
 The defeat of St. Clair gave a more 
 serious aspect to the Indian war. There 
 was reason to fear that the hostile tribes 
 would derive a great accession of strength 
 from the impression which their success 
 would make upon the friendly tribes; 
 and the government was deeply inte 
 rested in retrieving the fortune of its arms, 
 and affording protection to its citizens. 
 President Washington, therefore, lost no 
 time in causing the estimates for a com 
 petent force to be prepared, and laid before 
 congress. In conformity with a report 
 made by the secretary of war, a bill was 
 brought into the House of Representatives, 
 directing three additional regiments of 
 infantry, and a squadron of cavalry, to be 
 raised, to serve for three years, if not sooner 
 discharged. The whole military establish 
 ment, if completed, would thus amount to 
 about 5,000 men. The additional regi 
 ments, however, were to be disbanded as 
 soon as peace should be concluded with the 
 Indians ; and the president was authorised 
 to discharge, or to forbear to raise any part 
 of them, "in case events should, in his 
 judgment, render his doing so consistent 
 with the public safety." 
 
 This measure to increase the army met 
 with great opposition in congress. By 
 those who opposed it, the justice of the 
 war was arraigned, and the practicability 
 of obtaining peace at a far less expense 
 than would be incurred in its prosecution, 
 was strongly xirged. Any extension of the 
 132 
 
 present frontier was insisted on as not 
 desirable ; and if the citizens of the United 
 States were recalled within their proper 
 boundaries, hostilities would cease. It was 
 argued that it was an idle waste of blood 
 and treasure, to carry the war beyond the 
 line of forts already established. It was 
 exposing their arms to disgrace, betraying 
 their own weakness, and lessening the con 
 fidence of the people in the government, to 
 send forth armies to be butchered in the 
 forests. 
 
 Even were the war just in its commence 
 ment, and its continuance called for by the 
 honour and interest of the nation, yet, as 
 an invasion of the Indian country ought 
 not to be attempted, this augmentation of 
 the military establishment could not be 
 necessary. Regular troops could only be 
 useful as garrisons for posts, to which the 
 militia might resort for protection or 
 supplies. Experience had proved that the 
 sudden and desultory attacks of the fron 
 tier militia and rangers, were productive of 
 more valuable consequences than the me 
 thodical operations of a regular force. 
 Should it even be conceded that invasion 
 and conquest were to be contemplated, the 
 existing establishment, if completed, would 
 be sufficiently great ; and it was still insisted 
 that, even for the purposes of conquest, the 
 frontier militia were superior to any regu 
 lars whatever. The expense of such an 
 army as the bill contemplated, was said to 
 be an object worthy of serious attention ; 
 and members were requested to observe 
 the progress of this business, and to say, if 
 they could, where it would stop. At first, 
 only a single regiment had been raised, 
 and the expense was about 100,000 dollars; 
 a second was afterwards added, which 
 swelled the expense to 300,000 ; and now a 
 standing force of over 5,000 rnen was con 
 templated, at an annual expense of over 
 1,250,000 dollars. They were preparing 
 to squander away money by millions ; and 
 no one, except those who were in the secrets 
 of the cabinet, knew why the war had been 
 thus carried on for three years. 
 
 In favour of the bill for the augmenta 
 tion of the military force, it was urged 
 that the justice of the war could not be 
 questioned by any man who would allow 
 that self-preservation, and indispensable 
 necessity, could furnish sufficient motives 
 for taking up arms. It was proved by un 
 questionable documents, that since tho 
 | close of the revolutionary war, there had 
 
A.D. 1792.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [OPPOSITION TO THE WAR. 
 
 been not less than 1,500 persons, either 
 the inhabitants of Kentucky, or emigrants 
 on their way to that country, who had been 
 massacred by the savages, or dragged into 
 captivity ; and there was reason to believe, 
 that on the frontiers of Virginia and Penn 
 sylvania, the murdered and the prisoners 
 would furnish a list almost as large. 
 
 The conciliatory disposition of the gov 
 ernment was stated, and its repeated efforts 
 to obtain a peace were enumerated. It 
 was particularly observed, that in 1790, 
 when a treaty was proposed to the Maumee 
 villages, the Indians at first refused to 
 treat ; they next required thirty days to 
 deliberate : this request was acceded to ; 
 and, in the interview, offensive operations 
 were expressly prohibited by the president. 
 Yet, notwithstanding this forbearance on 
 the part of the whites, not less than 120 
 persons were killed and captured by the 
 savages, and several prisoners roasted alive, 
 during that short period ; at the ex 
 piration of which, the Indians refused to 
 give any answer to the proposition which 
 had been made to them. But it was too 
 late now to inquire into the justice of the 
 principles on which the war was originally 
 undertaken. The nation was involved in 
 it, and could not recede without exposing 
 many innocent persons to be butchered by 
 the enemy. Should the government de 
 termine to discontinue the war, would the 
 Indians also consent to a cessation of hos 
 tilities ? The government could not, with 
 out impeachment, both of its justice and 
 humanity, abandon the inhabitants of the 
 frontiers to the rage of their savage enemies. 
 A sufficient force must be raised for their 
 defence, and the only question was, what 
 that force should be ? 
 
 The recommendations of men best quali 
 fied to judge, were in favour of employing 
 an army not inferior to that proposed in 
 the bill. When the known passion of 
 Indians for war and plunder was adverted 
 to, and the excitements to that passion, 
 which were furnished by the trophies ac 
 quired in the last two campaigns, were 
 considered, no man would venture to pro 
 nounce with confidence, how extensive the 
 combination against the United States 
 might become, or what numbers they 
 would have to encounter. It certainly be 
 hoved them to prepare in time for a much 
 more vigorous effort than had hitherto been 
 made. The objections drawn from the in 
 creased expense which such an effort would 
 
 VOL. n. T 
 
 require, must entirely vanish before the 
 eyes of any man who looked forward to the 
 consequences of another unsuccessful cam 
 paign. Such a disaster would eventually 
 involve the nation in much greater ex 
 pense than that which was now made the 
 ground of opposition. Better, therefore, was 
 it to make at once a vigorous and effectual 
 exertion to bring the contest to a close, 
 than to continue gradually draining the 
 treasury, by dragging on the war, and 
 renewing hostilities from year to year. 
 
 The bill for the augmentation of the 
 army, required by the executive, was 
 passed. No abatement of hostilities having 
 taken place among the north-western In 
 dians, the preparations for terminating the 
 war by the sword were earnestly pressed. 
 Major-general Wayne, of revolutionary 
 fame, was appointed to succeed General 
 St. Clair, who resigned the command of 
 the army ; and the utmost exertions were 
 made to complete it to the maximum 
 authorised by congress. But the laws 
 furnished such small inducement to engage 
 in the service, that the highest military 
 grades, next to that of commander-in-chief, 
 were declined by many to whom they were 
 offered ; and the defeats of Generals liar- 
 mar and St. Clair, had produced such a 
 dread of the Indians, that the recruiting 
 business advanced too slowly to justify 
 a hope that the decisive expedition, which 
 was meditated, could be prudently under 
 taken in the course of the present year. 
 Meanwhile, the public clamour against the 
 war continued to be loud and violent. It 
 was vehemently asserted, that if the inten 
 tions of the government respecting the 
 savages were just and humane, those in 
 tentions were unknown to them, and that 
 their resentments were kept up by the 
 aggressions of the whites, and by the opinion 
 that their expulsion from the country they 
 occupied, was the object of the hostilities 
 carried on against them. However satis 
 fied the executive might be of the fallacy 
 of these opinions, they were too extensively 
 maintained not to be respected, as far as 
 was compatible with a due regard to the 
 real interests of the nation. While, there 
 fore, the preparations for offensive opera 
 tions were hastened, by a vigorous exertion 
 of the means at the disposal of the presi 
 dent, it was thought advisable to make 
 another effort to terminate the war, by a 
 direct communication of the pacific inten 
 tions of the government. Colonel Hardin 
 
 133 
 
WASHINGTON S MESSAGE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1792. 
 
 and Major Trueraan were each severally 
 sent, under a flag of truce, to propose terms 
 of peace ; and both of them were ruthlessly 
 murdered by the savages. 
 
 Washington, in his speech, delivered at 
 the opening of the next session of congress, 
 November 8, 1792, alluded to the con 
 tinuance of Indian hostilities as follows : 
 " It is some abatement of the satisfaction 
 with which I meet you on the present oc 
 casion, that in felicitating you on the con 
 tinuance of the national prosperity gene 
 rally, I am not able to add to it information 
 that the Indian hostilities, which have for 
 some time past distressed our north 
 western frontiers, have terminated. You 
 will, I am persuaded, learn with no less 
 concern than I communicate it, that re 
 iterated endeavours towards effecting a 
 pacification, have hitherto issued only in 
 new and outrageous proofs of persevering 
 hostility on the part of the tribes with 
 whom we are in contest. An earnest de 
 sire to procure tranquillity to the frontier 
 to stop the further effusion of blood to 
 arrest the progress of expense to forward 
 the prevalent wish of the nation for peace, 
 has led to strenuous efforts, through various 
 channels, to accomplish these desirable 
 purposes. In making these efforts, I con 
 sulted less my own anticipations of the 
 event, or the scruples which some con 
 siderations were calculated to inspire, than 
 the wish to find the object attainable ; or, 
 if not attainable, to ascertain unequivocally 
 that such was the case. A detail of the 
 measures that have been pursued, and of 
 their consequences, which will be laid be 
 fore you, while it will confirm to you the 
 want of success thus far, will, I trust, 
 evince that means as proper and as effica 
 cious as could have been devised, have been 
 employed. The issue of some of them, in 
 deed, is still depending ; but a favourable 
 one, though not to be despaired of, is not 
 promised by anything which has yet hap 
 pened. In the course of the attempts 
 which have been made, some valuable 
 citizens have fallen victims to their zeal 
 for the public service. A sanctum com 
 monly respected, even among savages, has 
 been found, in this instance, insufficient to 
 protect from massacre the emissaries of 
 peace. It will, I presume, be duly con 
 sidered, whether the occasion does not call 
 for an exercise of liberality towards the 
 families of the deceased. 
 
 " I have reason to believe that everv 
 134 
 
 practicable exertion has been made, pur 
 suant to the provision by law for that 
 purpose, to be prepared for the alternative 
 of a prosecution of the war, in the event of 
 a failure of pacific overtures. A large pro 
 portion of the troops authorised to be raised 
 have been recruited, though the number is 
 still incomplete ; and pains have been 
 taken to discipline, and put them in con 
 dition for the particular kind of service to 
 be performed. A delay of operations, be 
 sides being dictated by the measures which 
 were pursuing towards a pacific termina 
 tion of the war, has been, in itself, deemed 
 preferable to immature efforts. A state 
 ment from the proper department, with 
 regard to the number of troops raised, and 
 some other points which have been sug 
 gested, will afford more precise information, 
 as a guide to the legislative consultations ; 
 and, among other things, will enable con 
 gress to judge whether some additional 
 stimulus to the recruiting service may not 
 be advisable." 
 
 The perseverance of "Washington, in his 
 endeavours to terminate the Indian hostili 
 ties by a treaty of peace, at length suc 
 ceeded with the savages of the Wabash ; 
 and, through the intervention of the Six 
 Nations, the Miamis had also been in 
 duced to consent to a conference, to be 
 held in the course of the ensuing spring. 
 Though probability was against the success 
 of this attempt to restore peace, all offen 
 sive operations, on the part of the United 
 States, were still further suspended. The 
 Indians did not entirely abstain from hos 
 tilities ; and the discontents of the western 
 people were in no small degree increased 
 by this temporary prohibition of all incur 
 sions into the country of their enemy. 
 
 The efforts of government to negotiate 
 terms of peace with the Miamis proved 
 abortive. The Indians insisted on the Ohio 
 as the boundary between them and the 
 whites ; and, although the American com 
 missioners expressed a willingness to re 
 linquish some of the lands purchased at the 
 treaty of Fort Harmar, and pressed them 
 to propose some line between the boundary 
 established by that treaty and the Ohio, 
 they adhered inflexibly to their original 
 demand. After the total failure of nego 
 tiation, propositions for prosecuting the 
 campaign were made by General Wayne, 
 with as much vigour as a prudent attention 
 to circumstances would permit. The sa 
 vages had expected an attack upon their 
 
A.D. 1791] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIAN ATTACK. 
 
 villages, and had collected in full force, 
 with the apparent determination of risking 
 an engagement in their defence. A battle 
 was desired by Wayne ; but the conse 
 quences of another defeat were too serious to 
 warrant him in hazarding more, by precipi 
 tate movements, than the circumstances of 
 the war required. The negotiations with 
 the Indians were not terminated till Sep 
 tember, 1793, and it was then too late to 
 complete the preparations which would en 
 able him to enter their country, and to 
 hold it. He, therefore, contented himself 
 with collecting his army, and penetrating 
 about six miles in advance of Fort Jefferson, 
 into the uninhabited country, where he 
 established himself for the winter, in a camp 
 called Greenville. After fortifying his 
 camp, he took possession of the ground on 
 which St. Clair had been defeated in 1791;* 
 and there he erected a fort, which he named 
 Fort Recovery. Its location was about 
 twenty-three miles from Camp Greenville, 
 and eighty or ninety from Fort Washing 
 ton. These positions afforded considerable 
 protection to the frontiers, and facilitated 
 the opening of the ensuing campaign. 
 
 The delays, inseparable from the trans 
 portation of supplies through an uninhabited 
 country, infested by an active enemy pe 
 culiarly skilled in partisan warfare, una 
 voidably protracted the opening of the cam 
 paign until near Midsummer. Meanwhile, 
 several sharp skirmishes took place, and a 
 bloody action near Fort Recovery, on the 
 30th of June, 1794. The latter deserves 
 more than a mere passing mention. 
 
 During the month above mentioned, Gen 
 eral Wayne ordered a quantity of provisions 
 to be deposited at Fort Recovery, as a link 
 in the chain of his supplies. It was not 
 till the 29th of June that a convoy was 
 ready to proceed thither from Greenville. 
 
 Meanwhile, two distinguished friendly 
 Indian chiefs, with a few followers, had 
 marched for Fort Recovery, to learn what 
 they could, on the way, of the vicinity of 
 the enemy, and to impart the information 
 they might gather for the benefit of the 
 garrison at the fort. These chiefs were 
 named, Captain Underwood and Captain 
 Bobb Sallad ; the former a Chickasaw, and 
 
 * The account given of the appearance of the 
 battle-ground of General St. Clair, on the arrival 
 there of a detachment of General Wayne s forces, 
 is truly melancholy. Within a space of about 
 350 yards, were found 500 skull-bones, the most of 
 which were gathered up and buried. For about 
 
 the latter a Chocktow. They performed 
 their service faithfully, and arrived at 
 Fort Recovery on the night of the 29th 
 of June, the same evening that the convoy 
 did. The value of their services on this 
 occasion, however, was lost, from want of a 
 proper arrangement; for, on hailing the 
 fort, they were mistaken for the enemy; 
 and, speaking a different language from the 
 western Indians, could hold no communica 
 tion with those within the fort, and hence 
 were obliged to retire with great regret. 
 They were prepared to communicate the 
 important intelligence that a large force of 
 Indians was hovering about the fort, with 
 the design of immediately attacking it. It 
 was afterwards ascertained that the Indians 
 had discovered the weakness of the garrison, 
 ; and had determined on carrying it by storm ; 
 thus proving the value of the information 
 which was lost, the important post being at 
 that time defended by only about one hun 
 dred men, under Captain Gibson. Of these, 
 thirty were infantry, under the immediate 
 command of Lieutenant Drake, who, in the 
 battle which followed, took a most con 
 spicuous part. 
 
 The convoy, as above remarked, arrived 
 on the evening of June 29th, at its place of 
 destination, without accident. It consisted 
 of three hundred pack-horses, eighty rifle 
 men, under Captain Hartshorn, and fifty 
 dragoons, under Captain Taylor ; the whole 
 under the command of Major J. M Mahon. 
 The next morning, June 30th, as the 
 convoy was about to resume its return 
 march, it was fiercely attacked by a nume 
 rous body of savages, the same the two 
 friendly chiefs had attempted to caution 
 the garrison against. Previous to march 
 ing, the pack-horsemen had spread them 
 selves along the road, and were grazing 
 their horses, and some were nearly a mile 
 from Fort Recovery, when the onset com 
 menced. Major M Mahon, on hearing the 
 firing, supposing the Indians but few in 
 number, pushed forward to the point of 
 attack, accompanied only by the fifty dra 
 goons. Near the extremity of the line of 
 pack-horses, he found himself almost 
 encompassed by Indians, who, suddenly 
 showing themselves, seemed to cover the 
 
 five miles in the direction of the retreat of the 
 army, the woods were strewed with skeletons and 
 muskets. The two brass cannon, which composed 
 St. Glair s artillery one a three, and the other a six- 
 pounder were found in a creek adjacent. Massa 
 chusetts Magazine, 1794. 
 
 135 
 
AMERICANS DEFEATED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1794. 
 
 ground for a great distance. With their 
 war-whoop and deafening yells they poured 
 an incessant fire upon the devoted band, 
 with most deadly effect. Among the first 
 who fell was Major M Mahon, who was 
 shot dead from his horse. Captain Taylor, 
 with the remainder of the troops, came 
 immediately to the rescue ; but, finding 
 himself surrounded by great numbers of 
 the enemy, he endeavoured to cut his re 
 treat through them, but was slain in the 
 attempt, as was also Cornet Terry. Cap 
 tain Hartshorn, who commanded the rifle 
 men, received a severe wound in the knee ; 
 and although he was carried some distance 
 by his men, was finally overtaken and killed. 
 The whites, however, gained an eminence, 
 and continued the fight. 
 
 In the meantime, the remnant of dra 
 goons, and other fugitives, had gained the 
 cleared ground adjacent to the fort, and 
 were contending, at most fearful odds, with 
 their victorious enemy. Seeing their des 
 perate situation, Captain Gibson permitted 
 Lieutenant Drake, at his own request, to 
 make a sally from the fort, in aid of his 
 companions. He at once issued forth, at 
 the head of his own men, and a portion of 
 the riflemen ; and, skilfully interposing 
 his detachment between the retreating 
 troops and the enemy, opened upon them a 
 hot fire, arrested their advance, and thus 
 gave an opportunity to the wounded to 
 efiect their escape, and to the broken and 
 retreating companies to re-form, and again 
 to face the enemy. Throughout the whole 
 affair, Drake s activity, skill, and extra 
 ordinary self-possession, were most con 
 spicuous. The enemy observed it as well 
 as his friends. He seemed, by providential 
 interference, to escape the numerous shots 
 aimed at him, until he had accomplished 
 all that he had come out to perform. He 
 then received a ball through his body, and 
 fell : a faithful corporal came to his as 
 sistance, and, with his aid, he reached the 
 fort ; and these two were the last of the re 
 treating party that entered it the brave 
 lieutenant making it a point of honour 
 that it should be so.* 
 
 Lieutenant Drake was not mortally, 
 though very severely wounded, and never 
 entirely recovered. He returned home to 
 Connecticut, in the summer of 1796, on 
 
 * Lieutenant Drake, by the coolness and intre 
 pidity exhibited by him on this occasion, proved 
 that it is no evidence of cowardice for an officer to 
 decline fighting a duel he having, previously to 
 
 136 
 
 furlough, and died there shortly after, 
 from the immediate effects of yellow fever; 
 which, it is said, he had contracted on the 
 way. The brave Captain Hartshorn, as 
 already mentioned, was wounded, and 
 could not travel. He requested his men, 
 who had supported him some distance 
 towards the fort, to leave him, and take care 
 of themselves ; and immediately the noto 
 rious Captain M Kee overtook him, and 
 told him to surrender, and he should be 
 well treated. But he had determined never 
 to fall alive into the hands of the Indians ; 
 and, at the same moment, aimed a blow at 
 M Kee with his rifle, which knocked him 
 off his horse ; and, before he could recover, 
 his negro servant and an Indian killed 
 Captain Hartshorn. Lieutenant Marks, of 
 Captain Hartshorn s company, was alone, 
 and surrounded by the savages. He fought, 
 and kept off the Indians with his spon- 
 toon, until it was broken to pieces ; and 
 then, jumping over the heads of some, and 
 knocking down with his fist one that had 
 taken him prisoner, escaped. 
 
 Several other American officers deserve 
 special notice ; of these were Ensign Dodd, 
 of Lieutenant Drake s command, and Lieu 
 tenant Michael, of Captain Hartshorn s. 
 Michael had been detached with a chosen 
 party, all of whom were killed but three ; 
 himself escaping in a similar manner to 
 Lieutenant Marks. 
 
 The Indians closely besieged the fort all 
 that day and night, and the next day until 
 about noon, when they retired. They dis 
 played great bravery, often advancing in 
 solid column within range of the guns 
 of the fort. In this protracted and des 
 perate fight twenty-five of the Americans 
 were killed, and forty wounded. All the 
 pack-horses were lost, on many of which 
 the Indians conveyed away their dead and 
 wounded. The actual loss of the Indians 
 was never known, but it must have been 
 severe. Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, the 
 well-known chiefs, were among the most 
 active and determined leaders of the Indians 
 in this engagement. 
 
 On the 28th of July, having been joined 
 by General Scott, with 1,100 Kentuckians, 
 General Wayne moved forward to the 
 Maumee. By the 8th of August the army 
 had arrived at the junction of the Auglaize 
 
 this affair, refused to accept a challenge. Unfor 
 tunately, customs of society sometimes compel men 
 to engage in duels against their own conviction, 
 with respect to morality. 
 
A.D. 1794.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE ON THE MAUMEE. 
 
 with that stream, where were the richest 
 and most extensive settlements of the 
 Indians. Here he erected Fort Defiance, 
 for defence and for the protection of maga 
 zines. The mouth of the Auglaize was 
 distant about thirty miles from the spot, 
 where was collected the whole strength of 
 the enemy, amounting, according to intelli 
 gence on which General Wayne relied, to 
 rather less than 2,000 men. The con- j 
 tinental legion was not much inferior in 
 number to the Indians ; and, with the 
 1,100 mounted Kentuckians, under Scott, 
 gave a decided superiority of strength to 
 the army of Wayne. That the Indians 
 had determined to give him battle was well 
 understood; and the discipline of his legion, 
 the order of all his troops, and the supe 
 riority of his numbers, authorised him con 
 fidently to expect a favourable issue. Yet, 
 in pursuance of that policy by which the 
 government of the United States had been 
 uniformly actuated, he determined to make 
 one more effort for the attainment of peace, 
 without bloodshed. Messengers were dis 
 patched to the several hostile tribes who 
 were assembled in his front, inviting them 
 to appoint deputies to meet him on his 
 march, in order to negotiate a lasting peace. 
 From the answers which he received from 
 them, it for some time appeared doubtful 
 whether they were for peace or war, so 
 artful was the manner in which the replies 
 were couched. 
 
 On the 15th of August the American 
 army advanced dovrn the Maumee, with its 
 right covered by that river; and, on the 
 18th, arrived at the Rapids, two days before 
 the battle, where they halted to erect a 
 temporary work, Fort Deposit, for the pro 
 tection of the supplies, and to reconnoitre 
 the enemy. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th, at eight 
 o clock, the American army advanced in 
 columns. The continental legion (regulars) 
 was on the right, its flank covered by the 
 Maumee ; one brigade of mounted volun 
 teers on the left, under General Todd ; and 
 the other in the rear, under General Barbee. 
 A select battalion of mounted volunteers 
 moved in front of the legion, commanded 
 by Major Price, who was directed to keep 
 sufficiently advanced to give timely notice 
 for the troops to form in case of action, it 
 being yet undetermined whether the Indians 
 would decide for peace or war. 
 
 After advancing about five miles, Major 
 Price s corps received so severe a fire from 
 
 the enemy, who were secreted in the woods 
 and high grass, as to compel them to re 
 treat. The legion was immediately formed 
 in two lines, principally in a close, thick 
 wood, which extended for miles on the left, 
 and for a very considerable distance in 
 front ; the ground being covered with old 
 fallen timber, probably occasioned by a tor 
 nado, which rendered it impracticable for 
 the cavalry to act with effect, and afforded 
 the enemy the most favourable covert for 
 their mode of warfare. The savages were 
 formed in three lines, within supporting 
 distance of each other, and extending for 
 nearly two miles at right angles with the 
 river. General Wayne soon discovered, 
 from the weight of the fire, and extent of 
 their lines, that the enemy were in full 
 force in front, in possession of their fa 
 vourite ground, and endeavouring to turn 
 the Americans right flank. He therefore 
 gave orders for the second line to advance 
 and support the first ; and directed General 
 Scotb to gain and turn the right flank of 
 the savages, with the whole force of the 
 mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route ; 
 at the same time he ordered the front line 
 to advance and charge with trailed arms, 
 and rouse the Indians from their coverts at 
 the point of the bayonet, and, when up, to 
 deliver a close and well-directed fire on 
 their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so 
 as not to give them time to load again. He 
 also ordered Captain Campbell, who com 
 manded the legionary cavalry, to turn the 
 left flank of the enemy next the river, and 
 which afforded a favourable field for that 
 corps to act in. 
 
 All these orders were obeyed with 
 promptitude and spirit ; but such was the 
 impetuosity of the charge by the first line 
 of infantry, that the enemy were driven 
 from all their coverts in so short a time, 
 that, although every possible exertion was 
 used by the officers of the second line of 
 the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, 
 and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to 
 gain their proper position, only part of each 
 could get up in time to participate in the 
 action ; the enemy being driven, in the 
 course of an hour, more than two miles 
 through the thick woods already mentioned, 
 by less than one-half of their number. From 
 every account, the enemy numbered 2,000 
 combatants. The troops actually engaged 
 , against them were short of 900. Tins 
 | horde of savages, with their allies, aban- 
 doned themselves to flight, and dispersed 
 
 137 
 
WAYNE S TREATY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1795. 
 
 with terror and dismay, leaving the vic 
 torious army in full and quiet possession of 
 the field of battle. 
 
 The loss of the United States army, in 
 this decisive battle, was thirty-three killed 
 and one hundred wounded. Among the 
 slain were Captain Campbell and Lieutenant 
 Fowles, both of whom fell in the first 
 charge. The loss of the enemy was much 
 greater than that of the federal army. 
 The woods were strewn, for a considerable 
 distance, with the dead bodies of Indians 
 and their white auxiliaries. 
 
 After remaining for three days on the 
 banks of the Maumee, in front of the field 
 of battle, during which time the houses 
 and corn-fields, for a considerable distance 
 above and below the fort, were burnt and 
 destroyed, General "VVayne returned with 
 the army to Auglaize. 
 
 In this battle, all the chiefs of the Wyan- 
 dots, nine in number, were killed. Some 
 of the natives escaped the slaughter in not 
 coming up until after the defeat. This 
 severe blow satisfied the Western Indians 
 of the folly of longer contending against 
 the Americans ; they, therefore, were glad 
 to get what terms they could from them. 
 Little Turtle* was known to have been in 
 favour of making peace before the battle, 
 he being well aware of the abilities of the 
 American commander; but such was the 
 influence of traders among them, that no 
 arguments could prevail. Thus, instances 
 without number might be adduced, where 
 the Indians have been destroyed by placing 
 confidence in white men who deceived 
 them.f 
 
 On the 3rd of August, 1795, the chiefs 
 of twelve tribes met commissioners of the 
 United States, at Fort Greenville ; and, as 
 the price of their peace, gave up an ex 
 tensive tract of country south of the lakes, 
 and west of the Ohio; and such other 
 tracts as comprehended all the military 
 posts in the western region. The govern 
 ment showed some liberality to these tribes, 
 on their relinquishing to it what they 
 could not withhold ; and, as a gratuity, 
 
 * In a council held the night before the battle, 
 he argued as follows : " We have beaten the 
 enemy twice under separate commanders. We 
 cannot expect the same good fortune always to 
 attend us. The Americans are led now by a chief 
 who never sleeps ; the night and the day are alike 
 to him. And during all the time that he has been 
 marching upon our villages, notwithstanding the 
 watchfulness of our young men, we have never 
 been able to surprise him. Think wtll of it. There 
 138 
 
 gave them 20,000 dollars in goods, and 
 agreed to pay them 9,000 dollars a year for 
 ever, to be divided among those tribes 
 according to their numbers. The terms of 
 this treaty were the same as offered to 
 them by Wayne before the battle. It is 
 generally denominated " Wayne s Treaty." 
 The public debt of the United States 
 continued to engage the attention of con 
 gress ; and although there was an ardent 
 desire to pay the then recognised national 
 obligations, the people were not willing to 
 raise the revenue by a direct tax. The 
 demands for money pressed from various 
 sources upon the young republic ; and ere 
 it could fully organise its revenue depart 
 ments, consistent with the fastidious opinions 
 of the statesmen of that period, with respect 
 to state sovereignty, the creditors pressed 
 upon congress for relief. The importations 
 being very small, but little income was 
 possible to be derived from the customs ; 
 the public lands had not relieved the trea 
 sury, and, under the then existing circum 
 stances, the only possible means of liqui 
 dating the national debt was by way of a 
 domestic tax. In this condition of affairs, 
 it was proposed in congress to levy an 
 excise on spirits. The proposition was very 
 warmly opposed by many of the southern 
 members. The tenor of their observations 
 seems to have been, that the mode of 
 taxation was odious, unequal, unpopular, 
 and oppressive; more particularly in the 
 southern states, in which, it was observed, 
 its unequal operation would be most sensibly 
 felt, as the citizens of those states had no 
 alternative to adopt by which they could 
 diminish the weight of the tax : they had 
 no breweries or orchards to furnish a sub 
 stitute for spirituous liquors; malt spirits 
 were considered to be not only useful, but 
 absolutely necessary for the people living 
 in the southern climate. It was alleged 
 that grog was a necessary article of drink 
 in the southern states, and that the tax 
 would be unjust to the people of that 
 I climate. In North Carolina, for example, 
 the opponents of the excise asserted, that 
 
 is something whispers me, it would be prudent to 
 listen to his offers of peace." For holding this 
 language he was reproached by another chief with 
 cowardice, which put an end to all further discourse. 
 Nothing wounds the feelings of a warrior like the 
 reproach of cowardice ; but Little Turtle stifled his 
 resentment ; did his duty in the hattle ; and its issue 
 proved him a truer prophet than his accuser be 
 lieved. Schooler off s Travels, 
 j Drake. 
 
A.D. 1791.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [WHISKEY REBELLION. 
 
 the consumption of ardent spirits in that 
 state was so great, that the duty would 
 amount, perhaps, to ten times as much as 
 it would in the state of Connecticut. 
 Many of the southern members, of whom 
 were Madison of Virginia, and Smith of 
 South Carolina, advocated the excise tax 
 as the least objectionable mode of raising 
 the necessary moneys to meet the obliga 
 tions of the government. After a very 
 lengthy discussion, the bill passed the 
 house by a majority of fourteen, on the 
 27th of January, 1791. The vote was very 
 decided in favour of the tax, and many 
 of the ayes were from the southern states, 
 notwithstanding the very unanimous oppo 
 sition to the measure in several of them, as 
 evidenced by the fact, that while the ques 
 tion was pending in congress, the legisla 
 tures of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Vir 
 ginia, and Maryland, passed resolutions 
 against it. This act imposed a duty on all 
 imported spirits, according to strength 
 amounting to from twenty to forty cents 
 per gallon. On domestic spirits was levied 
 a tax of from nine to twenty-five cents per 
 gallon, if distilled from grain ; and a tax of 
 from eleven to thirty cents, when manu 
 factured from molasses, or any imported 
 product. 
 
 The enactment of the excise law pro 
 duced a rebellion in the western part of 
 Pennsylvania, which cost the government, 
 in its suppression, over one million of 
 dollars ; and, besides, there was a loss of 
 many lives. The people living within the 
 insurrectionary district had settled there 
 when the country was a wild forest ; and 
 they had successfully, though at a great 
 loss, defended themselves against the savage 
 tribes. Distilling was not only considered 
 respectable, but a necessity, and a blessing 
 to the people. The insurgents defended 
 their course upon the grounds that rye was 
 their principal product, and it " was too 
 bulky to transport across the mountains ; 
 therefore, having no market for it, they 
 were obliged to convert it into the more 
 easily transported article of whiskey, which 
 was the principal item which they had to 
 barter for salt, sugar, and iron. They had 
 cultivated their lands for years, at the 
 peril of their lives, with but little or no 
 protection from the federal government; 
 and when, at last, they were enabled to 
 raise a little surplus grain, to meet their 
 expenses of living, they were met by a law 
 which forbade their doing as they pleased 
 
 with the fruits of their labour." It is 
 proper to state, however, that in the passing 
 of the excise tax, congress did not suppose 
 it would oppress the manufacturers : but it 
 was intended to increase the cost of liquor 
 to the consumers ; and with them, it was 
 supposed, would lie the burden of the excise. 
 The law was passed in the belief that the 
 people would have the liquor at any price, 
 although an unnecessary luxury ; and thus, 
 as a member of congress stated, " the people 
 would actually drink down the government 
 debt !" 
 
 According to the act of congress, each 
 state was made a tax district, and was 
 under the direction of a supervisor. The 
 state was subdivided ; and each local sec 
 tion was under the supervision of an 
 inspector. Distillers were compelled to 
 render a full account of all liquors they 
 manufactured; and besides a detailed de 
 scription of all their houses and fixtures, 
 their establishments were subject to ex 
 amination by the inspectors from time to 
 time. In the state of Pennsylvania there 
 were some 5,000 distilleries ; and the law 
 was considered, in that state, to be un 
 justifiably severe and oppressive. The 
 people were nearly unanimous against the 
 collection of the taxes in the western 
 counties of Pennsylvania ; and the exis 
 tence of an opposition to the law in Vir 
 ginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, in 
 spired the rebels with confidence of success 
 in preventing the collection of taxes. Their 
 fighting-men numbered about 16,000 ; 
 though it has been estimated that there 
 were only some 7,000 of the insurgents 
 under military organisation as an army. 
 
 The insurrection was not intended to 
 overthrow the government, but only to 
 prevent the enforcement of the particular 
 obnoxious law. Like the Shay rebellion of 
 Massachusetts, in 1786, the people wanted 
 relief ; the tax burden was too heavy ; it 
 seemed to them as though Cocsar was not 
 content with one-tenth of their annual 
 gains, but that he wanted all the income 
 from their toil. President Washington, as 
 the executive of the nation, proceeded to 
 carry out the offensive excise measure ; and 
 was determined to enforce it until the law 
 was legally repealed by congress. Judicial 
 proceedings, in the form of indictments, 
 were commenced against several of the 
 distillers, because they had failed to enter 
 their stills. In the execution of warrants 
 against those guilty of this neglect, the 
 
 139 
 
GOVERNMENT TROOPS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1792. 
 
 inspector, and the supervisor, General 
 Neville, were met by a body of armed men, 
 and fired upon ; but they escaped. On 
 the next day the insurgents attacked the 
 general s house, in Pittsburg; but they 
 were repulsed by the latter and his armed 
 negroes, who defended themselves hero 
 ically, wounding some six of the assailants. 
 The next day the insurgents reappeared, 
 500 strong. Neville escaped; but in the 
 attack, several were killed and wounded. 
 The house was taken, and then set on fire, 
 which forced the garrison adjoining to sur 
 render. All the buildings were consumed. 
 The insurgents continued their work of 
 destruction throughout that section of the 
 state, and many lives were lost. No one 
 dared to utter a word against the reign of 
 the infuriated mob : all were compelled to 
 join in the nullification of the law, in order 
 to protect their property, and to save their 
 lives. 
 
 During this great and frightful outbreak 
 against the national authority, various secret 
 political associations were found to exist in 
 different states; and President Washington 
 feared that some mischievous ulterior con 
 sequences might occur, unless the insurrec 
 tion in Pennsylvania was immediately sup 
 pressed. The governor of that state was 
 not energetic in measures to suppress it; 
 and the president resolved upon a prompt 
 and decisive course. One of the judges of 
 the United States courts gave a certificate 
 to the president, that the laws of congress 
 could not be enforced in the western counties 
 of Pennsylvania, on account of an armed 
 rebellion. This was conformable to law; 
 and then the president was constitutionally 
 empowered to enforce obedience to the 
 national edict namely, the collection of the 
 excise on distilled liquors. In the mean 
 time, the governor of Pennsylvania called 
 out the militia to quell the insurrection, and 
 to hasten the consummation of a peaceful 
 execution of the laws of congress. The 
 legislature of that state denounced the acts 
 of the insurgents ; authorised the governor 
 to receive volunteers ; and, in order that 
 there should not be a failure in the raising 
 of the required forces, a bounty was autho 
 rised to be given to each soldier. The gov 
 ernment of the state was resolute in the 
 determination to put down the rebellion, 
 and to aid the president in the enforcement 
 of the national laws. A proclamation was 
 issued by the president, warning the insur 
 gents, and requiring them to cease in their 
 140 
 
 opposition to the government : he also for 
 warded to the governors of Pennsylvania, 
 New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, an 
 application for some 15,000 men, to aid in 
 quelling the rebellion. The soldiers de 
 manded were promptly furnished by those 
 states. In order, however, to prevent the 
 shedding of blood, the president dispatched 
 three commissioners to meet and consult 
 with the insurgents. They were instructed 
 to use their best efforts towards the peaceful 
 settlement of the outbreak ; to explain to 
 them the necessity of the tax, and to give 
 them assurances of future protection. The 
 commissioners visited the rebellious counties ; 
 and a committee, composed of sixty members, 
 was appointed by a convention of the insui - 
 gents, which was then in session (August, 
 1794), around a banner, bearing the inscrip 
 tion, "Liberty, and no excise ! No asylum 
 for cowards and traitors !" The United 
 States commissioners met the committee, 
 and demanded a cessation of their resis 
 tance ; and they promised the people en gaged 
 in the insurrection a general pardon. At 
 the same time, unofficial assurances were 
 given them, that the excise law would, at 
 the next congress, be modified to equalise 
 the national taxes ; having in view, how 
 ever, the raising of the necessary moneys to 
 meet the maturing debts of the United 
 States government; and that, after those 
 debts were paid, the excise should be 
 repealed. These assurances, however, were 
 unofficial ; but they had a very great in 
 fluence. The efforts of the commissioners 
 were not altogether successful ; but the 
 question of submission was agreed, by the 
 \ insurgents, to be submitted to the vote of 
 I the people. The elections were, in many 
 places, disturbed, and no decision was 
 attained. The commissioners returned to 
 Philadelphia in September, and reported 
 their non-success; and then the president 
 I ordered the army to advance to the insurrec- 
 j tionary district. In the meantime the 
 principal rebels were very active ; and the 
 disaffection of the people again rapidly 
 spread, extending into the north-western 
 counties of Virginia and Maryland. Bands 
 i of insurgents patrolled the country, and 
 destroyed the houses and property of all 
 persons favouring the government. Gov 
 ernor Lee, of Virginia, was appointed, by 
 Washington, commander-in-chief of the 
 United States forces ; and he proceeded at 
 once to the fulfilment of the very delicate 
 and responsible duties confided to him. 
 
A.D. 1794.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SLAVERY. 
 
 One wing of the army marched through 
 Carlisle, Bedford, and thence across the 
 mountains. The left wing, composed of the 
 Virginia and Maryland troops, met at Cum 
 berland, and then marched westward by the 
 Braddock road. These divisions arrived at 
 Union Town in the month of October, and 
 then proceeded to the different parts of 
 the insurrectionary counties. General Lee 
 issued a proclamation of amnesty to those 
 who were entitled to it ; and, at the same 
 time, required all the people to take the 
 oath of allegiance to the United States 
 government. The insurgents made no 
 resistance ; but, on the contrary, they 
 The principal rebels fled 
 and escaped the legal 
 their rebellion. Many 
 were arrested and tried ; but, for want 
 of evidence, and technical formality, were 
 
 readily yielded, 
 to the frontiers, 
 consequences of 
 
 released. In fact, the government was 
 satisfied. The law had been sustained, 
 and there was no disposition to enforce the 
 high penalties for the treasonable acts. 
 Two only were convicted of capital offences ; 
 but they were pardoned by the president. 
 Thus ended the " whisky rebellion, which 
 had been produced by the excise law of 1791. 
 The government had maintained its con 
 stitutional power; the people throughout 
 the whole country were happy ; and from 
 thence they had increased coniidence in the 
 strength and permanency of the Union. 
 After the quelling of that rebellion, they 
 had the fullest faith in the stability and 
 perpetuity of the American political and 
 religious institutions. Their whole confi 
 dence in the realisation of prosperity, seems 
 to have been united in the actual existence 
 of a consolidated nation. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE ITS HISTORY AND PRACTICE; PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS IN REFERENCE TO 
 THE FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE. 
 
 THE United States government having 
 been formed by thirteen independent re 
 publics, each composed of people holding 
 different political tenets, it was quite natu 
 ral that each of the sectional classes thereof 
 should, at an early day thereafter, attempt 
 to establish its peculiar ideas of religious and 
 political philosophy. The people, though 
 sprung from, the same source, could not be 
 looked on as one race ; climate, habits, and 
 education, had produced various shades of 
 difference among the people of America. It 
 is true they were all, in a general sense, 
 Anglo-Saxons ; and it is also true that all 
 men have descended from Adam ; yet, who 
 is it that cannot see, at the present epoch, 
 the marked difference between the Israelite . 
 and the Teuton; the Chinese and the Ara 
 bian ; the Esquimaux and the Icelander ; 
 the Briton and the American ? 
 
 It is not for us, however, to discuss, in 
 this work, ethnological questions ; we have ; 
 made the preceding reference for the sole | 
 purpose of indicating that there was a differ- i 
 ence of race, even at the birth of the great | 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
 republic in America ; and that those races 
 did not possess unity of opinion with re 
 spect to ethics. It was easy to arrange a 
 compromise of the differences between the 
 states on all the political issues excepting 
 African slavery; and the settlements of 
 that question, in the federal conventions 
 and congress, were, it would seem, but for 
 the time being ; leaving each party resolute 
 in its purpose to attain a better arrange 
 ment of the issue on some future occasion. 
 
 As the subject of slavery has been con 
 sidered by nations to be of more than or 
 dinary import in the cause of political 
 economy, and as it became, on the forma 
 tion of the government, permanently inter 
 woven in the federal system, we deem it 
 proper to give a few details with respect to 
 its history and practice as a commodity of 
 commerce, and its subsequent continuance 
 as a part of the political and fiscal economy 
 within the jurisdiction of the federal gov 
 ernment of America in general, and of the 
 individual states in particular. 
 
 Slavery, in a general sense, has existed 
 
 141 
 
AFRICAN TRADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1620. 
 
 almost coeval with the human race ; and 
 as an institution common to the condition 
 of captivity, resulting from the success of 
 a belligerent, has been known between 
 nations, tribes, and hordes from time im 
 memorial. The principles of slavery have 
 not been the same with all nations ; and 
 the conditions of servitude have varied at 
 different epochs by the will of the sovereign 
 ; power, having control or government of 
 \ those in bondage. We do not propose, in 
 this work, to consider the theory or practice 
 of slavery as known to the nations of an 
 tiquity ; nor do we propose to discuss the 
 different grades of subserviency of one man 
 to another, as practised at the present time 
 by the most civilised nations, all of whom 
 disregard a commonalty or fellowship, ex 
 cept under conditions of rank or titular 
 authority. That system of bondage which 
 requires from us a brief history, is more 
 commonly known as African slavery ; and, 
 for more than two centuries, has existed in 
 America, dating, perhaps, in 1620, with 
 twenty Africans in the colony of Virginia ; 
 but since then extended to near 4,000,000 
 of that race. Slavery, as a system, ought 
 to be considered as to its history, economy, 
 and morality; but, as to these, only the 
 former can properly come within the scope 
 of our duty as an historian; and as for 
 the rest, they come within the province 
 of the political economist, and the ex 
 pounders of the Divine code. We shall, 
 therefore, confine our remarks to the history 
 of the foreign and domestic trade more im 
 mediately connected with the American 
 colonies and states, after we shall have 
 given a brief account of the origin of the 
 African slave traffic, and its relation with 
 the commercial affairs of Great Britain and 
 its colonies during a period of 188 years.* 
 
 According to the best authorities, it 
 seems that the African slave-trade existed 
 half a century before Columbus erected the 
 cross upon San Salvador, in 1492. The 
 Portuguese were the first among the people 
 of Europe who opened a trade with the 
 natives living upon the western coast of 
 Africa, for slaves ; this epoch has been fixed 
 so early as 1442. Robinson s History states 
 that negro slaves were taken to America in 
 1503 ; and in 1508, negroes were imported 
 to St. Domingo by the Spanish and Portu- 
 
 * After 1800, the deportation of negro slaves from 
 
 the African coast, under the British liag, was pro- 
 
 hibiied. la that year, the parliament, by a vote of 
 
 41 to 20 in the House of Lords, determined to 
 
 .142 
 
 guese settlements of Guinea ; and we find 
 that, about the year 1500, a few slaves were 
 sent from the Portuguese settlement in 
 Africa, into the Spanish colonies of America; 
 and that, in 1511, Ferdinand V., of Spain, 
 permitted them to be carried, in great num 
 bers, as articles of commerce. 
 
 Bartholomew de Las Casus, a catholic 
 bishop, proposed to Cardinal Xemiries, i;i 
 whose hands the government of Spain was 
 lodged before the accession of Charles V., 
 to establish a regular system of commerce 
 in slaves, in order to supply the rapid deci 
 mation of the Indian race ; but the proposal 
 was not favourably entertained by Xcmines, 
 who replied, that " it would be very incon 
 sistent to free the inhabitants of one con 
 tinent by the enslaving those of another." 
 It was the practice then to enslave tho 
 Indians, and the race rapidly died under 
 that condition of life. 
 
 In 1517, Charles V. permitted one of his 
 Flemish favourites to import 4,000 African 
 slaves into America, and this right was sold 
 by the grantee for 25,000 ducats. In 
 1542, Charles ordered that all slaves in his 
 American dominions should be free ; but, 
 soon after his abdication, the decree was 
 cancelled, and the slave-trade revived with 
 increased vigour. Louis XIII., of France, 
 would not allow tho introduction of slaves 
 into his American islands, until he was 
 assured that it was the readiest way to con 
 vert them to Christianity. 
 
 The Spaniards have claimed priority in 
 this trade; and, although not the first, they 
 were largely engaged in the traffic : follow 
 ing them were the Dutch, who very speedily 
 became active participators in conducting 
 that species of merchandise to the western 
 colonies. The English commenced tho 
 slave-trade in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 in 1562; and Sir John Hawkins seems to 
 have been the first to open that "new field 
 of commerce." Ilawkins fitted out three 
 ships in that year; and having learned that 
 " negroes were a very good commodity" at 
 St. Domingo, he sailed to the coast of 
 Guinea, took in a number of the Africans, 
 and then carried them to St. Domingo, 
 where he sold them to the Spaniards, and 
 received in payment thereof, " hides, sugar, 
 ginger," and other articles of barter; 
 " making by the transaction much profit." 
 
 gratify the sense of propriety entertained by the 
 whole British nation, and put a stop to the employ 
 ment of its flag in the slave traffic upon the high 
 
A.D. 1630.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AFRICAN COMPANY. 
 
 Ilis success stimulated others to enter into 
 that species of trade ; but the demand for 
 slaves was very inconsiderable until the 
 plantations on the West India islands and 
 North America, created an impetus in the 
 traffic for their domestic service. Nearly 
 fifty years after the exploits of Hawkins, a { 
 Dutch vessel entered the James river, and I 
 landed twenty negroes, who were purchased j 
 by the colonists, and employed as slaves.* 
 Thus it was in 1620, just thirteen years [ 
 after the first settlement of America at 
 Jamestown, that slavery was introduced 
 into Virginia, and slaves became a com 
 modity of merchandise within the British 
 dominion in America. 
 
 In Barbadoes, African slavery was pro 
 bably introduced about the year 1625, a 
 year or two after its first ingression by the 
 English. IJQ 1 621, while a British vessel was 
 at the Gambia, in Africa, the inhabitants 
 brought to the captain some female slaves 
 to sell, which he refused, for the reason, as 
 has been alleged, " that this sort of trade 
 was not used by the English ;" but the 
 remark of the captain has been explained 
 to mean, that the traffic in females was not 
 carried on by the English: others have 
 interpreted it to mean that the Dutch had 
 a preferred position in the trade, as, at that 
 time, they supplied the English settlements 
 with all the slaves they wanted. In 1585 
 and 1588, Queen Elizabeth granted two 
 patents to associations of rich merchants 
 the one for an exclusive trade to the coast 
 of Barbary ; the other for that of Guinea, 
 between the rivers Senegal and Gambia. 
 The same merchants, by a third patent, in 
 1592, extended their rights from the river 
 Naguez to the south of Sierra Leono. In 
 1618, King James I. granted a new charter 
 to Sir Robert Rich, and others ; and, in 
 1631, Charles II. granted another for the 
 said trade. In a very few years, for reason 
 of ill-success in mercantile affairs, these 
 
 * Grahame, the English historian of America, 
 noticed the sale of slaves on the James river in 
 1620; and, with considerable zeal, endeavoured to 
 prove that the British government had no partici 
 pation in the establishment and continuation of 
 slavery in the American colonies. He said " They 
 were readily purchased by the planters, without 
 the permission, or even the knowledge, of the 
 British government. Indeed, the government did 
 not then, nor till several years after, exercise the 
 political administration of Virginia, which was 
 originally confided to a numerous society of English 
 gentlemen, established in London. Moreover, the 
 first of the British statutes of navigation was not 
 enacted until the restoration of Charles II., in 1GGO ; 
 
 associations signally failed, and successively 
 forfeited their exclusive privileges. 
 
 The maladministration of the Virginia 
 Company became so notorious, that Kino- 
 Charles I. dissolved it in the year 1626 
 and took the country and government 
 under his own immediate direction. He 
 appointed a governor and council him 
 self, and gave the people leave to choose 
 an assembly of representatives. "He re 
 served to himself a quit-rent of 2s. per 
 annum for every hundred acres, and so pro 
 rata" In connection with the government 
 of the colon} , he gave particular attention 
 to the trade and commerce of the country, 
 and did all he could to increase it; ho 
 encouraged the settlements, and the culti 
 vation of the lands; and it would seem, 
 from a few facts put upon record, that his 
 principal reason for encouraging the slave- 
 trade was for the purpose of cultivating tho 
 lands of Virginia, having in view an in 
 creased income from the " quit-rents" upon 
 the lands occupied by the inhabitants. 
 The influx of negroes, of course, extended 
 the cultivated area. 
 
 In the state-paper department of the 
 British government, may be found many 
 curious facts concerning the early slave- 
 trade ; and there it may be seen, that 
 " to the Governor and Company of Ad 
 venturers of London, trading to Africa/ 
 November 16th, 1618, was granted "divers 
 privileges to them and their successors/ 
 respecting the exclusive right to traffic 
 with certain parts of Africa, which in 
 cluded the right to buy and sell negroes. 
 On the 19th of March, 1630, it was noted 
 in records of the state council : " The 
 Company of Providence Islandf to Captain 
 Hunt, governor. Have received his letter 
 by the HopewelL Too many negroes in 
 the island. Directions concerning them. 
 Some to be transported to Virginia and the 
 Somers Island, J where they may be put 
 
 and the slave-trade was not comprehended within 
 the scope and operation of the commercial policy of 
 the British government till the reign of Queen 
 Anne (1702), prior to which, negro slavery was 
 established in every one of the American provinces 
 finally revolted from Britain." 
 
 With respect to the correctness of the foregoing 
 assertions, historically considered, we need but refer 
 to the text of the chapter to which this is given as 
 a note. 
 
 t Providence Island was one of the Bahamas, 
 West India group. 
 
 | The Somers Island was the present Bermuda 
 Island. A large number of slaves were landed upon 
 this island, and then re-shipped to Virginia. 
 
 143 
 
SLAVERY IX VIRGINIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1620. 
 
 off to the masters very great interest." In 
 1637, it was noted on the privy council 
 records, after considering a complaint 
 alleged against certain parties, respecting 
 the African trade : " The privy council to 
 Sir John Pennington. Was informed by 
 members of the Guinea Company, to whom 
 the king had granted a patent for the sole 
 trade to Guinea, Binney, and Angola, that 
 John Crispe and others have sent forth the 
 Talbot to trade upon the coasts of Guinea, 
 to take niggers/ and carry them to foreign 
 parts ; he is therefore required to make 
 stay of the ships and goods until further 
 order." At a meeting of the council, 
 November 30th, 1660, the following pro 
 ceedings took place : " Proposals concern 
 ing Jamaica, by James, Earl of Marl- 
 borough. It was proposed to transplant 
 the inhabitants from the Caribbee Islands 
 to Jamaica. To hasten the settlement of 
 New England affairs, from whence good 
 store of men may be expected. To per 
 suade the Royal African Company to make 
 Jamaica the staple for the sale of blacks. 
 The king to contract with that company 
 for a hundred negroes, to be delivered at 
 the island. Religious toleration to be 
 granted to all who desire it. To send over 
 women for planters wives ; Newgate and 
 Bridewell to be spared as much as may be, 
 and poor maids instead, with which few 
 parishes in England are unburdened, to be 
 sent over. The custom of the planter is to 
 give, not require anything with his wife."* 
 According to the census of Virginia, in 
 1624, the total number of inhabitants was 
 1,275 whites, and 22 negroes. In Stith s 
 History of Virginia, published at Williams- 
 burg, 1747, the author states " And we 
 are likewise told by Mr. Beverly, that a 
 Dutch ship, putting in this year (1620), 
 sold twenty negroes to the colony, which 
 were the first of that generation that were 
 ever brought to Virginia." This para 
 graph is the only authority that can be 
 found for fixing the date of the introduc 
 tion of the negroes into Virginia ; but we 
 find that, four years later (1624), there were 
 twenty-two negroes scattered upon some six 
 different plantations, on one of which there 
 were eleven. It is quite possible that these 
 
 * The London Company had, for forty years pre 
 vious to this action of the council, been in the 
 habit of shipping women to America, for wives of 
 the planters. The women were sold for good 
 prices, some bringing as high as 30 sterling, paid 
 in tobacco, on delivery of the women. Married men 
 144 
 
 twenty-two were sold by the Dutch, in 
 1620. These plantations were tobacco 
 farms, owned by the proprietors living 
 thereon, and it was their practice to em 
 ploy all kinds of labour to cultivate the 
 lands. When the negroes were introduced, 
 there were but few plantations; and, in 
 fact, in 1627, according to Captain John 
 Smith s statement, " there were about 1,500 
 some say, rather, 2,000 inhabitants, 
 divided into seventeen or eighteen several 
 plantations : the greatest part thereof, 
 towards the Falls, are so inclosed with pal- 
 lisadoes, they regard not the savages." In 
 1648, of a population of 15,000 whites, 
 there were 300 negroes ; and the value of 
 a healthy African " was 4,500 pounds of 
 tobacco, of the first crop, put up in a cask, 
 and including the cask." At*, the same 
 time, " the value of an Indian slave was 
 3,000 pounds of tobacco and cask." 
 
 It will be seen from the preceding, that 
 the increase of negroes in Virginia, f by 
 importation, during a period of twenty- 
 eight years, was not very great ; the aggre 
 gate, in 1648, only being 300 ; but how 
 many of these were native born, no evi 
 dence can be found on reliable records. 
 The Dutch traders were forced to cease the 
 carrying of negroes to America, because 
 the African Guinea Company enforced its 
 monopoly privileges. But this company 
 could not supply the demand for negroes ; 
 its capital was small; and it could only 
 employ in the trade a limited number of 
 ships. Occasionally, however, negroes were 
 abducted from Africa, and from some of 
 the West India islands ; they were then 
 clandestinely landed in Virginia, and there 
 sold to the planters. In 1656 the privy 
 council heard of these proceedings ; and, on 
 that occasion, "the commissioners of the 
 Admiralty were directed to take information 
 against three ships that took men from 
 Jamaica, without their consent, and sold 
 them at Virginia, and report thereon." 
 While the African Company was enforcing 
 a strict observance of its monopoly in the 
 negro trade among the English, the London 
 companies, engaged in the barter traffic 
 with the Virginians, not only carried over 
 women to sell to the planters for wives, but 
 
 could always command employment by the com 
 pany. Shaffner s Secession War in America, p. 2G4. 
 t* Virginia, at that period, embraced all the settle 
 ments of America, except New England ; and even 
 that part of the country was more generally known 
 as New Virginia. 
 
A.D. 1652.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ROYAL AFRICAN COMPANY. 
 
 they also bartered off white apprentices; 
 " but of these many were able-bodied men," 
 who, with their wives, gladly engaged, under 
 bonds, to serve for a term of years, in order 
 that they might ultimately "live more 
 prosperous in the new country, where there 
 was great abundance of everything." 
 
 The colony of Rhode Island and Provi 
 dence Plantations was the first to oppose 
 the establishment of slavery in America ; 
 and the general court of commissioners for 
 Warwick, of that colony, enacted a law, 
 May 18th, 1652, against the introduction 
 of slaves within its chartered territory. 
 Warwick was an important part of Rhode 
 Island, and ranked next to Providence; 
 and, in nearly all questions of legislation, 
 those two governments acted concurrently. 
 At this period Providence and Warwick 
 seceded from the towns on the island, in 
 consequence of the unlimited authority con 
 ferred on Mr. Coddington by his noted 
 commission from the council of state ; and 
 they continued as separate bodies politic, 
 until their reunion with Newport and 
 Portsmouth, in September, 1654. 
 
 The people of Rhode Island had ever 
 been distinguished for their acts of tolera 
 tion ; and although the colony had thus 
 existed only a few years, yet their pro 
 ceedings were marked for liberality and 
 courteousness towards persons of different 
 opinions. With sentiments appreciating 
 the rights of races to live and breathe in 
 common within the dominion of Rhode 
 Island, the general court, as the legislative 
 tribunal, enacted, on the day above men 
 tioned, the following law : 
 
 " Whereas, there is a common course prac 
 tised among Englishmen to buy Negroes, 
 to that end they may have them for service 
 or slaves for ever ; for the preventinge of 
 such practices among us, let it bee ordered 
 that no blacke mankind or white being 
 forced by covenant, bond, or otherwise, to 
 serve any man, or his assighnes, longer 
 than ten yeares, or until they come to bee 
 twentie-foure yeares of age, if they bee 
 taken under fourteene, from the time of 
 their cominge within the liberties of this 
 colonie; and, at the end or termo of ten 
 } T eares, to set them free, as the manner is 
 with the English servants. And he that 
 will not let them goe free, or shall sell him 
 away elsewhere, to that end that they may 
 be enslaved to others for a longer time, he 
 or they shall forfeit to the collony forty 
 pounds." 
 
 This law has remained upon the statute 
 records for over 200 years; and, to this 
 day, stands unrepealed. It would seem, 
 from the foregoing law, that the colony of 
 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 
 was the first body politic that prohibited, 
 by a legislative enactment, the holding of 
 negroes in slavery; and this humane act 
 was enforced only thirty-two years after 
 the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth. 
 
 In 1651, parliament granted a new 
 charter; and under it a company was 
 formed, which attained considerable suc 
 cess : it gave some interruption to the 
 Dutch, who had hitherto almost engrossed 
 the greater part of the business of sup 
 plying the English American plantations, 
 through the West India islands, with 
 negroes. After the restoration of Charles II. 
 to the throne, in 1662, the slave-trade with 
 America rapidly increased. The demand for 
 labourers was very great, and the wants of 
 the people for slaves could scarcely bo sup 
 plied. This sudden demand, however, 
 partly resulted from the Navigation Act, 
 which excluded the Dutch and other 
 foreign nations from currying slaves to the 
 British colonies. In order to supply the 
 colonists with negroes, Charles II. incor 
 porated a new company, at the head of which 
 " were the Duke of York, the king s brother, 
 and many other persons of rank and distinc 
 tion." This company undertook " to furnish 
 3,000 negroes annually ;" but its affairs soon 
 became disarranged by heavy losses, result 
 ing from the war with Holland, in 1672; 
 and it was finally dissolved. From the 
 members of this bankrupt association was 
 organised the corporation well known in 
 history, called the " Royal African Com 
 pany." To this company, " the king, the 
 Duke of York, and many of the nobility 
 subscribed, so as to make the capital 
 111,000." This new organisation was 
 more successful than any of its predecessors; 
 and it appears, from authentic records, 
 that, soon after its establishment, " it ex 
 ported, of home manufactures, to the 
 amount of 7,000 yearly ; and abundantly 
 supplied the American colonies with ne 
 groes, at a very easy rate." A triplicate 
 trade was thus established, which proved 
 to be of very great profit to the share 
 holders. Wares of various kinds, particu 
 larly "rum and gunpowder," were taken by 
 the vessel to Africa, and exchanged at high 
 prices for slaves at low values ; and these 
 negroes were then taken to America, where 
 
 145 
 
THE SLAVE-TRADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA 
 
 [A.D. 1726. 
 
 they were sold at high prices, payable in 
 commodities of that country, at low rates ; 
 and then the vessel returned to England, 
 where the products were sold at high 
 prices. Such was the character of the trade, 
 producing at each place great profit to the 
 king, the Duke of York, and their co- 
 shareholders of the Royal African Company 
 in London. While this trade was being 
 carried on, the American provincial or 
 colonial companies were actively engaged 
 in sending emigrants to America to settle 
 the country, who, in time, became pur 
 chasers of negroes ; and thus it was that 
 the different enterprises were made to aid 
 each other. 
 
 In the reign of "William and Mary (1689), 
 a convention was entered into with Spain, 
 for supplying the Spanish West Indies 
 with negroes, bv the wav of Jamaica ; and, 
 in the reign of William III. (1098), the 
 parliament took the subject of the African 
 negro trade under its consideration, and 
 passed an act for regulating it ; declaring 
 therein, that the said African slave-trade 
 was "highly beneficial to the kingdom, 
 and to the colonies and plantations thereon 
 depending." The act provided for the 
 erection of forts and castles on the coast, 
 for the better preservation and carrying on 
 the said trade in negroes ; it reported the 
 duty of 10 per cent., ad valorem, on the 
 negro shipping, which had been paid by 
 the private traders to the African Company 
 for permission to buy and sell negroes, as 
 was common at that epoch. The act also 
 declared, "that the price of them should 
 not be too much enhanced to the planter 
 purchasers." 
 
 In 1709 and 1711, during the reign of 
 Queen Anne, the House of Commons voted 
 some further provisions in respect to the 
 better security of the slave-trade ; and, in 
 1712, an act was passed for the benefit of 
 the African Company, by which it could 
 compound with its creditors. On this oc 
 casion, the importance of supplying the 
 American plantations with negroes, seemed 
 to have been generally admitted, and not 
 denied. A resolution adopted on this occa 
 sion, stated, " that the trade ought to be 
 open to all the king s subjects. That forts 
 and settlements on the African coast are 
 necessary. That contracts and alliances 
 are necessary to be made with the natives, 
 in order that the American plantations may 
 be supplied with different negroes at 
 reasonable rates." At the same time, 
 1-16 
 
 parliament voted that the trade should be 
 exempted from all burthens, and that the 
 crown should be at the yearly charge of 
 10,000 for maintaining forts. These pro 
 ceedings of parliament greatly benefited 
 the slave-trade; and it revived insomuch, 
 that, by the treaty of Utrecht of 1712, a 
 contract was formed, for introducing into 
 the Spanish West Indies, no less than 
 4,800 African slaves annually, for thirty 
 years to come; making an aggregate of 
 144,000 negroes. 
 
 In 1726, during the reign of George L, 
 the South Sea Company proposed a project 
 for taking negroes to Madagascar, for the 
 purpose of selling them at Buenos Ayres ; 
 and to facilitate this new plan of traffic, 
 parliament passed an act, reciting, " that 
 the transportation of negroes from that 
 island might become a very beneficial 
 branch of trade to the kingdom." "And, 
 by a statute of 9th and 10th William III., 
 for settling the trade to the East Indies, 
 it is provided, that " all the goods, wares, 
 merchandises, and commodities, laden in 
 any ship bound from the East Indies, or 
 parts within the limits of the East India 
 Company s trade, should be brought, with 
 out breaking bulk, to some port of Eng 
 land or Wales, and there be unladen, 
 and put on land." By statute of 6th of 
 Queen Anne, it was also declared "that, 
 in default of bringing such goods, wares, 
 merchandises, and commodities to some 
 port in Great Britain, all such goods, 
 wares, &c., or the value thereof, should be 
 forfeited ; and forasmuch as the taking in of 
 negroes within the limits of the said united 
 company s trade, and delivering the same 
 at Buenos Ayres, without bringing them 
 to England and Wales, may be construed 
 to be breaking of bulk, within the meaning 
 of the said acts of parliament, or one of 
 them ; be it therefore enacted that the 
 delivery of negi oes, as aforesaid, should be 
 exempt from the penalties of the law re 
 specting the breaking of bulk." The same 
 acts restricted the company to the employ 
 ment of four ships annually, which were to 
 carry out nothing but necessary provisions 
 for the crew, and for the transportation of 
 negroes. It was about this time that the 
 company just mentioned employed upwards 
 of thirty vessels, " besides their annual 
 ships," in the transport of slaves to the 
 Spanish West Indies, and in making re 
 turns for the same. And in 1748, it was 
 authentically asserted, that, by means of 
 
A.T). 1752.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PARLIAMENT AND SLAVERY. 
 
 the Assicnto, no less than 300,000 dollars, 
 in British manufactures, was annually^ ex 
 ported by the carrying on of the African 
 slave-trade; upon which "a profit was gained 
 to the nation of near one hundred per 
 cent." It was on account of this enormous 
 income that Great Britain felt so much 
 regret, when, "by reason of the jealousies 
 of the Spanish court, and the many imped 
 iments they were continually throwing in 
 the way of the English," she was obliged 
 to resign this contract at the conclusion of 
 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1750. It 
 was in this year, upon the surrender of the 
 Royal African Company s charter, that 
 parliament passed an act, which, after 
 mentioning the advantages resulting to 
 Great Britain from the African trade, 
 vested " all the forts, factories, castles, 
 canoe-men, cattle, slaves, and all other the 
 property of the late company in Africa," in 
 a new corporation of merchants ; and it 
 enacted, that " any of his majesty s subjects 
 trading to Africa, may erect warehouses 
 for security of their goods and slaves ; that 
 no master of any ship shall, by force or 
 fraud, carry away any negro native of the 
 country, or commit any violence to the 
 prejudice of the trade, under the penalty of 
 100 for every such offence." 
 
 In 1752, another act passed parliament, 
 for making compensation to the Royal 
 African Company, for its charter, lands, 
 forts, castles, slaves, military stores, and all 
 their other estate, property, and effects, 
 whatsoever, and to vest the same in the 
 new company. Annexed to this statute 
 was a schedule, containing an inventory of 
 those effects ; among which were expressly 
 enumerated 69-1 negro slaves, consisting of 
 tradesmen, canoe-men, labourers, women, 
 and children : all these parliament pur 
 chased from the Royal African Company, 
 and reinvested them, by the same statute, 
 in the new company. The African trade 
 continued, as thus organised, until 17C5, 
 when another statute was enacted by par 
 liament ; by which " all the lands, forts, 
 slaves, and other effects, by former acts 
 put into the possession of the African Com 
 pany," were taken from its control, and 
 vested in the crown. The African slave- 
 trade was thus laid open ; and it was de 
 clared lawful for all of his majesty s sub 
 jects, " without preference or distinction," 
 to trade and traffic to and from any of the 
 ports and places on the coast of Africa, 
 thereby vested in the crown, without any 
 
 restraint, except as therein mentioned, and 
 except " that it shall not be lawful for any 
 of the officers or servants empk^ed by the 
 committee of the said company, to export 
 negroes from Africa upon their own 
 account." 
 
 From these facts, it appears that the 
 negro slave-trade had been prosecuted by 
 the English, either by private persons, by 
 chartered or other companies, for upwards 
 of 150 years prior to the American revolu 
 tion of 1776. During this long period the 
 slave traffic received the confirmation of 
 the kings and parliaments of Great Britain ; 
 it was a fundamental article in treaties, 
 solemnly ratified with other nations ; and, 
 in short, it was stamped with the consent 
 of the whole kingdom, including, to somo 
 extent, the colonial governments of Ame 
 rica : and this confirmation was not con 
 fined to the king and the government, but 
 it was approved by the whole body of the 
 people, who were, in some degree, bene 
 fited by the advantages which the trade, 
 either directly or indirectly, produced. 
 
 The right of property in slaves had been 
 questioned by many, long ere the breaking 
 out of the revolution in America; but it 
 seems, from the acts of parliament, that the 
 right had not only been recognised, but it 
 was actually declared, as we have shown in 
 the foregoing. But, besides these legisla 
 tive proceedings, may be cited the following 
 law, enacted by the parliament of Great 
 Britain, in 1732, for the more easy re 
 covery of debts in his majesty s American 
 colonies ; which declares negroes to be sub 
 ject to attachment as property. The law 
 was as follows : That " houses, lands, ne 
 groes, and other hereditaments, and real 
 estates, shall be liable to, and chargeable 
 with, all just debts, duties, and demands, of 
 what nature or kind soever, owing to his 
 majesty, or any of his subjects ; and shall 
 be assets for the satisfaction thereof in like 
 manner as real estates are, by the laws of 
 England, liable to the satisfaction of debts 
 due by bond or other speciality ; and shall 
 be subject to the like remedies, proceed 
 ings, and process, in any court of law or 
 equity in the plantations, for seizing, ex 
 tending, selling, or disposing of any such 
 houses, lands, negroes, and other heredita 
 ments, and in like manner as personal 
 estate." 
 
 From the facts which we have presented, 
 it will be seen that parliament fully recog 
 nised negroes as property; but it often 
 
 147 
 
SOMERSET CASE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1772. 
 
 occurs that the legislature exceeds its con 
 stitutional authority, and enacts laws in 
 violation of the instrument that creates 
 that tribunal. In such cases it is within 
 the province of the judiciary to declare the 
 proceedings null and non-executive. The 
 subject has been gravely considered by the 
 whole civilised world, and, at times, has 
 brought forth the greatest logic and foren 
 sic eloquence. English jurists have dif 
 fered in opinion with respect to the law 
 involved. "Whether or not a man can hold 
 another as property, has been a question 
 that has engaged the consideration of many 
 jurists of eminent distinction. The first 
 recorded case, involving the legality of 
 slavery in England, was in 1677, when it 
 was held that negroes, " being usually 
 bought and sold among merchants as mer 
 chandise, and also being infidels, there 
 might be a property in them sufficient to 
 maintain trover." In 1697, this decision 
 was overruled by Chief Justice Holt, of the 
 King s Bench, who held that, "so soon as 
 a negro lands in England, he is free ;" and 
 again, in 1702, it was ruled, that " there is 
 no such thing as a slave by the law of 
 England." This judgment proved exceed 
 ingly injurious to the planters and mer 
 chants of the slaveholding colonies, who 
 visited England with their slave servants ; 
 and they, with the merchants interested 
 in the slave-trade, residing in England, 
 in 1729, procured from Yorke and Talbot, 
 the attorney-general and solicitor-general 
 of the crown, a written opinion, that " ne 
 groes, legally enslaved elsewhere, might be 
 held as slaves in England ; and that even 
 baptism was no bar to the master s claim." 
 This opinion was held to be law, in 1749, 
 by Yorke (Lord Hardwicke), sitting as 
 judge; on the ground that, "if the con 
 trary ruling of Lord Holt were upheld, it 
 would abolish slavery in Jamaica or Vir 
 ginia, as well as in England, British law 
 being paramount in each." Thus the law 
 stood until reversed by Lord Mansfield, in 
 the Somerset case, in June, 1772. The 
 plaintiff in this case was James Somerset, a 
 native of Africa, who had been carried to 
 Virginia, and sold there as a slave ; he had 
 been taken from thence by his master to 
 England, as his servant. The master was 
 about to depart for Virginia, and Somerset 
 was induced to resist his claim to his ser 
 vices, and assert his right of liberty. With 
 this view he applied for a writ of habeas 
 corpus, and the case was brought before 
 148 
 
 Lord Mansfield, who, after hearing the 
 able arguments of the counsel, delivered his 
 opinion in favour of granting the writ to 
 stay the departure of Somerset. In con 
 clusion, the learned judge remarked: 
 
 " We cannot direct the law ; the law must direct 
 us. * The state of slavery is of such a 
 
 nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on 
 any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive 
 law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, 
 occasion, and time itself whence it was created, 
 is erased from the memory. It is so odious, that 
 nothing can be sufficient to support it but positive 
 law. Whatever inconvenience, therefore, may fol 
 low from the decision, I cannot say that this case 
 is allowed or approved by the law of England, and 
 therefore the black must be discharged." 
 
 This decision seems to have recognised 
 the right of property in all cases sup 
 ported by " positive law." That is to say, 
 if the legislature enacted a law declaring 
 that a Briton should have the right to buy 
 and sell the African negro, then the right 
 of property would be complete. Upon this 
 subject, Justice Blackstone stated* -"The 
 slave is entitled to the same protection in 
 England before, as after baptism ; and 
 whatever the heathen owed to his Ame 
 rican master, the same is he bound to 
 render when brought to England and 
 made a Christian." The decision of Mans 
 field, however, was approved by Britain as 
 properly fixing the status of the African 
 race within the jurisdiction of the laws of 
 England; but it seems that his lordship 
 found it necessary to interpret his decision 
 of 1772 on the hearing of another case, 
 in 1786, wherein Charlotte Howe, a negro 
 girl, was plaintiff. The judge stated, that 
 he desired to explain the decision made by 
 him in the Somerset case, in 1772 ; that 
 " the public were generally mistaken in the 
 determination of the Court of King s Bench, 
 in the case of Somerset, the negro, which 
 had been often quoted; for nothing more 
 was then determined, than that there was 
 no right in the master forcibly to take the 
 slave and carry him abroad. That the 
 general question, whether the master might 
 not sue any one who entertained him in his 
 service, or for wages, was not before the 
 court ; nor was it held that the baptising 
 such slave made any alteration in his 
 freedom ; or that, on setting foot in this 
 country, he instantly became emancipated. 
 Therefore, the only question on the habeas 
 corpus in that case was, whether the master 
 might forcibly compel the slave to go out 
 * Blackstone s Commentaries, vol. i., p. 425. 
 
A.D. 1768.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SLAVES ox THE SHIP. 
 
 of this kingdom ? which was determined 
 he could not." 
 
 The slave-trade was at its zenith a few 
 years anterior to the breaking out of the 
 revolution ; and we may consider the year 
 1768 as that epoch. During that year, the 
 number of negro slaves bartered for on the 
 African coast, between Cape Blanco to 
 Rio Congo, by the different European 
 nations, was as follows : Great Britain, 
 53,100; British America, 6,300; France, 
 23,520; Holland, 11,300; Portugal, 1,700; 
 Denmark, 1,200 : making a total of 104,100, 
 all of whom were bought, by barter, for 
 articles of manufacture, at the rate of 15 
 as the average for each negro.* No one, 
 however, can estimate the numbers thrown 
 into the sea, by the traders, on the voyage 
 between Africa and America. We have 
 no doubt but that, if the ocean was to dis 
 appear, a great wall could be constructed, 
 from continent to continent, from the bones 
 of the captured Africans " committed to the 
 deep" by the white race. 
 
 It was not difficult to obtain the slaves 
 upon the African coast, because the native 
 chieftains, kings, or heads of tribes, were 
 ever ready to profit by the trade. The 
 white race, therefore, was not more to 
 blame in the kidnapping of the negroes, 
 and placing them in the condition of 
 slavery, than the natives of Africa. It may 
 be said, however, that the former having 
 been under the teachings of Christianity, 
 the turpitude of the crime with them was 
 greater than it was with the latter. It was 
 the practice of those engaged in the slave- 
 trade, to anchor their vessels in some con 
 venient bay upon the coast, and then an 
 nounce their wishes to the heads or chiefs 
 of the negro tribes. The chiefs would then 
 send a squad of their warriors to the in 
 terior, and seize men, women, and children 
 at their homes, or as they were wandering 
 from place to place; the captured were 
 then conducted to the coast, and bartered 
 to the white traders. It was also common 
 for the tribes to wage war against each 
 other for the purpose of taking prisoners ; 
 
 * It has been estimated that the total number of 
 negroes taken as slaves from the African coast 
 to the American slave countries, exceeded nine 
 millions. 
 
 t In 1827, a naval officer, in command of a war 
 vessel cruising upon the African coast, reported 
 that he had captured the Creole, a Brazilian brig, 85 ~ 
 tons, with a cargo of 309 slaves. He boarded the 
 vessel, and found a hundred men in chains in the 
 hold ; and these chains were so strongly riveted that 
 it required the whole afternoon to take them off. 
 
 VOL. II. X 
 
 and the people, by way of indemnity, for 
 the purpose of selling them. The captains 
 of the vessels could readily barter " rum 
 and gunpowder" for slaves, and, in a few 
 days, any required cargo could be collected. 
 
 When the negroes were put on board of 
 the vessel, the strongest men were fastened 
 in irons,f and placed in an apartment of the 
 vessel, in the hold, or between decks, usually 
 about four feet from deck to deck, and so 
 small that there was not room for them all 
 to lie down ; and many were compelled to 
 sleep in a sitting posture. They were 
 naked, and it was not usual to allow them 
 even a covering for their loins. In this 
 condition they were compelled to remain 
 during the whole voyage, and many times 
 in a mire of filth, as they were not per 
 mitted to leave their places, nor were the 
 apartments cleaned until they were landed 
 in America. The women were not much 
 better circumstanced; and their sufferings 
 were increased by the hot iron as a brand.* . 
 The women occupied an apartment separate 
 from the men, but usually more crowded. 
 1 he food given them was African yams, and 
 occasionally bread. When any of them 
 died they were thrown overboard. If they 
 became blind which was very common 
 during the voyage or if any became fatally 
 diseased, they were committed to the 
 deep. It has been estimated that at least 
 twenty per cent, of the slaves died during 
 the voyage ; and besides, ophthalmia, a 
 common disease in vessels numerously laden, 
 rendered them unsaleable ; and in all 
 incurable cases, it was the practice, as we have 
 stated above, " to heave them overboard." 
 
 Instruments of torture were frequently 
 applied to those who did not submit to this 
 treatment ; and on some vessels a negro 
 was killed, as an example to the others. 
 Many of the negroes were resolute and 
 revengeful ; and these were made the vic 
 tims, to serve as examples for the subduing 
 of others. The seamen were paid according 
 to an average ; and to make the standard 
 as high as possible, the diseased negroes 
 were frequently thrown into the sea. In the 
 
 The men occupied so small a space that they could 
 not lie down. 
 
 J When the Creole was captured in 1827, the 
 women and girls were found to have been branded, 
 with an iron at least an inch in length, with the 
 letter B, about one inch above the breast. The 
 mark had been made after they had sailed from the 
 coast of Africa, and many of the girls were weeping 
 from the pain they were still suffering. The brands 
 had been rudely applied, and the sores were fester 
 ing, and discharging a great quantity of matter. 
 
COLONIES AGAINST SLAVERY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.-D. 1776. 
 
 crowded and closely packed rooms, it was 
 difficult to remove the dead from the living.* 
 
 The price of an able-bodied negro, upon 
 the African coast, was occasionally as high 
 a? 5 sterling, payable in barter, such as 
 rum and powder, valued at very high rates. 
 The same negro that cost, perhaps, 5 upon 
 the coast, was sold in America for 15 or 
 20 ; and, within the last half century of 
 the trade, they were sold for sums much 
 higher, averaging at least 30. 
 
 \Ve have now briefly given the history 
 of the slave-trade, as practised prior to the 
 American revolution ; and we have shown 
 the connection of the British and colonial 
 governments with that traffic. Negroes 
 xvere then a commodity of commerce ; and, 
 as the governments sanctioned, protected, 
 and encouraged the extension of slavery, 
 the people of all countries seemed to have 
 readily entered into, and energetically car 
 ried on, the slave traffic. The trade in 
 Africans, however, was not carried on with 
 out opposition, cither in England or Ame 
 rica. So true is this, that nearly all the 
 colonial legislature tribunals endeavoured 
 to put a stop to the continuation of the en 
 slavement of a race declared to be equally 
 entitled to their freedom as those of anj^ other. 
 
 Long ere the people of America had 
 turned their "ploughshares and pruning- 
 hooks" into swords and weapons of death 
 against their fellow-freemen of Britain, in 
 the civil war of 1775, the colonial govern 
 ments had manifested a determination to put 
 an end to the African slave-trade. These 
 we shall notice chronologically, north and 
 south. The proceedings of the general 
 government, however, require from us a 
 prior consideration ; and the first of these 
 was a clause in the Bill of Rights for the 
 colonies or states, adopted by congress on 
 the 14th of October, 1774 in the form of 
 a series of resolutions, declaring certain 
 principles of government and rights of 
 persons ; which was as follows : " That we 
 will neither import nor purchase any slaves 
 imported after the 1st day of December 
 next ; after which time we will wholly dis 
 continue the slave-trade, and will neither 
 be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we 
 
 * In 1826, a Spanish ship, of 69 tons, was taken 
 with 221 slaves. In 1827, another, of 60 tons, was 
 taken, with 220 slaves, of whom 30 soon thereafter 
 died. Another, the Paulita Antonia Tcrrara, of 
 G9 tons, was captured near the African coast, having 
 on board 221 slaves eighty. two men, fifty-six 
 women, thirty-nine boys, and forty-four girls ; the 
 only provision for them during the voyage, was the 
 
 150 
 
 hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities 
 or manufactures to those who are engaged 
 in it." This was the first national legis 
 lation against the slave-trade in America. 
 
 The next attempt to express, by national 
 resolve, censure upon the slave-trade, was 
 by the committee appointed by congress, in 
 1776, to adopt the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence, when Thomas Jefferson presented a 
 clause in that instrument, expressing, in 
 very strong language, disapprobation of the 
 slave-trade that had been carried on between 
 Africa and the colonies, by the despotic rule 
 of the crown. The following was a clause 
 in the original draft of the Declaration of 
 Independence, prepared by Mr. Jefferson, 
 and submitted to his colleagues : 
 
 He has waged a cruel war against human nature 
 itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and 
 liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never 
 offended him ; capturing and carrying them into 
 slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 
 death in their transportation thither. This pirati 
 cal warfare the opprobrium of infidel powers is 
 the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. 
 Determined to keep open a market where men 
 should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his 
 negative for suppressing every legislative attempt 
 to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. 
 And that this assemblage of horrors might want no 
 fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those 
 very people to rise in arms among us, and to pur 
 chase that liberty of which he has deprived them, 
 by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded 
 them ; thus paying off former crimes committed 
 against the liberties of one people, with crimes which 
 he urges them to commit against the lives of another. 
 
 This clause was withdrawn by Mr. Jef 
 ferson, in order to conform to fact. For 
 example, South Carolina and Georgia had 
 not passed laws prohibiting the importation 
 of slaves; and hence the declaration, as 
 written by Mr. Jefferson, would have been 
 false, so far as those states were concerned. 
 Again, the northern states were entitled to 
 equal condemnation with the king, because 
 some of their people had participated in the 
 trade sanctioned by the British crown ; and 
 they were equally guilty. The king in 
 sisted upon the continuation of the slave- 
 trade ; and the northern people had carried 
 on that traffic, and gathered golden profits. 
 People of the slave-holding states bought 
 the Africans as fast as they were brought 
 
 African yams. Another, the Intrepid, of 109 tons, 
 was captured, with 310 slaves, of whom seventy 
 died within forty-six days thereafter. Another, the 
 Invincible, had on board 440 negroes, and so 
 crowded, that it was impossible to separate the sick 
 from the dead without regularly clearing the hold ; 
 and of those living, 186 died within the succeeding 
 sixty days. 
 
A.D. 1787.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CONSTITUTION ON SLAVERY. 
 
 from Africa. It is uot for us to say with 
 whom lay the most sin ; but it seems to have 
 been distributed equally among the respec 
 tive parties. As an explanation for striking 
 out the clause, Mr. Jefferson has written 
 "Our northern brethren, I believe, felt a 
 little tender under those censures; for, 
 though their people have very few slaves 
 themselves, yet they hud been pretty con 
 siderable carriers of them to others." 
 
 The next important measure against sla 
 very was the enactment of the ordinances 
 of 1787, by the confederation congress. In 
 1784, Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia, submitted 
 a report to congress, for the organisation of 
 tae north-west territory : and in it he pro 
 posed " That after the year 1800 of the 
 Christian era, there should be neither sla 
 very nor involuntary servitude in any of 
 the said states." This clause, in the report, 
 was rejected. In 1787, the noted " ordi 
 nance for the government of the territories 
 of the United States, north-west of the 
 Ohio/ * was adopted, with the clause 
 " There shall be neither slavery nor involun 
 tary servitude in the said territory, other 
 wise than in punishment of crimes whereof 
 the parties shall be duly convicted/ 
 
 The " ordinance" of 1787, including the 
 anti-slavery clause, was based upon the 
 principles of the "Jefferson ordinance of 
 1784." The anti-slavery feature proposed 
 in the report presented by Mr. Jefferson, of 
 Virginia, in 1784, in the congress, was re 
 jected, because the report did not provide 
 for the recovery of fugitives from service ; 
 and the ordinance of 1787 was adopted be 
 cause a proviso was added to it ; viz. : 
 
 That any person escaping into the same, from 
 whom labour or service is lawfully claimed in any 
 one of the original states, such fugitive may be law 
 fully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming 
 his or her labour or service as aforesaid." 
 
 The " ordinance" was adopted in congress, 
 July, 1787, sitting in the city of New York : at 
 the same time the convention for the framing 
 of the federal constitution was sitting in the 
 city of Philadelphia ; and, in order to pre 
 vent the further introduction of slaves into 
 the United States from Africa, or elsewhere, 
 the following clause was adopted by the con 
 vention as a part of the constitution, and 
 subsequently ratified by all the states : 
 
 " The emigration or importation of such persons 
 as any of the states now existing shall think proper 
 to admit, shall not be prohibited by the congress 
 prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty may be 
 imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten 
 dollars for each person." 
 
 * Ante, p. 55. 
 
 The convention appointed a committee to 
 draft a constitution based upon certain re 
 solved principles : it consisted of Messrs. 
 Rutledge of South Carolina, Randolph from 
 Virginia, Gorham from Massachusetts, Els- 
 worth from Connecticut, and Wilson from 
 Pennsylvania being two from the southern 
 states, and three from the northern states. 
 On the 6th of August, 1787, the committee 
 reported the proposed constitution; in which 
 was the following : 
 
 " No tax or duty shall be laid by the legislature 
 (of the United States government) on articles ex 
 ported from any state ; nor on the migration or im 
 portation of such persons as the several states shall 
 think proper to admit; nor shall such migration or 
 importation be prohibited." 
 
 By this clause it would seem that tho 
 committee intended to perpetuate the Afri 
 can slave-trade. 
 
 On the 22nd of August, the clause of the 
 constitution above given was referred to a 
 special committee composed of one member 
 from each state. On the 24th of the same 
 month, Mr. Livingston, from the commit 
 tee of eleven, reported a proposition to in 
 sert the following as a substitute : 
 
 " The migration or importation of such persons 
 as the several states now existing shall thinic pro 
 per to admit, shall not be prohibited by the legisla 
 ture (congress) prior to the year 1800 ; but a tax or 
 duty may be imposed on such migration or importa 
 tion, at a rate not exceeding the average of the 
 duties laid on imposts." 
 
 On the 25th of August the report was 
 considered, and 
 
 " It was moved and seconded to amer.d the re 
 port of the committee of eleven, entered on the 
 journal of the 2-lth instant, as follows : To strike 
 out the words, the year 1800; and insert the words, 
 the year 1808 ; -which passed in the affirmative. 
 
 " Yeas New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con 
 necticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Caro 
 lina, and Georgia 7. 
 
 " Nays New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 and Virginia 4." 
 
 After the preceding vote, the following 
 were the proceedings : 
 
 " The importation of slaves into such of the states 
 as shall permit the same, shall not be prohibited by 
 the legislature of the United States until the year 
 1808. 
 
 " Yeas Connecticut, Virginia, and Georgia 3. 
 
 " Nays Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 North Carolina, and South Carolina 6. 
 
 " Maryland delegation was divided. 
 
 " On the question to agree to the first part of the 
 report as amended, namely 
 
 " The migration or importation of such persona 
 as the several states now existing shall think pro 
 per to admit, shall not be prohibited by the legisla- j 
 ture, prior to the year 1808 : 
 
 " It -was passed in the affirmative as follows : 
 
 151 
 
QUAKERS MEMORIAL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 " Yeas New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con 
 necticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
 and Georgia 7. 
 
 " Nays New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 and Virginia 4." 
 
 After the organisation of the govern 
 ment under the constitution, the subject of 
 slavery was first introduced in congress by 
 
 f n & J 
 
 the presentation of a memorial from the 
 Quakers of the states of Pennsylvania, New 
 Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, 
 and Virginia, on the llth of February, 
 1790, praying for the enactment of laws to 
 discontinue the African slave-trade, which 
 was* considered, by their society, to be "a 
 reproach to the land." The memorial 
 having been presented, the question to 
 commit for further consideration was dis 
 cussed at considerable length and warmth ; 
 not so much, however, upon the abstract 
 question of slavery, as with respect to the 
 constitution. Mr. Parker, from Virginia, 
 was in favour of courteously considering 
 the petition of these respectable people, and 
 hoped that it would be attended to with all 
 the readiness the importance of its objects 
 demanded ; and he expressed himself much 
 pleased to see a desire so promptly mani 
 fested " to ascertain what could be done to 
 restrain the nefarious practice." He was 
 willing to levy the tax of ten dollars per 
 head on each slave imported, as authorised 
 by the constitution, and " would willingly 
 unite in any measure that could be devised 
 to discontinue the slave-trade, consistent 
 with the terms of the constitution." Mr. 
 Madison, from Virginia, did not think 
 there were any grounds for alarm of any in 
 terference upon the subject of slavery by 
 congress ; that the constitution secured to 
 the individual states the right of admitting, 
 if they thought proper, the importation of 
 slaves into their own territory for eighteen 
 years then unexpired ; subject, however, to 
 the tax that might be levied by congress. 
 He farther said " It may be possible that 
 foreigners take advantage of the liberty 
 afforded them by the American trade, to 
 employ our shipping in the slave-trade 
 between Africa and the West Indies, when 
 they are restrained from employing their 
 own by restrictive laws of their nation. If 
 this is the case, is there any person of hu 
 manity that would not wish to prevent 
 them?"- Mr. Stone, from Maryland, was 
 of opinion, that " if the measure was indi 
 cative of an intention to interfere with that 
 kind o property, it would sink it in value 
 very considerably, and might be injurious 
 152 
 
 to a great number of citizens in the south 
 ern states. It was an unfortunate circum 
 stance, that it was the disposition of reli 
 gious sects to imagine they understood the 
 rights of human nature better than all the 
 world besides ; and that they would, in 
 consequence, be meddling with concerns in 
 which they had nothing to do." He was 
 decidedly opposed to considering the me 
 morial in any other light than that of mere 
 information. Mr. Burke, from South Ca 
 rolina, was of opinion that gentlemen were 
 paying attention to what did not deserve 
 it. That the men in the gallery had come 
 there to meddle in a business with which 
 they had nothing to do ; they were volun 
 teering in the cause of others, who neither 
 expected nor desired their assistance. He 
 had a respect for the body of Quakers ; but, 
 nevertheless, he did not believe they had 
 more virtue or religion than other people, 
 nor, perhaps, so much, if they were ex 
 amined to the bottom, notwithstanding 
 their outward pretences. If the memorial 
 was to be considered, time ought to be 
 given for counter-petitions. The rights of 
 the southern states ought not to be threat 
 ened, and their property endangered, to 
 please people who would be unaffected by 
 the consequences. Mr. Lawrence, from 
 New York, was in favour of committing 
 the memorial, and fairly considering the 
 subject presented, and afford an opportu 
 nity for the Quakers to be heard. He did 
 not agree with the delegate from Maryland, 
 who had expressed fears of a depreciation 
 in the value of slaves if the trade was dis 
 continued. He did not suppose it was 
 within the power of congress to abolish, 
 immediately, a traffic which, in his opinion, 
 was a disgrace to human nature ; but he 
 firmly believed, that if the slave-trade was 
 abolished, it would increase the value of 
 the property then in the states. Mr. Jack 
 son, of Georgia, apprehended, if, through 
 the general government, the slave-trade 
 was abolished, it would evince to the people 
 a disposition towards a total emancipation, 
 and they would hold their property in 
 jeopardy. Any extraordinary attention of 
 congress to the petition, might have, in 
 seme degree, a similar effect. He would 
 ask those who were desirous of freeing the 
 negroes, if they had funds sufficient to pay 
 for them ? If they had, they could come 
 forward on that business with some pro 
 priety ; but if they had not, they should 
 1 keep themselves quiet, and not interfere 
 
A.D. 1700.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DISCUSSION IN CONGRESS. 
 
 with a business in which they were not in 
 terested. They might as well solicit con 
 gress to prohibit the West India trade, 
 because it was injurious to the morals of 
 mankind, as it was from thence that they 
 imported rum, which had a debasing influ 
 ence upon the consumer. " But, sir/ said 
 Mr. Jackson, " is the whole morality of the 
 United States confined to the Quakers? 
 Are they the only people whose feelings 
 arc to be consulted on this occasion ? Is it 
 to them we owe our present happiness ? 
 "Was it they who formed our constitution ? 
 Did they, by their arms or contributions, 
 establish our independence ? I believe they 
 were generally opposed to that measure. 
 Why, then, on their application, should we 
 injure men who, at the risk of their lives and 
 fortunes, secured to the community their 
 liberty and property ? If congress pay any 
 uncommon degree of attention to their peti 
 tion, it will furnish just grounds of alarm 
 to the southern states. But why do these 
 men set themselves up in such a particular 
 manner against slavery ? Do they under 
 stand the rights of mankind, and the dis 
 position of Providence, better than others ? 
 If they were to consult that book, which 
 claims our regard, they would find that sla 
 very is not only allowed, but commended. 
 Their Saviour, who possessed more benevo 
 lence and commiseration than they pretend 
 to, allowed it ; and, if they examine the 
 subject, they will find that slavery has been 
 no novel doctrine since the days of Cain." 
 Mr. Sedgwick, from Massachusetts, was in 
 favour of giving the memorial a fair con 
 sideration, upon the ground that the people 
 had a right to be heard on public affairs ; 
 that the petitioners were a respectable class 
 of citizens, and had, in their opinion, sug 
 gested a measure that would tend to pro 
 mote the welfare of the nation. He did not 
 believe there would be any considerable 
 number of individuals in the south alarmed 
 at the commitment of the petition, from a 
 fear that congress intended to exercise an 
 unconstitutional authority, in order to vio 
 late their rights. He did not believe there 
 was any wish to disturb the rights of any 
 person in the south. Mr. Smith, from 
 South Carolina, was of opinion, that if the 
 memorialists sought for an enactment of 
 congress to abolish the slave-trade before 
 1808, they prayed for a violation of the 
 constitution, and their petition " should be 
 rejected as an attempt upon the virtue and 
 patriotism of the house/ Mr. Boudinot, 
 
 from New Jersey, was in favour of the com 
 mitment, because any citizen had a right 
 to petition ; and he did not consider a re 
 ference of the subject to a future day, any 
 expression of opinion upon the principles 
 involved. " If it is in our power/ said Mr. 
 Boudinot, "by recommendation, or any 
 other way, to put a stop to the slave-trade 
 in America, I do not doubt of its policy ; 
 but how far the constitution will authorise 
 us to attempt to depress it, will be a ques 
 tion well worthy of our consideration." 
 Mr. Gerry, from Massachusetts, was in fa 
 vour of the commitment, because the people 
 had a right to petition, and to be fairly 
 heard on questions of grievances. There 
 was no principle involved in the proposi 
 tion except one of a right of the citizen. If 
 there was a grievance within the power of 
 congress to redress, it was their duty to 
 accord the relief sought in the premises. 
 Whether or not the end desired by the me 
 morialists could be attained was not then 
 before congress; it was simply the com 
 mitment for consideration on a future day. 
 That their southern brethren had been be 
 trayed into the slave-trade by the first 
 settlers, was to bo lamented; they were 
 not to be reflected on for not viewing this 
 subject in a different light ; the prejudice 
 of education could not easily be eradicated. 
 The Society of Friends had sought, in their 
 petition, to promote the cause of humanity ; 
 and he wished, with them, to see measures 
 pursued by every nation, to wipe off the in 
 delible stain which the slave-trade had 
 brought upon all who were concerned in 
 it. Mr. Tucker, from South Carolina, did 
 not think the petition ought to be further 
 considered ; and that the least said upon 
 the subject the better, particularly as con 
 gress had no power to do anything, except 
 to lay a duty of ten dollars upon each per 
 son imported ; and that was a political con 
 sideration, not arising from either religion 
 or morality. If the Quakers wished to se 
 cure the abolition of the slave-trade, they 
 should present their petitions to the state 
 legislatures, who alone have the power of 
 forbidding the importation. He thought 
 the act of the memorialists to be ill-judged, 
 however good might have been their in 
 tentions. 
 
 On the 12th of February the discussion 
 on slavery was resumed, after the presenta 
 tion of another memorial upon the same 
 subject. This document was signed by 
 Benjamin Franklin, president of the " Penn- 
 
 153 
 
ABOLITION MEMORIAL.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [1790. 
 
 sylvania Society for Promoting the Aboli- of that principle to the people of the 
 tion of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes United States, without respect to race or 
 unlawfully held in Bondage, and the Iin- colour. Franklin had signed the Declara- 
 pr/ovement of the condition of the African ! tion of Independence, and, concurring with 
 Race." The memorialists stated that their Jefferson, the author of that ever-memora- 
 association had been formed several years i ble document, had proclaimed to the world 
 prior thereto, by a number of citizens, of " that all men are created equal ; they are 
 
 various religious denominations, for the pur 
 poses above-mentioned ; and it was their 
 
 endowed by their Creator with certain in 
 alienable rights ; that among these are life, 
 
 opinion liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 "That mankind are all formed by the same j For the consummation of this principle, 
 Almighty Being, alike objects of his care, and Franklin, with his associate petitioners, 
 equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness, desired an amelioration of the condition of 
 the Christian religion teaches us to believe; and ! , . ,, . ,, , ,, , . , 
 
 the African race, then held as slaves in the 
 
 the political creed of Americans fully coincides 
 with the position. Your memorialists, particularly 
 engaged in attending to the distresses arising from 
 slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to pre 
 sent this subject to your notice. They have ob 
 served, with real satisfaction, that many important 
 and salutary powers are vested in you for promot 
 ing the welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty 
 to the people of the United States ; and, as they 
 conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be 
 administered, without distinction of colour, to all 
 descriptions of people ; so they indulge themselves 
 in the pleasing expectation, that nothing which can 
 be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of 
 their care, will be either omitted or delayed. 
 
 " From a persuasion that equal liberty was ori 
 ginally the portion, and is still the birthright of all 
 men ; and influenced by the strong ties of humanity, 
 and the principles of their institution, your memo 
 rialists conceive themselves bound to use all justi 
 fiable endeavours to loosen the bands of slaver} , 
 and promote a general enjoyment of the blessings 
 of freedom. Under these impressions, they earnestly 
 entreat your serious attention to the subject of 
 slavery ; that you will be pleased to countenance 
 the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, 
 who, alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded 
 into perpetual bondage ; and who, amidst the gen 
 eral joy of surrounding freedom, are groaning in 
 servile subjection ; that you will devise means for 
 removing this inconsistency from the character of 
 the American people ; that you will promote mercy 
 and justice towards the distressed race ; and that 
 you will step to the very verge of the power vested 
 in you for discouraging every species of traffic in 
 ihe persons of our fellow-men." 
 
 By this memorial the first ever pre 
 sented upon the subject of the abolition of 
 slaveiy to the federal congress the princi 
 ple of the right of man to hold as property 
 human beings, was denied, and declared to 
 
 be repugnant to the genius and spirit of the ! the principles of humanity, and the law of 
 American constitution. The Quakers had | nature. lie could not conceive how any 
 sought for a cessation of the African slave- 
 
 United States. 
 
 Mr. Tucker, from Virginia, was surprised 
 to see the memorial presented, and that it 
 was "signed by a man who ought to 
 have known the constitution better." lie 
 thought it a mischievous attempt, as it 
 respected the persons in whose favour it 
 was intended. If the memorialists ex 
 pected to accomplish a general emancipa 
 tion of slaves by law, he was sure it never 
 could be effected, and that the southern 
 states would never submit to it without 
 civil war. The object of the memorial was 
 to benefit the slaves, but it would result to 
 their injury. It was an imprudent act, 
 and could only be regarded as an improper 
 interference with the property of the 
 southern states, the right in which had 
 been guaranteed to them by the constitu 
 tion. Mr. Scott, from Pennsylvania, did 
 not think the memorial sought for auy 
 unconstitutional act upon the part of con 
 gress, and he was in favour of levying the 
 duty of ten dollars on each slave imported, 
 as authorised by the constitution. This 
 was all that congress could do ; but, at the 
 same time, he would do more, if it was pos 
 sible, to prevent the traffic in slaves. He 
 regretted that the framers of the constitu 
 tion did not go further, and enable them to 
 interdict the slave-trade, because he looked 
 upon it as one of the most abominable 
 things on earth ; and, if there was neither 
 God nor devil, ho should oppose it upon 
 
 trade ; but, in the foregoing abolition peti 
 tion, the abstract principles of slavery were 
 
 person could be said to acquire a property 
 in another. Mr. Jackson, from Georgia, 
 
 expressed his surprise to hear the seiiti- 
 
 brought before congress in plain and un- ments uttered by Mr. Scott, and was of 
 mistakable language. The right of liberty opinion that the master had an unqualified 
 was declared to be " the birthright of all property in the slave. lie said the con- 
 men ;" and the government was requested trary doctrine would cause the destruction 
 to use its powers to secure the realisation of every species of personal service. 
 154 
 
A.D. 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE SOUTH ALARMED. 
 
 Christian religion was not against it ; and 
 from Genesis to Revelation, the current 
 set strong that way. There never was a 
 government on t"he face of the earth but j 
 what permitted slavery. The purest sons ! 
 of freedom in the Grecian republics, the 
 citizens of Athens, and Laceclccmon, all had 
 slaves. On this principle the nations of 
 Europe w r ere associated. " But, suppose all 
 tliis to have been wrong," said Mr. Jackson; 
 "let me ask the gentleman if it is good 
 policy to bring forward a business at this 
 moment, likely to light up the flame of 
 civil discord ? for the people of the southern 
 states will resist one tyranny as soon as 
 another ! The other parts of the continent 
 may bear them down by force of arms, but 
 they will never suffer themselves to be 
 divested of their property without a 
 struggle. The gentleman says, if he was 
 a federal judge, he does not know to what 
 length he would go in emancipating these 
 people; but, I believe, his judgment would 
 be of short duration in Georgia ; perhaps 
 even the existence of such a judge might 
 be in danger." 
 
 Mr. Baldwin, from Georgia, was sorry 
 the subject had been brought before con 
 gress, because it was of a delicate nature as 
 it respected some of the states. " Gentle 
 men who had been present at the formation 
 of the constitution," said Mr. Baldwin, 
 " could not avoid the pain and difficulty 
 which the subject caused in that body. 
 The members from the southern states 
 were so tender upon this point, that they 
 had well-nigh broken up without coming 
 to any determination ; however, from the 
 extreme desire of preserving the Union, 
 and obtaining an efficient government, 
 they were induced mutually to concede, 
 and the constitution jealously guarded what 
 they agreed to. If gentlemen will look 
 over the footsteps of that body, they will 
 find the greatest degree of caution used to 
 imprint them, so as not to bo easily eradi 
 cated ; but the moment we begin to jostle on 
 that ground, I fear we shall feel it tremble 
 under our feet. Congress has no power 
 to interfere with the importation of slaves 
 beyond what is given in the ninth section 
 of the first article of the constitution ; 
 everything else is interdicted to them in the 
 strongest terms." Mr. Baldwin referred 
 to other clauses of the constitution, which 
 were adopted for the purpose of protecting 
 the property in slaves. It seems, from his 
 speech, that the clause declaring " that no 
 
 capitation or direct tax shall be laid, unless 
 in proportion to the census," was intended 
 to prevent congress from laying any special 
 tax upon negro slaves, as they might, in 
 that way, so burthen the possessors of them, 
 as to induce a general emancipation. Mr. 
 Smith, from South Carolina, was of opinion 
 that the memorial sought for the adoption 
 of an unconstitutional measure ; but that 
 it was not the intention of the petitioners 
 to seek for the enactment of a lav/ in viola 
 tion of that instrument. lie observed, 
 that in the southern states, difficulties had 
 arisen on adopting the constitution, inas 
 much as it was apprehended that congress 
 might take measures under it for abolish 
 ing the slave-trade. When the southern 
 states entered into the confederacy, they 
 did it from political, not from moral 
 motives ; and he did not think his con 
 stituents wished to learn morals from the 
 petitioners. lie did not believe they re 
 quired any improvement in their morals ; 
 and if so, they could learn them at home. 
 It should be remembered, that when the 
 southern states entered into a political 
 connection with the other states, slave 
 property was there ; it had been acquired 
 under a former government, conformably 
 to the laws ; and, therefore, anything that 
 might tend to deprive them of that pro 
 perty, would be an ex post facto law, and, 
 as such, was forbidden by the political 
 compact of the federal union. " A gentle 
 man," said Mr. Smith, " can hardly come 
 from the southern states with a servant or 
 two, either to this place (New York) or to 
 Philadelphia, but there are persons trying 
 to induce his servants to leave him -, and, 
 when they have done this, the poor wretches 
 are obliged to rob their master in order to 
 obtain a subsistence. All those, therefore, 
 who are concerned in the seduction, aro 
 accessories to the robbery." Mr. Page, 
 from Virginia, was in favour of fairly con 
 sidering the memorial, under the belief 
 that it did not seek an unconstitutional 
 enactment. He lived in a state which had the 
 misfortune of having in her bosom a great 
 number of slaves. He held many of them 
 himself, and was as much interested in the 
 business as any of the gentlemen in South 
 Carolina or Georgia ; yet, if he was deter 
 mined to hold them in eternal bondage, ho 
 should feel no uneasiness or alarm on account 
 of the present measure, because ho should 
 depend upon the virtue of congress, that 
 they would not exercise any unconstitutional 
 
 155 
 
HEI-ORT ON MEMORIALS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 authority. Mr. Madison regretted that 
 the debate had taken a serious turn ; and 
 if an alarm was created, it would be owing 
 to the character of the discussion. He ad 
 mitted that congress was restricted by the 
 constitution from taking measures to abolish 
 the slave-trade ; yet there were a variety 
 of ways by which it could countenance the 
 abolition ; and regulations might be made 
 
 i in relation to the introduction of them into 
 the new states, to be formed out of the 
 
 ! western territory. He thought the object 
 well worthy of consideration. Mr. Gerry, 
 from Massachusetts, thought the inter 
 ference of congress fully compatible with 
 the constitution ; and he could not help 
 lamenting the miseries to which the natives 
 of Africa were exposed by this inhuman 
 commerce. He had never contemplated 
 the subject without reflecting what his 
 own feelings would be, in case himself, his 
 children, or his friends, were placed in the 
 same deplorable circumstances. He ad 
 verted to the flagrant acts of cruelty 
 which were committed in carrying on that 
 traffic ; and asked whether it could be sup 
 posed that congress had no power to pre 
 vent the alleged abuses. He then referred 
 to the constitution, and pointed out the re 
 strictions laid on the general government 
 respecting the importation of slaves. It 
 was not, he presumed, in the contemplation 
 of any gentleman in congress to violate 
 that part of the constitution ; but that con 
 gress had a right to regulate the importa 
 tion of slaves, was as clear to him as that 
 it had any right whatever ; nor had the 
 contrary been shown by any person who 
 had spoken on the occasion. He had made 
 a calculation of the slaves in the southern 
 states, and supposed they w T ere worth ten 
 millions of dollars. Congress had a right, 
 if it saw proper, to make a proposal to the 
 southern states to purchase the whole of 
 them, and its resources from the western 
 territory might furnish the means. The 
 memorials having been very elaborately 
 discussed, with considerable sectional feel 
 ing, by members from nearly all the states 
 of the Union, the vote was taken to refer 
 the documents to a committee, and the 
 question was carried in the affirmative, by 
 43 to 14. 
 
 The memorials were then referred to a 
 special committee, composed of one member 
 from each of the states of New Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; 
 156 
 
 and, early in March, the committee re 
 ported 
 
 " That from the nature of the matters contained 
 in these memorials, they were induced to examine 
 the powers vested in congress, under the present 
 constitution, relating to the abolition of slavery; 
 and are clearly of opinion 
 
 " First. That the general government is ex 
 pressly restrained from prohibiting the importation 
 of such persons as any of the states now existing 
 shall think proper to admit, until the year 1808. 
 
 " Secondly. That congress, by a fair construction 
 of the constitution, are equally restrained from in 
 terfering in the emancipation of slaves, who already 
 are, or who may, within the period mentioned, be 
 imported into, or born within, any of the said 
 states. 
 
 " Thirdly. That congress have no authority to 
 interfere in the internal regulations of particular 
 states, relative to the instruction of slaves in the 
 principles of morality and religion ; to their com 
 fortable clothing, accommodation, and subsistence ; 
 to the regulation of their marriages, and the pre 
 vention of their violation of the rights thereof; or 
 to the separation of children from their parents ; 
 to a comfortable provision in cases of sickness, age, 
 or infirmity ; or to the seizure, transportation, or 
 sale of free negroes ; but have the fullest confidence 
 in the wisdom and humanity of the legislatures of 
 the several states, that they will revise their laws 
 from time to time, when necessary, and promote 
 the objects mentioned in the memorials, and every 
 other measure that may tend to the happiness of 
 slaves. 
 
 " Fourthly. That, nevertheless, congress have 
 authority, if they shall think it necessary, to lay at 
 any time a tax or duty not exceeding ten dollars 
 for each person of any description, the importation 
 of whom shall be, by any of the states, admitted as 
 aforesaid. 
 
 "Fifthly. That congress have authority to inter 
 dict, or (so far as it is, or may be, carried on by 
 citizens of the United States, for supplying foreigners) 
 to regulate the African trade, and to make provi 
 sions for the humane treatment of slaves, in all cases, 
 while on their passage to the United States, or to 
 foreign ports, so far as respects the citizens of the 
 United States. 
 
 Sixthly. That congress have also authority tc 
 prohibit foreigners from fitting out vessels in any 
 port of the United States, for transporting persons 
 from Africa to any foreign port. 
 
 " Seventhly. That the memorialists be informed, 
 that in all cases to which the authority of congress 
 extends, they will exercise it for the humane objects 
 of the memorialists, so far as they can be promoted 
 on the principles of justice, humanity, and good 
 policy." 
 
 The House of Representatives considered 
 the report, sitting as a " committee of the 
 whole ;" and the discussion that took place 
 on that occasion was alike distinguished for 
 ability and sectionalism. Various proposi 
 tions were made to amend the report ; and 
 on these many of the members expressed 
 their opinions. Mr. White, from Virginia, 
 was opposed to several of the clauses of the 
 report; and, with respect to the first, he 
 
A.D. 1790.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [QUAKERS AND SLAVERY. 
 
 moved that it be struck out, because he was he denied that they were friends of frec- 
 against entering into a consideration, at this dom. He said, that during the revolu- 
 time, of the power of congress. He thought , tionary war, they were for bringing tho 
 it would be time enough for this when the country under a foreign yoke ; they de- 
 powers were called in question. The se- scendcd to the character of spies ; they 
 cond clause, he said, was entirely unneces- : supplied the enemy with provisions ; they 
 
 sary, as it contained nothing more than 
 what was declared in express terms in the 
 constitution. The third he considered to 
 be wholly unnecessary ; and, as to the 
 fourth, it was contained in the constitution. 
 The fifth and sixth he was willing to adopt 
 with certain modifications. lie disagreed 
 to the seventh proposition, as unnecessary 
 and improper. Mr. White said, that he 
 was willing to contribute all in his power 
 to the comfort of the slaves; but, at the 
 same time, he felt it his duty to declare 
 that, in his opinion, congress had no right 
 to interfere in the business, except as pro 
 posed by the modified clauses above referred 
 to. Mr. Hartly, from Pennsylvania, ex 
 pressed very great regret that the motives 
 of the memorialists should not have been 
 more liberally appreciated ; that they were 
 friends of humanity, and sought for such 
 acts in the premises as might be calculated 
 to subserve the common weal ; but in no 
 case did they wish congress to exceed its 
 powers ; but, on the contrary, they desired 
 to keep within the pale of the constitution, 
 and not, in any case, exceed its provisions. 
 Mr. Brown, from Virginia, advocated 
 the principles declared by his colleague, 
 Mr. White ; and he enlarged on the per 
 nicious consequences that might be ex 
 pected to flow from the interference of 
 congress : he pointed out the effects which 
 had resulted from the interposition of the 
 Quakers, by which the prospects of the 
 southern states in slaves had been rendered 
 very precarious ; and, if congress should 
 adopt the report as it stood, the conse 
 quence would be pernicious in the highest 
 degree. The negro property would be an 
 nihilated. The emancipation of slaves 
 would be effected in time ; but it ought to 
 be gradual : he hoped that congress would 
 not, to gratify people who never had been 
 friendly to the independence of America, 
 precipitate the business to the great injury 
 of the southern states. Mr. Burke, from 
 
 were guides and conductors to their armies ; 
 and whenever the American army came 
 into their neighbourhood, it was found to 
 be in an enemy s country. While thus 
 censuring the Quakers, and questioning 
 their patriotism, he was called to order by 
 the chairman ; after which, Mr. Burko 
 added a few more remarks upon the merits 
 of the question, declaring the introduction 
 of the subject an unjust interference with 
 respect to the property of the southern 
 states. Mr. Smith, from South Carolina, 
 said he lamented much that the subject of 
 slavery had been brought before congress. 
 The memorial from the Quakers contained, 
 in his opinion, a very indecent attack on 
 the character of those states which possess 
 slaves. It reprobates slavery as bringing 
 down repi-oach on the southern states, and 
 expatiates on the detestation due to the 
 licentious wickedness of the African trade, 
 and the inhuman tyranny and blood- 
 guiltiness inseparable from it. He could 
 not but consider it as calculated to fix 
 a stigma of the blackest nature on 
 the state he had the honour to repre 
 sent, and to hold its citizens up to 
 public view, as men divested of every prin 
 ciple of honour and humanity. Considering 
 it in that light, he felt it incumbent on him 
 not only to refute these atrocious calumnies, 
 but to resent the improper language made 
 use of by the memorialists. Mr. Smith 
 continued for some time in this strain ; and, 
 in very severe language, questioned the re 
 ligious integrity of the Quakers ; and said 
 " It was difficult to credit their pretended 
 scruples; because, while they were exclaim 
 ing against the Mammon of this world, they 
 were hunting after it with a step steady as 
 time, and an appetite keen as the grave." 
 With respect to the memorial signed by Ben 
 jamin Franklin, he said it applied, in express 
 terms, for an emancipation of slaves ; and 
 the report of the committee appeared to 
 hold out the idea that congress might exer- 
 
 South Carolina, fully described the happy ; cise the power of emancipating after the 
 
 condition of the slaves; and showed that 
 their emancipation would tend to make 
 them, wretched in the highest degree. He 
 animadverted, with great freedom, on the 
 past and present conduct of the Quakers : 
 VOL. n. y 
 
 year 1808 : for it is said therein, that con 
 gress could not emancipate slaves prior to 
 that period. Ho declared that congress 
 had no power to act in the matter, and that 
 the business was wholly within the sove- 
 
 157 
 
THE SLAVE-TRADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.U. 1790. 
 
 reign authority of the states. The tolera- [ 
 tion of slavery in the several states was a 
 matter of internal regulation and policy, 
 in which each state had a right to do as it 
 pleased, and no other state had any right 
 to intermeddle Avith her policy or laws. If 
 the citizens of the northern states were dis 
 pleased with the toleration of slavery in the 
 southern states, the latter were equally dis 
 gusted with some things tolerated in the 
 former. The northern states knew that the 
 southern states had slaves before they con 
 federated with them. If they had such an 
 abhorrence of slavery, why did they not 
 cast off the south at the formation of the 
 Union, and reject an alliance with those 
 states ? The truth was, that the best in 
 formed part of the citizens of the northern 
 states knew that slavery was so engrafted 
 into the policy of the southern states, that 
 it could not be eradicated without tearing 
 up by the roots their happiness, tranquillity, 
 and prosperity ; that if it were on evil, it 
 was one for which there was no remedy ; 
 and, therefore, like wise men, they ac 
 quiesced in it. We, on the other hand, 
 knew that the Quakers doctrines had 
 taken such deep root in some of the states, 
 that all resistance to them, was useless : 
 we therefore made a compromise on both 
 sides ; we took each other, with our mutual 
 bad habits and respective evils, for better 
 or for worse. The northern states adopted 
 the southern states, with their slaves ; and 
 the latter adopted the former with their 
 Quakers.* There was then an implied com 
 pact between the northern and southern 
 people, that no step should be taken to injure 
 the property of the latter, or to disturb their 
 tranquillity. " A proper consideration must 
 convince every candid mind," said Mr. | 
 Smitb, " that emancipation would be at- \ 
 tended with one or other of these conse- 
 quences either that a mixture of the races 
 would degenerate the whites, without ira- j 
 proving the blacks; or that it would create 
 two separate classes of people in the com 
 munity, involved in inevitable hostility, 
 which would terminate in the massacre or 
 extirpation of one or the other, as the 
 Moors were expelled from Spain, and the 
 
 * The speaker was pointed in his reference to the 
 sect called Quakers, because they had been the most 
 active in opposition to slavery; but the member 
 from South Carolina had, in part, referred to nil the 
 people of the northern states, who were disposed to 
 interfere with the institution of slavery in the south 
 ern states, by congressional enactment or otherwise. 
 
 t We have endeavoured to ascertain the space 
 
 158 
 
 Danes from England. The negroes would 
 not be benefited by it ; free negroes never 
 improve in talents, never grow rich, and 
 continue to associate with the people of 
 their own colour. This is owing either to 
 the natural aversion the whites entertain 
 towards them, and an opinion of the supe 
 riority of their race, or to the natural at 
 tachment the blacks have to those of their 
 own colour. In either case, it proves that 
 the} will, after manumission, continue a 
 distinct people, and have separate inter 
 ests." Mr. Smith referred to the slave- 
 trade, and said " It is well known, that 
 when the negro slaves were brought to the 
 coast of Africa for sale, it was customary 1o 
 put to death all those who were not sold ; 
 the abolition of the slave-trade would, there 
 fore, cause the massacre of the people. The 
 alleged cruel mode of transportation had 
 been a motive impelling people to favour 
 abolition ; but he was not willing to believe 
 the statements made respecting their mode 
 of shipment. It was presumed that the 
 merchants would so far attend to their own 
 interest as to preserve the lives and the 
 health of the slaves on their passage. f 
 
 Some authorities inform us that their 
 confinement on board was no more than 
 necessary ; and, as to the smallness of space 
 allotted them, it was more than was allotted 
 to soldiers in a camp ; for the measurement 
 of cubical air breathed by the Africans, 
 compared with that of soldiers in a camp, 
 was in favour of the former as thirty to 
 seventeen ; it was fully as much as was 
 allotted in ships of war to seamen, who, by 
 the laws of England, were frequently, on 
 their return to their families after a long 
 and dangerous voyage, seized by violence, 
 hurried away by a press-gang, and forced 
 on another voyage more tedious and peril 
 ous than the first, to a hot and sickly 
 climate, where several hundreds of them 
 were stowed away in the hold of the vessel. 
 Mr. Smith justified slavery as a proper 
 and humane institution ; beneficial to the 
 country, and an amelioration of the condi 
 tion of the negroes rescued from the execu 
 tioners of Africa. 
 
 Mr. Boudiuot, from New Jersey, said, 
 
 allowed to slaves on the vessels ; but it seems there 
 ! were no fixed rules governing the case. It was 
 i usual to place them in files of equal sizes, and they 
 ! were allowed to lie on the decks, each occupying 
 : his width and length. In well-regulated vessels, 
 i aisles were arranged to permit the guards to pass 
 : among them, and see that they were accommodated 
 
 according to the discipline of the ship. 
 
A.I). 1790.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DECISION OF THE HOUSE. 
 
 that the clause in the constitution, relating 
 to the want of power in congress " to pro 
 hibit the importation of such persons as 
 any of the states, now existing, shall think 
 proper to admit, prior to the year 1808 ; 
 and authorising a tax or duty on such 
 importation, not exceeding ten dollars for 
 each person," extended to negro slaves. 
 Candour required that he should acknow 
 ledge that this was the express design of 
 the constitution, and, therefore, congress 
 could not interfere in prohibiting the impor 
 tation, or promoting the emancipation of 
 them prior to that period. lie thought it 
 was proper for congress to declare their 
 sense and construction of the constitution 
 with respect to slavery at that time, while 
 the design of the framers of that instru 
 ment was well known, especially since there 
 seemed to be a difference of opinion upon 
 the subject between the representative from 
 Pennsylvania and those from the south 
 ward. He did not blame gentlemen from 
 defending the rights of their constituents, 
 especially as those rights were guaranteed 
 by the constitution ; but he did object 
 to the manner in which they had discussed 
 the question before the house. Much time 
 had been spent to prove the lawfulness of 
 the African trade in slaves, but that was 
 an arduous task in that day of light and 
 knowledge. There was a wide difference 
 between justifying the traffic and support 
 ing a claim to property vested at the time 
 of the constitution, and guaranteed thereby. 
 Besides, it would be inhumanity itself to 
 turn these unhappy people loose to murder 
 each other, or to perish for want of the 
 necessaries of life. He never was an ad 
 vocate for such extravagant conduct. Many 
 arguments had been put forth against 
 the danger of congress emancipating the 
 slaves, or even holding up the idea that 
 they had the power BO to do ; and much 
 time had been employed to prove that con 
 gress had no power in the premises. No 
 claim of this kind had been contended for, 
 and the resolutions that had passed ex 
 pressly contradicted it. The character of the 
 signers of the memorials had been called in 
 question ; one of them was signed by the 
 people called Quakers, and the other by 
 Dr. Franklin, as president of a private 
 society in Philadelphia. " The indiscrimi 
 nate abuse that had been thrown out 
 against the Quakers, without distinction," 
 said Mr. Boudinot, "has not comported 
 with the honour or dignity of this house. 
 
 ; Not only their characters, but their very 
 i names have been called upon ; and private 
 anecdotes, relating to individuals, have been 
 mentioned on the floor. Their character 
 in the late war has been arraigned, and 
 : they have been condemned in the lump." 
 He had known many of them during the 
 war; and when congress, not being able to 
 furnish supplies to the soldiers when many 
 of those unhappy men in that town were 
 reduced to the very depths of distress, 
 without food or raiment, without blankets 
 , or firing, and suffering everything that 
 human nature could bear, the Quakers 
 exercised such humanity towards them as 
 did honour to human nature. The misera- 
 1 ble prisoners, then in the hands of the 
 British, not only felt the happy effects of 
 the exertions of the Quakers, but partici 
 pated in their money, food, and clothing. 
 "Nay," said Mr. Boudinot, "such were 
 the jealousies created by this conduct in 
 the British army here, that an armed force 
 entered the house of one of them, seized 
 his books, and, though a man of great pro 
 perty and large commercial dealings, on 
 finding that he had lent large sums of 
 money to our distressed prisoners, he was 
 turned out, and, with his family, was a 
 refugee during the whole of the war after 
 wards;" and, "were not a Green and 
 a Miflin furnished from the society of 
 Quakers?" Mr. Boudinot was in favour 
 of expressing the sense of the house upon 
 the power of congress in the premises. He 
 would go to " the very verge of the con 
 stitution," but no further, believing that it 
 would render further interference upon the 
 subject unnecessary. He could not see the 
 impropriety of the resolution under con 
 sideration. It went to declare the power 
 of congress to prohibit foreigners from 
 fitting out vessels in American ports, to 
 supply foreigners with slaves from Africa. 
 For his part, he thought it a prudent, 
 humane, and constitutional resolution. 
 
 On the 23rd of March, the consideration 
 of the subject of slavery was resumed. The 
 motion to take up the report of the com 
 mittee of the whole house, was opposed by 
 Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, Mr. Smith and 
 Mr. Burke, of South Carolina, Mr. Bland, of 
 Virginia, and several other members. They 
 severally observed, that the discussion of 
 the subject had already excited a spirit of 
 dissension among the members of the house, 
 and that every principle of policy and con- 
 1 cern for the dignity of the house, and the 
 
 159 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1793. 
 
 peace and tranquillity of the United States, j 
 concurred to show the propriety of dropping ! 
 the subject, and letting it sleep where it j 
 was. On the other hand, Mr. Vining, of 
 Delaware, Mr. Hartley, of Pennsylvania, 
 and Mr. Page, of Virginia, observed, that 
 there was the same propriety in taking up 
 the subject at that time, and bringing it to 
 a conclusion, as there was for first taking it 
 up ; that it had been fully discussed, and 
 gentlemen could not be expected to go over 
 the same ground again. To pass it over 
 would leave the public mind in the same 
 state of uncertainty from which so much 
 danger had been apprehended. The motion 
 to take up the report was warmly contested 
 in a lengthy debate ; and finally passed 
 in the affirmative, by a majority of 1. 
 Whereupon, on motion that the said report 
 of the special committee, and also the re 
 port of the committee of the whole house, 
 of amendments to the said report, be in 
 serted on the Journal, it was resolved in 
 the affirmative 29 to 25.* The report of 
 the "Committee of the whole House" was 
 as follows : 
 
 The committee of the whole, to whom was re. 
 ferred the reports of the committee, or memorialists 
 of the people called Quakers, and of the Pennsyl 
 vania Society for Promoting the Abolition of 
 Slavery, report the following amendments : 
 
 Strike out the first clause, together with the 
 recital thereto, and in lieu thereof insert, " That 
 the migration or importation of such persons as any 
 of the states now existing shall think proper to ad 
 mit, cannot be prohibited by congress, prior to the 
 year 1808." 
 
 Strike out the second and third clauses, and in 
 lieu thereof insert, "That congress have no authority 
 to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the 
 treatment of them within any of the states; it re 
 maining with the several states alone to provide 
 any regulations therein, which humanity and true 
 policy may require." 
 
 Strike out the fourth and fifth clauses, and in 
 lieu thereof insert, " That congress have authority 
 to restrain the citizens of the United States from 
 carrying on the African trade for the purpose of 
 supplying foreigners with slaves, and providing, by 
 proper regulations, for the humane treatment, dur 
 ing their passage, of slaves imported by the said 
 citizens into the states admitting such importation." 
 
 Strike out the seventh clause. 
 
 These proceedings put an end to abo 
 lition petitions in congress, as the decision 
 of the federal government, after the most 
 elaborate discussion, did not favour the 
 plans of interfering with slavery within the 
 states, the only parts of the country where 
 it -was permitted. It had been excluded 
 
 ^Abridged Delates of Congress, vol. i., pp. 201 
 to 238. 
 
 from the north-west, territory by the cession 
 from the state of Virginia; and, with 
 respect to the other cessions, up to that 
 time, slavery had not made any settlement 
 thereon. The next step taken by the 
 federal government, respecting slavery, was 
 the enactment of the fugitive slave law 
 of 1793. 
 
 In 1789, when the constitutional govern 
 ment was organised, with Washington as 
 president, there were slaves in all the federal 
 states, except Massachusetts. This spe 
 cies of property was recognised ; and, in 
 every department of the government, care 
 was taken by the officials to observe the 
 rights of the owner. There was, in those 
 days, an almost unanimous anti-slavery 
 sentiment throughout the whole country. 
 The government officials, members of con 
 gress, and the people, were all alike imbued 
 with a patriotic zeal to promote the common 
 good, in preference to their own private 
 gain. Slavery was a fixed institution, and 
 every necessary provision was made in the 
 constitution and by acts of congress, to pro 
 tect the rights of the owner to his slave. 
 The constitution of the United States, as 
 unanimously adopted in the convention of 
 1787, declared 
 
 " Xo person held to service or labour in one 
 state, under the law thereof, escaping into another, 
 shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
 therein, be discharged from such service or labour, 
 but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to 
 whom such service or labour may be due." 
 
 This was the fugitive slave clause of the 
 constitution ; but, as it required legislation 
 to prescribe the mode of its execution, it 
 became the duty of congress to enact the 
 necessary law ; and this we shall presently 
 more fully explain. 
 
 In the month of January, 1793, the 
 senate passed the first fugitive slave bill. 
 On the 5th of February, the House of Re 
 presentatives passed the senate bill, by a 
 vote of 48 against 7. It was approved by 
 President Washington, and became law on 
 the 12th of February. This act of con 
 gress was styled, " An Act respecting Fugi 
 tives from Justice, and Persons escaping 
 from the Service of their Masters." Sec 
 tions 1 and 2 referred to fugitives from 
 justice. Sections 3 and 4 were as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " Section 3. That when a person held to labour 
 in any of the United States, or in either of the 
 territories on the north-west or south of the river 
 Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any 
 other of the said states or territory, the person to 
 
A.D. 1793.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FUGITIVE SLAVE KILL. 
 
 whom such labour or service may be due, his agent 
 or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest 
 such fugitive from labour, and to take him or her 
 before any judge of the circuit or district courts of 
 the United States, residing, or being within the 
 state, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or 
 town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall 
 he made ; and upon proof, to the satisfaction of such 
 judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or 
 affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate 
 of any such state or territory, that the person so 
 seized or arrested doth, under the laws of the state 
 or territory from which he or she fled, owe service 
 or labour to the person claiming him or her, it shall 
 be the duty of such judge or magistrate to give a 
 certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent or 
 attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for re 
 moving the said fugitive from labour, to the state 
 or territory from which she or he fled. 
 
 "Section 4. That any person who shall knowingly 
 and willingly obstruct or hinder such claimant, his 
 agent or attorney, in so seizing or arresting such 
 fugitive from labour, or shall rescue such fugitive 
 from such claimant, his agent or attorney, when so 
 arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given or 
 declared : or shall harbour or conceal such person 
 after notice that he or she was a fugitive from 
 labour, as aforesaid, shall, for either of the said 
 offences, forfeit and pay the sum of 500 dollars, 
 which penalty may be recovered by and for the 
 benefit of such claimant, by action of debt in any 
 court proper to try the same ; saving, moreover, to 
 the person claiming such labour or service, his 
 right of action for or on account of the said injuries, 
 or either of them." 
 
 The foregoing bill originated in the 
 senate, and was passed by the house with 
 out debate, and almost without division, 
 there being but seven votes cast against it ; 
 and two of the seven were from slavehold- 
 ing states one from Maryland, and the 
 other from Virginia.* The remaining five 
 were one from each of the states of New 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 Vermont, and New York. There were, at 
 that time, in congress, seven representa 
 tives from Massachusetts, the only non- 
 slaveholding state ; from New Hampshire, 
 Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New 
 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania the 
 northern slave states there were twenty- 
 seven representatives ; and from the states 
 of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky 
 the southern slaveholding states there 
 were twenty-five representatives. 
 
 The reasons why the seven votes were 
 cast against the bill are unknown. The 
 fugitive slave clauses were added to the 
 bill, which was introduced after the recep 
 tion of a message from President Washing 
 ton, founded on a communication from the 
 governor of Pennsylvania in relation to a 
 * Bcnton a Congressional Delates. 
 
 ugitive from justice, who had taken refuge 
 n Virginia. The third and fourth sections 
 were enacted because it was necessary to 
 aave an act of congress to give effect to the 
 rendition clause in the constitution. There 
 was but little necessity, in 1793, however, 
 nor for a long time after, for an act of con 
 gress to authorise the recovery of fugitive 
 slaves. All the states at that time, save 
 Massachusetts, were slaveholding states, and 
 the rendition of fugitives was certain and 
 prompt. The interests of the states were the 
 same, and a reciprocity was cordial. The 
 [aws of the free states, and, still more, the 
 force of public opinion, were the slave 
 owners safeguards. The people were 
 against the abduction of slaves ; and if any 
 one were seduced from his owner, it was 
 done furtively and secretly, without sho\v 
 or force, and was looked on the same as 
 any other offence. State laws favoured 
 the owner, and to a greater extent than 
 the act of congress did, or could. In 
 Pennsylvania, there was an act passed in 
 1780, f discriminating between the traveller 
 and sojourner, and the permanent resident 
 allowing the former to remain six months 
 in the state before his slaves became sub 
 ject to the emancipation laws ; and, in the 
 case of a federal government officer, allow 
 ing as much more time as his duties re 
 quired him to remain. New York had a 
 similar act, only varying in time, which 
 was nine months. While these two acts 
 were in force, and supported by public 
 opinion, the traveller and sojourner was 
 safe with his slaves in those states ; and ho 
 was the same in all the other free states. 
 There was no trouble about fugitive slaves 
 in those times. This act of 1703 did not 
 grow out of any such trouble, but out of 
 the case of a fugitive from justice. It was 
 that case, and the message of Washington, 
 that brought the subject before congress ; 
 and, in the act that was passed, the case of 
 fugitives from justice was the first provided 
 for, the first and second clauses of the act 
 being devoted to that branch of the subject ; 
 and the third and fourth to the other all 
 brief and plain, and capable of enforcement 
 without expense or difficulty. In the case 
 of a slave, the owner was allowed to sei/o 
 him wherever he saw him, by day or by 
 night, Sunday or week-days, just as if he 
 were in his own state ; and a penalty of 
 500 dollars attached to any persons who 
 resisted or obstructed him in this seizure. 
 + This law was repealed in 18-17. 
 
 161 
 
THE SLAVE-TRADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.-D. 1789. 
 
 The only authority lie wanted was after | 
 the seizure : to justify the carrying of the 
 slave back to the state from which he fled, 
 the affidavit of the owner, or his agent, 
 was required. 
 
 Statesmen interpreted the constitutional 
 provision quoted in this chapter to mean, 
 that it was obligatory on the respective 
 states to pass the laws for the rendition of 
 fugitive slaves : that it was a regulation 
 between the respective states, conferring 
 rights upon some, and obligations upon 
 others operative, reciprocally. When these 
 functions were discharged for the benefit of 
 the slaveholder, it was expected that they 
 would have been manifested bv means of 
 the laws of the state ; for the constitution 
 spoke of persons held to labour in one state, 
 under the laios thereof. The statutes of the 
 state were made known, interpreted, and 
 expounded by the official acts and deci 
 sions of state judges and other officers. The 
 slave taking refuge in another state, " shall 
 be delivered up" This duty of delivering 
 up the slave was not imposed on private 
 men or individuals, as in a state of nature, 
 or it might never have been performed ; 
 besides, private men were not necessarily 
 supposed to have the slave in their posses 
 sion or power. The duty of delivering up 
 the slave was imposed on the state ; and 
 which, like all other civil or social political 
 powers, necessarily, or at least usually, 
 acted by the intervention of its officers, the 
 authorised agents of the people. 
 
 If the constitution of the United States 
 were adopted by the states as independent 
 sovereignties, then the obligation lay with 
 each, one with the other, to faithfully de 
 liver up the slave to the party to whom he 
 or she may have belonged. It would follow, 
 then, that the states were expected to pass 
 fugitive slave laws, making it the duty of 
 their officers, the governor, judges, legis 
 lators, sheriffs, magistrates, police, and each 
 and every member of the commonwealth, 
 to aid and assist in the delivery of the slave 
 to the owner; and to summon the people 
 as a posse comitatus, in cases requiring 
 assistance. If, however, the people of the 
 United States were the sole parties, uniting 
 one with the other in the adoption of the 
 federal constitution, then the whole nation, 
 in its respective communities or states, was 
 pledged to deliver up the fugitive slave to 
 the owner; and, in this latter case, every 
 man was bound in good faith to aid and 
 assist. 
 
 Anti-slavery politicians interpreted the 
 clause in the Declaration of Independence, 
 " that all men are created equal," as having 
 reference to the different races as well as 
 the different conditions of men. On the 
 other hand, there were those who denied 
 that it was intended to include the African 
 race ; and, further, many statesmen con 
 tended that the principles declared by 
 the declaration were not considered in the 
 convention of 1787, nor were they proposed 
 to be grouped in the constitution; and, in 
 proof of this view of the case, reference was 
 made to the circumstance of the refusal to 
 prefix to the constitution a " bill of rights," 
 deemed by the southern states, particularly, 
 so very essential as a part of that organic 
 instrument. It was then alleged that the 
 declaration was but explanatory of a pro- 
 lamation of war ; and the contents of that 
 document could only be associated with the 
 ircumstances and the time of its issue ; 
 and that it had no more connection with the 
 onstitutional government, than the obso 
 lete articles of the confederation of 1781. 
 As a fact, all proceedings of the colonies, 
 as a general association or otherwise, prior 
 to 1787, were unknown to the states and 
 the people of the government formed in 
 1789, except as the history of the commu 
 nities in revolt against their sovereign. 
 Like magnetic fragments, those independent 
 commonwealths, by a common interest and 
 affinity, were attracted one to the other, 
 until, in 1789, they became as one mass of 
 power, with an infinite variety of molecular 
 components. 
 
 With respect to the suppression of the 
 foreign slave-trade, the constitution pro 
 hibited the government of the United 
 States from interfering with the importa 
 tion of African slaves except to levy a 
 duty, not exceeding ten dollars for each 
 slave imported until the year 1808. Such 
 was the command of the ninth section of 
 the first article of the constitution. But, 
 while congress had no jurisdiction in the 
 premises, the respective states had the 
 power and authority to forbid the importa 
 tion of slaves into their dominions ; and 
 this power was enforced by many of thein, 
 as we shall presently prove by the presen 
 tation of historical facts. 
 
 After the organisation of the govern 
 ment of 1789, congress passed all necessary 
 enactments within its power to prevent 
 this traffic. In 1794, a very stringent law 
 was passed to prevent the people of the 
 
A.D. 1641.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. 
 
 United States from engaging in the slave- 
 trade between foreign countries, either by 
 furnishing ships, men, or otherwise assent 
 ing. In 1798, it was enacted that there 
 should be no importation of slaves into the 
 Mississippi territory, under a penalty, for 
 each offence, of 300 dollars. In 1804, by 
 the Louisiana Act, congress prohibited the 
 foreign importation of slaves into Lower 
 Louisiana territory from and after that 
 date. It also prohibited the introduction 
 into the territory of any slave that had 
 been imported from abroad after the year 
 1798. It prohibited the carrying of any 
 slave into the said Lower Louisiana ter 
 ritory as merchandise. The provisions of 
 this act, however, did not extend to Up 
 per Louisiana or Missouri territory. In 
 1807 was enacted the law to prohibit for 
 ever, after 1808, the foreign slave-trade 
 with any of the United States. But, soon 
 
 after the organisation of the government, 
 in 1789, some of the southern states desired 
 the cessation of the slave-trade before 1808 ; 
 and having passed state laws to that effect, 
 sought congressional legislation as auxiliary 
 to their own enactments, to effect the great 
 desideratum. With that object, the fol 
 lowing law passed congress in February, 
 1803: 
 
 " After the first day of April, 1803, masters of 
 vessels shall not bring into any port where the laws 
 of a state prohibit the importation of any negro or 
 mulatto, not a native, under a penalty of 1,000 
 dollars ; and all vessels arriving at the p irts of such 
 states probibiting slave importation, having on 
 board negroes, mulattoes, &c., are not to be admitted 
 to entry, &c." 
 
 The customs officers of the United States 
 were to notice, and be governed by, the 
 laws of the states prohibiting the admission 
 of negroes; and vigilantly to carry them 
 into effect. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES ; STATE LAWS ABOLISHING THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE PRIOR 
 TO 1808; EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES IN THE NORTHERN STATES; THE SOUTHERN STATES OPPOSED 
 TO THE DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE. 
 
 IN 1641, the Massachusetts colony adopted 
 a code of rights, styled "fundamentals," or 
 " body of liberties," consisting of ninety- 
 eight sections ; and among these was one 
 which provided, that " there shall never be 
 any bond-slavery, villanage, nor captivity 
 among us, unless it be lawful captives 
 taken in just war, and such strangers as 
 willingly sell themselves, or are sold unto 
 us ; and these shall have all the liberties 
 and Christian usages which the law of God, 
 established in Israel, requires. This exempts 
 none from servitude who shall be judged 
 thereto by authority." This article gives 
 express sanction to the slave-trade, and the 
 practice of holding negroes and Indians in 
 perpetual bondage anticipating, by many 
 years, anything of the sort to be found in 
 the statutes of Maryland and Virginia.* 
 It would seem, from the facts which we 
 have given, that Rhode Island was the first 
 
 * Hildreth s History of the United States, vol. i., 
 p. 278. t Ibid., vol. i., p. 282. 
 
 body politic in the world that legislated 
 against slavery, and that Massachusetts 
 was the first to sanction it. 
 
 " At the very birth of the foreign com 
 merce of New England, the African slave- 
 trade became a regular business. The 
 ships which took cargoes of staves and fish 
 to Madeira and the Canaries, were accus 
 tomed to touch on the coast of Guinea, to 
 trade for negroes, who were carried gene 
 rally to Barbadoes, or the other English 
 ! islands in the West Indies, the demand for 
 them at home being but small. "f In 
 1642, a Massachusetts ship, joined by a 
 London vessel then on the African coast, 
 attacked a negro village killing many 
 of the inhabitants, and taking a few pri 
 soners, of whom two fell to the lot of the 
 Boston ship. The affair, however, was ad 
 judicated upon; and the negroes were re 
 stored, upon the ground that they bad 
 been captured upon the African coast, 
 i instead of having been purchased. 
 
 163 
 
ISSUE OF SLAVES.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1705. 
 
 The colony of Connecticut, in 1650, 
 enacted a code of laws, by which a debtor 
 was bound, if the creditor required it, to 
 pay his debt by service, and might be sold 
 for that purpose, but not " to any but of 
 the English nation. " This law remained 
 in force for over 150 years, though seldom, 
 if ever, enforced. Ilunawa3 r servants were 
 to be pursued at the public expense, and 
 were required to make up threefold the 
 time of their absence. Under certain con 
 ditions, Indians could be seized ; " and, 
 because it will be chargeable keeping them 
 in prison," they may be delivered to the 
 injured party, either to serve, or to be 
 shipped out and exchanged for negroes, 
 as the case will justly bear." " It thus 
 appears," says Hildreth, " that negro 
 slavery was authorised in Connecticut, as 
 well as in Massachusetts," at the early 
 epoch of 1650. 
 
 In 1662, the Virginia assembly enacted a 
 law, which, in substance, declared the 
 legality of hereditary servitude. It had 
 been well established, that it was right to 
 hold Africans in a state of slavery, because 
 they were heathens ; and their posterity, 
 also, became slaves as the issue of property. 
 
 Slavery had then existed in the colony 
 forty- two years, and in the meantime inu- 
 lattoes became a part of the population. It 
 was difficult to determine their status, as 
 they were the issue of Christians! From time 
 immemorial it had been the custom to re 
 cognise illegitimate children as following 
 the condition of the mother. In 1663, the 
 Maryland legislature enacted a law, which 
 declared, that " all negroes and other slaves 
 to be hereafter imported into this province, 
 shall serve during life ; and all children born 
 of any negro or other slave, shall be slaves, 
 as their fathers were, for the term of their 
 lives." The term " fathers," as used in the 
 preceding, was figurative, and had no con 
 sideration in fixing the condition of the 
 issue ; that is to say, whether bond or free. 
 The same statute states, that " divers free- 
 born English women, forgetful of their free 
 condition, and to the disgrace of our nation, 
 do intermarry with negro slaves ;" and to 
 prevent such "shameful matches," it was 
 declared, that " during their husbands 
 lives, white women, so intermarrying, shall 
 be servants to the masters of their hus 
 bands ; and that the issue of such marriages 
 shall be slaves for life." The Virginia 
 assembly also enacted several other laws for 
 the regulation of slavery. For example it 
 164 
 
 was declared that baptism should not alter 
 the condition of the slave ; and that Con 
 version to Christianity should not produce 
 the freedom of those held in bondage. And 
 it was enacted, that "all servants, not 
 being Christians, imported by shipping, 
 shall be slaves for life." In 1683, it was 
 enacted, that heathens, excepting Moors 
 and Turks, not in amity with his majesty, 
 might be made slaves. 
 
 In 1665, a convention of delegates from 
 the different towns of the province of New 
 York, adopted a code of laws ; and among 
 them was one which declared, that "no 
 Christian shall be kept in bond, slavery, 
 villanage, or captivity, except such as 
 shall be judged thereunto by authority, or 
 such as willingly have sold, or shall sell 
 themselves ;" and these were to be limited 
 to the locality that " the master shall in 
 habit." Heathens, such as African negroes, 
 Indians, and others not in amity with the 
 sovereign of Great Britain, were not exempt 
 under that law; and they were liable to 
 life servitude ; " nor was it to operate to 
 the prejudice of any who shall by any in 
 denture take apprentices for terms of years ; 
 or other servants for term of years or life : 
 and by a subsequent provision, any un 
 known person travelling through any town 
 without a pass, was liable to be arrested as 
 a runaway, and detained till he proved his 
 freedom, and paid, by work and labour, if 
 not otherwise able, the cost of his arrest 
 and maintenance."* 
 
 In 1705, the Virginia assembly enacted 
 a law "for the prevention of that abomi 
 nable mixture, and spurious issue, where 
 after may increase, in this dominion, as well 
 by negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, inter 
 marrying with English, or other white 
 women, as by their unlawful associating 
 with one another, &c.;" and it was declared, 
 that if any white man or woman inter 
 marry with a negro, mulatto, or Indian, 
 the said white man or woman was to be 
 " for ever banished from the dominion of 
 Virginia." If a white woman had a mu 
 latto child without marriage, she was " to 
 pay a fine of fifteen pounds sterling, or to 
 be sold for a term of five years," and the 
 child was to be apprenticed until it was 
 thirt} years of age. The legislature of 
 Virginia, from time to time, enacted laws 
 for the purpose of determining who should 
 be permitted to be held in a state of slavery. 
 
 * Hildreth s History of the Uni cd States, vol. ii , 
 p. 48. 
 
AD 1780.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [QUAKERS AND SLAVERY. 
 
 A law was passed in 1705, and, in sub 
 stance, re-cnactcd in 1753, which distinctly 
 declared who could be held in a state of 
 slavery ; namely 
 
 " All persons who hnve been, or shall he, im 
 ported into this colony hy sea or by land, and were 
 not Christians in their native country, except Turks 
 and Moors in amity with his majesty, and such who 
 can prove their being free in England, or any other 
 Christian country, before they were shipped for 
 transportation hither, shall be accounted slaves, and 
 as such be here bought and sold, notwithstanding a 
 conversion to Christianity after their importation." 
 
 It was well established that Africans, of 
 nearly every caste, could be held as slaves, 
 without regard to their religious faith, not 
 withstanding the law seemed to be explicit 
 in favour of the freedom of Christians. It 
 devolved upon the African to prove that he 
 was of the Christian faith, and that he had 
 been born free. There was a long voyage 
 between the two continents, and it was 
 almost impossible for the African to prove 
 that he was a free man. Another difficulty 
 arose, which required legislation, of no ordi 
 nary importance to the slave proprietors. 
 They found that, year after year, their 
 slaves became of less African blood ; and it 
 was construed by some people, that the 
 greater degree of blood, with respect to 
 " the white or black race," determined the 
 caste of the person. To settle the ques 
 tion, the legislature of Virginia, in 17S5, 
 enacted the following law : 
 
 " That every person of whose grandfathers or 
 grandmothers any one is, or shall have been a 
 negro, although all his other progenitors, except ; 
 that descending from the negro, shall have been j 
 white persons, shall be deemed a mulatto; and i 
 every such person who shall have one-fourth part 
 or more of negro blood, shall, in like manner, be 
 deemed a mulatto." 
 
 Laws similar to those of Virginia were 
 enacted by several of the other colonies. 
 
 The natural increase of the slave popu 
 lation, and the importations from Africa, 
 were so great, that the white labourers were 
 " considerably interfered with." From re 
 liable authorities, we learn that, in 1754, 
 there were, in Massachusetts, about 4,896 
 slaves, and about one-half of the number 
 was in the town of Boston. Connecticut 
 exceeded Massachusetts in the ratio of its 
 slave population; and Rhode Island ex 
 ceeded Connecticut. The town of Newport 
 had a very large population of slaves, and 
 was one of the most important ports for the 
 fitting-out of vessels engaged in the slave- 
 trade. Emancipation was not allowed, 
 except upon security that the freed slaves 
 
 VOL. II. 7 
 
 should not become a burden to the parish. 
 In New York and New Jersey provinces, 
 negro slaves were employed very exten 
 sively, and, in the city of New York, they 
 constituted a sixth part of the population.* 
 
 The slavery question was morally con 
 sidered, in 1688, by the Quakers of Pennsyl 
 vania ; and there were others who zealously 
 opposed the institution. William Penii 
 fully appreciated the opinions of the anti- 
 slavery members of his society ; and, with 
 a view to ameliorate the condition of the 
 African in bondage, living within the pale 
 of his chartered domain granted to him by 
 Charles II. in 1781, he proposed to provide 
 by law for their marriage, religious instruc 
 tion, and protection against abuse. lie 
 proposed to limit their term of servitude to 
 fourteen years, and to attach their persons 
 to the tenure of the soil. These proposi 
 tions were rejected by the Quaker legisla 
 ture, in 1699 ; and, in 1712, the petition in 
 favour of emancipation was negatived by 
 the legislature, because " it was neither just 
 nor convenient to set them at liberty." At 
 the same time, however, it enacted a law to 
 impose a duty upon future importations 
 from Africa, having in view a prohibition 
 of the slave-trade. A fourth part of the 
 population of Philadelphia, about the year 
 1720, was slaves; there was also a very 
 large per-centage of the inhabitants free 
 negroes, who were not an industrious class 
 of people. "Without regard to political 
 economy, the Quakers opposed slavery upon 
 moral considerations, denying the right of 
 one man to hold, as a chattel, another man, 
 whether of the same or any other race. 
 They were willing to admit the propriety 
 of bondage for a term of years, under certain 
 conditions : for example, in all cases wherein 
 the apprentice became the recipient of a 
 valuable consideration, either in the form of 
 money, education, or artisan skill. 
 
 Very soon after the settlement of the 
 colonies of North and South Carolina, 
 slavery was introduced for the purpose of 
 supplying labourers to the settlers ; and, as 
 chattels, they were held under an admitted 
 construction of the common law in con 
 tradistinction from municipal law, as a rule 
 of action prescribed by the supreme power of 
 the state the same having been repeatedly 
 recognised by the sovereign and parliament 
 of Great Britain. It became necessary, 
 however, for the legislature of South Caro- 
 
 * Hildrelh s History of the United States, vol. ii., 
 p. 419. 
 
 165 
 
SOUTH CAROLINA AND SLAVERY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1712. 
 
 lina to enact a law with respect to slavery 
 in 1712 namely : 
 
 "Whereas the plantations and estates of this pro 
 vince cannot be \\e\\ and sufficiently managed and 
 brought into use without the labour and service of 
 negro and other slaves; and, forasmuch as the 
 said negroes and other slaves, brought unto the 
 people of this province for that purpose, are of bar 
 barous, wild, savage natures, and such as render 
 them wholly unqualified to be governed by the laws, 
 customs, and practices of this province ; but that 
 it is absolutely necessary that such other constitu 
 tions, laws, and orders, should, in this province, be 
 made and enacted for the good regulation and 
 ordering of them, as may restrain the disorders, 
 rapine, and inhumanity to which they are naturally 
 prone and inclined, and may also tend to the safety 
 and security of the people of this province, and 
 their estates : therefore, be it enacted, that all 
 negroes, mulattoes, mestizoes, or Indians, which, at 
 any time heretofore, have been sold, and now are 
 held, or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought 
 or sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves ; and 
 they and their children are hereby made and de 
 clared slaves to all intents and purposes, excepting 
 all such negroes, mulattoes, mestizoes, and Indians, 
 which heretofore have been, or hereafter shall be, 
 for some particular merit, made, and declared free, 
 either by the governor and council of this province, 
 pursuant to any act of this province, or by their re 
 spective masters and owners ; and, also, excepting 
 all such as can prove that they ought not to be sold 
 for slaves."* 
 
 In all the colonies, negroes, either bond 
 or free, were not permitted to bear arms ol 
 any kind, except by express sanction of the 
 master, and then only in certain cases. In 
 time of war, however, their services were 
 always duly appreciated ; and so true is 
 this, that, in 1703, the legislature of South 
 Carolina enacted, that 
 
 " Any slave killing an enemy in time of invasion 
 shall be granted his freedom. Any slave that gets 
 wounded in the attempt to kill an enemy, shall be 
 supported at the public expense. In eilher case the 
 master shall be paid for his slave from the public 
 treasury." 
 
 About the same time, and even during 
 the revolution of 1776, other colonies prac 
 tised a like policy, and, in every possible 
 manner, accorded to the negro commenda 
 tion for his services against the enemy. 
 None were more true to the colonies than 
 the negroes. 
 
 In 1715, the Maryland legislative council 
 
 r hereafter to be imported ; and all chil- 
 Iren, now born, or hereafter to be ^orn, of 
 uch negroes and slaves, shall be slaves dur- 
 ng their natural lives. " Another law was 
 nacted, having reference to fugitive. 5 ! from 
 ervice, whether white or black; declaring, 
 hat " any person whatsoever, travelling 
 out of the county of his residence without 
 pass under the seal of the county, might 
 )e apprehended and carried before a ma 
 gistrate ; and, if not sufficiently known, or 
 unable to give a good account of himself, 
 might, at the magistrate s discretion, bo 
 ommitted to jail for six months, or until 
 :he procurement of a certificate or other 
 justification that he or she is not a servant. " 
 It was also provided, that the person so 
 arrested and imprisoned was not to be dis 
 charged until the jailer was paid ten pounds 
 of tobacco, or one day s service for each day 
 of imprisonment ; and the person making 
 the arrest, as a reward for his trouble, t\vo 
 hundred pounds of tobacco, or twenty days 
 service. f Laws similar to the preceding 
 were enacted in nearly all the colonies, and 
 in many instances enforced. One object 
 was to prevent the poor of other states from 
 becoming a charge upon the treasury for 
 their support ; another was to prevent tho 
 slaves from running away from their mas 
 ters. With respect to the government of 
 the slaves, the laws of all the colonies were 
 much the same, and, in many cases, at least 
 nominally, excessively severe. 
 
 Having now given an account of the rise 
 and progress of the slave-trade, so far as it 
 pertained to the American colonies under 
 the jurisdiction of the British sovereign, it 
 now becomes our duty to refer to the efforts 
 of the colonists to arrest the further progress 
 of the traffic in Africans, and the extension 
 of the institution of slavery within the co 
 lonies ; and also to give a brief account of 
 the legislative proceedings of the colonial 
 governments as independent states, to abo 
 lish that condition of servitude within their 
 respective sovereign jurisdictions. 
 
 An attempt was made to produce a gen 
 eral emancipation of the slaves in Massa- 
 
 enacted a law, which declared, that " all 
 negroes, and other slaves, already imported, 
 
 * The negroes brought from Africa were not all 
 of the same race or tribe, and some of them were 
 of the most abominable and degraded caste 
 
 of the most abominable and degraded caste; many of | coloured race, in the midst c 
 them were incorrigible heathens ; and there were a slavery and the slave-trade, the masters have, in part 
 few who were capable of being Christianised. It at least, performed the office of advancing and 
 seemed to be impossible for them to abandon their civilisins the nes;ro." 
 
 chusetts prior to the revolution ; and the 
 measure was strongly advocated in the 
 
 " To the southern colonies, Providence has en 
 trusted the guardianship and the education of the 
 coloured race. In the midst of the horrors of 
 
 loathsome habits" Upon this subject, the eloquent 
 Bancroft, in his Iliston/, says : 
 166 
 
 f Hildreth s History of (he United States, vol. ii., 
 323. 
 
A.D. 1780.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SLAVERY IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 general court or congress of that state ; and 
 that body substantially recognised the le 
 gality of slavery by a resolution, which de 
 clared that no negro slave should be enlisted 
 into the army. This occurred at Boston, 
 after the evacuation of the British, and 
 when the zeal of the people was at its zenith 
 against the British rule. In 1777, a prize 
 ship from Jamaica, with several slaves on 
 board, was taken to Salem, and the negroes 
 were advertised for sale, but the state offi 
 cials prevented it. The Bill of Rights 
 enacted by Massachusetts exceeded the prin 
 ciples proclaimed in the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, " that all men are created equal, 55 
 and declared that " all men are born free 
 and equal." On the adjudication of a case 
 pending before the Supreme Court of that 
 state, it was held that the principle declared 
 in the " Bill of Rights," and it having been 
 adopted by authority of the people (then 
 the recognised source of all sovereign 
 power), was equivalent to the abrogation of 
 the right of man to hold another in a state 
 of slavery. Again, in 1783, it was decided 
 that the beating of a slave by the master 
 was an assault and battery, thereby fully re 
 cognising the freedom of the negro, and the 
 illegality of holding him in a state of ser 
 vitude at least, in the nature of a chattel. 
 The state of New Hampshire had been 
 opposed to slavery long ere 1776, and the 
 legislative council passed laws to prevent 
 the further importation of slaves from 
 Africa and the West Indies ; and, on the 
 British ministry hearing of these proceed 
 ings, an order was issued to the governor 
 " You are not to give your assent to, or 
 pass, any law imposing duties upon ne 
 groes imported into New Hampshire." 
 The people of this state, however, were 
 largely engaged in commercial affairs, and 
 they were much interested in the slave- 
 trade. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society 
 attempted to induce the different states to 
 forbid the further carrying on of the traffic 
 by enacting laws to prevent the fitting-out 
 of vessels for that trade. In behalf of that 
 society, Dr. Franklin, its president, trans 
 mitted a petition to the governor of New 
 Hampshire ; in which he stated 
 
 " The Society (Anti-Slavery) have heard, with 
 great regret, that a considerable part of the slaves 
 who huve been sold in the southern states since the 
 
 establishment of peace (1783), have been imported 
 in vessels fitted out in the state over which your 
 excellency presides. From your excellency s sta 
 tion, they hope your influence will be exerted, 
 hereafter, to prevent a practice which is so evidently 
 repugnant to the political principles and form of 
 government lately adopted by the citizens of the 
 United States." 
 
 The letter transmitted by Franklin had 
 the desired effect, and measures were taken 
 to discourage the fitting-out of vessels, 
 within the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, 
 for the slave-trade ; and, on the adoption of 
 its constitution, slavery was abolished ; and, 
 in 1790, there were but 158 slaves in the 
 state. 
 
 In Rhode Island, no person could bo 
 born a slave on or after the 1st of March, 
 1784; and in 1790, there were but 952 
 slaves in that state. Laws were also passed 
 to prevent the fitting-out of vessels in any 
 of its ports, for the purpose of engaging in 
 the African slave traffic. The state of 
 Connecticut, in 1774, prohibited the impor 
 tation of slaves into that state; and in 
 1784 and 1797, laws were enacted to effect 
 the gradual emancipation of its slaves, the 
 whole number of whom, in 1790, according 
 to the census, was 2,759. 
 
 In the state of New York, slavery had 
 existed for a very long time, and was 
 much appreciated as an institution of sub 
 stantial worth : there were many, however, 
 who, at an early period after the close of the 
 revolution, attempted to produce a gradual 
 emancipation of the slaves of that state. 
 This movement, however, was stopped for 
 the time being, by the enactment of the 
 following law in 1788 : 
 
 " That every negro, mulatto, or muztee, within 
 this state, who, at the time of passing this act, is a 
 slave for his or her life, shall continue such for and 
 during his or her life, unless he or she shall be 
 manumitted or set free in the manner prescribed in 
 and by this act, or in and by some future law of 
 this state. 
 
 " That the children of every negro, mulatto, or 
 muztee woman, being a slave, shall follow the state 
 and condition of the mother, and be esteemed, 
 reputed, taken, and adjudged slaves to all intents 
 and purposes whatsoever." 
 
 In 1788, an act was passed, prohibiting 
 the importation of slaves from foreign 
 countries, under the penalty of 100 ster 
 ling ; and the same law prohibited the im 
 portation of slaves from other states.* 
 
 * In order to prevent an evasion of the emanci- introduced, or brought into this state, on any pre- 
 pation laws, the legislature of New York enacted j tence whatever, except in the cases hereinafter spe- 
 the following in 1815 : j cified, &c. 
 
 "No person held as a slave shall be imported, I "The preceding section shall not be deemed to 
 
 167 
 
VIRGINIA LAWS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1776. 
 
 In 1799, the legislature took a step to 
 wards the extinction of slavery, by gradual 
 emancipation. The law declared, that 
 every child born of a slave, within the 
 state, after the 4th of July, 1799, should 
 be born free, though liable to be held as 
 the servant of the proprietor of the mother, 
 until the age of twenty-eight years, in a 
 male, and twenty-five in a female ; and, as 
 Chancellor Kent says, in like manner as if 
 such person had been bound by the over 
 seers of the poor to serve for that purpose.* 
 
 In Pennsylvania, the legislative assembly 
 of 1780, passed an act which forbade the 
 further introduction of slaves, aud gave 
 freedom to all persons thereafter born in 
 that state. 
 
 "Alt persons, as well negroes and mulattoes as 
 others, who shall be born within this state, shall 
 not lie deemed and considered as servants for life, 
 or slaves ; and all servitude for life, or slavery of 
 children, in consequence of the slavery of their 
 mothers, in the case of all children born within this 
 state, from and after the passing of this act as afore 
 said, shall be and hereby is utterly taken away, ex- 
 tinguished, and for ever abolished ; provided, how- 
 ever, children bora hereafter of slave mothers are 
 to be he-Id to servitude until they are twenty-eight 
 years old."f 
 
 There was considerable opposition to the 
 enactment of the above law, and several 
 members entered their protest against it ; 
 in which they declared, that the principles 
 of the law were humane, and might, with 
 propriety, be carried out in times of peace ; 
 but they considered it expedient at that 
 time, particularly as the seat of war had 
 
 discharge from service any person held in slavery 
 in any of the United States, under and by the laws 
 thereof, who shall escape into this state." 
 
 A similar law to the above was enacted in 1817 ; 
 and full faith and credit were directed to be given 
 to the fugitive slave law of congress, passed in 
 1793. In 1810, a very rigid law was enacted, pro 
 hibiting the taking of slaves out of the state, in 
 order to sell them in other states. As the emanci 
 pation laws had been passed, many of the people 
 were taking their slaves to the southern states ; and, 
 to prevent an evasion of the statutes, the exporta 
 tion of slaves was prohibited under severe penalties. 
 
 * This law was further enlarged and improved in 
 1810 ; and it was then ordained, that the importa 
 tion of slaves, except by the owner coming into the 
 state for a residence short of nine months, should 
 be absolutely prohibited ; and every slave imported 
 contrary to the act, was declared free. Those that 
 were slaves on the 4th of July, 1799, and not manu 
 mitted, were the only persons, in that state, slaves 
 for life, except those that were imported prior to 
 the 1st of May, 1810. "No slave imported after 
 the 1st of June, 1785, could be sold; no slave im 
 ported after the 1st of May, 1810, could be held as 
 a slave ; and no person born within the state after 
 the 1st of July, 1799, was born a slave." 
 168 
 
 been removed to the southern states, where 
 it was supposed many of the people might 
 be dissatisfied with the proceedings of Penn 
 sylvania, and, as a consequence, lessen their 
 concern for the maintenance of the war in 
 which the whole nation, as one community, 
 was then engaged. 
 
 The legislature of New Jersey passed an 
 act, in 1784, having in. view the gradual 
 emancipation of slavery in that state ; and 
 it was declared, that all children born of a 
 slave, after the 4th of July, 1804, were to 
 be free. In 1798, the legislature enacted a 
 law, prohibiting any person from fitting 
 out a vessel to carry on the slave-trade be 
 tween Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, or 
 anywhere else, under the penalty of for 
 feiture of the ship, cargo, and fittings.^ 
 
 We shall now recur to the proceedings 
 of the southern states, and their efforts to 
 stop the traffic in slaves, not only from 
 beyond the sea, but also at home between 
 the different states. As Virginia was the 
 oldest of the American colonies, and its ex 
 ample having, to a considerable degree, in 
 fluenced the course of action of the other 
 colonial governments, we shall more par 
 ticularly notice the policy practised by that 
 state. 
 
 On the 12th of June, 1776, the people 
 of Virginia unanimously adopted, in their 
 constitution, a schedule of complaints against 
 the sovereign of England, in justification of 
 their course for severing their allegiance ; 
 amongst which was the gra"ve arid serious 
 charge viz., " of prompting our negroes to 
 
 j- In 1S1G, a judicial decision was rendered in 
 Pennsylvania, to the effect, that the child begotten 
 in that state, and born of Eliza, a fugitive slave, 
 was free. The mother had been in the state more 
 than nine months. 
 
 + In 1820, the legislature of New Jersey enacted 
 that all masters of vessels should file a certificate of 
 the name and description of every slave taken on 
 board, and should enter into a bond, "to return 
 the said slave or slaves to the state of New Jersey ;" 
 and, in case of failure, should pay a fine of not 
 less than 1,000, nor more than 2,000 dollars, and 
 be imprisoned " at hard labour in the penitentiary, 
 for a term of not less than two years, nor more 
 than four years." The object of this law was to 
 prevent the carrying of slaves into the southern 
 states, to evade the emancipation laws of New 
 Jersey. It was further enacted that no slaves 
 should be brought into that state, from any of the 
 other status of the Union, under the penalty of 140 
 dollars. 
 
 Another, and a final law was passed by the legis 
 lature in March, 1817; which declared, "That 
 every negro, mulatto, or muztce, within this state, 
 born before the 4th of July, 1799, should, from and 
 after the 4th day of July, 1827, be free." On tins 
 latter date, slavery ceased to exist in Now Yo:k. 
 
A.I). 1786.J 
 
 IIISTOHY OF AMERICA. [KIDNAPPING or FREE NEGROES.- 
 
 i isc in arms amony us those very negroes 
 whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, 
 he had refused us permission to exclude, by 
 laiv,"* from our territory. 
 
 The next effort to put a stop to the 
 African slave-trade was in 1778, when the 
 legislature of that state enacted the follow 
 ing law : 
 
 "Section 1. For preventing the further importa 
 tion of slaves into this commonwealth, be it enacted 
 by the general assembly, that from and after the 
 passing of this act, no slave or slaves shall here 
 after be imported into this commonwealth by sea 
 or by land, nor shall any slave or slaves so im 
 ported be sold or bought by any person whatever. 
 
 " Section 2. Every person hereafter importing 
 slaves into this commonwealth contrary to this act, 
 shall forfeit and pay the sum of 1,000 for every 
 slave so imported; and every person selling or 
 buying any such slaves shall, in like manner, 
 forfeit and pay the sum of 500 for every slave so 
 sold or bought, <fcc. 
 
 " Section 3. That every slave imported into this 
 commonwealth, contrary to the true intent and 
 meaning of this act, shall, upon such importation, 
 become free. 
 
 " Section 4. Provided always, that this act shall 
 not be construed to extend to those who may 
 incline to remove from any of the United States, 
 and become citizens of this state, and provided, that 
 within ten days after their removal into the same, 
 they take the following oath before some magistrate 
 of the commonwealth. 
 
 " I, A. B., do swear, that my removal to the 
 state of Virginia was with no intention to evade 
 the act for preventing the further importation of 
 slaves within this commonwealth, nor have I 
 brought with me, or will cause to be brought, any 
 slaves, with an intent of selling them, nor have any 
 of the slaves now in my possession been imported 
 from Africa, or any of the West India islands, 
 since the 1st day of November, 1778, so help me 
 God. " 
 
 The enactment of the above law was in 
 tended to effectually put a stop to the 
 African commerce in slaves ; but it was 
 soon found that it could be evaded by 
 the importation of slaves into those states 
 which had not passed non-importafion acts, 
 and from thence introduced into Virginia, 
 under the fourth section of the law before 
 cited. With a view to prevent the possi 
 bility of any evasion of the prohibition, the 
 legislature of that commonwealth enacted 
 the following law in 1785 : 
 
 ^"That no persons shall henceforth be slaves 
 vithin this commonwealth, except such as were so 
 on the first day of the present session of the as 
 sembly, and the descendants of the females of 
 
 * "When the constitution was revised in 1830, and 
 again in 18-50, the Virginians proclaimed to the 
 world the same declaration of their opposition to 
 the African slave-trade, and that the importation 
 into their province was not of their own choice, 
 but in obedience to sovereign orders. 
 
 them. Slaves vhich shall hereafter be. brought 
 ! into this commonwealth, and be kept therein one 
 ; whole year together, or so long at different times 
 
 as shall amount to one year, shall be free." 
 
 Notwithstanding the efforts of Virginia 
 to put a stop to the traffic in slaves, and 
 their importation from other states of the 
 Union, yet there were those who, under the 
 influence of a lust for gold, actually kid 
 napped free negroes, and carried them to 
 Virginia, and other southern states, to 
 hold or sell them as slaves. To prevent 
 the repetition of such outrageous trans 
 actions, the legislature enacted the follow 
 ing law in 1786 : -- 
 
 " Whereas, several evil-disposed persons have 
 seduced or stolen the children of black and mulatto 
 free persons, and have actually disposed of the 
 persons so seduced or stolen, as slaves; and punish 
 ment adequate to such crimes not being by law 
 provided for such offenders : 
 
 " JBe it enacted, That any person who shall here 
 after be guilty of stealing or selling any free person 
 for a slave, knowing the said person so sold to be 
 free, and thereof shall be lawfully convicted, the 
 person so convicted shall suffer death ivithoiit the 
 benefit of clergy." 
 
 With a view of further preventing the 
 evasion of the laws enacted to stop the slave 
 traffic, by their importation from Africa 
 into some of the other states of the Union, 
 and from thence into Virginia, the follow 
 ing law was enacted by the legislature of 
 that state, in 1792 : 
 
 " That no persons shall henceforth be slaves 
 within this commonwealth, except such as were so 
 on the 17th day of October, 1785; and the de 
 scendants, being slaves, as since have been, or 
 hereafter may be brought into this state, or held 
 therein pursuant to law." 
 
 In 1806, the legislature deemed it neces 
 sary to pass a further prohibition against 
 the importation of slaves into the state. 
 The northern states had passed laws to 
 gradually emancipate their slaves ; and, in 
 order to avoid the loss of their property, 
 many of the people removed to Virginia, 
 or to some of the other southern states. 
 This rapid increase of slavery in the south, 
 was objectionable to the whites of those 
 states ; and hence the repeated enactments 
 concerning the importation of slaves. The 
 following law was passed in 1806 : 
 
 " That if any slave or slaves shall hereafter be 
 
 brought into this commonwealth, and shall either 
 
 be kept therein one whole year, or so long, at 
 
 ! different times, as shall amount to one year, or 
 
 I shall be sold or hired within this commonwealth, in 
 
 i every such case the owiitr shall forfeit all right to 
 
 such slave or slaves. 
 
 " And every person hereafter bringing into thij 
 
 169 
 
SOUTH CAROLINA AND SLAVERY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 commonwealth any slave or slaves, contrary to this 
 act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of 400 dollars 
 for every slave so brought in ; and every person 
 selling, buying, or hiring any such slave or slaves, 
 knowing the same to have been brought in con 
 trary to the provisions of this act, shall forfeit 
 and pay the sum of 400 dollars for every slave so 
 brought, sold, or hired." 
 
 Tho temper of the Virginians had been 
 aroused, on account of the repeated evasion 
 of the laws prohibiting the importation of 
 slaves from the states in which laws had 
 been enacted for their emancipation. The 
 preceding act had been in force only a few 
 years, when an effort was made to get it 
 modified, in order to permit actual settlers 
 from the other states to come into Virginia 
 with their slaves. The expansion of the 
 population in those states had exceeded the 
 requirements of the agricultural domain 
 for labour: there were lands enough in 
 Virginia for a very great increase of popu 
 lation. The people of this state were 
 anxious to have the white immigration; 
 but they were not willing, nor would they 
 consent to an increase of slavery within 
 their dominion.* 
 
 We now propose to give some account of 
 the laws of South Carolina, having re 
 ference to the introduction of slaves from 
 Africa, and also from the other federal states. 
 
 In 1788, the legislature of that state 
 enacted 
 
 " No negro or other slave shall be imported or 
 brought into this state, either by land or water, on 
 or before the 1st of January, 1793, under the pen 
 alty of forfeiting every such slave or slaves to any 
 person who will sue or inform for the same; and 
 under further penalty of paying 100 to the use of 
 the state for every such negro or slave so imported, 
 or brought in : provided that nothing in this pro 
 hibition contained shall extend to such slaves as are 
 now the property of citizens of the United States, 
 and at the time of passing this act shall be within 
 the limits of the said United States." 
 
 * With a view to effect the ends desired, the 
 legislature enacted the following most singular law 
 in 1812: "That all persons who may hereafter 
 remove to this state with a bond fide intention of 
 becoming citizens thereof, who now are, or may be 
 the owner or owners of any slave or slaves born in 
 any of the United States, shall be, and they are 
 hereby authorised to bring into, and hold within 
 this commonwealth, any such slave or slaves; pro- 
 vidt d that said owner or owners shall, within thirty 
 days after such slave or slaves shall have been 
 brought into this commonwealth, exhibit to some 
 justice of the peace of the county in which he, she, 
 or they may reside, a statement in writing, con 
 taining the name, age, sex, and description of each 
 and every slave so brought in, and shall make oath, 
 or solemn affirmation before such justice, that the 
 said statement contains a true account of the slaves 
 so brought in ; and that the said slave or slaves 
 170 
 
 In 1792, the preceding law was extended 
 as follows : 
 
 " That no slave shall be imported into this state 
 from Africa, the West India islands, or any other 
 place beyond the sea, for and during the term of 
 two years, commencing from the first day of 
 January, 1793. 
 
 " That no slave or negro, Indian, Moor, mulatto, 
 or Mestizoe, bound to service for a term of years, 
 shall be brought into this state, by land or water, 
 from any of the United States, or any of the coun 
 tries bordering thereon, ever hereafter : provided, 
 however, actual citizens of the United States, shall 
 and are hereby permitted to come into this state, 
 and settle with their slaves." 
 
 Again, in 1794, the legislature extended 
 the prohibition thus : 
 
 " That no slave or person of colour, bond or free, 
 shall be permitted to be imported, or land, or enter 
 the state from the Bahamas or West India islands, 
 or from any part of the continent of America, with 
 out the limits of the United States, or from any 
 other parts beyond the seas." 
 
 In 1796, the law was extended to 1799, 
 with a penalty attached in case of viola 
 tion ; the person to be subjected to a fine 
 and imprisonment for each person im 
 ported in violation of the law. In 1798, 
 the law was extended to 1801. In the 
 year 1800, it was extended to 1803 ; and it 
 enacted, that no slave should be brought 
 into the state from any part of the world, 
 not even from any of the United States. 
 And it was further enacted 
 
 " That it shall and may be lawful to and for any 
 person travelling into or through this state, to 
 bring into the same one cr more slaves or free per 
 sons of colour, not exceeding two, as necessary at 
 tendants on such person or his or her family ; and 
 for no other purpose whatsoever : provided, never 
 theless, to exempt such person from the penalties of 
 this act, every such person shall make an oath be 
 fore some justice of the peace, near to the place 
 where they shall enter the state, that such slave or 
 slaves, or persons of colour, is or are his or her 
 necessary attendants ; and that he or she will not 
 sell or dispose of such slave, or persons of colour, 
 
 were not brought into this commonwealth for the 
 purpose of sale, or with the intent to evade the laws 
 preventing the further importation of slaves. 
 
 " And provided, also, that the said owner or 
 owners shall, within three months after any slave 
 or slaves shall have been so brought into this com 
 monwealth, export a female slave above the age of 
 ten years, and under the age of thirty, for every 
 slave so as aforesaid imported ; and within the said 
 period, return to the court of said county a state 
 ment containing the name, age, and description of 
 the slave or slaves so exported, and give satisfactory 
 evidence to the said court of the performance of the 
 said condition, and make oath that he, she, or they 
 have honajide performed the same." 
 
 The object of this law was to prevent the increase 
 of slavery in Virginia. The slaves imported were 
 mostly males ; and by the reduction of the females 
 the state expected to lessen the natural increase. 
 
A.D. 1795.1 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 but will take the same back with bim or ber to bis 
 or her usual place of residence." 
 
 The courts of South Carolina found it 
 difficult to trace the title of the owner to 
 his slave ; and persons bringing into the 
 state slaves from another in which emanci 
 pation laws had been passed, could not be 
 compelled to reveal from whence they 
 brought their chattels. A man was not 
 expected to criminate himself. In order ! 
 to make practicable the former most strin- 1 
 gent prohibitory laws, which were really j 
 beyond the possibility of enforcement, the 
 legislature passed the following permissive 
 statute, then supposed to be necessary as a 
 question of comity : 
 
 "That all and every person or persons removing 
 into this state, with their slaves, shall, immediately 
 on entering the state, take the following oath, before 
 some justice of the peace : 
 
 " I, A. 13., do swear, that my removal into the 
 state of Soutb Carolina is witn no intention of 
 evading the several laws of this state, for preventing 
 the further importation of slaves into this state; nor 
 have I brought with me any slave or slaves with an 
 intention of selling them ; nor will I sell or dispose 
 of any slave or slaves so brought with me as afore 
 said, within two years from the date hereof; and it 
 , is my intention, lonafide, to become a resident and 
 citizen of the said state. 
 
 " That each and every slave who shall hereafter 
 be imported or brought into this state, except under 
 the limitations prescribed by this act, shall be, and 
 each and every one of them are hereby declared to 
 be free, in whosoever s hands they may be." 
 
 Iii 1803, the legislature passed an act* 
 declaring that the statutes of 1800 and of 
 1801, prohibiting the importation of slaves 
 into the state of South Carolina, " shall be, 
 and the same ai e hereby declared to be 
 perpetual laws."* 
 
 We will now notice a few of the statutes 
 enacted by the legislature of North Caro 
 lina. Various laws were passed to prevent 
 the importation of slaves into the state, 
 from beyond the sea, or from any other 
 country, excepting the states of the Union. 
 
 Base men, as we have hereinbefore stated, 
 kidnapped negroes in some of the northern 
 states after they had passed emancipation 
 laws, and carried them to the southern 
 states, and there sold them as slaves. 
 There were those, too, who were the legal 
 owners of slaves, that emigrated to the 
 south, in order to evade the emancipation 
 laws of the states in which they had been 
 living, and thereby prevent the loss to 
 them of their slaves. "With the intention 
 of defeating such unjust disregard for the 
 laws, and to prevent the increase of slave 
 property in the state, the legislature of 
 North Carolina enacted the following, in 
 1786: 
 
 " That every person who shall introduce into this 
 state any slave or slaves after the passing hereof, 
 from any of the United States which have passed 
 laws for the liberation of slaves, shall, on complaint 
 thereof before any justice of the peace, be compelled 
 by such justice of the peace, to enter into bond with 
 sufficient security in the sum of 50 current money, 
 for each slave, for the removing of such slave or 
 slaves to the state from whence such slave or slaves 
 were brought, within three months thereafter, &c."| 
 
 Again, in the year 1795, the legislature 
 enacted the following, in order to prevent 
 the evasion of the law prohibiting the im 
 portation of slaves from Africa. It was the 
 practice to land the slaves from Africa at 
 the Bahama Isles, and other places, and 
 reship them in other vessels to the Ame 
 rican states. 
 
 "That from and after the first day of April next 
 (1795), it shall not be lawful for any person coming 
 into this state, with an intent to settle or otherwise, 
 from any of the West Indies or Bahama Islands, or 
 the settlements in the southern coast of America, to 
 land any negro or negroes, or people of colour, over 
 the age of fifteen years, under the penalty of 100 
 for each and every slave or person of colour, c." 
 
 The state of Georgia passed many 
 laws of the same tenor as those enacted by 
 the other southern states, to prohibit tho 
 importation of slaves ; and to prevent, 
 
 * On the 28th of May, 1819, a white man was 
 hung, in South Carolina, for stealing a free negro, 
 and selling him as a slave. The penalty was sup 
 posed to be excessive ; and by statute of 1820, it was 
 enacted : 
 
 " That if any person or persons shall hereafter 
 bring, or cause to be brought into this state, any 
 free negro or person of colour, and shall hold the 
 same as a slave, or sell or offer the same for sale, to 
 any person or persons in this state, as a slave, 
 every sucu person or persons shall pay for every 
 such free negro, or free person of colour, the sum 
 of 1,000 dollars over and above the damages which 
 may be recovered by such free negro." 
 
 By act of 1837, it was further declared 
 
 " That whoever shall hereafter be convicted of 
 
 the forcible or fraudulent abduction, or assisting 
 in the forcible or fraudulent abduction, of any free 
 person of colour living within this state, with in. 
 tent to deprive him or her of his or her liberty, 
 shall be fined not less than 1,000 dollars, and be 
 imprisoned for not less than twelve months. 
 
 "And whoever, in addition to such abduction, 
 shall actually sell, or assist in selling, or cause to 
 be sold, such person as a slave, shall, upon being 
 duly convicted thereof, in addition to such fine and 
 imprisonment, receive thirty-nine lashes on the bare 
 back." 
 
 f Early in the spring of 1819, a man was publicly 
 executed on the gallows, in the state of North 
 Carolina, for kidnapping a free negro, and selling 
 him as a slave. 
 
 171 
 
LAWS OF KENTUCKY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 LA.D. 1T93. 
 
 beyond question, the continuation of the 
 African slave-trade, in 1798 a clause was 
 inserted in the constitution, that 
 
 " There shall be no future importation of slaves 
 into this state, from Africa or any foreign place, 
 after the first day of October next (1798)." 
 
 The state of Maryland, at an early day 
 after the revolution, passed laws against 
 the increase of slavery. The following was 
 enacted in 1797, in order to prevent the 
 importation of slaves from Africa, and from 
 the northern states, where emancipation 
 laws had been passed : 
 
 "That it shall not be lawful, from and after the 
 passing of this act, to import or bring into this 
 state, by land or water, any negro, mulatto, or 
 oilier slave for sale, or to reside within this state ; 
 and any person brought into this state as a slave, 
 contrary to this act, if a slave before, shall there 
 upon immediately cease to be the property of the 
 person or persons so importing or bringing such 
 slave within this state, and shall be free." 
 
 Exceptions were permitted in favour of 
 persons who came into the state with the 
 bond fide intention of becoming permanent 
 citizens of the state of Maryland ; but even 
 in such cases, the slaves or their mothers 
 must have been residents of the United 
 States at least three years previous to 1797. 
 By an act of congress, a law was passed to 
 abolish the African slave-trade after 1808, 
 and as auxiliary thereof, the following laws 
 were enacted by Maryland : 
 
 " That from and after the passing of this act, if 
 any person or persons shall import or bring into 
 this state any free negro or mulatto, or any person 
 bound to service for a term of years only, and shall 
 sell or otherwise dispose of such free negro, mu 
 latto, or person bound to service for a term of years 
 only, as a slave for life, or for any longer time than 
 by law such person may be bound to service, know 
 ing such negro or mulatto to be free, or entitled to 
 
 * Imprisonment in a penitentiary, in the United 
 States, is of the greatest degradation. A man that 
 lias served even but one year, or but one month in 
 that prison, can never regain a character. In many 
 of the states he cannot ever thereafter vote, serve 
 on a jury, or hold any office of the state. His evi 
 dence is refused in court ; he cannot sue or be 
 sued; and his conviction entitles his wife to a 
 divorce ; he cannot hold property ; nor can he get 
 shelter for a night where his character is known. 
 There are, of course, exceptions in the enforcement 
 of this custom of society ; but there is no man with 
 any sense of honour but would prefer death to a 
 penitentiary disgrace. 
 
 t In 1831, the legislature passed a law totally 
 prohibiting the importation of slaves into that 
 state from the other states of the Union ; but, in 
 1833, it was believed to be oppressive upon the 
 people of the slaveholding states, who wished to 
 reside near Washington, but within the jurisdiction 
 of Maryland ; and the law of 1831 was modified in 
 172 
 
 freedom at a certain age, every such person or per 
 sons shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the 
 sum of 800 dollars;" and in case of failure to pay, 
 the person or persons so offending shall be con 
 demned to work on the public roads for a term not 
 exceeding five years. * * * Every commander 
 of a vessel convicted of wilfully importing into this 
 state, from any foreign country, any slave, and every 
 person convicted of bringing into this state, by land 
 or water, any negro or mulatto from any foreign 
 country, with intent to dispose of such negro 
 within this state as a slave, the said person so 
 offending shall be sentenced to confinement in the 
 penitentiary* for a term not less than one year, nor 
 more than five years.f 
 
 In 1793, Kentucky was admitted into 
 the Union as a slave state ; but the people 
 living in the wilds of that part of the far- 
 west, followed the example set by the 
 state of Virginia. All the anti-slave-trade 
 laws of Virginia were re-enacted by the 
 legislature of Kentucky ; and, in fact, three 
 years before that state was formed (1790), 
 its district assembly enacted the following 
 law : 
 
 "That no slave shall be imported into this state 
 from any foreign country, nor shall any slave who 
 has been imported into the United States from any 
 foreign country since the 1st day of January, 1789, 
 or who may be hereafter imported into the United 
 States from any foreign country, be imported into 
 this state under the penalty of 300 dollars. No 
 slave shall be imported into this state as mer 
 chandise from any other state, and any person so 
 offending, shall forfeit and pay a fine of 300 
 dollars."J 
 
 The state of Alabama passed laws to for 
 bid the importation of slaves from Africa, 
 but citizens from other states of the Union 
 were permitted to remove into that state 
 with their slaves, but they could not be 
 carried into Alabama as merchandise. The 
 owners were to have in view a bond fide 
 residence. To show the resolute purpose 
 
 favour of actual bond fide residents. By a law of 
 1839, white persons coming into the state, import 
 ing slaves with them from other states of the 
 Union, were required to make an oath that they 
 came into the state with the intention of becoming 
 citizens of Maryland, and that they did not bring 
 the slaves for the purpose of selling them as mer 
 chandise, or otherwise. 
 
 \ In order to prevent the traffic in slaves from 
 other states of the Union, a statute was enacted in 
 1815, prohibiting the importation of slaves there 
 from, except for domestic purposes, and accom 
 panying the white family to which the said slave or 
 slaves might belong ; and the owner was required 
 to take the following oath, which is still enforced 
 in Kentucky : 
 
 "I, A. B, do swear, that my removal to the 
 state of Kentucky was with an intention to b , come 
 a citizen thereof, and that I have no slave or slaves, 
 and will bring no slave or slaves to this state with 
 intent of selling them." 
 
1808.] 
 
 HISTORY OP AMERICA. [SLAVE-TRADE ABOLISHED. 
 
 of the people of that state to suppress the 
 kidnapping of free negroes, and the selling 
 them as slaves, the following law, passed in 
 1807, may, with propriety, be cited : 
 
 " That if any person or persons shall hereafter be 
 guilty of stealing or selling any free person for a 
 slave, knowing the said person so sold to be free, 
 and shall be thereof lawfully convicted, the person 
 or persons so convicted shall suffer death." 
 
 We have now given an account of slavery 
 as it existed in America prior to 1808, com 
 mencing with the landing of the first slaves 
 in 1620, at Jamestown, Virginia, and end 
 ing with the epoch when the African slave- 
 trade ceased to be permitted by the laws of 
 the federal government : the traffic, however, 
 had practically ceased long ere 1808, by the 
 statutes of nearly all the states. We have 
 also grouped together some of the most im 
 portant laws of the states respecting the 
 domestic trade, and also the proceedings of 
 the northern states affecting the emancipa 
 tion of the African race.* 
 
 * By way of note, we deem it important to inform 
 the reader, that several of the states organised 
 subsequent to 1808, enacted anti-slave-trade laws; 
 and of these may be cited the following, which was 
 passed by the legislature of Mississippi in 1822 : 
 "It shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever 
 to bring into this state, or to hold therein, any 
 slave or slaves, born or resident out of the limits of 
 the United States. Every such offender shall 
 forfeit and pay to the state, for the use of the 
 literary fund, a fine of 1,000 dollars." 
 
 In 1839, the legislature passed a law to prohibit 
 the importation of slaves into the state as mer 
 chandise, or for the purpose of selling or hiring 
 them, under a penalty of a fine of 500 dollars, and 
 imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not 
 less than one year. 
 
 The state of Missouri, though not admitted into 
 the Union until 1821, being thirteen years after the 
 cessation of the slave-trade by act of congress in 
 1808, enacted a law as given in its revised statutes 
 of 1835 as follows: "Hereafter no person shall 
 bring, or cause to be brought into this state, or 
 hold, purchase, hire, sell, or otherwise dispose of, 
 within this state, any person, or the descendants of 
 any person, who shall have been imported into the 
 United States, or any of the territories thereof, in 
 contravention of the laws of the United States, and 
 held as slaves, under a penalty of 500 dollars, 
 recoverable by indictment." 
 
 An act of the legislature of Louisiana, of 1825, 
 declared, that " no person shall, after the first 
 day of June, 1826, bring into this state any slave, 
 with the intent to sell or hire the same, under the 
 
 penalty of being punished by imprisonment not ex 
 ceeding two years, and fined not exceeding 1,000 
 dollars ; and, moreover, shall forfeit said slave or 
 slaves." 
 
 Citizens of the state were allowed to bring in 
 slaves for their own use ; but they could not sell 
 them until two years after their introduction into 
 the state. 
 
 Until about the close of the last century, capital 
 punishment was inflicted for other offences than 
 murder; and it was common to condemn slaves to 
 suffer very severe punishment for the lesser crimes, 
 even for petty larceny. For example, in the dis 
 trict of Kentucky the following cases occurred : 
 " At a called court for Jefferson county, on the 
 10th day of August, 1785, for the examination of 
 negro Peter, the property of Francis Vigo, com 
 mitted to the jail of this county on suspicion of 
 stealing," he was duly tried and found guilty, was 
 valued at eighty pounds current money, and con 
 demned to be executed on the 24th day of that 
 month. Another, on the 21st day of October, 
 1786" negro Tom, a slave, the property of Robert 
 Daniel, was condemned to death for stealing two 
 and three-fourths yards of cambric and some ribbon 
 and thread, the property of James Patten." 
 
 Penalties like these just quoted, have long since 
 ceased to exist; and, at the present time, the punish 
 ment of slaves for either of the cases would be 
 whipping, not to exceed, however, thirty-nine 
 lashes. In the case of white men, the punishment 
 would be confinement and hard labour in the 
 penitentiary of the state. Rape and murder are 
 the only capital offences. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 2A 
 
 173 
 
 As component parts of society, the Afri 
 can slaves were not acceptable to the Ame 
 ricans. As labourers, they were regarded 
 by many as necessary for the common good 
 of the country ; on the other hand, how 
 ever, there were those who were of opinion 
 that servitude for life was detrimental to 
 the enterprise of the nation, and was cal 
 culated to lessen the value and respec 
 tability of white labour. Besides this 
 economic consideration of slavery, there 
 were numbers who looked upon the holding 
 of the African race in a state of bondage, 
 especially as chattels, as immoral, and in 
 violation of the divine law: but, at the 
 same time, there were others who held an 
 opinion, that the rescuing of the African 
 from the heathen hordes and tribes of their 
 native country, and placing them within 
 the pale of Christian teachings, although 
 under political disfranchisement, was a 
 practical amelioration of the condition of 
 the race. 
 
FRENCH REPUBLIC.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1793. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES WITH THE FRENCH REPUBLIC; WAR DECLARED, AND HOSTILITIES AT SEA; PEACE 
 RESTORED ; ADJUSTMENT OF THE SPOLIATIONS. 
 
 To an intelligible understanding of the dethroned and beheaded; a republic pro- 
 irregular hostilities which occurred between claimed ; and the lives and liberties of 
 the United States and France, during the ! twenty millions of people left at the mercy 
 
 of a demoniac faction, headed by Dauton and 
 Robespierre. The excesses and enormities 
 of those men are almost too incredible for 
 the sober pen of history to record. Their 
 decrees were law, and their laws dissolved 
 the pure elements of society. The guillotine 
 was in constant action, and thousands wero 
 
 of the crown had been destroyed by the ; immolated to their sanguinary vengeance, 
 excessive profligacy of the preceding reign The worship of the Most High God was com- 
 that of Louis XV. The taxes were most muted for that of the goddess of Reason.* 
 unjustly distributed ; the clergy being Religion and its solemnities were pro- 
 exempt from taxation ; and the middling nounced a farce ; the sacramental chalice 
 classes and the poor were obliged to do- ! was converted into a wassail-bowl ; the 
 fray the whole. This was the position of , holy rite of marriage was annulled, and 
 affairs in France when the Marquis de La- j the institution declared a needless check, 
 fayette returned from the United States, and extended no farther than the satiety . 
 at the conclusion of the American revolu- j of sensual inclination ; and every social re- 
 
 closing years of the eighteenth century, a 
 brief reference to some antecedent events 
 will be necessary. The successful issue of 
 the revolutionary struggle in America had 
 taught the people of every European nation 
 to know their power ; while in France, es 
 pecially, the influence of the nobility and 
 
 tion; and, thoroughly imbued with the 
 principles of republicanism, commenced his 
 mission as an apostle of freedom. The la 
 tent fires of civil and religious liberty, which 
 had already been kindled in France by the 
 events above mentioned, although for a 
 while pent up, at length burst out with 
 volcanic violence, and the shock levelled to 
 the earth the nobility and the priesthood, 
 
 lation was rendered subservient to the fiat 
 of these bloody ministers of misrule. 
 
 In the United States, the democratic, or 
 republican party, under the lead of Thomas 
 Jefferson, looked upon France as being in 
 the same position as was the United States 
 when contending for their independence 
 against Great Britain ; and, although they 
 could not but regret and disapprove of the 
 
 religion and law, order and morality, and j cruelty and ferocity which the revolution- 
 
 prostrated the throne of the Bourbons. 
 
 During the period which is emphatically 
 and truly termed the " Reign of Terror," 
 anarchy in its worst form held despotic 
 sway. Within a comparatively brief space 
 
 ary leaders exhibited, yet their sympathies 
 were with the people of France ; believing 
 that good order would eventually be re 
 stored, and that a republic of the most 
 liberal and beneficent kind would be estab- 
 
 of time, rebellion to royal authority ap- lished. The federalists, on the other hand, 
 
 peared ; a monarchy was crushed ; a king shocked with the bloody career of the 
 
 * To crown the climax of their madness, they uncovered heads, and a dense and infatuated multi- 
 performed a farce, revolting in the extreme; and tude in their train. When the procession arrived 
 
 even at this day, when we read the impious record, 
 we shudder, and wonder that the terrible wrath of 
 an offended God had not awfully visited them with 
 summary retribution. Seated in a car, drawn by 
 four white horses, a youthful maiden appeared in 
 the streets of Paris, habited in a costume imitative 
 of that of the ancient goddesses, being entirely 
 naked to the waist, which was encircled by a cestus, 
 decorated with branches of chestnut. Her face was 
 covered by a thin veil ; and this was the only show 
 of modesty or decorum which sho exhibited. Pre- 
 
 at the Palais Royal, the goddess alighted, and, pre 
 ceded by a band of musicians, was conducted to the 
 tribune, while the whole assembly chanted a hymn 
 to liberty, with great solemnity. She was then 
 unveiled, and that august body, the National As 
 sembly of France, bowed to a dancing-girl of the 
 opera, as a personification of the " Goddess of 
 Reason," whom they impiously affected to worship. 
 The object of this profane adoration lived until 
 1834, and, at the time of her death, represented her 
 life as one of continued remorse and distress, occa- 
 
 cccling her car was a band of musicians, and in the sioned by the recollection of this impious rite, in 
 
 rear followed the municipal officers of Paris, with 
 
 174 
 
 which she suffered herself to be made instrumental. 
 
A.D. 1793.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [AMERICAN NEUTRALITY. 
 
 French revolutionists, did not believe that 
 a republican form of government could ever 
 be worked out of such a state of things. 
 Their views were thus admirably expressed 
 by Alexander Hamilton, the leader of that 
 party : " It cannot be without danger and 
 inconvenience to our interests, to impress 
 on the nations of Europe an idea that we 
 are actuated by the same spirit which has, 
 for some time past, fatally misguided the 
 measures of those who conduct the affairs of 
 France, and sullied a cause once glorious, 
 and that might have been triumphant. 
 The cause of France is compared with that 
 of America during its late revolution. 
 Would to heaven that the comparison were 
 just ! Would to heaven we could discern, 
 in the mirror of French affairs, the same 
 decorum, the same gravity, the same order, 
 the same dignity, the same solemnity, 
 which distinguished the course of the Ame 
 rican revolution ! Clouds and darkness 
 would not then rest upon the issue, as they 
 do now. I own I do not like the compari 
 son. When I contemplate the horrid and 
 systematic massacres of the 2nd and 3rd of 
 September ; when I observe that a Marat 
 and a Robespierre, the notorious prompters 
 of those bloody scenes, sit triumphantly in 
 the convention, and take a conspicuous 
 part in its measures ; that an attempt to 
 bring the assassins to justice has been 
 obliged to be abandoned ; when I see an 
 unfortunate prince, whose reign was a con 
 tinued demonstration of the goodness and 
 benevolence of his heart, of his attachment 
 to the people of whom he was the monarch 
 (who, though educated in the lap of des 
 potism, had given repeated proofs that he 
 was not the enemy of liberty) brought pre 
 cipitately and ignominiously to the block, 
 without any substantial proof of guilt, as 
 yet disclosed without even an authentic 
 exhibition of motives, in decent regard to 
 the opinions of mankind ; when I find the 
 doctrines of atheism openly advanced in 
 the convention, and heard with loud ap 
 plauses; when I see the sword of fanati 
 cism extended to force a political creed upon 
 citizen?, who were invited to submit to the 
 iirrns of France as the harbingers of liberty ; 
 when I behold the hand of rapacity out 
 stretched to frustrate and ravish the monu 
 ments of religious worship, erected by those 
 citizens and their ancestors ; when I per 
 ceive passion, tumult, and violence, usurp 
 ing those seats where reason and civil 
 deliberation ought to preside, I acknowledge 
 
 that I am glad to believe there is no real 
 resemblance between what was the cause of 
 America and what is the cause of France 
 that the difference is no less great than that 
 between liberty and licentiousness. I regret 
 whatever has a tendency to confound them ; 
 and I feel anxious, as an American, that 
 the ebullitions of inconsiderate men among 
 us may not tend to involve our reputation 
 in the issue."* 
 
 In the month of April, 1793, information 
 was received of the declaration of war by 
 France against Great Britain and the 
 Netherlands. Washington was at Mount 
 Vernon when he received news of the de 
 claration. Hastening back to Philadelphia, 
 he held a consultation with his secretaries 
 on the 19th of April, at which it was unani 
 mously determined that a proclamation 
 should be issued by the president, " forbid 
 ding the citizens of the United States to 
 take part in any hostilities on the seas, and 
 warning them against carrying to the bel 
 ligerents any articles deemed contraband, 
 according to the modern usages of nations, 
 and forbidding all acts and proceedings in 
 consistent with the duties of a friendly 
 nation towards those at war." It was also 
 unanimously resolved to receive a minister 
 from the republic of France, should one be 
 sent. The proclamation of neutrality was 
 accordingly issued on the 22nd of April. 
 This was a leading cause of the ill-feeling 
 harboured by the revolutionists in France 
 against the United States ; for they had 
 looked upon the Americans as their friends 
 and allies, bound to them, not only by the 
 ties of gratitude for the assistance rendered 
 the American colonies in their hour of 
 trial during the revolutionary struggle ; but 
 they also claimed that the United States 
 were obligated bv a stipulation in the treaty 
 of the 6th of February, 1778, in fulfilment 
 of which that assistance was given, to be- 
 ! come the allies of France in a war with 
 j England and the other monarchies of 
 Europe, resulting from their efforts to estab 
 lish a popular government in France. It 
 will be seen, however, that that stipulation 
 was limited to the period of the war of the 
 revolution then existing. It declared, that 
 " if war should break out between France 
 and England during the continuance of the 
 present war between the United States and 
 England, his majesty and the United States 
 shall make it a common cause;" and i 
 " neither of the two parties shall conclude 
 * Hamilton s Works, vol. v., p. 566. 
 175 
 
GENET S PROCEEDINGS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1793. 
 
 either truce or peace with Great Britain, 
 without the formal consent of the other ; 
 and they mutually engaged not to lay 
 down their arms until the independence of 
 the United States should have been 
 formally or tacitly asserted by the treaty or 
 treaties that shall terminate the war."* 
 But the independence of the United States 
 had been acknowledged by Great Britain ; 
 pacific relations existed between the two 
 countries ; and the above stipulation was no 
 longer binding. And, however much the 
 American government might sympathise 
 with the people of France in an effort to 
 establish a republican form of government, 
 they still regarded their country as con 
 nected with Great Britain, by identity of 
 origin, by resemblance of institutions, by 
 similarity of language, literature, and re 
 ligion, and by various ties of commercial 
 interest ; and they felt, consequently, bound 
 to observe a strict neutrality towards the 
 European belligerents, and thus avoid 
 embroiling themselves in a desultory war 
 with a country with which so many motives 
 existed for remaining at peace. 
 
 Meantime, the French minister to the 
 United States, appointed by Louis XVI., 
 was recalled, and Edmund Charles Genet, or 
 " Citizen Genet," as he was generally named, 
 was sent to supply his place.f On the 7th 
 of April, he arrived at Charleston, South 
 Carolina ; and the flattering reception he 
 there met with, from the governor and 
 citizens of that state, induced him to believe 
 that he could easily persuade the American 
 people to embark in the cause of France, 
 whatever might be the determination of 
 their government. The nearness of Charles 
 ton to the West Indies made it a conve 
 nient port for fitting out privateers against 
 the trade of these islands ; and, during his 
 brief stay there, he issued commissions for 
 arming and equipping vessels for that 
 purpose, and enlisting Americans to man 
 them. He also projected hostile expedi 
 tions against Florida, from South Carolina 
 and Georgia; and against New Orleans 
 and the Louisiana territory, from the state 
 of Kentucky. 
 
 * Ante, vol i., p. 337. 
 
 t Genet was a zealous republican, of ardent tem 
 perament. After being seven years head of the 
 bureau at Versailles, under the direction of Ver- 
 gennes, he had passed one year at London in a 
 diplomatic capacity ; two at Vienna; one at Berlin ; 
 and five in Russia ; whence he had recently been 
 expelled by the Empress Catherine. Having been 
 lately employed in revolutionising Geneva, and an 
 nexing it to the French republic, he had been se- 
 176 
 
 Genet arrived in Philadelphia on the 
 16th of May. Mr. Hammond, the British 
 minister, had already justly complained of 
 his belligerent operations ; but, notwith 
 standing, he was welcomed in Philadelphia 
 I by a portion of the people with the most 
 extravagant marks of joy. The adminis 
 tration, however, disapproved his proceed 
 ings, and determined to enforce the laws. 
 Genet took umbrage at this decision of the 
 government, and threatened to appeal to 
 the people. The cause of Genet showed 
 such a determined purpose to undermine 
 the pacific policy of the United States, that 
 Washington, without waiting a reply to a 
 demand for his recall, determined to have 
 no further intercourse with him. A mes 
 sage to congress was prepared, avowing 
 such determination ; when despatches were 
 received from the United States minister at 
 Paris, announcing that Genet s commission 
 had been withdrawn, and Fauchet, secretary 
 of the executive council, was appointed his 
 successor. The new minister arrived in 
 the United States in February, 1794. 
 Genet, however, never returned to France. 
 He married a daughter of Governor George 
 Clinton, of New York, and passed the re 
 mainder of his days in the United States. 
 
 Gouverneur Morris, the United States 
 minister to France, failing to secure the 
 confidence of the French government, the 
 latter, as an act of reciprocity in so promptly 
 recalling the commissioner Genet, requested 
 his recall in 1794. The request was ac 
 ceded to, and James Monroe, of Virginia, 
 was appointed in his place. Mr. Monroe 
 belonged to the republican party, and, in 
 common with the members of that party, 
 had a strong faith that the French revolu 
 tion would eventually result in the estab 
 lishment of a free government, on the ruins 
 of the ancient despotism. He was received 
 at Paris with the most flattering demon 
 strations, and the flag of the United States, 
 which he presented to the French govern 
 ment, was entwined with that of France, 
 and the two suspended in the hall of the 
 National Convention, as a symbol of friend 
 ship and union. J 
 
 lected by the Girondins, then in power, as a fit per 
 son to be sent to America ; the object of his mission 
 being, in fact, as appeared from his instructions, 
 afterwards published, to draw the United States, as far 
 as possible, into making common cause with France. 
 | Mr. Monroe was received and accredited in the 
 bosom of the National Convention. The president 
 was directed to give him the fraternal embrace, in 
 token of the friendship that existed between France 
 and America. 
 
A.D. 1796.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS. 
 
 M. Adet, who was soon after appointed 
 minister to the United States, to succeed 
 Fauchet, was directed to present the flag of 
 the French republic to the government of 
 the United States. Adet arrived in America 
 early in June, 1795 ; but he did not present 
 the flag in a formal manner till the 1st of 
 January, 1796, when he delivered it to 
 President Washington, together with a 
 letter to congress, from the committee of 
 public safety, in France. The minister s 
 address, on this occasion, represented, in 
 glowing language, the position of France, 
 "struggling, not only for her own liberty, 
 but for that of the human race. Assimi 
 lated, or rather identified with a free people 
 by the form of her government, she saw in 
 them only friends and brothers. Long 
 accustomed to regard the American people 
 as her most iuithful allies, she sought to 
 draw closer the ties already formed in the 
 fields of America, under the auspices of 
 victory, over the ruins of tyranny." This 
 address drew from Washington the memo 
 rable reply, commencing as follows : 
 " Born, sir, in a land of liberty ; having 
 early learned its value ; having engaged in 
 a perilous conflict to defend it ; having, in 
 a word, devoted the best years of my life to 
 secure its permanent establishment in my 
 country, my anxious recollections, my sym 
 pathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are 
 irresistibly attracted, whensoever, in any 
 country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl 
 the banners of freedom."* 
 
 The address of Adet, and the reply 
 of Washington, with the letter from the 
 committee of safety, were transmitted to 
 congress, by the president, on the 4th of 
 January. The colours of France he di 
 rected to be deposited among the archives 
 of the United States. Both houses of con 
 gress adopted resolutions expressive of their 
 good-will and friendship for the French 
 republic. France, however, required of the 
 United States something more than expres 
 sions of sympathy and fraternal feeling ; 
 and more, as we have had occasion already 
 to express, than by treaty it was entitled 
 
 " The minister entered the hall amidst the cries 
 Vive la Republique ! and the president having an 
 nounced that Mr. Monroe spoke only the English 
 language, one of the secretaries of the Convention 
 was ordered to read a translation of the discourse 
 the minister had prepared." Moniteur. 
 
 The address of Mr. Monroe was plain, sensible, 
 and appropriate to the occasion. But the answer 
 of the president was rhetorical in the extreme, and 
 concluded with the following as reported in the 
 Moniteur, year 2, No. 329 : 
 
 to claim. Failing in the effort to make the 
 United States a party to its European wars, 
 and jealous of the more intimate relations 
 contracted with its principal enemy (Eng 
 land), it adopted regulations highly injuri 
 ous to American commerce. 
 
 Mr. Monroe, when sent as minister to 
 France, was amply supplied with docu 
 ments, for the purpose of explaining the 
 views and conduct of the United States in 
 forming the treaty with England, com 
 monly known as " Jay s Treaty." For rea 
 sons of policy he did not use the docu 
 ments placed in his hands ; and the result 
 was as had been apprehended. The views 
 and course of the United States govern 
 ment were misinterpreted by the rulers of 
 France; its policy in regard to Great 
 Britain suspected ; and when it was ascer 
 tained that the American government 
 gave its sanction to the treaty made by 
 Jay, their resentment was aroused. The 
 Directory, however, declared it prudent to 
 refrain from actual hostilities ; but they re 
 garded the Americans in the light of secret 
 enemies, and made such depredations on 
 their trade, under various pretences, as 
 almost amounted to a commercial war ; and 
 a directorial arret was issued, on the 3rd of 
 July, 1796, expressly enjoining French 
 ships of war to observe the same conduct 
 towards the vessels of neutral nations, as 
 they had hitherto suffered with impunity 
 from the English. Thus began that op 
 pressive system, by which neutral nations 
 were deemed to be persecuted in the future 
 progress of the war, under the form of 
 Berlin and Milan decrees, and British 
 orders in council. 
 
 Towards the close of the summer of 1796, 
 believing that the rights of the United 
 States were not asserted and vindicated 
 with sufficient spirit by Mr. Monroe, it was 
 deemed expedient by President Washington 
 to recall him, which was accordingly done ; 
 and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South 
 Carolina, elder brother to the late minister 
 to London, appointed as his successor. He 
 sailed for France, instructed to use every 
 
 " Why should I delay to confirm this friendship 
 by fraternal embrace ? I am directed to you in the 
 name of the French people. Come and receive it, 
 in the name of the American people ; and may this 
 scene destroy the last hope of the impious band 
 of tyrants. 
 
 "The minister was then conducted to the pre 
 sident of the National Assembly, who gave the Kiss 
 and embrace in the midst of universal acclamation 
 of joy, delight, and admiration." 
 * Marshall s Life of Washington, vol. ii., p. 130. 
 
WASHINGTON S POLICY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1795. 
 
 effort compatible with national honour, to 
 restore the amicable relations which for 
 merly existed between the countries. Soon 
 after the appointment of Mr. Pinckney, 
 but before he had reached the French cap 
 ital, President Washington received a let 
 ter from Mr. Monroe, by which it appeared 
 that a confidential letter, written by the 
 president on the 22nd of December, 1795, 
 had, by some accident, fallen into the hands 
 of the French Director} -, and produced an 
 ill effect. This letter was addressed to 
 Gouverneur Morris, then in London ; and in 
 it occurs this passage : " My policy has 
 been, and will continue to be, while I have 
 the honour to remain in the administration, 
 to maintain friendly terms with, but be in 
 dependent of, all the nations of the earth ; 
 to share in the broils of none ; to fulfil our 
 own engagements ; to supply the wants and 
 be carriers for them all. * * * Nothing 
 short of self-respect, and that justice which 
 is essential to a national character, ought 
 to involve us in war. * * * By a fi rm 
 adherence to these principles, and to the 
 neutral policy which has been adopted, I 
 have brought on myself a torrent of abuse 
 in the factious papers of this country, and 
 from the enmity of the discontented of all 
 descriptions. But, having no sinister ob 
 ject in view, I shall not be diverted from 
 my course by those, nor any attempts which 
 are, or shall be, made to withdraw the con 
 fidence of my constituents from me. I have 
 nothing to ask ; and, discharging my duty, 
 I have nothing to fear from invective. The 
 acts of my administration will appear when 
 I am no more; and the intelligent and 
 candid part of mankind will not condemn 
 my conduct without recurring to them." 
 
 On the 25th of August, Washington 
 wrote to Monroe, acknowledging the au 
 thenticity of the letter of the 22nd of 
 December ; but denying that there was 
 anything in it that the French government 
 could take exception to, unless the expres 
 sion of an ardent wish that the United 
 States might remain at peace with all the 
 world, taking no part in the disputes of 
 any portion of it, should have produced that 
 effect. His conduct in public and private 
 life, he said, in conclusion, as it related to 
 the important struggle in which France 
 was engaged, had been uniform from its 
 commencement, and might be summed up 
 in a few words. He had always wished 
 well to the French revolution ; and had, on 
 many occasions, given it as his decided 
 178 
 
 opinion that no nation had a right to inter 
 meddle in the internal concerns of another; 
 that every one had a right to form and 
 adopt whatever government they liked best 
 to live under themselves ; and that if the 
 United States could, consistently with its 
 engagements, maintain a strict neutrality, 
 and thereby preserve peace, it was bound 
 to do so by motives of policy, interest, and 
 every other consideration that ought to 
 actuate a people situated as the Americans 
 were already deeply in debt, and in a 
 convalescent state from the struggle they 
 had been engaged in themselves. On these 
 principles he had steadily and uniformly 
 proceeded, bidding defiance to calumnies 
 calculated to sow the seeds of distrust in 
 the French nation, and to excite their 
 belief of an influence possessed by Great 
 Britain in the councils of the United States, 
 than which nothing was more unfounded 
 and injurious.* 
 
 On the 15th of November, while the 
 choice of a successor of Washington (he 
 having declined a re-election) was pending, 
 and parties were so nearly balanced that 
 neither scale could be said to preponderate, 
 M. Adet, the French minister, addressed a 
 letter to the secretary of state, which he 
 also caused to be published in the news 
 papers, recapitulating the complaints against 
 the government of the United States, made 
 by his predecessor ; reproaching the federal 
 administration with violating those treaties 
 with France which had secured the inde 
 pendence of the United States; with in 
 gratitude to France and partiality to Eng 
 land ; denouncing the " insidious" procla 
 mation of neutrality, ^and the wrongs 
 resulting from it. 
 
 The following brief extracts will give an 
 idea of the impassioned style of this docu 
 ment, which, though addressed to the 
 department of state, was evidently in 
 tended for the people, with the view of 
 having an influence on the result of the 
 presidential contest : " When Europe rose 
 up against the republic at its birth, and 
 menaced it with all the horrors of famine 
 when, on every side, the French could 
 not calculate on any but enemies their 
 thoughts turned towards America, and a 
 sweet sentiment then mingled itself with 
 those* proud feelings which the presence of 
 danger, and the desire of repelling it, 
 produced in their hearts. In America 
 they saw friends. Those who went to 
 * Washington s Writings, vol. xi., p. 161. 
 
A.D. 1797.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ADET S APPEAL. 
 
 brave tempests and death upon the ocean, 
 forgot all dangers, in order to indulge 
 the hope of visiting that American con 
 tinent, where, for the first time, the 
 French colours had been displayed in 
 favour of liberty. Under the guaranty 
 of the law of nations, under the protecting 
 shade of a solemn treaty, they expected 
 to find in the ports of the United States an 
 asylum as sure as at home ; they thought 
 (if I may use the expression) there to find a 
 second country. The French government 
 thought as they did oh, hope, worthy of a 
 faithful people, how hast thou been de 
 ceived ! So far from offering the French 
 the succours which friendship might have 
 given without compromising itself, the 
 American government, in this respect, 
 violated the obligations of treaties. * * * * 
 Alas ! time has not yet demolished the 
 fortifications with which the English 
 roughened this country, nor those the 
 Americans raised for their defence. Their 
 half-rounded summits still appear in every 
 quarter amid plains on the tops of moun 
 tains. The traveller need not search for 
 the ditcb, which served to encompass them ; 
 it is still open under his feet. Scattered 
 ruins of houses laid waste, which the fire 
 had partly respected, in order to leave 
 monuments of British fury, are still to be 
 found. Men still exist who can say 
 Here a ferocious Englishman slaughtered 
 my mother ; here my wife tore her bleed 
 ing daughter from the hands of an un 
 bridled Englishman ! Alas ! the soldiers 
 who fell under the sword of the British are 
 not yet reduced to dust ; the labourer, in 
 turning up his field, still draws from the 
 bosom of the earth their whitened bones : 
 while the ploughman, with tears of tender 
 ness and gratitude, still recollects that his 
 fields, now covered witli rich harvests, have 
 been moistened with French blood ; while 
 everything around the inhabitants of this 
 country animates them to speak of the 
 tyranny of Great Britain, and of the 
 generosity of Frenchmen. When England 
 had declared a war of death to revenge 
 herself on France, for having connected 
 with her blood the independence of the 
 United States ; at such a moment their 
 government makes a treaty of amity with 
 their ancient tyrant, the implacable enemy 
 of their ancient ally ! O, Americans ! covered 
 with noble scars ! O, vou who have so 
 often flown to death and to victory with 
 French soldiers ! you, who know those 
 
 generous sentiments which distinguished 
 the true warrior whose hearts have always 
 vibrated with those of your companions in 
 arms consult them, to-day, to know what 
 they experience. Recollect, also, that 
 magnanimous souls, if they resent an 
 affront with liveliness, know also how to 
 forget one. Let your government return 
 to itself, and you will still find in French 
 men faithful friends and generous allies !" 
 
 Minister Adet also announced, that his 
 government, as a further expression of their 
 dissatisfaction at what they considered 
 equivalent to a treaty of alliance between 
 the United States and Great Britain (Jay s 
 treaty), had ordered him to suspend his 
 ministerial functions with the government 
 of the United States, and return to France. 
 This suspension of diplomatic relations, 
 however, was not to be regarded as a rup 
 ture between France and the United States, 
 but only as a mark of just discontent, which 
 was to be continued until the government 
 of the United States returned to sentiments 
 and measures more conformable to the 
 interests of the alliance, and the sworn 
 friendship between the two nations. What 
 ever may have been the motives of the 
 French minister, in this open and direct 
 appeal to the people of the United States, 
 in the critical moment of their election of a 
 chief magistrate, it does not appear to have, 
 in any material degree, influenced that 
 election ; it certainly did not the result, as 
 John Adams, the candidate of the federal 
 party, was elected president. 
 
 On the 19th of January, 1797, Wash 
 ington, agreeably to an intimation in his 
 address at the opening of the session, trans 
 mitted to congress a special message on the 
 relations of the country with the French 
 republic. The message was accompanied 
 by a letter from the secretary of state to 
 Mr. Pinckney, the American minister at 
 Paris, in reply to Adet s recent complaints. 
 The letter of the secretary of state was an 
 ample refutation of the various charges 
 I made by Adet and his predecessors, as well 
 | as a complete justification of the conduct of 
 i President Washington towards the French 
 i nation. A large collection of letters and 
 i papers was also communicated to congress 
 at the same time, embracing most of the 
 correspondence of the government with 
 Fauchet and Adet. Some of the complaints 
 of the latter, as appeared from these papers, 
 ! were of the most frivolous character. One 
 1 of them was, that in the Blue Book, a gov- 
 
 179 
 

 MONROE S DEPARTURE.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1797. 
 
 ernmental register, the name of the British 
 minister appeared before those of France 
 and Spain : another, that the French flag, 
 presented to congress by the secretary, had 
 been hidden away in the archives instead of 
 being suspended in the halls of congress ; 
 and another, that the United States govern 
 ment had made a treaty with Algiers with 
 out waiting for French intervention ! 
 
 On the 27th of February, a report was 
 presented from Mr. Pickering, the secretary 
 of state, which furnished a full account of 
 the wrongs inflicted by the French on 
 American commerce. Independent of spe 
 cial instances of injustice and suffering, it 
 appeared that the consul-general had pre 
 sented to the French government 170 
 claims, most of which had been examined 
 and allowed ; also, claims for upwards of a 
 hundred vessels, upon which an embargo 
 had been laid at Bordeaux, for which in 
 demnity had been promised ; but not a 
 single claim had yet been paid. To these 
 were to be added the depredations then 
 being carried on extensively in the West 
 Indies. The French commander at Guada- 
 loupe had issued three decrees on his own 
 responsibility. The first declared all vessels 
 with contraband goods on board, as subject 
 to capture, wherever they might be bound ; 
 the second confiscated all cargoes of neutral 
 vessels bound to or from British ports ; and 
 the third subjected to capture all vessels 
 bound to any French or Dutch settlements 
 in possession of the British, or which cleared 
 for the West Indies generally. The agents 
 of the French government, on the coast of 
 St. Domingo, had adopted the same policy. 
 
 Such was the precarious state of relations 
 with France when Adams succeeded Wash 
 ington in the administration of the govern 
 ment, on the 4th of March, 1797. With 
 the success of Bonaparte in Italy, and the 
 accession of Spain to their alliance, the 
 French Directory grew daily more imperious 
 and overbearing. Scarcely had Mr. Adams 
 become seated in the executive chair, when 
 he received intelligence of an open indig 
 nity on the part of the Directory towards 
 Mr. Pinckney, who had been appointed, as 
 has been already stated, to succeed Mr. 
 Monroe as minister to France. The direct 
 object of his mission, as expressed in his 
 letter of credence to the French republic, 
 was to maintain that good understanding 
 which, from the commencement of the 
 alliance, had subsisted between the two 
 nations, and to efface unfavourable impres- 
 180 
 
 sions, banish suspicions, and restore the 
 cordiality which was at once the evidence 
 and pledge of a friendly union. " And his 
 instructions were to the same effect faith 
 fully to represent the disposition of the 
 government and people of the United States ; 
 their disposition being to remove jealousies, 
 and obviate complaints, by showing that 
 they were groundless ; to restore that mutual 
 confidence which had been so unfortunately 
 and injuriously impaired; and to explain 
 the relative interests of both countries, and 
 the real sentiments of his own." 
 
 An envoy, specially commissioned, it was 
 hoped would prove the instrument of re 
 storing mutual confidence between the 
 republics. The first step of the French 
 government corresponded with that hope. 
 A few days before his arrival in Paris, the 
 French minister of foreign relations in 
 formed the American minister, then resi 
 dent at Paris, of the formalities to be 
 observed by himself in taking leave, and by 
 his successor, preparatory to his reception. 
 These formalities they observed ; and, on 
 the 9th of December, 1796, presented 
 officially to the minister of foreign relations 
 the one a copy of his letters of recall ; the 
 other a copy of his letters of credence, which 
 were laid before the executive Directory. 
 
 On the llth, the minister of foreign 
 relations informed Mr. Monroe, that the 
 executive Directory had determined not to 
 receive another minister plenipotentiary 
 from the United States until after the re 
 dress of grievances demanded of the Ame 
 rican government, and which the French re 
 public had a right to expect from it. Mr. 
 Pinckney, on being informed of this de 
 termination, immediately endeavoured to 
 ascertain whether, by refusing to receive 
 him, it was intended that he should retire 
 from the territories of the French republic ; 
 and verbal answers were given that such 
 was the intention of the Directory. For 
 his own justification, he demanded a written 
 answer, but obtained none until the last day 
 of January, 1797; when, receiving notice 
 in writing to quit the territories of the re 
 public, he proceeded to Amsterdam, where 
 he proposed to wait for instructions from 
 his government. 
 
 During the stay of Mr. Pinckney in Paris, 
 cards of hospitality were refused him, and he 
 was threatened with being subjected to the 
 jurisdiction of the minister of police ; but 
 he firmly insisted on the protection of the 
 law of nations, due to him as the known 
 
THE IfiNWN PHIHTINU AND VtmLKHINn COMPANY LIMITED 
 
A.D. 1797.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PINCKNEY NOT RECEIVED. 
 
 minister of a foreign power. It was in 
 view of these facts, and the capture of 
 American merchant vessels by French pri 
 vateers, that President Adams issued a 
 proclamation, summoning congress to meet 
 on the 15th of May. 
 
 When Mr. Monroe had his audience of 
 leave, he was addressed by M. Barras, the 
 president of the Directory, in the following 
 terms : " The French republic hopes that 
 the successors of Columbus, of Raleigh, and 
 of Penn, ever proud of their liberty, will 
 never forget that they owe it to France. In 
 their wisdom they will weigh the magnani 
 mous benevolence of the French people 
 with the artful caresses of perfidious de 
 signers, who meditate to draw them back 
 to their ancient slavery. Assure, Mr. 
 Minister, the good American people, that, 
 like them, we adore liberty ; that they 
 will always have our esteem; and that 
 they will find in the French people the 
 republican generosity which knows how to 
 accord peace, as it knows how to make its 
 sovereignty respected. As to you, Mr. 
 Minister Plenipotentiary, you have fought 
 for the principles, you have known the 
 true interests of your country. Depart 
 with our regrets. We give up, in you, a 
 representative of America, and we retain 
 the remembrance of the citizen whose per 
 sonal qualities honour that title." 
 
 In his address to congress at the com 
 mencement of the special session, Mr. 
 Adams referred to the above speech of 
 M. Barras as follows : " With this conduct 
 of the French government, it will be proper 
 to take into view the public audience given 
 to the late minister of the United States, 
 on his taking leave of the executive Direc 
 tory. The speech of the president dis 
 closes sentiments more alarming than the 
 refusal of a minister, because more danger 
 ous to our independence and union, and, 
 at the same time, studiously marked with 
 indignities towards the government of the 
 United States. It evinces a disposition to 
 separate the people of the United States 
 from the government to persuade them 
 that they have different affections, prin 
 ciples, and interests, from those of their 
 fellow- citizens, whom they themselves have 
 chosen to manage their common concerns ; 
 and thus to produce divisions fatal to our 
 peace. Such attempts ought to be repelled 
 with a decision that shall convince France 
 and the world that we are not a degraded 
 people, humbled under a colonial spirit of 
 
 VOL. LU 2 B 
 
 fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be 
 the miserable instruments of foreign influ 
 ence, and regardless of national honour, 
 character, and interest. I should have 
 been happy to have thrown a veil over 
 these transactions, if it had been possible 
 to conceal them ; but they have passed on 
 the great theatre of the world, in the face 
 of all Europe and America ; and with such 
 circumstances of publicity and solemnity 
 that they cannot be disguised, and will not 
 soon be forgotten. They have inflicted a 
 wound on the American breast. It is my 
 sincere desire, however, that it may be 
 healed. It is my sincere desire and in 
 this, I presume, I concur with you and with 
 our constituents to preserve peace and 
 friendship with all nations ; and, believing 
 that neither the honour nor the interest of 
 the United States absolutely forbid the re 
 petition of advances for secui ing these de 
 sirable objects with France, I shall insti 
 tute a fresh attempt at negotiation, and 
 shall not fail to promote and accelerate an 
 accommodation, on terms compatible with 
 the rights, duties, interests, and honour of 
 the nation. If we have committed errors, 
 and these can be demonstrated, we shall be 
 willing to correct them. An equal mea 
 sure of justice we have a right to expect 
 from France, and every other nation." 
 
 There was a decided federal majority in 
 both branches of the national legislature. 
 Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, was 
 elected Speaker of the House of Repre 
 sentatives; which body, as well as the 
 senate, responded to Mr. Adams address 
 in terms of approval. Several members, 
 who were generally found in the opposition, 
 voted in favour of resolutions for supporting 
 the honour of the country, in consequence 
 of the insolent conduct of the French Di 
 rectory. 
 
 The president, and a majority in both 
 branches of congress, were still desirous of 
 maintaining a neutral position ; and an act 
 was consequently passed to prevent Ameri 
 can citizens from fitting out or employing 
 privateers against nations at peace with the 
 United States. The importation of arms 
 and ammunition was encouraged, and their 
 exportation prohibited by law. The presi 
 dent was authorised to call out the militia, 
 to the number of eighty thousand, and to 
 accept of the services of volunteers. Con 
 gress, at the same time, provided for a small 
 naval force, but not sufficient to meet the 
 views of the president. In the address 
 
 181 
 
COMMISSIONERS TO FRANCE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1797. 
 
 before referred to, he said " The naval 
 establishment must occur to every man who 
 considers the injuries committed on our 
 commerce, and the insults offered to our 
 citizens, and the description of the vessels by 
 which these abuses have been practised. As 
 sufferings of our mercantile and seafaring 
 citizens cannot be ascribed to the omission 
 of duties demandable, considering the 
 neutral situation of our country, they are 
 to bo attributed to the hope of impunity, 
 arising from a supposed inabilit}*" on our 
 part to afford protection. To resist the 
 consequences of such impressions on the 
 minds of foreign nations, and to guard 
 against the degradation and servility which 
 they must finally stamp on the American 
 character, is an important duty of govern 
 ment. A naval power, next to the militia, 
 is the natural defence of the United States. 
 The experience of the last war would be 
 sufficient to show that a moderate naval 
 force, such as would be easily within the 
 present abilities of the Union, would have 
 been sufficient to have baffled many for 
 midable transportations of troops from one 
 state to another, which were then prac 
 tised. Our sea- coasts, from their great 
 extent, are more easily annoyed, and more 
 easily defended, by a naval force than any 
 other. With all the materials our country 
 abounds ; in skill, our naval architects and 
 navigators are equal to any; and com 
 manders and seamen will not be wanting." 
 
 In order to provide means for extra ex 
 penses, to be incurred for means of national 
 defence, duties were imposed on stamped 
 paper, and parchment used for business 
 purposes. An additional duty was also 
 laid on salt ; while a drawback was allowed 
 on salt provisions and pickled fish ex 
 ported. The Stamp Act proved an unpopu 
 lar measure. The special session termi 
 nated on the 10th of July. 
 
 In accordance with the intimation of the 
 president, in the extract of his address to 
 congress, already given, that he should 
 make another attempt to conciliate France, 
 he appointed, with the advice and consent 
 of the senate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
 the rejected minister ; Elbridge Gerry, of 
 Massachusetts ; and John Marshall, of Vir 
 ginia, as special envoys to that republic, 
 with ample powers for the purpose. By 
 their instructions, peace and reconciliation 
 were to be pursued by all means compati 
 ble with the honour and the faith of the 
 United States; but no national engage- 
 182 
 
 ments were to be impaired ; no innovations 
 were to be permitted upon those internal 
 regulations for the preservation of peace, 
 which had been deliberately and uprightly 
 established ; nor were the rights of the 
 government to be surrendered. 
 
 These representatives arrived in Paris in 
 
 ; October, 1797, and promptly attempted to 
 execute their commission. The scenes 
 which followed were well calculated to raise 
 
 the indignation of the Americans. Instead 
 of receiving and openly treating with these 
 commissioners, Talleyrand, lately an exile 
 in America, but now secretary of foreign 
 affairs to the French Directory, employed 
 unofficial individuals to confer with them, 
 and make proposals. Mr. Pinckney first 
 received a visit from M. Bellasni, the 
 secret agent of Talleyrand; who assured him 
 
 ! of the esteem of the latter for the govern 
 ment and people of the United States, and 
 of his solicitude for a reconciliation with 
 them ; but that an adjustment of the dif 
 ferences could only be brought about by 
 the expunging of certain specified passages 
 in the address of the American executive 
 to congress at its special session; and 
 1,250,000 francs placed at the disposal of 
 M. Talleyrand for the use of the Directory, 
 as well as a loan of a large sum made by 
 the United States to France. On the 20th 
 of October, a second interview was had at 
 the apartments of the American commis 
 sioners, M. Bellasni being accompanied by 
 an intimate friend of Talleyrand. The ex- 
 punction of the offensive passages in the 
 president s address was again insisted on ; 
 and the advancement of a large sum of 
 money, by way of a bribe to the Directory, 
 before any negotiation could be opened. 
 On the following day, the sum required as 
 a loan was fixed at 32,000,000 of francs, to 
 be secured on the Netherland contributions, 
 with the additional sum, before named, as a 
 douceur to the Directory. 
 
 On the 27th of October, a final meeting 
 took place with the same parties, at which 
 the all-absorbing object, the supply of 
 money to the exhausted French treasury, 
 was again brought forward. " Gentlemen," 
 said M. Bellasni, " you mistake the point ; 
 you say nothing of the money you are to 
 give ; you make no offer of money ; on that 
 point you are not explicit." " We are ex 
 plicit enough," was the reply of the Ame 
 rican commissioners ; " we will not give you 
 one farthing ; and, before coming here, we 
 should have thought such an. offer as you 
 
A.D. 1798.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ORDERED TO LEAVE PARIS. 
 
 now propose, would Lave been regarded as 
 a mortal insult." 
 
 Unabashed by this emphatic answer, the 
 secret agent still persisted in pressing his 
 demand ; now, however, intimating that, if 
 they would furnish the sum asked for to 
 supply the urgent wants of the Directory, 
 they could remain at Paris until they had 
 received further advices from their govern 
 ment in regard to the loan called for.* 
 
 In addition to these personal interviews, 
 letters were received by the American 
 envoys on the subject, which were signed 
 "X. Y. Z.," which has given the name of 
 " the X. Y. Z. mission " to this attempt to 
 settle the difficulties with France. Eiforts 
 were made to detach the envoys from each 
 other, and to learn the separate views of 
 each, by secret interviews. Two of the 
 commissioners, Messrs. Marshall and Pinck- 
 ney, were soon convinced that no treaty 
 could be negotiated with the French gov 
 ernment which would be honourable to the 
 United States, and they requested of the 
 American president permission to return to 
 the United States. Before receiving an 
 answer to their request, however, they were 
 ordered by the Directory to leave France ; 
 while Mr. Gerry was invited to remain, 
 and did so, when attempts were made, 
 though without success, to extract money, 
 or promises of it, from him alone. Mr. 
 Gerry was severely censured for not having 
 left France with his colleagues. His re 
 maining was an error, but his motives were 
 pure. He undoubtedly was governed by 
 the impression that his better standing with 
 the French rulers would enable him to 
 effect the purpose for which the commis 
 sion had been appointed. At length, be 
 coming satisfied that he had over-estimated 
 his influence with the Directory, he was 
 compelled to withdraw, on receiving in 
 structions from the president, without, of 
 course, effecting anything. 
 
 When the despatches from the returned 
 commissioners were made public in the 
 United States (an event on which Talley 
 rand had not calculated), they produced an 
 intense excitement in both Europe and 
 America; particularly when it became 
 known that the French negotiators had 
 demanded money of the United States as 
 the price of peace. Talleyrand attempted 
 to escape by disavowing his agents, and 
 pretending that the American commis 
 sioners had been imposed upon by adven- 
 
 * McKay s Life of Talleyrand, pp. 161, 162. " 
 
 turers. The sentiment of Mr. Pinckney 
 on the occasion " millions for defence, but 
 not one cent for tribute" became the battle- 
 cry of the whole American people; and 
 Mr. Adams declared that he would " make 
 no further overtures, until assured that 
 American ministers would be received in a 
 manner suited to the dignity of a great and 
 independent nation." 
 
 Congress, which had reassembled at 
 Philadelphia on the 13th of November, 
 
 1797, passed several important laws, having 
 reference to the precarious relations with 
 France : among which were those for the 
 protection of navigation ; for the defence of 
 the sea-coast, by the fortifications of Boston, 
 Newport, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, 
 Chai-leston, and Savannah ; also for a loan, 
 which was negotiated at 8 per cent, inter 
 est ; and a direct tax levied on real estate, 
 to meet the extra expenses of these mea 
 sures of defence. There was an apprehen 
 sion, on the part of a majority in congress, 
 that the French government, elated by the 
 success of their arms in Europe, might 
 attempt an invasion of the United States. 
 French ships of war were committing depre 
 dations on American commerce, under au 
 thority of decrees issued by the Directory, 
 subjecting to seizure all American vessels 
 having on board British goods or products, 
 or which had sailed from British ports. 
 An act of congress was passed in June, 
 
 1798, to suspend the commercial inter 
 course between the United States and 
 France, and her possessions. Merchant 
 vessels were authorised, under certain re 
 strictions, to be armed, in their voyages 
 either to the West Indies or to Europe. A 
 regular and permanent army was ordered 
 to be raised ; and the president was autho 
 rised to organise twelve additional regi 
 ments of infantry, and one regiment each 
 of cavalry, artillery, and engineers, to serve 
 during the difficulties with France. The 
 president was also authorised to build, pur 
 chase, or hire, twelve vessels, of twenty 
 guns each, as an increase of the infant 
 navy of the United States. At this session, 
 also, provision was made for the establish 
 ment of a navy department. Although 
 these measures for defence were generally 
 opposed by the republican minority in con 
 gress, they were received with approbation 
 by a great majority of the people. The 
 effect of this patriotic feeling was, for the 
 time, to greatly strengthen the federal 
 parly. Philadelphia being at this time 
 
 ] 83 
 
WASHINGTON IN COMMAND.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 the capital of the nation, was the head 
 quarters of the American newspaper press. 
 All the hitherto neutral papers published 
 there, as well as several others, which had, 
 more or less, leaned to the opposition, now 
 came out in support of the administration. 
 Besides an address from 5,000 citizens, 
 the young men got up a separate address of 
 their own. This example was speedily 
 imitated all over the country ; and the 
 spirited replies of the president served, in 
 their turn, to increase and keep up the fire 
 of patriotic indignation. In Boston, Robert 
 Treat Paine wrote the celebrated song of 
 Adams and Liberty; while he and others 
 delivered patriotic orations to their young 
 associates. These manifestations gave assu 
 rance to the president that he had a firm 
 hold on the respect and affections of the 
 people; which, at this period, was un 
 doubtedly true. 
 
 In the organisation of the intended mili 
 tary force, the popular wish was that Wash 
 ington should take command of it. The 
 president made known his intention to 
 appoint him. In his reply to a letter, on 
 the 4th of July, he said " At the epoch of 
 my retirement, an invasion of these states 
 by any European power, or even the pro 
 bability of such an event happening in my 
 day, was so far from being contemplated by 
 me, that I had no conception that that, or 
 any other occurrence, would arise, in so 
 short a period, which could turn my eyes 
 from the shade of Mount Vernon. 
 In case of actual invasion by a formidable 
 force, I certainly should not entrench my 
 self under the cover of age and retirement, 
 if my services should be required by my 
 country to assist in repelling it." In a re 
 ply, of the same date, to a letter from Mr. 
 M llenry, the secretary of war, he wrote 
 "As my whole life has been dedicated 
 to my country, in one shape or another 
 for the part that remains of it, it is not 
 an object to contend for ease and quiet, 
 when all that is valuable is at stake, farther 
 than to be satisfied that the sacrifice I 
 should make of these is acceptable and 
 desired by my country." Before these 
 letters were received, he had been nominated, 
 and, by the unanimous voice of the senate, 
 confirmed as commander-in-chief of all the 
 armies raised, or to be raised. Washington 
 accepted the appointment, with the condi 
 tion that he should not be called into the 
 field until the army was in a situation to 
 require his presence, or it should become 
 184 
 
 indispensable by the urgency of circum 
 stances. "In making this reservation," he 
 said, in his letter of acceptance, "I beg it 
 to be understood that I do not mean to 
 withhold any assistance to arrange and 
 organise the army, which you may think I 
 can afford. I take the liberty, also, to 
 mention that I must decline having my 
 acceptance considered as drawing after it 
 any immediate charge upon the public ; or 
 that I can receive any emoluments annexed 
 to the appointment before entering into a 
 situation to incur expense." 
 
 The emergency referred to by Wash 
 ington, which would render it necessary to 
 take the field, did not arise. An army, 
 however, was raised, as authorised by con 
 gress ; and General Alexander Hamilton, of 
 New York, was the immediate and active 
 commander, being next in rank to Wash 
 ington ; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was 
 also appointed a major-general, ranking 
 next to Hamilton ; both of them being se 
 lected and recommended by Washington for 
 their respective stations. 
 
 Although there was no declaration of 
 war, either on the part of France or the 
 United States, hostilities actually com 
 menced on the ocean between the two 
 nations. The first capture, made by an 
 American vessel of war, was named Le 
 Croyable, of fourteen guns, and a crew of 
 seventy. She was taken by the Delaware, 
 of twenty guns, commanded by Captain 
 Decatur, in the latter part of June, 1798. 
 The law directing the capture of all 
 armed vessels passed about the time of her 
 arrival into port, under which she was con 
 demned and brought into the nav) r . Her 
 name was changed to the Retaliation, and 
 the command of her given to Lieutenant 
 Bainbridge. She was soon after recap 
 tured by the French frigates Voluntaire 
 and Insuryente, and carried into Guada- 
 loupe. The Montezuma, of twenty guns, 
 and the Norfolk, of eighteen guns, were in 
 company with the Retaliation when cap 
 tured, and were pursued by the French 
 frigates, but were probably saved from 
 capture by a ruse of Lieutenant Bain- 
 bridge ; who, being asked by the com 
 mander of the Voluntaire what might be 
 the force of the two American vessels, 
 I with great presence of mind answered, 
 that the Montezuma carried twenty-eight 
 12-pounders, and the Norfolk twenty 
 9-poimders. As this account nearly doubled 
 the real force of the American vessels, tho 
 
A.-D. 1798.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BATTLES AT SEA. 
 
 French frigates abandoned the chase, and 
 the Nontezuma and Norfolk escaped. 
 
 It has been already stated that, during 
 the session of 1797- 98, congress provided 
 by law for establishing a navy department. 
 Benjamin Stoddart, of Georgetown, in the 
 district of Columbia, was the first secretary 
 of the navy.* He received the appoint 
 ment on the 21st of May, 1798, and 
 entered at once upon the active duties of 
 the office. Such was the energy displayed ! 
 by the administration, and by the secretary 
 of the navy, that, by the close of the year, 
 an armed force, comprising three frigates, 
 eleven sloops and brigs, and nine smaller 
 vessels, were in active service ; most of the 
 vessels were either in the West Indies, or 
 were employed in convoying merchant 
 vessels between the islands and the United 
 States. In addition to this force should be 
 enumerated eight large galleys, stationed on 
 the southern coast, to defend their inlets. 
 
 On the 9th of February, 1799, the Con- 
 stellation, of thirty-eight guns, commanded 
 by Commodore Truxton, was cruising near 
 the island of Nevis, when he discovered a 
 large ship on the southern board. Being 
 to windward, the Constellation ran down 
 toward the stranger, who ran up American 
 colours. Commodore Truxton now showed 
 private signals, and the strange vessel was 
 unable to answer. Further attempt at dis 
 guise was now unnecessary, and she hoisted 
 the French ensign, firing a gun to windward, 
 to challenge the Constellation to a contest, 
 and keeping under easy sail, to allow the 
 latter to approach. As the Constellation 
 came alongside the French frigate, the 
 latter opened fire, which was vigorously 
 returned. The former drew gradually 
 ahead, both ships keeping up a spirited 
 cannonade. The Constellation suffered 
 severely in her sails and rigging, the fore- 
 topmast being severely injured, and would 
 have fallen, had not Midshipman Porter, in 
 the heat of the battle, relieved the spar of 
 the pressure of the sail, by cutting the 
 stoppers, and lowering the yard. The 
 weight and effect of the fire, meanwhile, 
 were in favour of the Constellation, and she 
 succeeded in pouring into her antagonist two 
 or three raking broadsides, which decided 
 the contest. She had shot out of the 
 smoke, had hauled across her antagonist s 
 stern, and was on the point of giving her 
 another raking fire, when the enemy struck. 
 
 * The appointment was first offered to George 
 Cabot, of Massachusetts, who declined. 
 
 The stranger proved to be the Insurgente, 
 one of the fastest ships in the world, and the 
 one already mentioned as one of the captors 
 of the Retaliation. She was badly cut up, 
 and had sustained a loss of twenty-nine 
 men killed, and forty-one wounded. Tie 
 Constellation, though much damaged aloft, 
 sustained no serious injury in her hull, and 
 had only three men wounded. One of the 
 men, however, was killed by the third 
 lieutenant, early in the action, for flinching 
 from his gun. The Insurgente was a 
 40-gun ship, and had a complement of 409 
 men. It was about half-past three in the 
 afternoon when she struck ; and Lieutenant 
 Rodgers and Midshipman Porter both of 
 them afterwards distinguished commanders 
 in the American navy with eleven men, 
 were put on board, to take possession, and 
 superintend the removal of the prisoners. 
 Night soon came on, and a high wind 
 arose ; and, notwithstanding every exer 
 tion to prevent it, the ships separated in. 
 the darkness, while 173 of the prize s crew 
 were still on board of her. The position 
 of the thirteen Americans on board the 
 prize was now a critical one. The gratings 
 had been thrown overboard, and there 
 were no handcuffs to be found on board. 
 Lieutenant Rodgers, however, was a man 
 j of resolute will and herculean strength. 
 I Before the ships parted, the prisoners had 
 all been sent below as a precautionary 
 measure. A sentinel was placed at each 
 hatchway, armed to the teeth, with orders 
 ! to shoot every man who should attempt to 
 j appear on deck. Thus, unable to sleep, 
 1 Lieutenant Rodgers and his small parly 
 remained for three days, obliged to manage 
 : a ship, and watch their prisoners with the 
 ; utmost vigilance, to prevent any attempt 
 I to retake the vessel, of which indications 
 had been detected. On the third day, they 
 reached the harbour of St. Kitt s, where 
 the Constellation had preceded them. This 
 first important victory, achieved by the 
 American navy, produced great rejoicings 
 throughout the Union. The Insurgente 
 was taken into the service, and Captain 
 Murray, late of the Montezuma, appointed 
 to command her. 
 
 The fifth congress commenced its third 
 session at Philadelphia, on the 8th of 
 December, 1798. AVashington was in 
 Philadelphia at this time, having been 
 called thither for the purpose of conferring 
 with the president in regard to the organi 
 sation of the provisional army, and was 
 
 185 
 
AllMY AND NAVY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 present in the representatives hall, accom 
 panied by Generals Pinckney and Hamil 
 ton, during the delivery of the president s 
 address. On the troubles with France, 
 President Adams said : 
 
 " The French government appears solicitous to 
 impress the opinion that it is averse to a rupture 
 with this country ; and that it has, in a qualified 
 manner, declared itself willing to receive a minister 
 from the United States, for the purpose of restoring 
 a good understanding. It is unfortunate for pro 
 fessions of this kind, that they should be expressed 
 in terms which may countermand the inadmissible 
 pretensions of a right to prescribe the qualifications 
 ; which a minister from the United States should 
 possess; and that, while France is asserting the 
 existence of a disposition on her part to conciliate, 
 with sincerity, the differences which have arisen, 
 the sincerity of a like disposition on the part of the 
 United States, of which so many demonstrative 
 proofs have been given, should even be indirectly 
 questioned. It is also worthy of observation, that 
 the decree of the Directory, alleged to be intended 
 to restrain the depredations of French cruisers on 
 our commerce, has not given, and cannot give, any 
 relief. It enjoins them to conform to all the laws 
 of France relative to cruising and prizes; while these 
 laws are themselves the sources of the depredation 
 of which we have so long, so justly, and so fruit 
 lessly complained. The law of France, enacted in 
 January last, which subjects to capture and con 
 demnation neutral vessels, and their cargoes, if any 
 portion of the latter are of British fabric or pro*, 
 duce, although the entire property belong to neu 
 trals, instead of being rescinded, has lately received 
 a confkmation by the failure of a proposition for its 
 repeal. While this law, which is an unequivocal 
 act of war on the commerce of the nations it at 
 tacks, continues in force, those nations can see in 
 the French government only a power regardless of 
 their essential rights, of their independence and 
 sovereignty ; and, if they possess the means, they 
 can reconcile nothing with their interest and 
 honour, but a firm resistance. Hitherto, therefore, 
 nothing is discoverable in the conduct of France, 
 which ought to change or relax our measures of 
 defence. On the contrary, to extend and invigo 
 rate them is our true policy. We have no reason 
 to regret that these measures have been thus far 
 adopted and pursued ; and, in proportion as we 
 enlarge our view of the portentous and incalculable 
 situation of Europe, we shall discover new and 
 cogent motives for the full development of our 
 energies and resources. But, in demonstrating by 
 our conduct that we do not fear war in the neces 
 sary protection of our rights and honour, we shall 
 give no room to infer that we abandon the desire 
 of peace. An efficient preparation for war can 
 alone ensure peace. It is peace that we have uni 
 formly and perseveringly cultivated ; and harmony 
 between us and France may be restored at her 
 option. But to send another minister, without 
 more determinate assurance that he would be re 
 ceived, would be an act of humiliation to which 
 the United States ought not to submit. It must, 
 therefore, be left with France (if she is indeed de 
 sirous of accommodation) to take the requisite steps. 
 The United States will steadily observe the maxims 
 by which they have hitherto been governed ; they 
 will respect the sacred rights of embassy; and 
 
 186 
 
 with a sincere disposition on the part of France 
 to desist from hostility, to make reparation for the 
 injuries heretofore inflicted on our commerce, and 
 to do justice iu future, there will be no obstacle to 
 the restoration of a friendly intercourse. In mak 
 ing to you this declaration, I give a pledge to 
 France and the world that the executive authority 
 of this country still adheres to the humane and 
 pacific policy which has invariably governed its 
 proceedings, in conformity with the wishes of the 
 other branches of the government, and of the peo 
 ple of the United States. But, considering the 
 late manifestations of her policy towards foreign 
 nations, I deem it a duty deliberately and solemnly 
 to declare my opinion, that, whether \ve negotiate 
 with her or not, vigorous preparations for war will 
 be alike indispensable. These alone will give to 
 us an equal treaty, and insure its observance. 
 Among the measures of preparation which appear 
 expedient, I take the liberty to recall your atten 
 tion to the naval establishment. The beneficial 
 effects of the small naval armament provided under 
 the acts of the last session are known and acknow 
 ledged. Perhaps no country ever experienced 
 more sudden and remarkable advantages from any 
 measure of policy than we have derived from the 
 arming for our maritime protection and defence. 
 We ought, without loss of time, to lay the founda 
 tion for an increase of our navy to a size sufficient 
 to guard our coast and protect our trade. Such a 
 naval force as it is, doubtless, in the power of the 
 United States to create and maintain, would also 
 afford to them the best means of general defence, 
 by facilitating the safe transportation of troops and 
 stores to every part of our extensive coast. To 
 accomplish this important object, a prudent fore 
 sight requires that systematical measures be adopted 
 for procuring, at all times, the requisite timber and 
 other supplies. In what manner this shall be done, 
 I leave to your consideration." 
 
 The replies of both branches of congress 
 to the address of the president, were in 
 terms of decided approval of the measures 
 recommended by him, more especially with 
 regard to the course pursued towards 
 France. Acts were passed for completing 
 the organisation of the army, and for aug 
 menting the navy. The latter branch _ of 
 the service began now to be regarded with 
 favour ; and the president was authorised to 
 contract for building six ships of war, of 
 seventy-four guns each, and six sloops of 
 war,* of eighteen guns each, for which pur 
 pose 1,000,000 dollars was appropriated. 
 Acts were also passed for the relief aud 
 protection of American seamen, and autho 
 rising the president to retaliate on subjects 
 of other nations in cases of impressment; 
 to regulate trade and intercourse with the 
 Indian tribes ; and, further, to suspend _the 
 commercial intercourse between the United 
 
 * It may not be generally known, and therefore 
 not out of place to mention here, that a " sloop of 
 war" is a vessel of war, rigged either as a ship, 
 brig, or schooner, and usually carrying from ten to 
 eighteen guns. 
 
A.D. 1799.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ PEACE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 States and France. Various other measures 
 were adopted to provide for the exigencies 
 of the country. The term of the fifth con 
 gress expired by limitation on the 3rd of 
 March, 1799. 
 
 As had been intimated by President 
 Adams, in his address to congress at the 
 commencement of the session, as a not im 
 probable result, the efficient preparations 
 for war, made by the United States, had 
 their effect on French policy. Efforts were 
 made by Talleyrand, in an indirect manner, 
 and through unofficial mediums, to induce 
 overtures for peace on the part of the 
 United States. At length he wrote to the 
 French minister at the Hague, intimating 
 that one or more commissioners, sent by the 
 United States to France, to reopen diplo 
 matic intercourse, for the purpose of putting 
 an end to the existing hostilities between 
 the two countries, " would be received with 
 the respect due to the representatives of a 
 free, independent, and powerful nation."* 
 A copy of Talleyrand s letter was com 
 municated to William Vans Murray, the 
 American minister in Holland, and by him j 
 transmitted to the American government. 
 The president at once decided to make a 
 new attempt at negotiation, and, on the 
 18th of February, 1799, laid the letter 
 before the senate, at the same time nomi 
 nating Mr. Murray, and, subsequently, 
 Oliver Ellsworth, then chief justice, and 
 Patrick Henry, as envoys to France, who 
 were confirmed by the senate. Mr. Henry 
 declining to serve, on account of ill-health, 
 Governor William R. Davie, of North 
 Carolina, was appointed in his place. Pat 
 rick Henry, in his letter declining the 
 appointment, said "I entertain a high 
 sense of the honour done me by the pre 
 sident and senate. Nothing short of abso 
 lute necessity could induce me to withhold 
 my feeble aid from an administration whose 
 abilities, patriotism, and virtue deserve the 
 gratitude and reverence of all their fellow- 
 citizens." 
 
 Mr. Adams acted on this occasion with 
 out consulting his secretaries. When Mr. 
 M Henry, the secretary of war, and Mr. 
 Pickering, the secretary of state, were in 
 formed that the president intended a new 
 mission, they remonstrated ; and this made 
 the breach, which had long been widening, 
 between Adams and some of his supporters, 
 irreparable. Many who had been among 
 the strongest supporters of the administra- 
 * Irving. 
 
 tion and its measures, deemed it inconsis 
 tent with the honour and dignity of the 
 nation, to make any such attempt. They 
 felt that proposals to treat for peace should 
 come directly from the French govern 
 ment. General Hamilton and Gouverneur 
 Morris were among those who were opposed 
 to the course adopted by the president on 
 this occasion. And when the news of this 
 unexpected movement, on the part of the 
 president, reached Mount Vernon, Wash 
 ington expressed his surprise at the step. 
 "13ut far, very far, indeed," he wrote, 
 "was that surprise short of what I ex 
 perienced the next day, when, by a very 
 intelligent gentleman, immediately from 
 Philadelphia, I was informed that there 
 had been no direct overture from the gov 
 ernment of France to that of the United 
 States for a negotiation ; on the contrary, 
 that M. Talleyrand was playing the same 
 loose and roundabout game he had at 
 tempted the year before with our envoys ; 
 and which, as in that case, might mean 
 anything or nothing, as would subserve his 
 purposes best." 
 
 Mr. Murray was apprised of the appoint 
 ment of the commissioners, and instructed 
 to communicate the fact to the French minis 
 ter of foreign affairs, and to inform him 
 that his associate envoys would not embark 
 for Europe until the executive Directory 
 had given assurance that they would be 
 properly received, and treated with on 
 terms of equality. He was, at the same 
 time, directed to have no further com 
 munications with the French government 
 through any unofficial medium. 
 
 In consequence of the preliminary assu 
 rances not having been given to the presi 
 dent, the departure of the envoys was de 
 layed till the 3rd of November ; when, the 
 required pledges having been received from 
 the French Directory, they sailed from 
 Newport, Rhode Island, in the United 
 States (Commodore Barry commanding), 
 on their appointed mission. 
 
 Active hostilities between the two nations 
 on the ocean still existed, without any de 
 claration of war on either side ; and over 
 300 private American vessels had been 
 armed for self-defence ; and the year 1800 
 opened with increased means, on the part 
 of the United States, to prosecute the sin 
 gular contest. Many acquisitions had been 
 made to the navy, which had now thirty-five 
 efficient war- vessels afloat, with an aggregate 
 of 892 sruns. From twenty to twenty-five 
 
 187 
 
CONSTELLATION AND LA VENGEANCE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1800. 
 
 of these vessels were distributed in two prin 
 cipal squadrons ; the one, under the orders 
 of Commodore Talbot, whose flag-ship was 
 the Constitution, of forty-five guns, was on ! 
 the St. Domingo station ; and the other, on : 
 the Guadaloupe station, under the orders 
 of Commodore Truxton, in the Constella 
 tion, and subsequently under Commodore 
 Decatur, in the Philadelphia, of thirty- 
 eight guns. Notwithstanding the exhibi 
 tion of this strong force, the temptations of 
 the extensive American West India trade 
 made those seas swarm with French pri 
 vateers ; and their depredations on Ame 
 rican commerce, in spite of the utmost 
 vigilance of the war-ships of the United 
 States, were considerable. 
 
 On the morning of the 1st of February, 
 the Constellation was off the island of 
 Guadaloupe, five miles west of Basseterre, 
 when Commodore Truxton discovered a 
 Large ship, which he took to be an English 
 merchantman, from Martinico ; and he 
 hoisted English colours, to induce her to 
 run down and speak him. But, instead of 
 approaching, the strange vessel bore away ; 
 and Truxton immediately gave chase, and 
 soon lessened the distance between the two 
 vessels. As the Constellation drew nearer, 
 Commodore Truxtoii discovered that she 
 was a heavy French frigate, mounting not 
 less than fifty-two guns. Not intimidated, 
 however, by the discovery of her superior 
 force, he determined to attack her if he 
 could come up with her, and for that pur 
 pose spread every inch of canvas the Con 
 stellation would carry. At mid-day, the 
 wind slackened, giving the chase the ad 
 vantage in sailing. Thus, with the wind 
 varying, and the sea smooth, the pursuit 
 was continued through the night, and till 
 noon on the following day, when, the wind 
 freshening, the Constellation once more 
 gained on her antagonist. It was not till 
 eight o clock in the evening, however, that 
 the pursuer got within speaking distance of 
 hc-r opponent. Just as Truxton was on the 
 point of speaking to the latter, she opened 
 lire on him from her stern and quarter 
 guns. But a few moments passed ere the 
 Constellation, having obtained a favourable 
 position on the weather-quarter of her 
 antagonist, poured a broadside into her, 
 which was answered by a wide sheet of 
 flame, and the action had begun in earnest. 
 For nearly five hours the cannonade was 
 vigorously kept up, the two ships, most of 
 the time,, side by side, when the French- 
 188 
 
 man ceased fire, and drew out of the com 
 bat. Truxton immediately gave orders to 
 brace up and give chase, when intelligence 
 was brought him that his mainmast was 
 supported solely by the wood, every shroud 
 having been shot away. Judging from 
 the feebleness of the enemy s fire, near the 
 close of the combat, Commodore Truxton 
 felt confident of her capture, could he suc 
 ceed in overtaking her. He therefore 
 ordered the men from the guns, to en 
 deavour to secure the mainmast long 
 enough to enable him to come up with his 
 enemy again. But no exertion could re 
 trieve the disaster, and the mast went by 
 the board within a few minutes after his 
 antagonist had retired, carrying several 
 men including Midshipman Jarvis, who 
 was in command aloft over the side with 
 the spars, and all of whom, with a single ex 
 ception, were lost. Truxton succeeded in 
 getting his vessel into Jamaica in safety. 
 
 In this severely contested action, the loss 
 of the Constellation was fourteen men 
 killed, and twenty-five wounded, eleven of 
 whom subsequently died of their wounds. 
 Neither of the parties knew the name of 
 the vessel they were contending with ; but 
 it was subsequently ascertained that the 
 French frigate was La Vengeance, com 
 manded by Captain Pitat, manned with 
 400 men, including passengers, among 
 whom was the governor of Guadaloupe and 
 his family, and two general officers. She 
 would have been a rich prize, for she had a 
 full cargo of sugar and coffee, and a large 
 amount of specie on board. She succeeded 
 in getting into Curacoa, dismasted, and in 
 1 a sinking condition. Her loss was 50 
 I killed, and 110 wounded. Her colours 
 1 were struck, it was said, three times during 
 ! the action ; but, from the darkness of the 
 night, the fact was not intelligible on 
 board the Constellation, and consequently 
 the firing did not cease, and they were 
 rehoisted. 
 
 Commodore Truxton returned to the 
 United States, soon after this memorable 
 action, with the Constellation, for repairs, 
 j when he was appointed to the command of 
 the President, then fitting for sea. The 
 congress of the United States voted him a 
 gold medal for his gallantry in the combat 
 with La Vengeance. 
 
 The Constellation, after Commodore 
 Truxton was transferred to the President, 
 was given to Captain Murray, who had 
 just returned from a short cruise in the 
 
A.D. 1800.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AN ILLEGAL SEIZURE. 
 
 Insurgente, and who sailed in her to the 
 West Indies, and joined the squadron 
 under Commodore Talbot, in command on 
 the St. Domingo station. The last-named 
 officer, during this season, planned and 
 executed a feat, equal to some that had 
 given him reputation during the revolu 
 tion.* A valuable French letter of marque, 
 the Sandwich, was lying in Port Platte a 
 small harbour on the Spanish side of St. 
 Domingo which, from her superior sailing 
 qualities, it was desirable to get possession 
 of, and thus rid those waters of so dangerous 
 a craft in the hands of the enemy. She 
 had been the British packet, and was only 
 waiting to complete a cargo of coffee to sail 
 for France. Commodore Talbot determined 
 to cut her out, or, at least, to make the 
 attempt. The Sally, an American sloop, 
 was employed for the purpose. To escape 
 suspicion, the sloop was manned at sea, 
 with a party of seamen and marines, under 
 Lieutenant Isaac Hall (afterwards a distin 
 guished commander in the American naval 
 service), and sailed at an hour which would 
 enable her to reach the destined port about 
 noon of the following day. The movement 
 was so well-timed, that she reached the 
 mouth of the harbour of Port Platte at 
 the appointed hour. The letter of marque 
 lay with her broadside bearing on the ap 
 proach, covered also by a battery near by. 
 Before entering the harbour, Lieutenant 
 Hall sent most of his men below. Then, 
 getting an anchor ready over the stern, to 
 bring the sloop up with, he moved boldly 
 up toward the Sandwich s bows. He had 
 made all his arrangements so nicely, that 
 no suspicion of the character or design of 
 the approaching craft was entertained ; and 
 immediately on getting alongside, she was 
 boarded and carried without the loss of a 
 man. Simultaneously with her capture, 
 the marines landed, under Captain Car- 
 mick, and, entering the battery, spiked the 
 
 * Silas Talbot, of Rhode Island, who had been a 
 seaman in his youth, had taken service in the army 
 of the revolution. On the 10th of October, 1777, 
 he was raised to the rank of major, to reward him 
 for a spirited attempt to set fire to one of the 
 enemy s cruisers in the Hudson. In the autumn of 
 1778, he headed another expedition against the 
 British schooner Pigot, of eight guns, then lying 
 in the eastern passage between Rhode Island and 
 the mainland, in a small sloop that had two light 
 guns, and manned by sixty volunteers. The Pigot 
 had forty-five men, and one heavy gun in her bows, 
 besides the rest of her armament. Her commander 
 showed great bravery, actually fighting alone on 
 deck, in his shirt, when every man of his crew had 
 VOL. II. 2 C 
 
 guns. The prize was stripped to a girt- 
 line, and everything was below deck. But 
 her captors set immediately to work ; and, 
 by dark, her sails were set, and she weighed 
 anchor, moved out of the harbour, and 
 reached the Constitution in safety. Al 
 though Lieutenant Hall and his men dis 
 tinguished themselves by the neatness, the 
 steadiness, and success with which this 
 enterprise was executed, it proved an un 
 fortunate undertaking, as it was an illegal 
 capture; and not only was the captured 
 privateer surrendered, but all the prize- 
 money of the cruise of the Constitution was 
 taken to pay damages. 
 
 The Insurgente, when Captain Murray 
 took command of the Constellation, was 
 given to Captain Fletcher, who, in July, 
 put to sea, with instructions to cruise be 
 tween the 66 and 68 of W. Ion. from 
 Greenwich, and to run as far south as the 
 30 N. lat. After cruising within the pre 
 scribed limits a short time, he was at liberty 
 to pursue his own judgment, provided he 
 returned to Annapolis within two months. 
 With the exception of a few private letters, 
 sent in by vessels spoken at sea, no au 
 thentic intelligence was received of the 
 Insurgente after she left the Capes of Vir 
 ginia. Another vessel, the Pickering, of 
 fourteen guns, which sailed in August for 
 the Guadaloupe station, also never returned. 
 Although three-fifths of a century have 
 since passed away, no clue to the fate of 
 these vessels, and of the human freight on 
 board of them, has ever been obtained. The 
 eternal waters of the Atlantic, in all pro 
 bability, are "their broad, unsculptured 
 tomb." 
 
 From the fact that hostilities were now 
 confined mostly to pursuit and contests with 
 small, swift-sailing privateers, which trusted 
 for escape from capture rather to their 
 speed than metal, a lighter and fleeter vessel 
 had been called for, and two were built ; 
 
 run below. Major Talbot carried the schooner 
 without loss, and, for his conduct and gallantry, 
 was promoted to be a lieutenant-colonel. The 
 following year he was transferred to the navy, 
 congress passing a special resolution to that effect, 
 with directions to the marine committee to give 
 him a ship on the first occasion. It does not ap 
 pear, however, that it was in the power of the com 
 mittee, at that period of the war, to appoint Captain 
 Talbot to a government vessel ; and he is believed 
 to have served, subsequently, in a private armed ship. 
 On the creation of the navy, during the present 
 troubles with France, he was called into the public 
 service, and distinguished himself in several im 
 portant engagements. Cooper s Naval History. 
 
 189 
 
ENTERPRISE AND FLAMBEAU. ] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1800. 
 
 one significantly named the Experiment, 
 and the other the Enterprise. They were 
 rated at twelve guns. The Enterprise was 
 successful during the year 1800, capturing 
 UAigle, of ten guns, and seventy- eight 
 men ; La Guadaloupcenne, of seven guns, 
 and forty-five men ; La Pauline, of six 
 guns, and forty men ; La Seine, of four 
 guns, and fifty-four men ; and La Citoyenne, 
 of six guns, and fifty-seven men. Though 
 neither of these vessels was of a force to 
 give promise of success, they did not yield, 
 after vainly attempting to escape by flight, 
 without resistance. The first-named lost 
 twelve men, among whom was her first 
 lieutenant, in an action of a quarter of an 
 hour, and in which the Enterprise had 
 three men wounded. La Citoyenne had 
 four killed and ten wounded before she 
 struck ; and La Seine made a most deter 
 mined resistance. She had twenty-four of 
 her men nearly half the entire number 
 with which the vessel was manned either 
 killed or wounded before she surrendered. 
 
 It was near the close of the cruise of the 
 Enterprise that a strange brig was dis 
 covered to windward ; an immediate effort 
 was made, by tacking, to approach her. It 
 being near night, darkness soon came on, 
 and the chase was lost sight of, when the 
 Enterprise hove-to, to keep her position. 
 At daylight, the brig was seen to be in 
 about the same position she was in when 
 darkness veiled her from view. By noon, 
 the Enterprise had arrived sufficiently near 
 to make the American signal, when the 
 brig showed English colours. The English 
 signal was now made, and the stranger did 
 not reply. Lieutenant Shaw, the com 
 mander of the Enterprise, now became 
 satisfied of the character of the strange 
 vessel, and he set his ensign as a challenge 
 to close ; but, instead of doing so, the brig 
 apparently increased her efforts to escape. 
 The Enterprise, tacking, and sailing un 
 commonly fast, made it observable to the 
 brig that she would soon come up with her. 
 It being now evident that she must either 
 surrender or defend herself, the brig cleared 
 for action, and, waiting till her pursuer was 
 within half a mile, she opened fire. Lieu 
 tenant Shaw did not answer, however, but 
 kept his vessel under her full canvas, until 
 about thirty minutes after the brig had 
 opened fire on him, when he tacked in her 
 wake, and succeeded in coming up within 
 pistol-shot under her lee. As her guns 
 bore, a close and destructive fire was opened 
 190 
 
 upon the brig by the Enterprise, which was 
 kept up for over an hour, when the enemy s 
 foremast having gone by the board, and the 
 vessel being otherwise severely damaged, 
 she surrendered. She proved" to be the 
 Flambeau privateer, of twelve guns, and 
 one hundred and ten men, of whom forty 
 more than one-third of the entire number 
 were killed or wounded. The loss of the 
 Enterprise was ten killed and wounded. 
 This sea-fight, although between vessels of 
 so small a force, was one of the most obsti 
 nate conflicts of the war. 
 
 Besides capturing the privateers, which 
 have been detailed, the Enterprise suc 
 ceeded in recapturing eleven American 
 vessels, in a cruise of eight months. She 
 thus gave ample proof of the efficiency of 
 this description of vessel, none of the large 
 frigates having afforded more protection to 
 American commerce, or captured as many 
 French privateers, during the continuance 
 of hostilities. 
 
 The Experiment, the twin-sister of the 
 Enterprise, made her maiden cruise under 
 the command of Lieutenant Maley. She 
 was much employed as a convoy to mer 
 chant vessels through the narrow passages, 
 where the latter were exposed to attacks 
 from barges manned from the shore. Near 
 the beginning of the year 1800, she lay 
 becalmed in the bay of Loogane, with 
 several merchant vessels under convoy. 
 While in this helpless condition, with the 
 merchantmen considerably scattered, ten 
 barges, filled with negroes and mulattocs, 
 from thirty to forty in each, armed with 
 muskets, cutlasses, and pikes, and in some 
 of the barges light guns or swivels, came 
 out to attack them. The Experiment being 
 disguised as a merchantman, the enemy 
 came boldly within reach .of her grape, 
 when Lieutenant Maley unmuzzled bis 
 guns, and opened fire upon them. A 
 severe contest ensued, when the barges 
 were driven off; but not until they had 
 seized two of the merchantmen, which had 
 drifted so far away as to be out of protec 
 tion of the Experiment. During the en 
 gagement, which, with the intermissions, 
 lasted seven hours, the barges were twice 
 reinforced from the shore. Two of the 
 barges were sunk, and th-^ir loss in killed 
 and wounded was heavy. The Experiment 
 had none killed, and but two wounded, one 
 of whom was Lieutenant Porter, slightly. 
 
 The Experiment was, very soon after 
 this affair, placed under the command of 
 
A.U. 1800.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BRITISH VESSEL ATTACKED. 
 
 Lieutenant Charles Stewart, who had been , Experiment had one killed and one wounded, 
 command of the 44-gun ship United and received considerable injury in her 
 
 rigging. 
 
 In the month of March, 1800, the Boston, 
 
 in 
 
 Slates. Soon after he assumed command, 
 he attacked and captured Les Deux Amis, 
 
 a French privateer of eight guns, and from i of twenty-eight guns, commanded by Cap- 
 forty to fifty men, and sent her into port. \ tain Little, having a merchantman in con- 
 Some four or five weeks after the capture i voy, on her way to Port-au-Prince, when 
 of the Deux Amis, the Experiment dis- near the point of St. Mark s, nine barges 
 covered two French sail ; one was a brig of ( coutaiuiug from thirty to forty men each, 
 eighteen guns, and the other a three-masted j were discovered pulling towards them 
 schooner of fourteen guns. They both i from the island of Gronaives, evidently with 
 gave chase to the Experiment. Lieutenant \ hostile intentions. The port-holes were im 
 
 Stewart, through the superior sailing quali 
 ties of his vessel, managed to separate the 
 two vessels, and to keep them so until 
 night had set in. Ascertaining that they 
 
 mediately closed, and the ship otherwise 
 disguised. The barges got within gunshot 
 before they discovered the ruse, when, turn 
 ing, they began a retreat. The Boston 
 
 had given up the chase, and that the brig j now made sail in chase, run out her guns, 
 was some three miles ahead of the schooner, ; and opened fire upon them. For two hours 
 he closed with the latter by running upon she succeeded in keeping some of them 
 her weather- quarter, and poured a broad- within reach of her guns ; and three of 
 side into her. The schooner soon struck, i them, with all their men on board, were 
 so vigorous was the attack; and placing sunk; while the remaining six received 
 her in the charge of Lieutenant Porter, more or less damage. 
 
 After this affair, the Boston, having, in 
 the meantime, been home to refit, was in- 
 
 Lieutenant Stewart made sail for the brig -, 
 but, taking advantage of the time con 
 sumed in the action with the schooner, she 
 succeeded in making her escape. 
 
 The captured schooner was taken into 
 St. Ivitt s. She was the French sloop of 
 war La Diane, commanded by Lieutenant 
 Perradeau ; mounted fourteen guns, and had 
 about sixty men on board ; in addition, there 
 were about thirty invalid soldiers, and Gen 
 eral Rigaud. The vessel was bound to 
 France when her voyage was so suddenly 
 interrupted. 
 
 The Experiment next had an unfortunate 
 battle with the British privateer Louisa 
 Bridyer, of nine guns, and from forty to fifty 
 men. The latter was discovered during 
 the day, and chase made, the Experiment 
 next coming up with her about midnight. 
 Hailing her, and receiving no answer, and 
 mistaking her for a French privateer, the 
 Experiment tired a gun into her, which 
 was returned by a broadside. A sharp 
 action now commenced ; but the shot of the 
 Experiment did such execution, that the 
 English privateer soon struck, when her 
 nation and character became known. She 
 was much cut up, and had four feet of 
 water in her hold when she struck her 
 flag. As soon as the unfortunate blunder 
 which had been made was discovered, 
 every assistance was afforded, the Experi 
 ment remaining by her all the following 
 day, to aid in repairing damages. Her 
 captain was among the wounded. The 
 
 structed to cruise for awhile between the 
 West Indies and the American coast. It 
 was while she was thus engaged, that, in 
 November, she discovered a French cruiser, 
 which evidently sought an encounter. Her 
 wishes were readily responded to, and the 
 two ships were soon closely engaged ; when, 
 after a contest of two hours, the enemy 
 surrendered. She proved to be the French 
 corvette Le Berceau, mounting twenty- 
 four guns, commanded by Captain Senes, 
 and manned with 200 sailors and marines. 
 She was badly cut up ; and soon after she 
 struck, her foremast and mainmast went 
 by the board. Her loss, in killed and 
 wounded, was from thirty to forty men ; 
 among the killed being her first lieutenant, 
 master, boatswain, and gunner. The Boston 
 had four killed and eleven wounded ; among 
 the latter being her purser, who died of his 
 wounds. The Berceau was esteemed one of 
 the swiftest sailers in the French marine. 
 
 Although the English and American 
 naval forces, in the West India waters, were 
 large, and actively employed during the 
 year 1800, still French privateers were 
 numerous. A large number of American 
 merchant vessels were captured, and many 
 recaptured. The privateers taken and 
 brought into port by the American vessels 
 of war, during 1798 1800, were about 
 sixty. Besides these, many were chased 
 on shore, and either destroyed by boats, or 
 
 191 
 
PEACE WITH FRANCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1800. 
 
 were bilged in striking. But few French 
 merchantmen were taken, as there were 
 none but fast-sailing armed vessels em 
 ployed in that service. 
 
 When Messrs. Murray, Ellsworth, and 
 Davie, the American envoys, reached Paris, 
 a change in the French government had 
 taken place. The executive Directory had 
 been superseded, and Napoleon Bonaparte 
 elected first consul,* under the new consti 
 tution. Bonaparte received them with the 
 respect due to their character, and imme 
 diately appointed three commissioners, of 
 whom his brother Lucien was one, to treat 
 with them. Active negotiations were im 
 mediately commenced, which resulted in 
 the formation of a treaty, which amicably 
 adjusted all disputes. This treaty was con 
 cluded, and signed at Paris, on the 30th of 
 September, 1800. The president of the 
 United States, on its reception, sent it to 
 the senate for ratification; which was accord 
 ingly done, with the exception of two 
 articles, on the 3rd of February, 1801. The 
 articles referred to were suspended for fur 
 ther negotiation, and were settled after Mr. 
 Jefferson, the successor of Mr. Adams, had 
 assumed the presidential chair. Thus ended 
 the short and irregular struggle with France, 
 during which the navy of the United States 
 was ushered into being, which has since 
 proved so efficient an arm of the public service. 
 
 * This sudden change in the government of 
 France occurred on the 9th of November, 1799. 
 The scene which took place on this memorable 
 occasion is well worth transcribing. The legislature 
 met at St. Cloud ; the Council of Elders in the great 
 gallery ; and that of Five Hundred, of whom Lucien 
 Bonaparte was president, in the orangery. Bona 
 parte entered the Council of Elders, and, in an 
 animated address, described the dangers that 
 menaced the republic; and conjured them to asso 
 ciate their wisdom with the force which surrounded 
 him. A member using the word " constitution," 
 Bonaparte exclaimed "The constitution! It has 
 been trodden under foot, and used as a cloak for 
 all manner of tyranny." Meanwhile, a violent 
 debate was going on in the orangery, several mem 
 bers insisting upon knowing why the place of sitting 
 had been changed. The president endeavoured to 
 allay this storm ; but the removal had created great 
 heat, and the cry was, " Down with the dictator ! 
 No dictator !" At that moment Bonaparte himself 
 entered, bareheaded, followed by four grenadiers ; 
 on which several members exclaimed " Who is 
 that? No sabres here ! No armed men !" While 
 
 However advantageous or beneficial the 
 treaty may have been to the United States, 
 it was disastrous to the president personally, 
 and to the federal party, which supported 
 him. That the appointment of envoys to 
 treat for peace, under the circumstances 
 existing at the time, was unpopular, has 
 already been stated. The treaty which 
 resulted, though approved by a constitu 
 tional majority (two-thirds), was unpopular 
 with the masses. It was objected to on 
 the ground that it did not definitely and ex 
 pressly stipulate indemnification for recent 
 depredations, by French vessels, on Ame 
 rican commerce. The claims of the United 
 States on France, however, were not aban 
 doned; and the prominent friends of the 
 administration refrained from denunciations 
 and clamours against the treaty, from their 
 confidence in the desire of the president and 
 senate to sustain the honour and interest of 
 the United States the peace and pros 
 perity of the people. 
 
 The course pursued by the president, at 
 that time, was not fairly interpreted by the 
 partisans adverse to his administration ; 
 and evil reports were put in circulation, 
 which spread with speed of lightning ; but 
 truth, in the end, proved that the policy 
 observed by Adams was best calculated to 
 subserve the general weal of the American 
 nation. 
 
 others, descending into the hall, collared him, calling 
 him " outlaw," and pushing him towards the door. 
 One member aimed a blow at him with a dagger, 
 which was parried by a grenadier. Disconcerted 
 at this rough treatment, General Levebore came 
 to his aid ; and Bonaparte retiring, mounted his 
 horse, and addressed the troops outside. His brother 
 Lucien also made a forcible appeal to the military ; 
 and the result was, that a picket of grenadiers 
 entered the hall, and the drums beating the f> a * de 
 charge, cleared it at the point of the bayonet. This 
 truly Cromwellian argument decided the affair, and 
 in the evening it was declared that the Directory had 
 ceased to exist ; that a provisional consular com 
 mission should he appointed, composed of citizens 
 Sieves, Ducas, and Bonaparte ; and that the two 
 councils should name committees, of twenty-five 
 members each, to prepare a new constitution. In 
 the interval between the abolition of one constitu 
 tion and the creation of another, the consuls were 
 invested with a dictatorship. Under (he new con 
 stitution, the executive authority was invested in 
 three consuls, of which Bonaparte was appointed 
 chief. Maunder. 
 
A.D. 1794.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TREATY OF 1783. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN, 1794; WARS WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS; MASSACRE OF THE WHITES; 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF TENNESSEE. 
 
 DURING the second term of Washington s 
 administration, the principal questions con- l 
 sidered by congress were the military | 
 establishments of the country ; Indians j 
 treaties ; protection of the frontiers against 
 the savage tribes ; financial systems, and 
 the administrations of the treasury depart 
 ment ; amendment to the constitution ;* , 
 commerce of the nation ; naval armament ; 
 sequestration of British debts; indemnifica- \ 
 tion of losses sustained by citizens of the 
 United States by confiscation, under the 
 authority of Great Britain, in violation, as 
 was alleged, of the law of nations and the 
 rights of neutrality ; impressment of Ame 
 rican seamen ; duties on sugar and tobacco ; 
 deportation of slaves during the revolution ; 
 naturalisation law ; establishment of Indian 
 trading-houses ; bribery cases of Randall . 
 and Whitney ; postal affairs ; treaty with j 
 Great Britain ; admission of the state of 
 Tennessee into the Union ; national flag ; 
 difficulties with France ; and various mea 
 sures of local importance. 
 
 One of the most important questions of 
 those cited above, was the treaty with Great 
 Britain, negotiated by John Jay, and signed 
 November 19th, 1794. The instrument 
 was ratified by the senate, June 17th, 1795, 
 excepting the 12th article, which related 
 to the direct trade with the British West 
 Indies. The treaty was of great interest to 
 the United States ; not only to the govern 
 ment, but it was of direct interest to the 
 people. It prevented a war with Great 
 Britain, at a time when America was wholly 
 unfitted and unprepared for such an extra 
 ordinary disaster; and it marked out the 
 way for the adjustment of private claims. 
 A revolution had occurred in France, and 
 that nation was determined to wage a war 
 against Great Britain, and the American 
 government was expected to ally with the 
 French in the proposed contest. The 
 popular feeling in America was decidedly 
 in favour of uniting with France ; but the 
 wisdom of Washington marked out a policy 
 of peace, and an absolute neutrality. The 
 * Ante, vol. ii., pp. 76, 77. 
 
 almost universal desire, upon the part of the 
 Americans, to engage with France in the 
 war against England, did not exist without 
 causes ; and these we shall briefly notice. 
 The treaty of 1783, by which Great Britain 
 recognised the independence of the United 
 States, did not effect a complete settlement 
 of all the questions of differences ; besides, 
 there were many other causes that produced 
 great uneasiness and dissatisfaction among 
 the Americans ; and, on the other hand, 
 there were many dissatisfied loyal British 
 subjects who had fled from America during 
 the revolutionary epoch, and had sacrificed 
 all their property by confiscation acts of the 
 colonies. The British government took the 
 part of its subjects, though indifferently at 
 first ; for it refused to send a minister to 
 the American government ; and it could not 
 be induced, by minister Adams, to engage in 
 any commercial arrangement : it also, con 
 trary to the stipulations of the treaty of 1783, 
 held, under technical interpretations, seve 
 ral northern and western posts. We deem 
 it proper, however, to give an explanation 
 of the policy pursued by the British gov 
 ernment with respect to the holding of the 
 places it had stipulated to evacuate ; namely 
 the federal government had promised to 
 recommend to the respective states to enact 
 laws, by which the loyalists could secure a 
 liquidation of their claims against the citi 
 zens of the said states ; and, although con 
 gress had complied with its obligation as 
 provided in the treaty, yet the states 
 failed to heed the request; and the British 
 subjects were, therefore, not benefited as 
 | had been expected by the British govern 
 ment when it signed the treaty of 1783. 
 The American confederation had no power 
 to enforce the engagement made in behalf 
 of the states ; and the British government 
 was not disposed to yield to the demands of 
 the American government, until it had some 
 reason to believe that there would be a re 
 ciprocity manifested in the fulfilment of the 
 ! conditions of the treaty. The states justi- 
 fied their tardiness by reference to the 
 fact that the British government had not 
 
 193 
 
TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [A.D. 1791. 
 
 withdrawn their garrisons from the posts ot 
 Michiliraackinac, on Lake Michigan ; De 
 troit, Fort Erie,0swego, and Niagara, Oswe- 
 gatchie, on the St. Lawrence ; Point au Fer, 
 and Dutchman s Point, on Lake Champlain ; 
 and that in the vicinity of those places Bri 
 tish officers exercised more or less jurisdic 
 tion, in disregard of the federal or state 
 laws ; and further, the states alleged that 
 a large body of negroes, the property of 
 American citizens, had been embarked at 
 New York, against the special remonstrance 
 of the American commissioners. These 
 complaints were true ; but, on the other 
 hand, the British alleged reasons in justi 
 fication of their course. For example, Lord 
 Carmarthen, in a letter, dated February 
 28th, 1786, addressed to the American min 
 ister, directly admitted that the fourth ar 
 ticle of the treaty had been violated ; but, 
 at the same time, he justified the non-per 
 formance of the engagement, by reminding 
 the minister that infractions of the treaty 
 had been committed by the Americans, 
 respecting the recovery of debts due to 
 British subjects. These creditors were not 
 promptly considered by the Americans; and 
 although the states had alleged certain 
 reasons as hereinbefore given, why they did 
 not enact laws to carry out the convention 
 of 1783, yet the real governing cause lay 
 in the fact that the people had not the 
 means to pay their debts; and any at 
 tempt to force the Americans to liquidate 
 the claims against them, might have pro 
 duced a revolution in each of the states. 
 Massachusetts, in its zeal to maintain its 
 faith in fiscal affairs, became involved in a 
 rebellion ;* and the like, though of much 
 more formidable proportions, would have 
 transpired in every state of the confedera 
 tion. The people did not have the money, 
 nor could they procure it by any credit 
 system known to them at that time. 
 
 The formation of the constitutional gov 
 ernment, indicated to the world a deter 
 mination, upon the part of the Americans, 
 to constitute themselves into a substantial 
 and perpetual nation, with powers to main 
 tain their institutions against internal com 
 motions or foreign invasion. The British 
 government fully appreciated the efforts of 
 the Americans to form themselves into a 
 consolidated state, by their abandonment 
 of fragmentary sovereignties ; and it sent 
 George Hammond as minister plenipoten 
 tiary to the United States government, in 
 * Shay s rebellion ; ante, vol. ii., p. 65. 
 194 
 
 the year 1791. Hammond was the fir,st 
 ( diplomatic agent sent by England to Ame 
 rica ; but his powers were limited to con- 
 , sultations, and he was not authorised to 
 I enter into any specific engagement. AVith 
 [ the view to hasten the issue to a happy 
 termination, President Washington ap 
 pointed Thomas Piuckney, in 1792, as 
 minister to England ; but in consequence 
 of belligerent measures being shortly after 
 adopted by the governments of Europe, 
 Pinckney was not able to bring about any 
 adjustment of the complications between 
 the two governments. Washington had 
 determined upon maintaining a strict neu 
 trality with respect to the powers of the 
 Old World, who were then at war ; and he 
 was prompt in issuing his proclamation, 
 declaring that the government would not 
 protect from confiscation such articles as 
 were deemed contraband by the " modern 
 usage of nations." The president was 
 ready to receive ministers from any and all 
 of the contending powers, and was anxious 
 to enter into commercial conventions with 
 any of them, having regard, of course, to 
 international laws respecting the contra 
 band commodities. With a view to ter 
 minate the issues between the American 
 government and Great Britain, Washington 
 commissioned John Jay, of New York, an 
 especial envoy ; hoping to effect a speedier 
 consideration of the subjects at that time 
 seriously disturbing the peaceful relations 
 of the two countries. Mr. Jay arrived in 
 England in June, 1794 ; and, in November, 
 a treaty of amity and commerce was signed. 
 By this treaty, Great Britain agreed to 
 withdraw its troops from certain posts 
 within the boundary of the United States ; 
 settlers and traders, residing near the posts 
 to be surrendered, were to be permitted to 
 enjoy their property unmolested; the settlers 
 were not to be compelled to become citizens 
 of the United States ; each party was to 
 have the privilege to trade with the In 
 dians (the limits of the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany excepted) ; a survey of the Upper 
 Mississippi river was to be made, and the 
 western boundary fixed ; commissioners 
 were to be appointed to identify the river 
 St. Croix, designated in the treaty of 1783 ; 
 the debts due to British subjects from 
 Americans, in cases where the states had 
 failed to authorise their collection as stipu 
 lated in the treaty of peace, were to be 
 guaranteed by the United States ; for 
 losses sustained by Americans by irregular 
 
AD 1795.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TREATY RATIFIED. 
 
 proceedings during the war, England was ; 
 to pay a satisfactory indemnity. Besides 
 these, many other questions of differences 
 were settled by the convention. 
 
 The treaty was received in the United 
 States ; and, after approving of the instru 
 ment, Washington transmitted it to the 
 senate, on the 8th of June, 1795, for ratifi- j 
 cation. On the 17th of the month, by a 
 vote of 20 to 10, it was ratified, excepting } 
 the 12th article. The treaty was strongly 
 opposed in the senate for several reasons ; 
 and among them was the absence of any 
 stipulations concerning the slaves deported 
 at the close of the revolution. On the 
 22nd of June, in answer to a behest of the 
 senate, the secretary of the department of 
 state sent to that body a list of the negroes 
 taken away by authority of Sir Guy Carle- 
 ton, in contravention of the seventh article 
 of the treaty of peace. On the 24th, an 
 unsuccessful effort was made in the senate 
 to pass a resolution, recommending to the 
 president the propriety of renewing nego 
 tiations with Great Britain, for compensa 
 tion to the Americans for the negroes and 
 other property taken from the country by 
 the evacuating army. 
 
 The recommendation to treat further for 
 obtaining indemnity for the slaves carried 
 off by the British during the revolution, 
 remained without effect ; and all claim for 
 the deported negroes was relinquished by a 
 subsequent treaty, executed in 1796.* 
 
 The conditional ratification of the treaty 
 by the senate that is to say, the ratifica 
 tion of all the conventional stipulations, pro 
 vided a new article was added, suspending 
 the operation of the 12th article of the treaty 
 hereinbefore referred to, as having reference 
 to the West India commerce produced a 
 complication in the diplomatic arrangement 
 of the affair, most difficult to adjust; and 
 the president could not, without considerable 
 delay, accomplish an equitable solution. 
 In the meantime, the merits of the treaty 
 became a subject of animated discussion 
 in the House of Representatives. As that 
 
 * The same deportation of slaves took place in 
 the war of 1812, followed by the same stipulation 
 for indemnity in the treaty which closed that war, 
 which was contained in the treaty of 1783; and the 
 promise was attended by a like refusal to comply 
 with it. After twelve years of further negotiation, 
 during the administration of John Quincy Adams, ! 
 tinder the arbitration of the Emperor Alexander, of 
 Russia, the indemnity for the deported slaves of 
 1812 was paid by Great Britain. Benton, 
 
 t Beaton s Debates of Congress, vol. i., p. 639. 
 
 J It will be remembered, that in the early part of 
 
 branch of the legislative department of the 
 government was the body which originated 
 the fiscal affairs of the nation, it became a 
 question, in the opinion of some of the 
 representatives, how far the house had the 
 right to refuse assent to a treaty which re 
 quired an appropriation of money, or which 
 regulated commerce, or which required the 
 exercise of any other power specifically 
 granted to congress. One party contended 
 that the congress was bound to make the 
 appropriation, to carry the treaty into effect ; 
 and the other argued against the existence 
 of any obligation devolving upon the house 
 to appropriate moneys in the premises. 
 The discussion, as reported, occupied over 
 300 octavo pages ; and, with respect to the 
 consideration of the measure in the house, 
 it has been said " Never had a greater dis 
 play been made of argument, of eloquence, 
 and of passion ; and never had a subject 
 been discussed in which all classes of their 
 fellow-citizens took a deeper interest. "f 
 The house was engaged in the consideration 
 of the treaty for nearly two months ; and 
 then, by the casting vote of the Speaker, 
 decided against declaring the treaty highly 
 objectionable. By a vote of 51 to 43, 
 the house determined in favour of carrying 
 it into effect.;}: 
 
 In June, 179G, the state of Tennessee 
 was admitted into the Union as an inde 
 pendent and sovereign community. The 
 territory embraced within the bounds of 
 this new state had been ceded to the national 
 government by North Carolina ; and, as its 
 settlement was surrounded with circum 
 stances of peculiar interest, we deem it proper 
 to refer to afewof the incidents that occurred 
 during its Indianic occupancy, and the 
 final overthrow of the red men in those 
 far western regions. We shall trace the 
 history of the pioneer settlers, in their 
 onward march through the deep forests, 
 along the valleys, and across the mountains 
 of that most wonderful part of the earth s 
 surface. The conflicts with the savage 
 tribes, and the heroic deeds performed by 
 
 Washington s administration, he consulted with the 
 senate before negotiating a treaty. In this case 
 the president had not taken the advice of the 
 senate ; and, in fact, it was not possible under the 
 circumstances. Jay was sent to London with very 
 full instructions, because none could foresee the 
 temper of the British cabinet upon the subj-ct. 
 The policy to be pursued in the negotiation was left 
 very much to his own discretion ; but everything 
 was to be done, consistent with national honour, to 
 secure a solution of the complications in which the 
 two nations were involved. 
 
 195 
 
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1714. 
 
 the hardy people who abandoned the more 
 settled country to establish ^hemselves in 
 the supposed dismal west, will be briefly 
 considered. We shall also notice the pro 
 gress of their political organisations, their 
 formation into counties, and their final 
 attainment of an independent and sovereign 
 position, under the name of the state of 
 Tennessee.* 
 
 About 1690, the settlements of Virginia 
 reached the Blue Ridge ; and an occasional 
 adventurer extended his hunting excursions 
 beyond that mountain range into the great 
 valley, since known as the Shenandoah, 
 watered by the river bearing that name. 
 Spotswood, lieutenant-governor of Virginia, 
 was the first to formally cross the moun 
 tains or, as they were then called, the Great 
 Blue Hills in 1714; and his attendants 
 were called " knights of the horse-shoe," in 
 honour of their heroic career, in discovering 
 a path by which the hills could be traversed 
 by a horse. We have no knowledge to 
 what extent the explorers penetrated the 
 great wilderness ; but it has been said that 
 they actually reached some of the waters that 
 have since been found to empty themselves 
 into the Ohio river : possibly these were the 
 north and south forks of the Hols ton. It will 
 be remembered that Marquette, the French 
 explorer, discovered the Mississippi, and 
 traced the meanderings of that great stream 
 as far south as the Arkansas, in 1673; and 
 the Ohio, Wabash, and Illinois were from 
 that period known to the world. The 
 English had good reasons for believing 
 that the rivers seen by them west of the 
 Blue Hills, emptied into the Ohio or Mis 
 sissippi ; and, on referring to the Spotswood 
 expedition, it was said, that " some rivers 
 have been discovered on the west side of 
 the Appalachian mountains, f which fall into 
 the river Ohio, which falls into the river 
 Mississippi, below the river Illinois." 
 Tradition informs us that Spotswood pene 
 trated the mountains, and passed through 
 the Cumberland Gap, into Kentucky ; but 
 we are disinclined to credit the statement. 
 Possibly he found a passage through a part 
 of the Alleghany mountains, subsequently 
 used by the pioneers as their pathway to 
 the Kentucky country. It was not a 
 cheerful undertaking to penetrate the wild 
 
 * For many of the facts contained in this chap 
 ter, relative to the Cherokee Indians, their settle 
 ments and wars, and also respecting the early settle 
 ment of Tennessee, we are principally indebted to 
 Hewitt s History of South Carolina, Adair s His- 
 Lory of the American Indians, and Ramsey s His. 
 
 196 
 
 regions in the then unexplored west, nor was 
 it known to what extent they were traversed 
 and occupied by different savage tribes. 
 For a long time previous to this epoch in the 
 colonial history, several Indian tribes had 
 been at war among themselves, and no one 
 knew to what extent they had wandered 
 westward, and continued to roam over those 
 western wilds. Intestine wars had pre 
 vailed among the numerous tribes of In 
 dians in West Carolina and Virginia, shortly 
 after their settlement by the whites ; and 
 it has been stated, upon good authority, 
 that the colonists encouraged those hostile 
 conflicts between the tribes, hoping to see 
 them exterminated by and through their 
 own savage customs. In 1693, the Chero- 
 kees solicited the protection of the gov 
 ernor of Carolina against the Esaw and 
 Congaree, or Coosaw Indians, who had 
 invaded their country, and laid waste many 
 of their towns, burnt their houses, and 
 destroyed their corn. In 1711, the Tus- 
 caroras, Corees, and several other small 
 tribes, attempted to exterminate the whites 
 who had settled upon the tributaries of the 
 Roanoke river. They combined their own 
 forces to carry out the dreadful plot ; and, 
 after dividing themselves into bauds, they 
 proceeded to their allotted places, and 
 massacred 107 persons. The governor at 
 Charleston heard of this disaster, and sent 
 Colonel Barnwell, with 600 men, and 400 
 Cherokees and Creeks, to retaliate against 
 the savage tribes who had committed the 
 wholesale murder. This expedition was 
 successful, and effectually subdued the 
 Tuscaroras, the remnant of whom migrated 
 to the north, located upon the Oneida lake, 
 and became the sixth nation of the Iroquois 
 confederacy.! The total defeat of the Tus 
 caroras, and. their expulsion from the 
 country, removed the great barrier to the 
 settlement of the west, particularly the 
 regions around the tributaries of the 
 Holston and Church rivers. At this epoch 
 there were three rival powers grasping for 
 the domain of America : the English, on 
 the Atlantic coast, were rapidly spreading 
 into the mountains of the west ; the French 
 were establishing military posts and catho 
 lic missions on the tributaries of the Mis 
 sissippi ; and the Spaniards were extending 
 
 tory of Tennessee. Besides these, we have ex 
 amined many other works upon that part of Ame 
 rica, in the libraries of London and Paris, 
 
 f The Blue Hills, or Ridge, was then supposed to 
 be the Appalachian mountains. 
 
 J Ante, vol. i., p. 14-i. 
 
A.D. 
 
 1730.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SHAWANEES AND CHEROKEES. 
 
 their commercial relations among the In 
 dians on the waters of the Lower Mississippi. 
 These nations were rivalling each other; 
 and neither of them scrupled to encourage 
 sanguinary expeditions of the savages 
 against the other. 
 
 In 1732, the province of Carolina was 
 divided into north and south, and the former 
 division retained dominion, by virtue of 
 its royal authority, over the whole territory 
 to the South Sea ; and the settlers in its far 
 tvest maintained a steadfast allegiance to 
 the government of the northern province. 
 For some years after the division of Caro 
 lina, the pioneers knew but little of West 
 Virginia or North Carolina ; and, as a 
 consequence of this state of ignorance, the 
 settlers from both colonies, who established 
 themselves in what is since known as East 
 Tennessee, claimed the lands as belonging 
 to their respective states. Prior to the fall 
 of the French power in America, by the 
 surrender of Montreal in 1762, that nation 
 held the valley of the Mississippi under titles 
 of discovery and occupancy; and the bounds 
 of their dominion, eastward and northward, 
 extended to the sources of the tributaries 
 of the Mississippi river. One of the 
 branches of the Holston issued from " the 
 bowels of the earth," eastward of the 
 Alleghany mountains, not more than half 
 a mile from the head of the southern 
 branch of the Savannah river ; and 
 "strangers who drank of it would say 
 they had tasted French waters ;" from 
 these circumstances, this branch of the 
 Ilolston derived its name the " French 
 Broad River." While the whites were 
 directing the march of civilisation west 
 ward, into the unexplored wilds, by slow 
 but progressive steps, the savages were 
 not content with each other, in regard to the 
 respective rights of hunting upon the lands 
 lying between the Cherokee settlements 
 upon the Upper Tennessee and the Ohio 
 river. The Shawanees occupied the lands 
 on the Lower Cumberland, holding their 
 principal seat of power at the confluence 
 of the Cherokee or Tennessee river with 
 the Ohio. About 1714, the Cherokees 
 and Chickasaws united their warriors, and 
 went to war against the Shawanees. Vil 
 lage after village fell by the hands of the 
 assailants ; and, in a few mouths, the whole 
 country was free from the more northern 
 tribe. 
 
 Charleville, from the French colony at 
 Orleans, penetrated into the country, and 
 
 VOL. n. 2 D 
 
 established a trading-post on the Cumber 
 land, near the mouth of the French Lick 
 Creek. Here was first planted the germ of 
 civilisation in that region of "the great 
 wilds of the west." The ken of these back 
 woods traders, at that early period of the 
 New World s annals, could not penetrate the 
 future to realise the vastness and grandeur 
 of the empire that was to hold dominion 
 thereof within a century thereafter. Be 
 sides Charleville, many other French traders 
 established mercantile stations among the 
 Indians; and, at every convenient point, 
 military posts and catholic missions were 
 located upon the waters of this country, 
 for the purpose of gain and power. At the 
 mouth of Loosohatchie (subsequently the 
 site of Memphis), Fort Prud homme, Fort 
 Massac, near the confluence of the Ohio 
 and Mississippi; another at the junction 
 of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, called Fort 
 Toulouse ; and various other fortifications 
 were erected by the French, for the purpose 
 of maintaining the right of dominion in 
 that part of the New World. It was their 
 custom to treat the Indians with the 
 greatest civility and seeming affection ; 
 and, from time to time, the chiefs of the 
 different nations were invited to their 
 stations, for the purpose of renewing their 
 pledges of friendship. At these meetings 
 the Indians received presents, and united 
 with the whites in smoking the pipe of 
 peace, and talking over the boundaries of 
 their respective jurisdictions. In 1730, the 
 projects of the French for uniting Canada 
 with Louisiana by one continuous line of 
 posts, thereby completing their dominion 
 by occupancy, became known to the Eng. 
 lish ; and, in order to arrest the progress of 
 the French, the British government dis 
 patched agents among the Indians, to 
 conclude with them treaties of union and 
 alliance. Of these, Sir Alexander Gumming 
 was sent out from England to treat with 
 the Cherokees, who then occupied the lauds 
 about the head of the Savannah river, and 
 backward among the Appalachian moun 
 tains. They were computed to amount to 
 more than 20,000, of whom 6,000 were war 
 riors of the greatest daring. Gumming con 
 vened the chiefs from the Lower, Middle, 
 Valley, and Over-hill settlements, in April, 
 1730, at Nequassee. On this great occa 
 sion, and with no little pomp and circum 
 stance, he informed the assembled sons of 
 the forest by whose authority he appeared 
 before them, and demanded of them an 
 
 197 
 
GRAND COUNCIL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1755. 
 
 acknowledgment of the sovereignty of 
 George I., and a promise that they would 
 yield obedience to his behests. In com 
 pliance therewith the warriors fell upon 
 their knees, and solemnly promised obedi 
 ence and fidelity ; and appealed to the 
 Great Spirit to inflict upon them the most 
 dire punishment in case of any violation 
 of the pledged faith. On this occasion, 
 Moytoy, of Telliquo, was made commander 
 of the Cherokee nation ; and the crown 
 having been brought from their chief town 
 (Tennassee), was, with five eagle-tails, and 
 four scalps of their enemies, presented to 
 Sir Alexander, by Moytoy, with the request 
 that he would take them to his majesty in 
 Britain, as pledges of their sincerity ; but 
 Sir Alexander suggested to Moytoy to ap 
 point a deputation, consisting of some of his 
 chiefs, to accompany him to England, and 
 there, in his name, do homage to the great 
 king. In accordance with this recommen 
 dation, Moytoy appointed six of his chiefs, 
 who went to England ; and being admitted 
 into the presence of the king, they formally 
 promised, in the name of their nation, to 
 continue for ever his majesty s most faithful 
 and obedient subjects.* 
 
 After this mission of peace, the Indians 
 and whites conducted their relations upon 
 terms of amity ; but still the struggle be 
 tween the French and English, for trade j 
 and dominion, continued to wax more and 
 more determined ; and to prevent the in 
 fluence of the former among the Indian 
 tribes, it became necessary to build some 
 forts in the heart of their country. This 
 policy received the approbation of the 
 Indians about 1750, especially as they 
 could not expel the French traders from 
 their country when they came into it for 
 peaceful purposes. The chief warriors of 
 the Over-hill Cherokees, or upper settle 
 ment, informed the governor of Carolina, 
 that some Frenchmen had been among 
 their people, endeavouring to poison them 
 against the English, and suggested a grand 
 council for the purpose of renewing their 
 friendship. The governor acted upon the 
 proposition ; and, in 1755, a conference was 
 convened in the Cherokee country. They 
 met beneath the foliage of a spreading tree ; 
 and there the governor, with Chulochculla, 
 the speaker of the Cherokee nation, sitting 
 upon his right, addressed the 500 assem 
 bled warriors who were standing in solemn 
 silence, and told them the object of his 
 * Ante, vol. i., p. 150. 
 
 198 
 
 meeting them upon that occasion. He ad 
 dressed them in the name of the king, and 
 reminded them of his unbounded power 
 and wealth, and the goodness and affection 
 he felt towards his children of the Cherokee 
 nation : he also informed them that he had 
 many presents to make to them, and would 
 expect, in return, a surrender of a part of 
 their territory ; and, besides, he desired 
 lands, upon which he intended to build 
 forts to protect them against invasions of 
 their enemies, and in which they might 
 retreat for safety in case of danger. He 
 spoke against the wickedness of the French, 
 and expressed the hope that they would, in 
 the future, prevent them from entering their 
 country. The governor, having finished 
 his speech, Chulochculla rose with great 
 dignity, and holding his bow in one hand, 
 his shaft of arrows and other symbols in the 
 other, spoke to the following effect: "What 
 I now speak, our father, the great king, 
 should hear. We are brothers to the people 
 of Carolina one house covers us all." 
 The chief then took by the hand a little 
 Indian boy, and after presenting him to 
 the governor, continued his remarks "We, 
 our wives and our children, are all children 
 of the great King George. I have brought 
 this child, that when he grows up he may 
 remember our agreement on this day, and 
 tell it to the next generation, that it may 
 be known for ever." The chief then opened 
 a bag containing earth, and laid it at the 
 feet of the governor, and then said " We 
 freely surrender a part of our lands to the 
 king. The French want our possessions, 
 but we will defend them while one of our 
 nation shall remain alive." He then showed 
 his bows and arrows to the governor, and 
 said " These are all the arms we can make 
 for our defence. We hope the king will 
 pity his children, the Cherokees, and send 
 us guns and ammunition. We fear not 
 the French. Give us arms, and we will 
 go to war against the enemies of the great 
 king." He then delivered to the governor 
 a string of wampum, in confirmation of 
 what he had said, and then added " My 
 speech is at an end ; it is the voice of the 
 Cherokee nation. I hope the governor will 
 send it to the king, that it may be kept for 
 ever." 
 
 At this treaty the required lands were 
 conveyed to the king, and soon after several 
 forts were constructed in the Holston valley. 
 Fort Prince George was constructed upon 
 the Savannah river, near its source, close to 
 
A.D. ]753.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MASSACRE OF THE WHITES. 
 
 the Indian town called Keowee. In 1756, 
 Fort London was built by Andrew Lewis, 
 on the south side of the Tennessee river, 
 nearly opposite the site of the subsequent 
 Telliquo block-house. Several other forts 
 were constructed in the Holston valley, and 
 garrisoned by troops from Britain. " The 
 establishment of these defences, in the in 
 terior of the forest wilds, led to the rapid 
 accumulation of settlers in all the choice 
 places in their neighbourhoods." Thus 
 affairs stood between the English and the 
 red men of the forest in 1758 ; but those 
 happy relations were of but short duration. 
 By an error of the whites, they brought 
 upon themselves the most savage retalia 
 tion. 
 
 A number of the Cherokees united with 
 the British forces to expel, from the Upper 
 Ohio, the French and Shawanees. After the 
 evacuation of Fort Du Quesne, in 1758, the 
 Cherokee warriors returned to their country 
 by way of the war-paths, from the head 
 waters of the Youghiogheny to those of the 
 Holston ; and, while on their march, they 
 discovered and took a few horses running 
 wild, distant from the settlements. They 
 had lost theirs on the route ; and it was not 
 unusual for horses to stray into the forest, 
 and never again be recovered. It so hap 
 pened, that the Virginians living in that 
 part of the country, found the horses in the 
 possession of the Indians, and they imme 
 diately proceeded to punish the Cherokees 
 for their depredations ; and they killed some 
 twelve or fourteen of those unsuspecting 
 warriors, and took several others prisoners. 
 The news of these severe acts of the 
 whites whom the Cherokees had marched 
 several hundred miles to serve was received 
 by the Indians in the south with feelings 
 of profound regret ; but, at the same 
 time, they resolved upon the most savage 
 revenge. The French encouraged a grand 
 scheme for the massacring of the Eng 
 lish ; and, for some time, the warriors 
 were preparing their weapons for the 
 war, then shortly to ensue. Messengers 
 were continually passing from one tribe to 
 another, communicating the general plans 
 of attack. The officers in command of the 
 garrison of 200 men, at Fort Loudon, per 
 ceived that there was some secret move 
 against them ; but still they were unable 
 to ascertain the mysterious behaviour of the 
 chiefs and warriors. A few of the soldiers 
 made a short excursion into the woods, and 
 were attacked and killed by some Indians 
 
 lying in ambush. This gave a solution to 
 the estrangement manifested by the chiefs 
 on several previous occasions. " All com 
 munication with the settlement east of the 
 mountains, from which they received sup 
 plies, was cut off; and the soldiers, having 
 no other sources from which provisions 
 could be obtained, had no prospect left them 
 but famine, or death by the tomahawk." 
 Bands of Indian warriors traversed the 
 mountains, and made attacks upon the 
 settlements, and extended their work of 
 slaughter along the whole frontier of Caro 
 lina. This wholesale massacre was commu 
 nicated to the governor, who immediately 
 called out the militia, and summoned them 
 to meet, "armed and equipped," at Con- 
 garee. The assembling of the British in 
 martial array, produced a cessation of the 
 Indian hostilities ; and a treaty was made, 
 which was afterwards signed by the gover 
 nor and six of the head men of the Chero 
 kees, stipulating that twenty-two chieftains 
 should be kept as hostages by the British ; 
 that they should be confined in Fort Prince 
 George, until the same number of Indians, 
 guilty of murdering the white settlers upon 
 the frontiers, should be surrendered to the 
 governor ; and " that the Cherokees should 
 kill or take prisoners every Frenchman that 
 should presume to come into the nation." 
 This treaty proved valueless, and was never 
 intended to be executed with any kind of 
 faith by the Indians. So true is this, that 
 immediately after the return of the gover 
 nor, and the dispersion of his array from 
 Fort Prince George, hostilities were re 
 newed, and fourteen whites were killed 
 within a mile of the fort. Under pre 
 tence of procuring a release of the prisoners 
 by complying with the conditions of the 
 treaty, the chief Oconostota, with a small 
 band of warriors, approached, and made an 
 attack upon the fort ; and, in the assault, 
 they succeeded in killing the officers. The 
 garrison defended themselves, and defeated 
 the assailants ; when, in the greatest state of 
 madness, produced by the outrageous con 
 duct of the treacherous savages, they fell 
 upon the hostages, and killed them to a 
 man. The murder of the Indian hostages 
 was soon made known to the different 
 tribes, who speedily rallied their warriors 
 from all directions, and invaded the frontier 
 of Carolina, and indiscriminately murdered 
 men, women, and children. Men were tor 
 tured in the most barbaric manner : scalped, 
 pinioned, and goaded with arrows, they 
 
 199 
 
BURNING OF THE VILLAGES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1760. 
 
 were made to meet a lingering death ; the 
 women were scalped, their hair pulled 
 out by the roots, and then the tomahawk 
 was buried to the handle in their heads. 
 Mothers were compelled to roast their own 
 sucklings ere death was permitted to be 
 meted to them ! 
 
 The massacre of the frontier settlers soon 
 spread throughout Carolina, and prompt 
 measures were adopted to restrain and pun 
 ish the excesses. Application was made to 
 the neighbouring provinces for assistance, 
 and several troops of rangers were organised 
 to patrol the frontier, and prevent further 
 incursions of the savages until additional 
 forces could arrive, when it was intended to 
 invade the Cherokee country. About the 
 end of April, 1760, Colonel Montgomery, 
 with 600 Highlanders and 600 royal Ameri 
 can soldiers, was detached by General Am- 
 herst, from the arm} of the north, to sup 
 press the invasion of the south by the 
 savages. At Ninety-Six, the army of 1,200 
 was joined by 700 Carolina rangers, com 
 posed of the " hardiest men of the country/ 
 Montgomery then hastened to the Cherokee 
 settlements. Little Keowee was surprised 
 by a night attack, and every warrior in it 
 was put to death by the sword. Estatoe, 
 consisting of about 200 houses, was reduced 
 to ashes. During the next day, not a 
 wigwam of the place was left to mark the 
 spot where the village once existed. They 
 then destroyed Sugar town ; and all the other 
 Indian settlements of the lower nations were 
 levelled to the earth by the devouring 
 flames. The wigwams had, generally, been 
 abandoned by the savages ; and, after hav 
 ing plundered them, the whites flourished 
 their torches with maddened fury, and de 
 stroyed the houses of the fleeing Indians. 
 High upon the mountain crests the red 
 men stood, surrounded by their half-naked 
 squaws, bearing upon their backs the inno 
 cent pappooses, in the stillness of night, and 
 viewed the smoking embers upon the spot 
 where, but a few hours before, they had 
 realised the happiness common to their life. 
 It is true they had but little ; but their wants 
 were " but little here below." During the 
 march of the army, and the destruction of 
 the villages, about eighty Cherokees were 
 killed, and forty were taken prisoners ; but 
 the greater part of the latter were women 
 and children. From Ninety-Six, Montgo 
 mery proceeded, with his elated army, to 
 Fort Prince George, which had been for some 
 time invested by the Indians. On his ap- 
 200 
 
 proach, however, the savages retired to the 
 mountains, to abide an opportune occasion 
 for a renewal of the siege. From this 
 place, Tiftoe, and the old warrior of Estatoe, 
 were sent as messengers to the inhabitants 
 of the upper and middle settlements, sug 
 gesting to them to sue for peace. Demere 
 and Stuart, the commanding officers of 
 Fort Loudon, were requested to obtain peace 
 with the Indians of the lower settlement. 
 These overtures for an amicable solution of 
 the difficulties signally failed, and Mont 
 gomery was necessitated to push his army 
 farther into the wilderness than he had con 
 templated. He supposed that the destruc 
 tion of the lower towns would be calculated 
 to intimidate the red men, and lead them to 
 believe that he would reduce the whole of 
 the settlements to ashes, unless they yielded 
 to his conditions of capitulation ; but in 
 these hopes he was mistaken. The Indians 
 never forgave a wrong. 
 
 On the 24th of June, 1760, Montgomery 
 dispatched, as an advanced division, Cap 
 tain Morrison s rangers to the middle set 
 tlement. The rangers passed the sloping 
 mountains that lie between the valleys of 
 the Keowee and the Savannah ; and, on 
 reaching the head waters of the Little Ten 
 nessee, they followed the meanderings of 
 that beautiful and crystal-like stream, 
 through the mountain gorges of the Appala 
 chian ranges. While passing through a 
 narrow defile, between the river and the 
 mountain side, near the valley of the 
 Etehoe, a large force of savages sprung 
 from ambush, and made a sudden attack 
 upon the unsuspecting rangers. Morrison 
 was killed, and several of his men severely 
 wounded. A battle then ensued, which 
 was maintained for an hour with great 
 valour on both sides : the rangers continued 
 to defend themselves until they retreated 
 to a favourable position, distant from the 
 thickly grown woodland ; and then the 
 savages retired to their mountain dens. 
 Twenty men were killed, and seventy-six 
 wounded ; and the loss of the Indians was 
 supposed to have been much greater. On 
 receiving the news of this battle, Montgo 
 mery, then but a few miles in the rear, 
 concluded to retreat to Fort Prince George, 
 as he could not proceed through the moun 
 tains with such a large number of wounded, 
 particularly as the regions were but little 
 known to the whites, and there was every 
 reason to believe that the Indians were well 
 prepared to resist an invasion. 
 
A.D. 
 
 1760.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SURRENDER OF FORT LOUDON. 
 
 TJeyond the smoky mountains, near the 
 forks of the Tellico and Little Tennessee, 
 the distant garrison of Fort London, con 
 sisting of 200 men, was reduced to the 
 dreadful alternative of perishing by hunger, 
 or submitting to the mercy of the enraged 
 Cherokees. The expedition of Montgomery 
 had failed to reach within fifty miles of 
 Fort Louden, and there was but little hope 
 left for their safety. Montgomery was not 
 justified in abandoning the invasion, and 
 the 200 brave men then besieged at the 
 fort. It is true, however, he had reason to 
 believe that the Virginians would rally to 
 their relief; but the place was much farther 
 from Virginia, and the country much less 
 known to the people of that colony. The 
 pathways ran over many steep and rocky 
 mountains, covered with forest oaks ; and it 
 was difficult to traverse them even in times 
 when there was no war, when there were 
 no angry savages to waylay every mile of 
 the distance. 
 
 Failing to be relieved from their perilous 
 situation, and being without provisions to 
 subsist upon, the garrison was left to de 
 termine their own mode of death. For a 
 whole month they had no other subsistence 
 than the flesh of lean horses and dogs, and 
 a small supply of Indian beans, procured 
 stealthily from some of the Indian women. 
 At length the Indians became more resolute, 
 and determined to take the fort. They be 
 sieged it by night and day, preventing 
 ingress or egress: their attacks, however, 
 were of but little effect except to more 
 closely imprison the garrison. In this 
 extremity, a council was held within, to 
 determine what course should be pursued. It 
 was death to remain any longer in the fort, 
 for famine would soon end their lives : to 
 defend themselves by a battle without, 
 would have resulted fatally to every man. 
 Thus circumstanced, it was determined to 
 surrender upon the best conditions that 
 they could get from the savages. To at 
 tain the desired end, Captain Stuart, who 
 was most favourably known among the 
 Indians, procured permission to go to 
 Chotee, one of the principal Cherokee 
 towns, for the purpose of negotiating a 
 treaty of capitulation. Stuart succeeded 
 in obtaining favourable terms of sur 
 render namely, " that the garrison of Fort 
 Loudon march out with their arms and 
 drums, each soldier having as much powder 
 and ball as their officer shall think neces 
 sary for their march, and all the baggage 
 
 they may choose to carry ; that the garri 
 son be permitted to march to Virginia, or 
 Fort Prince George, as the commanding 
 officer shall think proper, unmolested ; and 
 that a number of Indians be appointed to 
 escort them, and hunt for provisions durino- 
 the march ; that such soldiers as are lame, 
 or by sickness disabled from marching, be 
 received into the Indian towns, and kindlv 
 used until they recover, and then be 
 allowed to return to Fort Prince George ; 
 that the Indians do provide for the garri 
 son as many horses as they conveniently 
 can for the march, agreeing with the offi 
 cers and soldiers for payment ; that the 
 fort, great guns, powder, ball, and spare 
 arms, be delivered to the Indians without 
 fraud or further delay, on the day ap 
 pointed for the march of the troops." 
 
 On the morning of the 8th of August, 
 Oconostota, the chief of Chotee, formally 
 received the surrender of the garrison, and 
 took possession of the fort, on the marching 
 out of the troops. The day was beautiful ; 
 and, as the long-pent-up soldiers left the 
 walls of Fort Loudon, they felt happy in 
 the thought of an early realisation of com 
 mingling again with their friends, beyond 
 the hearing of savage yells. On the first 
 day, the troops marched about fifteen miles 
 on their way to Fort Prince George ; and, 
 at night, encamped on the Telliquo plaints. 
 Here, during the night, the Indians who 
 were appointed to escort them stipulated 
 as a part of the terms of capitulation 
 secretly left them. This act was at once 
 interpreted by the officers as an evidence 
 of treachery. A guard was immediately 
 stationed at a proper distance from the 
 camp; and, early in the morning, as the 
 rising sun began to crimson the eastern 
 horizon, the sentinels retreated from their 
 positions to the camp, and gave the in 
 formation that a vast number of armed 
 Indians, painted in the most hideous 
 manner, were cautiously creeping through 
 the bushes towards the camp, and were 
 rapidly surrounding them. Scarcely had 
 the officers time to order the men to arms, 
 when the savages poured in upon them a 
 heavy fire from different directions, ac 
 companied with the battle-yells. The 
 soldiers were weak, and had no suspicion of 
 such base treachery ; and they were not 
 prepared to meet the furious attack so 
 suddenly made upon them ; they were over 
 whelmed with consternation ; and some of 
 them, as though spell-bound, allowed the 
 
 201 
 
ESCAPE OF STUART.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1760. 
 
 savages, unhindered, to strike their toma 
 hawks through their skulls. Some of the 
 soldiers fled into the woods; but they were [ 
 soon overtaken, and conducted in triumph | 
 to the towns as prisoners. Captain Demere, i 
 with three other officers, and about twenty- j 
 six privates, fell at the first attack. Cap- 
 tain Stuart, and the other prisoners, were : 
 pinioned and conducted back to Fort 
 Loudon, from whence they had marched 
 the day before, under the pledged protec- i 
 tion of the Indians. Attakullakulla, an 
 Indian chief of some fame and influence, 
 was a friend of Stuart, and he hurried from 
 his village to ransom this captured officer. 
 He purchased the prisoner by giving his 
 rifle, clothes, and other articles of value. 
 Attakullakulla took possession of Demere s 
 house, where he kept Stuart as one of 
 his family. The soldiers were held as 
 prisoners for a long time, and suffered 
 much by the cruelty of the savages. The 
 surrender of Fort Loudon, and the pos- j 
 session of its arms and ammunition, en 
 couraged Oconostota to make an attack upon j 
 Fort Prince George ; and for that purpose 
 he dispatched messengers to the respective 
 towns, and requested a rendezvous of all 
 the warriors at Old Steckoe. While the 
 preparations were being made at Fort 
 Loudon, ten bags of powder, and a quantity 
 of balls, were found buried in the fort, 
 which had been thus secreted by the offi 
 cers prior to the day on which they sur 
 rendered, under the agreement made at 
 Chotee. The discovery of the ammunition 
 enraged Oconostota, and he determined 
 to execute Stuart for the deception that he 
 and Demere had practised on the surrender 
 of the fort; but ere the final orders had 
 been given for his death, Stuart managed 
 to convince the chief that the concealment 
 had been made without his knowledge, and 
 that he did not know of the existence of 
 the secreted powder and balls. It was not 
 the nature of the Indians to overlook 
 treachery in others ; and although they 
 were the most wickedly treacherous of all 
 races, yet they were the more cruel with 
 those who failed to maintain an exact faith 
 with them. 
 
 Having an abundance of ammunition 
 and arms, Oconostota determined to press 
 forward with his plans for attacking Fort 
 Prince George ; and, with that view, he 
 ordered a council of the chiefs at Chotee, 
 to which Stuart was conducted. On this 
 occasion he was reminded that his life 
 202 
 
 had been spared by their leniency and 
 kindness for him personally; and that he 
 must accompany them, and aid in taking 
 Fort Prince George. He was informed 
 that they intended to carry with them six 
 cannon and two cohorns from Fort Loudon ; 
 and that he was to manage them, and the 
 men were to be under his command. He 
 was also told that he would be required 
 to write such letters to the commandant of 
 the fort as they should dictate ; and, if 
 upon the reception of the letters, the com 
 mandant refused to surrender, it was their 
 intention to burn the prisoners they then 
 held at Fort Loudon, one after another, 
 before his face, and allow him to choose 
 between the two dilemmas whether he 
 could see his men thus committed to the 
 flames, or urge a surrender of the fort. 
 Stuart was much alarmed at his situation ; 
 he knew that his fate was sealed if he 
 yielded to the demand made upon him, and 
 accompanied the expedition ; and, from 
 that moment, he determined to make his 
 escape to Virginia. He communicated his 
 intentions to Attakullakulla, who took him 
 by the hand, and pledged to aid him in 
 the measure. The old warrior claimed 
 Stuart as his prisoner, and, in order to 
 effect his release, he determined to "go 
 a hunting for a few days, and carry his 
 prisoner along with him to eat venison." 
 On the excursion, the warrior was accom 
 panied by his wife, his brother, Stuart, 
 and two soldiers who were the only per 
 sons in the garrison that knew how to con 
 vey cannon through the woods. For pro 
 visions they depended upon what they killed. 
 They travelled through the forest, near 
 the great war path, to the Holston settle 
 ment ; to reach which, nine days and nights 
 were required. Through the dreary wilder 
 ness they traced their way by the sun 
 during the day, and of the moon and stars 
 during the night. They could not travel 
 in the pathway for fear of detection by 
 the roving Indians; and, in order to pre 
 vent being overtaken, they traversed " many 
 ranges of mountains of that country never 
 before trodden by either man or beast." 
 On the tenth day they arrived upon the 
 banks of the Holston, where they fell in 
 with a party of three hundred men, sent to 
 that place by Colonel Bird, to aid and 
 assist any of the garrison who should 
 escape in that direction. Stuart thus es 
 caped the awful doom that had been decreed 
 by Oconostota ; and before he parted with 
 
A.D. 1761.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CHEROKEE INVADED. 
 
 his faithful old warrior, Attakullakulla, he 
 loaded him with presents and provisions. 
 
 During the winter of 1760 and 1761, 
 the colonial forces were making active pre 
 parations for a determined campaign during 
 the next spring and summer; and by the 
 1st of May, 1761, Colonel Grant had suc 
 ceeded in collecting an army of 2,600 able- 
 bodied men, well acclimated, and accus- 
 toined to the Indian mode of warfare. This 
 force, however, included the provincial 
 regiment and Indian allies, on whom Grant 
 mainly depended, knowing from experience 
 that European soldiers were of no value in 
 a conflict with the savages. The failure of 
 Braddoek, near Fort Du Quesne, had taught 
 British officers to confide alone in the 
 natives of the country to do the fighting, 
 and to use the Europeans as auxiliaries. In 
 many instances this course was pursued, 
 and success had crowned the efforts ; at 
 other times, however, British pride was too 
 arrogant to submit to such an apparent 
 humiliation, for fear that the caution might 
 be construed as cowardice : this was an 
 error of judgment, because it was impos 
 sible to suppose that Englishmen could be 
 otherwise than brave. The Indian could 
 tell, from the lay of the leaves, whether or 
 not they had been trod by a white man ; 
 and his caution had habituated his walk to 
 prevent the discovery of himself by the 
 whites ; and after the employment of blood 
 hounds, they even learned to confuse their 
 wonderful powers of scenting. Not only 
 was it necessary to well understand the 
 Indian mode of warfare, but the soldier s 
 equipment was required to be suitable for 
 the peculiar character of the country to be 
 traversed : it was necessary to lay aside 
 the crimson uniform, and wear clothing of 
 a green hue, resembling the woods that 
 covered the country ; the armour girdles 
 were required to be light, and adjusted to 
 allow ease in travelling through the thickly 
 grown bushes the common undergrowth 
 of forests : the feet and legs had to be pro 
 tected from the running-brier vines, the 
 bramble, hawthorn, hazel, and other under 
 wood. Not the least important was the 
 manner of travelling through the bushes : 
 it was necessary to avoid the breaking of 
 sticks by the feet, or the rustling of 
 bushes when passing through them. These, 
 and many other peculiarities of the country 
 and people, had to be considered in con 
 ducting a war against the savages of 
 America ; and had they been, properly con 
 
 sidered from the first settlement of the 
 country, more than 100,000 lives would 
 have been saved from the deadly stroke of 
 the arrow and tomahawk. 
 
 Colonel Grant having had considerable 
 experience in the struggles against the In 
 dians of the frontiers, he arranged his army 
 to best subserve the common good ; and, on 
 the 27th of May, 1761, he was ready to 
 commence his march to the Cherokee settle 
 ments. By this time, however, the Indians 
 were well convinced that they could not re 
 sist the forces then prepared to invade their 
 country. Attakullakulla was sent as a mes 
 senger of peace, to tender, in his own behalf, 
 a twig from the olive-branch. The Chero- 
 kees knew that this old warrior could visit 
 Fort Prince George without hazard, and 
 that his counsel would be respectfully con 
 sidered ; in him, therefore, they confided 
 the delicate mission. He told Colonel Grant 
 that he had ever been the true friend of the 
 English, and that it was his heart s desire 
 to see the hatchet buried, and no more wars 
 between the red and white men. He then 
 proposed that the army should not move 
 forward until he had had an opportunity of 
 visiting the Cherokee towns, and using his 
 influence for a treaty of peace. Grant had 
 learned, by sad experience, not to confide in 
 any Indian ; and he declined to accede to 
 the proposal so beseechingly seemingly at 
 least made by Attakullakulla. On the 
 7th of June he began his march from Fort 
 Prince George, carrying with him provisions 
 for thirty days. The advanced force, ap 
 pointed to scour the woods, consisted of 
 ninety Indians and thirty woodsmen, painted 
 and dressed like Indians ; these were under 
 the command of Captain Quintine Kennedy, 
 an expert frontier-man ; after them came 
 the light infantry, and about fifty rangers ; 
 consisting, in all, of about 200 men : fol 
 lowing these came the main body of the 
 army. For three days Grant made forced 
 marches, in order to get over two narrow 
 and dangerous defiles, which he accom 
 plished without a shot from the enemy, but 
 which might have cost him many lives if 
 the Indians had resisted him. On the 
 llth, indications of the presence of the sav 
 ages were discovered, and orders were then 
 given to prepare for battle. Occasionally 
 the Cherokees were seen to move stealthily 
 along the sides of the hills, and foot-marks 
 were seen, indicating that they had been 
 made by the Indians hastily travelling. 
 Extra caution was observed by the advanced 
 
 203 
 
DESTRUCTION OF VILLAGES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.IX 1761. 
 
 guard ; and, on the morning of the 13th, a 
 large body of warriors was seen posted 
 upon a hill, on the right flank of the army ; 
 and as soon as the army began to prepare 
 for battle, the Indians perceived that their 
 presence was known to the whites, and they 
 immediately rushed down the hill to hasten 
 an engagement, ere the troops could be 
 brought into a defensive position. The ad 
 vanced guard, being supported by the other 
 troops, in a few moments forced the assail 
 ants to retreat up the hill, which extended 
 for several miles parallel with the war path. 
 On the other side of the line of march 
 was a river, with its farther side thickly 
 covered with brushwood ; and among these 
 bushes lay hidden a large number of In 
 dians, who continually fired upon the troops 
 while marching upon the opposite side of 
 the river. Grant ordered a party to march 
 up the hill, and drive the Indians from the 
 summit of the ridge, while he dispatched 
 another party to force a retreat of the In 
 dians on the opposite side of the river. These 
 movements brought on a general engage 
 ment; and the savages seem to have been 
 more desperate than ever they had been be 
 fore : at times they appeared to be retreat 
 ing, but their assaults were continually re 
 newed with an increased force and vigour. 
 The situation of the troops became de 
 plorably and at times there was but little 
 hope of success. The men had been march 
 ing through heavy rains, over a rough coun 
 try, and before an enemy that fought from 
 hidden places, and whose scattering fire had 
 galled them on all sides. The soldiers had but 
 little to encourage them to make further pro 
 gress towards the settlement; and their only 
 hope of avoiding the total destruction of the 
 army, was to retreat. At this juncture of 
 the battle the rear was furiously attacked, 
 and so vigorous an effort made for the 
 flour, cattle, and ammunition, that Grant 
 was compelled to order a party from the 
 front to relieve the rear. The engagement 
 was thus closely contested on all sides; and 
 the savages managed to keep up an incessant 
 fii-e from eight o clock in the morning until 
 eleven, when the Cherokees ceased to make 
 the woods resound with their yells and 
 hideous shouts, and hurriedly retreated from 
 the mountain sides and the valley. The battle 
 was over, and the British were victorious. 
 The result of the engagement was of vast 
 good to the country. About sixty of the 
 whites were killed and wounded ; and, in 
 order to prevent the savages from digging 
 204 
 
 j the dead from their graves, Colonel Grant 
 
 ; ordered that their bodies should be sunk 
 
 I in the river. How many of the savages 
 
 were killed was never known, nor was 
 
 there any effort made to ascertain the 
 
 number, as the army was content to allow 
 
 their bodies to lie upon the mountain sides, 
 
 to waste away by the elements, rather than 
 
 hazard any lives in making search for 
 
 them. 
 
 After the engagement, the army marched 
 forward to Etchoe, a large Indian town, 
 which they reached about midnight of the 
 12th ; and, on the next morning, the 
 torches were applied to the wigwams : 
 in an hour thereafter, the whole town was 
 reduced to ashes. Colonel Grant then pro 
 ceeded to fourteen other towns, and had the 
 whole of them committed to the flames. 
 Their storehouses, granaries, and corn-fields 
 were all destroyed ; and the bloodthirsty 
 savages who had occupied them, were 
 driven in their nakedness to the wild 
 woods for shelter and provisions, among 
 the barren mountains, there to undergo 
 the greatest possible sufferings in atone 
 ment for the murders they had committed 
 upon the frontiers. 
 
 During this expedition, Colonel Grant 
 achieved much ; and having accomplished 
 his object, he returned to Fort Prince 
 George, to await a manifestation of 
 the disposition of the Cherokees : and, 
 within a few days after his return 
 to the fort, Attakullakulla, attended by 
 several chieftains, came to the camp and 
 expressed a desire for peace. They blamed 
 the French for the course they had pur 
 sued towards the English ; and now they 
 were willing to renounce all further con 
 nection with the former, and pledge to 
 maintain perpetual amity with the latter. 
 Terms of peace were then prepared, which 
 were all agreed to except one, which had 
 been introduced by Colonel Grant to effect 
 an end desired viz., a condition re 
 quiring that four Cherokees be delivered 
 at Fort Prince George, to be put to death 
 in front of the camp ; or four fresh scalps 
 be brought him in the space of twelve 
 nights. The warrior, having no authority 
 to agree to such an extraordinary condi 
 tion, declined to sign the treaty. Grant 
 feigned to have no power to yield in the 
 premises, and suggested to the deputation 
 that they should hold a council with the 
 lieutenant-governor at Charleston upon 
 the subject. This was agreed to ; and 
 
A.I). 
 
 1761.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PEACE WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 Attakullakulla, with his associates of the 
 Cherokees, proceeded, under a guard of pro 
 tection to Charleston, where they had an 
 interview with the lieutenant-governor and 
 council. They met at Ashley Ferry ; and, 
 a c rer each member of the assembly had taken 
 his position, the lieutenant-governor spoke 
 thus : " Attakullakulla, I am glad to see 
 you ; and as I have always heard of your 
 good behaviour, that you have been a 
 good friend to the English, I take you by 
 the hand ; and not only you, but all those 
 with you also, as a pledge for their security 
 whilst under my protection. Colonel Grant 
 acquaints me that you have applied for 
 peace : now that you are come, I have met 
 with my beloved men to hear what you 
 have to say, and my ears are open for that 
 purpose." After this laconic speech was 
 made, a fire was kindled, the pipe of peace 
 was lighted, and all smoked together for 
 some time, in great silence and solemnity. 
 Attakullakulla then arose, and spoke thus : 
 " It is a great while since I saw your 
 honour ; now I am glad to see you, and all 
 the beloved men present. I am come to 
 you as a messenger from the whole nation. 
 I have now seen you, smoked with you, 
 and hope we shall live together as brothers. 
 When I came to Keowee, Colonel Grant 
 sent me to you. You live at the water 
 side, and are in light. We are in darkness, 
 but hope all will be yet clear with us. I have 
 been constantly going about doing good ; 
 and though I am tired, yet I am come to 
 see what can be done for my people, who are 
 in great distress." Here the veteran warrior 
 produced the evidences of his authority to 
 speak in behalf of the different towns. 
 They consisted of strings of wampum from 
 each town, and denoted their desire for 
 peace. A treaty was then prepared, and 
 formally executed. Thus ended the Che 
 rokee war ; and thus, by one fell swoop, 
 was expelled from the whole Cherokee 
 country the French power, and the different 
 tribes made auxiliaries in the protection of 
 the colonial pioneers in the Appalachian 
 mountains, and in the spread of the lights 
 of civilisation within the dominions of the 
 red men. 
 
 Since the Creator of the universe said, 
 "Let there be light," the rays issuing 
 from the orb of civilisation have con 
 tinued to shine with increased brilliancy, 
 except, perhaps, for short epochs in the 
 world s history ; and in all ages physical 
 nature has yielded to the development of 
 
 VOL. II. 2 E 
 
 knowledge effecting, in the end, blessings 
 to man and glory to God. The red men 
 of the American forest were like so many 
 natural obstructions to the spread of science 
 and the useful arts ; they, like the stately 
 oak of the wilderness, had to give way and 
 cease to be, ere the cross could be encircled 
 with safety by the Christian, or that the 
 earth could be upheaved by the ploughshare 
 for the production of corn freed from tares. 
 The beautiful groves that once covered the 
 Cherokee countiy, have, to a great extent, 
 disappeared, their trees having been girdled 
 by the pioneers ; and in their stead may be 
 seen cereal stems of golden hue : the red 
 men have ceased to roam through those 
 wilds, and have, long since, fallen before 
 the all-devouring scythe of time ; and the 
 quiver and the bow have become relics 
 among nations, as the symbols of a past 
 age, and of an almost extinct race. Before 
 this consummation was attained, many 
 horrible scenes transpired; and the vast 
 wilderness of that part of the west had 
 almost been crimsoned with blood. Ten 
 nessee, with Kentucky, had been, from time 
 immemorial, a hunting-park for the Indians 
 of the north, and for those of the south. 
 Encroachments upon each other often led 
 to long and protracted wars ; and when 
 these different tribes beheld the pale faces 
 entering their cherished hunting-grounds, 
 they resisted their progress with every 
 species of warfare calculated to make them 
 desist. After the treaty of Ashley Ferry, 
 however, the Cherokees ceased, for some 
 time, to disturb the settlements of the 
 whites in the Holston valley. The great 
 highway from Virginia and the Caro- 
 linas to Kentucky, ran through the eastern 
 part of Tennessee ; and many of the emi 
 grants were content to locate in the valleys 
 of the Appalachian ranges, rather than go 
 farther into the wilderness towards the 
 Ohio river. Thus it was that the eastern 
 part of Tennessee had become considerably 
 settled before the close of the revolutionary 
 war ; but, in selecting places to locate upon, 
 the emigrants frequently trespassed upon 
 the rights of the Cherokees, who did not 
 fail to remonstrate against the encroach 
 ments. As this occurred, the government 
 agents bought a continuation of peace by 
 presents ; and, at the same time, effected 
 a change of boundary. For these purposes, 
 the treaty of Hard Labour was executed in 
 1708; the treaty of Lochabear, in 1770; 
 another between Virginia and the Cherokees, 
 
 205 
 
ATTACK ON WATAUGA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1776. 
 
 in 1772; another at the Sycamore shoals, 
 in 1775 ; and others from time to time. 
 Besides these government treaties, in 
 dividuals and associations made purchases 
 of the Cherokees ; and in this manner the 
 settlers rapidly got possession of vast re 
 gions in the Holston valleys. In the early 
 part of the year 1776, the people residing 
 upon the Watauga, petitioned the con 
 gress of North Carolina, to be permitted to 
 send a representative from their district ; 
 and, in November of that year, a delegate 
 attended the provincial congress that as 
 sembled at Halifax. While the people 
 were thus engaged in the effort to bring 
 themselves under the protection of the 
 government, the Cherokees became restless, 
 and determined to prevent further immigra 
 tion into their country, by destroying 
 the inhabitants of the Watauga. They 
 made extensive arrangements to invade 
 the settled districts, and organised a force 
 of about 600 warriors to make certain their 
 savage designs. The intended attack was 
 made known to the whites by the friendly 
 Indians, and they immediately prepared 
 for defence. As the colonies were then at 
 war with the mother country, it was sup 
 posed that British subjects instigated and 
 encouraged the savages to engage in a war 
 against the whites; but of this there seems 
 to be no positive evidence. Scouts having 
 been dispatched to discover the approach 
 of the Indians, returned on the 19th of 
 July, 1776, and reported that they had 
 seen many Cherokees approaching the 
 settlement. Upon receiving this informa 
 tion, 170 men formed themselves under 
 military orders, and proceeded, on the 20th, 
 in two divisions, with flankers on each 
 side, and scouts in front, to meet the 
 enemy before they approached any of the 
 settlements. They had marched but a 
 short distance before they met some twenty 
 Indians, who were fired upon ; but all suc 
 ceeded in making their escape. The whites 
 then attempted to retreat ; but ere they had 
 proceeded more than a mile, a large In 
 dian force attacked their rear, which 
 brought on a general engagement. The 
 Indians endeavoured to surround the whites ; 
 but not being in sufficient force to accom 
 plish that movement successfully, they ex 
 posed themselves to the rapid and well- 
 aimed fire of their enemy. The battle of 
 Watauga continued but ten minutes, by 
 which time the Indians were so severely 
 cut to pieces, that they were compelled to 
 206 
 
 retire in great disorder. Their loss was 
 never ascertained ; thirteen of them, how 
 ever, were seen dead upon the field. None 
 of the whites were killed. The battle was 
 quickly fought, although the engagement 
 extended over a quarter of a mile. The 
 savages abandoned, upon the field, " a great 
 deal of plunder, and many guns." 
 
 The day after the battle just noticed, 
 another division of the Cherokees, under 
 the command of Old Abraham, a distin 
 guished chief of Chilhowee, invaded the 
 Watauga. The old warrior was noted for 
 his cunning and strategetic powers. He 
 led his well-equipped savages along the 
 foot of the mountain by the Mallichucky 
 path, hoping to surprise and massacre the 
 entire population of the Watauga settle 
 ment. The whites having heard of the 
 intended invasion, pi-epared to resist it with 
 a united force ; and, to that end, all the 
 garrisons of the adjacent valleys collected 
 at the Watauga, and organised themselves 
 at one common army. Old Abraham 
 having arrived at the fort, invested it with 
 his host of warriors, and then made a 
 furious attack, hoping to take it by assault ; 
 " but, by the unerring aim of the riflemen 
 within it, and the determined bravery of 
 men protecting their women and children 
 from capture and massacre, the assailants 
 were repulsed with considerable loss. No 
 one in the fort was wounded." The In 
 dians continued to infest the country for 
 some twenty days, and in that time the rein 
 forcements from the other stations arrived 
 forming a combined force of sufficient 
 strength to resist all attacks that might be 
 made upon them by the Cherokees. The 
 Indians, however, changed their plans of 
 warfare ; and, instead of marching in strong 
 forces, they divided themselves into small 
 bands, and scattered through the wilder 
 ness, thus organised, to all parts of the 
 settlement, murdering the pioneers, and 
 destroying their property. These devas- j 
 tating incursions were extended along the 
 Holston, Clinch, and other rivers beyond j 
 the mountains, into Virginia and North 
 Carolina. The savages continued in their 
 course during a period of some three 
 months. But these local disasters, and the 
 individual assaults, we leave to be described 
 by the state historians. 
 
 The Cherokee nation, about 1776, as 
 Drayton informs us, occupied all the terri 
 tory west and north of the upper set 
 tlements in Georgia, and west of the 
 
A.D. 1776.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DESTRUCTION OF VILLAGES. 
 
 Carolinas, including the present Tennessee 
 country, and south-western Virginia. They 
 were the most warlike and enterprising of 
 the native tribes of America ; and the 
 most numerous, excepting the Creeks, who 
 lived southward towards the Atlantic coast. 
 Their intercourse, and the various wars 
 with the whites, had made them acquainted 
 with the use of small arms, and some of 
 the modes of civilised life. They had made 
 some advances in the useful arts, and in 
 agricultural skill. They lived in towns of 
 various sizes ; their government was simple ; 
 and, in time of war, especially, the authority 
 of their chiefs and warriors was supreme. 
 Their country was known by three great 
 geographical divisions namely, the "lower 
 settlement," the " middle settlement/ and 
 the " upper settlement :" the latter, how 
 ever, was sometimes called, " the towns 
 over the hills." The first of these settle 
 ments had about 356 warriors ; the second 
 about 878 ; and the latter about 757 ; and 
 in the adjacent country there were about 
 500 more ; making an army of about 2,491 
 warriors, and an aggregate population of 
 at least 5,000. 
 
 Notwithstanding the repeated pledges 
 made by the Cherokees to live at peace 
 with the whites, they continued to mas 
 sacre the inhabitants upon the frontiers, 
 and destroy all the houses and corn of those 
 unoffending people. It has been alleged 
 that the Indians were instigated, at this 
 period, to wage war against the Americans 
 by British emissaries ; but we have not been 
 able to find the charge sustained by any 
 other evidence than Indian assertion. The 
 savage tribes north-west of the Ohio were 
 differently situated, and they were formally 
 enrolled, as tribes, to war against the fron 
 tiers of Virginia, including the Kentucky 
 district : their incursions under Hamil 
 ton, of Detroit, did much injury to the 
 Americans. The expeditions down the 
 Wabaah, under Hamilton, and those under 
 Girty and Bird, to Kentucky and West 
 Virginia, have been fully noted in former 
 chapters of this work, as parts of the revo 
 lutionary struggle by and between the 
 Americans and British : they were not the 
 result of Indianic difficulties, as was the 
 case with the Cherokees. The wars with 
 the latter did not come under the same 
 rule of action ; they were not formally 
 enrolled within the British system of inva 
 sion ; and the difficulties with those Indians 
 must be considered separately, and as 
 
 more particularly local in the settlement of 
 that section of America. It cannot be 
 doubted but that many wicked men, mostly 
 Tories, endeavoured to serve the British 
 cause by instigating the Cherokees to war 
 against the Americans ; but these counsels 
 were only excuses for the savages, whose 
 revenge had not been satiated by the re 
 peated murders and depredations committed 
 by them upon the whites residing along 
 the frontiers. 
 
 It was impossible to induce the Chero 
 kees to desist from their schemes for ex 
 tirpating the whites from the Tennessee 
 country ; and, notwithstanding the severe 
 chastisements which had been administered 
 to them, as hereinbefore narrated, it became 
 necessary to again invade their settlements 
 in the summer of the year 1776, and, with 
 out mercy, or the slightest commiseration, 
 punish them with fire and the sword. Not, 
 only had the Cherokees ravaged the eastern 
 settlements of the whites, and loaded their 
 own backs with the scalps of the men, 
 women, and children of that part of the 
 country, but they extended their work of 
 destruction southward into Georgia and 
 South Carolina. To put an end to their 
 fiendish propensities, a concerted invasion of 
 the Indian settlements was fixed upon ; and, 
 accordingly, an army was sent from Geor 
 gia, and another from North Carolina and 
 Virginia, to overrun the country, and ad 
 minister to the savages the most dire pun 
 ishment. Colonel McBury and Major Jack, 
 from Georgia, entered the Indian settlement 
 on Tugaloo, defeated the savages, and burnt 
 their towns on that river. They also pro 
 ceeded farther northward ; but, for the time 
 being, did not do any other damage. Gen 
 eral Williamson marched forward his South 
 Carolina militia, consisting of 1,150 men, 
 to meet a large body of Esseneca Indians, 
 encamped at Oconoree ; and, after a short 
 engagement, he defeated the enemy, burnt 
 their towns, and destroyed their pro 
 perty, including a large amount of provi 
 sions. The places reduced to ashes wero 
 Sugartown, Soconee, Keowee, Ostatoy, Tu 
 galoo, and Brasstown. Williamson then 
 marched against Tomassee, Cherokee, and 
 Eustustie, where, observing a recent trail 
 of the enemy, he made pursuit, soon over 
 took them, and, after a short engage 
 ment, killed 300 warriors, and routed the 
 remnant of the savage host. 
 
 The North Carolina and Virginia forces, 
 consisting of above 2,000 men, having been 
 
 207 
 
BATTLE ox BOYD S CREEK.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A D. 1781. 
 
 united, under the command of General 
 Rutherford, marched forward, through the 
 Swannanoo Gap, that divided the Blue 
 Ridge of the Appalachian mountains : he 
 then followed the river to its mouth, near 
 which they crossed the French Broad river ; 
 and from thence they proceeded up Hominy 
 Creek, and, after a circuitous route, they 
 ascended the Cowee mountains, where they 
 had an engagement with the Indians. From 
 thence the army marched to the middle 
 towns of the Cherokees, on the Tennessee 
 river, where they expected to form a junc 
 tion with General Williamson. At this 
 place a small division was left as a guard 
 over the country, in the rear of the main 
 army, which then moved onward to Hi- 
 wassee towns. All the villages were found 
 to be vacated, the warriors having fled, 
 with their squaws and children, to the fast 
 nesses of the mountains. A few were killed, 
 and. all the houses, crops, stock, and every 
 species of property, were destroyed ; and, 
 after levelling to the earth about forty 
 Cherokee towns, the army, finding no enemy 
 before them, returned by the route they had 
 
 come. 
 
 Besides the formidable expeditions which 
 we have noticed, there were several others of 
 lesser numbers, that invaded the country, 
 and burnt the villages, destroyed the crops, 
 and killed many wandering bands of the 
 savages, who were skulking about the white 
 settlements, for the purpose of murdering 
 the whites, and plundering their houses. 
 The various successes of the whites had re 
 duced the Cherokees to great want and dis 
 tress. Their pride had been humbled, and 
 they felt that they could no longer resist 
 the encroachments of the pale-faced race. 
 They had attempted to satiate a blood 
 thirsty revenge ; and, instead of attaining 
 success, they found that, within a few 
 months, their country had been desolated 
 by " fire and sword ;" and that there was 
 no hope for any ulterior gain, except 
 through the blessings of peace. The chiefs 
 of the different divisions of the Cherokee 
 country sought for peace a formal burial 
 of the hatchet. Treaties were finally exe 
 cuted between the authorised agents of the 
 Cherokees and the commissioners from the 
 states of South Carolina, North Carolina, 
 and Virginia. Large cessions of lands were 
 made by the Indians, which reduced the 
 dominion of the tribes east and south of the 
 former settlements. 
 
 In 1780, another outbreak of the Indians 
 208 
 
 seriously disturbed the frontier settlers, 
 and it became necessary to invade their 
 country with a force of sufficient strength 
 to terminate their depredations. An army, 
 consisting of 700 mounted men, was being 
 raised on the upper waters of the Holston, 
 when Colonel John Sevier started on an 
 independent expedition to meet the Indians, 
 then supposed to be marching upon the 
 Watauga settlements, lie met the enemy, 
 and fought a battle on Boyd s Creek, near 
 Big Island, beyond French Broad river ; 
 routed the savages, and then returned to 
 the main army, which was formed into 
 three divisions, fully equipped, and prepared 
 to make an invasion that would, it was 
 hoped, put an end to the Cherokee? as 
 their enemies. The army, consisting of the 
 700 men, was composed of a regiment from 
 Virginia, under the command of Colonel 
 Arthur Campbell, and a body of troops 
 from North Carolina, under the command 
 of Major Martin. This imposing array of 
 soldiers took up their line of inarch, and 
 crossed the Little Tennessee, three miles 
 below Chotee. Small divisions of this 
 army were dispatched in different direc 
 tions, with orders to spare neither Indiana 
 nor their towns ; and, within a few days, 
 every village between the Tennessee and 
 Iliwassee rivers was destroyed. The In 
 dians fled from their towns, and wan 
 dered into the hills, and, from their lofty 
 positions, beheld the flames reducing to 
 ashes all that they had on earth. The 
 cattle and swine were all killed ; every 
 wigwam was levelled to the earth ; and 
 devastation was spread over the face of the 
 country. 
 
 The army marched onward to the Coosa, 
 and village after village was destroyed ; 
 and the work of destruction only ceased 
 when there were no more places that could 
 be subjected to the blazing torch. The 
 army then returned to the Watauga. On 
 the 4th of January, 1781, Campbell, Sevier, 
 and Martin, commanders of the respective 
 divisions of the army, transmitted to the 
 Indians a proposition for a treaty of peace ; 
 but it was not acceded to by the chiefs ; 
 and, instead thereof, they began to rally 
 their warriors in a secret gorge of the 
 mountains, for the purpose of making a 
 desperate attack upon the settlers of the 
 Ilolston. Sevier ascertained the fact ; and 
 in March, 1781, he collected about 130 
 hardy men, and, by a rapid march, entered, 
 undisturbed, the middle settlement of the 
 
A.D. 1784.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [STATE OF FRANKLIN. 
 
 Cherokees. He took by surprise Tuckasejuh, 
 situated on the head waters of the Lit 
 tle Tennessee ; fifty warriors were slain, 
 and fifty women and children were taken 
 prisoners. They burnt about twenty towns, 
 and all the granaries of maize that could 
 be found : only one white man was killed ; 
 and the expedition returned, after an 
 absence of twenty-nine days. In Api il, the 
 Cherokees again approached the white 
 settlement, and murdered several of the 
 pioneers ; immediately after which, Sevier 
 collected a company, consisting of sixty-five 
 men, and proceeded to scour the country 
 for the savages. He crossed the French 
 Broad river at the War Ford, where he 
 discovered an Indian trail, which he fol 
 lowed until he overtook the fleeing savages, 
 surrounded their camp, and killed seven 
 teen of their warriors ; Sevier then re 
 turned, without having lost a single man. 
 Various other expeditions went, from time 
 to time, against the Indians, until, in 1782, 
 a treaty was formed, which terminated, for 
 awhile, hostilities between the white and 
 red races. 
 
 The revolutionary war having terminated, 
 many of the people of Virginia and the 
 Carolinas began to seek new homes in the 
 west ; others of them passed the great Ap 
 palachian chain of mountains, and erected 
 their tents with the boughs of trees, in the 
 fertile regions and genial clime of Ken 
 tucky ; but some preferred the beautiful 
 valleys of the eastern part of Tennessee, 
 and located on the Holston and its tribu 
 taries. There was no river in the world more 
 enchantingly majestic than this beautiful 
 
 stream. Viewed from the summits of the 
 Appalachian peaks, winding its course 
 through the mountains, it resembled a 
 beautiful ribbon unfolded upon nature s 
 carpet. The pioneers found the banks 
 lined with all the varieties of verdure com 
 mon to that wild climate, and the trees 
 were lofty and gigantic in proportion. The 
 valleys were covered with a rich and luxuri 
 ant soil ; and the pure crystal-like waters 
 gushed from the mountains sides in great 
 quantities, and rippled through the vales 
 to the mightier stream of the Ilolston ; the 
 strawberries, whortleberries, raspberries, 
 mulberries, blackberries, wild- grapes, plums, 
 and other varieties of fruits, of the most 
 delicious flavour, were to be found in every 
 part of the country. And, although the 
 whole region was one vast forest, yet the 
 earth was covered with the richest grass, 
 beautified with all the varieties of wild 
 flowers. The heat of summer was not op 
 pressive, and the cold of winter was mild ; 
 the days and nights were nearly equal ; and 
 the sun, moon, and stars seemed to be more 
 brilliant than elsewhere upon the face of the 
 earth : the " Indian summer" of autumn 
 was like a divine halo, imparting to all 
 nature new life and vigour. The dews of 
 heaven were refreshing to the blossoms ; 
 and the listening ear could hear the swell 
 ing of the maize. The heat-lightning, at 
 eve, presented scenes of awe ; but the 
 brilliancy of the milky-way, that spanned 
 the whole canopy of the heavens, inspired 
 the mind with calm and serene reflections. 
 The Cherokee country was truthfully called 
 " The land of pure delight." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 STATE OF FRANKLIN ORGANISED AND ABANDONED ; CHICKASAW INDIANS j TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT ; 
 TENNESSEE ADMITTED INTO THE UNION AS A STATE, 1796. 
 
 IMMF.DTATF.LY after the revolutionary war, 
 the general assembly of North Carolina 
 proceeded to organise the settlements upon 
 the Holston and its tributaries ; additional 
 counties were formed; judicial tribunals 
 constituted at such places as were deemed 
 
 necessary by the people of that district ; 
 land offices were opened, that the inhabitants 
 might register their lands, and perfect the 
 titles thereto; and all such other mea 
 sures adopted as were considered promotive 
 of the public good. In 1777, Washington 
 
 209 
 
SEVIER ELECTED GOVERNOR ] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1785. 
 
 county was formed, having been taken from 
 Burke and Wilkes counties (North Carolina 
 proper) ; that is to say, the subsequent line 
 dividing Tennessee from North Carolina, 
 placed the territory of Washington in the 
 former, and the counties of Burke and 
 Wilkes in the latter. From AVashington 
 Sullivan was formed in 1779 ; Greene, 1783 ; 
 Davidson, 1783 ; Sumner, 1786 ; Hawkins, 
 1786; and Tennessee, 1788. These seven 
 counties were erected by the legislature of 
 North Carolina. In 1789, North Carolina 
 passed an act to cede the territory of Ten 
 nessee to the federal government ; and, by 
 authority of congress, a territorial govern 
 ment was subsequently formed therein. 
 
 Before we proceed to describe the legiti 
 mate organisation of the state, we deem it 
 proper to give an account of the effort to 
 erect the state of Franklin out of the eastern 
 part of the territory. This arose from its 
 being considered, by many of the inhabit 
 ants, that the organisation of the Holston 
 settlement was incomplete. They had no 
 practical political status; and, in order to 
 better their condition, they elected deputies 
 from the counties of Washington, Sullivan, 
 and Greene, who assembled at Jonesborough 
 on the 23rd of August, 1784, and declared it 
 right and proper that the district should be 
 recognised as an independent state. Besides 
 this, several other conventions were con 
 vened, for the purpose of perfecting the 
 plans for a state organisation. The legisla 
 ture of North Carolina perceived the pro 
 gress that was being made for the formation 
 of a state ; and at its session, in the latter 
 part of the year 1784, passed an act to 
 repeal the Cession Bill that had been 
 enacted for the transfer of its western ter 
 ritory to the federal government; and, in 
 this manner, the North Carolinians supposed 
 they had nipped in the bud the measures 
 taken for the organisation of the new state. 
 It did not, however, lessen the determina 
 tion of the people beyond the mountains, 
 who, with a fixed resolution, proceeded 
 with their election of delegates to a con 
 vention, for the purpose of devising all 
 necessary plans, having in view the con- 
 s Animation of their independence and 
 sovereignty. The convention assembled at 
 Jonesborough in 1785 : a form of constitu 
 tion, under which the new government of 
 the state of Franklin should be put in 
 motion, was submitted and agreed to, sub 
 ject to the ratification, modification, or 
 rejection of a future convention, directed 
 210 
 
 to be chosen by the people, and to meet on 
 the 14th of November, 1785, at Grenville. 
 It was also ordained that members should 
 | be elected to the legislature of the new 
 state ; and that all proceedings of the gov 
 ernment and its officials should be con 
 formable to the laws of North Carolina, so 
 far as they could be made to apply within 
 their jurisdiction. In due time the election 
 ! of members to the legislature took place, 
 and that body was convened in the town of 
 ; Jonesborough, in March, 1785, and ad- 
 journed on the 31st of that month. John 
 Sevier was elected governor, a judiciary 
 system was established, and various other 
 measures calculated to perfect their political 
 existence as a state, were ordained. Some 
 fourteen acts were passed : among them was 
 one for the formation of Spencer, Caswell, 
 Wayne, and Sevier counties. The style of 
 enactment was " Be it enacted by the gen 
 eral assembly of the state of Franklin." 
 
 The news of the formation of the new 
 state was received by the people of North 
 Carolina with much surprise, and with 
 considerable doubt; but, in a short time 
 thereafter, they were officially informed of 
 the proceedings of the new state by its 
 executive. A communication was ad 
 dressed to Governor Martin, of North 
 Carolina, signed by John Sevier, governor, 
 and Landon Carter and William Cage, as 
 speakers of the senate and House of Com 
 mons of the state of Franklin, announcing 
 that they and a part of the inhabitants of 
 the territory lately ceded to congress, had 
 declared themselves independent of the 
 state of North Carolina, and no longer con 
 sidered themselves under the sovereignty and 
 jurisdiction of the same. This official notifi 
 cation of the severance of the people from 
 the state, induced Governor Martin to issue 
 a circular, under date of April 7th, 1785, 
 convening the executive council at Hills- 
 borough, on the 22nd of that month, to take 
 into consideration the rebellious proceedings 
 of the people in the western counties, who 
 "had declared themselves independent of the 
 state of North Carolina, and had refused, and 
 do refuse, to pay obedience to the jurisdic 
 tion and sovereignty of the same." Three 
 j days after the date of this circular, he 
 I issued a proclamation, declaring, "Whereas, 
 I have received undoubted information of 
 the revolt of the inhabitants of Washing 
 ton, Greene, and Sullivan counties, who have 
 declared themseves independent of the state 
 of North Carolina, under the name of the 
 
A.n. 17S5.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NORTH CAROLINA OPPOSITION. 
 
 state of Franklin," The governor also 
 ordered the convening of the legislature on 
 the 1st of June, to take into consideration 
 the said revolt. On the same day he 
 issued a proclamation, calling upon the 
 people of the rebellious district to desist 
 from their revolt, and return to their alle 
 giance as citizens of the state of North 
 Carolina. He urged the inhabitants of the 
 new state not to tarnish the laurels they 
 had so gloriously won at King s Mountain, 
 and elsewhere, in support of the freedom 
 and independence of the country, and of 
 their state in particular, to be whose citi 
 zens was then their boast. He implored 
 them not to be concerned in a black and 
 traitorous revolt from that government in 
 whose defence they had so copiously bled, 
 and by solemn oath were then bound to 
 support. He advised them to return to 
 their allegiance, and then proceed, in 
 a proper and legitimate manner, to sever 
 their connection from North Carolina ; and 
 in all proper proceedings they would re 
 ceive the sanction of congress and of the 
 legislature of the state. To this proclama 
 tion, Governor Sevier, of the state of 
 Franklin, issued, on the 14th of May, 
 1785, an answer, in which he assured the 
 governor of North Carolina, that they had 
 not intended to pursue any course in viola 
 tion of law ; and that their proceedings 
 were justified by the Cession Bill, and other 
 acts of the general government and of the 
 state. The document was dignified, and 
 couched in language respectful to the 
 party to whom it was addressed ; but, at 
 the same time, no indication was given 
 that the people of the new state would stop 
 in their plans for effecting an independent 
 government. Governor Caswell, who suc 
 ceeded Martin, responded in a very mild 
 tone, and expressed great satisfaction on 
 hearing that the government of Franklin 
 was intended to be formed in a manner 
 consistent with the interests of his state, 
 and of the federal government. 
 
 While these political proceedings were 
 taking place, the Indians, in the west, were 
 beginning to show signs of war; and, on 
 an examination of the facts, it was ascer 
 tained that the Spaniards had been en 
 deavouring to engage the Indians to assist 
 them in sustaining the Spanish claim to 
 certain parts of the western country, and 
 the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi 
 river. These impending troubles strength 
 ened the confidence of the people of Frank 
 
 lin that they would succeed in their de 
 signs. At the same time, too, an effort 
 was made by the inhabitants of the western 
 part of Virginia to get the consent of the 
 legislature of that state, to permit that 
 section of country to be united to the state 
 of Franklin ; but Governor Henry quietly 
 and timely stopped the movement. In the 
 meantime, the members and legislature of 
 | the new state were elected ; and after that 
 body had assembled, a new organic instru 
 ment was considered, the first constitution 
 having been rejected by a small majority. 
 The president, General Sevier, presented 
 . the constitution of North Carolina, as the 
 foundation of that of the new state. A 
 ! majority of the assembly concurred in 
 ; the proposition ; and the constitution of 
 that state was slightly remodelled, and 
 then the revised instrument was adopted 
 by a small majority. The name of the 
 state was a matter of discussion, whether it 
 should be " Franklin," in honour of Ben 
 jamin Franklin, or "Frankland," as the 
 land of freedom : the former name was 
 adopted ; but in many of the printed 
 documents the latter is applied. 
 
 In the meantime, the settlements under 
 the authority of the treaties entered into 
 between the state of Franklin and the 
 Cherokee Indians, were rapidly spreading 
 westward towards the Duck river country. 
 Depredations were occasionally committed 
 by the savages, under the plea that the 
 whites had made illegal encroachments 
 upon their lands. The federal congress 
 having jurisdiction over the Indians, pro 
 ceeded to hold a convention with the Che- 
 rokees at Hopewell, on Keowee, in South 
 Carolina ; and commissioners were ap 
 pointed to meet the chiefs of that nation 
 in November, 1785. A treaty was signed 
 ! on the 28th of that month, by which the 
 ! boundaries of the Cherokee lands were 
 fixed ; and the federal government guaran- 
 ! teed to protect the Cherokees in the en- 
 j joyment of their country, undisturbed from 
 encroachments on the part of the whites. 
 : On the 31st of July, 1786, another con 
 vention was held with the Cherokees at 
 | Coiatee, by authority of Governor Sevier, 
 ! of the state of Franklin ; at which the 
 I commissioners executed a treaty with Old 
 i Tassel and Hanging Maw, of the Cherokees, 
 which fixed the boundaries of the lands to 
 i be occupied by the white and red men 
 ! respectively. 
 
 I On the *19th of November, the legisla- 
 
 211 
 
STATE OF FRANKLIN ABANDONED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1788. 
 
 ture of North Carolina was convened at New- 
 bern, when a law was enacted, granting par 
 don to all who had been engaged in the erec 
 tion of the state of Franklin ; declaring that 
 the assembly was ready " to pass over, and 
 consign to oblivion, the mistakes and mis 
 conduct of such persons, in the above-men 
 tioned counties, as have withdrawn them 
 selves from the government of this state." 
 The people belonging to the revolted dis! - let 
 of Washington county, accepted the proffered 
 pardon ; and, in 1786, they elected a dele 
 gate to the North Carolina legislature. 
 The courts, acting under the authority of 
 the two governments, had frequent conflicts; 
 and, on several occasions, the judges had to 
 maintain their authority by force of arms. 
 The officials frequently came into collision 
 with each other, and the strongest men were 
 usually appointed to office, that they might 
 maintain their positions by personal assault, 
 whenever found necessary. This state of 
 things continued for some time, and, in 
 fact, until the latter part of the year 1786 ; 
 when Governor Sevier appointed commis 
 sioners to proceed to the government of 
 North Carolina, for the purpose of adjust 
 ing the matters of difference, having in 
 view a recognition of the new state. The 
 commissioners attended the legislature, and 
 were heard at the bar of the house ; but 
 the legislature had gone too far, in its de 
 nunciation of the revolters, to withdraw 
 from a determined maintenance of their 
 authority and sovereignty over the dis 
 affected district. It was willing to forgive 
 and pardon all who had been engaged in 
 the illegal proceedings, but farther it 
 would not go towards pacification. The 
 people of Franklin were dissatisfied with 
 the consideration given to the propositions 
 submitted by their commissioners to the 
 legislature, and the probability of a civil 
 war seemed to be strengthening. When 
 the resolution of the people was unmis 
 takably manifested, Governor Caswell, of 
 North Carolina, appointed General Evan 
 Shelby a commissioner to visit the district, 
 for the purpose of arranging such mea 
 sures as would effect a peaceful solution 
 of the differences. Sevier and Shelby 
 met, on the 20th of March, 1787, in Sul 
 livan county ; when an agreement was 
 entered into, stipulating that taxes could 
 be paid to either government, and that 
 trials by either court should be valid, and 
 there should be no farther disturbances 
 between the officials of the states until the 
 212 
 
 next session of the North Carolina legis 
 lature, when the people of Franklin were 
 to represent their grievances, for the pur 
 pose of putting an end to the controversy. 
 In May, Governor Caswell transmitted a 
 letter to " the inhabitants of the counties 
 of Washington, Sullivan, Greene, and 
 Hawkins," addressing them as " friends and 
 fellow-citizens;" in which he urged them 
 to desist in their illegal career, and yield 
 obedience to the laws of North Carolina ; 
 to abide their time for the formation of a 
 new state ; and that, so soon as their 
 numbers were sufficient, they might con 
 fidently expect one to be formed, with the 
 consent and cordial approval of the legis- 
 ture, and of the federal government. He 
 deplored the consequences of a strife, and 
 reminded them that the savage tribes 
 would be sure to avail themselves of the 
 civil war, to carry out their fiendish pur 
 poses. This patriotic and affectionate docu 
 ment won for the governor new laurels ; 
 and its pacific tone, with the assurances 
 given, produced a general change in the 
 public opinion ; and, on the 1st of March, 
 in the year 1788, the state of Franklin 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 Before proceeding to consider the political 
 organisations for the ultimate admission of 
 Tennessee into the federal union, we deem 
 it necessary to make but a brief reference 
 to the Chickasaw Indians, who occupied the 
 territory tying between the Tennessee and 
 Mississippi rivers, including so much of 
 Kentucky as lay between those two rivers. 
 The more powerful Cherokees occupied a 
 vast region north of Georgia, and lying 
 upon the head waters of the Savannah, 
 Tombigby, and Tennessee rivers. The 
 richest lands of the district of Tennessee 
 were between the rivers Tennessee and 
 Cumberland ; but the whites settled more 
 eastward, on the waters of the Hols ton and 
 Clinch ; and it was through this region the 
 Virginians and North Carolinians passed 
 onward to Kentucky. 
 
 The western division of Tennessee, occu 
 pied by the Chickasaw Indians, was but 
 little inhabited by the whites until the early 
 part of the present century. The Chickasaw 
 Indians, the native proprietors of this land, 
 were originally friendly to the civilised race ; 
 but, after various depredations had been 
 committed upon their rights, they became 
 incorrigible arid desperate enemies to the 
 whites ; and that which served to incense 
 them the most was the injudicious act of 
 
AD. 1789.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the Virginia government, ordering Clarice 
 to construct Fort Jefferson,* and the battle 
 that occurred at that place in 1781. In 
 1783, the Chickasaws assembled in the 
 vicinity of Nashville, at Robertson s sta 
 tion ; and a treaty was concluded with them, 
 in which they ceded to North Cai olina 
 tJ e regions of country extending nearly 
 forty miles south of the Cumberland river, 
 to the ridge dividing the tributaries of that 
 stream from those of Duck and Elk ;f and, 
 at this consultation, the Chickasaws pro 
 mised non-interruption. The policy of 
 8pain, then the proprietor of Louisiana, or 
 all the territory west of the Mississippi 
 river, was to secure the affection, if not the 
 aid, of all the southern Indians; and the 
 Spanish traders were not scrupulous in 
 encouraging the savages against the more 
 eastern white settlers, whenever that encou 
 ragement could be calculated to subserve 
 their own pecuniary interest. The agents 
 of Spain harmonised with the traders ; and, 
 in fact, they were, in most cases, the same 
 persons. These officials of the Louisiana 
 territory invited the different tribes to meet, 
 and hold a conference with them at the 
 Walnut Hills. After this consultation, the 
 Indians seemed to be more inveterate against 
 the American pioneers than ever they had 
 been before. It is true, however, that no 
 large body of Chickasaw Indians invaded the 
 country occupied by the whites; but there 
 seems to have been an organised system for 
 the scattering of small bands of warriors, 
 to pursue and exterminate the settlers ; 
 the warriors constantly waylaid the paths 
 between the settlements, and, while lying 
 in ambush near the houses, springs, 
 and corn-fields, they were enabled to kill 
 many of the men, women, and children. 
 At that time the whole country was one 
 vast forest, except here and there, miles 
 apart, a few acres of cultivated land, near 
 to or around the cabin. The wild cane 
 grew so thick in the valle3 s and on the 
 lesser hills, that it was almost impossible to 
 travel through the brakes. At the treaty 
 of Hope well, January 10th, 1786, the 
 hunting-lands of the Chickasaws were fixed 
 to lie between a line running with the 
 ridges dividing the waters of the Cumber 
 land from the Tennessee river on the east, 
 the Mississippi river on the west, the Ohio 
 on the north, and the Natchez district on 
 
 * Sre ante, vol. 5. , p. 563. 
 f Monvtte, vol. ii., p. 2G8. 
 | A brake was land covered with cane. 
 VOL. IT. 2 F 
 
 the south ; this cession was, however, but a 
 confirmation of the treaty of 1783. By 
 this treaty, the friendship of the Chickasaws 
 was secured for awhile, at least ; and in the 
 meantime the whites rapidly entered the 
 country relinquished by the Indians. The 
 individual, or single-handed conflicts with 
 the savages were many, desperate, and 
 often fatal to the white and red people. 
 These deeds of daring we leave to be de 
 scribed by the state annalists. 
 
 The congress of the United States 
 enacted a law, August 7th, 1789, for the 
 organisation of the government for the 
 " territory south-west of the Ohio river," 
 subsequently known as the state of Ten 
 nessee. President Washington appointed 
 William Blount, of North Carolina, gov 
 ernor of the new territory, in August, 1790 ; 
 David Campbell and Joseph Anderson were 
 appointed judges, who, with Blount, were 
 charged with the administration of the 
 new government. In the autumn of that 
 year, the governor and judges entered 
 upon the duties of their respective offices, 
 and were eminently successful in their 
 official conduct. They travelled over the 
 settlements, and made themselves familiar 
 with the country and the people. The 
 population at that time was widely sepa 
 rated, and scattered through the valleys of 
 the Upper Tennessee and Holston, though 
 the whole of the regions inhabited was 
 comparatively small : they extended from 
 the Virginia line on the east, in a penin 
 sular shape, south-west to the waters of 
 Little Tennessee, a distance of about 150 
 miles in length, by a width of, perhaps, an 
 average of forty miles; but the people 
 were far apart from each other, located 
 upon the rich " bottom lands" of the rivers. 
 On the south of the settlements were the 
 smoky and other mountains ; and these 
 lofty ridges were occupied and claimed by 
 the Indians : the west was bounded by the 
 acknowledged Cherokee and Chickasaw 
 Indianic countries; the north by the 
 vast ranges of the Clinch and Cumberland 
 mountains. The settlements were, there 
 fore, upon the banks of the Holston, Nolli- 
 chucky, French Broad, and their tribu 
 taries; and the whole population did not 
 exceed 30,000. Besides these, however, 
 there were a few settlements beyond the 
 mountains, on the Cumberland and Red 
 rivers ; but they were more or less in con 
 nection with the Kentucky pioneers. The 
 fertile regions of the Cumberland soon after 
 
 213 
 
STATE OF TENNESSEE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1796. 
 
 became rapidly inhabited by " excellent 
 people," who gave an impetus to the country, 
 that outstripped, within a few years, the 
 older settlements upon the Holston. 
 
 The governor and judges passed all 
 necessary acts for the successful adminis 
 tration of the affairs of the territory; such 
 as, for example, the organisation of inferior 
 courts, erection of court-houses and gaols, 
 the enrolment of the militia, and the 
 establishment of military stations. They 
 also organised the counties of Jefferson 
 and Knox, in 1792. 
 
 In 1793, an estimate of the number of 
 inhabitants was made ; and it was found 
 that there were more than 5,000 free 
 males residing in the territory; the num 
 ber required to entitle them to have an 
 assembly and legislative council, as pro 
 vided in the ordinance of congress, enacted 
 in 1787. The election of delegates took 
 place in December ; and the first legislature 
 was convened, by proclamation of the gov 
 ernor, on the 4th of February, 1794, at 
 Knoxville. On that occasion ten persons 
 were elected ; from whom five were chosen 
 by the federal government to serve in the 
 legislative council. Prior to the assembling 
 of the legislature, the governor and judges 
 had exercised not only executive and judi 
 cial, but also legislative powers. The or 
 dinance enacted by congress, for the organ 
 isation of the government for the territory 
 south of the Ohio river, provided that the 
 governor and judges, or a majority of 
 them, should adopt and publish, in the 
 district within their jurisdiction, such laws 
 of the original states, criminal and civil, as 
 might, in their judgment, be deemed ne 
 cessary and promotive of the public good ; 
 and they were to report all such proceedings 
 to congress, from time to time ; which laws 
 were to be in force in the district until 
 the organisation of the general assembly 
 therein, unless disapproved of by congress ; 
 but, afterwards, the legislature of the terri 
 tory was to have authority to alter the 
 laws as it deemed proper. The legislature 
 was to consist of the governor, legislative 
 council, and a House of Representatives ; and, 
 conformably to these laws, the legislature 
 assembled at the time and place before- 
 mentioned. President Washington having 
 received the nominations for the executive 
 council, he duly appointed Griffith Ruther 
 ford, John Sevicr, James Winchester, Stock- 
 ley Donelson, and Pamenas Taylor, coun 
 cillors, as aforesaid. Divers and sundry 
 214 
 
 acts were passed by this body, having in 
 view the protection of the settlers from the 
 incursions of the savages, and the adminis 
 tration of the public affairs of the country. 
 It was declared, in the ordinance of con 
 gress, " that as soon as a legislature shall be 
 formed in the district, the council and 
 house, assembled in one room, shall have 
 authority, by joint ballot, to elect a dele 
 gate to congress/ On the 3rd of Septem 
 ber the election took place, which resulted 
 in the choice o( James White. 
 
 The governor convened the second ses 
 sion of the legislature on the 29th of June, 
 1795, when he proposed for its consideration 
 the propriety of taking the necessary steps 
 for the organisation of a state, as a member 
 of the federal union, as he was led to be 
 lieve there were at least 60,000 inhabitants 
 in the district, the required number to en 
 title the territory to become a state. An 
 act was passed, July llth, 1795, to take the 
 census of the inhabitants in the then eleven 
 counties of the territory ; which resulted as 
 follows : Free white males, sixteen years 
 old and upwards, including heads of fami 
 lies, 16,179 ; free white males, under sixteen 
 years of age, 19,944 ; free white females, 
 including heads of families, 29,554 ; free 
 negroes and civilised Indians, 973 ; slaves, 
 10,613: total population, 77,262. At the 
 same time a vote of the people was taken, 
 for or against the formation of a state gov 
 ernment ; which stood ayes, 6,504 ; noes, 
 2,562. The opposition originated from 
 local causes, the people of each county hav 
 ing in view some ulterior benefit by a post 
 ponement of the measure. 
 
 The census taken showed that there was 
 more than the required population to form 
 a state, and accordingly Governor Blount 
 issued a proclamation for the election of 
 delegates to a convention to adopt a consti 
 tution. Each of the eleven counties elected 
 five members, who assembled at Knoxville 
 on the llth of January, 1796. On the 6th 
 of February, an engrossed copy of the 
 constitution was formally signed; and, 
 after a session of twenty-seven days, the 
 convention dissolved. The name Tennessee 
 was given to the state, after the beautiful 
 river bearing that aboriginal appellation ; 
 and, to avoid confusion, the county of 
 Tennessee was lost on the new formation of 
 counties. 
 
 The president of the convention, accord 
 ing to instructions, forwarded an official 
 copy of the constitution to the secretary of 
 
A.D. 1796.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 
 
 state of the federal government. He also 
 issued writs of election, on the 6th of 
 February, to the sheriffs of the respective 
 counties, for the election of a governor and 
 members of the legislature. On the 28th 
 of March succeeding, the legislature assem 
 bled at Knoxville, and formally organised. 
 The senators and representatives met in 
 joint session, and proceeded to count the 
 ballots cast for governor, when it was as 
 certained that John Sevier had received 
 a majority thereof, and was then and there 
 declared duly elected governor of the state 
 of Tennessee ; and, on the 30th of March, 
 Sevier was sworn into office. On the 3 1st, 
 William Blount and William Cocke were 
 elected United States senators, who were 
 styled, respectively, citizen Blount and 
 citizen Cocke, after the example set by 
 citizen Genet, the French plenipotentiary. 
 The legislature also elected four presidential 
 electors, and, after passing sundry acts, 
 closed its session. 
 
 The constitution was received by Presi 
 dent Washington, and transmitted, on the 
 8th of April, to both houses of congress, 
 recommending the admission of the state 
 as a member of the federal union. The 
 house committee favoured the admission, 
 while the senate committee reported ad 
 versely; but, after the condition of the 
 territory, and the abstract principles in 
 volved in the premises, coupled with the 
 former acts of congress, were discussed and 
 fairly considered, it was agreed, on the 
 1st day of June, 1796, that the state of 
 Tennessee be admitted into the federal 
 union, and "declared to be one of the 
 United States of America, on an equal 
 footing with the original states, in all 
 respects whatever." 
 
 The senators from Tennessee arrived in 
 Philadelphia in due time; but they then 
 learned that their election had been illegal, 
 as they had been chosen before Tennessee 
 was a state. They were re-elected, how 
 ever, at a subsequent session of the legis 
 lature, which was convened in the month 
 of July succeeding. The presidential elec 
 tors had also been illegally chosen ; and 
 now the legislature ordered that the state 
 be divided into three electoral districts ; 
 and for each of the counties of the state, 
 the legislature elected three sub-electors. 
 Those of the counties composing the 
 specified districts, respectively met at Jones- 
 borough, Nashville, and Knoxville, as the 
 capitals of each of the districts ; and the 
 
 presidential electors thus chosen, one from 
 each of the districts, were to assemble on 
 the first Wednesday in December, 1796, at 
 Knoxville, to cast their votes for a presi 
 dent and vice-president of the United 
 States. In the month of August, repre 
 sentatives to congress were elected ; and 
 thus was consummated the organisation of 
 the noble, brave, and chivalrous Tennes- 
 seeans into an independent and sovereign 
 state. 
 
 As the second term of the administra 
 tion of Washington was approaching its 
 end, the federal and republican partisans 
 became more and more embittered against 
 each other. Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, 
 Jay, Pinckney, and Burr, were the leading 
 political stars, each of whom was anxious 
 to succeed Washington on his retirement 
 from the presidency. Their chances of 
 success, however, were widely different. 
 Adams was the strongest federalist ; and 
 against him, as the foremost republican, 
 was Jefferson. Hamilton was recognised 
 throughout the country as a statesman of 
 pre-eminent abilities, and well qualified to 
 fill the executive chair of the nation ; but, 
 during his career as secretary of the trea 
 sury, his measures were not received by the 
 people with that degree of unanimity which 
 he had anticipated, and partisans availed 
 themselves of that state of public opinion, 
 and fanned the flames of opposition against 
 him. John Jay had not been popular in 
 the west and south for some years previous, 
 because he had favoured the scheme to 
 allow a foreign nation the right to navi 
 gate the Mississippi river. He was not 
 popular in the eastern states, because he 
 had participated in negotiating the com 
 mercial treaty of 1794 with Great Britain, 
 which had narrowly escaped rejection in the 
 senate, and which had been received in the 
 New England states with manifest displea 
 sure. Thomas Pinckney, of South Caro 
 lina, was a federalist of but ordinary position 
 in the party ; and, in fact, he was compara 
 tively a stranger to the greater part of the 
 people. He had not performed any re 
 markable service, and his predilections as 
 a statesman were but little understood : 
 he was, however, ranked us a federalist, 
 and, at one time, he was the choice of his 
 party as a proper person for the vice-pre 
 sidency in association with Adams, who 
 was the most popular candidate for the exe 
 cutive chair. Aaron Burr, of New York, 
 was a man of extraordinary power, and 
 
 215 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1790. 
 
 his friends pressed his name forward as a 
 candidate for the vice-presidency, in asso 
 ciation with Jefferson, who was the republi 
 can candidate for the executive office. 
 
 The candidates before the people, in 1796, 
 were John Adams, of Massachusetts, and 
 Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, of 
 the federal party ; and Thomas Jefferson, 
 of Virginia, and Aaron Burr, of New 
 York, of the republican party. At that 
 epoch of the constitutional government, the 
 candidate having the greatest number of 
 ballots was chosen for the presidency, and 
 the next highest became the vice-president ; 
 and, in fact, all the persons voted for were 
 legally considered candidates for either the 
 one or the other stations. The plan did 
 not subserve a good end ; in its operation, 
 candidates of conflicting opinions were 
 liable to be elected ; that is to say, the pre 
 sident and vice-president might hold differ 
 ent political views. 
 
 The electors of the respective states as 
 sembled in their colleges, conformably to 
 the constitution and laws, made and pro 
 vided, and cast their ballots for the candi 
 dates of their choice. The election was a 
 close one, as will be seen by the following 
 table : 
 
 Election/or the Third Presidential Term, commencing 
 4.th March, 1797, and terminating 3rd March, 1801. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 d 
 
 M 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 ; 
 
 ri 
 
 
 
 -/ 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 . 
 
 -,-. 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 .-: 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 =- 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 | 
 
 % 
 
 c 
 
 i 
 
 d 
 
 d 
 
 
 -. 
 
 HI 
 
 ~ 
 
 Z3 
 
 09 
 
 K 
 
 - 
 
 _ 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 P 
 
 d 
 
 r 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 - 
 
 3 
 
 - 
 
 8 
 
 - 
 
 -- 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 jve u. j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ \|k r v 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -. . p : 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 IS 
 
 __ 
 
 . 
 
 :; 
 
 _ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 
 1 
 
 i i 
 
 2 
 
 i:: 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 New Jersey ... 
 
 
 - ; 
 
 7 
 
 1 .1 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut ... 
 
 9 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -. 
 
 _ 
 
 llhode Island . 
 
 4 
 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 4 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 L6 
 
 _ 
 
 18 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Vermont 
 
 t 
 
 - 
 
 4 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 - - 
 
 _ 
 
 -- 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. of electors 
 
 71 
 
 68 
 
 V, 
 
 so 
 
 15 
 
 li 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 l 
 
 2 
 
 Majority ... 70 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adams received but one vote more than 
 a majority ; and, after scanning the sources 
 of his ballots, it was clearly seen that the 
 ascendancy of the federal party was not 
 likely to continue. The New England 
 states were firm, in their attachment to 
 the able and faithful John Adams ; but, 
 from a want of confidence in Pinckney, 
 eighteen of their electors voted for other 
 216 
 
 candidates, by which Jefferson became the 
 vice-president. It will be observed, that 
 not a single ballot was cast for Jefferson in 
 New England, and the states north of 
 Pennsylvania ; and, south of that state, 
 Adams only received twelve votes. It 
 would seem, therefore, that sectionalism in 
 fluenced the people at that early epoch of 
 the republic, in their presidential elections. 
 The ballots cast for Charles Cotesworth 
 Pinckney, of South Carolina; Samuel Adams, 
 of Massachusetts ; Oliver Ellsworth, of 
 Connecticut ; George Clinton and Juhn 
 Jay, of New York ; James Iredell and 
 Samuel Johnston, of North Carolina ; George 
 Washington, of Virginia ; and John Henry, 
 of Maryland, were more or less compli 
 mentary. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1797, President 
 Washington issued a proclamation for the 
 convening of an extra session of the senate 
 of the United States on the 4th of that 
 month, to enable the new president to 
 nominate his secretaries, and such other 
 appointments as he might deern requisite 
 to make. On the day indicated, the senate 
 assembled in their chamber in the city of 
 Philadelphia ; and, after the senators had 
 taken their seats, the vice-president, Thomas 
 Jefferson, rose and addressed that august 
 assembly in a very patriotic and affec 
 tionate strain, referring to the immediate 
 past as illustrious in the annals of America ; 
 and as to the future, he anticipated the 
 happiest results from a faithful administra 
 tion of the government. He availed him 
 self of the occasion to express, in unmis 
 takable language, his admiration of the 
 federal constitution. " I might here pro 
 ceed," said Jefferson, " and with the 
 greatest truth, to declare my zealous 
 attachment to the constitution of the 
 United States ; that I consider the union of 
 these states as the first of blessings ; and as 
 the first of duties, the preservation of that 
 constitution which secures it." Thus Jef 
 ferson spoke of that great organic instru 
 ment ; and, notwithstanding his apprehen 
 sions of the monarchical tendencies of 
 Adams, Hamilton, and others of the federal 
 party, he was patriotically frank in his 
 reference to the former, in the conclusion of 
 his inaugural address. On referring to the 
 executive powers of the government, Jeffer 
 son said " These have been justly con 
 fided to the eminent character which has 
 preceded me here, whose talents and in 
 tegrity have been known and revered by 
 
A.D. 1797.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ADAMS INAUGURATED. 
 
 me through a long course of years have 
 been the foundation of a cordial and un 
 interrupted friendship between us ; and I 
 devoutly pray be may be long preserved, 
 for the government, the happiness, and 
 prosperity of our common country."* 
 
 After the delivery of the inaugural 
 speech of the vice-president in the senate 
 chamber, that assembly, on motion, f 
 agreed to repair to the chamber of the 
 House of Representatives, to attend the 
 administration of the oath of office to John 
 Adams, president elect of the United States. 
 A procession was then formed by the sena 
 tors the vice-president leading the way 
 who marched to the representative chamber; 
 and, after all had been seated, according to 
 arrangement with respect to post of honour, 
 the president of the United States, attended 
 by the heads of the departments, the 
 marshal of the district, and his officers, 
 came into the chamber, and took their 
 allotted seats. The president took the 
 chair usually occupied by the speaker. The 
 vice-president and secretary of the senate 
 were seated in advance, inclining to the 
 right of the president ; the late speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, and clerk, on 
 the left ; and the justices of the Supreme 
 Court were seated round a table in front of 
 the president of the United States. Wash 
 ington entered, and was honoured by a 
 dignified demonstration ; and as he pro 
 ceeded to his seat, his countenance ex 
 hibited to the assembly the gratification he 
 felt, on his retirement from office, that the 
 nation had received from him all that was 
 within his power to do; and the august 
 assembly gave him unmistakable evidences 
 of their satisfaction, and that they could 
 say " Well done, thou good and faithful 
 servant." The " father of his country" 
 took his seat as a private citizen, a little in 
 front of the seats assigned for the senate, 
 which were on the side of the house ; the 
 foreign ministers and members of the 
 House of Representatives took their usual 
 seats. Besides these officials of the nation, 
 a great number of ladies and gentlemen 
 
 * A graceful compliment from Jefferson to Adams, 
 whose competitor he had been in the election; for 
 the president and vice-president were not then 
 voted for separately; but the person having the 
 highest number of votes became president, and the 
 next highest vice-president. Senton. 
 
 t " On motion," is a term peculiar to the parliamen 
 tary code of America. When a member rises at his 
 desk, he simply says " Mr. Speaker, I move that 
 this house adjourn;" or, "Mr. President, I move 
 
 were present. This was an occasion memo 
 rable in the annals of the country ; it was 
 one of those events that rarely occur in the 
 history of nations. Washington surren 
 dered to the government the jewel of his 
 office. The patriot and chieftain was ambi 
 tious, not for power and the enjoyment of 
 the glittering array of state ; but his heart 
 felt that he had done his work faithfully, 
 and he pined for repose in the quietudes of 
 Mount Vernon. 
 
 After a few moments pause, John Adams 
 arose, and addressed the assembly in a very 
 patriotic and appropriate strain. He spoke 
 as though he felt the dignity and responsi 
 bility of the position he then occupied before 
 the nations of the world; and he delivered an 
 inaugural speech that evidenced his fitness 
 for the office, and that he was a steadfast 
 and never-yielding friend of the newly or 
 gauised American nation. Partisans may 
 have believed, as they had uttered, that 
 Adams was tinctured with monarchical no 
 tions ; but our researches lead us to believe 
 that he was as little inclined for the adoption 
 of that system of government as any other 
 statesman of the country. We should j udge, 
 however, from the general career of the 
 man, that he was in favour of a consolidated 
 government in some form, in preference to 
 fragmentary organisations ; because, as one, 
 the nation was destined to realise a career 
 of splendour ; but, as state societies, their 
 future could not be otherwise than second in 
 the respect and position of honour among the 
 other nations of the world. Employed in 
 the service of his country abroad, Mr. Adams 
 first saw the constitution of the United 
 States in a foreign land ; and of it, in his 
 inaugural address, he said " Irritated by no 
 literary altercation ; animated by no public 
 debate ; heated by no party animosity, I 
 read it with great satisfaction, as a result of 
 good heads, prompted by good hearts as an 
 experiment better adapted to the genius, 
 character, situation, and relations of this 
 nation and country, than any which had 
 ever been proposed or suggested. In its 
 general principles and great outlines, it was 
 
 mand that the " motion" be put in writing, when it 
 usually assumes the form of a "resolution," and is 
 read by the clerk of the house. We make this 
 brief explanation to enable the reader to under 
 stand the force of the American parliamentary 
 technicality, known as a " motion," as practised in 
 the legislative assemblies of the United States. 
 
 217 
 
WASHINGTON S FAREWELL.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1797. 
 
 conformable to such a system of government 
 as I bad ever most esteemed, and, in some 
 states, my own native state in particular, 
 had contributed to establish. Claiming a 
 right of suffrage, in common with my fel 
 low-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of 
 a constitution which was to rule me and my 
 posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did 
 not hesitate to express my approbation of 
 it, on all occasions, in public and in private. 
 It was not then, nor has been since, any 
 objection to it in my mind, that the execu 
 tive and senate were not more permanent. 
 Nor have I ever entertained a thought of 
 promoting any alteration in it, but such as 
 the people themselves, in the course of their 
 experience, should see and feel to be neces 
 sary or expedient, and by their representa 
 tives in congress and the state legislatures, 
 according to the constitution itself, adopt 
 and ordain." After the conclusion of his 
 speech, the oath was administered to 
 Adams by the chief-justice of the United 
 States. 
 
 The foregoing pure, patriotic, and na 
 tional sentiments were, beyond doubt, the 
 result of the most solid and mature reflec 
 tions of that great statesman. Adams was 
 a sincere man, and no flatterer ; when he 
 did speak, his language was chaste and 
 truthful. He never courted popular favour, 
 but in all cases confided to the judgment 
 and reflection of his fellow-men. He had 
 passed through ordeals that tested his cha 
 racter and patriotism as an American, and 
 never, in a single instance, had he been 
 found wanting : he had risked his life 
 and fortune in the cause of his country. 
 He succeeded Washington; and he felt the 
 responsibility of his position. Following- 
 immediately the man the most illustrious 
 that adorned the human race, he could 
 not, and did not, expect to command the 
 same degree of confidence that the great 
 chieftain had to sustain his administration ; 
 and, besides, he knew the force of opposing 
 partisans, who were not reluctant to till the 
 executive chair. Whatever may be thought 
 of the policy pursued by Adams, during his 
 administration as president, by different 
 minds, all agree that he was honest and 
 patriotic. 
 
 Washington, on the inaugural day, 
 became a private citizen. As he retired 
 from the representative chamber, following 
 vice-president Jefferson, he was enthu 
 
 siastically applauded by the audience. In 
 the evening of the same day he received an 
 ovation, such as had never before been 
 given in Philadelphia. He was the first 
 to call upon the new president, to con 
 gratulate him upon his preferment, and to 
 give him a word of encouragement in the 
 beginning of his executive career. After 
 having finished his duties in Philadelphia, 
 Washington proceeded to Mount Vernon, 
 receiving on the entire route the greatest 
 degree of! homage, and manifestations of 
 gratitude from the people. His farewell 
 address, issued in September, 1796, had 
 reached the fireside of every inhabitant of 
 the land; and it had been read and re 
 read with admiration by the people of all 
 classes and parties. He had counselled 
 his countrymen wisely; and his address 
 was not only suited to the period of its 
 issue, but it was well worthy of study in 
 the future. His warnings to the people 
 against secret political associations, sectional 
 jealousies, combinations, or partisan organi 
 sations having in view an obstruction of 
 the laws, interference in foreign affairs, and 
 sectionalism of all kinds were not only 
 wise, but they were, indeed, prophetically 
 patriotic. This document won for Wash 
 ington an affection in the hearts of the 
 people that could not be effaced : wherever 
 he went, his pathway was strewn with 
 flowers; and he was welcomed by hearts 
 brimful of gratitude. 
 
 The presidential term of John Adams 
 commenced while difficulties were pend 
 ing with France ; and nearly the first 
 important act executed by him, was the 
 convening of congress to take into con 
 sideration the relations with the French ; 
 the details of that affair, however, we have 
 given in a preceding chapter. The other 
 measures considered and acted upon during 
 the administration of Adams, were the 
 excise law ; duties on stamps, and on salt ; 
 treason and sedition ; slave-trade ; duties 
 on distilled liquors ; Georgia limits ; crea 
 tion of the naval department; alien and 
 sedition laws ; war with the Barbary 
 states ; and various questions of minor im 
 portance. Some of these measures we shall 
 hereafter briefly consider. 
 
 During the latter part of Adams s term, 
 Washington died, and due honour was paid 
 to that great man in both houses of con 
 gress, and throughout the Union. 
 
 218 
 
A.D. 1795.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CAPTIVE AMERICANS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WAR WITH TRIPOLI; AMERICAN FLEET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN; NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS; THE 
 
 DIFFICULTIES SETTLED. 
 
 Foil centuries the corsairs of the Barbary 
 states, among which those of Algiers were 
 pre-eminent, were a scourge to European 
 commerce in the Mediterranean, almost the 
 entire range of whose southern coast lay 
 within the territorial limits of those powers; 
 capturing its ships, and reducing their 
 crews to hopeless slavery, unless ransomed 
 at an enormous price. At different periods 
 attempts were made to abate the nuisance. 
 As early as 1537, the emperor, Charles V. 
 of Spain, made a successful descent upon 
 Tunis ; and, four years later, he attempted 
 a similar enterprise against Algiers, arriv 
 ing before it with a powerful fleet and army. 
 But a violent storm arose, and destroyed 
 two-thirds of his fleet, and a good share of 
 the remainder fell an easy prey to the 
 Algerians. This disaster seems, for a 
 lengthened period, to have discouraged all 
 attempts against Algiers, and its corsairs 
 continued the terror of those waters. In 
 1617, the French sent a fleet of fifty ships 
 against the pirates ; but with no practical 
 results. Three years later, an English 
 squadron was equally unsuccessful. Soon 
 after, the Venetians severely chastised the 
 Algerians, and destroyed many of their 
 galleys, which greatly crippled their power. 
 This relapse, however, was but for a few 
 years, when, as it were, renovated by the 
 misfortune, they scoured the whole sea 
 with a fleet of sixty-five sail, and compelled 
 the French, English, and Dutch to court 
 their favour, and purchase their forbearance 
 by tribute. At last, in 1681, Louis XIV., 
 of France, provoked by some outrages 
 which the pirates had committed on his 
 coasts, ordered a powerful fleet and arma 
 ment to be fitted out, with which he de 
 stroyed fourteen of their vessels near the 
 Isle of Scio. In the following year he 
 bombarded Algiers ; and but for a sudden 
 change of wind, would have destroyed it. 
 The next year, however, a French fleet, 
 
 * It is said, that on this occasion, the dey of Al 
 giers sent for the French consul, and having learned 
 from him the cost of the bombardment, coolly told 
 the consul that he would have burnt the city for 
 half the money. American Cyclopcedia. 
 
 under Admiral Du Quesne, appeared before 
 Algiers, and opened a bombardment upon 
 it, which he kept up until he had nearly 
 laid the city in ruins.* But no punish 
 ment that could be inflicted seemed to 
 check the atrocities of these sea-robbers ; 
 and down to the commencement of the 
 nineteenth century, the European powers 
 seem to have preferred negotiating treaties 
 with them, and thus purchasing an exemp 
 tion from the attacks of their piratical 
 cruisers, to making any vigorous or com 
 bined effort for their effectual suppression. 
 
 Prior to the adoption of the constitution 
 of the United States, two American vessels 
 had fallen into the hands of the Algerian 
 corsairs, and their officers and crews held 
 for ransom. President Washington called 
 the attention of congress to the subject, 
 and Colonel Humphreys, American minister 
 to Portugal, was appointed to treat with 
 the dey of Algiers for their release, and a 
 cessation of his piratical depredations on 
 American commerce. After a visit to the 
 United States for instructions, with special 
 reference to the Algerine negotiation, Colo 
 nel Humphreys returned again to Lisbon. 
 From Lisbon he went to Paris, at the 
 suggestion of James Monroe, the American 
 minister to France, to solicit the mediation 
 of the French republic. Before going to 
 Paris, Colonel Humphreys authorised Mr. 
 Donaldson, who had accompanied him from 
 the United States, as consul to Tripoli and 
 Tunis, to close a treaty at once, should a 
 favourable opportunity occur. Under the 
 authority thus left with him, Donaldson 
 executed a treaty on the 5th of September, 
 1795, while Humphreys was at Paris, by 
 which the United States were to pay to 
 the dey of Algiers the sum of 763,000 
 dollars for captives then alive.f besides an 
 annual tribute in stores of 24,000 dollars. 
 In consequence, however, of the stores 
 named in the treaty being estimated at too 
 
 t Between the years 1785 and 1795, the Algerine 
 pirates had captured and carried into Algiers fifteen 
 American vessels, used the property, and made 180 
 officers and seamen slaves, subjecting them to a 
 servitude of the most revolting kind. 
 
 219 
 
AMERICAN FLEET.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1801. 
 
 low a figure, this annual tribute amounted, 
 in fact, to nearly 50,000 dollars. Besides 
 this, an annual additional present, by the 
 custom of Algiers, was required, of 10,000 
 dollars, with 20,000 dollars more on the 
 appointment of a consul. Nor was this 
 all. There was some delay in raising the 
 money called for by the treaty; the dey 
 grew impatient ; and, to pacify him, Mr. 
 Barlow, who had been appointed consul at 
 Algiers, found it necessary to promise him 
 a frigate, worth 100,000 dollars.* The 
 money thus paid to conciliate and buy a 
 peace with this pirate dey, was amply 
 sufficient to have built and equipped a 
 fleet large enough to enable the United 
 States to dictate their own terms. 
 
 The troubles with the Barbary states did 
 not end, however, with the concessions 
 made to the dey of Algiers. Jussuf Cara- 
 melli, the bashaw of Tripoli, one of the 
 weakest of the Barbary powers, having 
 seen how the dey of Algiers had succeeded 
 in obtaining a liberal largess from the 
 United States government, as the price of 
 his good behaviour, determined to exact the 
 same consideration for himself. He at once 
 accused the American government of deal 
 ing more liberally with the deys of Algiers 
 and Tunis, than it had with him ; and, at 
 the close of the year 1800, he notified the 
 American consul at Tripoli, that if, within 
 six months from that time, he did not 
 receive a present in gold of a certain 
 specified amount, he would declare war 
 against the United States. The required 
 sum not being received within the stipulated 
 time, the bashaw made good his threat; 
 and, on the 14th of May, 1801, ordered 
 the flag-staff of the American consulate 
 to be cut down a virtual declaration of 
 war. Before this fact was known, how 
 ever, in the United States, a squadron, con 
 sisting of the President, Captain J. Barron ; 
 the Philadelphia, Captain S. Barron; the 
 Essex, Captain Bainbridge ; and the Enter 
 prise, Lieutenant Sterret rthe whole under 
 the command of Commodore Dale had 
 been ordered to the Mediterranean, to in 
 timidate the Barbary powers by their pre 
 sence, as there were indications of troubles 
 with them all. 
 
 * The frigate sent to the dey of Algiers by autho 
 rity of congress, was called the Crescent the symbol 
 of the Mohammedan faith. An idea of the utter 
 helplessness of the government without a navy, and 
 the abject tone of public sentiment in the presence 
 of such an evil as Algerine piracy, may be gathered 
 from the fact that the public press spoke thus of 
 
 220 
 
 The American squadron reached Gib- 
 raltar on the 1st of July, where they found 
 a Tripolitan ship of twenty-six guns, and a 
 brig of sixteen guns in company. The 
 timely appoarance of the American squadron 
 undoubtedly prevented these two corsairs 
 from getting into the Atlantic, where they 
 might have done considerable mischief to 
 American commerce. 
 
 Commodore Dale at once dispatched the 
 Essex along the north shore, to look after 
 American commerce there ; the Philadelphia 
 was ordered to cruise in the Straits to watch 
 the two Tripolitan cruisers above alluded 
 to ; while the President, the flag-ship of 
 Commodore Dale, and the Enterprise, sailed 
 for Algiers, though the latter soon left the 
 President, on special duty. The unexpected 
 appearance of the President at these piratical 
 ports, had the anticipated effect of cooling the 
 resentment of the deys of Tunis and Algiers, 
 and of awing them into preserving the peace. 
 The Algerine ruler had threateningly com 
 plained that the tribute was in arrears; 
 while the dey of Tunis found fault with the 
 character and quality of various articles 
 which had been sent to him by the United 
 States to purchase his good- will. The moral 
 effect, as regards those two powers at least, 
 of the appearance of the American squadron 
 in the waters of the Mediterranean, amply 
 vindicated the determination of the govern 
 ment, that, while fulfilling all its treaty 
 stipulations with those powers to the very 
 letter, not to submit to any further exac 
 tions through appeals to its fears. 
 
 On the 1st of August, the Enterprise, 
 while bound for Malta, fell in with the 
 Tripoli, a Tripolitan ship of fourteen guns 
 and eighty men, which was known to have 
 committed depredations on American com 
 merce. Lieut. Sterret, running the Enter 
 prise close alongside, within pistol-shot dis 
 tance, immediately opened fire upon her. 
 The action continued for three hours, the cor 
 sair fighting with great obstinacy. During 
 the contest, the Tripoli struck three times 
 twice rehoisting her colours, and reopening 
 fire, with the evident design of gaining an 
 advantage by the trick. This treachery 
 exasperated the commander of the Enter 
 prise; and he determined, on opening fire 
 the sailing of the Crescent for the Mediterranean : 
 Our best wishes follow Captain Newman, his offi 
 cers and men. May they arrive in safety at the 
 place of their destination, and present to the dey of 
 Algiers one of the finest specimens of elegant naval 
 architecture which was ever borne on the Pisco- 
 t aqua s waters." Lossing. 
 
A.D. 1802.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TRIPOLITAN SHIP TAKEN. 
 
 the last time, to sink the corsair. But, 
 after a brief continuance of the combat, 
 Mohammed Sous, the commander of the 
 Tripoli, appeared in the waist of his vessel, 
 threw his flag overboard, and made such 
 supplicatory signs for quarter, that the fire 
 of the Enterprise was stopped. The mizen- 
 mast of the Tripoli was shot away, and the 
 ship was a complete wreck ; while fifty of her 
 men (more than half the entire crew) were 
 either killed or wounded in the engagement. 
 The Enterprise was but slightly injured, 
 and had not a man killed, or even wounded. 
 The instructions of the commander of the 
 Enterprise did not permit him to take the 
 prize in. He therefore simply took posses 
 sion, for the purpose of dismantling her. 
 Her guns were thrown overboard, aud she 
 was completely stripped ; a single sail and 
 spar being left to catch wind enough, to 
 take her into port, which she was a long 
 while in accomplishing : and even then 
 the troubles of her unfortunate commander 
 were not over. Though weak and wounded, 
 the enraged bashaw ordered him to be 
 seized, placed upon a jackass, paraded 
 through the streets, and then to be basti 
 nadoed. This punishment, however, had a 
 different effect from what the bashaw evi 
 dently intended. It so alarmed the sailors, 
 that it became exceedingly difficult to enlist 
 enough to man the corsairs then preparing 
 for sea. 
 
 On the 30th of August, the President, on 
 her way to Tripoli, overhauled a Greek ship, 
 inward bound, and took from her an officer 
 and twenty Tripolitan soldiers, besides 
 twenty merchants, subjects of the bashaw, 
 found on board of her. They were taken 
 for the purpose of effecting an exchange of 
 an equal number of Americans, held in 
 bondage by the bashaw. But the latter 
 cared so little about his subjects, that Com 
 modore Dale succeeded in obtaining the 
 release of but three Americans for the 
 entire lot of forty- one Tripolitans. 
 
 The practice of enlisting men for only 
 twelve months, rendered it necessary for a 
 portion of the squadron to return to the 
 United States in December. Therefore, 
 leaving the Philadelphia to watch the Tri 
 politans, and the Essex to blockade the two 
 vessels at Gibraltar, and guard the passage 
 into the Atlantic, through the Straits of 
 Gibraltar, Commodore Dale returned with 
 the President and Enterprise to America. 
 
 It has been already stated, that the in 
 structions of Lieutenant Sterret would not 
 VOL. it. 2 a 
 
 permit him to take the Tripoli as a prize 
 into port. These instructions were in con 
 formity to the opinions of President Jeffer 
 son, who believed that, without the sanc 
 tion of congress, they could not go beyond 
 the strict line of defence. The vessel, 
 therefore, after being disabled from com 
 mitting further hostilities, was liberated 
 with its crew. This difficulty was obviated 
 by congress, early in the session of 1801- 2, 
 by the passing of a law which fully autho 
 rised the capture and condemnation of 
 Tripolitan vessels. This law also provided 
 for all the contingencies of a state of war, 
 even to authorising the president to issue 
 commissions to privateers, though it did 
 not contain a formal declaration of war. 
 Another valuable provision of the law was 
 one which authorised the enlistment of 
 men in the naval service for two years. 
 
 Arrangements were now made to send a 
 fresh squadron to the Mediterranean. The 
 following vessels were commissioned for 
 this service, and were dispatched as fast as 
 they could be got ready : The Chesapeake, 
 Lieutenant Chauncey, acting captain ; the 
 Constellation, Captain Murray; the New 
 York, Captain J. Barron ; the John Adams, 
 Captain Rodgers ; the Adams, Captain 
 Campbell ; and the Enterprise, Lieutenant 
 Sterret. Commodore Morris was appointed 
 to command the squadron, who made the 
 Chesapeake his flag-ship. The Enterprise 
 was the first vessel which got ready to 
 leave, sailing in February, 1802, and fol 
 lowed, in March, by the Constellation. The 
 Chesapeake sailed in April, and the Adams 
 followed in June. The New York and 
 John Adams did not get away until Sep 
 tember. As soon as a portion of these ves 
 sels reached the Mediterranean, the Essex 
 and Philadelphia, the terms of service of 
 their men being nearly up, returned home. 
 The scattered manner in which the ships 
 of the squadron sailed for the Mediter 
 ranean, and the lateness of the season when 
 the last of them reached their destination, 
 prevented the possibility of any active 
 operations during 1802. 
 
 But little was accomplished during 1803 
 by the squadron under Commodore Morris, 
 beyond the moral effect of its presence, in 
 overawing the Tripolitan cruisers, and con 
 fining them pretty closely to port. Early 
 in the year, the Chesapeake was ordered 
 home by the navy department, and the 
 flag of the commodore had been transferred 
 to the New York. Lieutenant Chauncey 
 
 221 
 
BATTLE OFF TRIPOLI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1803. 
 
 was also ordered to the command of the 
 New York ; Captain Barron returning to 
 the United States with the Chesapeake. 
 The Constellation had previously been sent 
 home. The squadron, consequently, now 
 numbered but four vessels the flag-ship 
 New York, the Adams, John Adams, aud 
 the Enterprise the latter vessel now in 
 command of Lieutenant Hull. 
 
 On the 10th of June, the New York and 
 Enterprise sailed for Malta, leaving the 
 other line vessels to keep up the blockade 
 of Tripoli. On reaching Malta, in conse 
 quence of information received there of the 
 operations of the Algerine and Tunisian 
 cruisers, Commodore Morris sent the Enter 
 prise back to Tripoli, with directions to 
 Captain Rodgers, of the John Adams, the 
 senior officer, to raise the blockade, and 
 join him at Malta, as soon as practicable. 
 On the evening of the 21st of June, the 
 Enterprise, in the meantime, having reached 
 the blockading force before Tripoli, Cap 
 tain Rodgers observed some movements in 
 the harbour, which led him to suspect that 
 an attempt would be made, that night, 
 either to run the blockade by a cruiser 
 confined in port, or, by a feint, to divert the 
 attention of the blockading force, and en 
 able one to get in. He determined to be 
 prepared for either design. The Enterprise 
 was consequently sent to a position a few 
 miles to the eastward, the Adams to the 
 westward ; while Captain Rodgers remained, 
 with the John Adams, directly off the port. 
 
 About seven o clock on the morning of 
 the 22nd, the Enterprise signalled to the 
 John Adams, that an enemy had been dis 
 covered. Captain Rodgers at once made 
 sail, and, on approaching within speaking 
 distance of the Enterprise, learned that a 
 large corvette of the bashaw, mounting 
 twenty-two guns, had run into a deep 
 narrow bay, some twenty miles east of 
 Tripoli, where she had anchored in a posi 
 tion favourable for defence. Lieutenant 
 Hull, on discovering the corvette at day 
 light, had boldly intercepted her cruise 
 with the Enterprise, although treble the 
 force of the latter cut her off from the 
 town, and compelled her to take refuge in 
 the bay. As the two vessels now ap 
 proached her, nine gun-boats were dis 
 covered sweeping along the shore, to aid in 
 her defence; and a large body of cavalry 
 were discovered on the shore, apparently to 
 prevent an attack by boats. As soon as 
 the John Adams had got within point-blank 
 222 
 
 range of the corsair, she opened fire upon 
 her, which was at once returned by the 
 latter; and the combat, thus commenced, was 
 kept up without cessation for three-quarters 
 of an hour, when the men of the corvette 
 precipitately abandoned their guns; large 
 numbers of them throwing themselves over 
 board, and swimming for the shore. The 
 Enterprise was now directed to divert the 
 attention of the enemy on the beach, while 
 boats could be manned to take possession of 
 the deserted corsair. A boat, however, be 
 ing seen to return to her, the John Adams 
 reopened fire upon her. Within ten minutes 
 after the firing upon the corsair recom 
 menced, her flag was hauled down ; all her 
 guns those pointing to the shore, as well as 
 those toward the John Adams were dis 
 charged ; and an instant after she blew up 
 with a terrible explosion, which tore her hull 
 entirely to pieces. The cause of the explosion 
 is unknown, although, from circumstances, 
 it was presumed to have been accidental. 
 An attempt was made to cut off and capture 
 the gun- boats; but, from their superior 
 knowledge of the coast, they succeeded in 
 effecting their escape. 
 
 In obedience to the orders of Commodore 
 Morris, already mentioned, the blockade was 
 now raised, aud the three vessels sailed for 
 Malta, whence the squadron proceeded to 
 different Italian ports in company. From 
 Leghorn, the Adams was sent to Tunis and 
 Gibraltar ; the John Adams directly to the 
 Straits of Gibraltar, as a convoy to some 
 American merchantmen ; and the Enterprise 
 returned to Malta, for despatches. Not 
 long after, Commodore Morris sailed with 
 the New York down to the Straits, touching 
 at Malaga, where he found letters recalling 
 him to the United States. 
 
 Transferring Captain Rodgers to the flag 
 ship New York, as temporary commander of 
 the squadron, and Captain Campbell to the 
 John Adams, Commodore Morris took com 
 mand of the Adams, and returned in her to 
 the United States, where he arrived on the 
 21st of November. 
 
 The government being extremely dis 
 satisfied at the manner in which Commo 
 dore Morris had employed the force in 
 trusted to his discretion, and the ex 
 planations given by him being unsatisfac 
 tory, a court of inquiry was ordered. 
 Its decision was, that " Commodore Morris 
 had not exercised proper diligence and ac 
 tivity in annoying the enemy on various 
 occasions, between the 8th of January, 1803, 
 
A.D. 1S03.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A PRIZE TAKEN. 
 
 and the period of the expiration of his com 
 mand." Acting on this verdict of the court 
 of inquiry, Mr. Jefferson dismissed Commo 
 dore Morris from the navy. This peremp 
 tory dismissal, it is proper to say, has been 
 very generally looked upon as unnecessarily 
 severe ; and, by many, both the finding and 
 the sentence are condemned as unsustained 
 by the facts. 
 
 Previous to the recall of Commodore Mor 
 ris, the necessity of having a larger force in 
 the Mediterranean had become apparent, 
 and arrangements had been accordingly 
 made for sending out another squadron. To 
 meet a want in the service against Tripoli, 
 congress had, in February, 1803, authorised 
 the construction of four vessels, of light draft, 
 of the character of the Enterprise ; and their 
 structure was so vigorously entered upon 
 that they were completed in a few months. 
 Two of them, the Argus and Siren, were 
 brigs, mounting each sixteen 24-pound 
 carronades, and two long twelves ; and 
 the other two, the Nautilus and Vixen, were 
 schooners, mounting twelve 18-pound car 
 ronades, and two light long guns. 
 
 The new squadron, destined for the Medi 
 terranean, comprised the Constitution, of 
 forty-four guns, the Philadelphia, of thirty- 
 eight guns, the four new vessels above- 
 named, and the Enterprise, which was al 
 ready there, and which it was intended to re 
 tain, sending out new men to supply the 
 places of those whose terms of service had 
 expired, and who might decline re-enlist 
 ment. As with the previous squadron, these 
 vessels sailed as fast as each could be got 
 ready, without waiting for the others. The 
 first to sail was one of the new vessels, the 
 Nautilus, commanded by Lieutenant Somers, 
 which reached Gibraltar on the 27th of 
 Juty, 1803; the next, the Philadelphia, 
 Captain Bainbridge, which reached there 
 on the 24th of August. The Constitution, 
 the flag-ship of Commodore Preble, who 
 had been appointed commander of the squad 
 ron, arrived there on the 12th of Septem 
 ber; the Vixen, Lieutenant Smith, on the 
 14th of September; the Siren, Lieutenant 
 Stewart, on the 1st of October; and the 
 Argus, Lieutenant Decatur, on the 1st of 
 November. When the last arrived out, 
 Lieutenant Decatur exchanged vessels with 
 Lieutenant Hull, giving the latter the brig, 
 and himself taking command of the schooner 
 Enterprise, he being the junior officer. 
 
 Captain Bainbridge, on reaching Gibral 
 tar, was told that two Tripolitan vessels 
 
 were cruising off Cape de Gait, and sailed at 
 once in search of them. On the night of 
 the 28th of August, two vessels wei-e dis 
 covered near the point indicated. On com 
 ing alongside the larger of the two, he 
 learned that she was the Meshboha, of 
 twenty-two guns, commanded by Ibrahim 
 Labarez, manned with a crew of 120, and 
 that she belonged to the emperor of Mo- 
 rocco. By leading her commander to sup 
 pose that the Philadelphia was an English 
 man-of-war, he admitted that the other 
 vessel, a brig, was an American. The sus 
 picions of the commander of the Philadel 
 phia were now aroused, and he determined 
 to probe the matter to the bottom. He 
 therefore sent an armed force on board the 
 Meshboha, to examine the vessel, and to see 
 if there were any prisoners on board of her. 
 On going below deck, the captain and crew 
 of the brig were found, from whom it was 
 learned that the brig was the Celia, of Bos 
 ton, and that she had been captured by the 
 Meshboha nine days previous. Captain 
 Bainbridge at once took possession of the 
 Meshboha. The brig attempted to escape 
 while the crew of the Moorish frigate were 
 being transferred to the Philadelphia. She 
 was overhauled, however, the following day, 
 and retaken. It was with some difficulty 
 that Captain Bainbridge ascertained the 
 authority under which the Moorish com 
 mander acted in capturing the brig. By 
 threatening to hang him at once to the yard- 
 arm, as a pirate, if he did not disclose his 
 authority, he showed him an order from the 
 governor of Tangiers, to capture all Ameri 
 can vessels that he met. The Philadelphia 
 returned to Gibraltar with her prizes, and, 
 leaving the latter, sailed for her station off 
 Tripoli. 
 
 Soon after the Philadelphia left Gibraltar, 
 Commodore Rodgers, with the New York and 
 John Adams, arrived there to meet the new 
 flag-ship, the Constitution, which soon after 
 reached that place, with Commodore Preble 
 on board. When the commodore was ap 
 prised of the circumstances connected with 
 the capture of the Meshboha, he determined, 
 with that promptitude which was a promi 
 nent trait in his character, to dispose of the 
 question with Morocco, before leaving the 
 passage into the Mediterranean again open, 
 by moving his force up to Tripoli. Accord 
 ingly, on the 6th of October, he went into 
 the bay of Tangiers, with the Constitution, 
 New York, John Adams, and Nautilus. 
 Through the agency of Mr. Simpson, the 
 
 223 
 
PHILADELPHIA LOST.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1803 
 
 American consul, an interview was had with 
 the emperor, and the difficulties amicably 
 adjusted. The emperor disavowed the act 
 of the governor of Tangiers ; an American 
 vessel, which had been detained at Moga- 
 dore, was released ; and the treaty of 1786, 
 between the United States and Morocco, was 
 recognised and reconfirmed by the emperor. 
 Commodore Preble then gave up the Mesh- 
 boha and the Meshanda ; a prize of the John 
 Adams was also surrendered. 
 
 The Meshanda was one of the two Tripo- 
 litan vessels met, and kept under such strict 
 blockade in the harbour of Gibraltar, by the 
 squadron under Commodore Dale, as previ 
 ously mentioned. She had been sold by the 
 bashaw of Tripoli to the emperor of Morocco, 
 who had sent her to Tunis, where she had 
 taken in supplies ; and in May, 1803, was 
 boldly pushing for the harbour of Tripoli, 
 when she was captured by the John Adams, 
 at that time engaged in blockading the port. 
 The reality of the sale being questionable, 
 and the fact that she was attempting to 
 evade a legal blockade being undoubted, she 
 was held as a lawful prize.* 
 
 When the troubles with the emperor of 
 Morocco were adjusted, Commodore Rodgers 
 and Captain Campbell, with the New York 
 and John Adams, returned to the United 
 States. 
 
 It was near the middle of September 
 when the Philadelphia reached her station 
 off Tripoli, where she was soon after joined 
 by the Vixen ; and these two vessels formed 
 the blockading force at this time. Soon 
 after their arrival, however, Captain Bain- 
 bridge dispatched the Vixen in search of a 
 Tripolitan cruiser, which he had been 
 informed had put to sea but a short time 
 previously. The Philadelphia was thus left 
 alone to perform a difficult and dangerous 
 service, for a vessel of so heavy a draft, the 
 blockading vessels being frequently called 
 upon to run close in shore. Near the end 
 of October, the strong west wind, which 
 had prevailed for some time, had forced 
 the Philadelphia some distance to the east 
 ward of the city ; and on the 31st of 
 that month, she was availing herself of a 
 favourable breeze to get back to the station 
 again, when a sail was discovered in shore 
 and to windward, making for the port of 
 Tripoli. Bainbridge immediately made 
 sail to intercept her and cut her off. With 
 the hope of disabling her, being within 
 
 * On the recommendation of the president, con 
 gress afterwards appropriated an equivalent to the 
 
 224 
 
 gun-shot distance, he opened fire on the 
 vessel, still keeping up the chase. Becom 
 ing at last satisfied that she would make 
 the port in spite of him, and that he could 
 neither overtake her nor drive her on shore, 
 Captain Bainbridge abandoned the chase, 
 and attempted to haul off into deeper water ; 
 but he had ventured too far : before the speed 
 of the vessel could be checked, she struck 
 a reef, and shot upon it, until she was 
 lifted up five or six feet, and lay absolutely 
 cradled on the rocks. The vessel of which 
 she had been in chase when this unfortu 
 nate accident happened to her, quietly 
 moved on : her commander being perfectly 
 familiar with the coast, doubled the edge of 
 the shoal, and reached the port in safety. 
 After making many and fruitless efforts to 
 get his ship off the rocks, and feeling 
 that, in all probability, the vessel, and all 
 on board of her, must fall into the hands of 
 the enemy, Captain Bainbridge gave orders 
 to throw overboard the guns, except a few 
 aft for defence, and everything that could 
 be got at to lighten the vessel. But 
 she still remained apparently as im 
 movable as the rocks upon which she 
 rested. The sea around was covered with 
 Tripolitan gun- boats, which were only kept 
 at a distance by an occasional discharge 
 from the few guns which remained on 
 board the Philadelphia, and in ignorance 
 of the desperate condition of the ship : but 
 they were becoming more bold every mo 
 ment ; their numbers were increasing, and 
 night was fast approaching. Bainbridge 
 now held a consultation with his officers ; 
 and, with their advice, to save the lives of 
 his men, he felt it his duty to haul down 
 his colours. Previous to doing so, how 
 ever, holes were bored in the ship s bottom, 
 the pumps were stopped up, the magazine 
 drowned, and everything done which it was 
 thought might help to secure the loss of 
 the vessel. About five o clock in the after 
 noon the flag was struck, when the Tri 
 politan gun-boats immediately ran down 
 alongside ; the Tripolitans rushed over the 
 sides into the vessel, took possession of her, 
 and commenced a system of general plunder. 
 Both officers and men were stripped of 
 every superfluous article, and some of them 
 left half naked. Captain Bainbridge him 
 self was robbed of watch, epaulettes, gloves, 
 and money. The prisoners were placed in 
 boats, and sent to Tripoli, where they 
 captains of the Meshboha and Meshanda, in lieu of 
 prize-money. 
 
A.D. 1803.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PHILADELPHIA AFLOAT. 
 
 arrived about ten o clock at night. They 
 were landed near the palace of the bashaw, 
 and conducted at once to his presence. 
 They were received by him in an audience 
 chamber, where he sat in state, surrounded 
 by his administrative officers. Bainbridge 
 was formally presented to him as his pri 
 soner. Through his minister of foreign 
 affairs, who understood French, the bashaw 
 held a conversation with the commander of 
 the captured ship, asking innumerable 
 questions in regard to that unfortunate 
 vessel, the strength of the American force 
 in the Mediterranean, and consoling the 
 captain and his fellow-prisoners, by remind 
 ing them that the calamity which had 
 overtaken themselves and their ship was 
 their misfortune, not their fault ; and sig 
 nificantly adding, that their release from 
 captivity would depend entirely upon the 
 conduct of their own government. 
 
 This sudden and unlooked-for accident to 
 the Philadelphia could not but materially 
 change the aspect of the war. It not only 
 tended to prolong its continuance, but it 
 called for an increased force, and a much 
 larger expenditure of means to bring it to a 
 termination. Till now, the Tripolitan chief 
 had received but a slight compensation for 
 the annoyances of the blockade, and the 
 loss of several of his vessels. But few 
 American merchantmen had been taken by 
 his corsairs ; while the latter were in immi 
 nent risk of capture whenever they ven 
 tured out of port, and had to be extremely 
 cautious when they did so, to keep near 
 shore. He knew, also, that the city of 
 Tripoli was liable, at any moment, to be 
 bombarded by the American naval force in 
 the Mediterranean ; and, if the war was 
 prolonged, that bombardment was simply a 
 question of time. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the hope had 
 been strong, amounting, indeed, almost to 
 a positive belief, that the evils of war, 
 which the bashaw had already experienced, 
 with a wholesome dread of those looming 
 in the future, would induce him soon to 
 sue for peace. All hopes and expectations 
 of a speedy termination of the war, were, 
 however, suddenly destroyed by the acci 
 dent to the Philadelphia^ which threw into 
 his hand 315 prisoners among them 
 twenty-two quarter-deck officers in whom 
 an intense interest would be felt, not 
 only by the American government, but 
 by anxious relatives and friends. The 
 bashaw, in the exultation of the moment, 
 
 undoubtedly felt that he had the game 
 in his own hands that he could now 
 dictate his own terms of peace; and that, 
 with the lives of so many Americans in 
 his power, dependent upon the raising of 
 his finger, he held a check upon the move 
 ments of his enemy, through the means it 
 gave him of inflicting a fearful retaliation. 
 
 On the morning following the accident 
 to the Philadelphia, the bashaw set men 
 at work to get her off the rock ; and, if 
 possible, to save her, as a valuable addition 
 to his own navy. Being so near their own 
 port, with the numberless galleys and 
 boats they had immediately at hand to aid 
 in the attempt, it was a far less doubtful 
 undertaking to them than to her own 
 force, on an enemy s coast, and without aid 
 or assistance of any kind. After several 
 days application, with the whole disposable 
 force of the town, they succeeded, on the 
 5th of November, in extricating her from 
 the rocks, and floating her within two 
 miles of the city, where, on account of the 
 state of the weather, they were compelled 
 to anchor her. By means of pumping, 
 they succeeded in keeping her afloat till 
 they stopped her leaks, a task of easier 
 accomplishment than if she had been 
 regularly scuttled, by cutting through the 
 planks, as should have been done. The 
 Tripolitans succeeded also in raising her 
 guns and anchors, which had been thrown 
 overboard, they lying in shallow water on 
 the reef. She was soon nearly repaired, 
 her guns remounted, and she was moored 
 off the town, within half gun-shot of the 
 bashaw s palace. 
 
 The information of the capture of the 
 Philadelphia, and all on board of her, 
 reached Commodore Preble, then at Malta, 
 in a letter from Captain Bainbridge, on 
 the 27th of November. The commodore 
 immediately sailed for Syracuse, whence, 
 after making his preparations, and dis 
 posing of his force in different ways, on 
 the 17th of December he proceeded, with 
 the Constitution and Enterprise, to Tripoli, 
 appearing there now for the first time. A 
 few days after his arrival here, a heavy 
 gale came on from the north-east, and 
 fearing the Constitution might be wrecked 
 on the coast at that tempestuous season, 
 he returned to Syracuse, not, however, 
 until he had made a thorough recon 
 naissance of the harbour of Tripoli, with 
 a view to future operations. A medium of 
 communication had also been secured ; 
 
 225 
 
DARING ENTERPRISE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1804. 
 
 through which he was enabled to corres 
 pond with Bainbridge, then at Tripoli ; 
 several letters having been received from 
 him, in which he pointed out different 
 methods of annoying the enemy. It was 
 in one of these letters that the suggestion 
 was made by Captain Bainbridge of de 
 stroying the Philadelphia before the Tri- 
 politans should be able to get her to sea, 
 which they were evidently preparing soon 
 to do. Commodore Preble named the sug 
 gestion to Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, the 
 commander of the Enterprise, who at once 
 volunteered to make the attempt. A Tri- 
 politan ketch had been captured by the 
 Enterprise shortly before, which had been 
 a French gun-boat in Egypt, had been 
 taken by the English, and had passed into 
 the hands of the Tripolitans. This ketch 
 afforded the means of putting the projected 
 enterprise into execution. She was ac 
 cordingly taken into the service as a 
 tender, and named the Intrepid. The 
 party selected to man the ketch, numbered 
 seventy-four, officers and men, most of 
 them from the Enterprise. The Intrepid 
 sailed on the evening of the 3rd of Feb 
 ruary, 1804, from Syracuse, where the 
 American squadron was then lying, under 
 the convoy of the Siren, Lieutenant Stew 
 art, who was the senior officer ; though to 
 Lieutenant Decatur, from the peculiar 
 nature of the service, and from his having 
 been the first to volunteer to conduct the 
 perilous enterprise, was left the control of 
 the expedition. With pleasant weather 
 and a favourable wind, the two vessels 
 came in sight of Tripoli on the afternoon 
 of the 9th. A gale now came on, which 
 lasted several days, during which the pro 
 jected enterprise had to be suspended ; the 
 two vessels, in the meantime, though 
 managing to keep together, were driven 
 some distance from their position before 
 the town. On the 16th, however, they 
 succeeded in getting abreast of the town 
 again, when, the wind and weather being 
 favourable, Decatur made his dispositions 
 for the attack. Eight men were added to 
 the attacking party from the Siren, making 
 the whole number eighty-two. 
 
 The directions of Lieutenant Decatur 
 were clear and simple. The spar-deck was 
 to be first carried, and then the gun-deck ; 
 after which the following distribution was 
 made to fire the ship, as the orders were 
 peremptorily to destroy her, and not at 
 tempt to bring her out ; and combustibles 
 226 
 
 had been brought for that purpose. Lieu 
 tenant Decatur, with a party of seventeen, 
 was to keep possession of the upper deck ; 
 Lieutenant Lawrence, with a party of 
 twelve, was to repair to the berth -deck 
 and forward store-rooms ; Lieutenant Bain 
 bridge, with a party of eleven, was to go 
 into the ward-room and steerage ; Midship 
 man Morris, with eight men, was to repair 
 to the cockpit and rear store-rooms ; Lieu 
 tenant Thorn, with the gunner and surgeon, 
 and thirteen men, was to guard the In 
 trepid; Midshipmsn Izard was to take 
 charge of the launch, should she be needed ; 
 and Midshipman Anderson, with the cutter 
 belonging to the Siren, was to secure all 
 boats alongside of the ship, and to prevent 
 the men on board from swimming ashore. 
 Firearms were to be used only in the last 
 extremity ; and the watchword was, " Phi 
 ladelphia." 
 
 As the Intrepid drew in near the land, 
 the doomed frigate became visible. Ex 
 ternally she appeared much the same as 
 when she was cradled in the rocks. Her 
 lower rigging, however, was in its place, 
 and her guns, as was soon after ascertained, 
 were loaded and shotted. Near her lay two 
 corsairs, a few gun- boats, and two or three 
 galleys. The ketch reached the eastern 
 entrance of the bay, on the passage between 
 the rocks and the shoals, about ten o clock. 
 The moon was still in its first quarter; and 
 as the Intrepid, under a light wind, moved 
 slowly on, all around was tranquil, and ap 
 parently no suspicion had been excited. De 
 catur stood at the helm, with the pilot, who 
 was to act as interpreter besides. Ten or 
 twelve of the officers and men were visible, as 
 this number would excite no alarm, it being 
 the usual complement on even the smallest 
 Tripolitan craft. The remainder of the 
 force lay on the deck, where they were con 
 cealed by low bulwarks, or weather-boards, 
 and by different objects belonging to the 
 vessel. As the Philadelphia was neared, 
 Lieutenant Decatur discovered a few of her 
 crew looking over the hammock-rail; and 
 the Intrepid was hailed and ordered to keep 
 off. The pilot answered, according to pre 
 vious instructions, that the ketch belonged 
 to Malta, and was on a trading voyage ; 
 that she had been nearly wrecked, and had 
 lost her anchors in the late gale, and that 
 she wished to ride by the frigate until 
 others could be procured. The Tripolitan 
 then asked some questions about the brig 
 (the Siren) in the offing, and was told that 
 
A.D. 1804.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE PHILADELPHIA BURNT. 
 
 it was the Transfer, a former British vessel 
 of war, which had been purchased for the 
 Tripolitans, and was daily expected to 
 arrive. The conversation continued some 
 time, Lieutenant Decatur instructing the 
 pilot to tell the Tripolitans with what he 
 was laden, in order to amuse them ; and 
 the Intrepid gradually drew nearer, until 
 there was every prospect of her running 
 foul of the frigate in a minute or two, and 
 at the very spot contemplated. But, sud 
 denly, the wind changed, and took the 
 Intrepid aback. Not the slightest suspicion 
 was yet excited on board the Philadelphia, 
 though several Tripolitans were looking 
 over the rails. In fact, so completely were 
 thev deceived, that they lowered a boat, and 
 sent it with a tow-rope, or fast. Some of the 
 men of the Intrepid, in the meantime, had 
 got into her boat, and run a line to the 
 fore-chains of the Philadelphia. As they 
 returned, they met the boat of the frigate, 
 took the fast it brought, which came from 
 the after-part of the ship, and passed it 
 into the Intrepid. These fasts were put 
 into the hands of the crew, as they still lay 
 on the latter s deck, and they began gently 
 to warp her alongside the Philadelphia. 
 As the Intrepid neared the frigate, the 
 Tripolitans discovered her anchors, and the 
 cry of "Americans!" was raised. The 
 men of the Intrepid, now, by a vigorous 
 pull, brought their vessel alongside the 
 frigate, where she was instantly made fast; 
 and the order to board was given. Mid 
 shipman Morris was the first to stand on 
 the deck of the Philadelphia, followed im 
 mediately by Lieutenant Decatur and Mid 
 shipman Laws. So complete was the sur 
 prise, and so rapid and earnest the assault, 
 that the Tripolitans, panic-stricken, made 
 little resistance; but most of them plunged 
 rapidly into the water, and saved them 
 selves by flight. In less than ten minutes 
 from the moment Lieutenant Decatur set 
 foot upon the deck, he found himself in 
 undisturbed possession of the frigate. 
 
 Had Decatur wished to save the vessel, 
 it was utterly out of his power, as she had 
 not a sail bent, nor a yard crossed ; and her 
 foremast, which had been cut away when 
 she ran upon the reef, had not been 
 replaced. But, independently of these con 
 siderations, his instructions to destroy her 
 were peremptory ; and the orders were con 
 sequently at once given, to pass up from the 
 ketch the combustibles, which consisted 
 principally of canvas sacks of dry pine and 
 
 shavings, well covered with turpentine. 
 The officers distributed themselves accord 
 ing to the instructions already detailed ; and, 
 as soon as the men appeared with the 
 combustibles, they were scattered in the 
 various sections of the ship, demijohns of 
 spirits of turpentine poured over them, and 
 at once set on fire. The ship was in a very 
 dry state, and the conflagration so extremely 
 rapid, that the assailants, in some cases, 
 escaped with difficulty. When the officer 
 intrusted with firing the combustibles in 
 the cockpit and rear store-room, had got 
 through with that duty, he found the after- 
 hatches filled with smoke, and he had to 
 escape by the forward ladders. 
 
 Though the Americans were in the ship 
 not over twenty-five minutes, they were 
 literally driven out by the rapid spread 
 of the flames. When all were on board 
 the Intrepid again, the order was given to 
 cast off; and even then Decatur and his 
 party, for a brief space of time, were in 
 imminent danger, in consequence of the 
 fouling of a fast. By using swords, how 
 ever for there was not time to look 
 for an axe the fast was cut, and the 
 little vessel drifted clear just as the flames 
 j burst forth from the ports, which, a mo- 
 , ment before, were immediately above the 
 Intrepid s deck, upon which lay a large 
 ; mass of ammunition, covered with a tar- 
 j paulin. A moment after the flames reached 
 the rigging, up which they went hissing 
 ! like a rocket, the tar having oozed from. 
 ! the ropes, which had been saturated with 
 I that inflammable matter. The sweeps were 
 i now manned, of which the Intrepid had 
 I eight on each side, and the ketch was very 
 soon at a safe distance from the burning 
 ship. When they had got a few lengths 
 j from her, the men ceased rowing for an 
 instant, and gave three hearty cheers. 
 I This seemed to arouse the Tripolitans 
 | from their stupor ; for the sound of those 
 victorious shouts had scarcely subsided, 
 when the guns of the land batteries, 
 the two corsairs, and the galleys, burst 
 forth in one simultaneous roar. The men 
 laid hold of their sweeps again, and, a light 
 land breeze springing up at this critical 
 moinent, the Intrepid went rapidly down 
 the harbour. 
 
 The spectacle, as she left the port, is de 
 scribed by the officers as both beautiful and 
 sublime. The Philadelphia was now one 
 wide sheet of flame. The bay was com 
 pletely illuminated by the conflagration ; 
 
 227 
 
DECATUR S SUCCESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1804. 
 
 and the city, its palaces, minarets, and 
 mosques, were all brought into distinct 
 view. By the light thus afforded, the 
 enemy could direct their fire upon the 
 Intrepid; and though the shot constantly 
 cast the spray around them, or went whist 
 ling over their heads, but a single ball 
 struck the little vessel, and that passed 
 through her top-gallant sail. The guns of 
 the Philadelphia, as they became heated, 
 began to go off; and, singularly enough, 
 one of her broadsides was discharged in 
 the direction of the town, and the other 
 towards Fort English, as if returning the 
 latter s fire. 
 
 When near the mouth of the harbour, 
 the Intrepid met the boats of the Siren, 
 sent out by Lieutenant Stewart to cover 
 her retreat; but their services were scarcely 
 necessary. Decatur jumped into one, and 
 pulled aboard the Siren, to report to Lieu 
 tenant Stewart the success of his under 
 taking. On the side of the Americans, 
 but a single trifling casualty occurred, one 
 man being slightly wounded. The loss 
 sustained by the enemy was never accu 
 rately known. Most of those on board 
 escaped, as has been already intimated, by 
 jumping overboard, and swimming to the 
 shore, or to the nearest cruisers, and 
 twenty were reported to be killed at the 
 first onset. Some, in all probability, secreted 
 themselves below, and, of course, must have 
 perished with the ship, as the rapidity 
 with which the fire progressed would not 
 have admitted of their escape. One wounded 
 Tripolitan was taken prisoner. 
 
 The Siren and Intrepid, after the return 
 of the latter to the offing where the former 
 lay, remained there about an hour, when a 
 favourable breeze springing up, they sailed 
 for Syracuse, which port they arrived a1 
 on the 19th, where the victorious party 
 was received with hearty congratulations 
 not alone by their own countrymen, but b) 
 the Sicilians aa well, who were also at war 
 with Tripoli. 
 
 The effect of this gallant exploit was a 
 once to place the name of Stephen Decatur 
 high upon the list of the most distinguishec 
 of American naval officers. He was re 
 commended by Commodore Preble fo 
 promotion, and he was raised from th< 
 station of a lieutenant to that of a captain 
 his commission being dated on the day o 
 the destruction of the Philadelphia. A 
 sword was also presented to him by con 
 gress, and two months extra pay was vote 
 228 
 
 o each of his officers and crew, who were 
 ngaged in the perilous but successful en- 
 erprise. Most of the midshipmen engaged 
 n the undertaking were also promoted. 
 
 The eminent American naval historian, 
 ames Fennimore Cooper, in speaking of this 
 mlliant and daring achievement, says 
 In whatever light we regard this exploit, 
 t extorts our admiration and praise ; the 
 >oldness in the conception of the enterprise 
 eing even surpassed by the perfect manner 
 a which all its parts were executed. 
 STothing appears to have been wanting, in 
 a military point of view ; nothing was de 
 ranged ; nothing defeated. The hour was 
 well chosen, and no doubt it was a chief 
 eason why the corsairs, gun- boats, and 
 >atteries were, in the first place, so slow 
 n commencing their fire, and so uncertain 
 n their aim when they did open on the 
 Americans. In appreciating the daring of 
 the attempt, we have only to consider what 
 might have been the consequences had the 
 assault on the frigate been repulsed. 
 Directly under her guns, with a harbour 
 illed with light cruisers, gun- boats, and 
 galleys, and surrounded by forts and bat- 
 eries, the inevitable destruction of all in 
 the Intrepid must have followed. These 
 were dangers that cool steadiness and entire 
 elf-possession, aided by perfect discipline, 
 could alone avert. In the service, the 
 enterprise has ever been regarded as one of 
 its most brilliant achievements ; and, to 
 this day, it is deemed a high honour to 
 have been one among the Intrepid s crew. 
 The effect on the squadron then abroad can 
 scarcely be appreciated, as its seamen 
 began to consider themselves invincible, if 
 not invulnerable, and were ready for any 
 service in which men could be employed." 
 
 The loss of the Philadelphia, as soon as 
 known in the United States, called for 
 another frigate in the Mediterranean squad 
 ron to supply its place. But the govern 
 ment, determined on prosecuting hostilities 
 against Tripoli with increased vigour, did 
 not confine itself to a single additional 
 vessel, but decided on sending out another 
 squadron, consisting of the President, of 
 forty- four guns ; the Congress and Constel 
 lation, each of thirty-eight guns ; and the 
 Essex, of thirty-two guns ; three of them, 
 in other words, all but the Congress, having 
 been connected with the earlier naval force 
 sent against Tripoli. As soon as the choice 
 of vessels to form the new squadron was 
 decided on, Commodore Preble was apprised 
 
A.D. 1804.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BOMBARDMENT OF TRIPOLI. 
 
 of the fact, and of the necessity of sending 
 an officer who was his senior in rank, and 
 who would, of course, take the chief com 
 mand. But some months must necessarily 
 elapse before the additional force could be 
 put in commission and reach the seat of 
 war. 
 
 In the meantime, Commodore Preble 
 continued his operations in. the Mediter 
 ranean with as much vigour as the means 
 he had at command would admit of. He 
 had so divided his force as to have some of 
 his smaller vessels constantly on blockading 
 duty off the port of Tripoli. In the latter 
 part of March, the Siren and Nautilus, the 
 blockading force at this time, succeeded in 
 capturing the Transfer, a Tripolitan pri 
 vateer, already alluded to as having been 
 a former British vessel of war, but which 
 had been purchased by the bashaw of 
 Tripoli. She was taken without resistance, 
 as she was attempting to run the blockade. 
 As she was equipped for the war, having 
 an armament of sixteen carronades, she was 
 taken to Syracuse, where she was appraised, 
 her name changed to the Scourge, manned, 
 and taken into the American service, the 
 command of her being given to Lieutenant 
 Dent, who had been acting captain of the 
 Constitution, the flag-ship of Commodore 
 Preble. Sicily being also at war with 
 Tripoli, as has been already incidentally 
 stated, Commodore Preble proceeded to 
 Naples in the Constitution, where he suc 
 ceeded in obtaining an order for two bomb- 
 vessels and six gun-boats, with the neces 
 sary equipments, to aid him in his projected 
 attack on the city of Tripoli. It was past 
 the middle of July before Commodore 
 Preble was prepared to commence opera 
 tions. On the 28th of that month he 
 assembled his entire force before Tripoli, to 
 try the effect of a bombardment. It con 
 sisted of the flag-ship, Constitution, com 
 manded by himself; the Siren, Lieutenant 
 Stewart; the Argus, Lieutenant Hall; the 
 Scourge, Lieutenant Dent; Vixen, Lieu 
 tenant Smith; the Nautilus, Lieutenant 
 Somers ; the Enterprise, Lieutenant De 
 catur;* and the two bomb-vessels and six 
 gun- boats. The bomb- vessels were of thirty 
 tons measurement, and carried one thirteen- 
 inch mortar each. The gun- boats were 
 shallow, unseaworthy craft, of twenty-five 
 tons measurement, and were each mounted 
 with one long iron 24-pounder, and were 
 
 * Decatur s commission as captain had not yet 
 arrived, and he was stiil ranking as a lieutenant. 
 VOL. II. 2 II 
 
 manned with a crew of thirty-five ; a few 
 Neapolitans helped to make up the latter, 
 but they were taken mostly from the dif 
 ferent vessels of the squadron. To sum up, 
 the force comprised one frigate, three brigs, 
 three schooners, two bomb-vessels, and six 
 gun-boats, carrying in all, 16 i guns, and 
 1,060 men. The castle and batteries of the 
 enemy mounted 115 guns, of which forty- 
 five were heavy brass battery cannon. 
 Besides these there were nineteen gun 
 boats, each carrying a heavy 24-pouuder 
 and two howitzers ; two schooners, of eight 
 guns each ; a brig of ten ; and two galleys, 
 each of four guns, all manned, in the har 
 bour. The regular garrisons and crews 
 numbered 3,000 men, and they were as 
 sisted by 20,000 Arabs. The only advan 
 tages possessed by the Americans, in the 
 warfare now about to open, were those re 
 sulting from superior discipline, system, 
 and courage. 
 
 The fleet had scarcely run in and cast 
 anchor, on the 28th, about three miles from 
 town, when a heavy gale arose, and blew 
 directly on shore ; the vessels were con 
 sequently obliged, for safety, to weigh 
 anchor, and claw off the land. The gale 
 continued until the 1st of August, when it 
 abated, and, on the 3rd, the squadron again 
 got within a league of the town, with a 
 gentle breeze from the east. The enemy 
 having, in the meantime, sent some of hia 
 gun-boats and galleys outside of the reef at 
 the mouth of the harbour, where they were 
 lying, in two divisions, one near the eastern, 
 and the other near the western entrance, 
 or about half a mile apart, two divisions of 
 gun-boats were formed, for the purpose of 
 attacking them, while the large vessels 
 attacked the batteries and town. The first 
 division, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 of the gun-boats, 
 were commanded by Lieutenants Somers, 
 James Decatur, and Blake ; and the second 
 division, Nos. 4, 5, and 6, by Lieutenants 
 Stephen Decatur, Bainbridge, and Trippe. 
 One bomb-vessel was commanded by Lieu 
 tenant Dent, of the Scourge, and the other 
 by Lieutenant Robinson, of the Constitu 
 tion. 
 
 Everything being ready, at half-past two 
 in the afternoon, the signal was shown fnm 
 the flag-ship to commence. The bomb- 
 ketches opened the attack by throwing 
 shells into the town. The fire was imme 
 diately returned from the batteries, and 
 then the shipping on both sides commenced, 
 and Tripoli seemed shrouded in fire. 
 
 229 
 
DARING ASSAULT.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1804. 
 
 While the bombardment by the main 
 forces was being vigorously prosecuted, 
 Decatur, with his division of gun-boats, 
 attacked those of the enemy. The eastern, 
 or windward division of the enemy s boats, 
 nine in number, having the slightest sup 
 port, was that against which the Americans 
 first directed their attack. The inferior 
 character of these Neapolitan gun-boats now 
 became painfully apparent ; for, as soon as 
 Lieutenant Decatur moved towards the 
 enemy, with an intention to come to close 
 quarters, No. 1, of the second division, 
 under Lieutenant Somers, being, unfortu 
 nately, a little to leeward, found it impos 
 sible to sustain him. After his utmost 
 efforts to get a little to windward, so as to 
 join Lieutenant Decatur in the main attack, 
 had proved entirely unsuccessful, and he 
 was obliged to abandon the attempt, he 
 bore down on the leeward division of the 
 enemy, consisting of five boats, and opened 
 on them within pistol-shot distance, with 
 showers of grape, canister, and musket- 
 balls. No. 3, under Lieutenant Blake, was 
 fast approaching to the support of No. 1, 
 when a signal of recall being for a moment 
 accidentally shown from the flag-ship, she 
 hauled out of the line, and was afterwards 
 only engaged in firing at long range on 
 the boats and shipping in the harbour. 
 No. 2, commanded by Lieutenant James 
 Decatur, succeeded in joining the division 
 to windward, under his brother, Lieutenant 
 Stephen Decatur ; but still the force of the 
 latter was not increased, as No. 5, under 
 Lieutenant Bainbridge, had become dis 
 abled, by losing her lateen yard, and coulc 
 not come up with the other boats. The three 
 boats, Nos. 4, 6, and 2, however, movec 
 steadily up till within the enemy s smoke 
 when they opened fire with a deadly dis 
 charge of grape and musket-balls, and then 
 the order was given to board. The odd 
 were now fearfully against the assailants 
 as they were entirely unsupported by th 
 larger vessels ; while the boats of the enemy 
 with which they were contending, were no 
 only larger and better in every respect 
 but they were more numerously manned. 
 
 The boat of Lieutenant Stephen Decatu 
 took the lead in closing. He had no soone 
 discharged the gun of No. 4, than she wa 
 laid alongside one of the opposing boats 
 and he sprang into it, followed by all hi 
 crew. The Tripolitan had a large ope 
 hatchway in the centre, and, as the assail 
 ants came in on one side, the Tripolitan 
 230 
 
 etreated to the other, leaving the open 
 pace between them and their antagonists. 
 Vaiting but a moment for all his force to 
 >-et on board, Lieutenant Decatur charged 
 ound both ends of the hatchway, and a 
 irief struggle ensued, in which the slaughter 
 f the Tripolitans was fearful. They soon 
 *ave way, some saving themselves by jump- 
 ng into the water, and the others sur- 
 endered. Taking the captured boat in tow, 
 Decatur immediately bore down on the next 
 o leeward, which he boarded, with most 
 if his officers and men, Decatur himself 
 Stacking the Tripolitan commanding officer 
 he moment he set foot en his deck. The 
 Cripolitan was a large, powerful man, and 
 Decatur charged him with a pike, which 
 was seized by his antagonist, wrested from 
 Decatur s hands, and turned upon him by 
 lis opponent. Decatur parried the thrust, 
 truck the pike with his sword, with a design 
 of cutting off its head. His sword unfortu 
 nately broke at the hilt, and the next mo 
 ment the Tripolitan made another thrust 
 with the pike. Decatur partially parried 
 the blow with his arm, but it struck through 
 the flesh of one breast. Pushing the iron 
 from the wound, Decatur sprang within 
 the weapon, and grappled with his powerful 
 opponent. The pike was chopped, and a 
 desperate personal struggle took place, in 
 which Decatur fell, with his antagonist upon 
 him. The Tripolitan now endeavoured to 
 reach his yatagan, or poniard ; but De 
 catur firmly grasped his hand with one of 
 his, while with the other he succeeded in 
 drawing a small pistol from his vest-pocket, 
 passed his arm around the body of the Tri 
 politan, and, pointing the muzzle in, fired. 
 The ball passed entirely through the body 
 of his foe. At the next moment Decatur 
 felt the grasp of his antagonist loosen, and 
 he sprang up, leaving the huge Tripolitan 
 dead upon the deck. In the early portion 
 of this personal contest between the two 
 commanders, the life of the young American 
 was undoubtedly saved by a young man of 
 the Enterprise s crew, named Reuben James, 
 who intercepted a blow aimed at the skull 
 of Decatur, by interposing his own arm, 
 which was fearfully cut. The desperate 
 nature of this remarkable assault may be 
 inferred from the fact, that, of the crews 
 of the two boats captured by Lieutenant 
 Decatur, fifty-two are known to have been 
 killed or wounded ; most of the latter badly. 
 Having secured his second prize, Decatur 
 hauled off to regain the squadron, as the 
 
A.D. 1804.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [INTREPIDITY OF TRIPPE. 
 
 remainder of the enemy s gun-boats that had 
 not been captured or sunk, had retreated 
 into the harbour, through the openings be 
 tween the rocks. 
 
 At the same moment that Lieutenant 
 Stephen Decatur moved to the attack of 
 the first boat, his brother James, with No. 
 2, had drawn alongside of another of the 
 enemy s boats, and was in the act of board 
 ing, when he was killed by a musket- ball 
 in his forehead. In the confusion which 
 necessarily resulted, the Tripolitan boat 
 succeeded in making its escape. 
 
 Lieutenant Trippe, meanwhile, in No. 6, 
 the other of the three boats that succeeded 
 in reaching the eastern division of the 
 enemy s gun-boat flotilla, had had a des 
 perate encounter with one of them. Fol 
 lowing Decatur s directions, he reserved 
 his fire till he was near enough to deliver 
 it with deadly effect, and immediately 
 closing, he gave the order to board. The 
 boats came together with such force, that 
 only Lieutenant Trippe, with midshipman 
 Henley and nine men, succeeded in getting 
 on board before the boats separated. Thus 
 eleven men were left to contend with at 
 least five times their number. Here, too, 
 the commanders had a severe personal 
 contest, as the work of death was going 
 on around them. The Tripolitan com 
 mander was a man of Herculean frame ; 
 and his slenderly built, but more agile foe, 
 was obliged to be on his guard. Acting at 
 first necessarily on the defensive, Lieu 
 tenant Trippe had already received eight 
 sabre wounds on his head, and two in his 
 breast, when, rushing suddenly forward, 
 his Tripolitan adversary gave him a ninth 
 blow on the head, which brought him upon 
 his knees. At last, rendered desperate by 
 the necessity of his case, Lieutenant Trippe 
 rallied all his force for a determined effort, 
 and, with the short pike with which he 
 fought, he made a thrust which passed the 
 weapon through his athletic opponent, and 
 he fell dead upon the deck. As soon as 
 their commander fell, the remainder of the 
 crew surrendered. This was one of the 
 largest of the Tripolitan gun-boats. Her 
 full complement of men is not known ; but 
 when she surrendered, there were, living 
 and dead, thirty-six men on board of her, 
 of whom twenty-one were either killed or 
 wounded. When it is taken into considera 
 tion that but eleven Americans succeeded in 
 boarding her, her capture must be deemed 
 one of the most heroic achievements on 
 
 record. When Lieutenant Trippe was re 
 turning with his prize to the squadron, no 
 one had thought, under the excitement of 
 the occasion, of lowering the Tripolitan 
 flag. The Vixen, seeing the enemy s 
 colours still flying, and mistaking her cha 
 racter, gave her a broadside, which brought 
 down flag, mast, lateen-yard, and all ; but, 
 fortunately, did no injury to life or limb. 
 
 Aided by the brigs and schooners, Lieu 
 tenant Somers, in No. 1, had compelled the 
 western division of gun-boats to retreat, 
 and had pursued them so far, that he 
 came close upon an enemy s battery of 
 twelve guns, near the mole. The de 
 struction of his boat seemed inevitable, whin 
 a shell fell into the battery, tore up the 
 platform, and frightened the enemy out. 
 Before they got over the panic, the boat 
 succeeded in getting out of their reach. 
 There was still a division of five gun-boats 
 and two galleys, which had been held in 
 reserve, within the rocks ; and these made 
 two efforts to come out, and recapture the 
 prizes which the Americans had taken ; 
 but they met so warm a reception ivom 
 the Constitution and the smaller vessels, 
 that they gladly retired again to a place of 
 security. 
 
 The cannonade on the forts and on the 
 city, was, in the meantime, kept up. At 
 half-past four, Commodore Preble gave the 
 signal for the smaller vessels to withdraw ; 
 and, soon after, the whole fleet was retiring 
 from the town, under cover of a fire from 
 the Constitution, she being the last to haul 
 off, and run out of gun-shot. 
 
 Thus closed the first bombardment of 
 the town and batteries of Tripoli. Its 
 moral effect upon the enemy was salutary. 
 The superiority of the Americans in gun 
 nery had been previously admitted ; but 
 they had now overcome the Tripolitans 
 with inferior numbers, hand to hand a 
 species of combat in which the latter had 
 deemed themselves without an equal. Pro 
 bably no instance of a more daring at 
 tack has been put on record; while the 
 small loss of the Americans, in this des 
 perate combat and fierce cannonade, must 
 ever remain a matter of astonishment. 
 The entire American loss, in killed and 
 wounded, was but fourteen. The Tripoli- 
 tan loss must have been very heavy. Of 
 103 men on the three captured boats, but 
 thirty were fit for duty. Three other boats 
 were sunk with their entire crews ; and the 
 decks of the remaining vessels were swept 
 
SECOND BOMBARDMENT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.P. 180*. 
 
 of numbers. But little damage was done 
 to the town by the shells which were 
 thrown into it, very few of them, on ac 
 count of the imperfect materials that had 
 been furnished, having exploded. The 
 inhabitants, however, were thrown into 
 the greatest consternation, and many de 
 serted the town, and fled into the interior. 
 
 The American vessels anchored about six 
 miles from Tripoli, to repair damages, and 
 prepare for a renewal of the bombardment. 
 The three captains gun-boats were over 
 hauled, and put in a condition for service. 
 When equipped, they were numbered 7, 8, 
 and 9, and their command given to Lieu 
 tenants Crane, Caldwell, and Thorn. 
 
 On the 7th of August, the second bom 
 bardment commenced. At nine o clock in 
 the morning of that day, the light vessels 
 weighed anchor, and the bomb-ketches pro 
 ceeded to take up a position in a small bay 
 to the westward of the town, where they 
 would not be much exposed to shot. Hav 
 ing gained their anchorage, the bomb- ves 
 sels commenced, at half-past two o clock in 
 the afternoon, to throw shells into the town, 
 and the gun -boats opened a heavy fire on the 
 batteries. The effect on the latter was soon 
 apparent, many of their guns being silenced. 
 The galleys and gun-boats of the enemy 
 made one or two demonstrations, advancing 
 toward the openings between the rocks, and 
 commencing fire ; but seeing the strong 
 force prepared to receive them, they hastily 
 retreated. At half-past five, after three 
 hours cannonading, the flag-ship made a 
 signal for the brigs and schooners to take 
 the bomb-ketches and gun-boats in tow, and 
 return to their anchorage again. The result 
 of this second bombardment was, forty-eight 
 shells and five hundred 24-lb. round shot 
 thrown into the town, one battery silenced, 
 and several boats injured. The Americans 
 lost one of the boats captured on the 3rd (No. 
 8), a shot passing through her magazine, 
 and blowing her up, killing ten, and wound 
 ing six. Among the killed was Lieutenant 
 Caldwell, the commander, and midshipman 
 Darcy. Twelve of her men were found 
 loading the long 26-pounder with which 
 she was armed, and which they succeeded 
 in discharging before the boat went down, 
 when they all saved themselves by swim 
 ming to the other boats, where they con 
 tinued to do service till the signal was given 
 to suspend the fight, and withdraw to the 
 anchorage. 
 
 On the evening of the second bombard- 
 232 
 
 ment, the John Adams, under the command 
 of Captain Chauncey, arrived with stores 
 for the squadron, and despatches for Com 
 modore Preble ; by which he was apprised 
 of the preparation of a new squadron to 
 come out under Commodore Barron, who 
 would supersede him in the chief command. 
 He also learned, through Captain Chauncey, 
 that the new squadron might be soon ex 
 pected, as it was nearly ready to sail 
 when the John Adams left. By this arrival, 
 Lieutenant Decatur also received his com 
 mission, raising him to the rank of captain ; 
 while Lieutenants Stewart, Hall, Chauncey, 
 Smith, and Somers, received commissions as 
 masters-commandant, ranking in the order 
 of their names, as given above. 
 
 On learning, through Captain Chauncey, 
 as has been stated, that the new squadron 
 might be soon expected, Commodore Preble 
 at first determined to delay a third bom 
 bardment until its assistance could be had. 
 Advantage was taken, in the meantime, to 
 open a negotiation with the bashaw, with a 
 view to peace. But it ended unfavourably. 
 Although the bashaw expressed a willing 
 ness to forego any claim for tribute in the 
 future, he still insisted on a ransom of 500 
 dollars each for all his prisoners ; which, of 
 course, Commodore Preble refused to ac 
 cede to. 
 
 No intelligence of the expected squadron 
 arriving by the 24th, Commodore Preble 
 determined to wait no longer, but to make 
 another attack upon the city and fortifica 
 tions of Tripoli. The bombardment was 
 commenced at two o clock in the morning 
 of that day ; the two ketches, though some 
 what crippled in the previous attacks, having 
 been towed to a position favourable for the 
 purpose. The moon was shining with un 
 usual brightness, and all nature lay hushed 
 in peaceful repose. The white buildings of 
 the town, as described by a spectator of the 
 scene, "mellowed by the flood of light, 
 seemed still and solitary as the regions of 
 Arabian fairy-land. Far away, in the dis 
 tance, the palm-trees drooped their graceful 
 tops ; and further still, the mountains of 
 Barbary appeared, Atlas-like, to be support 
 ing the heavens. As the bomb-ketches 
 were drawn slowly into station, they seemed 
 strange and unnatural intruders into the 
 repose of so lovely a spectacle." 
 
 This death-like silence, however, was 
 destined to a rude awakening. As soon as 
 the bomb-vessels were in position, they 
 opened fire, which was kept up till 
 
A.TX 1804.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FIFTH BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 daylight, without eliciting a single shot in 
 return. This night bombardment was en 
 tirely without effect. Captain Bainbridge, 
 who, it will be borne in mind, was a pri 
 soner in the town at this time, said that all 
 the shells thrown on this occasion fell 
 short of the shore, and no damage whatever 
 was done by either shot or shell. 
 
 On the 28th, however, the wind and 
 weather being favourable, Commodore 
 Preble decided on a more vigorous bom 
 bardment of the town and batteries than 
 any that had yet taken place, and his dis 
 positions were made with that intention. 
 In the previous attacks, the Constitution, 
 and other vessels of the squadron, had been 
 seriously weakened in their working forces, 
 in consequence of the bomb-ketches and 
 gun-boats being manned from their crews. 
 On this occasion, however, the officers and 
 crew of the John Adams were brought into 
 requisition, as the vessel itself could not be 
 made serviceable in the attack, in con 
 sequence of her gun-carriages having been 
 put on board the expected squadron, to 
 make room for the supplies she brought. 
 The two bomb-vessels, being crippled, could 
 not be made available on this occasion, and, 
 with the Scourge, John aidants, and trans 
 ports, remained at the anchorage well out 
 from the harbour.* The gun-boats and 
 smaller vessels advanced and anchored close 
 to the rocks at the entrance of the harbour, 
 where they commenced a cannonade on the 
 enemy s shipping, castle, and town. Thir 
 teen of the Tripolitan gun-boats and galleys 
 engaged the eight American, when the 
 Constitution approached, and ordering the 
 American gun-boats to retire, as their am 
 munition was mostly exhausted, delivered 
 a heavy fire of round and grape on the 
 enemy s boats as she came up, which sunk 
 one of them, and drove two others on the 
 rocks : the rest, to avoid a similar fate, re 
 treated. The frigate then passed on until 
 she had got within musket-shot of the 
 mole, when she commenced a fierce attack 
 upon the town, batteries, and castle, which 
 she kept up for three-quarters of an hour, 
 with considerable effect, when, all the small 
 vessels being out oi gun-shot, she retired. 
 
 * The loss of the services of the bombards, on 
 this occasion, was of no great consequence, on ac 
 count of the hardness of the materials they were 
 compelled to use. Preble subsequently discovered 
 lead in the fuse-holes of many of the bombs. It was 
 supposed that this had been done by French agents 
 in Sicily, the shells having been charged to resist 
 the French invasion. Cooper. 
 
 About 700 shots were fired, on this occasion, 
 at the enemy, which did considerable 
 damage, and killed many men. Much 
 injury was done to the town, the shot 
 having told with effect on many of the 
 houses. f A boat belonging to the John 
 Adams was struck by a double-headed shot, 
 which killed three men, and seriously 
 wounded a fourth. This was the only 
 casualty which occurred during the bom 
 bardment, on the side of the Americans. 
 The Constitution, though so long exposed 
 to the grape-shot of the enemy, had not a 
 single man injured. 
 
 On the 3rd of September, the fifth and 
 last bombardment of Tripoli took place. In 
 the meantime the bomb-ketches had been 
 repaired and got ready for service. The 
 Tripolitans had also improved the time, 
 having raised three of their gun-boats, 
 which had been sunk in previous actions, 
 and got them ready for service. 
 
 Since the first action on the 3rd of 
 August, when the Tripolitan gun-boats 
 got so roughly treated by being engaged 
 in a hand-to-hand conflict, they had 
 kept their galleys and gun-boats either 
 behind the rocks, in positions to fire 
 over them, or in the openings between 
 them, and which, consequently, brought 
 them to leeward of the Constitution and 
 small American vessels; the latter always 
 availing themselves of the occasion ot an 
 easterly wind on which to make an at 
 tack, as that facilitated the withdrawing 
 of vessels crippled in the fight. The mo 
 ment, therefore, on the 3rd of September, 
 they observed the American squadron in 
 motion, with an apparent design to make 
 another attack, their gun-boats and galleys 
 got under weigh, and worked up to wind 
 ward, until they had obtained a position 
 on that side of the harbour, under the 
 fire of Fort English and that of another 
 battery, consisting of heavy guns, which 
 had been recently erected a little to the 
 westward of the other. 
 
 This change in the position of the Til- 
 politan gun-boats, called for a corresponding 
 change on the part of their antagonists. 
 The bomb- vessels took their position, how- 
 
 f In this attack, a heavy shot from one o. the 
 American gun-boats struck the castle, passed 
 through a wall, and rebounding from the opposite 
 side of the room, fell within six inches oi Captain 
 Bainbridge, who was at the moment in bed, and 
 covered him with stones and mortar, from under 
 
 i which he was taken by his own officers, considerably 
 
 I hurt. Conner. 
 
 233 
 
DARING UNDERTAKING.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1804. 
 
 ever, according to the original plan ; while 
 the gun-boats, in two divisions, under the 
 respective commands of Decatur and Somers, 
 and under the protection of the brigs and 
 schooners, assailed the Tripolitan boats, 
 which stood the fire poured in upon them 
 from the American boats, till the latter 
 had come within gun-shot distance, when 
 they retreated. The American boats now 
 separated, some following up the retreating 
 boats ; while the others, with the brigs and 
 schooners, opened on Fort English. The 
 bomb-ketches, in the meanwhile, were suf 
 fering from the undisturbed fire of the 
 enemy s guns, to which they were exposed. 
 Observing this, Commodore Preble moved 
 down the Constitution close to the rocks, and 
 within the line of the ketches, and opened a 
 fire upon the enemy s batteries with the 
 entire force of her guns. She was here 
 exposed to the fire of seventy guns ; but 
 the moment a battery opened upon her, 
 she speedily silenced it. The fact was, 
 as had been ascertained in previous con 
 tests, as long as the fire of the Constitution 
 was directed on a battery, the Tripolitans 
 could not be kept at their guns. It was the 
 incessant fire of her own guns, in the pre 
 sent case, that proved her protection, ex 
 posed as she was to the fire of double their 
 number. After throwing over 300 round 
 shot, besides grape and canister, the Con 
 stitution withdrew, having previously given 
 the signal to the remainder of the force to 
 retire. The bomb-vessels, having been 
 much exposed, suffered severely, one of 
 them being so much crippled, that it was 
 with the utmost difficulty she was got to 
 the anchorage without sinking. 
 
 On the night of the day succeeding the 
 action which has just been narrated, oc 
 curred the most terrible event of the Tri 
 politan war the explosion of the ketch 
 Intrepid, whose name had already been 
 rendered memorable from its association 
 with that most daring act of the war, the 
 burning of the Philadelphia. Commodore 
 Preble, some time previous to the date 
 referred to, in order to try new experi 
 ments of annoyance, had determined to 
 send an "infernal machine/ 5 or fire-ship, 
 into the harbour of Tripoli, to explode 
 among the enemy s cruisers. The Intrepid, 
 which was still in the squadron, having 
 been used as a transport between Tripoli 
 and Malta, had been selected and fitted up 
 for the purpose. A small room had been 
 planked up as a magazine in her hold, just 
 234 
 
 forward of her mainmast. Into this maga 
 zine had been emptied one hundred barrels 
 of gunpowder, communicating with which 
 was a trunk or tube which led aft to another 
 room filled with coinbustibles ; while, on 
 the deck, immediately above the gun 
 powder, were placed one hundred 9-inch, 
 and fifty 13J-inch shells, besides a large 
 quantity of shot, kentledge, fragments of 
 iron, &c. In the tube before referred to, a 
 train was laid, and fuses attached in the 
 proper manner. The other room aft was 
 filled with splinters and light wood, which, 
 in addition to firing the train, was relied 
 upon to deter the enemy from boarding, as 
 the fire would, it was expected, lead them 
 to apprehend an explosion. The design 
 was, to take advantage of the first dark 
 night that offered, after everything had 
 been prepared, to take the vessel as far as 
 possible into the harbour to light the 
 splinter-room ; and then for the men, who 
 had conducted her thus far, to make their 
 retreat in boats taken along for the pur 
 pose, and leave her to execute her dreadful 
 errand, solitary and alone. 
 
 The plan was admirably laid, and the 
 arrangements for carrying it into execu 
 tion were made with care and prudence, i 
 Still, the enterprise was a desperate one. 
 The Intrepid would have to run in directly 
 in the face of several batteries, to whose fire 
 it would be exposed, if discovered, unless 
 mistaken for a vessel attempting to run the 
 blockade. The hazards of premature ex 
 plosion, under the circumstances, from the 
 fire of the enemy, was self-evident. And, 
 even after successfully conducting the vessel 
 to the destined position, to effect a safe 
 retreat was an undertaking fraught with 
 considerable peril. 
 
 The night of the 4th of September, as 
 already stated, promising the requisite 
 obscurity, and the wind being in the right 
 quarter, it was determined to dispatch the 
 Intrepid on her Tearful mission. Captain 
 Somers, who had won the respect of all by 
 his gallantry in the gun- boat attacks, had 
 volunteered to take charge of the enter 
 prise, and conduct the vessel in, having for 
 his associates in the hazardous undertaking, 
 Lieutenants "Wadsworth and Isra^, both of 
 them also volunteers. The Argus, Vixen, 
 and Nautilus were selected to accompany 
 the Intrepid as far as the mouth of the 
 harbour. Two of the fleetest boats in the 
 squadron one belonging to the Constitu 
 tion, that pulled six oars, and the other 
 
A.D. 1804.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FATE OF THE INTREPID. 
 
 belonging to the Siren, that pulled four 
 oars were selected, and manned with 
 picked crews, also volunteers, to bring 
 them out. 
 
 At eight o clock in the evening, all being 
 ready, the Intrepid, with the three vessels 
 named in company, got under weigh. Soon 
 after, the Siren also, by direction of Com 
 modore Preble, stood in towards the western 
 passage, or that by which the ketch was to 
 enter, where she remained to look out for 
 the boats. At the mouth of the harbour, 
 these three vessels, which had accompanied 
 her thus far, parted from her, and scattered 
 themselves near the rocks, to pick up the 
 retreating boats. The Nautilus, Captain 
 Somers own vessel, was the last to leave, 
 and Heed, his first lieutenant, the last 
 person who had any communication with 
 Captain Somers, he leaving him about nine 
 o clock. A deep mist had brooded over 
 the water, and the stars were dimly seen, 
 though half-extinguished. A deep 
 
 as 
 
 anxiety was felt by the American seamen ; 
 for those bold comrades, whom they were 
 sending forth, were to return no more, 
 unless they could escape unperceived from 
 t e enemy. This uneasiness was increased 
 by the fact that three Tripolitan gun-boats 
 lay near the entrance of the harbour ; and 
 S >mers had expressed his determination to 
 explode the vessel, in case of being boarded 
 by the Tripolitans. 
 
 Slowly the shadowy forms of the canvas 
 of the devoted craft receded into the dis 
 tance, until it totally disappeared in the 
 obscurity of night. When last seen to the 
 naked eye, she was near the mole, standing 
 directly for the harbour. To the last 
 moment, when seen with a night-glass, 
 she appeared to have been advancing. 
 About this time the Tripolitan batteries 
 began to fire. The period between the 
 moment when the Intrepid was lost to 
 sight, and that which announced her fate, 
 though brief, was one of intense, almost of 
 breathless expectation. The only interrup 
 tion was that produced by the flashes and 
 the roar of the Tripolitan guns. 
 
 Suddenly, a column of massive fire 
 streamed xipwards, and illuminated the 
 heavens, followed by a concussion, that 
 made the vessels, lying at anchor, tremble 
 like leaves in the autumn wind ; and then 
 an intense darkness succeeded. The enemy s 
 batteries were instantly hushed ; and a 
 painful silence weighed upon every heart. 
 Men gazed on each other with awe-struck 
 
 countenances. There was no inquiry ; 
 every one knew every one felt the truth. 
 The Intrepid had met her destined fate: 
 but her crew, where were they ? Anxiety 
 had been intense previous to the explosion ; 
 but it now became doubly so to know the 
 fate of that gallant band. Sailors held up 
 their lanterns, and strained their eyes, in the 
 vain hope of discovering, through the gloom 
 of night, their comrades safely returning 
 from their perilous enterprise. Some of 
 them sprang over the sides of the vessels, 
 and placed their ears near the water, in their 
 endeavour to catch the first faint sounds of 
 the returning boats. Their imagination 
 would often give wings to their judgment, 
 and the announcement that the dash of their 
 oars was heard, would momentarily excite 
 hopes only to be crushed by disappointment ; 
 when the watch would be again renewed. 
 Thus hour after hour passed by, the entire 
 squadron a prey to the most painful suspense. 
 The vessels which had formed the convoy, 
 hovered about the entrance to the harbour 
 until sunrise ; but few traces of the Intrepid, 
 and none of her devoted crew, could be dis 
 covered. Doubt, however, was now turned 
 into certainty: the Intrepid had prematurely 
 blown up ; but the cause of that explosion 
 not one of her crew had survived to tell. In 
 the words of another, the awful sublimity of 
 her fate was not to be lessened by a disclo 
 sure of its cause. 
 
 In the wreck of the Intrepid, as we learn 
 from Captain Bainbridge s journal, two 
 mangled bodies were found, and four more 
 were picked up, floating in the harbour, or 
 lodged on the shore. Those bodies were in 
 the most shocking state of mutilation, and 
 utterly unrecognisable ; it being impossible 
 to distinguish an officer from a seaman. Six 
 more bodies were found, the day after the 
 explosion, on the shore to the southward of 
 the town ; and a six-oared boat, with one 
 body in it, drifted on the beach to the west 
 ward. The thirteen bodies thus found, ac 
 count exactly for all on board ; and it is 
 also tolerably conclusive evidence that no 
 Tripolitan vessel was blown up by the 
 Intrepid; as, had there been, many more 
 bodies must have been found than just the 
 number on board the latter vessel. 
 
 In alluding to the long-disputed point 
 the cause of the explosion of the Intrepid 
 Cooper says : " From weighing all the cir 
 cumstances, it is the most rational opinion 
 that ihelntrepid was not intentionally blown 
 up. She was under fire at the timej and 
 
 235 
 
THE NAVAL FLEET.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1805. 
 
 though it is improbable that the enemy had 
 any shot heated to repel an attack so unex 
 pected, a cold shot might easily have fired 
 a magazine in the situation of that of the 
 Intrepid. The deck of the ketch, moreover, 
 was covered with loaded shells, and one of 
 these might have been struck and broken. 
 Some other unforeseen accident may have 
 occurred. On the other hand, it is neces 
 sary to state, that Commodore Preble firmly 
 believed that his officers blew themselves up, 
 in preference to being made prisoners ; au 
 opinion in which it would not be difficult to 
 coincide, were there proof that they were in 
 any immediate danger of such a calamity. 
 It was also the general conjecture in the 
 squadron, then before Tripoli, that such had 
 been the fate of these bold adventurers ; 
 but it would seem, to have been formed, at 
 the time, rather on au opinion of what the 
 party that went in was capable of doing, 
 than on any evidence of what it had actually 
 done. * * * One of three things seems 
 to be probable. The ketch either exploded 
 by means of the enemy s shot, than which, 
 nothing was easier in the situation where 
 she lay ; the men accidentally fired the mag 
 azine while preparing to light the splinters 
 below ; or it was done intentionally, in con 
 sequence of the desperate condition to which 
 the party was reduced by the destruction 
 caused by grape. Of the three, after weigh 
 ing all the circumstances, it is natural to 
 believe that the first was the most probable; 
 as it was certainly easier to cause a vessel 
 like the Intrepid, with a hundred barrels of 
 loose powder in her magazine, to explode by 
 means of shot, than to cause a vessel like 
 No. 8, which is known to have been blown 
 up in this manner in the action of the 7th 
 of August. * * * A sad and solemn 
 mystery, after all our conjectures, must for 
 ever veil the fate of those fearless officers 
 and their hardy followers. In whatever 
 light we view the affair, they were the vic 
 tims of that self-devotion which causes the 
 seaman and soldier to hold his life in his 
 hands when the honour or the interest of his 
 country demands the sacrifice. The name 
 of Somera has passed into a battle-cry in the 
 American marine; while those of Wads- 
 worth and Israel are associated with all 
 that can ennoble intrepidity, coolness, and 
 daring." 
 
 Commodore Preble had consumed so 
 much powder in his several attacks on Tri 
 poli, that he was obliged to suspend offen 
 sive operations. The season of gales was 
 236 
 
 also near at hand, rendering it dangerous 
 to remain on that exposed coast. While 
 the Constitution, with the Argus and Vixen 
 in company, remained to keep up the 
 blockade of Tripoli, the rest of the squadron, 
 on the 7th of September, proceeded to 
 Syracuse. Three days later, the President, 
 with Commodore Barron on board, and the 
 Constellation, Captain Campbell, arrived, 
 when Commodore Preble surrendered the 
 command to the first-named officer, and 
 soon after returned to the United States in 
 the John Adams, arriving there on the 26th 
 of February, 1805. On the return of Com 
 modore Preble, Captain Decatur assumed 
 command of the Constellation. Commodore 
 Preble, and all the officers and men under 
 his orders, received the thanks of congress ; 
 and a gold medal was presented to the 
 commodore. 
 
 Commodore Barron had now much the 
 strongest force that the United States had 
 ever had in the Mediterranean. It con 
 sisted of the President, his flag-ship, Captain 
 Cox ; the Constitution, Captain Decatur ; the 
 Congress, Captain Rodgers ; the Constella 
 tion, Captain Campbell ; the Essex, Captain 
 J. Barron ; the Siren, Captain Stewart ; 
 the Argus, Captain llull; the Vixen, Cap 
 tain Smith; the Enterprise, Lieutenant 
 Robinson ; the Nautilus, Lieutenant Dent ; 
 and the Hornet, Lieutenant Evans. Sub 
 sequently, Captain Rodgers, being the 
 senior officer, assumed command of the 
 Constitution, and Captain Decatur was 
 transferred to the Congress. 
 
 Beyond maintaining a rigid blockade of 
 Tripoli, which resulted in the capture of 
 some vessels attempting to evade it, nothing 
 worthy of record occurred during the au 
 tumn and winter mouths of ISO-l- o, active 
 operations being deferred till the following 
 season, for reasons which will appear here 
 after. 
 
 In the meantime, while matters were 
 thus progressing before Tripoli, a move 
 ment was in progress in another quarter; 
 a record of which is called for, as properly 
 belonging to the history of the Tripolitan 
 war. 
 
 William Eaton, a soldier of the revolu 
 tionary army, and who had subsequently 
 held a captain s commission in the regular 
 army of the United States, was, in 1797, 
 appointed United States consul to Tunis, 
 though he did not arrive at the scene of 
 his consular duties till March, 1799, from 
 which period he was assiduously engaged 
 
A.T). 1805.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [EATON S EXPEDITION. 
 
 in a series of negotiations and altercations 
 with the bey of Tunis, having reference to 
 the annual payment of tribute-money, to 
 secure to the commerce of the United 
 States immunity from the attacks of Tu 
 nisian corsairs. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities be 
 tween the United States and Tripoli, Mr. 
 Eaton had conceived the idea of inducing 
 Hamet Caramelli the elder brother of 
 Jussuf Caramelli, and the rightful bey of 
 Tripoli, but who had been deposed by his 
 usurping brother, and driven from the state 
 to organise a land force, for the purpose 
 of co-operating with the fleet in its attack 
 upon the city of Tripoli, and thus achieve 
 the twofold purpose of restoring the rightful 
 heir to the throne of Tripoli, and the 
 establishment of pacific relations between 
 that country and the United States. Find 
 ing the American naval officers averse to his 
 project, Mr. Eaton resigned his consulship, 
 and returned to the United States. He 
 was unable there to procure the means 
 to prosecute his scheme successfully, but 
 received the appointment of navy agent of 
 the United States in the Mediterranean. 
 Although very slight powers were attached 
 to this office, Mr. Eaton accompanied the 
 American fleet, under Commodore Barren, 
 to the Mediterranean, which reached there, 
 as has been previously stated, in September, 
 1804. Learning that Hamet Caramelli, 
 after passing a wandering life for some 
 years, had taken refuge among the Mame 
 lukes of Egypt, Mr. Eaton at once com 
 menced operations. Commodore Barron, 
 having been directed to co-operate with 
 and assist Mr. Eaton in his projected move 
 ment, as far as he might deem it discreet 
 immediately after assuming command in 
 the Mediterranean, he dispatched the Argus, 
 Captain Hull, with Mr. Eaton, to Alex 
 andria, where they arrived on the 26th of 
 November. It was to await the issue of 
 this scheme of Mr. Eaton, and, if practicable, 
 to co-operate with a land force thus raised, 
 in a joint attack upon Tripoli, that active 
 naval operations against that city had been 
 suspended till the summer of 1805, as 
 already mentioned. 
 
 On the 29th of November, Mr. Eaton, 
 accompanied by Lieutenant O Bannon, of 
 the marines, and midshipmen Danielson 
 and Mann, proceeded to Rosetta, and 
 thence to Cairo, whore they were favour 
 ably received by the viceroy of Egypt, 
 who gave permission for Hamet Caramelli 
 
 VOL. II. 2 1 
 
 to pass out of the country without moles 
 tation, though he had been fighting with 
 the disaffected Mamelukes against the gov 
 ernment. 
 
 When the ex-bashaw of Tripoli heard 
 the proposition of Mr. Eaton, he acceded to 
 it at once ; and separating himself from 
 the Mamelukes, with about forty followers 
 he repaired to a point agreed upon, about 
 forty miles west of the old port of Alex 
 andria, where he exerted himself to recruit 
 his force while awaiting the arrival of 
 Mr. Eaton. The latter gentleman soon 
 joined him here, with a small troop of 
 adventurers which he had picked up in 
 Egypt. Their united forces now numbered 
 about 500 men, four-fifths of whom were 
 Arabs, the other fifth being principally 
 Greek Christians, with nine Americans. 
 
 Having made arrangements for the co 
 operation of a portion of the naval force, 
 the little army, under the command of 
 Eaton, who now assumed the title of gen 
 eral, on the Gth of March, 1805, took up 
 its march across the Libyan desert, for 
 Derne, the capital of the richest province 
 of Tripoli a distance of about 600 miles. 
 On their march they encountered peril, 
 fatigue, and suffering, the description of 
 which, in detail, would resemble the ex 
 aggerations of romance. On several occa 
 sions, the mutinous disposition of the Arab 
 sheikhs, and the irresolution of Hamet 
 Caramelli, imperilled the safety of the 
 handful of Christians belonging to the 
 expedition ; but the energy and courage of 
 Eaton triumphed over all obstacles ; and, 
 on the 25th of April, the forces were 
 brought in safety to Bomba, on the coast 
 only a league distant from Derne ; where 
 the American vessels, the Argus, Captain 
 Hull, the Hornet, Lieutenant Evans, and 
 the Nautilus, Lieutenant Dent, were in 
 waiting, with arms and supplies for their 
 use. A field-piece was landed, together 
 with some stores and muskets, and a small 
 body of marines, under the command of 
 Lieutenant O Bannon, when the vessels 
 took their station before Derne to aid in 
 the attack. On the morning of the 27th, 
 after a demand had been made on the 
 governor of Derne to surrender, and he 
 had emphatically refused, the assault im 
 mediately commenced. The Hornet, of 
 twelve guns, having run close in, and 
 anchored with springs on her cables, within 
 pistol-shot of a battery of eight guns, 
 opened fire. A little to the eastward of 
 
 237 
 
PEACE WITH. TRIPOLI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1805. 
 
 the Hornet, lay the Nautilus; and at 
 nearly equal distance in the same direction, 
 beyond her, lay the Argus, both of which 
 vessels opened fire upon the town and 
 battery. After about an hour s can 
 nonading, the enemy were driven from the 
 battery, and the guns of the three vessels 
 were then directed at the beach, to clear 
 the way for the advance of the land 
 force under Eaton. As the assailing 
 force advanced, the enemy made a 
 spirited but irregular defence, keeping 
 up a heavy fire of musketry from behind 
 houses and walls. In about thirty minutes 
 from the commencement of the action on 
 land, Lieutenant O Bannon and midship 
 man Mann, who were acting on shore, 
 stormed the principal work, pulling down 
 the Tripolitan flag, and, for the first time 
 in the history of the American republic, 
 placing the star-spangled banner over a 
 foreign fortress. The Tripolitans left this 
 work with so much precipitation, that they 
 did not discharge the guns after getting 
 them loaded and primed. These guns were 
 immediately turned upon the town ; and 
 Hamet, in the meantime, having made a 
 lodgment on the other side, bringing the 
 town between two fires, the place was 
 surrendered. Fourteen of the assailants 
 were killed or wounded in this attack on 
 Derne, General Eaton being one of the 
 latter. 
 
 Great exertions were immediately made to 
 fortify the city, as it was understood that 
 Jussuf Caramelli had dispatched an army 
 to its succour. On the 8th of May it was 
 attacked by the Tripolitan army, which 
 was far more numerous than Eaton s ; but 
 which, after a severe contest of four hours, 
 was compelled to retire. For several weeks 
 the enemy remained in the vicinity, evi 
 dently determined to recapture the town ; 
 and occasional skirmishes took place be 
 tween the opposing forces, General Eaton s 
 army having, meanwhile, been, consider 
 ably augmented. On the llth of June a 
 general engagement was fought, in which 
 several thousand men took part, and in 
 which the enemy were totally routed and 
 driven back to the mountains. At this 
 moment, when General Eaton was pre 
 paring, by a rapid march, to fall upon and 
 capture Tripoli, reinstate Hamet Caramelli 
 
 * Hamet Caramelli visited th > United States 
 soon after the conclusion of the treaty of peace with 
 Tripoli, to solicit some remuneraton for the services 
 he had rendered General Eaton, and for the losses 
 he had sustained by the premature Ueatv of peace, as 
 
 238 
 
 on the throne, and release the American 
 captives detained there without ransom, in 
 telligence arrived that a treaty of peace 
 had been concluded by Colonel Tobias Lear, 
 the American consul-general at Algiers ; 
 one of the conditions of which was, that 
 60,000 dollars should be paid the bashaw 
 for the release of the American prisoners. 
 
 The treaty stipulated for an exchange 
 of prisoners: but as the bashaw had a 
 balance of more than 200 prisoners in his 
 favour, the 60,000 dollars were given in 
 consideration of their release ; but no tribute 
 was to be paid in future. These terms 
 were far more favourable than any ever 
 before offered by the bashaw ; but he had 
 become alarmed at the success of Eaton 
 and his brother Hamet, and he trembled 
 for his throne. The treaty consequently 
 stipulated that all support should be with 
 drawn from Hamet; but, on his retiring 
 from the territory, his wife and children, 
 then in the power of the reigning bashaw, 
 were to be given up to him.* The treaty 
 was signed on the 3rd of June, 1805, and 
 was subsequently ratified by the president 
 and senate of the United States. 
 
 Thus ended the war with Tripoli : but 
 the troubles with all the Barbary powers 
 were not yet over. A difficulty had arisen 
 with the bey of Tunis, in consequence of a 
 xebec belonging to the latter having been 
 captured by the Constitution, in attempting 
 to run the blockade of Tripoli. Commodore 
 Barron had, in consequence of ill-health, 
 resigned the command of the American 
 forces in the Mediterranean on the 22nd 
 of May, being succeeded by Commodore 
 Hodgers. The latter, on the 1st of August, 
 entered the bay of Tunis with a fleet of 
 thirteen vessels, including gun-boats, and 
 cast anchor. After an interview with the 
 American consul at that port, Commodore 
 Rodgers addressed a letter to the bey, 
 " demanding to know if a declaration made 
 by him to the consul, in which he had 
 said, that the appearance of the American 
 squadron off his port would be considered 
 as the commencement of hostilities, was to 
 be taken literally or not." He was also 
 plainly told, that hostilities would com 
 mence, on the part of the United States, 
 did lie neglect or decline to answer within 
 thirty-six hours. 
 
 he deemed it, made by Colonel Lear. Mr. Jefferson 
 communicated the facts of the case to congress in a 
 special message, on the 13th of January, 180G; but 
 congress, after investigating the circumstances, did 
 not see fit to grant his request. 
 
A.D. 1798.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ALIEN LAW. 
 
 Unaccustomed to so decided a tone from 
 those whom he had always previously 
 looked upon merely as tributaries, and who 
 had ever adopted a temporising policy with 
 him, he was disposed to doubt the sincerity 
 of the demonstration, and took no notice of 
 the commodore s letter. Commodore llod- 
 gers then sent Captain Decatur to the bey, 
 to demand an audience, and to obtain an 
 explicit answer to the question of peace 
 or war. The bey refused to receive Dc- 
 catur in the character in which he had 
 been sent. Declining to be received in 
 any other, Decatur returned on board. He 
 Lad scarcely left the palace of the bey, 
 however, when the latter, suddenly realising 
 that the commodore was in earnest, imme 
 diately sent him a letter, signed by himself, 
 and couched in the most pacific language, 
 expressing a wish to negotiate, and also a 
 desire to send a minister to Washington. 
 After some preliminary negotiations at 
 Tunis, in September, a Tunisian envoy 
 
 embarked in the Congress, and in due time 
 
 [ reached the American seat of government. 
 
 : The negotiations there resulted in the sur 
 render of the xebec, by the United States 
 authorities, as a matter of little moment; 
 but the demand for tribute, in accordance 
 with the practice of the past, was emphati 
 cally and peremptorily rejected thence 
 forward and for ever. After a brief stay 
 at Washington, the Tunisian minister re 
 turned to his own country, to report the 
 
 | results of his mission to the bey of Tunis. 
 
 | That they were altogether satisfactory to 
 the latter is scarcely to be expected ; but 
 the results of the hostile manifestations of 
 displeasure, in a similar case, by the bashaw 
 of Tripoli, just brought to a termination, 
 with the still more recent demonstration of 
 the naval power of the United States in 
 his own waters, had undoubtedly verified 
 to him the futility of any belligerent ex 
 pression of his dissatisfaction, or further at 
 tempt for tribute. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS; KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798; OPPOSITION TO STATE RIGHTS; DEATH 
 OF WASHINGTON ; PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 1801 ; ADMISSION OF OHIO INTO THE UNION. 
 
 WHEN John Adams was inducted into 
 the executive chair of the nation, he found 
 the relations between the United States 
 and France in suspension, and fast culmi 
 nating to a war. The French had em 
 ployed emissaries to suborn the press, and, 
 by all other available means, to disturb the 
 confidence of the people in the president, 
 because he had determined to pursue a 
 neutral policy respecting the European 
 wars. Ambitious politicians aided the 
 French designs ; and they effected much 
 towards inflaming the minds of the people 
 against Great Britain, and the increase of 
 their sympathies in favour of the French 
 republic. The opposition, or republican 
 party, was anxious to defeat the measures 
 introduced and favoured by the federalists, 
 who were then led by Adams; and the 
 republicans, in many instances, openly and 
 secretly encouraged the French emissaries. 
 These combinations were considered by 
 
 Washington as highly objectionable, and 
 dangerous to the institutions of America; 
 and, with that conviction, he warned his 
 countrymen against foreign interference, 
 and secret political associations, in his 
 farewell address. He had been maligned 
 by the French press ; but these aspersions 
 were scarcely noticed by that illustrious 
 man : he knew that he had the confidence 
 of his countrymen, and was beyond their 
 libels and slanderous imputations. Adams 
 was not so favoured, although he was a 
 man of consummate ability and unquestion 
 able patriotism : his unpopularity was not 
 a fault of his, but of the people who listened 
 to ambitious and unscrupulous men. To 
 what extent Jefferson partook in the gen 
 eral abuse of Adams, or his policy, no one 
 of this or that period could determine : it 
 would seem, however, that there were, to 
 some extent, reasons for supposing that he 
 aided and encouraged a part of the press 
 
 239 
 
SEDITION LAW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 that so unscrupulously defamed the presi 
 dent and his party. The French emis 
 saries had attained a Avonderful influence 
 throughout the country ; and in their im 
 putations against the executive, and other 
 officials of the government who favoured 
 the neutral policy of the United States 
 with respect to the war between France 
 and Great Britain they exceeded the 
 bounds of forbearance ; and, in order to 
 check an abuse of the liberty of speech and 
 of the press, and also to put a stop to 
 the machinations of foreign governments 
 against the internal regulations and policy 
 of America, acts were passed by congress, 
 in 1798, commonly known as the " Alien 
 and Sedition Laws." 
 
 The "alien law" was enacted without 
 much opposition, though there were some 
 who questioned the constitutional nature of 
 the proceeding. The act was as follows : 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the senate and 
 House of Representatives of the United States of 
 America, in congress assembled, That it shall be 
 lawful for the president of the United States, at any 
 time during the continuance of this act, to order all 
 such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace 
 and safety of the United States, or shall have rea 
 sonable grounds to suspect are concerned in any 
 treasonable or secret machinations against the 
 government thereof, to depart out of the territory 
 of the United States, within such time as shall be 
 expressed in such order, which order shall be served 
 on such alien by delivering him a copy thereof, or 
 leaving the same at his usual abode, and returned 
 to the office of the secretary of state, by the marshal 
 or other person to whom the same shall be directed. 
 And in case any alien so ordered to depart shall be 
 found at large within the United States after the 
 time limited in such order for his departure, and 
 not having obtained a licence from the president to 
 reside therein, or, having obtained a licence, shall 
 not have conformed thereto, every such alien shall, 
 on conviction thereof, be imprisoned for a term not 
 exceeding three years, and shall never after be ad 
 mitted to become a citizen of the United States. 
 Provided always, and be it further enacted, That if 
 any alien, so ordered to depart, shall prove to the 
 satisfaction of the president, by evidence to be taken 
 before such person or persons as the president shall 
 direct, who are, for that purpose, hereby authorised 
 to administer oaths, that no injury or danger to the 
 United States will arise from suffering such alien to 
 reside therein, the president may grant a licence to 
 such alien, to remain within the United States for 
 such time as he shall judge proper, and at such 
 place as he may designate. And the president may 
 also require of sucli alien to enter into a bond to 
 the United States in such penal sum as he may 
 direct, with one or more sufficient sureties to the 
 satisfaction of the person authorised by the president 
 to take the same, conditioned for the good behaviour 
 of such alien during his residence in the United 
 States, and not violating his licence, which licence 
 the president may revoke, whenever he shall think 
 proper. 
 
 240 
 
 The other, or " sedition law," was passed 
 by considerable majorities in both branches 
 of congress, in order, as was declared, to 
 suppress "treason and sedition" against 
 the United States government. The law 
 was as follows : 
 
 Section \. Be it enacted, by the senate and 
 House of Representatives of the United States of 
 America, in congress assembled, That if any per 
 sons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, 
 with intent to oppose any measure or measures of 
 the government of the United States, which are or 
 shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede 
 the operation of any law of the United States, or to 
 intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or 
 office in or under the government of the United 
 States, from undertaking, performing, or executing 
 his trust or duty; and if any person or persons, 
 with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise, or at 
 tempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful 
 assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, 
 threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have 
 the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be 
 deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour: and on 
 conviction before any court of the United States 
 I having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a 
 I fine not exceeding 5,000 dollars, and by imprison- 
 i ment during a term not less than six months, nor 
 j exceeding five years ; and further, at the discre 
 tion of the court, may be holden to find sureties 
 for his or their good behaviour in such sum, and 
 for such time as the said court may direct. 
 
 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any 
 person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or shall 
 cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, 
 or published, or shall knowingly and willingly as 
 sist or aid in writing, printing, uttering, or pub 
 lishing any false, scandalous and malicious writ 
 ing or writings, against the government of the 
 United States, or either house of the congress of 
 the United States, or the president of the United 
 States, with intent to defame the said government, 
 or either house of the said congress, or the said 
 president, or to bring them, or either of them, into 
 contempt or disrepute ; or to excite against them, 
 or either or any of them, the hatred of the good 
 people of the United States, or to stir up sedition 
 within the United States; or to excite any unlawful 
 combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any 
 law of the United States, or any act of the president 
 of the United States, done in pursuance of any such 
 law, or of the powers in him vested by the consti 
 tution of the United States; or to resist, oppose, or 
 defeat any such law or act; or to aid, encourage, 
 or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation 
 against the United States, their people or govern 
 ment, then such person, being thereof convicted 
 before any court of the United States having juris 
 diction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not ex 
 ceeding 2,000 dollars, and by imprisonment not ex 
 ceeding two years. 
 
 Sec. 3. And be it further enacted and declared, 
 That if any person shall be prosecuted under this 
 act, for the writing or publishing any libel as afore 
 said, it shall be lawful for the defendant, upon the 
 trial of the cause, to give, in evidence in his defence, 
 the truth of the matter contained in the publication 
 charged as a libel : And the jury who shall try the 
 cause shall have a right to determine the law and the 
 
A.I). 1798.] 
 
 HISTOHY OF AMERICA. [MATTHEW LYON INDICTED. 
 
 fact, under the direction of the court, as in other 
 cases. 
 
 Sec. 4. And be it farther enacted, That this act 
 shall continue and be in force until the 3rd day of 
 March, 1801, and no longer: Provided, that the 
 expiration of the act shall not prevent or defeat a 
 prosecution and punishment of any offence against 
 the law during the time it shall be in force. 
 
 The object that congress had in passing 
 these laws, we have given ; but we may add 
 that there were about 30,000 Frenchmen 
 supposed to be in the United States ; and, 
 besides, there were, aft least, 50,000 dis 
 satisfied subjects of Great Britain, who, 
 too, were anxious to inflict some injury 
 upon their own nation, the land of their 
 nativity. Their hostile purposes were in 
 tended to injure the British people ; not for 
 the good of the United States, but to 
 gratify their spleen against the power that 
 had protected them in infancy and unto 
 manhood. They wished to wage war against 
 the country of their birth and its free insti 
 tutions, not for the weal of the young 
 American nation, but to ruin the govern 
 ment that had secured to them freedom, 
 and that had declared "that Britons would 
 not be slaves:" they wished to punish 
 that brave and free nation by fire and 
 sword, at the sacrifice of the peace and 
 prosperity of the rising nation of the New 
 World. These 80,000 foreigners with 
 whom acted, perhaps, 20,000 natives of 
 America were energetic in their efforts to 
 involve the federal government in the 
 European wars, then bursting forth with a 
 power that, in a few years, startled the whole 
 world. There were, at this time, about 
 200 newspapers published in the United 
 States, and most of them were in favour 
 of Adams s administration ; but, on the 
 other hand, some of the journals opposed the 
 federal party, and would not appreciate 
 any measure encouraged by the president 
 and his friends: this hostile policy was 
 pursued by nearly all the papers published 
 by foreigners, or that were issued under 
 their influence. 
 
 The "alien and sedition laws" soon 
 became very unpopular, and, in a few 
 months, the people throughout the whole 
 country were aroused in opposition to them. 
 The Virginia and Kentucky legislatures 
 passed resolutions declaring them uncon- 
 
 petitions were presented from various sec 
 tions of the country, requesting the repeal 
 of the odious acts ; but that body refused to 
 accede to the memorials. Although con 
 gress declined to repeal the objectionable 
 enactments, their enforcement could only 
 be attempted in extreme cases, wherein the 
 interest of the community was especially 
 involved. 
 
 There were, perhaps, a dozen indict 
 ments against persons who were considered 
 great offenders. Ilildreth cites the trial of 
 Matthew Lyon, of the anti-federal, or de 
 mocratic party, and late a member of 
 congress, from the state of Vermont ; who, 
 in October, 1798, was arrested for divers 
 and sundry violations of the " sedition law/ 
 Lyon had written a letter, which was pub 
 lished in a Vermont paper, in which he 
 
 stated, with reference to the president, 
 that every consideration of the public 
 welfare was swallowed up in a continual 
 grasp for power, and unbounded thirst for 
 ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and 
 selfish avarice." He stated, that men had 
 been turned out of office because they had 
 exercised an " independency of sentiment ;" 
 and that " mean men" had been selected 
 to fill their places, because they had advo 
 cated the opinions of the president, and 
 about which they knew nothing : he also 
 alleged, that the " sacred name of religion" 
 had been used as " a state engine, to mako 
 mankind hate and persecute each other." 
 The second count of the indictment had 
 reference to an expression, in confirmation 
 of a declaration made by another, that the 
 house ought to have answered the presi 
 dent s speech, complained of by the French 
 Directory, by " an order to send him to the 
 madhouse." The third count had reference 
 to an imputation upon Adams, Washing 
 ton, and all others who had favoured the 
 Jay treaty of 1794 ; of whom it was 
 charged, that they had sacrificed the dig 
 nity of the nation by "thrusting Jay s 
 treaty down the throats of the people of 
 America, by means of a monstrous influence 
 an inexplicable contrast to the weakness 
 of his political talents." 
 
 Lyon appeared in court, and announced 
 his determination to defend his own cause, 
 and prove the correctness of the statements 
 
 stitutional, and they appealed to the other , in justification of the allegations he had 
 
 states to join in the effort to secure their 
 immediate repeal. In the midst of these 
 demonstrations adverse to the laws, con 
 gress assembled, and, early in the session, 
 
 uttered and written. During his trial, ha 
 appealed to the judge presiding to confirm 
 his statements, if he had not observed a 
 " ridiculous pomp and parade" on occasions 
 
 241 
 
LYON FOUND GUILTY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 when he had dined with the president ; 
 but, in response, the judge stated that, "on 
 the contrary, he had seen a great deal of 
 simplicity." The jury found Lyon guilty ; 
 and the judge, after administering to the 
 prisoner a severe reprimand for his seditious 
 conduct, sentenced him. to four months 
 imprisonment, and a fine of 1,000 dollars ; 
 but, on application, the amount was re 
 duced, upon the ground that it was exces 
 sive, considering the insolvent condition of 
 the prisoner. 
 
 The friends of Lyon petitioned the 
 president to pardon him ; or, at least, 
 to relieve him from, confinement in the 
 prison, which was represented to be very 
 filthy and uncomfortable ; but the pre 
 sident declined to interfere with the de 
 crees of the law. About the same time, 
 indictments had been found against Cal- 
 lender and others, who had unscrupulously 
 defamed Washington, Adams, and several 
 members of congress, in certain pamphlets 
 and newspapers which had been issued in 
 Philadelphia. The act of congress, to de 
 fine treason and sedition, was construed in 
 Pennsylvania according to its tenor, and 
 not under the common law practice of that 
 state, which declared, that " the greater the 
 truth, the greater was the slander ;" and, 
 on account of this practice, the cases 
 brought before the judiciary tribunals, 
 became involved in the most complicated 
 technical pleadings, which ultimately pro 
 duced a defeat of the law. These various 
 indictments and prosecutions, however, had 
 some effect in moderating the language of 
 
 and sedition laws," the republican party, 
 led by Jefferson, was actively engaged in 
 encouraging an organised opposition to the 
 president ; and, in their plans to disturb 
 
 the newspaper articles ; or, at least, it in 
 dicated to the publishers, that the freedom 
 of the press could be enjoyed, but that it 
 was not to be abused ; and that the cha 
 racters of men were not to be defamed by 
 an unprincipled exercise of a supposed 
 right. The opponents of the administration, 
 however, contended that the enforcement 
 of the sedition law was calculated to 
 restrict the privilege of speech, and of the 
 press, and that its execution would be a 
 violation of the constitution of the in 
 alienable rights vested, beyond legislative 
 cognizance, with the sovereign people. 
 While the administration actively at 
 tempted to enforce the obnoxious " alien 
 
 * In 1821, Jefferson wrote a letter to the son of 
 Colonel Nicholas ; and in it he stated, that he 
 " drew and delivered" to his father the Kentucky 
 resolutions. The fact of his having written them 
 was to be kept a secret; he had often been charged 
 with having been the author of them ; but he had 
 242 
 
 the confidence of the people in the execu 
 tive and the federal party, they endeav 
 oured to effect a recognition of the most 
 ultra- state sovereignty doctrine : that is to 
 say, the principles they advocated were con 
 sidered to be subversive of the Union, recog 
 nising the constitution as a compact, which 
 only conferred upon the federal govern 
 ment delegated powers ; and, as a sequence 
 of that legal status, the states had the 
 right to revoke or interpret the meaning of 
 the constitution. At that time Jefferson 
 had great influence throughout the whole 
 country, and his popularity in Virginia 
 and Kentucky was unbounded. 
 
 Shortly after the enactment of the alien 
 and sedition laws, Colonel William Carey 
 Nicholas, a distinguished and an influential 
 citizen of Kentucky, visited Jefferson at 
 his residence, Monticello, Virginia, when it 
 was agreed, between Madison, Jefferson, 
 Nicholas, and perhaps others, that the 
 legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia 
 should declare a code of principles, inter 
 preting the federal compact, and asserting 
 that the sovereignty of the states were 
 paramount to the United States govern 
 ment. On this occasion, Jefferson " drew, 
 and delivered"* to Nicholas, the series of 
 resolutions to be adopted by Kentucky; 
 and it has been supposed that Madison 
 drew the Virginia resolutions of the same 
 tenor, though in different language. As 
 those from the legislature of Kentucky 
 were the original sketch of the political 
 principles attempted to be established, and 
 the first adopted, and considered by the 
 other states with those received from 
 Virginia, we have deemed those to be suffi 
 cient for a proper understanding of the 
 then enunciated states rights doctrines. 
 
 1. Resolved, That the several states composing 
 the United States of America, are not united on the 
 principle of unlimited submission to the general 
 government; but that, by compact, under the style 
 and title of a constitution for the United States, and 
 of amendments thereto, they constituted a general 
 government for special purposes, delegated to that 
 government certain definite powers, reserving each 
 state to itself, the residuary mass of right to their 
 never denied or admitted it. As he was then called 
 upon to answer the question, he acknowledged that 
 he was the author of the resolutions offered by 
 Nicholas to the Kentucky legislature : he added 
 " I think Mr. Madison was with us, or con 
 sulted ; but my memory is uncertain as to details." 
 
A.-D. 1798.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 own self-government; and that, whensoever the 
 general government assumes undelegated powers, 
 its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; 
 that to this compact each state acceded as a state, 
 and as an integral party, its co-states forming, as to 
 itself, the other party ; that the government, created 
 by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final 
 judge of the extent of the powers delegated to 
 itself, since that would have made its discretion, 
 and not the constitution, the measure of its powers; 
 but that, as in all other cases of compact among 
 parties having no common judge, each party has an 
 equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions, 
 as to the mode and measure of redress. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the constitution of the United 
 States having delegated to congress a power to 
 punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and 
 current coin of the United States, piracies and 
 felonies committed on the high seas, and offences 
 against the laws of nations, and no other crimes 
 whatever; and it being true, as a general principle, 
 and one of the amendments to the constitution 
 having also declared, " That the powers not delegated 
 to the United States by the constitution, nor pro 
 hibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states 
 respectively, or to the people; therefore, also, the 
 same act of congress, passed on the 14th day of 
 July, 1798, and entitled " An act, in addition to the 
 act, entitled, An act for the punishment of certain 
 crimes against the United States ;" as also the act 
 passed by them on the 27th day of June, 1798, 
 entitled, " An act to punish frauds committed on 
 the Bank of the United States" (and all other of 
 their acts which assume to create, define, or punish 
 crimes other than those enumerated in the constitu 
 tion), are altogether void, and of no force, and that 
 the power to create, define, and punish such other 
 crimes, is reserved, and of right appertains solely 
 and exclusively to the respective states, each within 
 its own territory. 
 
 3. Resolved, That it is true, as a general prin 
 ciple, and is also expressly declared by one of the 
 amendments to the constitution, that " The powers 
 not delegated to the United States by the constitu 
 tion, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved 
 to the states, respectively, or to the people;" and 
 that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom 
 of speech, or freedom of the press, being delegated 
 to the United States by the constitution, nor pro 
 hibited by it to the states, all lawful powers respect 
 ing the same, did of right remain, and were reserved 
 to the states, or to the people ; that thus was mani 
 fested their determination to retain to themselves 
 the right of judging how far the licentiousness of 
 speech and of the press may be abridged without 
 lessening their useful freedom ; and how far those 
 abuses which cannot be separated from their use, 
 should be tolerated, rather than the use should be 
 destroyed; and thus, also, they guarded against all 
 abridgment by the United States of the freedom of 
 religious opinions and exercises, and retained to 
 themselves the right of protecting the same; as this 
 state, by a law passed on the general demand of its 
 citizens, had already protected them from all human 
 restraints or interferences. And that, in addition 
 to this general principle and express declaration, 
 another and moiv special provision has been made 
 by one of the amendments to the constitution, 
 which expressly declares, that "congress shall make 
 no law ix .-peeling an establishment of religion, or 
 prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging 
 
 the freedom of speech, or of the press;" thereby 
 guarding, in the same sentence, and under the same 
 words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of 
 the press, insomuch, that whatever violates either, 
 throws down the sanctuary which covers the others; 
 and libels, falsehoods, and defamation, equally with 
 heresy and false religion, are withheld from the 
 cognizance of federal tribunals : That, therefore, the 
 act of the congress of the United States, passed on 
 the 14th day of July, 1798, entitled, "An act, in 
 addition to the act, for the punishment of certain 
 crimes against the United States," which does 
 abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is 
 altogether void and of no effect. 
 
 4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the 
 jurisdiction and protection of the laws of the state 
 wherein they are; that no power over them has 
 been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited 
 to the individual states distinct from their power 
 over citizens; and it being true, as a general prin 
 ciple, and one of the amendments to the constitu 
 tion having also declared, " that the powers not 
 delegated to the United States by the constitution, 
 nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to 
 the states respectively, or to the people," the act of 
 the congress of the United States, passed on the 
 22nd day of June, 1798, entitled " An act concern 
 ing aliens," which assumes power over alien friends 
 not delegated by the constitution, is not law, but is 
 altogether void and of no force. 
 
 5. Resolved, That in addition to the general prin 
 ciple, as well as the express declaration, that powers 
 not delegated are reserved, another and more special 
 provision inserted in the constitution, from abun 
 dant caution, declared, "that the migration or im 
 portation of such persons as any of the states now 
 existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be 
 prohibited by the congress prior to 1808." That 
 this state does admit the migration of alien friends, 
 described as the subject of the said act concerning 
 aliens ; that a provision against prohibiting their 
 migration, is a provision against all acts equivalent 
 thereto, or it would be migratory ; that to remove 
 them, when migrate, is equivalent to a prohibition 
 of their migration, and is, therefore, contrary to 
 the said provision of the constitution, and void. 
 
 6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person 
 under the protection of the laws of this common 
 wealth, on his failure to obey the simple order of 
 the president, to depart out of the United States, as 
 is undertaken by the said act, entitled, "An act 
 concerning aliens," is contrary to the constitution ; 
 one amendment to which has provided, that " No 
 person shall be deprived of liberty without due pro 
 cess of law ; " and that another having provided, 
 " That in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 
 enjoy the right to a public trial by an impartial 
 jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the 
 accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses 
 against him, to have compulsory process for obtain 
 ing witnesses in his favour, and to have the assis 
 tance of counsel for his defence," the same act under 
 taking to authorise the president to remove a person 
 out of the United States who is under the protec 
 tion of the law, on his own suspicion, without ac 
 cusation, without jury, without public trial, without 
 confrontation of the "witnesses against him, without 
 having witnesses in his favour, without defence, 
 \vithout counsel, is contrary to these provisions, 
 also of the constitution, is therefore not law, but 
 uttcry void, and of no force. 
 
 243 
 
STATES RIGHTS DECLARED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1798. 
 
 That transferring the power of judging any per 
 son who is under the protection of the laws, from 
 the courts to the president of the United States, as 
 is undertaken by the same act, concerning aliens, 
 is against the article of the constitution which pro 
 vides, that "The judicial power of the United States 
 shall be vested in courts, the judges of which shall 
 hold their offices during good behaviour;" and that 
 the said act is void for that reason also ; and it is 
 further to be noted, that this transfer of judiciary 
 power is to that magistrate of the general govern 
 ment who already possesses all the executive, and 
 a qualified negative in all the legislative powers. 
 
 7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the 
 general government (as is evinced by sundry of 
 their proceedings) to those parts of the constitution 
 of the United States which delegate to congress a 
 power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and 
 excises ; to pay the debts, and provide for the com 
 mon defence and general warfare of the United 
 States, and to make all laws which shall be neces 
 sary and proper for carrying into execution the 
 powers vested by the constitution in the govern 
 ment of the United States, or any department 
 thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits 
 prescribed to their power by the constitution. That 
 words meant by that instrument to be subsidiary 
 only to the execution of the limited powers, ought 
 not to be so construed as themselves to give unlim 
 ited powers, nor apart to be taken, as to destroy the 
 whole residue of the instrument, that the proceed 
 ings of the general government under colour of 
 these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject for 
 revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquil 
 lity, while those specified in the preceding resolu 
 tions call for immediate redress. 
 
 8. Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be 
 transmitted to the senators and representatives in 
 congress from the commonwealth, who arc hereby 
 enjoined to present the same to their respective 
 houses, and to use their best endeavours to procure, 
 at the next session of congress, a repeal of the afore 
 said unconstitutional and obnoxious acts. 
 
 9. Resolved, lastly, That the governor of this com 
 monwealth be, and he is hereby authorised and re 
 quested to communicate the preceding resolutions 
 to the legislatures of the several states, to assure 
 them that this commonwealth considers union for 
 specified rational purposes, and particularly for 
 those specified in their late federal compact, to be 
 friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of 
 all the states : that, faithful to that compact, accord 
 ing to the plain intent and meaning in which it was 
 understood and acceded to by the several parties, 
 it is sincerely anxious for its preservation ; that it 
 does also believe, that to take from the states all 
 the powers of self-government, and transfer them to 
 a general and consolidated government, without re 
 gard to the special delegations and reservations 
 solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the 
 peace, happiness, or prosperity of these states; and 
 that, therefore, this commonwealth is determined, 
 as it doubts not its co-states are, tamely to submit 
 to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers 
 in no man or body of men on earlh ; that, if the 
 acts before specified should stand, these conclusions 
 would flow from them ; that the general govern 
 ment may place any act they think proper on the 
 list of crimes, and punish it themselves, whether 
 enumerated or not enumerated by the constitution, 
 as recognisable by them ; that they may transfer its 
 
 ^44 
 
 cognizance to the president or any other person, 
 who may himself be the accuser, counsel, judge, and 
 jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, his 
 order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and 
 his breast the sole record of the transaction : That 
 a very numerous and valuable description of the in 
 habitants of these states, being by this precedent 
 reduced as outlaws to the absolute dominion of one 
 man, and the barrier of the constitution thus swept 
 away from us all, no rampart now remains against 
 the passions and the power of a majority of congress, 
 to protect from a like exportation, or other more 
 grievous punishment, the minority of the same 
 body, the legislatures, judges, governors, and coun 
 sellors of the states, nor their other peaceful inhabi 
 tants, who may venture to reclaim the constitu 
 tional rights and liberties of the states and people, 
 or for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious 
 to the views, or marked by the suspicions of the 
 president, or be thought dangerous to his or their 
 elections, or other interests public or personal : that 
 the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the 
 safest subject of a first experiment; but the citizen 
 will soon follow, or rather has already followed ; 
 for, already has a sedition act marked him as its 
 prey : that these and successive acts of the same 
 character, unless arrested on the threshold, may 
 tend to drive these states into revolution and blood, 
 and will furnish new calumnies against republican 
 governments, and new pretexts for those who wish 
 it to be believed that man cannot be governed 
 but by a rod of iron ; that it would be a dangerous 
 delusion, were a confidence in the men of our choice 
 to silence our fears for the safety of our rights : 
 that confidence is everywhere the parent of des 
 potism; free government is founded in jealousy 
 and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confi 
 dence which prescribes limited constitutions to bind 
 down those whom we are obliged to trust with 
 power : that our constitution has accordingly fixed 
 the limits to which, and no further, our confidence 
 may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence 
 read the alien and sedition acts, and say if the con 
 stitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the 
 government it created, and whether we should be 
 wise in destroying those limits; let him say what 
 the government is, if it be not a tyranny, which the 
 men of our choice have conferred on the president, 
 and the president of our choice has assented to 
 and accepted over the friendly strangers, to whom 
 the mild spirit of our country and its laws had 
 pledged hospitality and protection : that the men 
 of our choice have more respected the bare sus 
 picions of the president, than the solid rights of 
 innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred 
 force of truth, and the forms and the substance of 
 law and justice. In questions of power, then, let no 
 more be heard of confidence in man ; but bind him 
 down from mischief by the chains of the constitu 
 tion. That this commonwealth does therefore call 
 on its co-states for an expression of their sentiments 
 on the acts concerning aliens, and for the punish 
 ment of certain crimes, hereinbefore specified, 
 j plainly declaring whether these acts are or are not 
 authorised by the federal compact. And it doubts 
 not that their sense will be so announced, as to 
 prove their attachment unaltered to limited govern 
 ment, whether general or particular; and that the 
 rights and liberties of their co-states will be exposed 
 to no dangers by remaining embarked on a common 
 bottom with their own : That they will concur with 
 
A.D. 1709.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [OPPOSITION TO THE RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 this commonwealth, in considering the said acts as 
 so palpably against the constitution, as to amount 
 to an undisguised declaration, that the compact is 
 not meant to be the measure of the powers of the 
 general government, but that it will proceed in the 
 exercise over these states of all powers whatsoever : 
 That they will view this as seizing the rights of the 
 states, and consolidating them in the hands of the 
 general government, with a power assumed to bind 
 the states, not merely in cases made federal, but in 
 all cases whatsoever by laws made, not with their 
 consent, but by others against their consent. That 
 this would be to surrender the form of government 
 we have chosen, and to live under one deriving its 
 powers from its own will, and not from our autho 
 rity: And that the co-states recurring to their 
 natural rights, in cases not made federal, will concur 
 in declaring these acts void and of no force, and will 
 each unite with this commonwealth in requesting 
 their repeal at the next session of congress. 
 
 These and the Virginia resolutions were 
 transmitted to all the other states. Those 
 from Virginia, as emanating from the more 
 influential state, were especially referred to, 
 and acted upon, by the following : The 
 legislature of Delaware, at the session of 
 February, 1799, adopted a joint resolu 
 tion, declaring, " that they considered the 
 resolutions of Virginia as a very unjus 
 tifiable interference with the general gov 
 ernment and constituted authorities of the 
 United States, and of dangerous tendency, 
 and therefore not a fit subject for the 
 further consideration of the general as 
 sembly." 
 
 The legislature of Rhode Island passed 
 sundry resolutions adverse to the doctrines 
 enunciated by the general assembly of 
 Virginia, and declared, "that the legisla 
 ture cannot contemplate, without extreme 
 concern and regret, the many evil and fatal 
 consequences which may flow from the 
 very unwarrantable resolutions aforesaid, 
 of the legislature of Virginia;" that the 
 interpretation of the constitutional compact 
 declared by the said state, was " hazarding 
 an interruption of the peace of the states 
 by civil discord, in case of a diversity of 
 opinions among the state legislatures ; each 
 state having, in that case, no resort for 
 vindicating its own opinions but to the 
 strength of its own arms." 
 
 The legislature of Massachusetts very 
 elaborately discussed the alleged erroneous 
 interpretation of the constitution respecting 
 the rights of the states to construe the 
 federal compact, and declared, " that while 
 they hold sacred the principle, that the 
 consent of the people is the only pure 
 source of just and legitimate power, they 
 cannot admit the right of the state legisla- 
 
 VOL. U. 2 K 
 
 tures to denounce the administration of 
 that government to which the people them 
 selves, by a solemn compact, have exclu 
 sively committed their national concerns ;" 
 and "that the decision in all cases, in law 
 and equity, arising under the constitution 
 of the United States, and the construction 
 of all laws made in pursuance thereof, are 
 exclusively vested by the people in the 
 judicial courts of the United States. That 
 the people, in that solemn compact, which 
 is declared to be the supreme law of the 
 land, have not constituted the state legis 
 latures the judges of the acts or measures 
 of the federal government, but have con 
 fided to them the power of proposing such 
 amendments of the constitution, as shall 
 appear to them necessary to the interest, or 
 conformable to the wishes of the peoplo 
 whom they represent ;" and, if the inter 
 pretation of the constitution, as declared by 
 Virginia, was correct, that great organic 
 instrument "would be reduced to a mere 
 cipher, to the form and pageantry of au 
 thority, without the energy of power. 
 Every act of the federal government which 
 thwarted the views, or checked the am 
 bitious projects of a particular state, or of 
 its leading and influential members, would 
 be the object of opposition and of remon 
 strance; while the people, convulsed and 
 confused by the conflict between two hostile 
 jurisdictions; enjoying the protection of 
 neither, would be wearied into a submission 
 to some bold leader, who would establish 
 himself on the ruins of both." The legis 
 lature, also, approved of the alien and 
 sedition laws. 
 
 The senate of New York adopted a pre 
 amble, in which was expressed disapprobation 
 of the resolutions ; and it therein declared, 
 that it could not " forbear to express the 
 anxiety and regret with which it observed 
 the inflammatory and pernicious sentiments 
 and doctrines contained in the resolutions 
 of the legislatures of Virginia and Ken 
 tucky sentiments and doctrines no less 
 repugnant to the constitution of the United 
 States, and the principles of their union, 
 than destructive to the federal government, 
 and unjust to those whom the people had 
 elected to administer it." By resolution, 
 the senate declared " its incompetency, as a 
 branch of the legislature of this state, to 
 supervise the acts of the general govern 
 ment." 
 
 The legislature of Connecticut unani 
 mously declared, " That this assembly views 
 
 245 
 
THE KENTUCKY REPORT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1799. 
 
 with deep regret, and explicitly disavows 
 the principles contained in the aforesaid 
 resolutions, and particularly the opposition 
 to the alien and sedition acts/ 
 They, therefore, decidedly refuse to concur 
 with the legislature of Virginia in pro 
 moting any of the objects attempted in 
 the aforesaid resolutions." The legislature 
 of New Hampshire unanimously resolved, 
 " That the state legislatures are not the 
 proper tribunals to determine the constitu 
 tionality of the laws of the general govern 
 ment ; that the duty of such decisions is 
 properly and exclusively confided to the 
 judicial department." 
 
 The legislature of Vermont resolved, 
 " That the general assembly do highly dis 
 approve of the Virginia resolutions, as being 
 unconstitutional in their nature, and dan 
 gerous in their tendency. It belongs not 
 to the state legislatures to decide on the 
 constitutionality of laws made by the gen 
 eral government, this power being exclu 
 sively vested in the judiciary courts of 
 the Union." Other proceedings transpired 
 respecting the noted resolutions of Ken 
 tucky and Virginia; but the foregoing 
 very clearly give the opinions then enter 
 tained by those states, respecting the fun 
 damental structure of the federal govern 
 ment. 
 
 The legislature of Virginia, during its 
 session of 1799 and 1800, having received 
 the proceedings of the several states adverse 
 to its states* rights doctrines, appointed a 
 committee to prepare a report, expressing 
 the opinion of that body on the questions 
 involved in the resolutions it had adopted, 
 on the 21st day of December, 1798 ; and of 
 those adopted by the commonwealth of 
 Kentucky, on the 13th of November, 1798. 
 This report was submitted by the committee, 
 and adopted by the general assembly, de 
 claring the correctness and integrity of the 
 principles that had been adopted by the 
 legislature of that state. The report was 
 lengthy, and was one of the most logical 
 productions ever adopted by that or any 
 other legislative tribunal. The original 
 resolutions were, it has been supposed, 
 written by James Madison. 
 
 The " alien and sedition" laws afforded an 
 opportunity for the states rights politicians 
 to make an effort to secure the general 
 recognition of their dissolving theories, 
 wholly antagonistic to the national and 
 consolidated character of the federal organi 
 sation. The states of Kentucky and Vir- 
 246 
 
 ginia failed to attain the end they had in 
 view ; and, from the fact that seven of the 
 sixteen states of the Union, in unmistakable 
 language, denied the correctness of the 
 principles declared by Kentucky and Vir 
 ginia originating with Jefferson and Ma 
 dison and the silence of the other states 
 of the Union, would indicate that the legis 
 latures were of opinion that the national 
 government was, in its power, paramount 
 to the states, and entitled to exercise and 
 maintain its vested powers derived from the 
 people, who were the recognised source of 
 sovereignty. 
 
 The legislature of Kentucky, at its 
 session in 1799, adopted the following : 
 
 The house, according to the standing order of the 
 day, resolved itself into a committee of the whole 
 house, on the state of the commonwealth Mr. 
 Desha in the chair and, after some time spent 
 therein, the speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. 
 Desha reported, that the committee had taken under 
 consideration sundry resolutions passed by several 
 state legislatures, on the subject of the " alien and 
 sedition laws," and had come to a resolution there 
 upon, which he delivered in at the clerk s table, 
 where it was read, and unanimously agreed to by 
 the house, as follows : 
 
 The representatives of the good people of this 
 commonwealth, in general assembly convened, 
 having maturely considered the answer of sundry 
 states in the Union, to their resolutions passed at 
 the last session, respecting certain unconstitutional 
 laws of congress, commonly called the " alien and 
 sedition laws," would be faithless indeed to them 
 selves, and to those they represent, were they 
 silently to acquiesce in the principles and doctrines 
 attempted to be maintained in all those answers, 
 that of Virginia only excepted. To again enter the 
 field of argument, and attempt more fully or forcibly 
 to expose the unconstitutionality of those obnoxious 
 laws, would, it is apprehended, be as unnecessary 
 as unavailing. We cannot, however, but lament 
 that, in the discussion of those interesting subjects 
 by sundry of the legislatures of our sister states, 
 unfounded suggestions, and uncandid insinuations, 
 derogatory to the true character and principles of 
 the good people of this commonwealth, have been 
 substituted in place of fair reasoning and sound 
 argument. Our opinions of these alarming mea 
 sures of the general government, together with 
 our reasons for those opinions, were detailed with 
 decency and with temper, and submitted to the 
 discussion and judgment of our fellow-citizens 
 throughout the Union. Whether the like decency 
 and temper have been observed in the answers of 
 most of those states who have denied or attempted 
 to obviate the great truths contained in those reso 
 lutions, we have now only to submit to a candid 
 world. Faithful to the true principles of the federal 
 union ; unconscious of any designs to disturb the 
 harmony of that union, and anxious only to escape 
 the fangs of despotism, the good people of this 
 commonwealth are regardless of censure or calum 
 niation. Lest, however, the silence of this common 
 wealth should be construed into an acquiescence in 
 the doctrines and principles advanced, and attempted 
 
A.D. 1799.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 to be maintained by the said answers, or lest those 
 of our fellow. citizens throughout the Union, who 
 so widely differ with us on these important subjects, 
 should be deluded by the expectation that we shall 
 be deterred from what we conceive our duty, or 
 shrink from the principles contained in those reso 
 lutions ; therefore 
 
 llesolrcd, That this commonwealth considers the 
 federal Union upon the terms and for the purposes 
 specified in the late compact, as conducive to the 
 liberty and happiness of the several states : That it 
 does now unequivocally declare its attachment to 
 the Union, and to that compact, agreeable to its 
 obvious and real intention, and will be among the 
 last to seek its dissolution ; That if those who ad 
 minister the general government be permitted to 
 transgress the limits fixed by that compact by a 
 total disregard to the special delegations of power 
 therein contained, an annihilation of the state gov 
 ernments, and the erection upon their ruins of a 
 general consolidated government, will be the inevit 
 able consequence ; That the principle and construc 
 tion, contended for by sundry of the state legisla 
 tures, that the general government is the exclusive 
 judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, 
 stop nothing short of despotism, since the discretion 
 of those who administer the government, and not 
 the constitution, would be the measure of their 
 powers. That the several states who formed that 
 instrument, being sovereign and independent, have 
 the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction ; 
 and that a nullification by those sovereignties, of all 
 unauthorised acts done under colour of that instru 
 ment, is the rightful remedy. That this common 
 wealth does, upon the most deliberate re-considera 
 tion, declare that the said alien and sedition laws 
 are, in their opinion, palpable violations of the said 
 constitution ; and, however cheerfully it may be 
 disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of 
 its sister states in matters of ordinary or doubtful 
 policy; yet, in momentous regulations, like the 
 present, which so vitally wound the best rights of 
 the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence 
 as highly criminal. That although this common 
 wealth, as a party to the federal compact, will bow 
 to the laws of the Union; yet it does, at the same 
 time, declare that it will not now, nor ever here 
 after, cease to oppose, in a constitutional manner, 
 every attempt, from what quarter soever offered, 
 to violate that compact. And, finally, in order that 
 no pretexts or arguments may be drawn from a 
 supposed acquiescence on the part of this common 
 wealth in the constitutionality of those laws, and be 
 thereby used as precedents for similar future viola 
 tions of the federal compact, this commonwealth 
 does now enter against them its solemn protest. 
 
 On the 14th of December, 1799, Wash- 
 ington departed this life, after a very brief 
 illness. Congress was then in session in 
 Philadelphia, and a rumour of the sad 
 event reached the president on the 18th of 
 that month. Mr. Marshall, from Virginia, 
 arose in the House of Representatives, and, 
 in a voice that bespoke the anguish of his 
 mind, and a countenance expressive of the 
 deepest grief, announced, that he had just 
 received information that their illustrious 
 fellow-citizen, the conimander-in- chief of 
 
 the American army, and the late president 
 of the United States, was no more ! Though 
 the distressing intelligence was not certain, 
 there was good reason for believing the 
 report to be true ; and, as the house could 
 not be in a frame of mind to continue its 
 business, he moved that it adjourn : the 
 motion was adopted. On the next day, 
 both houses of congress assembled ; but 
 senators, representatives, and spectators 
 met each other in silence. The face of 
 each indicated a deep gloom, and the throb 
 of the heart was slugglish, as if over 
 whelmed with grief. The day was cold, and 
 the impetuous wind, as it rushed through 
 the limbs of the leafless trees, seemed 
 to perform a requiem for the peace of the 
 great man that had so recently fallen, 
 and thrown the nation into mourning. Not 
 only from, temples dedicated to the service 
 of religion, ascended to the heavens sacred 
 dirges, but family circles offered up to the 
 Throne of Grace solemn and affecting invo 
 cations in behalf of the people, whose hearts 
 were depressed under the heavy loss they 
 had sustained by the death of Washington. 
 On the 19th the rumour was confirmed : 
 all doubt had been dissipated by the recep 
 tion of official information. Mr. Marshall 
 arose, on the assembling of the house, and 
 announced that the melancholy event, 
 which had been the day before received 
 with doubt, had been since then confirmed 
 as true. Washington was no more ! The 
 hero, the sage, and the patriot of America 
 the man on whom, in times of danger, 
 every eye was turned, and all hopes were 
 placed, lived then only in his own great ac 
 tions, and in the hearts of an affectionate and 
 afflicted people. " If, sir," said Mr. Mar. 
 shall, " it had even not been usual openly 
 to testify respect for the memory of those 
 whom Heaven had selected as its instru 
 ments for dispensing good to men, j^et 
 such has been the uncommon worth, and 
 such the extraordinary incidents which 
 have marked the life of him whose loss we 
 all deplore, that the whole American 
 nation, impelled by the same feelings, 
 would call, with one voice, for a public 
 manifestation of that sorrow which is so 
 deep and so universal. More than any 
 other individual, and as much as to any 
 one individual was possible, has he con 
 tributed to found this our wide-spreading 
 empire, and to give to the western world 
 its independence and its freedom. Having 
 effected the great object for which he was 
 
 247 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1799. 
 
 placed at the head of our armies, we have 
 seen him converting the sword into the 
 ploughshare, and voluntarily sinking the 
 soldier in the citizen. 
 
 " When the debility of our federal 
 system had become manifest, and the bonds 
 which connected the parts of this vast con 
 tinent were dissolving, we have seen him 
 the chief of those patriots who formed for 
 us a constitution, which, by preserving the 
 Union, will, I trust, substantiate and per 
 petuate those blessings our revolution had 
 promised to bestow. In obedience to the 
 general voice of his country, calling on 
 him to preside over a great people, we 
 have seen him once more quit the retire 
 ment he loved, and in a season more 
 stormy and tempestuous than war itself, 
 with calm and wise determination, pursue 
 the true interests of the nation, and con 
 tribute to the establishment of that system 
 of policy, which will, I trust, yet preserve 
 our peace, our honour, and our inde 
 pendence. 
 
 " Having been twice unanimously chosen 
 the chief magistrate of a free people, wo see 
 him, at a time when his re-election with 
 the universal suffrage could not have been 
 doubted, affording to the world a rare in 
 stance of moderation, by withdrawing from 
 his high station to the peaceful walks of 
 private life. However the public confi 
 dence may change, and the public affec 
 tions fluctuate with respect to others ; yet, 
 with respect to him, they have, in war and 
 in peace, in public and in private life, been 
 as steady as his own firm mind, and as con 
 stant as his own exalted virtues. Let us 
 then, Mr. Speaker, pay the last tribute of 
 respect and affection to our departed friend 
 let the grand council of tho nation dis 
 play those sentiments which the nation 
 feels." 
 
 After Mr. Marshall had, in a slow 
 and solemn tone, delivered the foregoing 
 remarks, the house seemed to be spell 
 bound ; not a word was uttered to disturb 
 the solemnity of the occasion. All were 
 silent, calm, and sad ; each heart was brim 
 ful of grief, and each cheek was bedewed 
 with tears. A great man had fallen, when 
 not expected, and the whole nation mourned 
 over the loss. Washington had passed from 
 time to eternity, through the dark valley 
 and shadow of death, and his spirit had 
 gone from whence it was never to return ! 
 After the house had remained silent for a 
 few moments, Mr. Marshall sent to the 
 248 
 
 clerk s table the following resolutions, which 
 were unanimously adopted : 
 
 "TheHouse of Representatives of the United States 
 having received intelligence of the death of their 
 highly valued fellow-citizen, George Washington, 
 general of the armies of the United States, and 
 sharing the universal grief which this distressing 
 event must produce, unanimously resolve 
 
 " 1st. That this house will wait on the president of 
 the United States, in condolence of this national 
 calamity. 
 
 " 2nd. That the speaker s chair be shrouded with 
 black, and that the members and officers of the house 
 wear mourning during the session. 
 
 " 3rd. That a joint committee of both houses be 
 appointed, to report measures suitable to the occa 
 sion, and expressive of the profound sorrow with 
 which congress is penetrated in the loss of a citizen, 
 first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
 his countrymen. 
 
 " 4th. That when this house adjourn, it will adjourn 
 until Monday next." 
 
 Shortly after the passing of the foregoing 
 resolutions, and the appointment of the 
 committee therein authorised, the following 
 message was received from the president of 
 the United States ; which, together with 
 the letter accompanying it, was referred to 
 the joint committee indicated in the third 
 resolution : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Senate, and Gentlemen of the 
 House of Representatives, The letter herewith 
 transmitted, will inform you that it has pleased Di 
 vine Providence to remove from this life our excel 
 lent fellow-citizen, George Washington, by the pu 
 rity of his character, and a long series of services to 
 his country, rendered illustrious throughout the 
 world. It remains for an affectionate and grateful 
 people, in whose hearts he can never die, to pay 
 suitable honour to his memory. 
 
 " United States, Dec. 19, 1793. 
 
 " JOHN ADAMS." 
 
 " Mount Veinon, Dec. loth, 1799 
 " Sir, It is with inexpressible grief that I have to 
 announce the death of the great and good General 
 Washington. He died last evening, between ten 
 and eleven o clock, after a short illness of about 
 twenty hours. His disorder was an inflammatory 
 sore throat, which proceeded from a cold, of which 
 he made but little complaint on Friday. On Satur 
 day morning, about three o clock, lie became ill. 
 Doctor Craik attended him in the morning, and Dr. 
 Dick, of Alexandria, and Dr. Brown, of Port To 
 bacco, were soon after called in. Every medical as 
 sistance was offered, but without the desired effect. 
 His last scene corresponded with the whole tenor of 
 his life ; not a groan, nor a complaint, escaped him 
 in extreme distress. With perfect resignation, and 
 in full possession 01 his reason, he closed his well- 
 spent life. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient 
 and very humble servant, 
 
 " TOKIAS LEAR. 
 " The President of the United States." 
 
 According to arrangement, the speaker, 
 attended by the members of the house. 
 
A.D. 1799.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE PRESIDENT S SPEECH. 
 
 withdrew from Ihe representative chamber, 
 and proceeded to the residence of President 
 Adams, where they were formally received 
 by the executive. The speaker addressed 
 the president thus : 
 
 " Sir, The House of Representatives, penetrated 
 with a sense of the irreparable loss sustained by the 
 nation in the death of that great and good man, the 
 illustrious and beloved Washington, wait on you, 
 Sir, to express their condolence on this melancholy 
 and distressing event." 
 
 To this laconic but expressive speech, the 
 president responded, as follows : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I 
 receive, with great respect and affection, the condo 
 lence of the House of Representatives, on the 
 melancholy and affecting event, in the death of the 
 most illustrious and beloved personage which this 
 country ever produced. I sympathise with you, 
 with the nation, and with good men throughout the 
 vorld, in this irreparable loss sustained by us all." 
 
 After these proceedings, the house passed 
 some other resolutions in honour of the 
 dead, and the joint committee arranged for 
 the delivery of a funeral oration by Major- 
 general Henry Lee, one of the representa 
 tives of the state of Virginia ; which was 
 delivered on the 2Gth of December, before 
 both houses of congress, assembled in the 
 German Lutheran church. 
 
 In the senate, the death of Washington 
 was announced on the reception of the mes 
 sage from the president, on the 19th of 
 December, when the joint resolutions that 
 had passed the house were adopted ; and it 
 was also ordered that the senate wait upon 
 the president, and deliver to him an address 
 expressive of the deep regret felt by the 
 members of that body for the irreparable 
 loss that had befallen the nation in the 
 death of Washington. On the 23rd of 
 the month, the senate proceeded to the pre 
 sident s residence, and, after their recep 
 tion, the president of the senate pro tempore, 
 delivered the address that had been adopted 
 by the senate, as follows : 
 
 To tltc President of the United States. 
 
 The senate of the United States respectfully take 
 Lave, Sir, to express to you their deep regret for the 
 loss their country sustains in the death of General 
 George Washington. 
 
 "This event, so distressing to all our fellow-citi 
 zens, must be peculiarly heavy to you, who have 
 long been associated with him in deeds of patriot 
 ism. Permit us, Sir, to mingle our tears with yours ; 
 on this occasion it is manly to weep. To lose such 
 a man, at such a crisis, is no common calamity to 
 the world. Our country mourns her father. The 
 Almighty Disposer of human events has taken from 
 us our greatest benefactor and ornament. It be 
 
 comes us to submit with reverence to Him who 
 maketh darkness His pavilion. 
 
 " With patriotic pride we review the life of our 
 Washington, and compare him with those of other 
 countries, who have been pre-eminent in fame. 
 Ancient and modern names are diminished before 
 him. Greatness and guilt have too often been al 
 lied ; but his fame is whiter than it is brilliant. 
 The destroyers of nations stood abashed at the ma 
 jesty of his virtues. It reproved the intemperance 
 of their ambition, and darkened the splendour of 
 victory. The scene is closed, and we are no longer 
 anxious lest misfortune should sully his glory : he 
 has travelled on to the end of his journey, and car 
 ried with him an increasing weight of honour; he 
 has deposited it safely, where misfortune cannot 
 tarnish it, where malice cannot blast it. Favoured 
 of heaven, he departed without exhibiting the weak 
 ness of humanity. Magnanimous in death, the 
 darkness of the grave could not obscure his bright 
 ness. 
 
 "Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks 
 to God ! his glory is consummated ; Washington 
 yet lives on earth in his spotless example his 
 spirit is in heaven. 
 
 " Let his countrymen consecrate the memory of the 
 heroic general, the patriotic statesman, and the vir 
 tuous sage ; let them teach their children never to 
 forget that the fruit of his labours and his example 
 are their inheritance." 
 
 The address was delivered in the presence 
 of the senators, all standing ; and, in reply, 
 the president said 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Senate, I receive, with the 
 most respectful and affectionate sentiments, in this 
 impressive address, the obliging expressions of your 
 regard for the loss our country has sustained in the 
 death of her most esteemed, beloved, and admired 
 citizen. 
 
 " In the multitude of my thoughts and recollections 
 on this melancholy event, you will permit me only 
 to say, that I have seen him in the days of adver 
 sity, in some of the scenes of his deepest distress 
 and most trying perplexities; I have also attended 
 him in his highest elevation and most prosperous 
 felicity, with uniform admiration of his wisdom, 
 moderation, and constancy. 
 
 " Among all our original associates in that mem 
 orable league of the continent in 1774, which first 
 expressed the sovereign will of a free nation in 
 America, he was the only one remaining in the gen 
 eral government. Although, with a constitution 
 more enfeebled than his, at an age when he thought 
 it necessary to prepare for retirement, I feel myself 
 alone, bereaved of my last brother ; yet I derive a 
 strong consolation from the unanimous disposition 
 which appears, in all ages and classes, to mingle 
 their sorrows with mine, in this common calamity 
 to the \rorld. 
 
 "The life of our Washington cannot suffer by a 
 comparison with those of other countries who havo 
 been most celebrated and exalted by fame. The 
 attributes and decorations of royalty could have 
 only served to eclipse the majesty of those virtues 
 which made him, from being a modest citizen, a 
 more resplendent luminary. Misfortune, had he 
 lived, could hereafter have sullied his glory only 
 with those superficial minds, who, believing that 
 characters and actions are marked by success alone, 
 rarely deserve to enjoy it. Malice could never blast 
 
 249 
 
BURIAL OF WASHINGTON.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1799. 
 
 his honour ; and envy made him a singular exception 
 to her universal rule. For himself, he had lived 
 enough to lite, and to glory. For his fellow-citi 
 zens, if their prayers could have been answered, he 
 would have been immortal. For me, his departure 
 is at a most unfortunate moment. Trusting, how 
 ever, in the wise and righteous dominion of Provi 
 dence over the passions of men, and the results of 
 their councils and actions, as well as over their lives, 
 nothing remains for me but humble resignation. 
 
 " His example is now complete, and it will teach 
 wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, 
 not only in the present age. but in future genera 
 tions, as long as our history shall be read. If a 
 Trajan found a Pliny, a Marcus Aurelius can never 
 want biographers, eulogists, or historians." 
 
 On the conclusion of the president s 
 speech the senators retired to their cham 
 ber, and passed sundry resolutions in 
 honour of the dead, and in condolence 
 with the widow (Mrs. Martha Washington). 
 These proceedings were transmitted to her 
 b} - the president, with the request that the 
 remains of General George Washington be 
 interred in the capitol, at the city of Wash 
 ington, the future metropolis of the nation. 
 On the 8th of January, 1800, the president 
 sent to the senate a message, enclosing 
 Mrs. Washington s answer, which was as 
 follows : 
 
 < Sir, While I feel with the keenest anguish 
 the late dispensation of Divine Providence, I cannot 
 be insensible to the mournful tributes of respect 
 and veneration which are paid to the memory of 
 my dear deceased husband ; and, as his best ser 
 vices, and most anxious wishes, were always de 
 voted to the welfare and happiness of his country, 
 to know that they were truly appreciated and 
 gratefully remembered, affords no inconsiderable 
 consolation. 
 
 " Taught by the great example which I have so 
 long had before me, never to oppose my private wishes 
 to the public will, I must consent to the request made 
 by congress, which you have had the goodness to 
 transmit to me; and, in doing this, I need not I 
 cannot say what a sacrifice of individual feeling I 
 make to a sense of public duty. 
 
 " With grateful acknowledgments, and unfeigned 
 thanks, for the personal respect and evidences of 
 condolence, expressed by congress and yourself, I 
 remain, very respectfully, Sir, your most obedient 
 humble servant, MARTHA WASHINGTON. 
 
 " To the President of the United States." 
 
 Such were the proceedings of congress 
 on the death of Washington ; and the sad 
 event was, in like manner, lamented 
 throughout the whole nation. The differ 
 ent legislatures, municipal authorities of 
 cities, towns, and counties, passed resolu 
 tions of condolence, and in honour of the 
 departed statesman, hero, and patriot. 
 Funeral orations were delivered in every 
 town and village of the land; and the 
 clergy hastened to condole with their con- 
 250 
 
 gregations, from their sacred desks. The 
 bells, throughout the whole country, were 
 tolled, and solemn dirges were sung by the 
 millions who were left in the enjoyment of 
 that freedom for which Washington had 
 struggled, through many vicissitudes, to 
 secure and perpetuate. The military (na 
 tional and volunteer) laid aside their gay 
 plumes, and, draped with the symbolic 
 attire of mourning, marched with solemn 
 tread in funeral processions. 
 
 The 22nd of February (1800), the birthday 
 of Washington, had been fixed by congress 
 as a day to be spent, throughout the nation, 
 " by suitable eulogies, orations, and dis 
 courses, or by public prayers," in testimony 
 of the nation s grief. In Europe the event 
 was received with feelings of sadness. The 
 great British fleet, then lying in the English 
 channel, consisting of sixty ships of the 
 line, by order of Lord Bridport, lowered 
 their flags to half-mast. Bonaparte was 
 first consul of France ; and he, too, sym 
 pathised with the rest of the world in the 
 loss of the great example. He issued an 
 order to the army to wear mourning ; and 
 another, that a formal oration should be 
 pronounced before the civil and military 
 authorities ; on which occasion the first 
 consul attended. 
 
 The body of Washington was deposited 
 in the old vault, which was situated on the 
 hill side, almost immediately in front of his 
 residence at Mount Vernon. The remains 
 were carried from the house to the vault, 
 by the Alexandria Washington Lodge oi 
 Freemasons, over which he had presided 
 many years as worshipful master. Religious 
 ceremonies were performed upon the occa 
 sion by the pastor of the. episcopal church, 
 of which Washington had been a member. 
 The fraternity of Freemasons then per 
 formed their funeral rites, and cast upon the 
 coifin sprigs of evergreen, in symbolic lan 
 guage, expressive of their abiding affection 
 for the departed brother, and in token of 
 their resolution to ever keep in memory his 
 virtues and illustrious example. 
 
 The presidential election having taken 
 place in the different states, and the result 
 thereof duly received at Washington 
 then the seat of the federal government 
 on the llth of February, 1801, the two 
 houses of congress assembled in joint ses 
 sion, in the senate chamber, for the pur- 
 ! pose of opening the electoral ballots. The 
 i vice-president opened the sealed docu 
 ments, and announced to the assembly the 
 
A.D. 1801.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 ballot that had been cast by each elector of 
 the sixteen states of the Union; and the 
 result was as follows : 
 
 Election for the Fourth Term, commencing ^th 
 March, 1801, and terminating 3rd March, 1805. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Thos. Jefferson, 
 of Virginia. 
 
 "3 
 
 11 
 
 il 
 
 n 
 
 < 
 
 John Adams, of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 ii 
 
 ~* 
 
 So 
 o ^ 
 
 
 
 John Jay, of 
 New York. 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island 
 Connecticut 
 Vermont . 
 New York . 
 New Jersey 
 Pennsylvania 
 Delaware . 
 Maryland . 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 21 
 
 12 
 8 
 
 5 
 ?1 
 
 6 
 16 
 4 
 9 
 4 
 
 7 
 7 
 3 
 5 
 
 6 
 10 
 3 
 9 
 4 
 
 7 
 7 
 3 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 Kentucky . 
 North Carolina 
 Tennessee . . 
 South Carolina 
 Georgia 
 
 4 
 8 
 3 
 8 
 4 
 
 4 
 8 
 3 
 8 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Whole No. of Electors 
 Majority ... 70 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 1 
 
 According to the constitution, the can 
 didate having the highest number of votes 
 was elected president, and the next highest 
 vice-president ; but on this occasion there 
 was no choice by the electors. There 
 were 138 electoral votes, and 70 was a 
 majority. Jefferson and Burr had an 
 equal vote, and, of course, neither was 
 elected. It then devolved upon the House 
 of Representatives to choose a president ; 
 and, on the 18th of February, that body 
 succeeded, on the thirty-sixth ballot, in 
 effecting the election of Thomas Jefferson. 
 On this ballot there were ten states for 
 Jefferson namely, Vermont, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir 
 ginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, 
 and Tennessee. Four states voted for 
 Burr namely, Rhode Island, New Hamp 
 shire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Two 
 states, Delaware and South Carolina, cast 
 blank ballots. 
 
 The election of a president, on this occa 
 sion, did much to create party excitement 
 throughout the whole Union. Day after 
 day, the friends of the respective candi- 
 
 * The letters of Hamilton became known to 
 Burr, and their sting rankled in his bosom, until 
 his passions were quieted by the fatal duel between 
 him and Hamilton, July 12th, 1804 ; on which oc- 
 
 dates endeavoured to attain success. It 
 was the fourth presidential election, and 
 the first that had been referred to the 
 House of Representatives. Jefferson was 
 evidently unpopular, and against him was 
 arrayed the most determined federal oppo 
 sition. Benton states that the election of 
 Jefferson was due, more than to any other, 
 to General Hamilton ; as the majority of 
 the federal party were strongly disposed to 
 support Colonel Burr; from doing which 
 they were seriously counselled by him. He 
 was friendly with Burr, but not so with 
 Jefferson ; and, notwithstanding his antag 
 onistic relations with the latter, he gave 
 him his influence. It was a sacrifice of his 
 personal feelings to effect a public good. 
 He said to his friends " If there be a man 
 in the world I ought to hate, it is Jefferson. 
 With Burr I have always been personally 
 well, but the public good must be para 
 mount to every private consideration." The 
 danger of Burr s election was imminent, as 
 appears from a letter written by Bayard, of 
 Delaware, to Hamilton, early in January, 
 and before the period of the election " I as 
 sure you, sir," said Bayard, " there appears 
 to be a strong inclination in the federal 
 party to support Mr. Burr. The current 
 has already (January 7th) acquired consid 
 erable . force, and is manifestly increasing. 
 The vote which the representation of a 
 state enables me to give, would decide the 
 question in favour of Mr. Jefferson. At 
 present I am by no means decided as to the 
 object of preference. If the federal party 
 should take up Mr. Burr, I ought certainly 
 to be impressed with the most undoubted 
 conviction before I separate myself from 
 them." In answer to this, Hamilton ex 
 pressed his opinion of Burr, that he was 
 morally and politically a bad man, utterly 
 unfit and unsafe to bo trusted with the 
 presidency, and in circumstances to make 
 crime his necessity, as well as his inclina 
 tion ; and he urged his friend Bayard to 
 save the country from the "calamity" of 
 his election to the presidency, as in that 
 light alone could the result be considered.* 
 The election in the House of Represen 
 tatives, protracted through four days, was 
 closely contested between the republican 
 and federal parties. The struggle produced 
 the most intense excitement throughout 
 
 casion the latter received a mortal wound : he died 
 a few hours later. A singularly hard fate! to die 
 for serving his country, and that in the person 
 of Jefferson, his enemy. Benton. 
 
 251 
 
JEFFERSON INAUGURATED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.-D. 1801. 
 
 the whole nation, and many feared that it 
 would result in a dissolution of the Union. 
 It is quite certain that if Adams had been 
 the opponent of Jefferson, instead of Burr, 
 he would have been elected ; but that was 
 not possible, as the house could only choose 
 between the two having the greatest number 
 of electoral votes ; and those were Jefferson 
 and Burr. We know not the exact vote 
 given by the members, though the earlier 
 ballots indicate that sometimes Jefferson 
 had a majority ; and, on other ballots, Burr 
 had the greatest number ; but, as the election 
 was by states, a majority of the representa 
 tives did not count. For example, the house 
 was composed of about 103 members ; and 
 of these, five states, Massachusetts, New 
 York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North 
 Carolina, had sixty-six; these might have 
 voted for either ; and yet the candidate 
 having the remaining thirty-seven ballots, 
 would have been elected; and, in fact, 
 one of the candidates might have received 
 seventy-eight votes from seven states ; and 
 the other, with thirty-five votes from the 
 remaining nine states, would have been 
 elected the president : the majority of the 
 representatives from each state determined 
 the vote of the state, and the ballot cast was 
 as a state; that is to say, as there were sixteen 
 states, nine of them constituted a majority. 
 
 The election having resulted in the 
 choice of Thomas Jefferson for president, 
 and Aaron Burr for vice-president, they 
 took the oath of office, and entered upon 
 the discharge of their duties on the 4th of 
 March, 1801. 
 
 Jefferson commenced his executive career 
 when the nation was in a condition of pros 
 perity, and at peace with all the world, 
 except the Barbary states of North Africa. 
 In his inaugural address, he declared his 
 abiding faith in the perpetuity of the consti 
 tutional government, and of the patriotism 
 of the people to maintain a republic that 
 would subserve the weal of men for ages 
 thereafter. " If there be any among us," 
 said Jefferson, "who would wish to dis 
 solve the Union, or to change its repub 
 lican form, let them stand undisturbed, as 
 monuments of the safety with which error 
 of opinion may be tolerated, where reason 
 is left to combat it. I know, indeed, that 
 some honest men fear that a republican 
 government cannot be strong enough. But 
 would the honest patriot, in the full tide of 
 successful experiment, abandon a govern 
 ment, which has so fur kept us free and 
 252 
 
 firm, in the theoretic and visionary fear 
 that this government, the world s best hope, 
 i may, by possibility, want energy to preserve 
 i itself? I trust not; I believe this, on the 
 contrary, the strongest government on 
 earth : I believe it is the only one where 
 ! every man, at the call of the law, would fly 
 I to the standard of the law, and would meet 
 invasions of the public order as his own 
 personal concern. Sometimes it is said that 
 man cannot be trusted with the government 
 of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with 
 the government of others ? or have we found 
 angels in the form of kings to govern him ? 
 Let history answer this question." These 
 I sentiments, uttered by the leader of tho 
 republican, party, dispelled all doubt from 
 the minds of those who questioned his at 
 tachment to the constitution. He had 
 favoured the doctrines of states rights, us 
 i enunciated through the medium of the 
 i Kentucky and Virginia resolutions in 1798 ; 
 ! which were construed, by many, to be an- 
 ! tagonistic to the perpetuity of" the federal 
 union and of the nation. 
 
 During the earlier part of Jefferson s 
 administration, congress was engaged upon 
 a plan to reorganise the federal judiciary 
 system, and various other measures, having 
 in view the better execution of the laws and 
 perfection of the governmental system ; and 
 the harmonising of all and severally the 
 conflicting interests between the respective 
 states. The Georgia question involved 
 considerations of no ordinary import ; but 
 the interest of that state in the Mississippi 
 territory was happily adjusted by an equit 
 able compensation. The interruption to the 
 trade of the western rivers, by the prohibi 
 tion of the Spanish authorities to the 
 deposit of commodities at New Orleans, 
 and their disputation of the right of the 
 Americans to navigate the Mississippi river, 
 occasioned considerable excitement through 
 out the country ; but these complications, 
 ! though at one time of a very serious appear 
 ance, were ultimately settled by the removal 
 of all foreign power from the territory bor 
 dering upon the Mississippi river. This im 
 portant acquisition, by way of purchase, will 
 be presently considered, with an historical 
 account of that section of America. 
 
 One of the most important events 
 of Jefferson s first term, was the organisa 
 tion of the state of Ohio out of the north 
 west territory; and the rapid spread of 
 civilisation throughout that vast and won 
 derfully productive division of the country. 
 
A.D. 1802.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 Ohio was admitted into the federal union 
 in 1802. The territory of tins great state 
 was brought under immediate civil juris 
 diction in 1788, in conformity with the 
 noted ordinance of 1787. The whole 
 country west of the Ohio river was a vast 
 uninhabited region, partly covered with 
 forests, and partly composed of prairies. 
 The Indians had a few villages, but they 
 were on the decline, on account of the wars 
 that had devastated the country. During 
 the revolutionary period, besides the de 
 struction of the wigwams and other pro 
 perty, the decimation of the red race dur 
 ing those wars was very great. While in 
 their enfeebled condition, many of the Vir 
 ginians and Pennsylvanians crossed the 
 Ohio, and, by special treaties, obtained 
 possession of lands, and made settlements 
 thereon ; these, in a measure, caused the 
 savages to recede farther into the western 
 wilds. The federal government found that 
 its decrees, forbidding emigrants from oc 
 cupying lands in the north-west, were dis 
 regarded, and that it was necessary to 
 organise a government for that territory. 
 The president appointed General Arthur 
 St. Clair the first governor ; S. II. Parsons, 
 James M. Yarnum, and John Armstrong, 
 were commissioned judges; and these 
 formed the executive, judicial, and legisla 
 tive tribunals for the said territory. Wash 
 ington county was created by a proclama 
 tion of the governor, on tbe 27th of July, 
 1788, immediately after his arrival in the 
 county; that county embraced the area 
 lying west of the states of Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia, and it extended to the 
 Cuyahoga, Miami, and Scioto rivers ; the 
 principal settlement was called Marietta, 
 which was, for a time, the seat of govern 
 ment. In 1790, Hamilton county was 
 established, and included the country be 
 tween the Miamies, extending northward 
 from the Ohio river to a line drawn due 
 east from the standing stone forks of the 
 Great Miami. The principal settlement 
 was Cincinnati, and its location was de 
 scribed as being opposite the mouth of the 
 Licking. The legislature and courts were 
 held at Marietta and Cincinnati, alternately, 
 as was found most convenient for the officials 
 of those tribunals. 
 
 In 1796, Wayne county was established, 
 and embraced the north-western part of the 
 territory bordering upon the lakes, and 
 included the whole of the peninsula be- j 
 tvreen the lakes Huron and Michigan, i 
 
 VOL. ir. 2 L 
 
 j In 1797, Adams county was erected, 
 and comprehended the large tract of 
 country lying on both sides of the Scioto, 
 and northward to the southern boundary of 
 Wayne. These counties were respectively 
 organised ; and civilisation rapidly spread 
 over the plains, table-lands, and valleys of 
 that most extraordinary, fertile region of 
 America. Several land companies had 
 been formed, and large tracts of the country 
 were, by those speculating associations, 
 immediately brought into the market. The 
 "New England Ohio Company" had its 
 land near the mouth of the Scioto river ; 
 the " Connecticut Reserve" was immedi 
 ately west of Pennsylvania, and south of 
 Lake Erie ; the " Scioto Land Company" 
 held a questionable title to some lands near 
 the Muskingum. Besides these, there 
 were many military grants given to those 
 who had served the country during the revo 
 lutionary war. These rival speculations 
 brought into the country families from all 
 parts of the Union ; and, on one occasion, 
 218 French arrived, and settled upon the 
 Ohio ; the most of them at Gallipolis. 
 
 The Indians were not content to see their 
 beautiful country so hastily grasped from 
 them ; it had been their field for sporting, 
 and for the cultivation of the maize. The 
 women easily tilled the corn ; and the men, 
 within a short distance of the wigwams, 
 could kill wild deer, turkeys, and many 
 varieties of game. It was no trouble to live 
 there none were required to "toil and spin," 
 as the people who lived east of the Appala 
 chians. The maize grew thriftily without 
 farther care than weeding ; and the indi 
 genous fruits, berries, and nuts abounded 
 throughout the whole west. The summers 
 were hot ; but in the groves and forests, 
 where the high boughs of the trees inter 
 laced, the sun s rays never reached the 
 earth : there it was cool and balmy. In 
 winter the cold was not excessive, and the 
 snows facilitated the hunters in the chase of 
 the deer as it was at such times they col 
 lected into herds, and browsed along the 
 skirts of the prairies. It was quite natural 
 that the Indians yielded up this beautiful 
 country to civilisation with reluctance ; and 
 they d id not retreat from their lands with 
 out a struggle. Thousands of lives were 
 lost in the settlement of Ohio ; but the red 
 men, ere many years, ceased to tread the 
 pathways of their fathers ; their wigwams 
 wasted away, and they were as dust scattered 
 by the winds. Their grave-vards, which, 
 
 253 
 
STATE CF OHIO FORMED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1802. 
 
 by their peculiar custom, had received their 
 annual visits on the coming of the leaves, 
 were levelled by the plough ; the stately 
 oak, that had shaded those sacred spots, 
 from time immemorial, had been felled by 
 the axe ; and, in their stead, the thrifty 
 maize tasselled in the morn of summer. 
 
 Before 1798, the population of the north 
 west had increased to 5,000 free male in 
 habitants, over twenty-one years of age; 
 and these were living within eight counties 
 organised by the authority of the governor 
 and his council. According to the ordinance 
 of 1787, the population entitled the people 
 of the territory to form a legislature ; and, 
 in conformity therewith, the governor 
 issued a proclamation for the election of 
 delegates, in 1799 ; and, on the IGth of 
 September of that year, the first legislature 
 assembled. The government of the terri 
 tory was then changed from the governor 
 and judges to the people : the former had 
 been appointed by the federal government 
 as guardians; but after the infant settle 
 ments had attained the required number of 
 "free people of full age/ they were in 
 vested with the power to legislate, and 
 the officers appointed by the president be 
 came executives. The legislature nomi 
 nated ten freeholders, each possessing not 
 less than500 acres of land; from among whom 
 five were selected by President Adams ; and 
 they became the governor s council, serving 
 in the nature of a senate, or co-ordinate 
 branch of the legislative department of the 
 government. The delegates to the lower 
 house were elected for a term of two years, 
 and the council-men for a term of five years : 
 events, however, shortened their official 
 career. As a government had been formed, 
 the territory was entitled to send a delegate 
 to congress ; and William Henry Harrison, 
 
 who had served as secretary of the territory, 
 was elected. 
 
 On the 30th of April, 1802, congress 
 passed an act authorising the assembling of 
 delegates, as a convention for the purpose 
 of adopting a state constitution. This im 
 portant meeting took place at Chillicothe, 
 on the 1st of November, 1802 ; and, on 
 the 29th of that month, the great organic 
 charter of the state of Ohio was formally 
 signed by the delegates of the convention. 
 This instrument was never referred to the 
 people for their ratification or rejection ; 
 but it became the fundamental organic 
 law of the state, without further formality 
 than its adoption by the convention, com 
 posed of the delegates immediately repre 
 senting the people, with whom, lay the 
 sovereign power of government. By the 
 adoption of the constitution, the great state 
 of Ohio became admitted into the federal 
 union, and no further formality was re 
 quired by congress. The first legislature 
 of the state assembled at Chillicothe, on 
 the 1st of March, 1803. By those simple 
 proceedings, an independent and sovereign 
 state was formed in the north-west, where, 
 but a few years before, the red men roamed 
 at will, and danced by the torchlight 
 around the scalps of the Christian. Only 
 I twenty years previous to the birth of this 
 j new empire, the savages held complete 
 sway over the whole of that country. 
 Close to the very spot where the first legis 
 lature assembled, several Americans had 
 suffered the pangs of death upon the burn 
 ing faggots : it was there where coals of 
 fire had been thrown upon Crawford, 
 until his flesh, crisped and swollen, was 
 consumed by the red embers poured 
 upon him while writhing in the agonies 
 of death. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER J LOUISIANA, ITS HISTORY AND FINAL ORGANISATION AS A STATE; 
 BURR CONSPIRACY ; PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 180-1 AND 1808. 
 
 THE importance of a free navigation of 
 the Mississippi river had been, long before 
 the formation of the federal union, fully 
 254 
 
 appreciated by the respective states, but 
 particularly by the people of the countries 
 watered by the tributaries of that great 
 
A.I). 
 
 1682.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [LA SALLE S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 stream. An attempt had been made, under 
 the old confederation, to barter the exclusive 
 right of navigating upon the Mississippi, 
 for a term of twenty-five 3 7 ears, to Spain ; 
 but that measure signally failed, ere it 
 had assumed any especial importance before 
 congress. By the treaty of peace with 
 Great Britain, in 1783 ; by the treaty o: 
 amity, commerce, and navigation of 1794 , 
 and by the treaty of friendship, limits, anc 
 navigation with Spain, in 1795, the righl 
 of a free navigation of the Mississippi was 
 fully recognised and declared to exist, from 
 its source to the ocean, in the citizens oi 
 the United States. By the treaty with 
 Spain, it was declared, " that, in consequence 
 of the stipulations contained in the fourth 
 article, her catholic majesty will permit the 
 citizens of the United States, for the space 
 of three years, from this time, to deposit 
 their merchandise and effects in the port of 
 New Orleans, and to export them from 
 thence without paying any other duty than 
 a fair price for the hire of the stores." This 
 permission of deposit was based upon the 
 right of the United States to navigate 
 the Mississippi. This right was interfered 
 with by the intendant of the province of 
 Louisiana, who issued a proclamation, dated 
 October 16th, 1802, declaring that the fur 
 ther deposit of commodities at New Orleans 
 was prohibited. The reasons assigned by 
 the intendant for the interdiction was, that 
 the three years term, granted by Spain, 
 allowing the said deposits, had expired ; he 
 further stated that the privilege could not 
 be again accorded, except by order of the 
 king of Spain. The Americans claimed an 
 equal right to navigate the Mississippi, with 
 the subjects of Spain ; and that the juris 
 diction of the United States extended to 
 the thread, or centre of the channel of that 
 river; but, while the Americans actually 
 exercised the right of navigation, they 
 had no convenient place to deposit their 
 merchandise near to the ocean, and within 
 the reach of ships ; and, unless they could 
 have a place of deposit below that part 
 under the joint jurisdiction of the two 
 nations, they could not avail themselves of 
 that great stream for reaching the ports of 
 the seas with their products and manufac 
 tures. Before giving the solution of these 
 complications, we shall give an historical 
 account of the discovery and settlement of 
 the vast and important part of America, at 
 that time known as Louisiana, which, as 
 at first understood, embraced the whole 
 
 country traversed by the Mississippi river 
 and its tributaries. 
 
 Robert de La Salle, having been formally 
 authorised by the French government to 
 explore the country watered by the great 
 river Colbert,* and the course of that river 
 to its mouth, proceeded on his expedition 
 from Canada, in the month of December, 
 1681, and, after passing through the Miami 
 and Illinois countries, reached the Colbert 
 river on the 6th of January, 1782, about 
 ninety leagues above the Illinois village. 
 Pie encamped upon its bank until the 13th 
 of that month, waiting for his guides and 
 assistants. On that day he embarked on his 
 voyage down the river, accompanied by 
 twenty-two Frenchmen, carrying arms; 
 the reverend Father Zenobe Membre, a 
 catholic missionary ; eighteen New England 
 Indian men, and several Indian women. 
 This flotilla, of at least forty canoes, em 
 barked on the day above mentioned, on the 
 long and eventful voyage, to discover the 
 place where the mightiest river of the New 
 World mingled its waters with the briny 
 waves of the ocean. 
 
 La Salle, on the 9th of April, 1682, ar 
 rived at the mouth of the Mississippi, and 
 took formal possession of the country 
 watered by that stream, and its tributaries. 
 The whole of La Salle s party, under arms, 
 chanted a Te Deum; and, after firing a 
 salute, proclaimed, " Vive le Roi!" A column 
 was then erected, upon which was inscribed 
 the discovery and the act of taking posses 
 sion of the regions watered by that great 
 river. La Salle formally proclaimed, in the 
 French language " In the name of the 
 most :high, mighty, invincible, and victo 
 rious prince, Louis the Great, by the graco 
 of God, king of France and of Navarre, 
 fourteenth of that name; this 9th of April, 
 1682, I, in virtue of the commission of his 
 majesty, which I hold in my hand, and 
 which may be seen by all whom it may 
 oncern, have taken, and do now take, in 
 the name of his majesty, and of his succes 
 sors to the crown, possession of the country 
 of Louisiana, the seas, harbours, ports, bays, 
 adjacent straits, and all the nations, people, 
 M ovinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, 
 isheries, streams, and rivers, comprised in 
 the extent of the said Louisiana, from tho 
 
 * This river was called by Marquettc, "Concep- 
 
 ion," in honour of the Immaculate Conception. 
 
 lennepen named it " Colbert," in honour of the 
 
 inance minister of France. The Indians named it 
 
 Mississippi," which meant "great river." 
 
 255 
 
MISSISSIPPI DISCOVERED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1673. 
 
 mouth of the great river St. Louis, on the 
 eastern side, otherwise called Ohio, Alighin, 
 Sipore, or Chukagona ; and this with the 
 consent of the Chaouanons, Chikachas, and 
 other people dwelling therein, with whom 
 we have made alliance ; as also along the 
 river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers 
 which discharge themselves therein, from 
 its source beyond the country of the Kious 
 or Nadouessions ; and this with their con 
 sent, and with the consent of the Motantees, 
 Illinois, Mesigameas,Natches, Koroas, which 
 are the most considerable nations dwelling 
 therein ; with whom also we have made al 
 liance, either by ourselves, or by others in 
 our behalf,* as far as its mouth at the sea, 
 or Gulf of Mexico, about the 27th degree of 
 the elevation of the north pole, and also to 
 the mouth of the river of Palms ; upon the 
 assurance which we have received from all 
 these nations, that we are the first Euro 
 peans who have descended or ascended the 
 said river Colbert ; hereby protesting against 
 all those who may in future undertake to 
 invade any or all of these countries, people, 
 or lands, above described, to the prejudice 
 of the right of his majesty, acquired by the 
 consent of the nations herein named. Of 
 which, and of all that can be needed, I 
 hereby take to witness those who hear me, 
 and demand an act of the notary, as required 
 by law." 
 
 On the conclusion of La Salle s procla 
 mation, the assembled adventurers shouted 
 " Vive le Roi /" and then, after a few more 
 formalities, including religious ceremonies, 
 the vast regions of the Mississippi valley were 
 considered to be territory belonging to the 
 king of France. Father Marquette, of the 
 French Catholic missions, in company with 
 Jolliet, extended his exploration, in 1673, 
 from the upper lakes, down the Mississippi 
 river, to the mouth of the Arkansas; leaving 
 the remainder of that mighty stream to be 
 discovered by La Salle in 1682, on which 
 occasion the French title to the country, 
 by right of discovery, was fully and for 
 mally declared, as before mentioned. Be 
 fore the English had crossed the Appala 
 chian mountains, the French had learned 
 from the Indians that there was a great 
 river not far distant from their missionary 
 stations of West Canada. The earlier ad 
 venturers of New France urged the gov- 
 
 * There is an obscurity in this enumeration of 
 places and Indian nations, which may be ascribed 
 to an ignorance of the geography of the country ; 
 but it seems to have been the design of the Sieur de 
 
 256 
 
 eminent authorities to dispatch an expedi 
 tion to discover the country and rivers de 
 scribed to them by the aborigines. Mar 
 quette held himself in readiness to leave 
 Mackinaw at the first sign of his superior s 
 will; and, at last, on the 4th of June, 1672, 
 the French minister wrote to Falon, then 
 the intendant of Canada : " As, after the 
 increase of the colony, there is nothing 
 more important for the colony than the 
 discovery of a passage to the South Sea, 
 his majesty wishes you to give it your at 
 tention. " Falon was then about to return 
 to France ; but he recommended Jolliet to 
 the new governor Frontenac, who had just 
 arrived. The latter approved the choice, 
 and Jolliet received his instructions from 
 the new intendant. " The Chevalier de 
 Grand Fontaine," writes Frontenac, on the 
 2nd of November, " has deemed it expedient 
 for the service to send the Sieur Jolliet to 
 discover the South Sea by the Maskontens 
 country, and the great river (Mississippi), 
 which is believed to empty in the California 
 sea. He is a man of experience in this 
 kind of discovery, and has already been 
 near the great river, of which he promises 
 to see the mouth." At that time Marquette 
 was missionary to the Illinois ; and his long 
 association with the Indian tribes of the 
 upper lakes had given him a thorough 
 knowledge of their character and language. 
 Jolliet had the official authority, but it was 
 necessary for him to select a proper person 
 to accompany him on such an important 
 expedition, and one, too, who was familiar 
 with the aboriginal languages. Marquette 
 had long desired to join an expedition for 
 the discovery of the interior, and particu 
 larly the South Sea ; he had advocated it, 
 and " had constantly offered up his devo 
 tions to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, to 
 obtain the grace" of penetrating the interior, 
 and the undiscovered sea. On the festival of 
 the Immaculate Conception, Jolliet arrived 
 at Marquette s station, and informed him 
 that he had brought with him letters from 
 his superiors, appointing him a co- adven 
 turer for the discovery of the vast wilds of 
 the unknown interior. In the spring of 
 1673, Jolliet and Marquette embarked at 
 Mackinaw, in two frail bark canoes. They 
 passed over the waters of the Menomonies, 
 Green Bay, Maskontens, and Wisconsin, 
 
 La Salle to take possession of the whole territory 
 watered by the Mississippi, from its mouth to its 
 source, and by the streams flowing into it on both 
 sides. Spark s Biography of La Salle. 
 
A.D. 1699.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SETTLING OF LOUISIANA. 
 
 arriving at the Mississippi on the 17th of 
 June, 1673, which they named in honour 
 of the Virgin Mary Immaculate the river 
 " Conception." They descended that mighty 
 stream to about the mouth of the Arkansas, 
 stopping occasionally to hold converse with 
 the native tribes found inhabiting its banks. 
 They received information from the Indians, 
 which led them to believe that the river 
 they had discovered emptied into the Gulf of 
 Mexico; and, being thus satisfied, they 
 started, on the 17th of July, to return.* 
 
 Father Louis Hennepin claimed to have 
 discovered the Mississippi to its mouth in | 
 1780; but his statement seemed to be 
 doubted by modern writers ; and, in fact, 
 when it is observed that he claimed to have 
 travelled nearly 1,500 miles in seventeen 
 days, on the Mississippi river, no one, hav 
 ing a knowledge of that stream, can have 
 any confidence in his assertion ; and under 
 such a conviction, we pass by his pretensions 
 without further consideration. He subse 
 quently went to Paris, and published an 
 elaborate account of his discoveries ; naming 
 the country Louisiana, in honour of Louis 
 XIV. Marquette and Jolliet named the 
 great river that they had discovered, " Con 
 ception :" in Hennepin s Desertion of 
 Louisiana, printed in Paris, 1783, it is 
 called " Colbert," in honour of the then 
 finance and marine minister of France ; but, 
 in after years, it became known as the 
 " Mississippi/ f its Indianic appellation. 
 
 In the foregoing, we have shown that the 
 discovery of the Mississippi was by Jolliet 
 and Marquette, under French commission, 
 in 1673, and that La Salle took formal 
 possession of the country watered by that 
 great stream, in 1G82 ; and it was by this 
 title that the French nation claimed and 
 occupied the territory for nearly a century 
 afterwards, or, at least, until the fall of 
 their power by the surrender at Montreal, 
 in 1762, by which all the lands lying east 
 of the Mississippi, and north of its latitude, 
 were transferred to the English. 
 
 Returning to the epoch of the discoveries 
 of America, which led to its occupancy by 
 the Spaniards, English, and French, we 
 
 * The description of this expedition was written 
 by Marquette ; and his Journal was subsequently 
 published in Paris. Jolliet wrote an official ac 
 count; but owing to an accident the upsetting of 
 his boat he lost all his papers. 
 
 t The word Mississippi is a compound of the 
 word Mhsi, signifying great, and Sepc, a river. 
 The former is variously pronounced Missil, or 
 Michil, as in Michilimackinac ; Hichi, as in Michi- 
 
 deem it only necessary to refer to the fact, 
 that the former derived their title from the 
 discoveries of Columbus and others of that 
 nation, who settled upon the West India 
 islands and in Florida. The English de 
 rived their title from the discoveries of 
 Cabot, and by those who located upon the 
 coast. The French derived their title from 
 the discoveries of Cartier, and the explora 
 tions made by Jolliet, Marquette, La Salle, 
 and others. We have detailed the par 
 ticulars respecting the occupancy, by the 
 Spaniards, of St. Augustine, and the wan 
 derings of De Soto, in the first volume of 
 this work ; J and we need not refer to their 
 settlements farther, at present, than to ob 
 serve that they claimed the Floridas aa 
 Spanish territory which extended, as they 
 supposed, to the unknown northerly regions 
 by discovery and possession. As soon as 
 the explorations of the French were known . 
 to the Spaniards, they made an effort to 
 prevent the occupancy of the interior lands 
 by that nation, or, at least, to confine their 
 settlements to the delta of the Mississippi, 
 where it was supposed they could not sur 
 vive the climate. For this purpose they 
 founded Pensacola, in 1696, and erected 
 there a strong fortification ; at the same 
 time, too, they entered into alliances with 
 the Indians, by which they were pledged 
 to drive the French from the country, in 
 case they attempted to settle in it. 
 
 The French were greatly rejoiced on 
 account of their American discoveries, 
 which had been popularly named Louisiana, 
 by Hennepin; and, in 1699, Ibberville 
 was appointed, by the king, governor of 
 the whole country taken possession of by 
 La Salle. In that year a colony was estab 
 lished at Biloxi, situated at the mouth of 
 the Rio Perdido, twelve miles west of the 
 Pensacola river or bay, where he erected a 
 fort, with four bastions, on which he 
 mounted twelve pieces of ordnance. Ib 
 berville was not very successful with his 
 colony, for many of them died, without 
 having attained the object of their coming 
 to America namely, "vast quantities of 
 gold ;" nor had they realised any gain from 
 
 pan; Hfissii, as in Missouri; and Missi, as in 
 Mississippi. The word Sipi may be considered as 
 the English pronunciation, derived through the 
 medium of the French, of Sepe, and affords an 
 instance of an Indian term of much melody, being 
 corrupted by Europeans into one that has a harsh 
 and hissing sound. Shea s Discovery of the Mis 
 sissippi. 
 
 I Vol. i., p. 20. 
 
 257 
 
CHOZAT/S GKANT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1712. 
 
 the expected Indian trade. A friendly 
 intercourse was established between the 
 French at Biloxi and the Spaniards at 
 Pensacola ; and the latter supplied Ibber- 
 ville s colony with a variety of provisions ; 
 and among them were vegetables, which, on 
 account of their indolence, the French had 
 failed to cultivate. In the year 1705, up 
 wards of sixty of the colony perished with 
 hunger ; and, at the close of that year, 
 there were but 150 Frenchmen living, 
 several hundreds having died during the 
 five previous years. Some of the French 
 had settled upon the Isle Dauphin ; and 
 they, too, were in a wretched condition. 
 
 Shortly after the settlement of Biloxi, an 
 expedition, under the command of St. Den 
 nis, penetrated several hundred miles up the 
 Red river ; in 1700, Bienville ascended the 
 same river to the Yattersee villages on 
 Bayou Pierre, and at the same time explored 
 the Washita; in 1701 both of these rivers 
 were more fully explored by St. Dennis, who 
 spent six months wandering through the 
 countries adjacent to them ; in 1703 a settle- 
 nient was made on the banks of the Wa 
 shita ; and, during the same year, a mission 
 was located upon the Yazous. The ambi 
 tion of the French was principally directed 
 towards the discovery of valuable minerals, 
 and their wanderings over those vast regions 
 had in view the search for gold. Copper 
 had been found near Lake Superior ; and 
 they continued their exploration until they 
 had traced many of the rivers hundreds of 
 miles from their mouths. The Mississippi 
 had been explored from the Gulf to 
 the falls of St. Anthony ; the Missouri to 
 the Kansas ; the Ohio to the mountains of 
 the Five Nations ; and all the tributaries of 
 the streams were more or less known to the 
 French adventurers. The rapid strides 
 made by the French in discovering and 
 occupying the Mississippi valley, was jea 
 lously observed by the English ; and as 
 early as 1700, they attacked those living 
 upon the Isle Dauphin, and plundered them 
 of 50,000 livres. On account of the hos 
 tilities from the English, Spaniards, and 
 Indians, and the general inefficiency of their 
 colonial administration, the French rapidly 
 wasted away ; and of the 2,500 settlers who 
 had arrived, prior to 1712, but 400 whites, 
 and twenty negro slaves, were at that date 
 living ; notwithstanding over 689,000 livres 
 had been expended towards establishing the 
 colony by the French government. 
 
 The Spaniards continued closely to watch 
 258 
 
 the progress of the French ; and in order to 
 stop their march westward, they attempted 
 to occupy the territory east of the Rio 
 Bravo ; and not being prepared to attain 
 that end by force of arms, they contented 
 :hemselves by erecting, on the west bank of 
 ;hat river, in 1714, a fort, which they called 
 St. John Baptist. The French heard of the 
 intentions of the Spaniards, and immedi 
 ately dispatched an expedition, under St. 
 Dennis, to drive the invaders from the ter 
 ritory lying east of the Bravo ; but, after Sfc. 
 Dennis ascended the Red river, he learned 
 that the Spaniards had not crossed the Rio 
 Bravo, although they had declared the 
 ountry east of that river to be a Spanish 
 province, under the name of Texas. To 
 defeat this project the French erected a 
 fort, called Dout, near the source of the Sa- 
 bine ; and another was built about 140 miles 
 westward of the Red river, not far from the 
 modern village of Nacogdoches. After this 
 the French sought for a recognition of their 
 boundaries by diplomacy ; and for that pur 
 pose St. Dennis made two visits to Mexico ; 
 but his efforts were unsuccessful. The French 
 resolutely claimed the whole territory lying 
 between the Mississippi and the Rio Bravo ; 
 and they claimed it not only by discovery, but 
 by occupancy. De la Motte, who succeeded 
 Ibberville as governor, used his exertions to 
 obtain a settlement of the western boun 
 daries ; and while the negotiations were 
 pending, he had several forts erected in dif 
 ferent parts of the country ; having in view 
 not only the occupancy of the territory 
 against the pretensions of the Spaniards of 
 Mexico, but also the protection of the people 
 who should chance to wander or settle 
 among the Indians. The most important 
 was Fort Rosalie, at Natchez, on the east 
 ern bank of the Mississippi. About this 
 time governor De la Motte died, and Bien 
 ville, an able statesman and a brave soldier, 
 succeeded him. 
 
 While these efforts were being made to 
 prevent the Spaniards from occupying the 
 territory of Louisiana, the king was en 
 gaged in considering plans for realising 
 some advantage from the New World, for 
 the benefit of his people ; and, after giving 
 the subject his attention, he concluded to 
 give Sieur Crozat a grant, dated Sep 
 tember 14th, 1712, as follows : 
 
 " Louis, by the Grace of God, King of France and 
 Navarre, To all who shall see these present 
 letters, greeting. 
 " The care we have always had to procure the 
 
A.D. 1712.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [GRANT SURRENDERED. 
 
 welfare and advantage of our subjects, having in 
 duced us, notwithstanding the almost continual 
 wars which we have been obliged to support, from 
 the beginning of our reign, to seek for all possible 
 opportunity of enlarging and extending the trade 
 of our American colonies, we did, in the year 1G83, 
 give our orders to undertake a discovery of the 
 countries and lands which are situated in the 
 northern part of America, between New France 
 and New Mexico; and the Sieur de La Salle, to 
 whom we committed that enterprise, having had 
 success enough to confirm a belief that communi 
 cation might be settled from New France to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, by means of large rivers; this 
 obliged us, immediately after the peace of Ryswiclc, 
 to give orders for the establishing of a colony 
 there, and maintaining a garrison, which has kept 
 and preserved the possession we had taken in the 
 year 1683, of the lands, coasts, and islands, which 
 are situated in the Gulf of Mexico, between Caro 
 lina on the east, and Old and New Mexico on the 
 west. But a new war having broken out in Europe 
 shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of 
 reaping from that new colony the advantages that 
 might have been expected from thence, because the 
 private men who arc concerned in the sea trade, 
 were all under engagements with other colonies, 
 which they have been obliged to follow. And 
 whereas, upon the information we have received, 
 concerning the disposition and situation of the said 
 countries, known at present by the name of the 
 province of Louisiana, we are of opinion that there 
 may be established therein a considerable com 
 merce, so much the more advantageous to our 
 kingdom in that there has hitherto been a necessity 
 of fetching from foreigners the greatest part of the 
 commodities which may be brought from thence ; 
 and because, in exchange thereof, we need carry 
 thither nothing but commodities of the growth and 
 manufacture of our own kingdom ; we have resolved 
 to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana 
 to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, our counsellor, secre 
 tary of the household, crown and revenue, to whom 
 we entrust the execution of this project. We are 
 the more readily inclined hereunto, because his 
 zeal, and the singular knowledge he has acquired in 
 maritime commerce, encourage us to hope for as 
 good success as he has hitherto had in the divers 
 and sundry enterprises he has gone upon, and 
 which have procured to our kingdom great quanti 
 ties of gold and silver, in such conjunctures as have 
 rendered them very welcome to us. 
 
 "For these reasons, being desirous to show our 
 favour to him, and to regulate the conditions upon 
 which we mean to grant him the said commerce, 
 after having deliberated this affair in our council, 
 of our certain knowledge, full power, and royal 
 authority, we, by these presents, do appoint Sieur 
 Crozat, solely to carry on a trade in all the lands 
 possessed by us, and bounded by New Mexico, and 
 by the lands of the English Carolina, all the estab 
 lishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the 
 port and haven of the Isle of Dauphine, heretofore 
 called Massacre ; the river St. Louis, heretofore 
 called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea, as far 
 as the Illinois; together with the river of St. | 
 Philip, heretofore called the Missourys; and of 
 St. Jerome, heretofore called Ouabache,* with all 
 
 : the countries, territories, lakes within land, and the 
 rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that 
 part of the river St. Louis. 
 
 "ART. II. Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid 
 lands, countries, streams, rivers, and islands, be, 
 and remain, comprised under the name of the gov 
 ernment of Louisiana, which shall be dependent 
 upon the _ general government of New France, to 
 which it is subordinate; and further, that all the 
 lands which we possess from the Illinois, be united, 
 so far as occasion requires, to the general govern 
 ment of New France, and become part thereof; 
 reserving, however, to ourselves the liberty of en 
 larging, as we shall think fit, the extent of the 
 government of the said county of Louisiana." 
 
 The other conditions of the grant re 
 ferred to special privileges, and division of 
 profit resulting from mines that might be 
 discovered and worked by Crozat. The 
 concession was to continue for fifteen years ; 
 but if not put into operation within three 
 years, it was to be forfeited. Crozat found 
 that the enterprise was surrounded with so 
 many difficulties, that he could not effect 
 any good for himself nor for his sovereign ; 
 and, therefore, after expending large sums 
 of money in an effort to make it pro 
 ductive, he abandoned the undertaking, 
 and surrendered the grant to the king iu 
 1717. In that same year, an association 
 was formed, called the " Western Com 
 pany ;" and to it was conveyed powers 
 similar to those contained in Crozat s grant 
 of 1712. 
 
 It will be seen, from the foregoing facts, 
 that the French had extended their power 
 so as to embrace the greater part of North 
 America ; and that the English possessions 
 were declared to lie wholly east of the 
 Appalachian mountains and the river Per- 
 dido. The Rio Bravo del Norte was de 
 clared to be the western boundary of New- 
 France ; and the French claimed the 
 whole of the country lying north of the 
 sources of the Rio Bravo, and beyond tho 
 jurisdiction of New Mexico, which was 
 supposed to lie between the Gulf of Mexico 
 and the Vermeille Sea, or Gulf of Cali 
 fornia, extending northerly only to the 
 river Gila. The Floridas were held by the 
 Spaniards south of lat. 31 N. Such were 
 the distributions of territory in North Ame 
 rica, as recognised by the French in 1720. 
 
 Crozat having failed to realise the for 
 tune that he had anticipated by his 
 Louisiana concession, voluntarily, and with 
 out compensation, returned his authority 
 to the crown. Notwithstanding the non- 
 
 * The river "Ouabache," was then the name of j applied to a tributary of the Ohio, and is now spelt 
 the present Ohio river; subsequently the name was ; " Wabash." 
 
 259 
 
JOHN LAW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1717. 
 
 success of Crozat, the French were firm in 
 the belief that there were many hidden 
 treasures in Louisiana, and that there were 
 valuable gold mines within that part of 
 America. The same hope that had led 
 De Soto, in 1539, to search the interior for 
 treasure which resulted only in his dis 
 covering the great river that became his 
 grave was revived with increased con 
 fidence among the French, about 1717 ; a 
 period when a spirit of speculation and 
 adventure pervaded the people, from the 
 throne to the humblest hut. This uni 
 versal desire to realise wealth suddenly, by 
 gigantic schemes, was encouraged by those 
 in power ; and it was not long before a 
 leader appeared, who received the. con 
 fidence and patronage of the whole nation. 
 His career was meteor-like brilliant for a 
 moment and then passed from the ken of 
 man, leaving a pathway darker to the eye 
 than the space had been before. This man 
 of power was John Law, a native of Scot 
 land, whose genius enabled him to attain 
 the highest position as a financier. 
 
 Law was the originator of a sj r stem 
 of schemes of the most extreme specula 
 tive character ; and among them was 
 that of the Mississippi, which we shall 
 briefly notice ; but, in order to do this, we 
 must, in the first place, refer to the ante 
 cedents of the projector. Law obtained 
 letters patent, bearing date the 20fch of 
 May, 1716, to establish, with some asso 
 ciates, a private bank in Paris. He first 
 issued 1,200 shares, of 5,000 livres, or 
 250, each, making an aggregate issue of 
 300,000. This association, which assumed 
 the name of the " General Bank of Law 
 and Company," commenced under very 
 favourable circumstances, it being known 
 that the regent favoured the speculation. 
 The affairs of the institution were ably 
 managed ; and, in a short time, it com 
 manded the confidence of the public. In 
 1718, the Duke of Orleans determined to 
 associate the affairs of the bank with the 
 financial concerns of the government ; and, 
 accordingly, the affairs of Law s company 
 were merged with those of the finance de 
 partment, and the new organisation was 
 styled the Royal Bank. At the same 
 time, the government assumed the whole 
 issue distributed by Law s general banking 
 association, amounting to 59,000,000 of 
 livres. Law was made director- general of 
 this new institution. Branches of the 
 bank were established at several of the 
 260 
 
 provincial cities. The system adopted bv 
 the Royal Bank commanded universal con 
 fidence ; and, on the 29th of May, 1720, 
 the circulation of the notes of this bank 
 reached 2,235,083,590 livres. 
 
 "While in the full tide of success, with 
 the Royal Bank, Law conceived and de 
 veloped the Mississippi scheme, which, for 
 awhile, turned the heads of the French, 
 and attracted the attention of all Europe 
 a project that, if carried into full execu 
 tion, would, in all probability, have exalted 
 France to a vast superiority of wealth and 
 power- over the other states of that epoch. 
 The scheme proposed to vest in the bank 
 all the privileges, effects, and possessions 
 of all the foreign trading companies, the 
 great farms, the profits of the mint, the 
 general receipts of the king s revenue, and 
 the management and property of the bank, 
 in one great company ; who thus, having in 
 their hands all the trade, taxes, and royal 
 revenues, might be enabled to multiply the 
 notes of the bank to any extent they 
 pleased, doubling, or even trebling, at will, 
 the circulating cash of the kingdom ; and, 
 by the greatness of their funds, possessed 
 of a power to carry the foreign trade, and 
 the culture of the colonies, to a height 
 altogether impracticable by any other 
 means. This grand scheme was most care- 
 fully prepared by Law, and submitted to 
 the regent, who, lured by the splendour ot 
 the increased revenue that would arise from 
 the issues, readily yielded to the plan. 
 Accordingly, in August, 1717, a commer 
 cial company was formed, under the name 
 of the " Company of the West," to whom 
 was granted the whole province of Loui 
 siana, or the country on the Mississippi 
 river ; from which circumstance its subse 
 quent proceedings came to be included in 
 what was then called tho Mississippi 
 system, and since known as the "Missis 
 sippi Scheme." Of this company, 200,000 
 shares were created, of 500 livres each ; 
 and the subscriptions for them were ordered 
 to be paid in state securities, or notes ; at 
 that time so much discredited, by reason of 
 the bad payment of their interest, that 500 
 livres nominal value in them, would not 
 have sold upon Change for more than 150 
 or 160 livres. In the subscriptions for 
 shares in this new enterprise, they were 
 taken at full value ; so that this scheme was 
 effectually a loan, from the company to the 
 king, of one hundred millions. The interest 
 on that sura was to be paid by the king to 
 
A.D. 1720.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [LAW S SCHEME FAILED. 
 
 the company, at the rate of four per cent. 
 Law was made director-general of the 
 " Company of the West/ as he stood pre 
 eminent as a financier; the shares were 
 eagerly sought after, Louisiana having 
 been represented as a region abounding in 
 gold and silver, of a fertile soil, and capable 
 of every sort of cultivation. The unim 
 proved parts of that country were sold for 
 30,000 livres the square league, at which 
 rate many purchased, yielding to the com 
 pany 600,000 livres. Ships were fre 
 quently sent, in which were dispatched a 
 large number of labourers, to till the lands, 
 to work in the mines, and to conduct the 
 various mechanical trades. 
 
 On the 4th of September, 1718, the 
 company undertook to farm the French 
 trade in tobacco, for which they paid the 
 government 2,020,000 livres, as advanced 
 rent to the king ; and on the loth of De 
 cember of that year, they acquired the 
 charter of the Senegal Company. In May, 
 1719, an edict was issued, transferring to 
 the company the exclusive privilege of 
 trading to the East Indies, China, and the 
 South Seas, with all the possessions and 
 effects which had belonged to the China 
 and India companies. When this was 
 effected, 50,000 new shares, rated at 550 
 livres each, were issued to liquidate the 
 debts of the old companies. Immediately 
 after this transfer, the shares issued at 550 
 livres, and all others of the company, rose 
 to 1,000 livres on Change. In July, 
 1719, the Royal Mint was transferred to 
 the company for 50,000,000 livres, which 
 was paid to the king ; and simultaneous 
 therewith, an issue of 500,000 shares of 
 1,000 livres each, were sold. In August of 
 that year, the great farms were taken from 
 the control of the Farmers General, and 
 sold to the company for 3,500,000 livres, 
 advanced rent. When all these acquisitions 
 had been obtained, the company promised 
 an annual dividend of 200 livres on every 
 share ; and the consequence was, that the 
 price of the shares instantly rose in the 
 market to 5,000 livres ; and when the last 
 50,000 shares were issued, the public was 
 so eager to get them, that the company 
 received applications for more than double 
 the amount offered; and much intrigue was 
 resorted to by many of the applicants for 
 shares. It was some weeks before the 
 names of the successful subscribers were 
 made known ; " during which time Law s 
 door was shut ; and all the people of quality 
 VOL. ii. 2 M 
 
 in France appeared on foot, in hundreds, 
 before his house in the Place Vendoine." 
 
 The king desired a loan of 1,500 millions 
 of livres, and the company promptly pro 
 vided the money, by the issuing of 300,000 
 new shares, fixed at 5,000 livres each. 
 These were readily sold ; and in their sale 
 Law perceived an increased avidity to pur 
 chase. The frenzy prevailed so far, that 
 the whole nation, " clergy and laity, peers 
 and plebeians, statesmen and princes, nay, 
 even ladies, who had, or could procure 
 money for that purpose, turned stock-job 
 bers, out-bidding each other with such 
 avidity, that, in November, 1719, after some 
 fluctuations, the price of shares rose to 
 above 10,000 livres each." Nothing was 
 talked of among the monied classes, and, 
 in fact, by everybody, but the Mississippi 
 system. The people thought Law was the 
 greatest man that the world had given to 
 France ; and his movements were as much 
 the interest of the public as the regent; 
 and, in fact, there seemed to be no limit to 
 his recognised greatness. By his extra 
 ordinary genius and abilities, he rose, within 
 four years, from a private condition and 
 very moderate fortune, to the possession of 
 the first landed estate, the greatest amount 
 of personal property, and was elevated to 
 the high station of prime minister of 
 France, the duties of which he discharged 
 for some time with signal ability. 
 
 The shares of the bank attained their 
 maximum in 1719, and were readily sold 
 at 10,000 livres each. In 1720, a royal de 
 cree appeared, regulating the relative value 
 of coin, and the paper issue of the bank, by 
 which the shai es of the bank were reduced, 
 for example, from 10,000 to 5,000 livres as 
 their par value. This most extraordinary 
 decree produced a universal indignation, 
 and the public became seized with conster 
 nation. Everybody rushed to the bank to 
 change their notes into coin ; and the crowd 
 was so impetuous, that many were squeezed 
 to death in their efforts to reach the door. 
 Nothing could be bought for the paper; 
 and, in fact, they could not be sold at any 
 price " anybody might have starved with 
 a hundred millions in paper money in his 
 pocket." Soldiers had to be stationed in 
 the principal streets and market-places 
 throughout Paris, "to bridle the fury of 
 the mob, from whom a second night of St. 
 Bartholomew was dreaded." The people 
 rushed from place to place in the wildest 
 frenzy; and no one could foretel to what 
 
 261 
 
NATCHEZ INDIANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.B. 1723. 
 
 extent the madness would be carried. When 
 the bank suspended payment, there was a 
 deficit for which the king was debtor 
 of 1,899,072,450 livres ; and this sum was 
 ultimately paid by other securities issued 
 by the government. Law became in danger 
 of losing his life ; aud perhaps the tribunals, 
 had he not escaped, might have condemned 
 him as a victim to satiate the frenzy of 
 the mob. In all this it will be perceived 
 that the Mississippi system was but a 
 speculation in France. The golden trea 
 sures that lay hidden in the Louisiana 
 country, were of no consequence in the 
 grand scheme. The value of the trade was 
 never investigated by the people who 
 hurried to the Place Vendome for shares. 
 Ships were continually plying between 
 New Orleans and France, laden with wares, 
 or unimportant products ; and their arrivals 
 being flamingly announced, no inquiry 
 was made by the people as to their cargoes, 
 or the value of the trade. Thus ended the 
 " Mississippi stock bubble." The province 
 of Louisiana continued to be managed by 
 the governor and intendants ; and of their 
 administration we shall, in the next place, 
 further consider. 
 
 Ibberville, the first governor of Louisiana, 
 selected a high bluif on the east bank of 
 the Mississippi river, in 1700, for the erec 
 tion of the capital of the province ; and he 
 named the place Rosalie : this was in the 
 heart of the Natchez country. The tribe of 
 Indians, known by the name of Natchez, 
 had a history of the most singular interest ; 
 and the study of their career and fate 
 cannot but command the sympathy of the 
 heart. Those Indians lived on the Yazous ; 
 were brave, and, naturally, humane. We 
 are informed by Monette, that their religion, 
 in some respects, resembled that of the fire- 
 worshippers of Persia. Fire was an emblem 
 of divinity, and the sun was their god. To 
 that great orb they addressed their invoca 
 tions for success in all the pursuits of life, 
 in peace and in war. Their chiefs were 
 called "Suns, 1 " and their king was called 
 the " Great Sun ;" these were supposed to 
 be under the especial guidance of the Great 
 Spirit, whose benignity was represented by 
 the brilliancy of its rays. When that 
 central luminary of the Creator s stupen 
 dous system of worlds shone with the 
 greatest effulgence, then it was that their 
 deity manifested his particular mark of 
 favour. In their principal temple, a per 
 petual fire was kept burning by the minis- 
 262 
 
 tering priest, who likewise offered sacrifices 
 of the first-fruits of the chase. History of 
 that epoch informs us, that, in some ex 
 treme cases, they offered sacrifices of infant 
 children to appease the wrath of the Great 
 Spirit, who was an ever-present guardian. 
 The orb of day, and the constellations of 
 the heavens, were to thorn the evidence of 
 divine pleasure ; and the hours of gloom, 
 the seasons of suffering, and the destruction 
 of things by the course of nature such, 
 for example, as resulted from inundation, 
 tornadoes, and other manifestations of the 
 elements were signs of his displeasure. 
 When Ibberville was among the Natchez, in 
 1700, one of their temples was struck with 
 lightning, and set on fire. This was inter 
 preted by the priest to be an evidence of 
 the Spirit s anger ; and, in order to appease 
 it, he directed the squaws to throw their 
 infants into the fire : the behest was 
 promptly obeyed ; and, ere the horrid rites 
 could be stopped by the French, four were 
 taken from the breast, and committed to the 
 flames that had been kindled by the fire 
 from the heavens. 
 
 After Ibberville had reached the country 
 inhabited by the Natchez, the Great Sun, or 
 chief of the tribe, made a formal visit to the 
 French commandant. The chief was borne 
 upon the shoulders of some of his tribe, and 
 a great retinue attended him on the august 
 occasion. He welcomed Ibberville, and, in 
 every possible manner, exhibited to him 
 respect and honour; and it was on this 
 occasion that the French secured the right, 
 by treaty, to erect a fort, and establish a 
 trading-post among the Natchez. It was 
 not, however, until 1716, that the rights 
 under the treaty were exercised by the con 
 struction of Fort Rosalie, on a site near the 
 eastern limits of the subsequent town of 
 Natchez. Not only was this trading and 
 military post established, but others were 
 erected more interior ; and, in that manner, 
 the French obtained the trade with the 
 Indians, and the occupancy of the territory 
 adversely to the dominion of the British in 
 America. The accomplishment of the latter 
 was, with the French, an object of great 
 importance ; and they employed every 
 available means to attain that end, even at 
 the risk of their lives, by invading the lands 
 of the Indian tribes, in defiance of their 
 warnings to desist. 
 
 The first dispute between the French and 
 the Natchez occurred in 1723, when an old 
 warrior failed to pay a debt due to one of the 
 
A.D. 1729.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FORT ROSALIE ATTACKED. 
 
 French. The corn had not ripened, and 
 the red man had not been able to make his 
 payment in the matured product, as he had 
 promised. The frosts of the spring-time 
 had retarded the planting of the seeds, and 
 it was late in autumn before the kernel of 
 the thrifty ear was hardened. The French 
 man would not listen to the appeal for delay, 
 and threatened to inflict immediate punish 
 ment. The warrior challenged his opponent 
 to single combat ; in answer, he heard the 
 cowardly cry of murder, and the brave and 
 noble-hearted Natchez was assassinated. 
 No atonement was made for this murder ; 
 and the Indians rightly perceived that the 
 policy intended to be pursued by the French, 
 had in view their extermination or reduc 
 tion into abject slavery. Filled to overflow 
 with revenge, the Indians made an attack 
 upon the French in all quarters, and killed 
 many of them. At last, the Stung Serpent, 
 an influential chief, was prevailed upon to 
 interfere, and stop the general slaughter. 
 
 The order was proclaimed, and the toma 
 hawks were sheathed beneath the belt. 
 Peace was restored ; and the treaty declared 
 that the bloody event should be buried in 
 oblivion. The French studied to be treach 
 erous, and they succeeded in lulling the 
 Natchez into a reliance of an abiding peace. 
 Bienville, with less humanity than has ever 
 dishonoured his race, immediately prepared 
 to suddenly assassinate his confiding allies, 
 and obedient friends. In the fulness of 
 hope and determination, he proceeded, with 
 700 men, to Fort Rosalie, when, at an 
 opportune moment, he made an attack 
 upon the Indians, and indiscriminately 
 slaughtered men, women, and children ; 
 and the few that were not killed, and had 
 supplicated for peace, purchased their lives 
 by complying with the demand of Bien 
 ville, in delivering to him the severed head 
 of a noted chief, besmeared with blood, and 
 of ghastly appearance. 
 
 Shortly after this massacre, a French 
 officer met the Stung Serpent, who appeared 
 to avoid him. " Why do you shun me ?" 
 said the officer : " we were once friends ; 
 and are we no longer so ?" The chief in 
 dignantly and defiantly responded " Why 
 did the French come into our country ? We 
 did not go to seek them. They asked us 
 for land, and we told them to take it where 
 they pleased; there was enough for them 
 and for us; the game sun ought to en 
 lighten us both, and we ought to walk to 
 gether as friends in the same path ; \ve 
 
 promised to give them food, assist them to 
 build and to labour in the fields, and we 
 have been faithful to our pledges." 
 
 Chopart, the commandant of Fort Rosa 
 lie, was a passionate man, and he delighted 
 to inflict severe punishment upon those who 
 slighted his arbitrary behests. The In 
 dians despised " the monster ;" and, in re 
 taliation, he sought opportunities to increase 
 their sufferings. To gratify his spite against 
 the bravo and noble Natchez, he ordered 
 that a town should be erected on the site of 
 the village of the White Apple,* " which 
 covered a square of about three miles in 
 extent." Accordingly, he sent for the Sun, 
 or chief of that village, and directed him to 
 clear the huts, and to locate themselves in 
 some other place. The chief replied, " that 
 their ancestors had lived there for many 
 ages, and that it was good for their de 
 scendants to occupy the same ground." 
 This noble and dignified language served 
 only to exasperate the haughty commandant, 
 and to extort from him the declaration, 
 "that unless the village was abandoned in 
 a few days, the inhabitants of it should 
 repent of their obstinacy." The chief then 
 retired to consult the old men of his nation, 
 and hold a council. They determined to act 
 cautiously, and negotiate for time, hoping 
 to avoid the bloody struggle that seemed 
 inevitable, or combine their whole force to 
 resist the savage determination of the 
 Frenchman. They represented to Chopart, 
 " that their corn had just come out of the 
 ground ; that their hens were laying their 
 eggs ; and that to abandon their village at 
 that time, would prove as injurious to the 
 French as to themselves." Chopart treated 
 these representations with disdain, and 
 menaced an immediate destruction of their 
 whole property if they did not remove from 
 the place. The Indians then offered the 
 commandant a fowl and a basket of corn 
 from each hut, if he would permit them to 
 remain in their houses until after harvest. 
 This expedient was successful, and the In 
 dians pledged to pay the tribute. In the 
 meantime the Natchez were not idle : 
 they frequently met in council, and advised 
 one with the other respecting their future. 
 They unanimously resolved to make one 
 great effort to preserve their independence, 
 ind to defend the tombs of their fathers. 
 They proceeded with great caution, and 
 
 * This place was about twelve miles between the 
 present town of Natchez, and about three milea 
 east of the river. 
 
 263 
 
NATCHEZ EXTERMINATED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1730. 
 
 prepared for the event which, was to decide 
 their fate. They invited the Chickasaws 
 to share in the enterprise of driving the 
 foreigners from the country ; but by a 
 strange fatality and treachery of one of their 
 women, the two tribes failed to meet at the 
 agreed time, and unite in the struggle. The 
 intention was to massacre all the French, 
 and leave none to tell the tale of bloody 
 horror. It was determined that the attack 
 should be made at the time agreed upon 
 for the delivery of the tribute. 
 
 On the 29th day of November, 1729, the 
 Grand Sun, with a few warriors, repaired 
 to the fort, loaded with corn and fowl, to 
 pay the tribute promised to Chopart, for 
 the privilege of living in their own village. 
 The gates of the fort were opened, and 
 immediately after a large body of the 
 Indians rushed within the enclosure, and, 
 in a moment, a general massacre began ; 
 the slaves, women, and children, however, 
 were spared. The most hated Indian was 
 appointed to kill Chopart, and his death 
 was hailed with joy throughout the whole 
 Natchez country. About 700 were killed 
 before the incensed warriors ceased their 
 work of destruction. The Chickasaws were 
 not engaged in these deeds of horror ; and, 
 subsequently, they wei e bought over by 
 the French to wage war against the 
 Natchez. In February, 1730, an expe 
 dition, consisting of 1,500 Chocktaws, and 
 a detachment of troops from New Orleans, 
 made an attack upon the Natchez, then 
 in possession of Fort Rosalie ; who had 
 anticipated the storm, and prepared for the 
 defence ; but they soon learned that the 
 siege would be continued until success 
 crowned the efforts of the French, and they 
 finally agreed to surrender and deliver up 
 the prisoners they had taken at Fort 
 Rosalie, and at the stations on the Yazous 
 and Washita. The French agreed that 
 the surrender should formally take place 
 the next day, xintil which time no farther 
 attack was to be made by the French. 
 During the night the Natchez stealthily 
 abandoned the fort, and, carrying with 
 them all their plunder, and large quanti 
 ties of ammunition, crossed the Mississippi 
 river, and hid themselves in the dismal 
 cypress swamps adjacent to the Red river. 
 
 In the meantime, the Natchez retired to 
 the mouth of Silver Creek, about 180 miles 
 up the Red river, where they erected a 
 fortification for their defence. While this 
 was being done, 150 soldiers from New 
 264 
 
 Orleans, and a part of the garrison of Fort 
 Rosalie, under the command of Perier, 
 marched to the Natchez fort; and, shortly 
 after appearing before it, they opened a 
 battery of mortars on the inferior defences 
 of the Indians, which greatly confused 
 them. They made several desperate sal 
 lies, and were repulsed with great slaughter. 
 They then endeavoured to escape, but in 
 this they failed. They attempted to nego 
 tiate, but the French would not listen to 
 their entreaties. Death was fast reducing 
 their numbers ; and it was seen by them 
 that none could escape. Thus situated, 
 they surrendered at discretion. The women 
 and children were immediately reduced to 
 slavery, and dispersed among the planta 
 tions. The remainder of the unfortunate 
 Natchez were sent, in the shackles of 
 slavery, to St. Domingo. 
 
 The French had defeated and conquered 
 the Natchez nation. It was no longer 
 an organised power against their sway in 
 the Mississippi river : but this success was 
 not sufficient to appease the anger that 
 rankled in the hearts of the French, and, 
 with savage cruelty, they hastened to inflict 
 torture. Four men and two women of the 
 Natchez were publicly burned to death in 
 New Orleans. Another woman who was 
 found roaming in the forests, living upon the 
 herbs and nuts, was caught by some Tonica 
 Indians, and conducted to New Orleans, 
 where she was led to the bank of the Missis 
 sippi, bound to the stake in her nakedness, 
 and at her feet were kindled the prepared 
 faggots. There, in the presence of the 
 whole population of New Orleans, the 
 woman was slowly consumed by the flames. 
 Born to bear pain, and with the singular 
 fortitude common to her sex, she witnessed 
 the preparation to inflict upon her the 
 greatest degree of suffering, with a smile 
 of composure. 
 
 The Natchez Indians had been a race 
 noted for chivalry, and in their tribal 
 organisation they differed from the red 
 men who inhabited the country north and 
 east of them. In refinement and intelli 
 gence they were superior to any other 
 Indians of America, and their career was 
 one of peace and of illustrious example. 
 Their stature was noble and commanding 
 about six feet high, and erect. Their 
 manners and customs were barbaric, but 
 not cruel. In their religious faith, they 
 recognised the supreme Great Spirit, though, 
 they believed in the manifestation of his 
 
A.D. 1764.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TRANSFERS OF LOUISIANA 
 
 good or ill will, through the medium of the 
 elements ; and they worshipped the divinity 
 through pagan rites. 
 
 After the fall of Montreal, in 1762, the 
 French power was virtually lost for ever in 
 America, though, for many years after that 
 period, they held the territory west of the 
 Mississippi river. On the 10th of February, 
 1763, a treaty was signed by and between 
 the kings of Great Britain, France, and 
 Spain ; in which France ceded to Great 
 Britain " all claim to Nova Scotia, or Acadia, 
 in all its parts, and guaranteed its pos 
 session to the latter; also Canada, Cape 
 Breton, and all the other islands and coasts 
 in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence/ 
 and " all their property and possessions." 
 In order to establish a line of separation 
 between the territories of France and Great 
 Britain on the continent of America, it was 
 declared, " that, for the future, the confines 
 between the dominions of his Britannic ma 
 jesty and those of his most Christian majesty 
 of France, in that part of the world, shall be 
 fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the 
 middle of the river Mississippi, from its 
 source to the river Ibberville, and from 
 thence by a line drawn along the middle of 
 this river, and the lakes Maurepas and 
 Ponchartrain, to the sea." The river, and 
 part of Mobile, were also transferred to the 
 British sovereign ; and, in fact, every foot 
 of land lying on the left, or east side of the 
 Mississippi, "with the exception of the 
 town of New Orleans, and of the island in 
 which it is situated, which shall remain 
 to France." It was mutually agreed 
 that the navigation of the Mississippi 
 should be equally free, as well to the sub 
 jects of Great Britain as to those of France, 
 in its whole length and breadth, from its 
 source to the sea ; and vessels of both 
 nations were to be exempt from taxes or 
 any hindrances whatever, originating from 
 royal or municipal regulations. In this 
 triplicate treaty, the king of Spain ceded 
 to Great Britain, Florida, with fort St. 
 Augustine and the bay of Pensacola, as 
 well as all that Spain possessed on the con 
 tinent of America, lying east, or to the 
 south-east, of the Mississippi river. 
 
 By the conditions of this treat) , the 
 British possessions were established within 
 certain undisputed boundaries, namely 
 the whole country east and north-east of 
 the Mississippi : Louisiana, which had em 
 braced the whole Mississippi valley, was 
 thus restricted to the territory west of that 
 
 river, excepting the Isle of Orleans. The 
 Spanish power ceased in the Floridas. 
 
 By secret act done at Fontainbleau, 
 November 3rd, 1762, the king of France 
 I ceded to his " very dear cousin, the king of 
 1 Spain, the whole country known by the name 
 of Louisiana, together with New Orleans, 
 and the island on which it was situated;" and 
 this cession was accepted by the king of 
 Spain on the 13th of that month. In this 
 manner the title to Louisiana became in a 
 measure complicated ; but, as Spain was a 
 party to the treaty of February, 1763, in 
 which France ceded all of Louisiana lying 
 east of the Mississippi, except the island of 
 Orleans, to Great Britain, we cannot but 
 infer that the cession of the year preceding 
 was not real, and the validity of the title thus 
 given by France, was recognised by Spain. 
 
 On the 21st of April, 1764, the king of 
 France executed an order to the governor 
 of Louisiana, to deliver over to the autho 
 rities of Spain, " the country and colony 
 of Louisiana, and the ports thereon depend 
 ing ; likewise the city and island of New 
 Orleans." The delivery of the said country 
 soon followed ; and in this manner France 
 ceased to possess any territory in North 
 America. The transfer was not acceptable 
 to the inhabitants of Louisiana ; but, after 
 some little delay and resistance, the people 
 became reconciled to their new sovereign. 
 The English, in 1764, took possession of 
 Florida, under the treaty of the preceding 
 year ; and, in their efforts to occupy a fort 
 near Natchez, by a regiment of soldiers, 
 the Indians resisted the supposed invasion, 
 and killed the greater part of them. Several 
 other efforts were made against the Eng 
 lish ; but, within a few years, by judicious 
 management, they won the affections of 
 the tribes occupying the territory ; and in 
 consequence, the British were enabled to 
 complete their title by possession. The 
 Spaniards proceeded to bring Louisiana 
 under a governmental system ; and Great 
 Britain took the necessary steps to perma 
 nently establish its authority in Florida, 
 and over the territory east of the Missis 
 sippi. Peace prevailed between the Span 
 iards and the English until shortly after 
 the commencement of the revolution. The 
 war with the colonies caused the British 
 government to have some fears for the 
 situation of Florida, thus divided into east 
 and west provinces. They were exposed to 
 the attacks on one side by the Spaniards, 
 and on the other by the revolutionists. In 
 
 265 
 
SPANISH INVASION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1779. 
 
 order to maintain its authority in those 
 provinces, the government dispatched a 
 considerable number of troops to occupy 
 Mobile, Pensacola, St. Augustine, Baton 
 Rouge, Natchez, and other places in or 
 near those provinces. Spain was no indif 
 ferent spectator in the revolution ; and at a 
 time when the British power had received 
 a heavy blow by the surrender of Burgoyne, 
 a demonstration was made against the Eng 
 lish at Baton Rouge. General Galvez, who 
 was then governor of Louisiana, organised a 
 force consisting of 2,300 men, supported by 
 several pieces of artillery, and proceeded to 
 Baton Rouge, which was occupied by about 
 500 men, under the command of Colonel 
 Bickson. The place was promptly invested, 
 and Galvez demanded a surrender of the fort. 
 The British force was little prepared for a 
 siege ; in fact, the greater part of the sol 
 diers were on the sick list, and there was no 
 alternative for Dickson but to surrender, 
 which he did on the 1st of September, 1779. 
 His troops were allowed to march out with 
 the honours of war, when they submitted as 
 prisoners. In this capitulation the fortress at 
 Natchez was included. The prisoners were 
 allowed to return, under parole, to Pensacola. 
 The fall of Baton Rouge placed the 
 country adjacent to the Mississippi river 
 in the possession of the Spaniards, who, 
 elated with success, prepared to wrest the 
 Floridas from the British. An expedition 
 was started in 1780, under Galvez, against 
 Mobile ; and, after having encountered 
 many difficulties, it reached that fort nearly 
 destitute of provisions and armaments. By 
 an exhibition of a considerable degree of 
 courage, Galvez succeeded in forcing the 
 garrison to surrender without its making 
 much resistance. The fall of this fort was 
 soon followed by the reduction of Pensacola. 
 These disasters to the British were serious at 
 that time ; but they had the effet , of infusing 
 into the government greater resolution, 
 having in view the restoration of its power 
 over its former American possessions. But 
 these conflicts were terminated by the treaty 
 of peace, in 1783 ; at which time Great Bri 
 tain ceded East Florida to the United States, 
 and West Florida to Spain. The division 
 of Florida between the new American 
 government and Spain, opened a wide 
 field for dispute ; and it brought upon the 
 two nations annoying complications. No 
 fixed boundaries were prescribed by Great 
 Britain ; and Spain constructively claimed 
 the whole territory south of the Yazous, 
 266 
 
 upon the ground that West Florida had 
 jeen extended by Great Britain to the 
 Yazous river. On the other hand, the 
 United States insisted that, in the retro 
 cession, Great Britain could have only 
 ntended the transfer of West Florida to 
 its northern boundary (31 N. lat.), as ori 
 ginally ceded by Spain in 1763. The 
 right of navigating the Mississippi river 
 soon became a subject of discussion, the 
 Spaniards claiming sole authority of that 
 stream, from the mouth of the Yazous 
 to the Gulf of Mexico. This was firmly 
 resisted by the United States, until the 
 complications were solved by a treaty, which 
 was executed in 1795 ; and, in 1798, the 
 vacuation of the ports north of 31 of 
 Latitude, took place, and commissioners pro- 
 eeded to survey and mark out the boun 
 dary line, separating the Spanish from the 
 United States territories. 
 
 The settlement of the Florida line did 
 not put an end to the difficulties with Spain ; 
 and, on the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the 
 presidency, in 1801, he notified Spain ot 
 the infractions it had made in the late 
 treaty, and demanded, therefor, a proper 
 redress. Spain accorded the desired con 
 sideration, and restored the right of deposit 
 at New Orleans; but, at the same time, 
 declared that it no longer claimed Louisiana 
 as its possession, because, on the 1st of 
 October, 1800, it had entered into a con 
 ditional agreement to retrocede that colony 
 to the French republic. This retrocession 
 and absolute transfer of Louisiana, took 
 place by articles executed on the 21st of 
 March, 1801. The French made exten 
 sive preparations to take possession of 
 the country, and an army of 25,000 was 
 equipped for the purpose of being dis 
 patched ; but the vessels were blockaded by 
 the English in one of the ports of Hol 
 land. European complications continued 
 to threaten the peace of the world; and 
 France began to marshal its soldiers in 
 battle array. Louisiana had lost its charms 
 as a province, and Napoleon required money 
 to brighten the cannons and bayonets of his 
 vast army. "For 60,000,000 of francs, 
 independent of the sum which shall be fixed 
 by another convention, for the payment of 
 the debts due by France to citizens of the 
 United States," Napoleon sold to the federal 
 government the whole of Louisiana, by 
 treaty, bearing date 30th of April, 1803. 
 
 The treaty was in due time ratified 
 by the United States government ; and on 
 
A.D. 1803.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [LOUISIANA PURCHASED. 
 
 the 20th of December, 1803, William 0. C. 
 Claiborne, then governor of the Mississippi 
 territory, which had been established by 
 act of congress, in 1799, accompanied by 
 General James Wilkinson, as co-commis 
 sioner, at the head of a detachment ofj 
 American troops, made their entry into 
 New Orleans, for the purpose of taking 
 possession of the purchased territory. 
 Laurrat, the French commandant, formally 
 delivered up the country, took down the 
 tricoloured flag, and retired from official 
 position : at the same time that the Ameri 
 can flag was hoisted, Claiborne entered upon 
 the civil functions, and Wilkinson took 
 command of the -military jurisdiction. For 
 the time being, Louisiana territory was 
 annexed to the Mississippi territorial gov 
 ernment ; but, by act of congress, approved 
 March 26th, 1804, all the new purchase 
 lying south of the territory of Mississippi, 
 and of a line running due east and west 
 from the Mississippi river, on the parallel 
 of 33 N. lat., to the western boundary 
 of the cession, was created into the " terri 
 tory of Orleans." The president of the 
 United States was empowered to appoint a 
 governor, who was to hold his office for a 
 term of three years ; a secretary for a term 
 of four years; and a legislative council, 
 consisting of thirteen citizens, who had 
 resided in the territory for a period of one 
 year anterior thereto, and possessed of real 
 estate. The judiciary was to be vested in 
 a supreme and inferior court. The act of 
 congress placed the residue of the purchase 
 under the government of the Indiana terri 
 tory, and was styled the "district of 
 Louisiana." 
 
 By act of congress, approved March 
 2nd, 1805, the " territory of Orleans" was 
 further organised; the governor was in 
 structed to divide the territory into twenty- 
 five districts, and the people in each were 
 authorised to elect a representative to a 
 territorial legislature. This body met in 
 New Orleans, November, 1805 : ten citi 
 zens, who were freeholders, were nominated 
 to the president, from whom five were 
 appointed to act as a council, or a co 
 ordinate branch of the legislature. It was 
 also enacted, that whenever there should 
 be 60,000 free inhabitants, the people of 
 the territory should have the right to form 
 a constitution, and become a state. By an 
 act, approved March 3rd, 1805, the district 
 of Louisiana, being all of the vast region 
 lying west of the Mississippi river, and 
 
 north of latitude 33, was authorised to 
 be organised into the "territory of Loui 
 siana ;" the president to appoint the gov 
 ernor for a term of three years, a secretary 
 for four years, and three judges for a term 
 of three years ; the governor and judges to 
 exercise legislative powers. 
 
 Claiborne continued governor of tho 
 "territory of Orleans" until 1812, when 
 the state of Louisiana was formed after the 
 adoption of a constitution, in conformity 
 with an act of congress passed in March, 
 1812; and the Pearl river was made the 
 eastern boundary of the new state. 
 
 On the consideration of the Louisiana 
 question, in the House of Representatives, 
 in January, 1811, a lengthy discussion 
 arose, which was entered in to "by the great 
 men of that assembly ; and of those, none 
 were more fervent than Josiah Quincy, of 
 Massachusetts, who most energetically op 
 posed the bill authorising the people of the 
 "territory of Orleans to form a state." 
 He declared, that the principles of the bill 
 materially affected the liberties and rights 
 of the whole people of the United States. 
 To him it appeared to be sufficient to 
 justify a revolution throughout the country, 
 and, in no great length of time, might 
 produce it. When he saw the zeal and 
 perseverance with which the bill had been 
 urged along its parliamentary path, and tho 
 local considerations connected with it, all 
 opposition seemed to him as unavailing. " I 
 arn almost tempted to leave," said Quincy, 
 " without a struggle, my country to its 
 fate. But, sir, while there is life there is 
 hope. So long as the fatal shaft has not 
 yet sped, if Heaven so will it, the bow may 
 be broken, and the vigour of the mischief- 
 med^tating arm withered. If there be a 
 man in this house or nation, who cherishes 
 the constitution under which we are assem 
 bled, as the chief stay of his hope, as the 
 light which is destined to gladden his own 
 day, and to soften even the gloom of the 
 grave, by the prospect it sheds over his 
 children, I fall not behind him in such 
 sentiments. I will yield to no man in 
 attachment to this constitution ; in venera 
 tion for the sages who laid its foundations ; 
 in devotion to those principles which form 
 its cement, and constitute its proportions. 
 What, then, must be my feelings; what 
 ought to be the feelings of a man cherish 
 ing such sentiments, when he sees an act 
 contemplated which lays ruin at the root 
 ! of all these hopes ? when he sees a prin- 
 
 267 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1804. 
 
 ciple of action about to be usurped, before 
 the operation of which the bonds of this 
 constitution are no more than flax before 
 the fire, or stubble before the whirlwind ? 
 When this bill passes, such an act is done, 
 and such a principle usurped. * * * I 
 am compelled to declare it as my deliberate 
 opinion, that if this bill passes, the bonds 
 of this Union are virtually dissolved ; that 
 the states which compose it are free from 
 their moral obligations ; and that, as it 
 will be the right of all, so it will be the 
 duty of some, to prepare definitely for a 
 separation amicably if they can, violently 
 if they must." 
 
 Quincy was called to order by Pom- 
 dexter, of the Mississippi territory ; but, in 
 order that his opinion might not be mis 
 understood, Quincy reduced it to writing, 
 thus : " If this bill passes, it is my delibe 
 rate opinion, that it is virtually a dissolu 
 tion of this Union ; that it will free the 
 states from their moral obligations ; and, 
 as it will be the right of all, so it will be 
 the duty of some, definitely to prepare for 
 a separation amicably if they can, vio 
 lently if they must." The speaker decided 
 that the first part of the observations was 
 admissible ; but that the latter part, having 
 reference to the duty of the states, was con 
 trary to the order of debate. Quincy ap 
 pealed from the decision ; and the house, 
 by a vote of fifty-six to fifty-three, decided 
 against the speaker. The foregoing was 
 the first declaration made in congi ess 
 upon the right of secession ; and, after 
 being sustained by the house, Quincy con 
 tinued his speech, in which he exhibited 
 rare powers of logic and research. Not 
 withstanding the most determined opposi 
 tion, the bill passed during the next session 
 of congress, and the government of the 
 " territory of Orleans" ceased to exist ; and, 
 in its stead, was created the state of Loui 
 siana, which at once became one of the most 
 important members of the federal union.* 
 
 The constitution having been amended, 
 the electoral votes were cast for a president 
 and vice-president, respectively, at the 
 election of 1804. And on the 13th of 
 February, 1805, the two houses of congress 
 assembled in joint session, for the purpose 
 of counting the presidential ballot. The 
 president of the senate, Aaron Burr, stated 
 
 * For many of the historic details in this chapter, 
 respecting the discovery and settlement of Loui- 
 
 upon that occasion, that, pursuant to law, 
 there had been transmitted to him several 
 packets, which, from the endorsement 
 upon them, appeared to be the votes of the 
 electors for a president and vice-president ; 
 and he would proceed to open the seals of 
 the respective returns. The documents 
 were then opened ; and the ballots cast were 
 announced to be as follow : 
 
 Election for the Fifth Term, commencing 4th March, 
 1805, and terminating 3rd March, 1809. 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 V. PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 O 
 
 S3 
 
 O 
 
 5* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 * 
 
 K . 
 
 & 
 
 States 
 
 g.S 
 
 
 S-jJ 
 
 O 
 
 
 sS E 
 
 Q o d 
 
 6^ 
 
 H, 
 
 
 1-8 > 
 
 m c c 
 
 
 
 W** 1 
 
 
 s 
 
 & 
 
 ? -^ 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 :3 
 
 
 H 
 
 5""^ 
 
 O 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 
 7 
 19 
 
 
 
 7 
 19 
 
 
 
 Ithode Island . 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 _ 
 
 Connecticut . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Vermont . . 
 
 G 
 
 
 
 G 
 
 __ 
 
 New York . . 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 __ 
 
 New Jersey . 
 
 8 
 
 i 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 Delaware . . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Maryland . . 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 Virginia . . 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 , 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 _ 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Georgia . . 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Tennessee . , 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Kentucky . . 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Ohio 3 
 
 , 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whole No. of electors 162 
 
 14 
 
 162 
 
 14 
 
 Majority ... 89 
 
 
 
 
 The result of the election was then de 
 
 clared, and the joint session was dissolved. 
 
 The republican party had again triumphed 
 
 in the election of its great leader. On the 
 4th of March, 1805, Thomas Jefferson was 
 inaugurated in the senate chamber, in the 
 presence of the members of the two houses 
 of congress, and a large concourse of citi 
 zens. He delivered a speech, expressing 
 his gratitude to his countrymen for the 
 honour they had conferred upon him ; and 
 he declared his determination to pursue the 
 same policy that had marked his former 
 administration. After the delivery of the 
 speech, the chief-justice of the Supreme 
 Court administered to him the oath of 
 office, as prescribed by the constitution. 
 
 siana; Biography of John Law ; and various other 
 authorities, from which we have quoted, or used 
 
 siana, we are indebted to Shay s History of the \ the substance of certain parts thereof. We give 
 Mississippi Valla/ ; Stoddard s History of Loui- \ especial credit to Shay s invaluable researches. 
 
 268 
 
A.D. 1806.] 
 
 HISTOHY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BURR S EXPEDITION. 
 
 George Clinton was then qualified as vice- 
 president, when the ceremonies of inaugu 
 ration were concluded. 
 
 During the second presidential term of 
 Jefferson, the affairs of state glided onward 
 with but little interruption. The foreign 
 affairs were not altogether in the most 
 satisfactory condition ; and the diplomatic 
 functionaries had many responsibilities, as 
 it became their duty to keep the American 
 government from being involved in the 
 European wars, then carried on in gigantic 
 proportions. The impressment of Ameri 
 can seamen by the British navy, and the 
 complications following the blockading 
 system of the belligerents, required the ex 
 ercise of great caution, and, at the same 
 time, resolution, to avoid an entanglement 
 with the European powers. The difficul 
 ties that ultimately arose with Great Bri 
 tain, on account of issues that occurred at 
 that epoch, will be hereafter fully de 
 tailed : and, for the present, we shall only 
 recur to a few of the events that more par 
 ticularly diverted the attention of the peo 
 ple from their peaceful pursuits in the 
 agricultural, mechanical, or commercial de 
 partments of industry. 
 
 Surrounded by the dashing waters of the 
 Upper Ohio, was a well-tilled farm, on an 
 island, the property of Herman Blanner- 
 hasset, a native of Ireland. Aaron Burr, 
 the late vice-president of the United States, 
 won the confidence of this wealthy gentle 
 man; and to him ho confided many of the 
 secrets of his heart. He unfolded to the 
 proprietor of this beautiful isle his schemes 
 of conquest, of treasure, and political power : 
 but the real purposes of Burr have, per 
 haps, never been made known ; and, when 
 he passed from earth to eternity, he carried 
 with him the secrets of his most extraordi 
 nary career. Blannerhasset aided him with 
 money, by which he fitted out a flotilla, 
 near Marietta. He enrolled a large number 
 of men in his expedition, though it appears 
 there were but 130 of them that actively 
 engaged in his service. The boats were 
 fitted out, and well provisioned for an exten 
 sive expedition. The raising of a body of 
 men, and arming them, as Burr had done, 
 to some extent secretly, naturally aroused 
 the people throughout the Union, and 
 created a very anxious desire to know his 
 ulterior purposes. lie informed the in 
 quiring public that he intended to form a 
 settlement upon a large tract of land lying 
 upon the "Washita river, Mississippi ter- 
 
 VOL. II. 2 N 
 
 ritory ; which he had purchased from Baron 
 Bastrop. This statement was not believed, 
 as the whole character of the outfit, as 
 generally reported, indicated that it was a 
 military project; but its destination waa 
 beyond all speculation. President Jefferson 
 was informed of Burr s movements, and he 
 timely prepared for any emergency that 
 might occur through the instrumentality 
 of the projected expedition. Spies were 
 placed in Burr s pathway, wherever he 
 went, and many presumed friends received 
 his confidence and favour. He informed 
 them that he was preparing to aid the 
 Mexicans to throw off their allegiance to 
 Spain, and to organise a republic south 
 and west of the Sabine, then the western 
 boundary of Louisiana : this, perhaps, was 
 his real intention ; but even that was a 
 violation of the laws of his country. He had 
 been a distinguished legislator, and vice-, 
 president of the United States ; and one 
 vote more would have made him the exe 
 cutive of the nation, when the ballot was 
 equal between him and Jefferson in 1801. 
 His position was well known; and, as a 
 man of talents, he stood pre-eminent. The 
 only dark spot that effaced his character 
 was the duel which he had fought, fatal 
 to Hamilton ; that unfortunate affair de 
 stroyed him for ever in the confidence of 
 the public. He had been a rival to Jeffer 
 son, and the great Virginian failed not to 
 set aside from the public favour one for 
 whom he had no respect. When Burr 
 crossed the mountains, and became the 
 guest of the noble-hearted Irishman, in the 
 middle of the beautiful Ohio, he was, in 
 fact, an exile from the moral and intellectual 
 friends of his former career; he was seeking 
 a new home in the wilds of the Mississippi 
 valley, or in the ancient land of Monte- 
 zuma. He revealed to his confederates 
 his plans of acting, in conjunction with 
 the Mexicans, in an attempt to overthrow 
 the Spanish authority in that country ; 
 but there were few who confided in 
 his statements; and it soon became well 
 understood, that he contemplated a seve 
 rance of the Union, separating the whole 
 valley of the Mississippi from the- federal 
 government ; thus confining the United 
 States to the regions east of the Appalachian 
 mountains. Burr very well knew the ante 
 cedents of the western people ; that they 
 had resolutely opposed the measures that 
 had been suggested for the transfer of the 
 navigation of the Mississippi to a foreign 
 
 269 
 
BURR DENOUNCED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1807. 
 
 nation for a term of years. Jay had been 
 condemned by nearly every man and woman 
 of that wide-spread country, for favouring 
 the scheme ; and he, with all others, were 
 thenceforth beyond the pale of approbation 
 in the great west. Burr supposed he could 
 arouse the pioneers of the valley to a state 
 of dissatisfaction with the general govern 
 ment, having in view their ultimate seces 
 sion from the federal union, and their 
 organisation of a grand imperial govern 
 ment over the whole west the valley of 
 the Mississippi, from the western limits of 
 Georgia, to the Rio del Norte, or, at least, 
 to the Sabine. The president, on the 22ud 
 of January, 1807, reported to congress, that 
 Burr had found, "that the attachment of 
 the western country to the present Union 
 was not to be shaken ; that its dissolution 
 could not be effected with the consent of its 
 inhabitants ; and that his resources were 
 inadequate, as yet, to effect it by force. He 
 took his course then at once determined to 
 seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank 
 there, possess himself of the military and 
 naval stores, and proceed on his expedition 
 to Mexico j and to this object all his means 
 and preparations were directed. He col 
 lected from all the quarters where himself 
 or his agents possessed influence, all the 
 ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected 
 persons, who were ready for any enterprise 
 analogous to their character. He seduced 
 good and well-meaning citizens; some by 
 the assurances that he possessed the con 
 fidence of the government, and was acting 
 under its secret patronage a pretence 
 which procured some credit from the state 
 of our differences with Spain ; and others, 
 by offers of land in Bastrop s claim on 
 the Washita." Such were the opinions 
 entertained by President Jefferson ; but 
 the candid man cannot but regard the 
 wholesale speculations of the president 
 as excessive interpretation of the plans of 
 Burr. Ho only had in his service 130 
 men ; and how he could have expected to 
 have done as imagined by the president, 
 with such a small number of men, is j 
 beyond our comprehension. But the alarm ! 
 was given ; the signal was sent forth to all ] 
 parts of the country to arrest the progress ! 
 of Burr and his confederates. The presi 
 dent dispatched expresses with his special 
 proclamation to every important place on 
 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, from Pitts- 
 burg to New Orleans, with directions to 
 the officials of those places to employ all 
 270 
 
 necessary force, either the regulars or 
 militia, to seize the flotilla, with the 
 . stores of all kinds, and stop the progress of 
 1 the expedition. Information was given to 
 Governor Tiffin, of Ohio, that Burr s pro- 
 j ceedings had in view the destruction of the 
 I Union ; and he was requested to use his 
 official interference in the premises. To 
 that end, the governor did seize some of 
 the boats as they lay in the Muskingum 
 river, at its confluence with the Ohio. 
 Others had embarked and descended the 
 river ; and, at the mouth of the Cumber 
 land, they formed a junction with two 
 other boats, that were built upon that river. 
 All of these boats were but frail barges, 
 and none of them were of a warlike struc 
 ture. The proclamation of the president 
 had produced great alarm in New Orleans ; 
 the plunderers were expected every day, 
 and the people were too much excited to 
 continue in their usual vocations. They 
 prepared for a siege of the place ; and, in 
 the wildness of their excitement, many of 
 them left the city, and carried into the 
 interior all their valuable personal effects. 
 They had been led to believe that Burr 
 was then descending the river, with a large 
 naval force and an army, to take and sack 
 the place. In the meantime, the anxiety 
 of the public was greatly increased by 
 the arrival of General Wilkinson, on the 
 24th of November, 1807 ; and, with tho 
 usual " pomp and circumstance of war," he 
 proceeded to fortify the city, organise the 
 militia, and, in every other manner pos 
 sible, prepare to defend the place against 
 the expected attack ; and, after having 
 fully prepared to receive the expedition, on 
 the 10th of December, a detachment of 
 troops arrived from the Sabine. This 
 reinforcement intensified the excitement, 
 though all were sure that they could pre 
 vent Burr from taking the city. Merchants, 
 mechanics, and, in fact, all united in the 
 general effort to defend New Orleans 
 against the expected revolutionists. 
 
 Burr proceeded down the Ohio, and, on 
 the 31st of December, passed the junction 
 of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, having, 
 in all, ten " flat boats," each navigated by 
 six men ; but they had no military appear 
 ance ; and, as was officially reported by the 
 commandant of Fort Massac, there was 
 nothing on board of the boats that would 
 even justify a conjecture beyond their 
 being bound for a market. The expedition 
 never reached New Orleans, but stopped in 
 
A.I). 1807.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BURR ACQUITTED. 
 
 Mississippi. Burr proceeded to the interior | duced any serious effect upon the affairs of 
 of the Mississippi territory, and was ! the country either of the government, or 
 arrested on the Tombigbee ; he was taken 
 from thence to Richmond, Virginia, where 
 
 he arrived on the 2Gth of March, 1807. 
 He gave bail to appear at the federal court 
 on the succeeding 22nd of May, when the 
 trial commenced. The grand jury was 
 formally empanneled, but they did not 
 determine upon the indictments until the 
 25th of June, when they agreed to present 
 two separate bills one for high treason, 
 and the other for misdemeanour. The 
 trial, on the first of these charges, com 
 menced on the 17th of August ; Burr, in 
 the meantime, having been confined in 
 the state prison. It was very difficult to 
 iind a jury of twelve men, as nearly every 
 man had made up his mind that the pris 
 oner was guilty. On the 1st of Septem 
 ber, the jury returned a verdict of " not 
 guilty." 
 
 On the 9th of September, Burr was put 
 on trial under the second indictment, which 
 charged him with being guilty of a high 
 misdemeanour, for having organised, and set 
 on foot a military enterprise against the 
 territories of a foreign prince the province 
 of Mexico, which was within the territory 
 of the king of Spain, with whom the 
 United States was at peace. The trial had 
 proceeded but a few hours, when the gov 
 ernment counsel proposed to abandon the 
 prosecution, as there was no case. Burr 
 insisted upon the trial being carried to a 
 legitimate end, which was then submitted 
 to the jury without comment. A verdict 
 of "not guilty" was returned by the jury, 
 and from thence Burr was a free man ; but 
 in the judgment of the people he was 
 guilty. He lost their confidence, and he 
 never recovered it. The politicians opposed 
 to him rejoiced over his downfall, and his 
 career had been distorted to meet the mor 
 bid caprices of his prejudiced rivals. Thus 
 ended the alleged Burr conspiracy, an 
 enterprise that attained a notoriety and im 
 portance far beyond the real merits of the 
 case. It answered the end of his political 
 rivals ; namely the ruin of the projector ; 
 as, from thence, Aaron Burr s name was 
 a reproach, and was hated by the whole 
 nation. 
 
 At this epoch of the history of the nation, 
 nothing of very great import occurred, 
 until the Tippecauoe war of 1811. Con 
 gress was engaged on several measures of 
 local importance j but none of them pro 
 
 of the people. The European complica 
 tions originated several questions for the 
 consideration of congress ; and some of them 
 indicated that the American government 
 would of necessity have to engage in war 
 with Great Britain. The retaliatory pro 
 clamations, issued by France and Great 
 Britain, interfering with neutral commerce 
 upon the high seas, were considered by the 
 American government as a violation of the 
 laws of nations. The British government 
 issued an order, declaring the whole coast, 
 between the Elbe and Brest, to be in a state 
 of blockade ; and, in 1806, Napoleon issued 
 a decree from Berlin, declaring all the 
 British isles to be in a state of blockade. 
 These arbitrary proceedings naturally in 
 volved neutrals, and greatly disturbed the 
 commerce of the United States ; the injury - 
 fell upon all other nations who had estab 
 lished a trade with the English. The 
 Americans indulged the hope that a solu 
 tion of European affairs would soon be 
 developed, and they were reluctant to act 
 hastily in the matter. About this period 
 the attack on the frigate Chesapeake oc 
 curred, on the 22nd of June, 1807, by 
 the British, when that vessel was leaving 
 her post for a distant service. The Chesa 
 peake was disabled from proceeding ; several 
 of her crew were killed ; and four of them 
 were taken away by the British. Tbo 
 president immediately issued a proclama 
 tion, interdicting the harbours and waters 
 of the American coast to all British armed 
 vessels, and forbade intercourse with them. 
 In addition to the attack on the Chesapeake, 
 the British government published an order, 
 holding all their absent seamen to their 
 allegiance, recalling them from foreign 
 service, and pronouncing heavy penalties 
 against all who failed to obey the notice. 
 This principle of the law of allegiance was 
 diametrically opposed to that recognised 
 by the American government, as it denied 
 the right of expatriation. Every natural 
 ised citizen of the United States, who had 
 been in the marine service of Great Britain, 
 was commanded to disregard his oath of 
 allegiance to the United States, and return 
 to the British isles. An order was passed, 
 declaring the sale of ships by belligerents 
 to be illegal. This was eclipsed by the 
 decree of Milan, enforcing the decree of 
 Berlin, which, if carried out, would have 
 doomed to confiscation everv vessel of tho 
 
 " 271 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1808. 
 
 United States that had been boarded, or 
 oven spoken to by the British. The order 
 of Napoleon was approved of by Spain ; 
 and, in some instances, it was enforced, and 
 vessels were burned by the French cruisers. 
 
 The American government was not dis 
 posed to engage in the European wars ; 
 but, on the other hand, each of the power 
 ful belligerents hoped to have the United 
 States as an ally. This was particularly 
 the case with France, with which nearly 
 all the governments of the continent were 
 then allied. Under this state of things, an 
 embargo was declared, by which the com 
 merce of the Americans was withdrawn 
 from the high seas, and retained within 
 the limits of their own governmental 
 jurisdiction. This policy prevented the 
 loss of ships, and avoided an entanglement 
 of the nation in a war that was waged in 
 the Old World, for conquest and empire. 
 The embargo was opposed by a very large 
 number of people, and the propriety of its 
 enforcement was deemed very questionable. 
 
 The election of the president and "vice- 
 president of the United States having 
 taken place in the autumn of 1808, the 
 two houses of congress assembled in joint 
 session on the 8th of February, 1809, and 
 proceeded to open the ballots for the re 
 spective candidates ; which resulted as fol 
 lows : 
 
 Election for the SixthTerm, commencing th March, 
 1809, and terminating 3rd March, 1813. 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 a 
 
 li 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 a S 
 
 o 
 
 States. 
 
 ai 
 
 2>* 
 
 
 +> 
 
 StS 
 
 S g 
 
 li 
 
 E 
 
 beg 
 
 .5 J> 
 
 
 t-< 
 
 fe 
 
 
 Q 2 
 
 - - .j. 
 
 y bo 
 
 a a 
 
 
 
 sf 
 
 H 
 
 d5 
 
 ffl * 
 
 ffc 
 
 51 
 
 r^ 
 
 *g 
 
 C^ 
 
 s| 
 
 
 03 
 
 go 
 
 . o 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 " Z. 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 PH 
 
 N. Hampshire 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 ___^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 7 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Vermont . . 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 New York . 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 __ 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 __ 
 
 __ 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 _^ 
 
 Delaware. . 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Maryland . 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Virginia . . 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 
 
 N. Carolina 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 S. Carolina 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Georgia . . 
 
 G 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Kentucky . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 7 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Tennessee . 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 No. of electors 
 
 122 
 
 6 47 
 
 113 
 
 3 
 
 47 
 
 Majority . 88 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The majority of the electoral votes having 
 been cast for James Madison, of Virginia, 
 and George Clinton, of New York, presi 
 dent and vice-president respectively, they 
 were declared duly elected by the president 
 of the senate. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1809, Madison 
 was inaugurated, the chief justice having 
 administered to him the oath of office. 
 Immediately preceding the taking of the 
 oath, the president elect addressed the 
 senators, and a large concourse of gentle 
 men and ladies. In his speech he an 
 nounced the principles that would guide 
 him in his official career. It was his inten 
 tion " to cherish peace and friendly inter 
 course with all nations having correspondent 
 dispositions ; to maintain sincere neutrality 
 towards belligerent nations; to prefer, in 
 all cases, amicable discussion and reasonable 
 accommodation of differences, to a decision 
 of them by an appeal to arms ; to exclude 
 foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, 
 so degrading to all countries, and so baneful 
 to free ones ; to foster a spirit of indepen 
 dence, too just to invade the rights of others, 
 too proud to surrender our own, too liberal 
 to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, 
 and too elevated not to look down upon 
 them in others ; to hold the union of the 
 states as the basis of their peace and happi 
 ness ; to support the constitution, which is 
 the cement of the Union, as well in its 
 limitations, as in its authorities ; to respect 
 the rights and authorities reserved to the 
 states and to the people, as equally incor 
 porated with, and essential to the success of 
 the general system ; to avoid the slightest 
 interference with the rights of conscience, 
 or the functions of religion, so wisely ex 
 empted from civil jurisdiction ; to preserve, 
 in their full energy, the other salutary provi 
 sions in behalf of private and personal rights, 
 and of the freedom of the press ; to observe 
 economy in public expenditure ; to liberate 
 the public resources by an honourable dis 
 charge of the public debts; to keep within 
 the requisite limits, a standing military 
 force, always remembering that an armed 
 and trained militia is the firmest bulwark 
 of republics ; that without standing armies 
 their liberties can never be in danger, nor, 
 with large ones, safe ; to promote, by 
 authorised means, improvements friendly 
 to agriculture, to manufactures, and to ex 
 ternal as well as internal commerce ; to 
 favour, in like manner, the advancement 
 of science and the diffusion of information, 
 
A.D. 1810.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 as the best aliment to true liberty ; to 
 carry on the benevolent plans which have 
 been so meritoriously applied to the con 
 version of our aboriginal neighbours from 
 the degradation and wretchedness of savage 
 life, to the participation of the improve 
 ments of which the human mind and man 
 ners are susceptible in a civilised state." 
 With these leading principles in view, 
 Madison commenced his career, as presi 
 dent of the United States, March 4th, 
 1309. 
 
 During the executive terms of Madison, 
 the nation was, to some extent, involved in 
 difficulties with foreign powers; not so 
 much on account of any acts of the United 
 States, as resulting from the complications 
 and wars that then existed in Europe. The 
 internal policy, promised to be duly con 
 sidered in the inaugural speech of the 
 president, failed to receive much attention 
 in congress, as that body was too much 
 engaged in the consideration of the foreign 
 relations. Before we proceed to present 
 the war movements, both against the 
 savages of the west and the British of the 
 east, we shall briefly explain the status of 
 the United States at that period of its ex 
 istence. 
 
 It will be remembered, that at the con 
 clusion of the revolutionary war (1783), 
 there were thirteen states, whose territory, 
 in the aggregate, extended to the Missis 
 sippi river, from its source to its mouth, 
 excepting the Isle of Orleans and the 
 Floridas. In 1789, the state of Vermont 
 was formed from the disputed territory 
 lying between New Hampshire and New 
 York. In 1792, Kentucky, being a part of 
 the state of Virginia, was organised as an 
 independent state. In 1796, Tennessee, 
 originally a part of North Carolina, was ad 
 mitted into the Union. The territory lying 
 west of the Chattahoochee was claimed by 
 Georgia. The regions north-west of the 
 Ohio, were wild lands, or an uninhabited 
 country, and was held by the general gov 
 ernment, for the benefit of the states in 
 common. In the year 1788, a temporary 
 government, for the "North- west Terri 
 tory/ was formed by the appointment of a 
 governor, judges, and other officers. The 
 country lying between Georgia and the 
 Mississippi river, by act of congress, ap 
 proved April 1st, 1798, was declared to be 
 the " Territory of Mississippi :" a gov 
 ernment was authorised to be created 
 for it ; and, in that year, the governor 
 
 and judges were duly commissioned. The 
 seat of government was fixed at Natchez. 
 By act of congress, approved May 7th, 1800, 
 the " Territory of Indiana" was established, 
 to bear date July 4th,*1800, and the juris 
 diction of the territorial government was 
 to extend over " all that part of the north 
 west territory which lay to the westward of 
 a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite to 
 the Kentucky river, and running thence to 
 Fort Recovery, and from thence north to 
 the British boundary." The style of gov 
 ernment was to be the same as that 
 organised for the " North-west Territory," 
 as prescribed by the ordinance of 1787. 
 It was declared, by act of 1802, that 
 the eastern boundary of the " Indiana Ter 
 ritory" should be a line drawn due north 
 from the mouth of the Great Miami. 
 Chillicothe was made the seat of govern 
 ment of the " North-west Territory ;" and 
 Vincennes, on the "VVabash, of the " Indiana 
 Territory." Of the latter, William Henry 
 Harrison was appointed governor. By act 
 of congress, approved March 3rd, 1805, the 
 " District of Louisiana/ which had been, 
 until that date, under the Indiana govern 
 ment, was made the " Territory of Loui 
 siana," and officers were commissioned 
 for it. By act of June 4th, 1812, tho 
 name was changed to the " Territory of 
 Missouri ;" and St. Louis was made the 
 seat of government. In 1805, the terri 
 tory of Michigan was created, and William 
 Hull was appointed governor ; the govern 
 ment was the same as that prescribed by the 
 ordinance of 1787. On February 3rd, 1809, 
 it was enacted, that from and after March 
 1st of that year, " all that part of the 
 Indiana Territory which lies west of 
 the Wabash river, and a line drawn from 
 the said Wabash and Post Vincennes, due 
 north, between the United States and 
 Canada, shall, for the purposes of tem 
 porary government, constitute a separate 
 territory, and be called Illinois/ and the 
 seat of government shall be located at 
 Kaskaskia." Ninean Edwards was ap 
 pointed governor. 
 
 Before the close of Madison s first execu 
 tive term, there were seventeen states and 
 five territorial governments, composing the 
 federal union ; and the former was repre 
 sented by thirty-four senators and 141 
 
 . J T- C 
 
 representatives in congress ; and each or 
 
 the territorial governments was represented 
 
 by a delegate in the lower branch of the 
 
 legislature, who had liberty to speak, but 
 
 273 
 
POPULATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1810. 
 
 not to vote. The population of the country 
 had rapidly spread, particularly through 
 
 out the west, and the march of civilisation 
 was but little retarded by the savage tribes 
 of those forest wilds. The census of 1790 
 
 hammer, or other tool in the shop, for their 
 own individual wants ; the women had their 
 
 own looms, spindle-wheel, and needles : 
 in fact, most of the manufacturing, at 
 that time, was executed at home. The 
 had shown a population of 3,929,827 ; of \ means of transportation were very inferior ; 
 whom there were 697,897 slaves. In 1800, ! and it was not possible to carry the wares 
 there were 5,305,937, including 893,041 of the east to the west, except at great 
 slaves ; and, in 1810, there was a total | expense. There were few roads ; and the 
 population of 7,239,814, and the number of j pack-horses had to wend their way over 
 slaves had increased to 1,191,364. To what: the mountains, along the little-trodden 
 extent the slaves were imported from pathways. The stage routes were con- 
 Africa between those decennial periods, we fined to the more populous parts, near to 
 have no means of ascertaining. The slave- the coast; and on those, travelling was 
 trade had been abolished by several of the slow. For example, between New York 
 southern states soon after the revolution ; and Philadelphia, a distance of only a 
 
 and in the northern states there was no 
 market : the state enactments, however, 
 did not stop the carrying on of the traffic [ but few macadamised roads ; railways had 
 
 hundred miles, it required three and four 
 davs with the mail coach. There 
 
 were 
 
 in the Africans ; and it was not 
 1808 that the federal laws came 
 force, as auxiliary to the southern statutes 
 
 and of the popular anti-slavery sentiment 
 in the northern states. It is not possible, 
 
 until < not come into existence ; and the steain- 
 into boat had not been sufficiently perfected to 
 be used as a carrier of people. The broad 
 
 and gigantic rivers of the far west, as well 
 as the many beautiful streams of the east, 
 were of but little avail to the traveller ; 
 
 therefore, for us to present the natural 
 
 increase of the negro race in America ; nor ! . but they served as highways for the rafts 
 can an approximate estimate be made of of timber, and the rough-hewn flat-boat, 
 the natural increase of the whites. The , The principal products at that time were 
 emigrants from, the Old World sought , wheat, maize, and tobacco ; the rich mines 
 homes in the New ; and many of the sturdy ; that lay in immense quantities beneath the 
 
 pioneers of the west, and the handicrafts 
 men in the eastern states, came from the 
 
 surface of the earth were unexplored, and 
 but little employed. The houses of the 
 
 continent of Europe, or the British Isles, and j people were constructed without regard to 
 no statistics were taken of their ingress. 
 
 The country was rapidly improved by 
 those following agricultural and mechani- 
 
 display, having in view only comfort and 
 families assisted their neigh- 
 
 conveuience 
 
 bours, and each rejoiced in the other s pros- 
 cal pursuits ; and the forests had, in many perity ; and it was their practice to sym pa- 
 
 parts of the west, been cleared away 
 for the maize and barley. The various 
 
 thise with the unfortunate. There were but 
 few edifices especially dedicated to the ser- 
 
 branches of the useful arts were brought j vice of God, except in the towns ; but the 
 into practice in the hundreds of villages j divine lips spoke to the assembled Chris- 
 " " " tians beneath the outspread limbs of the 
 
 oak and poplar. The Americans, as a na 
 tion, were happy and prosperous : their 
 
 the^home of each family*: the men tilled future seemed to be full of import, great- 
 the field, or they wrought with, the chisel, j ness, and example. 
 274 
 
 throughout the whole Union. The manu 
 facture of fibre goods had made but little 
 progress, and was Drincipallv confined to 
 
A.D. 1810.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TECUMSEH S FAMILY. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BATTLE OF TIPPKCANOE, AND THE DEF2AT OF THE INDIANS. 
 
 THE celebrated Indian warrior, Tecumseh 
 (or Tecumthe, as his name is sometimes 
 spelt), has been mentioned in previous 
 pages, as far back as the Indian war under 
 Washington s administration, successfully 
 terminated by General Wayne in 1794. 
 Tecumseh was by birth a Shawanee, and 
 was born about 1770. Like King Philip, 
 the Wampanoag, who may be said to have 
 been his prototype, a detestation of the arts 
 and amenities of civilisation seemed a con 
 stitutional trait in his character. He was 
 twin brother* to Ellskwatawa, the prophet. 
 His principal place of rendezvous was in 
 the Miami country, near the confluence of 
 the Tippecanoe with the Wabash river, in 
 what is now Tippecanoe county, Indiana. 
 This tract of country was taken possession 
 of by his brother, the prophet,f in 1808, 
 with a motley band of young warriors from 
 among the JShawanees, Ottawas, Pottawa- 
 tomies, Wyandots, Delawares, Kikapoos, 
 and Chippewas. The Miamies were most 
 bitterly opposed to this intrusion upon their 
 territory, but were not powerful enough to 
 prevent it ; and many of their chiefs were 
 barbarously murdered for remonstrating 
 against it. In a short time, however, the 
 maladministration of the prophet alienated 
 his followers ; so much so, that within less 
 than a year they numbered scarcely 300, 
 and these were in a most miserable plight. 
 Their indolent and improvident habits had 
 brought them to the verge of starvation, 
 from which they were rescued by the 
 benevolence of William Henry Harrison, 
 the governor of the north-western territory. 
 It was at this period that Tecumseh made 
 his appearance among them ; and although 
 he appeared in the character of a subordi- 
 
 * Their mother, in fact, bore three sons at one 
 birth : Tecumseh, which signifies " a tiger crouch 
 ing for li is prey j" Ellskwaiawa, " a door opened;" 
 and Kumshaka, "a tiger that flies in the air." 
 Their birthplace was upon the banks of the Scioto 
 river, now the present city of Chilicothe, Ohio. 
 Their father s name was Pukeesheno, which signi 
 fies, "1 light from flying." He was killed in the 
 oattle of Point Pleasant, in 1774. Their mother s 
 name \vas Mcctheetashc " a turtle laying her eggs 
 in the sand." Schoolcraft. 
 
 f The prophet possessed none of the manly quali 
 ties of Tecumseh. He had no name in war, and 
 
 nate chief, yet he directed everything after 
 wards, although in the name of the prophet. 
 His exertions now were employed to unite 
 all the tribes on the continent in a con 
 federacy, with the avowed design of arrest 
 ing the extension of civilisation and the 
 white race. 
 
 In accordance with the wishes of the 
 government at Washington, Governor 
 Harrison had negotiated with the Miamies, 
 Delawares, and Pottawatomies, the pur 
 chase of a large tract of land situated on 
 both sides of the Wabash, and extending 
 up the river some sixty miles above Vin- 
 cennes, now in the state of Indiana. This 
 was in 1809 about a year after the 
 period that the prophet and his colony 
 settled upon the Wabash. Being there 
 without the consent and against the wishes 
 of the Miamies, the prophet was not looked 
 upon as having any claim to the country. 
 Tecumseh, who was absent at the time the 
 cession was made, did not view it in this 
 light; and on his return, was extremely 
 displeased with the chiefs who had ceded 
 the lands to the United States government, 
 many of whom he threatened with death. 
 His dissatisfaction reached the ears of 
 Governor Harrison, who dispatched a mes 
 senger to him, with the assurance that 
 " any claims he might have to the lands 
 which had been ceded, were not affected by 
 the treaty of cession ; that he might come 
 to Vincennes and exhibit his claims ; and if 
 they were found to be valid, that the lands 
 would either be given up, or an ample com 
 pensation made for them." 
 
 Tecumseh accepted the invitation, and 
 met Governor Harrison in council at Vin 
 cennes,! on the 12th of August, 1810, with 
 
 was an indifferent hunter. He was crafty, cruel, 
 pusillanimous, and haughty. He was also lazy 
 and sensual ; and, under various pi-etexts, obtained 
 a livelihood by extorting supplies of food and 
 other necessaries from the Indians. A variety of 
 accidental circumstances gave him an ascendancy 
 over them, which his own talents could not have 
 earned the condition of the frontier; the super 
 stition of the savages ; and the protection of Te 
 cumseh, who affected to treat his brother as a 
 superior being. Hall s Life of Harrison. 
 
 | The seat of government of the north-west 
 territory. 
 
 275 
 
COUNCIL AT VINCENNES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1810. 
 
 about forty of his warriors ; and addressed 
 the governor as follows : " It is true, I am 
 a Shawanee. My forefathers were warriors. 
 Their son is a warrior. From them I only 
 take my existence ; from my tribe I take 
 nothing. I am the maker of my own 
 fortune : and, oh ! that I could make 
 that of my red people, and of my 
 country, as great as the conception of my 
 mind, when I think of the Spirit that 
 rules the universe. I would not then come 
 to Governor Harrison, to ask him to tear 
 the treaty, and to obliterate the landmark ; 
 but I would say to him, Sir, you are at 
 liberty to return to your own country. 
 The being within, communing with past 
 ages, tells me, that once, nor until lately, 
 there was no white man on this continent. 
 That it then all belonged to red men, 
 children of the same parents, placed on it 
 by the Great Spirit that made them, to 
 keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its pro 
 ductions, and to fill it with the same race 
 once a happy race, since made miserable 
 by the white people, who are never con 
 tented, but always encroaching. The way, 
 and the only way, to check and to stop this 
 evil, is for all the red men to unite in 
 claiming a common and equal right in the 
 land, as it was at first, and should be yet ; 
 for it never was divided ; but belongs to 
 all, for the use of each. That no part has 
 a right to sell, even to each other, much 
 less to strangers those who want all, and 
 will not do with less. The white people 
 have no right to take the land from the 
 Indians,, because they had it first it is 
 theirs. They may sell, but must all join. 
 Any sale not made by all is not valid. 
 The late sale is bad. It was made by a 
 part only. Part do not know how to sell. 
 It requires all to make a bargain for all. All 
 red men have equal rights to the unoccu 
 pied land. The right of occupancy is as 
 good in one place as in another. There 
 cannot be two occupations in the same 
 place. The first excludes all others. It is 
 
 * History of Kentucky. " One important para 
 graph," says Drake, " ought to be added, which we 
 do not find in the authority from which the above 
 lias been extracted; which is, that the Americans 
 had driven them from the sea-coasts, and that they 
 would shortly push them into the lakes, and that 
 they were determined to make a stand where they 
 then were. " 
 
 t The following incident, which occurred at the 
 meeting at Vincennes, is so characteristic of this 
 celebrated chief, that we give it a place. It is 
 taken from Schoolcraft. After Tecumseh had made 
 his speech to Governor Harrison, and was about 
 
 276 
 
 not so in hunting or travelling, for there 
 the same ground will serve many, as they 
 may follow each other all day; but the 
 camp is stationary, and that is occupancy. 
 It belongs to the first who sits down on his 
 blanket or skins, which he has thrown 
 upon the ground ; and till he leaves it, no 
 other has a right/ * 
 
 Having thus explained the grounds 
 upon which he denied the validity of the 
 cession, Tecumseh took his seat among his 
 warriors. f Governor Harrison replied, that 
 "the white people, when they arrived on 
 this continent, had found the Miamies in 
 the occupation of all the country on the 
 Wabash ; and, at that time, the Shawanees 
 were residents of Georgia, from which they 
 were driven by the Creeks ; that the lands 
 had been purchased from the Miamies, who 
 were the true and original owners of it ; 
 that it was ridiculous to assert that all the 
 Indians were one nation ; for if such had 
 been the intention of the Great Spirit, he 
 would not have put six different tongues 
 into their heads, but would have taught 
 them all to speak a language that all could 
 understand ; that the Miamies found it for 
 their interest to sell a portion of their 
 lauds, and receive for them a further an 
 nuity, the benefit of which they had long 
 experienced, from the punctuality with 
 which the seventeen ( fires J complied with 
 their engagements ; and that the Shawa 
 nees had no right to come from a distant 
 country, and control the Miamies in the 
 disposal of their own property." 
 
 Governor Harrison then taking his seat, 
 the interpreter proceeded to explain what 
 he had said to Tecumseh, who, when the 
 interpreter had nearly finished, suddenly 
 interrupted him with the exclamation, " It 
 is all false !" At the same instant, giving 
 his warriors a signal, they seized their 
 war-clubs, and sprang upon their feet, from 
 the green grass upon which they had been 
 sitting; while Tecumseh continued to ad 
 dress the Indians in a loud voice, and with 
 
 to seat himself in a chair, he observed that none 
 had been placed for him. One was immediately 
 ordered by the governor; and, as the interpreter 
 handed it to him, he said" Your father requests 
 you to take a chair." " My father !" says Tecum 
 seh, with appropriate action and great indignity of 
 expression ; " the sun is my father, and the earth is 
 my mother ; and on her bosom I will repose ;" and 
 immediately seated himself, in the Indian manner, 
 upon the ground. 
 
 The seventeen united states the number at that 
 time in the Union ; so designated by the Indians of 
 the north-west territon . 
 
A.I). 1810.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [HARRISON VISITS TEOUMSEH. 
 
 violent gestures. The firmness and de 
 cision of Harrison at this critical moment, 
 probably prevented a scene of bloodshed. 
 Rising from his chair, he drew his sword. 
 He was attended by some officers of his 
 government, and many citizens, but all 
 unarmed. Most of them, however, seized 
 upon weapons of some kind, such as stones 
 and clubs; and a guard of twelve men in 
 the rear of Governor Harrison, was called 
 up. Restraining any further demonstra 
 tions against the Indians, Harrison calmly, 
 but authoritatively told Tecumseh, that " he 
 was a bad man that he would have no 
 further talk with him ; and that he must 
 return to his camp, and take his departure 
 from the settlements immediately." Thus 
 ended the conference. Tecumseh and his 
 warriors, awed by the bearing and decision 
 of Harrison, withdrew in silence. 
 
 Tecumseh however, notwkhstauding the 
 orders of Harrison, did not leave the 
 neighbourhood ; but, the next morning, 
 having reflected upon the impropriety of 
 his conduct, sent to Governor Harrison to 
 have the council renewed, apologising for 
 the offensive words he had uttered. Gov 
 ernor Harrison, after some reflection upon 
 the request, assented ; but took the precau 
 tion to have two additional companies of 
 armed men in readiness, in case of any 
 threatening demonstration on the part of 
 Tecumseh and his warriors. In the second 
 council, however, he behaved with greater 
 moderation. He was asked whether he 
 had any other grounds than those he had 
 stated, by which he could lay claim to the 
 land in question. His reply was " No 
 other." This of course was an end of the 
 question. Tecumseh then denied having 
 any intention of attacking the governor at 
 the previous interview, but said he had 
 been advised by white men to do as he had 
 done ; " that two white men had visited 
 him at his place of residence, and told him 
 that half the white people were opposed to 
 Governor Harrison, and were willing to 
 relinquish the land ; and told him to advise 
 the tribes not to receive pay for it; for 
 that the governor would soon be put out of 
 office, and a good man* sent in his place, 
 who would give up the land to the Indians." 
 Governor Harrison asked him if he would 
 attempt to prevent the survey of the lands ; 
 he answered, that he was determined to 
 adhere to the old boundary. Several chiefs 
 one each of the Winnebago, Ottawa, Pot- 
 tawatomie, Wyandot, and Kikapoo tribes 
 VOL. iL 
 
 now rose, and each declared his determina 
 tion to stand by Tecumseh, whom they had 
 chosen their chief. After informing Te 
 cumseh that his words should be truly 
 reported to the president affirming, how 
 ever, that he had well-grounded reasons 
 for believing that the lands would not be 
 relinquished, and that it would be held at 
 all risks the governor declared the council 
 closed. 
 
 The subsequent day, Governor Harrison, 
 attended only by an interpreter, visited 
 Tecumseh in his tent. He was courteously 
 received by the chief, who conversed with 
 him a considerable time. On being inter 
 rogated by Governor Harrison as to the 
 reality of his determination, as he had ex 
 pressed it in the council, he reaffirmed it j 
 adding, that it was with great reluctance he 
 would go to war with the United States, 
 against whom he had no other cause of 
 complaint than their success in persuading 
 the Indians to cede them their territory; 
 that he was sincerely anxious to be the 
 friend of the United States government; 
 and if he (Governor Harrison) would induce 
 the president to cancel the treaty by which 
 the lands last ceded were obtained, he 
 would become the faithful ally of the 
 United States, and assist them in all their 
 wars against the English ; that he would 
 much rather be the friend of the " seven 
 teen fires ;" but if they would not restore 
 them the ceded lands, he should join hands 
 with the English. 
 
 When Governor Harrison assured him 
 that there was no probability that the 
 president would comply with his request, 
 Tecumseh replied " Well, as the great 
 chief is to determine the matter, I hope the 
 Great Spirit will put sense enough into his 
 head to induce him to direct you to give 
 up this land. It is true he is so far off he 
 will not be injured by the war which must 
 result if he persists in retaining the terri 
 tory so unjustly obtained. He may sit still 
 in his town, and drink his wine, while you 
 and I will have to fight it out." Governor 
 Harrison asked him, if he were really 
 resolved to make war unless his terms were 
 complied with. He answered "It is my 
 determination ; nor will I give rest to my 
 feet, until I have united all the red men in 
 the like resolution." 
 
 After the insight which has been given 
 of the resolute and determined charao-ter of 
 this extraordinary Indian warrior, it is 
 scarcely necessary to add, that when satis- 
 
 277 
 
THE WIZARD S DEATH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1811. 
 
 fied that his demands would not be acceded \ 
 to, his threats were most persistently carried 
 out. All the tribes to the west of the Mis 
 sissippi, and those about Lakes Superior 
 and Huron, were visited and revisited by 
 him previous to the year 1811. He led 
 the tribes to believe that they would be 
 able to drive the Americans to the east of 
 the Ohio, making that river, for ever after, 
 the western boundary of civilisation in the 
 north. And during the following year, as 
 we shall have occasion to see in future 
 pages, his travels extended even to the 
 tribes inhabiting the southernmost borders 
 of the Union. 
 
 The noted chief, Blue Jacket, who held 
 a prominent place in the Indian war, 
 brought to a termination by Wayne, in 
 1794, was an aid of Tecumseh in bringing 
 about the union of the various tribes against 
 the Americans. 
 
 While Tecumseh was going, as has been 
 stated, from one Indian confederacy to 
 another, and, by his eloquence and invectives 
 inflaming their minds against the whites, 
 his brother, Ellskwatawa, was working upon 
 their minds to the same end, through their 
 strong inclination to superstition. The 
 latter investing himself with the sacred and 
 mysterious character, as well as the name 
 of the prophet, and pretending to be 
 favoured with direct and frequent com 
 munications from the Great Spirit ; he, by 
 tricks and austerities, gained credence, and 
 drew around him the awe-struck savages 
 from great distances. He then began a 
 species of drill, the design of which seems 
 to have been to discipline them to obedience 
 and union. They were commanded by him 
 to kill all their dogs, and these faithful 
 animals were instantly sacrificed. He also 
 enjoined upon them not to let their fires go 
 out ; and from that moment the fire of 
 every wigwam was watched as carefully 
 as if it were the sacred fire burning upon 
 the holy altar, dedicated to Vesta. He 
 kept up a series of incantations from timo 
 to time, communicating the results to his 
 credulous believers. He prophesied the 
 speedy downfall of the whites, and the 
 resumption by the Indians of the customs 
 of their ancestors. To effect this, they were 
 commanded to abstain from all intercourse 
 with the whites, and from using any article 
 manufactured by them that even the 
 blanket should be laid aside, and that they 
 should dress only in skins. 
 
 Thus these two brothers, each in his 
 
 peculiar way, laboured to instil into the- 
 Indian mind a bitter prejudice and enmity 
 against the people and government of the 
 United States, as well as against the cus 
 toms and humanising influences of civilisa 
 tion. There were some, however, among 
 the older and more enlightened of the 
 warriors, who protested against this two 
 fold despotism to which Tecumseh and the 
 prophet were gradually subjugating their 
 tribes. To put these troublesome men out 
 of the way, the prophet claimed to possess 
 a gift from the Great Spirit for discerning 
 wizards ; and immediately some of the 
 oldest and most respected of the chiefs 
 were denounced by him, and put to death. 
 Tetabosi, a Delaware chief of eighty years 
 of age, and Tahee, the oldest Indian in the 
 western country, were thus disposed of. 
 Leather-lips, an exemplary chief of the 
 Wyandot nation, was denounced by the 
 prophet as a wizard, and a neighbouring 
 chief and four warriors were sent to put 
 him to death. They found him in his 
 wigwam, and announced to him the mission 
 on which they came. His expostulations 
 and entreaties fell on unheeding ears. The 
 grave of the victim was dug beside his 
 wigwam, himself a spectator of the work. 
 He was given time to attire himself in a 
 costume befitting a chieftain about to de 
 part on his last journey. Then, side by 
 side with the chief commissioned to execute 
 the bloody orders of the prophet, he knelt 
 beside the open grave, when the former 
 offered up a prayer to the Great Spirit. The 
 victim then bent over his grave, and his 
 skull was cloven by the tomahawks in the 
 hands of the young warriors, who were 
 stationed behind him. The executioners 
 then returned to report the accomplish 
 ment of the bloody errand on which they 
 were sont. 
 
 From the result of the interviews be 
 tween Tecumseh and Governor Harrison, the 
 latter was prepared to hear of hostile de 
 monstrations on the part of the Indians at 
 any moment. It was not till near the close 
 of the year 1811, however, that there were 
 decided indications of hostilities on the part 
 of the Indians. Murders and other out 
 rages of the savages became frequent, and 
 some great movement against the Ame 
 ricans was evidently in preparation ; and 
 the government determined at once to take 
 the initiative. For this purpose a force 
 of regulars and militia were assembled at 
 Vincennes, and placed under the command 
 
A.I). 1811.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MARCH OF THE ARMY. 
 
 of Governor Harrison, who was instructed 
 to march to the prophet s town, and demand 
 a restoration of the property which had 
 been carried off by his partisans. If his 
 request was refused, he was to obtain redress 
 by force. 
 
 In accordance with this order, Governor 
 Harrison, on the 5th of November, marched 
 for the prophet s town ; and, on the evening 
 of that day, encamped at the distance of 
 nine or ten miles from that locality. The 
 approach of the forces under Harrison had 
 been discovered by the Indians before 
 reaching Pine Creek, as traces of recon 
 noitring parties were often seen. No In 
 dians, however, were discovered until 
 within six miles of the town, on the morn 
 ing of the 6th of November. Parties of 
 Indians were then frequently seen ; but all 
 efforts to open a communication with them 
 were unsuccessful, although interpreters 
 were placed with the advanced guard for 
 that purpose. The only return the Indians 
 would make to the invitations that were 
 given them to enter into a conversation 
 with the whites, were menacing and in 
 sulting gestures. When within three miles 
 of the town, the ground became broken by 
 ravines, and covered by timber. It now 
 became necessary to take every precaution ; 
 and every difficult pass was examined by 
 the mounted riflemen before the army was 
 permitted to enter it. The ground being 
 unfit for their operations, the squadron of 
 dragoons was placed in the rear. The 
 precaution had been taken, through the 
 whole march, of so disposing of the different 
 corps, that each might have the ground 
 best adapted to its operations. 
 
 When they had arrived within two miles 
 of the town, the path descended a steep 
 hill, at the base of which was a small 
 creek, running through a narrow, wet 
 prairie ; and beyond this was a level plain, 
 partially covered with oaks, and free from 
 underbrush. Before reaching the creek, 
 they had to pass through a dense wood, 
 intersected by deep ravines. As this was a 
 place well calculated for the savages to lie 
 in ambush, and open upon them with a 
 prospect of success, Governor Harrison 
 momentarily expected an attack. He there 
 fore disposed his infantry to receive them 
 on the left and rear. He ordered a corps 
 of mounted riflemen to advance a con 
 siderable distance from the left flank, to 
 check the approach of the enemy ; and two 
 other companies were ordered to turn the 
 
 enemy s flanks, should he attack in that 
 direction. To protect the army in crossing 
 the creek, from an attack in front, the 
 dragoons were ordered to move rapidly 
 from the rear, and take a position in ad 
 vance, on the plain on the other side of the 
 creek. The troops were passed over in 
 this order ; the dragoons advanced to make 
 room for the infantry; and the latter, * 
 when across the creek, were disposed so aa 
 to receive the enemy in front in one line, 
 with a reserve of three companies the 
 dragoons, with the mounted rifles on their 
 flanks, forming the first line. 
 
 Having reached a favourable spot for 
 encampment, within a mile and a-half of 
 the prophet s town, Harrison decided on 
 halting there, till he could hear from some 
 friendly chiefs whom he had sent forward 
 from Fort Harrison on the day he left it, 
 in the endeavour of still avoiding a resort - 
 to hostilities, if possible. He had as yet 
 received no intelligence from these chiefs, 
 although they were to meet him on the 
 way. While the governor was occupied 
 in tracing out the lines of his encampment, 
 Major Daviess, and several other field-offi 
 cers, came to him, and suggested that he 
 should march at once upon the town. 
 Harrison informed them that the instruc 
 tions under which he was acting, would 
 not justify his opening an attack upon the 
 Indians, as long as there was any prospect 
 of their acceding to the demands of the 
 government; and that he had not yet 
 abandoned the hope of obtaining a favour 
 able result through the intercession of the 
 friendly chiefs, whose return he now 
 momently expected. Major Daviess re 
 plied that the Indians were evidently in 
 tending to fight, as all their overtures to 
 them, thus far, had been repulsed too de 
 cidedly to admit of any other conclusion ; 
 that the troops were in high spirits, and 
 full of confidence; and that advantage 
 ought to be taken of their state of feeling, 
 to lead them immediately against the 
 enemy. Harrison, however, replied, that, 
 though fully appreciating the ardour of 
 the troops, and admitting that the insolence 
 exhibited by the Indians was evidence of 
 their determined hostility, and of their in 
 tention to have a battle, yet he knew 
 enough of the Indian character and mode 
 of fighting, to believe that they would 
 never do this but by surprise, or on ground 
 adapted to their system of warfare. Under 
 the circumstances, he was resolved not 
 
 279 
 
PREPARATION FOR BATTLE.] HISTOHY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.P. 1311. 
 
 to advance with the troops until he had 
 obtained reliable information as to the 
 situation of the town, and the grounds 
 around it, and more especially the land 
 intervening between the town and the spot 
 where his forces were then encamped. 
 That when they encountered the enemy, it 
 was their duty to fight; but he should 
 take care that it should be in a position, 
 and under circumstances, where their valour 
 would be effective, and where a corps upon 
 whose services he placed the utmost re 
 liance, should be able to act efficiently. He 
 told them that the experience of the last 
 few hours was sufficient to convince them 
 that the guides upon whom they had relied 
 were utterly ignorant of the topography of 
 the country ; that they had led the troops 
 into positions, that, but for the promptness 
 with which they got out of them, they 
 might have been attacked and destroyed by 
 a far inferior force of savages. Therefore, 
 before advancing on the town, a recon 
 naissance must be made, either by himself 
 or some one on whose judgment he could 
 place reliance. To this Major Daviess 
 replied, that the openings made by the low 
 grounds of the Wabash could be seen from 
 the right of the position of the dragoons, 
 which was still in front ; that he had ad 
 vanced to the bank which descends to the 
 low grounds, in company with his adjutant, 
 and had a fair view of the cultivated fields 
 and houses of the town ; and that the open 
 woods in which they then were, continued 
 to the town, without interruption. Upon 
 this information, Governor Harrison deter 
 mined to move forward, provided some 
 proper person would volunteer to go to the 
 town with a flag. This service was under 
 taken by Captain Dubois, of Viiicennes, 
 who was dispatched with an interpreter to 
 the prophet, to demand a compliance with 
 the terms which had been repeatedly pro 
 posed to him previously. The army fol 
 lowed slowly after, in order of battle. A 
 messenger soon came from Captain Dubois, 
 to apprise Governor Harrison that the 
 Indians were near him in large numbers, 
 but that they would make no reply to the 
 interpreter, though near enough to hear 
 what was said to them ; and that upon his 
 
 treating the Indians as enemies. Captain 
 Dubois was at once recalled, and Harrison 
 moved on with his whole force to attack 
 them. Before they had proceeded far, 
 however, they were met by three Indians, 
 one of them a chief adviser of the prophet. 
 They informed Harrison that they were 
 sent to inquire why the army was thus 
 advancing upon them ; that it was the 
 desire of the prophet to prevent hostilities, 
 if possible ; that he had sent a pacific mes 
 sage by the friendly chiefs who had come 
 to him on the part of Governor Harrison, 
 but that those chiefs had unfortunately 
 gone down on the south side of the Wabash, 
 and therefore had not intercepted him. 
 
 Hostilities were accordingly suspended, 
 and a meeting was arranged to take place 
 on the following da) r , between General 
 Harrison and the chiefs, to agree upon the 
 terms of peace. Harrison informed them 
 that he would move on to the AVabash, and 
 encamp for the night. He therefore went 
 forward, and soon came in view of the 
 town, which was located upon a command 
 ing eminence at some distance up the river ; 
 Major Daviess and the adjutant having been 
 mistaken in supposing the scattered houses 
 in the fields seen by them to be the town. 
 As the grounds below the village were not 
 suitable for an encampment, with a view to 
 obtain a better situation beyond it, Governor 
 Harrison moved his forces on in the direc 
 tion of the town. The corps of dragoons 
 being in front, soon became entangled in 
 ground covered with brush and tops of 
 fallen trees. A halt was ordered, and the 
 rifle corps, which occupied the open fields 
 next to the river, was directed to change 
 position with the dragoons. This move 
 ment, with the approach of the troops 
 towards the town, was observed by the 
 Indians, who at once construed it into an 
 intention to attack them, and immediately 
 prepared for defence. A body of them 
 sallying out, called upon the advanced 
 corps of the American forces to halt. Gov 
 ernor Harrison at once perceiving their 
 misapprehension, rode forward, and calling 
 some of the Indians to him, assured them 
 he had no intention of attacking them, and 
 that he was simply in search of a suitable 
 
 advancing, they endeavoured to cut him off place for an encampment. Upon inquiring 
 from the army. Deeming this final effort of them if there were any other water con- 
 to 
 
 to open a negotiation sufficient to evince 
 his wish to avoid the necessity of proceed 
 ing to harsher measures, Governor Harri 
 son determined no longer to hesitate in 
 280 
 
 venient besides that the river afforded, an 
 Indian with whom he was well acquainted, 
 directed him to an elevated spot, north 
 west of the village, nearly surrounded by 
 
A.D. 1811.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF TIPPECANOB. 
 
 an open prairie, with water conveniently 
 near, and a sufficiency of wood for fuel. 
 On a favourable report from Majors Clark 
 and Taylor, who were sent to examine the 
 spot recommended, the army moved for 
 ward, and encamped late in the evening-, on 
 the place selected a dry piece of ground, 
 which rose about ten feet above the level of 
 a marshy prairie in front towards the town, 
 and about twice as high above a similar 
 prairie in the rear ; through which, near 
 the bank, ran a small stream, clothed with 
 willows and brushwood. On the left of the 
 encampment, this branch of land grew 
 wider; while, to the right, it gradually 
 narrowed, and terminated about 150 paces 
 from the right flank, in an abrupt point. 
 The infantry, in two columns, occupied the 
 front and rear, separated, on the left, 180 
 yards, and on the right, about one-half that 
 distance. The left flank was covered by 
 250 mounted riflemen, under General 
 Wells, of Kentucky ; and the right flank 
 by Spencer s rifle corps, numbering eighty 
 men. The front line was composed of one 
 battalion of the 4th regiment of United 
 States infantry, under Major Floyd, flanked 
 on the right by two companies, and on the 
 left by one company of Indiana militia, 
 under Colonel Bartholomew. The rear 
 line was formed of another battalion of the 
 4th regiment of United States infantry, 
 under Colonel Baer, flanked by four com 
 panies of Indiana volunteers, under Lieu 
 tenant-colonel Decker. The mounted 
 dragoons, under Major Daviess, were 
 encamped in the rear of the front line and 
 left flank, and held in reserve as a dis 
 posable force. The encampment was about 
 three-fourths of a mile from the Indian 
 town. The order was given to the army, 
 in the event of an attack by the savages 
 during the night, for each corps to main 
 tain its position at all hazards until relieved. 
 The dragoons, under Major Daviess, were 
 directed, in case of a night attack, to parade 
 dismounted, armed with swords and pistols, 
 and to wait for orders. The night guard 
 comprised two captains commands of 
 twenty-four men and four non-commis 
 sioned officers, and two subalterns guards 
 of twenty men aiid non-commissioned offi 
 cers, all under a field-officer of the day. 
 
 The troops went to rest with their clothes 
 and accoutrements on, and their arms by 
 their sides. The officers slept in the same 
 manner ; and it was Governor Harrison s 
 invariable practice, when in the field, to be 
 
 always ready to mount his horse at a 
 moment s warning. The sad fate which 
 had too often befallen an American army 
 sent out to fight the wily savages of 
 which the night attack and defeat of St. 
 Clair, in 1792, as given in a previous page, 
 is a notable example had demonstrated to 
 Governor Harrison the absolute necessity of 
 the utmost precaution, and hence his 
 vigilance to guard against surprise. On 
 the morning of the 7th, he had arisen at 
 fifteen minutes to four o clock, and sat by 
 the fire, conversing with the members of 
 his military family, who were reclining on 
 their blankets, waiting for the signal which 
 was about to be given to call up the troops. 
 The orderly drum had already been roused 
 to beat the reveille. There was a moon, 
 but, in consequence of a cloudy sky, it 
 afforded little light. It was at this moment 
 that the attack apprehended, so judiciously 
 prepared for by Harrison, was made. The 
 treacherous savages had stealthily crawled 
 up close to the sentries, whom they in 
 tended to rush upon and kill before they 
 could fire or raise an alarm. One of the 
 sentries, however, discovered an Indian 
 creeping towards him in the grass, and 
 immediately shot him. The Indian war- 
 whoop at once gave the whole army notice 
 of their proximity, and of their hostile in 
 tentions. The first movement of the savages 
 was a desperate charge upon the left flank 
 of the Americans The pickets were driven 
 in, and Captain Barton s company of regu 
 lars, and Captain Guiger s company of 
 mounted riflemen, received the first onset. 
 Though the manner of the attack was of a 
 nature to frighten and paralyse the men, 
 but few of whom had ever before been in 
 battle yet, as soon as they could be formed 
 and posted, they maintained their ground 
 with desperate valour, and gallantly resisted 
 the furious attack of their savage assailants. 
 The camp-fires, as their light was more 
 serviceable to the savages than to the Ame 
 ricans, were immediately extinguished, ex 
 cept those opposite Barton s and Guiger s 
 companies, where the suddenness of the 
 attack left no time for it to be done. 
 
 Governor Harrison mounted his horse 
 upon the first alarm, and proceeded towards 
 the point of attack. Finding the line there 
 much weakened, he directed two companies 
 from the centre of the rear line to be 
 brought up, and formed across the angle 
 in the rear of Barton s and Guiger s com 
 panies. While passing through the camp, 
 
 281 
 
DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1811. 
 
 towards the left of the front line, Major 
 Daviess rode up, and informed him that 
 the troops in that quarter were severely 
 harassed by Indians, concealed behind some 
 trees near the line, and asked permission to 
 dislodge them. Governor Harrison autho 
 rised him to do so ; but in attempting the 
 exploit, he, as well as Colonel Isaac White, 
 of Indiana, who acted as a volunteer in 
 Daviess s troop, fell mortally wounded. 
 
 On the right, meanwhile, the attack on 
 Captain Spencer s and Warwick s com 
 panies became very severe. Captain War 
 wick was mortally wounded ; and Captain 
 Spencer and his lieutenants were all killed. 
 In passing towards that flank, Governor 
 Harrison found Captain Robb s company 
 near the centre of the camp, having been 
 driven from their post, or rather had 
 fallen back without orders. He at once 
 led them to the aid of Captain Spencer s 
 company, where they maintained their 
 ground with firmness, and fought bravely, 
 having lost seventeen men during the 
 battle. While Governor Harrison was 
 leading this company into action, his aide, 
 Colonel Owen, was shot down by his side. 
 Governor Harrison had rode a grey horse 
 the day before ; and as Colonel Owen was 
 mounted on a white horse, he was un 
 doubtedly mistaken for him, as he was killed 
 by one of the few Indians who had broken 
 through the lines, and who are supposed to 
 have determined on sacrificing their own 
 lives, in an attempt to ensure victory by 
 killing the commander-in-chief. Governor 
 Harrison happened, fortunately, not to be 
 riding his own horse, as, in the sudden 
 ness of the attack, he mounted the horse 
 that chanced to be nearest at hand. To 
 this trifling circumstance he owed, un 
 doubtedly, not alone the preservation of 
 his life, but, through that preservation, the 
 victory he achieved. On such slight in 
 cidents do important issues often hang. 
 
 The vacancy caused by the retreat oi 
 Captain Robb s company, had been filled 
 up by Captain Prescott s company ol 
 United States infantry. Soon after Major 
 Daviess was wounded, and his cavalry 
 driven back, Captain Snelling, by order oi 
 the governor, charged upon the same 
 Indians, with fixed bayonets, and dislodgec 
 them with considerable loss. The fire of 
 the Indians was now very heavy upon 
 every part of the American lines. The 
 battle, indeed, was maintained on all sides 
 with desperate valour. The savages ad- 
 282 
 
 vanced and retreated by a rattling noise 
 made with deer-hoofs ; they fought with 
 nthusiasm and determination, apparently 
 resolved to conquer or to die. 
 
 As day approached, Captain Snelling s 
 ompany, Captain Posey s (under Lieu- 
 :enant Albright), and Captain Scott s and 
 Wilson s, were driven from the rear, and 
 ? ormed on the left flank ; while Captain 
 ook s and Baer s companies were ordered 
 to the right. General Wells was ordered 
 to take command of the corps formed on the 
 [eft, and, with the aid of some dragoons 
 who were now mounted, and commanded 
 by Lieutenant Wallace to charge the 
 Indians in that direction, which, after a 
 reconnaissance of their position, he did 
 successfully precipitating them into the 
 marsh, through which the cavalry could 
 not pursue them. At the same time, Cap 
 tain Cook s and Baer s companies, with the 
 aid of the riflemen and militia on the right 
 flank, charged the Indians, and put them 
 to flight in that quarter, pursuing them as 
 far as the ground would permit. 
 
 Driven from all their positions, the 
 Indians dispersed in every direction. So 
 roughly were they handled in the retreat, 
 that they left many of their killed and 
 wounded on the field to them an evidence 
 of positive defeat. 
 
 The number of the savages who were killed 
 and wounded in this battle, was estimated at 
 about 150. Harrison s loss was very severe. 
 Four commissioned officers, and thirty-three 
 non-commissioned officers and privates, were 
 killed ; and twelve commissioned officers, 
 and 117 non-commissioned officers and 
 privates, wounded. 
 
 Tecumseh, who did not dream that the 
 whites would strike the first blow, had no 
 part in this battle he being absent on a 
 mission to some of the southern tribes, in 
 citing them to war against the whites. 
 The prophet, during the action, was seated, 
 secure from danger, on an adjacent emi 
 nence, singing a war-song. His followers 
 had been told by him that the Great Spirit 
 would render the forces of the Americans 
 unsuccessful, and that their bullets would 
 not hurt the Indians, who would have 
 light while the Americans would be in 
 volved in darkness. When informed that 
 his men were falling in great numbers, 
 and getting the worst of the fight, lie 
 ordered them to fight on, assuring them it 
 would soon be as he had predicted; and then 
 began to sing louder than before. 
 
A.I). 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RETURN OF THE ARMY. 
 
 Throughout the conflict, the forces under 
 Governor Harrison displayed the most 
 fearless conduct, and were thus enabled to 
 resist one of the most furious assaults ever 
 made by the Indians. Major Daviess 
 who fell, as just mentioned, early in the 
 action held a high position in Kentucky 
 as a lawyer and orator ; and, in the field, 
 was a brave and able officer. The legis 
 lature of Kentucky wore mourning for 
 thirty days, in testimony of their regret 
 for the loss of Daviess, wens, and others, 
 belonging to that state. 
 
 Governor Harrison, after laying waste 
 the Indian settlement, from which the de 
 feated enemy were obliged to fly, returned, 
 on the 9th of November, to the settled 
 country. The prophet was abandoned by 
 most of his followers ; who, on their defeat, 
 lost all faith in his supernatural preten 
 sions. Even the efforts of Tecumseh, on 
 his return from his southern mission, 
 although he lost none of his own influence 
 
 with them, failed to restore that of the 
 prophet. On the contrary, the life of the 
 latter was endangered by the reaction in 
 the feelings of those he had so successfully 
 made his dupes. 
 
 After their defeat at Tippecanoe, the 
 i Indians seemed inclined for peace ; but it 
 ! was a peace not destined to be of long 
 duration. Though they had been over 
 powered they had not been conciliated. 
 The same bitter and deadly hatred of the 
 | people and government of the United 
 States, implanted in their breasts through 
 the influence and efforts of Tecumseh, still 
 rankled there, and only awaited the oppor 
 tunity to give it action an opportunity 
 which soon occurred in the commencement 
 of hostilities between the United States 
 and Great Britain; when the savages, 
 under Tecumseh, became the active allies 
 of the latter power, as will be seen in 
 future chapters devoted to the history of 
 that war. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN ; THE ARMIES ON THE CANADIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 As the reader will have seen, from the pe 
 rusal of the preceding pages, for years 
 the relations existing between the United 
 States and Great Britain, had been of an 
 anomalous and unsettled character. Al 
 though the two governments were not in a 
 state of actual hostilities, yet the irritating 
 discussions of many embarrassing and in 
 tricate questions of international and mari 
 time law, with the collisions of antagonistic 
 opinions and pretensions ; the criminations 
 and recriminations, which had for a long 
 period formed the principal subjects of their 
 diplomatic correspondence and intercourse, 
 as well as prominent topics of newspaper 
 politics, had created a tendency to excite 
 and keep alive a vindictive feeling in both 
 countries, which could scarcely otherwise 
 find utterance, than in the "vallied thunder" 
 upon the field of battle. 
 
 In the mother country, the opinion was 
 prevalent and this opinion evidently had 
 its influence with the government, and 
 
 with the people in giving currency to their 
 hostile feelings that the American govern 
 ment and people had evinced an unjustifi 
 able spirit of hostility towards Great 
 Britain, while they had manifested an undue 
 partiality towards the interests and views 
 of France, with whom Great Britain was 
 then at war. 
 
 The people of the United States, on the 
 other hand, were irritated and incensed by 
 the attacks made on their commerce, 
 through the extension of the system of 
 blockade, and the vigorous execution of the 
 orders in council ; by the vexatious claim ot 
 the right of search, as exercised by English 
 cruisers, not always on adequate grounds, 
 or in the least offensive manner ; and by 
 the impressment and detention of their 
 seamen. 
 
 Other motives, with both countries, un 
 doubtedly had their effect, if in not con 
 ducing to, at least in not preventing, the 
 outbreak of hostilities. In England, it was 
 
 283 
 
CAUSE OF THE WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 believed and urged that a war with the 
 United States must, undoubtedly, be of 
 short continuance ; being, as it necessarily 
 must be, from the wide ocean which sepa 
 rated the two countries, in a great measure, 
 a war upon the water. From the immense 
 superiority of Great Britain as a naval 
 power, it must very soon result in a decisive 
 success on her part, and of defeat and dis 
 grace on that of her opponent. With the 
 United States, in addition to the grievances 
 already named, as causes for war, may, 
 perhaps, be added the hope of conquering 
 Canada, and of enriching themselves by 
 the capture of English merchant ships, 
 through a system of privateering, at that 
 period not looked upon as so objectionable 
 as it has since become. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs between 
 the United States and Great Britain, when 
 it was determined, by the friends of the 
 administration in the American congress, 
 to recommend a declaration of war. As a 
 prelude to that event, an act was passed on 
 the 4th of April, 1812, laying an embargo 
 on vessels for the term of ninety days. 
 
 As no doubt could be entertained that, 
 in the event of a war between the two 
 countries, an attempt would be made to 
 invade and capture Canada by the United 
 States forces ; Sir James Craig, the gover 
 nor of that province, took every measure, 
 with the means at his command, which he 
 deemed conducive to its protection and de 
 fence. Ilad he confined himself to this line 
 of conduct alone, no blame could have been 
 imputed to him ; but he thought himself 
 justified in sending a person, by the name 
 of John Henry, into the United States, on an 
 ambiguous and reprehensible errand. On 
 the 9th of March, 1812, Mr. Madison 
 transmitted to congress a special message, 
 with certain documents which had been 
 communicated to him by Henry, who 
 alleged that he had been employed as a 
 secret agent of the British government in the 
 New England states, " in intrigues with the 
 disaffected, for the purpose of bringing 
 about resistance to the laws, and eventually, 
 in concert with a British force, of destroy 
 ing the Union, and forming the eastern 
 part thereof into a political connection with 
 Great Britain/ Henry had made a volun 
 tary discovery of the fact, in consequence 
 of the neglect he experienced from the 
 British ministry, and from the still stronger 
 inducement of a pecuniary compensation 
 to the amount of 50.000 dollars, paic 
 284 
 
 lira by the American administration, 
 which was drawn from the treasury, on 
 account of the secret service fund. 
 
 This conduct, on the part of one of the 
 lighest authorities of Great Britain in 
 ^orth America, the president characterised 
 as " a flagrant breach of public faith, com 
 mitted at a time when Great Britain and 
 America were employed in discussions of 
 amity and reconciliation." 
 
 The British minister at Washington, in 
 a letter to Mr. Madison, the secretary of 
 state, dated the llth of March, 1812, dis- 
 laimed most solemnly, on his own part, 
 baving had any knowledge whatever of the 
 xistence of such a mission, or of such 
 transactions as the communication of Mr. 
 Henry referred to, and expressed his con 
 viction that, from what he knew of those 
 branches of his majesty s government with 
 which he had intercourse, no countenance 
 whatever was given by them to any schemes 
 hostile to the internal tranquillity of the 
 United States. 
 
 Henry left Washington on the llth of 
 February, and, on the 9th of March, he 
 sailed for France, in the United States 
 sloop of war, Wasp. It is worthy of men 
 tion, that Mr. Madison received the dis 
 closures made by Henry, at least twenty- 
 five days before he made them known to 
 congress ; that when he did so make them 
 known, Henry was actually under sail for 
 France, and, consequently, could not be 
 called on for explanations. 
 
 The exposure of the Henry plot proved 
 of no advantage to the administration and 
 its supporters, but had a tendency to in 
 crease and extend the feelings of exaspera 
 tion and enmity towards the government, 
 entertained by a large majority of the 
 New England people, whose characters 
 were assailed by the pretended exposure of 
 Henry, although he did not mention the 
 name of a solitary person who ever uttered 
 a sentence of disaffection to the Union, cr 
 of a wish to form a connection with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 On the 1st of June, 1812, the president 
 transmitted a special message to congress ; 
 in which he reviewed the difficulties which 
 had occurred in our relations with Great 
 Britain, and those which then existed. 
 He complained of the violation which the 
 American flag had so repeatedly suffered 
 from British vessels, " on the great high 
 way of nations ;" of the practice of im 
 pressing American seamen ; of the viola- 
 
A.I>. 1812. J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [WAR DECLARED. 
 
 lion of the American waters, and of the 
 infraction of the fundamental principle of 
 the law of nations, by the " pretended 
 blockades." But all these causes of war 
 are, in the message, held as subordinate to 
 the "orders in council," both in the in 
 justice which they display, and in the 
 injury which they inflict. These orders 
 were, it is said, evidently framed so as best 
 to suit the political views, and the com 
 mercial jealousies of the British govern 
 ment; the consequences which would re 
 sult from them to neutral nations, were 
 never taken into the account, or, if con 
 templated as foreseen, as highly prejudicial, 
 that consideration had no weight in the 
 minds of those by whom they were im 
 posed. It was, indeed, attempted to justify 
 them by an appeal to similar measures 
 adopted and carried into execution by 
 France; as if America could be satisfied 
 with the unjust and injurious conduct of 
 one belligerent, by that belligerent proving 
 that she had been treated in an equally 
 unjust and injurious manner by the other. 
 But what was the fact? France, indeed, by 
 her Bei-lin and Milan decrees, manifested 
 her willingness and disposition to impede 
 and injure neutral commerce, in order that 
 she might thus cripple the trade of Great 
 Britain ; but these decrees were almost a 
 dead letter: British superiority at sea pre 
 vented them from being acted upon in any 
 effective or permanent manner ; it was 
 therefore absurd to attempt to justify the 
 mischief which actually flowed on America 
 from the orders in council, by appealing to 
 decrees, which, while Britain remained 
 mistress of the seas, were utterly without 
 effect. The British government was sur 
 prised and indignant that America viewed 
 the conduct of France more coolly than 
 the conduct of England ; not recollecting 
 that edicts executed against millions of Ame 
 rican property, could not be a retaliation 
 on edicts comparatively impossible to be 
 executed. Besides, this plea of retaliation 
 was untenable when viewed in another 
 light : to be just, retaliation should fall on 
 the party setting the guilty example, and 
 not on the innocent party; which, more 
 over, could not be charged with an ac 
 quiescence in the injustice practised by 
 France. 
 
 Such was the substance of the message 
 which was referred to the committee on 
 foreign relations, in the House of Representa 
 tives, a majority of whom agreed upon and 
 
 VOL. ii. 2 P 
 
 reported to the house, on the 3rd of June, a 
 manifesto, as a basis of a declaration of 
 war. The reasons given by the committee 
 for recommending an immediate appeal to 
 arms, were a reiteration of the complaints 
 before referred to ; viz., the impressment 
 of American seamen by the commanders of 
 British ships of war; the British doctrine 
 and system of blockade; and the adoption 
 and continuance of the orders in council of 
 that government, which operated exten 
 sively to the interruption and injury of 
 American commerce. To which was added 
 a long and unsatisfied demand for rermine- 
 ration on account of depredations com 
 mitted by English subjects on the lawful 
 commerce of the United States. 
 
 During the proceedings on the subject 
 of the declaration of war, congress sat with 
 closed doors. The measure was adopted in 
 the House of Representatives by a vote of 
 seventy-nine to forty- nine against it; but 
 was delayed in the senate for fourteen days 
 after it was submitted to that body, when 
 it finally passed by a vote of nineteen to 
 thirteen. At first it was evident the 
 majority were against war; and a propo 
 sition was made, on which the senate was 
 equally divided on the first vote, for grant 
 ing reprisals against the commerce of Great 
 Britain, by public or private ships of the 
 United States ; but, after several days of 
 disciplining and urging, a majority voted 
 in favour of it. 
 
 Of the seventy-nine members of the 
 house who voted for the war, sixty-two 
 resided south, and seventeen north, of the 
 Delaware ; of the nineteen senators who 
 voted on the same side, fourteen resided 
 south, and five north, of the Delaware. 
 The whole number of members in both 
 branches, residing north of the Delaware, 
 was sixty-eight, of whom only twenty-two 
 voted for the war.* 
 
 The act declaring war was approved by 
 the president of the United States, on the 
 18th of June, 1812, and is remarkably short 
 and comprehensive. It was drawn by the 
 attorney- general of the United States, Wil 
 liam Pinkney, and is as follows : 
 
 " An Act declaring War between he United King 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the De 
 pendencies thereof, anil the United States of 
 America and their Territories. 
 " Be it enacted by the Senate and Howe of Re 
 presentatives of the United States of America, in 
 Congress axvembled, that war he, and the same is 
 hereby declared to exist, between the United 
 Sullivan. 
 
 285 
 
THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 18 J 2. 
 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the 
 dependencies thereof, and the United States of 
 America and their territories; and that the presi 
 dent of the United Slates is hereby authorised 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, commis 
 sions, as letters of marque and general reprisal, 
 in such form as he shall think proper, and under 
 the seal of the United States, against the vessels, 
 goods, and effects of the government of the said 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 the subjects thereof." 
 
 On the day following the date of the 
 above act, the president issued his procla 
 mation announcing the fact, and calling 
 upon the people of the United States to 
 sustain the public authorities in the tnec- 
 sures to be adopted " for obtaining a speedy, 
 a just, and an honourable peace." 
 
 On the 26th of June, congress passed an 
 act respecting letters of marque, prizes, and 
 prize goods; and great expectations were 
 entertained of the injuries to be inflicted 
 upon British commerce by privateers, as 
 well as the profits to be gained thereby 
 by American adventurers in such enter 
 prises. 
 
 Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, one 
 of the few surviving officers of the revolu 
 tion, was appointed major-general and 
 commander-in-chief of the American army. 
 His head-quarters were at Greenbush, on 
 the Hudson river, opposite Albany, New 
 York. 
 
 The British government had resisted the 
 demand of the American government for 
 the repeal of the orders in council, from 
 August, 1810, to May, 1812, on the spe 
 cific ground that the French decree of 
 revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees, 
 of the former date, was conditional. But 
 upon receiving official intelligence that 
 France had definitely revoked her decrees, 
 the British orders in council were repealed, 
 in June, 1812, within five days after the 
 declaration of war by congress. A little 
 delay on the part of the American govern 
 ment would have removed this ground of 
 controversy, and left it nothing to contend 
 for but freedom from impressment. The 
 French emperor had authorised his minister 
 to declare to the American government, 
 that the Berlin and Milan decrees were 
 revoked on the 1st of November, 1810. 
 Upon this annunciation, application was 
 made by the American government to that 
 of Great Britain, to follow the example set 
 by France, and repeal her orders in council. 
 This was declined on the part of Great 
 286 
 
 Britain, on the ground, as just remarked, 
 that the revocation of the French decrees 
 was not absolute, but conditional. This 
 question gave rise to repeated and laboured 
 discussions between the two governments; 
 the America?! negotiators maintaining 
 with great zeal that the repeal was absolute, 
 and those of Great Britain contending, with 
 nqual pertinacity, that it was provisional. 
 In the course of a conversation between 
 Mr. Barlow (the American minister in 
 France) and the Duke of Bassano, in May, 
 1812, the duke produced a decree, dated 
 April 28th, 1811, more than a year pre 
 vious, declaring the Berlin and Milan 
 decrees definitively revoked; and to date 
 from the 1st of November, 1810. 
 
 On the 26th of June, or eight days 
 after the declaration of war, and, of course, 
 before news of the repeal of the orders in 
 council had reached America, Mr. Monroe, 
 secretary of state, wrote to Mr. Russell, 
 charge de affaires of the United States in 
 England, informing him of the declaration 
 of war, and directing him to state to the 
 British government that the United States 
 had entered upon this contest with reluc 
 tance, and was ready to make peace as soon 
 as the wrongs of which she complained 
 were redressed. Mr. Russell was autho 
 rised to negotiate an armistice by sea and 
 land, on the condition that the orders in 
 council should be repealed, and no illegal 
 blockades substituted for them ; the impress 
 ment of American seamen discontinued ; 
 and those already impressed, restored ; and, 
 as an inducement to discontinue their prac 
 tice of impressment, the American gov 
 ernment pledged itself to pass a law, 
 prohibiting the employment* of British 
 seamen, either in the public or commercial 
 service of the United States. 
 
 These propositions being made by Mr. 
 Russell, Lord Castlereagh (the British 
 minister), on the 29th of August, commu 
 nicated to him their rejection by his govern 
 ment ; at the same time informing him that 
 measures had been taken to authorise Sir 
 John Borlase Warren (the British admiral 
 on the American station), to propose to the 
 United States an immediate and reciprocal 
 cessation of hostilities ; and, in that event, 
 to assure them that full effect should be 
 given to the provisions for repealing the 
 orders in council. On the subject of im 
 pressment, Lord Castlereagh said the British 
 government were ready, as heretofore, to 
 receive from the government of the United 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 States any proposition which might cheek 
 the abuse of the practice; but they could : 
 not consent to suspend the exercise of a 
 right upon which the naval strength of; 
 the empire materially depended, until they | 
 were fully convinced that other means \ 
 could be devised and adopter!, by which the 
 object to be obtained by impressment, could 
 be secured. On receiving this reply, Mr. 
 Russell demanded and obtained his pass 
 ports, and left England in September. 
 
 On the arrival of the intelligence in 
 America of the repeal of the orders in 
 cnincil, Admiral Warren, then on the 
 Halifax station, addressed a letter to Mr. 
 Monroe, apprising him of the act, and 
 proposing a cessation of hostilities; and 
 threatening, in case of a refusal, that the 
 obnoxious orders should be revived. The 
 American government had, in the mean 
 time, been apprised of the failure of Mr. 
 Russell s negotiations; and Mr. Monroe 
 replied to Admiral Warren, that America 
 could not hope for a durable peace until the 
 question of impressment had been settled. 
 " The claim of the British government.," 
 said Mr. Monroe, "is to take from the 
 merchant vessels of other countries, British 
 subjects. In the practice, the commanders 
 of the British ships of war often take from 
 the merchant vessels of the United States 
 American citizens. If the United States 
 forbid the employment of British subjects 
 in their service, and enforce the prohibition 
 by suitable regulations and penalties, the 
 motive for the practice is taken away. It 
 is in this mode that the president is willing 
 to accommodate this important controversy 
 with the British, government ; and it cannot 
 be conceived on what ground the arrange 
 ment can be refused. He is willing that 
 Great Britain should be secured against the 
 evils of which she complains; but he seeks, 
 on the other hand, that the citizens of the 
 United States should be protected against 
 a practice, which, while it degrades the 
 nation, deprives them of their rights as 
 freemen; takes them by force from their 
 families and country into a foreign service, 
 to fight the battles of a foreign power, 
 perhaps against their own kindred and 
 country." 
 
 Admiral Warren having no authority 
 to enter on the question of impressment, 
 nothing further remained but to drop the 
 pen, and submit the questions at issue to 
 the arbitrament of the sword. 
 
 When the British orders in council were 
 
 rescinded, on the 23rd of June, the English 
 government felt assured that actual hos 
 tilities would not, take place. Great, Britain 
 was, however, at that moment absorbed by 
 her stupendous struggle with France; and 
 her statesmen had neither time nor thought 
 to bestow upon a remote and comparatively 
 insignificant conflict upon the other side of 
 the Atlantic, with an unarmed, unwarlike, 
 and divided people. Nearly seven months 
 therefore elapsed, after the declaration of 
 war, before England took any important 
 step of counter- action. The English mani 
 festo was not issued till the 9ih of January, 
 1813, though letters of marque and reprisal 
 upon American commerce had been issued 
 some 7non ths previous. In that manifesto 
 the prince-regent said, that " the real 
 origin of the contest was to be found in that 
 spirit which had long unhappily actuated 
 the councils of the United States ; their 
 marked partiality in palliating and assisting 
 the aggressive tyranny of France; their 
 systematic endeavour to inflame the people 
 against the defensive measures of Great 
 Britain; their injurious conduct towards 
 Spain, the immediate ally of Great Britain ; 
 and their unworthy desertion of the cause 
 of other neutral nations." " It is through 
 the prevalence of such councils," says tho 
 declaration, " that America has been asso 
 ciated in policy with France, and committed 
 in war against Great Britain ; and under 
 what conduct, on the part of France, has 
 the government of the United States thus 
 lent itself to the enemy ? The contemptuous 
 violation of the commercial treaty of tho 
 year 1800, between France and the United 
 States ; the treacherous seizure of all Ame 
 rican vessels and cargoes in every harbour 
 subject to the control of the French arms; 
 the tyrannical principles of the Berlin and 
 Milan decrees, and the confiscations under 
 them ; the subsequent condemnation under 
 the Rambouillet decree, ante-dated or con 
 cealed, to render it more effectual ; the 
 French commercial regulations, which ren 
 dered the traffic of the United States with 
 France almost illusory ; the burning of their 
 merchant ships at sea, long after the alleged 
 repeal of the French decrees ; all these acts 
 of violence, on the part of France, produced 
 from the government of the United States 
 only such complaints as end in acquiescence 
 and submission, or are accompanied by 
 suggestions for enabling France to give the 
 semblance of legal form to her usurpations, 
 by converting them into municipal regula- 
 
 287 
 
MOB ii4 BALTIMORE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 tions. This disposition of the government 
 of the United States ; this complete sub 
 serviency to the ruler of France ; this 
 hostile temper towai ds Great Britain, are 
 evident in almost every page of the official 
 correspondence of the American with the 
 French government, and form the real 
 causes of the present war between America 
 aad Great Britain." 
 
 Immediately after the declaration oi war 
 was announced, a party was organised, com 
 posed principally of the federalists and 
 some disaffected democrats, under the 
 name of " the peace party." It endea 
 voured to compel the government to make 
 peace by raising every possible obstruction 
 to the prosecution of the war. This course 
 was considered as more actuated by feelings 
 of party spirit than by patriotism, and 
 many prominent federalists gave the gov 
 ernment their support, whenever they 
 found it disposed to carry on the war 
 with vigour and effect. The exasperation 
 of party feeling led, soon after the declara 
 tion of war, to an event of the most unfor 
 tunate and disgraceful nature. A politi 
 cal journal, called the Federal Republican, 
 published in the city of Baltimore, had 
 distinguished itself by its uniform and vio 
 lent opposition to the measures of the gov 
 ernment; and thus rendered itself ob 
 noxious to a great majority of the inhabi 
 tants of that city, who were warm supporters 
 of the administration. On the evening of 
 the 20th of June, on which day some severe 
 Strictures on the recent declaration of war 
 had appeared in its columns, the printing- 
 office of the newspaper was attacked by a 
 number of persons, and the types, books, 
 and furniture destroyed. The outrage be 
 came immediately the subject of legal inves 
 tigation, and the publication of the paper 
 was suspended for a short period, when it 
 was resumed at Georgetown, in the district 
 of Columbia. The proprietor of the journal, 
 however, apparently determined to perse 
 vere in the exercise of his legal rights, 
 returned to Baltimore, and, with a number 
 of his friends, who were provided with 
 weapons and means of defence, took a house 
 in that city, from which a paper, contain 
 ing violent and inflammatory remarks, was 
 issued on the 28th of July. In the course 
 of the evening, a number of boys collected 
 in front of the house, and, by nine o clock, a 
 considerable mob had assembled. Stones 
 were thrown at the windows, and attempts 
 made to force the door. A volley was then 
 288 
 
 fired from within, by which one man was 
 killed and several wounded. This event 
 greatly irritated the populace, who brought 
 up a carronade, with the intention of bat 
 tering the house ; but some of the police 
 and other respectable citizens having inter 
 posed, the garrison agreed to surrender, on 
 a promise of protection, and were escorted 
 to the gaol about seven o clock on the morn 
 ing of the 29 ih. To preserve the peace of the 
 city, a detachment of militia was called out, 
 for the purpose of protecting the gaol ; but 
 such was the disposition of the people, that 
 but a small number obeyed the call, and 
 those were soon afterwards dismissed. Soon 
 after dark, however, a mob collected in the 
 immediate vicinity of the place where the 
 offenders were confined, with the unmis 
 takable intention of inflicting summary 
 punishment upon them. Notwithstanding 
 the strenuous resistance of the mayor, aided 
 by the constabulary force at his command, 
 they succeeded in forcing an entrance into 
 the prison, and rushed upon the objects of 
 their indignation. Although several of the 
 prisoners succeeded in making their escape, 
 the greater portion were severely dealt 
 with ; and General Lingan, a gray-haired 
 veteran of the Revolution, expired beneath 
 the blows of his sanguinary assailants ; 
 neither his gray hairs nor his patriotic ser 
 vices in the " times that tried men s souls," 
 proving any shield to their relentless fury. 
 Did not the duty of an impartial historian 
 compel the record, it were to be wished, for 
 the credit of the republic, that such an 
 event could be for ever blotted from her 
 annals. The liberty of the press is the 
 corner- stone of freedom ; and however irri 
 tating and unpatriotic the language of the 
 editors of the Republican might have been, 
 better, far better, to have let it pass with 
 silent contempt, than to have permitted 
 such an outrage upon law, civilisation, and 
 humanity. 
 
 Congress adjourned on the 6th of July, 
 1812 ; previous to which it passed a 
 resolution, requesting the president to re 
 commend a day of public humiliation and 
 prayer to be observed by the people of the 
 United States, and the offering of suppli 
 cations to Almighty God for the safety 
 and welfare of the states, His blessings on 
 their arms, and the speedy restoration of 
 peace. The president, therefore, issued his 
 proclamation on the 9th of July, recom 
 mending the third Thursday in August to 
 be set apart for the above purpose, which 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MASSACHUSETTS MILITIA. 
 
 day was accordingly observed throughout 
 nearly the whole country. 
 
 Before proceeding to a narrative of the 
 events which followed the declaration of , 
 war, it is perhaps proper to enter into a . 
 brief view of the means possessed by the ; 
 government of the United States for prose 
 cuting it. During the presidency of Mr. 
 Jetl erson, 1801 8, as has already been 
 shown in previous pages, the whole regular 
 army of the nation was about 3,000 
 men. In the last year of his administra 
 tion, an augmentation of 6.000 men was 
 directed ; but no further addition was made 
 to this furce until a short time previous to 
 the commencement of hostilities with Great 
 Britain. On the llth of January, 1812, 
 an act was passed, authorising the presi 
 dent to raise ten i-eginients of infantry, two 
 regiments of artillery, and one regiment of 
 light dragoons ; making a total of 25,000 
 men, to be enlisted for five years. On the 
 6th of the following month, an act, autho 
 rising the president to accept the services 
 of any number of volunteers not exceeding 
 50,000, was passed ; and, on the 10th of 
 April, authority was given him to call upon 
 the governors of the respective states for 
 their quotas of militia ; 100,000 of whom 
 were directed to be held in readiness for 
 service. A large nominal force was thus 
 created ; but the larger part of it existed 
 only in name. Of the regular troops, 
 scarcely one-fourth had been enlisted when 
 hostilities commenced ; and these were ne 
 cessarily raw and undisciplined. Few even 
 of the officers were well acquainted with 
 the art of war. Most of those who had 
 served in the revolution had been gathered 
 to their final resting-place, or had become 
 incapacitated, by age or infirmity, for active 
 service ; and, in the long period of peace 
 which had intervened since the treaty of 
 1783, little opportunity had offered for an 
 acquisition of military science. 
 
 Of the volunteers, a very small propor 
 tion of the expected number came forward, 
 and the embodying and organisation of the 
 militia were attended with great difficulty 
 and delay. Most of the systems by which 
 the militia of the different states was 
 regulated, were injudicious and defective. 
 Officers, as well as men, were undisciplined ; 
 and so brief was their term of service, that 
 they had scarcely time to become acquainted 
 with the rudiments of military knowledge, 
 when their places would be supplied by 
 .others, who had the same course of instruc 
 
 tion to go through. More serious diffi 
 culties, however, occurred with respect to 
 the militia of some of the eastern states. 
 The constitution of the United States gives 
 to congress power " to provide for calling 
 forth the militia, to execute the laws of the 
 Union, suppress insurrections, and repel 
 invasions;"* and declares that the pre 
 sident shall be " commaiider-in-chief of the 
 militia of the several states when called 
 into the service of the United States."f 
 From the construction given to these 
 articles by the national and most of the 
 state governments, it was supposed that the 
 power of determining when the exigencies 
 existed in which the militia were to be 
 called forth, was vested in congress, and 
 that the right of commanding the whole 
 militia being given to the president, the 
 right of commanding a portion of it equally 
 belonged to him, which power he might 
 lawfully delegate to any other officer, 
 provided he were not inferior in rank to 
 the commander of the drafted militia. A 
 different view of the case, however, was 
 taken by the governors of Massachusetts, 
 Connecticut, and Rhode Island ; in which 
 they were supported by the decisions of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court of Massa 
 chusetts. They maintained that the state 
 governments had a right to exercise a dis 
 cretion on the subject of calling forth the 
 militia, and to determine when the necessity 
 existed ; and while it was admitted that 
 the president had the power of command 
 ing if present, it was denied that he could 
 constitutionally devolve the command upon 
 another. The arguments by which their 
 opinions were supported, were more specious 
 than solid ; the danger of the consolidation 
 of the militia in the hands of an ambitious 
 ! leader was dwelt upon, while the more im 
 mediate and urgent danger of invasion and 
 devastation was overlooked. The militia of 
 these states was therefore withheld from 
 the public service at this important crisis 
 a course of action which produced a great 
 sensation throughout the United States ; 
 but was fully justified by a large majority 
 of the people of the several states, which 
 ! thus withheld their militia from the demand 
 of the general government. It was generally 
 condemned, however, by the other sections 
 of the country. 
 
 At the moment when the United States 
 declared war against the most powerful 
 maritime nation on the globe, her own 
 
 * Article I., sect. 8. f Article II., sect. 2. 
 
 289 
 
UNITED STATES JS T AVY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 naval force did not include a single ship of 
 the line ; and the utter annihilation of her 
 frigates and smaller vessels was confidently 
 predicted in both America and England. 
 The following list comprises all the pub 
 lic armed vessels of the United States 
 at the commencement of hostilities in 
 1812 : 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rate. 
 
 Guns 
 actually 
 mounted. 
 
 Commanders. 
 
 IN ACTUAL SERVICE. 
 
 Constitution 
 United States 
 President 
 
 44 
 44 
 44 
 
 52 
 52 
 52 
 
 Capt. Hall. 
 , Decatur. 
 , Rodgers 
 
 Congress 
 
 36 
 
 49 
 
 , Smith. 
 
 Essex 
 
 M 
 
 40 
 
 , Porter. 
 
 John Adams 
 Wasp 
 
 20 
 16 
 
 26 
 18 
 
 , Ludlavv. 
 , Jones. 
 
 Argus 
 
 Ifi 
 
 18 
 
 , Sinclair. 
 
 Syren 
 
 Irt 
 
 18 
 
 Lie it. Casall. 
 
 Hornet 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 
 Caj t. Lawrence. 
 
 Vixen 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 Lieut. Gadsden. 
 
 Enterprise 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 , Blakeley. 
 
 Nautilus 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 . Howe 
 
 Viper 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 , Bainbiidge. 
 
 ON LAKE ONTARIO. 
 Oneida 
 
 Ifi 
 
 18 
 
 Com. \Voolsey. 
 
 IN ORDINARY. 
 Chesapeake 
 
 36 
 
 49 
 
 
 New York 
 
 36 
 
 49 
 
 
 Adams 
 
 3? 
 
 40 
 
 
 Boston 
 
 3? 
 
 40 
 
 
 Bombs Vengeance, 
 Spitfire, ^Etna, Ve 
 suvius. 
 
 
 
 
 This was the insignificant naval force 
 that the United States had to oppose 
 against a navy comprising 1,060 sail, of 
 which between TOO and 800 were efficient 
 cruising vessels. Little hope could be 
 entertained, even with the most sanguine 
 in America, from a contest with the vessels 
 of a nation which had obtained for some 
 time the undisputed sovereignty of the 
 ocean, both by its numerical force, and the 
 skill and valour of its seamen ; and, how 
 ever great the bravery of the American 
 sailors, they were supposed to be wanting 
 in that discipline which their adversaries 
 had acquired by their frequent wars. Not 
 only was the marine of Great Britain much 
 the most powerful of any other in existence, 
 but it was more powerful than the united 
 navies of all other nations combined. In 
 addition to its actual physical force, its re 
 putation of invincibility gave it a moral 
 power scarcely less effective in actual con 
 flict than its metal and men. At this 
 period, too, the merchant vessels of the 
 United States were scattered over every 
 290 
 
 quarter of the globe. Probably a similar 
 state of things never before occurred, of so 
 extended a merchant marine, with a naval 
 protection so inadequate. The proposition 
 was, at the commencement of hostilities, 
 seriously canvassed in the cabinet, for 
 laying up all the government vessels in 
 ordinary, with an idea of thus preventing 
 them from falling into the hands of their 
 superior antagonist. This proposition was 
 rejected through the earnest remonstrance 
 of Captains Bainbridge and Stewart, who 
 were in Washington at the time the pro 
 ject was under consideration. It was 
 a fortunate determination, as its adoption 
 would have struck a death-blow to the in 
 fant American navy, for it would have been 
 absurd for the government to maintain a 
 navy that was available onlv in peace. 
 
 The officers of the American navy were, 
 however, most of them superior to this 
 feeling of inferiority. They were, by educa 
 tion and experience, more capable of form 
 ing a correct judgment, and they had 
 enjoyed facilities for comparison that were 
 not open to the people generally, nor even to 
 the administration. They had seen that their 
 ships were as substantially built as those 
 of England ; that they were as rapid sailers, 
 and were manned by as skilful seamen. In 
 brief, they felt an assurance, that in all 
 those points on which a sailor prides him 
 self, whether of naval architecture or 
 seamanship, England was really entitled 
 to no other pre-eminence than that which 
 she might rightfully claim from her larger 
 and wider experience in ocean warfare. 
 
 This was but an exception, however, to 
 the general feeling; for outside of the 
 naval branch of the American service, the 
 impression was all but universal, that on 
 that element which had been for centuries 
 the arena of British triumphs, the Ame 
 rican navy was destined to defeat. While, 
 therefore, the most sanguine in America, 
 with the single exception named above, 
 looked forward to the contest on the ocean 
 with apprehension and distrust, their power 
 ful antagonists across the Atlantic, felt, 
 and justly so, a confident assurance in 
 their naval superiority, which was a moral 
 weight in the balance that, in itself, was 
 an important precursor of success. 
 
 The territory of Canada, the only portion 
 of the British empire which could, at the 
 commencement of the war, be attacked 
 by the armies of the United States, had 
 been for some time threatened with invasion. 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [GENERAL HULL S ARMY. 
 
 The capture of that province was a 
 favourite theme with many American 
 orators, and the design of invading it was 
 openly avowed in congress long previous to 
 the actual outbreak of hostilities. It seems 
 to have been deemed almost a matter of 
 certainty that no resistance which the Eng 
 lish could offer in Canada would avail 
 against the power of the United States. To 
 this conclusion the) had arrived, not by 
 the belief that in arms they were necessa 
 rily superior, but from a persuasion that dis 
 affection, to a great extent, existed among 
 the Canadians. It had also been deemed 
 advisable by the government at Washing 
 ton, as a measure of precaution and fore 
 cast, that a considerable force should be 
 placed in the Michigan territory, with a 
 general view to its security, and, in the 
 event of war, to such operations in Upper 
 Canada as would intercept the hostile in 
 fluence of Great Britain over the savages; 
 obtain the command of the lake on which 
 that division of Canada borders ; and main 
 tain co-operating relations with such forces 
 as might be most conveniently employed 
 against other parts. 
 
 The army destined for this service was 
 collected at Dayton, Ohio. The president 
 of the United States had made a requisition 
 for twelve hundred men on the governor of 
 that state. The number was immediately 
 filled by volunteers, who were divided into 
 three regiments, commanded by Colonels 
 M Arthur, Cass, and Find lay. These troops 
 were joined by several hundred regulars, 
 under Colonel Miller. 
 
 The command of this army was given to 
 General Hull, an officer in the revolutionary 
 army, and at this time governor of the Mi 
 chigan territory. Commanded to Detroit 
 to await further orders, he moved his forces 
 from Dayton about the middle of June. It 
 was near the last of that month when this 
 little army reached the Rapids of the Mau- 
 mee, after having encountered many ob 
 stacles in passing through a gloomy and 
 almost trackless wilderness. For the pur 
 pose of disencumbering his army, and faci 
 litating their march, General Hull here 
 chartered a vessel to convey his sick, his 
 hospital stores, and a considerable part of 
 his luggage to Detroit. They now pro 
 ceeded on their march through an open 
 and romantic country, full of an ardent and 
 adventurous spirit, which sought only to 
 encounter difficulties and dangers. The 
 volunteers from Ohio consisted of some of 
 
 the most enterprising and active young 
 men of that state. 
 
 By some mismanagement, intelligence of 
 the declaration of war did not reach General 
 Hull until the army was on this portion of 
 its march, and was followed by the news 
 that the schooner, with his stores and effects 
 on board, which sailed on the 1st of July, 
 had fallen into the hands of the British, 
 
 who had been two or three days in posses- 
 sion of the information that war had been 
 
 j declared. With Hull s private luggage, 
 his trunk of papers had been placed on 
 board the vessel ; by means of which the 
 captors of the schooner became possessed 
 of his confidential correspondence with the 
 government, and the returns of his offi 
 cers, showing the number and condition of 
 
 | his troops. 
 
 On the 5th of July the army readied 
 and encamped at Spring Wells, opposite 
 Sandwich, and within a few miles of De 
 troit. For some days they had been under 
 the necessity of proceeding with the utmost 
 caution, to guard against surprises from 
 the Indians and their allies, and who, but 
 for this timely arrival, would have pos 
 sessed themselves of Detroit; they, how 
 ever, had thrown up breastworks on the 
 opposite side of the river, and had made an 
 attempt to fortify a position about three 
 miles below. From both these holds they 
 were soon compelled to retreat, by a well- 
 directed fire from the American artillery. 
 This was the favourable moment for com 
 mencing active operations against the neigh 
 bouring province of Upper Canada ; and as 
 General Hull had received discretionary 
 power to act offensively, an immediate in 
 vasion was determined on. Preparations 
 for this purpose were directly made, and 
 boats provided to effect the passage of the 
 whole army at the same instant. The 
 
 - British, aware of this design, attempted to 
 
 j throw up a battery for the purpose of op 
 posing the landing. This was twice ren 
 dered abortive ; on their attempting it a 
 third time, they were unmolested, as General 
 Hull s forces could land either above or 
 below it, and thus keep out of reach of 
 their guns. 
 
 On the 12th of July, everything being 
 made ready, the army embarked and landed 
 without molestation, some distance above 
 the fort, and entered the village of Sand 
 wich, the inhabit ants making no show of 
 resistance. A proclamation was immedi 
 ately issued by General Hall, in which he 
 
 291 
 
FORT MICHILIMACKIXAC.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A,D. 1812. 
 
 declared his intention of invading Canada, 
 but promised protection to the inhabitants, 
 in their persons, their freedom, and their 
 rights, advising them to take no part in 
 the contest, but threatening a war of exter 
 mination in case of the employment of the 
 Indian tribes by Great Britain. The pro 
 clamation was wiitten in a spirited though 
 somewhat grandiloquent style ; but, backed 
 by the presence of the army, it had the 
 desired effect. The inhabitant* generally . 
 remained quietly at home, though some 
 joined the American ranks. That more 
 did not take the latter course may, perhaps, 
 be attributed to the able answer of General 
 Brock to Hull s proclamation. 
 
 The fortress of Maiden, or Amherstburg, j 
 situated on the Detroit river, near its en- 1 
 trance into Lake Erie, and thirteen miles ( 
 south of Hull s camp, was held by the \ 
 British, and garrisoned by six hundred 
 men, commanded by Colonel St. George. 
 It was the stronghold of the British and < 
 their Indian allies for the province of! 
 Upper Canada. On the opposite American 
 shore, the road, through which Hull must ! 
 receive his supplies, passed through the 
 Indian village of Brownstown. But they 
 would be liable to be cut off, as the British, ; 
 having command of the waters, could, at 
 any time, send detachments from Maiden 
 to the opposite side. Hence the importance j 
 of its early reduction. On the IGth, Colonel 
 Cass, with 280 men, was dispatched towards 
 Maiden for the purpose of reconnoitring, j 
 Following the course of the stream, he 
 reached the river Aux Canards, about four 
 miles from Maiden, where he found a j 
 British detachment in possession of the | 
 bridge. After reconnoitring the situation 
 of the enemy, the colonel placed a rifle 
 company, under Captain Robinson, near 
 the plac, with orders to divert the atten 
 tion of the guard by keeping up a fire 
 until the remainder of the party should ap 
 pear on the opposite side. This part of| 
 the detachment was to have forded the 
 river about five miles above. The design 
 was frustrated by their want of a sufficient 
 knowledge of the country ; and the detach 
 ment was unable to reach the appointed spot 
 until late in the evening. In the mean 
 while the attempt to surprise the post had 
 bf-en discovered, and it was strengthened 
 by reinforcements; notwithstanding which, I 
 a smart skirmish ensued, and the British ; 
 guard was compelled to abandon the position, j 
 The possession of this bridge was highly 
 202 
 
 important to the Americans, as securing 
 them access to Fort Maiden ; but no per 
 suasion could induce General Hull to 
 sanction their guarding and retaining it. 
 On the succeeding day it was discovered 
 that the British had returned, destroyed 
 the bridge, and thrown up an intrenchment 
 on the south bank of the river. 
 
 The capture of Fort Maiden, important 
 as it was in the prosecution of any opera 
 tions in this quarter, had now become 
 necessary to self-preservation. A most un 
 expected disaster had happened during the 
 last month an event to which many sub 
 sequent misfortunes to the American arms 
 are to be attributed, as it had a material 
 influence in exciting most of the Indian 
 tribes in that section to hostilities with the 
 United States. This was the surrender of 
 Fort Michilimackinac, or Maokenaw, as it 
 is sometimes written situated on Lake 
 Huron, the most northern military post in 
 the United States, and which had been 
 found of great service in overawing the 
 Indians in that vicinity. On the Ib th of 
 July, a party of 300 British troops, arid 
 upwards of 600 Indians, embarked at St. 
 Joseph s, and reached Michilimackinac the 
 next morning. The garrison consisted of 
 only fifty-seven men, under command of 
 Lieutenant Hanks, of the artillery. A flag 
 was sent to the fort, demanding a sur 
 render. This was the first intimation the 
 garrison had received of the declaration of 
 war. Lieutenant Hanks deemed it prudent 
 to agree to a capitulation, as there was no 
 hope of being able to defend the garrison 
 successfully against such a disparity of 
 force. The fort was, accordingly, delivered 
 up ; security to the property and persons of 
 individuals was stipulated ; and the British 
 put in possession of one of the strongest 
 positions in the United States on that 
 account, sometimes called the "American 
 Gibraltar." 
 
 General Hull received intelligence of 
 this disaster, which so completely changed 
 the face of affairs, on the 23rd of July, 
 while engaged in making preparations tor 
 the attack on Maiden. The British, by 
 this time, were considerably reinforced, and 
 aided by an additional number of Indians. 
 The golden moment had been suffered to 
 pass. Had the fort been assaulted earlif-r, 
 it must have fallon. But having neglected 
 this opportunity, there was no longer any 
 hope of carrying the place without being 
 provided with a train of artillery, and the 
 
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 RETREAT OP HULL. 
 
 means far a regular assault- The necessity 
 for possessing the fort became every day 
 more apparent. With the fail of Micai- 
 limackiaac, tint of Chicago, and all the 
 other western posts, might be expected to 
 follow ; and the Indian tribes woaid, unre- 
 sisted, more down upon him with ail their 
 force. In addition to this, other news 
 reached General Hull, not at all calculated 
 to quiet his apprehensions. A partial and 
 temporary armistice had been agreed to 
 between General Dearborn and Sir George 
 Prevost, which atiected the north-eastern 
 frontier, bat in which his army was not 
 included; and now, instead of the diver 
 sion in his favour by an attack on the 
 Niagara frontier, the whole British force 
 in Lower Canada would doubdess be con 
 centrated against him, with that in the 
 upper province. In anticipation of these 
 events, General Hall had sent repeated ex 
 presses for reinforcements. His expecta 
 tions of these reinforcements may, perhaps, 
 have been one reason of the tardiness of 
 his movements against Maiden. They 
 were not sent him, however, from the belief 
 that the force under his command was more 
 than sufficient for all the purposes that 
 could be accomplished in this quarter. 
 
 By the 1st of August, everything being 
 ready for the attack on Maiden, a council 
 of war was convened ; and the result was, 
 a determination to make it immediately. 
 Desertions from the Canadian militia were 
 frequent, and the whole force was animated 
 with the prospect of undertaking an enter 
 prise whieu it was believed could not but be 
 successful. The cannon were well mounted, 
 and embarked on floating batteries. Gene 
 ral Hull had approved the deliberations of 
 the council, and the day for carrying them 
 into execution was actually fixed upon. 
 
 About this time information was received 
 at Sandwich, that a company of Ohio volun 
 teers, under the command of Captain Brush, j 
 had arrived at the river Raisin, with sop- 
 plies for the army. Their march to Detroit, 
 a distance of thirty-six miles, being at 
 tended with considerable danger, from 
 parties of the enemy, it was deemed prudent 
 to remain here till an escort could be sent 
 to protect them. This duty was confided 
 to Major Vanham, with a detachment of 
 about 200 men. On his second day s 
 march, near Brownstown, he fell into an 
 ambuscade, the consequence of his disre 
 gard to military rules, and was totally 
 routed, witu the loss of nineteen killed and 
 
 TOL. n. 2 Q 
 
 missing, and nine wounded. The killed 
 included some valuable officers. 
 
 The detachment under Major Vanham 
 had scarcely left the camp at Sandwich, 
 when a sudden and unlooked-for change 
 took place in the determination of the 
 commauder-in-chief. Without an apparent 
 cause, or the occurrence of any new event, 
 he announced his intention of abandoning 
 not only the design upon 3Iulden, but even 
 the position which he then held. Tnis 
 operated very unfavourably upon the army : 
 the Tolunteers murmured; they upbraided 
 their commander with pusillanimity, and 
 eren treachery ; and it was with the utmost 
 difficulty they could be restrained bj their 
 own officers, in whom they confided. Tne 
 disappointment and vexation which ensued 
 can better be imagined than described. All 
 confidence in their leader was evidently at 
 an end. Tne main body of the army re- 
 crossed the river to Detroit on the 8th 
 of August, where they received the intelli 
 gence of the defeat of Major Vauham on 
 the day before. 
 
 Such was the termination of the expedition 
 into Canada, of the success of which an ac 
 count was every moment expected in the 
 United States. The Canadian territory was 
 not, however, entirely evacuated ; a detach 
 ment of about three hundred men, under 
 Major Denny, was left to keep possession of 
 Sandwich, principally with a view of afford 
 ing protection to the Canadians, who had 
 been induced by Hull s proclamation to join 
 his standard. 
 
 The opening of communication with the 
 river Raisin was still deemed indispensable. 
 In a few weeks the army might stand in 
 need of the supplies in the possession of 
 Captain Brush ; and, in any event, its 
 situation was rendered extremely critical 
 by being cut off from all communication 
 with the state of Ohio. To remedy this 
 state of things, 600 of the best troops were 
 detached, under Colonel James Miller, of 
 the United States army, to meet and rescue 
 Captain Brush, with his supplies. The 
 British, anticipating a renewal of the at 
 tempt, had sent reinforcements of Indians 
 and regulars, so that their force was over 
 700 men; this force might, moreover, be 
 increased, during an engagement, from 
 Maiden, which, as before remarked, is 
 situated opposite Browustown. They had 
 also thrown up a temporary breastwork of 
 trees and lo<js, about four miles from 
 Brownstown, at a place called Maga^ua, 
 
 293 
 
A SKIRMISH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 behind which most of the Indians, under j 
 Tecumseh, lay concealed, waiting the ap 
 proach of the Americans ; the whole cortu 
 inanded by Major Muir, of the British , 
 army. 
 
 The detachment under Colonel Miller, 
 on the 9th of August, proceeded on its ; 
 march, but with great caution, from the | 
 danger of surprise. They, however, drew , 
 near the ambuscade before it was disco- j 
 vered ; when, suddenly, the attack was ; 
 commenced on the advance, led by Captain j 
 Snelling, with the usual barbarous shouts 
 of the savages. This corps, however, main 
 tained its ground until the main body ap 
 proached, when the Indians sprang up, and, 
 with the regulars, advanced to the front of 
 the breastwork, where they formed a regu 
 lar line, and opened a heavy fire upon the 
 American forces. Colonel Miller, with the 
 utmost celerity and coolness, drew up his 
 men, opened a brisk fire, and then charged. 
 The British regulars gave way ; but the 
 Indians, under Tecumseh, betaking them 
 selves to the woods on each side, kept their 
 ground with desperate obstinacy. The re 
 gulars being rallied, returned to the com 
 bat, which continued for some time, with 
 equal resolution. Disregarding both the 
 savage whoops and the musketry of the 
 British, the American leader repelled their 
 attacks on every side, his troops gallantly 
 maintaining their ground until the enemy 
 was compelled to yield. They retired 
 slowly to Brownstown, literally retreating 
 at the point of the bayonet. Here they 
 hastily embarked in boats, provided for 
 their reception. Had not this precaution 
 been taken, it is probable the whole force 
 would have fallen into the hands of the 
 Americans. Their loss was, of the regu 
 lars, fifteen killed, and thirty or forty 
 wounded ; but of the Indians, nearly one 
 hundred were left on the field. The Ame 
 rican loss was, fifteen killed and about sixty 
 wounded. The next day, at noon, Colonel 
 Miller, who kept possession of Brownstown, 
 received orders to return to Detroit. This 
 was rendered necessary from the fatigue 
 which had been experienced in the en 
 gagement just related. It was deemed 
 more advisable to send a fresh detachment 
 to accomplish the object for which Miller 
 went out. 
 
 Fearing for the safety of the post, Gene 
 ral Hull had, on the day when the above 
 action took place, sent orders to Captain 
 Heald, the commander at Fort Dearborn, 
 294 
 
 now the populous city of Chicago, to eva 
 cuate that place, and conduct the garrison 
 to Detroit. Accordingly, on the morning 
 of the 15th, he set out, with about seventy 
 Americans, and fifty friendly Indians, es 
 corting several families which had resided 
 near the place. At a small distance from 
 the fort, they were attacked by a party of 
 between four and five hundred savages. 
 The little band made a desperate resistance, 
 but they were overpowered by numbers ; 
 and thirty-six of the men, two women, and 
 twelve children, were slain during the en 
 gagement. The remainder surrendered, 
 under promise of protection from Black 
 bird, an Indian chief, of the Pattawatomic 
 natives. Captain Heald, with his lady, 
 who had received six wounds, himself se 
 verely wounded, after a variety of escapes, 
 at length reached Michilimackinac, where 
 they were protected by the English. 
 
 The victory of Colonel Miller at Maga- 
 gua, though highly honourable to the Ame 
 rican arms, was productive of no essential 
 advantage. T\vo days later, a despatch was 
 sent to Captain Brush, who was still in 
 waiting for the escort at the river Raisin, 
 informing him that it had become impos 
 sible to send a sufficient force by the usual 
 route ; that he must therefore remain where 
 he was until circumstances should be more 
 favourable. In a postscript, the general 
 advised him that an attempt would be made 
 to open the communication in another quar 
 ter, by crossing the river Huron higher up 
 the country. On the 14th, Colonels M Ar- 
 thur and Cass were dispatched, with 350 
 men, for this purpose. 
 
 On the 13th of August, five days after 
 the armistice on the Niagara frontier was 
 to take effect, General Brock, the most 
 active and able of the British commanders 
 in Canada, arrived at Maiden, to take com 
 mand of the British forces. Previous to 
 his arrival, a party under Colonel Proctor, 
 who had succeeded Colonel St. George in 
 the command at Maiden, had taken a posi 
 tion on the river opposite Detroit, and pro 
 ceeded to fortify the bank. On their ap 
 proach, Major Penny, who commanded at 
 ISandwich, abandoned his position, and 
 crossed over to Detroit, it having been 
 determined to act entirely on the defensive. 
 The British continued their preparations 
 for the attack. On the 14th, General 
 Brock arrived at Sandwich ; and, on the 
 15th, he sent a flag, bearing a summons 
 to the American general to surrender. A 
 
A.D. 1812.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HULL S SURRENDER. 
 
 note to the following purport was directed 
 to General Hull by the British commander : 
 "Sir, The forces at my disposal authorise 
 me to require of you the surrender of 
 Detroit. It is far from my inclination to 
 j >in in a war of extermination ; but you 
 must be aware that the numerous body of 
 Indians who have attached themselves to 
 my troops, will be beyond my control the 
 moment the contest commences. You will 
 find me disposed to enter into such conditions 
 as will satisfy the most scrupulous sense of 
 honour. Lieutenant-colonel M Don aid. and 
 Major Glegg are fully authorised to enter 
 into any arrangements that may tend to 
 prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood." 
 This was signed by Major-general Brock. 
 To this General Hull answered "I have 
 no other reply to make, than that I am 
 prepared to meet any force which may be 
 at your disposal." 
 
 General Brock immediately opened his 
 batteries upon the town and fort, and con 
 tinued to throw shells a great part of the ; 
 night. The fire was returned, but with I 
 little effect on either side. In the morning 
 it was discovered that the British were 
 landing their troops at Spring Wells, under 
 cover of their ships. To prevent the landing 
 from the fort at this moment was an im 
 possibility, the town lying between it and 
 the river. But if Hull had not neglected 
 the advice of his officers, he might have 
 effectually prevented it, by erecting bat 
 teries on the bank, where they would be 
 compelled to debark. A strange fatality 
 seemed to attend this unfortunate man in 
 everything he did, or left undone. The 
 British troops having landed about ten 
 o clock, advanced toward the fort in close 
 column, and twelve deep. Hull was per 
 plexed and agitated. He believed that 
 resistance would be vain, and ultimately 
 lead to the barbarities of an Indian mas 
 sacre. Yet he was not insensible to the 
 disgrace of surrendering without an effort ; 
 and, even at this critical moment, he was 
 wavering and indecisive in his operations. 
 
 The fort being separated from the town 
 by an open space of about 200 yards, the 
 British forces would be enabled to approach 
 within this distance before its guns could 
 be brought to bear up^n them, unless they 
 could approach in the rear. The American 
 force was, however, judiciously disposed to 
 prevent their advance. The militia, and a 
 large portion of the volunteers, occupied 
 the town, or were posted behind pickets, 
 
 whence they could annoy the enemy s 
 flanks. The regulars defended the fort, 
 and two 24-pounders, charged with grape, 
 were advantageously posted on an eminence, 
 and could sweep the whole of the enemy s 
 line as he advanced. All was now silent ex 
 pectation ; the daring foe still slowly moved 
 forward, apparently regardless or uncon 
 scious of their danger. The hearts of the 
 Americans beat high at the near prospect 
 of regaining their credit. But who can 
 describe the mortification and chagrin which 
 took possession of these troops, when orders 
 were issued to them to retire to the fort ; 
 and the artillery, at the very moment when 
 it was thought the British were deliberately 
 advancing to the most certain destruction, 
 was ordered not to fire ? The indignation of 
 the army broke forth, and all subordination 
 was at an end. They crowded in, and, 
 without any orders from the general, 
 stacked their arms, some dashing them 
 with violence upon the ground. Many of 
 the soldiers wept. Even the spirit of the 
 women rose indignant, and they declared, 
 in impotent wrath, that the fort should not 
 be surrendered. Hull, perceiving that he 
 had no longer any authority, and believing 
 that the Indians were ready to fall upon 
 the inhabitants, was anxious to put the 
 place under the protection of the British. 
 A white flag was hung out upon the walls 
 of the fort : two British officers rode up, 
 and a capitulation was concluded by Hull, 
 with the most unbecoming haste. His 
 officers were not consulted ; he made no 
 stipulations for the honours of war for his 
 army, nor any provision for his Canadian 
 allies. They had provisions in the fort for 
 at least fifteen days, and were provided 
 with all the requisite munitions of war ; 
 but were compelled to march out, and 
 to surrender themselves prisoners at dis 
 cretion. The British took immediate 
 possession of the fort, with all the public 
 property it contained among which there 
 were forty barrels of powder, 400 rounds of 
 fixed twenty-four pound shot, 100,000 
 ball cartridges, 2,500 stand of arms, twenty- 
 five pieces of iron cannon, and eight of 
 brass; some of them mementoes of the 
 revolution, having been captured from the 
 British during the war for independence. 
 The whole territory, and all the forts and 
 garrisons of the United States, within the 
 district of the general, were also formally 
 surrendered ; also the brig Mary, after 
 wards recaptured by Lieutenant Elliot; and 
 
 295 
 
HULL SENTENCED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 the detachment under Colonels Cass and 
 M Arthur, as well as the party under 
 Captain Brush, were included in the capi 
 tulation. Orders had been dispatched, the 
 evening before, for the detachment under 
 Cass and M Arthur to return ; and they had 
 approached almost sufficiently near to dis 
 cover the movements of the British ; while 
 their accidental situation might enable 
 them to render the most material service 
 during the attack. They were surprised 
 at the silence which prevailed, when every 
 moment was expected to announce the con 
 flict ; and that surprise was soon changed 
 into rage, when they heard of the capitula 
 tion. A British officer was then dispatched 
 to the river Raisin, to convey the intelli 
 gence to Captain Brush, who, at first, gave 
 no credit to so improbable a tale, and 
 actually put the officer in confinement. 
 The melancholy story was, however, soon 
 confirmed by some Americans who had 
 escaped. Captain Brush indignantly re 
 fused to submit to the capitulation, declar 
 ing that Hull had no right to include him, 
 and determined to return to the state of 
 Ohio. He first deliberated whether he 
 should destroy the public stores which he 
 had in his possession, and which he could 
 not carry away ; but reflecting that this 
 might be used as a pretext for harsh 
 treatment to his countrymen, he resolved 
 to abandon them. The greater portion of 
 the volunteers were permitted to return 
 home ; but the regulars, together with the 
 general, were taken to Quebec. 
 
 The number of effective men at Detroit, 
 at the time of its surrender, is stated by 
 General Hull, in his official report, not to 
 have exceeded 800. General Brock, in his 
 report to Sir George Prevost, states his 
 force to have been 1/300, of whom 700 were 
 Indians. 
 
 General Hull was afterwards exchanged 
 for thirty British prisoners : neither the 
 government nor the people were satisfied 
 with his defence. The affair was solemnly 
 investigated b} a court-martial, of which 
 General Dearborn was president. He was 
 acquitted of treason, but was sentenced to 
 death for cowardice and unofficer-like con 
 duct. The criminal under sentence of 
 death, was not, however, imprisoned, but 
 sent without a guard from Albany, where 
 the court-martial assembled, to his resi 
 dence in the vicinity of Boston, to await 
 there the decision of the president of the 
 United States ; to whose mercy the court, 
 296 
 
 in consequence of his revolutionary services 
 and his advanced age, recommended him. 
 The president remitted the punishment of 
 death ; but his name was ordered to be 
 struck off the rolls of the army. 
 
 Thus terminated the first endeavour of 
 the American forces to obtain a footing in 
 Canada. The plan of the campaign appears 
 to have been injudicious at the outset; and 
 it is doubtful whether, under any officer, 
 much ground could have been gained. 
 Mortifying, however, as was the surrender 
 of Hull to the American people, it pro 
 duced no symptom of despondency, nor 
 abated their zeal in support of the war. 
 On the contrary, a spirit was aroused, 
 which produced effects not surpassed in 
 the most enthusiastic periods of the revolu 
 tion. In the states of Ohio and Kentucky, 
 especially, from which the late army had 
 been chiefly drawn, a desire to retrieve the 
 character of their country manifested itself 
 in all classes. Previous to the surrender 
 of Detroit, preparations had been made in 
 Ohio for the formation of an additional 
 army. Twelve hundred men, the remainder 
 of the detached militia, were ordered to 
 be immediately embodied, and marched 
 to Urbanna, under Brigadier- general Tupper. 
 The whole quota of Kentucky consisted of 
 volunteers, who were organised into ten 
 regiments, three of which, with the 17th 
 United States regiment, amounting together 
 .to about 2,000 men, were assembled at 
 Georgetown, under Brigadier- general Payne; 
 and on the news of the surrender of 
 Detroit, the remaining seven regiments 
 were called into actual service. The whole 
 quota of Kentucky was thus embodied, and 
 the chief command conferred on William 
 Henry Harrison, the governor of the 
 Indiana territory, the hero of Tippecanoe, 
 and who was subsequently appointed, by 
 the general government, a major-general 
 in the regular army. To this force was 
 added a draft from the Virginia militia, of 
 1,500 men, and one from Pennsylvania, of 
 2,000 men. 
 
 The first step taken by Harrison was to 
 relieve the frontier forts, principally Fort 
 Harrison, on the "Wabash, and Fort Wayne, 
 on the Maumee, and on the road to the 
 Rapids. It might be expected that this 
 fort, as well as Fort Defiance, situated 
 further down the Maumee, would be at 
 tempted by the British, in order to obstruct 
 the road to Detroit. Harrison arrived at 
 Fort Wayne on the 12th of September, 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MARCH OF THE AKMY 
 
 with about 2,500 men. The Indians, who had 
 laid siege to it, disappeared on his approach. 
 It had been invested by a large body of 
 them, who, after repeated attacks, from 
 the 6th to the 9th, in which they resorted 
 to every stratagem, that Indian cunning 
 could devise several times attempting to 
 take it by assault were obliged to retiie, 
 after destroying everything outside the 
 fort, including the factory which had been 
 erected by the government, to supply them 
 with farming utensils. The garrison con- j 
 bisted of but seventy men. 
 
 General Harrison, not thinking it ad 
 visable to proceed to the rapids until suffi 
 ciently strengthened by the arrival of other 
 troops, determined to occupy the inter 
 mediate time in laying waste the hostile 
 Indian country. Colonel Wells was dis 
 patched, on the 14th, with his and Colonel 
 Scott s regiments, and 200 mounted rifle 
 men, against the Pottawatomic villages on 
 the Elkhart river. Another detachment, 
 under Colonel Payne, comprising Colonel 
 Lewis and Allen s regiments, and Captain 
 Garrard s company of cavalry, inarched 
 against the Miami villages at the forts of 
 the Wabash. General Harrison accom 
 panied this detachment. The expeditions 
 were both successful. The bark and wooden 
 huts of nine Indian villages were destroyed, 
 the inhabitants having abandoned them. 
 After cutting up their corn, and obtaining 
 a considerable quantity of provision and 
 forage, both detachments returned, on the 
 18th, to the fort, without having lost a 
 man, or seen an enemy. 
 
 On the day succeeding the return of 
 these divisions to the fort, General James 
 Winchester arrived, and, by order of the 
 war department took command of the army. 
 He, too, had served in the war of the revo 
 lution ; but, being personally a stranger to 
 the troops, and an officer of the regular 
 army, his arrival produced much uneasi 
 ness and discontent in the ranks, which it 
 required all the influence of General Harri 
 son to assuage. The latter, being now 
 superseded in his command, left the fort, 
 for the purpose of organising and bringing 
 up the forces in the rear. These troops 
 had been detained a long time at the places 
 of rendezvous, by the want of some of the 
 material munitions of war. They had, 
 however, assembled at the river St. Mary s, 
 on the 20th of September, whither General 
 Harrison proceeded. 
 
 On the 24th of September, General Har 
 
 rison received, from the war department, 
 information of his appointment to the 
 command of the eighth military district, 
 including the north-western army ; the 
 commission of brigadier in the regular 
 army having been previously conferred 
 upon him. 
 
 With this appointment great power was 
 conferred, and equally extensive and ardu 
 ous services were required. Harrison was 
 directed to provide for the security of the 
 western frontier ; to take Detroit and 
 Maiden, and to penetrate as far into Upper 
 Canada as his force would justify. From 
 the number and scattered situations of the 
 posts and settlements on the frontier, and 
 the roving bands of savages ever ready to 
 assail them, it is evident that the task of 
 protecting them, and, at the same time, 
 prosecuting offensive operations, in other 
 quarters, required great skill and activity. 
 The force throughout his district, of all 
 descriptions, was estimated at 10,000 men ; 
 of whom, about 2,000 were with General 
 Winchester, and nearly 3,000 more were at 
 St. Mary s, under his personal command. 
 
 On the 22nd of September, General 
 Winchester moved forward his army, with 
 a view of occupying Fort Defiance, at the 
 mouth of the Auglaize, and there awaiting 
 the arrival of the reinforcements from 
 Ohio and Kentucky. The country through 
 which he was obliged to pass presented 
 difficulties of no ordinary nature, particu 
 larly in the transportation of stores. Along 
 the heads of the rivers which discharge 
 themselves into the Ohio on the south, and 
 those which discharge themselves into the 
 lakes on the north, there is a great extent 
 of flat land, full of marshes and ponds, in 
 which the streams take their rise. In 
 rainy seasons particularly it is exceedingly 
 difficult to pass, the horses at every step 
 sinking to the knees in mud. The ground, 
 besides, was covered with deep forests and 
 close thickets. To facilitate the passage 
 through this wilderness, each man was 
 obliged to carry provisions for six days. 
 General Winchester necessarily advanced 
 slowly, on account of the precautions 
 necessary to avoid surprise, in a country 
 highly favourable for Indian warfare. 
 From the closeness of the thickets, the 
 troops were under the necessity of cutting 
 open a road every day, and were not able 
 to make more than five or six miles in 
 twenty-four hours. They usually encamped 
 at three o clock, and threw up a breast- 
 
 297 
 
I 
 
 ATTACK ON TAYLOR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 work to guard against a night attack. 
 They were preceded by a party of spies, 
 under an active officer, Captain Ballasel, 
 and an advanced guard of about 300 men. 
 
 During their march, various skirmishes 
 took place between the spies in advance 
 and the savage forces, which had the effect 
 of impeding the progress of the army, and 
 of harassing the men. The Indians appear 
 to have been the advanced party of an army 
 destined "to attack Fort Wayne, consisting 
 of 200 regulars, with four pieces of artil 
 lery, and about 1000 savages, the whole 
 under the command of Major Muir. The 
 intelligence, however, of the approach of 
 the force under Winchester, the numbers 
 of which were considerably exaggerated, 
 and the report of an additional body being 
 on the Auglaize, caused an abandonment of 
 the project, and a retreat down the Mau- 
 mee. General Winchester, however, who 
 was ignorant of the movements of his enemy, 
 proceeded with great caution, fortifying his 
 I camp, as usual, at night, and sending recon 
 noitring parties in advance. The army had 
 DOW began to suffer severely from want 
 of provisions ; Colonel Jennings, who had 
 been despatched by General Harrison down 
 the Auglaize, with a supply, not being able 
 to reach Fort Defiance, from the presence 
 of the enemy in its vicinity. An escort 
 was therefore sent forward by General 
 Winchester; and, after great difficulty and 
 labour, the supplies were conveyed to the 
 army, on pack-horses. This occurrence 
 gave new life to the starving army, which 
 had, in the meantime, taken possession of 
 Fort Defiance ; the British and Indians, who 
 had threatened it, precipitately descending 
 the river on their approach. 
 
 General Harrison now occupied himself 
 in arranging the details of his campaign. 
 While thus occupied, he received intelli 
 gence of the supposed critical position of 
 the forces under General Winchester, and 
 immediately marched to his assistance ; but 
 the retreat of the enemy left him at liberty 
 to pursue his own arrangements. 
 
 On the 4th of October, an expedition of 
 1000 men, under General Tupper, was 
 despatched to disperse the Indians collected 
 at the Rapids. It returned, however, with 
 out effecting its object, in consequence of 
 want of energy in the commander, and of 
 subordination in the troops. The same 
 officer was shortly afterwards directed to 
 take command of the centre division, with 
 which he proceeded to Fort M Arthur, 
 298 
 
 where he projected another expedition to 
 the rapids of the Maurnee, from which, 
 although great bravery and patience were 
 displayed by the troops, little of importance 
 resulted. 
 
 While these events were occurring in 
 the neighbourhood of Lake Erie, others 
 of importance took place on the western 
 frontier. Of these, the first in point of 
 time, and one most worthy of notice, was 
 the brave defence of Fort Harrison. This 
 post, which was situated on the River 
 Wabash, in the Indiana territory, was gar 
 risoned by about fifty men, one third of 
 whom were sick, under Captain Zachary 
 Taylor,* of the regular army. On the 
 evening of the 3rd of September, two 
 young men were shot and scalped in the 
 vicinity of the fort ; and, on the succeeding 
 night, the attack was commenced by the 
 conflagration of a block-house, in which the 
 provisions were contained ; and, at the same 
 time, a brisk fire was opened by a large 
 body of the Indians, who had lain in am 
 bush. The fire was returned with great 
 spirit by the garrison ; and, as the destruc 
 tion of the block-house had caused an open 
 ing in his line of defence, Captain Taylor, 
 with great presence of mind, pulled down 
 a cabin ; and, with its materials, constructed 
 a breastwork across the aperture. The 
 situation of this small but gallant party 
 became, however, very critical, as the at 
 tempts of the Indians to enter by the breach 
 produced by the fire were of a most despe 
 rate nature. Two of the garrison, prefer 
 ring the risk of capture by the savage 
 enemy to the prospect of massacre in the 
 fort, endeavoured to make their escape. 
 One of them was immediately killed ; the 
 other returned to the walls, and remained 
 concealed until morning. The savages, 
 finding their attempts to gain possession 
 ineffectual, retreated about daylight, but 
 remained in the vicinity of the fort for 
 several days. Their loss was supposed to 
 be considerable ; that of the garrison was 
 only three killed and three wounded ; but 
 the destruction of the block-house was a 
 serious loss, as it contained the whole of the 
 provisions. For his gallant conduct on 
 this occasion, Captain Taylor was afterwards 
 promoted to the rank of major. 
 
 The intelligence of the investment of this 
 
 fort, called out a host of volunteers from 
 
 among the brave and adventurous people of 
 
 Kentucky. A force of about 2,000 men. 
 
 * Afterwards president of the United States. 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN. 
 
 arrived at Fort Harrison soon after the 
 retreat of the enemy , and, on the 14th of 
 October, Major-general Hopkins, their 
 commander, set out with an expedition for 
 the purpose of destroying the Kickapoo, 
 and other Indian towns. Such, however, 
 was the insubordination of this assemblage, 
 that, after a few days inurch, they returned, 
 contrary to the orders of the commander, 
 without having seen an enemy. Disap 
 pointed in this object, General Hopkins 
 determined upon another enterprise, which 
 terminated more successfully. On the llt.h 
 of November, he left Fort Harrison, with 
 about 1,200 men, and proceeding into the 
 Indian country, destroyed a Winnebago 
 village, after a skirmish, in which he lost 
 eighteen men. The inclemenc} r of the 
 weather, and the constant retreat of the 
 savages, rendered pursuit useless and in 
 convenient, and the troops returned to Fort 
 Harrison. Another detachment, consisting 
 of 300 regulars, under Colonel Russell, sur 
 prised and destroyed an Indian town on 
 the Illinois river, and, after driving the in 
 habitants into a swamp, captured twenty of 
 them. A body of 600 men, under Colonel 
 Campbell, marched against the towns of 
 the Mississenawa. A large number oi 
 Indians were captured or killed ; but the 
 Americans lost forty men in a subsequent 
 attack by the savages. Several other ex 
 peditions were undertaken, in which the 
 Indians felt the full power of the revenge 
 ful inhabitants of the western towns. In 
 fact, they were now so much harassed, that 
 they began to repent having taken up the 
 war-club so hastily. The security of the 
 western frontier from the murderous scalp- 
 ing-knife of the savage, was thus, in a 
 great measure, effected. 
 
 The northern frontier was, during this 
 period, the scene of hostilities which, though 
 more honourable to the American arms, 
 were hardly less disastrous than the opera 
 tions under General Hull. The troops in 
 that quarter, were under the immediate 
 command of Major-general Dearborn, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American army, 
 under whom were Brigadiers Bloomfield 
 and Smyth, the former of whom was sta 
 tioned at Plattsburgh, and the latter at 
 Buffalo. The militia of the State of New 
 York, then in the service of the United 
 States, were commanded by Maj or- general 
 Van Rensselaer, and amounted to about 
 2,400 men, most of whom were stationed at 
 Lewistowu, in the vicinity of the Niagara. 
 
 The season was far advanced before the 
 Americans could collect and organise a suf 
 ficient force to commence military opera 
 tions. At length, General Van Rensselaer, 
 yielding to the earnest desires of the militia, 
 who threatened to return to their homes if 
 hostilities were not attempted, determined 
 to make an attack upon the British post at 
 Queenstown. The morning of the llth of 
 October was fixed upon for this purpose, 
 but owing to the inclemency of the weather, 
 the attack was postponed until the 13th 
 At dawn of that day, the troops embarked, 
 under cover of the American batteries. 
 The force destined to storm the heights was 
 divided into two columns; one, of 300 mi 
 litia, under Colonel Van Rensselaer ; the 
 other of 300 regulars, under Colonel Christie. 
 These were to be followed by Colonel Fen- 
 wick s artillery, and then the other troops 
 in order. The British, in the meanwhile, 
 anticipating this attack, had obtained rein 
 forcements from Fort George ; and, if neces 
 sary, could be still further assisted by 
 General Brock, who, it now appeared, com 
 manded at that place. At daylight, as 
 soon as the approach of the Americans 
 could be discovered, a shower of musketry 
 and grape opened from the whole line on 
 the Canada shore, and was returned by the 
 American batteries, with the addition of two 
 6-pounders, which, after an extraordinary 
 effort, Colonel Scott had brought to their 
 assistance from the Falls of Niagara. The 
 tire of the British, and the eddies of the 
 river produced considerable embarrassment, 
 in consequence of which, Colonel Christie, 
 who was wounded by a grapeshot in the 
 hand, and Colonel Mulaney, fell below the 
 intended point, and were obliged to return. 
 Colonel Van Rensselaer, who commanded 
 the whole, and who led the van, reached 
 the shore with only 100 men, in the midst 
 of a most galling fire. He had scarcely 
 leaped on land, when he received four 
 severe wounds, which retarded the onset. 
 This gallant officer, being still able to stand, 
 though suffering the most excruciating pain, 
 ordered his men to move rapidly up the 
 heights. Captain Ogilvie assumed the 
 command, seconded by Captain Wool, who 
 was also wounded, and followed by Lieu 
 tenants Kearney, Carr, Higginan, and Som- 
 mers ; and Ensign Reeve, of the 13th. 
 Lieutenants Gausevoort and Randolph as- 
 cended the rocks to the right of the fort, 
 gave three cheers, and, after several des 
 perate charges, at the head of a handful of 
 
 299 
 
SURRENDER OF THE AMERICANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 men, carried the heights, driving their 
 opponents down the hill in every direction. 
 The British retreated behind a large stone 
 house, and kept up their fire; but their 
 batteries, with the exception of one gun, 
 were silenced. The detachment, under 
 Colonel Christie, on his second attempt, 
 now landed. Reinforcements soon after 
 arrived, under Captains Gibson, M Ches- 
 ney, and Lawrence; and Colonels Mead, 
 Strahan, Allen, and other militia officers. 
 About this time, General Brock arrived in 
 person, with the 49th regiment, 600 strong. 
 Perceiving him approaching to the rear 
 of the battery, Captain Wool, who com 
 manded at this point, ordered a detach 
 ment of about 160 men to charge. The 
 detachment was driven back; but, being 
 reinforced, charged a second time. En 
 countering a great superiority of numbers, 
 they were again repulsed, and on the point 
 of being driven to the very verge of the 
 precipice, when one of the officers, con 
 sidering their situation hopeless, placed a 
 white handkerchief on the point of a bayo 
 net, in token of submission, which was 
 instantly torn away by Captain Wool, who 
 ordered the men to stand their ground. 
 At this instant, Colonel Christie advanced 
 with a reinforcement, which increased the 
 number of the detachment to 320. This 
 officer now led on a desperate charge, and 
 completely succeeded in putting to flight a 
 regiment bearing the name of the " Invin- 
 cibles." General Brock, exasperated at 
 this conduct on the part of a regiment 
 whose name promised better things, endea 
 voured to rally them, when he received 
 three balls, which terminated his existence 
 his aide, Captain M Don aid, at the same 
 instant falling by his side, mortally wounded 
 At two o clock, General Wadsworth, of the 
 militia, and Colonels Scott and Mulaney 
 crossed over. Captain Wool having beet 
 ordered to retire, to have his wounds 
 dressed, again returned to the action. The 
 49th being repulsed, and the British com 
 mander having fallen, the victory was 
 thought to be complete ; and General Van 
 Rensselaer crossed over, for the purpose of 
 immediately fortifying a camp, to prepare 
 against future attacks, should the enemy 
 be reinforced. This duty he assigned to 
 Lieutenant Totten,* an able engineer. 
 
 The fortune of the day was not yet de 
 cided. At three o clock, the British having 
 
 allied, and being reinforced by several 
 lundred Chippewa Indians, again advanced 
 ,o the attack. At first, the Americans were 
 nclined to falter, but being animated by 
 ,heir leaders, Colonels Christie and Scott, 
 marched boldly to the charge, and, at the 
 joint of the bayonet, once more forced the 
 British to retire. Had the contest ended 
 lere, it would have been declared for the 
 Americans. But General Van Rensselaer, 
 Derceiving that the men on the opposite 
 side embarked but slowly, and fearing 
 another conflict, recrossed for the purpose 
 of expediting their departure. To his sur 
 prise and mortification, he found that a 
 wreat majority of this force, who had but a 
 few days before appeared so eager to meet 
 the enemy, now refused to pass the national 
 boundary line, on the plea of constitutional 
 privilege ! More than 1,200 men under 
 arras were drawn up on the bank, where 
 they remained as idle spectators of the 
 scene, and neither commands nor entreaties 
 could prevail on them to move. 
 
 This disgraceful pretext destroyed all 
 hope of being able to retain the position at 
 Queenstown ; and such had been the dis 
 persion of the boats, that few could be found 
 to bring back the troops already landed. 
 In the meantime, this small but valiant 
 party, almost exhausted with fatigue, and 
 their ammunition nearly spent, were en 
 gaged in a desperate conflict with their 
 enemy, who had renewed the attack. At 
 length, being driven to the water s edge, 
 and finding no means of embarkation, they 
 were compelled to surrender, to the number 
 of 386 regulars, and 378 militia. The 
 whole American loss, including prisoners, 
 has been estimated at about 1,000 men ; 
 that of the British is said not to have ex 
 ceeded 100. The issue of the affair at 
 Queenstown reflected the deepest disgrace 
 upon the main body of the militia, who, at 
 the moment when their brethren were tall- 
 ing under the superior numbers of their 
 opponents, planted themselves on their con 
 stitutional right to remain idle on the 
 American shore. The honour of their 
 country was, however, sustained by the 
 troops actually engaged, both regulars and 
 militia, who did their duty, and surren 
 dered only when opposition became hope 
 less. The loss of General Brock was a 
 severe blow to the British army, by whom 
 his bravery and skill were highly estimated. 
 
 were well treated 
 
 General Joseph G. Totten, who has recently re- ! The American prisoners 
 tired from active service. by their Christian conquerors, but the con- 
 
 300 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PREPARATION FOR INVASION. 
 
 duct of the Indians towards them is said to 
 have been barbarous in the extreme. 
 
 Every American officer who crossed the 
 river, it is said, distinguished himself. 
 Colonel Winfield Scott, since so highly dis 
 tinguished as the lieutenant-general and 
 commander-in-chief of the American army, 
 continued, the greater part of the day, in 
 the hottest of the fight ; and although 
 dressed in uniform, and of a tall and elegant 
 stature, did not receive the slightest wound. 
 Several Indians afterwards declared that 
 they took deliberate aim at him. With 
 the survivors of his men he became a pri 
 soner of war.* Colonel Fenwick was 
 severely wounded, but never left the ground 
 during the action. Most of the prisoners 
 were taken to Montreal. 
 
 Shortly after this event, so disastrous to 
 the American arms, General Van Rensse- 
 laer resigned the command, which devolved 
 upon General Smyth, of the United States 
 army. General Smyth announced his de 
 termination of retrieving the honour of the 
 American cause by making another attempt 
 on the British batteries and entrenchments 
 on the opposite shore. He conceived that 
 the former attack had not been conducted 
 with judgment, in the selection of the point 
 of debarkation, directly in the face of their 
 batteries, whereas it ought to have been 
 between Fort Erie and Chippewa. This he 
 had at first recommended to General Van 
 Rensselaer, and to the neglect of his sug 
 gestion, he attributed the failure of the 
 former attempt. Having now the sole com 
 mand, and being at liberty to carry into 
 execution his own plan, he commenced pre 
 paring a force to that end, that then under 
 his command being insufficient. To ac 
 complish this, he issued a proclamation, 
 appealing to the public feeling and patriot 
 ism of the American people, and inviting 
 volunteers from every part of the country. 
 Every motive which could influence the 
 hearts and minds of the people was strongly 
 urged ; they were reminded of the exploits 
 of their ancestors of the Revolution ; of the 
 little honour which had thus far attended 
 the prosecution of the war ; the recent 
 failure, and the disgraceful surrender of 
 Hull. He then addressed himself particu 
 larly to the " men of New York," appealing 
 to their patriotism, calling on them to re 
 trieve the late disaster, and at the same 
 time, by this step, secure their wives and 
 
 * Colonel Scott was sent to Quebec, and shortly 
 after exchanged. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 R 
 
 children from the predatory and murderous 
 incursions of the savages. This proclama 
 tion, though eccentric in its style, was well 
 calculated to touch the feelings of the peo 
 ple ; and, seconded by an animated ad 
 dress from General Porter, of the New 
 York militia, produced a decided effect, 
 numbers flocking to his head-quarters. By 
 the latter part of November, upwards of 
 4,500 men, consisting of regulars and the 
 volunteers from Pennsylvania, New Yorlc, 
 and Baltimore were collected at Buffalo ; 
 and the officers were actively engaged in 
 drilling, equipping, and organising them 
 for the intended enterprise. 
 
 Seventy boats, and several scows, were 
 got ready for the transportation of the army 
 to the Canadian shore. On the 27th of 
 November, the day fixed upon for the 
 attack, two detachments were ordered over 
 in advance one under Colonel Boerstler, 
 to destroy a bridge about five miles below 
 Fort Erie, and capture the guard stationed 
 there ; and the other under Captain King, 
 to storni the British batteries. Before 
 reaching the Canadian shore, the British 
 opened a heavy fire upon them. The first 
 detachment landed, however, and took some 
 prisoners ; but did not succeed in destroying 
 the bridge. The other landed higher up 
 at the Red House, forced back the enemy, 
 advanced and stormed their batteries, and 
 spiked their cannon. A number of marines, 
 under Lieutenant Augur, were accidentally 
 separated from Captain King; and no 
 reinforcements arriving from, the opposite 
 shore, they inferred that the remainder of 
 the detachments had been captured, and 
 returned to the American side of the river. 
 The party under King, however, were in 
 full possession of the works ; but not being 
 supported by reinforcements, King suc 
 ceeded in sending back a part of his force; 
 and the remainder, with himself, were 
 surrounded and surrendered as prisoners 
 of war. Colonel Winder, with a detach 
 ment of 300 men, attempted to go to their 
 rescue; but the boats, in which they em 
 barked, were ssvept down the stream by the 
 rapidity and strength of the current ; and 
 did not succeed in reaching the opposite 
 shore. 
 
 The embarkation of the main body was 
 retarded much beyond the appointed hour ; 
 and it was past twelve o clock in the day, 
 when about 2,000 men were ready to 
 move. The British, by this time, had col 
 lected on the opposite shore, and stood 
 
 301 
 
INVASION ABANDONED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 ready to give them a warm reception. It 
 was lufe in the afternoon before the troops 
 were finally embarked and ready for de 
 parture, when orders were given to debark. 
 Murmurs and discontent were evinced by 
 the troops at this order ; but they were 
 quieted by an assurance that another 
 attempt would soon be made. It was now 
 determined to land about five miles below 
 the navy yard ; and the evening of the 1st 
 of 1 December was fixed upon for the pur 
 pose. When the embarkation was com 
 pleted, it was found that the number of 
 men, by whom the descent was to be made, 
 did not exceed 1,500. Although the move 
 ment had commenced, with General Porter 
 in the leading boat, with a flag to indicate 
 his position ; a council of officers was called, 
 by General Smyth, at which it was decided 
 that it was not expedient to proceed. The 
 expedition was consequently recalled, Smyth 
 giving orders for the troops to debark, 
 accompanied with a declaration that the 
 invasion of Canada was given over for the 
 season; ordered the volunteers to return 
 home, and the regulars to go into winter 
 quarters. 
 
 Upon this announcement, an almost 
 universal expression of indignation broke 
 forth ; some of the volunteers even threat 
 ening the life of the commanding general. 
 Severe recriminations passed between him 
 and General Porter, who accused him of 
 cowardice and of unoffiVer-like deportment. 
 A duel between these officers resulted from 
 these charges, which, fortunately, proved a 
 bloodless one. Smyth, in vindication of his 
 conduct, alleged that he had positive orders 
 not to risk an invasion with less than 3,000 
 men, while the force embarked did not 
 reach more than half that number. He 
 also stated that the British force greatly 
 exceeded his own ; that the term of service 
 of volunteers had nearly expired, that many 
 of the militia had deserted or manifested a 
 spirit of insubordination and mutiny. How 
 ever this may have been, great dissatisfac 
 tion wa8 felt throughout the countrv with 
 the results of his campaign ; and his mili 
 tary reputation received a tarnish from 
 which it never recovered. 
 
 A few other incidents on the northern 
 frontier, briefly noticed, will close our record 
 of operations on land for 1812. On the 15r,h 
 of September, a party of the British who 
 Were moving down the St. Lawrence, were 
 attacked by a detachment of militia from 
 Ogdinsburg; and, after a sharp skirmish, 
 302 
 
 were compelled to flee for shelter to the 
 woods; but, soon after, returned with re 
 inforcements, and compelled the militia to 
 retreat. In retaliation, the British, on the 
 2nd of October, attempted the destruction 
 of Ogdinsburg. A heavy fire was opened 
 from the breastworks, at the village of 
 Prescott, situate on the opposite shore of 
 the St. Lawrence. On the 4th, they crossed 
 the river in forty boats, with about fifteen 
 men in each, and attempted to land and 
 storm the town ; but they were resolutely 
 met by General Brown, who commanded 
 there in person. After a spirited content, 
 kept up for nearly two hours, the Britisti 
 abandoned their design, and retreated 
 across the river. 
 
 On the 19th of October, Colonel Pike, to 
 whose zeal and indefatigable exertions, the 
 American army was even at this time much 
 indebted, passed into the Canadian territory 
 with his regiment, surprised a block-house, 
 defended by a large body of English and 
 Indians, put them to flight, and destroyed 
 the public stores. 
 
 On the 22nd of October, a detachment of 
 the New York volunteers, under Captain 
 Lyon, made an attack upon the British, at 
 the Indian village of St. Regis, killing fi\e ; 
 and taking forty prisoners, with baggage, 
 despatches, and a stand of colours ; and, 
 on the 2 : 5rd of November, the British, at 
 Salmon River, attacked and captured forty 
 Americans, with two officers, and four boats. 
 
 Skirmishes, like these, were not infre 
 quent, until the setting in of winter; but 
 they were of little moment in their bearing 
 upon the general result. In fact, some of 
 them were rather to be deprecated as tending 
 to keep alive too vindictive a spirit of hos 
 tility upon the borders. This section of the 
 heathen army went into winter quarters at 
 Plattsburg, on the 23rd of December. 
 
 In summing up the results of the opera 
 tions of the American forces on land for 
 1812, we are met by a series of reverses and 
 failures that leave slight ground for gratu- 
 lation. Never, perhaps, was less accom 
 plished, under circumstances so favourable, 
 than was done by the Americans during 
 the campaigns of that year. Their short 
 comings were the more humiliating from 
 the superiority of the American army, as 
 to numbers, over the small British force 
 in Canada. The former comprised over 
 1-3,000 men in arms on the frontier; more 
 than 6,000 of whom were regulars; while 
 the British could scarcely muster 3,000 
 
A.I). 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NAVAL ENGAGKMKNTS. 
 
 troops on their whole line from east to west. 
 There is, however, blight relief to the dark 
 ness of the picture ; in many instances the 
 
 American troops showed great bravery, and 
 
 evinced that they only required skilful and 
 experienced direction to command success. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 NAVAL HOSTILITIES DURING 1812; PROCEEDINGS OK CONGRESS ; PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION; WARKARE ON 
 
 TliE NORTHERN FRONTIER IN 1813. 
 
 IF the operations of the American land 
 forces, during the campaign of 1812, ter 
 minated in a manner little creditable to 
 the republic, the naval conflicts resulted in a 
 manner as gratifying as it was unexpected, 
 by either the administration or the people. 
 As has been already remarked, the ocean 
 had been for centuries the theatre of Bri 
 tish triumph ; there, in the language of 
 one of her poets, was " her home," and on 
 that element she was supposed to be invin 
 cible. From the days of Blake, the repub 
 lican admiral of Cromwell, to those of 
 Nelson, her reputation and skill had in 
 creased in a rapid progression, to which 
 history had offered no parallel. Navy after 
 navy had fallen before the disciplined va 
 lour of her seamen ; and at the period of 
 the war with the United States, the events 
 of which we are now recording, her vessels 
 rode the ocean without a competitor. 
 
 Against an enemy whose great superiority 
 of force was thus fortified by the moral in 
 fluence of former victories, the American 
 seamen, untried and unknown to each other, 
 were now to contend, and there were few, 
 even among the most sanguine, who did 
 not look at the issue wit.h apprehension. 
 
 The first opportunity for an encounter 
 between the hostile vessels occurred imme 
 diately after the declaration of war. A 
 squadron, comprising the frigates, Presi 
 dent, Commodore Rogers ; United States, 
 Captain Decatur ; Congress, Captain Smith ; 
 and sloops of war, Hornet and Argus, sailed 
 from New York, on the 21st of June, put 
 to sea, in pursuit of a British squadron, 
 which had sailed as the convoy of the West 
 India fleet, the preceding month. While 
 thus engaged, the British frigate Belvidera 
 was discovered, to which they instantly 
 gave chase. The chase was continued from 
 early in the morning until half-past four in 
 
 the afternoon, when the President, outsail 
 ing the other vessels, had come within gun 
 shot. She opened a fire with her bow-guns, 
 intending to cripple the Belvidera, which 
 returned it with her stern-chasers. The 
 firing was kept up for ten minutes, when 
 one of the guns of the President burst, kill 
 ing and wounding sixteen men, and frac 
 turing the leg of the commodore. By this 
 accident, and the explosion of the passing- 
 i box, the decks were so much shattered, as 
 | to render the guns on that side useless. 
 The ship was then put about, and a broad- 
 side fired, but without the desired effect, 
 though considerable injury was done to the 
 I Belvidera. Tin s vessel, having thrown ovei - 
 board everything she could spare, now in- 
 j creased the distance between her and the 
 ! President. The chase was continued until 
 about 11 o clock at night, when it was 
 given up. The squadron then continued 
 its pursuit of the convoy, which it did not 
 give over until within sight of the British 
 channel; then stood for the island of Ma 
 deira; and thence, passing the Azores 
 stood for Newfoundland ; and thence, by 
 Cape Sable, arrived at Boston, on the 30th 
 of August, having been absent on this ser 
 vice seventy days. Seven merchantmen 
 were captured, however, and one American 
 vessel retaken. 
 
 The frigate Essex, 32 guns, commanded 
 by Captain David Porter, sailed from 
 Sandy Hook, on the 3rd of July. Nothing 
 of importance occurred until the 13th of 
 August, when the Alert, a British sloop of 
 war, of twenty guns, mistaking her for a 
 merchantman, her port-holes being closed, 
 ran down on the Essex s quarter, and com 
 menced an action, which terminated in eight 
 minutes, by her surrender, with seven feet 
 of water in her hold. It was with much dif 
 ficulty that she was kept from sinking. The 
 
 303 
 
CONSTITUTION AND GUERRIERE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 Alert was the first vessel of war taken from 
 the English in this contest. 
 
 The Constitution, Captain Hull, sailed i 
 from Annapolis, on the 12th of July. On 
 the morning of the 17th, off Egg Harbour; 
 she was chased by a ship-of-the-line, the 
 Africa, and the frigates, Shannon, Guer- 
 riere, Belvidera, and sEolus. These vessels 
 were approaching rapidly with a fine breeze, j 
 while it was nearly a calm with the Consti- \ 
 tution. At sunrise, the next morning, 
 escape from her pursuers was almost hope 
 less, as they were then within five miles. 
 The Constitution was therefore cleared for 
 action, determined to make a desperate re 
 sistance. The enemy still drawing near, 
 Captain Hull resolved to make another 
 effort to escape. Boats were sent a-head, 
 with anchors, for the purpose of warping, 
 there prevailing almost a calm. The others, 
 finding the Constitution gaining upon them, 
 resorted to the same expedient. The chase 
 continued in this manner for two days, 
 partly sailing with light breezes, and partly 
 warping, until the 20th, when the squadron 
 was left entirely out of sight, the Constitu 
 tion arriving soon after in safety at Boston. 
 Thus terminated a chase that has become 
 historical for its length, cleverness, and ac 
 tivity. On the part of the English there 
 was manifested much seamanship and per 
 severance ; but the glory of the affair was 
 carried off by the officers and seamen of the 
 Constitution, not so much in the escape 
 itself as in the manner in which it was 
 effected. 
 
 Remaining in Boston but a short time 
 after this celebrated chase, Captain Hull 
 sailed again on the 2nd of August, standing 
 along the land to the eastward, in the hope of 
 falling in with some of the British cruisers, 
 thatwere thought tobehovering on thecoast. 
 The ship ran down near the land, as far as 
 the Bay of Fundy, without seeing anything, 
 when she went off Halifax and Cape Sable, 
 with the same want of success. Captain 
 Hull now determined to go farther east, and 
 he went near the Isle of Sables, and thence to 
 the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to intercept 
 vessels bound to Halifax or Quebec. Here 
 two prizes of little value were taken and 
 burnt. An American brig, with an Eng 
 lish prize crew on board, was retaken, and 
 sent in. 
 
 The Constitution next stood to the south 
 ward, and on the 19th, at 2 P.M., a sail was 
 made from the mast-head, though the dis 
 tance prevented her character from being 
 304 
 
 discovered. The Constitution immediately 
 made sail in chase. As was subsequently 
 ascertained, she was the Guerriere, one of 
 the best frigates in the British navy, and 
 one of the vessels that had so recently 
 chased the Constitution, off New York. 
 The Guerriere seemed not averse to the 
 rencontre, as she backed her main-topsail, 
 waiting for the Constitution to come down. 
 The latter vessel being made ready for 
 action, now bore down. At first it was the 
 intention of Captain Hull to bring her to 
 close action immediately ; but on coming 
 within gun-shot, she gave a broadside and 
 filled away, then wore, giving a broadside 
 on the other tack, but without etfect. They 
 now continued wearing and maneuvering 
 on both sides, for three-quarters of an hour, 
 the Guerriere attempting to take a raking 
 position, but, failing in this, she bore up, 
 and ran with her topsail and jib on the 
 quarter. The Constitution perceiving this, 
 made sail to come up with her. Captain 
 Hull, with admirable coolness, received the 
 enemy s fire without returning it. The 
 commander of the Guerriere, mistaking this 
 conduct on the part of the American com 
 mander, continued to pour out his broad 
 sides with a view to cripple his antagonist. 
 The Constitution occasionally yawed as she 
 approached, to avoid being raked ; but with 
 the exception of a few guns, she reserved 
 her fire, as her object was not to commence 
 the action seriously, until quite close. The 
 crew, though burning with impatience, 
 silently awaited the orders of their com 
 mander. The moment so anxiously looked 
 for at length arrived. Sailing-master 
 Aylwyn, having seconded the views of the 
 captain with admirable skill, in bringing 
 the vessel exactly to the station intended, 
 within half pistol-shot of her adversary, 
 orders were given to fire broadside after 
 broadside, from guns double-shotted with 
 round and grape, in rapid succession. The 
 crew instantly comprehended the plan, and 
 entered into it with all the spirit the cir 
 cumstance was calculated to inspire. For 
 fifteen minutes the vivid lightning of the 
 Constitution s guns was a continual blaze, 
 and their thunder roared with scarce an in 
 termission. The Guerriere s mizen-mast 
 had gone by the board, and she stood ex 
 posed to a raking fire which swept her 
 decks. She had now become unmanage 
 able ; her hull, rigging and sails dreadfully 
 torn. The rigging of the two vessels now 
 became temporarily entangled, and both 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SUCCESSES AT SEA. 
 
 parties prepared to board. The fire from 
 small arms became exceedingly severe ; and 
 Lieutenant Bush, attempting to throw his 
 marines on board, was killed by a musket- 
 ball. At this moment the sails of the Con 
 stitution filled, and she shot ahead ; and just 
 at this moment the foremast of the Guerriere 
 fell, carrying with it the mainmast, leaving 
 her wallowing in the trough of the sea 
 a helpless wreck. The Constitution now 
 taking a favourable position to pour a 
 raking fire into her disabled antagonist, a 
 jack, that had been kept flying on the 
 stump of the mizen-mast of the Guerriere, 
 was lowered. The Guerriere was so much 
 damaged as to render it impossible to take 
 her into port. The prisoners and some 
 movables having been, therefore, trans 
 ferred to the Constitution, she was set fire 
 to, and blown up. The Constitution suf 
 fered a good deal in her rigging and sails 
 in this combat, but very little in her hull. 
 The loss on board the Guerriere was fifteen 
 killed and sixty-three wounded; on board 
 of the Constitution, seven killed and seven 
 wounded. 
 
 Captain Dacres, the commander of the 
 Giteii iere, lost no professional reputation 
 by his defeat. He had handled his ship in 
 a manner to win the applause of his ene 
 mies ; fought her gallantly, and only sub 
 mitted when further resistance would have 
 been nearly impossible. Less can be said 
 in favour of the efficiency of the Guerriere 1 s 
 batteries, which were not equal to the mode 
 of fighting that had been introduced by 
 her antagonist, and which, in fact, was the 
 commencement of a new era in combats 
 between single ships. 
 
 "It is not easy, at this distant day, to 
 convey to the reader the full force of the 
 moral impression created in America by 
 this victory of one frigate over another. 
 So deep had been the effect produced on 
 the public mind by the constant successes 
 of the English over their enemies at sea, 
 that the opinion of their invincibility on 
 that element, as already mentioned, gene 
 rally prevailed ; and it had been publicly 
 predicted, in America even, that before the 
 contest had continued six months, British 
 sloops of war would lie alongside of Ame 
 rican frigates with comparative immunity. 
 Perhaps the only portion of the American 
 population that expected different results, 
 was that which composed the little body of 
 officers on whom the trial would fall ; and 
 even they looked forward to the struggle 
 
 with a manly resolution rather than with a 
 very confident hope. But the termination 
 of the combat just related, very far ex 
 ceeded the expectations of the most san 
 guine. After making all proper allowance 
 for the difference of force which certainly 
 existed in favour of the Constitution, and 
 other disadvantages under which the Guer 
 riere was said to have gone into action, 
 men, on both sides of the Atlantic, who 
 were competent to form intelligent opinions 
 on such subjects, saw the promise of many 
 future successes in this. The style in which 
 the Constitution had been handled ; the de 
 liberate and yet earnest manner in which 
 she had been carried into battle ; the extra 
 ordinary execution which had been done in 
 so short a time by her fire, united to pro 
 duce a deep conviction of self-reliance, cool 
 ness, and skill, that was infinitely of more 
 weight than the transient feeling which 
 might result from any accidental triumph. 
 
 "We have dwelt at length on the cir 
 cumstances connected with this action, not 
 only because it was the first serious conflict 
 of the war, but because it was characterised 
 by features which, though novel at the 
 time, became identified with nearly all the 
 subsequent engagements of the contest; 
 showing that they were ultimately con 
 nected with the discipline and system of 
 the American marine."* 
 
 On the 8th of October, a squadron, con 
 sisting of the President, the United States, 
 Congress, and the Argus, sailed from 
 Boston on a cruise. On the 13th, the 
 United States and Argus parted from the 
 rest in a gale of wind. A few days after 
 wards, the President and Congress captured 
 the British packet Swallow, with 200,000 
 dollars on board, and, on the 30th of De 
 cember, arrived in Boston, after a very 
 successful cruise. The Art/its was not less 
 fortunate: after parting from the squadron 
 she cruised in every direction between the 
 continent and the West Indies ; and after 
 being out ninety-six days, she returned to 
 New York with prizes valued at 200,000 
 dollars. She had several hair-breadth es 
 capes, however ; at one time she was chased 
 by a British squadron for three days, and 
 two or three times nearly surrounded. Tho 
 United States, commanded by Commodore 
 Decatur, after her separation from the 
 squadron, fell in, on the 25th of October, 
 off the western islands, with the Mace 
 donian, Captain Garden a frigate carrying 
 * Cooper s Naval History. 
 305 
 
MACEDONIAN AND FROLIC.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 forty-nine guns, and with 300 men on 
 board. At the distance of about a mile, 
 Decatur opened a broadside upon the Mace 
 donian; but his shot fell short. This was 
 soon followed by another, at a shorter dis 
 tance, when a heavy cannonade from the 
 long guns of both vessels commenced. At 
 ! no time were they nearer than musket-shot ; 
 and from this circumstance, and the preva 
 lence of a heavy sea, the action lasted 
 nearly two hours. The American gunnery 
 in this action, like that of the Consti ut wn 
 with the Guerricre, was remarkable for its 
 rapidity and effect. From the continued 
 blaze of her guns, the United States was, at 
 one period of the action, thought by those 
 on board her antagonist to be on fire a 
 mistake of very short duration. The mizen- 
 inast and main and fore-topmast of the 
 Macedonian were shot away, and her colours 
 disappeared. The firing on both sides 
 ceased ; and when the United States had 
 come within hailing distance, it was ascer 
 tained that her antagonist had surrendered. 
 She was badly injured, having received no 
 less than one hundred round shot in her 
 hull alone. Of the 300 men on board, 
 thirty-six were killed, and sixty-eight 
 wounded. The United States suffered sur 
 prisingly little, considering the length of 
 the cannonade, and her equal exposure. 
 She lost one of her top-gallant masts ; re 
 ceived some wounds in the spars; had a 
 good deal of rigging cut, and was otherwise 
 injured aloft; but received but a few shots 
 in her hull. She had five killed, and seven 
 wounded ; two of them mortally. 
 
 While the events just narrated were tak 
 ing place, the Wasp, Captain Jones, left the 
 Delaware on a cruise. She was one of the 
 sloops built at the close of the Tripolitan 
 war, and was a beautiful and fast cruiser. 
 On the declaration of war, the Wasp was in 
 Europe. After her return, she sailed on a 
 cruise to the northward ; made one capture, 
 and returned to the Delaware. On the 
 13th of October she again put to sea. On 
 the evening of the 17th, the Wasp found 
 herself near five strange sail ; and as two of 
 them appeared to be ships of war, it was 
 deemed proper to keep at a distance. At 
 daylight on Sunday morning, the 18th, 
 they were discovered to be six merchant 
 men, from Honduras to England, under a 
 convoy of a brig and two ships, armed 
 with sixteen guns each. The brig, which 
 proved to be the Frolic, Captain Whingates, 
 dropped behind, while the others made sail. 
 306 
 
 The Wasp, being prepared for action, lay 
 close up on the starboard side of her anta 
 gonist, at a distance of about sixty vards, 
 when the engagement was begun by the 
 Frolic s cannon and musketry. This was 
 returned ; and, approaching still nearer the 
 Frolic, brought her to close action. In five 
 minutes the main-topmast of the Wasp was 
 shot away ; and fulling down with the 
 main-top sail-yard across the larboard fore 
 and fore-topsail, rendered her head-yards 
 unmanageable during the rest of the action. 
 In two minutes more her gaff and mizen- 
 top- gallant-mast were shot away. The sea 
 being exceedingly rough, the muzzles of 
 the Wasp s guns were sometimes under 
 water. The English fired as their vessel 
 rose, the shots thus striking the Wasp s 
 rigging, or were thrown away ; the Ameri 
 cans, on the contrary, fired as their vessel 
 sunk, their shots striking the hull of their 
 adversary. The battle was continued with 
 great spirit on both sides, until the vessels 
 had gradually closed so near, that the bends 
 of the Wasp rubbed against her antagonist s 
 bows. Here the vessels came foul, the bow 
 sprit of the Frolic passing in over the quar 
 ter-deck of the Wasp, forcing her bows up 
 into the wind, and enabling the latter to 
 throw in a close raking fire. When Cap 
 tain Jones perceived the effect of the ene 
 my s fire on his spars and rigging, he closed 
 with a design of boarding; but finding his 
 vessel in so favourable a position for con- 
 ! tinuing the cannonade, he directed a fresh 
 | broadside to be delivered. The vessels were 
 j now so near, that in loading some of the 
 i Wasp s guns, the rammers hit against the 
 bows of her antagonist. The discharge of one 
 or two of the carronades swept the Frolic s 
 decks, when the impetuosity of the Wasp s 
 crew could no longer be restrained, and they 
 began to leap into the rigging, and thence 
 on the bowsprit of the brig. As soon as 
 Mr. Biddle, the first-lieutenant of the Wasp, 
 found that the men were not to be re 
 strained, he sprang into the rigging, fol- 
 j lowed by a party of officers and men, and 
 i the attempt to board was seriously made. 
 On the forecastle of the brig, Lieutenant 
 Biddle passed all his own men, but there 
 was no enemy to oppose him. Two or three 
 officers were standing aft, most of them 
 bleeding. The decks were strewed with 
 killed and wounded, presenting a scene of 
 havoc and ruin, such as has been seldom 
 witnessed. As he advanced, the officers 
 threw down their swords in submission. 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CONSTITUTION AND JAVA. 
 
 The colours were still flying, there being 
 no seamen left above deck to pull them 
 down. Lieutenant Biddle leaped into the 
 rigging, and hauled them down with his 
 own hands. Thus, in forty-three minutes, 
 was decided one of the most bloody conflicts 
 recorded anywhere in naval history. The 
 berth-deck of theFro/zcwas literally crowded 
 with the bodies of the dead, the dying, and 
 the wounded. Captain Jones sent on board 
 his surgeon, and humanely exerted himself 
 in their relief, to the utmost, of his power. 
 The loss on board the Frolic was thirty 
 killed and fifty wounded ; on board the Wasp, 
 five killed, and five wounded. The Wasp 
 was cut-up to an unusual degree, there 
 having been no question that her antago 
 nist s fire was heavy and spirited. 
 
 The victors were, unfortunately, not 
 destined to carry their prize into port. 
 The engagement had scarcely ceased when 
 a large vessel of war was discovered bear 
 ing down upon them. In the crippled 
 state of both the Wasp and her prize, 
 escape or resistance was hopeless ; they 
 were obliged to surrender to the British 
 ship, Poictiers, of seventy-four guns, by 
 which they were carried into Bermuda, 
 whence the Americans, being soon after 
 wards paroled, returned home. 
 
 The close of the year was distinguished 
 by another naval contest, not less bril 
 liant than those just narrated. After 
 the return of the Constitution to Bos 
 ton, Captain Hull gave up the com 
 mand of his frigate to attend to his private 
 business, and to allow others an equal 
 chance to distinguish themselves, there 
 being, unfortunately, many more captains 
 than vessels in the navy of the United 
 States at that trying moment. He was 
 succeeded by Captain William Bainbridge. 
 Accompanied by the sloop of war, Hornet, 
 the Constitution sailed, towards the end of 
 October, on a cruise to the coast of South 
 America. On the 29th of December, after 
 parting with the Hornet (which was left to 
 blockade the Bonne Citoyenne, a sloop of 
 war of equal force), and while near to the 
 Brazils, two sails were discovered, one of 
 which bore away, and the other stood for 
 the American frigate. The enemy was 
 soon discovered to be the British ship of 
 war, Java, of forty-nine guns, and prepara 
 tions were made on both sides for action. 
 At 2 P.M. the Java was wilhin half a 
 mile of the Constitution, and to windward, 
 having hauled down her colours, except the 
 
 union-jack, which was at the mizen-mast 
 head. A gun was then fired ahead to 
 j make her show her colours ; which was 
 answered bv a broadside. The enemv s 
 colours being now hoisted, the action com 
 menced with round and grape ; but the 
 Java kept at so great a distance that this 
 had little effect; and in this position, if 
 she were brought nearer, the Constitution 
 would be exposed to raking. At thirty 
 minutes past two both ships were within 
 good canister distance, when the ConstitU 
 lion s wheel was shot away; ten minutes 
 later the fore and main-sail were set ; and 
 Commodore Bainbridge, being now deter 
 mined to close with her, luffed up for that 
 purpose: at ten minutes to three the Java s 
 jib-boom got foul of the Constitution s 
 mizen rigging, and ten minutes later her 
 bowsprit and jib-boom were shot away. At 
 five minutes past three, her main-topmast 
 was shot away just above the cap. This 
 was followed by the loss of his gaff" and 
 spanker-boom, and soon after his mainmast 
 went nearly by the board. At a quarter 
 past three the Java was completely silenced, 
 and her colours at the mainmast being 
 dmvn, it was presumed that she had sur 
 rendered. Under this idea the Constitu 
 tion shot ahead to repair damages ; after 
 which, discovering the Java s flag still 
 flying, she wore, stood for her, and got 
 close athwart her bows in an effectual 
 position for raking, when her mainmast 
 went entirely by the board, and the Java 
 lay an unmanageable wreck. Her colours 
 were now struck ; and being taken pos 
 session of by Lieutenant Parker, her dis 
 tinguished commander, Captain Lambert, 
 was found to be mortally wounded. She 
 had on board 400 men, besides 100 sea- 
 , men, whom she was carrying out to the 
 I East Indies for service in that country. 
 | The Constitution had nine men killed, 
 and twenty-five wounded; the Java, 
 j sixty killed, and 120 wounded. She had 
 J on board despatches for St. Helena, the 
 Cape of Good Hope, and the different 
 | British stations in India and China, with 
 copper for a seventy- four, building at Bom 
 bay. On the 1st of January, Commodore 
 Bainbridge, finding the Java, from the 
 obstinacy with which she had maintained 
 : the contest, was not in a condition to be 
 taken into port, removed the prisoners and 
 stores, and blew the vessel up. The Java, 
 like the Guerriere, had been well handled, 
 but her guns had been badly aimed. The 
 
 307 
 
NAVIES ON THE LAKES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 Constitution now made the best of her way 
 to San Salvador, where she lauded her 
 prisoners on parole, and then sailed for the 
 United States, arriving at Boston on the 
 27th of February, after an absence of four 
 months. 
 
 This record of naval hostilities, during 
 1812, would be incomplete without a brief 
 notice of naval operations on the lakes 
 those vast inland seas which constitute so 
 remarkable a feature of the American con 
 tinent. For the first time in their history 
 their waves were to be lighted up with all 
 the sublimity of naval combat. The Eng 
 lish government had long maintained a 
 small naval force on the great lakes. The 
 larger portion of Lake Champlain lies within 
 the boundaries of the United States; but 
 no American force was stationed there. 
 On Lake Ontario, however, from the com 
 mencement of the century, the British 
 government had several vessels. The 
 Oneida, of sixteen guns, having been ordered 
 to be built by the president of the United 
 States ; one to be called the Royal George, 
 of twenty-two guns, was put on the stocks 
 by the Canadian government. 
 
 The Oneida, still under the command of 
 Mr. Woolsey, her builder, was manned and 
 equipped at the declaration of war. The 
 naval station, on the American side of the 
 lake, was at Sackett s Harbour, a beautiful 
 and safe basin, near the mouth of the St. 
 Lawrence; while that of the British was 
 nearly opposite to Kingston. The British 
 ports on the south shore were greatly supe 
 rior to those of the American shore, being 
 generally the most commodious and easy of 
 entrance, though probably not as numerous 
 as those of the south. Kingston, formerly 
 called Frontinac, was a moderate-sized town, 
 of considerable pretensions. The settle 
 ments on the American side were poor, 
 but recently settled ; and, in many respects, 
 very deficient. Sackett s Harbour presented 
 a few insignificant houses, scarcely worthy 
 of being called a village; and Osenego, 
 though but little larger, was of greater 
 importance than any other inhabited spot 
 in that vicinity. The distance between the 
 Hudson and the shores of the Ontario is 
 about 150 miles; and, at that period, there 
 was no established communication between 
 them but by water, which frequent inter 
 ruptions rendered irregular and uncertain 
 on the waters of the Mohawk, Wood Creek, 
 Lake Oneida, and the streams connecting 
 the latter with Lake Ontario. The British 
 308 
 
 forces, therefore, stationed at Kingston, 
 though at a vast distance from the seat of 
 government, had a better command of the 
 requisite supplies than were available to 
 the commanders of the United States. At 
 the beginning of hostilities, England had 
 no officers of her royal marines on the 
 American lakes ; while those belonging to 
 the Oneida and to the gun-boats on Lake 
 Champlain, were regularly trained, and 
 bore commissions in the navy of the United 
 States. This circumstance, undoubtedly, 
 influenced the results of the first acts of 
 hostility that occurred, the English vessels 
 being under the charge of provincial sea 
 men, who had never enjoyed a sufficient 
 opportunity of acquiring the discipline, or 
 of imbibing the spirit of a high-toned ser 
 vice.* In force, however, it was so superior, 
 that Woolsey deemed it prudent not to seek 
 a collision. 
 
 On the 19th of July, about a month 
 after war was declared, five sail appeared 
 off Sackett s Harbour, a few leagues in the 
 offing ; and, shortly after, they captured a 
 boat belonging to the custom-house, which 
 they sent in, with a demand that the Oneida 
 should be surrendered to them, as well as a 
 schooner called the Lord Nelson, that had 
 been captured not long before by the brig. 
 To avoid compliance, the Oneida got under 
 weigh, ran to windward, and attempted to 
 escape. Finding the latter impracticable, 
 Woolsey returned into the harbour, and 
 anchored near a bunk, where he could rake 
 the entrance. The guns were removed 
 from the off-side of the Oneida, and mounted 
 on the shore, and thus furnished a battery 
 of sixteen 24-pound carronades. A height, 
 which commanded the offing as well as 
 the harbour, was surmounted by a small 
 fort, provided with a long 32-pounder, 
 which, on this occasion, Woolsey took charge 
 of in person. The British vessels, having 
 got within gun-shot, opened their fire 
 upon the fort, brig, and battery, which was 
 returned from all of them. The fire from 
 the vessels was slow and ill-directed ; and, 
 after being continued for about two hours, 
 the vessels withdrew to Kingston without 
 having accomplished their object, as both 
 the Oneida and the Lord Nelson remained 
 in possession of the Americans. 
 
 This was the commencement of hostilities 
 
 on the lakes ; and it proved the incompe- 
 
 tency, already alluded to, of the officers in 
 
 charge of the British vessels, which con- 
 
 * Cooper s Naval History 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ROYAL GEORGE ATTACKED. 
 
 sisted of the Royal George, twenty-two 
 guns ; Prince Regent, sixteen puns ; Earl 
 ofMoira, fourteen guns ; Duke of Gloucester, 
 fourteen guns; Seneca, four guns; and the 
 Simcoe, twelve guns. This affair fixed the 
 attention of both governments to the lakes. 
 On the part of the United States, the 
 necessity of having a larger force on them 
 was strongly felt; and prompt measures 
 were taken to correct the deficiency which 
 then existed; which Captain Isaac Chauncey, 
 then at the head of the New York navy- 
 yard, was selected to carry into effect. His 
 orders were dated the 31st of August, 1812 ; 
 and, on the 6th of October, he arrived at 
 Sackett s Harbour, in person, having already 
 applied his mind to the organisation of a 
 force equal to the emergency. Early in 
 September, forty ship-carpenters were for 
 warded from New York. More were ordered 
 to follow without delay ; and a hundred 
 officers and seamen were also dispatched to 
 the same destination. Chauncey hastened 
 to purchase a number of merchant vessels, 
 varying from thirty to a hundred tons, till 
 something better fitted for war could be 
 constructed. These were soon put in sailing 
 order, and received the names of General 
 Hamilton, Governor Tompkins, Conquest, 
 Growler, Julia, and Pert. They were pro 
 vided with long guns, mounted on circles ; 
 with a few of a lighter description, that 
 could be of no material service, except in 
 repelling boarders. The keel of a ship, 
 however, to be called the Madison, and to 
 mount twenty-four 32-pound carronades, 
 had already been laid before Captain 
 Chauncey reached the station. 
 
 Including the Oneida, his squadron 
 carried forty guns, and was manned with 
 450 seamen and marines. On Erie and 
 the upper lakes, the American government 
 had, before the commencement of hostilities, 
 no vessel belonging to its navy. The 
 Adams, a brig, had served to convey stores 
 and military supplies. She was armed with 
 light guns ; but, being surrendered to the 
 British when Detroit fell into their power, 
 she was named the Detroit, in commemora 
 tion of that event, and immediately em 
 ployed against her late masters. Two or 
 three English vessels were, at that time, on 
 the lakes ; and the American government 
 had no equal force at the moment to 
 oppose them. 
 
 To counteract this ascendancy, Lieu 
 tenant J. D. Elliot was sent by Captain 
 Chauncey to Lake Erie and the upper 
 
 VOL. n. 2s 
 
 lakes, about the time that the latter ap 
 peared at Sackett s Harbour, with direc 
 tions to purchase any suitable vessels that 
 might be found, and to make preparations 
 for the creation of the necessary force in 
 that quarter. In this service he greatly 
 exerted himself. While thus employed, 
 he observed, on the morning of the 7th of 
 October, the Detroit, in company with the 
 Caledonia, another brig at anchor under 
 Fort Erie. He caused a party of seamen, 
 then on their way to the Niagara frontier, 
 to hasten their advance. They arrived 
 about noon, were supplied with arms by 
 General Smyth, and further strengthened 
 by a body of soldiers under Captain Towsen. 
 Two large boats, containing about fifty 
 men each, attacked and carried the two 
 brigs. The Caledonia was conducted safely 
 to the American side ; but the Detroit, after 
 some attempts to retake her, being ren 
 dered unfit for service, was destroyed. 
 Thirty American prisoners were found in 
 her when she was taken ; and there were 
 ten on board of the Caledonia. This suc 
 cess was highly appreciated by the people 
 of the United States, and Lieutenant Elliot 
 was rewarded by the vote of a sword by 
 congress. 
 
 That Commodore Chauncey s prepara 
 tions proceeded with rapidity, may be in 
 ferred from the fact, that on the 6th of 
 November he considered himself able to 
 contend with the whole British fleet. 
 Having received information that that fleet 
 had sailed down the lake for the purpose 
 of bringing up supplies to the army at 
 Kingston, he determined to intercept it at 
 the False Ducks, on its way up. His fleet 
 consisted of the Oneida, and the six vessels 
 before named ; his broad pennant flying 
 from the former. On the 8th of November, 
 the squadron fell in with the Royal George ; 
 but lost sight of her during the night, she 
 having gone into the bay of Quinte, and 
 found protection under the British bat 
 teries. Discovering her position in the 
 morning, he beat-up and commenced an 
 attack upon her, under a heavy fire from 
 both the Royal George and the batteries. 
 The Conquest, the Julia, the Pert, and the 
 Growler, pushed forward in succession ; 
 afterwards, the brig General Hamilton, and 
 the Governor Tompkins. Shortly after, the 
 entire fire from the batteries was turned 
 upon the brig, and continued hot on both 
 sides for an hour, when the Royal George 
 cut her cables, and ran higher up the bay. 
 
 309 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1812. 
 
 The squadron now being exposed to the 
 cross-fire of the batteries, and not deeming 
 it prudent to pursue the Royal George, 
 hauled off to the wind, and made sail out of 
 the bay. This was a daring exploit, and 
 certainly deserved success from its very 
 audacity. The Royal George suffered se 
 verely in her hull ; the shots from the gun- 
 vessels struck her frequently. The com 
 mander of the Pert, Arundel, was wounded 
 by the bursting of a gun ; but refusing to 
 quit the deck, was unfortunately knocked 
 overboard and drowned while the vessel 
 was beating up to her anchorage. Com 
 modore Chauncey captured a schooner off 
 the harbour, and sent the Growler as her 
 convoy past the entrance, for the purpose 
 of decoying the Royal George ; but without 
 success. She then sailed with her prize for 
 Sackett s Harbour. On her way she dis 
 covered the Prince Regent and Moira con 
 veying a sloop to Kingston. She imme 
 diately left the schooner, and concealed 
 herself behind a point; and when the 
 armed vessels had passed, she ran out and 
 recaptured the schooner, and brought her 
 back into Sackett s Harbour. The prize 
 had on board 12,000 dollars in specie, and 
 the baggage of General Brock, with Cap 
 tain Brock, brother of that officer. Com 
 modore Chauncey soon after arriving, 
 received intelligence that the Earl of 
 Moira was off the False Ducks : he sailed, 
 on the 13th, with the Oneida, in the midst 
 of a snow-stoi m, to capture her. But she 
 was too much on the alert to be caught by 
 surprise, and the distances on the lake 
 were far too short to promise any chance of 
 success in a race. The Oneida saw the 
 Royal George and two schooners ; but they 
 were not disposed to an engagement. The 
 two schooners were supposed to be the 
 Prince Regent and the Duke of Gloucester. 
 Commodore Chauncey then proceeded off 
 Oswego, to cover stores expected by water. 
 During this short cruise, the Oswego nar- 
 nowly escaped shipwreck ; and the ice made 
 so fast, that at one time it would have 
 been impossible to work the carronades, 
 had there been occasion for it. Most of his 
 little squadron, notwithstanding, continued 
 to cruise off Kingston until the 17th of 
 November. On the 19th, the commodore 
 attempted to go to the head of the lake, 
 but was driven back by a gale, during 
 which so much ice was made as to endanger 
 the vessels. The Growler was dismasted. 
 Commodore Chauncey now occupied 
 310 
 
 himself chiefly in superintending the new 
 ship Madison, once before referred to, 
 named in honour of the president of the 
 United States. She was pierced for twenty- 
 four guns, and her metal was composed 
 of 32-pound carronades, rendering her a 
 little superior to the Royal George. She 
 was launched on the 26th o November, 
 nine weeks previous to which day, the 
 timber of which she was constructed was 
 growing in the forest. 
 
 The presidential election of 1812 re 
 sulted in favour of Madison, the candidate 
 of the war or republican party. Clinton was 
 the federal candidate, though he received 
 the conservative vote of New York. The 
 electoral ballot was as follows : 
 
 Election for the Seventh Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1813, and terminating 3rd March, 1817. 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 V. PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 rt 
 
 I* 
 
 f 
 
 11 
 
 States. 
 
 i! 
 
 ;.= 
 
 O 3 
 
 II 
 
 
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 gjj 
 
 c >> 
 
 1-1 a 
 
 
 B 
 
 <D O 
 
 | S 
 
 |^ 
 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Vermont . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York . 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 Delaware . 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Maryland . 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 G 
 
 5 
 
 Virginia 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Kentucky . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 Tennessee . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Ohio . . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 .Louisiana . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Whole No. of electors 
 
 128 
 
 89 
 
 131 
 
 86 
 
 Majority. . . 109 
 
 
 
 
 
 The elections for members of congress re 
 sulted in favour of the administration ; but 
 there was a powerful opposition to the war 
 candidates in the New England, or ship- 
 owning states. 
 
 The congress of the United States assem 
 bled at Washington on the 2nd of Novem 
 ber, after a recess uncommonly short, on 
 account of the interesting and critical 
 state of affairs. In his customary commu 
 nication to both houses, at the opening of 
 
A.D. 1812. J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENT S MESSAGE. 
 
 the session, the president took a general 
 view of the civil and military operations of 
 the past year. The expedition under Gen 
 eral Hull was represented as a measure of 
 forecast and precaution, with a general view 
 to the security of the Michigan territory, 
 and, should hostile measures be determined 
 upon, to such operations in Canada as the 
 occasion might call for. This expedition, 
 though favoured with the prospect of an 
 easy and victorious progress, terminated 
 unfortunately ; and the cause of these pain 
 ful reverses was under the investigation of 
 a military tribunal. The misfortune at 
 Detroit, however, it was said, was not with 
 out its consoling effects ; it was followed by 
 signal proofs that the natural spirit rises 
 with the pressure on it. The message then 
 adverted to the unfortunate issue of the 
 affair at Queenstown, in which, the Ame 
 rican troops, although raw and inexpe 
 rienced, were, for a time, victorious over 
 veterans; but not receiving the expected 
 support, they were compelled to yield to 
 superior numbers. On the lakes, prepara 
 tions were making to secure a naval ascen 
 dancy, so essential to a permanent peace 
 with, and control over the savages. Among 
 the incidents of the measures of the war, 
 the president then felt himself constrained 
 to notice the refusals of the governors of 
 the states of Massachusetts and Connec 
 ticut to furnish the requisite detachments 
 of militia, the consequences of persisting in 
 which were strongly commented on. On 
 the coasts and on the ocean, the war had 
 been as successful as circumstances, insepa 
 rable from its early stages, could promise. 
 The enemy had become sensible of the dif 
 ference between a reciprocity of captures 
 and the long confinement of them to their 
 side. The American commerce had been 
 protected by the squadron under Commo 
 dore Rodgers ; and the captain of the 
 Guerriere had obtained an auspicious tri 
 umph for the skill and bravery of the 
 American seamen. The negotiations, sub 
 sequent to the declaration of war, were 
 then presented to the view of congress ; and, 
 after a brief notice of the relations of the 
 republic with foreign nations, the attention 
 of that body was directed to the insuffi 
 ciency of the existing provisions for filling 
 up the military establishment. Additional 
 pay and inducements to enlist were recom 
 mended, as well as an increase of the 
 general officers, and a better organisation 
 of the staff department; and an enlarge 
 
 ment of the navy was also suggested. The 
 receipts into the treasury, during the year 
 ending on the 30th of September, were said 
 to have exceeded sixteen millions of dollars, 
 including a sum of nearly six millions re 
 ceived on account of loans authorised by 
 congress, which were sufficient to defray 
 all the demands on the treasury to that 
 day, including a reimbursement of nearly 
 three millions of the public debt. The 
 whole sum contracted for, on loan, amounted 
 to eleven millions the residue of which, 
 with the current revenue, would, it was 
 supposed, be sufficient to defray the ex 
 penses of the year. The message then con 
 cluded with expressions of confidence in 
 the final success and prosperity of the re 
 public, founded on what was considered the 
 flattering state of its pecuniary resources, 
 and on the strength and spirit of the 
 nation. 
 
 One of the first objects to which the at 
 tention of congress was turned, was the 
 army ; both the amount and organisation 
 of which had been defective. After con 
 siderable discussion, it was determined that 
 the president should be authorised to raise, 
 by enlistment, such number of regiments of 
 infantry, not exceeding twenty, as, in his 
 opinion, should be necessary; the recruits 
 to serve for one year, unless sooner dis 
 charged, and to receive a bounty of sixteen 
 dollars each, with the same pay as those of 
 the former military establishment, which, 
 by another act, was increased two dollars a 
 month. The laws previously passed in re 
 lation to volunteer corps were repealed, it 
 having been found that little substantial 
 benefit was derived from them ; and at a 
 later period of the session, authority was 
 given to the executive to raise ten addi 
 tional companies of rangers. The regular 
 force of the United States was now in 
 creased to about 55,000 men ; and a cor 
 respondent augmentation of the general 
 officers being necessary, the president was 
 authorised to appoint six additional major- 
 generals, and six brigadiers ; and to the 
 department of adjutant, inspector, and quar 
 termaster-general, were added a consider 
 able number, and a greater variety of 
 officers. 
 
 The navy became next the subject of 
 legislative provision. The recent successes 
 of this arm of the service had done much 
 to remove the prejudices which had been 
 for some time entertained against the navy, 
 and created a desire in the public mind to 
 
 311 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 see its capacity more commensurate with 
 its enterprise. A bill was, therefore, in 
 troduced and adopted by both houses, 
 though not without strenuous opposition, 
 which directed the construction of four 
 ships of seventy-four guns each, and six 
 frigates of forty- four guns each : and 
 another act authorised the building of six 
 additional sloops of war, and such number 
 of vessels on the lakes as the public service 
 might require. 
 
 In testimony of their sense of the gallant 
 conduct of Captains Hull, Decatur, Jones, 
 and the other officers, congress directed 
 medals to be struck and presented to them ; 
 and, besides purchasing the vessels cap 
 tured from the enemy, directed a suitable 
 remuneration to be made for those which 
 hud been destroyed. In the negotiations 
 which took place between the American 
 and British governments, soon after the 
 declaration of war, we have seen that a 
 proposition was made by the former to ex 
 clude British seamen altogether from its 
 service. During this session, a law to that 
 effect was passed, which, it was conceived, 
 would remove an important obstacle in the 
 way of peace. Having increased the army 
 and navy, it became necessary to procure 
 means for defraying the augmented ex 
 pense. The receipts for the ensuing year 
 were estimated at about twelve millions ; 
 while the necessary disbursements, it was 
 supposed, would exceed thirty-one millions. 
 To provide for the deficiency, the president 
 was authorised to borrow a sum not exceed 
 ing sixteen millions, and to issue treasury 
 notes to the amount of five millions. The 
 loan was subsequently effected on terms 
 very unfavourable to the government, in 
 consequence of the want of sufficient pro 
 vision for the payment of the interest. 
 
 An act was passed, vesting in the presi 
 dent the power of retaliation for any vio 
 lation of the laws and usages of civilised 
 nations, by British officers, or by Indians 
 in alliance with the British government, or 
 those acting under the authority of the said 
 government. An important bill to the com 
 mercial interest was also passed principally 
 through the efforts of Langdon Cheves a 
 of South Carolina in its behalf, directing 
 the secretary of the treasury to remit cer 
 tain fines, penalties, and forfeitures ; in 
 other words, to cancel the merchants 
 bonds given for goods seized under the 
 Non-importation Act, and imported from 
 Great Britain and Ireland after the de- 
 312 
 
 claration of war. This bill was opposed by 
 most of the democratic members in the 
 House of Representatives, and was carried 
 by the close vote of sixty-four to sixty-one. 
 Its term of service having expired, con 
 gress adjourned on the 3rd of March. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1813, the second 
 term of Mr. Madison commenced, in con 
 sequence of his re-election to the presi 
 dency. At twelve o clock on that day, 
 having attended at the capital, for the pur 
 pose of taking the oath of office, he de 
 livered to the vast concourse of people 
 assembled on the occasion, his inaugural 
 address, which, like the one pronounced by 
 him on the occasion of his first inaugura 
 tion, was short, energetic in tone, and 
 determined in its defence of the war 
 against England. He said, in conclusion 
 " To render the war short, and its success 
 sure, animated and systematic exertions 
 alone are necessary ; and the success of our 
 arms now may long preserve our country 
 from the necessity of another resort to 
 them. Already have the gallant exploits 
 of our naval heroes proved to the world 
 our inherent capacity to maintain our 
 rights on one element. If the reputation 
 of our arms has been thrown under clouds 
 on the other, presaging flashes of heroic 
 enterprise assure us that nothing is want 
 ing to correspondent triumphs there also, 
 but the discipline and habits which are in 
 daily progress." 
 
 Some changes took place in Mr. Madi 
 son s cabinet previous to his re-election. 
 On the 12th of January, 1813, William 
 Jones, of Pennsylvania, was appointed 
 secretary of the navy, in place of Paul 
 Hamilton, resigned : and General John 
 Armstrong having returned from France, 
 was, on the 13th of January, appointed 
 secretary of war, in place of William Eustis, 
 resigned. The new secretaries had each been 
 engaged in that branch of the service which 
 he was now called upon to superintend. 
 
 The thirteenth congress assembled at the 
 capital on the 24th of May, 1813, in con 
 formity to an act of congress passed the 
 preceding February, and continued in ses 
 sion until the 2nd of August. The demo 
 cratic majority in the House of Repre 
 sentatives was shown in the election of 
 speaker. Henry Clay was again chosen, 
 receiving eighty-nine votes to fifty-four for 
 Timothy Pitkin, of Connecticut a leading 
 federalist ; and there were five scattering 
 votes. The majority, therefore, in favour 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [RUSSIAN MEDIATION. 
 
 of the administration, and of the policy of 
 the war, was decided ; and, in the senate, 
 the democratic majority was likewise large : 
 but several of the senators of that party 
 were not particularly friendly to the presi 
 dent and his cabinet, and sought, on some 
 occasions, to embarrass the administration 
 in various measures proposed, as well as on 
 the subject of nominations to office, as will 
 be hereafter seen. 
 
 On the 8th of March, the Russian 
 minister at Washington (M. Daschkoff) 
 communicated to the American govern 
 ment an offer from the Emperor Alexander, 
 of his mediation between the United States 
 and Great Britain, with a view to bringing 
 about peace between the two countries. The 
 Russian ministers, at the same time, de 
 clared that the emperor took pleasure in 
 doing justice to the wisdom of the govern 
 ment of the United States, and was convinced 
 of the sincerity of its conviction that it had 
 done all that it could to prevent the rup 
 ture. On the llth of March, the president 
 formally accepted the Russian mediation, 
 and, in a few days afterwards, appointed 
 Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, 
 and James A. Bayard, commissioners, or 
 special envoys, to negotiate a treaty of 
 peace with Great Britain, under the media 
 tion of the emperor of Russia. Messrs. 
 Gallatin and Bayard embarked soon after 
 from Philadelphia, in the ship Neptune, 
 under a flag of truce, to join Mr. Adams in 
 St. Petersburg, and arrived in the Baltic 
 the June following. It was probably 
 owing to the confidential relation between 
 Mr. Adams and the emperor, that the 
 mediation of Russia was tendered ; and it 
 appears, by official documents, to have been 
 first suggested to Mr. Adams, at St. Peters 
 burg, by the Russian minister Romanzoff, 
 on the 20th of September, 1812, and before 
 news of actual hostilities had reached the 
 Russian capital. 
 
 Mr. Adams was at that time American 
 minister at the court of St. Petersburg, 
 having been appointed by Mr. Madison to 
 that mission in 1809. It was not till 
 October, 1812, that he had information of 
 the declaration of war by the United States 
 against Great Britain ; and not till Decem 
 ber did he get a duplicate of his despatches 
 from Washington, dated July 1, apprising 
 him officially of the event. Meantime, the 
 French invasion of Russia, under Napo 
 leon, had been driven back to Poland, 
 where Joel Barlow, American minister to 
 
 France, was invited to meet the French 
 mperor at Wilna ; on his way to which 
 place he died, at Czarnovitch, on the 26th 
 of December, 1812. When there was 
 reason to believe that the coalition, of 
 which Great Britain and llussia were the 
 principal members, would triumph over 
 the French, the Russian emperor proffered 
 his mediation to put a stop to hostilities 
 between the United States and Great Bri 
 tain, which seriously interrupted American 
 commerce with Russia.* 
 
 When the nomination of Messrs. Gal 
 latin, Adams, and Bayard, as envoys to 
 negotiate peace, came before the senate on 
 the 31st of May, 1813, the two latter were 
 confirmed ; but Mr. Gallatin was rejected, 
 by a vote of eighteen to seventeen, on the 
 ground that the office of secretary of the 
 treasury, then held by Mr. Gallatin, and 
 that of envoy extraordinary, were incom 
 patible, and could not be united in the 
 same person. The president, in answer to 
 an inquiry from the senate, had informed 
 that body that the office of secretary of 
 the treasury was not vacant ; but that, in 
 the absence of Mr, Gallatin, the duties of 
 that office were performed by William 
 Jones, the secretary of the navy. Mr. 
 Gallatin was subsequently renominated as 
 envoy, when declared to be no longer 
 secretary of the navy ; and confirmed. 
 
 The Russian mediation was declined by 
 the British government in September, 
 1813 ; but, on the 4th of November, Lord 
 Castlereagh informed the American govern 
 ment that Great Britain was willing to 
 enter upon a direct negotiation for peace. 
 The proposition was accepted by Mr. Madi 
 son, and Lord Castlereagh was informed 
 that measures would be taken for carrying 
 it into effect at Giittenberg, in Sweden. 
 The place of meeting was, however, sub 
 sequently changed to Ghent, in Belgium, 
 and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, speaker of 
 the national House of Representatives, and 
 Jonathan Russell, of Rhode Island, added 
 as commissioners on the part of the United 
 States. 
 
 The principal business of congress, at the 
 special session, was to provide means for 
 paying the interest on loans already autho 
 rised, and other matters incident to the 
 war. The financial plan which had been 
 proposed by Mr. Gallatin to raise the 
 necessary funds, was simply to double the 
 existing duties on imports ; and, by levying 
 Ingersoll. 
 
 313 
 
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.I>. 1813. 
 
 the necessary internal taxes, to raise an 
 annual revenue sufficient to pay the ordi 
 nary expenses of government, and the 
 interest of such sums as it would become 
 necessary to borrow ; and to support the 
 war by a series of loans. But internal 
 taxes were very unpopular, and congress 
 was slow in imposing them. Mr. Madison 
 was of opinion that the people would not 
 take war and taxation together ; and the 
 majority of the twelfth congress had 
 deemed it advisable to refrain from im 
 posing direct taxes until the presidential 
 election had taken place. Their successors 
 of the thirteenth congress were therefore 
 called upon to provide the means referred 
 to. This was done by passing acts for the 
 assessment and collection of direct taxes 
 and internal duties ; soon followed by acts 
 imposing duties on refined sugars, sales at 
 auction, retailers licences, stamps, car 
 riages, licences to distillers, and a direct 
 tax of three millions of dollars a-year. 
 
 The national finances at this period were 
 in a state of much embarrassment. Trea 
 sury notes, issued according to act of con 
 gress, were at a heavy discount ; and 
 although the first loan, in 1812, was taken 
 at par for six per cent, bonds, the second loan 
 authorised by government was taken on 
 disadvantageous terms for the United States, 
 and all paid in depreciated currency. The 
 banks of the Union had suspended specie 
 payments, excepting a portion of those of 
 the New England states. In the early 
 part of 1813, the demands on the public 
 treasury were far greater than had been 
 anticipated, owing to the unfavoxirable 
 circumstances in which the country was 
 placed, and the improvident course of the 
 administration in carrying on the war. 
 When the militia, particularly of the middle 
 states, were called out, they were not suffi 
 ciently armed, and extraordinary expenses 
 were incurred to equip them. There was 
 also a great deficiency of blankets and other 
 clothing for the soldiers, as the importa 
 tions had been restricted, and the manu 
 facture of woollens was then comparatively 
 small in the United States. 
 
 Still the war served to show the strength 
 of the government, and the patriotism of 
 the people. Although a bare majority of 
 the latter approved of the war and pro 
 bably the majority were desirous of closing 
 it in six months after the offers of the 
 British government for further negotia 
 tions, and the great disasters suffered bv 
 314 
 
 the army on the borders of Canada, the 
 administration was supported, or certainly 
 not opposed, by any disorder!) or violent 
 acts. The power of the federal govern 
 ment proved adequate to the crisis ; but 
 the people, in various parts of the nation, 
 complained of the measures of the govern 
 ment, and censured its war policy ; and 
 that no formidable opposition appeared, 
 must be attributed to the patriotic feelings 
 of the citizens, and to their conviction of 
 the necessity of order and obedience to all 
 constitutional authority. With a popula 
 tion of a different character from that of 
 the great majority of the people of the 
 United States, and with the freedom they 
 possessed, it would have been difficult 
 to maintain a war, when so great a portion 
 of the nation disapproved of it.* 
 
 " To the honour of this country," says 
 Mr. Ingersoll, "it may be averred, that 
 never were taxes, especially new ones, more 
 promptly or cheerfully paid nearly the 
 whole amount accruing within the four 
 years being paid within that period ; when 
 the currency was deranged, without a 
 national bank, or other general regulation ; 
 and of what was called money, little more 
 than state bank-notes, most of which, 
 during the latter part of the war, were not 
 convertible into coin, but mere promises to 
 pay." 
 
 At the request of congress, the presi 
 dent recommended that the second Thurs 
 day in September, " be observed by the 
 people of the United States with religious 
 solemnity ; and the offering of fervent 
 supplications to Almighty God for the 
 safety and welfare of these states ; his 
 blessing on their arms, and the speedy 
 restoration of peace/ The day was very 
 generally observed throughout the country. 
 
 The arduous nature of the task which 
 had devolved on General Harrison, of 
 carrying on the operations of the war 
 through an intricate and difficult country, 
 with his divided and undisciplined forces, 
 has already been alluded to. He had been 
 directed by the administration to attempt 
 the recovery of Detroit, and the capture 
 of Maiden without delay. But at this 
 season of the year (the winter of 1812- 13), 
 an expedition for that purpose was attended 
 by almost insurmountable obstacles : not 
 the least of them was the difficulty of ob 
 taining provisions. The Michigan terri 
 tory afforded no species of supplies, which 
 * Williams. 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE WITH INDIANS. 
 
 must necessarily have been brought through 
 a swampy wilderness of nearly 200 miles, 
 at an enormous expense. The sufferings 
 experienced by the troops at this inclement 
 season were of the most fearful nature. 
 Many of the militia were without covering 
 to their feet, and a fine body of regulars 
 were nearly destroyed for want of clothing. 
 In his despatches to the government, 
 General Harrison strongly insisted upon 
 the necessity of obtaining the command of 
 the lakes, before any effectual operations 
 could be carried on upon its borders ; and 
 the administration had, at last, as we have 
 seen, begun to turn its attention to that 
 object. Though the whole force, destined 
 for the opening of the campaign, was esti 
 mated at 10,000 men, the extreme rigour 
 of the season, and the dropping off through 
 expiration of terms of enlistment, had re 
 duced the numbers fit for active service to 
 about 6,000, all of whom were infantry. The 
 plan now laid down by General Harrison, was 
 to occupy the Rapids of the Maumee with 
 between four and five thousand men ; to 
 collect provisions there ; and thence to move 
 with a select detachment, and, making a 
 feint upon Detroit to pass the river on 
 the ice, and invest Maiden. The force 
 which it was proposed to assemble at the 
 Rapids, was to advance from Fort Defiance, 
 Fort M Arthur, and Upper Sanduskey. 
 To the latter place General Harrison pro 
 ceeded about the 8th of January, 1813. 
 
 General Winchester, whom, in a previous 
 chapter, we left at Fort Defiance, moved 
 forward from that place, in conformity 
 with his orders, on the 30th of Decem 
 ber. His force, from causes already men 
 tioned, amounted to about 1,200 men, 
 chiefly from Kentucky. During his march, 
 he received, from the general in command, 
 information of the presence of a large 
 Indian force on the Wabash, and was re 
 commended to fall back to Fort Jennings; 
 but this advice not being imperative on 
 him, he continued his movement, and 
 arrived at the Rapids on the 10th of 
 January, 1813, where he immediately 
 formed a fortified camp on an eminence 
 surrounded with prairies. While at this 
 place, intelligence was received that a 
 body of Indians was in the vicinity of 
 Frenchtown, a place twenty-six miles from 
 Detroit, on the river Raisin, and had 
 threatened to destroy the village and mas 
 sacre the inhabitants. It was therefore de 
 termined, by a council of war, that a strong 
 
 detachment should be sent to that place. 
 Accordingly, on the 17th, Colonel Lewis 
 was dispatched with about G50 men. On 
 his march, he received information that the 
 Indian force at Frenchtown amounted to 
 about 500 men, and he resolved to dislodge 
 them before the arrival of an expected 
 reinforcement from Maiden, under Colonel 
 Elliot. As they drew near, the enemy 
 became apprised of their approach, and 
 prepared for their reception. A warm 
 contest ensued, which ended in the former 
 being driven out of the town, and into the 
 woods. Here, availing themselves of the 
 fences and fallen timber, they attempted to 
 make a stand ; but were attacked a second 
 time; and, after a conflict more obstinate 
 than the first, again fled. They now at 
 tempted to draw their pursuers into the 
 wood ; and partly succeeding, they charged, 
 in turn, furiously, but were unable to break 
 the American line. A severe conflict now 
 ensued ; but the enemy was finally beaten, 
 pursued with a continual charge for several 
 miles, and entirely dispersed. The Ame 
 rican loss was twelve killed and fifty-five 
 wounded ; that of the enemy could not well 
 be ascertained, but fifteen of the Indians 
 were left dead upon the field. 
 
 The news of this success being communi 
 cated to General Winchester, he immedi 
 ately advanced with the remainder of his 
 force, about 250 men, to Frenchtown, where 
 he arrived on the night of the 20th, and 
 encamped in an open hut, in the sight of 
 Colonel Lewis s detachment, which was 
 protected in its encampment by some close 
 garden pickets. Late on the succeeding 
 evening, information was given to General 
 Winchester, by a person who had recently 
 left Maiden, that a large force of British 
 and Indians was about to march from that 
 place. To this intelligence little attention 
 appears to have been given ; the whole 
 army seems to have thought itself perfectly 
 secure ; and such was the negligence of the 
 American commander, that no picket-guard 
 was placed on the road by which the enemy 
 was expected. The latter was thus enabled 
 to approach the camp without discovery, 
 and to station cannon behind a small 
 ravine, at a distance of only 300 yards. 
 
 About six o clock, on the morning of the 
 22nd of January, 1813, commenced a bloody 
 battle, near the banks of the river Raisin. 
 It was one of those conflicts between armies 
 that have seldom occurred in any other 
 part of the world, except America. There 
 
 315 
 
BATTLE OF RIVER RAISIN.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 and then were united, under the same 
 banner, the civilised and the savage war 
 riors the British soldier and the red 
 man of the forest in battle array, against 
 the unskilled militia of the great west. 
 Procter commanded the British forces : the 
 chieftains Roundhead and Splitlog com 
 manded the Indians ; and the combined 
 armies numbered about 3,000, all of whom 
 were well drilled, and prepared for battle. 
 At the hour before given, the British and 
 Indians made an attack upon the entire 
 American line ; but the British forces were 
 more particularly led against the upper 
 division, commanded by Colonels Allen and 
 Lewis, and Major Anderson : the Indians 
 directed their efforts against the lower divi 
 sion, which was under the command of 
 Colonel Wells. The British engaged the 
 Americans very actively at first, and were 
 evidently under the impression that they 
 would compel them to give way, or concen 
 trate ; and, in either case, their defeat was 
 certain. Failing to make the slightest 
 impression upon their enemy, the British 
 made an attack by sections from different 
 directions ; but, contrary to their expecta 
 tions, the Americans, who were principally 
 Kentuckians, were well prepared for such 
 an engagement. These brave hunters, from 
 " the dark and bloody ground," seemed 
 to have inherited the skill of their fathers, 
 who had settled in the wilds of that state 
 during the revolutionary period, and were 
 experienced riflemen. They were protected, 
 to some extent, by the pickets posts, which 
 had been set in the earth, some distance 
 from the woods ; and from behind these 
 the Kentuckians exercised their superioi 
 skill as marksmen, and shot down the 
 enemy as he approached from behind the 
 trees, on the skirts of the wood, about one 
 hundred yards distant. An attempt was 
 made by the British to use a cannon, which 
 was placed at the edge of the woods; by which 
 they expected to demolish the wooden work,, 
 then protecting the Americans; but th 
 Kentucky sharp-shooters picked the mer 
 off as fast as they approached to load it 
 Instead, therefore, of effecting the de 
 sired end, they signally failed, and wit! 
 difficulty succeeded in securing thei 
 field-piece. While the Americans wer 
 gallantly and successfully holding thei 
 position at the upper part of their line, 
 different state of things was transpirin, 
 at the lower end. The attack of the In 
 dians had been furious and impetuous 
 316 
 
 etermined to succeed in their assaults at 
 ny sacrifice. This they could hazard, 
 ecause they had more than double the 
 orce of the Americans, which numbered 
 :ss than 200. Colonel Wells and his men 
 epulsed charge after charge, until at last 
 e was compelled to abandon his position, 
 "his he attempted to do in good order ; 
 ut as soon as the Indians observed the 
 etreat, they redoubled their efforts, and, 
 svith the most hideous yells and desperate 
 omahawk attack, they succeeded in forcing 
 he Americans to abandon the field in the 
 reatest confusion. In this condition, 
 Colonel Allen met them a short distance in 
 advance of the pursuing Indians : he urged 
 hem to form into ranks, and follow him to 
 he upper division of the army. But, 
 notwithstanding the heroic efforts of Allen, 
 lis commands and entreaties were not 
 leeded, and the men continued their dis 
 orderly flight diagonally across to the Hull 
 oad, which led to Maumee, intending to 
 sscape to Ohio. The terrible cries, yells, and 
 the onslaught of the savages, had produced 
 a rout that could not be stopped. The 
 savages quickly perceived the victory they 
 iiad won, and pursued the Americans in 
 their wild flight, until the retreat became a 
 arnage. The Indians, before the battle, 
 had stationed some of their warriors in the 
 woods in every direction, so as to encircle 
 the American army, and to be ready for 
 the emergencies of the future. When the 
 Indians saw their enemy flying in every 
 direction, they very well knew that it would 
 be impossible to rally them again to make 
 another defence. At that moment, there 
 fore, the signal yell was given, which passed 
 from one guard to the other, until it was 
 echoed by more than a thousand warriors, 
 who speedily rushed to the fleeing Ame 
 ricans, and brained them with their toma 
 hawks. A large number of the men who 
 had thrown away their arms to facilitate 
 their flight, were surrounded at Plumb 
 Creek, a small stream about a mile from 
 the river Raisin ; and when they discovered 
 that there was no chance of escape from 
 the bloodthirsty savages, " they huddled 
 together like sheep ;" and there they 
 were murdered, the Indians burying their 
 tomahawks to the handle in their brains. 
 The scalps were severed from the skulls 
 of the dead ; the bodies were then 
 stripped of their clothes, and left heaped 
 together, as they had been massacred.* 
 * Our Whole Country, vol ii., p. 1136. 
 
A.D. 1813.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RIVER RAISIN MASSACRE. 
 
 During the battle of this memorable day, 
 Colonel Allen and Captains Simpson and 
 Mead were killed, and General Winchester 
 and Colonel Lewis made prisoners. That 
 part of the force, however, which had been 
 stationed behind the pickets, maintained its 
 post with great bravery. The British and 
 their Indian allies had been more than 
 once repulsed by this comparatively small 
 force, when, about eleven o clock, a flag of 
 truce was received, conveying an order 
 from General Winchester, then a prisoner 
 in the hands of the enemy, to surrender. 
 This order had been issued by the Ameri 
 can general, on an assurrance from the 
 British commander, that nothing but an 
 immediate capitulation could save the re 
 maining Americans from massacre. Find 
 ing that there was no prospect of relief or 
 retreat, the party within the picket con 
 sented to lay down their arms on condition 
 of being protected from the Indians, and 
 that the sick and wounded should be sent 
 to Maiden the next day, on sledges to be 
 furnished by the British. Colonel Procter, 
 the British commander, having acceded 
 to these conditions, marched at twelve 
 o clock with his prisoners, leaving Major 
 Reynolds, with some others, in charge of 
 the wounded. 
 
 The savages, who had taken a part in 
 the engagement, left Frenchtown with 
 their allies, but proceeded only a few 
 miles on the road to Maiden ; and, at 
 daylight on the following morning, they 
 returned to the scene of the action. Then 
 began a system of cruelty and outrage un 
 paralleled in the history of modern times. 
 All had gone save the sick and wounded, 
 who were then waiting for the sledges to 
 carry them to Maiden. It was mid-winter ; 
 the weather had been unusually cold ; the 
 snow covered the earth, and the ice had 
 formed sufficiently thick across the streams 
 to bear the artillery waggons. The sick 
 and wounded had been placed in some 
 small cabins at the upper camp of the 
 American army, where they were to remain 
 until the sledges were sent for them ; but 
 while they were indulging in the hope of 
 an early transport to a place where they 
 could procure better care than was possible 
 in their forest camp, they were surprised to 
 learn that the savages had returned to 
 complete their work of destruction. The 
 sledges never came ; but, in their stead, 
 came 300 savages, painted black and red, 
 determined on massacring and plundering 
 
 VOL. ii. 2 T 
 
 the wounded Americans, in revenge for the 
 death of their associate warriors who had 
 been killed during the late engagements. 
 They ha.d a particular enmity against the 
 Kentuckians, who had, by their skill as rifle 
 men, shot so many of their men, and deci 
 mated their ranks of some of their best 
 warriors. 
 
 Soon after the return of the Indians, the 
 slaughter commenced ; and never did fiends 
 do their work with more hellish brutality. 
 They broke into the houses where the 
 Americans lay, perfectly helpless ; and, in 
 the first place, plundered them of every 
 thing, leaving them naked, and besmeared 
 with the blood of their wounds. The sight 
 was one of the most horrible ever beheld ! 
 But still, the scene was to be further 
 darkened by the deeds of the uncivilised. 
 In a few moments the tomahawk was em 
 ployed to fell the strongest ; and, at the 
 same time, the knife was severing the scalps 
 from the heads of the dead and the living. 
 The men lay weltering in their blood, 
 groaning with agony suffering from the 
 most excruciating pains. Having plundered 
 the soldiers, and secured their scalps for 
 trophies, the Indians set the houses on fire, 
 and those within were consumed. If any 
 crawled out, they were pushed back or 
 felled to the earth with the hatchets. As 
 the fire progressed, the cries of the men 
 lessened, until nothing was heard from 
 within save the crackling of the flames. 
 Such was the end of the brave patriots of 
 the west, who fell in the " massacre of the 
 river Raisin." "Thus perished, in cold 
 blood, some of Kentucky s noblest heroes." 
 Their death spread a mantle of black over 
 "the dark and bloody ground." Not one 
 of the chivalrous people of that state failed 
 to shed a tear for those who had thus 
 fallen in their country s cause. Major 
 Wool folk (the secretary of General Win 
 chester), Major Graves, Captain Hickman, 
 and Inspector- general Hart, were among 
 the victims of that dreadful day.* 
 
 The country where this massacre took 
 place was but little inhabited ; and, in fact, 
 it was a vast forest, then far from the 
 civilised regions of America. The savages 
 occupied the ground, and knew well every 
 pathway through those western wilds. Their 
 knowledge of the country enabled them to 
 exercise their powers of strategy, and thus 
 accomplish the victory they attained in 
 that most memorable contest of the war. 
 * Our Whole Country, vol ii., p. 1138. 
 
 317 
 
FORT MEIGS CONSTRUCTED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 The number massacred has never been 
 actually ascertained. Of the whole Ame 
 rican force, previous to the engagement, 
 only thirty-three escaped to the.- Rapids. 
 Five hundred and fifty were taken prisoners 
 by the British, and forty-five by the Indians. 
 The prisoners who had been taken by the 
 British, after being exposed to the rigours 
 of the inclement season, were marched 
 through the interior to Fort George, where 
 the} were paraded, and permitted to return 
 home by way of Pittsburg. Two hundred 
 and ninety were killed during the battle, 
 or put to death subsequently, or were never 
 afterwards heard of. 
 
 Colonel Procter has been strongly censured 
 for permitting the massacre of the river Rai 
 sin ; while, on the other hand, it has been 
 maintained that he could not have prevented 
 it. Whether it could have been avoided or 
 not, the bare thought of such a massacre is 
 shocking, and illustrates, in a most striking 
 manner, the horrors of war, and especially 
 the Indian mode of conducting it. What 
 rendered this massacre more afflicting, was 
 the fact that most of the troops were the 
 flower of Kentucky. They were, many of 
 them, young men who had a large circle of 
 respectable relatives. Their bodies lay in 
 the field till autumn, when their friends 
 ventured to collect their bleaching bones, 
 and bury them. 
 
 General Harrison, in the meantime, did 
 not receive intelligence of the intended 
 advance of General Winchester from the 
 Rapids until the 16th of January, when 
 he immediately gave orders for the move 
 ment of the artillery, accompanied by a 
 guard of 300 men to the latter place. He 
 himself proceeded to Lower Sanduskey, 
 where he directed a brigade, under General 
 Perkins, to move to the Rapids ; and, on 
 the 20th, arrived himself at that place. 
 Here he found that General Winchester had 
 already advanced to Frenchtown, leaving 
 behind him about 300 men ; and, having 
 dispatched an order to him to hold his posi 
 tion, he set out, on the 22nd, with a re 
 inforcement to his support. The news of 
 the melancholy and irretrievable defeat of 
 the preceding day, met them on the road, 
 and nothing was left but a return to the 
 Rapids, which was accomplished without 
 loss. The force now assembled at this 
 place did not exceed 900 men, with only 
 one piece of artillery ; and it was deter 
 mined, by a council of war, that it would 
 be expedient to fall back. On the following 
 318 
 
 day, the army retired as far as Portage River, 
 eighteen miles in the rear, where it remained 
 till the 2nd of February, when a reinforce 
 ment being received, which increased its 
 numbers to about 1,700 men, it again 
 advanced to the Rapids, and encamped 
 on the south-east side of the river. This 
 position General Harrison now determined 
 to fortify ; and, under the direction of Cap 
 tain Wood, intrenchments were thrown up, 
 and the whole camp, about 2,500 yards 
 in circumference, with the exception of 
 several intervals left for batteries and 
 block-houses, picketed with timber fifteen 
 feet long, from ten to twelve inches in 
 diameter, and set three feet in the ground. 
 The position, thus fortified, was named 
 Fort Meigs, in honour of the governor of 
 Ohio. The number of troops in the gar 
 rison was afterwards reduced to about 1,200 
 men, by the discharge of those whose term 
 of service had expired. 
 
 Small parties of the enemy had been 
 seen at various times, hovering around the 
 camp ; and, on the 28th of April, the 
 whole force, composed of British and 
 Indians, was discovered approaching within 
 a few miles of the fort; and as soon as 
 their ordnance was landed, it was com 
 pletely invested. The ground in its vicinity 
 had been covered by a forest, which was 
 cleared to a distance of about 300 yards 
 from the lines. From behind the stumps 
 of the trees, however, which remained, the 
 Indians kept up a severe fire, by which 
 some execution was occasionally done. On 
 the 1st of May, the British batteries being 
 completed, a heavy cannonading com 
 menced, which was continued till late at 
 night. The intervening time had not been 
 spent in idleness by the garrison, under the 
 direction of Captain Wood. A grand 
 traverse, twelve feet high, upon a base of 
 twenty feet, and 300 yards long, had been 
 completed, which concealed and protected 
 the whole army. The fire of the enemy, 
 therefore, produced little effect, except the 
 death of Major Stoddard, of the regular 
 army, an officer of great merit. Disap- 
 i pointed in his first plan of attack, Colonel 
 \ Procter transferred his guns to the opposite 
 side of the river, and opened fire upon 
 the centre and flanks of the camp. The 
 cannonading of the enemy continued for 
 seve7 - al days, incessant and powerful : that 
 ! of the Americans, however, produced great 
 execution ; but a scarcity of ammunition 
 compelled them to economise their fire. 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. 
 
 In the meantime, a reinforcement of , 
 1,200 Kentuckians, under General Clay, 
 was descending the river, with the hope of ; 
 being able to penetrate into the fort. As I 
 soon as General Harrison heard of their 
 approach, he determined to make a sally | 
 against the enemy on his arrival ; and 
 sent an officer, with directions to General 
 Clay, to land about 800 men from his 
 brigade, about a mile above the camp. 
 They were then directed to storm the Bri 
 tish batteries on the left bank, to spike the 
 cannon, and cross to the fort. The re 
 mainder of the men were to land on the 
 right side, and fight their way into the 
 camp, through the Indians. During this 
 operation, General Harrison intended to 
 send a party from the fort, to destroy the 
 batteries on the south side. 
 
 In accordance with these instructions, a 
 body of men, under Colonel Dudley, was 
 landed on the oth of May, in good order, 
 at the place of destination. They were 
 divided into three columns when within 
 half a mile of the British batteries, which it 
 was intended to surround. No orders ap 
 pear to have been given by the commanding 
 officer, and the utmost latitude was there 
 fore taken by the troops. The left column 
 being in advance, rushed upon the bat 
 teries, and carried them without opposition, 
 there being only a few artillerymen on the 
 spot. Instead, however, of spiking the 
 cannon, or destroying the carriages, the 
 whole body either loitered in fatal security 
 in the neighbourhood, or, with their colonel, 
 were engaged in an irregular and impru 
 dent contest with a small party of Indians. 
 The orders and entreaties of General Harri 
 son were in vain, and the consequences were 
 such as might have been foreseen, had the 
 commanding officer possessed proper mili 
 tary discretion. The fugitive artillerists 
 returned, with a reinforcement from the 
 British camp, which was two miles be 
 low. A retreat was commenced, in dis 
 order, by the Americans, most of whom 
 were captured by the British or Indians, 
 or were killed in the pursuit. Among the 
 latter was Colonel Dudley. About 200 
 escaped into the fort: and thus this re 
 spectable body of men, who, if properly dis 
 ciplined and commanded, might have de 
 feated the operations of the enemy, became 
 the victims of their own imprudence. 
 
 The remainder of General Clay s troops 
 were not much more successful. Their 
 landing was impeded by the Indians, whom 
 
 they routed, and, with their characteristic 
 impetuosity, pursued to too great a distance. 
 General Harrison perceiving a large force of 
 the enemy advancing, sent to recall the vic 
 tors from the pursuit. The retreat was not 
 effected, however, without considerable loss, 
 the Indians having rallied, and, in turn, 
 pursued them for some distance. The 
 sortie, however, made by a detachment 
 under Colonel Miller, of the regulars, 
 gained for those who participated in it, 
 much more reputation. The party, con 
 sisting of about 350 men, advanced to the 
 British batteries with the most determined 
 bravery, and succeeded in spiking the can 
 non, driving back their opponents, and 
 capturing forty prisoners. The enemy suf 
 fered severely, but rallied, and pressed upon 
 the detachment until it reached the breast 
 work. The attempt to raise the siege was 
 thus defeated, from the imprudence and 
 insubordination of the troops concerned, 
 rather than from any original defect in the 
 plan. Many valuable lives were lost during 
 the heat of the battle ; and the cruelties 
 practised upon the prisoners taken by the 
 savages, are said to have been little inferior 
 in atrocity to those of the river Raisin 
 massacre. 
 
 From this period till the 9th, little of 
 importance occurred. The British com 
 mander, finding he could make no impres 
 sion upon the fort with his batteries, and 
 being deserted, in a great measure, by his 
 Indian allies, who became weary of the 
 length of the siege, resolved upon a retreat. 
 After several days preparation, his whole 
 force was accordingly embarked on the 9th, 
 and was soon out of sight of the garrison, 
 with little molestation on their part. 
 
 The British and Indians engaged in the 
 siege of Fort Meigs, numbered over 2,000 
 men, led by Procter and Tecumseh. The 
 loss of the Americans in the fort, during 
 the siege, was about 260 in killed, wounded, 
 and missing. This is exclusive of the loss 
 under Colonel Dudley. The excessive ardour 
 of the troops who made the sortie on the 
 5th, was the cause of their losing so many 
 men ; otherwise the loss in the fort would 
 have been small. 
 
 With the retreat of the British troops 
 from Fort Meigs, began a new era on the 
 north-western frontier. Defeat and disaster 
 had too long accompanied the operations of 
 the American arms in that quarter. The 
 valour and patriotism of the western people 
 had been squandered in a series of ill-judged 
 
 319 
 
FORT STEFHENSON.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 and mismanaged enterprises, of which it is 
 difficult to say whether they were more de 
 trimental to the public purse or the public 
 reputation. A more cheerful prospect was 
 now opening : the successful defence of 
 Fort Meigs gave promise that the territory 
 of the republic would soon be freed from 
 the presence of an enemy, and the peaceful 
 pursuits of agriculture from the murderous 
 incursions of the savage. 
 
 The unsuccessful termination of the siege 
 of Fort Meigs did not, however, deter the 
 allies from a renewal of the attempt. Small 
 bodies of Indians were seen, at times, in the 
 vicinity of that place ; and on the 20th of 
 July, a considerable force, under the com 
 mand of Tecumseh, including a number of 
 British regulars, encamped below the fort. 
 Its commander, General Clay, dispatched 
 information of the meditated attack to 
 General Harrison, who was, at that time, 
 at the Seneca towns, engaged in organising 
 and preparing his forces. Before any rein 
 forcements, however, could be sent, the 
 enemy had raised the siege. On the 28th, 
 they embarked on board their vessels, and 
 sailed round to Sanduskey Bay, with the 
 view of attacking the fort at that place. 
 
 Fort Stephenson, on the river Sanduskey, 
 the site of the present town of Lower San 
 duskey, was at this period garrisoned by 
 about 160 men, under the command of 
 Major George Croghan, a young officer of 
 but twenty-one years of age. His means of 
 defence were very feeble, being little more 
 than a picketing, surrounded by a ditch, 
 nine feet in width, and six in depth ; and 
 so untenable was the place considered, that 
 on the intelligence of the second retreat 
 from Fort Meigs, General Harrison dis 
 patched an order to him to set it on fire, 
 and repair with his command to head 
 quarters. The express did not reach the 
 fort until noon of the 30th ; and the In 
 dians having by that time surrounded it, 
 Major Croghan did not consider it advisable 
 to comply with the order. On the 1st of 
 August, the enemy s regular troops, with a 
 howitzer, were landed from the gun-boats. 
 The entire besieging force now consisted of 
 about 500 regulars, with 800 Indians ; the 
 whole commanded by General Procter. 
 After summoning the garrison to surren 
 der, a fire was opened upon the fore from 
 the 6-pounders in the gun-boats, as well as 
 from the howitzer ; which was continued 
 during the night with little injury. The 
 only piece of artillery in the fort was a 
 320 
 
 6-pounder ; and as the fire of the enemy 
 was directed principally against the north 
 western angle, it was placed in such a posi 
 tion as to enfilade that angle, in case, as 
 was supposed, an attempt should be made 
 to storm that point. The garrison was not 
 deceived in this supposition. After can 
 nonading all the next day, and until late 
 in the evening, the enemy advanced in two 
 columns to the assault. A feint was made 
 on the southern angle ; but the main body, 
 consisting of 350 men, proceeded to the 
 attack of that at the north-west. In con 
 sequence of the smoke and darkness, they 
 arrived within twenty paces of the fort 
 without being discovered ; but as soon as 
 their approach was perceived, a heavy 
 fire of musketry was opened upon them. 
 The column, nevertheless, continued to ad 
 vance ; and its leader, Colonel Short, leaped 
 into the ditch, followed by a number of his 
 men ; when, at that moment, the embrasure 
 was opened, and so destructive a fire poured 
 into them from the 6-pounder, that their 
 commander and twenty men were killed 
 outright, and as many more wounded. A 
 volley of musketry was, at the same time, 
 fired upon those who had not descended. 
 The officer who succeeded Short, exaspe 
 rated at this reception, formed the broken 
 column anew, and again rushed to the 
 ditch. The 6-pounder was a second time 
 played upon them, with the same success 
 as before; and the small-arms were so 
 rapidly discharged, that they were again 
 thrown into confusion ; and, in spite of the 
 exertions of their officers, fled to an ad 
 joining wood, whither they were soon 
 followed by the Indians. The loss of 150 
 men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
 was the result of this unavailing attempt ; 
 while, of the garrison, only one was killed 
 and seven wounded. The wounded of the 
 enemy were conveyed into the fort by the 
 garrison, at the risk of their own safety, 
 and received every attention that the most 
 liberal generosity could dictate. About 
 three in the morning, after this repulse, 
 General Procter hastily re-embarked, leav 
 ing behind many valuable trophies to adorn 
 the triumph of his youthful antagonist. 
 The defence of Fort Stephenson, considering 
 all the circumstances connected with it, 
 may well be looked upon as one of the 
 most brilliant events of the war. Major 
 Croghan was shortly after promoted to the 
 rank of lieutenant-colonel, and received the 
 thanks of congress. 
 
A.U. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BATTLE OF YORK. 
 
 The operations on the northern frontier, 
 during the early part of the year 1813, 
 were not remarkable for any important 
 events. A species of partisan warfare, 
 alluded to in a previous page, as common 
 at the close of 1812, was kept up through 
 the winter between small bodies of troops, 
 stationed on both sides of the St. Lawrence. 
 In the month of February, a party of Bri 
 tish regulars crossed the river in search 
 of their deserters, and committed some 
 depredations on the homes and property of 
 the inhabitants. Miijor Forsythe, who 
 commanded at Ogdensburg, resolved to re 
 turn the visit. Taking a part of his rifle 
 men, and such volunteers as offered, he 
 crossed the St. Lawrence, surprised the 
 guard at Elizabethtown, took fifty-two pri 
 soners, including several officers, and cap 
 tured 120 muskets, twenty rifles, two casks 
 of ammunition, and other public property. 
 He then returned without the loss of a 
 single man. In retaliation for this exploit, 
 a British force attacked the town of 
 Ogdensburg, in two columns of 600 each, 
 under Captain M Donald, of the Glengary 
 light infantry, and Colonel Frazier, of the 
 Canada militia. The Americans, under 
 Major Forsythe, kept up the contest for an 
 hour, but were finally driven from the 
 town, with the loss of twenty killed and 
 wounded. The British and Canadians 
 then retired, carrying off a large amount 
 of provisions, and six pieces of cannon, as 
 trophies of the contest. Their loss was 
 seven killed and forty- eight wounded, in 
 cluding several officers. 
 
 New levies of troops were daily arriving 
 at Sackett s Harbour and vicinity. The 
 conversion of these raw recruits, in the 
 brief space of time permitted, into efficient 
 troops, was an arduous undertaking. The 
 progress made by them, however, under 
 the unceasing labour of General Pike, who 
 had been advanced to the rank of brigadier, 
 was unusally rapid. Nothing was wanting 
 but opportunity to demonstrate the benefits 
 derived by them from his zeal and thorough 
 training. An occasion soon offered. Im 
 mediately on the lake being free from ice, 
 a descent on the Canada shore was deter 
 mined on. York (now Toronto), the capital 
 of Upper Canada, was the depot of all the 
 British military stores, whence the western 
 posts were supplied. Should an attack 
 on York prove successful, it might be fol 
 lowed up by another upon Fort George ; 
 and the united forces, aided by the fleet, { 
 
 might then move against Kingston. In 
 April, General Dearborn, after a consulta 
 tion with Pike and other officers, determined 
 on making the attack upon York. Major 
 Forsythe, who had returned to Ogdensburg 
 after the British had left the place, was 
 ordered, with his riflemen, to Sackett s 
 Harbour; and Commodore Chauncey re 
 ceived orders, also, from Washington, to 
 co-operate with the commander-in-chief of 
 the laud forces, in any plan of operations 
 which he might wish to execute. The 
 fleet moved down the lake on the 25th of 
 April, every arrangement being, by that 
 time, completed for the projected assault. 
 The plan of attack was highly judicious. 
 It had been principally suggested by Gen 
 eral Pike ; and he, therefore, at his own 
 request, was entrusted with its accomplish 
 ment. At seven in the morning of the 
 27th, the squadron, under Commodore 
 Chauncey, safely reached its destination, 
 about two miles above the town of York. 
 The debarkation of the troops, numbering 
 about 1,700, commenced at eight o clock, 
 and was completed in about two hours. 
 The British, on discovering the fleet, deter 
 mined to oppose the landing. General 
 Sheaffe advanced from the garrison, which 
 was situated above York, with his whole 
 force, consisting of 400 regulars, and about 
 500 militia and Indians. The Indians were 
 placed in the thickets at the water s edge, 
 near the expected points of debarkation ; 
 while the regulars were drawn up on the 
 bank, and partly concealed in a wood. In 
 pursuance of the plan of attack, the batteaux 
 carrying Forsythe and his riflemen, first 
 moved to the shore, at the point where the 
 principal force of the enemy was stationed, 
 A galling fire of musketry and rifles was 
 instantly opened on him. To have gone 
 higher up would have deranged the gene 
 ral plan. He therefore resolved to dash at 
 once into the thickest of the enemy ; but 
 hesitated a moment to give his riflemen 
 an opportunity of returning the fire, 
 General Pike, who was watching the move 
 ment, noticed the pause ; and not knowing 
 its reason, sprang into the boat provided 
 for himself and staff; and ordering Major 
 King to follow with a part of his regiment, 
 pushed at once for the shore. Before 
 reaching it, however, Forsythe had landed, 
 and was closely engaged with the whole 
 British force. The detachment under King, 
 consisting of light artillery and infantry, 
 now landed. Pike, putting himself at the 
 
 321 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL PIKE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813 
 
 head of the few first formed, and ordering 
 the rest to follow rapidly, gallantly as 
 cended the bank with his handful of men, 
 under a shower of bullets from the grena 
 diers. He charged impetuously upon them ; 
 they were thrown into confusion, and fled. 
 At this instant the bugles of Foray the 
 announced that he, also, had been victorious. 
 A portion of the British troops still kept 
 up an irregular fire ; but the Indians had 
 fled. The British were soon seen at a 
 distance, forming again ; but more rein 
 forcements having now landed from the 
 fleet, the British troops retreated to the 
 garrison below. 
 
 As soon as the troops were landed, the 
 fleet moved up, and took a position near 
 the fort, in order that the attack from land 
 and water might be simultaneous. The 
 vessels were obliged to beat up to their 
 position under a heavy fire from the enemy s 
 batteries ; and being stationed within 600 
 yards of the principal fort, they opened a 
 heavy cannonade upon it, which did great 
 execution, and very much contributed to the 
 final result. The troops, as soon as landed, 
 were formed in the order contemplated in 
 the plan of attack. The different bodies of 
 troops were disposed in the most judicious 
 manner ; while Forsy the and his riflemen 
 were to act on the flanks. The column 
 then moved forward with as much regularity 
 as the nature of the ground would permit, 
 until they emerged from the wood, when a 
 24-pounder was opened upon them from 
 one of the British batteries. This battery 
 was taken, and the column moved on to a 
 second one, which was abandoned on the 
 approach of the Americans, the enemy re 
 treating to the garrison. General Pike 
 here ordered the column to halt, for the 
 purpose of learning the strength of the 
 garrison, and obtaining further informa 
 tion. Lieutenant Riddle was sent forward 
 for that purpose ; General Pike, mean 
 while, seated on the stump of a tree, talk 
 ing with a sergeant who had been taken 
 prisoner. While thus occupied, suddenly 
 the air was convulsed by a tremendous 
 explosion. The magazine, at the distance 
 of 200 yards, near the barracks, had blown 
 up. The air was instantly filled with huge 
 stones, and fragments of wood rent asunder, 
 and whirled aloft by the explosion of 500 
 barrels of powder. Immense quantities of 
 these inflamed and blackened masses fell in 
 the midst of the American column, causing 
 a fearful havoc. Upwards of 200 were 
 322 
 
 killed and wounded by this disaster; and 
 among the latter, was their brave leader, 
 General Pike. The troops were, for a 
 moment, confounded by the shock, but 
 were soon brought to order, and led on to 
 the attack. The wound of Pike, a severe 
 contusion, was soon found to be mortal. He 
 was taken up by some of his men, to be con 
 veyed on board the ship. Scarcely had he 
 reached the shore of the lake, when a 
 victorious shout from his brigade bright 
 ened for a moment the expiring lamp of 
 life. A faint smile was all his strength 
 would permit him to express. After being 
 transferred to the commander s ship, the 
 British flag was brought to him, with the 
 information that it had been supplanted by 
 the American standard upon the garrison. 
 At the sight of it, his eye again exhibited 
 its wonted lustre for a moment, and, making 
 signs for it to be placed under his head, he 
 soon after expired. 
 
 On the fall of Pike, the command de 
 volved on Colonel Pearce, General Dearborn 
 being still on board the squadron. Colonel 
 Pearce, as above stated, at once pushed 
 forward to the garrison, which he found 
 already in possession of Forsythe, the 
 enemy having retreated towards the town. 
 The regulars were finally ordered up towards 
 Kingston, leaving the town to be defended 
 by the militia ; who, soon after, being con 
 vinced that their numbers and means of 
 defence were inadequate to the task of 
 defending the town against the superiority 
 of force brought against it, entered into a 
 capitulation with the American commander. 
 By the terms of the capitulation, the troops, 
 regulars and militia, were to be sur 
 rendered as prisoners of war ; the public 
 stores given up ; and all private property 
 guaranteed to the citizens of York : all 
 papers relating to the civil department to 
 be respected ; and the surgeons attending 
 to the wounded, not to be considered as 
 prisoners of war. It is pleasing to record, 
 that the conduct of the victors, in this 
 ! affair, was such as to call for commendation 
 | even from the vanquished. The civil officers 
 of York presented a letter of thanks to 
 General Dearborn, for the respect which 
 was manifested, by the forces under his 
 command, for the persons and property of 
 the inhabitants of the place. 
 
 General Dearborn landed soon after the 
 death of General Pike; but did not assume 
 immediate command until after the capi 
 tulation. The forces that surrendered as 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CAPTURE OF FORT GEORGE. 
 
 prisoners of war, numbered forty officers, 
 and 2oO non-commissioned officers and 
 privates ; but few of whom belonged to the 
 regulars. The loss of the British, in killed 
 and wounded, was variously estimated from 
 two to four hundred. 
 
 The capture of York, though, a triumph 
 of which the Americans had reason to con 
 gratulate themselves, was dearly paid for. 
 It involved a loss of 320 men in killed and 
 wounded, more than four-fifths of them by 
 the explosion of the magazine. The death 
 of General Pike was a serious calamity. 
 This brave officer, possessing at once the 
 ardour and enterprise of youth, and the 
 skill and cool decision of a veteran soldier, 
 gave promise of a brilliant career, had his 
 life been spared. Brief as it was, it fills a 
 bright page in American history. Although 
 a strict disciplinarian, he had become the 
 idol of the soldiery, who followed him with 
 a confidence and an enthusiasm that could 
 scarcely fail of success. 
 
 Having now, to so satisfactory a degree, 
 accomplished the object of this expedition, 
 the troops were re-embarked on board the 
 squadron, which sailed for Sackett s Har 
 bour on the 10th of May, for the purpose of 
 leaving the wounded ; and having received 
 a supply of provisions, it again left that port 
 on the 22nd, with a reinforcement of 350 
 men of Colonel Macomb s artillery, and 
 several additional pieces of ordnance ; and 
 arrived safely at Niagara two days after 
 wards. 
 
 The reduction of Fort George was next to 
 be attempted ; and arrangements were now 
 made for carrying that enterprise into suc 
 cessful execution. Commodore Chauncey, 
 on the 26th, made a reconnaissance of the 
 Canada shore, and noted the safest landing- 
 places, and the stations to be occupied by 
 the lighter craft, the next morning being 
 fixed upon for the attempt. Several boats, 
 which had been building for this special 
 enterprise, were launched, and others made 
 ready. These movements being observed 
 by the enemy, a fire was opened upon them 
 from a battery, located for that purpose 
 nearly opposite. This brought on a severe 
 cannonade between the forts and batteries, 
 which continued for some hours, and in 
 which the Americans had the advantage. 
 FortGeorge having sustained much damage. 
 The boats, in the meanwhile, passed safely 
 to the encampment at Four-mile Creek, so 
 called from its being four miles distant 
 from Niagara. Immediately after dark 
 
 the artillery was put on board the Oneida, 
 the Madison, and the Lady of (he Lake ; the 
 troops to embark in the boats, and follow 
 the fleet. The schooners, by the aid of 
 sweeps, in consequence of a calm which 
 prevailed, gained their stations, each within 
 musket-shot of the shore, and so disposed 
 as to attack the different batteries, and cover 
 the landing of the American troops. The 
 latter were all embarked, and numbered 
 near 4,000 men. At daybreak on the 
 morning of the 27th, Generals Dearborn 
 and Lewis, with their staffs, went on board 
 the Madison. The British batteries imme 
 diately opened as the troops advanced in. 
 three brigades. The advance was led by 
 Colonel Win field Scott, who won so much 
 distinction here, as mentioned in a pre 
 vious page, the year previous. His force 
 consisted of Forsythe s riflemen, and select 
 detachments from several infantry regi 
 ments. It landed near the fort which had 
 been silenced by the guns from the Governor 
 Tompkins. The brigade lately commanded 
 by General Pike, foi-med the first line, under 
 General Boyd. This brigade was flanked 
 by the Albany and Baltimore volunteers, 
 under Colonel M Clure, and reached the 
 shore immediately after the advance under 
 Scott had landed. The second brigade 
 followed, under the command of General 
 Winder, and was immediately followed by 
 General Chandler, at the head of the third. 
 
 As soon as the troops were formed on 
 the beach, they were led to the charge, and 
 speedily -dispersed the enemy, some seeking 
 shelter in the fort, and others fleeing to the 
 woods for refuge. Finding the fort un 
 tenable, from the heavy fire of the fleet, 
 they left it, and dispersed in various direc 
 tions, having previously endeavoured to fire 
 the magazines, and blow up the fort, but 
 without success. They were pursued a 
 considerable distance by the light troops 
 under Scott. By twelve o clock the whole 
 of the English fortifications on this shore, 
 from Fort George to Fort Erie, inclusive, 
 were in the possession of the Americans. 
 The British loss, on this occasion, was esti 
 mated at 108 killed, 160 wounded, and 
 615 prisoners; that of the Americans was 
 thirty-nine killed, and 110 wounded. 
 
 In his despatch to Sir George Prevost, 
 announcing the loss of Fort George, General 
 Vincent, after alluding to the bravery dis 
 played by the forces under his command, 
 and the heavy loss he had sustained, 
 adds "Seeing that the force under my 
 
 323 
 
AMERICANS SURPRISED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 command was opposed by tenfold numbers, 
 who were rapidly advancing under cover of 
 their ships and batteries, from which our 
 positions were immediately seen, and ex 
 posed to a tremendous fire of shot and 
 shells, I decided on retiring my little force 
 to a position which, I hoped, might be less 
 assailable by the heavy ordnance of the 
 enemy, and from which a retreat would be 
 left open in the event of that measure be 
 coming necessary : there, after awaiting the 
 approach of the enemy for about half-an- 
 hour, I received authentic information that 
 his force, consisting of from four to five 
 thousand men, had re-formed in columns, 
 and was making an effort to turn my right 
 flank. At this critical juncture not a mo 
 ment was to be lost ; and sensible that every 
 effort had been made by the officers and 
 men under my command to maintain the 
 post of Fort George, I could not consider 
 myself justified in continuing so unequal a 
 contest; the issue of which promised no 
 advantage to the interests of his majesty s 
 service." 
 
 The discipline and conduct of the Ame 
 rican troops, on this occasion, were such 
 as to elicit the highest commendation, and 
 to lead the government and people to 
 indulge in sanguine anticipations of further 
 triumphs. In these anticipations, however, 
 through the ignorance or mismanagement 
 of some of their leaders, they were destined 
 to disappointment. After their defeat at 
 Fort George, the English forces, under 
 General Vincent, retired to the heights of 
 Burlington, near the head of Lake Ontario, 
 where they were soon after joined by rein 
 forcements, under Colonel Bishop, from 
 Fort Erie and Chippewa. For the purpose 
 of dislodging them from this position, the 
 brigades of Generals Winder and Chandler 
 were detached on the 1st of June. On the 
 5th, they advanced to Stony Creek, and 
 encamped for the night, having taken the 
 usual precaution against a surprise. In this 
 situation, the enemy, whose position had 
 become dangerous, determined upon a night 
 attack. About two o clock on the morning 
 of the 6th, about 700 British regulars, 
 having silently bayonetted the sentinels, 
 and passed by the advanced guard un 
 noticed, made a fierce attack upon the centre 
 of the American encampment, accompanied 
 by a tremendous Indian yell. The line of 
 the American forces was soon formed, and 
 a heavy fire opened upon their assailants, 
 who, profiting by the darkness of the night, 
 324 
 
 moved to the left, where the artillery was 
 stationed ; and, surprising and driving the 
 men from their pieces, succeeded in cap 
 turing five cannon, which they turned 
 against the Americans. Generals Winder 
 and Chandler, ignorant of this firing, ad 
 vanced to the spot, and were both taken 
 prisoners. The day now dawning, the 
 American troops were able to discover the 
 position of their assailants, and commenced 
 a fire upon them, when they retreated with 
 their booty and prisoners. 
 
 The American loss, in this affair, was 154 
 in killed, wounded, and prisoners, taken by 
 the British. The loss of the latter was 
 severe in killed and wounded. One hun 
 dred prisoners were taken by the Ameri 
 cans. Both Generals Winder and Chan 
 dler were censured in this affair ; with 
 what justice it is not easy at this day to 
 decide. Had the enemy been pursued, 
 they very probably might have been cap 
 tured, and the prisoners retaken, so inferior 
 were their numbers ; but Colonel Burn, 
 who now commanded, after a council of 
 war, judged it most prudent to fall back on 
 Forty-mile Creek, with his right flank 
 resting on the lake. Here he was joined 
 by Colonel Miller s regiment, which had 
 been sent to guard the boats ; and Generals 
 Lewis and Boyd, the former of whom now 
 took command. 
 
 On the 8th of June, Sir James Yeo, in 
 command of the British squadron on the 
 lakes, having been dispatched with supplies 
 and reinforcements to General Vincent, 
 appeared abreast of the American encamp 
 ment, and within a mile of the shore. He 
 attempted to destroy the boats ; but a fire 
 was opened upon him with hot shot, and 
 he sailed off. A party of Indians now 
 appeared on the brow of the mountain, at 
 the base of which Forty-mile Creek runs ; 
 but they were soon dislodged by Lieu 
 tenant Eldridge, who gained the summit 
 with a few volunteers, in advance of the 
 detachment which was ordered for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Orders were now received from General 
 Dearborn, for the army to return to Fort 
 George ; and the greater portion of the 
 camp equipage and luggage was put in 
 boats. These were intercepted, however, 
 by a British armed schooner, and twelve of 
 them captured. The American encamp 
 ment at Forty-mile Creek was broken up 
 on the evening of the 8th, and the army con 
 tinued its march for Fort George, harassed 
 
A.I). 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SIEGE OF SACKETT S HARBOUR. 
 
 nearly the whole way by savages, who hung 
 upon its flank and rear. 
 
 General Dearborn, having learned that a 
 body of the enemy was stationed at the 
 Beaver Dams, about seventeen miles from 
 Fort George, detached Colonel Boerstler, on 
 the 24th of June, with about 600 men, to dis 
 perse or capture them. When near Queens- 
 town, they encountered a body of between 
 two and three hundred Indians, who were 
 soon reinforced by a small number of British 
 regulars and militia. The Americans 
 formed in close column, and returned the 
 fire of the enemy till their ammunition was 
 exhausted. They were now called upon to 
 surrender by the British commander, who 
 assured Colonel Boerstler that his force was 
 greatly superior in numbers. Yielding, 
 perhaps, too ready an ear to this statement, 
 the latter consented to capitulate. His 
 troops were surrendered prisoners of war, 
 and laid down their arms at the head of 
 the British column. It afterwards ap 
 peared that the whole force of the enemy, 
 including regulars, militia, and Indians, 
 did not exceed 350 men. When the supe 
 rior numbers of the American detachment 
 are taken into view, this reverse could not 
 but be considered discreditable to the 
 American arms; and occurring imme 
 diately after the unfortunate affair of Stony 
 Creek, it had a depressing influence upon 
 the public mind. These reverses led to a 
 change in the chief command on the On 
 tario frontier. Shortly after the surrender 
 of Colonel Boerstler, General Dearborn 
 retired from active service, and was suc 
 ceeded in the command of Fort George by 
 Brigadier-general Boyd. General Wilkin 
 son, then in the southern section of the 
 Union, was appointed to succeed him as 
 commander-in-chief of all the American 
 forces. 
 
 While the reputation and spirits of the 
 American troops on the frontiers were thus 
 being frittered away in a series of ill-ad 
 vised and unfortunate engagements, an 
 event occurred which had well-nigh re 
 sulted disastrously to the American cause. 
 The British had met with a signal repulse 
 in a conflict in which they had every 
 reason to look for success. Sackett s Har 
 bour, the depot of immense quantities of 
 military and naval stores, and the place at 
 which the vessels of war were constructed 
 and thus the most important post on the 
 American shore of Lake Ontario was left 
 by General Dearborn, at his departure for 
 
 VOL. IT. 2 u 
 
 York, under the command of Brigadier- 
 general Jacob Brown, of the New York 
 militia. Availing himself of the absence 
 of the greater portion of the American 
 troops, Sir George Prevost determined to 
 make an attack on this post. No time was 
 lost in preparing to carry into effect this 
 important enterprise. Sir George selected 
 1,000 of his best troops, and embarked 
 them on board the fleet, commanded by 
 Sir James Lucas Yeo. On the 27th of 
 May, the British squadron was discovered 
 off the port, and every exertion was made 
 to put it in a state of defence. But only 
 1,000 men could be collected, one-half 
 of whom were raw militia, hastily assem 
 bled; the remaining 500 being composed 
 of regulars, seamen, and volunteers. This 
 motley force was stationed by General 
 Brown in as convenient an order for defence 
 as the brief time allowed would admit. 
 But a small portion of the ground adjacent 
 to the village was cleared, the rest being 
 surrounded by woods. At the only point 
 of landing, a battery and breastwork were 
 hastily constructed, and the militia placed 
 behind them, ready to receive the enemy 
 as they landed, and to open a fire upon 
 them in conjunction with the artillery. 
 The light artillery and the regular troops 
 were stationed in a second line, nearer the 
 barracks and the public buildings ; and the 
 seamen, under Lieutenant Chauncey, were 
 stationed at the navy point, with directions 
 to destroy the buildings and stores in oase 
 of a defeat of the troops. On the approach 
 of the British boats, on the morning of the 
 29th, under the command of Sir George 
 Prevost in person, a well-directed fire, 
 which had been reserved till then, com 
 pelled them to pause, and several officers 
 and men were seen to fall. Encouraged by 
 this fire, the militia were engaged in load 
 ing a second time, with the artillery to 
 sustain them, when they were seized by 
 some unaccountable panic, and fled in the 
 utmost confusion ; while Colonel Mills, their 
 brave commander, was killed in the attempt 
 to rally them. The British now landed 
 with little opposition ; and, having formed, 
 advanced to the barracks, but were for a 
 moment checked by a vigorous attack from 
 a body of infantry under Major Aspenwall, 
 and the dismounted dragoons, under Major 
 Laval. These were soon forced, however, 
 to retreat; when a sharp conflict com 
 menced with the regulars and artillery, 
 under Colonel Backus ; but these, too, gave 
 
 325 
 
DEFEAT OF THE BRITISH.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 way, being overpowered by superior num 
 bers ; and, retreating to the village, took 
 possession of the houses and barracks, from 
 which they opened so destructive a fire 
 upon the British column, that it began to 
 give ground. Colonel Backus about this 
 time fell, severely wounded. Perceiving 
 the hesitation on the part of the British, 
 General Brown had recourse to a strata 
 gem, which soon decided the retreat of that 
 force. A large portion of the militia, 
 now ashamed of their panic, having col- 
 fected near the scene of action, he instantly 
 lormed them, and marched them silently 
 through the woods, in the direction of the 
 enemy s rear. Sir George Prevost observing 
 this movement, and believing that his re 
 treat was about to be cut off, ordered a 
 return to the boats. But this movement 
 was so precipitately accomplished, that all 
 the wounded and a number of prisoners 
 were left behind. The contest at the 
 barracks had been a severe one : a destruc 
 tive fire was poured from the buildings; 
 while Lieutenant Fanning, though himself 
 severely wounded, directed as destructive a 
 one from his single piece of ordnance. 
 
 The loss of the Americans in this affair, 
 was 156 in killed, wounded, and missing. 
 The English loss was 261, in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners. 
 
 The able dispositions and skilful move 
 ments of General Brown won him great 
 a ad deserved applause, and laid the founda 
 
 tion of that eminent military character 
 which he subsequently acquired. The most 
 disastrous consequences must have resulted 
 from the British obtaining possession of 
 this post. It would have completely estab 
 lished their naval supremacy on the lake, 
 and put an end to any further attempt on 
 Canada, at least for some time. The suc 
 cessful defence of Sackett s Harbour, there 
 fore, had an importance second to no other 
 event of the war. The gratification of this 
 triumph, however, was somewhat abated bv 
 the destruction of part of the barracks and 
 stores. Information had been communi 
 cated to Lieutenant Chauncey, during the 
 battle, that the American troops had been 
 defeated. He therefore immediately carried 
 out the orders previously received, and set 
 fire to the public storehouses ; and the flames 
 were not extinguished until much damage 
 was done. The new ship, the General Pike, 
 which was on the stocks, ready for launch 
 ing, was also set fire to; but being built of 
 green wood, the flames did not make much 
 progress before the mistake was discovered, 
 and the fire extinguished. This ship Sir 
 James Yeo confidently expected to capture, 
 and had provided himself with shipwrights 
 to prepare her for launching. Shortly after 
 this affair, Commodore Chauncey returned 
 with his squadron ; and General Lewis, 
 taking command of the place, immediately 
 commenced repairing the barracks and 
 public storehouses. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE ARMIES ON THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS IN 1813; ALLIANCE OF THE INDIANS WITH 
 THE BRITISH ; THE NAVIES ON THE LAKES ; SUCCESSES OF THE AMERICANS ON LAND AND WATER. 
 
 WE will now resume the thread of opera 
 tions under General Harrison, who was 
 actively engaged in the creation and disci 
 pline of an army adequate to the recapture 
 of the United States territory in possession 
 of the enemy ; and was only awaiting the 
 hoped-for successful issue of the naval 
 movements on Lake Erie, to follow it up 
 with offensive operations on land. The 
 number of regular troops under his imme 
 diate command at this period (August, 
 326 
 
 1813), did not much exceed 2,000. The in 
 vasion of Ohio by the British forces and 
 their Indian allies, had determined Gov 
 ernor Meigs to call out the military force of 
 the state en masse ; and volunteers flocked 
 to the camp of General Harrison in crowds, 
 the great majority of whom he was ob 
 liged to decline, only accepting about 
 1,000 men. Receiving the proper autho 
 rity from the department of war for that 
 purpose, he made a demand upon the 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PERRY S FLEET. 
 
 governor of Kentucky for a draft of militia, 
 to the number of 2,000 men. Isaac Shelby, 
 a distinguished officer in the American 
 army during the war of the revolution, was 
 at this time the governor of Kentucky, 
 having been called from his retirement to 
 occupy the executive chair of the state a 
 second term, when, on the surrender of Hull, 
 the guidance of affairs required patriotism 
 and experience. On receiving the requi 
 sition from General Harrison, Shelby im 
 mediately issued a proclamation calling for 
 a body of mounted volunteers, promising to 
 place himself at their head. Many more 
 than the number required answered to his 
 call, such being the influence of his name, 
 and the unabated ardour of the people. A 
 regiment of mounted men, under Colonel 
 Johnson, which had but recently been dis 
 banded, was now reorganised and put under 
 a thorough state of discipline. The re 
 mainder of the Kentucky volunteers, num 
 bering about 3,500 men, arrived at Upper 
 Sanduskey, under command of the venerable 
 governor, who soon after received direc 
 tions from General Harrison to proceed to 
 Lower Sanduskey. The general himself re 
 mained at the Seneca camp, waiting the 
 result of an encounter between the naval 
 forces of the two nations, which he supposed 
 had, by this time, taken place on Lake Erie, 
 and on the result of which his own future 
 movements depended. 
 
 The importance of having a powerful 
 fleet on Lake Erie, had been earnestly 
 pressed upon government by General Hull, 
 before the breaking out of hostilities ; and 
 it must have been apparent to every one 
 that it would be a difficult matter to retain 
 the position at Detroit ; and much more so 
 to attempt the invasion of Canada with the 
 slightest prospect of success, without a suffi 
 cient force upon the lakes to obtain com 
 mand of their waters. Notwithstanding, 
 there seems to have been an unwise procras 
 tination, on the part of the government at 
 Washington, in taking measures to effect 
 this purpose. The repeated and earnest 
 solicitations of General Harrison, however, 
 at length succeeded in awakening the gov 
 ernment to an appreciation of its importance. 
 During the month of March, 1813, the 
 building of two brigs and several schooners 
 was commenced at Presque Isle (now called 
 Erie) under the supervision of Captain 
 Oliver II. Perry, of the navy, and continued 
 with great activity till the 20th of July, 
 when the British fleet appeared off the 
 
 harbour, with an apparent intention of at 
 tacking the town ; but learning that ample 
 preparations were made for defence, the 
 fleet soon afterwards retired. The vessels 
 having been launched, and their equip 
 ments completed, on the 4th of August 
 they were buoyed over the bar, without 
 serious molestation from the enemy, who 
 appeared as the Lawrence was passing the 
 bar. A harmless cannonade ensued, when 
 the British squadron returned to Maiden, 
 to await the launching and equipment of a 
 large vessel of war then on the stocks, and 
 which was subsequently named the Detroit. 
 
 On the 5th of August, Captain Perry, 
 having received on board a number of 
 sailors and volunteers, sailed in search of 
 the British squadron ; but returned to Erie 
 on the 8th, where he was joined by a party 
 under Elliot, now promoted to master and 
 commander. 
 
 The American squadron on Lake Erie, 
 including the prize brig Caledonia, and 
 three schooners, brought down from the 
 Niagara river, now consisted of the brig 
 Lawrence, twenty guns, Captain Perry; 
 the brig Niagara, twenty guns, Captain 
 Elliot ; brig Caledonia, three guns, Lieu 
 tenant Turner ; schooner Ariel, four guns, 
 Lieutenant Packett ; schooner Scorpion, two 
 guns, Mr. Champlin ; schooner Somcrs, two 
 guns and two swivels, Mr. Almy; schooner 
 Ohio, one gun, Mr. Dobbins; sloop Trippe, 
 one gun, Lieutenant Holdup ; sloop Tigress, 
 one gun, Lieutenant Conklin; and sloop 
 Porcupine, one gun, Mr. Senatt. 
 
 On the 18th of August this force sailed, 
 and after cruising about near the entrance 
 of the Strait for a few. days, Captain Perry 
 was seized with a fever incident to those 
 waters, and the squadron soon after went 
 into Put-in Bay, with the exception of the 
 Ohio, which was sent down the lake on 
 special duty. Contemplating, on a favour 
 able opportunity, an attack on the enemy s 
 vessels by means of boats, the men were 
 drilled, while in port, in the use of muffled 
 oars. 
 
 On the morning of the 10th of September, 
 while the fleet was still lying at Put-in 
 Bay, the British squadron was discovered 
 bearing down from the direction of Maiden, 
 with the wind in its favour. Their ves 
 sels consisted of the new ship Detroit, the 
 flag-ship of the squadron, of nineteen guns 
 and two howitzers, Commodore Barclay, a 
 veteran commander, who had served under 
 Nelson, and lost an arm at the battle of 
 
 327 
 
BATTLE ON LAKE ERIE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 Trafalgar ; ship Queen Charlotte, seventeen 
 guns and one howitzer, Captain Finnis ; 
 schooner Lady Prevost, thirteen guns and 
 one howitzer, Lieutenant Buchan ; brig 
 General Hunter, ten guns ; sloop Little 
 Belt, three guns ; and the sloop Chippewa, 
 one gun and two swivels. 
 
 At ten o clock the wind changed so as to 
 give the American squadron the weather- 
 gage. Commodore Perry then formed his 
 line of battle, and bore down on the enemy. 
 At a quarter to twelve o clock the action 
 commenced by Commodore Barclay s flag 
 ship, the Detroit, and the Queen Charlotte 
 opening fire upon the Lawrence, which was 
 sustained by the latter for ten minutes 
 before she was close enough to return the 
 fire with her guns, which were carronades. 
 Signalling the other vessels in the squadron 
 to hasten to her support, she bore up, and, 
 at five minutes to twelve, opened her 
 guns on the enemy. The cannonade having 
 the usual effect of deadening the wind, 
 however, the smaller vessels of the squadron 
 could not get near enough to render her 
 any assistance ; and she was thus left to 
 contend, for over two hours, with two ships, 
 each nearly her equal in force. By this 
 time she had been rendered almost entirely 
 unmanageable. Every one of her guns 
 was dismounted ; and her entire crew, save 
 four or five, were either killed or wounded. 
 Commodore Perry now determined to leave 
 her. With a coolness and intrepidity which 
 called forth praises from the gallant veteran 
 who was contending against him, he sprang 
 into a boat, and heroically waving his 
 sword, passed unhurt to the Niagara, al 
 though exposed to the fire of the enemy s 
 musketry, and carrying his flag with him. 
 As he arrived on board the Niagara, the 
 flag of the Lawrence was struck, she being 
 so completely disabled that it seemed a 
 wanton waste of the few remaining lives on 
 board to continue the contest. 
 
 Captain Elliot now left Commodore Perry 
 in charge of the Niagara, and, taking the 
 boat of the latter, proceeded to bring the 
 smaller vessels into action; while Commo 
 dore Perry, a fresh breeze springing up, 
 immediately bore up with the Niagara, 
 passed through the enemy s lines, and 
 poured into the vessels on each side a most 
 destructive fire. Captain Elliot having 
 passed within hail of the small vessels 
 astern, directed them to close within half- 
 pistol shot of the enemy, and throw in 
 grape and canister as soon as they could 
 328 
 
 obtain an effective position. He then went 
 on board the Somers, and took command 
 of that schooner. The action now became 
 general, and, for a time, raged with inde 
 scribable violence and fury. The contest, 
 now so fearfully close and deadly, could not 
 long remain doubtful. The Queen Char 
 lotte, having lost her commander, Captain 
 Finnis, and all her principal officers, by 
 accident got foul of the Detroit, thus ren 
 dering the greater portion of the guns of 
 both vessels inoperative ; while, at the same 
 time, they had to sustain an incessant fire 
 frm the Niagara and the other American 
 vessels. The flag of the Detroit was soon 
 struck, and the remaining vessels of the 
 British squadron, with two exceptions, sur 
 rendered in immediate succession. The 
 Little Belt and the Chippewa, the excep 
 tions referred to, made an attempt to 
 escape, but were pursued and brought-to, 
 about an hour after, by the Scorpion and 
 the Trippe. The battle continued about 
 three hours. The British commander, not 
 having been able to take possession of the 
 Lawrence after Perry left her, her colours 
 were again hoisted before the conclusion of 
 the battle. The loss of men, on each side, 
 was nearly equal ; that of the British was 
 three officers and thirty-eight men killed, 
 and nine officers and eighty-five men 
 wounded. Among the latter was Commo 
 dore Barclay, who was carried, fainting, 
 below, during the action, from loss of blood. 
 The loss of the Americans was three officers 
 and twenty-four men killed, and four officers 
 and ninety-two men wounded. In convey 
 ing intelligence of the victory to General 
 Harrison, Commodore Perry briefly and 
 modestly announced to him " We have 
 met the enemy, and they are ours." 
 
 Cooper remarks on this action " It is 
 not easy to make a just comparison between 
 the forces of the hostile squadrons on this 
 occasion. In certain situations the Ame 
 ricans would have been materially superior ; 
 while, in others, the enemy might possess 
 the advantage in, perhaps, an equal degree. 
 In the circumstances under which the action 
 was actually fought, the peculiar advan 
 tages and disadvantages were nearly equal 
 ised, the lightness of the wind preventing 
 either of the two largest of the American 
 vessels from profiting by their peculiar mode 
 of efficiency, until quite near the close of 
 the engagement, and particularly favouring 
 the armament of the Detroit;* while the 
 * The Detroit was mounted with long guns. 
 
A.P. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HARRISON S ARMY. 
 
 smoothness of the water rendered the light 
 vessels of the Americans very destructive 
 as soon as they could be got within a proper 
 range. It was, perhaps, unfortunate for 
 the enemy, that the armaments of the Queen 
 Charlotte and the Lady Prevost were not 
 available under the circumstances, which 
 rendered the Detroit so efficient, as it de 
 stroyed the unity of their efforts. In short, 
 the battle, for near half its duration, ap 
 pears to have been fought, so far as effi 
 ciency was concerned, by the long guns of 
 the two squadrons. This was particularly 
 favourable to the Detroit and to the Ame 
 rican gun-vessels ; as the latter fought 
 under the advantages of smooth water, and 
 the disadvantages of having no quarters. 
 The sides of the Detroit, which were un 
 usually stout, were filled with shot that did 
 not penetrate. 
 
 " The British vessels appear to have been 
 gallantly fought, and were surrendered only 
 when the battle was hopelessly lost. The fall 
 of their different commanders was materially 
 against them ; though it is not probable 
 the day could have been recovered after 
 the Niagara gained the head of their line, 
 and tho gun-vessels had closed. If the 
 enemy made an error, it was in not tacking 
 when he attempted to wear ; but it is quite 
 probable that the condition of his vessels 
 did not admit of the former manrouvre. 
 There was an instant when the enemy 
 believed himself the conqueror, and a few 
 minutes even when the Americans doubted : 
 but the latter never despaired ; a moment 
 sufficed to change their feelings, teaching 
 the successful the fickleness of fortune, and 
 admonishing the depressed of the virtue of 
 perseverance." 
 
 The result of this conflict was of the 
 utmost importance to the western county. 
 A passage was now opened to the territory 
 surrendered by General Hull. The allied 
 army had derived its supplies of provisions 
 through the agency of the British squadron ; 
 but it would now be under the necessity of 
 abandoning the American territory, and 
 run the risk of an engagement with the 
 forces of General Harrison. As soon as 
 intelligence of the victory was communi 
 cated to the American commander, his 
 entire force with the single exception of 
 Colonel Richard M. Johnson s mounted 
 regiment of Kentuckians, which was to 
 proceed by way of Detroit was marched to 
 Lower Sanduskey, for the purpose of em 
 barkation on board the squadron. Colo 
 
 nel Johnson s regiment immediately com 
 menced its inarch for the former place ; 
 but on reaching the river Raisin, they 
 halted with what feelings may be inferred, 
 when it is added, that it was the occasion 
 referred to in a previous page ; when the 
 still unburied bones of the victims of the 
 massacre of the January previous, were 
 collected and consigned to one common 
 grave. 
 
 On the 16th of September, the army, 
 including the forces under the command of 
 the venerable Governor Shelby, who had dis 
 tinguished himself at the battle of " King s 
 Mountain," reached Lower Sanduskey, 
 where the squadron was found, with the pri 
 soners taken at the naval battle just re 
 corded; who, to the number of 300, were 
 disembarked, and marched into the interior. 
 On the 27th, the troops were all embarked, 
 and, at three in the afternoon, were landed 
 on the Canadian shore. The line of march 
 was immediately commenced for Maiden. 
 General Procter, upon learning the victory 
 of Commodore Perry, had determined on a 
 retreat as soon as he should have an in 
 timation of the advance of General Harri 
 son. Accordingly, on the day previous to 
 the arrival of the latter, the entire British 
 forces, together with the Indians under 
 Tecumseh, after destroying the fort and 
 public stores, had abandoned Maiden, and 
 retreated along the river Thomas, which 
 falls into Lake St. Glair, about twenty-five 
 miles above Detroit. When the American 
 army arrived at Maiden, it was met by 
 a deputation of the maids and matrons of 
 the place, who came to solicit the protec 
 tion of the American general. That they 
 had little occasion to ask it, may be in 
 ferred from the fact, that General Harri 
 son had already given orders, that even 
 Procter, if taken prisoner, must not be 
 injured ; and Governor Shelby had issued 
 an address to the Kentucky volunteers, 
 enjoining upon them to treat the inhabi 
 tants, while in the country, with jus 
 tice and humanity ; and to protect their 
 property from unnecessary and wanton 
 inj ury. 
 
 It being resolved, by General Harrison 
 and Governor Shelby, to pursue Procter 
 without delay, the army marched forward 
 to Sandwich on the 29th, where it was 
 ! joined by Colonel Johnson s mounted regi 
 ment on the following day. Here leav- 
 j ing a strong detachment under General 
 M Arthur, to keep the Indians in check, 
 
 329 
 
BATTLE oy THE THAMES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 the main body, amounting to about 3,500 
 men, continued its march on the 2nd of 
 October. Commodore Perry and General 
 Cass accompanied General Harrison as aides. 
 They travelled with such rapidity, that, on 
 the first day, they had accomplished twenty- 
 six miles. The following day, moving 
 along the Thames, they captured a lieu 
 tenant of dragoons and eleven privates, 
 who had been dispatched by Procter to 
 destroy a bridge across that river; and 
 from whom they learned that Procter had 
 no reliable knowledge of their approach. 
 On the 4th, they reached Chatham, situ 
 ated on the Thames, seventeen miles above 
 Lake St. Clair, where they were detained 
 by a deep creek, which here joins the 
 Thames, the bridge over which had been 
 partially destroyed by the retreating army. 
 Here several hundred Indians attempted to 
 dispute the passage of the troops ; but the 
 fire from two 6-pounders soon dispersed 
 them ; and the bridge being soon repaired, 
 the troops crossed in time to save a house 
 which had been set on fire, containing 
 2,000 stand of arms and a quantity of 
 clothing. The arm} halted for the night 
 about four miles above the bridge. On 
 the 5th, the pursuit was renewed ; when, 
 after capturing two mounted 24 -pounders 
 and a quantity of ordnance stores, they 
 reached the place where the enemy had 
 encamped the night before. Colonel Ward 
 was now sent forward by General Harrison 
 to reconnoitre ; and soon returned with in 
 formation that the enemy had made a 
 stand a few miles distant, and were appa 
 rently prepared for action. 
 
 The position taken by the allied army 
 was a very favourable one. It was drawn 
 up across a narrow isthmus, formed by the 
 Thames on the left, and by a swamp* run 
 ning parallel to the river on the right. 
 The regulars were posted with their left on 
 the river, supported by the artillery; while 
 the Indians, under the celebrated chief 
 Tecumseh, were placed in a thick wood, 
 having their right on the swamp. 
 
 General Harrison now disposed his troops 
 in order of battle. General Trotter s 
 brigade constituted the front line ; the 
 second line was formed in the rear of 
 General Trotter, by General King s 
 brigade ; and Chiles brigade was retained 
 as a reserve. These three brigades were 
 
 * This s .vamp was thickly covered with bushes, 
 f Troops are formed en potcnce by breaking a 
 straight line, and throwing a certain proportion of 
 
 330 
 
 commanded by Major-general Henry. The 
 whole of General Desha s division, consist 
 ing of two brigades, was formed en potencc,^ 
 on the left of Trotter s brigade. Each 
 brigade averaged 500 men. The regulars, 
 numbering 120 men, were formed in 
 columns, and occupied a narrow place be 
 tween the road and the river, to charge 
 upon and seize the enemy s ordnance, 
 should there be opportunity to do so. 
 Harrison had directed Johnson s mounted 
 Kentucky volunteers to form in two lines 
 opposite to the enemy ; and, when the in 
 fantry advanced, to take ground to the left, 
 and, forming upon that flank, to endeavour 
 to turn the right of the Indians. But it 
 was soon found, however, that it would be 
 impracticable for them to do anything on 
 horseback in that quarter, owing to the 
 thickness of the roads and the swampiness 
 of the ground. Another movement was 
 decided on, however, which was signally 
 successful. The American backwoodsmen 
 were expert riders in the forest, and 
 accustomed to carrying the rifle on horse 
 back. The regiment was, accordingly, 
 drawn up in close columns, with its right 
 about ten roods from the road, that it might 
 be, to some degree, protected from the 
 artillery of the enemy ; and the left upon 
 the swamp. The army had moved forward 
 in this order but a brief space, when 
 Colonel Johnson s regiment received the 
 fire of the enemy, and were then ordered 
 instantly to charge. The horses in front 
 at first recoiled, but quickly recovered 
 themselves : they dashed through with so 
 much impetuosity, that the enemy s ranks 
 were immediately broken. They then 
 wheeled round on his rear, and delivered a 
 heavy and well-directed fire from their 
 rifles. Surprised and disconcerted by this 
 manoeuvre, the whole British force, to the 
 number of about 600 men, threw down 
 their arms, and surrendered. Only three 
 of the Americans were wounded in this 
 brilliant charge. General Procter, and 
 a portion of his mounted troops, escaped 
 by the fleetness of their horses. Procter s 
 carriage, with his private papers, however, 
 was taken. 
 
 Upon the left, the contest of the Ame 
 ricans with the Indians was more severe ; 
 Tecumseh having commenced the battle 
 with great fury. That division of tho 
 
 it either backward or forward, according to circum 
 stances, for the purpose of securing the line. 
 Dunne s Military Dictionary, 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [DEATH OF TECUMSEH. 
 
 mounted regiment, which was led by 
 Colonel Johnson himself, received a galling 
 fire from the savages, which was returned 
 with decided effect. The Indians still 
 further to the left, advanced, and fell in 
 with the front line of the infantry, near its 
 junction with the division en potence, and 
 produced a momentary check. Governor 
 Shelby, however, who was stationed near 
 this point, brought up a regiment to its 
 support. Colonel Johnson, from the im 
 pervious nature of the thicket, ordered his 
 men to dismount, and leading them, up a 
 second time, after a severe contest, succeeded 
 in breaking through the line of the Indians, 
 and gained their rear. The battle now 
 raged, for a time, with extreme fury ; the 
 Indians, though attacked in front and 
 rear, seeming resolved on maintaining their 
 ground at all hazards. The trumpet- toned 
 voice of Tecumseh was heard above the din 
 of battle, urging his warriors to their utmost 
 exertions ; and, under its inspiring sounds, 
 they fought with desperation. Pushing 
 towards the spot where the savages, cluster 
 ing around their fearless chief, seemed de 
 termined to protect him or perish with him, 
 Colonel Johnson s uniform, and the white 
 horse on which he was mounted, pointed 
 him out as a mark for their rifles. In a 
 moment his dress and accoutrements were 
 pierced with bullets, himself falling from 
 his horse severely wounded. lie was imme 
 diately taken up, and borne off by his men ; 
 and the command devolved upon Major 
 Thompson. Tecumseh, although he had 
 received a severe wound in the arm, con 
 tinued still to fight with desperation, until 
 a shot in the head, from an unknown hand, 
 laid him prostrate. The Indians, no longer 
 hearing the inspiring tones of his voice, 
 immediately gave way on all sides, and fled 
 with precipitation, pursued by the mounted 
 volunteers. 
 
 Thus fell Tecumseh, one of the most cele 
 brated warriors that ever raised the toma 
 hawk against the whites; and with him 
 faded the last hope of their Indian enemies. 
 
 * See History of the Tippecanoe War, in this 
 work. 
 
 t The incident which led to this mark of distinc 
 tion from General Brock, illustrates so admirably his 
 facility of communicating the information he had 
 acquired, that we give it a place. " Previously to 
 General Brock s crossing over to Detroit, he asked 
 Tecumseh what sort of a country lie should have to 
 pass through, in case of his proceeding farther. 
 Tecumseh, taking a roll of elm-bark, and extending 
 it on the ground by means of four stones, drew forth 
 his scalping-knife, and, with the point, presently 
 
 i This untutored man was the determined 
 foe of civilisation, and had, for years, 
 as we have had occasion to notice in pre 
 vious pages, been labouring to unite all the 
 Indian tribes in resisting the progress of 
 American settlements to the westward.* 
 Had such a man opposed the European 
 colonists on their first arrival, the American 
 continent might still have been a wilder 
 ness. To those who prefer a savage, un 
 cultivated waste, inhabited by wolves and 
 panthers, and by men more savage still, to 
 the busy city to the peaceful hamlet and 
 cottage to Christianity, science, and the 
 comforts of civilisation; to such it may be 
 a source of regret that Tecumseh came too 
 late. But to all others, it must be a just 
 cause of felicitation that he was the cham 
 pion of barbarism, at a period when he 
 could only draw down destruction on his 
 own head. Tecumseh fell respected by his 
 enemies, as a great and magnanimous chief. 
 Although he seldom took prisoners in battle, 
 he was merciful to those who had been 
 taken by others; and, at the defeat of 
 Dudley, actually put to death a chief 
 whom he found engaged in the work of 
 massacre, lie had been in almost every 
 engagement with the whites since Ilarmer s 
 defeat, in 1791, although, at his death, he 
 was but about forty- three years of age. 
 Tecumseh had received the stamp of great 
 ness from the hand of nature ; and, had his 
 lot been cast in a different state of society, 
 he would have shone as one of the most 
 distinguished of men. He was endowed 
 with a powerful mind, and with the soul of 
 a hero. There was an uncommon dignity 
 in his countenance and manners : by the 
 former he could easily be discovered, even 
 after death, among the rest of the slain, for 
 he wore no insignia of distinction. When 
 girded by General Brock, on a certain 
 occasion, with a silk sash, for important 
 services rendered, he immediately trans 
 ferred it to one he deemed more worthy 
 than himself to wear it ;f and when told 
 by General Procter that he was made a 
 
 etched upon the bark a plan of the country, its hills, 
 woods, rivers, morasses, and roads; a plan, which, 
 if not as neat, was, for the purpose required, fully 
 as intelligible as if Arrowsmith himself had pre 
 pared it. Pleased with this unexpected talent in 
 Tecumseh, also with his having, by his characteristic 
 boldness, induced the Indians, not of his immediate 
 party, to cross the Detroit prior to the embarkation 
 of the regulars and militia General Brock, as soon 
 as the business was over, publicly took oft his sash, 
 and placed it round the body of the chief. Tecumseh 
 received the honour with evident gratification, but 
 
 331 
 
SUCCESS OF THE AMERICANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 brigadier- general in the British service, he 
 declined the distinction. Born without title 
 to command, such was his native greatness, 
 that every tribe yielded submission to him 
 at once, and no one ever disputed his pre 
 cedence. Subtle and fierce in war, he was 
 possessed of uncommon eloquence. Invec 
 tive was its chief merit ; a remarkable in 
 stance of the power of which, .was exhibited 
 in the stinging reproaches he applied to 
 General Procter in a speech delivered a few 
 days before his death ; a copy of which was 
 found among the papers of the British 
 officers.* 
 
 Tecumseh was about five feet ten inches 
 in height, of a noble appearance, and a per 
 fectly symmetrical form. " His carriage 
 was erect and lofty his motions quick 
 his eyes penetrating his visage stern, with 
 an air of hauteur in his countenance, which 
 arose from elevated pride of soul. It did 
 not leave him even in death." He is thus 
 spoken of by one who knew him.f 
 
 The British loss, in this action, was thirty- 
 four regulars killed and wounded ; and about 
 600 surrendered as prisoners of war. The 
 Indians suffered the greatest loss. Thirty- 
 three were found dead on the field of battle, 
 and numbers more were killed in the retreat. 
 
 The American loss, in killed and wounded, 
 was forty- seven. Seventeen of the slain 
 were Kentuckians ; and among them was 
 Colonel Whitely, a revolutionary veteran, 
 who on this occasion served as a private. 
 Some attribute to him the death of Te 
 cumseh ; while others give Colonel Johnson 
 the credit of the deed. But it never has 
 been, and now probably never will be, as 
 certained whose hand fired the fatal shot 
 that arrested the earthly career of this cele 
 brated warrior. 
 
 Among the trophies of the victory were 
 six brass field-pieces, which had been sur 
 rendered by Hull at Detroit. On two of 
 them were inscribed the words " Surren 
 dered by Burgoyne, at Saratoga." 
 
 The Indian confederacy, in which were 
 3,000 warriors, lost, by the death of Te 
 cumseh, its bond of union ; and, cut off 
 from all communication with the Bri 
 tish posts in Canada, the Ottowas, Chippe- 
 was, Miamies, and Pottawatomies, now sent 
 deputations to General Harrison to sue for 
 
 was, the next day, seen without his sash. General 
 Brock, fearing something had dipleased the Indian, 
 sent his interpreter for an explanation. The latter 
 soon returned, with an account that Tecumseh, not 
 wishing to wear such a mark of distinction, when 
 332 
 
 peace which was granted them, on their 
 agreeing " to take hold of the same toma 
 hawk with the Americans, and strike at all 
 the enemies of the United States, whether 
 they be British or Indian." 
 
 Security having, by this action, been re 
 stored to the north-western frontier, the 
 American troops began their march for De 
 troit on the 7th of October. On the 10th they 
 arrived at Sandwich ; and soon afterwards 
 the Kentucky volunteers returned home, 
 and were discharged. General Harrison, 
 in the meantime, being without orders from 
 the war department, resolved to proceed to 
 the Ontario frontier, in the fleet. Accord 
 ingly, having left General Cass, with about 
 1,000 men, in command at Detroit, on the 
 22nd of the month he sailed from Erie, with 
 M Arthur s brigade and a battalion of rifle 
 men, and arrived at Buffalo on the 24th. 
 From this place he proceeded to Newark, 
 where he received orders from the war de 
 partment to send the brigade to Sackett s 
 Harbour; which order he complied with, 
 and soon after resigned his commission, in 
 consequence, it has been stated, of being 
 placed in an inferior command. The ad 
 ministration, and particularly General Arm 
 strong, the secretary of war, were severely 
 censured for the act which induced General 
 Harrison to leave the army. 
 
 While, as has been just narrated, on the 
 north-western frontier, the inglorious re 
 sults of former campaigns had been amply 
 compensated by Harrison s and Perry s 
 victories, the American government and 
 people were destined to experience fresh 
 mortification and disappointment in another 
 quarter, from insufficient energy in the 
 military commanders, or a lack of judgment 
 in the administration. The retirement from 
 service of General Dearborn, and also of 
 General Lewis, had left the command of 
 the army at Fort George, as mentioned in 
 a previous page, in the hands of General 
 Boyd, who was restricted by the war de 
 partment from engaging in other than 
 simply defensive operations, as it was 
 intended to place the command in other 
 hands. General Wilkinson, as has already 
 been stated, was the successor of General 
 Dearborn as the commander-m-chief of the 
 American forces. To him also was assigned 
 
 an older, and, as he said, abler, warrior than him 
 self was present, had transferred the sash to the 
 Wyandot chief, Roundhead." James. 
 
 * Breckenridge. 
 
 f Drake s Book of the Indians. 
 
A.D. 1513.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [EXPEDITION TO MONTREAL. 
 
 the immediate comrnaud of the forces on 
 the shores of the Ontario. General Wade 
 Hampton, a distinguished revolutionary 
 officer was also called from the south to 
 take command of the army of the north, 
 then encamped at Plattsburg, on Lake ! 
 Champlaiu. As the season for military 
 operations was fast passing away, it became j 
 important that no time should be wasted, j 
 and measures were immediately taken to 
 carry into effect the arrangements contem 
 plated by government. The resources of the 
 government, and the strength and spirit of 
 the army, had been squandered in a suc 
 cession of petty attacks upon comparatively 
 unimportant places; while the two great 
 posts of Kingston and Montreal remained 
 unattacked and unthreatened. It was now 
 determined by the government, that those 
 places, one or both of them, should be as 
 saulted by the respective forces which, by 
 the month of August, 1813, had been as 
 sembled : and for the purpose of maturing 
 the plan, and of superintending its execu- 
 t on, General Armstrong, the secretary of 
 war, proceeded to Sackett s Harbour. Gen 
 eral Armstrong was a man of energy and 
 talent, who had resided a long period in 
 Europe ; and from the bias of his mind to 
 military matters, he had availed himself, 
 while there, to the utmost of the opportu 
 nities within his reach, of increasing his 
 military knowledge. After considerable 
 deliberation, the arrangements of the cam 
 paign were finally agreed upon. The plan, 
 as afterwards developed, was in itself judi 
 cious ; but there was not sufficient allow 
 ance, in its execution, for a change of cir 
 cumstances. The American people, like 
 other sovereigns, regarding only the success 
 or failure of their agents, seldom weigh the 
 peculiar circumstances under which they 
 may have acted. The victory on Lake 
 Erie, followed by the defeat of Procter and 
 Tecumseh, had so raised the public expec 
 tations, that little short of the complete 
 conquest of Canada would suffice to satisfy 
 them ; while but vague ideas of the nature 
 of the enterprise, and of the difficulties to 
 be encountered, were entertained by the 
 large majority of the people. 
 
 The outline of the plan which was 
 adopted was, for the forces under "Wilkin 
 son to descend the St. Lawrence in boats, 
 passing the British posts without attempt 
 ing their capture ; that they should be 
 joined by the force under General Hamp 
 ton, at the most convenient point for that 
 
 VOL. ii. 2 x 
 
 purpose ; and for the united forces to pro 
 ceed to attack Montreal, which at this 
 period was supposed to be defended bv a 
 very small force. A difference of opinion 
 was said to have existed between General 
 Wilkinson and General Armstrong, in 
 regard to some of the details of the plan ; 
 the former not deeming it prudent to leave 
 Kingston and other British posts in the 
 rear ; and ^the latter arguing, that as the 
 capture of Montreal was beyond question, 
 all the posts on the river and lakes above 
 that place must necessarily fall with it. 
 Had the premises of the honourable secre 
 tary been sound, the correctness of the con 
 clusion would have been beyond dispute. 
 It is the part of wisdom, however, in all 
 human undertakings, to make provision for 
 possible failure. That it would have been 
 especially so in the present enterprise, will 
 be seen further on. 
 
 General AVilkinson had arrived at Sack 
 ett s Harbour on the 20th of August ; and 
 had been, for some time after that period, 
 diligently employed in collecting and or 
 ganising the scattered detachments of the 
 army, which were gradually concentrated 
 on Grenadier Island, near the head of the 
 St. Lawrence. As already remarked, the 
 advanced state of the season called for the 
 utmost expedition ; yet the difficulties at 
 tending this measure were so numerous, 
 that it was not until the 23rd of October 
 that a sufficient force could be assembled, 
 and the preparations made for the prose 
 cution of the enterprise. At this period, 
 the army consisted of about 7,000 men, 
 and comprised Colonel Macdonald s regi 
 ment of artillery, Colonel Porter s, and a 
 portion of Colonel Scott s regiment of light 
 artillery ; twelve regiments of infantry, and 
 Major Foray the s rifle corps. From the pre 
 valence of high winds on the lakes, the 
 army did not get under weigh till the 
 2Sth. Such was the solicitude of General 
 Wilkinson for the success of the expedition, 
 that, though suffering physical prostration 
 from disease, he superintended the em 
 barkation in person. 
 
 A few days previous to the embarkation 
 of the troops, intelligence had been re 
 ceived by General Wilkinson, that in con 
 sequence of the departure of the regular 
 troops from Fort George they having been 
 withdrawn to join the expedition, leaving 
 the place in charge of a small militia force 
 the enemy had also abandoned the neigh 
 bourhood, and were concentrated at Kiug- 
 
 333 
 
ENERGY OF THE BRITISH.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 ston, under an impression that it was 
 the intended point of attack. To humour 
 this idea, a post on the St. Lawrence 
 French Creek, contiguous to Kingston was 
 fixed upon for a temporary rendezvous of 
 the troops; and to which General Brown, 
 with the advance, was dispatched. The 
 strength of the enemy at Kingston was 
 about 4,000. On the 1st of December, a 
 British flotilla made its appearance near 
 French Creek, and attacked the detach 
 ment under General Brown. But a bat 
 tery of three 18-pounders, brought to bear 
 on the boats by that officer, compelled 
 them to retire. The attack was renewed 
 the next morning, but with a like result. 
 On the 3rd, the rear, with the command 
 ing general on board, arrived ; and every 
 thing being now ready, the whole flotilla 
 got under way, and proceeded down the 
 river on the 6th, landing, in the evening, a 
 few miles above the British fort Prescott. 
 As this fort commanded the river, General 
 Wilkinson directed the military stores to 
 be taken overland to a safe point below it. 
 The troops were also landed and marched 
 to the same point, the general intending to 
 pass with the flotilla, on board of which a 
 sufficient number of men had been left to 
 navigate it, under cover of the night. 
 Although the moon had set, and the night 
 was quite dark when the attempt was made, 
 the flotilla was discovered in passing, and 
 exposed to a cannonade of three hours ; 
 but not one of 300 boats suffered the 
 slightest injury. 
 
 The destination of the American army 
 being now apparent to the enemy, strenuous 
 efforts were made to defeat it. At every 
 narrow pass artillery and musketeers were 
 stationed ; and the enemy, relieved of all 
 apprehension of Kingston being attacked, 
 now dispatched a force of some 1,500 men 
 to hang upon and harass the rear of the 
 American army. A proper military fore 
 thought would have guarded against this 
 annoyance from an enemy in the rear ; 
 and the present difficulty arose from the 
 American general having injudiciously 
 withdrawn all the troops from the vicinity 
 of Kingston ; 1,000 of which, detained 
 there, would have occupied the enemy, and 
 kept him in check. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th, General 
 Macomb, with 1,200 men, was dispatched 
 to remove the obstructions in front. On 
 passing the first rapids of the St. Lawrence, 
 the barge of General Wilkinson was assailed 
 334 
 
 by two pieces of artillery, which had es 
 caped the notice of General Macomb. No 
 injury was done, except to the rigging; 
 and Major Forsythe, landing some of his 
 rifle corps, succeeded in driving them off. 
 After surmounting various difficulties, the 
 flotilla arrived, on the 9th, in the vicinity 
 of the Longue Saut, a dangerous rapid, eight 
 miles in length. As the passage here 
 would be attended with difficulty, it was 
 deemed prudent to wait until the next day. 
 Early in the morning, General Brown, 
 with the troops under his command, except 
 ing the second regiment of dragoons, and two 
 pieces of artillery, was ordered to continue 
 his march in advance of the army. Brown 
 having commenced his march, soon found 
 himself engaged with a strong party at a 
 block-house near the Saut, which, after a 
 contest of a few minutes, was repulsed. 
 About the same time, some of the enemy s 
 galleys approached the flotilla, then lying 
 at the shoi e, and commenced a fire upon it, 
 by which several of the boats were injured : 
 two 18-pounders, however, being placed in 
 position on the shore, soon compelled the 
 assailants to retire. The day being now 
 too nearly gone, the passage of the Saut 
 was again postponed till morning. 
 
 On the morning of the llth, at the 
 moment that the flotilla was about to pro 
 ceed, and when, at the same time, the divi 
 sion under General Boyd, comprising his 
 own and the brigades of Generals Coving- 
 ton and Swartwout, was drawn up in 
 marching order, an alarm was given that 
 the enemy were approaching in columns. 
 General Boyd was immediately directed to 
 anticipate the attack by facing about and 
 moving against the enemy with his whole 
 force. The latter took an advantageous 
 position behind the deep ravines which 
 intercepted the plains. The attack was 
 commenced by driving back a large party 
 of British posted in the wood which skirts 
 the open ground called Chrystler s Fields. 
 General Covington then advanced on the 
 right of the enemy with his brigade ; while 
 Colonel Ripley assailed the left flank, after 
 having routed with the bayonet a superior 
 number opposed to him. The attack on 
 the enemy s right, however, was not at 
 tended with success. The fall of General 
 Covington, who was mortally wounded 
 while bravely leading his brigade to the 
 charge, and their ammunition becoming 
 exhausted, compelled them to retire. In 
 their retreat, a piece of ordnance fell into 
 
A D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RETREAT FROM CANADA. 
 
 the hands of the enemy, in consequence of 
 ihe difficulty of the ground not permitting 
 its being brought off. At length, after a 
 contest of two hours, the Americans retired, 
 and occupied the ground from which they 
 had originally driven the enemy ; while 
 the latter fell back to their camp. In this 
 battle, the loss of the Americans amounted 
 to 237 wounded, and 102 killed. Among 
 die killed were Lieutenants Smith, Hunter, 
 and Ilolrnstead ; among the wounded were 
 General Covington, who died two days 
 afterwards ; Colonel Preston, Majors Cham 
 bers, Noon, and Cummings; Captains Town- 
 send, Foster, Myers, Campbell, and Mur- 
 dock ; and Lieutenants Heaton, Williams, 
 Lynch, Pelham, Brown, and Creesy. The 
 loss on the part of the British, according to 
 their official report, was twenty-two killed, 
 147 wounded, and twelve missing. 
 
 The dragoons and light artillery now 
 proceeded by land to the foot of the Rapid ; 
 while the infantry were embarked on board 
 the flotilla, which got under weigh the suc 
 ceeding da} , and having passed the Saut 
 without loss, arrived near St. Regis, where 
 the advance, under General Brown, was 
 found. It was at this place that General 
 Wilkinson expected to be reinforced by the 
 army under General Hampton, in con 
 formity with orders which he had dis 
 patched to him, when opposite Prescott, on 
 the way down. A messenger, however, 
 was here in waiting from General Hampton, 
 bringing intelligence, that, in consequence 
 of the bad state of the roads, and the lack 
 of provision, he would be unable to make 
 the contemplated junction. General Wil 
 kinson at once called a council of war, com 
 posed of the principal officers of the army, 
 who unanimously gave it as their opinion, 
 that it would be unadvisable to make an 
 attempt on Montreal at that advanced 
 period of the season. It was, therefore, 
 resolved, that the army should quit the 
 Canadian side of the St. Lawrence, and 
 retire into winter quarters at French Mills, 
 on Salmon River. 
 
 Thus terminated this ill-devised, miscon 
 ducted, and disastrous campaign. Although 
 the American people were once more des 
 tined to be severely disappointed and dis 
 satisfied with its result, it was perhaps 
 fortunate that it terminated so abruptly at 
 St. Regis. The enemy had taken every 
 precautionary measure of defence ; the river 
 was difficult of navigation, the season was 
 far advanced, the precarious and xmcertain 
 
 state of health of General Wilkinson, pre 
 vented any certainty of his being able to 
 direct the operations in person, and the 
 slock of provisions was found to be insuffi 
 cient for any considerable period. Under 
 all these disadvantageous circumstances, 
 had the army been reinforced by the junc 
 tion of the troops under General Hampton, 
 and had they even succeeded in capturing 
 Montreal, that a fate similar to that which 
 met the French on their retreat from Mos 
 cow, might have been theirs, is far from 
 improbable. 
 
 The northern army, under General Hamp 
 ton, numbered about 4,000; by whom it 
 was intended, as has been stated, that a 
 junction should be made with the division of 
 the army from Sackett s Harbour. In the 
 month of September, therefore, General 
 Hampton moved from Plattsburg toward 
 the Canadian frontier, which he crossed on 
 the 21st of October. The route of the 
 army, which had been obstructed in every 
 possible way by the enemy, lay along the 
 left bank of the Chateaugay river, by which 
 it advanced with extreme difficulty till 
 the 25th, when, it being ascertained that 
 the enemy, under Sir George Prevost, 
 was in considerable force behind a wood, 
 which separated the army from the open 
 country, General Hampton determined 
 upon endeavouring to cut them off. Co 
 lonel Purdy was, therefore, detached to the 
 right bank with the first brigade, that he 
 might gain the rear of the enemy by a 
 ford about twelve miles below, while their 
 attention was engaged by the second bri 
 gade, under General Izard, in front. Un 
 fortunately, from the darkness of the night, 
 and the ignorance of the guides, the result 
 of the first part of the plan was an entire 
 failure. The second brigade advanced on 
 the 26th, and soon ascertained that the 
 enemy was posted, at the distance of two 
 miles, behind a ravine. The 10th regi 
 ment, which numbered, according to the 
 report of that day, 237 men, was moved 
 forward ; and, after a half-hour s march, 
 met with a party of the enemy, whom they 
 soon routed, and drove from the ground. 
 The remainder of the brigade did not ap 
 pear until the termination of the action ; 
 and, to the great regret of the army, the 
 first brigade was about that time perceived 
 on the opposite bank ; it having been un 
 able to advance farther, from the causes 
 we have stated. 
 
 On the same day, the whole force retired, 
 
 335 
 
BURNING OF TOWNS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 about two miles, to the place where the 
 baggage had been halted, without moles 
 tation from the enemy, who were secured 
 behind in trench ments and abattis* 
 
 The army remained at this place until 
 the 28th of October, when intelligence 
 having been received, which led to the 
 conclusion that General Wilkinson had 
 abandoned his descent of the St. Lawrence, 
 General Hampton called a council of war, 
 by which it was unanimously decided to 
 retire to such a position as would secure its 
 communication with the government. The 
 troops were accordingly put in motion ; 
 and, on the 2nd of November, arrived at 
 the post which they had occupied some 
 days before, called the Four Corners, within 
 the limits of the United States. Here 
 General Hampton received the despatch 
 from General Wilkinson, of the 6th of , 
 November, directing a junction of his force j 
 on the St. Lawrence. He immediately j 
 returned an answer, expressing, as has i 
 already been intimated, his belief in the \ 
 impracticability of the measure, in conse 
 quence of the limited supply of provisions 
 with General Wilkinson, and the miserable 
 conditions of the roads to St. Regis, ren 
 dering it impossible to transport a quantity 
 greater than could be carried by a man on 
 his back. He soon afterward fell back to | 
 Plattsburg, where the troops went into 
 winter quarters. General Hampton then 
 resigned his commission, leaving General 
 Izard in command. 
 
 During the close of the year 1813, the 
 Ontario frontier was destined to realise the 
 calamities of war. On the departure of 
 General Wilkinson on his unfortunate ex 
 pedition to Montreal, the command of Fort 
 George devolved upon Brigadier-general 
 M Clure, with troops consisting entirely 
 of militia, as already stated, whose terms of 
 service had nearly expired. By the 10th 
 of December, his force being reduced to a 
 handful of men, it was deemed expedient 
 to abandon the place. On the 12th, the 
 troops were accordingly removed, having 
 previously destroyed the fort and public 
 property. Their retreat, however, was 
 marked by an act which justly excited 
 universal indignation. On the Canadian 
 shore of the Niagara river, and just below 
 Fort George, was the beautiful village of 
 Newark. Authority had been given, in 
 case it were necessary to the defence of 
 Fort George, to destroy the village. This 
 * Annlectic Magazine, October, 1818. 
 
 336 
 
 necessity, on abandoning the fort, of course 
 no longer existed. Yet General M Clure, 
 criminally misconceiving this authority, 
 gave twelve hours notice to the inhabitants 
 to withdraw their effects, fired the buildings, 
 and left the village in flames. This outrage 
 upon humanity, and the losses of civilised 
 warfare, perpetrated at an inclement season 
 of the year, without sufficient motive, was 
 immediately disavowed by the government 
 in an official communication made to the 
 public authorities in Canada. Before the 
 disavowal, however, had reached the latter, 
 a severe and excessive measure of retaliation 
 had been taken. At midnight, on the 19th, 
 Fort Niagara was surprised by Colonel 
 Murray, with about 400 British regulars, 
 militia, and Indians ; and the garrison, 
 nearly 300 in number, and principally 
 invalids, were put to the sword. About 
 twenty of the number succeeded in making 
 their escape. The officer in command of 
 Fort Niagara, evidently was criminally 
 negligent, being absent, and having taken 
 no precautions against an assault. From 
 Fort Niagara they proceeded to Lewistown ; 
 and, after routing a large body of militia, 
 under Major Bennett, burned that village, 
 together with the villages of Manchester, 
 Youngstown, and the Indian settlements of 
 Tuscaroras. Major Maltby advanced from 
 Schlosser to oppose the invaders; but was 
 compelled, by superior numbers, to retreat. 
 On the 30th of the same month, a detach 
 ment of British regulars, militia, and In 
 dians, numbering about 700, landed at Black 
 Rock, and marched to the town of Buffalo, to 
 defend which, General Hull had organised 
 a body of militia. On the approach of the 
 enemy, however, the militia could not be 
 induced to hold their ground ; but, in spite 
 of the protestations of their officers, fled, 
 without firing a musket to their disgrace ; 
 and the unfortunate town shared the fate of 
 the others we have mentioned, being imme 
 diately reduced to ashes ; after which the 
 British returned to Canada. Ample ven 
 geance was thus taken for the destruction 
 of Newark. In his proclamation, on the 
 12th of January, Sir George Prevost said 
 "The opportunity of punishment has oc 
 curred, and a full measure of retribution has 
 taken place." But he declared his inten 
 tion of pursuing no further "a system of 
 warfare so revolting to his own feelings, and 
 so little congenial to the British character." 
 On Lake Champlain, a small navy was 
 initiated by both countries in the early 
 
A.I). 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AMERICAN SUCCESSES. 
 
 part of 1S13. That of Great Britain, how 
 ever, was far the most effective. The 
 entire American force on this lake con 
 sisted of a few armed barges, some gun- 
 hoats, and two schooners, the Growler f eu\d 
 Eay/e, under Lieutenant Sydney Smith. 
 In July, these schooners were attacked near 
 the outlet of this lake into the Sorelle or 
 Richelieu river, through which its waters 
 are discharged into the St. Lawrence ; and 
 after a severe resistance of three hours, 
 against a superior force, were compelled to 
 surrender. The British now held com 
 mand of the lake, and cruised along its 
 borders, making many demonstrations upon 
 its harbour. On the 31st of July, 1,200 
 men landed at Plattsburg, destroyed all 
 the public buildings, burnt the storehouses 
 of several of the residents, and took con 
 siderable property. 
 
 The naval operations on Lake Ontario, 
 though not marked by the brilliant events 
 that signalised the warfare on Lake Erie, 
 were yet not wanting in interest. Each 
 government had, at different periods, a 
 numerical superiority of force on Lake 
 Ontario ; and as the one side increased the 
 number and power of its vessels in exact 
 proportion to the other, before the con 
 clusion of the war, ships of the largest 
 magnitude in naval architecture floated 
 over those waters which, previous to this 
 war, had only borne .the slender shallop of 
 commerce, or the lighter and graceful skiff 
 of the Indian. This changing preponde 
 rance of force on the lake called forth an 
 exercise of the utmost nautical skill and 
 seamanship of the commanders of the re 
 spective squadrons ; and neither of them 
 could claim any signal success over the 
 other. On the morning of the 9th of Au 
 gust an encounter took place between the 
 two squadrons. At eleven o clock, after a 
 variety of manoeuvring on both sides, the 
 rear of the British line opened fire ; and 
 the action soon became general on both 
 sides. At half-past eleven, the American 
 weather line bore up, and passed to the 
 leeward, the Growler and Julia excepted, 
 which, soon after, tacking to the southward, 
 brought the British .between them and the 
 remainder of the American fleet. Sir 
 James Lucas Lea, the commander of the 
 British squadron, after exchanging a few 
 shots with the American commodore s ship, 
 pursued the Growler and Julia. A contest 
 commenced between them, which continued 
 until one o clock in the morning of the 
 
 10th ; when, after a desperate resistance, 
 the two American schooners were necessi 
 tated to strike their colours. The two 
 squadrons lost sight of each other during 
 the night ; but the next day they again 
 became visible to each other. But Sir 
 James, now showing no inclination to renew 
 the contest, Commodore Chauncey returned 
 to Sackett s Harbour. Being reinforced by 
 an additional schooner, he again sailed on 
 a cruise. On the 7th of September, dis 
 covering the British flotilla near the Nia 
 gara, he made for it. Sir Jarnes, however, 
 on perceiving the direction of the American 
 squadron, made sail to the northward. The 
 pursuit continued four days and nights : 
 owing, however, to the dull sailing of the 
 American vessels, they could not overtake 
 him. He finally put into Amherst Bay. 
 Commodore Chauncey, not having a pilot, 
 could not follow ; and therefore formed a 
 blockade, which he continued till the 17th 
 of September, when, in consequence of a 
 heavy gale from the westward, the British 
 fleet escaped into Kingston. Commodore 
 Chauncey returned to Sackett s Harbour. 
 No important event occurred subsequently 
 to this period, until the beginning of Oc 
 tober, when he again pursued the hostile 
 fleet for several days, compelling it to take 
 refuge in Burlington Bay. The next morn 
 ing, sending the schooner, Lady of the Lake, 
 to reconnoitre, he found that the British 
 fleet, under cover of the night, had escaped 
 towards Kingston. The chase was renewed, 
 and, with a favourable wind, Commodore 
 Chauncey came in sight of seven British 
 schooners. Before sundown, three of them 
 surrendered to the General Pike ; another 
 to the Sylph and Lady of the Lake ; and 
 a fifth to the Sylph. Two of them were 
 the Growler and Julia, mentioned above as 
 having been captured by the British. On 
 the captured shooners were 300 officers and 
 privates of the regular army. The Ameri 
 cans held possession of the lake for the re 
 mainder of the season. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred during 
 the latter part of November, by which 
 period the navigation of the lake was 
 closed ; and the vessels were laid up for 
 the winter, during which period the au 
 thorities of both nations were employed in 
 augmenting the forces of their respective 
 fleets, and preparing for the renewal of the 
 contest for supremacy on those inland 
 waters, on the reopening of navigation ia 
 the coming spring. 
 
 337 
 
BRITISH IN THE CHESAPEAKE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AD. 1813. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 HOSTILITIES ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AND COAST; WAR WITH THK CREEK INDIANS; PROCEEDINGS OF 
 
 CONGRESS ; CHANGES IN T1IE CABINET. 
 
 WHILE, as already narrated in the pre 
 ceding pages, the American arms were ex 
 periencing an alternation of victor} 7 and 
 defeat, the inhabitants of the Atlantic 
 coast were destined to feel the calamities of 
 war. During the first six months im 
 mediately succeeding the declaration of 
 war, the British government, as previ 
 ously stated, was deeply engrossed with 
 its gigantic struggle with Napoleon ; and 
 its vessels of war found sufficient employ 
 ment in the protection of its merchant 
 service on the ocean, against the public 
 and private armed vessels of the United 
 States. The Chesapeake and Delaware 
 bays were declared to be in a state of 
 blockade on the 26th of December, 1812 ; 
 and, on the 20th of March, 1813, this 
 blockade was extended as far north as the 
 ports of Rhode Island. This discrimina 
 tion between the middle and eastern sections 
 of the Union, resulted from the warm and 
 decided opposition to the war which was 
 manifested in some of the New England 
 states, during its earlier stages. British 
 naval forces did not, however, appear on 
 any part of the coast, in any formidable 
 numbers, till February, 1813, on the 4th 
 of which month, Admiral Cockburn entered 
 Hampton Roads, in the Chesapeake bay, 
 with a squadron, consisting of two ships of 
 seventy-four guns, three frigates, a brig, 
 and a schooner. About the same time, 
 another squadron, under the command of 
 Sir John Beresford, consisting of the Pole- 
 tiers, the Belvidera, and several other ves 
 sels, entered the Delaware. No other de 
 monstration was immediately made by the 
 latter, than the destruction of some of the 
 smaller vessels navigating those waters, 
 and forming an efficient blockade at their 
 outlet to the ocean. On the 16th of March, 
 however, Commodore Beresford made a 
 demand on the people of the village of 
 Lewistown, on the Delaware bay, for a 
 supply of provisions, offering, at the same 
 time, to make payment for what was re 
 ceived, and threatening, on the other hand, 
 the destruction of the village if the request 
 were not complied with. A decided refusal 
 338 
 
 was made to the demand by Colonel Davis, 
 commanding at that place. A bombard 
 ment of the town consequently ensued on 
 
 ! the 10th of April, from a number ot 
 launches, supported by the Bdvidera ; which 
 
 ! was continued for twenty hours without 
 
 j effect, no injury being done to the village 
 or its inhabitants. Their fire was returned 
 from some batteries hastily thrown up on 
 the bank, with some effect. Several at 
 tempts were afterwards made to land, but 
 with no better success. The squadron soon 
 after returned to Bermuda, where Sir John 
 fiorlase Warren, the British naval com- 
 mander-in-chief on this station, was en 
 gaged in preparing a more formidable ar 
 mament, for operations on the coast during 
 the summer. After its departure, the Spar- 
 fan, sloop of war Martin, and some other 
 vessels, entered the Delaware ; and, on the 
 29th of July, an engagement took place 
 between them and a small flotilla of gun 
 boats, which resulted in the capture of one 
 of the latter. The British vessels soon 
 after retired, and nothing of interest oc 
 curred in this bay during the remainder 
 of the year. 
 
 The squadron in the Chesapeake, how 
 ever, displayed much more activity in 
 the warfare which it pursued. To 
 capture or destroy the American fri 
 gate Constellation was the first object 
 of Admiral Cockburn s attention. But 
 the Constellation retired up the bay, where 
 she could not be approached with safety, 
 the admiral not being familiar with 
 the soundings of the harbours. Admi 
 ral Cockburn took possession of several 
 islands, from which he could make de 
 scents upon the neighbouring coast. Shore 
 guards of infantry and artillery were, how 
 ever, stationed by the state authorities at 
 
 | intervals along the shore, rendering many 
 of his attempts abortive. He captured 
 several schooners, and then proceeded to 
 take soundings near the coast, and to 
 make an exploration of some of the rivers 
 at the head of the bay. French town, at 
 the head of Elk River, Havre-de-Grace, 
 on the Susquehanna, and the villages of 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 IJR1TISII FLEET. 
 
 Georgetown and Frederictown, situated 
 on opposite banks of the river Sassafras, 
 were successively visited by forces under 
 Cockburn, and burnt. Admiral Cock- 
 burn has been strongly condemned for 
 these and other acts while stationed in the 
 Chesapeake. But it has been claimed in 
 his defence, that at Frenchtown he only 
 burned warehouses in which were deposited 
 public stores ; such as flour, army clothing, 
 saddles, bridles, and other merchandise ; 
 that at Kavre-de-Grace, he was quietly 
 passing the village on his route up the 
 Susquehanna, making no offensive demon 
 strations against the place ; that its very 
 insignificance would have protected it ; 
 but that a six-gun battery was opened on 
 his flotilla as he was passing ; that he 
 landed, turned the guns of the battery 
 upon the retreating American militia, and 
 then burned the village as an act of retalia 
 tion. So of Georgetown and Frederictown, 
 Cockburn asserts, in his defence, that on 
 approaching those villages, he met a boat, 
 with two residents of one of those towns; 
 that he took the men, and dispatched them 
 back to warn their fellow- townsmen against 
 acting as the inhabitants of Ilavre-de- 
 Grace had done, and to assure them that 
 if they were so unwise as to pursue the 
 same course, their villages should share the 
 same fate ; but, on the contrary, if they 
 did not attempt resistance, no injury would 
 be done to their persons or their houses. 
 The strictest discipline would be observed ; 
 and the shipping and the public property 
 only would be seized. Whatever provisions 
 or other necessaries might be required, 
 should be paid for at a fair market price. 
 This timely assurance was unheeded, and, 
 on approaching, a heavy fire was opened 
 upon Cockburn s forces from both banks of 
 the river. The latter, however, succeeded 
 in landing, and the towns were forthwith 
 destroyed, together with four vessels lying i 
 in the river, and some stores of sugar, 
 timber, and merchandise. Cockburn states, 
 in his official despatch, that other towns he 
 visited, warned by the fate of those named 
 above, made no hostile demonstration, and 
 remained uninjured, he paying the full 
 money value for everything he took away. 
 The North American Review states, in 
 vindication of the British, that they " were 
 always desirous of making a fair purchase, 
 and paying the full value of what they 
 received ; and it is no more than justice to 
 the enemy, to state that, in some instances, 
 
 money was left behind in a conspicuous 
 place, to the full amount of what was taken 
 away." 
 
 While admitting that the enormities 
 charged upon Admiral Cockburn, by many 
 writers, have been grossly exaggerated, 
 and, in some instances, undoubtedly en 
 tirely false ; and conceding the full force of 
 the circumstances detailed by him in vindi 
 cation of his acts, the pen of truth compels 
 the assertion, that they palliate, but cannot 
 fully justify, the severe retaliation visited 
 upon the unfortunate towns a retaliation 
 not warranted by the regulations that 
 should govern an honourable warfare 
 overlooking, as it does, that broad distinc 
 tion that should ever be maintained in 
 favour of the innocent, and those whose 
 age, sex, or infirmities, should exempt them 
 from its penalties. " Worthless is the 
 laurel steeped in female tears, and joyless 
 the conquests which have inflicted needless 
 woe on the peaceful and unresisting."* 
 
 Soon after these events, Admiral Warren 
 entered the bay with a powerful reinforce 
 ment to ihe fleet, and a large body of land 
 troops and marines, under the command of 
 Sir Sidney Beckwith. The naval arma 
 ment now consisted of seven ships of the 
 line, twelve frigates, and a proportionate 
 number of smaller vessels. The land forces 
 were supposed to amount to about four 
 thousand men, and were composed, in great 
 part, of deserters from the French and 
 foreign armies. Admiral Warren seized 
 some of the smaller vessels employed in 
 navigating the bay, with the view of using 
 them in entering the inlets, which are im 
 penetrable by those larger vessels. To de 
 fend these inlets against the parties thus 
 sent out, the American government em- 
 ploj-ed swift sailing barges, and lighter 
 vessels, which, by rapid movements from 
 place to place, tended to keep them in 
 check. The arrival of so considerable a 
 force naturally created an alarm, and led 
 to the belief that an attack was intended 
 upon some important place. Baltimore, 
 Annapolis, and Norfolk, were each, in turn, 
 supposed to be the point of the proposed 
 assault ; but it was finally ascertained that 
 the last-named of those ports was the first 
 to be visited by the hostile forces. The 
 necessary dispositions were, therefore, at 
 once made to repel the aggressors. Nearly 
 ten thousand militia were assembled in the 
 vicinity of the town, and the deiences 
 * General Taylor. 
 
 339 
 
ATTACK ON NORFOLK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 on the mainland and islands materially 
 strengthened. 
 
 While these preparations were progress 
 ing, a detachment of the American gun 
 boat flotilla was ordered down the river to 
 engage one of the British frigates, the 
 Junon, which had come up nearly to the 
 quarantine ground, sending her boats to 
 destroy some small vessels in the James 
 river. The flotilla descended under the 
 orders of Captain Tarbell, then temporarily 
 in command of the Constellation, and con 
 sisted of fifteen boats, in two divisions, one 
 of which was directed by Lieutenant 
 Gardner, and the other by Lieutenant 
 Robert Henley. The weather prevented 
 Captain Tarbell from approaching the fri 
 gate until Sunday, the 20th of June, when, 
 a calm occurring, he brought his gun-boats 
 into a favourable position, and opened a rapid 
 fire upon the Junon, at the distance of about 
 half a mile. This was returned, and the 
 cannonade continued for half-an-hour : the 
 frigate received much damage, the gun 
 boats suffering but little injury. The frigate 
 was in a very critical situation ; for the 
 wind was too light to enable her either to 
 close or to haul off. Another vessel now 
 coming to her assistance, one of the vessels 
 was enabled to close, when the contest was 
 very severe. But the wind increasing, 
 and a third ship approaching. Captain Tar 
 bell now deemed it expedient to retire. 
 Although the grape-shot from the British 
 ships flew around them in great num 
 bers, the American loss was but one killed 
 and two wounded. 
 
 The first obstruction to the enemy s 
 advance on Norfolk, was Craney Island, 
 situated at the mouth of Elizabeth River, 
 on the banks of which the city of Norfolk 
 is situated. In expectation of an attack, a 
 body of about one hundred seamen had 
 been stationed at a battery on the north 
 west side, while the gun-boats were sta 
 tioned in such a manner as to impede the 
 approach on the opposite side. On the 
 morning of the 22nd, at daylight, the British 
 were discovered approaching in barges, to 
 the number of about 1,000 men, round the 
 point of Nausemond River. They selected 
 a place of landing beyond the reach of the 
 gun-beats ; but, unfortunately for them, not 
 out of reach of danger. As they approached 
 within reach of the battery, a heavy fire 
 was opened upon them, compelling them to 
 pause. An 18-pounder, which had been 
 mounted on it, was directed with, such 
 310 
 
 precision, that several of the boats were cut 
 in two, and sunk ; the admiral s barge, the 
 Centipede, being among the number. The 
 remainder of the boats now sought safety 
 in flight. A similar fate was reserved for 
 another party, about 800 in number, which 
 had landed on the main shore, and attempted 
 to cross to the island over a narrow inlet to 
 the west. A body of about 500 Americans, 
 under Colonel Beatty, had been stationed 
 here, with two 24-pounders, and four sixes; 
 and the fire from them was opened with 
 such effect, that, after an ineffectual attempt 
 to advance, the enemy was compelled to 
 retreat, with a severe loss in killed and 
 wounded. Thus terminated the attempt 
 upon Norfolk. Not onlv the safety of that 
 city, but that of Poitsmou h, Gosporfc, and 
 other surrounding owns, was secured by 
 this successful defence of Crauev Island. 
 
 Admiral Warren, Sir Sil ley Beckwith, 
 and Admiral Cockburn, now held a council 
 of war, and resolved upon an attack upon 
 the town of Hampton, situated on the west 
 side of Hampton River, about a mile above 
 its entrance into Hampton Roads. There 
 was a garrison here, consisting of about 
 400 men artillerists and infantry under 
 the command of Major Crutchfield. The 
 fortifications were very inferior. Their ord 
 nance comprised only four 1 2-pounders, and 
 four sixes. The town itself was of little 
 account; but it was thought that, by the 
 capture of the place, the communication 
 between Norfolk and the upper part of 
 Virginia would be interrupted. 
 
 On the 25th of June, a combined attack 
 from the land and naval forces was com 
 menced by a bombardment from the barges, 
 tenders, and smaller vessels, under the 
 command of Admiral Cockburn ; while Sir 
 Sidney Beckwith landed a few miles below, 
 at the head of 2,000 men, intending to 
 march up, and gain the rear of the Ame 
 ricans. The fire of the barges was returned 
 with so much effect from the battery of 
 12-pounders, that Admiral Cockburn soon 
 found it necessary to withdraw his fleet, 
 seeking shelter behind a point of land. The 
 troops, under Sir Sidney Beckwith, how- 
 i ever, advanced, though severely annoyed 
 by a rifle company, under Captain Servant, 
 in their march through a wood. Major 
 Crutchfield soon after drew up his infantry 
 in support of the riflemen; but his small 
 force proving itself unable to contend with 
 the numbers brought against it, he suc 
 ceeded in effecting his retreat. Captain 
 
A.D. 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PEACOCK CAPTURED. 
 
 Pryor, who had been left to command the 
 battery which defended the approach from 
 the sea, finding himself surrounded the j 
 royal marines having landed and advanced ; 
 within sixty yards of him after spiking his ; 
 guns, cut his way through the marines, and j 
 effected his escape without the loss of a 
 single man. The British troops soon after 
 entered, and took possession of the town. 
 
 Hampton, on its capitulation, suffered 
 severely from the outrages committed bv the ! 
 
 J O f 
 
 soldiery upon the persons and property of; 
 the inhabitants. All the excesses that have 
 sometimes followed the storming of a forti- 
 fied place, in the early ages, seem to have j 
 been inflicted upon the unoffending people, j 
 Sir Sidney Beckwith expressed his extreme i 
 regret at the atrocities that had been per- ; 
 petrated ; alleging, in extenuation, that they | 
 were committed by the foreign soldiers, 
 whom it was found impossible to control. 
 He said, that as soon as he found them 
 engaged in the excesses complained of, he 
 had given orders for them to re-embark. 
 He gave assurances, moreover, that they 
 should not again be landed ; and these as 
 surances were rigorously adhered to. 
 
 During the remainder of the season the 
 squadron threatened Washington, Balti 
 more, and Annapolis. Admiral Cockburu 
 proceeded, soon after the event above nar 
 rated, to the southern coast. In July, he 
 appeared off Ocracock, North Carolina, and 
 shortly after attacked two private armed 
 vessels ; which, after a spirited resistance, 
 he captured. After visiting Portsmouth, 
 in the same state, and bringing away a 
 number of slaves, he left the coast. 
 
 While these events were occurring at 
 the south, the coast farther north was not 
 entirely exempt from the effects of war, al- j 
 though its evils were far more lightly felt, i 
 The city of New York was subjected to a j 
 rigorous blockade. Egress from its harbour j 
 was not possible, either by the narrows or | 
 by the eastern end of Long Island. Com 
 modore Hardy, who commanded the British 
 squadron on duty here, was a gentleman 
 of whom even his enemies spoke in the 
 highest terms. He knew his duty, and 
 performed it strictly. But he exercised no 
 undue harshness in its performance. Al 
 though he frequently landed on different | 
 parts of the coast, his deportment was such j 
 as might be expected from a manly and i 
 chivalrous foe. Private property and pri- ! 
 vate rights were respected by him; and 
 the penalties of war were made as light 
 
 VOL. TI. 2 Y 
 
 as his duty to his flag and his sovereign 
 would permit. 
 
 While the events on the coast, which have 
 just been narrated, were taking place, the 
 ocean had been the arena of several san 
 guinary contests between the vessels of the 
 hostile governments. Deeply annoyed and 
 mortified by the results of the naval opera 
 tions of 1812, the British government had 
 turned its attention to discover the causes 
 of their defeats. The confidence with which 
 their former triumphs on the ocean had 
 justly inspired them, had naturally led to a 
 relaxation of discipline, and to a careless 
 ness in training the men at their guns. 
 This fatal detriment to their naval supre 
 macy they at once determined to remove. 
 Every possible exertion was made in the 
 selection of their crews, and in training 
 them for service, to render them ablo 
 to cope successfully with their American 
 antagonists. 
 
 The United States sloop of war, Hornet, 
 whom we left, in a previous page, block 
 ading the Bonne Citoyenne an English 
 sloop of war, of equal force, in the harbour 
 of San Salvador was compelled, by the 
 appearance of the Montagu, an English 
 74- gun ship, to take refuge hersclt in the 
 same harbour. She escaped in the night, 
 however, and continued her cruise. Cap 
 tain Lawrence, her commander, first directed 
 his course towards Pernambuco ; and, on 
 the 4th of February, captured the English 
 brig, Resolution, of ten guns, with 23,000 
 dollars in specie. Off Demerara, on the 
 22nd, he observed an English sloop of 
 war lying at anchor outside of the bar; 
 and, on beating up towards her, he dis 
 covered another sail on his weather quar 
 ter, making up to him. This he after 
 wards ascertained to be the British sloop 
 of war, Peacock, Captain Peake. Lawrence 
 manoeuvred some time to get the windward 
 of her, but without success ; he tacked 
 about, hoisted the American ensign, and, 
 in passing her, exchanged a broadside at 
 pistol-shot distance. Discovering the Pea 
 cock in the act of wearing, the Hornet bore 
 up, received her starboard broadside, ran 
 her close on board the starboard quarter, 
 and poured into her so heavy a fire, that in 
 fifteen minutes the contest was ended by 
 the surrender of the Peacock, with six feet 
 water in her hold. Her commander, Cap 
 tain Peake, was killed near the close of the 
 action. So severe had been the fire of the 
 Hornet, that it was found impossible to 
 
 341 
 
SHANNON AND CHESAPEAKE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 keep her prize afloat until all the prisoners 
 were removed, although the most strenuous 
 exertions were made for that purpose. 
 Nine of her crew, and three from the 
 Hornet, who were nobly endeavouring to 
 save them, went down in her. The loss of 
 the British in this action was very severe ; 
 of the Americans, only one was killed and 
 two wounded. The humanity displayed by 
 the crew of the Hornet towards their pri 
 soners, won them far more honour than 
 even their gallantly in battle. From the 
 sudden sinking of the Peacock, they were 
 left destitute of suitable clothing ; and the 
 fact no sooner became known to the Ameri 
 can seamen, than they immediately shared 
 with them their own stock of wearing 
 apparel ; and so grateful were the officers 
 of the Peacock for the generous and kind 
 treatment which they met with from Cap 
 tain Lawrence and his men, that, on their 
 arrival at New York, they gave vent to 
 their feelings in a public letter of thanks. 
 "So much was done," they said, in con 
 clusion, "to alleviate the uncomfortable 
 and distressing situation in which we were 
 placed, when received on board the ship 
 you command, that we cannot better ex 
 press our feelings, than by saying we ceased 
 to consider ourselves prisoners ; and every 
 thing that friendship could dictate was 
 adopted by yourself and the officers of 
 the Hornet, to remedy the inconvenience 
 we otherwise should have experienced, from 
 the unavoidable loss of the whole of our 
 property and clothes by the sudden sinking 
 of the Peacock." The noble conduct which 
 calls forth words like these from the mouth 
 of an enemy, is far more deserving the 
 approval and the applause of mankind than 
 the destruction of human life on the field 
 of battle, on however magni6cent a scale it 
 may be accomplished. The human heart 
 is so constituted, that one such instance is 
 of more worth in " conquering a peace," 
 and of permanently preserving it when 
 "conquered," than forty bloody victories. 
 
 On his return to port, Captain Lawrence 
 was promoted to the command of the 
 Chesapeake, then lying in the harbour of 
 Boston, where she had recently arrived, 
 after a cruise of four months. Her late 
 commander, Captain Evans, was appointed 
 to the New York station. The British 
 frigate, Shannon, of equal force, was, at that 
 time, cruising off the port. Her com 
 mander, Captain Broke, sent to Captain 
 Lawrence a letter, in which he requested a 
 342 
 
 meeting of the two vessels stated fully the 
 force of his own, and pledged his honour 
 that no other ship should interfere. Un 
 fortunately the letter never reached Captain 
 Lawrence. He had already determined, 
 however, to encounter the Shanno.-i, and 
 had put to sea on the 1st of June, previous 
 to its receipt, resolved to try his fortune. 
 He soon discovered his antagonist, and by 
 half-past five the Chesapeake closed with 
 the Shannon, and gave her a broadside, 
 which was returned : it proved equallv de 
 structive on both sides; but the Chesapeake 
 suffered the more severely in the loss of offi 
 cers -, the sailing-master, "White, was killed ; 
 Lieutenant Ballard mortally wounded ; and 
 Lieutenant Brown, of the marines, and 
 Captain Lawrence himself, were severely 
 wounded. Two more broadsides were ex 
 changed, with evident advantage on the 
 side of the Chesapeake ; but the misfortune 
 in the loss of officers continued. First, 
 Lieutenant Ludlaw was taken below, mor 
 tally wounded, and three men in succession 
 were shot from the wheel. Her foresail 
 having been struck by a ball, she could 
 no longer answer her helm ; and being also 
 disabled in her rigging, the Chesapeake fell 
 with her quarter on the Shannon s star 
 board anchor. This accident nearly decided 
 the contest. The American frigate now 
 was exposed to a raking fire from the 
 Shannon, which poured into her the con 
 tents of one or two carronades, that nearly 
 swept her upper deck. Captain Lawrence, 
 although severely wounded, as already 
 stated, still kept the deck, and commanded 
 the boarders to be called up. But, unfor 
 tunately, a bugleman had been substituted 
 for the drummer ; and he, a negro, was so 
 frightened, that he had concealed himself 
 under the stern of the launch-boat ; and 
 when discovered and dragged out from his 
 hiding-place, was so completely paralysed 
 by fear, that he could not sound a note on 
 his bugle. The only resource was, there 
 fore, to send verbal orders below for the 
 boarders to come on deck. It was at the 
 critical moment when Captain Lawrence 
 was about to give this order, that he fell 
 mortally wounded from a musket-ball in 
 his body. He was taken up, and, as they 
 were carrying him below, he uttered those 
 memorable words, which have since become 
 an axiom of the Americans, and their prin 
 ciple of action in a more important struggle 
 than was that the events of which we are 
 now recording " Don t give up the ship !" 
 
A.r, 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PELICAN AND ARGUS 
 
 The officers of the Chesapeake were now 
 nearly all killed, or disabled by wounds. 
 The command devolved on Lieutenant 
 Budd, who attempted to call up the 
 boarders, for the purpose of carrying the 
 order of Lawrence into execution. At this 
 moment, Captain Broke, perceiving the con 
 fusion which prevailed on the deck of the 
 Chesapeake, threw twenty of his marines on 
 board of her, and immediately followed 
 them. Lieutenant Budd made an effort to 
 clear his vessel from the Shannon ; but, 
 being soon after wounded, and a portion of 
 the crew having mutinied,* the attempt did 
 not succeed. Some of the crew, however, 
 continued to fight with desperation. Cap 
 tain Broke himself received a wound in his 
 head, and was taken on board the Shannon; 
 and Lieutenant Watt, who succeeded him 
 in the command, was killed. A large re 
 inforcement of boarders now pouring on to 
 the deck of the Chesapeake, the contest was 
 given over, and, soon after, the American 
 was replaced with the British flag. 
 
 In this bloody contest, three lieutenants, 
 the sailing-master, three midshipmen, and 
 about seventy men, were killed ; and the 
 captain, two lieutenants, four midshipmen, 
 and about eighty men, were wounded, 
 some of them mortally, on board the Chesa 
 peake ; and, on board the Shannon, twenty- 
 three were killed, and fifty-six wounded. 
 Among the killed, on board the latter, 
 were her first lieutentant, her clerk, and 
 purser. 
 
 Captain Lawrence survived the capture 
 of his vessel four days, and was buried at 
 Halifax (whither the Shannon directed her 
 course with her prize after the conflict), 
 with every honour, civil, naval, and mili 
 tary, which could be bestowed. The same 
 regard was also shown, to his first lieu 
 tenant, Ludlaw, whose remains were in 
 terred at the same time. No testimony of 
 respect that was due to their meraoiies was 
 left unpaid. Their bodies were, soon after 
 wards, taken to the United States, and in 
 terred ; a passport, and all other facilities, 
 having been granted by Commodore Hardy 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The news of the capture of the Chesa- 
 
 * Some disaffection existed among the crew, on 
 account of the prize-money of the last cruise, which 
 was still unpaid. The ship had an unusual num- 
 her of mercenaries in her; and, among others, was 
 a boatswain s mate, a Portuguese, who was found 
 to he particularly troublesome. Under the circum 
 stances, it was thought prudent to temporise; and 
 the men were addressed and some promises made 
 
 peake was received in England with sincere 
 rejoicing. The victory of Captain Broke 
 was looked upon as re-establishing the 
 maritime supremacy of that nation, which 
 the American naval victories of the preceding 
 twelve months had somewhat shaken ; and 
 the honours showered upon that officer, on. 
 his return to England, indicated the im 
 portance in which his success was held by 
 his countrymen. 
 
 The result of another engagement, which 
 took place a few weeks afterwards, in 
 which another American vessel was cap 
 tured by the British, tended to confirm 
 this impression. The United States sloop 
 of war, Argn s, of eighteen guns, com 
 manded by Captain William Henry Allen, 
 after taking out Mr. Crawford, American 
 minister, to France, in July, proceeded to 
 cruise in the English and Irish channels; in 
 the former of which, on the 14th of August, 
 she fell in with the British sloop of war, 
 Pelican, eighteen guns, Captain Maples. 
 The Argus had captured some twenty 
 English merchantmen while cruising here, 
 and the Pelican had been out expressly to 
 capture her, or drive her off. At four 
 o clock in the morning of the above-men 
 tioned day, the two vessels came in sight 
 of each other, and both prepared for action, 
 which commenced at five o clock, at musket- 
 shot distance, the Pelican being to the 
 windward. Captain Allen was severely 
 wounded at the first broadside, but re 
 mained on deck till several others were 
 exchanged, when he was taken below, and 
 Lieutenant Watson assumed command. 
 The action continued for an hour and 
 a-half, at which time the rigging of the 
 Argus had become so cut up, that she 
 was almost unmanageable ; and Lieutenant 
 Watson was so severely wounded that he 
 was compelled to resign the command to 
 Lieutenant William Henry Allen, jun. 
 The Argus, however, soon lost her wheel- 
 ropes and running rigging, and could no 
 longer be manoeuvred at all ; and the Peli 
 can having taken up a position in which the 
 guns of her antagonist could not be brought 
 to bear upon her, the latter could oppose 
 nothing to the raking broadsides of the 
 
 to them, which apparently had the effi ct of putting 
 them in a better humour. When the British 
 hoarded the Chesapeake, the boatswain s mate, 
 just referred to, removed the hatches of the 
 berth-deck, and ran below, followed by a great 
 many men. As he performed this act of treachery, 
 he is said to have cried out, " So much for not 
 having paid the men their prize-money." Cooper. 
 
 343 
 
ENTERPRISE AND BOXKR.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 Pelican but her musketry. She was, there 
 fore, compelled to surrender. Her loss was 
 six killed, and seventeen wounded. The 
 Pelican s loss was three killed, and five 
 wounded. The Argus was taken to Eng 
 land, where Captain Allen died, and was 
 buried with all the honours of war. He 
 was lieutenant of the frigate United States, 
 at the time of her contest with the Mace 
 donian, resulting in the capture of the 
 latter, and stood high as a naval officer. 
 
 The capture of the Chesapeake, followed 
 by that of the Argus, had as prostrating 
 an effect on the spirits of the American 
 people, as did their previous victories on 
 those of their antagonists. Those very suc 
 cesses had led them to the belief that they 
 were invincible on the ocean ; and their des 
 pondency at two successive defeats, was the 
 greater from their previous unseasonable 
 exultation. This depression of spirits soon 
 found relief from another naval contest, in 
 which the tide of success again set in favour 
 of the Americans. The United States sloop 
 of war Enterprise, of sixteen guns, com 
 manded by Lieutenant William Burrowes, 
 sailed from Portsmouth on the 1st of Sep 
 tember. On the 4th, a brig was discovered, 
 that bore every appearance of being a ves 
 sel of war, to which the Enterprise gave 
 chase. The brig, after firing some gans, 
 stood for the Enterprise, with several en 
 signs hoisted. She proved to be the Bri 
 tish sloop of war Boxer, of fourteen guns, 
 commanded by Captain Blythe. At twenty 
 minutes past three, the firing commenced on 
 both sides, within pistol-shot, the Enter 
 prise opening with her larboard, and the 
 Boxer with her starboard guns. After the 
 action had continued a short time, the En 
 terprise ranged a-head, and raked her an 
 tagonist with a long gun which had been 
 run out of a rear cabin window, with great 
 effect. The Boxer was now allowed to come 
 up alongside, when the two vessels engaged 
 with their opposite guns, the American brig 
 continuing to keep well on her antagonist s 
 bows. In this situation the latter lost her 
 main-topmast; when the Enterprise again 
 shot past her front, and raked tier once or 
 twice more with the long gun aft, which 
 proved to be the most serviceable piece on 
 board. The Enterprise then resumed her 
 position on the Boxer s bow ; and while she 
 lay in this favourable position, the Boxer 
 ceased firing, and struck, or rather cried for 
 
 * The late Matthew L. Davis, of New York, in 
 after years, erected a monument over the crave of 
 
 344 
 
 quarter ; for her flag was nailed to the mast, 
 and could not be struck. The loss of the 
 Enterprise was one killed, and thirteen 
 wounded ; of whom three afterwards died ; 
 and one of them was the lamented Burrowes, 
 her gallant commander. He received a 
 mortal wound at the commencement of the 
 action, but refused to quit the deck till the 
 engagement was ended. 
 
 The Boxer had fourteen men wounded ; 
 but the number of her killed was never 
 known. Among them, however, was 
 Captain Blythe, her young commander, an 
 officer of promise. He was cut in two by 
 an 18-pound ball, early in the action. 
 Lieutenant Burrowes and Captain Blythe 
 were interred at Portland (whither the 
 Enterprise returned with the Boxer] , at 
 the same time, and with every mark of 
 respect and honour that could be shown 
 to the remains of brave and high-minded 
 men.* 
 
 The private armed vessels of the United 
 States continued during this year to harass 
 the commerce of Great Britain. The 
 annals of naval warfare will scarcely furnish 
 a more desperate action than that fought 
 by the privateer Decatur, of seven guns, 
 (six 12-pound carronades, and one 18- 
 pounder on a pivot), and 103 men, with the 
 British vessel of war, Dominica, of sixteen 
 guns (twelve 12- pound carronades, two 
 long sixes, one brass 4 -pounder, and one 
 32-pound carronade on a pivot), and eighty- 
 three men. After a well-sustained engage 
 ment of two hours, the Dominica was 
 carried \)j boarding. Fire-arms now be 
 coming useless, the crews fought hand to 
 hand with cutlasses. The officers of the 
 Dominica being all, except the surgeon and 
 one midshipman, killed or wounded, she 
 was forced to surrender, her colours being 
 struck by the crew of the Decatur. The 
 crew of the Dominica fought with desperate 
 determination. The captain, a young man 
 of about twenty-five years of age, though 
 wounded early in the action, fought to the 
 last moment, declaring that he would sur 
 render his vessel only with his life. 
 
 On the 26th of September, Commodore 
 Rodgers returned from a long cruise in the 
 frigate President. He did not gain any sig 
 nal victory. He captured some ten or twelve 
 merchantmen, and took some prisoners. 
 The United States and the Macedonian, 
 which the former had captured on her last 
 
 Burrowes, by the side of one that already marked 
 the burial-place of Blythe. Lossing. 
 
A.D. 1812.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CREEK INDIANS. 
 
 cruise, had lain in the harbour of New 
 York until the beginning of May, without 
 being able to get to sea. About that time 
 they made an attempt to pass the blockad 
 ing squadron ; but had to put back. The 
 attempt was repeated in June, when they 
 were chased into New London Harbour. 
 Commodore Decatur here landed some of 
 his guns, erected a battery on shore, for the 
 protection of the squadron, and also thus 
 lightened the vessels, so that they were 
 enabled to ascend the river Thames out of 
 reach of the enemy. Here the two vessels 
 were closely blockaded during the remainder 
 of the war, though opportunity to put to 
 sea was frequently sought. Their officers 
 and men were finally transferred to other 
 vessels. 
 
 "While the events which we have just 
 detailed were in progress, influences were 
 at work, which finally resulted in a san 
 guinary contest in another quarter. The 
 southern race of Indians, while as re 
 lentless and ferocious in their manner of 
 warfare as those tribes the United States 
 had been contending with on the northern 
 frontier, were perhaps even more desperate 
 and determined. One of the principal of 
 these southern tribes was the Creeks, 
 whose lands lay within the boundaries of 
 the United States, the peaceable occupancy 
 of which had been guaranteed to them by the 
 national government. The name " Creek," 
 although limited, at the time of which we 
 are writing, principally to the Muskagees, 
 originally included many tribes, who were 
 so called by the early English settlers, on 
 account of the country which they in 
 habited abounding with creeks, or rivu 
 lets. 
 
 Great and successful exertions had been 
 made by benevolent societies and indi 
 viduals, as well as by the national govern 
 ment, to extend to the Creeks the blessings 
 of Christianity and education,* as well as to 
 instruct them in the arts and customs of 
 civilised life. Persons were employed to 
 reside among them for that purpose, and 
 implements of agriculture were gratuitously 
 supplied to them. This beneficent and en 
 lightened system had been initiated by 
 Washington, and continued by his suc 
 cessors in the executive chair of the nation. 
 
 * The following is a specimen of the Creek lan 
 guage, which will answer tolerably well as a sam 
 ple of all the southern Indian languages, from 
 Carolina to the Mississippi: "Isti tiukholhpi 
 laksakat Tshihofo inhomit>i tomis ; momais fotso 
 opunahoyan im afolski tomis. " In English 
 
 The early and hereditary habits and pre 
 judices of these children of the forest were 
 not, however, fully rooted out, and many 
 among them still maintained a lingering 
 wish to return to their former modes of 
 life. It was at this critical period in their 
 transition state, that, early in 1812, these 
 southern tribes were visited by the cele 
 brated chief Tecumseh, whose extraordinary 
 character and career have been so fully de 
 tailed in previous pages, for the express 
 purpose of kindling a spirit among them 
 unfriendly to the whites. This " Demos 
 thenes of the forest" was indefatigable in 
 his efforts among the southern, as he had 
 been with the northern Indians. He 
 travelled from place to place, calling coun 
 cils of their tribes ; and with that energetic 
 and effective eloquence which he possessed 
 to such an eminent degree, urged them, by 
 every incentive which could rouse their - 
 natures, to shake off the oppressions of 
 civilised life, and return to their former 
 state of wild and fearless independence. 
 He also urged them, by hostile measures, at 
 once to set bounds to the further progress 
 of the whites ; ever enforcing the principle, 
 which was always prominent in his stirring 
 appeals, that the American soil belonged to 
 the Indians in common that they had no 
 right to make a permanent division of the 
 territory, even among themselves, and 
 much less to sell the soil which had been 
 given them by the Great Spirit, to the 
 Indians enemy, the white man. 
 
 It is certainly to be regretted that so 
 few meagre specimens of the oratorical 
 efforts of this celebrated warrior have been 
 preserved. So far as can be judged by 
 their effects, they would rank among the 
 highest models of genuine eloquence. He 
 especially appealed to the powerful Creek 
 nation. These Indians had, for the reasons 
 already mentioned, been living on terms of 
 intimacy with the whites; and many of 
 them were, therefore, unwilling to com 
 mence hostilities against a nation to which 
 they had become so attached by ties of 
 gratitude for its benign efiects to extend to 
 them the blessings of civilisation. But the 
 stirring and persuasive appeals of Tecum 
 seh prevailed in stimulating the majority 
 of the nation to hostility ; and those who 
 "Ljing lips are an abomination to the Lord; hut 
 they that deal truly are liis delight." This speci 
 men is taken from a little volume, called the 
 Mu&ktiyee (Creek) Assistmit ; published in Bos 
 ton, 1835, by tiie American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions. 
 
 345 
 
BATTLE WITH THE CREFKS.J HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 had been friendly to the United States, were j 
 obliged to give an adherence to the Creek \ 
 standard, or save themselves by flight, i 
 The declaration of war by the United States 
 against Great Britain, which occurred soon 
 after, encouraged the hostile savages to 
 hope for assistance from the latter nation ; 
 and their position soon took the shape of i 
 open and vindictive warfare. Early in ; 
 the month of September of that year, the 
 first regular demonstration of hostilities j 
 against the frontier settlements of the 
 United States, was made by the Seminoles 
 and Creeks residing within the limits of | 
 Florida. A number of fugitive negroes 
 having taken refuge among, them, they 
 commenced a cruel and harassing warfare, 
 by making incursions into Georgia, and 
 murdering and plundering the inhabitants. 
 
 On the llth of the above-named month, 
 Captain Williams, with about twenty men, 
 was convoying some loaded waggons toward 
 Davis Creek ; and when within about ten 
 miles of their destination, they were at 
 tacked by a party of Indians and negroes, 
 some fifty in number, under King-paine, 
 and his lieutenant Bow-legs.* Although 
 the whites were few, they fought des 
 perately till their ammunition was ex 
 pended, two of their number killed, and 
 their captain mortally wounded, when they 
 retreated, leaving the waggons in the 
 hands of the enemy. 
 
 Expecting a force to be sent against 
 them, King-paine and Bow-legs marched 
 out from the Lochway towns, at the head 
 of 150 warriors, on horseback; and, on 
 the 20th, about six miles from those towns, 
 encountered Colonel Newman, of the 
 Georgian volunteers, with 117 men, when 
 no time was lost on either side in pre 
 paring for battle. Having dismounted, 
 the Indians advanced a few paces, hoping 
 thereby to intimidate their adversaries ; 
 but Newman, at the same time, ordered 
 his men to charge, which being promptly 
 obeyed, the Indians were put to flight. 
 The battle-ground being skirted with 
 ewamps on three sides, afforded ready 
 coverts for the Indians; before obtaining 
 which, however, the well-directed fire of 
 the volunteers ended the earthly career of 
 many of them, among whom was their 
 
 * To a document exhibited in the trial of Avbuth- 
 nr>t and Ambrister, his name is signed BoLKCK. 
 This was probably his real name, which required 
 but a slight corruption to change it into Uow- 
 legs. Drake. 
 
 346 
 
 chief, King-paine; while Bow-legs wa? 
 severely wounded. Discovering that tho 
 body of their chief remained in the hands 
 of the Americans, the Indians renewed the 
 attack, in order to recover it, but were 
 repeatedly driven back. In a final attempt, 
 however, most desperately furious, they 
 succeeded in obtaining and carrying off 
 the body of their leader, when they retired 
 from the field. Ere night, however, they 
 again returned with reinforcements of ne 
 groes ; and, after a contest which was more 
 disastrous to them than the first, they 
 again fled. The Georgians now found their 
 situation extremely critical. They were 
 so encumbered by the number of their 
 wounded, that they could neither advance 
 nor retreat; while their vindictive enemy 
 was hourly increasing on every side. 
 Colonel Newman dispatched a messenger 
 for reinforcements; and, in the meanwhile, 
 they threw up a small breastwork. They 
 remained here till the 4th of October, 
 waiting for assistance, having meanwhile 
 to defend themselves against numerous 
 assaults from the savages, who continued 
 to annoy them day and night. The volun 
 teers finally retired, and reached, un 
 molested, Peccolata, the place from which 
 they had set out. From this period, how 
 ever, until the summer of 1813, no event 
 of importance sufficient to be worthy of 
 record occurred. The national government 
 had called out a force from Tennessee, for 
 the protection of the southern country, 
 which was immediately filled by volunteers, 
 to the number of 2,5(JO, and placed under 
 the command of General Andrew Jackson, 
 who, with the above-named force, marched 
 through the Indian country to Notchery, 
 where he remained a short time, and was 
 \ then directed to return home. His ex- 
 | pedition had the effect of overawing the 
 \ Creeks for the time ; but their animosity 
 was only concealed, and burst forth with in 
 creased venom a few months after. 
 
 The renewal of hostilities was signalised 
 by one of the most horrible massacres that 
 have been recorded in American history. 
 The frontier settlers, under an apprehension 
 of danger, for greater safety had thrown 
 themselves into small garrisons or forts, at 
 long distances from each other, on the 
 various branches of the Mobile river. It 
 was ascertained, early in August, 1813, 
 that the savages were contemplating an 
 attack upon all these stations, intending to 
 capture them, and murder their occupants, 
 
A.D. 1S13.] 
 
 IIIST011Y OF AMERICA. [DREADFUL MASSACRE. 
 
 The first place to which their attention 
 was directed was Fort Mims, iu which were 
 assembled the largest number of families. 
 Near the close of the above-named month, 
 it was ascertained that the savages were 
 about to make an assault upon this place ; 
 and some preparations were immediately 
 made for defence. But, by some fatality, it 
 seemed impossible to rouse the occupants 
 to a full sense of the imminence of their 
 danger. The fort contained 150 men, under 
 Major Beasely, and a number of women 
 and children. Major Beasely belonged to 
 Mississippi, was a brave officer, and was 
 highly respected as a private citizen. Still, 
 as before remarked, notwithstanding the 
 warnings he had received, he was not sufii- 
 ciently on his guard, and thus permitted 
 his garrison to be surprised at mid-day on 
 the 30th, while it was almost entirely un 
 prepared for defence. The sentinel had 
 scarcely time to give notice of the approach 
 of the savages, before they rushed, with a 
 terrific yell, through the gate, which had 
 been left wide open. The garrison was 
 immediately under arms, and Major Beasely 
 flew toward the gate with some of his force, 
 with the intention of closing it, and forcibly 
 expelling the enemy ; but lie soon fell mor 
 tally wounded. After a desperate conflict 
 the gate was at length closed ; but several 
 of the savages had obtained possession of a 
 block- house, from which they were not 
 expelled until after a most sanguinary 
 contest. For upwards of an hour the con 
 flict continued outside the pickets, the port 
 holes being several times carried by the 
 assailants, and as often retaken by the 
 Americans. 
 
 * Weatherford, one of the most conspicuous 
 chiefs of the Creek nation, demands more than an 
 incidental mention. He was born in the Creek 
 country; his f.ither was an itinerant pedlar, sordid, 
 treacherous, and revengeful; and his mother was a 
 full-bloqded savage, of the tribe of the Setninoles. 
 Weatherford partook of all the bad qualities of 
 both his parents, and engrafted on the stock he 
 inherited from others, many that were peculiarly his 
 own. With avarice, treachery, and a thirst for 
 blood, he combined lust, gluttony, and a devotion 
 to every species of criminal carousal. Fortune, in 
 her freaks, sometimes gives to the most profligate 
 an elevation of mind she denies to men whose pro 
 pensities are the most virtuous. On Wtatherlord 
 she bestowed genius, eloquence, and courage. The 
 first of these qualities enabled him to conceive 
 great designs; the last, to execute thrm; while 
 eloquence bold, impressive, and figurative fur 
 nished him with a passport to the favour of his 
 countrymen and followers. Silent and reserved, 
 unless when excited by some great occasion, and 
 superior to the weakness of rendering himself cheap 
 
 For a moment the savages now with 
 drew, evidently disheartened by their ill- 
 
 . success; but, on being appealed to bv 
 AVeatherford,* their chief, they returned 
 with increased violence to the attack. 
 Having obtained axes, they now cut down 
 the gate, and made a breach in the pickets ; 
 and thus having gained the area of the fort, 
 compelled the besieged to retreat to the 
 houses. Here a desperate resistance was 
 made by the inmates, until the Indians set 
 the houses on fire, when the situation of 
 these unfortunate people became hopeless. 
 A dreadful carnage now ensued. The fire 
 and the tomahawk were the fate of all but 
 seventeen persons, who escaped to the neigh- 
 
 [bouring stations. Two hundred and sixty 
 
 ( persons, of all ages and sexes, thus perished, 
 including some friendly Indians, and about a 
 hundred negroes. The news of this dreadful 
 massacre, at the other stations, excited a 
 
 1 panic almost indescribable. Apprehensive 
 of a like fate, the inhabitants abandoned 
 these retreats of hitherto fancied security, 
 
 | and made the best of their way to Mobile, 
 leaving their dwellings to be burnt, and 
 their cattle to be destroyed by the ruthless 
 savages. 
 
 The people of the neighbouring states 
 were so exasperated at these Indian out- - 
 rages that they determined upon a full 
 revenge. The legislature of Tennessee 
 authorised the executive to call out 3,500 
 of the militia ; and General Jackson again 
 took the field at their head, and imme 
 diately marched to the Ten Islands, on the 
 Coosa, in the Creek country. On the 2nd 
 of November, General Coflee was sent, with 
 900 men, to disperse a body of the enemy 
 
 by the frequency of his addresses, he delivered his 
 opinions but seldom in council; but when he did 
 so, he was listened to with delight and approbation. 
 His judgment and eloquence had secured the re 
 spect of the old ; his vices made him the idol of the 
 young and unprincipled. In his person, he was 
 tall, straight, and well-proportioned ; his eye black, 
 lively, and penetrating, and indicative of courage , 
 and enterprise; his nose prominent, thin, and ele 
 gant in its formation ; while all the features of his 
 face, harmoniously arranged, spoke of an acute and 
 disciplined mind. Passionately devoted to wealth, 
 he had appropriated to himself a fine tract of land, 
 improved and settled it; and from the profits of his 
 father s park, had decorated and embellished it. 
 To it he retired occasionally, and, relaxing from the 
 cares of state, he indulged in pleasures, which 
 are but rarely found to afford satisfaction to the 
 | devotees of ambition and fame. Such were the 
 . opposite, and sometimes disgusting traits of cha 
 racter in the celebrated Weatherford, the key and 
 : corner-stone of the Creek confederacy. Claiborue s 
 Notes on tha War m the South. 
 
 347 
 
ATTLES WITH THE CREEKS ] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [\.D. 1813. 
 
 It Tallahoochee, about thirteen miles dis 
 tant, and reached that vicinity at about 
 daylight on the 3rd. Aware of his approach, 
 the savages had prepared to receive him. 
 When near the village they charged upon 
 him with fury ; and, although repulsed, 
 made a most determined resistance. Taking 
 refuge in their town, they maintained, for 
 a long time, a desperate conflict, neither 
 asking nor receiving quarter, until nearly 
 every warrior perished. The wounded 
 survivors, and eighty-four women and chil 
 dren, were taken captives. About 200 of 
 the Indians were killed, among whom were, 
 unfortunately, several of the women and 
 children, who lost their lives in consequence 
 of being mingled with the warriors in the 
 houses to which the latter had fled for 
 refuge. Of General Coffee s force, five were 
 killed, and forty-one were wounded.* On 
 the evening of the same day the detachment 
 regained the main force. 
 
 Not long after the last-narrated action, 
 General Jackson received intelligence that 
 the hostile Indians had invested a fort of 
 the friendly Indians, at Talledega, about 
 thirty miles distant, and he at once decided 
 to march to its relief with his entire force, 
 which, at this time, comprised 1,200 in 
 fantry, and 800 mounted cavalry and gun 
 men. Leaving behind the wounded, the 
 sick, and the luggage, under a proper 
 guard, he commenced his march on the 
 7th of November, the same day on which 
 he received intelligence of the critical state 
 of the fort. Although the troops did not j 
 get in motion till about midnight of the 
 above-named day, and notwithstanding a 
 detention of several hours in crossing the 
 river, such were their zeal and order, and 
 the skill and determination of Jackson, 
 that they arrived by the next evening to 
 within six miles of their enemy. At five 
 o clock next morning the march was re 
 sumed, and, in about two hours, the army 
 
 * General Coffee remarks, in his report of this 
 action, that none of his men were wounded mor 
 tally; "the greater part slightly a number with 
 arrows. This weapon appears to form a principal part 
 of the enemy s arms for warfare; every man having 
 a bow with a bundle of arrows, which are used 
 after the first shot with the gun, until a leisure 
 moment for reloading offers." 
 
 t It was during the sufferings resulting at this 
 time for want of provisions, that the following inci 
 dent, which has been variously related, occurred. 
 We quote from Drake s Bonk of the Indiuns : 
 "One morning, a soldier, with a doleful counte 
 nance, approached General Jackson, and told him 
 he was almost famished, and knew not what to do. 
 The general was seated at the foot of a tree, and 
 
 348 
 
 was within a mile of the enemy. General 
 Jackson now made the most judicious 
 arrangements for the attack. General 
 Carroll, with the advance, was directed to 
 commence the action, and after drawing 
 the enemy out from their post, to fall 
 back to the main body. The cavalry was 
 placed on the right and left, so as to be 
 able to surround the Indians ; while a 
 reserve corps of 250 mounted men was 
 stationed to the rear of the centre. The 
 advance approached, -almost unperceived, to 
 within a hundred yards of the enemy. The 
 battle now commenced, on the part of the 
 Indians, with extreme fury. Being re 
 pulsed on all sides, they attempted to 
 escape, but found themselves completely 
 enclosed ; and they would all have been 
 taken prisoners or destroyed, had not two 
 companies of the infantry given way, and 
 fled on the first approach of the savages, 
 whereby an opening was made, by which a 
 great part of them escaped to the moun 
 tains. In the pursuit, however, many were 
 sabred or shot down. In this action the 
 American loss was hfteen killed and eighty 
 wounded. Three hundred Indians were 
 left dead on the field, besides those killed 
 in the pursuit. Their entire force was sup 
 posed to be about 1,000. 
 
 The friendly Indians were thus relieved 
 from their critical situation; and the blow 
 here struck might have been followed up, 
 but for the situation of the posts in the 
 rear, and the want of provisions. General 
 Jackson, therefore, on the day following 
 the action, commenced his return ; but, on 
 his reaching Fort Strother, which had been 
 erected at the Ten Islands, he found, to his 
 great mortification, that none of the sup 
 plies he had relied upon receiving had 
 arrived; and even what had been left 
 behind, of his own private stores, had been 
 distributed.! 
 
 Mutiny after mutiny now occurred in 
 was observed by the poor, half-starved soldier, to be 
 eating something. This, no doubt, caused him to 
 make his complaint, thinking it a favourable time to 
 have his wants relieved. The general observed that 
 it was never his custom to turn away a hungry 
 person, when he had it in his power to relieve him ; 
 then, putting his hand into his pocket, took out a 
 handful of acorns, and, offering them to his aston 
 ished guest, observed that such was his fare, and all 
 he had, but to that he was welcome. The soldier 
 went away contented, and told his companions that ; 
 they ought no more to complain so long as their 
 general was obliged to subsist upon nothing but 
 acorns. Out of this grew the story, that the general, 
 having invited his officers to dine with him, sit 
 nothing before them but a tray of acorns." 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIANS DEFEATED. 
 
 General Jackson s army, and his firmness 
 and decision were admirably displayed in 
 quelling them. It was only by the most 
 earnest remonstrances, and sometimes a re 
 sort to force, that these continual attempts 
 at mutiny were subdued. Jackson even 
 risked his life in his efforts ; but his indom 
 itable will prevailed, and he maintained 
 order and discipline until he reached Nash 
 ville with his troops. 
 
 During this period, retribution was being 
 measured out to the Indians in another 
 quarter. General Cocke, who commanded 
 the other division of the Tennessee militia, 
 detached General "White, on the llth of 
 November, from Fort Armstrong, where he 
 was encamped, against the hostile towns of 
 the Hillabee tribe, on the Tallapoosa river. 
 This unfortunate race had been the chief 
 sufferers at the battle of Talladega, and had 
 applied to General Jackson, offering to agree 
 to such terms of peace as he might dic 
 tate. General White, however, being igno 
 rant of this proposal, proceeded to carry 
 out his instructions marched against them, 
 and, on the 18th of November, com 
 pletely surprised them, destroyed their 
 towns, killed sixty of their warriors, took 
 256 prisoners, and returned without the 
 loss of a single man. The Indians, sup 
 posing they had been attacked by the forces 
 under General Jackson s immediate com 
 mand, and that they were acting by his 
 orders, were led to expect nothing short of 
 extermination. They had asked for peace 
 on any terras, and their immediate answer 
 was the sword and bayonet. As might be 
 supposed from this conclusion, they fought 
 with terrible desperation ever afterwards. 
 
 General Floyd, with the Georgia militia, 
 advanced into the Creek country, about the 
 end of November. Hearing that a large 
 body of hostile Creeks was collected at the 
 Autossee towns, on the Tallapoosa river, 
 General Floyd put himself at the head of 
 1,300 troops, 400 of whom were friendly 
 Creeks, under M Intosh, a half-breed chief 
 of that nation, and marched from his en 
 campment, on the Chattahoochee. He en 
 camped within ten miles of the place of his 
 destination, on the evening of the 28th. 
 At one o clock the next morning he re- 
 resumed his march, and reached the des 
 tined towns, two in number, about six, and 
 commenced an attack upon both at the 
 same moment. The Indians met his attack 
 with a determined bravery ; and it was 
 only after a most obstinate resistance that 
 
 VOL. ii. 2 z 
 
 they were compelled, at the point of the 
 bayonet, to seek shelter and protection in 
 the thickets and copses in the rear of the 
 towns. After a contest of three hours du 
 ration, the enemy were completely defeated, 
 and their towns wrapped in flames. In 
 this conflict, the loss of the Indians was 
 about 200, among whom were the Autossee 
 and Tallassee kings. The American loss 
 was eleven killed and fifty wounded, among 
 the latter being General Floyd. The num 
 ber of dwellings burnt, some of them of a 
 superior style for the residences of savages, 
 and filled with valuable articles, was sup 
 posed to be about 400. 
 
 General Claiborne, in December, led a 
 detachment from Fort Claiborne, on the 
 east side of the Alabama river, against the 
 Indian towns of Eccanachaca, located on 
 the same river, above the junction of the 
 Cahawba. On the 22nd, he came suddenly 
 upon them, burnt their villages, and killed 
 thirty of their warriors. His own loss was 
 one killed and seven wounded. 
 
 The term of service of the militia, under 
 General Jackson, now having expired, he 
 was soon left by all but a small number, 
 who had volunteered to remain. On the 
 14th of January, 1814, he was fortunately 
 reinforced by about 1,000 mounted volun 
 teers, who were enlisted, however, for only 
 sixty days. They were placed under the 
 command of General Coffee, and Jackson 
 determined to bring them at once into 
 active service. On the 15th of January, 
 they accordingly marched to Talladega, 
 where they were joined by about 200 
 friendly Indians, under Fife, a noted Creek 
 warrior. General Jackson here learned, 
 through advices from General Floyd, of a 
 contemplated movement of the forces under 
 the command of the latter, and he there 
 fore resolved to proceed further into the 
 Indian country, with the design of making 
 a diversion in Floyd s favour. A large 
 Indian force being posted at a bend of the 
 Tallapoosa, near the mouth of a creek called 
 Emuckfaw, Jackson determined to march 
 thither immediately. He arrived in the 
 vicinity of the hostile force on the evening 
 of the 21st, and encamped, with great pre 
 caution, in the form of a hollow square, so 
 as to be prepared for defence. Hearing, 
 during the night, from one of his spies, 
 that the Indians were apprised of his ap 
 proach, and appeared to be meditating an 
 attack, every preparation was made to 
 receive them. While the troops were in 
 
 349 
 
THE CREEKS ROUTED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 tills state of readines*, they were furiously 
 assailed, on their left flank, about daylight. 
 After a severe action of about half-an-hour, 
 the Indians were repulsed, and driven back 
 about two miles, with considerable havoc. 
 General Jackson now ordered General Coffee, 
 with 400 men, to reconnoitre the enemy s 
 encampment, but not to attack it if strongly 
 fortified. That officer, rinding the post very 
 strong, returned to the American encamp 
 ment, with the information that it would 
 not be prudent to attack it without artil 
 lery. Shortly after the enemy ag;iiu ap 
 proached them ; a feint was now made upon 
 the right of the Americans, while the main 
 body of the savages made a furious onset 
 on the left. Meantime. General Coffee was 
 ordered to turn the Indians left flank. 
 His force had been reduced, by the deser 
 tion of his men, to about fifty; with these, 
 however, he succeeded in driving the enemy 
 opposed to him into the marshes. Here, 
 covered with reeds, they were comparatively 
 secure from danger. General Coffee, there 
 fore, retired, with the design of thus draw 
 ing them out. In this movement he was 
 successful. The Indians advanced from 
 the place of their retreat, and a severe con 
 flict now ensued, which was kept up about 
 an hour, General Coffee, with his small force, 
 contending against fearful odds, when he 
 was reinforced by the friendly Creeks under 
 Fife, who charged the enemy with the 
 bayonet, when they gave way, and re 
 treated with precipitation, followed by Fife 
 and his comrades for about three miles, 
 killing about fifty of them in the pursuit. 
 
 The contest meanwhile, on the right, had 
 also terminated in the success of the Ame 
 ricans. Protected behind trees and logs, 
 the hostile Indians had kept up a severe fire 
 for some time, which had been gallantly 
 sustained by the Americans. A charge was 
 finally made upon the Indians, which they 
 could not resist. They gave way, betook 
 themselves to flight, and reached their for 
 tified post with great loss. In this action 
 General Coffee was severely wounded, and 
 his aide, Colonel A. Donaldson, and three 
 others, killed. 
 
 Apprehensive of another attack, General 
 Jackson fortified his camp for the night. 
 The next day, not having provisions for a 
 longer stay, and being considerably crippled, 
 he began a retreat to Fort Strother, which 
 was continued without interruption till 
 evening, when he encamped on the soutli 
 side of Enotochopko Creek, having passed a 
 350 
 
 dangerous defile on the route. The next 
 morning, January 24th, he had a second 
 defile to cross, where he feared an ambus 
 cade of the enemy. He made the .most 
 prudent arrangement for the disposition of 
 his force, should it be attacked, and moved 
 boldly forward toward the pass. The ad 
 vanced guard, with a portion of the flank 
 columns and the wounded, had scarcely 
 crossed the last-named creek, when the 
 rear was furiously attacked bv a large body 
 of Indians. General Jackson immediately 
 gave orders for his right and left columns 
 to turn about; and, crossing the creek 
 above and below, to attack the flanks and 
 rear of the enemy, and thus completely 
 surround them. When, however, the word 
 was given for these columns to form, after 
 recrossing the creek, they precipitately gave 
 way and fled, leaving the few who held 
 their ground to contend against overwhelm 
 ing numbers. They consisted of a portion, 
 of the rear- guard, the artillery company, 
 and Captain Russel a company of spies. 
 Their resolute determination, however, made 
 up for their paucity of numbers. With the 
 utmost coolness and intrepidity, a 6-pounder 
 was dragged up a small eminence, which 
 commanded the battle-ground, by Lieu 
 tenant Armstrong and a few others, al 
 though exposed to a heavy fire. Having 
 gained the position, the gun was charged 
 with grape-shot, and fired with terrible 
 execution on the enemy. The army having, 
 meantime, recovered from their panic, 
 attacked in their turn, and the Indians 
 were everywhere put to flight, and pursued 
 about two miles. The Indians loss in this 
 last buttle, was 189 killed, whose bodies 
 were found. The American loss, in both 
 days fights, was twenty- four killed, and 
 seventy-one wounded. The army now 
 continued its retreat without further moles 
 tation, and reached Fort Strother on the 
 27th. 
 
 General Floyd, in the meantime, had 
 been pursuing a separate plan of opera 
 tions. Before dawn on the 27th of Janu 
 ary, at Camp Defiance, whither he had 
 retired after the battle of Autossee in 
 which, as already mentioned, he was 
 severely wounded he was attacked with 
 great fury by a large body of Indians. 
 Tney stole upon the sentinels, and, after 
 firing on them, made an impetuous attack 
 upon the main body. The action soon 
 became general. General Floyd, as soon as 
 daylight enabled him to see his exact 
 
A.D. 
 
 1314.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF TONOPEKA. 
 
 position, strengthened his right wing, and 
 forming his cavalry in the rear, ordered a 
 charge. The Indians were forced to give 
 May before the bayonet, and retreating, 
 were pursued by the cavalry, and many of 
 them slain. The loss of the Americans 
 was seventeen killed, and 132 wounded. 
 The Indians left thirty-seven of their 
 warriors dead on the field j beyond that, 
 their loss was never ascertained. 
 
 On the 24th of March, General Jackson, 
 having received considerable reinforce 
 ments from Tennessee, and being joined by 
 a body of friendly Indians under M Intosh, 
 commenced another expedition against the 
 hostile Indians, which was destined to end 
 in the total overthrow of the unfortunate 
 Creeks. Having established a fort at Cedar 
 Creek, he set out with the intention of 
 attacking the encampment of the Indians 
 at a place called Tonopeka,* or the Horse 
 shoe Bend of the Tullapoosa, near New 
 Yoncka. 
 
 Few localities are found so eligibly 
 adapted by nature for defence, as that one 
 
 j here selected by the Creeks, on which, by 
 direction of their prophets, they made their 
 last stand. Surrounded almost entirely by 
 
 ; the river, the only passage by which it was 
 accessible was over a narrow neck of land, 
 which had been fortified with the greatest 
 care. Across it they had erected a breast 
 work, from five to eight feet high, formed 
 of trunks of trees and timbers placed hori 
 zontally on each other, with only one place 
 of entrance, and a double row of port-holes, 
 artfully arranged ; and from wFiich their 
 assailants would be exposed to a double and 
 cross-fire from those who lay behind the 
 breastwork. The area thus enclosed was 
 nearly one hundred acres. Here this brave 
 but deluded people, about 1,000 in number, 
 hoped to resist the torrent which now 
 threatened to overwhelm them. 
 
 General Jackson brought with him, in 
 this expedition, a larger force than any he 
 had at any time before commanded. Re 
 duced somewhat by the detachments left 
 behind in garrison, it still numbered nearly 
 3,000 men. He arrived within six miles 
 of the Tonopeka, the location of the Indian 
 encampment, on the evening of the 26th, 
 where he encamped for the night. Early 
 on the morning of the 27th, he detached 
 General Coffee with the mounted force and 
 the friendly Creeks, under M Intosh, to 
 cross the river at a ford about two miles 
 * Indian name for horse-shoe. 
 
 below the Creek encampment, with instruc 
 tions to surround the Bend in such a 
 manner that none of the hostile Indians 
 should be able to effect their escape by 
 crossing the river. With the remainder of 
 his force he moved forward, and drew up 
 in front of the breastwork. Under direc 
 tion of Major Bradford, his cannon were 
 planted on an eminence, within from 100 
 to 250 yards of the extreme points of the 
 enemy s works. A sharp cannonade was 
 now opened upon the centre ; while a severe 
 fire from the musketry and rifles, which 
 were posted nearer, was directed upon the 
 Indians whenever they appeared above or 
 outside of their works. General Coffee, in, 
 the meanwhile, having, according to his 
 orders, crossed below, had advanced to 
 wards the village. He had approached 
 within half a mile of that portion which 
 stood at the extremity of the peninsula, 
 when their cars were saluted with the war- 
 whoop of the savages. Expecting an im 
 mediate attack, General Cofi ee drew up his 
 men in order of battle. The friendly Creeks, 
 under M Intosh, had previously taken pos 
 session of the bank of the river, to intercept 
 the retreat of their opponents; but when 
 they heard the cannon of Jackson, they 
 were unable to remain idle spectators of the 
 fight. They rushed to the water s edge, 
 and while some contented themselves with 
 firing across the stream, about one hundred 
 yards wide, others plunged into the water, 
 and, swimming across, brought back a 
 number of canoes, in which the larger 
 portion of them embarked, and landed on 
 the peninsula. Advancing into the village, 
 they drove the enemy from their huts up 
 to the fortifications, keeping up their an 
 noyance of them during the whole action. 
 This movement of the Indians rendered it 
 necessary for General Coffee to substitute a 
 portion of his militia force in their place on 
 the opposite bank of the river. 
 
 The proper moment now having arrived, 
 General Jackson assented to the pressing 
 solicitations of his men to be led to the 
 charge. The regulars, under command of 
 Colonel Williams and Major Montgomery, 
 were soon in possession of the nearest of 
 the breastworks. The latter, a young 
 officer of great promise, springing upon 
 the walls, called upon his men to follow 
 him. Scarcely had he spoken, when a 
 bullet struck him in the head, and he 
 dropped lifeless to the ground. The ardour 
 of his troops, however, was not lessened by 
 
 351 
 
OVERTHROW OF THE CREEKS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 his fall. They scaled the rampart with 
 impetuosity, and were followed by the 
 militia with equal firmness and intrepidity. 
 Having 1 maintained, for a few moments, a 
 very obstinate contest, muzzle to muzzle, 
 they succeeded in gaining the opposite side 
 of the works. The result was no longer 
 doubtful. The enemy, although they fought 
 with desperate bravery and determination, 
 were utterly routed, and cut to pieces. The 
 entire shore of the peninsula was strewn 
 with the bodies of the slain. Five hundred 
 and fifty-seven were found dead, besides 
 those drowned or shot by the mounted 
 troops in attempting to cross the river. 
 Not more than fifty (some accounts say 
 twenty) escaped. Among the slain was 
 their great prophet Monahoe, and two 
 other prophets. In one of his accounts of 
 the battle, General Jackson observes 
 "Among the dead was found their famous 
 prophet Monahoe, shot in the mouth by a 
 grapeshot, as if Heaven designed to chas 
 tise his impostures by an appropriate 
 punishment."* Three hundred women 
 and children were taken prisoners. The 
 American loss was forty-eight killed, in 
 cluding twenty-thi*ee friendly Indians and 
 106 Americans, and forty-seven Indians 
 wounded. 
 
 After this battle, General Jackson re 
 turned with his troops to Fort Williams. 
 Determined, however, to give the hostile 
 savages no time to retrieve the misfortune 
 which had befallen them, he immediately 
 recommenced preparations for another of 
 fensive movement against them. On the 
 7th of April, he again marched with his 
 army for Tallapoosa, with the design of 
 forming a junction with the Georgia troops 
 under Colonel Milton, and completing the 
 subjugation of the Creeks. The union of 
 the two forces was effected on the 14th ; 
 and they were marched to a place called 
 the Hickory Grounds, where, it was be 
 lieved, the last final stand would be made 
 by the Indians, or terms of submission 
 would be agreed upon. The principal 
 
 * These prophets were decorated, says Colonel 
 Eaton, "in the most fantastic manner the plumage 
 of various birds about their heads and shoulders : 
 with savage grimaces, and horrid contortions of the 
 body, they danced and howled their incantations." 
 Monahoe, in the very act of divination, muttering 
 to the sun, with eyes almost strained 1 rmn their 
 sockets, and his limbs distorted in almost every 
 possible unnatural direction, received his death- 
 wound. Three of them, the last upon the Talla 
 poosa, fell among those whom they had made be 
 lieve that no wounds could be inflicted upon them 
 
 352 
 
 chiefs of the Creek nation had assembled 
 here ; and, on the approach of the Ame 
 rican forces, sent a deputation to Jackson 
 to sue for peace. Weatherford, however, 
 and many who were known to be des 
 perate, still stood out, perhaps from fear. 
 Jackson determined to test the fidelity of 
 those chiefs who had submitted; and, 
 therefore, ordered them to deliver, without 
 delay, Weatherford, bound, into his hands, 
 that he might be dealt with as he deserved. 
 When they had made known to the sachem 
 what was required of them, his proud 
 spirit would not submit to such degrada- i 
 tion; and, to hold them harmless, he re 
 solved to give himself up without com 
 pulsion. Accordingly, he proceeded to 
 the American camp, unknown, until he 
 appeared before the commanding general, 
 to whose presence, under some pretext, 
 he obtained admission. General Jackson 
 was much surprised, when the chief intro 
 duced himself as follows : " I am Wea 
 therford, the chief who commanded at the 
 capture of Fort Mimms. I desire peace 
 for my people, and have come to ask it." 
 It had been the intention of General Jack 
 son to inflict a signal punishment upon 
 him, if ever in his power; but his sudden 
 and unexpected appearance before him, in 
 this manner, saved him. Jackson replied 
 to him, that he was surprised that he should 
 venture to trust himself in his presence, 
 for he was well aware of his having been 
 at Fort Mimms, and of his inhuman con 
 duct there, for which he so well deserved 
 to die. " I ordered/ said Jackson, " that 
 you should be brought to me bound; and 
 had you been brought to me in that 
 manner, I should have known how to 
 treat you." In answer to this, Weatherford 
 replied: "I am in your power do with 
 me as you please. I am a soldier. I have 
 done the whites all the harm I could. 
 I have fought them, and fought them 
 bravely. If I had an army I would yet 
 fight I would contend to the last ; but I 
 have none. My people are all gone. I 
 by the whites ; and, incredible as it may seem, 
 although they had witnessed a total failure of all 
 their prophecies hitherto, such was the influence 
 these miserable impostors held over the minds of 
 the warriors, that they still believed in their sooth, 
 sayings, and that their incantations would at last 
 save them, and that they should finally root out the 
 whites, and possess their country. Such are the 
 errors of delusions in all ages: they are visible in all 
 history, and will continue to be so, until a know 
 ledge of nature shall diffuse itself, and the relation 
 of cause and effect be more known. Drake. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TREATY WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 can only weep over the misfortunes of my 
 nation." 
 
 With a mind like that of Jackson, such 
 bold and frank words were calculated to 
 win favour. lie told him that though lie 
 was in his power, he would take no ad 
 vantage; that he might yet join the war 
 party, and contend against the whites, if 
 he chose ; but to depend upon no quarter 
 if taken afterwards ; and that unconditional 
 submission was his own and his people s 
 only safety. Weatherford, in a dignified 
 tone, rejoined "You can safely address 
 me in such terms now. There was a time 
 when I would have answered you ; there 
 was a time when I had a choice ; I have 
 none now. I have not even a hope. I 
 could once animate my warriors to battle 
 but I cannot animate the dead. My war- 
 riors can no longer hear my voice. Their 
 bones are at Talledega, Tallushatches, 
 Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. I have not sur 
 rendered myself without thought. While 
 there was a single chance of success, I 
 never left my post, nor supplicated peace. 
 But my people are gone, and I now ask it 
 for my nation, not for myself. I look back 
 with deep sorrow ; and wish to avert still 
 greater calamities. If I had been left to 
 contend with the Georgia army, I would 
 have raised my camp on one bank of the 
 river, and fought them on the other. But 
 your people have destroyed my nation. 
 You are a brave man. I rely upon your 
 generosity. You will exact no terms of a 
 conquered people but such as they should 
 accede to. Whatever they may be, it 
 would now be madness and folly to oppose 
 them. If they are opposed, you shall find 
 me among the sternest enforcers of obe 
 dience. Those who would still hold out, 
 can be influenced only by a mean spirit of 
 revenge. To this they must not, and shall 
 not, sacrifice the last remnant of their 
 country. You have told our nation where 
 we might go and be safe. This is good 
 talk, and they ought to listen to it ; they 
 shall listen to it."* 
 
 Convinced by the bold and nervous 
 eloquence of this fearless chief, of the sin 
 cerity of his wishes for peace, General 
 Jackson dismissed him without injury. 
 The subsequent course of Weatherford vin 
 dicated the wisdom of Jackson in letting 
 him go free. Possessing a powerful in 
 fluence with his people, he became an 
 efficient instrument in restoring peace, 
 * Drake s Indians of North America. 
 
 which soon after resulted from the unquali 
 fied submission of the whole nation. Gen 
 eral Jackson now retired from the Indian 
 country, and the troops were marched back 
 to Tennessee, and dismissed. 
 
 The contest with the Indians being now 
 happily ended, the first and principal object 
 of the national government was to enter 
 into some definite arrangement.which should 
 deprive of success any effort that might 
 thereafter be made by other powers to en 
 list those savages in their wars. None was 
 so well calculated to answer this end as that 
 of restricting their limits, so as to cut off 
 their communications with British and 
 Spanish agents in east and west Florida. 
 No treaty of friendship or boundary had 
 yet been entered into by the government 
 with the Creeks. They remained simply a 
 conquered people, and within the limits, 
 and subject to the regulations and restric 
 tions which had been prescribed by General 
 Jackson before he left their country. He 
 was now called upon by the government to 
 act in a new and different character, and to 
 negotiate the terms upon which an amicable 
 and permanent understanding should be 
 restored between the United States and these 
 conquered Indians. Colonel Hawkins, who 
 for a considerable time past had been the 
 agent to the Creek nation, was also asso 
 ciated in the mission. 
 
 On the 10th of July, General Jackson, 
 with a small retinue, reached the Alabama; 
 and, on the 10th of August, succeeded in 
 procuring the execution of a treaty, in 
 which the Indians pledged themselves no 
 more to listen to foreign emissaries to hold 
 no communication with British or Spanish 
 garrisons ; guaranteed to the United States 
 the right of erecting military posts in their 
 country, and a free navigation of all their 
 waters ; conceded the privilege of opening 
 roads through their country ; and promised 
 to establish trading-houses, and to exert 
 themselves to bring the nation again within 
 the influences of the arts and usages of 
 civilised life. They agreed to deliver up 
 the property which they had forcibly taken 
 from the whites and the friendly Indians. 
 They stipulated also that they would suffer no 
 agent or trader to pass among them, or hold 
 any kind of commerce or intercourse with 
 the nation, unless specially deriving autho- 
 ritv from the president of the United States. 
 
 The treaty also settled the boundary, and 
 defined the extent of territory secured to 
 the Creeks, and that which they were 
 
 353 
 
ASSEMBLING OF CONGRESS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 required to. surrender. Sufficient territory 
 was acquired on the south, by the United 
 States, to give security to the Mobile settle 
 ments, and to the western borders of Geor 
 gia, effectually cutting off the communica 
 tion of the Creeks with the Chickasaws and 
 Chocktaws, and separating them from the 
 Sominole tribes and other unfriendly In 
 dians in Florida. 
 
 General Jackson, on the part of the 
 United States, undertook to guarantee their 
 remaining territory to them; to restore all 
 their prisoners ; and, in consideration of 
 their destitute condition, to gratuitously 
 furnish them with the necessaries of life 
 until they should be enabled, by their re- 
 Gurnption of industrial pursuits, to provide ; 
 for themselves. 
 
 On the 6th of December, 1813, the thir 
 teenth congress of the United States com 
 menced its second session. In his annual 
 message to both houses, which was trans 
 mitted to them on the 7th, the president 
 culled their attention to a subject of con- 
 ciderable interest. Among the prisoners 
 taken by the British in the course of the 
 war, were several natives of Great Britain, 
 who had emigrated to America long pre 
 vious to hostilities. On the principle ad 
 hered to by the British government, that 
 no person can expatriate himself, or re 
 nounce his allegiance to the government of 
 the country in which he was born, those 
 prisoners, twenty-three in number, had been 
 sent to England for trial as traitors. On 
 this being made known to the American 
 government, orders were given to confine a 
 like number of British prisoners taken at 
 Fort George, and to hold them as hostages 
 for the safety of the Americans. This was 
 done, and Governor Prevost informed that 
 they would experience a like fate with the 
 American prisoners. The British govern 
 ment was no sooner informed of this, than 
 Governor Prevost was ordered to place 
 forty-six commissioned and non-commis 
 sioned officers in confinement, and a simi 
 lar punishment threatened. The Ameri 
 can government, on the other hand, se 
 lected a like number of British officers, to 
 be held as hostages for the Americans. On 
 the receipt of this intelligence, the Canadian 
 governor ordered all the American prisoners 
 into close confinement ; and a similar step 
 was soon alter taken by the American 
 authorities towards those held as hostages. 
 This was the position in which matters 
 stood at the date of the delivery of the pre- 
 354 
 
 sident s message; but it may as well, per 
 haps, be stated here, that an arrangement 
 was soon after effected between the two gov 
 ernments, which provided that all prisoners, 
 including those placed in confinement as 
 hostages, should be exchanged, with the 
 exception of those originally sent to Eng 
 land for trial, it appearing that no proceed 
 ings had been instituted against them. 
 
 The receipts of the treasury, for the 
 preceding year, as stated iu the message, 
 exceeded 37,500,000 dollars, of which 
 nearly 21,000,000 were the produce of 
 loans. After meeting all the demands of 
 the public service, there remained in the 
 public treasury, on the 30th of September, 
 nearly 7,000,000 dollars. Additional funds, 
 to a considerable amount, the president 
 stated, would be required to be raised by 
 loans in the ensuing year; but, from the 
 increased capital of the country, the fidelity 
 with which the public engagements hud 
 been kept, and the public credit main 
 tained, he expressed a confident assurance 
 that the necessary pecuniary supplies would 
 not be wanting. 
 
 " It would be improper," said the pre 
 sident, in conclusion, " to close this com 
 munication without expressing a thankful* 
 ness, in which all ought to unite, for the 
 numerous blessings with which our beloved 
 country continues to be favoured ; for the 
 abundance which overspreads our land, and 
 the prevailing health of its inhabitants ; 
 for the preservation of our internal tran 
 quillity, and the stability of our free insti 
 tutions ; and, above all, for the light of 
 Divine truth, and the protection of every 
 man s conscience in the enjoyment of it. 
 And although, among our blessings, we can 
 not number an exemption from the evils of 
 war, yet these will never be regarded as 
 the greatest of evils by the friends of 
 liberty and of the rights of nations. * * * 
 It is a reflection, moreover, peculiarly con 
 soling, that while wars are generally aggra 
 vated by their baneful effects on the in 
 ternal improvements and permanent pros 
 perity of the nations engaged in them, 
 such is the favoured situation of the United 
 States, that the calamities of the contest 
 are mitigated by improvements and advan 
 tages of which the contest itself is the 
 source. If the war has increased the 
 ! interruptions of our commerce, it has, at 
 the same time, cherished arid multiplied 
 our manufactures, so as to make us inde 
 pendent of all other countries for the more 
 
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE WAR POLICY. 
 
 essential branches, for which we ought to 
 be dependent on none ; and is even rapidly 
 giving them an extent which will create 
 additional staples in our future intercourse 
 with foreign markets. If much treasure 
 lias been expended, no inconsiderable por 
 tion of it has been applied to objects 
 durable in their value, and necessary to 
 our petmanent safety. If the war has 
 exposed us to increased spoliations on the 
 ocean, and to predatory incursions on the 
 land, it has developed the national means 
 of retaliating the former, and of providing 
 protection against the latter ; demonstrating 
 to all, that every blow aimed at our mari 
 time independence is an impulse accele 
 rating the growth of our maritime power. 
 
 " By diffusing through the mass of the 
 nation the elements of military discipline 
 and instruction ; by augmenting and dis 
 tributing warlike preparations applicable to 
 future use ; by evincing the zeal and valour 
 with which they will be employed, and the 
 cheerfulness with which every necessary 
 burden will be borne a greater respect for 
 our rights, and a longer duration of future 
 peace, are promised, than could be expected 
 without these proofs of the national cha 
 racter and resources. The war has proved, 
 moreover, that our free government, like 
 other f~ee governments, though slow in its 
 early movements, acquires in its progress a 
 force proportioned to its freedom ; and that 
 the union of these states, the guardian of 
 the freedom and safety of all and of each, 
 is strengthened by every occasion that puts 
 it to the test." 
 
 Mr. Clay having been, as .mentioned in 
 a previous page, appointed one of the com 
 missioners to negotiate a treaty of peace, 
 resigned his station as speaker of the house, 
 on the 19th of January, 1814; and Lang- 
 don Cheeves, of South Carolina, was elected 
 speaker in his place. Mr. Cheeves received 
 ninety-four votes; Felix Grundy, of Ten 
 nessee, fifty-nine; and there were twelve 
 scattering votes. Mr. Grundy was pre 
 ferred, and voted for, by a majority of the 
 friends of the administration ; but Mr. 
 Cheeves received the support of the opposi 
 tion members, comprising all the federalists 
 and the democrats opposed to a restrictive 
 policy. 
 
 The first act of an important character, 
 passed at this session of congress, was one 
 in accordance with a recommendation of 
 the president laying an embargo on all 
 ships and vessels within the limits and 
 
 jurisdiction of the United States; to con 
 tinue till the 1st of January, 1815, unless a 
 cessation of hostilities took place at an 
 earlier period. The principal object of this 
 act being to prevent small vessels and boats 
 from furnishing the British squadrons on 
 the coast with supplies, its provisions were 
 very restrictive and severe. The act was 
 unpopular, being condemned as unconstitu 
 tional and oppiessive, and looked upon by 
 many as more annoying to the Americans 
 than to the British. It was, consequently, 
 repealed, on the 14th of Apiil following, 
 by the same congress, and at the same ses 
 sion at which it was pussed. 
 
 In the report of the secretary of the 
 treasury, which was submitted to congress 
 with the president s message, the expendi 
 tures for the fiscal year, ending on the 30th 
 of September, 1814, were estimated at 
 145,000,000 of dollars; while the ways 
 | and means, it was supposed, would not 
 exceed 15,000,000. To provide for the 
 remaining 29,000,000, two acts were 
 passed by congress. The first authorised 
 the president to borrow a sum not ex 
 ceeding 25.000,000; and the second 
 empowered him to re-issue treasury notes 
 to the amount of 5,000,000. Only 
 a portion, however, of the amount pro 
 posed to bo borrowed, could be obtained, 
 and that on terms very unfavourable 
 to the government. When the bill for 
 the loan was before the house, it called 
 forth an angry and embittered discussion, 
 which turned on the merits and demerits 
 of the war. On the one side, the anti-war 
 side of the house were accused of mani 
 festing a spirit of hostility to their country, 
 and a determined resistance to every mea 
 sure for carrying on the war, although, from 
 the premptory rejection by Great Britain 
 of the Russian offer of mediation, there 
 existed no hope for peace but to battle it 
 out to the bitter end. On the other hand, 
 the party in power were charged with hav 
 ing ruined the country, destroyed its com 
 merce, involved it in debts it never would 
 be able to pay, and with being engaged 
 in a project of conquest, under the pretence 
 of vindicating national rights. In fact, 
 every measure, connected immediately or 
 remotely with the war, involved a repeti 
 tion of its causes, and the same discussions 
 were renewed. AVhile, by some, it was 
 denied that any cause of war existed ; by 
 others it was admitted that there was cause, 
 but that the time chosen for declaring it 
 
 355 
 
VOLUNTEER BOUNTY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 was an injudicious one. Among the mem 
 bers opposed to the war, was Daniel 
 Webster, of Massachusetts. His opposi 
 tion, however, was a generous and manly 
 one, and his speeches patriotic and national. 
 This was his first appearance in congress, 
 having made his maiden speech at the 
 extra session. Opposed to him, in the 
 ranks of the supporters of the administra 
 tion and the war, was John C. Calhoun, of 
 South Carolina, who made his first appear 
 ance in the House of Representatives at 
 the opening of the previous congress, in 
 1811. The support given to the adminis 
 tration by Mr. Calhoun, was ardent and 
 effective. His speeches, in support of any 
 measure, were forcible and directly to the 
 point. A brief extract will illustrate this. 
 In his speech in favour of the Loan Bill, he 
 said "It ceases to be a question whether 
 the loan can be had at this or that interest. 
 It is necessary ; it must be had : and the 
 rate per centum will depend principally on 
 the state of the money-market, and not on 
 arguments used here." Notwithstanding 
 the warm, and sometimes intemperate, de 
 bates to which the different measures in 
 support of the war gave rise, they were 
 generally carried by large majorities. 
 
 The increase and better organisation of 
 the army was another subject which de 
 manded the attention of congress at this 
 session. The inducements to enlist had 
 been found insufficient, and even furnished 
 an argument to prove that the war 
 was not popular. This, however, could 
 readily be explained by the fact that 
 few men, not actually urged by their 
 necessities, were willing to enter into an en 
 gagement to serve as common soldiers 
 for a term of years. Then, again, the pro 
 fession of a common soldier in the United 
 States, illustrated, as it had been, by the 
 habits of those who formed the small stand 
 ing army kept up during their long peace, 
 had fallen very low in the estimation of the 
 people, an enlisted soldier being with them 
 almost synonymous with an indolent, dis 
 sipated fellow. Again, many spirited and 
 enterprising young men were prevented 
 from entering the army, from an impression 
 which had become prevalent, that the obli 
 gations of the regular soldier created a 
 species of servitude. Young mechanics and 
 fanners sons were ready enough to engage 
 as volunteers, for a few months service; 
 but to enter into engagements which were 
 permanent, or which they deemed disrepr- 
 356 
 
 table, was what they felt unwilling to do. 
 It was deemed advisable to overcome this 
 aversion by offering liberal bounties not 
 so much with the idea of holding out a bait 
 to cupidity, as of increasing the respecta 
 bility of the profession of a soldier by in 
 creasing the pay. An act was accordingly 
 passed, which, it was confidently hoped, 
 would produce the desired effect. By this 
 act, soldiers enlisting for five years, or 
 during the war, were to receive a bounty of 
 one hundred dollars each in advance, and 
 twenty-four dollars more, in addition to 
 their regular pay, when discharged from 
 the service. Volunteer corps engaging to 
 serve for five years, or during the war, 
 were to receive the same bounty, pay, 
 rations, clothing, and forage, as the regular 
 army. Pensions were granted to the 
 orphans and widows of persons slain in the 
 public or private armed vessels of the 
 United States. One hundred dollars were 
 directed to be paid for each prisoner cap 
 tured by American privateers, and delivered 
 to any agent authorised by the United 
 States to receive prisoners of war ; and 
 20U,000 dollars were appropriated for that 
 purpose. The president of the United 
 States was authorised to cause the marine 
 corps to be augmented, by enlisting about 
 TOO additional men. An act for calling 
 out the militia, provided for the establish 
 ment of courts-martial of their own officers, 
 for the trial of delinquents in the manner 
 required by the rules of the regular army. 
 This law created considerable alarm and 
 dissatisfaction, being looked upon as too 
 exacting and severe. 
 
 The question of a national bank was agi 
 tated during this session. On the 4th of 
 January, 1814, a petition was presented in 
 the House of Representatives, from citizens 
 in New York, praying the establishment of 
 a bank of the United States, and offering 
 to advance, on loan, half the proposed 
 capital of 30,000,000 of dollars. This 
 petition was referred to the committee 
 of ways and means, who, on the 10th, re 
 ported adversely to the prayer of the peti 
 tion, on the ground of the unconstitution 
 ally of the charter asked for. The peti 
 tion, on the motion of Mr. Calhoun, on the 
 4th of February, was recommitted to the 
 same committee, with instructions to in 
 quire into the expediency of a national 
 bank in the district of Columbia. On the 
 19th of February, a bill was reported from 
 that committee for the establishment of a 
 
A.D. 
 
 1813.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CAIJINET CHANGES. 
 
 national bank in the district of Columbia, 
 with a capital of 30,000,000 of dollars. 
 
 Tliis bill met with opposition, on the 
 ground that it contained no provision for 
 the establishment of branches in the states. 
 A motion to engraft this feature upon the 
 bill, however, received but thirty-six votes 
 in its favour, after which no further action 
 was taken upon it. Subsequently, on the 
 2nd of April, a select committee was ap 
 pointed to inquire into the expediency of in 
 corporating a bank of the United States; but, 
 on account of the near approach of the close 
 of the session, the committee was, four days 
 later, discharged from any further consider 
 ation of the subject. In the meantime, the 
 public credit had been daily depreciating. 
 Treasury-notes had fallen seventeen per 
 cent. ; and the stock of the public loan, as 
 intimated on a previous page, could only 
 find takers at thirty per cent, below par, 
 and but a small portion of it could be nego 
 tiated on these terms. Congress adjourned 
 on the 18th of April, after a session of un 
 common length, and one which will be mem 
 orable, from the virulence and animosity 
 with which its debates were characterised. 
 
 The rejection of Albert Gullatin, as one 
 of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty 
 of peace with Great Britain, by the senate, 
 when first nominated, in consequence of his 
 still holding the office of secretary of the 
 treasury, has been mentioned in a previous 
 chapter. The question was settled by the 
 senate declaring the office of secretary of 
 the treasury vacant, in consequence of Mr. 
 Gallatin s absence from the country ; and 
 he, being subsequently renominated, was 
 confirmed. The duties of that office were 
 fulfilled by the secretary of the navy till 
 the 9th of February, 1814, when George | 
 W. Campbell was nominated to the senate 
 as secretary of the treasury, and confirmed. 
 Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was ap 
 pointed by Mr. Madison, as attorney- general 
 of the United States, in place of William 
 Pinckney, of Maryland, who resigned, 
 February 10th ; and Gideon Granger, 
 of Connecticut, who had held the office of 
 postmaster-general for more than twelve 
 years, having been originally appointed 
 to that office by Thomas Jefferson, on the 
 26th of January, 1802, was removed by 
 Mr. Madison on the 17th of March, and 
 Return Jonathan Meigs, governor of Ohio, 
 appointed in his place. Jonathan Russell 
 was nominated as minister to Sweden ; and, 
 after some delay, was con firmed by the 
 
 VOL. II. 3 A 
 
 ! senate, on the 18th of January. He was, 
 j at the same time, confirmed as one of the 
 | commissioners to negotiate a treaty of 
 peace with Great Britain, as stated in a 
 previous page. These last-named changes, 
 with some others, during the administration 
 1 of Mr. Madison, occurred in consequence of 
 | dissensions and dissatisfaction among the 
 ! leaders of the democratic party in congress 
 and in the cabinet, which have been inci 
 dentally alluded to in a previous chapter. 
 
 " Madison was thwarted," says Mr. In- 
 gersoll, " by a jealous senate. In May, 
 1813, when he nominated Jonathan Russell 
 as minister to Sweden, the appointment 
 was negatived by the senate on frivolous 
 pretences, largely set forth in publications 
 on the subject by William B. Giles, one of 
 the Virginian senators. In November of 
 that year, Mr. Do Kantzow arrived in 
 Washington, and then, at last, Mr. Russell 
 was suffered to pass the senate. The post 
 master-general, Granger, was so inimical 
 to Mr. Madison, that he found it necessary, 
 in 1&14, to remove him from office. The 
 war of 1812, especially as respected the 
 appointing power of the executive, both at 
 home and for foreign service, was much 
 embarrassed and annoyed by members of 
 the war party, whose constituent states sup 
 ported Madison s administration." 
 
 "An important crisis in the affairs of 
 the American people," says Brackenridge 
 we quote his sentiments, but not his 
 exact language " had now arrived. The 
 third year of the war found the situation 
 of the country materially changed for the 
 worse. The gloomiest period of the revolu 
 tion had scarcely presented a state of things 
 more painfully discouraging. The distresses 
 of the northern states, whose subsistence, 
 in a great degree, depended upon their 
 shipping ; and of the people of the south, 
 whose staples had almost ceased to be of 
 any value, together with the embarrass 
 ments of the banks in the middle states, had 
 begun, at last, to make the American peo 
 ple feel that they were at war. To a 
 nation which had for years been in the 
 most flourishing condition, a check to the 
 general prosperity, however it might re 
 sult in alternate good, was felt to be a 
 positive infliction. To the farming in 
 terest, the effects of hostilities were rather 
 beneficial ; produce advanced greatly in 
 pi-ice, and lunds increased in value ; and 
 the wealth of cities, no longer employed in 
 commerce, wus diverted to the interior, and 
 
 357 
 
ARMIES IN THE KORTH.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 soon discovered itself in the improvement 
 of the lands, the erection of towus, and the 
 establishment of manufactures. But the 
 number of those whom the war distressed, 
 or ruined, was proportionally great ; and, 
 as men are louder in crying out against 
 calamities, than forward to exult in their 
 good fortune, the unfavourable side of the 
 picture only was exhibited. The philoso 
 pher might say, that what was lost to the 
 nation by one interest was gained in an 
 other ; but this reasoning would have 
 little weight with individual sufferers. In 
 several of the New England states, the 
 complaints assumed a more serious aspect ; 
 and it was even insinuated that they meant 
 to secede from the Union. Such an event 
 would, indeed, have filled every American 
 bosom with grief, and would have inflicted 
 a deeper injury on their common country 
 than a thousand wars. The collisions 
 between the state authorities and those of 
 the Union were beginning to produce all 
 
 the embarrassments which had been pre 
 dicted by Patrick Henry, at the formation 
 of the constitution ; and the supposed ex 
 istence of such misunderstandings, at the 
 period of the country s utmost need, could 
 not fail to weaken the hands of the ad 
 ministration, and increase the disposition of 
 Great Britain to prosecute the war. The 
 disorders of their financial system were 
 alarming ; and it was confidently predicted 
 that, from the want of funds, the adminis 
 tration would be compelled to yield up the 
 reins of government, or throw the nation 
 upon the mercy of the enemy. * * * * Such 
 was the situation of America at this event 
 ful period. The time was approaching 
 which would test the strength of the 
 American confederation, and its ability for 
 defence ; and, what was still more interest 
 ing, the sincerity of the attachment of the 
 people to political institutions, which, not 
 venerable from time, deserved the highest 
 admiration for their justice and wisdom." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 HOSTILITIES ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER, AND THE NAVAL OPERATIONS, DURING 1814- ! 5. 
 
 AFTER the non-success of the expedition 
 against Montreal, as detailed in a previous 
 chapter, the two divisions of the northern 
 army remained in winter quarters until 
 the month of February, 1814, when General 
 Wilkinson received orders from the secre 
 tary of war to detach General Brown, with 
 2,0t)0 men, to Sackett s Harbour, with a 
 suitable proportion of field artillery and 
 battery cannon, and to fall back, with the 
 remainder of his army, to Plattsburg. This 
 order was complied with ; the general-in- 
 chief, after destroying his barracks and 
 flotilla, retired to the place designated, 
 where the other division of the army, under 
 General Izard, was encamped. The British, 
 on hearing of this movement, detached a 
 force under Colonel Scott, who proceeded 
 as far as Malone, and destroyed the arsenal 
 and public stores kept there, and which 
 belonged to the cantonment of French Mills. 
 Nothing of importance now occurred until 
 358 
 
 the latter end of March, when General 
 Wilkinson conceived the idea of erecting a 
 battery at Rouse s Point, on the northern 
 end of Lake Champlain, which would com 
 mand the entrance into the lake of the 
 Sorelle, or Richelieu* river ; and from which 
 the British fleet, then laid up at St. John s, 
 on that river, might be kept in check, 
 and its entrance into Lake Champlain pre 
 vented. The opening of navigation earlier 
 than usual, prevented the execution of his 
 design. His movements, however, which 
 had the appearance of an attempt to again 
 invade Canada, induced the British com 
 mander to order 2,000 men, under Major 
 Hancock, to fortify themselves at La Calle 
 Mill a large stone building, three miles 
 north of Rouse s Point, and within the 
 Canada line for the purpose of defeating 
 his plans. General Wilkinson, on hearing 
 of their movement, determined to dislodge 
 * Sometimes called ihe St. John s river. 
 

 AT). 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ATTACK ox THE BRITISH. 
 
 them. lie accordingly marched from 
 Plattsburg, on the 30th of March, with about 
 4,000 men ; and, after dispersing several 
 skirmishing parties of the enemy, he reached 
 La Culle Mill, which he found much more 
 strongly fortified than he had anticipated. 
 The state of the roads did not admit of the 
 heavier ordnance being brought up ; and 
 two smaller pieces, a 12-pounder and a 
 howitzer, were substituted. These pieces 
 were posted at the distance of 200 yards 
 from the house, and covered by the second 
 brigade. The remaining troops were so 
 disposed as to nearly encircle the Mill, so 
 as to cut off the enemy s retreat. These 
 arrangements being made, the two pieces 
 opened fire upon the house, which was 
 promptly returned from the loopholes of 
 the building; and, owing to the unavoidable 
 exposure of the American troops, it was 
 very destructive. The British made a des 
 perate sortie from the building, and charged 
 upon the cannon several times, but were each 
 time repulsed; and at last retired within 
 the house with considerable loss. It being 
 found, after repeated endeavours, impossible 
 to make an impression on the unusually 
 thick walls of this strong building with 
 out heavier ordnance, General Wilkinson 
 abandoned the attempt, and drew off his 
 forces, retiring in good order, and without 
 molestation. The loss of the Americans, in 
 this affair, was about one hundred in killed 
 and wounded. General Wilkinson subse 
 quently retired to Oldtown ; and, in con 
 sequence of the discontent excited in the 
 public mind, by the result of this and the 
 preceding expedition, he was suspended 
 from the command, and the army placed 
 under the direction of General Izard. 
 General Wilkinson was afterwards tried 
 before a court-martial at Troy, New York, 
 where he was acquitted of the charges 
 alleged against him.* 
 
 Soon after the defeat of Wilkinson, at 
 La Calle Mill, the British army of Lower 
 Canada was concentrated at St. John s 
 and Isle aux Noix, for the purpose of 
 securing the entrance of their fleet into 
 Lake Champlain. During the winter, 
 Commodore Macdonough, the American 
 naval commander at this station, at the 
 suggestion of General Wilkinson, had 
 
 * One great fault, inherent in the nature of a 
 republican government, is a disposition to hasty and 
 harsh decision respecting the conduct and character 
 of public men, which no more ceases to be injustice 
 when entertained by ten millions than if by ten 
 individuals. Men are often ruined in public esti- 
 
 fortified the mouth of Otter Creek, which 
 empties into Lake Champlain, on the Ver 
 mont side, by the erection of a battery on 
 the cape, at its entrance, so as to secure a 
 passage for his flotilla, which then lay at 
 Vergennes, about seven miles up the creek, 
 waiting for its armament. This battery 
 proved of essential service. Macdonough 
 : had laboured, with great industry, through 
 the winter, to prepare a naval force on 
 the lake equal to that of the British ; and 
 it was the design of the latter that the 
 vessels composing it should not be per 
 mitted to make their appearance on the 
 waters of the lake. Accordingly, on the 
 12th of May, the enemy appeared off the 
 mouth of the creek, with a force consisting 
 of the Linnet brig, and eight or ten 
 galleys, and two sloops loaded with stores, 
 under the command of Captain Pring, with 
 a view to fill up the channel; and thus 
 not only prevent the exit of the squadron, 
 but also intercept the materiel required for 
 completing its armament, which it was 
 presumed would be conveyed thither by 
 water. On the morning of the 14th, an 
 attack was commenced upon the battery 
 which commanded the entrance of the 
 creek ; but it was so vigorously defended, 
 that the enemy retired without effecting 
 his object. In this affair, no one was hurt 
 on the side of the Americans, although 
 shells were thrown from one of the galleys. f 
 
 While these preparations were taking 
 place on Lake Champluin, similar pro 
 visions, for maintaining the supremacy of 
 the British, were being made on Lake On 
 tario. At the commencement of the season, 
 the superiority of force was on the Bri 
 tish side ; and, as a frigate of the largest 
 size was being constructed by them at 
 Kingston, Commodore Chauncey, for the 
 purpose of keeping up, as nearly as possible, 
 an equality of force, commenced to build an 
 additional vessel for the American fleet. 
 While these vessels were in course of con 
 struction, numerous attempts were made 
 to destroy them, which it required the 
 utmost vigilance on either side to prevent 
 being carried into effect. Three of the 
 British craft, provided with the means of 
 blowing up the American vessels, suc 
 ceeded, on the 26th of April, in getting 
 mation for slight causes, as for uncontrollable acci 
 dents; and they are as often elevated to the highest 
 pinnacle of celebrity, for actions which may be 
 better considered as the effect of chance, than the 
 test of merit. Breckenridye. 
 
 \ Cooper s Naval History. 
 
 359 
 
NAVIES ON THE LAKES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 close into Sackett s Harbour. They were 
 soon discovered, however, and fired upon 
 by the officer on guard, before they could 
 execute their design, and were compelled 
 to throw their explosive materials into the 
 lake, to prevent blowing up their own 
 vessels. Their next attempt was to inter 
 cept the rigging, naval stores and guns, for 
 the new ship Superior, which had been de 
 posited at O.swego. Thither the British 
 fleet, under Sir James Yeo, having on 
 board a large body of troops under General 
 Drummond, arrived on the 5th of May, 
 and at once commenced a heavy bombard 
 ment of the place. The force at Oswego 
 consisted of 300 men, under Colonel 
 Mitchell, with five guns, and a shore bat 
 tery of one 12 -pounder. The British 
 forces made an attempt to land from 
 fifteen boats; but so heavy a fire was 
 opened upon them from, the fort, that 
 they were compelled to desist from the 
 effort, and retire. The British fleet now 
 stood off, though evidently without abandon 
 ing their design upon the place. On the 
 succeeding day they again approached ; and 
 the whole fleet, having taken a position to 
 cannonade the fort, their troops, about 
 1,500 in number, under General de Watts- 
 velle, succeeded in effecting a landing, 
 after a determined resistance. Colonel 
 Mitchell now abandoned the fort ; and find 
 ing further resistance useless, fell back, and 
 directed his march to the Falls of Oswego, 
 thirteen miles above, destroying the bridges 
 in his rear. Hither the naval stores, which 
 had formed the principal object of the 
 British attack, had already been removed; 
 they therefore took possession of the cannon 
 of the fort, with a few barrels of provisions 
 and some whiskey, and retired. The loss 
 on their part was about one hundred. The 
 American loss was sixty-nine, in killed, 
 wounded, and missing. On the 15th, a por 
 tion of this force proceeded to Pultney ville, 
 and demanded the public stores. The in 
 habitants were unable to resist the demand, 
 when General Swift, of the New York 
 militia, opportunely arriving, the British 
 troops retreated on board their squadron, 
 which immediately sailed for Sackett s 
 Harbour. The British fleet reached that 
 place on the 19th, and cast anchor in such 
 a manner as to cut off all communication 
 between Sackett s Harbour and other 
 places on the lake ; but learning that the 
 Superior, which had just been launched, 
 had received her armament and equipments 
 360 
 
 by land conveyance, which it was the 
 design of Sir James Yeo to intercept, he 
 broke up the blockade, and returned with 
 the fleet to Kingston, leaving some gun 
 boats, however, on the lake. 
 
 Additional cannon and ordnance stores, 
 intended for vessels of the American fleet, 
 had, while the movements above were 
 taking place, arrived at Oswego. The 
 Mohaivk, another new frigate, was at this 
 time on the stocks, at Sackett s Harbour ; 
 and, in order to prepare her for the lake 
 early in June, these supplies were needed. 
 Land carriage was to be employed, where 
 practicable; and it was therefore deter 
 mined, since the British fleet had dis 
 appeared, to transport them to Sackett s 
 Harbour by water. Accordingly, eighteen 
 barges, then lying at Oswego Falls, were 
 assigned for their conveyance, and were 
 placed under the command of Captain 
 Woolsey; and Major Appling was dis 
 patched, with 130 riflemen, and an equal 
 number of Indians, to aid in their defence. 
 On the 28th of May, Captain Woolsey 
 brought his flotilla down the river, and 
 reached the village of Oswego by sunset. 
 Waiting only to take advantage of the 
 darkness of the night, to avoid the enemy s 
 gun-boats, he put out into the lake. The 
 next day he reached Little Sandy Creek, and 
 discovering some of the British gun-boats, 
 he entered, and ascended the creek a few 
 miles. The riflemen and Indians were 
 landed, and posted in an ambuscade. The 
 enemy, as was expected, ascended the 
 creek, and landed a, party, which proceeded 
 along the bank. The Americans now sud 
 denly rose from their ambush, and opened 
 so destructive a fire upon them, that in 
 ten minutes they surrendered, to the 
 number of 136, with all their gun-boats 
 and cutters. Of the Americans only one 
 man was killed. The barges soon after 
 arrived at Sackett s Harbour in safety. 
 Commander Chauncey having completed 
 the equipment of his new frigate, again 
 sailed from Sackett s Harbour ; but as he 
 had now a superiority of force, the British 
 commander did not deem it prudent to 
 venture an engagement, until his large ship 
 of 112 guns, then on the stocks, should be 
 completed. No other event, of sufficient 
 importance to call for record here, occurred 
 on either of the lakes till the autumn 
 months. 
 
 lu a skirmish on the borders of Lake 
 Champlain, Colonel Forsythe, an active 
 
A.r>. 
 
 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A SKIRMISH. 
 
 and valuable officer, whose name has fre 
 quently occurred in previous pages, lost 
 his life. On the 28th of June, he made 
 an incursion as far as Old town, and, hav 
 ing attacked a party of the enemy, re 
 treated, with the view of drawing them 
 into an ambuscade. He was discovered, 
 however, and a severe skirmish ensued, in 
 which Colonel Forsythe was wounded in 
 the neck, and died a few days afterwards. 
 Major Appling succeeded to the command 
 of his rifle corps. 
 
 A gallant affair, achieved by Captain 
 Holmes, a young and promising officer, de 
 serves record. On the 21st of February, 
 he was dispatched by Colonel Butler from 
 Detroit, with 160 rangers and mounted 
 men, to dislodge a party of British, who 
 were stationed on the river Thames. On 
 the 3rd of March, when within fifteen 
 miles of his destination, he received intelli 
 gence that a body of the enemy, about 300 
 in number, was within an hour s march 
 of him, and was about to descend the river 
 Thames to attack him. lie immediately 
 fell back a few miles, to a position in 
 which he thought he could maintain him 
 self, until he could obtain the necessary 
 information in relation to the number of 
 the enemy. For this purpose he dispatched 
 a small party to reconnoitre; but they were 
 soon driven in by the enemy, without being 
 able to ascertain his force. To keep him 
 ignorant of their numbers, and draw him 
 out from his strong position, the British 
 made a feigned attack upon him, and then 
 fell back, showing but sixty or seventy 
 men. Captain Holmes cautiously pursued 
 for some distance, till he met their full 
 force drawn up to receive him. He im 
 mediately fell back to his former position, 
 and there prepared to receive the enemy. 
 In front was a deep ravine, and the 
 sides were difficult to approach, being pro 
 tected by logs, hastily thrown together. 
 The attack was commenced at the same 
 moment on all sides of him, the British 
 regulars charging up the heights from the 
 ravine, while both flanks were assailed 
 by Canadian militia and Indians. The 
 regulars approached within twenty paces of 
 the American line, against a very destruc 
 tive fire. On the three sides the attack 
 was sustained with coolness, and with con 
 siderable loss to the enemy. The Ameri 
 cans behind the logs could aim their 
 pieces at leisure, and with a deadly cer 
 tainty. Their assailants, after an hour s 
 
 hard fighting, abandoned the attack, and 
 retreated, with a loss in killed and wounded 
 of sixty-five, besides the Indians. 
 
 The American loss was but six killed 
 and wounded. Captain Holmes soon after 
 returned to Michigan, where, for gallantry 
 in this action, he received a major s com 
 mission. 
 
 The fall of Napoleon, and the peace of 
 Paris, released the British fleet and armies 
 which had been so long employed in the 
 wars of Europe, and left the English gov 
 ernment at liberty to direct their strength 
 against the United States. The plan of 
 the campaign for 1814, as adopted by the 
 British, appears to have comprehended two 
 distinct lines of operations one having 
 for its object the protection of Canada, and 
 the conquest of so much of the adjacent 
 American territory as might secure the 
 British American provinces from danger of 
 future invasion ; and the other, the inva 
 sion of the sea-coast. For these purposes, 
 a formidable army of 14,000 men, who had 
 served in the campaign under the Duke of 
 Wellington, were embarked at Bordeaux 
 for Canada ; and, at the same time, a strong 
 naval force was directed against the mari 
 time frontier of the United States, to main 
 tain a strict blockade, and ravage the whole 
 coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 With the United States, the plan of the 
 campaign on the northern frontier, as 
 adopted at Washington, was as follows : 
 General Brown was to cross the Niagara, 
 and take possession of Burlington heights ; 
 and afterwards, in conjunction with Com 
 modore Chauncey, to attack the British 
 posts on the peninsula. General Izard, 
 commanding the northern army, was to 
 push a number of boats into the St. Law 
 rence, so as to command the Longue Saut, 
 and intercept communication between Mon 
 treal and Kingston. Batteries were also 
 to be thrown up, for the purpose of protect 
 ing the American fleet on Lake Champlain. 
 Colonel Croghan, with the assistance of 
 Commodore Sinclair, was to proceed against 
 the British on the upper lakes, with a view 
 to the recovery of the American post of 
 Micbilimackinao and St. Joseph. This 
 plan was to be carried into execution as far 
 as contingencies, which might afterwards 
 arise, would permit. 
 
 General Brown, as has been stated on a 
 previous page, was detached, by order of 
 the war department, from the northern 
 urmv to Sackett s Harbour, with about 
 
 361 
 
BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.IX 1814. 
 
 2,000 men. After his arrival at the latter 
 place, he remained for some time assidu 
 ously employed in disciplining and organis 
 ing his troops, until he received orders from 
 the secretary of war to remove to Black 
 Rock and Buffalo, with a view to future 
 operations on the peninsula. The army 
 under his command, when concentrated at 
 Buffalo, amounted to nearly 4,000 men, and 
 consisted of two brigades of regulars ; 
 the first commanded by Brigadier-general 
 Scott, and the second by Brigadier-general 
 Ripley ; a detachment of artillery, and a 
 brigade of volunteers, from New York and 
 Pennsylvania, with a few Indians, under 
 the command of Generals Porter and 
 Swift. The first movement, with a view to 
 future operations against Canada, and to 
 recover possession of Fort Niagara, was the 
 capture of Fort Erie, which was at this 
 time commanded by Captain Buck, and 
 garrisoned with 137 men. On the morning 
 of the 3rd of July, the two brigades of 
 regulars passed over the river, and landed ; 
 that under General Scott, with a detach 
 ment of artillery, about a mile below Fort 
 Erie ; and the one under General Ripley, 
 about a mile above ; while a party of In 
 dians crossed over and placed themselves 
 in the woods in the rear of the fort. Pre 
 parations were immediately made for an 
 assault upon the fort. The place, however, 
 was so wanting in the means of defence, 
 being, in fact, little more than an imper 
 fectly-finished redoubt, that Captain Buck 
 deemed it futile to attempt its defence 
 against so superior a force, and therefore 
 surrendered without firing a gun. The 
 men who garrisoned the fort were taken 
 across the river, and marched into the 
 interior of New York as prisoners of war. 
 
 Placing a small detachment of artillery 
 in the fort, for its defence, General Brown 
 now determined to advance and attack a 
 division of the enemy, numbering from 
 2,000 to 3,000 men, under General Riall, 
 who occupied an entrenched position on 
 the northern bank of the Chippewa river, 
 near its confluence with the Niagara. Ac 
 cordingly, on the morning of the 4th, Gen 
 eral Scott advanced with his brigade, and 
 Towson s artillery, followed, soon after, by 
 General Riploy s brigade, with the field 
 and park artillery, under Major llindman, 
 and General Porter s brigade of volunteers 
 and Indians. General Scott s brigade, lead 
 ing the advance, when near Street s Creek, 
 encountered a detachment of the British 
 362 
 
 under the Marquis of Tweeddale ; and, after 
 some sharp skirmishing, the latter retreated 
 across the bridge which spanned that stream, 
 and the Americans moved forward and en 
 camped on its southern bank. Street s 
 Creek is a small stream that empties into 
 the Niagara river, about four miles above 
 the falls of the latter ; and two miles be 
 yond it was the Chippewa ; on the further 
 bank of which, as already stated, the Bri 
 tish army lay, commanding a bridge that 
 crossed it at that point. Between these two 
 streams lay the plain of Chippewa, bounded 
 on the east by the Niagara river, and on 
 the west by the forest of pine. This plain 
 seemed admirably adapted by nature for a 
 battle-field ; and, as such, the commanders 
 of the opposing forces seemed to consider 
 it, as, early in the morning of the 5th, both 
 armies commenced a movement into the 
 plain ; the American across Street s Creek, 
 and the British across the Chippewa. Por 
 ter s brigade was the first of the American 
 forces to cross, having been dispatched by 
 General Brown, to drive back a detachment 
 of Canadian militia and Indians, who had 
 made their appearance in the woods already 
 mentioned, which skirted the plain, on the 
 American left. A sharp conflict com 
 menced between these parties, which re 
 sulted in the retreat of the Canadian militia. 
 While in pursuit of the retreating foe, 
 Colonel Porter came suddenly upon the main 
 body of the British. The volunteers were 
 now severely pressed; and Scott s brigade, 
 with Towson s artillery, was ordered to ad 
 vance, and draw the enemy into action. 
 Deploying rapidly across the bridge, Scott 
 immediately placed his forces in position : 
 the first battalion, under Leavenworth, on 
 the right; while the 2nd battalion was 
 led to its position in the centre, by Colonel 
 Campbell ; but he being, soon after, severely 
 wounded, the command devolved upon Ma 
 jor M Neill; while the 3rd battalion, under 
 Jessup, moved obliquely to the left, to at 
 tack the enemy s right, which was sta 
 tioned in the woods, and threatened to 
 outflank the Americans. 
 
 The artillery, under Towson, was sta 
 tioned to the right, on the Chippewa road. 
 No sooner had it got into position than the 
 guns were promptly unlimbered, and soon 
 opened with decisive effect. Both armies 
 continued to approach ; keeping up a con 
 stant and heavy fire, until not more than 
 eighty paces distant from each other. Major 
 Jes.up, in the meanwhile, after a severe 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BRITISH DEFEATS] . 
 
 struggle, succeeded in reaching a position, 
 from which he opened so galling and effec 
 tive a fire as to compel that portion of the 
 British right to fall back. The battalion, 
 on the American right, under Major Leav- 
 enworth, was not only engaged with the 
 British infantry, but often exposed to the 
 fire of their batteries. After the lapse of 
 an hour from the time the action became 
 general, Captain Towson, having been suc 
 cessful in silencing the enemy s most power 
 ful battery, turned upon their infantry, at 
 that moment advancing to a charge. The 
 tempest of grape from his battery, which 
 was now poured in upon them the oblique 
 charge from the 2nd battalion, which was 
 60 posted as to assail both in front and rear 
 and the apparent issue of the contest, on 
 his right flank, with Major Jessup, compelled 
 General Riall to retire, until he reached the 
 sloping ground, which led to Chippewa, 
 where, being hard pressed by the American 
 troops, he soon after retreated to his in- 
 trenchments, across the Chippewa. The 
 day being now too far spent to make an 
 assault, General Brown drew off his forces, 
 and returned to camp. 
 
 General Ripley s brigade was not brought 
 into actiun. It was ordered up, with direc 
 tions to skirt the wood on the left of the 
 line, and to gain, if possible, the rear of the 
 British right, and thus cut off their retreat 
 to Chippewa. The precipitate manner in 
 which this was effected, however, prevented 
 the execution of this movement. 
 
 This battle was fought with judgment 
 and determined bravery on both sides, and 
 was a sanguinary one, considering the num 
 ber engaged in it. The loss of the Ameri 
 cans, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 
 338. That of the British was 149 killed, 
 310 wounded, and 46 missing, among whom 
 were many officers of rank. 
 
 Being determined to follow up the battle 
 of Chippewa by an attack upon the in- 
 trenchments of the enemy, General Brown 
 detached General Ripley on the 8th, to a \ 
 point three miles above the British camp, 
 to open a road to the Chippewa river, and 
 construct a bridge over it for the passage of 
 the troops. The British general discover 
 ing this movement, when the bridge was , 
 nearly finished, attempted to arrest its | 
 completion, but was compelled to retire ; j 
 and fearing an attack on his right flank ; 
 and in front, soon after abandoned his ; 
 intrench ments, which were immediately i 
 occupied by General Brown, the British j 
 
 falling back to Queenstown. The next 
 day they returned to Ten -mile Creek, and 
 the American army, moving forward, en 
 camped at Queenstown on the l()th. 
 
 A council of war was now held, at which 
 it was decided to make an attack upon 
 Fort George. The plan, however, was 
 abandoned, in consequence, it was said, of 
 the inability of the fleet, from the illness of 
 Commodore Chauncey, to co-operate with 
 General Brown. lie therefore abandoned 
 his advanced position on the Niagara, and, 
 preparatory to a pursuit of the British 
 army to Burlington heights, on the 23rd, 
 he fell back again to Chippewa. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th, General 
 Brown received information that an attack 
 was meditated by the British on Schloper, 
 a village on the American side of the Niag 
 ara, where the sick and wounded had been 
 sent, and where also supplies were stored. 
 With the design of drawing them off from 
 their attempt on the village, General Brown, 
 having no means of transporting troops for 
 its defence, dispatched General Scott, at 
 four o clock in the afternoon, with his own 
 brigade, Tovvson s artillery, and the dra 
 goons, on the road to Queenstown, which 
 place had been occupied by General Riall, 
 immediately after it was abandoned by the 
 Americans. After proceeding between two 
 and three miles, and within a short dis 
 tance of the Falls of Niagara, General Scott 
 discovered General lliall on an eminence, 
 near Lundy s Lane, with the Queenstown 
 road in his front, and defended by a bat 
 tery of nine cannon, two of which were 
 24- pounders. A narrow strip of wood 
 intervened between the two armies. Dis 
 patching an express to the commander-in 
 ch ief for reinforcements, General Scott 
 pushed forward to attack the enemy. He 
 had no sooner cleared the wood, and formed 
 in line of battle, on a plain admirably 
 adapted for military movements, than the 
 enemy s battery, situated on their right, 
 opened a furious cannonade upon him, 
 which was returned by Captain Tow- 
 son s artillery, posted opposite, and on 
 the left of the American line, but with 
 out his being able to bring his guns 
 to bear on the eminence. The action 
 was continued for an hour, by the first 
 brigade alone, against the greatly superior 
 force of the enemy. Two of the regiments 
 (the llth and 22nd) having expended their 
 ammunition, Colonels Brady and M Neill 
 being both severely wounded, and nearly 
 
 3G3 
 
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 1SU. 
 
 . : 
 - 
 
 a r,re 
 
 :v ;; 
 
 ;~l-r 
 
 a* 
 
 uld be 
 
 aner-a- cier. 
 
 :eroic and ti- 
 
 uey inquired if 
 
 at tte hi,i of 
 
 himself would 
 
 Tee modest, 
 
 i&cy action in 
 r.eir moral and 
 dis- field- Col 
 and, i the effort, 
 mie* of Lis rezi 
 ee&- The 23rd 
 
 cans; and the Rnti&h commander-in- 
 chief, Lieutenant-general Dnunmond, viih 
 : -: . :;-. --. .- - : . : v -.- - . :. . -. v . ." : - . . . - 
 man s aitOlerr was united to Tovaon s de- 
 : -. - -:. -. .-.--.--. :.".:.- _ \: .:.~ \ . . 
 General Porter s volunteers were placed on 
 file left; and General Bipley s brigade 
 formed on the skirts of the wood, to the 
 right of the 1st brigade. General Dnun 
 mond took the command in person of the 
 British forces, with bis fresh troops. 
 
 Mean while, Colonel Jessnp had succeeded, 
 after a gallant contest, in turning the left 
 flank of the enemy. Finding a road which 
 led to their rear unguarded, under cover of 
 the darkness, he mored his regiment to the 
 back of their reserre, and surprising one 
 : . - . . . .-.:.: ,:.-;: ,:. : .:.:._... :.. .-..:. .:-. 
 of so many, that his movement* were 
 : .:. . ::: ::.":. :-. 1 .. . v.-::;. ; r. -: r ; . 
 Riail, who, on the arrival of General 
 Dmmmond, had taken command of the 
 re&crre, was among the prisoners taken 
 by GJonel Je&sup. I>i*poing, however, 
 of bit prisoners, Jesup made his way 
 to where tie Lolie*t fire was kept up on 
 
 * For 
 
 received 
 
 incen:iTe to 
 sicee, in tie 
 :^ tie :en:ei 
 nd at once f:r 
 f at tie be-ai 
 
 :-.-_ -::.--. :,.- r:: .-.-.- i ::. v. :r.~ ::" . :. - r r : 
 ;. - . - -; :i^r_--:: -. . -.: : -. : . -. -.-i. Vol r 
 i after volley of the whole of the enemy s 
 ;.:.. ... v - , : . _: . i .-.-. - . _- * T v 
 advanced up the ascent. The 21st, under 
 :".-:--: . - :. :; .-.-... _ ". :,-- 
 - ::. :. -[ .--:...-: . 1 -.- .. .. . : 
 i first faltered ; bat, encouraged by Ripley, 
 | rallied and went on. When wr.hin i . j 
 \ feet of the summit, Major M Farland was 
 .: . ; -l. ::. : . J_- : I,:; .:- _--,-;. . i . _;.-;_:. ".. 
 Unwavering under the deadly fire of the 
 | enemy, Miller firmly advanced till within 
 a few paces of their cannon, when he im- 
 i petnonsly charged upon the artillery ; and, 
 j after a short contest, in which many of the 
 | artillerymen were bayoneted at their guns, 
 the enemy s cannon were carried; and 
 at the same moment, General Bipiey, with 
 i the 23rd, drove the infantry from the 
 crest of the eminence. The British troops 
 being thus forced from their position, the 
 1 American line was formed in the rear of 
 the captured artillery, on the ground pre 
 viously occupied by the British infantry. 
 The contest was, however, not yet ended. 
 Chagrined at the result of this daring 
 \ charge, the British commander determined 
 : that the common and the eminence which 
 they occupied should be retaken. Uein g re 
 inforced by a large body of fresh troops, he 
 j brought up his whole force, and made 
 j three resolute and determined attacks upon 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SIKGK OF FORT ERIE. 
 
 the Americans ; in each of which, after a 
 close contest of bayonets, he was repulsed 
 and driven down the hill. It was now 
 near midnight. The command of the 
 American army had devolved upon General 
 Ripley, in consequence of the wounds of 
 Generals Brown and Scott. Previous to 
 retiring from the field, the former had j 
 given directions to General Ripley to col 
 lect the wounded, and return to camp. 
 These orders were now obeyed ; but, un 
 fortunately, from most of the horses being 
 killed, and no drag-ropes being at hand, it 
 was found impossible to remove the cap 
 tured cannon. They were therefore spiked, 
 and left behind, the smaller pieces having 
 been just rolled down the hill. The whole 
 of the troops reached the camps unmo 
 lested, and in good order, soon after mid 
 night. In this sanguinary engagement, 
 the loss on both sides was heavy, amount 
 ing, in the aggregate, to 1,637. Of the 
 British, eighty-four were killed, including 
 five officers; 559 wounded, among whom 
 were Generals Drummond and Riall, and 
 thirty-nine other officers ; and 235 missing, 
 of whom 169 were taken prisoners. Of 
 the Americans, eleven officers, and 160 
 non-commissioned officers and privates, 
 were killed; fifty-four officers, including 
 Major-general Brown and Brigadier-gene 
 rals Scott and Porter, and 417 non-commis 
 sioned officers and privates were wounded ; 
 and eight officers, and 109 non-commis 
 sioned officers and privates missing. 
 
 Agreeably to orders from the commander- 
 in-chief, General Ripley, on the following 
 morning, put his troops in motion on the 
 Queenstown road, to renew the attack upon 
 the enemy, if found practicable. On recon 
 noitring, he found them drawn up in ad 
 vance of their position, on the eminence of 
 the preceding day. Deeming it imprudent 
 to renew a combat with a force which now 
 numbered but 1,600 men, he avoided it, 
 broke up his camp at Chippewa, and, de 
 stroying the bridges in his rear, retreated 
 to Fort Erie, the defences of which were 
 immediately extended and strengthened. 
 The British, reinforced by 1,000 men, 
 under De Wattville, made their appear 
 ance, on the 3rd of August, before this 
 place, and invested it. The day following 
 the commencement of the siege, General 
 Gaines arrived from Sackett s Harbour; 
 and, being the senior officer, assumed the 
 chief command, while Ripley resumed his 
 position at the head of the second brigade. 
 
 VOL. II. 3fi 
 
 The post which the American forces now 
 occupied, possessed few natural advantages. 
 Situated about a hundred yards from the 
 shore of the lake, at its nearest angle, and 
 on a plain of about fifteen feet eleva 
 tion, it could be considered as nothing more 
 than the strongest point of a fortified 
 camp. A line of works was yet to be 
 completed in front, and on the right and 
 left to the lake. Had the British forces 
 arrived two or three days earlier, the fort 
 would easily have been take by a coup-de- 
 main; but, from the day the Americans, 
 under Ripley, reached there, they had 
 laboured incessantly to strengthen the posi 
 tion, and their defences were sufficiently 
 completed to keep the enemy at bay. 
 
 Anxious to ascertain the strength of the 
 force by which the fort was threatened, 
 General Gaines, the second day after his 
 arrival, dispatched Major Morgan, who had 
 recently been transferred from the Ameri 
 can side of the Niagara, to pass through the 
 woods intervening between the British lines 
 and the fort, and to occupy the enemy s 
 light troops, until his column should indi 
 cate an intention to move ; and then to 
 fall back gradually, until his corps should 
 have rest upon a strong line, placed on 
 the plain below the fort, to receive the pur 
 suing enemy. This movement, however, 
 failed in its design. Having encountered 
 the light troops of the enemy, Major Mor 
 gan forced them into the lines, with the 
 loss of eleven killed, and three wounded and 
 made prisoners ; but he did not succeed in 
 drawing out the main body of the enemy, 
 although he maintained his position upwards 
 of two hours, when he returned to the fort, 
 with a loss of nine men killed and wounded. 
 
 The principal camp of the British was 
 situate about two miles from the fort. In 
 front of this camp, a line of circumvallation, 
 consisting of two lines of entrenchments, 
 supported by blockhouses, with batteries 
 placed at favourable points, extended par 
 tially around the works. From the moment 
 the guns of the enemy were in position, an 
 almost incessant cannonade was kept up, on 
 and from the fort, while the approaches of 
 the besiegers were gradually drawing nearer. 
 On the night of the 14th, an unusual 
 movement was observed in the British camp; 
 and, apprehending that an assault was 
 about to be made on the fort, General Rip- 
 ley sent word at once to General Gaines, to 
 apprise him of his suspicions ; the latter, 
 however, had arrived at the same conclu- 
 
 365 
 
THE ASSAULT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 sion, and had made preparations to repel 
 the expected attack. The British com 
 mander had made his arrangements to 
 assail the fort, in three columns, on the 
 light centre and left, at about the same 
 moment ; and General Gaines, not knowing 
 at what point the assault would be made, had 
 prepared to meet it from all directions. 
 
 A few hours previous to the commence 
 ment of the assault, a shell from the British 
 penetrated a magazine, within the Ameri 
 can works, which was, fortunately, nearly 
 empty. It contained powder enough, how 
 ever, to cause a fearful explosion, though 
 no damage was done to the works, nor was 
 any one injured. Not knowing the extent 
 of the disaster, the firing on both sides for 
 the moment ceased ; and the eyes of the 
 enemy were for the time turned towards 
 the magazine, where a dark column of 
 smoke rising over the ruins, magnified the 
 calamity, and a loud shout of exultation 
 broke the momentary silence. Its sounds 
 had scarcely ceased before it was returned 
 by the Americans, and their batteries in 
 stantly reopened. The enemy s batteries 
 replied, and the incident was soon appa 
 rently forgotten in the renewed cannonade. 
 
 The explosion gave the Americans, how 
 ever, an additional reason for expecting the 
 assault, as it would naturally lead the enemy 
 to suppose that they were short of ammuni 
 tion. General Gaines, therefore, now held 
 himself ready to meet the attack at any 
 moment. 
 
 At length, at half-past two on the morn 
 ing of the 15th, the steady tramp of the 
 right column of the assailants, 1,300 strong, 
 under Colonel Fischer, was distinctly heard 
 on the left of the garrison, long before the 
 darkness permitted them to be seen. Gen 
 eral Gaines promptly galloped his horse to 
 the point of attack. He had just reached 
 the angle of the fort, when Towson s bat 
 tery, and Ripley s brigade of infantry, 
 opened on the approaching assailants. The 
 momentary light thus thrown upon the 
 scene disclosed the attacking column close 
 upon the works. Notwithstanding the tre 
 mendous fire, it moved forward steadily 
 and quickly, until within ten feet of the 
 American infantry. Fortunately an abuttis, 
 formed of loose brush, here intervened, and 
 checked their further approach. The cap 
 ture of Towson s battery was deemed essen 
 tial to the success of the assault, and, turn 
 ing rapidly aside, they now plunged into 
 the lake, and attempted, bv wading waist- 
 3G6 
 
 deep, to turn the abattis, and with mutual 
 shouts of encouragement, struggled thus 
 towards the works. Before the deadly fire 
 of Towson s battery, and the infantry sta 
 tioned here, they recoiled ; and, although 
 they rallied, and advanced again, were again 
 repulsed. The attempt on the left was now 
 abandoned, and this column retreated, with 
 a loss of upwards of 200 in killed and 
 drowned. 
 
 The central and left columns of the 
 enemy, having waited until Colonel Fischer s 
 column was completely engaged, made a 
 simultaneous assault upon the centre and 
 right of the American ranks ; on the centre 
 by Colonel Drummond, and on the right by 
 Colonel Scott. The column of the latter 
 advanced along the margin of the water. 
 His approach was met by the Douglass bat 
 tery, and Captains Boughton and Hard- 
 ing s companies of New York and Penn- 
 sylvanian volunteers on its right ; the 9th 
 infantry, under Captain Foster, on its left, 
 with a 6-pounder planted at that point, 
 directed by Colonel M Ree. Their fire 
 was so well directed, that the approaching 
 column, at the distance of fifty yards, made 
 a momentary pause, and then recoiled. But 
 soon recovering, it was led up to a second 
 charge, from which it was again repulsed, 
 with the loss of its commander, and one- 
 third of its men, before it had an oppor 
 tunity of planting the scaling-ladder. 
 
 The central column, composed of 800 
 select troops, led by Colonel Drummond, 
 advanced, under cover of a ravine, with 
 out loss, to the parapet, where, placing 
 their scaling-ladders against it, they as 
 cended in spite of the resistance with which 
 they were met. But, rallying themselves 
 with desperate determination, the Americans 
 now grappled with the assailants, and, after a 
 fierce struggle, hurled them back with 
 heavy loss. But Colonel Drummond was 
 a man of indomitable energy and courage, 
 and was not to be overcome by a single 
 repulse. Determined to force an entrance 
 into the garrison, and momentarily ex 
 pecting the reserve to be ordered up by 
 the lieutenant-general, he returned to the 
 assault a second time, and was a second 
 time repulsed. A third time he placed l.is 
 ladders against the parapet, and again 
 was he more signally repulsed than be 
 fore. The other attacking columns having 
 been withdrawn, the whole American force 
 could now be concentrated upon the defence 
 of this single point the ibrt proper ; and the 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SIEGE OF FORT ERIE. 
 
 troops within the fort had already been rein 
 forced from Generals Ripley and Porter s 
 brigades, previous to the second and third re 
 pulses of Drummond. Lieutenant Douglass 
 was also enabled to give such a direction to 
 the guns of his battery, as to cut off from 
 Drummond the expected reinforcements. 
 The new bastions, which had been com 
 menced for the enlargement of the old Fort 
 Erie, not being yet completed, the only 
 opposition which could be made to the 
 assailants approaches upon those points 
 was by small arms. The batteries of Cap 
 tains Biddle and Fanning (late Fontaine s), 
 in the works intervening between Towson s 
 battery and the fort, were therefore opened 
 upon them with decided effect. 
 
 Colonel Drummond, after his third re 
 pulse, taking advantage of the darkness, 
 which was rendered more dense in conse 
 quence of the heavy columns of smoke, 
 which concealed all objects from the view 
 of the garrison, moved his troops silently 
 around the ditch, and, with a sudden rush, 
 reascended the ladders, and charging with 
 pike and bayonet on the surprised artil 
 lerymen, carried the bastion, by a short but 
 desperate conflict. All the efforts of Major 
 Henderson and the infantry corps support 
 ing him, could not dislodge the enemy 
 from the bastion, though their deadly fire 
 prevented his penetrating beyond it. Cap 
 tain Williams here fell, mortally wounded. 
 The British now rushed over the bastion, 
 cheered on by Drummond, when he re 
 ceived a ball in his breast, and fell dead. 
 The loss of their leader, however, did not 
 check the determination of his men, and 
 they maintained their position in spite of 
 all efforts to dislodge them, till daylight, 
 which enabled both parties to give a more 
 certain direction to their fire. The enemy 
 now began to recoil, and, in a few mo 
 ments, many of them were thrown over the 
 bastion. 
 
 The reserve, now renewing its efforts to 
 come to the support of the assailing 
 column, was enfiladed as it approached by 
 the guns of the Douglass battery, and those 
 under Fanning and Biddle played upon it 
 with deadly effect. A portion of the re 
 serve, however, was about to rush upon the 
 parapet to the assistance of the recoiling 
 soldiers, when suddenly a tremendous ex 
 plosion took place under the platform of 
 
 * " Our loss," says General Drummond, in his 
 official report of the assault, " has been severe in 
 killed and \vomuled; and I am sorry to say, almost 
 
 the bastion, which carried away the latter, 
 and all who were upon it. The reserve at 
 once fell back, and the contest soon ended 
 by the abandonment of the assault, and 
 the return of the British to their encamp 
 ment. 
 
 The explosion which put so sudden an 
 end to this assault on Fort Erie, was 
 subsequently ascertained to have been 
 caused by the accidental ignition of a 
 quantity of cartridges, which had been de 
 posited at the end of a stone building ad 
 joining the bastion. The report of General 
 Gaines states, that the British left upon 
 the field 222 killed, 174 wounded, and 
 186 prisoners; making a total loss of 582. 
 The official account of Lieutenant-general 
 Drummond, reported fifty-seven killed, 309 
 wounded, and 539 missing ; in all, 905. 
 Probably, in the large number put down as 
 missing, are included many whose bodies 
 were left on the field, and those of the 
 assaulting column of Colonel Fischer, who 
 were drowned.* The American loss was, 
 seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded, and 
 eleven prisoners ; in all, eighty-four men. 
 
 The result of this assault on Fort Erie, 
 did not lead the British to abandon the de 
 sign of obtaining possession of the position. 
 After the repulse they remained quiet in 
 their intrenchments, till a reinforcement, 
 soon after, of two additional regiments, and 
 the addition of enlarged batteries, justified 
 them in renewing their cannonading, which 
 was kept up, with little intermission, till the 
 latter end of August. On the 28th, Gen 
 eral Gaines, having been severely wounded 
 by the bursting of a shell, was compelled to 
 retire to Buffalo, and the command again 
 devolved on General Ripley. It was exer 
 cised by him but a short time, however, as 
 General Brown, on the 2nd of September, 
 having recovered from his wounds, returned 
 and assumed command. The situation of 
 Fort Erie had now become extremely 
 critical. The siege was still vigorously 
 maintained by the British, who had aban 
 doned the idea of any attempts to carry 
 the place otherwise than by regular ap 
 proaches, although their force had been, as 
 stated above, considerably augmented since 
 their repulse. General Brown laboured, with 
 unabated industry, to complete the defences 
 of the fort. Skirmishes frequently occurred, 
 and the cannonading, on both sides, was 
 
 all those returned missing, may be considered as 
 wounded, or killed by the explosion, and left in the 
 hands of the enemy." 
 
 3fi7 
 
SUCCESSFUL SORTIE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A D. 1814 
 
 still continued ; but nothing beyond this, 
 worthy of record, occurred up to the 17th 
 of September, when General Brown, having 
 made his preparations, resolved on a sortie. 
 It has already been stated that the camp of 
 the British was nearly two miles in the 
 rear of their works. The American gen 
 eral had ascertained that a brigade of from 
 1,200 to 1,500 men usually occupied these 
 works, and was relieved in turn by two 
 other brigades of equal strength. His plan 
 was, to issue forth suddenly, with as power 
 ful a force as he could muster, storm the 
 batteries, spike the cannon, and " roughly 
 handle the brigade on duty," before assis 
 tance could be brought up from the camp. 
 
 Accordingly, on the day above-mentioned, 
 the garrison was ordered to parade at noon 
 in readiness for the sortie. A road had 
 previously been opened by Lieutenants 
 Riddle and Frazer, in a circuitous course, 
 through the woods, within pistol-shot of 
 the right flank of the line of hostile bat 
 teries, and with such secrecy as to have 
 escaped the notice of the enemy. The 
 troops were drawn up at the time above- 
 named, and, by two o clock, were ready 
 for the sortie. The left division, com 
 manded by General Porter, was composed 
 of riflemen and Indians, under Colonel 
 Gibson, and two columns, one commanded 
 by Colonel Wood, and the other by Gen 
 eral Davis, of the New York militia, and 
 was to proceed through the road which had 
 been opened. The right division, under 
 General Miller, was ordered to station 
 itself in the ravine, between the forts and 
 the enemy s works, by passing in detach 
 ments through the skirts of the woods, with 
 orders not to advance till General Porter 
 should have engaged their right flank. 
 General Ripley, with the 21st infantry, 
 was posted as a reserve between the new 
 bastions of Fort Erie. By these arrange 
 ments all the troops would be kept under 
 cover, and out of view of the British, until 
 the moment for decisive action. Then, 
 all at oncej they would burst on the enemy. 
 When the signal was given, the troops, 
 led by General Porter, advanced with so 
 much celerity and . caution, that their at 
 tack upon the enemy s flank gave the firsi 
 intimation of their approach. A severe 
 conflict ensued, in which Colonels Gibson 
 and Wood fell at the head of their columns 
 their respective commands devolving upon 
 Lieutenant-colonel Gibson and Major 
 Brooks. In less than thirty minutes aftei 
 308 
 
 Iring the first gun, possession was taken of 
 he two batteries in this quarter, and also 
 )f a blockhouse in the rear, and its garri- 
 >on. Three 24-pounders were spiked, and 
 iheir magazine was blown up by Lieu- 
 enant Riddle, who narrowly escaped the 
 sflects of the explosion. The troops under 
 jreneral Miller now came up, prepared to 
 perform their part in the plan. Aided by 
 olonel Gibson s column, they pierced the 
 British intrenchrnents ; and, after a sharp 
 onflict, captured a battery and a block- 
 aouse. In this attack, General Davis fell 
 at the head of his column. General 
 Miller s division now pushed forward to 
 the battery at the extremity of the enemy s 
 eft flank. The reserve, under Ripley, 
 which had been ordered up, was now 
 Drought into action. The resistance here 
 was bolder and more obstinate. From 
 studied complexity of the successive 
 ines of intrenchments, the works were 
 xceedingly intricate ; and the constant 
 use of the bayonet was the only mode of as 
 sailing them successfully. Reinforcements, 
 also, from the British camps in the rear, 
 had now arrived. General Miller continued 
 to advance ; and, aided by the reserve, 
 charged rapidly upon the battery, which 
 was instantly abandoned by the British 
 infantry and artillery. General Ripley 
 now ordered a line to be formed for the 
 protection of the detachments engaged in 
 destroying the batteries. While thus em 
 ployed, he received a wound in the neck, 
 which disabled him from further action, 
 and he was taken to the fort. 
 
 The objects of the sortie having been 
 accomplished, General Miller, on whom the 
 command devolved, called in the detach 
 ments, secured the prisoners, and the tro 
 phies of the victory, and reconducted the 
 army to the fort. Thus, by this brilliant 
 sortie, in a single hour, were the British 
 deprived of the results of forty-five days 
 labour, of a large amount of artillery and 
 ammunition, and of about 800 men in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. The Ameri 
 can loss in killed and wounded was about 
 300, and a number missing. 
 
 Four days subsequently to the destruc 
 tion of his works before Fort Erie, Gen 
 eral Drurnmond broke up his camp, and 
 retired to Fort George. 
 
 On the 12th of August, General Izard 
 had been advised by General Armstrong, 
 the secretary of war, that the British were 
 concentrating large bodies of troops at 
 
A.D. 
 
 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Kingston, and recommending him to pro 
 ceed at once, with the principal part of 
 his force, then stationed at Plattsburg, to 
 Sackett s Harbour, for the purpose of threat 
 ening Prescott and Kingston ; and at the 
 same time, of aiding General Brown in the 
 prosecution of his part of the campaign. 
 In accordance with this recommendation, 
 General Izard left Plattsburg, in the latter 
 part of the month, with about 4,000 men, 
 and arrived at Sackett s Harbour on the 
 17th of September. Before reaching the lat 
 ter place, he had received information from 
 General Brown, advising him of his Critical 
 position, and calling for speedy relief. At 
 the earliest moment, after reaching Sackett s 
 Harbour, General Izard embarked his 
 troops on Lake Ontario, but did not reach 
 Fort Erie until the 12th of October. As 
 will be seen in a subsequent page, soon 
 after his departure from Plattsburg, that 
 post was placed in as critical a situation 
 as the one he had come to relieve. Before 
 the arrival of General Izard at Fort Erie, 
 however, the brilliant sortie by General 
 Brown, had compelled the enemy to raise 
 the siege. Information of the expected 
 arrival of General Izard with reinforce 
 ments, had probably furnished an additional 
 motive for the abandonment, by General 
 Drummond, of his position before Fort 
 Erie. However that may be, this accession 
 of force, and the completion of the defences, 
 removed all apprehension of any further 
 attempt against this position. 
 
 The Americans were also, by this ac 
 cession of force, placed on a footing which 
 enabled them to commence offensive opera 
 tions against the enemy. A sufficient gar 
 rison, under Lieutenant-colonel Hindman, 
 being left for the protection of Fort Erie, 
 the army moved towards the Chippewa. 
 
 On the 19th of October, General Bissel, 
 of the second brigade of the first division, 
 was detached, with 900 men, to the vicinity 
 of Cook s Mills, on Lyon s Creek, a branch 
 of the Chippewa, to destroy the British 
 stores deposited there. Driving in the 
 pickets, and capturing their officers, he 
 threw across the creek a rifle company, and 
 two companies of infantry, and then en 
 camped for the night. On the morning of 
 the 20th, the detachment was assailed by 
 the Marquis of Tweeddale, with 1,200 men. 
 The companies on the other side of the 
 creek received the first attack, which they 
 sustained until General Bissel was enabled 
 to come to their support. The 5th regi 
 
 ment, commanded by Colonel Pinkney, 
 was ordered to turn the right flank of 
 the British, and cut off a piece of artillery 
 which they had brought into action, while 
 Major Barnard made a charge in front. 
 This command was successfully carried out. 
 The whole line of the enemy began to 
 recoil ; and when the American reserve, 
 under Colonel Pearce and Major Grindage, 
 was seen advancing, the entire force fell 
 back to their intrenchments, leaving their 
 dead and wounded on the field. General 
 Bissel then, in accordance with his orders, 
 proceeded to destroy the stores deposited at 
 the Mills, and then retired, with a loss of 
 sixty-seven killed, wounded, and missing. 
 
 These occurrences having taken place 
 subsequent to the action with the forces 
 under the Marquis of Tweeddale, the weather 
 growing cold, and unfavourable for military 
 operations, it was determined to with 
 draw the army to the American shore. Fort 
 Erie was accordingly destroyed, and the 
 troops went into winter quarters at Buffalo, 
 Black Rock, and Batavia. 
 
 Thus ended the third attempt to invade 
 Canada ; and though productive of no posi 
 tive results, by threatening the colonies of 
 Great Britain in the north, and compelling 
 her to keep a large proportion of her troops 
 there for their defence, it may have indi 
 rectly served as a protection to the Atlantic 
 coast and cities of the United States. 
 
 A part of the projected operations on the 
 northern frontier for 1814, as mentioned in 
 the early portion of this chapter, was the 
 recapture of the fort and island of Michili- 
 mackinac. In accordance with that part 
 of the plan of campaign, on the 4th of 
 August, Major Croghan, with the co 
 operation of a part of the American fleet of 
 Lake Erie, under the command of Commo 
 dore Sinclair (which was, for that purpose, 
 taken through the straits into Lake Huron), 
 effected a landing on the island ; but soon 
 found that the enemy was in such strength 
 as to render the capture of the place hope 
 less. He, therefore, after a severe conflict, 
 returned to the shipping, with the loss of 
 about sixty in killed and wounded. Among 
 the former was Major Holmes, a valuable 
 young officer, who has been mentioned in 
 a previous page, as distinguishing himself 
 in a gallant defence against superior num 
 bers. The expedition, however, was not 
 altogether without valuable results. Fort 
 St. Joseph, and the British establishment 
 at Sault St. Mary s, were destroved. On, 
 
 369" 
 
INVASION OF THE TYPEES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1813. 
 
 leaving the island, Commodore Sinclair 
 stationed two of his schooners near St. 
 Joseph, to cut off the supplies of the British 
 garrison at Michilimackinac. They were 
 surprised by the British, and captured by 
 boarding, after a sanguinary contest. 
 
 The naval operations for 1814, opened 
 with the loss of the United States frigate, 
 Essex, of thirty- two guns, commanded by 
 Captain Porter, in the bay of Valparaiso, 
 in Chili, after a cruise remarkable for its 
 extent, and the adventurous spirit with 
 which it was conducted. The Essex sailed 
 from the Delaware in 1812, under orders 
 to join the squadron of Commodore Bain- 
 bridge, off the coast of South America. 
 Captain Porter, after touching at the Cape 
 de Verde Islands, arrived on the coast of 
 Brazil in November, and not finding the 
 Constitution, Commodore Bainbridge s flag 
 ship, proceeded around Cape Horn, doubling 
 that famous promontory during severe 
 storms in the month of February, 1813. 
 He then put into the port of Valparaiso, 
 and having procured the necessary supplies, 
 sailed for the Gallipagas islands. Here he 
 cruised for the space of six months, from 
 April till October ; and, during that period, 
 captured twelve armed British whale-ships, 
 carrying, in the aggregate, 107 guns, and 
 302 men. Three of these were sent to Val 
 paraiso, three to the United States, and two 
 were given up to the prisoners. Of the re 
 mainder, one was converted into a vessel of 
 war, on which he mounted twenty guns, 
 and named her the Essex Junior. He 
 appointed to her Lieutenant Downes, his 
 first officer, as commander, with sixty men ; 
 and with her, and the remaining three, he 
 proceeded to the Marquesas, for the pur 
 pose of provisioning and repairing his 
 frigate; which, from having been almost a 
 year at sea, with little intermission, had 
 become an absolute necessity. At the 
 island of Nooaheevah, one of the group, 
 he found a fine bay, and a situation, in 
 every respect, suitable to his wishes. He 
 met with a very hospitable reception at 
 first from the natives ; but, ere long, he 
 perceived that his situation would be 
 unsafe, in consequence of a war which pre 
 vailed between a neighbouring tribe and 
 that by which he had been received. The 
 latter tribe insisted upon his joining them 
 in their wars, and threatened to drive him 
 away if he did not. Compelled by a regard 
 to his own safety, Captain Porter sent a 
 party of armed sailors with the natives, 
 370 
 
 who, thus aided, defeated the hostile tribe. 
 Through his intervention, a peace was con 
 cluded between the belligerent tribes ; in 
 acknowledgment of which, the natives 
 erected a village for his special accommo 
 dation, and freely sold him provisions ; and, 
 for awhile, the most amicable relations 
 existed between them. 
 
 The hostile conduct of the Typees, one 
 of the most quarrelsome tribes on the island, 
 who were constantly urging the friendly 
 savages to destroy the strangers, again 
 threatened Porter s security. His situation 
 growing every day more critical, and not 
 wishing to be driven to the necessity of 
 making war upon them, the captain 
 endeavoured to conciliate them by presents 
 and friendly assurances. These seemed, 
 however, to produce the contrary effect of 
 increasing their insolence towards the 
 Americans, whom they now denounced as 
 cowardly, or they would not stoop to be^ 
 for peace. Captain Porter at length became 
 satisfied that the safety of himself and men 
 could only be assured by making these 
 hostile tribes feel his strength ; more 
 especially as it was impossible for him to 
 leave the island until the repairs of his 
 vessel had been completed, and while the 
 larger portion of his effects were actually 
 on shore. He, therefore, put himself 
 at the head of thirty-five men, and 
 marched against them, determined, by 
 giving battle, and showing them the power 
 of his instruments of war, to compel a 
 pacific course towards him thereafter. The 
 necessity of this step was the greater, from 
 the fact that those tribes which had hitherto 
 been on amicable terms with him, were on 
 the eve of open hostilities. But the 
 small force he took with him proved insuf 
 ficient to make any impression on his 
 enemies. Their country abounding in 
 thickets, and being exceedingly moun 
 tainous, it was not difficult for them to 
 keep out of his reach. He was compelled, 
 therefore, to return without having accom 
 plished his object. The next day, with 
 almost his entire force, he marched across 
 the mountains, notwithstanding the extreme 
 difficulties of the route, and penetrated into 
 the valleys of the natives. They again, 
 however, took refuge in the inaccessible 
 fastnesses, where he could not come at 
 them ; he, therefore, burnt nine of their 
 villages, and then retreated. This measure 
 brought them to terms, and they gladly 
 accepted proposals for peace ; and from this 
 
A.D. 1S14.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE ESSEX BLOCKADED. 
 
 period till the Americans left the island, 
 the various tribes vied with each other in 
 friendship toward them. 
 
 On the 12th of December, the repairs of 
 the Essex being completed, and supplied 
 with provisions for four months, Captain 
 Porter sailed from Nooaheevah for Val 
 paraiso, accompanied by the Essex Junior, 
 and arrived there on the 12th of January, 
 1814. They had not been long at the 
 latter place, when a British frigate, the 
 Phoebe, Captain Ilillyar, with the Cherub, 
 sloop of war, appeared off the port, having 
 been fitted out expressly to meet the Essex. 
 Their united force amounted to eighty-one 
 guns, and 500 men ; that of the Essex, 
 and Essex Junior, was sixty- six guns, and 
 320 men. Captain Porter, being prevented 
 by this disparity of force from going into 
 action, after being blockaded six weeks by 
 his antagonists, determined to avail him 
 self of the first opportunity to put to sea, 
 and by diverting the pursuit to himself, to 
 enable the Essex Junior to escape to the 
 place of rendezvous previously appointed. 
 
 This determination was arrived at on the 
 27th of March ; and on the very next day, 
 the wind blowing fresh from the south 
 ward, the Essex parted her larboard bower, 
 and dragged the other anchor directly out 
 to sea. The harbour of Valparaiso, being 
 formed by a headland on its western side, 
 and a cone that makes to the southward 
 within it, opens to the northward; the 
 main coast sweeping round to the north 
 and east again, affording the necessary 
 protection. On the 28th of March, 
 when this accident occurred, the Phoebe 
 and Cherub were not far off the point, 
 but enough so to permit the Essex 
 to fetch past to the windward of them, 
 by hugging the land. The headland, how 
 ever, forming the eastern side of the har 
 bour, is a dangerous point to double, and 
 most vessels deem it prudent to take in 
 sail before going round it, on account of 
 the liability to sudden squalls. Not a 
 moment was lost in getting sail on the 
 Essex ; but, in endeavouring to pass to the 
 windward of the enemy, a squall struck 
 her just as she was doubling the point 
 above referred to, and carried away her 
 main-topmast, throwing several men into 
 the sea, all of whom were drowned. Both 
 British ships immediately gave chase. 
 Captain Porter had now to choose between 
 engaging both of his antagonists at once, 
 under the additional disadvantage of being 
 
 already crippled, or of getting back into 
 the harbour. Finding the latter impossi 
 ble, he stood across the entrance, to the 
 north-eastern side, where he let go an 
 anchor, about a league from the town, half 
 that distance from the castle of Antonio, 
 half a mile from a detached battery of one 
 24-pounder, and within pistol-shot of the 
 shore, where he thought the neutrality of 
 the port would protect his vessel. Notwith 
 standing this position, however, his two 
 antagonists continued to approach, evidently 
 determined upon a conflict. With all pos 
 sible dispatch, therefore, Captain Porter 
 prepared his ship for action, and attempted 
 to get a spring on his cable, that she 
 might manoeuvre freely ; but before he 
 had succeeded in this, the Phoebe, having 
 taken an advantageous position across his 
 stern, a few minutes before four o clock in 
 the afternoon, opened her fire at long shot. 
 At the same moment the Cherub com 
 menced the action, also at long shot, on 
 the starboard bow. The latter, however, 
 finding herself exposed to a hot fire, changed 
 her position, and run down to leeward, 
 joining the Phoebe astern. Captain Porter, 
 being unable to bring his broadsides to 
 bear on his antagonists, ran three long 
 12-pounders out of the stern ports, and 
 worked them with so much effect on his 
 opponents, that, at the end of half-an- 
 hour, both of them hauled off the land to 
 repair damages. Captain Hillyar, feeling 
 that his antagonist was in his power, 
 evidently, and, we may add, judiciously, 
 determined to risk nothing. His manoeu 
 vres were deliberate and cautious ; his de 
 sign being to succeed with as little loss as 
 possible. 
 
 Having repaired their damages, both of 
 the enemy s ships took a position on the 
 starboard quarter of their antagonist, where 
 not a single gun could be brought to bear 
 on them, they being at too great a distance 
 to be reached by carronades. Their long 
 guns now told fearfully, and Captain Porter 
 saw no chance of inflicting injury but by 
 running down and assailing them. By 
 this time, however, the Essex had become 
 seriously injured in her rigging, besides 
 the loss of her topmast. The only sail 
 that could be got up on the ship to make 
 her head pay off, was the flying jib; and 
 causing this to be hoisted, Captain Porter 
 cut his cable, and ran down towards the 
 ships, with the intrepid design of laying 
 the Phoebe aboard. Getting near enough 
 
 371 
 
ESSEX SURRENDERED ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 to open with her carronades, for a few 
 minutes the firing on both sides was tre 
 mendous. The work proved too hot for 
 the Cherub, which hauled off a second time ; 
 nor did she come to close action again, but 
 kept up her fire at a distance, with her 
 long guns. The Phoebe also was determined 
 not to throw away the advantage she pos 
 sessed in her long eighteens ; and edging 
 off, she kept up, at a distance, a destructive 
 fire. By this time many of the guns of 
 the Essex were disabled ; her decks were 
 strewed with dead, and her cockpit filled 
 with wounded. Twice, also, she had been 
 on fire. 
 
 For nearly two hours this carnage had 
 been kept up ; and Captain Porter, finding 
 that his antagonist had it in his power to 
 choose his own distance, at last gave up 
 all hope of coming to close quarters ; and 
 the wind favouring his design, he deter 
 mined to attempt to run the vessel ashore, 
 at a spot where he might land his men, 
 and set her on fire. For a brief space of 
 time, everything appeared to favour this 
 determination ; and the Essex had drifted 
 within musket-shot of the beach, when the 
 wind suddenly shifted, turning her head 
 upon the Phosbe, and exposing her to a 
 dreadful raking fire ; yet, as she was again 
 closing with the latter ship, Captain Porter 
 indulged the hope of being able to board. 
 At this critical moment, the commander 
 of the Essex Junior, Lieutenant Downes, 
 came on board, to receive orders, in the 
 expectation that his commander would 
 soon be a prisoner, having pulled through 
 all the fire to effect this object. His 
 services could be of no avail, as the Phoebe 
 put her helm up, and kept away, thus 
 destroying the last hope of boarding. He 
 therefore, after remaining on board ten 
 minutes, was directed by Captain Porter 
 to return to his own ship, and be prepared 
 to defend her in case of attack, or, if neces 
 sary, to destroy her. 
 
 The carnage on board the American 
 ship had become terrible, the Phoebe con 
 tinuing to rake her, while she was un 
 able to bring a single gun to bear. Still 
 her indomitable commander refused to 
 strike his flag, as long as the slightest hope 
 remained of saving the ship. As a last 
 resort, a hawser was bent to the sheet 
 anchor, and the latter cut from the bows 
 to bring the ship s head round. This suc 
 ceeded, and the Americans once more got 
 their broadside to bear, remaining station- 
 372 
 
 ary themselves, while their enemy, severely 
 crippled, it was hoped might drift out of 
 gun-shot before he discovered that the Essex 
 had anchored. But this last expedient 
 failed ; the hawser parted with the strain, 
 and with it went the last hope of saving 
 the ship. 
 
 Her situation was now appalling. To 
 add to her distress, she was on fire fore 
 and aft, the flames bursting up both the 
 main and forward hatchways; a quantity 
 of powder had exploded below ; while the 
 magazine itself was in imminent danger 
 of explosion from the approaching flames, 
 threatening the destruction of all on board. 
 In this desperate situation of the ship, 
 Captain Porter now told his men that, in 
 preference to being blown up, all who pre 
 ferred to take the risk, might attempt to 
 reach the shore by swimming, their boats 
 having been destroyed by the enemy s shot. 
 Many availed themselves of the permis 
 sion; and some succeeded in thus escaping. 
 Others were drowned ; while a few, after 
 drifting about, buoyed up by such materials 
 as they were enabled to lay hold of, were 
 picked up by the enemy s boats. The 
 larger portion of the crew, however, pre 
 ferred to remain on board the ship, and 
 share the fortunes of her commander. 
 
 A desperate, but successful effort was now 
 made to extinguish the flames ; the men 
 again repaired to their guns; but they had 
 become too much exhausted to work them. 
 The moment had now arrived when Captain 
 Porter must take his choice between sur 
 render or the total destruction of his men. 
 Summoning his officers to a consultation, 
 only one acting-lieutenant, Stephen Deca- 
 tur M Night, was able to join him on the 
 quarter-deck. The reports of the state of 
 the ship were deplorable. Most of the guns 
 were disabled. The cockpit, the steerage, 
 the ward-room, and the berth-deck, were 
 filled with the wounded ; and the latter 
 were even killed by shot while under the 
 surgeon s hands. Captain Porter finally 
 felt it his imperative duty to yield to the 
 entreaties of his remaining men, out of 
 regard to the wounded, and haul down his 
 colours. Thus terminated one of the most 
 desperate and sanguinary combats in the 
 whole history of naval warfare. The loss 
 on board the Essex was fifty-eight killed, 
 including those who soon died of their 
 wounds ; sixty-six wounded, and thirty-one 
 missing; most of the latter of whom were 
 probably drowned, either in attempting to 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE FROLIC TAKEN. 
 
 swim ashore when the vessel was on fire, 
 or were knocked overboard by splinters or 
 pieces of the rigging ; making a total loss of 
 155, or more than half of all who were on 
 board at the commencement of the action. 
 The loss of the Phoebe was but four killed, 
 and seven wounded; that of the Cherub 
 was one killed, and three wounded. 
 
 The battle was fought so near the shore, 
 that thousands of the inhabitants of Val 
 paraiso covered the neighbouring heights as 
 witnesses of the conflict ; and many of the 
 Phoebe s 18-pound shot struck the beach. 
 
 Captain Hillyar s official letter was sin 
 gularly modest and just. In it he does 
 full credit to the determined bravery of the 
 officers and men of the Essex. " The de 
 fence of the Essex," he remarks, " taking 
 into consideration our superiority of force, 
 the very discouraging circumstance of her 
 having lost her main-topmast, and being 
 twice on fire, did honour to her brave de 
 fenders, and most fully evinced the courage 
 of Captain Porter and those under his com 
 mand; her colours were not struck until 
 the loss, in killed and wounded, was so 
 awfully great, and her shattered condition 
 so seriously bad, as to render further resis 
 tance unavailing." 
 
 In a letter to Captain Porter, apologising 
 for having omitted to return him his sword, 
 this noble-minded officer said " Neither in 
 my conversation, nor in the accompanying 
 letter, have I mentioned your sword. As 
 cribe my remissness, in the first instance, 
 to forgetfulness. I consider it only in my 
 servant s possession with my own, until the 
 master may please to call for it; and, 
 although I omitted, at the moment of pre 
 sentation, from my mind being much en 
 grossed in attending to professional duties, 
 to offer its restoration, the hand that received 
 it will be most gladly extended to put it in 
 possession of him who wore it so honourably 
 in defending his country s cause." 
 
 An arrangement was now entered into 
 between Captains Porter and Hillyar, under 
 which the Essex Junior was converted into 
 a cartel ; and a passport was given, by means 
 of which all the survivors of the Essex 
 came homei Acting-lieutenant M Night, 
 Mr. Adams (the chaplain), and Mr. Sey 
 mour (a master s mate), and eleven seamen, 
 were exempted from this arrangement, they 
 being exchanged on the spot, for a part of 
 the men of the Sir Andrew Hammond, 
 who were then prisoners in the Essex 
 Junior. 
 
 VOL. II. 3 C 
 
 Soon after this arrangement, the Essex 
 Junior left Valparaiso on her return to New 
 York. She was brought-to off the harbour 
 of the latter city, by the Saturn razee, whose 
 commander, Captain Nash, questioned the 
 authority of Captain Hillyar to grant the 
 passport under which the Essex Junior was 
 sailing, and directed the ship to lie by him 
 during the night. Captain Porter now 
 determined to attempt his escape, though 
 thirty miles from shore. Manning a boat 
 with a sufficient crew, he succeeded, although 
 he was pursued from the Saturn, by pulling 
 vigorously for the land, in reaching the 
 shore of Long Island, being aided in his 
 escape by a dense fog. Captain Nash, how 
 ever, did not, probably, intend to perma 
 nently detain the Essex Junior ; but simply 
 suspected some artifice, as he permitted the 
 vessel to proceed, after re-examining her 
 papers. 
 
 During the spring and summer of 1814, 
 several new vessels of war were added to 
 the American navy. Among them were 
 the Independence, seventy-four guns; the 
 Guerriere and Java, forty- four guns each ; 
 and the Wasp, Frolic, and Peacock, sloops 
 of war. The Frolic, eighteen guns, com 
 manded by Captain Bainbridge, had a 
 brief career in the American navy. On 
 the 20th of April, soon after she got out to 
 sea, she was chased and captured by the 
 British frigate Orpheus, of thirty-six guns, 
 Captain Pigot. The Frolic having thrown 
 most of her guns overboard in her efforts 
 to out-sail her pursuer, was in no condition 
 to defend herself when overtaken, and she 
 surrendered at discretion, without firing a 
 gun. 
 
 The sloop of war, Peacock, of eighteen 
 guns, commanded by Captain Warriugton, 
 went to sea from New York, during the 
 month of March, 1814, and proceeded to 
 the southward. On the 29th of April, 
 near the twenty-eighth degree of north lati 
 tude, the British sloop of war, Epervier, of 
 eighteen guns (32-pound carronades), com 
 manded by Captain Wales, was discovered, 
 with three vessels under convoy, which im 
 mediately made sail on her approach. The 
 two sloops of war were soon alongside of 
 each other, when a close action commenced 
 between them. At the first broadside of 
 the Epervier, the foreyard of the Peacock 
 was totally disabled, by two 32-pound shot 
 in the starboard quarter. By this her 
 head sails were rendered nearly useless, and 
 she was compelled to fight running large, 
 
 373 
 
EPERVIER TAKEN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 during the remainder of the action, which 
 lasted forty-two minutes, when the Epervier 
 struck. During this time, the Peacock re 
 ceived considerable damage in her rigging, 
 but her hull escaped almost entirety. The 
 Epervier was extensively injured. Her 
 hull was pierced by forty-five shots, twenty 
 of which were within a foot of her water- 
 line. Her main boom was shot away ; her 
 foremast cut nearly in two ; her main-top 
 mast was over the side, and her forerigging 
 and stays shot away. She had eight killed, 
 and her first lieutenant and fourteen men 
 wounded. The Peacock had none killed, 
 and but two wounded. She was a heavier 
 vessel than the Epervier, but their arma 
 ment was nominally the same. The Eper 
 vier was immediately taken possession of 
 by Lieutenant Nicholson, who found 
 118,000 dollars on board of her, which were 
 transferred to the Peacock. It was only 
 by the greatest exertion that she was kept 
 from sinking ; as, when she surrendered, 
 she had five feet of water in her hold. But 
 her leaks were stopped, and, after some 
 narrow escapes from recapture, she was 
 brought by Lieutenant Nicholson safely into 
 the port of Savannah, arriving there on the 
 1st of May ; the Peacock reaching the same 
 place on the 4th. Shortly after the Peacock 
 sailed again ; and, after passing over some of 
 the best cruising ground in the Atlantic, re 
 turned to New York at the end of October, 
 without having fallen in with an enemy of 
 a force prudent for her to engage. She 
 had captured, however, fourteen sail of 
 merchantmen. 
 
 The John Adams had been cut down, 
 under the law of 1812, to a sloop of war, 
 and lengthened at Washington so as to 
 mount twenty-eight guns on a single deck. 
 She ran the blockade of the Chesapeake on 
 the night of the 18th of January, 1814, 
 under the command of Captain Morris, and 
 made a cruise, returning to Savannah in 
 April. She again sailed in May for the 
 coast of Ireland, where she had several 
 narrow escapes from capture by heavy 
 frigates. After cruising two months, the 
 scurvy appeared among his men, and Cap 
 tain Morris deemed it prudent to get into 
 port. On the 17th of August, in a very thick 
 fog, he ran aground on the Isle of Haute, 
 and only got off by lightening the ship. 
 Having ascertained that she had sprung 
 a leak, he succeeded in getting her into 
 the Penobscot, in Maine, as high up as 
 Hampden. 
 
 374 
 
 While the vessel lay here, with nothing 
 in her, some British barges, with troops on 
 board, ascended the Penobscot to the same 
 place. A small force of militia was imme 
 diately assembled, and a battery mounted 
 with the guns of the Adams, to protect her. 
 But the militia giving way, the seamen and 
 the marines were left in the rear ; the latter 
 being without muskets, the vessel was set on 
 fire, and the men made a scattering retreat ; 
 but every man rejoined the commander at 
 Portland, after a fatiguing march of 200 
 miles. 
 
 Whilst the Adams was thus experienc 
 ing the vicissitudes of fortune, the Wasp, 
 another of the recent additions to the navy, 
 of eighteen guns, Captain Blakeley, sailed 
 from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on a 
 cruise. A letter from Captain Blakeley, 
 states that he was in the offing on the 1st 
 of May. He ran off the coast without 
 molestation. After seizing seven merchant 
 men, while in chase, on the 28th of June, 
 of two other vessels, he fell in with the 
 British sloop of war, Reindeer, Captain 
 Manners, and immediately altered his 
 course, and made chase. At a quarter 
 past one, P.M., the Wasp prepared for 
 action : but in consequence of their manoeuv- 
 ring, and the efforts of the Reindeer to 
 escape, it was two hours later before she 
 had approached sufficiently near to engage. 
 Several guns were fired from the Reindeer 
 before the Wasp could bring her guns to 
 bear ; and the helm of the latter was there 
 fore put a-lee. At half-past three, the com 
 mander of the Wasp commenced the action, 
 with his after carronades on the starboard 
 sides. Shortly afterwards, the Reindeer 
 ran her aboard on her starboard quarter, 
 her larboard bow becoming foul. Several 
 attempts were now made by the enemy to 
 board, led by Captain Manners in person ; 
 but they were gallantly repulsed by the 
 crew of the Wasp. Two or three desperate 
 efforts were repeated, but with the same 
 want of success. Orders were now given 
 by Captain Blakeley, at sixteen minutes to 
 four, to board in turn. Throwing them 
 selves with promptitude on the deck of the 
 enemy s ship, the boarders succeeded in the 
 execution of their orders, and in one 
 minute the flag of the Reindeer was hauled 
 down. She had on board a complement 
 of 118 men, sixty-seven of whom were 
 killed or wounded. The loss on board 
 the Wasp was five killed, and twenty-two 
 wounded. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [FATE OF THE WASP. 
 
 The Reindeer was literally cut to pieces, 
 and, being found unmanageable, was burnt. 
 Captain Blakeley put a portion of his 
 wounded prisoners on board a neutral, and 
 proceeded with the remainder to L Orient, 
 France, where he arrived on the 8th of July. 
 
 The Wasp left L Orient on the 27th of 
 August, and, on the 1st of September, a 
 fleet of ten sail was discovered, under con 
 voy of the Armada ship of the line and a 
 bomb ship. The Wasp stood for them, and 
 cut out of the fleet a brig laden with brass 
 and iron cannon, and military stores. Cap 
 tain Blakeley took out the prisoners, and 
 set her on fire. lie then attempted to cut 
 out another, but was chased off by the 
 Armada. In the evening of the same day, 
 at half-past six, two sail were discovered, to 
 one of which the Wasp gave chase. By 
 half- past nine she was under the lee-bow of 
 the Wasp; and an action commenced, 
 which continued half-an-hour, when Cap 
 tain Blakeley, finding his antagonist had 
 ceased firing, paused, and inquired if he 
 had surrendered. No response being re 
 turned, the firing recommenced, the enemy 
 returning broadside for broadside for twelve 
 minutes. The firing again ceasing, on the 
 part of his antagonist, Captain Blakeley 
 hailed again, and was answered that he was 
 sinking, and had struck his colours. While 
 about to take possession of her prize, several 
 other vessels were discovered not far off, 
 and the Wasp was compelled to abandon 
 the captured vessel, which proved to be the 
 British sloop of war Avon, of eighteen guns, 
 commanded by Captain Arbuthnot. She 
 sunk immediately after the last man had 
 been removed into one of the vessels 
 which had come into sight, having lost 
 eight killed, and thirty-one wounded, in 
 cluding her captain and several other 
 officers. On the Wasp, but two were 
 killed, and one wounded; and having 
 soon repaired damages, which were trifling, 
 she continued her cruise. On the 12th of 
 
 * An incident occurred, a few years after the last 
 direct intelligence was received from this gallant 
 ship, that suddenly and keenly revived the interest 
 of the public in her fate, which had begun to settle 
 into a saddened sympathy with the friends of 
 those who had perished. It will be recollected, 
 that Acting-lieutenant M Night and Mr. Lyman, 
 master s mate, were among the prisoners who were 
 exchanged by Captain Hillyar, commander of the 
 Phoebe, at the capture of the Essex. These two 
 gentlemen were taken to Ilio de Janeiro, in the 
 Phoebe, with a view to making certain affidavits, 
 necessary to the condemnation of the American 
 frigate. After remaining some time in Brazil, they 
 
 September, she captured the Three Brothers; 
 and two days after, the brig Bacchus, scut 
 tling both vessels. On the 21st, she cap 
 tured, off the Madeiras, the brig Atlantic, 
 of eight guns, and nineteen men. This 
 being a valuable prize, a crew was put on 
 board of her, and she was sent into port, 
 arriving safely at Savannah on the 4th of 
 November. The Atlantic brought the last 
 direct intelligence that ever was received 
 from the Wasp and her distinguished com 
 mander. Various statements have been 
 made of the manner in which she was pro 
 bably lost ; but nothing authentic has ever 
 been learned of her fate. There is little 
 doubt, however, that the vessel, with her 
 gallant commander and crew, found a com 
 mon grave in the depths of the Atlantic.* 
 
 The United States frigate President, of 
 forty-four guns, under the command of 
 Captain Rodgers, and the Congress, of 
 forty- eight guns, under that of Captain 
 Smith, continued to chase with a like want 
 of success. These two frigates traversed 
 the North Atlantic, in various directions, 
 together and singly, but they did not suc 
 ceed, either of them, in falling in with an 
 armed cruiser of the enemy, that could be 
 brought into action. The Congress ex 
 tended one of her cruises south of the 
 equator, and was absent eight months, but 
 with no better result than attended her 
 northern cruises. 
 
 Captain Rodgers, in one of his cruises 
 during the previous summer, captured, in a 
 singular manner, the British man-of-war 
 schooner, Highflyer, tender to Admiral 
 "Warren. On her approach to the President, 
 she hoisted a private signal, which Captain 
 Rodgers answered by one that happened to 
 be the British signal for that day. The 
 Highflyer accordingly bore down, and fell a 
 prize to the President. By this means, the 
 private signals of the enemy, and Admiral 
 "Warren s instructions, were obtained, and 
 Captain Rodgers was enabled to avoid their 
 
 took passage in a Swedish brig, bound to England, 
 as the only means of getting home. A long time 
 passing, without any intelligence from Lieutenant 
 M Night and his companions, inquiries were set 
 on foot, which terminated in ascertaining this fact; 
 and subsequently, the finding the master of the 
 Swedish brig, who proved by his log-book and 
 other documents, that he had fallen in with the 
 Wasp, Captain Blakeley, on the 9th of October, 
 1814, when the two passengers seized the occasion 
 to put themselves under the American flag. 
 Having taken their baggage on board the Wasp, 
 they made sail to the southward. Cooper s Naval 
 History. 
 
 375 
 
 
PRESIDENT SURRENDERED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 squadrons on the coast. This was the only 
 English armed vessel that Captain Rodgers 
 captured during his command of the Pre 
 sident. 
 
 After the arrival of the frigate Presi 
 dent in New York, Captain Rodgers, and 
 his crew, were transferred to the new frigate 
 Guerricre, and their places were supplied 
 by Commodore Decatur, with his crew of 
 the United States, which vessel was laid up 
 at New London, as has been stated in a 
 previous chapter, the vigilance of the 
 blockading squadron rendering her escape 
 improbable. The President, under her new 
 commander, was now fitted out for a cruise 
 in the East Indies, in conjunction with the 
 Peacock, Captain Warrington, and Hornet, 
 Captain Biddle, sloops-of-war, and Tom 
 Bowline, store -vessel. 
 
 It being the wish of the government to 
 keep a force at New York, for its protec 
 tion, Commodore Decatur did not get to sea 
 till about the middle of January, 1815. 
 The port of New York being at this time 
 blockaded by a large British force, which 
 it was difficult to elude, the President 
 dropped down to Sandy Hook alone, leav 
 ing the other vessels lying at Staten Island ; 
 and, on the night of the 14th, she made an 
 attempt to cross the bar. In consequence 
 of the darkness, the pilots missed the chan 
 nel, and the ship struck on the bar ; and, 
 though soon got off, she broke her rudder- 
 braces, and materially injured her trim for 
 Bailing. A strong westerly wind prevailing, 
 she was unable to return to port. Her 
 course was therefore continued ; and, at 
 daylight on the morning of the 15th, she 
 was discovered and chased by the Majestic, 
 of seventy guns ; the Endymion, Pomona, 
 and Tenedos, of fifty guns each. By noon, 
 the President had outsailed all the vessels, 
 except the Endymion, which was found to 
 gain upon her. Every exertion was made 
 by her commander to escape, by throwing 
 over anchors, and other heavy articles, but 
 to no purpose. By five in the afternoon, 
 the Endymion had got close under his quar 
 ters, and opened a fire upon him. Com 
 modore Decatur now determined to bear 
 up and engage her, with the design of 
 carrying her by boarding, and after 
 wards of escaping in her, and abandoning 
 his own ship. He was prevented, how 
 ever, from carrying out this plan, by the 
 manoeuvring of the Endymion. A spirited 
 action now commenced, which was kept up 
 for two hours and a-half, when the Endy- 
 376 
 
 mion dropped astern, having ceased firing, 
 and being, to all appearance, disabled. 
 Commodore Decatur then, though the Pre 
 sident was seriously disabled, made sail, in 
 the hope of escaping ; but it was found im 
 possible to prevent the other vessels of the 
 enemy from closing ; and the Pomona and 
 Tenedos coming up, the commodore, unwil 
 ling to sacrifice the lives of his men to a 
 useless contest, on receiving the fire from 
 the nearest frigate, surrendered. The loss 
 on board the President, was twenty-four 
 killed and fifty-six wounded. The loss of 
 the Endymion was eleven killed and four 
 teen wounded. From her crippled state, 
 she undoubtedly would have been compelled 
 to surrender to her antagonist, had she been 
 unsupported. The President was taken to 
 Bermuda ; both she and the Endymion being 
 dismasted in a gale before reaching port. 
 Commodore Decatur was shortly after 
 released upon parole ; and, with his sur 
 viving officers and men, was subsequently 
 acquitted, with honour,- of the disaster that 
 had befallen the ship. 
 
 The Peacock, Hornet, and Tom Bowline, 
 followed the President to sea their com 
 manders being ignorant of her fate about 
 the 22nd ; taking advantage of a north-west 
 wind to pass the bar by daylight. After a 
 few days they parted company, the Hornet 
 going off in chase of a neutral. Their 
 place of rendezvous was Tristan d Acunha, 
 where the Peacock and Tom Bowline arrived 
 about the middle of March, but bad weather 
 drove them off the land. The Hornet came 
 in on the morning of the 23rd, and was 
 about to anchor, when a vessel of war was 
 discovered, for which Captain Biddle imme 
 diately made sail. At forty minutes past 
 one, the British vessel commenced the en 
 gagement. The firing was warmly kept up 
 for about fifteen minutes, the stranger grad 
 ually nearing the Hornet, with the evident 
 intention of boarding. Her captain had 
 been killed by a grape-shot before he saw his 
 orders executed. Her lieutenant, on whom 
 the command then devolved, bore her up, 
 and running her bowsprit between the main 
 and mizzen rigging of the Hornet, directed 
 his crew to board. His men, however, see 
 ing the boarders of the Hornet ready, not 
 only to repel them, but to spring on to their 
 deck, refused to follow him. The heavy 
 swell of thje sea, at this moment, lifted the 
 Hornet ahead, carrying away her mizzen 
 rigging, davits, and spanker-boom, the 
 enemy swinging round and hanging on the 
 
A.-D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 larboard quarter. Captain Biddle now sent 
 the master forward, to set the foresail, with 
 a view to part the vessels, when an officer 
 on board the English vessel called out that 
 she surrendered. The situation of the two 
 ships admitted of no other firing than that 
 of small arms, which was ordered to be 
 suspended; and Captain Biddle sprang 
 upon the taffrail to inquire if the enemy 
 submitted. While putting this question, 
 two marines on board the British vessel 
 discharged their muskets at him, the ball of 
 one just missing his chin, and striking him 
 in the neck, inflicting a severe but not a 
 dangerous wound. This incident drew a 
 discharge of musketry from the Hornet, 
 which killed the two marines. The Hornet 
 shot ahead at that instant, and the enemy 
 lost his bowsprit and foremast as the ves 
 sels separated. The Hornet now wore 
 round to give the enemy a broadside, when 
 they a second time cried out that they had 
 surrendered. She proved to be the British 
 sloop of war Penguin, of nineteen guns ; 
 that is, sixteen 32-pound carronades, two 
 chase-guns, and a shifting carronadeon the 
 top-gallant forecastle. She was completely 
 riddled with the Hornet s shot; lost her 
 bowsprit and foremast, and her mainmast 
 was too much injured to be repaired. Her 
 loss was, fourteen killed and twenty-eight 
 wounded. Among the killed was her com 
 mander, Dickenson. The Hornet s loss was, 
 one man killed and ten wounded. Being 
 too much cut up to take into port, the Pen 
 guin was scuttled and sunk the day after 
 her capture. 
 
 The American frigate Constitution, Cap 
 tain Stewart, sailed from Boston on the 
 17th of December, 1814, on a cruise. She 
 ran off Bermuda, thence to the vicinity of 
 Madeira, and into the Bay of Biscay. She 
 then cruised some time in sight of the 
 Rock of Lisbon, making two prizes, one of 
 which she sent into port, and the other she 
 destroyed. On the 20th of February, she 
 discovered a strange vessel ; and, an hour 
 later, a second vessel was seen farther to 
 the leeward. One of the vessels bore up 
 for the Constitution, but soon after changed 
 her course to join her consort. The Con 
 stitution gave chase to both ; and, at 
 6 P.M., she had them completely under her 
 guns, and she hoisted her colours. They 
 responded to this by raising English 
 colours ; and the Constitution immediately 
 ranged up abeam of the sternmost vessel, at 
 the distance of a cable s length, passing 
 
 ahead with her sails lifting, until the three 
 vessels formed nearly an equilateral tri 
 angle, the Constitution being to windward. 
 In this position the action commenced, the 
 three ships keeping up a rapid fire for 
 about fifteen minutes, when that of the 
 enemy slackened. Captain Stewart now 
 ordered the cannonading to be suspended. 
 In a few minutes, the immense cloud of 
 smoke which covered the sea had blown 
 away ; when, it being now moonlight, the 
 Constitution found herself abreast of the 
 headmost ship. Her commander ordered 
 both sides to be manned, and dropped into 
 his first position. The ship on the bow 
 backed sails also. The American frigate s 
 broadsides were now fired from the larboard 
 battery. The ship on the bow, in a few 
 moments, discovering her mistake in get 
 ting sternward, filled away, with the de 
 sign of tacking athwart the bows of the 
 Constitution. In the meantime, the ship 
 on the stern fell off, entirely unmanageable. 
 The Constitution now pursued the former; 
 and coming within three hundred feet, gave 
 her several raking broadsides, damaging 
 her so severely, that no further apprehen 
 sions were entertained of her being able to 
 escape. Captain Stewart now returned to 
 the latter, which discharged a gun to lee 
 ward, to signify that she had surrendered. 
 She was taken possession of by Lieutenant 
 Hoffman, and proved to be the frigate 
 Cyane, Captain Gordon Falkon, of thirty- 
 four carronade guns. Captain Stewart 
 now went in pursuit of the other vessel; 
 and, after a brief resistance, in which she 
 suffered considerably, she struck, witk five 
 feet of water in her hold. She was ascer 
 tained to be the sloop of war Levant, Cap 
 tain Douglass, of twenty- one guns. The 
 loss on board the two ships amounted to 
 about eighty in killed and wounded. On 
 board the Constitution there were only four 
 killed and eleven wounded, and the ship 
 received but a trifling injury. 
 
 On the 10th of March, Captain Stewart 
 carried his prizes into the Portuguese har 
 bour of Port Prago ; and, on the llth, a 
 British squadron of two ships of sixty guns 
 each, and a frigate, appeared off the 
 entrance of the harbour. The Constitution 
 immediately put to sea, and, with one of 
 her prizes (the Cyane}, succeeded in reach 
 ing the United States, after a long and 
 severe pursuit. The Levant was obliged to 
 put back into Port Prago, where she was 
 recaptured by the British squadron. 
 
 377 
 
A PRIVATEER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 The actions just related were the last of 
 any importance that occurred upon the 
 ocean during the war ; and, in point of 
 time, actually took place after the ratifica 
 tion of the treaty of peace. 
 
 Naval operations, however, were not 
 confined to national vessels. Soon after 
 the declaration of war, letters of marque 
 were issued, and privateers sailed from 
 every port, to annoy and distress British 
 commerce, and the papers of the day were 
 filled with their exploits ; but as their 
 details possess no permanent interest, we 
 have not deemed them, with perhaps a few 
 exceptions, worthy of record.* One of 
 these, however, from its bearing on an event 
 to be related hereafter, requires a notice. 
 
 The privateer General Armstrong, Cap 
 tain Reid, lay at anchor in the harbour 
 of Fayal, in the latter part of September, 
 1814, when a British squadron consisting 
 of the Carnation, the Plantayenet, and the 
 Rata, on its way to Bermuda, bearing re 
 inforcements to the British fleet, under 
 Admiral Cochrane, waiting there hove in 
 sight. The commander of the privateer, 
 discovering, by the moonlight, that the Bri 
 tish had put out their boats, and appa 
 rently preparing to attack him, moved 
 near the shore, and took measures to de 
 fend himself. Three boats, filled with 
 men, soon after approached his vessel. 
 They were hailed, and no answer being 
 returned, a fire was opened upon them 
 from the General Armstrong, which com 
 pelled them to haul off. Apprehending a 
 more formidable attack, Captain Reid then 
 anchored his vessel a cable s length from 
 the shore, and within pistol-shot of the 
 castle. The next night, a fleet of boats, to 
 the number of twelve or fourteen, and 
 manned by several hundred men, ap 
 proached, supported by the Carnation, 
 which stood at the outlet of the harbour, 
 to prevent the General Armstrong from 
 making her escape. They were permitted 
 to get alongside the privateer, when they 
 were so furiously assailed, that they were 
 obliged to make their retreat. The Bri 
 tish loss, in these attacks, was 120 killed, 
 and 130 wounded ; the American loss was 
 two killed and seven wounded. Finding 
 that a third attack, still more imposing, 
 
 * The system of issuing letters of marque, com 
 missioning merchant vessels to engage in warlike 
 proceedings, has been, of invaluable service to the 
 Americans. It is their militia of the seas. Great 
 Britain has endeavoured to have the practice 
 abolished by a law of nations ; but the American 
 378 
 
 was to be made, the commander of the pri 
 vateer scuttled and abandoned her, taking 
 refuge on shore, under the Portuguese 
 authorities. During these attacks, the 
 shores were lined with the inhabitants of 
 Fayal; who, from the brightness of the 
 moon, had a full view of the scene. After 
 the second attack, the governor sent a note 
 to Captain Floyd, the commander of the 
 squadron, requesting him to desist; but 
 the latter returned an answer that he was 
 determined to capture the privateer ; and if 
 the governor interfered, he would fire on 
 the town. The whole naval history of the 
 war, probably, does not include a more 
 spirited and determined defence than this. 
 By this detention at Fayal, to attack the 
 General Armstrong, the expected rein 
 forcements, for which the fleet was waiting 
 at Bermuda, were delayed several days in 
 reaching their destination, the important 
 consequences of which will be seen in a 
 future chapter. 
 
 The narrative of events now takes us 
 once more to those inland seas, the lakes, 
 upon one of the smallest of which an im 
 portant naval engagement took place on 
 the llth of September, 1814. The inva 
 sion of the United States, on their northern 
 border, has been mentioned in a former 
 chapter, as a part of the plan of operations 
 contemplated by the British government, as 
 soon as the peace of Europe placed at its 
 disposal an ample supply of men and ma 
 teriel for that purpose. The first move 
 ment in these operations, was apparently to 
 obtain the command of Lake Champlain, 
 and thence to move down the Hudson ; and, 
 in this manner, to cut off the New England 
 states from the rest of the Union ; while the 
 discontent which had been so strongly man 
 ifested in some of those states, would, it 
 was hoped, lead to a political division, and 
 might result in a permanent reunion of 
 some one or more of those states with the 
 American provinces under theBritiah crown. 
 
 The belief in the practicability of such 
 a result, had been strengthened by the 
 smugglers from the United States, who, in 
 this way, endeavoured to win favour with 
 the British in Canada; and also by the 
 democratic or war party in the United 
 States, who had too freely indulged in 
 
 government has declined to accede to the proposi 
 tion, unless an article be at the same time adopted, 
 declaring that the cargoes of netural bottoms shall 
 be exempt from seizure, and that private property 
 at sea shall be protected, as similar property is on 
 land, by the laws of nations. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ARMIES IN THE NORTH. 
 
 accusations against the federal or anti-war 
 party, of being the friends of the British. 
 
 The augmentations to the British army in 
 Canada, having arrived during the months 
 of July and August, 1814, Sir George 
 Prevost prepared for the projected invasion. 
 On the 3rd of September, at the head 
 of 14,000 regular troops, he crossed the 
 American frontier, and took possession of 
 the village of Champlain, from which place 
 he issued a proclamation, in which he made 
 known to the peaceable and unoffending 
 inhabitants that they had no cause of alarm, 
 from this invasion of their country, for the 
 safety of themselves and families, or for the 
 security of their property. He explicitly 
 assured them that, as long as they continued 
 to demean themselves peaceably, they should 
 be protected in the quiet possession of their 
 houses, and permitted freely to pursue their 
 various occupations. "It is against the 
 government of the United States," he said, 
 "by whom this unjust and unprovoked war 
 has been declared, and against those who 
 support it, either openly or secretly, that 
 the arms of his majesty are directed. The 
 quiet and unoffending inhabitants, not found 
 in arms, or otherwise aiding in hostilities, 
 shall meet with kind usage and generous 
 treatment; and all just complaints against 
 any of his majesty s subjects offering vio 
 lence to them, to their families, or to their 
 possessions, shall be immediately redressed." 
 
 The first object in the operations con 
 templated by Sir George Prevost, was the 
 capture of Plattsburg. His army was to 
 advance in two columns ; one, with all the 
 baggage and artillery, to proceed by the 
 lake road ; and the other, under the com 
 mand of General Brisbane, through Beek- 
 mantown ; while the British squadron, 
 simultaneously with the attack upon the 
 town, should engage that of the Americans 
 on Lake Champlain. 
 
 The movement of General Izard, as 
 mentioned in a previous page, from Platts 
 burg to Sackett s Harbour, had left the 
 former place defended by only 1,500 regular 
 troops, under General Macomb. The for 
 tifications were weak, and the stores and 
 ordnance in disorder. On ascertaining the 
 enemy s designs on Plattsburg, General 
 Macomb lost not a moment in endeavouring 
 to put the works, thrown up for the protec 
 tion of the place, in the best possible state 
 for defence. He also called on General 
 Movers, of the New York militia, and, 
 with him, adopted measures for calling out 
 
 the militia en masse. By the 4th of Sep 
 tember, General Movers, having collected 
 about 700 militia, advanced seven miles on 
 the Beekmantown road, to watch the move 
 ments of the enemy, and to obstruct their 
 way, by breaking down the bridges, and 
 felling trees. Captain Sprawl, with 200 
 men, was also posted on the lake, or more 
 eastern road, with similar designs, and 
 ordered to fortify himself with two cannon, 
 taken with him for the purpose ; and to wait 
 further instructions from Colonel Appling, 
 who was reconnoitring the enemy with a 
 hundred riflemen, in advance of the latter 
 position. 
 
 Before sunrise on the 6th, the forces, 
 under Sir George Prevost, were seen ad 
 vancing on the two roads ; the column 
 on Beekmantown road approaching more 
 rapidly than the other. After a slight 
 skirmish, the militia, under General Movers, 
 broke, and most of them fled in confusion. 
 Major Wool, who, with 250 regulars, had 
 marched to their support, was unsuccessful 
 in restoring them to confidence. 
 
 The enemy s object in making a more 
 rapid march on the Beekmantown than the 
 lake road, was to cut off the detachments 
 under Captain Sprawl and Colonel Appling. 
 Discovering this design, General Macomb 
 dispatched orders to the latter officer to 
 withdraw the troops, make a junction with 
 Major Wool, and attack the column under 
 General Brisbane. 
 
 The town of Plattsburg occupies both 
 banks of the Saranac river, at its entrance 
 into Cumberland Bay, an indentation of 
 Lake Champlain. At the period of which 
 we are writing, the principal village was 
 situate on the northern bank of the Sara 
 nac ; and the American works were situate 
 on the southern side, directly opposite. 
 The advance of the British troops was now 
 contested by the parties of Appling, Wool, 
 and Sprawl, the latter gradually retreating 
 till they reached the bridge, crossed over, 
 and got within the American works, on the 
 right bank of the river. The bridge was 
 now ordered, by General Movers, to bo 
 destroyed, which was executed with diffi 
 culty, as the enemy had thrown their light 
 troops into the houses near the bridge, 
 and annoj r ed the Americans with their 
 shot from the windows. A few hot shot, 
 however, set the buildings on fire, and 
 dislodged them. Several other bridges, 
 which crossed the stream, were rendered 
 impassable, the planks being taken up, and 
 
 379 
 
NAVY ON THE LAKES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 used to form breastworks ; behind which, 
 the men, charged with the defence of the 
 passages, successfully resisted the advance 
 of the enemy. From this period until the 
 llth, the British commander was occupied 
 in throwing up batteries opposite the Ame 
 rican lines ; and General Macomb was 
 likewise indefatigable in extending and 
 strengthening his defences, and organising 
 his forces, which had been augmented by a 
 large body of militia from New York, and 
 of volunteers from the Green. Mountain 
 state. 
 
 The movements of the British com 
 mander were retarded by the delay in 
 fitting out the squadron under Captain 
 Downie, whose co-operation was deemed 
 essential to insure success in the con 
 templated assault. On the morning of the 
 llth of September, however, the British 
 fleet was discovered coming round Cum 
 berland Head. It comprised the Confiance, 
 a new frigate, which was launched but 
 seventeen days previous, and which carried 
 thirty- seven guns, thirty- one of which 
 were long 24-pounders, and six heavy car- 
 ronades ; the brig Linnet, of sixteeen guns, 
 all of them long 12-pounders; the sloop 
 Chubb, carrying ten 18-pound carronades, 
 and one long 6-pounder; the sloop Finch, 
 with six 18-pound carronades, one 18-pound 
 columbiad, and four long 6-pounders. To 
 these were added twelve* gun-boats ; eight 
 mounting two, and four one gun each. 
 
 The American fleet, under Commodore 
 Macdonough, comprised the ship Saratoga, 
 of twenty- six guns, eight of which were 
 long 24-pounders, six 42, and twelve 
 32-pound carronades; the brig Eagle, of 
 twenty guns, eight of which were long 
 18-pounders, and twelve 32-pound carro 
 nades; the schooner Ticonderoga, of seven 
 teen guns, four of which were long 
 18-pounders, eight long 12-pounders, and 
 four 32-pound carronades, and one 18-pound 
 columbiad ; and the sloop Preble, of seven 
 long 9-pounders. In addition to these four 
 vessels, the American fleet included ten 
 gun-boats, six of which carried each a long 
 24-pounder, and an 18-pound columbiad; 
 and the remaining four one long 12-pounder 
 each. One of the American vessels had 
 
 * This is the number as given by Sir George 
 Prevobt. Macdonough says there were thirteen, 
 and that three of them were sunk in the action. 
 Hinton says there were but ten in all. 
 
 t Brackenridge. 
 
 j For the information of those uninitiated in 
 marine phraseology, we will add, that a spring is a 
 380 
 
 been built with almost incredible dispatch. 
 Eighteen days previous to the action we 
 are narrating, the trees of which it was 
 constructed were actually growing on the 
 shores of the lake.f 
 
 The American fleet lay a little south of 
 ;he mouth of the Saranac, in a line parallel 
 ;o the coast, extending north and south, 
 and about two miles from the western 
 shore. The brig Eagle lay at the northern 
 xtremity of the American line ; the Sara 
 toga, Commodore Macdonough s own vessel, 
 next ; the Ticonderoga third, and the Preble 
 iast ; the latter vessel lying so near the 
 shoal, as to prevent the English ships 
 passing that end of the line ; while all the 
 vessels lay out towards Cumberland Head 
 so far, as to bring the former within reach 
 of carronades, should they attempt to enter 
 the bay on that side. To complete the 
 order of battle, two of the gun-boats were 
 to keep in -shore of the Eagle, and a little 
 to the windward of her, to sustain the 
 bead of the line ; two more to lie opposite 
 the interval between the Eagle and Sara 
 toga; two or three more opposite the 
 interval between the latter vessel and the 
 Ticonderoga, and the remaining ones oppo 
 site the interval between the Ticonderoga 
 and the Preble ; thus forming two lines 
 the large vessels at anchor, and the gun 
 boats under sweeps. As the wind was fair, 
 a good working breeze at the northward 
 and eastward, Commodore Macdonough 
 ordered the vessels to be cleared, and pre 
 parations made to fight at anchor. 
 
 The first vessel of the enemy that ap 
 peared round Cumberland Head, was the 
 Finch, Lieutenant Hicks ; followed imme 
 diately after by the other large vessels and 
 their gun-boats. The two fleets were now 
 in full sight of each other, about three 
 miles distant. As soon as the commanders 
 of the different vessels had received their 
 orders, and the gun-boats were in station, 
 the British fleet headed in towards the 
 American vessels, in a line abreast the 
 Chubb to windward, and the Finch to 
 leeward, and the gun-boats, most of them, 
 to the windward of the latter. The Ameri 
 can vessels were anchored with springs ;J 
 but, in addition to this customary arrange- 
 
 rope passed at a ship s stern, and attached to a 
 cable proceeding from her bow when she is at 
 anchor, and is intended to bring her broadside to 
 bear upon any desired object. A spring is also a 
 rope extending diagonally from the stern of one 
 ship to the head of another, to make one ship sheer 
 off to a greater distance. Maritime Dictionary. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [LAKE CHAMPLATX. 
 
 ment, the commodore had laid a kedge 
 anchor broad off on each bow of the Sara 
 toga, and brought their hawsers in upon the 
 two quarters, letting them hang in bights 
 under water. As the enemy approached, 
 the Americans brought their broadsides to 
 bear, and silently awaited the command 
 to open upon their antagonists. The latter, 
 meanwhile, were standing in, the Chubb 
 heading to the windward of the Eagle, at 
 the head of the American line ; the Linnet 
 laying her course for the bows of the same 
 vessel; the Confiance heading for the Sara 
 toga; while the Finch and the gun-boats 
 were standing for the Ticonderoga, and the 
 Preble. 
 
 As soon as the approaching vessels 
 were within range of their long guns, the 
 signal was given, and the Americans 
 opened fire ; but it was not returned till 
 the English vessels had approached and 
 anchored within about one-fifth of a mile 
 of their antagonists, when the whole force, 
 on both sides, soon became engaged ; and, 
 almost at the same moment, as if the first 
 gun from the Confiance had been the signal 
 for the opposing forces on land, the con 
 test commenced between Sir George Pre- 
 vost and General Macornb. 
 
 From the smoothness of the surface of 
 the bay, the firing on both sides told with 
 fearful effect. One of the British sloops, 
 the Finch, was soon thrown out of the 
 engagement by running on a reef of rocks, 
 whence she could not be got off. All the 
 enemy s gun-boats, also, with a single excep 
 tion (the Murray], were so roughly handled, 
 as to be compelled to draw off to a safe dis 
 tance. The fate of the contest, however, 
 was dependent mainly upon the issue of 
 the conflict between the Saratoga and the 
 Confiance. The battle had now been main 
 tained for nearly two hours ; and, not 
 withstanding the greater weight of the 
 guns of the Confiance, and the scale of vic 
 tory seemed to incline in her favour, still 
 she suffered seriously. The chances against 
 her antagonist were unintentionally in 
 creased by Captain Henley, who com 
 manded the Eagle. He, being unable to 
 bring his guns to bear on either of the 
 
 * The action had not lasted more than a quarter 
 of an hour when Captain Downie received his death- 
 wound. A shot having struck one of the Conjiance s 
 24-pounders, forced it from its carriage, when it 
 fell against the captain, who was standing near, 
 and struck him violently in the groin. He sur 
 vived hut a few minutes, and never spoke again. 
 His flpsh was not wounded; the skin was not even 
 VOL. II. b D 
 
 enemy s vessels, cut his cable, and run 
 ning down, anchored by the stern, between 
 the Saratoga and Ticonderoga, necessarily 
 a little in-shore of both. Here he opened, 
 with good effect, on the Confiance and gal 
 leys ; but his movement left the Saratoga 
 exposed to nearly the whole fire of the 
 Linnet, which vessel brought her broadside 
 to bear in a manner to rake the beams of 
 the former. Soon after the movement just 
 mentioned, the fire of the Saratoga and 
 Confiance began sensibly to slacken. The 
 starboard guns of the former were by this 
 time either dismounted or entirely un 
 manageable, and the situation of her 
 antagonist was little better. To each the 
 fortune of the day depended upon the 
 execution of one of the most difficult of 
 naval manoeuvres that of winding the 
 vessel round, and bringing a new broad 
 side to bear. The efforts on board the 
 Saratoga were successful; and a stern 
 anchor being let go, and the lower cable 
 cut, the ship swung round. The same 
 evolution was attempted on board the Con- 
 fiance. Her springs were hauled on, but 
 they merely forced the ship ahead ; and, 
 having received the fresh broadside of the 
 Americans, till she had scarcely a gun with 
 which to return the fire, and failing in all 
 her efforts to wind round her commander, 
 Captain Downie, having been killed near 
 the commencement of the action* Lieu 
 tenant Robertson, up^n whom the command 
 had devolved, ordered her flag to be lowered. 
 The Saratoga s broadside was immediately 
 brought to bear on the Linnet, and she 
 struck her flag within fifteen minutes after 
 the Confiance. One of the sloops had already 
 surrendered to the Eagle, and the other 
 soon after struck to the Ticonderoga. The 
 gun-boats which had been driven back, lay 
 irregularly scattered, keeping up a desultory 
 firing. But as they saw the larger vessels 
 had struck their colours, they ceased firing, 
 and surrendered, but afterwards succeedeu 
 in making their escape. 
 
 In this severely-contested and sanguinary 
 contest, the Saratoga had twenty-eight 
 men killed, and twenty-nine wounded, 
 being more than one-fourth of her whole 
 
 broken ; a black mark on his person, of the cir 
 cumference of a small plate, was the only visible 
 injury he had received; but the shock must hav 
 been great, as his watch was found flattened in his 
 fob, with the hands fixed at the hour, minute, and 
 second, which gave him dismissal from time to 
 eternity. He thus suddenly died at his post, 
 honoured and lamented. Hinton s U> ted States. 
 
 381 
 
AMERICAN VICTORY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 number; the Eagle had thirteen killed, and 
 twenty wounded, which was an equal 
 proportion ; the Ticonderoga, six killed and 
 six wounded ; the Preble, two killed ; and 
 on board the gun-boats, three were killed, 
 and three wounded. Commodore Macdo- 
 nough was twice supposed to be killed 
 during the action. In the first instance, a 
 broken boom was thrown against him with 
 such violence, as to leave him, for a few 
 moments, senseless. A little while after 
 wards, he was knocked down and besmeared 
 with blood by the head of one of the 
 seamen, which had been shot off and 
 thrown against him. The Saratoga was 
 hulled fifty-five times, and the Eagle thirty- 
 nine times. The Saratoga was twice on 
 fire from hot shot thrown from the 
 Confiance. On board the latter vessel, 
 forty-one were killed, and eighty-three 
 wounded. The Linnet had ten killed, and 
 fourteen wounded. The Chubb had six 
 killed and ten wounded. The Finch had 
 but two wounded, and none killed. The 
 casualties on board the British gun-boats 
 have not been given. 
 
 The opposing forces on land, as has 
 already been intimated, were not idle spec 
 tators of the conflict on the water. A 
 tremendous cannonade was kept up till the 
 close of the naval contest. Three desperate 
 efforts were made by the British troops 
 to force a passage of the river, and storm 
 the American works ; in each of which they 
 were repulsed with severe loss. The sur 
 render of the fleet, however, which was 
 announced by shouts of victory from the 
 American lines, induced Sir George Pre 
 vost to withdraw his forces from the con 
 test. In his despatch to Earl Bathurst, 
 Sir George Prevost said "Scarcely had 
 his majesty s troops forced a passage across 
 the Saranac, and ascended the heights on 
 which stand the enemy s works, when I 
 had the extreme mortification to hear 
 the shout of victor} from the Americans, 
 in consequence of the British flag having 
 382 
 
 been lowered on board the Confiance and 
 Linnet, and to see our gun-boats seeking 
 their safety in flight. This unlooked-for 
 event deprived me of the co-operation of 
 the fleet, without which the further prose 
 cution of the service was become impracti 
 cable. I did not hesitate to arrest the 
 course of the troops advancing to the at 
 tack, because the most complete success 
 would have been unavailing ; and the pos 
 session of the enemy s works afford no ad 
 vantage to compensate for the loss we must 
 have sustained in acquiring possession of 
 them." 
 
 Under cover of the night, Sir George 
 Prevost sent off all the baggage and artillery 
 for which he could find any means of trans 
 portation, and followed with all his forces, 
 leaving behind him the sick and wounded. 
 This movement being discovered at day 
 break the next morning, he was pursued by 
 the Americans ; but, with the exception of 
 picking up a few stragglers, and covering 
 the escape of a large number of deserters, 
 the pursuit was fruitless, and was discon 
 tinued at Chazy, fourteen miles from 
 Plattsburg. Much of the enemy s heavy 
 artillery, and large quantities of stores and 
 supplies, which they could not take with 
 them, and had not time to destroy, fell 
 into the hands of the Americans; and the 
 amount was largely increased by what they 
 afterwai ds discovered hidden in marshes, 
 or buried in the ground. The consequences* 
 of this victory to the Americans were of the 
 highest importance. From that day to the 
 close of the war, the northern frontier was 
 freed from the presence of the enemy. 
 
 Not only were those of the British army 
 and navy, who fell, buried by the Ame 
 ricans with the honours of war, but the 
 most humane attention was given to the 
 wounded. This, and their generous and 
 polite treatment of the prisoners, were 
 acknowledged by Captain Pryng, the suc 
 cessor of Captain Downie, in his official 
 despatch to the British admiralty. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AM ERICA. [ATTACK ON STONIXGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 WAtt ON THE SEA-COAST DURING 1814; BATTLE OF BLADI NSBURG ; WASHINGTON CITY TAKEN; BATTLE 
 
 OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 IN 1814, the British changed the system 
 previously observed by them towards the 
 New England states. The blockade of the 
 coast, which had, up to this year, been 
 confined to the middle and southern states, 
 was now extended to the most eastern, ex 
 tremity of the Union ; and this movement 
 was soon afterwards followed by a direct in 
 vasion of the Union. On the 7th of April, 
 about 200 sailors and marines ascended the 
 Connecticut river, about six miles above its 
 entrance into the Long Island Sound 
 landed at Pettipang Point, and destroyed 
 the shipping found there, and at Brock- 
 way s Ferry, to the value of 200,000 dol 
 lars ; and, although a body of militia had 
 assembled to cut off their retreat, they 
 succeeded, under cover of the darkness of 
 the night, and the use of muffled oars, in 
 escaping safely to their fleet. 
 
 The coasting trade was, also, at this 
 time, seriously interfered with by a British 
 privateer, called the Liverpool Packet. 
 Commodore Lewis, with a fleet of thirteen 
 gun-boats, succeeded in driving her off. 
 At this time, there were, at Saybrook, at 
 the mouth of the Connecticut river, about 
 fifty coasting vessels bound eastward, but 
 afraid to venture out. The commodore 
 undertook to convoy them, and sailed with 
 them on the 2oth of April; and, in the 
 afternoon of the same day, threw himself be 
 tween his convoy and a British frigate and 
 sloop of war and tender, and maintained a 
 contest with them till the coasters had 
 reached New London. He afterwards 
 attacked the frigate with hot shot, doing 
 serious damage ; and would probably have 
 captured her, had not the darkness of the 
 night brought the contest to a close, and 
 enabled her to escape. AVareham and 
 Scituate, in Massachusetts, were also visited 
 by the enemy, and the shipping destroyed ; 
 but, at Booth Bay, in Maine, then attached 
 to Massachusetts, they met with a spirited 
 resistance, and were driven off by the 
 militia in the neighbourhood. 
 
 On the llth of May, a powerful British 
 force, under Sir Thomas Hardy, landed 
 on Moose Island, in the bay of Passama- 
 quoddy ; and, after taking possession of 
 
 Easfport, situate on that island, declared 
 all the islands and towns in the bay to be 
 long to his Britannic majesty s dominions; 
 and required the inhabitants to appear 
 within seven days, and take the oath of 
 allegiance, to which about two-thirds of 
 the inhabitants submitted. Eastport wa 1 ? 
 soon after strongly fortified, and remained 
 in the possession of the British till the 
 conclusion of the war. It should be added, 
 that all the islands in the bay of Passa- 
 maquoddy were, by different constructions 
 of the treaty of 1783, claimed by both tho 
 United States and Great Britain, and 
 formed one of the subjects of negotiation 
 by the commissioners at Ghent, as will bo 
 seen farther on. 
 
 From Moose Island, Commodore Hardy- 
 sailed for the coast of Connecticut ; and, 
 on the 9th of August, appeared before the 
 village of Stonington, with a 74-gun ship, 
 a frigate, a bomb-ship, and a gun- brig. A 
 flag was sent in, requiring the surrender of 
 the town, or a removal of the women and 
 children. Having first complied with tho 
 alternative of the commodore s message, tho 
 citizens determined to make an effort to 
 save the town. The militia of the placo 
 repaired to a small battery, consisting of 
 two 18-pounders and one 6-pounder, and to 
 a breastwork thrown up for musketry; and, 
 at the same time, sent an express to General 
 Gushing, commanding at New London, for 
 assistance. In the evening, five barges and 
 a launch, filled with men, approached the 
 shore, under cover of a heavy fire from tho 
 ships. Reserving their fire until the enemy 
 were within short grape distance, the Ameri 
 cans opened their 18-pounders upon them, 
 and soon compelled them to retire out of 
 reach of the battery. The invaders next 
 made an effort to eftect a landing at tho 
 east end of the town, which they presumed 
 to be unprotected ; but a portion of tho 
 militia being detached thither with the 
 6-pounder, they were again repulsed. They 
 now retired to their ships, determined to 
 renew tho attack in the morning; and, 
 meantime, kept up a cannonading on the 
 town till midnight. At daylight the next 
 morning, one of their vessels was brought 
 
RAISING OF TROOFS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 up within pistol-shot of their battery, and 
 the barges advanced in still greater num 
 bers than on the day previous. But they 
 were again repulsed, and the vessel driven 
 from her anchorage. The squadron then 
 renewed the bombardment of the town, but 
 without effect ; and it was kept up during 
 the two succeeding days, to no better pur 
 pose. On the 13th, the commodore weighed 
 anchor and retired. 
 
 That portion of the district of Maine 
 which lies east of the Penobscot, would, it 
 was considered by the British government, 
 be an advantageous addition to their posses 
 sions in that quarter, and preparations were 
 accordingly made for taking possession of 
 it, with a view of retaining it permanently. 
 On the 1st of September, a fleet of fourteen 
 British vessels, under Admiral Griffith, 
 arrived off Costine; and a large body of 
 troops, under Governor Sherbrooke, being 
 landed, the town was taken possession of 
 with little opposition. The next day, 1,000 
 men in barges were sent up on what proved 
 to be an unsuccessful errand. The capture of 
 the corvette John Adams, the defence and de 
 struction of which, to prevent her falling 
 into the hands of the enemy, has been 
 stated in a previous chapter. The next 
 object of attack was the town of Machias, 
 situated on Machias Bay. The British 
 force arrived off this place on the 9th of 
 September, which surrendered without re 
 sistance. Preparations were then made to 
 advance into the interior ; but this was 
 checked by a voluntary offer of submission, 
 made by Brigadier- general Breneer, on be 
 half of the militia of the district ; who pledged 
 himself that they should not serve against 
 his Britannic majesty during the war. 
 This proposition was acceded to by the 
 principal inhabitants ; and the entire terri 
 tory thus passed under the British do 
 minion, without even a show of resistance, 
 and continued in that position during the 
 remainder of the war, without any effort, 
 on the part of Massachusetts, to recover it. 
 
 During the early portion of 1814, the 
 operations of the British squadron in the 
 Chesapeake were not of a nature to call 
 forth minute detail. Early in June, several 
 skirmishes took place between a flotilla of 
 gun-boats and smaller vessels, commanded by 
 Commodore Barney, and the British vessels 
 of war, under the command of Admiral 
 Cockburn ; but, not being able to cope with 
 the British, Barney took refuge in the 
 Patuxent, and was there blockaded. 
 384 
 
 Apprehensions began to be entertained, 
 near the close of June, that the enemy had 
 in view some more serious point of attack 
 than had hitherto occupied their atten 
 tion. Baltimore or Washington being 
 thought the point aimed at, a new military 
 district, comprising those cities, was created, 
 and placed under the command of General 
 Winder, an officer who had been taken 
 prisoner by the British at Stony Creek, and 
 who had recently been exchanged. The 
 duties assigned him were of an exceedinglv 
 arduous and difficult nature, and among the 
 most important intrusted to any one during 
 the war. The army with which he was 
 to defend the cities of Baltimore and Wash 
 ington had yet to be raised ; and whether 
 it could be brought into service, was a 
 question beyond his ability to answer. On 
 the 4th of July, a requisition was made on 
 the district of Columbia, Maryland, Penn 
 sylvania, and Virginia, for 15,000 men, of 
 whom 10,000, it was believed, would not 
 fail to take the field. About 1,000 regulars 
 could also be depended on ; besides a 
 squadron of horse, then in Pennsylvania, 
 and additional regulars ordered from North 
 Carolina. With the exception of the re 
 gulars, however, the men of which this 
 army was to be composed, were yet at their 
 1 respective homes ; and the labour of collect- 
 | ing, embodying, arming, and disciplining 
 them, was still to be performed. In the very 
 first step that of collecting the forces 
 unexpected difficulties occurred. The 
 governor of Maryland, after issuing drafts 
 for 3,000 men only one-half of her ex 
 pected quota found that scarcely as many 
 hundreds could be collected. In Pennsyl 
 vania it was still worse : the governor in 
 formed the secretary of war, that the execu 
 tive of that state had, at that moment, no 
 power to enforce a draft ; but that he would 
 appeal to the patriotism of the people, in 
 the hope that they would voluntarily sub 
 mit to it. By the 1st of August, General 
 Winder had 1,000 regulars, and about 
 4,000 militia, of whom but a small portion 
 were yet embodied. On the failure of the 
 Maryland draft, the force then embodied 
 at Annapolis, was taken as a part of tho 
 j state requisition. General Stansbury s 
 | brigade of Maryland militia was also placed 
 ! at the disposal of General Winder. These 
 were the means with which the disciplined 
 veteran troops of England were to be re 
 sisted. 
 
 On the 14th of August, reinforcements 
 
,A.D. 1514.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF BLADENSBURO. 
 
 to the British fleet, under Admiral Coch- 
 rane, arrived in the Chesapeake ; and, on 
 the 17th, were joined by a squadron, under 
 Admiral Malcolm, with several thousand 
 troops on board, under command of General 
 Ross, an officer who had served under Wel 
 lington. To keep the Americans ill igno 
 rance as to the destination of the expedition, 
 the enemy divided his force into three parts. 
 One, und*er Captain Gordon, was sent up 
 the Potomac to bombard Fort Washington, 
 situated about fourteen miles below Wash 
 ington, thus opening the way to that city ; 
 and mother, under Captain Parker, of the 
 MencLuus frigate, sailed up the Chesapeake 
 to threaten Baltimore ; while the main body 
 ascended the Patuxent, apparently with the 
 design of destroying Barney s flotilla, which, 
 it hiij been remarked, had taken refuge at 
 the head of that river, but with the real in 
 tention, as it was soon ascertained, of at 
 tacking Washington. For this purpose, the 
 troops, to the number of 4,500, were lauded 
 at Benedict, on the west bank of the Pa 
 tuxent, at the head of frigate navigation, on 
 the 19th and 20th of August. On the 21st, 
 pursuing the course of the river, the troops 
 moved to Nottingham, and on the 22nd to 
 Upper Marlborough ; a flotilla, consisting 
 of barges and launches, under Admiral 
 Cockburn, ascending the river with them. 
 The next day, the flotilla of Commodore 
 Barney, in obedience to orders to that 
 effect, was, on the approach of the British, 
 set on fire and blown up, by men left for 
 that purpose ; Barney, with the main body 
 of his seamen and marines, having already 
 joined the forces under General Winder. 
 One boat only, in which the attempt to fire 
 her did not succeed, fell into the hands of 
 the British. 
 
 At the time of the enemy s landing, Gen 
 eral Winchester had collected about 3,000 
 men, one half of whom were militia or vol 
 unteers of the district of Columbia, and had 
 taken post at. the wood-yards, about fourteen 
 miles irora Washington. On the advance 
 of the British to Marlborough, he fell back 
 to a position which covered Bladensburg, 
 about eight miles from Marlborough, and 
 about the same distance from Washington. 
 
 On the evening of the 23rd, the British 
 advanced to within three miles of General 
 Winder s encampment ; and the latter, ap 
 prehensive of an attack during the night, 
 retired upon Washington, intending to 
 select a position between it and Bladens 
 burg, where he might oppose the enemy 
 
 with his entire force. The reinforcements 
 from Baltimore, under General Stansburv, 
 to the number of about 2,100 men, with 
 two companies of artillery, arrived, after a 
 fatiguing march, on the same night at 
 Bladensburg, intelligence of which was 
 immediately dispatched to General Winder. 
 On the receipt of the information of General 
 Winder s retreat, General Stansburv, on 
 consultation with his officers, determined to 
 move towards the city. Before daylight, 
 on the 24th, he broke up his encampment, 
 and crossed the bridge over the eastern 
 branch of the Potomac, and, after securing 
 his rear, halted for a few hours. Again 
 moving forward, he was met with an order 
 from General Winder to retrace his steps to 
 Bladensburg, and there to give battle to the 
 enemy. Although exhausted by fatigue 
 and the heat of the season, he obeyed. On 
 his march he was met by Colonel Monroe, 
 secretary of state, who had been scouring 
 the adjacent country for volunteers. He 
 proposed to Stansbury to make a movement 
 in order to get in the enemy s rear ; but the 
 general, being under orders to the con 
 trary, did not feel at liberty to follow this 
 judicious counsel. He therefore continued 
 his march, and took up a position in a field 
 on the left of the road from Washington, 
 placing his artillery, which consisted of six 
 6- pounders, under the command of Captains 
 Myers and Magrada, behind a breastwork, 
 near the bridge ; and Major Pinkney s 
 riflemen were placed in ambush to the right 
 and left, so as to annoy the enemy when 
 attempting to cross the stream ; and, at the 
 same time, in conjunction with Captain 
 Doughty s company, to support the artil 
 lery. The 5th Baltimore regiment, com 
 manded by Colonel Sterrett, was drawn up 
 about fifty yards in the rear. The other 
 portions of the brigade were also so dis 
 posed as to support the artillery, and annoy 
 the enemy on his approach. Lieutenant- 
 colonel Beale arrived soon after, with about 
 800 men, from Annapolis, and was posted 
 higher up, in a wood, to the right of the 
 road. 
 
 General Winder having, by this time, 
 brought up his main body, it was formed 
 in the rear of Stansbury s brigade, and in 
 a line with Beale s detachment; while the 
 heavy artillery, under Commodore Barney, 
 was posted to the right, on an eminence 
 commanding the road. The president 
 (Mr. Madison), and members of his cubir 
 net, who had until now been present, with? 
 
AMERICANS DEFEATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 drew, and returned to Washington, as they 
 deemed it proper, not being military men 
 themselves, to leave the direction of the 
 battle to those who were. Besides, the 
 event of the day was doubtful, and they 
 had documents of importance that might 
 fall into the hands of the enemy if they 
 remained. Colonel Monroe, secretary of 
 state, remained, and rendered essential 
 service, in forming and bringing forward 
 the cavalry of General Stansbury. 
 
 The above arrangements had scarcely 
 been made, when, about noon, an advanced 
 column of the enemy, consisting of about 
 1,500 men, made its appearance on the hill 
 which overhung the stream, and moved 
 down towards the bridge of the Washington 
 road. General Ross had taken the precau 
 tion to protect his rear ; which was found 
 necessary, on account of the scattered con 
 dition of his army on march. The weather 
 was excessively hot ; the earth was parched, 
 and but little water could be found for the 
 famishing soldiers, many of whom died by 
 the way-side. The British soldiers had 
 been informed, the night before, that their 
 destination was the capital, and they 
 received the intelligence with prolonged 
 applause : they were veterans in war, and 
 each nerved himself to endure the sufferings 
 of the march, that he might participate in 
 the conquest. They were informed that 
 they had to meet only the undrilled militia, 
 collected from the neighbouring counties ; 
 and, therefore, they had no fear of a defeat. 
 The advanced column of 1,500 veterans, 
 that first appeared upon the Bladensburg 
 hills, perceived that the Americans were 
 arranged in battle array, on the right bank 
 of the small stream that ran between the 
 two armies. As the British approached 
 the bridge, the Americans discharged 
 their masked batteries, which completely 
 enfiladed the road at that place. About 
 200 of the enemy were killed and wounded 
 by the Americans first discharge of can 
 non ; and, as the slaughter seemed to be 
 so very great, the British commander 
 ordered his men to retreat from the 
 bridge, and occupy positions behind the 
 houses of Bladensburg. In the meantime 
 other troops arrived ; and then, after a 
 short pause, a large column of the British 
 rapidly advanced in face of the battery, 
 which proved unable to hold them in check, 
 and they continued to move forward, until 
 they formed a considerable body on tho 
 Washington road. They had not advanced 
 ,186 
 
 far, when the company under Captain 
 Doughty, having discharged their pieces, 
 broke and ran, in spite of the exertions of 
 Major Pinkney and their commander to 
 rally them. The major s corps of rifle 
 men began their fire too soon, but did 
 some execution. The enemy had now 
 drawn so near the artillery, that it could no 
 longer be brought to bear upon them ; and, 
 in the absence of infantry to support them, 
 the artillerymen were compelled to retire, 
 which they did, followed by Major Pinkney s 
 riflemen, and leaving one gun behind them. 
 A volunteer company of artillery now 
 opened a cross-fire upon the enemy, who 
 were advancing through an orchard, but 
 without much effect. Colonel Sterrett, with 
 the 5th Baltimore regiment, belonging to 
 General Stansbury s brigade, was now 
 directed to advance ; but he was almost 
 instantly stopped in consequence of the 
 other two regiments belonging to that 
 brigade having been thrown into confusion 
 by rockets. The latter began to give way, 
 and soon after took to flight. Colonel 
 Sterrett s regiment, however, evinced a 
 determination to make a gallant resistance ; 
 but, being outflanked by the enemy, a 
 retreat became indispensable. This, the 
 unavoidable result of a want of discipline, 
 was accomplished in a disorderly manner. 
 Thus the first line was completely routed. 
 Before this, the Baltimore artillery had 
 taken a position higher up on the hill. 
 Colonel Beale, commanding the Annapolis 
 militia on the right, had thrown forward 
 a small detachment under Colonel Kramer, 
 which, after holding its ground for some 
 time with considerable injury to the enemy, 
 retired upon the main body. The British, 
 on the retreat of this detachment, advanced 
 along the turnpike road, until, coining 
 within range of Commodore Barney s artil 
 lery, they were exposed to the fire of an 
 18-pounder, and their progress received a 
 check. They next attempted to flank the 
 I commodore s right, by passing through an 
 ! open field ; but this was prevented by the 
 ! fire of three 12-pounders, under the direc- 
 tion of Colonel Miller, of the marines, 
 the men oi* the flotilla acting as infantry. 
 For half an hour they were thus kept in 
 check, when they succeeded in. outflanking 
 the right of the bittery, and pressing 
 upon the militia of Annapolis ; the latter 
 fled, after an ineffectual fire. Commodore 
 Barney was now left, with his corps, 
 to maintain the contest alone. But the 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FLIGHT or THE AMERICANS. 
 
 enemy was no longer in front. They con 
 tinued to outflank, pushing forward a few 
 scattered sharpshooters, by which Com 
 modore Barney was wounded, and his 
 horse killed under him. By this time his 
 corps was outflanked on both sides. Two 
 of his principal officers were killed, and 
 two others wounded ; and the waggons 
 containing the ammunition had, in the 
 confusion, been driven off. His men now 
 abandoned the guns, and retreated : the 
 commodore himself, being wounded, fell, 
 exhausted by loss of blood, and was taken 
 prisoner by the enemy.* 
 
 The District militia and the regulars still 
 held their ground, having been stationed 
 in the rear of the second line, to annoy 
 the enemy and support the corps in front. 
 These were now ordered to retreat towards 
 the city. They had not proceeded far 
 when they were joined by a Virginia regi 
 ment of militia, who, though arriving the 
 evening previous, were, from the lack of 
 flints to their muskets, unable till now to 
 take the field. 
 
 Still entertaining hopes of being able to 
 rally his troops, and of making a stand 
 against the enemy between this place and 
 Washington, General Winder had ordered 
 the Baltimore artillery also to move on 
 towards the city, and presumed that Stans- 
 bury s brigade had taken that direction. 
 With this view, he rode forward to select a 
 position at which to make another struggle , 
 to save the capital of the nation. He soon I 
 learned that, instead of retreating towards 
 Washington, the brigade had scattered | 
 in other directions. His remaining force j 
 now amounted to about 2,000 well-armed 
 men ; and these were ordered forward to a 
 position about two miles from the capital. 
 After a brief halt here, they were again 
 ordered to retire to the capital, where they 
 were to await the approach of the enemy. 
 On reaching the city, General Winder was 
 met by General Armstrong, the secretary 
 of war, and Colonel Monroe, secretary of 
 state ; and, after a brief consultation, it was 
 agreed that it would be vain to attempt to 
 make a stand in Washington ; it was there 
 fore decided to rally the remaining forces 
 on the heights of Georgetown. A retreat, 
 therefore, was once more ordered. 
 
 " In anguish, and with loud execrations," 
 
 * Admiral Scott, of the royal navy, who was in 
 this engagement, has informed us that Commodore 
 Barney was found by him, to whom he surrendered. 
 He (Scott) conducted Admiral Cockburn and 
 
 says Ingersoll, " some of them in tears, the 
 city troops, with the rest, for the lust time, 
 turned their backs on the enemy, then fast 
 asleep on the parched earth, not more than 
 a cannon-shot from the capital. To desert 
 their hotnes, families, and dwellings; to 
 march degraded by their forsaken wives 
 and children, leaving all they had or 
 cherished to the mercy of an enraged 
 invader, was insupportable. Both at their 
 first order to retreat towards the capital, and 
 their last to retreat from it, and march 
 beyond the city, insubordinate protests, 
 oaths, tears, and bitter complaints broke 
 forth. To preserve order in ranks so de 
 moralised and degraded was impossible. 
 Broken, scattered, licentious, and tumul 
 tuous, they wandered along the central, 
 solitary avenue, which is the great entry of 
 Washington ; and when arrived at George 
 town, were a mere mob, from whom it was 
 preposterous to suppose that an army could 
 be organised to make a stand there. In 
 nearly as great disorder as the runagates, 
 who preceded them across the fields, with 
 out venturing into the city, the remnant of 
 disgraced freemen reached Tenlytown in 
 utter mortification ; there to be disturbed 
 and alarmed nearly all night by the con 
 flagration, as they had reason to believe, of 
 every house in Washington, whose lurid 
 flames, with the detonation from the navy- 
 yard, were the shocking sights and sounds 
 of all the surrounding country, filled with 
 fugitives of both sexes, all ages, and thou 
 sands of them men of courage, sleeping on 
 their arms. Broken, scattered, and dis 
 gusted, most wended their way to Mont 
 gomery court-house, fifteen miles from 
 Georgetown, where their unquestionably 
 brave, but ill-starred and ill-advised com 
 mander, stung with poignant sorrow, de 
 plored that he had not at Nottingham, at 
 the old fields at Bladensburg, at Washing 
 ton somewhere, if not everywhere, been 
 less scrupulous of bloodshed, and by freer 
 expenditure of that of his fellow-citizens 
 and neighbours, saved the capital of his 
 country from profanation, and its national 
 character from indelible disgrace." 
 
 The news of the defeat of the Americans 
 at Bladensburg, brought by the retreating 
 soldiery, was the signal for a general 
 abandonment of the city by the residents. 
 
 General Ross to the commodore ; who granted his 
 parole, and directed that medical and other assis 
 tance should be given him. Barney subsequently 
 acknowledged his gratitude for this treatment. 
 
 387 
 
WASHINGTON CITY TAKEN.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.n. 181-t. 
 
 The president, and some members of his 
 cabinet, narrowly escaped capture, and only 
 saved themselves by flight. Through the 
 forethought of Mr. Madison, some valuable 
 papers, and the full-length likeness of 
 Washington, that still adorns the presiden 
 tial mansion, were saved from destruction. 
 The most important documents in the 
 various departments were also preserved, 
 through the exertions of some of the 
 clerks. Even before the enemy reached 
 the city, it was abandoned to outrage and 
 plunder by knaves and ruffians, who pro 
 fited by the general distress. 
 
 General Ross, in the meantime, after 
 allowing his troops a brief period for rest 
 and refreshment, pushed on towards the 
 capital. About eight o clock in the even 
 ing, reaching an open piece of ground, 
 about two miles from the city, the troops 
 were halted, and General Ross and Admiral 
 Cockburn, attended by several officers and 
 a body-guard of about fifty men, rode slowly 
 into the now deserted city. As they ad 
 vanced, a fire of musketry was discharged 
 at them from the house of Mr. Sewell. 
 Several soldiers were killed, and others 
 wounded. The horse that General Ross 
 was riding, was also killed.* The advance 
 detachment was immediately ordered up; 
 the house from which the shots pro 
 ceeded was fired, and, with an adjoining 
 house, completely destroved. The two 
 wings of the Capitol, comprising the senate- 
 chamber and representatives hall, which 
 were the only portions finished (the main 
 
 * This is in accordance with American authori 
 ties. Hinton says " A fire of musketry was 
 opened upon them from one of the adjoining dwell 
 ings, and from the Capital. The incident nearly 
 proved fatal to General Ross, as the horse on which 
 he rode was killed. One soldier lost his life, and 
 three of the escort were wounded." The account, 
 as we have given it, is corroborated by the Rev. Mr. 
 Gleig, an eminent British wriier, whom we have 
 quoted a little farther on. Besides, they could not 
 have been fired on "from the Capitol," for the 
 simple reason that they were not within musket- 
 shot of that edifice when the occurrence took 
 place. 
 
 t No two historians agree in describing the in 
 cidents that occurred at, and immediately before, 
 the capture of Washington. We have consulted 
 with many who were present at the battle of 
 Bladensburg, and at the capital when the British 
 army entered and occupied that city. Among 
 those with whom we have consulted, was Admiral 
 Scott, of the royal navy, who belonged to the 
 British commander s staff on the occasion referred 
 to. He informed us, that as the British army 
 approached the city, a parley was repeatedly 
 sounded; but no attention was paid to the sum- 
 388 
 
 mons by the Americans ; and it was supposed that 
 the capital had been abandoned to its fate. The gen 
 eral, admiral, and their staff, accompanied by a small 
 guard, rode into the city. " We were just on the 
 point of entering the open space where the Capitol 
 stood, and abreast of a large house on our left," 
 said Admiral Scott, " when we were assailed by a 
 volley of about 300 men, who had sheltered them 
 selves in the houses on either side of us. General 
 Ross s horse was killed on the spot, and several of 
 the guard that accompanied us. After this wan 
 ton display of irritating hostility, the Americans 
 cheered, and retreated down the Capitol hill to 
 Pennsylvania Avenue, and thence to the president s 
 house, the head-quarters of the army. I WHS the 
 officer who was ordered by Admiral Cockburn to 
 break into the houses, which were barricaded at 
 the bottom. It was effected with some little diffi 
 culty; and I do most positively assert, that not a 
 single individual of the Americans was put to 
 death in the houses on the right; nor am 1 aware 
 j that any suffered at the hotel on the left. In fact, 
 ! we found no one in the houses to put to death ; 
 those who had occupied them, having retreated 
 from the back of the premises before we entered 
 them." 
 
 body of the edifice not having been then 
 erected), were doomed to a like fate; an 
 extensive and valuable congressional li 
 brary, and many important public docu 
 ments and records, being destroyed with 
 them. The presidential mansion, with the 
 buildings of the war, treasury, and state 
 departments, were also burned, with their 
 contents. In brief, every public edifice in 
 the city, with the exception of the patent 
 and post-office buildings, was destroyed. f 
 
 At the first intimation that the British 
 were entering the city, Mr. Jones, the 
 secretary of the navy, gave orders to set fire 
 to the new sloop of war, Argus, with ten 
 guns afloat; the new schooner Lynx, five 
 I barges, and two gun-boats ; also the Co 
 lumbia, a large frigate on the stocks ; all of 
 which, with a great quantity of machinery 
 and ordnance, and other stores, with the 
 buildings containing them, were destroyed. 
 The bridge across the Potomac, a noble 
 structure, was also destroyed. The loss of 
 public property amounted to a million and 
 a-half of dollars. The printing-office of 
 the National Intelligencer was also sacked, 
 its presses broken up, and its type thrown 
 into the street. Two rope-walks, near the 
 navy-yard, were also burnt. Some injury 
 was done to private houses and stores; but 
 such depredations were at once checked by 
 General Ross. 
 
 When the British entered Washington, 
 the heavens gave tokens of an impending 
 rain-storm ; and, during the night, it came 
 on in all its fury. The frequent and vivid 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PROPERTY BESTROYED. 
 
 flashes of lightning would pale, for the mo 
 ment, the brilliancy of the flames from the 
 burning buildings ; while the heavy peals of 
 thunder were singularly intermingled with 
 the noise of tumbling walls, the occasional 
 discharge of cannon, and the explosion of 
 depots of powder, as the flames from time 
 to time reached them. This was sufficiently 
 a night of terror to the panic-stricken 
 inhabitants of Washington fugitives from 
 their homes without this addition to the 
 scene. But its effects were not lost, as will 
 be seen, upon the invaders. On the after 
 noon of the succeeding day, another storm 
 came on, more violent, if possible, than that 
 of the previous night. Again, for two 
 hours, the rain poured down in torrents, 
 the lightning flashed, and the deep-voiced 
 thunder rolled through the heavens ; while 
 chimneys were .blown down, houses un 
 roofed, and large trees uprooted by the 
 violence of the accompanying gale. Such 
 storms are common to Washington, but 
 they were an unpleasant novelty to its pre 
 sent unwelcome visitors, and undoubtedly 
 hastened their departure. That evening 
 they evacuated Washington, leaving be 
 hind a number of their wounded, under the 
 care of Commodore Barney, and the other 
 prisoners, who were released upon their 
 parole for this purpose. They met with 
 some of their ships at Nottingham ; and, at 
 Benedict, the whole expedition re-embarked 
 on the 29th and 30th. 
 
 The loss of the Americans, at the battle 
 of Bladensburg, was eighty in killed and 
 wounded. The loss of the British was 
 much more severe, amounting to 249. 
 
 " There is no denying," says the Rev. George 
 R. Gleijr, "that the fall of Washington ought to 
 be attributed much more to the misconduct of the 
 Americans themselves, than to the skill or enter 
 prise of those who effected it. Had the emergency 
 been contemplated, and in a proper manner pro 
 vided against, or had the most moderate ingenuity 
 and courage been displayed in retarding the pro 
 gress of our troops, the design, if formed at all, 
 would have been either abandoned immediately, or 
 must have ended in the total destruction of the 
 invaders. ******# 
 
 " Had they left all clear, and permitted us to ad 
 vance as far as Nottingham, then broken up the 
 roads, and covered them with trees, it would have 
 been impossible for us to go a step beyond. As 
 soon as this was effected, they might have skir 
 mished with us in front, and kept our attention 
 alive with part of their troops, till the rest, ac 
 quainted as they doubtless were with every inch of 
 the country, had got into our rear, and, by a simi 
 lar mode of proceeding, cut off our retreat. Thus 
 we should have been taken in a snare, from which 
 it would have been no easy task to extricate our- 
 
 VOL. II. 3 E 
 
 selves, and might, perhaps, have been obliged in 
 the end to surrender at discretion. 
 
 " But so obvious and so natural a plan of defence 
 they chose to reject; and determining to trust all 
 to the fate of a battle, they were guilty of a 
 monstrous error again. Bladensburg ought not to 
 have been left unoccupied. The most open village, 
 if resolutely defended, will cost many men before 
 it falls ; whereas Bladensburg, being composed of 
 substantial brick houses, mizht have been main 
 tained for hours against all onr efforts. In the 
 next place, they displayed great want of military 
 knowledge in the disposition of their infantry and 
 artillery. There was not, in the whole space of 
 their position, a single point where an enemy 
 would be exposed to a cross-fire. The troops were 
 drawn up in three straight lines, like so many 
 regiments upon a gala parade; whilst the guns 
 were used as connecting links to a chain, being 
 posted in the same order, by ones and twos, at 
 every interval. 
 
 "In maintaining themselves, likewise, when at 
 tacked, they exhibited neither skill nor resolution. 
 Of the personal courage of the Americans, there 
 can be no doubt; they are, individually taken, as 
 brave a nation as any in the world. But they are 
 not soldiers ; they have not the experience nor the 
 habits of soldiers. It was the height of folly, there 
 fore, to bring them into a situation .where nothing 
 except that experience and those habits will avail; 
 and it is on this account that I repeat what I have 
 already said, that the capture of Washington was 
 more owing to the blindness of the Americans them 
 selves than to any other cause." 
 
 After detailing the incidents connected 
 with the destruction of the public build 
 ings, and other public property, Mr. Gleig 
 remarks 
 
 "All this was as it should be; and had the arm 
 of vengeance been extended no further, there would 
 not have been room given for so much as a whisper 
 of disapprobation. But, unfortunately, it did not 
 stop here ; a noble library, several printing-offices, 
 and all the national archives, were likewise com 
 mitted to the flames, which, though no doubt the 
 property of government, might better have been 
 spared. It is not, however, my intention to join 
 the outcry which was raised at the time against what 
 the Americans and their admirers were pleased to 
 term a line of conduct at once barbarous and un 
 profitable. On the contrary, I conceive that too 
 much praise cannot be given to the forbearance and 
 humanity of the British troops, who, irritated as 
 they had every right to be, spared, as far as 
 possible, all private property, neither plundering 
 nor destroying a single house in the place, except 
 that from which the general s horse had been 
 killed." 
 
 The demolition, by fire, of the govern 
 ment buildings, has been severely com 
 mented upon by the historians both of 
 America and England. It has also pro 
 duced much ill- feeling in the breasts of the 
 Americans against the British. The former 
 allege that the property destroyed was not 
 contraband ; that it was employed for the 
 useful purposes of civil government ; and 
 
 389 
 
BRITISH JUSTIFICATION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 that by no rule of war could the British 
 have legitimately destroyed the same. On 
 the other hand, the enemy has admitted 
 that the public buildings were not contra 
 band, and could not be committed to the 
 flames by any rule of war, except by de 
 cree of retaliation, as was the case with 
 the destruction of the public edifices of 
 Washington. The British alleged that the 
 Americans " had cruelly plundered the in 
 habitants of Canada, and wantonly burnt 
 the town of Newark, on a Canadian Decem 
 ber night, without any military object ; had 
 fired the public buildings in York, the 
 capital of the upper province ; had plun 
 dered the private property of the governor, 
 and had committed many other acts of 
 outrage ;" and that it was necessary to re 
 taliate, for the purpose of preventing them 
 from practising similar acts in the future. 
 The burning of Washington was regretted 
 in England, though the act received the 
 approbation of several very eminent states 
 men, who took part in the parliamentary dis 
 cussion in November, 1814. Lord Liver 
 pool, who was then prime minister, said 
 " No war was ever carried on with more 
 humanity than that displayed by the British officers 
 and troops in the war in North America. Con 
 trasted with this, the conduct of those employed 
 by the United States displayed a ferocity that 
 would have disgraced the most barbarous nations. 
 In one instance a town was, in the middle of 
 December, committed by th-m to the flames, and 
 the inhabitants thus driven from their habitations 
 into the open country, amid all the severities of a 
 Canadian winter. On another occasion, when the 
 town of York (now called Toronto), the capital of 
 Upper Canada, was occupied by the Americans, 
 they burnt the public buildings, and took posses 
 sion of the property of the governor. It was in 
 retaliation for this, that the public buildings at 
 Washington were destroyed ; and by the Americans 
 themselves, in this act of occupation of that city 
 by our troops, it had been acknowledged that the 
 greatest respect had been paid to private property. 
 He (Lord Liverpool) had seen much stronger justi. 
 fication of the conduct of our force at Washington 
 than had been published in this country." 
 
 Mr. Vansittart, the chancellor of the 
 exchequer, said 
 
 "General Ross was chosen to retaliate on the 
 Americans for the outrages they had committed on 
 the frontiers; and while he inflicted chastisement in 
 a manner to convey in the fullest sense the terror 
 of the British arms, the Americans themselves 
 could not withhold from him the meed of praiee for 
 the temper and moderation with which he executec 
 the task assigned to him. The public buildings 
 were alone destroyed, while private property was ii 
 every instance respected. Instructions had beei 
 sent out to the coast of America, to abstain from 
 further inflictions unless rendered necessary b> 
 fresh enormities an order which he was satisfiet 
 
 390 
 
 Jeneral Ross, had he lived, would have felt sincere 
 leasure in promulgating." 
 
 Mr. Ponsonby said, that 
 
 " He did not mean to say that the Americans did 
 lot deserve punishment for the outrages of which 
 hey had been guilty; but he was sorry, in one 
 ense, that the execution of that punishment should 
 lave fallen to General Ross, as there never lived a 
 nan who could have felt more pain in executing 
 uch an order, unless impelled by dire necessity, 
 n another sense he (Mr. Ponsonby) was glad 
 jreneral Ross was chosen on this occasion, because 
 believed there was no man in the British army 
 vho would have carried the order into execution 
 n a manner less injurious, or attended with less 
 nischievous consequences." 
 
 Mr. Whitbread said, that 
 
 "He fully concurred with his right honourable 
 Viend, that it was happy for humanity and the 
 credit of the empire, that the extraordinary order 
 iad been intrusted to an oflicer of so much mode- 
 ation and justice." 
 
 The British army did not enter Wash- 
 ngton, nor were the soldiers allowed 
 eave to visit the city. There were a few 
 troops who accompanied the commanders ; 
 and the whole proceedings, on that eventful 
 occasion, were under the immediate direction 
 of either Admiral Cockburn or General 
 Ross. Private property was respected, with 
 but two exceptions : one of these was the 
 house from whence was fired the musketry 
 at the commanders and their guard on en 
 tering the cif.y ; and the other was the print 
 ing-office of the National Intelligencer, a 
 newspaper which had been particularly 
 offensive in its abuse of the British. A 
 week after the invaders had abandoned the 
 city, the Intelligencer stated, in its edition 
 of the 31st of August, as follows : 
 
 " When we remarked, in the paper of yesterday, 
 that private property had in general been scrupu 
 lously respected by the enemy during his late 
 invasion, we spoke from what we believed from 
 a hasty survey. No house was half as much 
 plundered by the enemy as by the knavish wretches 
 about town, who profited by the general distress." 
 
 It is quite possible that there were a few 
 cases of plunder; but the British com 
 mander awarded full indemnification for 
 all depredations committed by his soldiers. 
 
 The Americans had been timely warned 
 of the purposes of the British to retaliate 
 for the destruction of property in Canada 
 by the American army. While lying in 
 the Patuxent, Vice- admiral Cochrane trans 
 mitted a letter to Secretary Monroe, under 
 date of August 18th, as follows : - 
 
 n Sir, Having been called upon by the gover- 
 nor-"eneral of the Canadas, to aid him in carrying 
 
AD. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ALEXANDRIA TAKEN. 
 
 into effect measures of retaliation against the in 
 habitants of tlie United States, for the wanton I 
 destruction committed by their army in Upper j 
 Canada, it has hecome imperiously my duty, con- | 
 foimahly with the nature of the governor-general s < 
 application, to issue to the nnval force under my ! 
 command, an order to destroy and lay waste such 
 towns and districts upon the coast as may be found 
 assailable. 
 
 I had hoped that this contest would have ter- : 
 initiated without my being obliged to resort to se 
 verities which are contrary to the usages of civilised 
 warfare; and, as it has been with extreme reluc 
 tance and concern that I have found myself com 
 pelled to adopt tin s system of devastation, I sl>all j 
 be equally gratified if the conduct of the executive : 
 of the United States will authorise my staying such I 
 proceedings, by making reparation to the suffering | 
 inhabitants of Upper Canada; thereby manifesting 
 that, if the destructive measures pursued by their 
 army were ever sanctioned, they will no longer be 
 permitted l)y the government." 
 
 Secretary Monroe responded to this de 
 mand on the 6th of September. The ad 
 miral was reminded of the fact that the 
 savages in the west had been employed by 
 the Biitish to massacre the inhabitants; 
 that Ilavre-de- Grace and Georgetown had 
 been burnt, ravaged, and wantonly deso- 
 solated by the naval forces of Great Britain 
 earlv in 1813 ; and, with respect to the de 
 predations in Canada, the secretary said 
 
 " The burning of the village of Newark, in Upper 
 Canada, posterior to the early outrages above enu 
 merated, was not executed on that principle. The 
 village of Newark adjoined Fort George, and its 
 destruction was justified by the officers who ordered 
 it, on the ground that it became necessary in the 
 military operations there. The act, however, was 
 disavowed by the government. The burning which 
 took place at Long 1 oint was unauthorised by the 
 government, and the conduct of the officer sub 
 jected to the investigation of a military tribunal, 
 For the burning at St. David s, committed by strag 
 glers, the officer who commanded in that quarter 
 was dismissed, without a trial, for not preventing it. 
 * * * * This government owes it to itself, to 
 the principles which it has ever held sacred, to dis 
 avow, HS justly chargeable to it, any such wanton, 
 cruel, and unjustifiable warfare." 
 
 The squadron that entered the Potomac 
 was not less successful. Fort Washington 
 was hurriedly abandoned and blown up 
 by its commander, Captain Dyson ; and no 
 other obstacle intervening, the British 
 squadron arrived off Alexandria on tbe 
 29th of August. Being entirely defence 
 less, the town was compelled to surrender, 
 Captain Gordon making his own terms. 
 All the merchandise then in the town, as 
 well as all which had been removed since 
 the 19th of August the day the squadron 
 passed the " Kettle-bottoms 3 was required 
 to be put on board the shipping at the 
 
 wharf, at the expense of the inhabitants ; 
 and, together with the shipping, including 
 some vessels which had been sunk on the 
 approach of the enemy, and the public 
 and private naval ordnance stores, to be 
 delivered up, that they might be carried off 
 by the enemy. These terms, somewhat 
 modified, were complied with ; and Captain 
 Gordon descended the river with a fleet of 
 prize- vessels, and a rich booty, and without 
 experiencing any serious injury. Some 
 demonstrations were made by Commodore 
 Rodgers and Captains Perry and Porter, 
 from batteries on the shore ; but with no 
 other result than some annoyance to the 
 squadron in passing down the river. 
 
 Sir Peter Parker, in the meantime, who 
 ascended the Chesapeake, was not so fortu 
 nate as the other officers. He landed a 
 body of 250 seamen and marines, at. 
 eleven o clock at night, on the 30th of 
 August, in the neighbourhood of Bellain, 
 on the eastern shore, with the view of sur 
 prising a party of 200 militia, encamped 
 there, under the command of Colonel Reid. 
 In this he was disappointed ; for, having 
 heard of the approach of the barges, the 
 militia were prepared to receive him. Hav 
 ing landed, Sir Peter, with his party, moved 
 forward, and, on approaching within seventy 
 yards of the Americans, was received with 
 a heavy fire. He endeavoured to press 
 forward on the centre of the line; but being 
 foiled in this, he threw himself on the flank, 
 where also he was repulsed. Being informed 
 that the ammunition was nearly exhausted, 
 Colonel Reid ordered his men to retire a 
 short distance, until the) r could procure a 
 supply. In the meantime, the British, 
 having suffered a severe loss, thought proper 
 to retire, carrying with them their wounded. 
 Among the latter was Sir Peter Parker, 
 who died from his wound soon after, much 
 beloved by his countrymen, and highly 
 respected in America. The British loss in 
 this affair was fourteen killed, and twenty- 
 seven wounded. Of the Americans, only 
 three were slightly wounded. 
 
 The most painful feelings were produced 
 throughout the United States as the capture 
 of Washington became known; and the 
 denunciations, levelled at first against tho 
 whole administration, were finally concen 
 trated on General Armstrong and General 
 Winder. The disapprobation of the former 
 was everywhere so loudly expressed, that 
 Mr. Madison, from motives of prudence, 
 I intimated to him the propriety of sus- 
 
 391 
 
BATTLE OF NORTH POINT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814 
 
 pending his functions for a, time, till the 
 irritation of the public feeling had subsided. 
 His pride would not permit hirn to do 
 this, and he therefore resigned ; and James 
 Monroe, secretary of state, acted as secretary 
 of war in his place. An examination, was 
 demanded by General Winder ; and a court 
 of inquiry, of which General Scott was pre 
 sident, acquitted him honourably. 
 
 The next object of attack, it was rightly 
 conjectured, would be the city of Baltimore ; 
 and the citizens of Philadelphia and New 
 York awaited the result with as intense an 
 anxiety, as if the fate of their own cities 
 depended upon the issue. In Baltimore, 
 however, the feelings of despondency, which 
 momentarily paralysed the people, soon 
 passed away ; and they set themselves 
 vigorously to work to put the city in a com 
 plete state of defence. A chain of palisaded 
 redoubts, connected by breastworks with 
 ditches in front, and well supplied with 
 artillery, under the command of Commo 
 dore Ptodgers, was established on the high 
 ground, to the north-east of the city, so 
 as completely to protect the town in the 
 quarter to which it was most accessible to 
 attack by land. The whole of the city 
 militia were called into the field, under 
 General Strieker, and, with a brigade of 
 Virginians, a few companies of volunteers 
 from Pennsylvania, and about 700 regulars, 
 under General Winder, formed an army oi 
 about 8,000 men, which was placed under 
 the command of Major-general Smith. The 
 approach to the city by water was defended 
 by Fort M Henry, and garrisoned by about 
 1,000 men, volunteers and regulars, under 
 General Armistead. Two batteries on the 
 Patapsco, to the right of Fort M Henry, to 
 prevent the enemy from landing during the 
 night, in the rear of the town, were manned ; 
 the one by Lieutenant Webster, with men 
 from Barney s flotilla; and the other by 
 Lieutenant Newcombe, of the Guerricre, 
 with a detachment of sailors. The former 
 was called the City Battery ; the latter, 
 Fort Covington. 
 
 The British army having re-embarked on 
 board the fleet in the Patuxent, as already 
 mentioned, Admiral Cochrane moved down 
 the river, and up the Chesapeake ; and, on 
 the llth of September, reached the mouth 
 of the Patapsco, about fourteen miles from 
 
 3altimore. According to the plan of opera- 
 ions decided on, the troops, numbering 
 
 Between three and four thousand,* were to 
 and, and proceed immediately to the attack 
 of Baltimore ; while a naval force, com 
 prising frigates, sloops of war, the Erebus, 
 rocket-ship, and five bomb- vessels, were to 
 sroceed up the Patapsco, and bombard Fort 
 M Henry and the adjacent batteries. 
 
 In anticipation of the landing of the 
 British troops, General Strieker had been 
 dispatched, at the head of 3,300 men, to 
 watch their movements, and keep them in 
 heck in their progress towards Baltimore, 
 in order to give as much time as possible 
 to perfect the measures taken for the de 
 fence of the city. A corps of light riflemen 
 and musketry, taken from the brigade of 
 General Stansbury and the Pennsylvania 
 volunteers, was detached, under Major 
 Randall, to the mouth of Bear Creek, with 
 orders to co-operate with General Strieker, 
 and to check any landing which the enemy 
 might attempt in that quarter. 
 
 On the llth of September, General 
 Strieker proceeded, with his force, on the 
 road to North Point, and, at six P.M., 
 reached a church, near the head of Bear 
 Creek, seven miles from Baltimore. Here 
 the brigade halted, except the cavalry 
 and riflemen, the former moving forward to 
 Gorsuch s farm, three miles ; and the latter 
 taking post near a blacksmith s shop, two 
 miles in advance of the encampment. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th, informa 
 tion was received from the videttes, that, 
 under cover of their gun-boats, which lay 
 off the bluff of North Point, within the 
 mouth of the Patapsco, the British were 
 lauding their troops. The baggage was 
 immediately sent back under a strong 
 guard, and the 27th and 5th regiments, 
 and the artillery, were ordered forward to 
 the head of Long-leg-lane, the 5th being 
 1 posted with its right on the head of a 
 branch of Bear Creek, and its left on the 
 main road ; the 27th on the opposite side 
 of the road, in a line with, and to the left 
 of the 5th ; and the artillery at the head 
 of the lane, in the interval between the two 
 regiments. The 51st regiment was drawn 
 up 300 paces in the rear of the 5th ; and 
 the 39th at the same interval in the rear of 
 the 27th. The 6th regiment was kept as a 
 
 * The number of British troops designed for the | Hunter says, 3,270. Between these conflicting au- 
 attack on Baltimore, is variously stated by different j thorities, the estimate above given will prouably 
 authorities. Breckenrid-je and others put it at \ cover the correct numbers. The official report 
 6,000; Willard says 5,000; Grimshaw, 4,000; and | sustains our figures. 
 392 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BRITISH DEFEATED. 
 
 reserve, within sight, at a distance of half 
 a mile in the rear. 
 
 Thus posted, General Strieker deter 
 mined to wait an attack first giving 
 orders to the 5th and 27th regiments, if 
 compelled to fall back, to retire through 
 the 51st and 39th, and form on the 
 right of the 6th, posted in reserve, as 
 already mentioned. The cavalry now came 
 in with information that the British were 
 moving rapidly up the road ; but, at 
 the moment he expected their advance to 
 be announced by the fire of the riflemen 
 stationed in the low thick pine and firs in 
 advance, the latter fell back upon the main 
 position, under an apprehension that the 
 enemy had landed on Back River to cut 
 them off. This portion of his plan having 
 been frustrated, General Strieker placed 
 the riflemen on the right of his front line, 
 and thus protected that flank. Informa 
 tion soon after being brought that a party 
 of the enemy were carousing at Gorsuch s 
 farm, a detachment, under Major Heath, 
 was sent forward to dislodge them,, The 
 detachment had proceeded but a short dis 
 tance when it came suddenly upon the 
 main body of the enemy. In the skirmish 
 which followed, several of the Americans 
 were killed and wounded, and Major Heath 
 had his horse shot under him; while Gen 
 eral Ross, who had imprudently advanced 
 too far, received a musket-ball in his right 
 breast, fell from his horse, and expired be 
 fore he could be taken to the fleet. The 
 British command then devolved on Colonel 
 Brooke, .who continued to advance. The 
 American detachment now fell back. The 
 enemy commenced throwing Congreve 
 rockets at half-past two, but with no 
 effect. Captain Montgomery s artillery 
 now opened fire upon them, which they re 
 turned with a 6-pounder and a howitzer. 
 With a view of bringing the enemy within 
 canister distance, General Strieker ordered 
 the fire to cease on the American side. Ob 
 serving that the enemy s efforts were di 
 rected against his left, he now ordered up 
 the 39th regiment into line with, and on 
 the left of, the 27th. Two pieces of artil 
 lery were ordered to the left of the 39th; 
 while the 51st regiment was directed to 
 form at right angles with the line, with its 
 right resting on the left of the 39th. 
 
 The right column of the British now 
 advanced upon the 27th and 39th regi 
 ments. At this juncture, the 51st regi 
 ment, in a sudden panic, broke and re 
 
 treated in confusion, creating the same 
 disorder in the 2nd battalion of the 
 39th. The American fire now became 
 general from right to left, while the ar 
 tillery poured an incessant and deadly 
 fire upon the left column of the enemy. 
 The latter endeavoured to seek shelter 
 behind a log-house, which soon after burst 
 into a blaze, having been set on fire by the 
 Americans. The British line came on 
 with a rapid discharge of musketry, which 
 was well returned by the 5th and 27th 
 regiments, and the 1st battalion of the 
 39th regiment. For half-an-hour the fire 
 was incessant. Finding, however, that 
 the contest could be maintained no longer, 
 and that the enemy were about to outflank 
 him, General Strieker was compelled to 
 retire upon his reserve a movement which 
 he effected in good order. Here he formed 
 his brigade, and, falling back, took post 
 half a mile in advance of the intrench- 
 ments for the defence of the city. At this 
 point he was joined by General Winder, 
 who was ordered, with the Virginia brigade 
 and the United States dragoons, to take 
 post on the left of General Strieker. The 
 British encamped for the night on the 
 ground where the battle had been fought. 
 
 The next morning, September the 12th, 
 the enemy appeared in front of the Ameri 
 can position ; but, finding it too strong for 
 a direct attack, he manoeuvred to the right, 
 apparently intending to take a circuitous 
 route. A portion of the American force 
 was then disposed so as to counteract this 
 design ; and, shortly afterwards, the British 
 commander concentrated his troops, and 
 manifested an intention to assault the lines 
 in the course of the night. At daylight 
 the next morning, however, it was dis 
 covered that he had disappeared. A party 
 was immediately detached in pursuit; but 
 so exhausted were the troops with continued 
 watching, having been under arms during 
 three days and nights, exposed a good 
 portion of the time to inclement weather, 
 that it was found impossible to do anything 
 more than pick up a few stragglers. The 
 time, also, which had elapsed since the 
 commencement of their retreat, had given 
 them ample opportunity to protect their 
 embarkation in such a way as to secure 
 their rear. 
 
 While these events were occurring on. 
 land, a formidable attack was made on 
 Fort M Henry, which commands the ap 
 proach to Baltimore. At sunrise on the 
 
 393 
 
ARMIES IN THE SOUTH.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 13th, the bombardment commenced, and 
 was continued until seven in the morning 
 of the 14th, when the British admiral, 
 finding a greater resistance than he ex 
 pected, withdrew his ships, after suffering 
 considerable loss ; and, having taken on 
 board the land forces on the evening of 
 that day, the next morning the British 
 fleet descended the bay. 
 
 In the engagement at North Point, 
 thirty-nine of the British were killed, and 
 259 wounded. Of the Americans, twenty- 
 four were killed, 139 wounded, and about 
 100 taken prisoners. In the bombardment 
 of Fort M Henry, four Americans were 
 killed, and twenty-four wounded. 
 
 Admiral Cochrane, after the failure of 
 the attempt on Baltimore, returned with 
 all his fleet and land forces to Bermuda, 
 with the view of awaiting reinforcements 
 from England. 
 
 Another series of events, occurring at the 
 extreme south, remains to be recorded ; and 
 the history of active operations of the war 
 will be brought to a close. After con 
 cluding the treaty with the Creeks, as 
 mentioned in a former chapter, General 
 Jackson, now a major-general in the regular 
 army, and commander of the south-western 
 military district of the United States, had 
 transferred his head-quarters to Mobile. 
 He there received information that three 
 British ships of war had arrived at Pen- 
 sacola, in West Florida, then belonging to 
 Spain, with whom the United States were 
 at peace, and had landed about 300 men, 
 under Colonel Nicholls, together with a 
 large quantity of guns and ammunition, 
 with which to arm the Indians, with the 
 design of making an assault upon Fort 
 Bowyer a battery mounting twenty guns, 
 which had been erected on a tongue of 
 land, known as Mobile Point, thirty miles 
 south of the city of Mobile, and which com 
 manded the entrance to Mobile Bay. He 
 also learned that the British contemplated 
 an invasion, with a large force of some of 
 the southern states. With his character 
 istic promptitude, he made a call on 
 the governor of Tennessee fcr the quota 
 of militia of that state, agreeably to the 
 requisition of the war department of the 
 preceding July, amounting to 2,500 men. 
 He received a prompt answer; and, in a 
 short time, not only the state s quota, but 
 additional volunteers from Tennessee and 
 Kentucky, swelled his numbers to several 
 thousand. 
 
 394 
 
 A proclamation was issued by Colonel 
 Nicholls, addressed to the inhabitants of 
 Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in 
 viting them to return to their allegiance to 
 the British government, and help to restore 
 the country to its rightful owners. This 
 proclamation had no other effect than to 
 betray the weakness and ignorance of its 
 author. 
 
 The islands of Barataria, situated in the 
 Gulf of Mexico, west of the mouth of the 
 Mississippi river, had become the resort of 
 a horde of smugglers and pirates, who, by 
 their bold and daring achievements on sea 
 and shore, the rapidity and secrecy with 
 which they moved now appearing sud 
 denly, and accomplishing some unexpected 
 deed of robbery or murder; and then as sud 
 denly disappearing ; and thus constantly 
 eluding capture kept the community in a 
 constant state of apprehension. They num 
 bered some five r six hundred. Lafitte, 
 their chief, was cuiining and courageous; 
 and, though unprincipled, had some redeem 
 ing traits. Though claiming to sail under 
 the Carthaginian flag, as a privateer, they 
 were simply pirates at sea, and robbers 
 and outlaws on land. The Americans had 
 endeavoured to root them out, and had 
 offered a large reward for the apprehension 
 of Lafitte. 
 
 To carry out his plans, Colonel Nicholls, 
 disclosing to Lafitte that a powerful attempt 
 was to be made on New Orleans, offered 
 him a large reward, if, by his knowledge 
 of the passes, he would aid the British in 
 their approach to attack the city. Lafitte, 
 at first, seemed to enter cordially into the 
 plan submitted ; and having drawn from 
 Nicholls important information, rejected 
 his propositions with disdain, and imme 
 diately disclosed the communication made 
 to him by Nicholls, to Mr. Claiborne, the 
 governor of Louisiana. Struck by this act 
 of an outlaw, in favour of a country which 
 had set a price on his head, and appreciating 
 the value of the services that might be 
 rendered by the Baratarians in the crisis 
 which was approaching, Governor Clai 
 borne, by a proclamation, promised to ob 
 tain a pardon for the whole band, if they 
 would come forward and render their ser 
 vices in defence of the country. The pro 
 position was accepted by them, and they 
 were subsequently found among the bravest 
 defenders of New Orleans. 
 
 The three British vessels at Pensacola 
 the Hermes of twenty-two guns, the Carrier 
 
A.I). 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PENSACOLA TAKEN. 
 
 of twenty guns, and the Sophia of eighteen 
 guns, were joined by the C/tilders of eigh 
 teen guns ; and having taken the troops on 
 board, sailed thence on the 12th of Sep 
 tember, and appeared, on the 15th, off 
 Mobile Point. The naval force was com 
 manded by Captain Percy; the land troops, 
 consisting of 110 marines, 200 disaffected 
 Creeks, headed by Captain Woodbine, and 
 twenty artillerymen, with a battery of one 
 12-pounder and a howitzer, were under the 
 command of Nicholls. At four o clock in 
 the afternoon of the day last mentioned, 
 the troops having been landed, the attack 
 commenced by a bombardment from the 
 vessels, and a cannonade from the two 
 pieces of artillery, which had been in the 
 rear of, and at a small distance from the 
 fort. Fort Bowyer was commanded by 
 Major Lawrence, of the 2nd regiment of 
 infantry, with 120 men. With this force 
 he soon succeeded in driving the assailants 
 from their positions on shore, by rapid 
 discharges of grape and canister; and, after 
 a cannonade of three hours, compelled the 
 vessels to retire, with a loss of 162 killed, 
 and seventy wounded. Captain Percy s 
 ship, the Hermes, had her cable cut, and 
 was, consequently, borne away by the 
 current, so ttiat she presented her head to 
 the American battery, from which a raking 
 fire was opened upon her, which swept, fore 
 and aft, almost everything from her deck. 
 In a short time she grounded ; and her com 
 mander, after removing his wounded, was 
 obliged to set her on fire. The other vessels 
 returned to Pensacola to repair damages, 
 while the troops retreated to the same place 
 by land. They were again welcomed by 
 the governor, in violation of the treaty 
 between Spain and the United States. 
 
 General Jackson, having in vain remon 
 strated with the governor of Pensacola on 
 his violation of treaty obligations, had 
 urged upon the United States the propriety 
 of taking possession of that port during 
 the war. Not having received an answer, 
 he determined to wait no longer for 
 authority from the American government, 
 but to take the responsibility of the mea 
 sure upon himself. He accordingly marched 
 from Mobile, at the head of nearly 2,000 
 men, and arrived in the vicinity of Pensa 
 cola on the 6th of November. He sent 
 Major Pierce, with a flag, to the governor, 
 for the purpose of conference; but his 
 messenger was fired upon from the fort, 
 and obliged to return without being able to 
 
 communicate the object of his mission. 
 General Jackson then made a reconnais 
 sance of the fort; and finding it defended 
 by both British and Spaniards, made ar 
 rangements for storming the place the fol 
 lowing morning. His troops were en 
 camped to the west of the town during 
 the night, and were put in motion at day 
 break. In order to deceive the enemy as 
 to the intended point of attack, General 
 Jackson caused a portion of the mounted 
 men to show themselves on the west, while 
 he passed, undiscovered, with the main 
 body of his troops in the rear, to the east 
 side of the town, towards which he firmly 
 advanced in three columns. Entering the 
 town by the principal street, a battery of 
 two cannon opened fire, with ball and grape, 
 upon the central column, which was in ad 
 vance, and composed of regular infantry; 
 and a shower of musketry was poured upon 
 them from the houses and gardens. The 
 battery was immediately carried by the 
 Americans at the point of the bayonet, and 
 the musketry was soon silenced. The 
 governor now made his appearance with a | 
 flag, and surrendered the town and fort 
 unconditionally. The British troops, after 
 destroying the fort at the entrance of the 
 harbour, with their shipping, evacuated 
 the bay. 
 
 Apprehending no further annoyance 
 from this quarter, General Jackson re 
 stored the place to the possession of the 
 Spaniards, and, on the 9th, set out on las 
 return to Mobile. 
 
 As early as ihe 1st of September, the 
 leading citizens of Louisiana had well- 
 grounded apprehensions that the British 
 were about to invade their state with a 
 powerful force. The governor, William C. 
 C. Claiborne, ordered the two divisions of 
 militia of the state to hold themselves in 
 readiness to march at a moment s notice. 
 A proclamation was also put forth by him, 
 calling on the inhabitants to turn out en 
 masse, for the defence of their country and 
 their homes. Only a few years had passed 
 since this portion of the country had been 
 purchased by the United States, of France ; 
 and therefore the people did not, nor could 
 they be expected to feel that amor patrice 
 which was cherished by the people of the 
 older states. New Orleans, also, their 
 principal city, being assailable from so 
 many points, it was difficult to secure it in 
 all. Far, however, from being discouraged 
 by difficulties, the emergency served to 
 
 395 
 
DEFENCE OF NEW ORLEANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.B. 1814. 
 
 stimulate them to greater efforts to protect 
 their city from the menaced invasion. Ed 
 ward Livingston, afterwards so distin 
 guished as a criminal jurist, at a meeting of 
 citizens, convened on the 16th of September, 
 to devise measures in co-operation with the 
 civil authorities, for the defence of the city, 
 made an eloquent appeal, calling on the 
 inhabitants to prove the assertion a slander, 
 that they were not attached to the Ameri 
 can government ; and proposed a spirited 
 resolution, repelling, in unequivocal terms, 
 the calumnious insinuation against their 
 patriotism. This resolution was adopted 
 by the meeting without a dissentient voice ; 
 and, when made public, was received with 
 universal demonstrations of approbation. 
 The pride and patriotism of the people 
 being aroused, volunteer corps were immedi 
 ately organised and drilled. 
 
 The free negroes of the city, who formed 
 no small portion of the population, were per 
 mitted to form volunteer companies. The 
 larger portion of this class were refugees 
 from the island of St. Domingo, though 
 some of them were natives. The dissensions 
 between the inhabitants of American and 
 of French descent, were healed by a union 
 against the common enemy, and a deter 
 mination to frustrate his designs. 
 
 It has been stated, in the preceding part 
 of this chapter, that Admiral Cochrane, after 
 the unsuccessful expedition against Balti 
 more, had retired to Bermuda to await re 
 inforcements. Information reached Gen 
 eral Jackson, soon after his return from 
 Pensacola, that the admiral, having been 
 reinforced with fresh troops from England, 
 was advancing, with thirteen ships of the 
 line, and transports, bearing an army of 
 10,000 men, for the invasion of some point 
 on the southern coast. Feeling assured, 
 from previous advices, that their destina 
 tion was New Orleans, he marched for 
 that place, arriving there on the 2nd or 3rd 
 of December. His presence was instantly 
 felt in the confidence which it inspired, and 
 the alacrity and unanimity with which the 
 people approved every disposition and 
 measure which he directed. Believing 
 that he would preserve them in safety, or 
 
 * Tliis was but five or six days subse 
 quently to the arrival of General Jackson at New 
 Orleans. The fleet of Admiral Cochrane, with 
 the troops of Pakenham on board, was ready to 
 sail, except tbat he was ordered to await the 
 arrival of a squadron with reinforcements from 
 England, under Captain Floyd. Tnis squadron, as 
 we have seen in a previous page, was delayed 
 
 396 
 
 lead them to victory, they put all their 
 means, physical and pecuniary, at his dis 
 posal. With a firm and unwavering step, 
 confident in his own energies, he took the 
 responsible position assigned him. In 
 person he visited all the points at which 
 defensive works were required. The bayous, 
 or inlets, from the Chef Menteur pass, or 
 channel, to the Atchafalaya river, were 
 ordered to be obstructed. The banks of 
 the Mississippi were so fortified as to pre 
 vent any of the enemy s vessels from pass 
 ing up. A battery was planted on the 
 Chef Menteur, so as to check his passage in 
 that direction. 
 
 The general assembly, then in session, 
 was called on by him to furnish the means 
 for expediting the different works which he 
 had marked out requisitions which were 
 promptly answered. The motley popula 
 tion of New Orleans, Americans, Spaniards, 
 Frenchmen, free negroes, and slaves all 
 were immediately set to work, in alternate 
 divisions, night and day. The Tennessee 
 militia, under Generals Coffee and Carroll, 
 together with about 1,000 regulars, which 
 were stationed at New Orleans, were dis 
 tributed at the most vulnerable points. 
 Military supplies, in anticipation of the 
 approaching danger, had been forwarded 
 by the Ohio river ; and the states of Ken 
 tucky and Tennessee were called on for a 
 considerable force, to be sent to New Or 
 leans with the utmost expedition. 
 
 On the 7th of December, Commodore 
 Patterson, then commanding the American 
 naval forces at New Orleans, received 
 a communication from Pensacola, dated 
 the 5th of that month, which announced 
 that a British squadron, of sixty sail, on 
 which a large army was embarked, was on 
 its way to New Orleans. On the 8th, 
 Admiral Cochrane, with a portion of the 
 fleet, anchored off the Chandeleur islands, 
 at the entrance of Lake Borgne.* By the 
 j 12th, the remainder of the men-of-war and 
 ; transports arrived at the same place, where 
 the ships of the line cast anchor ; while the 
 frigates and smaller vessels did the same 
 between Cat Island and the main, at a 
 little distance from Lake Borgne. 
 
 some ten days at Fayal, in an attempt to capture the 
 privateer General Armstrong. Had it not been for 
 this detention, the fleet of Cochrane would probably 
 have arrived off the mouth of the Mississippi pre- 
 
 ! vious to General Jackson s reaching New Orleans; 
 
 : and as, at that time, no adequate measures had 
 
 ! been taken for its defence, the result, in ull proba- 
 
 j bility, would have been its capture. 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MARTIAL L\W. 
 
 The British commander had made him 
 self thoroughly acquainted with the topog 
 raphy of the coast; and having ascertained 
 that the routes through Lakes Borgne and 
 Pontchartrain would be the most ready 
 way of access to the city, he resolved to 
 lose no time, but to push on at once to the 
 object of the expedition. But an unex 
 pected difficulty presented itself. When 
 information was first conveyed to Commo 
 dore Patterson, of the approach of the 
 British fleet, he at once dispatched a flotilla 
 of five gun-boats, under the command of 
 Lieutenant Thomas Ap. Catesby Jones, to 
 watch the motions of the enemy. They 
 were discovered in such force at the 
 entrance of Lake Borgne, that Lieutenant 
 Jones determined to make sail for the 
 passes into Lake Pontchartrain, in order 
 there to oppose the entrance of the British 
 into the latter lake. The armed sloop 
 Seahorse, sailing-master Johnson, attempted 
 to join the gun- boat flotilla, but was cap 
 tured by the English, in the bay of St. 
 Louis, after a gallant resistance. On the 
 14th, the gun-boats, while becalmed, were 
 attacked by forty-two barges, carrying 980 
 men ; and, after a spirited defence of an 
 hour, were compelled to surrender. The 
 loss of the British, in this affair, was seven 
 teen killed, and seventy-seven wounded ; 
 that of the Americans was about forty 
 in killed and wounded. The loss of the 
 flotilla, which had been considered adequate 
 to defend the passes into Lake Pontchar 
 train, increased the danger which now 
 threatened New Orleans. It gave the 
 enemy the means of choosing his point of 
 attack, and, at the same time, in a great 
 measure, deprived the Americans of the 
 means of watching his motions. General 
 Jackson, however, was the man for this 
 critical state of affairs. He ordered the 
 battalion of free negroes, under Major La- 
 coste, and the Feliceana dragoons, to take a 
 position on the Chef Menteur, and cover 
 the Gentilly road, leading thence to the 
 city, and also to defend the passage con 
 necting Lake Borgne with Lake Pont- 
 chartrain ; while the commander of the 
 fort at the Rigolets the second and only 
 other channel between those lakes was 
 ordered to defend that position to the last 
 extremity. A second battalion of the free 
 negroes was formed, and placed under the 
 command of Major Daquin. The schooner 
 Caroline, and the brig Louisiana, were 
 manned through the inducements of boun- 
 
 VOL. 11. 3 F 
 
 ties ; and thus the places of the sailors 
 belonging to the gun-boat flotilla, captured 
 by the British, were filled. The battalion 
 of Major Planche, with a company of light 
 artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Wagner, 
 was ordered to Fort St. John, for the pro 
 tection of the bayous of that name, through 
 which access could be gained from Lake 
 Pontchartrain to the city, or across to the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 There being good reasons for the belief 
 that there were traitors in the city, who 
 conveyed information to the enemy, an 
 embargo for a limited period was decreed 
 by the general assembly. The prisons 
 were disgorged, on the condition that their 
 inmates should perform service in the 
 ranks, where Lafitte and the Baratarians 
 were already engaged. To hold under 
 control, and properly direct such a mass, 
 the commander-in-chief felt convinced that 
 the strong arm of military rule would 
 alone be effectual. He therefore took the 
 responsibility of declaring martial law. 
 
 Most of the bayous and canals leading 
 to the city had been obstructed, or guarded 
 with care. One, however, called the Bayou 
 Bienvenue, connected with Lake Borgne, 
 and having its head near the plantation of 
 General Viiliere, seven miles below the 
 city, was unfortunately left open and un 
 defended, except by a picket guard. On 
 the 22nd, guided by some Spanish fisher 
 men, whose cabins were near this pass, a 
 division of the enemy, under General 
 Keane, which had been transported thither 
 in boats, came suddenly upon the picket 
 guard, and took them prisoners. They 
 reached the commencement of Villiere s 
 canal, near the head of the bayou, about 
 four o clock on the morning of the 23rd. 
 Disembarking, and resting here for a 
 while, they again went on, and reached 
 the bank of the Mississippi about two 
 o clock in the afternoon. The house of 
 General Viiliere, and that of his neigh 
 bour, Colonel La Ronde, were immediately 
 surrounded ; but the colonel, as well as 
 the general, succeeded in eluding the 
 enemy, and, hastening to head- quarters, 
 communicated intelligence of the approach 
 of the British. General Jackson, who 
 had been joined the preceding day by 
 4,000 Tennessee militia, resolved on imme 
 diately attacking them. In an hour, the 
 riflemen of General Coffee, stationed above 
 the city, were at the place of rendez- 
 Mnjor Planche s battalion had 
 397 
 
 vous. 
 
THE BREASTWORK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1815. 
 
 arrived from the bayou, and the city 
 volunteers and regulars were prepared to 
 move. By six o clock in the evening, 
 they were all united at Rodrigue s canal, 
 about six. miles below the city, and about a 
 mile from where the British force lay. 
 The Tennessee and city rnilitia were left to 
 guard the Gentilly road. The schooner, 
 Caroline, of fourteen guns, commanded by 
 Captain Henley, bearing the broad pennant 
 of Commodore Patterson, at the same time 
 dropped down the river ; and the Louisiana, 
 Lieutenant Commandant Thompson, was 
 ordered to follow. The troops of Gen 
 eral Coffee, and Captain Beale s riflemen, 
 were stationed on the extreme left, towards 
 a wood ; the colonial battalions, under 
 D.iquin, and the city volunteers, under 
 Planche, both under the command of 
 Colonel Ross, were stationed in the centre ; 
 the 7th and 44th regiments of regulars 
 were placed on the right ; and Colonel 
 M Rea, with the artillery and marines, 
 occupied the wood. The whole force 
 amounted to about 2,000 men. The Bri 
 tish troops, numbering about 2,000, on 
 their reaching the banks of the Mississippi, 
 instead of pushing directly towards the 
 city, had encamped, with their right rest 
 ing on the wood, and their loft on the 
 Mississippi, in the overweening assurance 
 that the most laborious part of their enter 
 prise was already accomplished. 
 
 General Coffee was directed to turn 
 their right, and attack them in the rear; 
 while General Jackson, in person, with the 
 main body of his forces, attacked them in 
 front, and on their left. A fire from the 
 Caroline was to be the signal of attack. 
 About half-past seven, night having already 
 set in, the action was initiated by a raking 
 broadside from the schooner, to which the 
 light of the enemy s fires gave direction ; 
 the broadside giving the latter the first 
 intimation of the presence of the Ameri- 
 
 * Singular as it may appear, there has been 
 much controversy, and a contrariety of opinion, 
 on a subject where the testimony of still living 
 witnesses ought to he decisive. While, on the one 
 hand, the impression has very generally prevailed, 
 that Jackson s defensive lines, before New Orleans, 
 were composed entirely of cotton bales; there are, 
 on the other hand, those who contend that cotton 
 was not used at all. As is most generally the cas 
 in controversies which agitate mankind, the truth 
 lies between the two opinions. About twenty 
 years ago, we visited the battle-field in company 
 with a friend who had been in thsit engagement; 
 and from him we learned, that the first 400 yards 
 of the breastwork from the Mississippi river, above 
 
 cans. The troops of General Coffee now 
 rushed impetuously to the attack, and 
 entered the British camp ; while the troops 
 on the right, and those in front, under the 
 immediate command of General Jackson, 
 pushed forward with equal ardour. The 
 British were completely surprised ; and 
 although they soon extinguished their 
 fires, and formed in line of battle, order 
 was not restored till they had suffered 
 severe loss. A thick fog now coming on, 
 and a misunderstanding of instructions by 
 one of the principal officers producing some 
 confusion in the American ranks, Jackson 
 deemed it prudent to withdraw his army. 
 Accordingly, he retreated to a narrow 
 plain, about five miles distant from New 
 Orleans, and on the road to that city, 
 which was flanked on the right by the 
 Mississippi, and on the left by an almost 
 impregnable cypress swamp ; while an old 
 mill-race, or ditch, extending from the 
 river to the swamp, ran along his front. 
 The loss of the British in this engagement, 
 as reported by General Keane, in killed, 
 wounded, and missing, was over 300 ; that 
 of the Americans was 213. 
 
 General Jackson s intention was, after 
 resting his troops here overnight, to march 
 out and renew the engagement in the 
 morning ; but, on further reflection, he 
 determined to act entirely on the defen 
 sive. He therefore immediately com 
 menced fortifying his position. Such con 
 tradictory and erroneous impressions pre 
 vail as to the character of Jackson s 
 defences, and the materials which entered 
 into their formation,* that we give the de 
 scription of them from the pen of Latour 
 (the chief engineer in their construction), in 
 his own words : 
 
 "Jackson s lines, within five miles of 
 the city of New Orleans, and running 
 along the limits of Rodrigue s and Chol- 
 mette s plantations, were but one of those 
 
 and immediately on the margin of the ditch, 
 was constructed of cotton bales; and it was against 
 this part that the enemy s artillery was directed. A 
 few bales were also us^d in the marshy places in 
 different parts of the line, where earth could not be 
 firmly laid. The cotton warehouses were but a 
 short distance above the battle-field, and some of 
 the bales were taken from store ; but the most of 
 them were found in barges and fiat boats, lying 
 along the banks of the river, near to the ware 
 houses. Besides the cotton, several rafts of timber 
 were used. With thesj materials, the line of de 
 fence was constructed within a few hours, and 
 served as well as though it had been made of 
 granite. 
 
A.D. 
 
 18R] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [TIIK CAROLINE DESTROYED. 
 
 ancient mill-races so common in Louisiana, 
 extending from the bank of the river to 
 the cypress swamp. From the form of the 
 soil of Lower Louisiana, shelving from the 
 river toward the swamps, when the Missis 
 sippi is swelled to its greatest height, the 
 level of the surface of its waters is some 
 feet above that of the contiguous soil, and 
 from twelve to fifteen feet above that of 
 the prairies and bayous, which, at those 
 periods, receive the waters flowing from 
 the Mississippi. To add to the mass and 
 the force of the water, the planters dig 
 canals a few feet deep, throwing the earth 
 on both sides, so as to afford a mass of 
 water from eight to eleven feet deep ; and, 
 at the head of these canals, which are com 
 monly twenty-five feet wide, are con 
 structed saw-mills. The canal on which 
 Jackson s lines were formed had long 
 been abandoned, having no longer any 
 mill to turn ; so that the banks had fallen 
 in and raised its battery, which was covered 
 with grass, possessing rather the appear 
 ance of an old draining ditch than a canal. 
 On the 24th of December, General Jackson 
 had taken up this position; and that it 
 was well chosen, will sufficiently appear on 
 an inspection of the map. * * * As 
 soon as this position was chosen, the troops 
 began to raise a parapet, leaving the ditch 
 as it was, with the exception that, by cut 
 ting the road, it was laid under water, as 
 there was then a temporary rise of the 
 river. Earth was brought from the rear 
 of the line, and thrown carelessly on the 
 left or inner bank, where the earth had 
 been thrown when the bed was originally j 
 dug. The bank on the right, or outer 
 side, being but little elevated above the | 
 soil, formed a kind of glacis. All the 
 pales of the fences in the vicinity were j 
 taken to line the parapet, and prevent the j 
 earth from falling into the canal. All this \ 
 was done at various intervals, and by dif 
 ferent corps, owing to the frequent muta 
 tions in the disposition of the troops. This 
 circumstance, added to the cold and inces 
 sant rain, rendered it impossible to observe 
 any regularity as to the thickness and j 
 height of the parapet ; which, in some places, j 
 was as much as twenty feet thick at the top, j 
 though hardly five feet high ; while, in other i 
 places, the enemy s balls went through it i 
 at the base. On the 1st of January, 1815, j 
 there was but a small portion of the line j 
 able to withstand the balls ; but on the 8th ; 
 of January, the whole extent, as far as the 
 
 wood, was proof against the enemy s cannon. 
 The length of the line was about a mile, 
 somewhat more than half of which ran 
 from the river to the wood, the remainder 
 extending into the wood, where the line 
 took a direction towards the left, which 
 rested on a cypress swamp, almost im 
 passable. Enormous holes in the soil, made 
 impassable by their being full of water 
 from the canal, rendered a bend in the line 
 unavoidable." 
 
 On the 25th of December, Major-general 
 Sir Edward Pakenham, and Major-general 
 Gibbs, with the main army and a large 
 | body of artillery, arrived at the British 
 head-quarters, and the former assumed the 
 command of the army. In the meantime, 
 the British having been greatly annoyed 
 by the Caroline and Louisiana the latter 
 having joined the former, and both being- 
 prevented from escaping up the river by 
 adverse winds they determined to destroy 
 them. A five-gun battery was constructed 
 on the shore, from which, on the morning 
 of the 27th, hot shot were thrown, by 
 which the Caroline was set on fh % e, and the 
 crew were obliged to abandon her ; and, in 
 about an hour after, she blew up. The 
 fire of the battery was next turned upon 
 the Louisiana; and she was in imminent 
 danger of sharing the fate of the Caroline. 
 She was now the only American vessel in 
 the river ; and, in losing her, the entire 
 co-operative naval force would have been 
 lost. Commodore Patterson, after the loss 
 of the Caroline, had repaired on board the 
 Louisiana, and finally succeeded in extri 
 cating her from her perilous situation, and 
 anchoring her on the right flank of the 
 American lines. 
 
 After the loss of the Caroline, her officers 
 and men volunteered to man some of the 
 guns that were mounted on the American 
 lines, of which there were twelve of dif 
 ferent calibres, judiciously disposed. Com 
 modore Patterson also erected a battery of 
 fifteen guns on the right bank of the Mis 
 sissippi, which enfiladed the whole front of 
 the position on the left bank, and which 
 was put under the direction of Captain 
 ITenley, and protected by a detachment of 
 Louisiana and Kentucky militia, under 
 General Morgan. General Jackson had 
 also caused two other lines to be constructed 
 in his rear. The nearest, at a mile and a 
 half distance, was called Dupre s line; and 
 the other, two miles and a quarter from his 
 front works, was called the Montreal line. 
 
 399 
 
BATTLE OF CHALMETTE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1815. 
 
 These were to serve as points of retreat in 
 case of being driven from his front line. 
 The levee, an embankment of the river to 
 prevent overflow, was cut through, by 
 order of General Jackson, flooding the 
 ground in front, and rendering it slippery 
 and muddy. 
 
 Having landed the main body of his 
 army, and a sufficient train of artillery, 
 General Pakenham made his arrangements 
 for attacking the American intrenchments. 
 On the 28th, he advanced up the levee, 
 with his army and artillery, with the inten 
 tion of forcing Jackson from his position. 
 At the distance of half a mile from the 
 American camp, he opened fire upon their 
 yet unfinished works, with Congreve rockets 
 and shells, and heavy artillery. The fire 
 from the American lines on both sides of 
 the river, and from the Louisiana, however, 
 was so well directed, that, after seven hours 
 cannonade, the British general, without 
 attempting to approach any nearer the 
 American lines, relinquished the attack, 
 and retired. The loss of the Americans 
 was six killed and twelve wounded ; that 
 of the British was much more severe, some 
 accounts* putting it aa high as 121 killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 The 1st of January, 1815, was ushered 
 in with a dense fog. About eight o clock, 
 the mists having cleared away, the Ameri 
 cans discovered that the British had hastily 
 thrown up batteries near their works, from 
 which a heavy fire was immediately opened 
 upon them. The fire was returned with so 
 much vigour and skill by Jackson, that, at 
 the end of an hour from its commencement, 
 seven of the British cannon had been dis 
 mounted. A bold movement was mean 
 while made by the British to turn the 
 American left ; but in this they were com 
 pletely repulsed. Finding the American 
 works so strong that no impression had 
 been made on them, General Pakenham, 
 with his army, abandoned the attempt, 
 and returned to camp, to await expected 
 reinforcements under General Lambert. 
 The American loss on this occasion was 
 eleven killed, and twenty-three wounded ; 
 that of the British was seventy-eight in 
 killed, wounded, and missing. 
 
 On the 4th of January, General Jackson 
 was reinforced by 2,500 Kentuckians, under 
 General Adair ; and on the 6th, the British 
 were reinforced with the 7th and 43rd 
 regiments, under General Lambert. The 
 * Breckenriclge and Willard. 
 400 
 
 entire force of the British now concentrated 
 before New Orleans, has been variously 
 stated by different writers some putting 
 it as low as 7,oOO; others stating it as high 
 as from 12,000 to 15,000. That of the 
 Americans has been stated at from 6,000 
 to 8,000. 
 
 The British now prepared for the grand 
 attack. Villiere s canal, on which they had 
 originally effected their debarkation, was 
 enlarged, that boats might be taken through 
 it to the Mississippi, in order that simul 
 taneous attacks might be made on the 
 American works on both sides of the river. 
 On the morning of the 8th of January, 
 having detached Colonel Thornton with 
 the 5th West India regiment, the 85th 
 light infantry, and 600 seamen and marines, 
 with four pieces of artillery, to cross over 
 and attack the works on the right bank 
 of the river, General Pakenham moved 
 forward, with his main force, in two 
 columns, under Generals Gibbs and Keane, 
 the reserve being commanded by General 
 Lambert. The principal attack upon the 
 centre of the works was to be made by the 
 division under General Gibbs. They de 
 liberately advanced to the assault in solid 
 column, over the level plain in front of 
 the American position. General Jackson 
 awaited in silence their approach, till they 
 had arrived within reach of the fire of his 
 batteries, when an incessant and destruc- , 
 tive volley opened upon them, not only 
 from every portion of the lines in their 
 front, but from the battery upon the right 
 bank of the river ; various delays having 
 prevented Colonel Thornton from reaching 
 the other side in time to divert the fire of 
 the latter battery from the main attack. 
 The assailants, however, pressed on, until 
 they came within, reach of the musketry 
 and rifles, when a well-directed fire was 
 opened upon them from the latter, which 
 produced a dreadful havoc in their ranks. 
 Still undaunted, the veterans of the penin 
 sula pushed on, closing up their front, as 
 one after another fell, only pausing when 
 they had reached the slippery borders of 
 the ditch in the immediate front of the 
 American works. Here an unexpected 
 check to their movements occurred. It 
 was now ascertained that the fascines, 
 scaling-ladders, and rafts, for crossing the 
 ditch, and mounting the parapet, had been 
 forgotten and left behind ; and thus the 
 attacking column was obliged to halt upon 
 the very verge of the moat, without the 
 
A.D. 1815.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BRITISH DEFEATED. 
 
 means of crossing it, or motmting the 
 parapet, until the forgotten appliances had 
 been brought up ; entirely exposed, too, to 
 the shot which was poured down upon 
 them from the unassailable ramparts, in a 
 complete shower. Jackson had arranged 
 his troops in two lines, those in the rear 
 loading for those in front, thus keeping up 
 an incessant fire. A few of the more de 
 termined of the assailants succeeded in 
 getting across the ditch, and, mounting 
 upon one another s shoulders, managed to 
 reach the crest of the parapet, but only to 
 meet certain death from the unerring fire 
 of the Kentucky and Tennessee riflemen. 
 
 " It was in vain that the most obstinate 
 courage was displayed," says the Rev. 
 John R. Gleig, in his Campaigns of the 
 British Army at Washington and New 
 Orleans : " they fell by the hands of men 
 whom they absolutely did not see ; for the 
 Americans, without so much as lifting their 
 faces above the ramparts, swung their fire 
 locks by one arm over the wall, and dis 
 charged them directly upon their heads. 
 The whole of the guns, likewise, from the 
 opposite bank, kept up a well-directed and 
 deadly cannonade upon the flank ; and thus 
 were they destroyed without an opportunity 
 being given of displaying their valour, or 
 obtaining so much as revenge/ 
 
 For some time the British officers had 
 succeeded in animating and sustaining the 
 courage of their men ; but, at last, riddled 
 through and through by the ceaseless and 
 deadly fire which met them at all points, 
 they began to fall back in disorder, from 
 their position near the American works. 
 Seeing the confusion, and the fascines and 
 scaling-ladders in the meantime being 
 brought forward, General Pakenham gal 
 loped up to rally the men by his presence, 
 placing himself in their front, and leading 
 them to the crest of the glacis, with his 
 head uncovered, and cheering them on. 
 It was then he received, almost at the same 
 instant, two wounds one in the knee, and 
 the other, which was almost instantly fatal, 
 in his body. Again they broke and fell 
 back in confusion. Generals Gibbs and 
 Keane succeeded in bringing them up 
 again ; but the deadly fire was such as no 
 troops could withstand : they again broke ; 
 a few platoons succeeded in reaching the 
 ditch, only to meet almost certain death. 
 An attempt was made to lead them forward 
 again, but it proved unavailing. Gen 
 erals Gibbs and Keane were now carried 
 
 from the field, the former mortally, and 
 the latter severely wounded ; and the plain 
 between the contending armies was literally 
 covered with the dead and dying. The 
 command had now devolved upon General 
 Lambert, who was the only general officer 
 left upon the field, and to whom, as already 
 stated, had been consigned the charge of 
 the reserve. He met the discomfited troops 
 in their disorderly retreat, as he was ad 
 vancing with the reserve ; and being unable 
 to change the fortune of the day, finally 
 withdrew them from the field of battle, 
 and returned to camp. 
 
 The forces under Colonel Thornton, in 
 the meantime, had succeeded in landing on, 
 the right bank of the river, and at once 
 attacked the intrenchments of General 
 Morgan, which were defended by men, of 
 whom but few were equipped with arms. 
 Being outflanked, the American right 
 abandoned its position. The left, however, 
 maintained its ground for some time ; but, 
 being abandoned by the right, and out 
 numbered by the enemy after giving time 
 to the seamen, under Commodore Patterson 
 and Lieutenant Henley (who served the bat 
 tery), to spike the guns and throw their am 
 munition into the river it retired. Colonel 
 Thornton being wounded, the command of 
 the British devolved on Colonel Gubbins. 
 
 The defeat on the left bank, however, 
 left the enemy little inducement to take 
 any advantage of their victory on the right; 
 and a stratagem of General Jackson led 
 them to abandon the works there. An 
 armistice having been proposed by General 
 Lambert, it was agreed to by General 
 Jackson, with a condition that it should 
 not extend to the right bank, to which no 
 reinforcements should be sent by either 
 party. Deceived by this reservation, which 
 led him. to the supposition that reinforce 
 ments had already been sent to the Ameri 
 cans over the river, the British comman 
 der ordered his troops to be withdrawn, 
 and the works were immediately reoccupied 
 by the Americans. 
 
 Probably there is not an instance in 
 the annals of warfare, where a battle has 
 been fought, nor a larger disproportion of 
 loss, than occurred on this occasion. The 
 j total loss of the Americans, on both sides 
 j of the river, was thirteen killed, thirty-nine 
 wounded, and nineteen missing seventy- 
 one in all ; that of the British was 385 
 I killed, 1,516 wounded, and 591 missing : 
 making a total of 2,492. The armistice 
 
 401 
 
JACKSON HONOURED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1815. 
 
 just referred to, was for two days, and 
 for the purpose of giving opportunity 
 to remove the wounded and bury the dead. 
 The field, on the termination of the con 
 test, presented a scene appalling to behold. 
 At places where the fiercest struggles had 
 been maintained, the dead were piled in 
 heaps. The terrific slaughter at the suc 
 cessful assault of Badajos, by the forces 
 under Wellington, in 1812, was vividly 
 brought to the minds of many who were 
 actors in both those sanguinary struggles.* 
 
 On the 9th, General Lambert resolved 
 to abandon any further effort against 
 New Orleans, and immediately commenced 
 the necessary preparations for withdrawing 
 his forces, which were conducted with the 
 xitmost possible secrecy. To carry out his 
 intentions it became necessary to make a 
 road through the swamp ; f and this was 
 not accomplished until the 18th, when he 
 commenced his retreat, which he was per 
 mitted to do without any attempt on the 
 part of General Jackson, to harass or ob 
 struct his movements. 
 
 On the 20th, General Jackson, with 
 his army, returned to New Orleans. His 
 entrance into the city, at the head of his 
 army, after its successful defence by him, 
 was greeted by the people with all those 
 manifestations which an appreciation of his 
 important services could not fail to inspire. 
 The 2-3rd was appointed as a day of thanks 
 giving; on which occasion Jackson was 
 present at the cathedral, which was crowded 
 to excess. On his passage thiiher, chil 
 dren, robed in white, strewed his way with 
 flowers; and crowds, hailing him as the 
 deliverer of the city, thronged the streets. 
 At the cathedral a Te Deum was sung, 
 and Bishop Dubourg delivered an address, 
 which he concluded by presenting the 
 general with a laurel wreath. 
 
 " General Jackson," says Blaclciuood, 
 "behaved with generosity and humanity 
 to all his prisoners, which did him as great 
 honour as his conduct in the defence. We 
 do not hesitate to call him a great man. 
 Unappalled by the landing of a formidable 
 army of British veterans, he infused fresh 
 
 * " Prompted by curiosity," wrote an English 
 officer, "I mounted my horse, and rode to tlie 
 front; but of all the sights I ever witnessed, that 
 which mt me there was, beyond comparison, the 
 most shocking and the most humiliating. Within 
 the small compass of a few hundred yards, were 
 gathered together nearly a thousand bodies, all of 
 them arrayed in British uniforms. Not a single 
 American was among them ; all were English ; and 
 they were thrown by dozens into shallow holes, 
 402 
 
 courage into the hearts of his countrymen, 
 
 naturally brave. The danger was great; 
 but the Americans under him had no fear, 
 
 even of such a foe. Strong as their position 
 was a mile-long line of men it was found 
 
 : impregnable, not because of cotton bags 
 and parapets, but because of patriots, deadly, 
 with steady hands, keen eyes, and stern 
 hearts invincible where they stood un 
 erring marksmen, whatever were their num 
 bers with a commander endowed with a 
 
 < genius for war, and in all respects equal to 
 
 \ the glorious duty he had taken upon him- 
 
 | self in his country s cause." 
 
 The British fleet was not inactive during 
 the operations of the land forces before New 
 Orleans. Several of the vessels composing 
 it entered the mouth of the Mississippi, 
 and anchored opposite Fort St. Philip, 
 erected to prevent an approach to New 
 Orleans in that direction ; on which they 
 commenced a bombardment on the 9th of 
 January, and kept up with more or less 
 activity for several days. Finding, how 
 ever, that they made no serious impression 
 on the fort, they gave up the attempt to 
 reduce it, and retired from the river. The 
 fort was garrisoned by 366 men, under 
 Major Overton. 
 
 Early in the month of February, martial 
 law still prevailing in New Orleans, General 
 Jackson arrested Mr. Louallier, a member 
 of the general assembly of Louisiana, on a 
 charge of exciting mutiny among his troops, 
 by a publication, on the 10th of that month, 
 in the Louisiana Gazette, stating that a 
 treaty of peace had been signed. Louallier 
 applied to Judge Hall, for a writ of habeas 
 corpus, which was immediately granted. 
 
 I Instead of obeying the writ," however, 
 General Jackson arrested the judge, and 
 sent him from the city, on the ilth of 
 February. On being restored to the exer 
 cise of the functions of his office, Judge 
 Hall ordered General Jackson to appear 
 before him, to show cause why an at 
 tachment for contempt should not issue, 
 on the ground that he had refused to 
 obey a writ issued to him, detained an 
 original paper belonging to the court, and 
 scarcely deep enough to furnish them with a slight 
 covering of earth. 
 
 f It was deemed impossible to return as they 
 had come; for the boats were not sufficient to hike 
 them all away in one body, and General Lambert 
 dared not incur the hazard of dividing his force. 
 He therefore determined to send the wounded and 
 baggage by the boats, and march the troops across 
 the marsh to Lake Borgne, and thence embark them 
 on board the ships. 
 
A.I). 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [NEW ENGLAND STATES. 
 
 imprisoned the judge. General Jackson 
 obeyed the summons, and, in the garb of a 
 citizen, appeared before the court, having 
 previously prepared a written defence. 
 Judge Hall sentenced him to pay a fine 
 of 1,000 dollars. Grateful for the services 
 lie had rendered them, the amount was 
 immediately raised by the people of New 
 Orleans, to relieve the general from the 
 payment of the fine ; but he declined to 
 receive it, and paid the amount from his 
 own private purse.* 
 
 In every section of the Union, the news 
 of the triumphant defence of New Orleans 
 by General Jackson was bailed with accla 
 mation. The legislatures of many of the 
 states voted to him their approbation and 
 thanks for what he had done; and the 
 
 congress of the United States not only did 
 the same, but directed a gold medal to be 
 presented to him, commemorative of the 
 event. 
 
 On abandoning the attempt on Fort St. 
 Philip, the British vessels, engaged in the 
 attack, proceeded to Mobile Bay, where the 
 remainder of the fleet had assembled with 
 the troops of General Lambert, who had 
 re-embarked after their repulse and retreat 
 from New Orleans. Fort Bowyer was 
 invested by them on the 18th of February, 
 and surrendered to them on the llth of 
 March. The announcement of the successful 
 negotiation of a treaty of peace, soon after 
 put an end to further hostilities ; the fort 
 was evacuated by the British, and reoccu- 
 pied by the Americans. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 HARTFORD CONVENTION J CONGRESS; TREATY OF PEACE WITH GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE TRIBUTE 
 
 ABOLISHED. 
 
 IT has been several times incidentally 
 mentioned, in the course of the preceding 
 chapters, that the war between the United 
 States and Great Britain was distasteful to 
 the people of several of the New England 
 states, they looking upon it as a mere 
 party measure of the supporters of the 
 administration of Mr. Madison ; and as 
 unwise, and entirely unjustitied by the 
 relations between the t\vo countries at its 
 commencement. They felt acutely its 
 burdens, in the derangement of the cur 
 rency, the stagnation of trade, and the de 
 struction of their commerce and their 
 fisheries. In addition to these, the services ; 
 of the militia drawn from these states had 
 been extremely severe : they were taken 
 from their farms and other occupations; and, 
 in addition to the pecuniary losses which 
 must necessarily result from such a state of 
 things, they were subjected to the hard 
 ships and hazards of a camp, and the life of j 
 a soldier. In Massachusetts and Connec 
 ticut, the United States had withheld all j 
 supplies for the maintenance of the militia 
 
 * The amount, with interest, it may, pfrhaps, as 
 well be added here, was, thirty years after, refunded 
 to General Jackson by act of congress. 
 
 for the year 1814, and thus compelled those 
 states to support the troops employed in 
 defending their coasts from invasion; while, 
 at the same time, the taxes laid to carry on 
 the war were rigorously exacted. It seemed 
 apparent that, if the New England states 
 were rescued from the effects of these bur 
 dens at all, it must depend upon their own 
 efforts. 
 
 The danger to which the inhabitants, 
 near the sea-coast of Massachusetts, were 
 exposed, had spread alarm through the 
 commonwealth. During the winter session 
 of 1813- 14, memorials from a large number 
 of towns in the interior of the state, as well 
 as near the coast, were forwarded to the 
 legislature, asking that body to exert its 
 authority to protect the citizens in their 
 constitutional rights and privileges, and 
 suggesting the expediency of appointing 
 delegates, " to meet in convention, with the 
 delegates from such other states as might 
 think proper to appoint them, for the pur 
 pose of devising proper measures to procure 
 the united efforts of the commercial states, 
 to obtain such amendments and explana 
 tions of the constitution as will secure them 
 from further evils." 
 
 403 
 
HARTFORD CONVENTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 A joint committee of the senate and 
 House of Representatives of the state was 
 appointed, to which these memorials were 
 referred. This committee, though approv 
 ing of the sentiments of the memorials, 
 reported against the expediency of the pro 
 posed convention at that time. The legis 
 lature adopted this report in February ; ; 
 but, at a subsequent session, in October 
 following, another committee, of .which 
 Harrison Gray Otis was chairman, reported 
 that, "in the position in which Massachu 
 setts stood, no choice was left her between | 
 submission to the enemy (which was not to 
 be thought of), and the appropriation, to 
 her own defence, of those revenues derived 
 from her people, which the general govern- I 
 ment had hitherto thought proper to expend j 
 elsewhere." A convention of delegates , 
 from the New England states was also 
 recommended by the committee. Their 
 report was adopted by large majorities, 
 and a delegation of twelve men of the 
 highest reputation, with Harrison Gray 
 Otis, George Cabot, and William Prescott 
 at its head, was appointed, by a vote of 226 
 to 67, in a joint convention of both, houses 
 of the legislature. 
 
 A circular letter was also addressed to 
 the governors of the other New England 
 states, to be laid before their respective 
 legislatures, inviting them to appoint dele 
 gates to the proposed convention, should 
 they deem it expedient; and staling the 
 objects of the convention to be, to deliberate 
 upon the dangers to which the eastern 
 section of the Union was exposed by the 
 course of the war ; and to devise, if prac 
 ticable, means of security and defence which 
 might be consistent with the preservation 
 of their resources from total ruin, and not 
 repugnant to their obligations as members 
 of the Union. It was also proposed that 
 the convention should take into considera 
 tion the subject of amending the constitu 
 tion of the United States, or of calling a 
 national convention of all the states, to effect 
 such amendments as might secure to them 
 equal advantages. 
 
 The Connecticut and Rhode Island legis 
 latures responded to the call immediately, 
 they being then in session ; and appointed 
 delegates the former seven, and the latter 
 four- to meet at Hartford, on the 15th of 
 December following. Two delegates were 
 sent from New Hampshire, and one from 
 Vermont not appointed by those states, 
 but by local conventions. 
 404 
 
 The convention assembled at the time 
 appointed, and chose George Cabot presi 
 dent, and Theodore Dwight, secretary. 
 They sat for twenty days, with closed 
 doors; but their journal was afterwards 
 made public. Having embodied the re 
 sult of their deliberations, in a report 
 addressed to the legislatures which they 
 represented, it was immediately published, 
 and extensively circulated. The report 
 was temperate and patriotic, expressing 
 strong affection for the Union, and depre 
 cating violent or unconstitutional opposi 
 tion to legal authority. The dangers im 
 pending over New England, from the 
 alleged usurpations of the government of 
 Washington, and from the foreign enemy, 
 were dwelt upon. In the filling up the 
 ranks of the regular army by conscription ; 
 in the power claimed for the general gov 
 ernment over the militia ; in authorising 
 the enlistment of minors without the con 
 sent of their parents or guardians, and thus 
 invalidating contracts the report insisted 
 that the constitution had been violated. 
 The legislatures of the states which the 
 contention represented, were recommended 
 to adopt such measures as might be deemed 
 necessary to effectually protect their citi 
 zens from the operations of the acts passed 
 by congress, containing provisions sub 
 jecting the militia and other persons to 
 forcible drafts, conscriptions, or impress 
 ments, not authorised by the constitution 
 of the United States. The New England 
 states were also recommended to make im 
 mediate application to the United States 
 government, for authority to combine their 
 forces for defence against the British, 
 and, for that purpose, to appropriate a rea 
 sonable amount of the taxes levied upon 
 them. Finally, it recommended several 
 amendments to the constitution of the 
 United States. Among these amendments, 
 it was proposed that congress should have 
 no power to lay an embargo for a longer 
 term than sixty days ; that the concurrence 
 of two-thirds of both houses should be re 
 quired to admit new states, to interdict 
 commercial intercourse, to declare war, or 
 to authorise hostilities, except in cases of 
 invasion ; that " no person who shall be 
 hereafter naturalised, shall be eligible to a 
 seat in the senate, or House of Representa 
 tives, or hold any civil office, under the 
 government of the United States ; that the 
 same person shall not be twice elected to 
 the office of president of the United States, 
 
A.P. 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CONGRESS CON YEN En. 
 
 nor the president elected from the same 
 state for two successive terms ;" and that 
 representation should be based on free 
 population. These questions had arisen 
 during the hostilities with Great Britain ; 
 and the committee appointed by the con 
 vention to communicate these propositions 
 to the government, met with the news of 
 peace on its way to Washington. Congress, 
 however, which was then in session, settled 
 some of them by an act regulating the em 
 ployment of state troops by the federal 
 government in a satisfactory manner. Ths 
 proposed amendments of the constitution 
 were submitted to the legislatures of the 
 several states; but only those of Massa 
 chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, 
 passed the whole of them. 
 
 As the delegates to the convention were 
 all of the federal party, they were, before 
 and subsequent to their meeting, denounced 
 in the severest terms by the friends of the 
 administration, as being treasonable to the 
 government of the United States. During 
 its sittings, the government stationed 
 Colonel Jessup, with a regiment of troops, 
 at Hartford, to repress any sudden out 
 break ; but, after a careful investigation, 
 he reported to the authorities at Washing 
 ton, that the convention would confine 
 itself to complaints, remonstrances, and an 
 address to the people, and that there were no 
 grounds for apprehending any treasonable 
 action. The imputation of treasonable de 
 signs to that convention, however, continued 
 till but a few years since, and subjected its 
 members to much severe personal, as well as 
 political censure. It was one of the causes 
 which destroyed the federal party ; and the 
 name of " Hartford convention" became, 
 in the political world, a term of reproach. 
 It is now generally conceded, however, that 
 its members were innocent of any treason 
 able design. 
 
 The following extract from a letter of 
 Harrison Gray Otis, one of the leading 
 members of the convention, will not be out 
 of place here : " The Hartford convention, 
 far from being the original contrivance of 
 a cabal, for any purpose of faction or dis 
 union, was a result growing, by natural 
 consequences, out of existing circumstances. 
 More than a year previous to its institution, 
 a convention was simultaneously called for 
 by the people, in their town meetings in 
 all parts of Massachusetts. Petitions to 
 that effect were accumulated on the tables 
 of the legislative chamber. They were 
 
 VOL. 11. 3 G 
 
 postponed for twelve months, by the in 
 fluence of those who now sustain the odium 
 of the measure. The adoption of it was 
 the consequence, not the source of a popu 
 lar sentiment ; and it was intended, by 
 those who voted for it, as a safety-valve, by 
 which the steam arising from the fermenta 
 tion of the times might escape not as a 
 boiler in which it should be generated. 
 Whether good or ill, it was a measure of 
 the people, of states, of legislature. How 
 unjust to brand the unwilling agents, the 
 mere committee of legislative bodies, with 
 the stigma of facts which were first autho 
 rised, and then sanctioned, by their consti 
 tuted assemblies !" 
 
 Congress had been adjourned to the 
 last Monday in October, 1814 ; but the 
 great changes which had occurred in the 
 political world, and the position of 
 affairs in the United States, had rendered 
 an earlier meeting necessary. The two 
 houses were therefore convened, by procla 
 mation of the president, on the 19th of 
 September, and continued in session until 
 the expiration of their term of office, on 
 the 3rd of March, 1815. In consequence 
 of the destruction of the Capitol, on the 
 invasion of Washington by the British (as 
 related in previous pages), the patent office, 
 which was united with the general post- 
 office, under a single roof, and some adja 
 cent buildings, had been temporarily pre 
 pared for the accommodation of congress. 
 On the second day of the session, Septem 
 ber 21st, the president transmitted to con 
 gress his annual message, the spirit and 
 tone of which were very different from his 
 former communications to congress. He 
 briefly alluded to the negotiations pending 
 between the commissioners of the United 
 States and Great Britain, and to the efforts 
 that would be called for by congress, either 
 adapted to a return of peace, or for a more 
 effective prosecution of the war. A desire 
 for peace was strongly expressed, and a 
 disposition fully manifested to represent 
 the views of the British cabinet as less 
 hostile than had been formerly stated. He 
 remarked, that " the repeal of the orders 
 in council, and the general pacification in 
 Europe, which withdrew the occasion on 
 which impressments on American vessels 
 were practised, led to an anticipation that 
 peace and unity might be re-established." 
 The various operations of the American 
 armies by land and sea were detailed ; and 
 the filling the ranks of the regular army 
 
 40-3 
 
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AD. 1814. 
 
 was recommended as more economical, and 
 more conducive to the requirements of the 
 public service, than employing the militia 
 to any great extent ; at the same time, 
 recommending such changes in the militia 
 system, as, by classing and disciplining for 
 prompt and active service, the portions most 
 capable of it, might give to it greater 
 energy and efficiency. 
 
 The financial statement for nine months, 
 ending on the 30th of June, showed 
 32,000,000 of dollars paid into the trea 
 sury, of which 11,000,000 were the pro 
 ceeds of the public revenue, and the re 
 mainder derived from loans. The disburse 
 ments, during the same period, were some 
 thing over 34,000,000, leaving nearly 
 5,000,000 in the treasury unexpended, 
 The demands already authorised by con 
 gress (he added), and the expenses incident 
 to the extension of the operations of the 
 war, should the pending negotiations not 
 terminate favourably to peace, would re 
 quire ample provisions to meet them. 
 
 "Having manifested on every occasion, 
 and in every proper mode," he remarked, 
 in conclusion, " a sincere desire to arrest 
 the effusion of blood, and meet our enemy 
 on the ground of justice and reconciliation ; 
 our country, in still opposing to his perse 
 vering hostility all its energies, with an 
 undiminished disposition towards peace and 
 friendship, on honourable terms, must carry 
 with it the good wishes of the impartial 
 world, and the best hopes of support from 
 an omnipotent and kind Providence/ 
 
 At an early day in the session, the presi 
 dent had laid before congress the instruc 
 tions which had been given to the American 
 commissioners, appointed to negotiate a 
 treaty of peace, and the correspondence 
 which had taken place on the subject; by 
 which it appeared that new terms were 
 proposed, and authority given to the Ameri 
 can envoys to make peace without insisting 
 on all the claims and principles before ad 
 vanced. 
 
 The commissioners had assembled at 
 Ghent in the month of August, 1814, their 
 first meeting being held on the 8th of that 
 month. Those appointed by the govern 
 ment of Great Britain, were Lord Gambier, 
 Mr. Henry Goulburn, and Mr. William 
 Adams. In one of the earliest communica 
 tions from the commissioners of the United 
 States to those of Great Britain, when the 
 negotiations opened at Ghent, and which 
 was dated the 24th of August, 1814, it is 
 406 
 
 said " The causes of the war between the 
 United States and Great Britain having 
 disappeared by the maritime pacification of 
 i Europe, the government of the United 
 I States does not desire to continue it in 
 : defence of abstract principles, which have, 
 for the present, ceased to have any practical 
 effect. The undersigned have been accord 
 ingly instructed to agree to its termination, 
 both parties restoring whatever they may 
 have taken, and both resuming all their 
 rights in relation to their respective sea 
 men." In the instructions previously given 
 to the commissioners, dated June 27th, 
 1814, the secretary of state, Mr. Monroe, 
 said " On mature consideration, it has 
 been decided that, under all the circum 
 stances above alluded to, incident to a prose 
 cution of the war, you may omit any 
 stipulation on the subject of impressment, 
 if found indispensably necessary to termi 
 nate it." 
 
 Finding the American commissioners 
 apparently anxious for peace, the British 
 commissioners were at first extravagant in 
 their demands in the points stated as the 
 basis of negotiation. The despatches from 
 the American commissioners, which were 
 published in October, 1814, gave but slight 
 encouragement to hope for peace ; and the 
 demands of the British government, as 
 understood from their agents at Ghent, 
 produced an intense feeling throughout the 
 United States. The demands were deemed 
 unreasonable as the basis of a treaty of 
 peace, even by those originally opposed to 
 the declaration of war, and to the policy 
 and measures of the administration. Over 
 looking what had passed, there was a general 
 determination to resist such a requisition 
 at every hazard. It was required by the 
 British commissioners, as a sine qua non, 
 that the Indians should be included in the 
 pacification, and a territory set apart for 
 them, to remain as a permanent barrier 
 between the western and north-western 
 settlements of the United States, and the 
 adjacent British provinces ; that no fortified 
 post should be maintained by the United 
 States, on or within a limited distance of 
 the shores of the great lakes, and no armed 
 naval force be kept by them on those 
 waters; while the right of fortifying and 
 maintaining a naval force there, was to be 
 j retained by Great Britain ; that the northern 
 i boundary," between Lake Superior and the 
 i Mississippi, should be revised, and such a 
 j vacation of the frontier line as may secure a 
 
A.T). 1814.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CONGRESS AND THE WAR. 
 
 direct communication between Quebec and 
 Halifax. 
 
 The answer of the American commis 
 sioners was temperate in tone, but decided. 
 The terms on which the British commis 
 sioners proposed to treat, received a prompt 
 and unqualified negative; while, at the 
 s:ime time, their unreasonableness was 
 clearly pointed out. 
 
 The new questions thus started by the 
 British commissioners, rendered the pros 
 pect of peace very uncertain as to time, and 
 preparations were made to continue the war, 
 with renewed vigour. For this purpose, 
 the treasury required to be replenished, 
 and the army considerably augmented, 
 i The public debt having increased to a vast 
 amount, it was deemed indispensable, even 
 with some probability of a speedy peace, to 
 resort to additional taxation. A new direct 
 ad valorem tax of six millions was laid ; the 
 existing specific duties on watches, house 
 hold furniture, pleasure carriages, distilled 
 spirits, licences to sell liquor, and sales at 
 auction, were increased ; and new duties 
 laid on wares and merchandise manufac 
 tured in the United States. The rates 
 of letter postage were also increased fifty 
 per cent. 
 
 These measures were strongly opposed in 
 congress, more particularly the bill for 
 raising six millions by direct taxation. 
 Murmurings were everywhere heard among 
 the people, and the general anxiety for 
 peace was increased. 
 
 For several weeks, in November and 
 December, a bill was before congress, 
 authorising the president, on the refusal of 
 the executive of any state to call out the 
 militia when requested, to order subordi 
 nate militia officers immediately to march 
 their men as they might be directed by 
 the officers of the regular army. The bill 
 also provided for drafting the militia when 
 they did not voluntarily enlist. This bill 
 passed the House of Representatives, but 
 was lost in the senate, after a long debate, 
 by a single vote. The principal objection 
 to the bill, was its interference with the 
 privileges of the citizens enrolled in the 
 militia, as recognised by the constitution of 
 the United States. 
 
 On the 17th of October, Mr. Monroe, 
 then acting secretary of state, made a 
 report on the subject of augmenting the 
 ranks of the army ; in which he expressed 
 the opinion, that not less than J 00,000, men 
 would be required to be called into the 
 
 field during the next campaign ; to provide 
 for which, he proposed that the free white 
 male population, between the ages of 
 eighteen and forty-five, should be formed 
 into classes of one hundred men each, and 
 each class be required to furnish a certain 
 number of men for the war, and to replace 
 them in the event of casualty; or, if any 
 class prove delinquent, the men to be raised 
 by draft on the whole class. The bounty 
 in money allowed to each recruit, to be paid 
 to each draft by the inhabitants within the 
 precinct of the class from which the draft 
 may be made. 
 
 This plan was denounced as a conscrip 
 tion equal to that established in France by 
 Napoleon. It was opposed as oppressive, 
 absurd, and unconstitutional ; and, when 
 modified and introduced into the senate, 
 by Mr. Giles, of Virginia, in the form of a. 
 bill for raising 80,000 men, after a long 
 debate, and persistent efforts of the friends 
 of the administration, though they carried 
 it through the senate, it was indefinitely 
 postponed by the house, and thus failed to 
 become a law. 
 
 A report was also made, during the same 
 session, by Mr. Jones, secretary of the 
 navy, recommending a register and clas 
 sification of the seamen of the United 
 States, for the purpose of calling them into 
 the public service in succession, as occasion 
 might require ; in fact, to establish by law, 
 what, even in Great Bi-itain, has never had 
 any higher authority than usage and the 
 exigencies of the public service in other 
 words, an American system of impress 
 ment. 
 
 At the same time that these plans for 
 augmenting the army and navy were re 
 commended, another bill was introduced 
 into the senate, making further provision 
 for filling the ranks of the army, by autho 
 rising recruiting officers to enlist any free, 
 able-bodied men, between the ages of 
 eighteen and fifty years, and repealing so 
 much of former acts as required the con 
 sent, in writing, of the parent, master, or 
 guardian, to authorise the enlistment of 
 persons under twenty- one years of age. 
 This measure excited much feeling in many 
 parts of the country, particularly in New 
 England. It was looked upon as an inter 
 ference with the legislative prerogatives of 
 the several states, as, by the laws of the 
 states, parents have an absolute right to 
 the services of their children while they 
 are minors ; and it was contended that the 
 
 407 
 
TREATY OF GHENT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 constitution of the United States contained 
 no clause authorising congress to interfere 
 in the private concerns of individuals under 
 the jurisdiction of the several states. The 
 legislature of Connecticut, being in session 
 when these plans for augmenting the army 
 aud navy were before congress, passed reso 
 lutions nearly unanimously, expressing 
 their determination to resist them, if 
 adopted by congress in the form of a law. 
 Fortunately, these measures, which the 
 friends of the administration vindicated, on 
 the ground that the public exigency re 
 quired their adoption, were rendered un 
 necessary by the subsequent course of events. 
 On the 23rd of November, 1814, Elbridge 
 Gerry, the vice-president of the United 
 States having, the day previous, presided 
 in the senate during the whole of a long 
 debate died suddenly in his carriage, while 
 on his way to the Capitol. John Gaillard, 
 of South Carolina, was appointed president 
 of the senate, pro tempore. 
 
 Two changes in the cabinet occurred in 
 the latter part of 1814, not heretofore 
 noticed. George W. Campbell, secretary 
 of the treasury, being compelled, in conse 
 quence of ill- health, to resign that position, 
 Alexander J. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was 
 appointed in his place, on the 6th of Octo 
 ber, 1814; and Benjamin W. Crownin- 
 shield, of Massachusetts, was appointed 
 secretary of the navy, on the 19th of 
 December, 1814, in the place of William 
 Jones, of Pennsylvania, who had resigned. 
 
 In consequence of the deranged state of 
 the currency and the public credit, Mr. 
 Dallas, immediately on his accession to the 
 treasury department, recommended to con 
 gress the establishment of a national bank, 
 with a capital of 50,000,000 dollars. A bill 
 to that effect was accordingly introduced. 
 After undergoing repeated amendments, the 
 most important of which was the reduction 
 of its capital to 30,000,000, it passed both 
 houses in January, 1815 ; but, on being 
 presented to the president for his signature, 
 was returned by him, with objections, 
 founded on the manner in which the capi 
 tal of the proposed bank was constituted, 
 and its supposed inefficacy to assist the 
 operations of the treasury. A new bill 
 was introduced in the senate, agreed to by 
 that body, and, after the reception of the 
 news of peace, indefinitely postponed by 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 It was while congress was actively 
 engaged in the passing of acts for the 
 408 
 
 vigorous prosecution of the war, that the 
 welcome, but unexpected intelligence of 
 peace was received at Washington, in the 
 early part of February, 1815. A treaty of 
 peace between the United States and Great 
 Britain was concluded by the commissioners, 
 and signed at Ghent, on the 14th of 
 December, 1814. The treaty was immedi 
 ately communicated to the senate by the 
 president ; ratified by that body ; the ratifi 
 cations exchanged, and the fact announced 
 to congress by the president, in a congratu 
 latory message, on the 20th of July. It 
 was the occasion of universal and sincere 
 rejoicing by the people ; and, to the admin 
 istration, it was an inexpressible relief 
 from difficulties and embarrassments which 
 had long been gathering and thickening 
 around it. 
 
 The treaty of Ghent consisted of eleven 
 articles. The first article provided for the 
 restoration of all places and possessions 
 taken by either party, with the exception 
 of the islands in the bay of Passamaquoddy. 
 The second related to periods after which, 
 the capture of prizes should be deemed 
 invalid. The third restored all prisoners 
 of war to their respective governments. 
 By the fourth, it was agreed that the claims 
 of the two countries to the islands in the 
 bay of Passamaquoddy should be decided 
 by commissioners, to be thereafter ap 
 pointed. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and 
 eighth articles related to similar questions 
 of boundary, and provided a similar mode 
 of settlement. By the ninth, it was agreed 
 that both parties should put an end to 
 hostilities with the Indians. The tenth 
 article related to the traffic in slaves; to 
 promote the entire abolition of which, both 
 parties agreed to use their best endeavours. 
 The eleventh declared that the ratifications 
 should be exchanged within four months, 
 at Washington, or sooner, if possible. 
 
 It will thus be seen, that the negoti 
 ations between the commissioners of the 
 two governments, which resulted in the 
 treaty of peace, related almost exclusively 
 to subjects which had no connection with 
 the causes of the war. The subjects of 
 impressments, " paper blockades," orders in 
 council, and the rights of the neutral flag, 
 were passed over in the treaty, as nego 
 tiated, without notice. Commercial regu 
 lations between England and the United 
 States, were referred to negotiations, to be 
 resumed at an early day. 
 
 In accordance with this arrangement, 
 
A.D. 1814.] 
 
 HISTOIIY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TREATY OF FEACE. 
 
 Messrs. Gallatin, Clay, and Adams, after a 
 short delay, proceeded to London, where 
 they entered upon the arrangement of a 
 commercial convention. After a somewhat 
 protracted discussion, a convention for four 
 years was signed by them and three com 
 missioners, on the part of Great Britain, 
 on the 3rd of July. The treaty was 
 ratified by the United States on the 22nd 
 of December succeeding. This treaty was 
 entirely of a commercial character; the 
 1 subjects of impressments, neutral rights, 
 or blockades, not being noticed in it. In 
 substance, it placed the direct trade be 
 tween Great Britain and the United States 
 upon a strictly reciprocal basis. 
 
 The first article of the treaty declared 
 that there should " be a firm and universal 
 peace between his Britannic majesty and 
 the United States, and between their respec 
 tive countries, territories, cities, towns, and 
 peoples of every degree, without exception 
 of places or persons." All hostilities were 
 to cease, and all the territory or property 
 taken during the war, was to be restored 
 to the original proprietors thereof, except 
 the islands in the Passamaquoddy bay ; and 
 they were to continue as the property of the 
 party then occupying the same. Article 
 2nd provided, that the respective nations 
 were to dispatch orders to the armies and 
 navies to cease all hostile operations ; and 
 that all prizes taken, after certain times 
 therein specified, from the ratification of 
 the said treaty, were to be restored to the 
 owners thereof before taken. By article 3rd, 
 all prisoners of war were to be restored as 
 soon thereafter as practicable. Articles 
 4th and 5th provided for the reference of 
 the eastern boundary, between Maine and 
 British provinces, to a joint commission, for 
 
 * Succeeding the treaty of peace, the two govern 
 ments entered into several conventions for the more 
 complete adjustment of the conflicting issues that 
 sprang up from the differences of interpretations of 
 the treaties of 1783 and 1814. The commissioners 
 submitted several reports respecting the eastern 
 and north-western boundaries ; hut these reports 
 did not settle the issues. In 1831, the king of the 
 Netherlands submitted his award as arbitrator 
 between the two powers, respecting the eastern 
 boundary ; but his decision was not accepted : and 
 it was not until the Webster and Ashburton treaty 
 of 1842, that the boundary was definitely fixed. In 
 regard to the restitution of the property mentioned 
 in the treaty of Ghent, reference was made to the 
 emperor of B.ussia, in 1822, who decided, " that 
 the United States of America are entitled to a just 
 indemnification, from Great Britain, for all private 
 property carried away by the British forces ; and as 
 the question regards slaves more especially," the 
 United States " are entitled to consider as having 
 
 final settlement of the issues pertaining 
 thereto, arising from the insufficiency of 
 description in the treaty of 1783 ; and it 
 was agreed that, in case of a difference of 
 opinion among the commissioners, the ques 
 tion was to be referred to a friendly sove 
 reign or state for arbitration, whose award 
 was to be final. Articles 6th and 7th 
 referred to the northern or lake boundary, 
 and of the sovereignty over certain islands 
 lying within Lakes Huron and Superior ; 
 and the water communications along the 
 said boundary ; and it was agreed that 
 those questions should, in like manner, be 
 referred to a joint commission, and be 
 | settled by it, or by arbitration, as provided 
 i with respect to the eastern boundary. 
 Article 9th pledged mutual efforts for the 
 pacification of the Indian tribes. Article 
 10th stated, that, "Whereas the traffic in 
 slaves is irreconcilable with the principles 
 of humanity and justice; and whereas, 
 both his majesty and the United States 
 are desirous of continuing their efforts to 
 promote its entire abolition : it is hereby 
 agreed that both the contracting parties 
 shall use their best, endeavours to accomplish 
 so desirable an object."* 
 
 The expenditures by the United States, in 
 consequence of the war, have been estimated, 
 in round numbers, at 100,000,000 of dollars ; 
 and the number of American lives lost in 
 battle, and from other casualties incident to 
 the war, at 30,000. The Americans cap 
 tured, during the war, on the ocean and on 
 the lakes, fifty-six vessels of war, mounting 
 886 guns; and 2,360 merchant vessels, 
 with their cargoes, stores, and equipments; 
 and about 30,000 prisoners of war. Most 
 of these vessels were taken by American 
 privateers; and 750 of them were recap- 
 been carried away, all such slaves as may have been 
 transported from the above-mentioned territories, 
 | on board of the British vessels." 
 
 By an arrangement between the two powers iu 
 S April, 1817, respecting the maintenance of a naval 
 j armament on the northern lakes, it was agreed 
 
 "That the naval force to be maintained upon the 
 j American lakes by his majesty and the government 
 of the United States, shall henceforth be confined 
 to the following vessels on each side: that is On 
 Lake Ontario, to one vessel not exceeding one huu- 
 ! dred tons burden, and armed with one eighteen- 
 pound cannon. On the upper lakes, to two vessels, 
 not exceeding like burden each, and armed with 
 like force. On the waters of Lake Champlain, to 
 one vessel not exceeding like burden, and armed 
 with like force. All other armed vessels on these 
 lakes shall be forthwith dismantled, and no other 
 vessels of war shall be there built or armed." These 
 conditions were subject to annulment by either of 
 the parties giving six months notice thereof. 
 
 409 
 
GOVERNMENT FINANCES.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1814. 
 
 tured by the British. The British cap 
 tured, according to a report of the admi 
 ralty to the House of Commons, on the 
 1st of February, 1815, 1,407 merchant 
 vessels, exclusive of those captured by 
 British privateers; and 21,000 seamen, 
 prisoners of war. To this should be added, 
 twenty-five vessels of war, mounting 350 
 guns, which were captured by the British. 
 "When the president officially informed 
 congress of the exchange of ratifications of 
 the treaty of peace, less than two weeks 
 remained to the end of the session. This \ 
 time was occupied by congress in conduct 
 ing the affairs of the government and of the 
 country to a condition of peace. Various 
 acts, in reference to the acceptance of the 
 services of volunteers and state troops, the 
 flotilla service, and non-intercourse, were 
 repealed, and the army was reduced to a 
 peace establishment of 10,000 men. The 
 naval establishment, however, was main 
 tained, and an act passed for the protection 
 of American commerce against Algerine 
 cruisers, by authorising the president to 
 send a squadron to the Mediterranean. 
 A loan of eighteen and a-half millions of 
 dollars was authorised for the purpose of 
 retrieving the outstanding and depreciated 
 treasury paper; and twenty-five millions 
 of dollars of treasury notes authorised to be 
 issued, a portion of which were to be for 
 sums under a hundred dollars, and not to 
 bear interest, and to be receivable for taxes, 
 as i undable at the option of the holder. 
 The president having been requested to 
 410 
 
 recommend a day of thanksgiving for the 
 return of peace, on the 3rd of March con 
 gress adjourned. 
 
 Disastrous, in many respects, to the in 
 terests of the great body of the people, as 
 was this war, causing much pecuniary dis 
 tress, and the loss of thousands of valuable 
 lives, those who favoured the prosecution of 
 the war, alleged that it had its compensa 
 tions in the salutary results which followed 
 from it. There had existed, throughout 
 Europe, an impression that the spirit of 
 liberty and independence, which had car 
 ried the United States successfully through 
 the revolution of 76, had been completely 
 extinguished by a sordid love of gain. 
 The friends of the administration were of 
 opinion that the war with England had re 
 moved this impression, and won respect for 
 a nation that had proved its ability to 
 cope with the mistress of the seas on her 
 favourite element. It cannot be denied, 
 however, but that the war, unfortunate 
 and unnecessary as it was, gave birth to 
 many branches of domestic manufactures, 
 which, as Mr. Madison expressed it, 
 "sprung into existence, and attained an 
 unparalleled maturing during the war." 
 An impulse was also given to the spirit of 
 internal improvement, which was impressed 
 I upon the minds of the American people, 
 from experiencing the disadvantages of the 
 imperfect modes of transportation in ex 
 istence during that period, betore a system 
 of canals, railroads, and other improver 
 ments had got into operation. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 
 POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE UNION CONTINUED ; THE INDIAN AND MEXICAN WARS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WAR WITH ALGIERS ; ADMISSION OF INDIANA AND MISSISSIPPI INTO THE UNION ; PRESIDENTIAL 
 
 ELECTION ; AND THE SEMINOLE WAR. 
 
 owning states. Besides the losses sus 
 tained by the interruption to foreign trade, 
 which more particularly fell to the lot of 
 the New England people, an enormous debt 
 had been created for the carrying on of the 
 war. Prior to 1812, the maximum annual 
 expenditure of the government had oc 
 curred in 1809, and was 7,414,672 dollars; 
 in 1811, it was only 5,592,604 dollars; and 
 the total expenditure of Madison s adminis 
 tration, from March, 1809, to March, 1813, 
 was 36,147,857 dollars: from the latter 
 date, to March, 1816, which included the 
 greater part of the war debt, the expendi 
 ture was 108,537,086 dollars. This enor 
 mous outlay was met, in part, by the 
 income of the government, which amounted 
 to 87,900,902 dollars: the balance was 
 raised by the issuing of national obligations 
 or bonds. In 1812, the total income from 
 internal and direct taxes, was 5,762 dol 
 lars; but, in 1814, it was 3,882,482; in. 
 1815, 6,840,733; and, in 1816, it in 
 creased to 9,378,344 dollars. This enor 
 mous tax upon the people was exceedingly 
 unpopular, and legislators had to seek for 
 more indirect means of collecting a revenue 
 than by direct taxation ; and they resorted 
 to the enactment of a tariff, which, in its 
 operation, would produce a revenue, and 
 accomplish the most complete protection of 
 domestic labour : as a consequence of this 
 rule of action, the receipts from customs, 
 that had never exceeded 16,363,550 dol 
 lars, which was in 1808 ; and only 8,958,778 
 dollars in 1812 ; increased to 36,306,875 
 dollars in 1816. 
 
 The revenue that arose from the customs, 
 and the issuing of bonds, gave complete 
 relief to the general government ; but the 
 people were in a state of distress, arising 
 from a deficiency of capital. This scarcity 
 of money was fully appreciated by congress ; 
 and, in order to effect a relief, it was deter- 
 
 411 
 
 , pestilence, and famine are dire calam- ! 
 ities to a nation, tribe, or horde ; and of 
 those fatalities, " grim-visaged war" has ! 
 proved, in the past, to be the most deso- , 
 lating to countries antagonistic to the , 
 prosperity of man, and antipodean to that 
 divinity of action intended, by the Supreme i 
 Ruler of the universe, to mark the career of j 
 the creatures made after His own image on 
 this terrestrial sphere. The war between 
 Great Britain and the United States, waged 
 from 1812 to 1815, was an unnecessary 
 contest, because the principles involved 
 ought and might have been settled, had 
 the respective nations acted with less pas 
 sion, and exercised a greater degree of 
 caution and forbearance. The spark often 
 kindleth a conflagration, and the devouring 
 flames stay not until checked by an op 
 posing element, or there ceases to be any 
 further consumable materials within its 
 reach. A similar result often occurs with 
 respect to affairs between nations; and it is 
 too often the case that, on the most mo 
 mentous occasions, ambitious men fan the 
 flames of passion hate and revenge and 
 hasten onward, with rapid strides, the 
 tumultuous people to destruction and eter 
 nity. The British committed a wrong ; and 
 the Americans rushed into a war, that 
 brought upon their country a greater 
 degree of suffering than fell to the lot of 
 their enemy : this was, as has ever been, an 
 inevitable result from war invasions. The 
 American navy achieved imperishable glory 
 at sea and on the lakes ; the armies were 
 signally successful in their great battles : 
 but, notwithstanding these brilliant and 
 heroic deeds, the American people greatly 
 suffered by the destroying hand of the 
 enemy. The devastating effects of the war 
 were not only felt in the particular parts 
 invaded, but they were of the most serious 
 character in the New England, or ship- 
 
NATIONAL BANK.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1816. 
 
 mined to establish a bank of the United 
 States or, in substance, re-charter tbe bank 
 that had been founded by congressional 
 enactment in 1791 for a term of twenty 
 years. The proposition to incorporate the old 
 bank, had been discussed for some two years 
 previous to the passing of the bill for the 
 organisation of the new bank, which took 
 place in March, 1816. The measure was 
 strongly opposed in both branches of con 
 gress, principally on the ground that the 
 constitution did not authorise the creation 
 of such an institution by the federal gov 
 ernment. The first charter had been passed 
 as a party measure in 1791 : it was advo 
 cated by the federalists, and opposed by 
 the republicans. The second charter was 
 favoured by the republicans, and opposed by 
 the federalists. While the bill for the 
 establishment of this great financial insti 
 tution was pending before congress, the 
 ablest statesmen in that body took part in 
 the learned and animated discussions. The 
 bill, as passed, authorised the establishment 
 of a bank, with a capital of 35,000,000 
 dollars, to be paid, one-fifth in cash, and 
 the remainder in bonds of the United 
 States, bearing 6 per cent, interest; except 
 7,000,000, which was to be subscribed by 
 the government, and to bear 5 per cent, 
 interest. The directory was to be com 
 posed of twenty-five persons, of whom the 
 government was to appoint five. The shares 
 were to be one hundred dollars each, pay 
 able in quarterly instalments ; and the bank 
 was authorised to commence operations on 
 the payment of the first instalment. An 
 office of discount and deposit was required 
 to be located in Washington city; and a 
 branch in any state in which 2,000 shares 
 were held, provided the legislature of the 
 state applied for the same, and consent be 
 given by congress. A provision of the bill 
 creating the national bank, required the 
 federal treasury departments to deposit the 
 government monies in the banks organised 
 under that law, unless the secretary of 
 the treasury, for reasons laid before con 
 gress, should deem otherwise. Various 
 conditions were stipulated in the charter, 
 having in view the organisation of a fiscal 
 system that would be promotive of the in 
 terest of the public, that would effect a uni 
 form currency, and a popular circulating 
 medium. 
 
 The practical operation of this banking 
 system produced an increase of money 
 and of credit. The government bonds 
 412 
 
 were considered as the equivalent of cash ; 
 
 and the bank issues or notes were based 
 
 upon them as such values ; and, although 
 
 there was but one- fifth of the capital in 
 
 actual specie on hand, yet the deposits were 
 
 very large, and served as auxiliary in the 
 
 | redemption of the paper medium, whenever 
 
 ; presented, in the aggregate, larger than the 
 
 one-fifth of the cash capital above tnen- 
 
 i tioned. This fiscal arrangement gave to 
 
 the country a vast relief; and it had a 
 
 wonderful effect in the restoration of trade 
 
 of all kinds domestic and foreign. 
 
 The difficulties with Great Britain were 
 | no sooner brought to a desirable termina- 
 ; tion by the ratification of the treaty of 
 j peace, than the attention of the American 
 government was turned to the necessity of 
 immediate warlike measures for the pro 
 tection of their rights in the Mediterranean. 
 It has been stated, in a previous chapter, 
 that, on the 5th of September, 1795, a 
 treaty was concluded with the dey of 
 Algiers ; in which it was stipulated that the 
 United States should pay to the Algerian 
 ruler, for permission to their merchant 
 ships to traverse, unmolested, the Mediter 
 ranean (which he and his fellow-rulers, on 
 the Barbary coast, had the assurance to 
 claim as belonging to their dominion), an 
 annual tribute, in stores, amounting to 
 about 60,000 dollars. This tribute had 
 been annually and promptly paid by the 
 United States, to the apparent perfect 
 satisfaction of the dey, down to 1812 ; 
 when, actuated, it was thought, by some 
 outside influence, he began to exhibit a 
 querulous disposition. In July of that 
 year, when the Alleghany arrived, loaded 
 with the usual military and naval stores, 
 in payment of the annual tribute, he took 
 occasion to complain of the quality, amount, 
 and value of the goods sent him ; and, in a 
 passion, real or assumed, refused to receive 
 them ; nor would he listen to any explana 
 tions of the American consul in reference 
 to them. A new demand was also made 
 by the dey. In Mohammedan countries, as 
 is well known, time is computed by the 
 lunar year, which comprises only 354 days; 
 while, in Europe and America, the com 
 putation is by the Julian or Gregorian 
 calendar, in which the year is eleven days 
 longer. The dey now claimed, that the 
 treaty of 1795 contemplated the Moham 
 medan year, and that there were, in conse 
 quence, six months tribute in arrear, 
 amounting in value to about 27,000 dollars. 
 
A.D. 1815.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [WAR WITH ALGIERS. 
 
 The American consul-general, Colonel 
 Tobias Lear, was informed that, xinless he 
 paid this amount at once, he should be sent 
 in chains to the galleys ; the Alleyhany, and 
 the stores she brought, should be confis 
 cated ; every American to be found in 
 Algiers, condemned to slavery, and war 
 declared against the United States. 
 
 Being completely in the power of the 
 Algerine despot, there was no remedy left 
 to Colonel Lear by which to avert the 
 threatened penalties, than a compliance 
 with this atrocious demand. lie therefore 
 had to obtain the money by borrowing the 
 amount of a usurious Jew, and paying for 
 the use of it, for thirty days, the enormous 
 interest of 6,750 dollars. AVhen this was 
 accomplished, the consul-general and all 
 Americans in Algiers, as well as the ship 
 and cargo, were ordered to leave the do 
 minions of the dey. This outrageous order 
 was soon after followed by a recommence 
 ment of the piratical depredations of former 
 years upon American commerce in the 
 Mediterranean, and which the exclusion of 
 American cruisers from that sea, in conse 
 quence of the war which had just been 
 commenced between the United States and 
 Great Britain, gave him the opportunity of 
 doing with impunity. The entire warlike 
 resources of the United States being at 
 that time occupied in the contest with 
 their more powerful adversary, the presi 
 dent of the United States attempted, by 
 friendly negotiation, to ransom the pris 
 oners which were thus falling into the 
 hands of the Algerine tyrant ; but the 
 terms exacted by the arrogant barbarian, 
 as requisite to their release, were so ex 
 orbitant, that nothing could be done until 
 the return of peace with Great Britain 
 gave the United States government oppor 
 tunity, by a hostile demonstration, of bring 
 ing the unprincipled Algerine to terms. 
 
 The restoration of pacific relations with 
 England, by opening the prospect of an 
 active and valuable American trade in 
 the Mediterranean, furnished an additional 
 reason for measures being at once taken 
 for the protection of American commerce 
 in that sea. The president of the United 
 States, therefore, lost no time in calling the 
 attention of congress to the subject, in a 
 special message, dated the 23rd of Feb 
 ruary, 1815, as follows: "Congress will 
 have seen, by the communication from the 
 consul-general of the United States at 
 Algiers, laid before them ou the 17th of 
 
 VOL. n. 3 ii 
 
 November, 1812, the hostile proceedings of 
 the dey against that functionary. These 
 have been followed by acts of more overt 
 and direct warfare against the citizens of 
 the United States trading in the Mediter 
 ranean, some of whom are still detained in 
 captivity, notwithstanding the attempts 
 which have been made to ransom them, 
 and are treated with the rigour usual ou 
 the coast of Barbary. The considerations 
 which rendered it unnecessary and unim 
 portant to commence hostile operations, on 
 the part of the United States, being now ter 
 minated by the peace with Great Britain, 
 which opens the prospect of an active 
 and valuable trade of their citizens within 
 the range of the Algerine cruisers, I 
 recommend to congress the expediency of 
 an act, declaring the existence of a state of 
 war between the United States and the 
 dey and regency of Algiers, and of such 
 provisions as may be requisite for a 
 vigorous prosecution of it to a successful 
 issue." 
 
 Accompanying the message of the presi 
 dent, was a report from Mr. Monroe, the 
 secretary of state, setting forth more in 
 detail the aggressive and hostile acts of 
 the dey, and expressing the belief, that the 
 Americans held in captivity by him, in 
 spite of every effort to obtain their release, 
 were so held by him in the expectation of 
 being able, through them, to extort from 
 the United States a degrading treaty. 
 
 In accordance with the recommendation 
 of the president, congress, on the 2nd of 
 March, 1815, passed an act, authorising hos 
 tilities against Algiers. Extensive prepa 
 rations having been made by the United 
 States for the continuance of the war with 
 Great Britain, the establishment of peace 
 with that country, left the United States in 
 a position to strike an immediate and deci 
 sive blow at its Algerine enemy. On the 
 21st of May, a squadron, consisting of the 
 Guerricre, Captain Lewis ; the Constellation, 
 Captain Gordon ; the Macedonian, Captain 
 Jones ; the Ontario, Captain Elliot ; the 
 Epervier, Captain Downes ; the Firefly, 
 Lieutenant Rod gers; the Spark, Lieutenant 
 Gamble ; the Flambeau, Lieutenant Nicol- 
 son ; the Torch, Lieutenant Chauncey ; and 
 the Spitfire, Lieutenant Dallas, sailed from 
 J New York, under the chief command of 
 ! Commodore Decatur, the Guerricre being 
 his flag-ship. 
 
 When five days out, a gale occurred, dur 
 ing which the Torch, Spitfire, and Firefly, 
 
 413 
 
PEACE WITH ALGIERS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1815. 
 
 got separated from the squadron ; and the 
 last-named, in consequence of springing her 
 masts, was obliged to return. When ten 
 days out, the Ontario also accidentally sepa 
 rated from the squadron. The remainder 
 of the fleet reached Tangiers, Morocco, on 
 the 15th of June, where Commodore De- 
 catur had an interview with the American 
 consul ; from whom he learned that an 
 Algerine frigate, under Admiral Hammida, 
 had been off the port of Tangiers the pre 
 vious day, and that he had sailed for Car- 
 thagena, with a heavy brig in company. 
 Commodore Decatur imraediatel} 7 passed the 
 Straits with the squadron ; and, in passing 
 Gibraltar, gave signal to the three missing 
 vessels which had arrived there to join 
 him, and moved on for Cape de Gatt. The 
 Algerine frigate, under Admiral Hammida, 
 which proved to be the Mashouda, of forty- | 
 six guns, was overhauled on the 17th, and 
 brought into action by the Constellation, 
 which was the leading vessel of the squad 
 ron. The flag-ship, Guerricre, however, 
 was not far behind ; and, in a few minutes 
 after the action commenced, she passed be 
 tween the Constellation and the Mashouda, 
 and gave the latter a broadside, which drove 
 the Algerines from their guns; leaving but 
 a few musketeers to continue the action. 
 The Macedonian now coming up on the 
 beam of the Algerine, the Epervier pressing 
 on her quarter, and the smaller vessels of 
 the squadron closing in, all chance of escape 
 became hopeless, and she surrendered. The 
 Mashouda had about thirty men killed, and 
 a much larger number wounded. The pris 
 oners numbered over 400. Admiral Ham 
 mida was among the slain. In the broad 
 side fired by the Guerriere, one of the guns 
 unfortunately burst ; blew up the spar-deck, 
 and killed and wounded from thirty to forty 
 men. Four men, wounded by musket- 
 balls, was the only damage sustained from 
 the enemy s fire. 
 
 On the 19th of June, the squadron met 
 an Algerine brig, called the Estedio, of 
 twenty-two guns, and 180 men, off Cape 
 Palas. She ran into shoal water ; and 
 Commodore Decatur ordered the Epervier, 
 Torch, Spitfire, and Spark, to follow in and 
 destroy her. They did so ; and, after a 
 brief resistance, she surrendered. Many of 
 her men escaped to the shore ; but eighty 
 prisoners were taken, and twenty-three 
 dead bodies were found on board of her 
 when taken ; while many, who abandoned 
 the vessel, were shot before they reached 
 414 
 
 the shore; and one boat, filled with the 
 retreating fugitives, was sunk. Commodore 
 Decatur sent his prizes into Carthagena, 
 and proceeded with the squadron to Algiers, 
 reaching there on the 28th. 
 
 The appearance of so formidable an 
 armament, with the tidings of the loss of 
 two of his men-of-war, struck terror into 
 the heart of the dey. lie trembled for the 
 remainder of his fleet, portions of which 
 were hourly expected at the port. It will 
 readily be conceived, therefore, that when 
 he was offered peace on honourable terms, 
 or war with all its consequences, he quickly 
 chose the former. Oil the 30th of June, or 
 just forty days after the departure of the 
 squadron from New York, a treat} , dictated 
 to the dey by the American commissioners 
 (Commodore Decatur, and Mr. William 
 Shaler, who had accompanied the com 
 modore to Algiers for the purpose), was 
 signed by him. The dey, apprehensive for 
 his fleet, attempted to procure a suspension 
 of hostilities, pending the negotiation ; but 
 this the American commissioners would 
 not consent to. A sloop of war hove in 
 sight before the treaty was signed by the 
 dey ; but she was undisturbed. Had she 
 appeared, however, a few hours earlier, she 
 would have been taken. 
 
 The treaty thus negotiated with the dey 
 of Algiers, is memorable from the fact that 
 it was made in the terms of reciprocity 
 acknowledged among civilised nations. The 
 treaty stipulated, that no tribute, under any 
 pretext, or in any form, should, from that 
 date, be claimed from the United States of 
 America ; that all Americans who were 
 then in a state of slavery in Algiers, should 
 be given up without ransom, on the libera 
 tion of the prisoners taken by the Americans 
 during the present war. Compensation 
 was secured for American vessels captured 
 as property detained in Algiers. Vessels 
 of Algiers putting into an American port, 
 and those of the United States entering an 
 Algerine port, were to obtain supplies at the 
 regular market prices; and when they needed 
 repairs, were to be allowed to land and re- 
 embark their cargoes without paying any 
 customs or dues. Should a vessel, belong 
 ing to either power, be wrecked on the 
 coast of the other, it was humanely pro 
 vided that the authorities should guard 
 against her being given up to plunder. 
 Should an attack be made on the vessels of 
 either of the contracting parties, within 
 caimon-shot of a fortification belonging to 
 
A.T>. 
 
 1815.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TUNIS AND TRIPOLI. 
 
 the other, she was to be protected against 
 her enemy; and should a ship, belonging 
 to either party, leave a port where an 
 enemy was lying, the latter was to be re 
 strained from pursuing her till twenty-four 
 hours after her departure. With an eye to 
 the possibility of another rupture, it was 
 also stipulated, that in case hostilities 
 should break out again between the two 
 countries, American citizens at Algiers, 
 and Algerines who might be residents in 
 the United States, should be allowed to 
 embark, with their effects, unmolested, on 
 board of any ship by which they might 
 desire to return to their own country. 
 Prisoners taken in future wars were not to 
 be made slaves, but were to be treated 
 similarly to those of other nations, and 
 be eventually exchanged, rank for rank. 
 The dey asked, as a personal favour, 
 to have the frigate and brig which had 
 been captured, restored to him ; and to 
 this the commissioners, as an indication 
 that amicable feelings had promptly suc 
 ceeded to hostility, consented, though they 
 refused to allow an article to that effect to 
 be inserted as one of the provisions of the 
 treaty. 
 
 Transferring Captain Downes, of the 
 Epervier, to his own ship, the Guerriere, 
 Commodore Decatur gave the command of 
 the former vessel to Lieutenant John T. 
 Shubrick, of the Guerridre, and directed 
 him to return to the United States with 
 the treaty. The Epervier sailed, on its 
 return voyage, a few days after the date of 
 the treaty, and passed the Straits of Gib 
 raltar on the 10th of July, and that was 
 the last that was ever positively known of 
 her. Vague rumours of her having been 
 spoken early in August, and of a heavy 
 gale occurring a day or two after, have 
 been circulated, but they were traceable to 
 no trustworthy source. During the half 
 century that has since passed by, nothing 
 has occurred to furnish any clue to the 
 manner in which she was lost. As with 
 the Wasp, and other vessels, whose loss is 
 noted in previous pages, the secret of her 
 fate is buried in the deep bosom of the 
 ocean. 
 
 Leaving Mr. Shaler to act as consul at 
 Algiers, Commodore Decatur proceeded to 
 Tunis with the squadron, where he learned 
 that two prizes, which had been taken by 
 an American privateer before the con 
 clusion of peace with Great Britain, and 
 sent into the port of Tunis, had been 
 
 recaptured by a British ship of war, within 
 gun- shot of the Tunisian fort, and while 
 under the protection of the bey. Com 
 modore Decatur demanded satisfaction for 
 this wrong. The bey consented very 
 promptly to give 46,000 dollars as a com 
 pensation, which amount was accordingly 
 paid into the hands of the American consul, 
 then acting as agent for the privateer. 
 
 Commodore Decatur then sailed for 
 Tripoli, to demand satisfaction in a case 
 somewhat similar to that which had called 
 him to Tunis. Two American vessels had 
 been taken by a British sloop of war, under 
 circumstances which ought to have entitled 
 them to the protection of the bashaw, in 
 conformity with the treaty then subsisting 
 between Tripoli and the United States. 
 He had also refused or neglected to afford 
 protection to an American cruiser lying 
 within his jurisdiction. 
 
 The demand of Commodore Decatur for 
 satisfaction for these infractions of treaty 
 stipulations, was also unhesitatingly acceded 
 to by the bashaw of Tripoli, who agreed to 
 pay 25,000 dollars, which sum was placed 
 in the hands of the American consul. The 
 commodore also succeeded in obtaining the 
 liberation of ten captives, eight Neapoli 
 tans, and two Danes. The former he took 
 with him when he left Tripoli, and landed 
 them at Messina. 
 
 Commodore Decatur, in one of his official 
 letters, in alluding to the promptness with 
 which these demands for reclamation were 
 responded to by the respective rulers of 
 Tunis and Tripoli, says " During the pro 
 gress of our negotiations with the states of 
 Barbary, now brought to a conclusion, there 
 ! has appeared a disposition, on the part of 
 each of them, to grant as far as we were 
 disposed to demand. * As the distinguished 
 author of the History of the American Navy, 
 j truly says, in alluding to this remark of Com- 
 ; modore Decatur, no better illustration can 
 be given of the change that had been effected 
 by the services of the navy, within twelve 
 or fifteen years, than is to be found in this 
 simple but memorable declaration. The 
 facts fully warranted it; and, from the 
 summer of 1815, dates the fall of a system 
 of piratical depredations that had rendered 
 the high seas in that quarter of the world in 
 secure for several centuries, and which had 
 been a disgrace to European civilisation. 
 
 So prompt a submission of the Algerine 
 dey was not anticipated by the government 
 of the United States ; and consequently the 
 
 415 
 
INDIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1816. 
 
 preparations for having a powerful fleet in 
 the Mediterranean went on. The loss of the 
 Epervier also tended to prolong the period 
 before the success of Decatur was known 
 in the United States. Vessels were con 
 stantly leaving the American states to rein 
 force the squadron there, until eighteen 
 vessels, carrying over 500 guns, were as 
 sembled in that sea nearly at the same 
 time. 
 
 Commodore Bainbridge, in the Inde 
 pendence, seventy-four, arrived out soon j 
 after Decatur s prompt and decisive mea- ! 
 sures had proved so successful ; and, find- 
 ing that everything required by the honour \ 
 and the interest of the United States had | 
 already been accomplished, he left the 
 United States, Constellation, Ontario, Erie, 
 and Java, under the command of Commodore 
 Shaw, to winter in the Mediterranean, and 
 returned with the remainder of the squad 
 ron to the United States, where he found i 
 Commodore Decatur, who had arrived at 
 New York on the 12th of November. Thus 
 terminated the last troubles with the Bar- 
 bary powers ; for, although nearly half a 
 century has since passed away, nothing has 
 occurred to interrupt the good understand 
 ing then established, or to check the good 
 will which has since gradually grown up in j 
 American intercourse with those powers, 
 which had been, for so long a period, a terror 
 to the commerce of civilised nations in the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 In 1815, the Territorial legislature of In 
 diana ascertained, by a census, that there 
 was a population of 60,000 free inhabitants 
 within the Territory ; and as that number, 
 according to the ordinance of 1787, entitled 
 the people thereof to form themselves into 
 a state, and become a member of the federal 
 union, a memorial to that effect was trans 
 mitted to congress in December, 1815. The 
 committee to whom the subject had been 
 referred, reported on the 5th of January, 
 1816, in favour of authorising the organi 
 sation of the state of Indiana, under the 
 conditions that had been stipulated respect 
 ing the formation of the state of Ohio. On 
 the 19th day of April, 1816, an act was 
 passed, " to enable the people of the Indiana 
 Territory to form a constitution and state 
 government, and for the admission of that 
 state into the Union." In pursuance of this 
 authority, the people of the Territory as 
 sembled on the 29th of June, 1816, by a con 
 vention called for the purpose, and formed 
 for themselves a constitution and state gov- 
 416 
 
 ernment. On the assembling of the next 
 congress, the proceedings of the people of 
 Indiana (just mentioned) were presented ; 
 and, on the 6th of December, a committee of 
 the house, to whom the subject had been 
 referred, reported a resolution " That the 
 state of Indiana shall be one, and is hereby 
 declared to be one, of the United States of 
 America, and admitted into the Union on 
 an equal footing with the original states, in 
 all respects whatever/ The resolution was 
 passed. On the llth of December, 1816, 
 the state was formally admitted into the 
 federal union. When the Territory was 
 formed, in 1800, Vincennes was made its 
 capital ; and it so continued until 1813, 
 when Corydon became the capital. The 
 legislature continued to meet at this place 
 until 1825, in which year it was removed 
 to Indianapolis. The first state legislature 
 assembled in 1816. Jonathan Jennings was 
 elected governor of the state ; James Noble 
 and Walter Taylor were elected senators; 
 and William 11 end rick was elected repre 
 sentative to congress. 
 
 By the articles of agreement and cession 
 between the United States and the state of 
 Georgia, it was provided, " that the terri 
 tory thus ceded (Mississippi) shall form a 
 state, and be admitted as such into the 
 Union, as soon as it shall contain 60,000 
 free inhabitants; or at an earlier period, if 
 congress shall think it expedient, on the 
 same conditions and restrictions, with the 
 same privileges, and in the same manner, 
 as is provided in the ordinance of 1787, for 
 the government of the western territory 
 of the United States; which ordinance 
 shall, in all its parts, extend to the terri 
 tory contained in the present act of cession, 
 that article only cxcepted which forbids 
 slavery." The legislature of the Territory 
 of Mississippi, being of opinion that the 
 population had attained the required num 
 ber specified in the deed of cession, peti 
 tioned congress to be permitted to organise 
 a state. The subject was referred to a 
 committee, which reported in favour of the 
 memorialists in December, 1815; and in 
 March, 1816, an effort was made to autho 
 rise the people of the Territory to organise 
 a state. Congress adjourned without pass 
 ing the bill; and immediately thereafter, 
 the legislature of the Territory directed 
 that a census of the inhabitants should be 
 taken, which resulted as follows : There 
 were 75,512 souls in the whole Territory, 
 of whom. 45,085 were free white persons ; 
 
A.D. 1816.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PARTY CAUCUSES. 
 
 356 free negroes, and 30,061 slaves. Ac 
 cording to this census, the number of free 
 inhabitants had not reached GO, 000, as 
 contemplated to be necessary by the deed 
 of cession from Georgia ; but the friends of 
 the measure advocated the organisation of 
 the new state upon policy and liberality. 
 The subject was again introduced at the 
 session of December, 1816; and the com 
 mittee to whom the subject had been re 
 ferred, reported, on the 23rd of that month, 
 in favour of the application ; and, at the 
 same time, submitted a bill to establish a 
 separate territorial government for the 
 eastern part of the Mississippi Territory. 
 
 These respective bills were passed during 
 that session of congress; and in March, 
 1817, a constitution was framed, the state 
 organised, and, in December, 1817, Mis 
 sissippi was admitted as a state into the 
 federal union. The Mississippi Territory | 
 had embraced the whole of tho country 
 lying between Georgia and the Mississippi 
 I river, and between Tennessee and the Gulf 
 of Mexico. By the bill for the organisa 
 tion of ttie Territory of Alabama, the state 
 of Mississippi was confined to an area of 
 47,156 square miles. The first legislature 
 of the state was convened in the town of 
 Washington, in October, 1817. David 
 Holmes, who had been governor of the 
 territory since 1809, was elected the first 
 governor of the new state; Walter Leake 
 and Thomas H. Williams were elected 
 senators; and George Poindexter was elected 
 representative to congress. At this period, 
 at least two-thirds of the state was in the 
 possession of the Indians, of whom the 
 Choektaws were the most prominent, and 
 held the largest proportion of the lands. 
 Their claims were ultimately extinguished 
 by the whites purchasing them. 
 
 Early in 1816, preparations were made 
 by the respective political parties to se 
 cure a triumph of their candidates. The 
 republican members of congress assembled, 
 as a "caucus/ on the 12th of March, for 
 the purpose of taking into consideration the 
 propriety of recommending persons as can 
 didates for president and vice-president : 
 the meeting was adjourned to the 16th of 
 March, when were present, Henry Clay, 
 Richard M. Johnson, and many other dis 
 tinguished statesmen. At this meeting, 
 James Monroe, of Virginia, received sixty- 
 five votes, and William H. Crawford, of 
 Georgia, fifty-four votes for the office of 
 president. j)aniel D. Tompkins, of New 
 
 York, received eighty-five votes, and Symon 
 Snyder, thirty votes for the office of vice- 
 president. Subsequent to this, the federal 
 party informally nominated Rufus King, 
 of New York, for the office of president, 
 and John E. Howard, of Maryland, for the 
 office of vice-president. These congres 
 sional nominations always secured the 
 electoral votes, although the framers of the 
 constitution intended that the electors should 
 be free to elect any one whom they perferred, 
 and judged to be the best qualified. The 
 president and vice president were therefore 
 elected by the politicians in congress ; and 
 neither the legislatures of the states, the 
 people, nor the electors were left free to 
 select other candidates than those nomi 
 nated by the congressional caucus. Wash 
 ington had been elected, by the spontane 
 ous voice of the nation, in 1789 and in 
 1793. On his retirement, Adams was re- . 
 cognised by the people as the proper person 
 to succeed Washington, particularly as he 
 was the acknowledged leader of the federal 
 party, of which the first president was a 
 member. In 1800, the parties in congress 
 having assumed an organic status, com 
 menced the formal nomination of candi 
 dates for the president and vice-president. 
 In 1804, the republican and federal parties 
 presented their candidates through their 
 congressional caucuses ; but there was but 
 little rivalry for these distinguished places. 
 The like occurred in 1808 and 1812 ; but, 
 in 1816, there was a considerable disposi 
 tion to abnegate the right, or at least the 
 propriety, of nominating candidates by 
 the congressional representatives. Henry 
 Clay, from Kentucky, presented a resolu 
 tion at the meeting of March 16th, 1816, 
 declaring that it was inexpedient to make, 
 in caucus, any recommendation to the good 
 people of the United States, of persons, in 
 the judgment of the meeting, as fit and 
 suitable to fill the office of president and 
 vice-president. The proposition was nega 
 tived. Mr. Taylor, from New York, pro 
 posed a resolution, declaring, that " the 
 practice of nominating candidates for the 
 offices of president and vice-president, by 
 a convention of the senators and reprer 
 sentatives in congress, is inexpedient, and 
 ought not to be continued." This proposi 
 tion was negatived. The constitution con 
 templated that the electors should be 
 chosen free from any previous promises 
 or obligations to vote for any particular 
 person; but the caucuses negatived the 
 
 417 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1817. 
 
 intentions of the framers of that great in 
 strument, and formally nominated the 
 candidates for the respective offices : and, 
 although those recommendations were of 
 no legal force, yet the electors were con 
 sidered bound in honour to record their 
 ballots for the candidates presented by the 
 congressional caucuses. Instead, therefore, 
 of the president being elected by the free 
 choice of the nation, he was virtually 
 elected by the politicians in congress 
 
 The election took place in the autumn of 
 1816; and on the 12th of February, 1817, 
 the two houses of congress assembled in 
 joint session, for the purpose of registering 
 the official electoral ballots. The result 
 was as follows : 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 2-j 
 
 3 
 
 l-si 
 
 a" 
 
 .5 
 
 f _ 
 
 R-a 
 
 
 B-3 
 
 
 P. 
 
 
 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 c.~ 
 
 ; S |H 
 
 S(H 
 
 o 2. 
 
 -5 ~ t 
 
 j=.= 
 
 S"t^ 
 
 
 > 
 
 r 
 
 ril 
 
 S| 
 
 K ^ 
 
 i> 
 
 6 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 || 
 
 o 
 
 1 = 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 1-5 
 
 ^ 
 
 12 
 
 ^ 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Wand 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Vermont . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Maryland . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia . 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 11 
 
 _ 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Louisiana . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 34 
 
 183 
 
 22 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 G 
 
 The whole number of votes was 217, of 
 which 109 made a majority. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1817, a spe 
 cial session of the senate was held, when 
 Daniel D. Tom pk ins, of New York, was 
 duly qualified as vice-president. After the 
 delivery of a short inaugural speech by the 
 president of the senate, that body adjourned 
 for one hour, that the senators might attend 
 the inauguration of the president of the 
 United States. The president elect, the 
 ex-president, the judges of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, the senators, 
 and other officials of the government, as 
 sembled at noon, on the elevated portico of 
 the Capitol ; arid there, in the presence of a 
 large concourse of ladies and gentlemen, 
 418 
 
 the inauguration ceremonies took place. 
 Mr. Monroe delivered a lengthy speech, in 
 which he explained the principles that 
 would govern him in the administration of 
 the executive functions of the nation. lie 
 advocated the organisation of an efficient 
 army and navy, and the fortifying of the 
 coast and inland frontiers ; the whole to be 
 kept in an efficient condition, to be ready at 
 all times for active service : and, besides 
 these federal means of protection, he re 
 commended that the militia of the states 
 should be placed on the most practicable 
 footing. He stated that he would favour 
 the construction of roads and canals, so far 
 as was sanctioned by the constitution : theso 
 internal improvements were not declared 
 to be indispensable for postal or military 
 highways, but for the purpose of "facili 
 tating the intercourse between the states;" 
 adding "convenience and comfort to the 
 people;" "ornament to the country;" to 
 " shorten distances, making each part more 
 accessible to, and dependent on the other;" 
 and thus "bind the Union more closely 
 together." Mr. Monroe unequivocally de 
 clared himself in favour of a protective 
 tariff: he was of opinion that the manufac 
 tures of the country required the fostering 
 care of the government. "Possessing, as 
 we do," said Monroe, "all the raw ma 
 terials, the fruit of our own soil and indus 
 try, we ought not to depend, in the degree 
 we have done, on supplies from other 
 countries." lie considered it equally im 
 portant to provide, at home, a market for 
 the raw materials of the country, as by ex 
 tending the competition, it would enhance 
 the price, and protect the cultivators against 
 the casualties incident to foreign markets. 
 In announcing the foregoing principles, 
 Monroe proclaimed a policy that marked 
 his administration as an important epoch 
 in the annals of the federal government ; 
 internal improvements, a standing army, 
 an efficient navy, a line of fortifications 
 along the coast and the northern frontier, 
 and a protective policy in favour of domes 
 tic manufactures. To what extent these 
 principles were promotive of the general 
 weal of the nation, remains to be shown in 
 the subsequent history of the nation. 
 
 After the address had been delivered, 
 the oath of office was administered by the 
 chief justice, to Monroe, when he was 
 hailed by the audience as the president of 
 the United States. 
 
 The Seminole, or Florida Indians, wero 
 
A.D. 1S16.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SEMINOLE WAR. 
 
 originally Creeks, located, as we have had 
 occasion already to mention, within the 
 present limits of the states of Georgia and 
 Alabama. Dissensions, originating among 
 the head warriors, and subsequently extend 
 ing among the subordinate members, some 
 times leading to bloodshed, resulted finally 
 in a division of the tribe. This was as 
 early as the year 1750, when one of the 
 leading chiefs, named Secoffee, with a por 
 tion of the tribe, seceded from the main 
 body of the Creek nation, and located them 
 selves in the peninsula of Florida, in what 
 now constitutes Alachua county. Secoffee 
 was a chief of undoubted bravery, but of 
 a bitter and vindictive temper. His se 
 ductive manner and subtle conduct, in con 
 nection with an indomitable will, gave him 
 a commanding influence, and insured suc 
 cess to all his undertakings. While to the 
 Spaniards he was an implacable foe, he was 
 an invaluable ally to the English. Upon 
 the retrocession of the fioridas to Spain, 
 in 1783, he repaired to St. Augustine, to 
 ascertain the truth; and not receiving the 
 respectful treatment to which he felt en 
 titled, he returned to his village, deter 
 mined on seeking revenge, lie took the 
 field at the head of a large number of war 
 riors; but his age and enfeebled constitu 
 tion were not equal to the exertions and 
 exposure necessarily incident to active ope 
 rations ; and he died in 1785, numbering 
 " three-score and ten" years, and was buried 
 near the site of Fort King. 
 
 In 1808, another emigration from the 
 Creek nation into Florida took place, under 
 the lead of Mico Hadjo, who settled near 
 the site of the present city of Tallahassee. 
 From this period, the divisions of the Creek 
 nation, settled in Florida, were known by 
 the distinctive name of Seminoles.* The 
 legitimate owners of the soil in the penin 
 sula of Florida, by right of prior occupa 
 tion, were the Mickasauky tribe of Indians ; 
 and much dissatisfaction was manifested at 
 the intrusion of these emigrants from a 
 stranger tribe. But the original occupants 
 were not powerful enough to make an ef 
 fective resistance against the trespassers 
 upon their domain, and they soon became 
 amalgamated in a single nation, and united 
 in their efforts to resist the more objection 
 able intruders, the whites. 
 
 The operations of Edward Nicholls and 
 
 * The term scminole, in the Indian language, 
 signifies loilti; and this section of their nation was 
 so called by the Creeks, because they had estranged 
 
 James Woodbine, formerly officers in the 
 ! British army, on the Gulf coast, near the 
 , close of the late war, have been narrated ; 
 but it remains for us to remark, that, at 
 ! the conclusion of that war, when the British 
 forces were withdrawn from the southern 
 coast, these two officers resigned the com 
 missions which they held in the British 
 army, and remained in the territory of 
 Florida, for the purpose of forming com 
 binations against the south-western frontier 
 of the United States, and, with mercenary 
 I designs, inciting the Indians and runaway 
 negroes, who had sought an asylum in that 
 I territory, to active hostilities against the 
 I whites. The Seminoles had received further 
 ! accessions to their numbers from the Creeks, 
 j who were dissatisfied with the terms of the 
 I treaty negotiated with their nation by Gen- 
 1 eral Jackson, in 1814, and who conse 
 quently joined the Seminole branch of their 
 ! nation in Florida, cherishing feelings any- 
 j thing but friendly towards both the gov- 
 I eminent and people of the United States. 
 These recent exiles from the Creek nation 
 were made to believe, by Nicholls and 
 Woodbine, that the United States had de 
 frauded them ; that the treaty of Ghent 
 made express provisions for the restoration 
 of their lands surrendered under the treaty 
 negotiated by Scott ; and that the British 
 government was willing, whenever they re 
 quired it, to take measures to enforce their 
 claims. Nicholls even had the presump 
 tion to assume the character of an agent of 
 Great Britain, pretending that he was 
 authorised by the government of that 
 country to espouse their cause. 
 
 Francis Hillishago, or Hillis Hadjo, a 
 Creek chief, and one of the dissatisfied 
 warriors who had taken up their resi 
 dence with the Seminoles, was induced, by 
 these unprincipled impostors, to visit Eng 
 land, acccompanid by Woodbine, iu the 
 fallacious hope held out that England 
 would assist him. to compel the United 
 States to retrocede their territory. Al 
 though he received much attention in Eng 
 land, and was the recipient of many val 
 uable presents, of which Woodbine, true to 
 his mercenary instincts, managed to de 
 fraud him, he received no encouragement 
 in the object of his mission. Upon his 
 return to America, he was one of the prin 
 cipal instigators of the sanguinary warfare 
 
 therasulves from their former country. Tha name 
 afterwards became, in popular usage, general to all 
 the tribes in Florida. 
 
 419 
 
FATAL EXPLOSION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1816. 
 
 soon after waged against the whites. The 
 more effectually to carry out their designs, 
 Nicholls and Woodbine established a fort 
 on the Appalachicola river the dividing 
 line between East and West Florida as a 
 retreat for runaway negroes and hostile 
 Indians. In ihe month of July, 18 1 6, 
 there were collected at this rendezvous, 
 some three or four hundred negroes and 
 Indians. The position of the fort was a 
 strong one, fortified with twelve pieces of 
 ordnance, and well provided with ammuni 
 tion and provisions. 
 
 A detachment of United States regu 
 lars, under Colonel Clinch, with about 500 
 friendly Indians, under M Intosh, were 
 dispatched to dislodge this horde of 
 outlaws. They proceeded from the head 
 waters of the Appalachicola, and, reaching 
 the fort, laid siege to it on the land side ; 
 previous to which, however, Kicholls and 
 Woodbine, learning the approach of a force 
 to attack the fort, after exacting an oath 
 from their followers not to suffer an Ameri 
 can to corne near the fort alive, surrendered 
 it into their keeping, and slipped away. 
 
 By permission from the Spanish authori 
 ties at Pensacola, two schooners from New 
 Orleans, with provisions and munitions for 
 Colonel Clinch s forces, proceeded up the 
 Appalachicola on the 10th of July, under 
 convoy of two gun-boats. They had nearly 
 reached the fort, when a watering party of 
 seven men, from the schooners, was sur 
 prised by an ambuscade of negroes, who 
 fired upon them, killing five ; one escaped, 
 and one was captured, and tortured to 
 death. Colonel Clinch deeming the gun 
 boats they having but a 12- pounder 
 and twenty-five men each insufficient to 
 attack the fort, cautioned their commander 
 against attempting any offensive operations. 
 The temptation to attack the fort, how 
 ever, was too strong to be resisted ; and 
 therefore, after warping up sufficiently 
 near to reach it, he commenced dis 
 charging hot shot at it, one of which 
 entering the principal magazine, blew up 
 the fort, killing over 200 of its occupants, 
 and severely wounding most of the re 
 mainder ; three only, out of the whole 
 number within the fort, escaping entirely 
 unhurt. A large quantity of arms and 
 munitions of war, designed for supplying 
 the Indians and negroes with the means of 
 annoying the frontier settlers, fell into the 
 hands of the Americans. The savage out 
 laws of West Florida were thus disposed of, 
 420 
 
 and the war terminated in this section of 
 the territory. 
 
 In East Florida, however, an enemy of 
 the same description required also to be 
 looked after. This province had become 
 the receptacle of a vile population, over 
 which the Spanish authorities had no con 
 trol beyond the limits of their fortified 
 posts. The most numerous occupants were 
 the Seminoles, with their allies, the " Red- 
 sticks," or fugitive Creeks, before spoken 
 of. At their principal village of Micka- 
 sauky, they had erected a high pole, and 
 painted it red, to indicate their thirst for the 
 blood of the whites. Hence the name they 
 bore of " Redsticks." Their flag was com 
 posed of the scalps of the Americans whom 
 they had murdered. When to this Indian 
 population is added some hundreds of run 
 away negroes from Georgia, it may readily 
 be imagined how much the frontier inhabi 
 tants had to fear from their ravages. Ttie 
 Spanish authorities, instead of attempting 
 to restrain them, gave them encouragement, 
 supplied them with arms, and represented 
 the Americans to them as enemies of the 
 Indian race, determined on its extermina 
 tion. Thus sustained and encouraged, 
 these outcasts pursued a system of murder 
 and plunder on the frontiers of the border 
 states, taking refuge in the Mickasauky 
 
 DO */ 
 
 and Suwanee villages situated near the 
 Georgia line. 
 
 Other events occurring about this period, 
 as illustrating the weakness of the Spanish 
 rule in Florida, call for a record here. 
 During the summer of 1816, a band of 
 adventurers and desperadoes, under the 
 leadership of Louis Aury, took possession 
 of Snake or Galveston Island, near the coast 
 of Texas, then a Spanish province ; whence a 
 system of smuggling, piratical depredations 
 in commerce, and the illicit introduction of 
 slaves from thence into the United States, 
 was carried on, without any attempt on the 
 part of the Spanish authorities to check 
 them. In April, 1817, Aury,with a portion 
 of his band, abandoned Galveston Island, 
 and went to Matagorda, about a hundred 
 miles further west, on the mainland of 
 Texas, whence he soon after joined his 
 forces with Gregor M Gregor, who, claiming 
 to act under a commission from the united 
 provinces of New Granada and Venezuela, 
 took possession of Amelia Island, o(f the 
 Atlantic coast of Florida, and near the 
 boundary of Georgia, with the avowed 
 intention of making an attack upon East 
 
A.D. 1817.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HUMANITY OF MILLY. 
 
 Florida from that point. The forces under 
 M Gregor styled themselves patriots; but 
 they were simply a band of filibusters, made 
 up of refugees from the United States, 
 runaway slaves, smugglers, and vagrants, j 
 gathered up in the ports of the southern j 
 states ; who, with their fit allies, tho despe 
 radoes under Aury, were ready for any 
 reckless enterprise that promised excite 
 ment and illegal gain. M Gregor s pro- ! 
 fessed object was to wrest the Floridas 
 from Spain, and annex them to the United 
 States. Amelia Island having been the 
 subject of negotiation by the government 
 of the United States with that of Spain, as 
 an indemnity for losses by spoliations, or 
 in exchange for lands of equal value beyond 
 the Mississippi, the movement of M Gregor 
 excited a sentiment of surprise and indigna 
 tion, which was increased when it was 
 ascertained that the island, like that of 
 Galveston (Texas), was made a channel for 
 the illicit introduction of slaves from Africa 
 into the United States, an asylum for run- | 
 away slaves from the neighbouring states, j 
 and a port for smuggling of every kind. 
 With this incongruous mass of desperate 
 adventurers, however, no systematic gov 
 ernment could long be sustained. Dissen 
 sions soon arose, and M Gregor was sup 
 planted by the artful intrigues of one of his j 
 subordinates, named Hubbard ; and having 
 apprehensions for his personal safety, he 
 abandoned the island, and accompanied J 
 Woodbine on his mission to England, with i 
 the Indian chief, Ilillishago, as mentioned l 
 in a preceding page. Aury, also, who 
 claimed to be an admiral under a like com 
 mission to that of M Gregor, soon lost his 
 influence, and retired, leaving Hubbard in 
 chief command. These marauders were \ 
 soon ascertained to be merely private ad 
 venturers, unauthorised by any ruling 
 power. The government of Spain proving 
 apparently unable to maintain its authority 
 over these islands, the United States sent 
 out an adequate force, which took posses- ; 
 sion of both Amelia and Galveston islands, j 
 expelled the fillibusters, and put a stop to j 
 their illicit movements. President Monroe, i 
 in alluding to this proceeding on the part 
 of the government of the United States, 
 expressly disclaimed, in expelling these j 
 
 * The family of the old chief, consisting of a 
 wife and seven daughters, were subsequently taken 
 captive by the Americans. Among tht-m was 
 Milly, the preserver of M Krimmon. When the 
 latter heard of her being among the captives, he 
 went to her and offered to marry her. Sue would , 
 
 VOL. II. 3 I 
 
 adventurers from the islands, any intention 
 of making conquest from Spain, or of 
 injuring, however remotely, the cause of 
 the colonies. " But her territory ought not 
 to be made instrumental, through her ina 
 bility to defend it, to purposes injurious to 
 the United States; and when she fails to 
 maintain her authority over it, and permits 
 it to be converted to the annoyance of her 
 neighbours, her jurisdiction for the time 
 necessarily ceases." The secretary of state, 
 also, justified the act, as required by the 
 laws of nations, as well as those o*f the 
 United States. 
 
 Near the end of 1817, a war party of the 
 Seminolea captured an American named 
 M Krimmon, and took him to Mickasauky, 
 where preparations were immediately made 
 to burn him to death. The stake was set; 
 M Krimmon, with his head shaved, was 
 bound to it, and wood was piled up above 
 him. When the Indians had finished their 
 dance, and the fire was about to be kindled, 
 a daughter of the chief Ilillishago, named 
 Milly, who had been witnessing the pre 
 parations with a sad countenance, rushed 
 to her father, fell upon her knees at his 
 feet, and begged that he would spare the 
 prisoner s life ; and it was not until, like 
 the celebrated Pochahontas, she evinced a 
 determination to perish with him unless 
 his life were spared, that her father con 
 sented to reprieve him for the time. It 
 was still his intention, if he could not sell 
 the victim for what he deemed a satisfactory 
 price, to carry his original purpose into 
 effect. However, on oifering him to the 
 Spaniards at St. Mark s, the price demanded, 
 seven-and-a-half gallons of rum, was paid 
 for him, and he was saved from the horrible 
 death of being burnt alive at the stake.* 
 
 The section in which these events oc 
 curred, and which had. become the seat of a 
 sanguinary border warfare, was situated in 
 the military department of General Jack 
 son, and was under the immediate com 
 mand of General Gaines. In pursuance of 
 his orders to protect the frontier, General 
 Gaines concentrated his forces in that 
 quarter, and built Fort Scott on the Flint 
 river, near its junction with the Chatta- 
 hoochee; Fort Gaines on the latter river, 
 on the line between Georgia and Alabama ; 
 not, however, entertain his proposal until she was 
 satisfied that he was prompted by other motives 
 than a sense of the supposed obligation of his life 
 having been saved by her intercession. M Krimmon 
 proved, by his subsequent attentions to his wife, 
 that he married her through affection. 
 
 421 
 
INDIAN MASSACRE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1817. 
 
 and Fort Crawford, in Mississippi, on the 
 Conecuh branch of the Escambia. 
 
 The instructions to General Gaines, on 
 the subject of the Seininole war, were 
 comprised in four orders, from William 
 H. Crawford, secretary of war. The first 
 bore date the 30th of October, 1816; 
 and, after directing that a detachment of 
 Georgia militia should be called into ser 
 vice, remarks " The assurance of an addi 
 tional force, the president flutters himself, 
 will, at least, have the effect of restraining 
 the Setninoles from committing further de 
 predations, and, perhaps, of inducing them 
 to make reparation for the murders which 
 they have committed ; should they, how 
 ever, persevere in their refusal to make 
 such reparation, it is the wish of the presi 
 dent that you should not, on that account, 
 pass the lines, and make an attack upon 
 them within the limits of Florida, until 
 you shall have received further instructions 
 from, this department." 
 
 The second order is dated the 2nd of 
 December. It says "The state of our 
 negotiations with Spain, and the temper 
 manifested by the principal European 
 powers, make it impolitic, in the opinion of 
 the president, to move a force, at this time, 
 into the Spanish possessions, for the mere 
 purpose of chastising the Seminoles, for 
 depredations which have heretofore been 
 committed by them." 
 
 General Gaines was directed by the 
 third order, which was dated the 9th of 
 December, to exercise a sound discretion as 
 to the propriety of crossing the line, for 
 the purpose of attacking the Indians and 
 breaking up their towns, should they ap 
 pear in force on the Spanish side of the 
 line, and persevere in committing hostilities 
 within the limits of the United States. 
 
 The fourth order, bore date the 16th of 
 December, and directed General Gaines, in 
 case the Seminole Indians should still re 
 fuse to make reparation for their depreda 
 tions and outrages on the citizens of the 
 United States, to consider himself at liberty 
 to march across the Florida line, and at 
 tack them within its limits, unless they 
 should take shelter xmder a Spanish fort ; 
 and should they do so, he was instructed to 
 immediately notify the department of war. 
 
 On the 19th of November, 1817, an 
 order was received by General Gaines, in 
 structing him to remove the remaining 
 Creeks from the territory ceded to the 
 United States, by the treaty negotiated by 
 422 
 
 Jackson, in 1814. Being then at Fort 
 Scott, he sent an officer to one of their 
 settlements near him, called Fowltown, to 
 require the withdrawal of certain Indians, 
 still there, to the territory secured to them 
 by the said treaty. This request the Indians, 
 refused to comply with ; and when their 
 chief, Hornotlimed, or, as General Jackson 
 called him, " Hornattlemico, an old Red- 
 stick," was summoned by General Gaines 
 to appear at the fort, he returned a haughty 
 refusal. 
 
 The next day, Major Twiggs was dis 
 patched, with 250 men, to bring the chiefs 
 and warriors to Fort Scott. His force was 
 attacked on the road by the Indians, but 
 he repulsed them, and put them to flight, 
 killing and wounding several. On reach 
 ing the town he found the Indians had all 
 left it. 
 
 On the 30th of November, three vessels, 
 under the direction of Major Muhlenburg, 
 who had been dispatched by General Gaines 
 to Mobile, to obtain provisions and military 
 stores for the supply of the garrison, had 
 arrived at the mouth of the Appalachicola ; 
 but, from adverse winds, and a contrary 
 current, were unable to ascend the river. 
 General Gaines dispatched Lieutenant Scott, 
 in a boat, with forty men, down the river, 
 to their assistance. Major Muhlenburg 
 took out twenty of the men, and, supplying 
 their places with his siuk, seven women and 
 four children, sent the boat back towards 
 the fort. The old chief, Hornotlimed, with 
 a band of his warriors, had concealed them 
 selves on the bank of the river, near the 
 confluence of the Flint ; and, when Lieu 
 tenant Scott and his party returned, they 
 fired upon them, and all, excepting six 
 soldiers (who jumped overboard and swam 
 to the opposite shore) and one woman, who 
 was captured, were killed. They dashed out 
 the brains of the children, against the sides 
 of the boat. Their scalps were taken to the 
 Mickasauky village, where they were ex 
 hibited upon a red pole, in memory of 
 their bloody achievement. The vessels 
 received the aid of another detachment 
 from Fort Scott, which a favourable wind 
 enabled them at last to reach, though 
 constantly assailed, on the passage up 
 the river, by the savages who lined its 
 banks. 
 
 On receiving intelligence of this outrage, 
 the government determined to take more 
 decisive measures ; and, on the 26th ol 
 December, the secretary of war wrote to 
 
A.D. 1818.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [AMBRISTER AND AKBUTHNOT. 
 
 General Jackson, ordering him to repair 
 immediately to Fort Scott, and take charge 
 of the war. Eight hundred men were 
 given to him, with authority to draw 
 volunteers from the neighbouring states, at 
 his discretion, should that number be insuf 
 ficient for the campaign. He was directed 
 to conform to the orders previously given 
 to General Gaines, as to the general plan 
 on which the war should be prosecuted. 
 This communication reached General Jack 
 son on the 12th of January, 1818. He at 
 once issued a proclamation, in which he 
 appealed to the patriotism of the Tennessee 
 volunteers to join him in the coming cam 
 paign. This had the desired effect, and 
 numbers were soon on their way to Fayette- 
 ville, where they were ordered to rendez 
 vous, before proceeding to Fort Scott. 
 General Jackson himself reached the latter 
 place on the 9th of March, with 900 
 Georgia militia, whom he had mustered on 
 the road. 
 
 Finding the garrison destitute of provi 
 sions, he determined to obtain supplies 
 from the enemy. As he pushed forward 
 to the Appalachicola he was joined by 
 General Gaines, and erected a fort on the 
 spot where the Indian fort, which was 
 blown up by Colonel Clinch, had stood. 
 On the 1st of April he was joined by the 
 Tennessee volunteers. These, with 1,500 
 warriors, under M Intosh, increased his 
 force to 4^*300 men ; while the enemy, con 
 sisting of fugitive Indians and runaway 
 negroes, did not amount to one-fourth that 
 number. No serious contest could, of 
 course, be anticipated. They had now 
 nearly reached the Mickasauky villages. 
 As they approached them, the outposts had 
 a trifling skirmish with a party of Indians, 
 who soon fled ; and on the arrival of Jack 
 son and his forces at the villages, he found 
 them deserted by their inhabitants. The 
 wigwams were destroyed. The red pole 
 was still standing, covered with scalps, 
 many of which were recognised as having 
 been taken from Lieutenant Scott s party. 
 
 The warriors under M Intosh were or- 
 dered to scour the neighbouring country 
 in pursuit of the fugitives. A vessel, cruis 
 ing near the mouth of the Appalachicola 
 river, to prevent the escape of the Indians 
 in that direction, by displaying English 
 colours, decoyed on board, the chief Hor- 
 notlimed, and the prophet, Francis Hilli- 
 shago, who were hung without trial or 
 delay. 
 
 A party of Indians and negroes, num 
 bering near 500, about this time sur 
 rounded the Spanish fort St. Mark s, and 
 demanded its surrender. This fort was one 
 of great importance, being strongly built, 
 and having formerly served as the main 
 depot of the savages, and the place where 
 all their councils were held. As the Spanish 
 garrison was very weak, to prevent its 
 falling into the hands of the enemy, Jack 
 son determined to anticipate them, and 
 accordingly marched to the fort, and took 
 possession without opposition : he then 
 hoisted the American flag over it, and 
 shipped the Spanish garrison to Pensacola. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of St. Mark s, was 
 found a Scotch trader, named Alexander 
 Avbuthnot, who had been carrying on an 
 extensive intercourse with the hostile In 
 dians and negroes. Jackson captured him, 
 and put him in close confinement. 
 
 General Jackson, leaving a garrison at 
 St. Mark s, on the 9th of April, marched 
 against the Suwanee towns, 107 miles dis 
 tant. From that vicinity, bauds of hostile 
 marauders had issued to ravage the Georgia 
 frontier. On approaching the principal 
 settlement, called Bowlegstovvn, on the 
 16th, he encountered several Indians, who 
 fled to the settlements to apprise them 
 that an enemy was near. Jackson and his 
 forces reached the town in a few hours, and 
 captured it, after a slight resistance, in 
 which eleven Indians were killed, and two 
 made prisoners. The next day the villages 
 were destroyed, and parties sent out in 
 pursuit of the fugitives. Corn and cattle, 
 to a considerable amount, were secured. A 
 schooner, belonging to Arbuthnot, was cap 
 tured at the mouth of the Suwanee river, 
 and employed in transporting the baggage 
 of the army and the captured stores to 
 St. Mark s. On the 18th, Robert C. Am- 
 brister, a native of the Bahamas, and re 
 cently a lieutenant of marines in the British 
 service, under Nicholls, was captured in the 
 neighbourhood of the villages. On the 
 22nd, a court of inquiry was convened for 
 the trial of Ambrister and Arbuthnot; and, 
 after a six days session, they were pro 
 nounced guilty of inciting the Indians to 
 aggressions on the United States, and of 
 supplying them with the means of war. 
 They were both executed ; Arbuthnot being 
 hung, and Ambrister shot. An effort was 
 I made by the court that tried the latter, to 
 soften down his punishment to whipping 
 and imprisonment ; but Jackson deemed 
 
 423 
 
SPANISH FLORIDA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1818. 
 
 him deserving of death, and shot him. The 
 sentence was executed on the 29th. On 
 the same day, the general returned to Fort 
 Gadsden. 
 
 Intelligence now reached General Jack 
 son that the defeated Seminoles were \ 
 mustering near Pensacola. It was also \ 
 rumoured that they were assisted and ; 
 encouraged by the Spanish garrison at ! 
 that place. Jackson therefore resolved \ 
 to march at once, and capture Pensa 
 cola. Accordingly, he left Fort Gadsden 
 on the 10th of May, at the head of 1,200 
 men, and on the 22nd arrived near Pensa 
 cola. On notifying the Spanish governor, 
 he ordered Jackson to quit the country. 
 Disregarding alike the governor s com 
 mands, remonstrances, and threats, Jackson 
 entered the city on the 24th, and imme 
 diately commenced operations for assault 
 ing Fort Barrancas, whither the governor, 
 with his small force, had retired. A bom 
 bardment of the fort was commenced, and 
 kept up till the 27th, when it was sur 
 rendered, and the Spanish authorities were 
 sent to Havana. General Jackson now, 
 after garrisoning the different stations, and 
 discharging the volunteers, returned to his 
 home at the Hermitage, near Nashville, 
 Tennessee, leaving the command of the 
 army in the south with General Gaines, 
 who, in obedience to General Jackson s J 
 orders, subsequently took possession of St. 
 Augustine, the only remaining Spanish 
 fortress in the territory ; and the Seminole 
 war was, for the time, ended in the military ; 
 possession of Florida by the United States. 
 
 On the 2nd of June, General Jackson 
 addressed a letter to Mr. Calhoun, the 
 secretary of war ; at the conclusion of 
 which, he says " The Seminole war may 
 now be considered as at a close. Tran 
 quillity is again restored to the southern 
 frontier of the United States ; and as long 
 as a cordon of military posts is maintained 
 along the Gulf of Mexico, America has 
 nothing to apprehend from either foreign 
 or Indian hostilities. The immutable 
 principles of self-defence justified the occu 
 pation of the Floridas ; and the same 
 principles will warrant the American gov 
 ernment in holding them, until such time 
 as Spain can guarantee, by an adequate 
 military force, the maintenance of her 
 authority within the colony." 
 
 The strong and decided measures of 
 General Jackson, incident to the prosecu 
 tion of the Seminole campaign, were the 
 occasion of much popular excitement in 
 both England and the United States. The 
 summary trial and execution of Arbuthnot 
 and Ambrister produced much irritation in 
 Great Britain ; and Lord Castlereagh in 
 formed Mr. Rush, the American minister 
 to the British court, that it needed but a 
 breath to so intensify the public feeling, 
 that a war with the United States would 
 be the inevitable result. Fortunately, the 
 influence of the British cabinet was exerted 
 on the side of peace. Though they con 
 demned the severity of General Jackson, 
 they were of opinion, that men who connect 
 themselves, for purposes of pillage and 
 plunder, with warlike operations against a 
 nation with whom their own country is at 
 peace, should be left to take the conse 
 quences of their own wrong-doing. 
 
 The cabinet of President Monroe was 
 not altogether unanimous on the subject. 
 John Quincy Adams, the American secre 
 tary of state, in his correspondence with 
 the Spanish government, through Mr. 
 Erving, the American minister to Spain, 
 ably defended the cause of General Jack 
 son, and denied the claim of Spain for an 
 indemnity for the seizure of the fortresses 
 of Florida, or even that an apology was 
 due. Mr. Adams also espoused General 
 Jackson s cause in the cabinet councils, 
 against Mr. Calhoun, the secretary of war, 
 who held the opinion that Jackson should 
 be tried by a court-martial.* In congress, 
 also, General Jackson s conduct in the 
 campaign was the subject of acrimonious 
 debates. Resolutions of censure and con 
 demnation were introduced into the House 
 of Representatives, but were rejected by a 
 large majority, on being put to the vote. 
 The senate, after an animated and bitter 
 discussion, dropped the subject without 
 coming to a vote upon it. The report made 
 to the senate by Mr. Lacock, of Pennsyl 
 vania, was very full, and very severe, on 
 General Jackson s course, but it was never 
 made the subject of controversy. 
 
 That General Jackson should feel deeply 
 chagrined at the exceptions taken to his 
 manner of conducting the campaign in 
 Florida, is but natural, when feeling that 
 he had acted in strict conformity to the 
 
 * The sentiments of Mr. Calhoun, upon this and action were in harmony with those of Mr. 
 question, were at the time unknown to General J Adams, and that Mr. Crawford, the secretary of the 
 Jackson, who believed that Mr. Calhoun s opinions , treasury, only was against him. 
 424 
 
A.D. 1818.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AMELIA ISLAND. 
 
 wishes of the administration. That he did 
 so, is evident from the message transmitted 
 to congress by the president, at the com 
 mencement of the following session, No- I 
 vember 17th, 1818. That document ex- j 
 hibited Mr. Monroe s sentiments upon the i 
 question, and contained a complete resume 
 of the state of affairs in the territory when 
 Jackson entered it. We learn, from that 
 message, that throughout the whole of 
 those provinces to which the Spanish title 
 extended, the government of Spain had 
 scarcely been felt. Its authority had been 
 confined almost exclusively to the walls of 
 Pensacola and St. Augustine, within which 
 only small garrisons had been maintained, j 
 Adventurers from every country, fugitives 
 from justice, and absconding slaves, found 
 an asylum there. Several tribes of Indians, ! 
 strong in the number of their warriors, 
 remarkable for their ferocity, and whose i 
 settlements extended to the United States 
 limits, inhabited the Floridas. Those dif 
 ferent hordes of people, connected together, 
 disregarded, on the one side, the authority 
 of Spain, and, protected on the other by an 
 imaginary line, which separated Florida 
 from the United States, violated the laws 
 prohibiting the introduction of slaves ; prac 
 tised various frauds on the revenue, and 
 committed every kind of outrage on peace 
 able citizens, which their proximity enabled 
 them to perpetrate. The invasion of 
 Amelia Island, in the previous year, by a 
 small band of adventurers, not exceeding 
 150 in number, who wrested it from the in 
 considerable Spanish force stationed there, 
 clearly proved how completely extinct the 
 Spanish authority had become ; as the con 
 duct of those adventurers, while in posses 
 sion of the island, distinctly showed the 
 pernicious purposes for which their com 
 bination had been formed. 
 
 That country had, in fact, become the 
 theatre of every species of lawless adven 
 ture. With little population of its own, the 
 Spanish authority almost extinct, and the 
 colonial governments in a state of revolu 
 tion having no pretensions to it, and suffi 
 ciently employed in their own concerns it 
 was in a great measure derelict, and the 
 object of cupidity to every adventurer. A 
 system of bucaniering was organised over 
 it, which menaced, in its consequences, the 
 lawful commerce of every nation, and par 
 ticularly of the United States ; while it pre 
 sented a temptation to every people on 
 whose seduction its success principally de 
 
 pended. In regard to the United States, 
 the pernicious effect of this unlawful com 
 bination was not confined to the ocean; 
 the Indian tribes had constituted the 
 effective force in Florida. With these 
 tribes, the adventurers had formed, at an 
 early period, a connection, with a view of 
 availing themselves of that force to promote 
 their own projects of accumulation and 
 aggrandisement. It was to the inter 
 ference of some of those adventurers, in 
 misrepresenting the claims and titles of the 
 Indians to the land, and in practising on 
 their savage propensities, that the Seminole 
 war was principally traced. Men who 
 thus connected themselves with the savage 
 tribes, and stimulated them to war, which 
 had been always attended, on their part, 
 with acts of barbarity the most shocking, 
 deserved to be viewed in a worse light than 
 the savages. They certainly had no claim 
 to an immunity from the punishment which, 
 according to the rules of warfare practised 
 by the savages, might justly have been 
 inflicted on the savages themselves. 
 
 In suppressing the establishment at 
 Amelia Island, no unfriendliness was in 
 tended towards Spain by the United States ; 
 because the post was taken from a force 
 which had wrested it from her. The 
 measure, it is true, was not adopted in con 
 cert with the Spanish government, or those 
 in authority under it ; because, in trans 
 actions connected with the war in which 
 Spain and her colonies were engaged, it 
 was thought proper, in doing justice to 
 the United States, to maintain a strict im 
 partiality towards both of the belligerent 
 parties, without consulting or acting in 
 concert with either. 
 
 In authorising Major-general Jackson to 
 enter Florida in pursuit of the Seminoles, 
 care was taken not to encroach on the 
 rights of Spain. In executing this order, 
 facts were disclosed respecting the conduct 
 of the officers of Spain in authority there, 
 in encouraging the war, furnishing muni 
 tions and other supplies to carry it on, and 
 in other acts not less marked, which evinced 
 their participation in the hostile purposes 
 of that combination, and justified the con 
 fidence with which it inspired the savages, 
 that by those officers they would be pro 
 tected. A conduct so incompatible with 
 the friendly relations that existed between 
 the two countries, particularly with the 
 positive obligation of the fifth article of the 
 treaty of 1795 by which Spain was bound 
 
 425 
 
NATIONAL FLAG.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1777. 
 
 to restrain, even by force, those savages 
 from acts of hostility against the United 
 States could not fail to excite surprise. 
 The general in command was convinced 
 that he would fail in his object, if he did 
 not deprive those savages of the resource 
 on which they had calculated, and of the 
 protection on which they had relied, in 
 making the war. 
 
 As there was reason to believe that the 
 commanders of the Spanish posts had 
 violated their instructions, there was no 
 disposition to impute to their government 
 a conduct so unprovoked and hostile. An 
 order was in consequence issued to the 
 American general in command there, to 
 deliver the posts; Pensacola, uncondition- 
 allv, to any person duly authorised to re 
 ceive it ; and St. Mark s, which was in the 
 
 heart of the Indian country, on the arrival 
 of a competent force to defend it against 
 those savages and their associates. 
 
 In entering Florida to suppress the 
 savage combinations, no idea was enter 
 tained of hostility to Spain ; and however 
 justifiable the commanding general was, in 
 consequence of the misconduct of the 
 Spanish officers, in entering St. Mark s and 
 Pensacola, to determine it by proving to 
 the savages and their associates that they 
 could not be protected even there, yet the 
 amicable relations existing between the 
 United States and Spain could not be 
 altered by that act alone. By ordering the 
 restitution of the posts, those relations were 
 preserved. By this measure, so promptly 
 taken, due respect was shown to the gov 
 ernment of Spain. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NATIONAL FLAG; ADMISSION OF ILLINOIS, ALABAMA, MAINE, AND MISSOURI INTO THE UNION; THE 
 MISSOUItl RESTRICTION AND COMPROMISE ; STATE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 THE national flag of the United States was 
 originally adopted by the continental con 
 gress, on the 14th of June, 1777, and was 
 composed of thirteen stripes, alternate red 
 and white ; a blue field placed as a square, 
 equal to two-thirds the width of the flag, 
 on the left and upper corner; and upon 
 the blue field was to be scattered thirteen 
 five- pointed stars. The red stripes were 
 emblematical of fervency and zeal ; the 
 white, of integrity and purity; the blue field, 
 of unity; and the stai*s, of fellowship. 
 The number, thirteen, was symbolical of 
 the original thirteen colonial states that 
 severed their allegiance from the sovereignty 
 of Great Britain, and declared, in 1776, 
 that they were free arid independent 
 powers. The resolution of congress did 
 not assume to present a heraldic organi 
 sation, and only had in view a combination 
 representing the peculiarity of the federal 
 nation. About the same time, an eagle 
 was adopted for the national seal ; and 
 from thence to the present day, the seal, 
 representing the coat of arms, is differently 
 engraved ; and the devices thereon are 
 generally combined to suit the caprices of 
 426 
 
 the artist. On the 20th of June, 1782, 
 the confederation congress enacted, that 
 the national seal should be composed as 
 follows: "Arms: paleway of thirteen 
 pieces, argent and gules ; a chief azure ; 
 the escutcheon on the breast of the Ameri 
 can eagle displayed, proper, holding in his 
 dexter talon an olive-branch, and in his 
 sinister, a bundle of thirteen arrows, all 
 proper ; and in his beak a scroll, inscribed 
 with this motto, * E pluribus unum. For 
 the crest : over the head of the eagle, 
 which appears above the escutcheon, a 
 glory, breaking through a cloud, proper, 
 and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a 
 constellation, argent, on an azure field." 
 The paleways of thirteen pieces represented 
 the original colonial states that formed the 
 confederation ; the thirteen stars and arrows 
 also symbolical of the sovereign 
 
 were 
 
 states of the Union ; the arrows represented 
 war, and the olive-branch, peace. As the 
 flag had been adopted before the coat-of- 
 arms was prescribed by congress, it is but 
 natural to suppose that the latter was 
 compiled from the symbolic features of the 
 i former. The stars were to be argent, or 
 
A.D. 1794.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE STRIPES AND STARS. 
 
 silver ; these were to be scattered on an 
 azure or blue field ; the glory was a climax, 
 representing the light of liberty, with its 
 benignant rays bursting forth through the 
 clouds. The stars were not formed ac 
 cording to strict heraldic rule, as they 
 were, from the first, made with five points, 
 and should have been styled mullets ; but 
 their significance was derived from Free 
 masonry, as, in that fraternity, the five- 
 pointed star has been, from time imme 
 morial, emblematical of union, fellowship, 
 and an indissoluble alliance for mutual 
 protection. Washington, and most of the 
 great men of the revolutionary epoch, were 
 active Freemasons ; and in this, as well as 
 in many other of their public acts, we have 
 observed the source of their ideas. So true is 
 this, that, in some instances, they employed, 
 in their public documents, language almost 
 exact with the ritual of that institution. 
 
 The reasons that prompted the origina 
 tors of the flag to combine the red, white, 
 and blue, we do not know ; but we are led 
 to infer that it was composed in parts from 
 time to time. Prior to June, 1776, vari 
 ous kinds of flags were employed. For ex 
 ample, on the 4th of January, 1776, Wash 
 ington wrote that he had had unfurled a 
 Union flag, in compliment to the united 
 colonies ; but it was so nearly like the British 
 flag, that the people of Boston thought 
 it had been employed as a signal of sub 
 mission : upon it was the St. George s and 
 St. Andrew s crosses, on a blue field, which, 
 as combined, was originally intended to 
 represent the union of England and Scot- 
 laud; the former belonging to the banner 
 of the Britons, and the latter of the Scots. 
 In 1775, early after the breaking out of the 
 war, a regiment was formed in Culpepper, 
 county Virginia, and marched under a flag, 
 having painted thereon a rattlesnake with 
 twelve rattles; the head represented Virginia 
 as the mother of all the other states or colo 
 nies ; and the rattles represented the other 
 twelve colonies. Flags of different combi 
 nations were used in different states ; and in 
 some instances, regiments of the same state 
 adopted devices of their own combination. 
 
 The flag, as adopted by the continental 
 congress, continued unaltered as the banner 
 of the nation until January, 1794, when the 
 senate of the United States passed a bill to 
 change it, so as to conform to the number of 
 states composing the federal union at that 
 time. The bill passed the senate with but 
 little debate ; but in the house it was not 
 
 so fortunate. Benjamin Good hue, of Mas 
 sachusetts, thought it a trifling business, 
 which ought not to engross the attention of 
 the house, when it was their duty to discuss 
 matters of infinitely greater consequence. 
 "If we are to alter the flag," said Mr. 
 Goodhue, " from thirteen to fifteen stripes, 
 with two additional stars, because Vermont 
 and Kentucky have been added, we may 
 go on adding and altering at this rate for 
 one hundred years to come."- William 
 Lyman, of Massachusetts, was of a dif 
 ferent opinion, and thought it of the greatest 
 consequence not to offend the new states. 
 George Thatcher, of the same state, ridi 
 culed the idea of being at so much trouble, 
 and characterised it as a consummate speci 
 men of frivolity. At this rate, every state 
 should alter its public seal when an addi 
 tional county or township was formed. He 
 was sorry to see the house take up their time 
 with such trifles. Christopher Greenup, 
 of Kentucky, considered it of very great 
 consequence to inform the rest of the world 
 that we had now two additional states. 
 Nathaniel Niles, of Vermont, was very 
 sorry that such a matter should, even for a 
 moment, have hindered the house from 
 going into more important affairs. He did 
 not think the alteration either worth the 
 trouble of adopting or rejecting; but he 
 supposed the shortest way to get rid of it 
 was to agree to it ; and for that reason, and 
 no other, he advised the house to pass the 
 bill as soon as possible. Elias Boudinot, of 
 New Jersey, thought it of consequence to 
 keep the citizens of Vermont and Ken 
 tucky in good humour, and that they 
 might get affronted if the bill were rejected. 
 Mr. Goodhue said he felt for the honour 
 of the house, when spending their time on 
 such sort of business. But, since it must 
 be passed, he had only to beg the favour 
 that it might not appear upon the journals, 
 and go into the world as the first of the 
 bills passed in that session. William B. 
 Giles, of Virginia, thought it very proper 
 to alter the flag to indicate the number of 
 the states composing the federal union. 
 Jeremiah Smith, of New Hampshire, said, 
 that the alteration would cost him 500 dol 
 lars, and every vessel in the Union sixty 
 dollars. He could not conceive what the 
 ! senate meant by sending them such bills. 
 He supposed that it must be for want of , 
 something better to do. He should indulge 
 them ; " but let us have no more alterations 
 of this sort." The bill passed, and the flag 
 
 427 
 
THE FLAG ESTABLISHED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1818. 
 
 was then composed of fifteen stripes and 
 fifteen stars, symbolical of the number of 
 states then composing the Union. 
 
 In December, 1817, it was proposed in 
 congress to make another alteration of the 
 flag, as the increasing number of the 
 stripes prevented its easy identification : 
 besides, new states were continually being 
 formed ; and it was found to be expensive 
 to comply with the spirit of the change 
 made in 1794. Early in January, 1818, 
 Peter II. Wendover, of New York, pressed 
 the proposition in the house with great 
 zeal ; and he continued his efforts until he 
 succeeded in securing the change adopted 
 by congress. The bill provided, that from 
 and after the 4th of July, 1818, the flag of 
 the United States was to be composed of 
 thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red 
 and white ; the union was to be of twenty 
 stars, white, in a blue field ; and, on the 
 admission of every new state into the Union, 
 one star was to be added to the union of 
 the flag. This alteration was adopted ; 
 and, in this manner, the national flag was 
 permanently established. With respect to 
 the arrangement of the stars on the azure 
 field of the flag, no decision was made upon 
 
 * As we have briefly given the origin and the 
 final establishment of the American flag, we deem 
 it not out of place to allude to the origin of the 
 national airs: and of these, it may be remarked, 
 that "Yankee Doodle" was a part of an English 
 opera, styled " Ulysses," and was composed by John 
 Christian Smith, an author who was engaged by a 
 company that performed in Lincoln s-inn-fields, 
 London, about 1731. As a piece of music it was 
 much liked by the Yankees ; and a very old work 
 informs us that the "doodle" was added to it by 
 the British, in derision. The "President s March" 
 was composed by Professor Phyle, and was per 
 formed on the reception of Washington at Trenton, 
 New Jersey, in 1789, when he was on his way to 
 New York, to be inaugurated. " Hail Columbia !" 
 was written by Joseph Hopkinson, at the close of 
 the last century, and was a popular song in the 
 theatres at that time. 
 
 The words of " Home, Sweet Home," were com 
 posed by John Howard Payne ; and the air was 
 taken from an old Sicilian opera. This popular 
 song has become the property of the world ; for we 
 have heard it on the wayside in nearly every clime, 
 even among the Esquimaux on the icy mountains 
 of Greenland. Payne lived to see the " organ- 
 grinders" in the street receive money for playing 
 his " Home, Sweet Home," while he was in penury 
 and want! 
 
 The " Star-Spangled Banner," the most popular 
 national song in the United States, was composed 
 by Francis Scott Key, of Maryland, who was de 
 tained on a British vessel of war, while the fleet 
 made an unsuccessful attack on Fort M Henry, 
 at Baltimore, on the night of the 13th of Septem 
 ber, 1814. He had gone on board with a flag of 
 428 
 
 the subject ; and it was purposely left to 
 the discretion of those who manufactured 
 them, either to arrange them in the form 
 of one great luminary, or, in the words of 
 the original resolution of 1777, " repre 
 senting a new constellation." During the 
 consideration of the bill, Mr. Wendover said 
 "In viewing this subject, there appears 
 to be a happy coincidence of circumstances 
 in having adopted the symbols in your 
 flag, and a peculiar fitness of things in 
 making the proposed alterations. In that 
 part designed at a distance to characterise 
 your country, and which ought, for the 
 information of other nations, to appear 
 conspicuous, and remain permanent, you 
 present the number of the states that burst 
 the bonds of oppression, and achieved your 
 independence ; while, in the part intended 
 for a nearer, or home view, you see a repre 
 sentation of your happy Union as it now 
 exists, and space sufficient to embrace the 
 symbolic stars, representing the new sove 
 reignties as they become component parts of 
 the federal union." The flag thus adopted 
 was universally admired ; and, since 1818, 
 star after star has been added to the galaxy 
 of the Great Republic.* 
 
 truce, for the purpose of effecting an exchange of 
 prisoners. The words, as composed by him on that 
 eventful occasion, were as follows : 
 
 "Oh ! say can you sec by the (lawn s early light, 
 What so proudly we hailed at the twilight s last gleam 
 ing 
 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the peril 
 ous fight, 
 
 O er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly stream 
 ing ! 
 
 And the rocket s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
 Gave proof through tbe night that our flag was still there ; 
 Oh ! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
 O er the land of the free, and the home of the brave ! 
 
 " On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 
 Where the foe s haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
 What is that which the breeze, o er the towering steep, 
 As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses ? 
 Now it catches the gleam of the morning s first beam ; 
 In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream ; 
 Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave 
 O er the land of the free, and the home of the brave 
 
 " And where is that band who so Tauntingly swore 
 That the havoc of war and the battle s confusion, 
 A home and a country should leave us no more ? 
 Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps pollution. 
 No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
 From the terrors of flight, or the gloom of the grave ; 
 And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
 O er the land of the free, and the home of the brave. 
 
 " Oh ! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 
 Between their loved homes and the war s desolation ; 
 Blest with victory and peace may the heaven -rescued land 
 Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a 
 
 nation. 
 
 Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
 And this be our motto In God is our trust" 
 And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
 O er the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 
 
A.D. 1818.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ILLINOIS AND ALABAMA. 
 
 The territorial government of Illinois, 
 organised in 1809, continued to exercise its 
 functions until 1818, when, by act of con 
 gress, it was made a sovereign state, and 
 admitted into the federal union. The states 
 of Ohio and Indiana had been established 
 within the western territory ceded by Vir 
 ginia ; and the sovereignty of Illinois made 
 the third of the five states that were per 
 mitted to be organised within the limits of 
 the domain conveyed to the confederated 
 government in 1783. It was, at first, pro 
 posed to restrict the area of Illinois to the 
 south of Lake Michigan ; but the bill, while 
 under consideration in the house, was 
 amended so as to include a part of the 
 lake coast, with the view of creating a large 
 port on the lake Chicago, for example 
 as was then intended. The remaining area 
 of the north-western territory was supposed 
 to be fairly divided, so as to make two 
 more states, conformably to the deed of 
 cession of 1783, and ordinance of 1787.* 
 The bill passed on the 18th of April, 1818, 
 and authorised the people of the Illinois 
 territory to form a state constitution, pro 
 vided a census was taken, and the popula 
 tion amounted to 40,000. The territorial 
 government ascertained that the popula 
 tion exceeded the required number; and, 
 accordingly, a convention of delegates, 
 elected by the people, assembled at Kas- 
 kaskia, on the 26th of August, 1818, and 
 framed a constitution. On the assembling of 
 congress, November 19th, 1818, the repre 
 sentative from the state of Illinois appeared, 
 and solicited his recognition as a member 
 of that body. A question arose in the 
 house whether or not it had been ascer 
 tained, beyond doubt, that there were the 
 required number of inhabitants in the said 
 territory ? It was, however, satisfactorily 
 established that the census had been fairly 
 taken ; and John M Lean was received as 
 the representative, and Ninean Edward and 
 Jesse 13. Thomas as United States senators. 
 Shadrach Bond was elected governor ; and 
 Kaskaskia was made the capital of the 
 state. 
 
 The territorial government of Alabama, 
 created in 1817, on the admission of the state 
 of Mississippi into the federal union, applied 
 to congress in 1818, for authority to form a 
 sovereign state. On the 18th of February, 
 
 * These two states were organised, and respec 
 tively named Michigan and Wisconsin ; the former 
 was admitted into the Union in 1837, and the latter 
 in 1847. 
 
 VOL. II. 3 K 
 
 1819, the house passed a senate bill, 
 to authorise the organisation of tn*e state 
 of Alabama, and its admission into the 
 federal union. On the 5th of July, 1819, 
 a convention of delegates, elected by the 
 people, assembled at lluntsville, and pro 
 ceeded to frame a constitution for the 
 new state; and, on the 2nd of August, 
 they completed their labours, and ad 
 journed. An election for members of the 
 legislature took place in September; and 
 William W. Bibb was, at the same time, 
 elected governor. The legislature met in 
 October, at Huntsville ; and the subsequent 
 sessions, for several years thereafter, were 
 held at the town of Cahawba. The con 
 stitution of the state was transmitted to 
 both houses of congress, which assembled 
 on the 14th of December, 1819, and Wil 
 liam Rufus King, John W. Walker, sena 
 tors, and John Crowell, representative, 
 were duly received and qualified. 
 
 Maine had been, since its first settlement, 
 more or less held as a part of the territory 
 of Massachusetts ; and it was not until 
 
 1820, that the people of that vast area suc 
 ceeded in forming an independent and 
 sovereign state. By act of the legislature 
 of Massachusetts, it was agreed that the 
 people of the district of Maine should decide 
 for themselves, whether or not a division of 
 territory should take place. The voters 
 were authorised to cast their ballots on the 
 proposition for or against separation, 
 throughout the district, in July, 1819 ; and 
 the decision was 17,091 for separation, and 
 7,132 against the proposition. The governor 
 of Massachusetts issued a proclamation, 
 recognising the act of separation ; and then 
 the people of Maine proceeded to form a 
 state government, and attain its admission 
 into the federal union. The total population 
 was found to be 298,335, scattered over 
 much of the district, which contained an 
 area of 31,766 square miles. A convention 
 of delegates assembled at Portland, on the 
 llth of October, 1819 ; and on the 29th of 
 that month, the constitution was formally 
 adopted. Application was made to congress, 
 in December, for the reception of the state; 
 and a bill was prepared and submitted in 
 that month, authorising the formation of 
 the new state, and its recognition as a 
 member of the federal union. At the same 
 time, the proposition for the organisation of 
 the state of Missouri was under considera 
 tion ; and also, as a part of that question, a 
 resolution, having in view the prohibiting 
 
 429 
 
MAINE AND MISSOURI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A. n. 1820.. 
 
 that question. They were of opinion that 
 slaves, as property, could only exist in the 
 federal territory by legislative enactment 
 sanctioning the same ; that a slave was a 
 chattel established by municipal law onty, 
 and, as property, did not exist by common 
 law. For example, it was alleged that man, 
 in a state of nature, was free, and was enti 
 tled to the enjoyment of his life and liberty, 
 subservient to the laws of the realm or 
 government, precisely as was common to 
 any and all others. This principle of law 
 was denied by the representatives from the 
 slaveholding states; they maintained that 
 the right of man to hold another as a slave 
 was sanctioned by common law ; and cer 
 tainly, from the usages in America for two 
 centuries previous to that time, there could 
 be no distinction drawn in the manner 
 of holding, nor could there be any geogra 
 phical restriction to the employment of 
 slaves, other than that common to any other 
 species of property. 
 
 On the 3rd of January, 1820, the bill for 
 the admission of Maine passed the house 
 of representatives, and it was immediately 
 sent up to the senate, where it was subjected 
 to an ordeal like that which it had passed 
 through in the lower house. On the 13th 
 of January, Jonathan Roberts, of Pennsyl 
 vania, offered a resolution, having in view 
 the reception of Maine into the Union, 
 divested of an amendment that had been 
 reported by the judiciary committee, con 
 necting with it the admission of Missouri. 
 Mr. Roberts was adverse to the organisation 
 of any more slaveholding states, and in that 
 course he was acting in strict conformity 
 
 cation for its admission had been delayed 1 with certain resolutions that had been 
 some months, by the northern representa- passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, 
 tives, in order to connect with it conditions , and presented by him to the senate on the 
 in favour of Vermont, ; and on this occasion, 5th of January. He did not think that the 
 it was an unsolved problem to the southern cases of Kentucky and Vermont, as had 
 members, why it was that the northern I been cited in the discussion, presented a 
 representatives opposed the connection of precedent for the coupling of Maine and 
 the Maine and Missouri questions in the Missouri in the same bill, because they were 
 same bill. It was not long, however, before . admitted by separate acts, passed at diifei ent 
 the cause of the dissent was developed. It periods of the same session of congress. 
 
 any further importation of slaves into the 
 territories of the United States, west of the 
 Mississippi river. This latter proposition 
 was submitted by John \V. Taylor, of New 
 York, and it was received with considerable 
 surprise by the representatives from the 
 slaveholding states. The territorybelonging 
 to the United States, in which it was pro 
 posed to prohibit the introduction of slaves, 
 embraced the whole Louisiana purchase, 
 except the state bearing that name; and as 
 Missouri had not yet been admitted, the 
 resolution would serve as a rejection of the 
 application, from the people of that state, for 
 admission into the Union. The representa 
 tives from the slaveholding states perceived, 
 at once, that the resolution was intended to 
 accomplish the defeat of the formation of 
 the new state, except under an anti-slavery 
 constitution. This legislative strategy 
 aroused the southern members from an 
 indifference upon the subject, and they 
 immediately insisted upon the coupling of 
 the admission of Maine and Missouri in the 
 same bill. The propositions to organise the 
 states of Kentucky and Vermont, were rela 
 tively considered in 1791; and, though they 
 were not admitted by the same act of con 
 gress, yet the understanding was sufficiently 
 explicit to form a precedent for the propo 
 sition submitted for the coupling together, 
 in the same bill, authority to organise the 
 states of Maine and Missouri. The 
 representatives from the non-slaveholding 
 states opposed the connection, and reso 
 lutely insisted upon the consideration of 
 the two propositions separately. In the case 
 of Kentucky, it was asserted, that the appli- 
 
 was a question of an extension of slave ter 
 ritory, as indicated by the resolution of Mr. 
 Taylor ; by which he proposed to forbid the 
 
 William Smith, of South Carolina, who was 
 chairman of the committee that reported the 
 amendment to the Maine bill, stated that 
 
 holding of slaves in the Louisiana purchase, ! the parliamentary rule permitted the con- 
 at that time under congressional legislation, nection of subjects homogeneous ; and in this 
 The people of Missouri desired to have case, the bill and the amendment proposed 
 slaves in their state; but the representatives : to effect subjects identical. If there were 
 from the non-slaveholding states, were not < a preference as to right of legislation, the 
 willing to admit that the people of the state | people of Missouri had that right, as it was 
 had the right to definitively determine the bounden duty of congress to receive 
 430 
 
A.n. 1820 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MAINE ADMITTED. 
 
 their state into the Union. The assent of 
 congress was required before Maine could 
 be admitted, because it had been a part of 
 the state of Massachusetts. Missouri had a 
 right to be admitted whenever its population 
 attained the usual number required of other 
 territories. The claim to the right of 
 sovereignty, on the part of Missouri, was 
 founded on the 3rd Article of the treaty of 
 cession, under which the United States 
 acquired the territory of Louisiana ; and 
 was as follows : " The inhabitants of the 
 ceded territory shall be incorporated in the 
 union of the United States, and admitted 
 as soon as possible, according to the prin 
 ciples of the federal constitution, to the 
 enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and 
 immunities of citizens of the United States; 
 and, in the meantime, they shall be main 
 tained and protected in the free enjoyment 
 of their liberty, property, and the religion 
 which they profess." The difference between 
 the two questions was simply that, with 
 respect to the district of Maine, it required 
 the assent of congress; and that "assent" 
 could be given or denied. As to Missouri, 
 the deed of cession made it obligatory on 
 congress to receive that country into the 
 Union as a state, whenever the requirements 
 of the constitution had been complied with, 
 and its population had attained the requisite 
 number. 
 
 Although an effort was made by the 
 representatives from the non-slaveholding 
 states to prevent the coupling o^ the Mis 
 souri question with that of Maine, it was 
 not possible for them to attain that end 
 without a great struggle. The members 
 from the slaveholding states perceived, that 
 if Maine were admitted, an additional power 
 would be given to the anti-slavery opponents 
 in congress, and that it would be more 
 difficult to secure the reception of Missouri 
 as a slaveholding state. The whole nation 
 was aroused upon the subject ; and many 
 petitions were forwarded to congress against 
 the organisation of any more states with sla- 
 very. Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, 
 and other state legislatures, passed resolu- 
 tions against the further extension of slave 
 territory : and besides these official pro 
 ceedings, many of the people of the non- ! 
 slaveholding states were very energetic in : 
 their efforts against all measures that tended 
 to increase slavery in any form whatever. 
 The house bill for the admission of Maine 
 into the Union, was amended in the senate 
 after a prolonged discussion, by which it 
 
 was declared that Missouri should be ad 
 mitted into the Union under its then con 
 stitution, permitting slavery in the state, 
 and that from thenceforth slaves should not 
 be transported into the remaining territories 
 of the United States. The house received 
 the amended bill, and rejected it ; the senate 
 then refused to recede ; a conference com 
 mittee was appointed by the two houses, 
 which agreed to a report, recommending a 
 separation of the issues ; but, at the same 
 time, on condition that each of them should 
 be adopted by the respective houses. Con 
 formably to this arrangement, the bill for 
 the admission of Maine into the Union was 
 passed on the 3rd of March, 1820, and the 
 state was immediately thereafter organised. 
 William King was elected governor ; John 
 Chandler and John Holmes were elected 
 United States senators ; and Joshua Cush- 
 man, Joseph Dane, Ebeuezer Herrick, Mark 
 L. Hill, Enoch Lincoln, Ezekiel Whitman, 
 and William D. Williamson, representatives 
 to congress. 
 
 The Missouri question was one of the 
 most extraordinary political struggles that 
 ever transpired in the two houses of con 
 gress ; and the admission of that state into 
 the Union was not consummated, as had 
 been agreed upon, when the state of Maine 
 was received. In detailing a few of the 
 circumstances respecting the bill to admit 
 Maine, we have incidentally referred to the 
 slavery question that sprung up on the 
 consideration of the request made by the 
 people of the territory of Missouri, for its 
 admission, as a state, into the federal union : 
 but we shall now more fully recount the in 
 cidents of that event consecutively, as they 
 occurred while the issue was pending in 
 both houses of congress; and, in doing 
 so, we shall definitively explain the noted 
 " restrictions" and " compromises" adopted 
 by congress in that memorable epoch. 
 
 It will be remembered that the United 
 States purchased from Napoleon, in 1803, 
 the Louisiana territory and the island of 
 Orleans; that, in 1812, the state of Louis 
 iana was admitted into the Union with its 
 territory, bounded on the east by the Pearl 
 river, on the west by the Sabine river, and 
 on the north by a line drawn due west 
 from the Mississippi river, in 33 N. 
 lat. ; that, at the same time, the remain 
 der of the purchase was organised under 
 a territorial government; and that, sub 
 sequently, the name was changed from the 
 Territory of Louisiana to that of Missouri. 
 
 431 
 
MISSOURI QUESTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. ISIS. 
 
 In 1819, the territory of Missouri was 
 divided ; the southern part thereof was 
 called Arkansas, and the northern part re 
 tained the name of Missouri. The western 
 limits of the respective territorial govern 
 ments were not definitely fixed by con 
 gress ; and, in fact, they were supposed to 
 extend across the unknown regions in the 
 west, to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Missouri territory 
 proper, were principally French Creoles, or 
 natives of French descent ; and they had 
 settled at St. Louis, St. Charles, Ste. Gene- 
 vieve, Herculaneum, Mine-la-Mote, and in 
 the country near to these places. The rich 
 soil and genial climate of Missouri had, 
 however, lured many of the industrious 
 people of the older states, and particularly 
 from Kentucky and Virginia, to take up 
 their abode within that territory ; and the 
 success of those early pioneers, induced 
 thousands of others to migrate to the wilds 
 west of the great Mississippi. In 1810, 
 the population of Missouri was 19,345 ; 
 in 1816, it was supposed to have been at 
 least 50,000 ; and, in 1820, it was found to 
 be 66,586. On the admission of Ohio into 
 the Union, its population was 45,365 ; 
 Indiana had 60,000 ; and Illinois about 
 40,000. The population of Missouri having 
 attained a greater number than had been 
 required in either of the states of Ohio, 
 Indiana, and Illinois, the people residing 
 therein, claimed the right of self-govern 
 ment as a sovereignty; and in pursuance 
 of this desire, the territorial legislature 
 passed an act, in 1817, requesting con 
 gress to authorise the people of that terri 
 tory to organise a government, preparatory 
 to its becoming a member of the Union as 
 an independent state. 
 
 On the 16th of March, 1818, John Scott, 
 the delegate from the territory of Missouri, 
 presented petitions of sundry inhabitants of 
 that territory, praying for the admission of 
 Missouri into the federal union : these 
 petitions were referred to a special com 
 mittee. A bill was ultimately reported in 
 favour of the petitioners ; and on the 13th 
 of February, 1819, the report was under 
 consideration in the house, when James 
 Tallmadge, of New York, moved an amend 
 ment, " substantially to limit the existence 
 of slavery in the new state, by declaring all 
 free who should be born in the territory 
 after its admission into the Union, and pro 
 viding for the gradual emancipation of those 
 then in bondage." Tallmadge further and 
 432 
 
 definitively proposed, " that all children 
 born within the said state, after the ad 
 mission thereof into the Union, shall be free 
 at the age of twenty-five years." The 
 amendments proposed by Tallmadge origi 
 nated a very animated discussion, which 
 embraced a consideration of the legal status 
 of slavery as a political and moral institu 
 tion ; and besides, a constitutional question 
 arose whether or not congress had theright 
 to annex conditions to the admission of any 
 new state into the Union ? On the one hand, 
 there were those who contended that con 
 gress had no power to do more than require 
 that the state was republican in form of 
 government, similar to the constitutional 
 organisations of the other states of the 
 Union ; on the other hand, there were those 
 who denied that a government recognising 
 slavery, was " repxiblican in form," and 
 therefore congress had the right to forbid 
 the organisation of any new state with 
 slavery constitutionally sanctioned in it. It 
 was also declared that congress had the 
 right to restrict the institution of slavery 
 within the territories ; and to substantiate 
 this interpretation, the 3rd section of 
 the 4th Article of the constitution was 
 referred to, which declared, that " the con 
 gress shall have power to dispose of, and 
 make all needful rules and regulations 
 respecting the territory, or other property, 
 belonging to the United States." 
 
 The restriction to the existence of slavery 
 in Missouri, proposed by Tallmadge, was 
 ably discussed by the great men of that 
 congress; and at times, passion was exhibited 
 to a degree that seemed to endanger the 
 perpetuity of the Union. John Scott, the 
 delegate from the Missouri territory, was 
 very emphatic in his denunciations of the 
 power proposed to be exercised, to restrict 
 slavery in the territory, as a conditional 
 measure on its admission into the federal 
 union. He protested against such a guar 
 dianship as was contemplated to be assumed 
 over his constituents; and he assured the 
 house that the spirit of freedom burned in 
 the bosoms of the freemen of Missouri ; and 
 if admitted into the national family, they 
 would be equal, or not come in at all. 
 "With what an anxious eye," said Mr. 
 Scott, " have they looked to the east.^ since 
 the commencement of this session of con 
 gress, for the good tidings, that on them 
 you had conferred the glorious privilege of 
 self-government and independence. What 
 seeds of discord will you sow, when they 
 
A.D. 1819] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [EMANCIPATION. 
 
 read this suspicious, shameful, unconstitu- [ 
 tional inhibition in their charter." lie ap 
 prised the house that they were sowing the 
 seeds of discord in the Union by attempting 
 to admit states with unequal privileges and 
 unequal rights; that they were signing, 
 sealing, and delivering their own death- 
 warrants; that the weapon they were so 
 unjustly wielding against the people of 
 Missouri, was a two-edged sword. lie 
 reminded the house of the Ides of March, 
 and cautioned the nation to " beware of the 
 fate of CoDsar and of Rome." 
 
 The representatives from the southern 
 states were very unanimous in their abne 
 gation of the power of the federal govern 
 ment to restrict the right to hold slaves in 
 the territory west of the Mississippi ; and, 
 in the most emphatic language, warned 
 those advocating the conditional admission 
 of Missouri, that the future was full of 
 import, and that the Union could only be 
 continued by a policy of government con 
 ducted in accordance with the constitution. 
 Thomas "W. Cobb, of Georgia, told the 
 members who advocated the anti-slave pro 
 position, that if they persisted in the course 
 they had initiated, the Union would be 
 dissolved ; that they had kindled a fire 
 which all the waters of the ocean could not 
 put out, and which seas of blood could only 
 extinguish. Tallmadge was the leading 
 advocate of the restrictions, and he was reso 
 lute in the prosecution of the measure. 
 " My purpose is fixed," said Mr. Tallmadge ; 
 " it is interwoven with my existence ; its 
 durability is limited with my life ; it is a 
 great and glorious cause, setting bounds to 
 a slavery the most cruel and debasing the 
 world ever witnessed ; it is the freedom of 
 man ; it is the cause of unredeemed and 
 unregeuerated human beings. If a disso 
 lution of the Union must take place, let it 
 be so ! If civil war which gentlemen 
 threaten must come, I can only s,ay, let it 
 come ! My hold on life is probably as frail 
 as that of any man who now hears me ; but, 
 while that hold lasts, it shall be devoted to 
 the service of my country to the freedom 
 of man. If blood is necessary to extinguish 
 any fire which I have assisted to kindle, I 
 can assure gentlemen, while I regret the 
 necessity, I shall not forbear to contribute 
 my mite." Mr. Tallmadge denied the cor 
 rectness of the assertions that had been 
 made by the members from the southern I 
 states, that the spread of slavery benefited 1 
 the negro race; and said " A slave-driver, a 
 
 trafficker in human flesh, as if sent by Provi 
 dence, has just passed the door of your 
 Capitol, on his way to the west, driving 
 before him about fifteen of these wretched 
 victims of his power. The males, who might 
 raise the arm of vengeance, and retaliate for 
 their wrongs, were handcuffed, and chained 
 to each other ; while the females and chil 
 dren were marched in their rear, under the 
 guidance of a whip ! Yes, sir, such has 
 been the scene witnessed from the windows 
 of Congress Hall, and viewed by members 
 who compose the legislative councils of 
 republican America I" 
 
 On the 16th of February, the vote was 
 taken on the proposed amendments to the 
 bill authorising the organisation of a state 
 government for the territory of Missouri. 
 One of these was copied from the ordi 
 nance of 1787 as follows : 
 
 " That the further introduction of slavery or in 
 voluntary servitude be prohibited, except for the 
 punishment of crimes, -whereof the party shall have 
 been duly convicted." 
 
 The vote on this amendment was yeas, 
 87; nays, 76; and on the following, it was 
 yeas, 82 ; nays, 78. 
 
 "And that all children born within the said 
 state, after the admission thereof into the Union, 
 shall be free at the age of twenty-five years." 
 
 At this period, a bill was introduced for 
 the organisation of Arkansas territorial 
 government, for the region lying between 
 the southern boundary of the proposed 
 state of Missouri, 36 30 N. lat., and the 
 northern boundary of Louisiana. When 
 this bill was being considered, amendments 
 were proposed to inhibit slavery, precisely 
 like those added to the Missouri bill ; and 
 the first,having reference to the introduction 
 of slavery, was rejected by a vote of 70 to 
 71. On the next day, the bill was recom 
 mitted by the casting vote of the speaker ; 
 and immediately thereafter, the committee 
 reported the bill, with a motion to strike 
 out the clause, which had been adopted, 
 declaring that all children born slaves, 
 should be free at the age of twenty-five : it 
 was carried by 89 to 87. By a vote of 86 
 to 90, another amendment to prohibit the 
 introduction of slavery into the territory of 
 Arkansas, was rejected. Various propo 
 sitions to restrict the extension of slavery 
 were presented ; but, after discussion, were 
 consecutively rejected or passed over; and, 
 finally, the bill for the organisation of the 
 territory of Arkansas, was passed by the 
 
 433 
 
FAILURE OF THE BILL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1819. 
 
 house on the 19;h of February, 1819 ;* and, 
 with the Missouri bill, it was sent up by 
 congress. The house bill for the organi 
 sation of a state government for the territory 
 of Missouri, sent up to the senate, received 
 immediate consideration by that body ; and, 
 on the motion to strike out the clause, 
 declaring, " that all children of slaves born 
 within the said state, after the admission 
 thereof into the Union, shall be free, but 
 may be held to service until the age of 
 twenty-five years/ it was decided in the 
 affirmative, by 31 to 7. The question was 
 then taken to strike out the first clause of 
 the said restriction, in the words following : 
 " That the further introduction of slavery, 
 or involuntary servitude, be prohibited, 
 except for the punishment of crimes, whereof 
 the party shall have been duly convicted ;" 
 and it was decided in the affirmative, by a 
 vote of 22 to 16. The bill, as altered by 
 the senate, was returned* to the house, 
 where, on the 2nd of March, it was deter 
 mined, by a vote of 78 to 76, not to concur 
 in the senate s modification. The bill was 
 again sent up to the senate; and, on the same 
 day, that body determined to adhere to its 
 alterations, which struck out of the house 
 bill the prohibitory clauses relating to the 
 introduction and holding of slaves. On 
 the return of the bill to the house, a motion 
 was made in that body to adhere to its 
 former decision, and it was carried by a 
 vote of 78 to 66. This final determination 
 of the house was reported to the senate; and, 
 as both branches of congress adhered to 
 their respective measures the one for the 
 bill as it first passed, and the other for the 
 alterations in it the whole question was 
 passed over to the next session. This was 
 the end of the bill for that congress. It 
 had failed on account of the geographical 
 differences of the two houses ; and the same 
 sectional discord rapidly extended to the 
 respective states of the Union, Benton 
 informs us that it was a period of deep 
 apprehension, filling with dismay the hearts 
 of the steadiest patriots. The next congress 
 would not convene until December, or 
 
 * This was the first debate in congress on the 
 subject of prohibiting slavery in a territory, and 
 was brought on in a way to excite the highest 
 feelings, and to provoke the strongest opposition. 
 The Missouri State Bill had just been lost in 
 the attempt to prevent it in that state. Passing 
 further south, here was an attempt to prohibit it in 
 a territory which extended to the state of Louisiana 
 and to Texas that is to say, to the whole of the 
 province of Louisiana south of Missouri equiva- 
 434 
 
 nine months thereafter ; and, in the mean 
 time, the people became violently agitated 
 throughout the whole Union. The propo 
 sition that had been made to prohibit sla 
 very in Arkansas, greatly alarmed the 
 southern people, who considered it an ag 
 gravation of the Missouri question, and 
 construed it to threaten the destruction of 
 slavery in the southern states. 
 
 The sixteenth congress assembled on the 
 6th of December, 1819 ; and, on the 20th 
 of that month, a memorial was presented to 
 the senate, from the council and house of 
 representatives of the legislature of the 
 territory of Missouri, in the name and be 
 half of the people, praying for the establish 
 ment in it of a state government. Memorials 
 were also presented to congress, upon the 
 Missouri question, from the legislatures of 
 Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, 
 and New York, protesting against the ex 
 tension of slavery, and the admission of 
 any new slaveholding state into the Union. 
 In the house, on December 8th, on the mo 
 tion of John Scott, delegate from Missouri, 
 the documents that had been considered 
 by the preceding congress, were referred to 
 a special committee. On the 14th of 
 that month, Mr. Taylor, of New York, pro 
 posed that a committee be appointed to 
 inquire into the expediency of prohibiting, 
 by law, the introduction of slaves into the 
 territories west of the Mississippi. 
 
 This proposition had in view the ex 
 clusion of slavery from the Missouri ter 
 ritory, or, in fact, the whole of the vast 
 regions lying west of the Mississippi river, 
 except so much thereof as was embraced 
 within the bounds of the state of Louisiana. 
 The committee was appointed ; but it could 
 not agree upon any report, and was finally 
 discharged. At that time, the bill for the 
 admission of Maine into the Union was 
 under consideration ; and the members of 
 congress, from the slaveholding states, reso 
 lutely determined to unite the Maine and 
 Missouri questions in the same bill, and 
 thus compel the friends of the former to 
 favour the reception of the latter. With 
 
 lent to an attempt to exclude it from the whole 
 province ; for, if excluded from the southern half of 
 the province, the exclusion would follow of itself in 
 the northern half. It was a settled territory 
 settled under the French government had an 
 actual slave population, and was in the latitude of 
 southern products cotton and tobacco. It was 
 the most obnoxious case in which the attempt could 
 be made, and calculated to bring forward the 
 strongest objection to it. Benton. 
 
AD. 1820.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MISSOURI RESTRICTION. 
 
 respect to Maine, there was no objection 
 to its becoming a state ; and it ought to 
 have been considered upon its own merits 
 Partisans, however, availed themselves of 
 the occasion to loosen the fetters of fanati 
 cism, by blending the two questions In the 
 same bill, and thus to secure, in behalf of 
 Missouri, the votes of congress-men, who, 
 as was supposed, were influenced by sec 
 tional considerations. The result of these 
 issues, however, we shall presently explain 
 more fully. 
 
 In the senate, the two measures, ap 
 parently, at least, were indissolubly con 
 nected in the bill that originated in that 
 body ; and while it was pending, on the 
 18th of January, 1820, Jesse B. Thomas, 
 senator from the state of Illinois, pro 
 posed a bill to prohibit the introduction of 
 slavery into the territories of the United j 
 States, north and west of the contemplated l 
 state of Missouri. The line of division j 
 was to be 36 80 N. lat , running west j 
 from a meridian line passing through the 
 middle of the mouth of the Kansas river. | 
 This proposition was passed to the second 
 reading for further consideration ; but, in 
 the meantime, the bill for the organisation 
 of Missouri was being very energetically 
 pressed by its friends, and, on the other 
 hand, most resolutely opposed by the anti- 
 slavery members of the two houses of con 
 gress. Mr. Thomas continued his efforts 
 towards effecting a compromise of the issues 
 then distracting the country without, and 
 congress within ; and with a view to allay 
 the agitation, he proposed the following re- 
 strictionary compromise, by way of amend 
 ment to the Maine and Missouri bill : 
 
 " And be it further enacted, That in all that tract 
 of country ceded by France to the United States, 
 under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 
 36 30 N. lat., excepting only such part thereof as 
 is included within the limits of the state contem 
 plated by this act, slavery and involuntary servi 
 tude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, 
 whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
 shall be, and is hereby for ever prohibited. Pro 
 vided alu-ay, that any person, escaping into the 
 samp, from whom labour or service is lawfully 
 claimed in any state or territory of the United 
 States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and 
 conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour 
 or service as aforesaid." 
 
 This amendment was considered and re 
 ceived as a compromise of the Missouri 
 question ; and, after a brief discussion, on 
 the 17th of February, was adopted in the 
 senate, by a vote of 34 to 10. The bill, 
 coupling the Maine and Missouri propo 
 
 sition together, then passed by a vote of 
 24 to 20. 
 
 In the house of representatives, where 
 the Missouri question had been under dis 
 cussion during nearly the whole of the 
 session, the senate bill for the organisation 
 of the states of Maine and Missouri, with 
 the restriction of slavery, as presented by 
 Senator Thomas of Illinois, was well under 
 stood ; and that body was fully prepared 
 to act at once upon the measure. A vote 
 was taken on so much of the bill as autho 
 rised the people of Missouri to form a state 
 government; and it was disagreed to by 
 93 to 72 : this decision was virtually against 
 uniting the two measures in the bill that 
 had passed in the senate. The vote was 
 then taken as to the other amendments, 
 having reference to Missouri ; and they, 
 too, were consecutively disagreed to. The 
 house then continued the consideration of 
 the Missouri question until the 28th of 
 February, when a message was received 
 from the senate, declaring that they in 
 sisted on their Missouri amendments to 
 the bill for the admission of Maine into the 
 Union : a vote was then taken in the house, 
 and carried by 97 to 76, to insist on its dis 
 agreement. The discussion on the separate 
 Missouri bill then pending in the house, 
 continued; and, on the next day, the bill was 
 carried by a vote of 93 to 84, with a re 
 strictive clause. Both branches of con 
 gress had definitively decided in favour of 
 prohibiting slavery in the territory north 
 of 36 30 N. lat. west of Missouri ; but the 
 house had also determined to restrict its 
 existence in that state after the admission 
 into the Union. The senate also insisted 
 upon the connection of the propositions to 
 admit Maine and Missouri at the same time, 
 and the house positively disagreed to it. 
 At this juncture of the proceedings, confer 
 ence committees were appointed ; and they 
 agreed 1st. That the senate should give 
 up the combination of Missouri in the same 
 bill with Maine. 2nd. The house should 
 abandon the attempt to restrict slavey in 
 Missouri; and, 3rd. Both houses should 
 agree to pass the senate s Missouri amend 
 ments, as a separate bill, with Mr. Thomas s 
 restriction, or compromising proviso, ex 
 cluding slavery from all territory north of 
 
 O /?n *1 t k "XT I *. *, ,1 ..-.,,* *v % YiaamtM I > i a 
 
 36 30 N. lat. and west of Missouri, 
 compromise of the issues that had 
 
 This 
 
 issues that naa arisen 
 between the two houses, was received as a 
 satisfactory arrangement ; and the two mea 
 sures, the Maine and Missouri bills, were 
 
 435 
 
MISSOURI CONSTITUTION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1820. 
 
 respectively passed by very large majori 
 ties. Thus ended the Missouri question, 
 at the close of the first session of the six 
 teenth congress, in 1820. 
 
 After the adjournment of congress, the 
 legislatures of several states, and the people 
 throughout the whole country, were em 
 phatic in expressing their opinions upon 
 the great Missouri question. On the one 
 side were those who opposed the admission 
 of the state, except as non-slaveholding; 
 and, on the other, were those who defended 
 the rights of the people of the proposed 
 state to determine for themselves whether 
 or not there should be slavery in the said 
 territory. 
 
 The second session of the sixteenth con 
 gress assembled on the 13th of December, 
 1820 ; and, on the 14th, the president trans- 
 i initted to the senate and House of Represen 
 tatives, copies of the constitution that had 
 been adopted by the state of Missouri. In 
 the senate, the document was referred to 
 a special committee, which reported, on 
 the 29th of December, a resolution for the 
 admission of the state into the Union. It 
 was well understood that the Missouri 
 question had been definitely settled at the 
 preceding session ; that there could be 
 no further agitation upon the vexed sub 
 ject; and that the state would be imme 
 diately received into the Union, on the as 
 sembling of congress, without further discus 
 sion. The members on this occasion were 
 the same as those who had taken part in the 
 great question during the preceding session, 
 and the compromises that had been agreed 
 to were reciprocally binding on their reas 
 sembling. This did not govern, however, 
 the anti-slavery senators and representa 
 tives, who, "as though smarting from the 
 stings of defeat at the former session, again 
 rallied under a new point of objection to 
 the admission of this important state into 
 the federal union." The constitution that 
 had been adopted by the people of Missouri 
 contained the following clause: 
 
 " That it shall be the duty of the general assem 
 bly of the state, as soon as may be, to pass such 
 laws as may be necessary, to prevent free negroes 
 and mulattoes from coming to, and settling in this 
 state, under any pretext whatsoever." 
 
 The anti-slavery members of congress 
 construed this clause as entirely repugnant 
 to the spirit of the constitution of the 
 United States, and especially in respect 
 to the 2nd section of the 3rd Article, 
 which declared, that " the citizens of each 
 430 
 
 state shall be entitled to all the privileges 
 and immunities of citizens in the several 
 states."* The discussion upon this clause 
 was very lengthy; and, on several occasions, 
 considerable warmth was manifested. On 
 the one side, the anti-slavery members from 
 the northern states, contended that free 
 negroes were citizens, and could not be 
 excluded from the states, as they were pro 
 tected ; that their rights as citizens wero 
 guaranteed to them by the federal constitu 
 tion; and therefore Missouri could not, either 
 by its constitution or by an act of its legis 
 lature, exclude them from that state. While 
 this great question was under consideration, 
 statesmen widely differed in their opinion 
 with respect to the rights and immunities 
 of citizens, as referred to in the section 
 quoted from the federal constitution ; and, 
 as a sequence, it necessarily became a matter 
 of import to define who were to be regarded 
 as citizens of the great republic. Did it 
 embrace within its broad, and yet compre 
 hensive objects, all classes of people residing 
 within the federal empire, or were there 
 only fractions of the nation entitled to be 
 considered as citizens ? A citizen was 
 defined to be one who had the right " to 
 elect, be elected, and bear arms in his 
 defence : these conditions were essential ; 
 and if he were divested of either of them, lie 
 could not be a citizen." They had also the 
 common right to sue and be sued ; to hold 
 real estate ; and to enjoy, without let or hin 
 drance, any, and all, the rights, immunities, 
 and blessings that might, under the laws, 
 be held or enjoyed by any one of the people. 
 In some of the northern states, free negroes 
 had been exercising the elective franchise, 
 and, in many other respects, enjoyed the 
 same rights of citizenship that were common 
 to the white race. On the other hand, the 
 southern members very ably maintained 
 that the people of Missouri had a right to 
 exclude free negroes from their state, and 
 that the constitution adopted by the people 
 was not repugnant to the federal compact. 
 It was shown in the debate, that the free 
 negroes were not recognised as citizens, in 
 a complete sense, in any of the states. They 
 were inhabitants, but not citizens. No alien 
 could be vested with the full rights of citi 
 zenship : for example, as denizens, they 
 could never become presidents ol the United 
 States ; and yet they became, in other 
 respects, by naturalisation, fully recognised 
 by the constitution as citizens. Here, then, 
 * Ante, vol. ii., p. 7<5. 
 
A.D. 1820.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SLAVERY AGITATION. 
 
 was one class of people denied the exer 
 cise of a privilege or right that was ac 
 corded to a native of the country. In 
 some of the states, clergymen were prohib 
 ited from, holding any elective office; and, 
 in others, the right of voting was confined 
 to freeholders. It seems to have been 
 admitted by the opponents of the Missouri 
 constitution, that any state had the right to 
 regulate the terms upon which immigrants 
 might become residents to regulate by law 
 the terms of inhabitancy : these were within 
 the municipal power of the state. It will 
 be observed that the issue was one of a 
 technical character, upon the part of the 
 anti-slavery members ; because, while they 
 admitted that the state had the right to 
 regulate and determine the condition of 
 inhabitancy, it had not the right to prohibit 
 the coming in of the free negro in other 
 words, if the negro had entered the state, 
 the laws thereof might become so oppres 
 sive, as, in effect, to produce his expulsion 
 therefrom. The questions involved were 
 discussed in both houses for several 
 weeks ; and, in the meantime, the people 
 throughout the Union began to despair of 
 its perpetuity, and a dissolution was appre 
 hended. 
 
 In the senate, many propositions were 
 submitted and voted upon ; but, in nearly 
 every instance wherein a pacific solution 
 was proposed, it was negatived. In the 
 house, the constitution of Missouri was 
 denounced with great vehemence ; and, to 
 the surprise of the South, there seemed to be 
 less hope of a reception of the state than 
 had occurred at any time during the pre 
 ceding session. The zeal that had been 
 displayed by the people in the non-slave- 
 holding states, against the organisation of 
 more slave states, encouraged the anti- 
 slavery members of congress to unflinching 
 resistance to all overtures for a compromise 
 of the issue that had sprung from the vir 
 tual inhibition of free negroes by the 
 constitution of the new state. In both 
 branches of congress, the Missouri question 
 was being discussed at the same time, with 
 great zeal, and with a considerable manifes 
 tation of sectionalism. Until the latter 
 session of the sixteenth congress, Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky, had taken but little 
 part in the discussions, though he gave his 
 influence in many ways towards a pacific 
 adjustment of the complications : his silence, 
 however, could not be continued ; and when 
 he found that a dissolution of the federal 
 
 VOL. II. 3 L 
 
 union was inevitable, unless a compromise, 
 effecting a complete solution of the difficul 
 ties, could be speedily agreed upon, he 
 directed his energies to effect a pacification. 
 Clay had been speaker of the house from 
 the commencement of the " Missouri strug 
 gle," and he had refrained from entering into 
 the discussions with the same degree of parti- 
 zanship which had characterised the career 
 of the leaders in congress upon that great 
 national question. He resigned his official 
 functions as speaker in December, 1820 ; 
 and in January, 1821, he took his seat as 
 a private member. It was then that he 
 commenced his especial efforts for the 
 pacification of the troubles, and to prevent 
 the spread of the portentous cloud that 
 seemed to be rapidly darkening the whole 
 canopy of the Union. A deep and bitter 
 feeling had been engendered between the 
 North and the South ; and it needed but a 
 spark, in the form of an overt act, to pro 
 duce a dissolution of the federal nation. 
 If there had been leaders of commanding 
 influence to have led the factions, North and 
 South, it cannot be doubted but that the 
 republic would have been severed ere the 
 "Ides of March" in 1821. It was when 
 sectionalism had seemingly got command of 
 reason, and national pride had almost ceased 
 to exist with the legislators, that Mr. Clay 
 came forward with his unparalleled influ 
 ence, logic, and eloquence, in behalf of the 
 Union. He commenced his efforts towards 
 a settlement of the issue, by advocating the 
 adoption of the resolution that had passed 
 the senate, at that time before the house for 
 its concurrence. The resolution was as 
 follows : 
 
 " That the state of Missouri shall be, and is 
 hereby declared, one of the United States of Ame 
 rica, and is admitted into the Union on an equal 
 footing with the original states, in all respects 
 whatever : Provided, That nothing herein contained 
 shall be so construed as to give the assent of con 
 gress to any provision in the constitution of Mis 
 souri (if any such there be) which contravenes that 
 clause of the constitution of the United States, 
 which declares that the citizens of each state shall 
 be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of 
 citizens in the several states." 
 
 Various propositions were made to amend 
 the preceding resolution in the house, but 
 all were negatived. It was not possible to 
 obtain a majority in favour of the resolution 
 as it came from the senate, because it was 
 not sufficiently explicit in recognising free 
 negroes as citizens, to command the appro 
 bation of the an ti- slavery members from the 
 northern or non-slaveholding states. When 
 
 437 
 
CLAY S COMPROMISE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1821. 
 
 this fact was well established by the declared 
 opinions of those members, and proved by 
 their votes, given upon the respective 
 amendments that had been offered on the 
 occasion, Mr. Clay seeing that all effort to 
 attain a happy result by way of amendment 
 had failed, and anxious to make a last effort 
 to settle the distracting question, and thus 
 preserve the nation from disruption 
 moved, on the 2nd of February, to refer the 
 senate resolution to a committee of thirteen 
 members : this was agreed to, and Mr. 
 Clay was also appointed the chairman. 
 On the 10th, Mr. Clay submitted the report 
 of the committee ; and stated, in substance, 
 that in the prosecution of their labours, 
 they had endeavoured to determine whether 
 or not any conditions ought to be prescribed 
 to the admission of the state into the Union; 
 and on this, they were unanimously of 
 opinion that no other conditions ought then 
 to be required than those which were 
 specified in the act of the preceding session 
 of congress, providing for the admission of 
 Missouri into the Union. They were of 
 opinion, that the settlement or restriction 
 then made, and agreed upon, ought not to 
 be disturbed. These questions having been 
 determined, it only remained for the com 
 mittee to decide whether the constitution 
 which Missouri had formed for itself, con 
 tained anything in it which furnished a 
 valid objection to its incorporation into the 
 federal union. On that question, they 
 thought there was no other provision in 
 the constitution to which congress could of 
 right take exception, but that which made 
 it the duty of the legislature of Missouri to 
 pass laws to prevent free negroes and mu- 
 lattoes from going to, and settling in, the 
 said state. In regard to that clause, there 
 was as great a diversity of opinion among 
 the members of the committee, as there had 
 been previously manifested in the house. 
 One portion of them had the idea that it 
 was repugnant to the federal constitution ; 
 and the other thought it unexposed to 
 such an objection ; and if it were, the excep 
 tionable interpretations were superseded by 
 the paramount authority of the national 
 compact. "With these conflicting opinions/ 
 said Mr. Clay, " the committee thought it 
 best that, without either side abandoning 
 its opinions, an endeavour should be made 
 to frame an amendment to the senate s 
 resolution, which, compromising neither, 
 should contain an adequate security against 
 the violation of the privileges and immuni- 
 438 
 
 ties of citizens of the other states in Mis 
 souri ; and, a majority of the committee 
 thinking that such security could not be 
 sufficiently afforded without some previous 
 act, to be done by the legislature of Mis 
 souri, the amendment was finally agreed 
 upon, which they now beg leave to report." 
 The amendment proposed by the committee, 
 provided for the admission of Missouri into 
 the Union, upon the fundamental condition 
 that the state should never pass any laws 
 preventing any description of persons from 
 going to, and settling in the said state, who 
 then were, or thereafter might become, 
 citizens of any of the states in the Union ; 
 and, upon the legislature of the said state 
 signifying its assent to that condition by a 
 solemn public act, which was to be commu 
 nicated to the president of the United 
 States, he was to proclaim the fact, and 
 thereupon the reception of the said state 
 into the Union was to be complete, without 
 any further or other proceedings upon the 
 part of congress. It was further provided, 
 in order to render the sovereignty of the 
 state equal to that of the other component 
 parts of the confederacy, that nothing in 
 the amendment proposed by the committee 
 was to be construed to take from Missouri, 
 as a state, the exercise of any right or power 
 which the original states might constitu 
 tionally exert. 
 
 The modification of the senate s re 
 solution was attained by the committee 
 through the exercise of a spirit of concord, 
 under the guidance of which they anxiously 
 sought, without the sacrifice of principle on 
 either side, to reconcile the various opinions 
 among them. The plan proposed only re 
 quired an act to be done by the legislature, 
 pledging its good faith that its constitu 
 tional provisions and inhibitions should not 
 be excessive on questions not then fairly 
 comprehended within the powers of the 
 federal states. It was not doubted but that 
 the pledge, when once made, would be 
 strictly observed by the state as required ; 
 but it is quite probable that there were many 
 who, ostensibly opposed to the admission of 
 Missouri, were glad enough to accept of 
 the compromise as proposed, it being cal 
 culated to effect an immediate cessation of 
 the agitation then so rapidly culminating 
 towards a disruption of the great republic. 
 The Union had existed for thirty years, 
 and the compact had worked admirably for 
 the common weal of the whole nation ; and 
 each state mutually participated in the 
 
A.D. 1821.1 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [COMPROMISE ADOPTED. 
 
 blessings derived from having a centralisa 
 tion of power, guaranteed by a solemn com 
 pact between sovereign and independent 
 bodies. The nou-slaveholding states, at 
 that time, were north of Maryland ; and 
 each of them had greatly profited by the 
 federal union. The northern, or anti- 
 slavery representatives, perceived that the 
 question had been pressed to an extent that 
 began to appear oppressive; and, under such 
 a conviction, some of them gladly accepted 
 Mr. Clay s compromise. 
 
 The report of the committee was con 
 sidered, from time to time, until the 22nd 
 of February, when Mr. Clay proposed the 
 election of a "joint committee,"* to consider 
 the Missouri question, and to report to the 
 respective branches of congress what action 
 should be taken for the purpose of effecting 
 an admission of Missouri into the Union. 
 This proposition was agreed to by a vote of 
 101 to 55. On the next day, twenty- three 
 members were elected by the house, and 
 seven were appointed by the senate, to 
 form the joint committee. On the 28th, 
 Mr. Clay, who had been made chairman of 
 the committee, submitted a report and re 
 solution that had been agreed to. He con 
 sidered the resolution to be, in substance, 
 the same that had been offered by the com 
 mittee of thirteen members : he further 
 stated, that the committee, on the part of 
 the senate, was unanimous, and that, on 
 the part of the house, nearly so, in favour 
 of the compromise they had submitted. 
 The resolution was as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That Missouri sliall be admitted into 
 this Union on an equal footing with the original 
 states, in all respects whatever, upon the funda. 
 mental condition, that the fourth clause of the 
 twenty-sixth section of the third article of the con 
 stitution, submitted, on the part of the said state to 
 congress, shall never be construed to authorise the 
 passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed 
 in conformity thereto, by which any citizen, of 
 either of the states in this Union, shall be excluded 
 from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and 
 immunities to which such citizen is entitled under 
 the constitution of the United States : Provided, 
 That the legislature*of the said state, by a solemn 
 public act, snail declare the assent of the said slate 
 to the said fundamental condition, and shall trans- 
 mit to the president of the United States, on or 
 before the fourth Monday in November next, an 
 authentic copy of the said act ; upon the receipt 
 
 * A "joint committee" consists of members elected 
 from the two houses of congress. These com 
 mittees assemble in "joint meeting;" and, as a 
 whole, they are called a "joint committee." 
 
 t The boundaries of the state of Missouri were 
 fixed as they now exist, except the tract of country 
 west of the meridian line, that passes through the 
 
 whereof, the president, by proclamation, shall an 
 nounce the fact; whereupon, and without any 
 further proceeding on the part of congress, the ad 
 mission of the said state into the Union shall be 
 considered as complete. 
 
 The vote was taken on the joint resolution, 
 in the house of representatives, on the same 
 day that it was submitted, and was adopted 
 by 86 to 82. 
 
 When Mr. Clay s resolution, proposing 
 the appointment of a joint committee, was 
 received in the senate, it was briefly dis 
 cussed ; and, by a vote of 29 to 7, con 
 curred in. The resolution of the joint 
 committee having passed the house, it was 
 considered in the senate on the 27th, and, 
 by a vote of 26 to 15, was ordered to be 
 read a third time. On the 28th, it was 
 passed by a vote of 28 to 14. Thus ended 
 the great Missouri struggle in 1821. The 
 solution attained was satisfactorily received 
 by the people of the whole Union, and the 
 nation hailed Mr. Clay as the great " Pa 
 cificator." On the 26th of June, 1821, the 
 legislature of Missouri passed an act, en 
 titled, " A solemn public act, declaring the 
 assent of the state to the fundamental con 
 dition contained in the resolution, passed 
 by the congress of the United States, pro 
 viding for the admission of the state of 
 Missouri into the Union ;" and, on the 10th 
 day of August, the president issued a pro 
 clamation, recognising a fulfilment of the 
 conditions prescribed by congress, and de 
 claring the formal reception of the state of 
 Missouri into the federal union. In ac 
 cordance with the act of congress, and the 
 proclamation issued by the president, the 
 state government was organised, and Alex 
 ander M Nair elected the first governor; 
 David Barton and Thomas II. Benton, 
 senators; and John Scott, representative. 
 They took their seats in congress at the 
 first session of the seventeenth congress, 
 which met on the 3rd of December, I821.f 
 
 Having briefly narrated the proceedings 
 that transpired respecting the admission of 
 the state of Missouri into the Union, we 
 deem it necessary to recapitulate the sub 
 stance of the issues that were so pertina 
 ciously discussed during that memorable 
 struggle. When the people of Missouri 
 
 mouth of the Kansas river. Tne " wedge-shaped 
 piece of territory," lying between the said meridian 
 line and the Missouri river, was, by act of congress 
 of 1836-7, conveyed to the state of Missouri. It 
 was, in law, contrary to the restriction compromise 
 of 1820; but no important objection was made to 
 it, because it gave to the state a natural boundary. 
 
 439 
 
THE MISSOURI ISSUES. 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1821. 
 
 applied for the privilege of organising a 
 state government, there had been no state 
 constituted west of the Mississippi, excepting ! 
 Louisiana, which occupied territory on both 
 sides of that river ; and as the vast regions 
 lying west of the Mississippi, and commonly 
 known as Louisiana, had been purchased by 
 the government, it was alleged, in congress, 
 that it was within the power of that body 
 to determine whether or not slavery could 
 be introduced, and held, in the said pur 
 chased domain. Louisiana had been ad 
 mitted as a slave state, without objection, 
 because there was a large number of slaves 
 held in that state long before it had been 
 purchased from France ; and, in 1812, 
 when it became a state of the Union, there 
 were about 40,000 slaves living therein. 
 There were, in 1810, about 3,000 slaves 
 in Missouri ; while, according to the cen 
 sus, in 1820, there were 10,222; and in the 
 Arkansas territory, about 1,617. The actual 
 existence of these slaves in the territories of 
 Upper Louisiana, then divided and known 
 as Missouri and Arkansas, clearly indicated 
 that the people residing therein would 
 desire the states formed from them to be 
 slaveholding. The anti-slavery people of 
 the northern states, alleged that the extent 
 of slave territory was fixed before the 
 government of 1789 was formed ; and that 
 they were willing to protect the people 
 of the southern states in the full enjoy 
 ment of their slave property, according to 
 its status in 1789, as it was then confined 
 to the states or territories south of the Ohio 
 river, and east of the Mississippi. By an 
 almost unanimous consent, slavery had been 
 prohibited in the north-west territory ; and, 
 in the discharge of good faith with Georgia, 
 and the states that ceded the southern ter 
 ritories, slavery was admitted as existing 
 therein ; and states formed from them, be 
 came, without objection, slaveholding juris 
 dictions. 
 
 An effort was made to prevent the organi 
 sation of Missouri, except on condition that 
 all slaves born thereafter should be free at 
 the age of twenty-five years : but this propo- 
 
 * By the decision of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, in 1856, in the Dred-Scott case, it 
 was decided that the restriction enacted by con 
 gress was unconstitutional and void: this decision, 
 in effect, declared that any citizen of the United 
 States had a right to take his slaves into the said 
 territory north of 3G 30 , and was entitled to full 
 protection in the enjoyment of his property. 
 
 t The Supreme Court, in the Dred-Scott case, 
 expressed an opinion that free negroes were 
 440 
 
 sition was negatived; and, as a compromise, 
 a restriction was agreed to, limiting the 
 territory that could be created into slave- 
 holding states. This was fixed to lie south 
 of 36 30 N. lat., and west of the proposed 
 state of Missouri. By this compromise, 
 pro-slavery people conceived that they had 
 abandoned the privilege of employing slave 
 labour in a vast country; which, under the 
 federal compact, they had a right to enjoy, 
 with the same degree of protection as the 
 northern people had in using any of their 
 species of chattel property. The first session 
 of the sixteenth congress agreed that slavery 
 might exist in the state of Missouri, but 
 that it should be for ever prohibited north 
 of the latitude above given.* Thus the 
 question stood at the close of the session in 
 the spring of 1820, and Missouri was autho 
 rised to be formed as a slaveholding state. 
 A convention assembled at St. Louis on the 
 12th of June, 1820 ; and on the 19th of July, 
 a constitution for the new state was for 
 mally signed. This document was presented 
 to the succeeding session of congress, with 
 the fullest confidence of the immediate 
 admission of the state. Unfortunately, the 
 Missouri convention incorporated a clause 
 in the constitution, which authorised the 
 legislative assembly to enact laws to pro 
 hibit free negroes and mulattoes from 
 coming into the state. This inhibition was 
 considered, by the anti-slavery members of 
 congress, to be a violation of the federal 
 constitution,t as we have already mentioned. 
 Under that conviction, they opposed the 
 admission of Missouri with a degree of 
 vehemence which almost precipitated the 
 nation into a vortex that would have 
 destroyed the Union, and, beyond doubt, 
 involved the whole country in a civil war. 
 At this gloomy hour of the nation s career, 
 Mr. Clay pressed before congress his com 
 promise measure, and finally succeeded in 
 securing its adoption. Many of the anti- 
 slavery people of the northern states were 
 not satisfied with this, or any other result 
 that was calculated to allay the agitation of 
 the slavery issue ; and societies were rapidly 
 
 not citizens, as contemplated by the federal con 
 stitution. This court, in substance, declared 1st. 
 That shivery did actually exist in the Louisiana 
 purchase, and could not be excluded therefrom by 
 congress. 2nd. That the restriction line, 36 30 
 N. lut., was an unconstitutional enactment; and, 
 3rd. That free negroes were not citizens, and there 
 fore Missouri had a right to exclude them from the 
 state. The principles of law declared by the court, 
 were opinions^ and not decisions. 
 
A.I3. 1821 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [STATE OF SLAVERY 
 
 formed, to oppose the further extension of 
 slave territory by all possible means. To ! 
 what extent their efforts were promotive of J 
 good or evil, will be seen as our history 
 progresses with Time.* 
 
 Slavery, as constituted in the United 
 States, for two centuries prior to the por 
 tentous Missouri issue of 1821, had been 
 of a character that naturally created, in the 
 minds of philanthropic and humane people, 
 the most sympathetic reflections. Between 
 slaves there could be no bonds of wedlock ; 
 husband and wife were but nominal terms ; 
 and their association could, at the will of 
 either, be discontinued. They had a right 
 to change the object of their affections 
 whenever they wished ; and there was no 
 thing to hinder the exercise of the caprices 
 of either, except their master s displeasure, 
 and the contempt of their own race. The 
 offspring was the property of the mother s 
 master, and the father had no authority 
 over the child : in fact, according to the law, 
 the infant was but a product of nature, and 
 beyond the pale of parental responsibility. 
 Slaves were chattels, and could be bought 
 and sold by the white race, without regard 
 to their wishes ; husband and wife could be 
 
 * As a singular case of inconsistency, we may add, 
 that notwithstanding the violent opposition offered 
 by the anti-slavery people of the northern states, to 
 the Missouri proposition to exclude free negroes 
 from that state in 1820, many of the republican, 
 or anti-slavery members of congress, voted for the 
 admission of Oregon in 1859, with a constitution 
 containing a clause, in which it was declared, 
 that 
 
 " No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this 
 state at the time of the adoption of this constitu 
 tion, shall ever come, reside, or be within this state, 
 or hold any real estate, or make any contract, or 
 , maintain any suit therein ; and the legislative as 
 sembly shall provide, by penal laws, for the removal j 
 by public officers, of all such free negroes and 
 mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the 
 state, and for the punishment of persons who shall 
 bring them into the state, or employ or harbour 
 them therein." 
 
 The above clause was adopted by the people of 
 Oregon, by a vote of 8,640 to 1,081, making a 
 majority of 7,559 against free negroes coming into 
 the state. Oregon was admitted as a non-slave- 
 holding state ; which circumstance, perhaps, secured 
 its admission into the Union. 
 
 t In some of the states, children under ten years 
 of age, at this date, cannot be separated from the 
 mother. In Louisiana, by a law of 1825, the penalty 
 for separating the child from its mother, was fixed 
 at from one to two thousand dollars. 
 
 t The following description of life in the slave- 
 holding states, written by the late Major-general 
 John A. Quitman, a native of New York, to his 
 father, in 1822, illustrates the practical operation of 
 slavery at the epoch of the great Missouri issue : 
 
 separated, and each sent to distant parts, 
 beyond the probability of their ever meeting 
 again in this sublunary world. The infant 
 could be taken from its mother s breast, and 
 either or both soldf by the auctioneer, to 
 satisfy the debtor s claim. Whenever it 
 was possible for the master to dispose of his 
 slaves as a family, to satisfy the creditor s 
 writ, it was the practice to do so ; but that 
 degree of humanity could not always be 
 attained; and the law, when enforced, was 
 unyielding, even to the most filial pleading. 
 The sight of the auctioneer, with his hammer 
 in hand, uttering the good qualities of the 
 creature by his side, and making the most 
 of the smiles forced or coaxed from the 
 chattel slave, never failed to create a pang 
 in the heart of the beholder ; and from the 
 eye flowed a tear of sympathy. But the 
 law declared the African and his de 
 scendants to be chattels, that could be 
 bought and sold, as was common with other 
 species of personal property. Their educa 
 tion was prohibited, and their liberties were 
 restricted to the will of their masters, 
 who, however, in most cases, were liberal, 
 and ever ready to promote their comfort 
 and happiness. J 
 
 " The members of our bar are quartered at dif 
 ferent country seats not boarding : a Mississippi 
 planter would be insulted by such a proposal ; but 
 we are enjoying the hospitalities that are offered to 
 us on all sides. The awful pestilence in the city 
 brings out, in strong relief, the peculiar virtues of 
 this people. The mansions of the planters are 
 thrown open to all comers and goers free of charge. 
 Whole families have free quarters during the epi 
 demic ; and country waggons are sent daily to the 
 verge of the smitten city with fowls, vegetables, &c., 
 for gratuitous distribution to the poor. I am now 
 writing from one of those old mansions ; and I can 
 give you no better notion of life at the south, than 
 by describing the routine of a day. The owner is 
 the widow of a Virginia gentleman of distinction 
 a brave officer, who died in the public service during 
 the last war with Great Britain. She herself is a 
 native of this vicinity of English parents settled 
 here in Spanish times. She is an intimate friend 
 of my first friend, Mrs. G., and I have been in the 
 habit of visiting her house ever since I came south. 
 The whole aim of this excellent lady seems to be to 
 make others happy. I do not believe she ever 
 thinks of herself. She is growing old, but her par 
 lour is constantly thronged with the young and gay, 
 attracted by her cheerful and never-failing kindness. 
 There are two large families from the city staying 
 here, and every day some ten or a dozen transient 
 guests. Mint juleps, in the morning, are sent to our 
 rooms, and then follows a delightful breakfast in 
 the open verandah. We hunt, ride, fish, pay morn 
 ing visits, play chess, read, or lounge until dinner, 
 which is served at 2 P.M., in great variety, and most 
 delicately cooked in what is here called Creole 
 style very rich, and many made or mixed dishes. 
 
 441 
 
SECTIONALISM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1821. 
 
 Long ere the outburst of popular senti 
 ment in the northern states, against the ex 
 tension of slavery, by the admission of 
 Missouri into the Union, several of the ori 
 ginal states had adopted measures for the 
 gradual emancipation of the slaves residing 
 therein. These measures were produced by 
 a combination of influences ; some people 
 were actuated by moral considerations, and 
 others favoured the scheme because they 
 believed that free and slave labour were an 
 tagonistic, and that it was economical to 
 give preference to the former. It was con 
 fidently believed by many, that free labour 
 would effect a greater degree of prosperity 
 than was possible to be ever attained by 
 slave labour ; and, with the working classes, 
 it was found desirable to remove from com 
 petition a grade of operatives who could toil 
 and spin for, comparatively, a nominal com 
 pensation. As the different states were 
 progressing in carrying out schemes for the 
 emancipation of their slaves, the politicians 
 
 In two hours afterwards, everybody, white and 
 black, has disappeared. The whole household is 
 asleep the siesta of the Italians. The ladies retire 
 to their apartments, and the gentlemen on sofas, 
 settees, benches, hammocks, and often gipsey- 
 fashion, on the grass, under the spreading oaks. 
 Here, too, in fine weather, the tea-table is always 
 set before sunset; and then, until bed-time, we 
 stroll, sing, play whist, or coquet. It is an indolent, 
 yet charming life, and one quits thinking, and takes 
 to dreaming. 
 
 " This excellent lady is not rich, merely indepen 
 dent ; but by thrifty housewifery, and a good dairy 
 and garden, she contrives to dispense the most 
 liberal hospitality. Her slaves appear to be, in a 
 manner, free, yet are obedient and polite, and the 
 farm is well worked. With all her gaiety of dispo 
 sition, and fondness for the young, she is truly- 
 pious ; and in her own apartment, every night, she 
 has family prayer with her slaves; one or more of 
 them being often called on to sing and pray. When 
 a minister visits the house, which happens very 
 frequently, prayers, night and morning, are always 
 said ; and, on these occasions, the whole household 
 and the guests assemble in the parlour : chairs are 
 provided for the servants. They are married by a 
 clergyman of their own colour, and a sumptuous 
 supper is always prepared. On public holidays they 
 have dinners equal to an Ohio barbecue ; and Christ 
 mas, for a week or ten days, is a protracted festival 
 for the blacks. They are a happy, careless, unre 
 flecting, good-natured race, who, left to themselves, 
 would degenerate into drones or brutes; but, sub 
 jected to wholesome restraint and stimulus, become 
 the best and most contented of labourers. They 
 are strongly attached to old massa and old mis 
 sus; but their devotion to young massa and young 
 missus, amounts to enthusiasm. They have great 
 family pride, and are the most arrant coxcombs and 
 aristocrats in the world. At a wedding I witnessed 
 here last Saturday evening, where some 150 negroes 
 were assembled many being invited guests I 
 442 
 
 availed themselves of the popular sentiment, 
 and encouraged the spread of a hostile spirit 
 among the people of the north, against 
 those of the south ; and, in like degree of 
 selfishness, there were politicians in the 
 slaveholding states, who were unmeasured 
 in their denunciations against the sectional 
 sentiments entertained by many of the 
 people at the north. The Missouri struggle, 
 as it was commonly called, greatly agitated 
 the people throughout the whole country ; 
 and, from that epoch, politicians assumed a 
 decided position upon the slavery question. 
 There was no attempt made to interfere 
 with the institution in the states ; but there 
 was manifested a fixed determination to re 
 strict it within certain declared boundaries. 
 It was not a question whether or not the 
 number of slaves should be increased in the 
 American states, but it was one of capital 
 and labour in political economy. The free 
 labour of the north desired the expansion 
 of free territory, -and it was opposed to the 
 
 heard a number of them addressed as governors, 
 generals, judges, and doctors (the titles of their 
 masters) ; and a spruce tight-set darkey, who waits 
 on me in town, was called Mjnr Quitman. The 
 coloured ladies are invariably Miss Joneses, Miss 
 Smiths, or some such title. They are exceedingly 
 pompous and ceremonious; gloved, and highly per 
 fumed. The gentlemen sport canes, ruffles, and 
 jewellery; wear boots and spurs; affect crape on 
 their hats, and carry huge cigars. The be les wear 
 gaudy colours ; tote their fans with the air of 
 Spanish senoritas ; and never stir out though 
 black as the ace of spades without their parasols. 
 In short, these niggers, as you call them, are the 
 happiest people I have ever seen ; and some of them, 
 in form, features, and movements, are real sultanas. 
 So far irom being fed on salted cotton-seed, as we 
 used to believe in Ohio, they are oily, sleek, bounti 
 fully fed, well clothed, well taken care of; and one 
 hears them at all times whistling and singing 
 cheerily at their work. They have an extraordinary 
 facility for sleeping. A negro is a great _night- 
 walker. He will, after labouring all day in the 
 burning sun, walk ten miles to a frolic, or to see his 
 Dinah, and be at home and at his work by day 
 light next morning. This would knock up a white 
 man or an Indian. But a negro will sleep during 
 the day sleep at his work sleep on the carriage- 
 box sleep standing up ; and I have ofien seen them 
 sitting bare-headed in the sun on a high rail-fence, 
 sleeping as securely as though lying in bed. They 
 never lose their equipoise, and will carry their cot 
 ton-baskets, or their water-vessels, filled to the 
 brim, poised on their heads, walking carelessly, and 
 at a rapid rate, without spilling a drop. The very 
 weight of such burdens would crush a white man s 
 brains into apoplexy. Compared with the ague- 
 smitten and suffering settlers that you and I have 
 seen in Ohio, or the sickly and starved operatives 
 we read of in factories and in mines, these southern 
 slaves are indeed to be envied. They are treated 
 with great humanity and kindness." 
 
A. w. 1820.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SLAVE TRADE ABOLISHED. 
 
 extension of slave-labour competition ; for 
 surely the morality of the issue had no com 
 pensation in measures of restriction. 
 
 Some years prior to the formation of the 
 federal government, under the constitution 
 of 1787, nearly all the southern states 
 enacted laws forbidding the importation of 
 slaves from Africa ; and as there was no 
 market for that species of property in the 
 northern states, there were but few im 
 portations after 1790 ; at which time there 
 were, in the United States, 59,466 free 
 negroes, and 697,897 slaves. In 1800, 
 there were 108,395 free negroes, and 
 893,041 slaves; in 1810, 186,446 free 
 negroes, and 1,191,364 slaves; and in 
 1820, 233,504 free negroes, and 1,538,125 
 slaves.* By act of congress, the foreign 
 slave-trade ceased in 1808 ; yet it will be 
 perceived that the ratio of increase was but 
 little affected by that law ; and this result 
 was owing to the local statutes that had 
 been passed by the states many years ante 
 rior, for prohibiting the importation of 
 Africans into their respective jurisdictions. 
 
 On the 2nd of March, 1807, the congress 
 of the United States, nearly unanimously, 
 enacted the following law : 
 
 " That no citizen or citizens of the United States, 
 or any other person, shall, from and after the 1st 
 day of January, 1808, for himself or themselves, or 
 any other person whatsoever, either as master, 
 factor, or owner, build, fit, equip, load, or otherwise 
 prepare any ship or vessel, in any port or place 
 within the jurisdiction of the United States, nor shall 
 cause any ship or vessel to sail from any port or 
 place within the same, for the purpose of procuring 
 any negro, mulatto, or person of colour, from any 
 foreign kingdom, place, or country, to be trans 
 ported to any port or place whatsoever, within the 
 jurisdiction of the United States, to be held, sold, 
 or disposed of as slaves, or to be held to service or 
 labour." 
 
 The penalty for violating this law was a 
 forfeiture of the vessel and its entire fit 
 tings ; and those engaged in aiding or 
 abetting in the enterprise, were liable to 
 
 * The following table shows the decennial status 
 of the negro population in the United States, from 
 1790 to 1860 : 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Free Negroes. 
 Increase per cent. 
 
 Slaves. 
 Increase per cent. 
 
 Aggregate. 
 Increase per cent. 
 
 1800 
 
 82-28 
 
 27-97 
 
 3223 
 
 1810 
 
 72-00 
 
 33-40 
 
 37 58 
 
 1820 
 
 25-23 
 
 28-79 
 
 2858 
 
 1830 
 
 36-87 
 
 30-61 
 
 31-44 
 
 1840 
 
 20-87 
 
 23-81 
 
 23-41 
 
 1850 
 
 12-46 
 
 28-82 
 
 26-62 
 
 1800 
 
 10-97 
 
 2338 
 
 21-90 
 
 forfeit and pay the sum of 20,000 dollars ; 
 of which one-half was to be the property 
 of the informer, and the other half to be 
 long to the government. It was further 
 enacted, as a penalty for actually bringing 
 any negro or mulatto from the coast of 
 Africa, and landing the same upon the 
 shores of the United States with the inten 
 tion of placing the said negro or mulatto 
 in a state of slavery or life servitude, that 
 the person or persons convicted thereof 
 should be deemed guilty of a high mis 
 demeanour, and imprisoned for a term not 
 less than five, nor more than ten years ; 
 and should also be fined a sum not less 
 than 1,000 dollars, nor more than 10,000. 
 The details of this act of congress were 
 found too complicated to be easily en 
 forced ; and after several failures of the law 
 to convict persons charged with its viola 
 tion, the statute was revised by another - 
 act of April 20th, 1818. There was but 
 little dissent in congress to the enactment 
 of the laws referred to ; and both in and 
 out of congress, there was a very unanimous 
 desire to put a stop to the slave-trade. The 
 act of 1807 passed in the house of repre 
 sentatives by a vote of 113 to 5 ; and of the 
 latter, two were from Virginia, and one each 
 from South Carolina, New Hampshire, and 
 Vermont ; but the five dissentients were in 
 favour of the principle of the bill, and only 
 objected to matters of detail. In the senate 
 there was no opposition to the measure, 
 except with respect to detail ; and, in fact, 
 the law of .1807 may be said to have been 
 unanimously enacted by congress. 
 
 In practice, it was found that the term 
 of imprisonment for violating the laws of 
 1807 and 1818, was not sufficient to deter 
 many from attempting to land slaves in the 
 southern states ; and as to the fine, it was 
 but a nominal sum to those who were 
 willing to engage in the nefarious traffic. 
 Many believed that the penalties could not 
 be equitably executed, as the rich might 
 escape punishment; while the poor, who 
 had engaged in the hazard, and perhaps 
 the least to be blamed, would be the greatest 
 sufferers. In order to place the violators of 
 the laws forbidding the African slave-trade 
 upon an equal footing upon conviction, it 
 was determined to declare them pirates, and 
 subjected to the penalty of death. And, 
 although it was deemed questionable with 
 many, whether or not a punishment so 
 severe could be enforced, yet there was a 
 desire to effect the greatest possible good 
 
 443 
 
PIRACY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1320. 
 
 through the terror of the penalty. Those 
 who were unacquainted with the cruelties 
 practised on the slave-ships, were averse to 
 the death penalty ; they did not believe 
 that bringing negroes from a state of 
 heathenism, or from the executioner s 
 block as was common in some parts of 
 Africa was of sufficient turpitude to be 
 recognised as a capital offence. We have 
 already described the cruelties of the slave- 
 trade ;* and certainly those who engaged 
 in the traffic, justly deserved to be dealt 
 with as pirates. The slave-trade could 
 only be carried on by those whose hearts 
 had become base by habitual depravity ; 
 and by declaring them pirates, they were 
 placed beyond the protection of all civilised 
 governments. The pirate flag consisted of 
 a " black field, with a death s-head, a 
 battle-axe, and an hour-glass;" and these 
 were the ensigns of their horrid career : they 
 prowled over the sea in quest of plunder, 
 and murdered or jeopardised the lives 
 of all who fell within their power, without 
 regard to nation, age, or sex. The slave- 
 trade pirate was even more horrible than 
 those who only engaged in plundering the 
 vessels upon the ocean. The description 
 we have given of the treatment the 
 slaves were subjected to on the ships, and 
 the practice ot throwing them overboard 
 during the voyage, independent of the 
 
 enslavement of human beings, fully demon 
 strates the turpitude of the crime. By 
 declaring those engaged in the trade to be 
 pirates, the rich and the poor became sub 
 jected to a penalty that neither could 
 escape from by any monied compromise. 
 The act that passed congress, almost 
 unanimously, was approved on the 15th of 
 May, 1820, and was as follows : 
 
 " That if any citizen of the United States, being 
 of the crew or ship s company of any foreign ship or 
 vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person 
 whatever, being of the crew or ship s company of 
 any ship or vessel, owned wholly or in part, or 
 navigated for, or in behalf of any citizen or citizens 
 of the United States, shall forcibly confine or detain, 
 or aid and abet in forcibly confining or detaining, 
 on board such ship or vessel, any negro or mulatto 
 not held to service by the laws of either of the states 
 or territories of the United States, with intent to 
 make such negro or mulatto a slave ; or shall, on 
 board any such ship or vessel, offer or attempt to 
 sell, as a slave, any negro or mulatto not held to 
 service as aforesaid ; or shall, on the high seas, or 
 anywhere on tide-water, transfer or deliver over, to 
 any other ship or vessel, any negro or mulatto not 
 held to service as aforesaid, with intent to make 
 such negro or mulatto a slave ; or shall land, or 
 deliver on shore, from on board any such ship or 
 vessel, any such negro or mulatto, with intent to 
 make sale of, or having previously sold such negro 
 or mulatto as a slave such citizen or person shall 
 be adjudged a pirate; and on conviction thereof be 
 fore the circuit court of the United States for the 
 district wherein he shall be brought or found, shall 
 suffer death." 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 THE PURCHASE OF FLORIDA FROM SPAIN ; PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS; POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 IN 1819, the Floridas were purchased by 
 the United States from Spain, after a pro 
 longed negotiation and controversy respect 
 ing the extent of the Spanish authority in 
 America, and the claims of citizens against 
 the respective government. Before enter 
 ing into the details of the treaty of purchase, 
 we shall briefly notice the anterior history 
 of the Spanish title to the Floridas, as ne 
 cessary to explain the course pursued by the 
 United States, which resulted in their final 
 acquisition of that southern peninsula. 
 It will be remembered, that the French 
 
 * Ante, vol. ii. , p. 141. 
 444 
 
 claimed the Rio Bravo as the western limit 
 of their jurisdiction in America, and that 
 the Spaniards were willing to admit that 
 the province of Louisiana extended to the 
 Sabine : this dispute was never settled, 
 although the right unquestionably lay with 
 France. East of the Mississippi the French 
 claimed to the river Perdido ; and, with 
 respect to this, the early occupancy of the 
 country by Iberville, and its continuance 
 thereafter as a part of Louisiana, gave to 
 France a complete title. Spain was not able 
 to cope with the latter in discovery and 
 exploration, though it availed itself of every 
 
A.D. 1762.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SETTLEMENT OF FLORIDA. 
 
 possible means to confirm all questionable 
 titles to soil in America : as, for example, 
 in 1728, the Spanish government made an 
 order to transfer about 400 families from 
 the Canary Islands, to settle the disputed 
 territory lying between the Sabine and the 
 Rio Bravo, since known as Texas ; and the 
 first emigrants located at a place called San 
 Antonia. It was supposed by Spain, that 
 the alleged discovery of that country by the 
 Spaniards, and the actual occupancy at San 
 Antonia, would complete its legal jurisdic 
 tion over that vast and fertile region. In 
 the meantime France continued to exercise 
 power over the country beyond the Sabine, 
 and in no case yielded authority to the 
 Spaniards. Thus affairs between the two 
 governments continued until after the fall 
 of Montreal, in 1762, when France disposed 
 of the whole of its American possessions ; 
 the Canadas to Great Britain, and Louisiana 
 to Spain. The Florida peninsula had been, 
 from its discovery, the property of Spain. 
 It was in the immediate vicinity of San 
 Salvador, and was the nearest mainland 
 to that island ; sufficiently near, too, to 
 come within the discovery-title of Colum 
 bus, in 1492. Soon after that memorable 
 event, in 1516, the peninsula was ap 
 proached, and explored by Ponce de Leon, 
 when he gave to the country the name it 
 bears ;* and, in 1539, the grand expedition, 
 led by Ferdinand de Soto, landed upon the 
 west coast. After this, successive efforts 
 were made to settle the country ; and within 
 the following two hundred years, Spain 
 made considerable progress in the settle 
 ment of the peninsula ; the greater number 
 of the inhabitants, however, located at St. 
 Augustine.f 
 
 The British possessions extended to the 
 Mississippi in the west ; and, in the south, 
 to a line parallel with the most southern 
 latitude of Georgia, which was acknow 
 ledged to be 31 N. ; therefore, the country 
 south of that line was admitted to be 
 long to Spain, and was commonly known 
 as the Floridas. In 1762, Great Britain 
 possessed Havana, in Cuba ; and, in order 
 to extend its empire in America, that city 
 was exchanged for the Floridas, which were 
 then separated by an imaginary line run- 
 
 * The country was called Florida by Ponce de 
 Leon, from the circumstance of its having been dis 
 covered on Palm Sunday ; or, as others allege, from 
 the numerous floweriny shrubs, which were found 
 in great abundance by the explorer. 
 
 t On the 8th of September, 1565, at noon, 
 
 VOL. u 3 M 
 
 ning centrally and parallel with the penin 
 sula. That part lying on the east coast was 
 called East Florida, and the countrv lying 
 upon the Gulf of Mexico, was called West 
 Florida ; but the western limit of the latter 
 was not specified, and the line of separation 
 between Florida and Louisiana was there 
 fore an unsettled question. Spain had for- 
 j merly claimed that West Florida extended 
 to Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas ; but 
 now that it had acquired Louisiana, and 
 had sold the Floridas, it assumed jurisdic 
 tion over the country lying west of the 
 river Perdido. The complications with 
 respect to the boundaries of West Florida, 
 however, were not confined to the circum 
 stances which we have just cited, but they 
 were increased by the proceedings of the 
 British government after it had acquired 
 that country. Between France and Spain 
 the western boundary of West Florida had 
 been a question of dispute : the former al 
 leged that the river Perdido was the boun 
 dary, and the latter asserted that it was 
 Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain ; and, 
 after Great Britain had acquired the Flo 
 ridas, the western boundary was never de 
 finitively settled. 
 
 Immediately succeeding the treaty of 
 1762, by which the peninsula of Florida 
 became the property of Great Britain, in 
 exchange for Havana, King George issued 
 a proclamation for the establishment of a 
 government over West Florida ; and in 
 that document, the boundary of the province 
 was to be, on the south, the Gulf of Mexico, 
 including all the islands within six leagues 
 of the coast, from the river Apalachicola 
 to Lake Pontchartrain ; on the west, it was 
 bounded by Lakes Poutcharfcrain and Mau 
 repas, and the Mississippi river; and on 
 the north, by 31 N. lat., running from 
 the Mississippi to the river Apalachicola, 
 or Chattahoochee ; and the latter river 
 was declared to be the eastern boundary. 
 By the proclamation, it will be perceived 
 that the old French claim to the river Per 
 dido was not recognised ; and, upon the part 
 of Spain, there was no denial of the legiti 
 macy of the title asserted by Great Britain ; 
 but, as that whole country contained only 
 a few inhabitants, the issues were not 
 
 during the celebration of the festival in honour of 
 the Virgin Mary, the foundation of St. Augustine 
 was laid by Pedro Melandez. Mass was performed, 
 and possession of the country formally declared, in 
 the name of Philip II., who was also proclaimed 
 king of North America. 
 
 445 
 
DISPUTED TITLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1762. 
 
 accompanied with much controversy. Ac 
 cording to the commission of James Wright? 
 who was appointed governor of Georgia. 
 January 20th, 1764, the jurisdiction of that 
 colony was declared to extend " to the 
 western boundary of the British posses 
 sions," which was the Mississippi ; and to 
 the northern boundary of the Floridas, 
 which was declared to be 31 N. lat. 
 
 On the 23rd of March, 1764, the Board 
 of Trade petitioned the king to extend the 
 territorial jurisdiction of West Florida to 
 a line of latitude passing through the 
 mouth of the Yazoo river, because there 
 were but a few settlements south of 31 
 N. lat. No record is to be found giving 
 the answer of the king to the petition ; 
 but we are led to infer that the proposition 
 was adopted; and, in accordance therewith, 
 in the commission of John Elliott, who was 
 appointed captain-general and governor- 
 in-chief, dated May 15th, 1767, it was de 
 clared that West Florida extended from 
 the Mississippi to the Apalachicola river, 
 and north to a line of latitude passing 
 through the mouth of the Yazoo river. In 
 the commission given to Peter Chester, 
 who was appointed governor-general, June 
 25th, 1770, it was again declared that 
 West Florida extended to the Yazoo lati 
 tude. By the king s decree in the enlarge 
 ment of West Florida, the territory of 
 Georgia was curtailed, and the authority of 
 Wright was restricted to the country lying 
 east of the Apalachicola river ; but, as the 
 country thus annexed to the province of 
 West Florida was only inhabited by savage 
 tribes, and, in fact, but little explored, the 
 colony of Georgia did not resist the ag 
 gression upon its colonial domain until 
 1776, when the united colonies declared 
 themselves independent. In 1781, and 
 during the revolutionary war, the Spanish 
 governor of Louisiana sent an expedition 
 from New Orleans, and taking possession of 
 West Florida, claimed it as the rightful 
 property of Spain, as far as the Perdido, 
 under the treaty of Fontainhleau, Novem 
 ber 3rd, 1762. Great Britain was too much 
 engaged in the war with the colonies to 
 expel the Spaniards from its Floriba terri 
 tory ; and as that country was not of ma 
 terial value, except as a part of the colonial 
 system, the settlement of the issue with 
 Spain was postponed for the time being. 
 In 1783, the jurisdiction of the British 
 government ceased in America, south of 
 the lakes ; the independence of the respec- 
 446 
 
 tive states was recognised, each with its 
 boundary as had been specified by their 
 charters, grants, or provincial organic de 
 crees ; and, in addition thereto, such other 
 territories as were then held by military 
 conquest ; as, for example, the country 
 north-west of the Ohio river. In that same 
 year, Great Britain ceded to Spain the 
 Floridas, as a mollification for the loss to 
 the latter of Gibraltar, which had been 
 taken by the arms of the former. 
 
 On the consummation of the retrocession 
 of the Floridas, Spain claimed the whole 
 country south of the Yazoo latitude the 
 northern boundary of West Florida, as had 
 been established by the commissions given 
 to the governor- generals Elliot and Ches 
 ter. A settlement had been formed at 
 Natchez, and the Spanish governor of 
 Louisiana immediately assumed jurisdiction 
 over the same, and, by all other available 
 means, took possession of West Florida, 
 then declared to embrace all the territory 
 that lay south of the Yazoo, and between 
 the Mississippi and Apalachicola, or Chat- 
 tahoochee rivers. In the meantime, the 
 United States government wholly disre 
 garded the claims of Spain to the territory 
 of West Florida that lay between 31 
 N. lat. and the Yazoo, and proceeded, 
 from time to time, to occupy the disputed 
 regions as the legitimate property of the 
 state of Georgia ; but, as the whites had 
 not yet established themselves in the coun 
 try, it was difficult to maintain actual pos 
 session oi the same, except by occupying 
 remote places. As to the territory south of 
 31 N. lat., Spain held titles 1st. By its 
 original discovery and occupancy; 2nd. The 
 French claim resulting from the proceed 
 ings of Iberville; 3rd. By the military 
 conquest in 1781 ; and, 4th. By purchase 
 from Great Britain. 
 
 In the year 1800, by the treaty of St. 
 Ildefonso, Spain retroceded to France Lou 
 isiana, including all the territory that the 
 latter had transferred to Spain by the treaty 
 of Fontainbleau in 1762 ; but, in the 
 transfer, the boundary separating West 
 Florida and Louisiana was not fixed. In 
 1803, the United States having purchased 
 Louisiana from Napoleon, that government 
 claimed to the fullest extent of the French 
 title for the whole country lying between 
 the Perdido and Rio Bravo ; and, beyond 
 all doubt, the claim was well founded. From 
 that period repeated difficulties occurred 
 between the United States and Spain, 
 
A.D. 1811.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [INVASION OF FLORIFA. 
 
 respecting the Floridas ; and, in order to put 
 a final stop to the aggressive operations of 
 the latter, the president, in 1810, estab 
 lished a military occupancy in that portion 
 of West Florida lying west of the river 
 Perdido ; and, by act of congress, the laws 
 of the territory of Orleans were applied to 
 the country occupied by the United States 
 troops as above-mentioned. 
 
 By joint resolution of congress, January 
 15th, 1811, as a secret proceeding, it was 
 declared, with reference to the apprehen 
 sions then entertained, that Great Britain 
 might take possession of the Floridas, as 
 follows : 
 
 "Taking into view the peculiar situation of 
 Spain, and of her American provinces; and con 
 sidering the influence which the destiny of the ter 
 ritory adjoining the southern border of the United 
 States may have upon their security, tranquillity, 
 and commerce, therefore 
 
 "He it Resolved, That the United States, under the 
 peculiar circumstances of the existing crisis, cannot, 
 without serious inquietude, see any part of the said 
 territory pass into the hands of any foreign power ; 
 and that a due regard to their own safety compels 
 them to provide, under certain contingencies, for 
 the temporary occupation of the said territory ; 
 they, at the same time, declare, that the said terri 
 tory shall, in their hands, remain subject to future 
 negotiations." 
 
 Immediately succeeding this resolution, 
 a law was passed, in secret session, which 
 authorised the president " to take possession 
 of, and occupy all or any part of the Florida 
 territory lying east of the river Perdido, 
 and south of Georgia and the Mississippi 
 territory, in case any arrangement may 
 have been, or may be made, with the local 
 authorities of Florida, for delivering up the 
 possession of the same, or any part thereof, 
 to the United States, or in the event of an 
 attempt to occupy the said territory, or any 
 part thereof, by any foreign government."* 
 The president was authorised to employ 
 any part of the army and navy of the 
 United States which he might deem neces 
 sary to carry out the said law ; and he was 
 to establish a provisional government for 
 the conquered territory : and to enable the 
 executive to attain the ends desired, the 
 sum of 100,000 dollars was appropriated. 
 By another act, dated March 3rd, 1811, 
 the foregoing proceedings were forbidden 
 to be published until after the close of the 
 first session of congress of 1812. On the 
 12th of February, 1812, it was further 
 enacted, " that the president be, and he is 
 
 * This was an enunciation of the principle sub 
 sequently known as the " Monroe doctrine." 
 
 hereby authorised to occupy and hold all 
 that tract of country called West Florida, 
 which lay west of the river Perdido, not 
 now in the possession of the United States:" 
 and to accomplish the purposes declared in 
 the law, the president was authorised to 
 employ the army and navy of the govern 
 ment ; and the sum of 20,000 dollars was 
 appropriated for that purpose. 
 
 The proceedings of congress clearly show 
 that the United States were determined to 
 prevent the British government from ac 
 quiring possession of the Florida peninsula ; 
 and it would seem, from the tenor of tho 
 acts, that the plan was fully concurred in 
 by the Spanish government, or at least by 
 its official of the territory. Spain was, 
 comparatively, a weak power, and the 
 United States had no fear of an aggressive 
 policy from that government : not so, how 
 ever, with respect to Great Britain ; and 
 in order to prevent that nation from ac 
 quiring the important territory, either by 
 conquest, purchase, or exchange, the United 
 States determined to hazard its peace with 
 Spain, and take forcible possession, if neces 
 sary, of the whole peninsula. 
 
 The above proceedings were not ofTensivo 
 to Spain, as they had in view the exercise 
 of a spirit of friendship ; but, as the United 
 States hud determined to prevent the trans 
 fer of Florida to any other foreign power, 
 they deemed it proper to purchase the ter 
 ritory, or otherwise acquire it from Spain 
 by an equitable treaty. Before this could 
 be attained, however, the invasion of tho 
 Spanish jurisdiction, in 1817, by General 
 Jackson, created unfriendly relations, for a 
 time, between the two governments. The 
 Indian war that transpired on the southern 
 borders of the United States, adjacent to 
 the Spanish territory, occasioned the pro 
 ceedings of the American army with respect 
 to the occupancy of certain Spanish military 
 i posts ; and, although the invasion of Jack- 
 ; son was illegal, yet his excuse was received 
 j with considerable appreciation. It was 
 alleged that he took possession of the 
 Floridas because Spain had not been able 
 to maintain a sufficient military force on 
 its frontiers bordering the United States, 
 to prevent the incursions of the Indiana 
 and bands of desperadoes against the set 
 tlements of Southern Georgia. When tho 
 proceedings of Jackson were made known 
 to the president, however, he immediately 
 explained to the Spanish minister the cir 
 cumstances that had impelled the seizures 
 
 447 
 
PURCHASE OF FLORIDA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AD. 1820. 
 
 in the Floridas, and proffered their imme 
 diate surrender, with satisfactory expres 
 sions of friendship.* 
 
 Spain could not establish, in the Floridas, 
 a military force sufficient to protect the 
 white settlements of Southern Georgia from 
 the savages and desperadoes that inhabited 
 the dense and heavily timbered swamps of 
 Florida ; and with a view to attain the 
 desirable end, as well as the termination of 
 the boundary issue, and the final adjust 
 ment of the claims held by the citizens 
 against the respective governments, the 
 United States again sought for the purchase 
 of the peninsula, and thereby remove from 
 that part of the continent all foreign juris 
 diction. After a lengthy negotiation, a 
 treaty for the purchase of Florida was 
 signed on the 22nd of February, 1819. It 
 was therein stipulated that Spain ceded to 
 the United States, in full property and 
 sovereignty, all tlie territories which be 
 longed to it, situated to the eastward of 
 the Mississippi, known by the name of East 
 and West Florida, the adjacent islands, 
 and all public property. The boundary line 
 between the two countries west of the 
 Mississippi had been a question of con 
 siderable controversy, and various propo 
 sitions had been made between the par 
 ties conducting the negotiations; but it 
 was finally agreed that the boundary line 
 between the two countries, west of the 
 Mississippi, should begin on the Gulf of 
 Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, 
 in the sea, continuing north along the 
 western bank of the said river to the 
 32 of N. lat. ; thence by a line due 
 north to the degree of latitude where it 
 struck the Rio Roxo of Natchitocb.es, or 
 Red River ; thence to follow the course of 
 the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of 
 longitude 100 west of London ; then to 
 cross the said Red River, and running 
 thence by a line due north, to the river 
 Arkansas ; thence to follow the course of 
 the southern bank of the Arkansas to 
 its source, in 42 N. lat. ; and thence by 
 that parallel of latitude to the South 
 Sea, or Pacific Ocean. It was stipulated, 
 that " the two high contracting parties 
 agree to cede and renounce all their rights, 
 claims, and pretensions to the territories 
 described by the said line; that is to say, 
 the United States hereby cede to his catho 
 lic majesty, and renounce for ever, all their 
 rights, claims, and pretensions to the ter- 
 
 * Ante, vol. ii., p. 426. 
 448 
 
 ritories lying west and south of the above- 
 described line ; and, in like manner, his 
 catholic majesty cedes to the said United 
 States all his rights, claims, and pretensions 
 to any territories east and north of the said 
 line ; and for himself, his heirs, and succes 
 sors, renounces all claim to the said terri 
 tories for ever/ 
 
 The property transferred by the above 
 clause, upon the part of the United States, 
 was the whole of the country lying between 
 the Sabine and Rio Bravo, then commonly 
 known as the " Neutral Ground/ and since 
 styled Texas ; upon the part of Spain, the 
 territory conveyed was the Floridas. As a 
 further settlement of all pending difficulties, 
 it was stipulated, that the contracting par 
 ties " reciprocally renounce all claims for 
 damages or injuries which they themselves, 
 as well as their respective citizens and sub 
 jects, may have suffered until the signing 
 of the treaty ;" and they respectively re 
 nounced " all claim to indemnities for any 
 of the recent events or transactions of their 
 respective commanders and officers in the 
 Floridas," excepting the injuries that may 
 have been inflicted upon the Spanish 
 officers and inhabitants by the late opera 
 tions of the American army, for which the 
 United States were to make proper satisfac 
 tion. By the llth article, it was stipu 
 lated, that "the United States, exonera 
 ting Spain from all demands in future on 
 account of the claims of their citizens to 
 which the renunciations herein contained 
 extend, and considering them entirely can 
 celled, undertake to make satisfaction for 
 the same, to an amount not exceeding 
 5,000,000 dollars." 
 
 This important treaty was ratified by 
 Spain on the 24th of October, 1820, and 
 by the United States on the 22nd of 
 February, 1821. On the 17th of June, 
 1821, General Jackson took formal posses 
 sion of the Floridas in the name of the 
 United States. Jackson was appointed 
 captain-general and governor-in-chief by 
 authority of an act of congress, passed in 
 March, 1821 ; and in which it was declared, 
 " that, until the end of the first session of 
 the next congress, all the military, civil, 
 and judicial powers exercised by the officers 
 of the existing government of the said 
 territories, shall be vested in such person 
 or persons, and shall be exercised in such 
 manner, as the president of the United 
 States shall direct, for maintaining the in- 
 j habitants of said territories in the free 
 
A.D. 1820.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 enjoyment of their liberty, property, and 
 religion." 
 
 Statesmen have alleged that this act of 
 congress exceeded the constitutional power 
 of that body, notwithstanding it was com 
 posed of some of the brightest stars that 
 founded the government. Some were pre 
 sent who had taken part in framing the 
 constitution, and who, it was supposed, un 
 derstood the meaning of that great instru 
 ment ; the law was signed by Monroe, the 
 last of the revolutionary presidents, and 
 at a period of his life when he was very 
 cautious in the discharge of his public 
 responsibilities. Both the senate and house 
 were composed of many survivors of the 
 first generation of the republic ; and with 
 those venerable luminaries were associated 
 many rising statesmen, who at that early 
 period gave evidence of future greatness. 
 
 The acquisition of the Floridas was re 
 ceived with great rejoicing in the southern 
 and western states, where it was believed 
 that the peninsula should belong to the 
 United States, not only for the protection 
 of the whites of the adjacent countries, but 
 also for political considerations. The do 
 main of the Floridas* was not considered 
 to be of very great value, but there were 
 some fortifications and harbours of impor 
 tance to the country. These were secured, 
 and all difficulties with Spain adjusted, on 
 terms that were mutually satisfactory, and 
 honourable to the high contracting parties. 
 
 The presidential election that took place 
 in 1820, was one of the most unanimous 
 manifestations of popular choice that had 
 transpired since the days of Washington. 
 Monroe was the republican candidate ; and, 
 as the federal party had ceased to exist, 
 there was no organised opposition to the 
 republicans, and but little excitement or 
 interest manifested during the election of 
 1820 an epoch commonly known as the 
 " era of good feeling ;" and the popular 
 vote was largely in favour of Monroe. 
 
 * The surface of Florida is generally level no 
 mountains, and but few lands elevated above the 
 sea as much as 300 feet. The southern part of the 
 peninsula is covered, to a great extent, with swamps, 
 marshes, and lakes. There are large sheets of water, 
 called everglades, filled with islands, covered with 
 high grass, bushes, or trees. " The lands of Flo 
 rida," says De Bow, " are very curiously distributed, 
 and may be designated as high hummock, low 
 hummock, swamp, savanna, and the different quali 
 ties of pine land. High Hummock is usually 
 timbered with live and other oaks, magnolia, 
 laurel, and various kinds of southern trees, and is 
 considered the best of land for general purposes. 
 
 Congress assembled in joint session on the 
 14th of February, 1821, in the representa 
 tives chamber, for the purpose of counting 
 the electoral votes for president and vice- 
 president. When the president of the sen 
 ate opened the ballots cast by the electors 
 for the state of Missouri, an objection was 
 made to their reception. At this juncture 
 the two houses separated, for the purpose of 
 determining what disposition should be made 
 of the Missouri vote ; and, after a brief 
 discussion, it was agreed that the ballots 
 should be counted, provided they did not 
 change the result of the election. The joint 
 session was then resumed, when the elec 
 toral vote was found to be as follows : 
 
 Election for the Ninth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1821, and terminating 3rd March, 182-3. 
 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 . 
 
 = 2 
 
 Jj 
 
 g~g? ~ 
 
 03 
 
 . 
 
 STATES. 
 
 4 
 
 o a 
 2j* 
 
 Adams, 
 achuset 
 
 11 
 
 EH 
 ^ 
 
 |e 
 
 o 
 
 CO f* 
 
 "H 
 
 a 
 
 o K 
 3 p 
 
 B 
 
 T3 C3 
 
 o if 
 
 AM 
 
 x <U 
 
 
 X **" 
 
 . M 
 
 
 ^ " _ f?i 
 
 c 2 
 
 .SQ 
 
 
 V 
 
 Qf -3 
 
 . 
 
 f.A i ** <^ 
 
 g > 
 
 G\~ 
 
 
 
 
 c *** 
 
 ." ;_, f>*Z 
 
 
 ra o 
 
 
 4 
 
 >-i g 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 35 o 
 
 A 
 
 & 
 
 s 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut . 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vermont . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware . 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Maryland . . 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 25 
 
 _ 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 15 
 
 __ 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky . . 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio . . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louisiana . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Alabama . . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maine . . 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri . 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals . . . 
 
 231 
 
 1 
 
 218 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 Majority .118 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Low Hummock, timbered with live and water-oaks, 
 is subject to overflow; but, when drained, is pre 
 ferred for sugar. Savannas, on the margin of the 
 streams, and in detached bodies, are usually of rich 
 soil, yielding largely in dry, but needing ditching 
 and dyking in ordinary seasons. Marsh savannas, 
 on the borders of streams, are very valuable when 
 reclaimed for rice or sugar-cane. The Pine barrens 
 have a sandy sterile soil, and are not worth culti 
 vating. Much of the country i< composed of open 
 sand-fields, barren of vegetation. The alluvial re 
 gions comprise the richest soil ; and the luxuriant 
 growth of innumerable varieties of herbage and 
 wild flowers, add charms to the country." 
 
 419 
 
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1823. 
 
 The whole number of electors was 235 
 including those of Missouri ; and James 
 Monroe having received 231 votes for presi- 
 dent, and Daniel D. Toinpkins 218 for vice- 
 president, they were respectively declared 
 duly elected 
 
 The inauguration of the vice-president took 
 place at his residence in New York, on the 
 3rd of March, on which occasion he only 
 observed the formality of taking the con 
 stitutional oath. On Monday, the 5th of 
 March, Monroe was inaugurated as president, 
 the oath of office having been administered 
 by Chief- justice Marshall. The ceremony 
 took place in the representatives chamber ; 
 and there were present on the occasion, the 
 principal officials of the government, foreign 
 ministers, and a large number of ladies and 
 gentlemen. There was no pomp about 
 the ceremony ; and, indeed, the preced 
 ing presidents gave no example for dis 
 play, except the forms of decency and de 
 corum. Monroe delivered his inaugural 
 address with a degree of gravity that gave 
 an august character to the occasion. He 
 reviewed the foreign relations and domestic 
 condition of the country, and congratulated 
 the people upon the peaceful and happy 
 progress the nation had made since the 
 foundation of the government. 
 
 During the second executive term of 
 Monroe there were no very important na 
 tional or state transactions. Congress was 
 engaged during much of the time in mea 
 sures of defence for internal improvements, 
 and a protective tariff. Several schemes 
 for the establishment of grand national 
 highways had been proposed one to run 
 from Maine to Georgia ; another from Bal 
 timore, through Cumberland, Wheelings, 
 and thence through Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, to the Mississippi. The president 
 construed the appropriation of money for 
 the highways, or internal improvements, to 
 be in violation of the constitution ; and, in 
 order to encourage such necessary enter 
 prises, he recommended an amendment to 
 the constitution, sanctioning such legis 
 lation. 
 
 At the suggestion of the president, con 
 gress, in 1824, passed a protective tariff 
 law ; though the measure was opposed by a 
 large number of the members in both 
 branches of that body. In the house, the 
 bill passed by a vote of 107 to 102 ; and in 
 the senate, by 25 to 22 : of the former vote, 
 there were 88 ayes, and 32 noes, from the 
 northern states ; and of the. southern states, 
 450 
 
 there were 19 ayes, and 70 noes. It was 
 remarked at the time, that the shipping 
 and fishing states of Maine, New Hampshire, 
 and Massachusetts, which gave 23 against, 
 and 3 for a protective tariff, opposed the 
 bill, from an apprehension that it would 
 injure commerce ; the grain-growing states, 
 Vermont. New York, New Jersey, Penn 
 sylvania, Delaware, Kentucky, Ohio, In 
 diana, Illinois, and Missouri, which gave 
 94 for, and 9 against the tariff, supported 
 it from a belief that its enactment would 
 benefit agriculture ; and the sugar, cotton, 
 and tobacco- growing, or planting states, 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, 
 Tennessee, and Louisiana, which gave 6 for, 
 and 67 against the bill, united with the 
 shipping states in the opposition, for the 
 reason that it would be injurious to the 
 agriculturists ; and, on this ground, the 
 two classes of states were at issue. The 
 manufacturing states, Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island, gave 7 for, and 1 against, 
 the measure ; and the ayes from these states 
 voted under the influence of the interest of 
 their people, who were largely engaged in 
 the manufacture of fibrous goods. 
 
 The tariff that had been enacted in 1816 
 had in view a revenue policy ; but the bill 
 of 1824 was intended to protect American 
 industry against foreign competition ; and 
 from this epoch may be dated the protec 
 tive system, which subsequently received 
 the nation s most earnest consideration. 
 
 In his annual message of 1823, Monroe 
 uttered a doctrine of defence that ulti 
 mately received the consideration of the 
 European powers, and had the effect of 
 checking the spread of a monarchical system 
 protected by the great powers of the Old 
 World. The Spanish South American 
 colonies were, and had been for several 
 years, in a state of revolution ; they sought 
 to enjoy their sovereignty and indepen 
 dence, as had been attained by the colonial 
 states of North America. The govern 
 ment of the United States recognised the 
 colonies in revolt as belligerents; and, as 
 such, they, as well as Spain, were respected 
 upon the seas, and in the ports of the 
 United States. Monroe observed a strict 
 neutrality, following the example that had 
 been pursued by Washington with respect 
 to France: but this non-intervention policy 
 was not on account of a want of interest in 
 the success of the revolutionists ; and, while 
 the American states observed a neutral 
 
A.n. 1823.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [CAUCUS NOMINATIONS. 
 
 course towards them, an ardent desire for 
 the independence of the Spanish colonies 
 in South America, was generally enter 
 tained. Russia, Prussia, France, and Aus 
 tria had constituted themselves "a Holy 
 Alliance," after the fall of Bonaparte, for 
 the purpose of maintaining an agreed order 
 of government, and boundaries on the con 
 tinent of Europe ; and during the revolu 
 tionary epoch in South America, they 
 attempted to extend their protection to the 
 young Spanish republics that had been 
 formed in that part of the western hemi 
 sphere, having in view their ultimate for 
 mation into monarchies, to be governed by 
 sovereigns of European families, such as 
 the Holy Allies should establish. In the 
 message just referred to, Monroe ex 
 pressed his dissent to the proposed Euro 
 pean interference with the South American 
 republics. " We owe it, therefore, to can 
 dour," said Monroe, " and the amicable 
 relations existing between the United 
 States and those powers, to declare, that 
 we should consider any attempt, on their 
 part, to extend their system to any portion 
 of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our 
 peace and safety. With the existing 
 colonies or dependencies of any European 
 power we have not interfered, and shall 
 not interfere. But with the governments 
 which have declared their independence, and 
 maintained it, and whose independence we 
 have, on great consideration, and on just 
 principles, acknowledged, we could not 
 view any interposition for the purpose of 
 oppressing them, or controlling, in any 
 other manner, their destiny by any Euro 
 pean power, in any other light than as the 
 manifestation of an unfriendly disposition 
 towards the United States. In the war 
 between those new governments and Spain, 
 we declared our neutrality at the time of 
 their recognition ; and to this we have ad 
 hered, and shall continue to adhere, pro 
 vided no change shall occur, which, in the 
 judgment of the competent authorities of 
 this government, shall make a correspond 
 ing change, on the part of the United 
 States, indispensable to their security." 
 
 The doctrine of national defence against 
 the spread of a monarchical system pro 
 tected by the great powers of Europe, re 
 ceived the hearty approbation of the Ameri 
 can people. Monroe fully comprehended 
 the opinion of his constituency, having seen 
 it developed with respect to Florida, in 
 1811. The identical doctrine was then de 
 
 clared and acted upon, and, by resolution ot 
 congress, the spread of European monarch- 
 ical power in America, especially in prox 
 imity to the United States, was declared .to 
 be antagonistic to the welfare of the federal 
 states. Congress declared, that, " taking 
 into view the peculiar situation of Spain, 
 and of her American provinces, and con 
 sidering the influence which the destiny of 
 the territory adjoining the southern border 
 of the United States may have upon their 
 security, tranquillity, and commerce," the 
 United States, " under the peculiar circum 
 stances of the existing crisis, cannot, with 
 out serious inquietude, see any part of the 
 said territory pass into the hands of any 
 foreign power."* The subsequent occupa 
 tion of Florida, without any authority from 
 Spain, was in strict conformity with the 
 doctrines expressed by congress, and ex 
 hibited a determination to maintain the in 
 dependence and sovereignty of the Ameri 
 can republic, by preventing the spread of 
 monarchical power to the New World an 
 antagonistic system of government to that 
 inaugurated, in 1776, by the united colonies 
 in North America. 
 
 Monroe had scarcely entered upon his 
 second executive term, before the politicians 
 in congress began to fix upon his successor. 
 In 1820, the republican party nominally 
 known only in contradistinction to the 
 old federal party, led by John Adams, in 
 1800 nearly unanimously, as shown by 
 the electoral vote, continued Monroe in the 
 presidency ; and, according to rule, estab 
 lished by the example of Washington, he 
 could not be presented for another terra. 
 The caucus system had prevailed since 1796 ; 
 and it had been carried to such a degree of 
 power, that the constitutional theory of a 
 presidential election was virtually annulled, 
 as it placed the selection of that officer in 
 the hands of the members of congress for 
 the time being, leaving the electors of the 
 states to cast their ballots for the nominees 
 presented by the caucus. In 1816, an 
 effort was made to abandon the congres 
 sional nominating system ; and, in 1820, 
 the popularity of Monroe with the people, 
 negatived all attempts to supersede him ; 
 and, on that account, aspirants for the presi 
 dency made no efforts to abolish the caucus 
 organisations. In 1824, the system was 
 disregarded, and several candidates were 
 presented for the suffrages of the electoral 
 votes : each was considered upon his 
 * Ante, vol. ii., p. 447. 
 
 451 
 
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.] HISTOHY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.T>. 182*. 
 
 own merits, and not on account of any 
 particular part) doctrines. There were no 
 political principles of import involved, the 
 i^sue being simply one of national favour 
 itism. The contest was commonly called 
 the "scrub-race," and it was conducted 
 with much manifestation of partisan par 
 tiality. The vindictive proceedings that 
 were so generally displayed between the 
 friends of the respective candidates for the 
 presidency, subsequently produced the in 
 auguration of political parties, that governed 
 the nation with an extraordinary degree of 
 antagonism and individuality ; so much so, 
 in fact, that estrangements were produced 
 between the people in their social relations. 
 
 The most prominent candidate, in 1824, 
 was Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. He 
 had performed important military service ; 
 and the victory he had achieved at New 
 Orleans, January 8th, 1815, had placed 
 him foremost in the affections of the people. 
 John Quincv Adams, of Massachusetts, 
 another candidate, had served as secretary 
 of state under Monroe, and was recognised 
 throughout the nation as a statesman of 
 great powers. Jefferson, Madison, and 
 Monroe had respectively occupied the same 
 secretaryship, previous to their elevation to 
 the presidential chair ; and it was generally 
 considered to be a stepping-stone to the 
 chief magistracy of the government. Wil 
 liam II. Crawford, of Georgia, was nomi 
 nated through the influence of Virginia : 
 he had served as secretary of war under 
 Madison, and was secretary of the treasury 
 throughout both of Monroe s executive 
 terms. The fourth candidate was Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky, whose extraordinary 
 eloquence, patriotic career, and as the great 
 * pacificator" in 1821, had won for him 
 the enthusiastic admiration of a very large 
 number of the people in all parts of the 
 Union. He was nominated by popular 
 manifestation, and his election seemed to 
 be certain. 
 
 The four candidates had advocated the 
 late war against Great Britain ; and while 
 Jackson had won imperishable glory upon 
 the battle-field of Chalmette, Clay, Adams, 
 and Crawford had served their country 
 faithfully in the legislature, in voting to 
 furnish the executive with men and means 
 to prosecute that struggle. Clay had the 
 greatest number of personal friends ; but 
 Jackson, his immediate rival, held the af 
 fections of the whole nation for his gallant 
 services, not only in the defence of New 
 452 
 
 Orleans, but also in terminating the Creek 
 war in Southern Georgia. Before the time 
 of the election, however, it was clearly per 
 ceived by the people that the question lay 
 between Adams and Jackson ; and the re 
 sult was greatly in favour of those two 
 candidates, as will be seen by a comparison 
 of the popular and electoral ballots. 
 
 At that time there were twenty-four 
 states composing the Union ; and of these, 
 the legislatures of six South Carolina, 
 Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, 
 and Vermont selected their presidential 
 electors ; and, in the remaining eighteen 
 states, they were chosen by popular vote, 
 as follows : 
 
 
 o 
 
 g 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 rf i* 
 
 %i 
 
 a ^ 
 <-> a 
 
 g 5) 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 3 
 |-S 
 
 
 C 3 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 "o 
 
 (3 
 
 & 
 
 hi 
 
 Alabama 
 
 2,416 
 
 9,443 
 
 1,680 
 
 67 
 
 Connecticut ... 
 Illinois 
 
 7,587 
 1,542 
 
 1,901 
 
 1,978 
 219 
 
 1,047 
 
 Indiana 
 
 3,095 
 
 7,343 
 
 
 5,315 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 6,453 
 
 
 16,782 
 
 Maine 
 
 6,870 
 
 2,330 
 
 
 
 Maryland 
 Massachusetts 
 
 14,632 
 30,687 
 
 14,523 
 
 3,646 
 6,616 
 
 "695 
 
 Mississippi 
 Missouri 
 
 1,694 
 311 
 
 3,231 
 
 987 
 
 119 
 
 1,401 
 
 New Hampshire 
 New Jersey ... 
 North Carolina 
 Ohio 
 
 4,107 
 9,110 
 
 12,280 
 
 643 
 
 10,985 
 20,415 
 18,457 
 
 1,196 
 15,621 
 
 19,255 
 
 Pennsylvania... 
 Rhode Island... 
 
 5,440 
 2,145 
 
 36,100 
 
 4,206 
 200 
 
 1,609 
 
 Tennessee 
 Virginia 
 
 216 
 3,189 
 
 20, l97 
 2,861 
 
 312 
 
 8,489 
 
 416 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 105,321 
 
 155,872 
 
 44,282 
 
 46,587 
 
 The result of the election of 1824, for 
 presidential electors, was known long be 
 fore the ballots were officially opened in 
 congress, and the people throughout the 
 whole country became very much excited 
 upon the contest ; more so, in fact, than had 
 been manifested prior to the popular elec 
 tions. It was well known that the house 
 of representatives would have to elect the 
 president from the three candidates having 
 j the greatest number of votes, which were 
 i known to be Jackson, Adams, and Craw 
 ford. Clay had received the lesser electoral 
 vote ; it was therefore with him to decide 
 who should be the president ; and, as the 
 states of Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri, 
 that had cast their votes for him, evidently 
 preferred Jackson as their next choice, it 
 was supposed by many that Clay would 
 
A.D. 1825.1 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 carry out the wishes of the people of those 
 states, notwithstanding it was well known 
 that his individual preferences were in 
 favour of Adams. 
 
 The two houses of congress assembled in 
 joint session on the 9th of February, 1825, 
 in the representative chamber, when the 
 president of the senate opened the electoral 
 ballots that had been transmitted from the 
 respective states; which were as follows : 
 
 Election for the Tenth Term, commencing 4fh March, 
 1825, and terminating 3rd March, 1829. 
 
 
 FOR PRESIDENT. 
 
 FOR VICK-PBESIDENT. 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Js 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 e 
 
 o 
 
 
 g 
 
 STATES. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 o 
 
 jCJ 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ,8 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 K 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 e 
 
 >. 
 
 a 
 
 
 John Q. A 
 
 William II 
 
 Andrew Ji 
 
 Henry Cla 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 1 
 
 Nathaniel 
 
 Andrew Ji 
 
 Nathan St 
 
 Henry Cla 
 
 Martin Va 
 
 Maine . . 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 New Hampshire 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 8 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Vermont . 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 _ 
 
 Maryland 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia . 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Georgia . 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Ti-nnessee 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Indiana . 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 _ 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Alabama . 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 Missouri . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals . . . 
 
 84 
 
 41 
 
 99 
 
 37 182 
 
 24 
 
 13 
 
 30 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 Majority ...131 
 
 The total electoral vote of the Union was 
 261, making 131 a majority. Neither of 
 the candidates for the presidency receiving 
 a majority of electoral ballots, the presi 
 dent of the senate declared the fact to the 
 joint session ; and that, in conformity with 
 the provision of the constitution, the elec 
 tion of that officer devolved upon the house 
 of representatives : he also announced, that 
 John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, having 
 received a greater vote than a majority, 
 had been elected vice-president. San ford, 
 of New York ; Macon, of North Carolina ; 
 Jackson, of Tennessee ; Van Buren, of New 
 York ; and Clay, of Kentucky, for each of 
 whom ballots had been cast for the office 
 of vice-president, were not candidates for 
 that position, and the votes given them 
 were complimentary. 
 
 After the non-election of a president was 
 announced, the senate retired, and then the 
 
 VOL. u. 3 N 
 
 representatives from the respective states 
 occupied seats near to each other, for the 
 purpose of determining, by ballot, how the 
 vote of their state should be given. A 
 ballot-box was furnished to each state, and 
 tellers were appointed to announce the re 
 sult on the call of the roll. Daniel AVeb- 
 ster and John Randolph were appointed to 
 declare the final vote of the states, which 
 was as follows : For John Quincy Adams ; 
 Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New 
 York, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, 
 Missouri, and Louisiana thirteen states. 
 For Andrew Jackson; New Jersey, Pennsyl 
 vania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, 
 Mississippi, and Indiana seven states. For 
 William H. Crawford ; Delaware, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, and Georgia four states. 
 Adams having received the vote of a ma 
 jority of the states, he was declared elected. 
 In response to this notification of elec 
 tion, Mr. Adams referred to the fact that 
 he had received a minority vote of the 
 people less, in fact, than had been cast for 
 Jackson ; and that his now final election 
 by the house, was the result of circum 
 stances that had never before transpired. 
 " In this state of things," said Adams, 
 " could my refusal to accept the trust thus 
 delegated to me, give an immediate op 
 portunity to the people to form and to ex 
 press, with a nearer approach to unanimity, 
 the object of their preference, I should not 
 hesitate to decline the acceptance of this 
 eminent charge, and to submit the decision 
 of this momentous question again to their 
 determination ; but the constitution itself 
 has not disposed of the contingency which 
 would arise in the event of my refusal." 
 If Adams had declined the presidency, 
 John C. Calhoun, the elected vice-president, 
 would have become the president, and not 
 one ballot had been cast for him to occupy 
 that position in the affairs of the govern 
 ment. There was no alternative for Adams 
 but to accept the office, notwithstanding he 
 had been elected by a contingency not in 
 harmony with the will of the people. As 
 a statesman, Clay was the most popular man 
 in the nation ; but Jackson had the affec 
 tions of the people, because he had achieved 
 victories on the field of battle ; and his name 
 was " closely associated with the glory of 
 the nation." Crawford was a statesman of 
 great influence, and his political principles 
 harmonised with a large class of people 
 living in the southern states. The influence 
 
 453 
 
LA FAYETTE S VISIT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1828. 
 
 of Clay was given to Adams, and hence 
 his election by thirteen of the twenty-four 
 states, although he was a minority candi 
 date in the states wherein Clay had received 
 the electoral vote. For example, in Ken 
 tucky, Adams did not receive any of the 
 popular votes ; and in Ohio, Jackson received 
 a third more votes than had been cast for 
 Adams. Considering the will of the people, 
 many were of opinion, that it was the duty 
 of Clay to have given his influence in 
 favour of Jackson, instead of Adams, espe 
 cially as there were no great political issues 
 at that time, dividing the people into par 
 ties, for the promotion of principles. 
 
 The election of Adams was unfortunate 
 for Clay, or, at least, it resulted so ; not on 
 account of any fault of his, but for the 
 reason that politicians assailed his motives 
 with a plausibility and justification that 
 carried with it conviction in the minds of 
 many people. When Adams was inaugu 
 rated, March 4th, 1825, Clay was made 
 secretary of state aposition then considered 
 as we stated, to be a stepping-stone to the 
 presidency. Disappointed and prejudiced 
 politicians at once alleged that a bargain had 
 been made between Adams and Clay, that in 
 case of the election of the former, he was to 
 appoint Clay to the secretaryship, that he 
 might, at the next election, be certain of 
 his elevation to the presidency. Although 
 the charge was made without the shadow 
 of fact, it was not possible for the accused 
 to prove that they were innocent ; they had 
 only to depend, ultimately, upon the fair 
 judgment of the people, to declare them, 
 as they richly deserved to be, too pure and 
 patriotic to barter the will of the people for 
 their own elevation. The friends of Jack 
 son and Crawford united in a determined 
 opposition to the administration of Adams ; 
 and, during the whole term, politicians, in 
 and out of congress, were busily engaged 
 in preparing for the next presidential elec 
 tion. A minority in congress sustained the 
 measures of the president ; but the partisans 
 were too violent in their proceedings to 
 effect much good for the country. 
 
 In 1824, the people of the United States 
 were honoured by the visit of the illustrious 
 patriot, General La Fayette, who had added 
 glory to the French by his services in the 
 American revolutionary war. His career 
 in the cause of the colonies had won for 
 him a place in the hearts of the people, 
 surpassed only by the memory of Wash 
 ington ; and he well merited the honours 
 454 
 
 that were awarded to him on this occasion. 
 In 1777, La Fayette embarked from France 
 for America, to enter the revolutionary army 
 under Washington ; and, at that time, his 
 annual income was estimated at about 
 28,700 dollars ; but on account of his ex 
 penditures in the cause of liberty, this sum 
 was subsequently very much reduced. Be 
 tween the years 1777 and 1783, he ex 
 pended, in the American service, the sum of 
 140,000 dollars. lie equipped, and fully 
 armed, a regiment at his own charge, and 
 came to America in a vessel freighted 
 with implements and munitions of war, all 
 of which he distributed gratuitously for the 
 benefit of the colonies. He was continually 
 using his means for the welfare of the 
 army ; and, at his own expense, supplied 
 an immense number of shoes to the soldiers, 
 when, in fact, they were barefoot, and could 
 not, nor could the colonies, command the 
 money to purchase their clothing. It is 
 impossible for us to give an account of this 
 hero s career in the American revolutionary 
 struggle. When La Fayette visited the 
 United States in 1824, he was received by 
 the people in a manner that exhibited, un 
 mistakably, sincere gratitude for what he 
 had done in their country s cause. He 
 travelled through the different seaboard 
 states ; was greeted by the officials of all 
 positions, and made the guest of the states 
 and of the nation. On the 9th and 10th 
 days of December, he was received, by both 
 houses of congress, with ceremonial honours 
 that had never before been accorded to any 
 other person. 
 
 In 1794, congress appropriated to La 
 Fayette the full pay, without interest, that 
 had been due to him some fourteen years. 
 In 1803, an act was passed, permitting 
 him to select for his own use and bene 
 fit, and without pay, 11,520 acres of land ; 
 and in 1804, the entry was authorised to be 
 made in the territory of Orleans. In 1806, 
 his agent located a tract of 1,000 acres ; but 
 on account of irregular legislation, and La 
 Fayette s disinclination to enter into litiga 
 tion, the lands were not continued in his 
 right. Other entries were made ; but the 
 entire affair proved almost valueless to the 
 veteran. On the 21st of December, 1824, 
 a bill passed the senate, by a vote of 
 37 to 7, appropriating to La Fayette the 
 sum of 200,000 dollars, and a township* of 
 land, to be selected from any of the na 
 tional lands that he might prefer. In the 
 
 * A township of land contains 36 square miles. 
 
A.D. 1829.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 
 
 house, the bill in his favour passed hy a 
 vote of 166 to 26. By an act of congress, 
 La Fayette was made a citizen of the United 
 States ; and, by the will of the people, he 
 was the guest of a grateful nation. 
 
 In 1828, the principal measure of the 
 presidential term was enacted ; namely, the 
 revision of the tariff the adoption of the 
 protective system, in contradistinction to 
 the reserve principle. Prior to that time, 
 a tariff had been fixed, based upon the 
 value of the goods at the foreign market; 
 but, in executing the law, it was found that 
 the importers had too many opportunities 
 of evading the legitimate scale of duties. 
 In the eastern, or New England states, the 
 people had invested much capital in manu 
 factories, and they had found that goods 
 could be imported from foreign countries 
 at prices much less than it was possible to 
 manufacture them in America. The mea 
 sure was discussed in both houses of con 
 gress during the months of February, 
 March, and April ; and a bill, having in 
 view the protection of the domestic industry 
 of the country, was passed in the house, by 
 a vote of 109 to 91 ; and, in the senate, 26 
 to 21. The enactment of the new tariff 
 produced great excitement throughout the 
 country; and, in some of the southern 
 states, public meetings were held, to de 
 nounce the alleged unjust proceedings of 
 congress. In South Carolina, the people 
 petitioned the legislature to " save them, if 
 possible, from the conjoined grasp of 
 usurpation and poverty." The excitement, 
 however, was, to a considerable extent, 
 allayed by the hope of the election of an 
 other president, which was to take place 
 in the autumn of that year. 
 
 The political factions that existed in 1828, 
 united their efforts for the election of either 
 Adams or Jackson ; and, although there 
 were only two candidates for the presidency, 
 yet the excitement with the people was 
 greater than had been manifested at any 
 other period during the existence of the 
 republic. John Quincy Adams and An 
 drew Jackson were the candidates ; and the 
 electors in favour of the former, received, at 
 the popular election in twenty-two states, 
 509,097 ; and those in favour of Jackson, 
 received, in twenty-three states, 647,231. 
 In Georgia, there were no votes cast in 
 favour of Adams ; and in South Carolina, 
 the electors were chosen by the legislature. 
 On counting the electoral ballot, in joint 
 session of the two houses of congress, in 
 
 February, 1829, the result was declared to 
 ! be as follows : 
 
 ! Election for the Eleventh Term, commencing 4lh 
 March, 1829, and terminating 3rd March, 1833. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 V1CK-PRKSIDENT. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 John Q. Adams, of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 John C. Calhoun, of 
 South Carolina. 
 
 Richard Rush, of 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 William Smith, of 
 South Carolina. 
 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 28 
 
 O 
 
 24 
 15 
 11 
 9 
 14 
 11 
 16 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 
 8 
 8 
 15 
 4 
 
 8 
 7 
 16 
 8 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 28 
 
 5 
 24 
 15 
 11 
 2 
 14 
 11 
 16 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 15 
 4 
 8 
 7 
 16 
 8 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 New Hampshire . . 
 Massachusetts . . - 
 Ithode Island . . . 
 Connecticut .... 
 
 New York .... 
 New Jersey .... 
 Pennsylvania . . . 
 
 
 
 North Carolina . . . 
 South Carolina . . . 
 
 Kentucky .... 
 Tennessee .... 
 Ohio 
 
 
 Mississippi .... 
 Indiana ..... 
 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 178 
 
 83 
 
 171 
 
 83 
 
 7 
 
 Majority . . 131 
 
 The total electoral vote was 261 ; and 
 Jackson having received 178 of that num 
 ber, he was declared elected. On the 4th 
 i of March, 1829, General Andrew Jackson, 
 president elect, was formally inaugurated 
 at the Capitol ; on which occasion he de 
 livered an address, which declared his 
 opinions respecting the powers of the exe 
 cutive, the reserved rights of the states, 
 the delegated powers given to the federal 
 government, the finances of the nation, and 
 the industrial pursuits of the people. The 
 new president evidently felt considerable 
 animosity towards his political opponents; 
 and with a view of organising the adminis 
 trative functionaries of the government in 
 harmony with his own opinions, he adopted 
 the " removal system." During the pre 
 ceding presidential terms, embracing forty 
 years, there had been only seventy-four 
 removals from office ; but during the first 
 
 455 
 
ANTI-FREEMASONRY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1832. 
 
 year of Jackson s administration, over 500 
 dismissals from office took place for political 
 considerations. Adams had made but four 
 changes during his term of office; and, in 
 making them, he was not influenced by 
 political reasons : not so with Jackson, 
 however, who inaugurated a system of pro 
 scription that was believed to be, by the 
 conservative people, very injurious to the 
 general welfare of the nation. 
 
 In the early part of Jackson s adminis 
 tration, the tariff that had been enacted in 
 1828, was amended so as to satisfy the 
 woollen manufacturers of the country ; at 
 the same time, however, it was contrary to 
 the wishes of the southern representatives. 
 Propositions for the establishment of an 
 internal improvement system were fre 
 quently made in both branches of congress ; 
 but the executive refused his concurrence 
 to all of them. The most exciting measure 
 acted upon by the president had reference 
 to the national banks the removal of the 
 government deposits from those institutions 
 to the state banks, without the authority 
 of congress. The proceedings of the presi 
 dent were by many seriously condemned ; 
 but the partisans very soon placed them 
 selves either with the president or against 
 him, and their proceedings were not so 
 much marked for fairness as for passion. 
 After the inauguration of Jackson, the 
 executive department of the government 
 began to exercise powers that had been, 
 prior to that time, solely confined to con 
 gress ; and from that policy many agitating 
 political issues sprang into existence. The 
 party in opposition to Jackson was called 
 " National Republicans ;" and that favour- 
 ing the re-election of Jackson, was called 
 "Democratic." The former assembled in 
 convention at Baltimore, on the 12th of 
 December, 1831, and nominated Henry 
 Clay for the presidency, and John Sergeant 
 for vice-president. Jackson was renomi- 
 nated by general acclamation ; but Martin 
 Van Buren, the candidate for the vice- 
 presidency, was nominated by a convention. 
 Besides these candidates, the anti-Masons, 
 in 1831, nominated William Wirt for the 
 presidency, and Amos Ellmaker for the 
 vice-presidency. This new political party 
 came into existence in 1828, and rapidly 
 spread throughout the northern states. Its 
 object was to suppress Freemasonry by 
 political legislation j because, as was al 
 leged, the institution of Masonry was detri 
 mental to the government, and a hindrance 
 456 
 
 to the execution of the laws of the land. The 
 an ti- Masons, headed by Francis Granger, 
 William H. Seward, John Quincy Adams) 
 and others, alleged that a man named 
 Morgan had been murdered because he 
 revealed the mysteries of the institution, 
 and that those who perpetrated the deed 
 had been shielded from arrest by the Ma 
 sonic lodges. 
 
 The electors of the respective candidates 
 for the presidency and vice-presidency, were 
 thus formally presented for the suffrages of 
 the people ; and, at the election that took 
 place in the autumn of 1832, the Jackson 
 candidates received 687,502, against an 
 opposition vote of 530,189. In joint ses 
 sion of congress, in February, 1833, the 
 following was found to be the electoral 
 ballot : 
 
 Election for the Twelfth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1833, and terminating 3rd March, 1837. 
 
 STATES 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 TICK-PRESIDENT. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 * 
 
 53 
 
 c 
 
 b* 
 
 01 
 
 ?_ 
 
 T3 S 
 0\S 
 
 j? 
 > 
 
 William Wirt, of 
 Maryland. 
 
 M. Van Huren, of 
 New York. 
 
 John Serneant, of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 William \Vilkins, of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Henry Lee, of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 1 Amos Ellmaker, of 
 | Pennsylvania. 
 
 Maine 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island 
 Connecticut 
 Vermont . 
 New York 
 New Jersey 
 Pennsylvania 
 Delaware 
 Maryland 
 Virginia , 
 North Carolin 
 South Carolin 
 Georgia . 
 Kentucky 
 Tennessee 
 Ohio 
 Louisiana 
 Mississippi 
 Indiana . 
 Illinois . 
 Alabama . 
 Missouri . 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 42 
 8 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 49: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 23 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 21 
 4 
 5 
 9 
 5 
 7 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 is 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 189 
 
 49 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 Totals . 
 Majority 145 
 
 219 
 
 49 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren 
 received the majority vote of the electors ; 
 and being formally declared elected, the) -, 
 on the 4th of March succeeding, were 
 inaugurated. 
 
 The two most important events that 
 transpired during Jackson s first term, 
 were the Blackhawk war, and the nulli 
 fication of South Carolina ; and these we 
 shall respectively consider in the succeeding 
 chapter. 
 
A.D. 1824.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIAN DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BLACKUAWK WAR IN THE WEST ; SOUTH CAROLINA NULLIFICATION. 
 
 AFTER the termination of the Serainole war 
 in 1818, the Indian tribes had generally 
 remained in peace with the United States ; 
 though some of those living in the north 
 west were involved in hostilities among 
 themselves. In 1823, by direction of the 
 government, the United States agents ne 
 gotiated a treaty, at Prairie-du-Chieu, with 
 the Sioux, Chippewas, Menominies, Sacs, 
 Foxes, and the Winnebagoes, for the pur 
 pose of establishing their respective boun 
 daries, and insuring peace among the seve 
 ral tribes. The treaty stipulated that each 
 tribe should confine itself within certain 
 specified boundaries ; and that parties from 
 either tribe, visiting the United States 
 forts upon business, or for other purposes, 
 should be protected from insult or injury 
 by the Indians during such visit. As 
 might have been anticipated, however, 
 where so deadly an animosity existed 
 among some of the tribes, the treaty 
 proved of little avail in abating hostilities 
 between them. 
 
 During the summer of 1827, a party of 
 twenty-five Chippewas, while on a visit to 
 Fort Snelling, was surprised by a band of 
 Sioux, who killed and wounded eight of 
 them. The commandant at Fort Snelling 
 captured four of the latter, whom he de 
 livered into the hands of the Chippewas, 
 who immediately shot them, as they had 
 been directed by the commandant. A 
 Sioux chief, named Redbird, resented the 
 proceedings of the commandant at Fort 
 Snelling, and determined to retaliate upon 
 the Chippewas. He therefore, soon after, 
 led a party against them, but was defeated. 
 Being ridiculed for his want of success on 
 his return, he determined to revenge him 
 self upon the whites. On the 24th of July, 
 he, with a party of Indians (among whom 
 was said to be the since celebrated chief, 
 Blackhawk), repaired to Prairie-du-Chien, 
 where they killed two persons, and wounded 
 a third. On the 30th of July, six days 
 after, Redbird having increased his party, 
 waylaid two keel-boats returning from 
 Fort Suelling, whither they had been with 
 commissary stores. One of these, after a 
 contest of four hours, escaped with a loss of 
 
 two killed and four wounded ; and the 
 other, under cover of night, ran by, and 
 thus managed to escape with but little 
 injury. 
 
 In September, General Atkinson marched 
 into the Indian country, with a brigade of 
 regulars and militia, and made prisoners of 
 Redbird, his son, Blackhawk, and three 
 Winnebagoes, who were taken to Prairie- 
 du-Chien, and held for trial. On the 25th 
 of October, 1828, after upwards of a year s 
 imprisonment, during which Redbird had 
 died, the remaining five were tried for 
 murder, and two of them were convicted, 
 and sentenced to be hung on the 26th of 
 the following December : Blackhawk, and 
 the other two, one of which was Red- 
 bird s son, were acquitted. The detention 
 of the last three so long in prison, and 
 their subsequent acquittal of the crimes 
 charged against them, had the inevitable 
 effect with the Indians (who did not com 
 prehend the principle of law which re 
 quired that a man charged with crime, 
 should be tried and pronounced innocent 
 unless his guilt be clearly proved) of in 
 creasing the ill-feeling already existing 
 against the whites, whose settlements were 
 now in close proximity to, and whose state 
 and territorial governments actually in 
 cluded the territory occupied by, the In 
 dians. 
 
 It was the evil resulting from this con 
 tact of civilised and savage life, that 
 led Mr. Monroe, in his last annual mes 
 sage (December 7th, 1824), to suggest to 
 congress that some plan be adopted to 
 purchase the lands occupied by the In 
 dians, within the states and organised 
 territories, and to induce them to remove 
 to the western shore of the Mississippi. 
 
 " The condition of the aborigines within 
 our limits/ President Monroe remarked, 
 in the message alluded to, " and especially 
 those who are within the limits of any of 
 the states, merits particular attention. 
 Experience has shown, that unless the 
 tribes be civilised, they can never be incor 
 porated into our system, in any form what 
 ever. It has likewise shown, that in tho 
 regular augmentation of our population, 
 
 457 
 
REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1825. 
 
 with the extension of our settlements, their 
 situation will become deplorable if their 
 extinction be not menaced." He was of 
 opinion that some well-digested plan, which 
 would rescue them from such calamities, 
 was due to their rights, to the rights of 
 humanity, and to the honour of the nation. 
 Their civilisation was in dispensable to their 
 safety ; and that could be accomplished 
 only by degrees. The process should com 
 mence with the children, through whom 
 some effect might be wrought on the 
 parents. Difficulties of the most serious 
 character presented themselves to the at 
 tainment of that very desirable result, in 
 the territory in which they resided. To 
 remove them from it by force, even with a 
 view to their own security and happiness, 
 would have been revolting to humanity, 
 and utterly unjustifiable. Between the 
 limits of the then existing states and ter 
 ritories, and the Rocky Mountains and 
 Mexico, there was a vast country, in which 
 they might be located, with inducements 
 which might be successful. It was thought 
 that if that territory could be divided into 
 districts, by previous agreement with the 
 tribes residing there, and civil govern 
 ments be established in each, with schools 
 for every branch of instruction in litera 
 ture, and in the arts of civilised life, that 
 all the tribes, then within the limits of the 
 settled territories and the states, might 
 gradually be drawn there. 
 
 In a special message, sent to congress at 
 the same session, on the 27th of January, 
 1825, President Monroe more fully devel 
 oped the plan shadowed forth in his annual 
 message, and strongly depicted its advan 
 tages. To carry the plan into effect, trea 
 ties were made with the Osages and the 
 Kansas Indians, extinguishing their titles 
 to the territory west of the Mississippi, 
 with the exception of certain reservations 
 for their own use. By these treaties, a 
 tract of territory was provided for those 
 Indians who might be disposed to emigrate 
 from the states on the east side of the river. 
 Treaties of amity and protection were also 
 made with most of the tribes in that vast 
 tract between Missouri and Mexico, by 
 which the Indians permitted the United 
 States to lay out a road through their 
 lands, for the traders between those places, 
 who had become numerous, and entitled to 
 attention. 
 
 The system proposed by Mr. Monroe for 
 the preservation and civilisation of the 
 458 
 
 aborigines, proved difficult of accomplish 
 ment, on account of the reluctance of the 
 Indians to dispose of more of their terri 
 tory. A modification was therefore pro 
 posed by Mr. Barbour, secretary of war 
 under John Q. Adams, who had succeeded 
 Monroe as president of the United States, 
 and submitted by Mr. Adams to the 
 nineteenth congress. The outlines of Mr. 
 Barbour s plan were to set apart the terri 
 tory west of the Mississippi, beyond the 
 states and territories, and that east of the 
 Mississippi, lying west of the northern 
 lakes, for their exclusive abode, and under 
 a territorial government to be maintained 
 by the United States. Secondly, to induce 
 the Indians to remove as individuals, and 
 not in tribes ; and to leave those who could 
 not go, in their present circumstances, 
 subjected to the laws of the state where 
 they might be located. Thirdly, when 
 circumstances should justify it, to amalga 
 mate the tribes in one body, and distribute 
 their property among the individual In 
 dians. Common schools to be established 
 in the villages ; assistance to be afforded 
 them in commencing agricultural life ; to 
 furnish them with stock, grain, and fences ; 
 and to commute the annuities now paid to 
 them, for a fixed sum, to be divided as 
 individual property were recommended as 
 the details of the system. Some of the 
 features of this plan were adopted by con 
 gress, while others were set aside. The 
 appropriations made by the first session of 
 the nineteenth congress, to the Indian de 
 partment, for the civilisation of the abori 
 gines, and to fulfil the treaties made with 
 them, amounted to nearly one million of 
 dollars. The number of Indians in the 
 several states and territories, appeared, by 
 a report from the secretary of war, at the 
 beginning of the year, to be about 130,000 ; 
 of whom about 97,000 were east of the 
 Mississippi, and south of Michigan. 
 
 The policy adopted by the government, 
 of removing the Indians be3 r ond the white 
 settlements, was now steadily persevered 
 in, from year to year. Treaties, either 
 absolute or conditional, were made with all 
 the tribes in Ohio, extinguishing the whole 
 Indian title to reservations in that state ; 
 and the same measure was extended to 
 other reservations east of the Mississippi, 
 whenever there was reason to anticipate 
 success. 
 
 The wisdom and humanity of the scheme 
 adopted by the United States, of providing 
 
AD. 1830.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [JACKSON S THEORY. 
 
 the remnants of the aboriginal tribes a 
 permanent home beyond the Mississippi, 
 are clearly set forth, and ably vindicated, 
 in the following extracts from the annual 
 message of President Jackson to congress, 
 at the opening of the session, on the 7th of 
 December, 1830 : 
 
 " Humanity has often wept over the 
 fate of the aborigines of this country ; and 
 philanthropy has been long busily employed 
 in devising means to avert it. But its 
 progress has never for a moment been ar 
 rested ; and, one by one, have many 
 powerful tribes disappeared from the earth. 
 To follow to the tomb the last of his race, 
 and to tread on the graves of extinct 
 nations, excite melancholy reflections; but 
 true philanthropy reconciles the mind to 
 these vicissitudes, as it does to the ex 
 tinction of one generation, to make room 
 for another. In the monuments and for 
 tresses of an unknown people, spread over 
 the extensive regions of the west, we 
 behold the memorials of a once-powerful 
 race, which was exterminated, or has dis 
 appeared, to make room for the existing 
 savage tribes. Nor is there anything in 
 this, which, upon a comprehensive view 
 of the general interests of the human race, 
 is to be regretted. Philanthropy could 
 not wish to see this continent restored to 
 the condition in which it was found by 
 our forefathers. What good man would 
 prefer a country covered with forests, and 
 ranged by a few thousand savages, to our 
 extensive republic, studded with cities, 
 towns, and prosperous farms ; embellished 
 with all the improvements which art can 
 devise, or industry execute ; occupied by 
 more than twelve millions of happy people, 
 and filled with all the blessings of liberty, 
 civilisation, and religion." 
 
 The policy of the government was but 
 a continuation of the same progressive 
 change, with a milder process. The tribes 
 which occupied the countries then consti- j 
 tuting the eastern states, were annihilated, 
 or had been melted away, to make room 
 for the whites. The waves of population 
 and civilisation were rolling to the west 
 ward ; and it was then proposed to acquire 
 the countries occupied by the red men of 
 the south and west, by a fair exchange ; 
 and, at the expense of the United States, to 
 send them to a land where their existence 
 might be prolonged, and their race per- j 
 petuated. " Doubtless it will be painful to j 
 leave the graves of their fathers," said the ! 
 
 ! president ; " but what do they more than 
 our ancestors did, or than our children are 
 now doing ? To better their condition in 
 an unknown land, our forefathers left all 
 that was dear in earthly objects. Our 
 children, by thousands, yearly leave the lai d 
 of their birth, to seek new homes in distant 
 regions. Does humanity weep at these 
 painful separations from everything ani 
 mate and inanimate with which the young 
 heart has become entwined ? Far from it. 
 It is rather a source of joy that our country 
 affords scope, where our young population 
 may range, unconstrained in body or mind, 
 developing the power and faculty of man 
 in their highest perfection. These remove 
 hundreds, and almost thousands of miles, 
 at their own expense ; purchase the lands 
 they occupy, and support themselves at 
 their new homes, from the moment of their 
 arrival. Can it be cruel in this govern- " 
 merit, when, by events which it cannot 
 control, the Indian is made discontented in 
 his ancient home, to purchase his lands, to 
 give him a new and extensive territory, to 
 pay the expense of his removal, and support 
 him a year in his new abode? How many 
 thousands of our own people would gladly 
 embrace the opportunity of removing to 
 the west on such conditions ? If the offers 
 made to the Indians were extended to 
 them, they would be hailed with gratitude 
 and joy. 
 
 " Was it supposed that the wandering 
 savage had a stronger attachment to his 
 home, than the settled, civilised Christians ? 
 Was it more afflicting to him to leave the 
 graves of his fathers than it was for the 
 white children ? Rightly considered, the 
 policy of the general government towards 
 the red man was not only liberal, but 
 generous. He was unwilling to submit to 
 the laws of the states, and mingle with 
 their population. To save him from this 
 alternative, or, perhaps, utter annihilation, 
 the general government kindly offered him 
 a new home, and proposed to pay the whole 
 expense of his removal and settlement." 
 
 In the consummation of a policy origi 
 nating at an early period, and steadily 
 pursued by every administration within 
 the present century so just to the states, 
 and so generous to the Indians the execu 
 tive felt it had a right to expect the co 
 operation of congress, and of all good and 
 disinterested men. The states, moreover, 
 had a right to demand it. It was sub 
 stantially a part of the compact which 
 
 459 
 
DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1831. 
 
 made them members of the confederacy. 
 With Georgia there was an express 
 contract ; with the new states, an implicit 
 one, of equal obligation. " Why/ con 
 tinued the president, "in authorising Ohio, | 
 Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, and 
 Alabama, to form constitutions and become 
 separate states, did congress include within 
 their limits, extensive tracts of Indian lands, | 
 and, in some instances, powerful Indian 
 tribes ? Was it not understood by both 
 parties that the power of the states was to 
 be co-extensive with their limits ; and that, 
 with all convenient dispatch, the general 
 government should extinguish the Indian 
 title, and remove every obstruction to the 
 complete jurisdiction of the state govern 
 ment over the soil ? Probably not one of 
 those states would have expected a separate 
 existence certainly it would never have 
 been granted by congress had it been 
 understood that they were confined for 
 ever to those small portions of their nominal 
 territory, the Indian title to which had, at 
 the time, been extinguished." 
 
 " It was, therefore, a duty which the gov 
 ernment owed to the new states, to ex 
 tinguish, as soon as possible, the Indian 
 title to all lands which congress had agreed 
 to include within their limits. When 
 this was done, the duties of the general 
 government, in relation to the states and 
 Indians within their limits, were at an end. 
 The Indians might leave the state or not, 
 as they chose. The purchase of their lands 
 did not alter, in the least, their personal 
 relations with the state government. No 
 act of the general government had ever 
 been deemed necessary to give the states 
 jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians: 
 that they possessed, by virtue of the sov 
 ereign power within their own limits, in as 
 full a manner before, as after the purchase 
 of the Indian lands ; nor could the govern 
 ment add to, or diminish it. 
 
 The president expressed the hope, that 
 all good citizens would unite in attempting 
 to open the eyes of those children of the 
 forest to their true condition ; and, by a 
 speedy removal, to relieve them from the 
 evils, real or imaginary, with which they 
 might be supposed to be threatened. He 
 endeavoured to impress upon them his 
 own solemn convictions of the duties and 
 powers of the general government in rela 
 tion to the state authorities. For the 
 justice of the laws passed within the scope 
 of their reserved powers, the states were 
 4GO 
 
 not responsible to the federal government. 
 He was of opinion that, as an individual, 
 he might entertain and express his opinion 
 of their acts ; but that the general govern 
 ment had as little right to control them as 
 it had to prescribe laws to foreign nations. 
 On the 15th of July, 1830, a treaty was 
 negotiated with the Sacs and Fox es at 
 Prairie-du-Chien, by which they sold their 
 reservations to the United States, and agreed 
 to move beyond the Mississippi. Iveokuk, 
 or the " Watchful Fox," headed the party 
 of Sacs that made the treaty; but Black- 
 hawk took no part in it. The Sac village 
 was located on the point of land formed by 
 the junction of Rock River with the Missis 
 sippi. The tribe had here about 700 acres 
 of land under cultivation, extending some 
 two-and-a-half miles up the Mississippi. 
 According to the tradition of the Indians, 
 their village had been located there about 
 150 years. When Blackhawk learned that 
 their village, his birthplace, and adjacent 
 burying-grounds of his ancestors, had been 
 sold with the rest of their country, on the 
 east of the Mississippi, he was highly in 
 censed. A party of Sacs was now formed 
 against Keokuk, and Blackhawk became 
 their leader : they raised the standard of 
 opposition to the terms of the treaty, and 
 declared their determination not to leave 
 their native lands. 
 
 In the spring of 1831, it became evident 
 that the Sacs were determined to retain 
 possession of their villages at all hazards. 
 No alternative therefore remained but to 
 compel the Indians to leave by force. Ac 
 cordingly, General Gaiues,the military com 
 mander of the western department, pro 
 ceeded to the country in dispute, and, by his 
 prudent management, succeeded in settling 
 the difficulty for the time. In a letter, 
 dated " Rock Island, June 20, 1831," he says j 
 " I have visited the Rock river villages, 
 with a view to ascertain the localities, and, 
 as far as possible, the disposition of the In 
 dians. They confirm me in the opinion I 
 had previously formed, that, whatever may 
 be their feelings of hostility, they are re 
 solved to abstain from the use of their 
 tomahawks and fire-arms, except in self- 
 defence. But few of their warriors were to be 
 their women and children, and their 
 
 seen 
 
 old men, appeared anxious, and at first some 
 what confused, but none attempted to run off. 
 Having previously notified to their chiefs 
 that I would have nothing more to say to 
 them, unless they should desire to inform 
 
A.D. 1832.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BLACKHAWK DISSATISFIED. 
 
 me of their intention to move forthwith, as 
 I had directed them ; I did not speak to 
 them, though within fifty ) T ards of many of 
 them. I had with me, on board the steam 
 boat, some artillery and two companies of 
 infantry. Their village is immediately on 
 Rock River ; and so situated, that I could, 
 from the steam-boat, destroy all their bark- 
 houses (the only kind of houses they have) 
 in a few minutes, with the forces now with 
 me, probably without the loss of a man. 
 But I am resolved to abstain from firing a 
 shot without some bloodshed, or some mani 
 fest attempt to shed blood, on the part of 
 the Indians. I have already induced nearly 
 one-third of them to cross the Mississippi 
 to their own land. The residue, however, 
 say, as the friendly chiefs report, that they 
 never will move ; and, what is very uncom 
 mon, their women urge their hostile hus 
 bands to fight rather than to move, and 
 thus to abandon their homes." 
 
 Thus matters stood previous to the ar 
 rival of the Illinois militia, both parties 
 evidently wishing to avoid hostilities. On 
 the 7th of June, Blackhawk met General 
 Gaines in council, and told him he would 
 not remove. Several other tribes namely, 
 the Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies, and Kick- 
 apoos had been invited by the Sacs to join 
 with them ; but General Gaines was well 
 satisfied that they would have little or no 
 assistance from them. He, however, de 
 termined to await the arrival of the militia, 
 before proceeding to extreme measures. On 
 the 25th of June the militia arrived. Over 
 awed by the imposing force that now threat 
 ened them, the Indians made a virtue of 
 necessity, and crossed the Mississippi ; and, 
 on the following day (the 26th), the army 
 took possession of the Sac village without 
 even firing a gun. On the 27th, Black- 
 hawk displayed a white flag, and asked to 
 hold a council with General Gaines ; which 
 was granted by the latter, and resulted in 
 a treaty, which was signed by Blackhawk 
 and other chiefs, on the 30th of June, five 
 days after the retreat of the Indians across 
 the river. 
 
 This treaty was undoubtedly signed by 
 Blackhawk and his chief warriors in good 
 faith, but it had a brief existence. By the 
 
 The prophet, or Wabokieshiek (White Cloud), 
 was a Winnebago on one side, and a Sac on the 
 other. He was said to be the prime mover of 
 the war; and it was he who misled Blackhawk 
 with promised assistance from the neighbouring 
 tribes and from the British, as mentioned in the 
 text. He is said also to have made Blackhawk 
 VOL. II. ?> O 
 
 terms of the treaty, the Indians were to 
 have corn furnished them, in the place 
 of that left growing on the lauds they 
 had abandoned. But what they received 
 from the government was insufficient to 
 protect them from hunger. Consequently, 
 a party of Sacs crossed the Mississippi, as 
 Blackhawk expressed it, to " steal corn 
 from their own fields !" From this, new 
 difficulties arose, which ended in blood 
 shed. 
 
 The repeated intrusions of the Indians 
 into their old villages, raised an excite 
 ment among the settlers, and government 
 was called upon to protect them ; but no 
 movement was made by the latter till the 
 spring of 1832 ; when, about the 1st of 
 April, General Atkinson set out for the 
 Upper Mississippi, with the 6th regiment 
 of United States infantry. Hearing of his 
 approach, Blackhawk and his party aban 
 doned their camp on the Mississippi, near 
 the site of Fort Madison, and retreated up 
 Rock River. It was in this direction that 
 Blackhawk relied upon being reinforced by 
 . the Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, Chippe- 
 j was, and Kickapoos ; but in this he was dis- 
 I appointed, as these tribes, with a few in 
 dividual exceptions, declined to enter into 
 ; a contest which, they foresaw, must end in 
 the discomfiture of the Indians. Nor is it 
 probable that Blackhawk would have al 
 lowed his still unallayed irritation to have 
 drawn him again into a hostile attitude to 
 wards the United States, had it not been 
 for the assurance which had been held out 
 to him, that those tribes stood ready to 
 second him. He had also been informed, 
 that his British father, at Maiden, stood 
 ready to assist him, in case of a conflict 
 with the whites. This last assurance, it 
 is unnecessary to say, was totally without 
 foundation. 
 
 As Blackhawk and his party moved up 
 Rock River, he received several despatches 
 from General Atkinson, peremptorily or 
 dering him to leave the country, and retire 
 across the Mississippi. But Blackhawk 
 constantly refused compliance with the 
 orders ; alleging that he had been invited 
 to the prophet s village, on Rock River, to 
 spend the summer there, and raise corn.* 
 
 believe that the whites were few in number, and 
 could not fight, and that they might easily be 
 driven from the disputed lands. At the period of 
 which we are writing, the prophet was about forty 
 years of age, nearly six feet in height, stout and 
 athletic. He wore his hair long all over his head; 
 and his appearance was eccentric. Drnke. 
 
 461 
 
AMERICANS DEFEATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1832. 
 
 General Atkinson, not deeming it expe 
 dient to pursue Blackhawk and his band up 
 Rock River, encamped at Ogle s or Dixon s 
 ferry (now the town of Dixon, on that 
 river), in the county of Ogle, where General 
 Whitesides, with a considerable body of 
 mounted men, had already arrived. Learn 
 ing that a body of Indians were encamped 
 near Sycamore Creek, Major Stillman, with a 
 force of 270 men, was sent put to reconnoitre. 
 On their approach, Neapope who had en 
 camped there, and commanded the Indi 
 ans that belonged to Blackhawk s band 
 dispatched three young warriors, under a 
 white flag, to meet them, and invite them 
 to his camp. Major Stillman, however, 
 disregarding the flag of truce, took the 
 bearers of it prisoners. Five others hav 
 ing been sent after the first, to watch the 
 result, were discovered and fired on, two of 
 them being killed ; but the other three 
 escaped. The few that had fired on and 
 killed the two Indians, returned to the 
 main body of the reconnoitring party, which 
 was just making preparations to encamp 
 for the night; but, on learning that the 
 enemy was close at hand, they immedi 
 ately mounted their horses, and rushed 
 forward pell-mell. Neapope had not antici 
 pated any immediate hostile demonstra 
 tions, and had but about forty men with 
 him, the remainder of his party being out 
 on a hunting excursion. But when the 
 report was received that two of his men had 
 been shot, the war-whoop was sounded, and 
 preparations made to meet the anticipated 
 attack. 
 
 As the party under Major Stillman ap 
 proached Sycamore Creek, they proceeded 
 to cross it in the same disorderly manner 
 in which they came up to it, though the 
 country was admirably adapted for am 
 bushes. Seeing their enemy pass the creek, 
 man by man, as they reached it, the In 
 dians, feeling sure of the result, waited 
 until a sufficient number had crossed, when 
 they rushed furiously upon them. They 
 first fired at them, and then dropping 
 their guns, continued the attack with their 
 scalping- knives and tomahawks. Thus sud 
 denly and unexpectedly attacked, the situa 
 tion of the Americans became at once des 
 perate. A retreat was ordered by Major 
 Stillman, which proved a disorderly flight ; 
 but, fortunately, resulted in the loss of but 
 twelve men, whose bodies, with a single 
 exception, were afterwards found upon the 
 battle-field, and interred. "The dead that 
 462 
 
 were found," says a writer, who was present, 
 " were cut and mangled in a most shocking 
 and indecent manner : their hearts cut out, 
 
 ^ heads cut off, and every species of indig- 
 
 1 nity practised upon their persons. One 
 alone escaped this treatment : he was found 
 dead, with his head nearly cut off, era- 
 braced by the arms of an Indian who had 
 been shot through the body, but yet had 
 strength enough remaining to tomahawk 
 the man who had shot him, and partly to 
 cut off his head, dying in the very act 
 
 | his last convulsive struggle being an em 
 brace of his enemy even in death." The 
 Indian here referred to, and the two who 
 were shot, when sent out to watch the fate 
 of the flag of truce, were all that were 
 killed on that side in this engagement. 
 
 The defeat of the detachment under 
 Major Stillman, at Sycamore Creek, created 
 an intense excitement throughout the west 
 ern settlements. The forces under Black- 
 hawk were greatly exaggerated ; and Gov- 
 
 : ernor Reynolds, of Illinois, immediately 
 issued a proclamation, dated the loth of 
 May, the day subsequent to the affair re 
 corded above, calling for 2,000 volunteers 
 
 | to assemble at Hennepin now the capital 
 of Putnam count} , on the Illinois river by 
 the 10th of June, to subdue the hostile 
 Indians, and drive them from the state. 
 
 A large number of the Menominie and 
 Sioux tribes, having a deadly animosity 
 against the Sacs, availed themselves of this 
 opportunity to give it vent, by coming for 
 ward and volunteering their services to 
 fight for the whites. Their offer was at first 
 declined, but was subsequently reconsidered 
 and accepted ; and several hundreds of them 
 were soon dispatched, in various directions, 
 to protect the thinly-scattered settlements 
 from the attacks of the hostile savages. 
 The war having now commenced, they 
 seemed determined to carry it on according 
 to the Indian mode, and to do all the injury 
 in their power that their vindictive feel 
 ings could suggest. 
 
 General Atkinson, having learned through 
 one of the Indian scouts he had sent out for 
 the purpose, that Blackhawk was in the 
 neighbourhood of the Four Lakes, about 
 forty miles below Fort "VVinnebago, set out 
 in pursuit of him ; but when the army 
 reached the Four Lakes,, Blackhawk had 
 left; and so well did he manage his retreat, 
 that his pursuers were deceived as to the 
 direction he had taken. 
 
 Expecting to meet the enemy in so short 
 
A.D 1832] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIANS DEFEATED. 
 
 a time, General Atkinson, when he marched, i 
 hud taken with him but a small quantity of 
 provisions, and therefore he was obliged to 
 halt, and divide his forces at Lake Cosh- 
 nonong, one of the Four Lakes. He, 
 with 650 regulars, remained at the lake j 
 while the remainder, consisting of three 
 brigades of Illinois volunteers, under Gen 
 erals Posey, Dodge, and Henry, 2,000 in 
 number, were ordered to march to Fort 
 Winnebago, on the Wisconsin. There stores 
 were hourly expected ; on obtaining which, 
 it was the intention of the commander-in- 
 chief to immediately renew the pursuit. 
 
 Blackhawk, in the meantime, had divided 
 his forces into small parties, and sent them 
 in various directions, to murder, pillage, 
 and destroy. On the 20th of May, one of 
 these parties attacked a small settlement 
 on Indian Creek, about twenty-five miles 
 from Hennepin, killing fifteen, and making 
 captives of two ladies, respectively sixteen 
 and eighteen years old. They were kindly 
 treated, however, by their captors, and, 
 through the efforts of some friendly Win- 
 nebagoes, were subsequently ransomed. 
 About the same time, a travelling preacher, 
 of the sect called Tunkers, was murdered 
 by the savages on the road to Chicago.* 
 He was somewhat remarkable in personal 
 appearance, his beard being nearly a yard 
 in length; and for this reason, probably, 
 the Indians severed his head from his body, 
 and carried it off as a curiosity. On the 
 22nd of May, a party, sent by General At 
 kinson with despatches for Fort Armstrong, 
 was attacked by the Indians, and four of 
 them killed ; St. Vrain, an Indian agent, 
 being among the number: the latter had 
 rendered himself odious to the Sacs from 
 the part he took in their removal. They 
 were all scalped, and their scalps taken to 
 Blackhawk s camp. A man, named Smith, 
 was murdered near the Blue Mounds: 
 a mail contractor, named Winters, was 
 killed near Dixon s Ferry ; and the body of 
 another man found close by, was so dis 
 figured as not to be recognisable. On the 
 6th of June, a small settlement at the 
 mouth of Plum River, thirty miles from 
 Galena, was attacked, and the people, who 
 had all retreated to a block-house which 
 they had taken the precaution to erect, there 
 defended themselves. The Indians, after an 
 hour s labour to effect an entrance, aban 
 
 doned the attempt, and left. On the 14th of 
 June, five persons were killed near Galena. 
 
 The foregoing are but a few of the manv 
 outrages and murders committed by the 
 hostile savages ; and they are related 
 simply to give an idea of the character of 
 the warfare carried on by their implacable 
 foe, upon the white inhabitants of those 
 sparsely-settled regions. General Dodge, 
 being in the neighbourhood of the scene of 
 the last massacre above recorded, started, 
 with thirty mounted men, immediately in 
 pursuit. He had proceeded about three 
 miles only, when he discovered twelve 
 Indians, whom, from circumstances, he be 
 lieved to be the party he was in search of, 
 and he made chase to overtake them. The 
 Indians crossed East Picketoucha Creek, 
 and made for a swamp, in which they took 
 shelter. The whites dismounted ; and, 
 leaving a guard to watch the horses, rushed 
 in after the retreating savages. Coming 
 up with them, they commenced au indis 
 criminate slaughter of the entire party of 
 Indians, the latter making no resistance. 
 On the same day, a party, under Captain 
 Snyder, met and defeated a number of In- 
 dians near Kellog s Grove. Four Indians 
 and one white were killed. On their 
 return, the whites, running into an In 
 dian ambush, were attacked, and defeated, 
 saving themselves by flight, with the loss 
 of three men. On the 12th of June, Cap 
 tain Stephenson, with a small scouting- 
 party, encountered an Indian force under 
 Blackhawk, when a close and desperate 
 fight ensued, in which bayonets, toma 
 hawks, and knives were used. Finding 
 they were likely to get the worst of it, the 
 Americans soon retreated, with a loss of 
 only three of their number. 
 
 On the 24th of June, an attempt was 
 made to surprise the fort at Buffalo Grove, 
 on Rook River, just south of Oregon city. 
 It was garrisoned by 150 militia, who 
 being well prepared, a sharp contest en 
 sued, in which the Indians were de 
 feated; and retreating, left sixteen of their 
 number dead. A few of the militia were 
 wounded, but none killed. On the 25th of 
 June, a severe fight occurred between 
 thirty mounted men, under Major Dewent, 
 and a band of Indians, near Kellog s Grove. 
 Five of the whites, and nine Indians, two 
 of them being chiefs, were killed. 
 
 or Brethren. The 
 
 * The small body of Christians to which this known as German Baptists, 
 preacher belonged (numbering, ai the present time, designation of Tunker is a nickname, derived from 
 about 8,000 in the United States), are more properly j Tunken; in German, to sop, or dip a morsel in sauca. 
 
 4G3 
 
BLACKHAWK S RETREAT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1832. 
 
 General Scott was now ordered from the 
 seaboard, with nine companies of artillery, 
 and some cannon ; nine companies of infan 
 try were also ordered from the lakes ; and 
 two companies from Baton Rouge, Louisi 
 ana, to be employed in the Indian war. 
 The exigency of the case calling for the 
 utmost expedition, General Scott embarked 
 his troops on board of steamers at Buffalo. 
 The boats were crowded, and the season 
 was hot. The Asiatic cholera had made 
 its appearance at Canada; it was ex 
 tending along the valleys of the Sto Law 
 rence, Champlain, and Hudson; through 
 the states of New York and Michigan, and 
 along the valleys of the Ohio and Missis 
 sippi, following the great routes of travel, 
 both by land and water. This dreaded 
 disease now made its appearance among 
 the troops under Scott, while on board the 
 boats. The scenes of horror and distress 
 that ensued, both before and subsequent to 
 landing at Detroit, can scarcely be con 
 ceived, much Ies8 described. Several of 
 the companies were entirely broken up. 
 Of a corps numbering upwards of 200 
 men, under Colonel Twiggs, but nine were 
 left alive; the colonel himself having a 
 narrow escape from death. Many deserted 
 from dread of the disease, and perished in 
 the woods, either of cholera or starvation, 
 and their bodies were devoured by the 
 wolves. The labours, anxiety, and, we 
 may add, danger of General Scott during 
 this trying period, were far greater than 
 they would have bsen on the battle-field. 
 Finding that he would not be able to co 
 operate with General Atkinson, with the 
 remnant of his force, without endangering 
 the troops already in the field, he directed 
 the latter to act without reference to the 
 reinforcements he had attempted to bring 
 to his aid. 
 
 Blackhawk, when he left his encamp 
 ment near the Four Lakes, on the approach 
 of General Atkinson, instead of striking 
 across the country, direct for the Missis 
 sippi, had retreated to the Wisconsin river. 
 lie had been promised from the tribes in 
 this region, not only the reinforcements 
 already alluded to, but an ample supply o: 
 provisions. He was doomed, however, to 
 disappointment in both particulars. He 
 had, as we have seen, for several weeks 
 sustained his followers by a system of 
 rapine and plunder ; but there were, at 
 length, so many troops spread over the 
 country, that his predatory gangs found few 
 464) 
 
 opportunities to prey upon the frontier set 
 tlements. He had, therefore, determined to 
 descend the Wisconsin, and retreat to the 
 ther side of the Mississippi, when General 
 Dodge came upon his trail, and commenced 
 a vigorous pursuit. He came up with him 
 on the 21st of July, on the left bank of 
 the Wisconsin, forty miles from Fort Win- 
 nebago, and close against the old Sac village. 
 The Indians were just about to cross the 
 river as General Dodge came upon them, 
 when, after a short engagement, the 
 former retreated. The night being very 
 dark, the general found it impossible to 
 pursue them. Blackhawk s party lost about 
 forty in this engagement. 
 
 The condition of the Indians was now a 
 most pitiable one. In his pursuit of them 
 before the battle, General Dodge found 
 several of them lying dead on the road, 
 emaciated and absolutely starved to death. 
 At the time he overtook them, they num 
 bered about 300 men, besides the women 
 and children. For the want of boats, or 
 the means of constructing rafts, General 
 Dodge could not transport his troops to the 
 island to which the Indians retreated, until 
 two days after; and by this delay they 
 escaped. 
 
 General Atkinson, meanwhile, had fol 
 lowed in the trail of Dodge, and had ar 
 rived within two days march of him when 
 the fight took place. After receiving in 
 formation of the battle, he marched to the 
 Blue Mounds, on the Wisconsin, not far 
 from the locality of the battle. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken by General 
 Dodge, was the sister of Keokick, the wife 
 of a warrior named Biglake, who had been 
 killed in the fight. The general learned 
 from her what has already been stated that 
 Blackhawk intended to proceed to the west 
 side of the Mississippi, above Prairie- du- 
 Chien ; that those having good horses 
 should strike with him across the country, 
 while the remainder should proceed by the 
 Wisconsin : all to meet at a place of ren 
 dezvous, which was appointed on the other 
 side. 
 
 By General Dodge s direction, a cannon 
 was placed on the bank of the river, at a 
 suitable place below the battle-ground, to 
 intercept any who should attempt to escape 
 in that direction. As was expected, many 
 were thus checked and taken prisoners in 
 attempting to pass down the river. Some 
 ! of their boats were upset, and several of 
 them were drowned. Many of the children 
 
A.D. 1832.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PURSUIT OF BLACKHAWK, 
 
 of those taken prisoners, were so famished 
 for want of food as to be beyond recovery. 
 
 On the 23rd, General Dodge, with his 
 army, joined General Atkinson at the Blue 
 Mounds, and preparations were immediately 
 made to pursue the main body of the In 
 dians under Blackhawk, and overtake them, 
 if possible, before they could cross the Mis 
 sissippi. Blackhawk, however, had reached 
 that stream, opposite the mouth of the 
 Upper Iowa, .and was preparing to cross it, 
 on the 1st of August, when the steam-boat 
 Warrior, Captain Throcmorton, approached, 
 apparently with hostile intentions. Wish 
 ing, if possible, to avoid a fight, Blackhawk 
 displayed two white flags, and about 150 of 
 his men approached the river without arms, 
 and made signs of submission ; but whether, 
 as has been said, the interpreter on board 
 was so frightened that he could not convey 
 the meaning of those on shore to the cap 
 tain of the boat, or whether the latter did 
 not wish to understand them, he gave imme 
 diate orders to fire ; which was returned by 
 the Indians, but without effect. The en 
 gagement lasted about an hour, when it 
 was perceived that the fire- wood was nearly 
 exhausted ; and night coming on, the vessel 
 proceeded to Prairie-du-Chien. The In 
 dians, in this engagement, had twenty- 
 three men killed, and many wounded ; 
 while on board the boat, there was but one 
 wounded, and none killed. 
 
 This unfortunate interruption, as we shall 
 shortly see, prevented the escape of the 
 main body under Blackhawk, previous to 
 the arrival of the forces under General At 
 kinson. On the 28th and 29th of July, the 
 latter, with about 1,600 men, crossed over 
 to the northern bank of the Wisconsin, near 
 St. Helena, which lies on the southern bank. 
 They took up a line of march in a northerly 
 direction, in order to intercept the Indian 
 trail, which was discovered at a distance 
 of about five miles from the Wisconsin, 
 leading in a direction north of west, to 
 wards the Mississippi, and supposed to be 
 about four days old. Seeing the direction 
 the Indians had taken, General Atkinson 
 felt assured that it would only be by the 
 exercise of the utmost diligence and ex 
 pedition that he could possibly over 
 take them before they crossed the Missis 
 sippi. Therefore, leaving behind him all 
 his baggage- waggons, and everything else 
 that could be dispensed with, which would 
 tend to retard the pursuit, he commenced a 
 forced march. The country through which 
 
 }he Indian trail led them, between the 
 Wisconsin bluffs and the Kickapoo river, 
 was one continued series of hills and val- 
 .eys. No sooner had they reached the sum 
 mit of one high and almost perpendicular 
 nill, than they had to descend on the other 
 side, equally steep, to the base of another. 
 Nothing but a deep ravine, with muddy 
 banks, separated these hills. The woods, 
 both upon their tops and in the courses of 
 the deepest hollows, were of the heaviest 
 growth. The underbrush was chiefly thorn 
 and prickly post-oak. Notwithstanding the 
 arduous labour of the pursuit, as may be 
 inferred from this brief description of the 
 difficulties of the route, the American army 
 gained on the Indians daily, as was evident 
 from the encampments of the latter. Whilst 
 the Indian signs appeared more recent, both 
 officers and men became more anxious to 
 push on. On the evening of the 1st of 
 August, the fourth night of their march from 
 St. Helena, at an encampment of the enemy, 
 an old Sac was discovered, who furnished 
 the information that the main body of 
 Blackhawk s forces had that morning gone 
 to the Mississippi, now only ten miles dis 
 tant, and intended to cross that evening, or 
 the next morning, August 2nd, The men 
 being well-nigh exhausted from fatigue, and 
 the horses nearly broken down, General 
 Atkinson ordered a halt for a few hours, 
 with a determination to start at two o clock 
 the next morning, for the Mississippi. 
 
 The bugles were sounded precisely at 
 the hour, and, in a brief space of time, all 
 were ready to move forward. The squadron 
 under General Dodge was placed in front ; 
 the infantry followed next; the brigades 
 of Generals Henry and Alexander fol 
 lowed successively; and General Posey s 
 brigade formed the rear-guard. Twenty 
 volunteer spies went ahead of the whole 
 force. 
 
 In this order the army moved forward. 
 They had proceeded about five miles, when 
 one of the spies returned with the in 
 formation that they had come in sight of 
 the enemy s picket guard. The intelli 
 gence was quickly conveyed to the com 
 manders of all the divisions of the army, 
 and the celerity of their movement was at 
 once increased. The firing now almost 
 immediately commenced about 500 paces 
 ahead of the front of the army, between 
 the Indian picket guard and the American 
 spies. The Indian pickets were driven 
 from hill to hill, keeping up a brisk fire 
 
 405 
 
A BATTLE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1832. 
 
 from every position commanding the ground 
 over which the spies had to march ; but 
 being charged upon by the latter, and 
 routed from their hiding-places, they sought 
 safety by retreating to the main body, 
 which was drawn up on the bank of the 
 Mississippi river, apparently determined on 
 making a last desperate effort to defend 
 themselves where they stood, or perish in 
 the attempt. 
 
 General Atkinson, to prevent the escape 
 of any by retreating up or down the river, 
 ordered Generals Alexander and Posey to 
 form the right wing of the army, and 
 march to the river above the Indian en 
 campment on the bank, and then move 
 down. General Henry formed the left 
 wing, and marched in the main trail of the 
 enemy. The United States infantry, and 
 General Dodge s squadron, marched in the 
 centre. In this order the whole force de 
 scended the almost perpendicular bluff, and 
 came into a low valley, heavily timbered 
 with a large growth of underbrush, weeds, 
 and grass. Sloughs, deep ravines, old 
 logs, and bayous, afforded ample facilities 
 to the Indians to make a strong defence. 
 The enemy was first encountered by Gen 
 eral Henry, who opened a heavy fire 
 upon them, which was at once returned. 
 Being routed from their first hiding-places, 
 the Indians sought others. The United 
 States troops, and General Dodge s squad 
 ron, soon came into action, and, with Gen 
 eral Henry s brigade, rushed into the strong 
 defiles of the enemy, and slaughtered all 
 they met, except a few who saved them 
 selves by swimming a slough of the Missis 
 sippi, one hundred yards wide. Meanwhile, 
 the brigades of Generals Alexander and 
 Posey were marching down the river, when 
 they fell in with another portion of the 
 enemy, and killed and routed all that op- 
 
 * The following distressing incident, which is 
 eaid to have occurred at the battle of the 2nd of 
 August, so strikingly illustrates the horrors of war, 
 and, perhaps we might add, the characteristic 
 stoicism of the savage, exhibited even in a child, 
 that we give it a place. We find it in Drake s 
 Book of the Indians. " When the American troops 
 charged the enemy in their defiles, near the banks 
 of the Mississippi, men, women, and children were 
 seen mixed together, in such a manner as to render 
 it difficult to kill one and save the other. A young 
 squaw stood in the grass, at a short distance frorr 
 the American line, holding her little girl, about 
 four years old, in her arms. While thus standing 
 apparently unconcerned, a ball struck the righl 
 arm of the child, above the elbow, and, shattering 
 the bone, passed into the breast of its poor mother, 
 who instantly fell dead to the ground. She fel 
 4(J6 
 
 Dosed them. The engagement continued 
 or about three hours; at the end of 
 which the Indians were totally routed, and 
 many killed or captured. Blackhawk suc 
 ceeded in escaping, leaving his valuables, 
 certificates of character, and other papers, 
 upon the battle-ground. The loss of the 
 [ndians, in killed and wounded, is supposed 
 to have been nearly 200. About fifty of 
 iheir women and children were taken pris 
 oners, and several were accidentally shot.* 
 The loss on the side of the Americans, in 
 tilled and wounded, was twenty-seven. 
 
 This successful action terminated the 
 war. General Atkinson immediately di- 
 ected Keokuk to send out some of his In 
 dians to demand a surrender of all the war- 
 iors who had escaped ; and, if possible, to 
 capture Blackhawk, dead or alive. Many 
 prisoners were brought in by them. A 
 Darty of Sioux also went out in search of 
 ;he fleeing Sacs; and coming up with some of 
 ,hem on the western side of the Mississippi, 
 indiscriminately murdered about 120 of 
 ;he miserable, half-starved wretches, who 
 tiad thought themselves safe when they had 
 put that broad stream between them and 
 their white enemies. 
 
 Blackhawk himself, soon after, feeling 
 that all hope was gone, together with Wa- 
 bokieshick, the prophet, accompanied two 
 friendly Winnebagoes, who had been sent 
 out after them, voluntarily to the United 
 States agent at Prairie-du-Chien, on the 
 27th of August, and surrendered them 
 selves. The following is said to be the 
 speech made by Blackhawk on this occa 
 sion : " You have taken me prisoner, with 
 all my warriors. I am much grieved ; for 
 I expected, if I did not defeat you, to hold 
 out much longer, and give you more trouble 
 before I surrendered. I tried hard to bring 
 you into ambush ; but your last general 
 
 upon the child, and confined it to the ground also. 
 During the whole battle, this babe was heard to 
 groan and call for relief; hut none had time to 
 afford it. When, however, the Indians had re 
 treated from that spot, and the battle had nearly 
 subsided, Lieutenant Anderson, of the United 
 States army, went to the place, and took from under 
 the dead mother her wounded daughter, and 
 brought it to a place selected for surgical aid. It 
 soon was ascertained that its arm must be taken 
 off, and the operation was performed upon the little 
 sufferer without drawing from it a tear or a shriek." 
 When it is added that this child was sucking a 
 piece of dry biscuit during the whole time of the 
 amputation, we cannot but doubt the whole story. 
 But in the famished state of Blackhawk s followers 
 at this time, the pangs of hunger may have cut 
 deeper than the surgeon s knife. 
 
A.D. 1833.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SPEECH OF BLACKHAWK. 
 
 understands Indian fighting. The first one 
 was not so wise. When I saw that I could 
 not beat you by Indian fighting, I deter 
 mined to rush on you, and fight you face to 
 lace. I fought hard ; but your guns were 
 well-aimed. The bullets flew like birds in 
 the air, and whizzed by our ears like the 
 wind through the trees in the winter. My 
 warriors fell around me. It began to look 
 dismal. I saw my evil day at hand. The 
 sun rose dimly on us in the morning ; and 
 at night it sunk in a dark cloud, and looked 
 like a ball of fire. That was the last sun 
 that shone on Blackhawk. His heart is 
 dead, and no longer beats quick in his 
 bosom. He is now a prisoner to the white 
 men. They will do with him as they wish. < 
 But he can stand torture, and is not afraid 
 of death. He is no coward. Blackhawk is 
 an Indian. * * * "\y e looked up to the ; 
 Great Spirit. We went to our great father. 
 We were encouraged. His great council 
 gave us fair words and big promises ; but 
 we got no satisfaction. Things were grow- ; 
 ing worse. There were no deer in the 
 forest. The opossum and beaver were fled ; 
 the springs were drying up, and our squaws 
 and papooses without victuals to keep them 
 from starving. We called a great council, 
 and built a large fire. The spirit of our 
 fathers arose, and spoke to us to avenge our 
 wrongs or die. We all spoke before the 
 council- fire. It was warm and pleasant. 
 We set up the war-whoop, and dug up the 
 tomahawk. Our knives were ready, and 
 the heart of Blackhawk swelled high in his 
 bosom when he led his warriors to battle 
 He is satisfied. He will go to the world of 
 spirits contented. He has done his duty. 
 His father will meet him there and com 
 mend him. Blackbawk is a true Indian, 
 and disdains to cry like a woman. He 
 feels for his wife, his children, and friends ; 
 but he does not care for himself. He cares 
 for his nation and the Indians. They will 
 suffer. He laments their fate. The white ; 
 men do not scalp the head ; but they do 
 worse they poison the heart; it is not; 
 pure with them. His countrymen will not 
 be scalped, but they will, in a few years, 
 become like the white men, so that you 
 cannot trust them ; and there must be, as in ! 
 the white settlements, nearly as many ofii- ; 
 cers as men, to take care of them, and keep 
 them in order. Farewell, my nation ! 
 Blackhawk tried to save you, and avenge 
 your wrongs. He drank the blood of some 
 of the whites. He has been taken prisoner, 
 
 and his plans are stopped. He can do no 
 more. He is near his end. His sun is 
 setting, and will rise no more. Farewell 
 to Blackhawk !" 
 
 A treaty was made by the United States, 
 in September, with the Winnebagoes, and 
 another with the Sacs and Foxes. The 
 Winnebagoes ceded all their lands east of 
 the Mississippi and south of the Wisconsin, 
 being upwards of 7,000 square miles of 
 valuable lands. The treaty with the Sacs 
 and Foxes was concluded on the 21st of 
 September, at Jefferson barracks, a few 
 miles below St. Louis, whither Blackhawk 
 and the other captive warriors had been 
 taken, on the 7th of that month. They 
 ceded 9/100 square miles of land, west of 
 the Mississippi, said to be inferior in quality 
 to none between the same parallels of lati 
 tude, and abounding in lead ore. 
 
 The following were the considerations 
 the United States agreed to make for these 
 lands : To pay an annuity of 20,000 dollars 
 for thirty years : to support a blacksmith 
 and gunsmith, in addition to those then 
 employed ; to pay the debts of the tribes ; 
 to supply provisions ; and, as a reward for 
 the fidelity of Keokuk and the friendly 
 band, to allow a reservation to be made for 
 them of forty miles square, on the Iowa 
 river, to include Keokuk s principal village. 
 
 By the same treaty, Blackhawk, his two 
 sons, the prophet, Neapope, and five others, 
 principal warriors of the hostile bands, 
 were to remain in the hands of the whites, 
 as hostages, during the pleasure of the pre 
 sident of the United States. The other 
 prisoners were given up to the friendly 
 Indians. 
 
 Blackhawk, and the other warriors, held 
 as hostages, were retained at Jefferson bar 
 racks till the following April, when they 
 were taken to Washington city. On the 
 23rd of that month, Blackhawk, and the 
 other captured chiefs, had an interview 
 with the president of the United States, 
 Andrew Jackson, who told them that they 
 must be taken to Fort Monroe, and re 
 main there contented, until he gave them 
 permission to return to their own country. 
 As to time, he told them, that depended 
 upon the conduct of their people ; that they 
 would not be set at liberty until all the 
 articles of the treaty had been complied 
 with, and good feelings were evinced by 
 their countrymen. He assured them they 
 need not feel any uneasiness about their 
 own women and children. They should 
 
 4G7 
 
BLACKHAWK S CAPTIVITY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.T). 1833. 
 
 not suffer from the Sioux and Menomiuies. 
 He would compel the red men to be at 
 peace with one another ; and that, when he 
 was satisfied that all things would remain 
 quiet, they would be permitted to return 
 to their people. He then took each by the 
 hand, and dismissed them. 
 
 On the 26th of April, the captives were 
 taken to Fort Monroe, which is located 
 on a point of land at the entrance of Hamp 
 ton Roads into Chesapeake Bay, and near 
 the opening of the latter into the Atlantic. 
 At this place, the captives found themselves 
 comfortably and elegantly provided for. In 
 stead of balls and chains to their ankles, 
 which they had been compelled to wear at 
 Jefferson barracks,* they were left entirely 
 at liberty within the fortress, were kindly 
 treated, and saw none but friends around 
 them. The period of their confinement 
 here, however, was brief. On the 4th of 
 June, an order came for their release, and 
 the next day they left the fortress, in charge 
 of Major John Garland, of the army, in a 
 steam-boat, for Baltimore. Before pro 
 ceeding to that city, however, they were 
 taken to Portsmouth and Gfosport, to see 
 the navy^ard, the dry dock, and the men- 
 of-war. At the latter place, they were 
 taken on board the 74-gun ship, the Dela 
 ware, where they were astonished at the 
 immense dimensions of the " big canoe/ as 
 they termed it, and its extraordinary, un 
 couth furniture and rigging. As they left 
 the ship, they passed around under her bow, 
 which was adorned with a colossal statue of 
 an Indian warrior. They looked upon it 
 with emotions of surprise, but were evi 
 dently gratified at the compliment paid to 
 them in the selection of one of their race as 
 a figure-head to the immense vessel. At 
 Baltimore, the Indians met President Jack 
 son, who had just started on a tour to the 
 New England states, and divided with the 
 president the attention of the people. When 
 they met in Baltimore, President Jackson 
 said to Blackhawk " When I saw you in 
 Washington, I told you that you had be 
 haved very badly in raising the tomahawk 
 against the white people. I told you I would 
 inquire whether your people wished you 
 should return ; and whether, if you did re- 
 
 * When Mr. Catlin, the artist and Indian histo 
 rian, visited Jefferson barracks, to obtain portraits 
 of the captive warriors, as he was about to take 
 the likeness of Neapope, brother to the prophet, 
 the chief seized the ball and chain that was fastened 
 to his ankle, and raising them on high, exclaimed, 
 with a look <<f scorn, " Make me so, and show me 
 4G8 
 
 turn, there would be any danger to the 
 frontier. General Clark and General At 
 kinson, whom you know, have informed me 
 that Keokuk, your principal chief, and the 
 rest of your people, are anxious you should 
 return ; and Keokuk has asked me to send 
 you back. Your chiefs have pledged them 
 selves for your good conduct. You will see 
 the strength of the white people. You will 
 see that our young men are as numerous as 
 the leaves in the woods. What can you do 
 against us ? When you go back, listen to 
 the counsels of Keokuk and the other 
 friendly chiefs." 
 
 The design, as intimated by the presi 
 dent, in sending them through the country, 
 and especially its principal cities, show 
 ing them the navy-yards, fortifications, 
 means and munitions of war, was to impress 
 upon them a more correct idea than they 
 seem previously to have had, of the extent 
 and power of the United States, and of the 
 folly of their ever again attempting hostili 
 ties against them. To the remarks of the 
 president, above given, the old chief re 
 plied " Father, my ears are open to your 
 words ; I am glad to hear them ; I am glad 
 to go back to my people. I want to see my 
 family. I did not behave well last summer. 
 I ought not to have taken up the toma 
 hawk. But my people have suffered a great 
 deal. When I get back I will remember 
 your words. I will not go to war again. 
 I will live in peace. I will hold you by the 
 hand." 
 
 From Baltimore the Indians went to 
 Philadelphia ; whence, after visiting various 
 places of interest, they left for New York, 
 where they arrived just as the ascent of a 
 balloon took place at the Castle Garden. 
 As it rose gracefully in the air, the Indians 
 gazed upon it with mingled astonishment 
 and admiration ; and, as the aeronaut un 
 furled his flag, and waved it over the side 
 of his car, Blackhawk remarked " That 
 man is a great brave. I don t think he 
 will ever get back. He must be a Sac." 
 Another of the chiefs replied " If he is a 
 Sac he ll get none of his brothers to follow 
 in his trail. None of them will ever see 
 the smoke of his wigwam. He will have 
 to live alone without any squaw/ 
 to the great father" meaning the president of the 
 United States. On Mr. Catlin s declining to paint 
 \ him as he desired, he commenced distorting his 
 countenance with grimaces, continually varying 
 the expression, to prevent the artist from catch 
 ing a likeness. The Indian abhors the use of 
 chains, but prides himself in respecting his parole. 
 
A.D. 1832.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NULLIFICATION. 
 
 The Indians remained a few days in New 
 York, and were then conducted to their 
 homes in the far west, through Albany, 
 Buffalo, and Chicago. 
 
 The congress of 1831- 2 enacted a tariff, 
 which was calculated to produce a con 
 siderable reduction of the revenue, and, at 
 the same time, effectually establish the pro 
 tective system. In a few months after 
 the enactment of this new law, the " free 
 traders" of South Carolina arrayed them 
 selves with a determination that it should 
 not be enforced. The friends of the mea 
 sure, in congress, intended to adjust the 
 duties on imports, so as to conform to the 
 Union sentiments of the southern people ; 
 but in their laudable efforts they signally 
 failed. The tariff of 1828 was obnoxious 
 to the people of South Carolina ; and the 
 amendment of 1829 did not lessen their 
 determination to oppose the protective 
 policy. The act of 1832, instead of being 
 considered a mollification of the preceding 
 statutes, was construed by the people of 
 that state as intentionally offensive. The 
 excitement rapidly spread throughout the 
 state, and secession was advocated by some 
 of the ablest men. In order to obtain im 
 mediate relief, the legislature was called 
 together by a proclamation of the governor. 
 It had been in session but a few days before 
 it authorised the convening of a convention 
 of the people of the state, by a vote in the 
 senate, of 30 against 13 ; and, in the house 
 of representatives, by a vote of 96 to 26. 
 The convention assembled on the second 
 Monday in November, 1832, and passed an 
 ordinance, declaring 
 
 " That the several acts and parts of acts of the 
 congress of the United States, purporting to be laws 
 for the imposing of duties and imposts on the im 
 portation of foreign commodities, and now being in 
 actual operation and effect within the United States, 
 * * * are unauthorised by the constitution of the 
 United States, and violate the true meaning and 
 intent thereof, and are null and void, and no law, 
 nor binding on the citizens of the state of South 
 Carolina." 
 
 The said ordinance declared it to be un 
 lawful for any of the constituted authorities 
 of the state, or of the United States, to 
 enforce the payment of the duties imposed 
 by the said acts within the state of South 
 Carolina; and that it was the duty of the 
 legislature to pass such laws as would be 
 necessary to give full effect to the said 
 ordinance. It further ordained 
 
 "That no case of law or equity shall be de 
 cided in the courts of said state, wherein shall be 
 VOL. II. 3 P 
 
 drawn in question the validity of the said ordinance, 
 or of the acts of the legislature that may be passed 
 to give it effect." 
 
 No appeal was to be permitted to the 
 Supreme Court of the United States ; and 
 if any person should attempt to appeal to 
 the said tribunal, he was to be punished. 
 It further declared 
 
 " That the people of South Carolina will maintain 
 the said ordinance at every hazard j and that they 
 will consider the passage of any act by congress, 
 abolishing or closing the ports of the said state, or 
 otherwise obstructing the free ingress or egress of 
 vessels to and from the said ports, or any other act 
 of the federal government to coerce the state, shut 
 up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or to 
 enforce the said acts otherwise than through the 
 civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with 
 the longer continuance of South Carolina in the 
 Union; and that the people of the said state will 
 thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all fur 
 ther obligation to maintain or preserve their political 
 connection with the people of the other states, and 
 will forthwith proceed to organise a separate govern 
 ment, and do all other acts and things which sove 
 reign and independent states may of right do." 
 
 This ordinance passed the convention by 
 a vote of 136 against 26. The legislature 
 again met on the 24th of November, and 
 passed the necessary laws to carry out the 
 plan for the new government. The people 
 of South Carolina were energetic ; deter 
 mined to maintain their doctrine of state 
 rights; and to secede from the Union 
 whenever the administration of the general 
 government was oppressive, and in violation 
 of the constitution, as interpreted by the 
 state the only power that could decide 
 upon the question. In December congress 
 met ; and, on the 4th, the president trans 
 mitted his annual message to that body ; in 
 which he stated, that, " in one quarter of 
 the United States, opposition to the revenue 
 laws" had arisen ; but that he hoped the 
 difficulties would be peaceably overcome. 
 The state of South Carolina proceeded to 
 prepare for war, by the increase of its 
 military forces, and the necessary munitions. 
 At the same time, however, there were 
 many people opposed to the nullification, 
 and they were energetic for the Union. 
 The proceedings of the state authorities 
 were popular among politicians, but not 
 with the yeomanry. There was a Union 
 sentiment among the patriots of the state; 
 but it was well that the president did not 
 attempt coercion. On the 10th of De 
 cember, 1832, he issued a proclamation to 
 the people of South Carolina, and argued 
 against the constitutionality of secession or 
 nullification. He contended that the Union 
 
 469 
 
PACIFICATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1833. 
 
 was perpetual, and that it was not possible 
 for any state to secede from the national 
 government. He kindly urged the people 
 of South Carolina to ponder well over what 
 they were doing, and not to incur the con 
 sequences of carrying out their schemes of 
 secession. He stated, that it was his 
 duty 
 
 "To warn the citizens of South Carolina, who 
 have been deluded into an opposition to the laws, 
 of the danger they will incur by obedience to 
 the illegal and disorganising ordinance of the con 
 vention ; to exhort those who have refused to sup 
 port it, to persevere in their determination to uphold 
 the constitution and the laws of their country ; and 
 to point out to all, the perilous situation into which 
 the good people of that state have been led ; and 
 that the course they are urged to pursue, is one of 
 ruin and disgrace to the very state whose right they 
 affect to support." 
 
 On the 16th of December, the president 
 transmitted to congress a message upon the 
 nullification of South Carolina, and urged 
 the enactment of such laws as might be 
 necessary to enable him to maintain the 
 Union. Upon the message being read in 
 the senate, Mr. Calhoun, senator from South 
 Carolina, repelled the statements made by 
 the president. He asserted that the state 
 authorities had looked only to the judiciary 
 tribunals to effect their protection from the 
 oppressive tariff laws, until the collection 
 of United States troops within its territory; 
 and that then they were compelled to make 
 provision to defend themselves. The judi 
 ciary committee of the senate, to whom the 
 message was referred, reported a bill, vest 
 ing full and complete power in the president 
 to carry into effect the revenue laws of the 
 United States, and to employ the army and 
 navy, if he deemed it necessary. 
 
 In the meantime the legislatures of the 
 respective states were convened, and the nul 
 lification of South Carolina was considered 
 by each of them. Massachusetts, Connec 
 ticut, New York, Delaware, Tennessee, In 
 diana, and Missouri, disclaimed the doc 
 trine of nullification. North Carolina and 
 Alabama opposed it, but passed resolutions 
 declaring the tariff unconstitutional and 
 inexpedient. Georgia, by a vote of 102 to 
 51 in the house, considered nullification 
 unconstitutional, and, by a more decisive 
 vote, denounced the tariff. This state pro 
 posed a convention of the states of Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, to 
 
 devise measures to obtain relief from the 
 tariff. Virginia held to the state-rights 
 doctrine, but requested South Carolina to 
 desist in its course ; and a commissioner 
 was sent to that state to urge a reconcili 
 ation between the state and the general 
 government. New Hampshire decided in 
 favour of a modification of the tariff. Mas 
 sachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New 
 Jersey, and Pennsylvania were opposed to 
 making any alteration of the law. Other 
 states passed resolutions in favour of a 
 modification, and against nullification. 
 
 While the different state legislatures 
 were thus expressing opinions upon the 
 tariff, congress was engaged in the con 
 sideration of bills proposing a reduction, 
 so as not only to restore peace in South 
 Carolina, but to conform to the popular 
 opinion entertained in the different states. 
 Mr. Clay, senator from Kentucky, intro 
 duced a bill " to preserve the protective 
 tariff for a length of time, and to restore 
 good feeling and tranquillity among the 
 people." Mr. Calhoun was in favour of the 
 bill. It passed in the senate : ayes, 29 ; 
 noes, 16. In the house : ayes, 119; noes, 
 85. It was signed by the president, and 
 became a law on the 2nd of March, 1833. 
 The leading provisions were as follow : 
 A periodical annual reduction of one- tenth 
 of the duties for seven years ; after which, 
 all the remaining duty above twenty per 
 centum on the value, should be equally 
 divided into two parts ; one part to be 
 struck off at the end of one year thereafter, 
 and the other half at the end of another 
 year ; so that, at the end ot nine years, all 
 duties should be reduced to twenty per 
 centum on the value, with a list of free 
 articles, and no more revenue to be raised 
 than was necessary for the economical sup 
 port of the government ; and the act was 
 to be permanent. The passing of this com 
 promise bill restored peace to the country. 
 The convention of South Carolina was then 
 called together by the governor. It met 
 on the llth of March, and declared the 
 compromise tariff as satisfactory : it then 
 repealed the ordinance nullifying the United 
 States revenue laws, and annulled the en 
 forcing laws. Thus ended the contest. 
 The state-rights men claimed a victory ; 
 but, on the other hand, the opponents con 
 sidered that they had purchased a peace 
 without the sacrifice of principle. 
 
 470 
 
A.D. 1824.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SEMINOLE TREATY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SECOND SEMINOLE, OR FLORIDA WAR -1835 TO 1843. 
 
 ON the 18th of September, 1823, or soon 
 after the cession of the Floridas to the 
 United States, a treaty was made at Camp 
 Moultrie located five miles south of St. 
 Augustine, on Moultrie Creek by James 
 Gadsden, William P. Duval, at that time 
 governor of Florida territory, and ex qfficio 
 superintendent of Indian affairs, and Ber 
 nard Segui, commissioners, on the part of 
 the United States, and certain chiefs and 
 warriors of the Florida tribes of Indians ; 
 by which the latter agreed to relinquish the 
 greater portion of their lands in the terri 
 tory, and remove to a portion of the penin 
 sula, of about five millions of acres, reserved 
 for their future residence, within specified 
 limits ; the extreme point of which was not 
 to be within twenty miles of the Atlantic, 
 or fifteen of the Gulf coast. For any losses 
 to which they might be subjected, the 
 United States agreed to make ample com 
 pensation. They also agreed to provide 
 them implements of husbandry, and schools, 
 and to pay them an annuity of 5,000 dol 
 lars for twenty years. The treaty also stipu 
 lated that the Indians should prevent 
 absconding slaves from taking refuge among 
 them ; and they were to use all proper exer 
 tions to apprehend and deliver the same to 
 their proper owners. 
 
 The number of Indians at this time in 
 the territory was nearly 4,000 ; and their 
 villages were scattered over the country, 
 from the neighbourhood of St. Augustine 
 to the Appalachicola river. They consisted 
 generally of log and palmetto huts, sur 
 rounded by cleared fields of from two to 
 twenty acres of land. The earnest solici 
 tations of parties seeking homes in the 
 newly-acquired territory, led the govern 
 ment to take measures, which resulted suc 
 cessfully in the negotiation of the above- 
 named treaty. It was ratified by the senate 
 of the United States, on the 2nd of Januar v 
 1824. 
 
 Neamathla, and five others of the princi 
 pal chiefs, for some time held out, and obsti 
 nately refused to negotiate ; but they finally 
 yielded and signed the treaty not, how 
 ever, until an additional article was added 
 
 to it, by which they and their followers, 
 about 200 in number, were permitted to 
 remain in their old towns, and still partici 
 pate, with the others, in the annuities and 
 other benefits accruing under the treaty. 
 
 Colonel Humphreys, the agent of the 
 government, established himself at Fort 
 King, in the centre of the tribes ; and, in 
 conjunction with Governor Duval, who re 
 sided at Tallahassee, entered at once upon 
 the execution of the treaty. Neamathla, 
 the head chief, although he had been in 
 duced by the considerations above-named, 
 to si" the treaty, still could not become 
 reconciled to its terms, and attempted to 
 resist the execution of it ; but, being over 
 ruled by the other chiefs, abandoned Flo 
 rida, and joined the Creek nation in Ala 
 bama, where he became a chief of the Hit- 
 chetas. 
 
 The year 1824 was occupied in locating 
 the Indians within the boundaries pre 
 scribed by the treaty ; but the lands proving 
 too limited for the numbers who were re 
 quired to remove within them, twenty ad 
 ditional miles were granted, so as to include 
 a section of country called the Big Swamp. 
 According to the terms of the treaty, the 
 government was to furnish them with ra 
 tions for twelve months after their removal. 
 Little or nothing, however, was raised dur 
 ing the season of 1825, in consequence of 
 the delays incident to opening new fields, 
 and the lateness of their crops, with the 
 extreme drought which prevailed that year. 
 The Indians were, consequently, soon in a 
 state of suffering from want of food. A 
 bill, appropriating 20,000 dollars, to fur 
 nish them with the means of subsistence, 
 till they could supply their wants from the 
 crops of the next season, was passed by 
 congress during the session of 1825- 26, 
 which relieved their necessities for the time. 
 
 Other difficulties, however, followed. 
 There was a delay in securing and mark 
 ing the northern boundary line of the In 
 dian reservation, and the white settlers 
 were encroaching upon their territory. 
 But besides this, the Indians, from their 
 unsettled condition a consequence of 
 
 471 
 
REMOVAL TO ARKANSAS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1832. 
 
 removing from their familiar haunts to 
 new ones, bounded only by an imaginary 
 line roamed through the country beyond 
 the limits of their reservations, causing 
 dissatisfaction and complaint among the 
 settlers, who were inclined to doubt their 
 friendship. These availed themselves of 
 opportunities to seize the Indians rifles, 
 and otherwise ill-treated them, in the hope 
 of compelling them to remain within 
 the boundaries prescribed in the treaty. 
 Complaints were also made against the 
 Indians, that they did not act up to the 
 requirements of the treaty in reference 
 to fugitive slaves who had taken refuge 
 among them. The Indians also held slaves, 
 whom they had purchased of the whites, 
 and paid for ; but, ignorant of the forms of 
 law, had no written evidence of the fact, 
 nor would their oaths be taken in a court of 
 justice. When, therefore, under a supposed 
 or pretended claim, efforts were made, in 
 many cases, to take their slaves, they re 
 sisted the attempt to deprive them of their 
 property, opposing force to force. 
 
 The propensity of the Indian for intoxi 
 cating drinks was another cause of trouble. 
 He would frequently be made intoxicated by 
 the evil-disposed ; and then, while in that 
 condition, robbed of his ornaments and rifle. 
 Often, on recovering from a state of intoxi 
 cation, he would find that he had sold his 
 horse for a drink of whisky. On the prin 
 ciple of retaliation, and to compensate 
 himself for that which he conceived had 
 been stolen from him while inebriated, he 
 improved the first opportunity to seize 
 upon cattle and hogs, and, driving them 
 within the Indian boundaries, claimed 
 them as his own. Houses, also, were fre 
 quently broken open in the absence of the 
 occupants, and provisions and other pro 
 perty stolen. Complaints were also made 
 by travellers, of being stopped upon the 
 highway, and assaulted and robbed. These 
 acts were all charged upon the Indians ; 
 but the chiefs denied, unequivocally, that 
 their people had been guilty of any overt 
 acts. They expressed the opinion that 
 
 * The chiefs forming the deputation which was 
 sent to "view the land," were John Hicks, Jumper, 
 Nehathoclo, Iloolta Emathla, Coa Hadjo, Charles 
 Emathla, Yaha Hadjo (Mad Wolf), and Abraham, 
 a negro chief, who accompanied the deputation as 
 interpreter. 
 
 t In his communication to the secretary of war, 
 infbrniinp; him of the negotiation of the? treaty, 
 Colonel Gadsden says " There is a condition pre 
 fixed to the agreement, without assenting to which, 
 the Florida Indians moat positively refused to nego- 
 472 
 
 they were committed by vagrant whites. 
 In this latter opinion they were supported 
 by that of many respectable persons. 
 
 These, and other causes of contention and 
 ill-feeling between the white settlers and 
 the Indians, continued to increase from 
 year to year ; and it became painfully evi 
 dent, that unless some remedy were ap 
 plied, they must ultimately result in open 
 hostilities. That remedy, it was clearly 
 manifest, must be the removal of the In 
 dians from the territory, if the latter could 
 be brought to assent to it. Accordingly, 
 Colonel James Gadsden was directed by 
 the secretary of war, Lewis Cass, early in 
 1832, to enter into a negotiation with the 
 Indians for a relinquishment of their lands 
 in Florida, and receive in exchange others, 
 better suited to their nature and habits, 
 west of the Mississippi. After much diffi 
 culty, Colonel Gadsden succeeded in as 
 sembling the natives at Payne s Landing, 
 seventeen miles from Fort King, on the 
 Ocklawaha river, and in negotiating a 
 treaty with them, which is known as the 
 " Treaty of Payne s Landing ;" by which 
 they stipulated to relinquish their reserva 
 tions in Florida, and emigrate to the country 
 allotted to the Creeks, west of the Missis 
 sippi : in consideration of which, the 
 United States agreed to pay them 15,400 
 dollars, on their arrival at their new home, 
 and give to each of the warriors, women, 
 and children, one blanket and one home 
 spun frock. The whole removal was stipu 
 lated to take place within three years after 
 the ratification. A delegation of chiefs, 
 appointed by the treaty, was sent, at the 
 expense of the United States, to examine 
 the country assigned them,* which lies at 
 the junction of the North Fork and the 
 Canadian streams, tributaries to the Ar 
 kansas, about fifty miles south-west of Fort 
 Gibson, in the Arkansas territory ; " and 
 should they be satisfied with the character of 
 that country, and of the favourable disposi 
 tion of the Creeks to reunite with the Semi- 
 noles as one people," the treaty was to be 
 binding.f The deputation, under the care of 
 date for their removal west of the Mississippi. 
 Even with the condition annexed, there was a 
 reluctance (which, with some difficulty, was over 
 come), on the part of the Indians, to bind them 
 selves by any stipulations, before a knowledge of 
 facts and circumstances would enable them to 
 judge of the advantages or disadvantages of the 
 disposition which the government of the United 
 States wished to make of them. They were finally 
 induced, however, to assent to the agreement, which 
 was signed by their chiefs." 
 
A.D. 1833.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [OBSTINACY OF OSCEOLA. 
 
 the agent, Major Phagan, proceeded thither, ; 
 and examined the country at the most un 
 promising season of the year, during the 
 months of January, February, and March, 
 1833, when it presented a most barren 
 and dreary appearance. After attending 
 to the duty assigned them, they proceeded 
 to Fort Gibson, and there signed a supple 
 mental treaty, declaring that of Payne s 
 Landing absolute and binding upon the 
 Seininole nation. In the ensuing month 
 of April the delegation returned to Florida. 
 The tribes at large, however, protested 
 against this summary ratification of the 
 treaty by the deputation contending that 
 the latter had exceeded their powers ; that 
 they should have reported to the tribes 
 , the result of their observations, and awaited 
 their decision in the matter. The delegates 
 now denied that they had signed any paper 
 or treaty relinquishing their land, or which 
 required them to remove from the country.* 
 Although the Indians were allowed, by 
 the treaty, as already stated, three years, 
 after its ratification, in which to remove, 
 yet it was also stipulated that the emigra 
 tion should commence as early as practicable 
 in the year 1833 ; and with those Indians 
 occupying the Big Swamp, in order that a 
 proportion might be removed in each of 
 the three years. The treaty, however, was 
 not ratified by the government of the 
 United States till the 9th of Arpil, 1834, 
 \vhen measures were immediately adopted 
 to carry out its terms. General Wiley 
 Thompson, of Georgia, was appointed, by 
 President Jackson, the government agent, 
 to superintend the removal of the In 
 dians ; and he proceeded immediately to 
 Florida to prepare for their emigration. 
 General Duncan L. Clinch was ordered to 
 take command of the regular troops in the 
 territory, preparatory to the exercise of 
 force, if necessary, to compel the execution 
 of the treaty. General Thompson soon as 
 certained that it was the settled determiua- 
 
 * The following are Juniper s remarks to the 
 agent, in regard to signing the supplemental treaty : 
 " At Camp Moultrie we were told that all diffi 
 culties should be buried for twenty years from the 
 date of the treaty then and there made. Before 
 the twenty years were out, we made a treaty at 
 Payne s Landing. We were told we might go and 
 see the land; but that we were not obliged to re 
 move. When we saw the country, we said nothing ; 
 but the whites that went with us, made us sign our 
 hands to a paper, which you now say signified our 
 consent to remove ; but we thought the paper said 
 only that we liked the land, and when we returned, 
 our nation would decide upon removal. We had 
 
 tion of the majority of the influential chiefs, 
 to disregard the obligations imposed by the 
 treaty of Payne s Landing. Micanopy was 
 the principal chief of the nation. Though 
 old, fat, and indolent, the younger chiefs 
 urged him to action. Among these was a 
 young, daring, and intelligent warrior, 
 of the name of Osceola.f or Powell, of 
 humble birth and rank : he belonged to the 
 Redstick branch of the Creeks, and was 
 born on the Georgia bank of the Chatta- 
 hoochee river, in the year 1804. His 
 father s name was William Powell, an 
 Englishman, a trader among the Creek 
 Indians, and his mother was an Indian 
 woman. In the division of the tribe al 
 luded to, in a previous chapter, as occurring 
 in 1808 the family separated ; the father, 
 with two daughters, remaining with the 
 Creeks ; while the mother, with her son, 
 then four years of age, emigrated to Florida, 
 and remained in the vicinity of the Okefino- 
 kee swamp. She was again married shortly 
 after, and, with her husband and child, re 
 moved to a hummock, in the vicinity of 
 Fort King. 
 
 General Thompson communicated to the 
 president, on the 28th of October, 1833, 
 the objections made by the Serninole war 
 riors to removal ; which were looked upon 
 by the government as vague and ground 
 less; and the war department informed 
 the general that their demands could 
 not be submitted to that the Seminoles 
 were to be removed for their own benefit, 
 and that they could not be permitted 
 to remain in Florida. When commu 
 nicating to the chiefs in council the 
 determination of the president to enforce 
 the stipulations of the treaty, General 
 Thompson was repeatedly interrupted by 
 groans, violent gestures, and language of 
 the most abusive kind, expressed in an 
 under tone. Osceola, who was not a chief, 
 and therefore had not the privilege of 
 speaking in council, cunningly communi- 
 
 no authority to do more. My people cannot say 
 they will go. We are not willing to go. If their 
 tongues say Yes, their hearts cry No, and call 
 them liars. The country to which you invite us is 
 surrounded by hostile neighbours; and although it 
 may produce good fruit, the fruit of a bad neigh 
 bourhood is blood, that spoils the land, and a fire 
 that dries up the brooks." 
 
 t As-se-se-he-ho-la, or black drink. The black 
 drink is used by the leading men of the Seminole 
 nation, preparatory to the assembling of important 
 councils. It is a tea, composed of certain herbs, 
 which, they believe, cleanses the system, and gives 
 to the mind wisdom and clearness. Sprague. 
 
 473 
 
REFUSAL TO MIGRATE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1834. 
 
 cated his views through the medium of 
 others. Sitting beside the aged Micanopy, 
 he would whisper in his ear what to say in 
 reply to General Thompson. The old chief 
 was thus driven to say many things which 
 the dictates of his own maturer judgment 
 would have restrained him from uttering. 
 He denied that he signed the treaty of 
 Payne s Landing. When his signature 
 was pointed out to him, he insisted that he 
 did not touch the pen, though he extended 
 his hand to do it. When General Thompson, 
 under the prevailing excitement, informed 
 them that thereafter no annuity would be 
 paid to them until they consented to emi 
 grate, Osceola, unable any longer to refrain 
 from speaking, sprang from his seat, and 
 indignantly and tauntingly assured the 
 general that they did not care if they 
 never received another dollar from the 
 American government. Drawing his knife 
 with anger, " The only treat) I will ex 
 ecute," said he, " is with this I" as, suiting 
 the action to the words, he drove its point 
 forcibly into the table. The council ad 
 journed amidst the utmost confusion and 
 irritation of feeling. 
 
 General Thompson now became satisfied 
 that the treaty of Payne s Landing could 
 be executed only by force ; and, in a letter 
 to the war department, of the 24th of No 
 vember, he says "The Indians appear 
 peaceable and friendly. I have drawn the 
 reins of government close about them. 
 They will not, however, remove, but as 
 forced to do so. I am more confirmed 
 every day in the opinion that they have 
 been tampered with by designing, un 
 principled white men ; and they have come 
 to the conclusion, that by obstinately per 
 sisting in asserting their right to remain 
 here until the expiration of twenty years 
 from the date of the treaty at Camp Moul- 
 trie, and abstaining from any outrage, their 
 claim will finally be acquiesced in by the 
 government. And I have been informed, 
 by confidential persons among them, that 
 they laugh at the idea of the little handful 
 of men at this post* being able to compel 
 them to remove." 
 
 Although, as has been already stated, 
 the years 1833, 34, 35 were expressly 
 named in the treaty as those during which 
 the removal of the Indians should take 
 place, yet it also allowed three years from 
 the date of its ratification for that purpose. 
 Through unanticipated delays, the ratifica- 
 
 * Fort King. 
 
 474) 
 
 tion did not take place, as has also been 
 stated, till April, 1834. A fair construc 
 tion of its stipulations would, therefore, 
 allow three years from the latter date for 
 their fulfilment ; and such was the interpre 
 tation put upon it by the secretary of war. 
 But from the indications, too marked to be 
 overlooked, that a demonstration, if not 
 the actual employment of force, would be 
 required to effect a removal, the govern 
 ment determined, as soon as the arrange 
 ments for the purpose could be completed, 
 to move the entire nation at once, and thus 
 avoid a repetition of the embarrassments 
 incident to the exodus of a people who, 
 under the most favourable circumstances, 
 would reluctantly leave their Florida homes. 
 
 General Cass, the secretary of war, wrote 
 to General Clinch on the 16th of February, 
 1835, advising him of the utter impossi 
 bility to yield to any wishes the Indians 
 might express in opposition to emigration. 
 " I fully appreciate," he wrote, " the con 
 sequences which you predict as likely to 
 happen from a forcible attempt on their 
 part to remain; and the safety of that 
 portion of the territory imperatively re 
 quires that the treaty stipulations should 
 be carried into effect. It is the ultimate 
 decision, therefore, of the president, that 
 they shall be removed. But it is very de 
 sirable that they should go peaceably and 
 voluntarily. The subject should, therefore, 
 be fully explained to them, and every 
 proper inducement held out for their com 
 pliance with the treaties. Let them be 
 reasoned with, and, if possible, convinced. 
 Let every measure, short of actual force, be 
 first used. Let them be made fully aware 
 of the consequences ; and then, if necessary, 
 let actual force be employed, and their re 
 moval effected." 
 
 The secretary of war forwarded, with 
 this letter, to General Clinch, an address 
 from President Jackson, to the head war 
 riors of the Serainoles, mildly expostulating 
 with them upon the position they had 
 taken ; urging them to acquiesce in the ex 
 ecution of the treaty; and that an obstinate 
 persistence in an opposite course must result 
 in their destruction. Lieutenant Harris, of 
 the United States army, also arrived, as 
 disbursing agent, with ample funds to com 
 mand the means for their transportation 
 and subsistence. General Clinch had ten 
 companies of regular troops placed at his 
 disposal, to co-operate with the civil agents 
 of the government ; and he was prepared 
 
A.D. 1835.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PREPARATION FOR WAP. 
 
 to act when the proper moment arrived. 
 Transports were prepared at Tampa Bay, 
 to take the Indians to New Orleans ; thence 
 up the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, to 
 Fort Gibson. 
 
 It now became evident to the Seminoles, 
 that the government was firm in its pur 
 pose of enforcing the execution of the 
 treaty. Another council was held at Fort 
 King, on the 24th of April. But before 
 proceeding thither, the warriors held a 
 council among themselves, at the village 
 of Micauopy, when they agreed to avoid 
 every hostile expression, and endeavour to 
 gain sufficient time ostensibly to gather 
 their crops and remove their families, when 
 the season would be far enough advanced 
 to enable them to act successfully on the 
 defensive. They were, however, to adhere 
 firmly in council in their opposition to the 
 treaty, and reassert their strong disinclina 
 tion to submit to its execution. AVhen, 
 after their arrival at Fort King, this oppo 
 sition to the fulfilment of the treaty was 
 evinced, in a tone and manner which could 
 not be mistaken, in presence of the United 
 States officers, General Thompson at once 
 charged them with faithlessness, and with 
 a total want of honesty or honour. This 
 resulted in harsh language in return, till, 
 as on a previous occasion, the council nearly 
 came to an end in an uproar. General 
 Clinch now interposed, appealed to their 
 good sense, and urged a fulfilment of the 
 treaty; at the same time giving them to 
 understand, that if they persisted in this 
 violent course, he should use the force at 
 his command to bring them to terms. This 
 had, apparently, the desired effect. Eight 
 of the chiefs came forward and promised 
 a fulfilment of the treaty. Five, however, 
 Micanopy, Jumper, Alligator, Black Dirt, 
 and Sam Jones, obstinately refused. The 
 eight chiefs who had consented to the exe 
 cution of the treaty, now earnestly entreated 
 that the Indians be allowed till the 1st of 
 January, 1836, to gather their crops, and 
 prepare for emigrating at which time 
 they promised most faithfully that the 
 whole tribe should assemble at Fort I 
 Brooke, to be transported to their new 
 homes beyond the Mississippi. An appli 
 cation to this effect, signed by Generals 
 Thompson and Clinch, and Lieutenant Har- : 
 ris, urging the measure as an alternative ; 
 to bloodshed, was forwarded to Washing 
 ton, and received an affirmative answer. | 
 The secretary of war, in reply, wrote as 
 
 follows to General Clinch : " Your views 
 seem to me to be equally judicious and 
 humane. Certainly there is not the slight 
 est wish to oppress the unhappy Seminoles, 
 who have stipulated for removal; but their 
 continuance where they now are is abso 
 lutely impossible ; and the sooner they arc 
 satisfied of this fact, the better it will be 
 for them. Still, however, I should much 
 prefer a voluntary and peaceful removal to 
 one effected by force. It would only be in 
 the last resort that the government would 
 be willing to compel them to comply with 
 their own engagements ; and it would be 
 better to suffer a temporary inconvenience, 
 if thereby their feelings could be quieted, 
 than to require them to remove without 
 their consent. The matter, therefore, ia 
 referred entirely to your discretion and 
 that of General Thompson." 
 
 This postponement, though it quieted 
 the Seminoles for the time, did not lessen 
 the repugnance they felt to removal. Whilo 
 some of the more sanguine hoped, and even 
 believed, that something would occur beforo 
 the day now fixed for their departure from 
 their Florida homes, to again postpone, and 
 perhaps defeat a measure so abhorrent to 
 their feelings ; there were others who im 
 proved the opportunity to prepare the na 
 tion for an organised resistance to any 
 attempt to compel their removal when the 
 limited time had expired. The warriors 
 who could be relied upon to take the field, 
 in opposition to the enforcement of the 
 existing treaty, were numbered ; powder 
 and lead were obtained, and stored away 
 preparatory to the expected conflict. As a 
 precautionary measure, General Thompson 
 prohibited the sale of arms, powder, and 
 lead, to the Indians. But the prohibition 
 was adopted at too late a period to be of 
 any avail. They had enough already in 
 store to last a long time. As early as 
 October, 1834, he observed, in a communi 
 cation to the commissioners of Indian af 
 fairs : " It has not escaped me, that the 
 Indians, after they had received their an 
 nuity, purchased an unusually large quan 
 tity of powder and lead. I saw one keg 
 of powd*r carried off by the chiefs ; and I 
 am informed that several whole kegs were 
 purchased. I did not forbid the sale of 
 these articles to the Indians, because such 
 a course would have been a declaration of 
 my apprehensions. It may be proper to 
 add, that the chiefs and negroes have a de 
 posit of forty or fifty kegs of po\vder, which 
 
 47o 
 
DEPREDATIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1835. 
 
 I did not credit at the time." The prohi 
 bition now only served to i-ouse their ani 
 mosity. It has been aptly said, that " with 
 an Indian, the best test of a white man s 
 friendship, is the permission to obtain arms, 
 powder, and lead." Even by the friendly 
 Indians, the deprivation was looked upon 
 as a hostile indication on the part of the 
 whites virtually a declaration of war. Os- 
 ceola, when denied the request for powder, 
 exclaimed " Am I a negro a slave ? My 
 skin is dark, but not black. I am an In 
 dian a Seminole. The white man shall 
 not make me black. I will make the white 
 man red with blood, and then blacken him 
 in the sun and rain, where the wolf shall 
 smell his bones, and the buzzard feed upon 
 his flesh."* 
 
 The first act of hostilities with the Semi- 
 noles occurred on the 19th of July, 1835, at 
 a place called Hogtown, in which, the whites 
 were the aggressors. On the 18th, six 
 Indians were proceeding to Deadman s 
 Pond, at Hickory Hole, near the Suwanee 
 river, and, on their way, had slaughtered a 
 cow. The following day (the 19th), when 
 in camp, cooking their beef, a party of 
 white men came that way, and, falling 
 upon the Indians, beat them in a most 
 brutal manner, and took possession of their 
 rifles. While this transaction was going 
 on, four other Indians, in search of the 
 first-named party, came upon them, and 
 seeing the treatment their friends were re 
 ceiving, immediately fired upon the whites. 
 The latter returned it with effect, killing 
 one Indian, and wounding another. Here 
 the affair ended: a mutual withdrawal 
 from the field followed, the whites carrying 
 off the Indians rifles and their packs. To 
 punish these marauders, as the Indians 
 were termed, and to protect the white 
 citizens, a company of militia was soon in 
 the field. The offending Indiana were 
 demanded of the chiefs by General Thomp 
 son, and they were given up; but, after 
 thirty days imprisonment, the whites ap 
 pearing to be the offending party, they 
 were set at liberty. In retaliation for this 
 treatment (it was supposed), on the llth of 
 August, a private, named Dalton, carrying 
 the mail between Fort Brooke and Fort 
 King, was met on his route, and killed. 
 When found, his body bore evidence of the 
 brutal vindictiveness of the savages, being 
 nearly torn to pieces. A demand was made 
 by General Clinch for the perpetrators of 
 
 * Sprague. 
 476 
 
 this murder, and the chiefs promised that 
 they should be surrendered ; but they could 
 not be identified. 
 
 It was in consequence of these transac 
 tions that Osceola had an interview with 
 General Thompson, during which he in- 
 I dulged in abusive language, when the 
 agent mildly reproved him. He answered 
 in grossly insulting terms, in which he 
 defied all the power of the government 
 and of its troops. The general imme 
 diately had him arrested, and confined 
 in irons, under guard, within the fort. 
 He thus kept him for six days, when he 
 professed penitence, and was released. But 
 in that brief imprisonment, if subsequent 
 events are an indication, it is undoubtedly 
 true, as has been stated, f that he formed 
 the resolution to resist the execution of the 
 treaty as long as possible, and to gratify 
 a deadly revenge on General Thompson. 
 The better to conceal his designs, he sup 
 pressed his indignation at the treatment he 
 had received, and promised, not only to 
 abide by the treaty, but to bring in seventy 
 warriors, who, with himself, would be in 
 readiness for emigration at the appointed 
 time. This conduct, accompanied, as it 
 was, with the most perfect dissimulation, 
 not only completely dissipated the un 
 favourable impressions of General Thomp 
 son against him, but led to a general 
 belief that his adherence to the treaty 
 would result in the peaceful emigration of 
 the whole nation to their new home, and 
 thus relieve Florida of their presence with 
 out the long- apprehended rupture. 
 
 So thoroughly deceived was General 
 Thompson by the subtle warrior, that he 
 actually employed him in perfecting his 
 arrangements for the removal of the In 
 dians. Osceola visited different parts of 
 the peninsula; and while ostensibly aiding 
 the general in arrangements for the 
 execution of the treaty, was, in reality, 
 preparing the Indians for an organised 
 resistance to any attempt, on the part of 
 the United States, to enforce its stipula 
 tions. 
 
 The additional time allowed the Indians 
 in which to prepare for removal, had now 
 nearly expired, and the first day of the 
 coming year was locked forward to with 
 an intense interest. A large number of 
 emigrants appeared ready to step in 
 and occupy the reserves as soon as they 
 should be abandoned by the Indians. The 
 f Drake. 
 
A.1X 
 
 1835.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [REMOVAL OF SEMINOLES. 
 
 disbursing agent, Lieutenant Harris, was 
 also actively employed in making pre 
 parations for supplies and transportation. 
 From diligent inquiries, he formed an 
 estimate that the whole number of Semi- 
 noles in Florida, with the negroes, slaves, 
 and others connected with them, was about 
 3,000, of whom 1,600 were females. lie 
 also estimated the number of efficient war 
 riors as not exceeding 500. It subse 
 quently appeared, however, from the record 
 of emigration, that the estimate of Lieu 
 tenant Harris was far below the mark. 
 There must have been, at this time, in the 
 territory, above 4,000 Indians and negroes. 
 The number of regular troops at the com 
 mand of General Clinch, to keep in check 
 this large body of Indians, was about 700. 
 
 As the period fixed upon for the removal 
 of the Indians drew near, General Clinch, 
 deceived by the duplicity of Osceola, wrote 
 to the war department, humanely sug 
 gesting, as a period more adapted to taking 
 up a residence in their new homes, that 
 they should be allowed to remain in Florida 
 two months longer, provided that they 
 would consent to remove peaceably and 
 quietly on the first day of March. "I 
 believe," he remarked, "that the whole 
 nation will readily accede to the measure ; 
 and it is impossible not to feel a deep in 
 terest and much sympathy for this people." 
 
 Although President Jackson might, and, 
 as we have seen, did, for a short time, delay 
 enforcing the execution of the treaty, yet 
 he was not the man to be swerved from 
 what he deemed to be his duty; and, in 
 regard to the Seininoles, he determined to 
 delay no longer. The answer, therefore, 
 to General Clinch s suggestion, although it 
 contained expressions of regard for the 
 Seminoles, yet bore the government s 
 peremptory order to proceed at once to 
 execute the stipulations of the treaty by 
 their removal. The Indians were, there 
 fore, ordered to bring in their cattle and 
 horses, to be sold on the 1st and 15th of 
 December, agreeably to the stipulations of 
 "the treaty, which provided that these 
 animals should be surrendered, to avoid the 
 expense of removal, and that an adequate 
 compensation should be made for them. So 
 
 * The Mickasaukies, it may, perhaps, as well be 
 stated here, were one of the most warlike clans 
 among the Florida Indians; and to their opposition 
 to the execution of the terms of the treaty, the wars 
 which resulted were in a great measure owing. 
 In 1821, the Mickasaukies in Florida numbered 
 
 VOL. II. 3 Q 
 
 confident was General Thompson that the 
 cattle would be brought in, that he adver 
 tised them, for sale on the days just 
 named. The appointed time came and 
 passed, and, with a single exception, 
 neither Indians nor cattle appeared. The 
 exception referred to was Charley Emathla, 
 and he fell a martyr in his attempt to 
 observe the treaty. He was, as already 
 stated in a note, one of the delegation 
 of chiefs who visited the country of their 
 proposed residence in 1832, and was origi 
 nally opposed to removal, but subsequently 
 consented to go. The hostile chiefs had, 
 in council, resolved that the first Indian 
 who commenced to dispose of his property, 
 preparatory to removal, should be put to 
 death. On the 26th of November, Charley 
 Emathla, in company with his three daugh 
 ters, visited Fort King to receive payment 
 for his cattle, which he had driven and 
 disposed of to the government. He was 
 on his return, and was a little in advance 
 of his daughters, when he was fired upon 
 by a party of Mickasaukies,* lying in am 
 bush, headed by Osceola, and killed, nine 
 balls entering his body. He had in his 
 handkerchief a sum of gold and silver re 
 ceived from General Thompson for his 
 cattle. This money, Osceola said, was 
 made of the red men s blood, and forbade 
 any one touching it ; but, with his own 
 hands, he threw it in every direction. The 
 body of Emathla was left to be devoured 
 by the wolves.f 
 
 In the latter part of November, the 
 governor of Florida was requested to place 
 at the disposal of General Clinch any mili 
 tary force he might require ; and orders 
 were given, through the ordnance depart 
 ment, to furnish five hundred muskets, and 
 the necessary equipments, to the militia. 
 These, with the regulars at General Clinch s 
 disposal, had been deemed sufficient to pro 
 cure the removal of the Indians ; as, up to 
 this period, although occasional acts of 
 violence had occurred, yet they had ex 
 hibited no movements of a general or con 
 certed hostility. 
 
 The designs of Osceola, which he had 
 been preparing to carry out by the most 
 active and subtle means, soon became 
 
 about 1,000. Of their numbers in 1835, there are 
 no reliable data; but it is supposed they greatly 
 exceeded the official estimate. 
 
 f A detachment of United States troops, passing 
 the scene of his murder, in 1837, gathered up his 
 bones and buried them. 
 
 477 
 
INDIAN ATTACK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. Ibod. 
 
 divulged by the mode he took to carry 
 them out. In furtherance of his schemes, 
 and to be revenged upon the men who had 
 placed fetters upon his limbs, he lay con 
 cealed, with sixty warriors, two days in a 
 hummock in sight of Fort King. On the 
 afternoon of the second day, the 28th of 
 December, General Thompson and Lieu 
 tenant Constantino Smith, of the 2nd 
 artillery, were taking an airing outside 
 the fort. The weather being agreeable, 
 their walk was extended to the sutler s 
 store, some distance from Fort King. They 
 had just reached the crest of a hill, near 
 the sutler s, but in full view of the fort, 
 when they received the fire of Osceola s 
 band, who were concealed within thirty feet 
 of the road. Both were instantly killed ; 
 the body of General Thompson being per 
 forated with twenty-four balls, and Lieu 
 tenant Smith s with thirteen. Amid horrid 
 yells and whoops, the Indians rushed out 
 of their concealment, with their scalping- 
 knives glistening in the sun, and their un 
 fortunate victims were soon scalped ; and, 
 to satisfy the claims of all for a trophy, 
 their scalps were cut into small pieces, 
 and divided among their murderers. Leav 
 ing their mutilated bodies upon the 
 ground, the savages rushed at once to the 
 store, where the sutler, Mr. Rogers, his 
 two clerks, Mr. Iletzler, and a boy, were 
 just at dinner.- Approaching the house, 
 they fired upon the inmates through the 
 open door and windows, killing the whole 
 of them : then entering, scalped their 
 victims, rifled the store, and set it on fire. 
 
 The effective force of the garrison at 
 Fort King was forty-six men. The report 
 of the rifles, with the war-whoop of the 
 savages, led them to believe that they were 
 about to be attacked, and preparations were 
 made for defence. The smoke and flames 
 of the sutler s store soon announced the 
 probable fate of its inmates; but the murder 
 of General Thompson and Lieutenant Smith 
 was not known until some hours had 
 passed. Being short of provisions and am 
 munition, as well as limited in the number 
 of the men at the fort, their situation be 
 came daily more critical. Relief, however, 
 was hoped for soon, in the expected arrival 
 of two companies of troops which had been 
 ordered up from Fort Brooke. These two 
 companies, one of artillery and the other 
 of infantry, under Captains Gardner and 
 Fraser (the whole under command of Major 
 Dade),were dispatched, on the 2 !th of De 
 478 
 
 cember, by Major Beltoii, commanding at 
 Fort Brooke, to the relief of General 
 Clinch. They took with them , six- 
 pounder, drawn by four oxen ; and were 
 also provided with ten days provisions. 
 The first halt of the column of Major 
 Bade was at Little Hillsborough bridge, 
 seven miles from Fort Brooke, whence he 
 wrote to Major Belton, pressing him to 
 forward the six-pounder to him imme 
 diately, it having been left four miles out 
 by the failure of the team. Major Bell on 
 accordingly purchased three horses, with 
 the necessary harness, and the six-pounder 
 reached the column of Bade at niue that 
 night. From this period nothing was 
 heard from the detachment until the 29th, 
 when John Thomas, one of the soldiers, re 
 turned, followed, on the 31st, by another, 
 named Ransom Clarke. These two, with 
 one other, were all, out of 110 men, who 
 escaped to tell the sad fate of the rest. 
 The melancholy details of the disaster 
 which befel this devoted band, has been 
 graphically detailed by Ransom Clarke, 
 who was in the engagement ; and, in sub 
 stance was as follows : 
 
 At eight o clock in the morning they 
 suddenly heard a rifle-shot in the direc 
 tion of the advance guard, and this was 
 immediately followed by a musket- shot 
 from that quarter. Captain Fraser had 
 already ridden in the same direction, and 
 was killed immediately. Directly after 
 these shots, a volley, as if from a thousand 
 rifles, was poured in upon the soldiers from 
 the front, and all along the left flank. At 
 this time no enemy was seen, nor was it 
 possible to tell exactly from what direc 
 tion the firing came. It was ultimately 
 found to issue from the pines and high 
 grass near the pathway. The ground was an 
 open pine-barren, entirely destitute of any 
 hummock. On the right, and a little to the 
 rear, was a large pond of water, some dis 
 tance off. All around were heavy pine- 
 trees, very open, particularly towards tho 
 left, and abounding with long, high grass. 
 The first fire of the Indians was the most 
 destructive, seemingly killing or disabling 
 one-half of the men. The remainder 
 promptly threw themselves behind trees, 
 and opened a sharp fire of musketry ; 
 and following the practice of the western 
 pioneers, they fired only when they saw 
 their en<2my. The Indians chiefly fired 
 lying or squatting in the grass. Lieu 
 tenant Bavsingor gave them a few pounds of 
 
A.D. 1835.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MASSACRE OF THE WHITES. 
 
 canister from the cannon. This appeared 
 to frighten the Indians, and they retreated 
 over a little hill to the left, one-half or 
 three-quarters of a mile oft , not having 
 fired more than twelve or fifteen rounds. 
 The whites then proceeded to fell trees, and 
 to erect a triangular breastwork. Some of 
 them went forward to gather the cartridge- 
 boxes from the dead, and to assist the 
 wounded. Major Bade fell to the ground 
 from the first volley, and his horse dashed 
 into the midst of the enemy. Lieutenant 
 Mudge was found sitting with his back re 
 clining against a tree, and evidently dying. 
 He was spoken to, but he did not answer. 
 The interpreter, Lewis, fell to the earth, 
 apparently dead, by the first fire.* 
 
 The breastwork had hardly been raised 
 knee-high, when the Indians advanced, in 
 great numbers, over the hill on the left. 
 They came on boldly, till within rausket- 
 shot, when they spread themselves from 
 tree to tree, to surround the breastworks. 
 The whites immediately extended as light 
 infantry, covering themselves by the trees, 
 and opening a brisk fire from the cannon 
 and musketry. 
 
 Captain Gardner, Lieutenant Bassinger, 
 and Dr. Gatlen, were the only officers left 
 unhurt by the volley, which killed Major 
 Dade. Lieutenant Henderson had his left 
 arm broken ; but he continued to load and 
 fire his musket, resting on the stump, 
 until he was finally shot down. Towards 
 the close of the second attack, and during 
 the day, he kept up his spirits and cheered 
 the men. Lieutenant Keyes had both of 
 his arms broken in the first attack. They 
 were bound up and slung in a handkerchief, 
 and he sat for the remainder of the day, 
 until he was killed, reclining against the 
 breastwork, his head often reposing upon 
 it, regardless of everything that was passing 
 around him. The men were by degrees all 
 cut down. They had maintained a steady 
 fire from eight o clock in the morning until 
 two in the afternoon ; and allowing three- 
 quarters of an hour interval between the 
 first and second attack, had been pretty 
 busily engaged for more than five hours. 
 Lieutenant Bassinger was the only officer 
 left alive, and he was severely wounded. 
 As the Indians approached, Clarke laid 
 down and feigned himself dead. He 
 looked through the logs, and saw the sav- 
 
 * The interpreter, Lewis, it was afterwards ascer 
 tained, only feigned death, being the third survivor 
 alluded to in the introductory paragraph. The 
 
 I ages approaching in great numbers. A 
 | heavy-made Indian, of middle stature, 
 painted down to the waist, and whom he 
 | supposed to be Micanopy, seemed to be the 
 chief. This Indian made a speech, fre- 
 1 quently pointing to the breastwork. At 
 length they charged into the work. There 
 was none to offer resistance, and they did 
 not seem to suspect that the wounded were 
 alive offering no indignity, but, stepping 
 about carefully, quietly stripped off our 
 accoutrements, and carried away the arms. 
 They then retired in a body, in the direc 
 tion whence they came. 
 
 Immediately after their retreat, forty or 
 fifty negroes and Indians, on horseback, 
 galloped up, alighted, and having tied their 
 beasts, commenced, with horrid shouts and 
 yells, the butchery of the wounded; to 
 gether with an indiscriminate plunder, 
 stripping the dead of the clothing, watches, 
 and money, and splitting open the heads of 
 all who showed the least signs of life, with 
 their axes and knives. This bloody work 
 was accompanied with obscene and taunting 
 derision, and oft-repeated shouts. Lieu 
 tenant Bassinger, hearing the negroes and 
 Indians butchering the wounded, at length 
 sprang up, and asked them to spare his life. 
 They met him with the blows of their axes 
 and fiendish laughter. At this time Clarke 
 lay apparently dead ; and having been se 
 verely wounded and besmeared with blood, 
 especially on his face, he was supposed to 
 be lifeless. He had received two scratches 
 on the head, which gave him the appear 
 ance of having been shot through the brain ; 
 for the negroes, after catching him up by 
 the heels, threw him down, and exclaiming 
 that he was dead enough, they then stripped 
 him of his clothes, shoes, and hat. After 
 serving all the dead in this manner, they 
 trundled off the cannon in the direction the 
 Indians had gone, and went away. They 
 shot down the oxen in their gear, and burnt 
 the waggon. 
 
 One of the other soldiers, who escaped, 
 says they threw the cannon into a pond, and 
 burnt the carriage also. Shortly after the 
 negroes went away, one Wilson, of Captain 
 Gardner s company, crept from under some 
 dead bodies, and seemed to be hardly hurt 
 at all. He asked Clarke to go back with 
 him to the fort; and at that moment, as 
 he jumped over the breastwork, an Indian 
 
 Indians spared his life, and he interpreted to them 
 all the despatches and letters which were found upon 
 
 the bodies of the slain. 
 
 479 
 
BURIAL OF THE SKELETONS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1836. 
 
 sprang from behind a tree, and shot him 
 down. Clarke then lay quiet until nine 
 o clock that night, when he and D. Long, 
 the only other living soul, started upon 
 their journey. They knew it was nearest 
 to go to Fort King ; but they did not know 
 the way, and they had seen the enemy re 
 treat in that direction. Dr. Gatlen was 
 seen lying stripped among the dead. The 
 last time that he had been seen while living, 
 was, when kneeling behind the breastwork, 
 with two double-barrelled guns with him. 
 He said, " "Well, I have got four barrels for 
 them." Captain Gardner, after being se 
 verely wounded, cried out, " I can give you 
 no more orders, my lads ; do your best." 
 A negro man spurned his body, saying, 
 with an oath, " That s one of their officers." 
 Clarke and his comrade got along quite 
 well until the next day, when they were 
 met by an Indian on horseback, armed with 
 a rifle, and coming up the road. Their only 
 chance was to separate, which they did ; 
 one going to the right, and the other to the 
 left of the road. The Indian pursued Long, 
 and in a short time overtook him. Clarke 
 concealed himself among some shrubs and 
 palmettos, and very soon saw the Indian 
 pass, looking for him. Suddenly, however, 
 he put spurs to his horse, and went off at 
 a gallop towards the road. Clarke then 
 made something of a circuit before he struck 
 the beaten track again. That night he was 
 a good deal annoyed by the wolves, that 
 had scented his blood, and came very close 
 to him. The next day (the 30th) he reached 
 the fort. 
 
 John Thomas, one of the other survivors, 
 bought his life for six dollars ; and, in his 
 enemy, recognised an Indian whose axe he 
 had helved a few days before. The num 
 ber of Indians present at this massacre is 
 not known, though it was estimated to be 
 six or eight hundred. 
 
 General Gaines, on his way to Fort King, 
 in February, with a regular and volunteer 
 force, passed Major Dade s fatal field, when 
 the remains of that gallant band were hon 
 ourably interred. The following, in sub 
 stance, is taken from the report of Captain 
 Hitchcock, upon whom devolved the sad 
 duty of superintending their burial. It is 
 dated, " Fort King, Florida, February 22, 
 1836 :" The force under Games command, 
 while on march to Faskin, from Tampa 
 Bay, encamped on the 19th instant, on the 
 ground occupied by Major Dade, on the 
 night of the 27th of December. He and 
 480 
 
 his party were destroyed on the morning 
 of the 28th of December, about four miles 
 in advance of that position. " He was ad 
 vancing towards this post," says Hitch 
 cock, " and was attacked from the north ; 
 so that, on the 20th instant, we came on 
 the rear of his battle-ground, about nine 
 o clock in the morning. Our advanced 
 guard had passed the ground without halt 
 ing, when the general and his staff came 
 upon one of the most appalling scenes that 
 can be imagined. We first saw some broken 
 and scattered bones ; then a cart, the two 
 oxen of which were lying dead, as if they 
 had fallen asleep, their yokes still on them ; 
 a little to the right, one or two horses were 
 seen. We then came to a small inclosure, 
 made by felling trees in such a manner as 
 to form a triangular breastwork for defence. 
 Within the triangle, along the north and 
 west faces of it, were about thirty bodies, 
 mostly mere skeletons, although much of 
 the clothing was left upon them. These 
 were lying, almost every one of them, in 
 precisely the position they must have occu 
 pied during the fight their heads next to 
 the logs, over which they had delivered 
 their fire, and their bodies stretched, with 
 striking regularity, parallel to each other. 
 They had evidently been shot dead at their 
 posts, and the Indians had not disturbed 
 them, except by taking the scalps of most 
 of them. Passing this little breastwork, 
 we found other bodies along the road, and 
 by the side of the road, generally behind 
 trees, which had been resorted to, for covers 
 from the enemy s fire. Advancing about 
 200 yards farther, we found a cluster of 
 bodies in the middle of the road. These 
 were evidently the advanced guard, in the 
 rear of which was the body of Major Dade ; 
 and, to the right, that of Captain Fruser. 
 These were all doubtless shot down on the 
 first fire of the Indians, except, perhaps, 
 Captain Fraser, who must, however, have 
 fallen very early in the fight. Those in the 
 road, and by the trees, fell during the first 
 attack. It was during a cessation of tho 
 fire, that the little band, still remaining, 
 about thirty in number, threw up the tri 
 angular breastwork, which, from the haste 
 with which it was constructed, was neces 
 sarily defective, and could not protect the 
 men in the second attack. We had with 
 us many of the personal friends of the offi 
 cers of Major Dade s command ; and it is 
 gratifying to be able to state, that every 
 officer was identified by undoubted evi- 
 
A.D. 1835.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF WITHLACOOCHEE. 
 
 dence. They were buried ; and the cannon, 
 a 6-pounder, which the Indians had thrown 
 into a swamp, was recovered, and placed 
 vertically at the head of the grave, where 
 it remains as a monument to the dead. The 
 bodies of the non-commissioned officers and 
 privates were buried in two graves ; and it 
 was found that every man was accounted 
 for. The command was composed of eight 
 officers, and 102 non-commissioned officers 
 and privates. The bodies of eight officers 
 and ninety-eight men were interred, four 
 men having escaped, three of whom reached 
 Tampa Bay ; the fourth, was killed the day 
 after the battle." 
 
 This report of Captain Hitchcock, con 
 firms, in all important particulars, the state 
 ment of Ransom Clarke. Such terrible 
 slaughter has few parallels, even in the 
 history of Indian warfare. It is almost 
 superfluous to add, that it sent a thrill of 
 horror through the country. 
 
 The Indians engaged in this wholesale 
 butchery were commanded by Micanopy, 
 Jumper, and Alligator; Osceola being, the 
 same day, engaged in the massacre of Gene 
 ral Thompson and others near Fort King. 
 After this, he and his band returned to the 
 Wahoo swamp, loaded with the spoils taken 
 from the sutler s store before burning it, 
 and their bodies decorated with the bloody 
 trophies of their atrocious deeds. Their 
 haggard faces, besmeared with the blood of 
 their victims, gave them a most revolting 
 aspect. Liquors of all kinds forming a por 
 tion of their spoils, the night was spent in 
 debauchery and riot. The scalps of their 
 victims were hung upon a pole ten feet 
 high, around which, those of them who 
 were not too deeply intoxicated, spent the 
 night in dancing ridiculing and defying 
 the whites in their frantic orgies. 
 
 Hostilities had now fairly commenced, 
 and soon became general, in acts of pillage 
 and bloodshed, all along the borders of the 
 Indian country. 
 
 The head-quarters of General Clinch were 
 at Fort Drane, a stockade, about thirty 
 miles from Fort King. Here was his plan 
 tation, upon which he had a large crop of 
 corn ; and this he gave liberally to the 
 soldiers, other supplies having fallen short. 
 On the 24th of December, having received 
 a reinforcement of a brigade of mounted 
 Florida volunteers, under the command of 
 General Call, and, on the 27th, of three 
 companies of regulars, under Colonel Fen- 
 ning, from Fort King, an expedition was 
 
 projected to the head- quarters of the In 
 dians. On the 29th, General Clinch, with 
 the Florida volunteers and a battalion of 
 regulars, under the officers just named, 
 took up the line of march for a point on 
 the Withlacoochee river, which was repre 
 sented by his guides as being a good ford. 
 About four o clock on the morning of the 
 31st of December, after leaving his bag 
 gage and stores under protection of a 
 guard, he pushed on, with a view of carry 
 ing the ford, and surprising the main body 
 of the Indians, supposed to be concentrated 
 on the left bank of the river. On reaching 
 the river, however, about daylight, they 
 found, instead of an easy ford, a deep rapid 
 stream, and no means of crossing, except in 
 an old damaged canoe. The guides had either 
 designedly or blunderingly misled him; as 
 the ford lay about two miles and a-half 
 above, where 250 Indians, under Osceola 
 and Holpotter Tustenuggee (Alligator), lay 
 in ambush, expecting him to cross there. 
 General Clinch, however, succeeded in fer 
 rying over the battalion of regulars, about 
 200 in number, in the old canoe, which, 
 with difficulty, transported six or eight at 
 a time. They took a position in advance, 
 while General Call was actively engaged 
 in crossing the river. But a few of the 
 men had passed, however, before the regu 
 lars were attacked by the Indians, who 
 had discovered that General Clinch had 
 already crossed at the ferry below the 
 ford, and had marched down and taken a 
 strong position in the swamp and scrub, 
 which extended from the river. A spirited 
 contest now ensued, which lasted about an 
 hour and a quarter, during which time the 
 troops made three brilliant charges in the 
 swamp and scrub, compelling the Indians 
 to relinquish the ground and flee to the 
 hummock, and beyond it, for safety. After 
 the third charge, although nearly one-third 
 of their number had been cut down, they 
 were found sufficiently firm and steady to 
 effect the formation of a new line of battle, 
 which gave entire protection to the flanks, 
 as well as the position selected for the troops 
 to recross. General Call, after using 
 every effort to induce the volunteers upon 
 the opposite bank to cross, without suc 
 cess, promptly passed over with the other 
 officers, and rendered important service. 
 The volunteers who refused to cross, ap 
 peared to be panic-struck at the firing of 
 the first shot, and were completely para- 
 Ivsed by the veiling of the savages. 
 
 481 
 
WATTLE OF WETUMPKA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1836. 
 
 After the battle, General Clinch recrossed 
 the river, and returned to Fort Drane, 
 having lost, in the action, four killed and 
 wounded. He himself escaped, although a 
 ball passed through his cap, and another 
 through the sleeve of his coat. The In 
 dians had five killed, including two negroes, 
 and five wounded. Osceola was himself 
 wounded in the battle.* The brief term of 
 the service of the volunteers having ex 
 pired, and most of them expressing an un 
 willingness to remain longer, they were 
 dismissed, after their return to Fort Drane ; 
 and most of them proceeded to their re 
 spective homes, leaving General Clinch 
 with a very inadequate force to protect an 
 extensive and threatened frontier. 
 
 On the 12th of January, 1836, a com 
 pany of 200 mounted volunteers, under 
 Colonel Parish, had a sharp encounter with 
 a large body of Indians, near Wetumpka, 
 in middle Florida. The attack commenced 
 upon the advanced guard, which the In 
 dians had allowed to pass their main body. 
 Colonel Parish, immediately pressing for 
 ward to their support, was suddenly at 
 tacked on both flanks by the enemy in 
 ambush. After an unsuccessful attempt to 
 charge on horseback, the volunteers dis 
 mounted, formed in admirable order, and 
 charged with great gallantry and success. 
 The Indians were forced to retreat and take 
 shelter in a thicket. Night coming on, 
 the volunteers rested on their arms, pre 
 pared to renew the action in the morning ; 
 but during the night the savages effected 
 their escape. Two days after, Colonel 
 Parish, with his force, reached Fort King 
 in safety. He then proceeded to Osceola s 
 town, and destroyed it, and thence passed 
 on to Fort Drane. 
 
 On the 20th of January, Captain Hooker, 
 seeing the opposite bank of the river, on 
 the lower Suwanee, in possession of about 
 thirty Indians, crossed over with nine men, 
 to drive them off. As they landed, two of 
 his men were shot down, one receiving 
 nine balls, and the other five. With his 
 remaining men he boldly charged the 
 enemy. Whilo thus engaged his boat got 
 adrift, and they had no alternative ljut to 
 conquer or die; but, after a close and 
 
 * Osceola was observed foremost of his army 
 in this battle, being well known to General Clinch 
 and many of his men. He wore a red belt and 
 three long feathers. Having taken his stand be 
 hind a tree, he would step boldly out, level his 
 rifle, and bring down a man at every fire. N or was 
 he dislodged until several volleys from whole 
 4-82 
 
 deadly conflict, the savages were routed 
 with severe loss. 
 
 While the events which have been re 
 lated were transpiring in the central and 
 western sections of the Floridian penin 
 sula, the plantations and settlements on its 
 eastern borders were likewise subjected to 
 the merciless ravages of the hostile savages. 
 The militia was ordered out by General 
 Hemandery, who was in command at St. 
 Augustine ; but they were inadequately 
 supplied with munitions and provisions, 
 and were unable, to any considerable ex 
 tent, to follow up the rapid movements of 
 the Indians, or to check the progress of 
 the devastations, of the most alarming and 
 destructive character, which marked their 
 course through East Florida, so long as 
 there was a place left incapable of with 
 standing an attack. More than 500 fami 
 lies were either murdered or driven from 
 their homes, and their possessions pil 
 laged and destroyed by the relentless 
 foe.f A letter from St. Augustine, dated 
 the llth of February, 1836, thus describes 
 the ruin caused by the Indians in East 
 Florida : " The whole country south of 
 this place has been laid waste during the 
 past month. Not a building of any value 
 is left standing. There is not a single 
 house remaining between this city and Cape 
 Florida, a distance of 250 miles; all, all 
 have been burnt to the ground." 
 
 General Winfield Scott was now invested 
 with the chief command in the peninsula, 
 and he arrived at St. Augustine on the 7th 
 of February. Having serious apprehen 
 sions for the situation of General Clinch 
 at Fort Drane (the country all around him 
 being occupied by the hostile savages), 
 General Scott, on his arrival at the former 
 place, immediately dispatched a portion of 
 his troops to the relief of Clinch. A move 
 ment, almost simultaneous, took place on 
 the opposite side of the peninsula. 
 
 General Edmund P. Gaines, the com 
 mander of the south-western department of 
 the United States army, when he first heard 
 of the breaking out of hostilities between 
 the savages and the white settlers in Flo 
 rida, was on a tour of inspection and duty. 
 This was about the middle of January, 
 
 platoons had been fired upon him. The tree be 
 hind which he stood was literally cut to pieces. 
 Drake s Book of the Indians. 
 
 t So stated in the national House of Represen 
 tatives, by Joseph M. White, delegate to congress 
 from the territory of Florida, at the winter session 
 of 1835- 36. 
 
A.D. 
 
 183G.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA, 
 
 [PEACE PROPOSALS. 
 
 1836 ; he being, at that time, in New Or 
 leans. Conceiving Florida to be within his 
 military department, he at once applied to 
 Ihe governor of Louisiana, Edward D. 
 White, to have a regiment of volunteers in 
 readiness, and set out himself directly for 
 the scene of hostilities. When he arrived 
 at Pensacola, he found some United States 
 vessels of war there, under command of 
 Captains Dallas, Bolton, and Webb, who 
 had already commenced operations near 
 Tampa Bay. Before leaving New Orleans, 
 he had ordered Colonel Twiggs to receive 
 into service the Louisiana volunteers, which, 
 with the regular force at Baton Rouge, 
 New Orleans, and other stations in that 
 vicinity, would amount to about 1,100 men. 
 
 On the 26th of January, General Games 
 returned to New Orleans, to hasten on the 
 organisation of the forces ; and, on the 4th 
 of February, embarked with the volunteers 
 and regulars. The former were under the 
 command of Colonel Perifer F. Smith ; and 
 he arrived at Tampa with them, in three 
 steam-boats, on the 9th. On the 13th, he 
 took up the line of march for Fort King, 
 where he arrived on the 22nd, having 
 passed the memorable spot where the mas 
 sacre of the forces under Major Dade oc 
 curred, on the 20th, as related in a pre 
 vious page. 
 
 Finding the garrison at Fort King short 
 of provisions, in consequence of the com 
 munications being cut off by the savages, 
 General Gaines made a brief stay at that 
 fort, and, on the 26th, the army moved 
 toward the Withlacoochee, arriving, on 
 the 27th, at General Clinch s crossing- 
 place. Here, while examining and sound 
 ing the river, he was fired upon by the 
 Indians from the opposite bank, and a 
 skirmish ensued, which continued for half- 
 an-hour, the whites losing one killed and 
 eight wounded. 
 
 On the 28th, the army having resumed 
 its march, was again attacked about two 
 miles from its former position, and a fire 
 was kept up half of the day, during 
 which, Lieutenant Izard, of the United 
 States dragoons, was mortally wounded, 
 and one man killed, and two wounded. On 
 the 29th, as the American force was pre 
 paring to cross the river, another attack 
 was made upon them, the Indians appear 
 ing in great force, from twelve to fifteen 
 hundred having been collected from all 
 quarters since the fight of the preceding 
 day. The battle was kept up for two 
 
 hours, in which one man was killed, and 
 thirty- three wounded. Among the latter 
 was General Gaines, a rifle-ball having 
 passed through his lower lip, knocked out 
 one tooth, and damaged two others. On 
 the 2nd of March, the Indians appeared 
 again, and attacked them, which they con 
 tinued to do daily until the 5th. Mean 
 while, all the provisions of the American 
 troops were exhausted, and they had to 
 kill some of their horses to sustain life. 
 
 On the night of the 5th, Osceola, who 
 commanded the Indians, requested a parley, 
 which was granted, and took place on the 
 morning of the 6th, when the Indians de 
 clared that they did not wish to fight any 
 more, but requested that the United States 
 forces should retire beyond the With 
 lacoochee. Osceola was at the head of the 
 Indian delegation. General Gaines as 
 sured them that they would be subdued ; 
 that a large force was on the way into their 
 country, and that, unless they submitted, 
 every Indian taken with arms in" his 
 hands would be shot. When this was in 
 terpreted to the Indians, they said they 
 would hold a council, and return an an 
 swer in the afternoon : at which time 
 the Indians met, and repeated what they 
 had said in the morning that they 
 had lost many of their men by death and 
 wounds, and were tired of the war ; but, as 
 Micanopy, their head chief, was absent, 
 they wished to have a cessation of hostilities 
 until he could be consulted. They were 
 answered, that if they would retire south of 
 the Withlacoochee, and attend a council 
 when required by the United States com 
 missioners, they should not be molested. 
 To this they agreed. Unfortunately, Gen 
 eral Clinch, who had been summoned by 
 General Gaines, by express, on the 28th of 
 February, to come down on the opposite 
 side of the Withlacoochee, and thus fall 
 upon the rear of the Indians, at this moment 
 appeared, apparently threatening an attack 
 upon the main body of the enemy. Sup 
 posing themselves the dupes of a stratagem, 
 by which the whites had prepared to cut 
 them off, the Indians fled with the utmost 
 precipitation. General Clinch came with 
 500 men, and abundant supplies, which, in 
 the famished state of the forces under 
 General Gaines, was an agreeable offset to 
 the interruption of the pacific arrangements 
 with Osceola. 
 
 On the 9th, learning that he had been 
 superseded in the direction of military 
 
 483 
 
 I i 
 
INDIAN STRATEGY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1836. 
 
 operations in Florida, General Gaines trans 
 ferred the command to General Clinch, and 
 left for New Orleans; and the latter returned 
 with the united forces to Fort Drane, on 
 the following day. General Scott, mean 
 while, since his arrival in Florida, had been 
 occupied in arranging his plan of operations. 
 He had established his camp at Picolota, 
 or Pilotka, on the St. John s river, about 
 twenty miles south-west of St. Augustine. 
 He had full authority from the war depart 
 ment to call into service such numbers of 
 the militia of the neighbouring states as he 
 might deem necessary for a prompt termi 
 nation of the war. South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Alabama, and Mississippi, answered the call 
 with a promptness which did honour to 
 their liberality and patriotism. Louisiana 
 had already done so, as has been seen, in 
 answer to the requfsition of General Gaines. 
 By the end of February, General Scott 
 had about 5,000 troops collected, including 
 regulars, volunteers, and militia. His 
 general plan of operations was to move 
 simultaneously, as neai ly as practicable, in 
 three columns, from Fort Drane, Volusia, 
 and Tampa, upon the great body of the 
 enemy, supposed to be near the cove of the 
 Withlacoochee ; to march himself with the 
 column from Fort Drane, under Clinch ; 
 and to give instructions to General Eustis 
 and Colonel Lindsay, the commanders of 
 the two other columns, to so far deviate 
 from approximation of the three columns, 
 as to pursue any considerable body of the 
 enemy, or any considerable fresh trail that 
 might be discovered. This plan was un 
 doubtedly a good one ; and could it have 
 been initiated a few weeks earlier, would, 
 in all human probability, have been crowned 
 with success. The Indians would have 
 been surrounded, and their retreat into the 
 everglades* of the south been cut off. It 
 was to gain time to accomplish this move 
 ment, that the subtle Osceola availed him 
 self of the artifice of getting General Gaines 
 to agree to a cessation of hostilities. While 
 thus holding the United States forces in 
 check, through a temporary armistice, the 
 Seminole warriors improved the opportunity 
 to remove their women and children into 
 those- fastnesses, almost impenetrable by the 
 whites, which they now made their perma 
 nent abode, and where, when surprised and 
 liable to capture on the plains, they could 
 retreat with little danger of pursuit. 
 
 The " intrusion," as General Scott terms 
 * An almost impenetrable marsh. 
 484 
 
 he movement, of General Gaines, called 
 or some modification of the details of the 
 
 n ; but after organising his forces, and 
 getting them into as good a state of disci- 
 aline as the brief period he could devote to 
 ;hat purpose would admit of, the two 
 olumns, under Clinch and Eustis, took up 
 the line of march on the 26th of March, 
 and arrived at, or near Tampa Bay, on the 
 5th and 6th of April ; and the third column, 
 under Colonel Lindsay, arrived from the 
 nterior about the same time. Here, at 
 .his great southern depot, General Scott 
 lad expected to find an ample supply of 
 provisions and refreshments so much 
 needed by men and horses, harassed and 
 worn-out by long and fatiguing marches. 
 But he was doomed to disappointment. In 
 addition to the scarcity of provisions, the 
 oppressive heat of the weather, as early as 
 the 20th of April, and unwholesome water, 
 produced sickness among the troops. But, 
 notwithstanding these discouraging circum 
 stances, General Scott employed the soldiers 
 who were not in hospital in scouring the 
 territory, and penetrating, as far as possible, 
 into the everglades. Though worn down 
 with tedious marches, unceasing vigils, and 
 repeated disappointments, the men still 
 struggled on, hoping, almost against hope, 
 that the Indians would be tempted to risk a 
 general action. The latter were, however, 
 too wily for this. They were well aware 
 that their security lay in moving in bands 
 of not more than ten or fifteen each. Thus, 
 with every hummock and swamp for a 
 citadel, from, which they could rush out 
 and unexpectedly attack small detachments 
 of the troops, and then as suddenly dis 
 appear beyond pursuit, they continued, day 
 and night, to annoy and harass the whites 
 with almost entire impunity. General 
 Scott thus had the mortification of seeing 
 the execution of his plans thwarted, his 
 troops disheartened and demoralised by 
 want of effective service, and wasting away 
 by disease, from causes already named, and 
 his campaign likely to close without decisive 
 results, arising from circumstances entirely 
 beyond his control. To all this was finally 
 superadded the implied loss of the confidence 
 of government, as he was recalled from 
 Florida on the 30th of May, and the com 
 mand was temporarily assumed by Governor 
 C. K. Call, General Clinch having resigned. 
 
 So much had been expected from the 
 experience and military capacity of General 
 Scott, and so firm was the popular confidence 
 
A.D. 1S37.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SCOTT ACQUITTED. 
 
 in his ability to subdue the Seminole rebel 
 lion, that the difficulties and embarrass 
 ments incident to movements against an 
 enemy, scattered over an unexplored terri 
 tory of nearly 50,000 square miles, abound 
 ing in swamps and morasses, without roads, 
 bridges, guides, subsistence, or means of 
 transport, had been almost overlooked ; and 
 his campaign, therefore, in the popular 
 estimation which generally looks alone to 
 results was a failure. General Scott, in 
 the court of inquiry, called to sit in judg 
 ment upon the manner in which his cam 
 paign was conducted, thus prefaced his 
 defence: "If by failure, the common 
 idea of disaster, defeat, or repulse be un 
 derstood, then the term does great injus 
 tice to me and the brave regulars and 
 volunteers whom I had the honour to com 
 mand. Sir, we suffered no defeat, check, 
 or repulse. The enemy, encountered by 
 the several columns and detachments, were, 
 in every instance, beaten, driven, and scat 
 tered beyond the reach of possible pursuit. 
 * * * It is true we did not succeed in 
 sending off the great body of the Semi- 
 noles to the west of the Mississippi. In this 
 object, ardently desired by all, there was 
 certainly a failure ; and the same thing may 
 be said of the summer and autumn cam 
 paign which followed ; although the com 
 manders had the benefit of the knowledge 
 of the country and the enemy, acquired by 
 previous operations ; the benefit of the 
 roads recently opened ; the plans which 
 had been essayed and suggested ; longer 
 time for preparation and operation ; an 
 auxiliary Indian force, which was denied 
 me ; and, above all, the power of inviting 
 the enemy to surrender, and of holding ne 
 gotiation. With this great power I was 
 not armed. My instructions were, to re 
 duce the enemy to unconditional submission ; 
 to hold no parley, no negotiation ; not even 
 to say, as the price of surrender, that kind 
 treatment might be expected ; much less, 
 that the beneficial stipulations in the last 
 treaty, in favour of those Indians, should 
 be carried into execution by the United 
 States, because any such assurance, on my 
 part, would have been a condition" 
 
 The following are the reasons assigned 
 by General Scott for the failure of his cam 
 paign : 1st. The brief time allowed him ; 
 he leaving Washington for Florida at 
 eight hours notice ; and the short term of 
 service of the great body of the troops. 
 2nd. The unexpected intrusion of General 
 VOL. IT. 3 u 
 
 Gaines. 3rd. Insufficient means of trans 
 port. 4th. Insufficient supply of hard bread 
 and also bacon for marches. 5th. Ueat 
 of the climate, unwholesome water, and 
 sickness. 6th. Want of suitable grazing 
 and forage for horses. 7th. Lack of good 
 roads and bridges. 8th. Want of an Indian 
 auxiliary force. 9th. Want of guides ; and, 
 10th. The limited time for active opera 
 tions. 
 
 The court of inquiry, after a long and 
 tedious examination of witnesses, expressed 
 the opinion, that the failure of the campaign 
 under General Scott resulted from the want 
 of time to operate ; the insalubrity of the 
 climate after the middle of April ; the 
 impervious swamps and hummocks that 
 abound in the country occupied by the 
 enemy, affording him cover and retreat at 
 every step ; an absence of all knowledge by 
 the general, or any part of his fcrces, of the 
 topography of the country ; together with 
 the difficulty of obtaining, in time, the 
 means of transporting supplies for the army. 
 The court of inquiry fuither expressed the 
 opinion, made up from the testimony of 
 many officers of rank and intelligence, who 
 served in the campaign, that General Scott 
 was zealous and indefatigable in the dis 
 charge of his duties ; and that his plan of 
 campaign was well devised, and prosecuted 
 with energy, steadiness, and ability. This 
 opinion of the court of inquiry was ap 
 proved by the president of the United 
 States, and promulgated in general orders, 
 on the 21st of March, 1837. 
 
 The following extract from the report 
 of General Jessup, to the war department, 
 under date of February 7th, 1837 he at 
 that time being in command in Florida 
 may appropriately be given in explanation : 
 " As an act of justice to all my predecessors 
 in command, I consider it my duty to say 
 that the difficulties attending military ope 
 rations in this country (Florida), can be 
 properly appreciated only by those ac 
 quainted with them . I have had advantages 
 which neither of them possessed, in better 
 preparations, and more abundant supplies ; 
 and I found it impossible to operate with 
 any kind of success until I had established 
 a line of depots across the country. This 
 is a service which no man would seek with 
 any other view than the mere performance 
 of his duty ; distinction, or increase of repu 
 tation, is out of the question ; and the diffi 
 culties are such, that the best-concerted 
 plans may result in absolute failure, and 
 
 485 
 
INDIAN MASSACRE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1837. 
 
 the best-established reputation be lost with 
 out a fault. If I have , at any time, said 
 aught in disparagement of the operations 
 of others in Florida, either verbally or in 
 writing, officially or unofficially, knowing 
 the country as I now know it, I consider 
 myself bound, as a man of honour, solemnly 
 to retract it." 
 
 When General Scott was withdrawn 
 from the command in Florida, he was 
 ordered to Columbus, Georgia, to conduct 
 the operations against the Creeks, still 
 occupying the south-eastern section of 
 Alabama, who had already exhibited signs 
 of a determination to join the Seminoles 
 in their hostilities against the whites. 
 Osceola had sent the war-belt to all the 
 tribes, as far north even as the Winne- 
 bagoes, on the Upper Mississippi. Thus it 
 was not difficult to foresee that a strong 
 sympathy would be felt by the Creeks for 
 the kindred race, which not even the 
 influence of the better- disposed of their 
 chiefs would be powerful enough to pre 
 vent developing itself in bloody outbreaks, 
 more especially when they had among them 
 Neamathla, and other chiefs who had left 
 the Seminole country, filled with a bitter 
 hatred of the whites, to incite them to hos 
 tilities. Early in the month of May, they 
 commenced their barbarous warfare against 
 the defenceless and unsuspecting inhabi 
 tants, near the Chattahoochee river in Ala 
 bama. Entire families were cut off, with 
 out exception, by the scalping-knife, the 
 tomahawk, and that more deadly invention of 
 civilisation the rifle ; their houses pillaged 
 and burnt, and their plantations laid waste. 
 Panic-stricken, the survivors abandoned 
 their homes, and fled for protection to 
 Columbus, on the eastern shore of that 
 river. The Creek towns and tribes who 
 were guilty of these atrocities, were portions 
 of the Ochees, the Hitchetas, the Pahlo- 
 cholokolos, the Sowakolos, and a portion of 
 the Ufallays. They were led on by old 
 Neamathla, of whom we have spoken pre 
 viously, the chief of the Hitchetas; Jim 
 Henry, and Neo Mico. Many friendly 
 Indians immediately joined the whites, one 
 of their principal leaders being a chief 
 called Jim Bay. On the 10th of May, a 
 party of the hostile savages approached 
 within thirty or forty yards of Fort Mitchell, 
 which was located in the Chattahoochee, 
 about fifteen miles above Columbus en 
 tered the hospital, and carried off what they 
 pleased, the garrison deeming it best not 
 486 
 
 to disturb them. On the 14th, the mail- 
 coach, from Montgomery to Columbus, was 
 attacked when within about twenty miles 
 of the latter place, and the driver and two 
 passengers were killed. On the 15th, the 
 Indians attacked a steamboat that was 
 ascending the Chattahoochee, eight miles 
 below Columbus, killing her pilot, and 
 wounding several others. She was run 
 ashore, and the passengers were fortunate 
 enough to escape with their lives, while the 
 Indians burnt the boat. The passengers 
 of another steamboat, the Georgian, were 
 not so fortunate. The Indians attacked 
 the boat while lying at the wharf of 
 Roanoke, set it on fire, and all on board, 
 except the engineer, were consumed in 
 the burning vessel. The savages then set 
 fire to the town, and destroyed it ; but the 
 inhabitants escaped to the fort. Invinton, 
 a flourishing town on the Georgia side of 
 the river, soon after shared the same fate. 
 
 A letter, published in the Richmond En 
 quirer, dated " Talbotton, Georgia, May 
 llth," gives a fearful but vivid picture of 
 affairs at this time in the Creek country. " I 
 wrote you yesterday, and gave an account of 
 the hostile movements of the Creek Indians, 
 and the commencement of their murderous 
 career. We have full information here 
 to-day of the distressing state of things 
 among the whites who have settled in that 
 territory. The Indians are killing all 
 men, women, and children. Vast numbers 
 have been butchered, without doubt ; and 
 the whole country, on this side of the Chat 
 tahoochee, is in uproar and confusion. The 
 population of the territory had become con 
 siderable, and those who have been fortu 
 nate enough to escape have come over in 
 droves on the Georgia side : some with a 
 part of their children, some who have lost 
 their children, some their husbands, and 
 many children without father or mother ; 
 some were found, as they were wandering 
 about, so young that they could give no 
 account who their parents were. So perfect 
 a mixture and confusion was never wit 
 nessed before. Many havo seen a part of 
 their families murdered. One gentleman 
 saw his father, and his mother and sisters, 
 shot down near him. Some of the dead 
 have been brought over shockingly mangled. 
 The whole nation is in hostile array. The 
 general impression is, that a part of the 
 Seminoles have come up among them, and 
 the town of Columbus is in great danger of 
 an attack." 
 
A.D 
 
 1837.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [DEVASTATION. 
 
 The facts in the preceding letter, as 
 well as the following, stated in the Colum 
 bus Sentinel of a little later date, are fully 
 substantiated from other sources. "On 
 Monday we received information that hos 
 tilities had commenced on the road between 
 Columbus and Montgomery, at the Uchee 
 bridge, and further on ; and, in the evening, 
 the bridge at this place, and the streets lead 
 ing from it, were thronged with the unfortu 
 nate refugees, who were fleeing before their 
 savage neighbours. The pitiable condition 
 of many of them was past the power of 
 description. Wives separated from their 
 husbands, and parents from their chil 
 drenall dismayed, all terror-stricken 
 presented a scene which we never again 
 desire to see. An interesting-looking girl, 
 just blooming into womanhood, was brought 
 in on horseback, behind a benevolent 
 stranger, who had found her in the Creek 
 country, making her way, unattended, to 
 this place. She started with her parents ; 
 but before they had proceeded far, they 
 were brutally shot down before her eyes. 
 She fled to the woods, and escaped from 
 her savage pursuers, and was found and 
 brought to Columbus, as above stated. A 
 young man, who arrived at this place, also 
 witnessed the savage murder of his parents. 
 Another young man, in the act of fleeing, 
 perceived the Indians dragging away his 
 sister. He returned, declaring he would 
 rescue her, or die in the attempt ; and he 
 has not been heard of. From this time 
 deeds of barbarity have been too numerous 
 to particularise. A woman was brought in 
 on Tuesday, wounded in the hand, whose 
 husband had been shot the preceding even 
 ing at the Uchee bridge. Colonel A. B. 
 Dawson s negroes, who were taken by the 
 Indians, and made their escape, state that 
 they saw three corpses on the road near 
 the Uchee bridge a man, woman, and child, 
 who had all been murdered. Accounts to 
 the 17th of May further state, that the 
 Indians had entered the house of one 
 family, and murdered the whole, including 
 husband, wife, and six children. All were 
 scalped, and the children beheaded." 
 
 The governor of Georgia, William 
 Schley, raised a volunteer force, and took 
 the field in person. Generals Scott and 
 Jessup were at Fort Mitchell on the 3rd 
 of June. The former left on that day, 
 with 150 men, for Alabama, to take com 
 mand of the troops in that state. On the 
 following day, learning that a party of 
 
 Indians were about to cross the Chattahoo- 
 chee, on their way to Florida, General 
 Scott immediately took measures to inter 
 cept them. The day previous, another 
 party of Indians was stopped by a com 
 pany of Georgia volunteers, after a prettv 
 severe skirmish, in which one white and 
 several Indians were killed, and two chiefs, 
 Ealahago and Jim Henry, were wounded. 
 As the action took place near the river, 
 running high and wide between the con 
 tending parties, the results were trifling. 
 Near the end of June, a young woman was 
 discovered by a party who were scouting 
 on Flint river, about three miles from 
 Cambridge : she had been wounded by a 
 shot in her breast. On the 26th of June, 
 a large party of Indians massacred all the 
 famil} -, thirteen in number, to which she 
 belonged, except herself and her father, who 
 made his escape. After being shot, she 
 feigned death ; and as the Indians took no 
 scalps, she escaped. 
 
 By the middle of June, so complete had 
 been the devastation of the savages, that 
 not a single house belonging to the whites 
 was left standing in the Indian country. 
 On the 13th, in an attack on an Indian 
 town by a detachment of troops, twenty- 
 four Indians, including three chiefs, were 
 made prisoners. These were taken to Fort 
 Mitchell, and held as hostages, and word 
 sent to the hostile party, that if they did 
 not come in and surrender, the prisoners 
 would be put to death. The next day, 
 over one hundred came in and surrendered. 
 These were soon followed by others; and 
 on the 22nd of June, a party of savages, 
 numbering about 1,000, was brought into 
 Fort Mitchell by a battalion of Alabama 
 cavalry, under the command of General 
 Patterson. The warriors, about 200 in 
 number, were placed within the walls 
 of the fort; while the remainder, con 
 stituting the women and children, were 
 encamped outside. The names of the hos 
 tile chiefs who were among the captured, 
 or had given themselves up, were Nea- 
 raathla, Octo Archo-Emathla, Miccocholey, 
 or the Blind King , Tastee-Nuggee, Neo 
 Mico, and Chapko-yar-bar-Hadjo. On the 
 1st of July, Jim Henry was captured by a 
 band of .friendly Indians, under Jim 
 Bay ; and on the same day, about 1,500 
 of the tribe were sent off to the territory 
 assigned them beyond the Mississippi, under 
 the treaty of February 14th, 1833, and to 
 which a large portion of the nation had 
 
 487 
 
INDIANS DEFEATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1837. 
 
 already emigrated. In the course of the 
 summer, between 3,000 and 4,000 Creeks 
 were transported to their future resi 
 dence, and peace and safety restored 
 to the settlers of Southern Alabama and 
 Georgia. 
 
 Governor Call, as we have already 
 stated, on the retirement of General Scott, 
 assumed command, temporarily, of the mili 
 tary forces in Florida, under instructions 
 from the war department. Active opera 
 tions were suspended, and, at the same time, 
 the troops were posted in healthy situa 
 tions, so as to protect the settlements, till 
 the season would permit the resumption of 
 offensive operations; preparations being, 
 in the meanwhile, made for doing so, when 
 it could be done, in the most effective 
 manner. The Indians remained compara 
 tively quiet, though occasional hostile de 
 monstrations were made by them. But a 
 few days after General Scott -left Florida, 
 an attack was made, by about 200 Indians 
 under Osceola, on the stockade at Micanopy, 
 garrisoned by a detachment of regulars, 
 under Major Heileman. The Indians made 
 their appearance in front of the fort, at 
 a distance of three- fourths of a mile, 
 apparently to draw out the garrison. 
 Major Heileman immediately sent out three 
 detachments one under Captain Lee, to 
 skirt a hummock on the right, and gain the 
 left of the enemy ; Lieutenant Wheelock, 
 with his dragoons, to make a corresponding 
 movement on the left ; and Lieutenant 
 Humphries, with a detachment of artillery, 
 to move across a field in front. The prompti 
 tude with which these orders were obeyed, 
 brought the three detachments immediately 
 in contact with the enenw. After an hour 
 and twenty minutes of severe fighting, the 
 Indians were repulsed, and driven two 
 miles into their strongholds. Major Heile 
 man died on the 27th of June, from over- 
 
 exertion in this battle, having had, the day 
 before his death, the brevet of Lieutenant- 
 colonel conferred on him for his conduct 
 on this occasion. 
 
 Major B. K. Pierce, who assumed com 
 mand at Micanopy after Colonel Heileman s 
 death, conducted an expedition, on the 
 12th of August, against the Indians, at 
 Fort Drane, which had been evacuated by 
 the United States troops in June, on 
 account of its unhealthiness. The Indians 
 had congregated there to gather the sugar 
 cane and maize growing on the extensive 
 plantation of General Clinch. They were 
 488 
 
 under the command of Aspeika, or Sam 
 Jones, and were completely taken by sur 
 prise. After a spirited contest of an hour, 
 they were routed, and driven three-fourths 
 of a mile into an extensive hummock, leav 
 ing ten of their number dead on the field. 
 Major Pierce s loss was one killed and 
 sixteen wounded. The force engaged was 
 110 men, against double the number of 
 Indians. 
 
 General Jessup had been ordered to take 
 command in Florida, as soon as the sub 
 jection and emigration of the Creeks in 
 Georgia and Alabama would permit. He 
 reached Tallahassee in September, where he 
 met General Call. As the latter had al 
 ready arranged a campaign, General Jessup 
 declined to take the command, in the 
 absence of positive written instructions, 
 but volunteered to act with a body of 
 troops in co-operation with him. The 
 Tennessee mounted volunteers, numbering 
 1,200 men, under General Armstrong, who 
 had served through the Creek campaign, 
 now joined General Call. A regiment of 
 Creek Indians, who had rendered efficient 
 service, under the lead of the chiefs Jim 
 Bay and Paddy Carr, were mustered into 
 the Florida service; under the command of 
 Colonel John Lane, of the United States 
 army. They arrived at Fort Brooke on 
 the oth of October, and entered at once 
 upon active service, scouring the country 
 in all directions, and having several se 
 verely-contested fights with the enemy. 
 To distinguish them in battle from the 
 hostile Indians, they wore white turbans. 
 
 On the 28th of September, Governor Call 
 commenced active operations. He marched 
 from the Suwanee, at Old Town, with 
 about 1,400 men, in the confident belief 
 of soon putting an end to the war. They 
 reached Fort Drane on the 1st of October, 
 where the fires of the hostile Indians were 
 still burning. Osceola and his band owed 
 their escape from capture to the vigilance 
 of a faithful spy, who gave him warning 
 just in time to remove. Here Governor 
 Call waited until the evening of the 6th of 
 October, to be joined by Major Pierce, who 
 was to supply him with provisions, which 
 the latter effected by an extraordinary 
 effort, having marched sixty-six miles in 
 two days. 
 
 With a supply of eight days rations, a 
 general movement was made for the cove 
 of the Withlacoochee. On the way, they 
 fell-in with an encampment of Seminoles ; 
 
A.D. 1836.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HUMMOCK BATTLE. 
 
 killed thirteen, and took four women and 
 eight children prisoners. On reaching the 
 river, they found, from its sudden rise, it j 
 could not be crossed. They were conse- 
 quently obliged to return to Fort Drane 
 for supplies. At General Games battle 
 ground, they fell-in with the Creek volun 
 teers, who returned with them to Fort 
 Drane, where the earthly career of Colonel 
 Lane, soon after, met with a melancholy 
 termination. He was attacked with a dis 
 ease in the head, resembling brain fever ; 
 and, being left alone in his tent, was found, 
 a few minutes after, expiring on his own 
 sword. He had either, in a fit of dizziness, 
 fallen upon it accidentally, or, in a sudden 
 aberration of mind, caused by the nature 
 of his disease, had committed suicide. On 
 his death, the command of the regiment 
 devolved on Lieu tenant- colonel Brown. 
 
 The army remained at Fort Drane until 
 the llth of November, when Governor Call, 
 with a force numbering 2,100 men, includ 
 ing the mounted Tennesseeans and the Creek 
 volunteers, marched once more for the With - 
 lacoochee, which they reached and crossed 
 on the 13th, though at some peril, four of 
 the regulars being drowned in crossing. 
 
 The army had now arrived at the Cove, 
 but no Indians were visible ; and it ap 
 peared that the place had been some time 
 abandoned. The division, under General 
 Armstrong, crossed the creek to Negro Town 
 on the following morning. Instead of one 
 town they found two, and burnt them both. 
 They discovered an old negro, who informed 
 them that the Seminoles had gone into the 
 Wahoo Swamp. 
 
 Governor Call then made the following 
 disposition of his forces : Colonel Pierce, 
 with 250 regulars, the Creek regiment, and 
 Colonel "Warren s command of mounted 
 Floridians, were to pass out of the Cove by 
 the only practicable outlet in that direction ; 
 and, after scouring the country to the west 
 and south of the river, to rejoin the main 
 body, about the 20th, near the memorable 
 battle-ground of Dade ; Governor Call, in 
 the meantime, was to march in the direction 
 of Wahoo Swamp, guided by the river, 
 with the Tennessee mounted brigade, two 
 companies of artillery, and the Florida foot. 
 Both divisions took up the line of march 
 on the 16th. On the 17th, a large body of 
 Indians were discovered by Governor Call, 
 encamped near a hummock; and the 1st 
 regiment of Tennessee volunteers, under 
 Colonel Bradford, was detached to attack 
 
 them. The Indians were taken by surprise ; 
 but they instantly retreated to the hum 
 mock, and waited the approach of the troops. 
 A conflict ensued, which lasted two hours, 
 the Indians maintaining their ground till a 
 charge was made. The Tennesseeans hav 
 ing dismounted, the savages fled, leaving 
 twenty of their number dead on the field, 
 and all their baggage; while, from the 
 traces of blood, as great a number of dead 
 or wounded were supposed to have been 
 carried off. Colonel Bradford had two men 
 killed, and ten or twelve wounded. 
 
 On the 18th, leaving his baggage-train 
 under a guard, Governor Call marched 
 again, with 550 Tennesseeans, mostly foot, 
 to the Wahoo Swamp. After proceeding 
 about three miles, they struck an Indian 
 trail, which led through two dense hum 
 mocks, and across two creeks, into a large 
 field, surrounded on three sides by hum 
 mocks. The Indians were evidently re 
 treating to gain securer positions, and so 
 to begin the attack. At length, making 
 a stand, the whites immediately formed 
 their line of attack. The foot, under Colo 
 nel Trousdale, were formed in open order 
 to charge into the hummock; while the 
 horse were thrown back to the right and 
 left, to protect the flank, and to act as a 
 corps de reserve. The word had not been 
 given to advance, when a heavy fire was 
 opened upon them, from a hummock, along 
 their whole front. They moved slowly 
 forward, exchanging shots at short inter 
 vals. The command to charge being given, 
 it was responded to with impetuosity ; but 
 the Indians stood their ground, and fought 
 desperately, hand to hand, their wings at 
 the same time attacking both flanks of the 
 army, and a small body of about fifty at 
 tacked its rear. The battle was thus 
 fiercely contested for about thirty minutes, 
 when a determined charge was made on 
 the Indians, which broke and dispersed 
 them in every direction, twenty- five of 
 them being left dead on the field. The 
 loss, on the part of the whites, was three 
 killed and eighteen wounded. The men 
 being exhausted, and night approaching, 
 the army returned to its appointed place, 
 so as to join with the forces under Colonel 
 Pierce, near the battle-ground of Major 
 Dade. 
 
 Colonel Pierce arrived on the 20th ; and 
 the next morning, the entire force moved 
 for the Wahoo Swamp, in three columns, 
 the Tennesseeans and regulars, and Colonel 
 
 489 
 
DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1836. 
 
 Warren s mounted Floridians, on the right ; 
 the battalion of artillery, and a detachment 
 of Florida volunteers, under Colonel Pierce, 
 forming the centre; and the Creek regi 
 ment, under Lieutenant-colonel Brown and 
 Major Morris, on the left. When they 
 came to the battle-ground of the 18th, 
 they found it in possession of the Indians. 
 As the right wing advanced, a heavy fire was 
 opened upon it ; but they did not answer 
 until they got into the midst of the Indians, 
 when a charge was made upon these, and 
 they gave way and retreated. When the 
 direction of their retreat was ascertained, 
 through a party in reserve, the division 
 under Colonel Pierce, with the Creek In 
 dians, were ordered to pursue ; and the 
 regiment under Colonel Trousdale, and 
 mounted Floridians, under Colonel Warren, 
 were soon after sent to support them. 
 Taking a trail to the right, the larger 
 portion of the regulars and Tennesseeans, 
 unfortunately became involved in an almost 
 impassable morass, where no horse could 
 move, and where the men were obliged to 
 wade waist-deep in mud and water. A 
 portion of the Creeks on the left, led by 
 Colonel Brown, taking a better path, fol 
 lowed close upon the enemy, and dis 
 covered them posted on the opposite side of 
 a deep and difficult morass. In attempting 
 the passage of this, Major Monroe was 
 killed, and sunk in the stream. A sharp 
 engagement then commenced between the 
 hostile Indians and the friendly Creeks, 
 and it was soon evident that the latter 
 would be overpowered unless supported. 
 Their position was becoming momentarily 
 more and more critical, when two compa 
 nies of the Florida volunteers, under Cap 
 tain Graves and Lieutenant Myrick, three 
 companies of artillery, under Major Gard 
 ner, and Colonel Warner, with his mounted 
 Floridians, reached the scene of action. As 
 soon as they arrived, they were succes 
 sively formed on the bank of the moras s 
 and opened a deadly fire on the enemy^ 
 At about half-past three in the afternoon. 
 493 
 
 after four hours continued fighting, the 
 enemy s fire had nearly ceased. Two alter 
 natives now remained the one to attempt 
 a passage of the morass ; the other to return 
 with their killed and wounded to camp. 
 The order, in fact, was given to force the 
 passage of the morass, and to charge the 
 nemy at the point of the bayonet. After 
 onsultation, however, it was determined 
 to abandon the attempt, because of the 
 exhausted state of the ammunition, and 
 the supposed impracticability of the pas 
 sage, which had previously been attempted 
 without success. In addition tc which, 
 the lateness of the hour it being nearly 
 night rendered it impossible to pursue the 
 enemy, even if the passage should be suc 
 cessfully accomplished. The troops, con 
 sequently, returned to their late encamp 
 ment that night; and the next day, in 
 consequence of the want of supplies, par 
 ticularly for the large number of horses, 
 Governor Call returned, with his whole 
 force, to Volusia. The American loss was 
 eight killed, and eleven wounded. 
 
 General Jessup reached Tampa Bay on 
 the 24th of October, with 400 Alabama 
 volunteers ; but from want of means of trans 
 port and supplies, he was detained there 
 till the 27th of November, when he pro 
 ceeded to join Governor Call, at Volusia ; 
 and, in accordance with instructions from 
 Washington, on the 8th of December, re 
 lieved Governor Call of the command of 
 the Florida army. 
 
 Determined to push the campaign with 
 energy, General Jessup, on the 12th of De 
 cember, marched with a large force for the 
 Wahoo Swamp ; but, on reaching there, no 
 Indians were found. On the 17th he 
 marched for Tampa, taking the north bank 
 of the Withlacoochee for his route ; and 
 Colonel Foster took a parallel course, on 
 the south bank of the river. A single In 
 dian only was met with. General Jessup, 
 in his report of this movement, pertinently 
 said " The difficulty is, not to fight the 
 enemy, but to find him." 
 
A.T>. 1837.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ATTACK ON FORT MELLON. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SECOND SEMINOLE OR FLORIDA WAR CONTINUED. 
 
 ON the 22nd of January, 1837, General 
 Jessup made a movement, with the design 
 of attacking another stronghold of the In 
 dians at the head waters of the Okalawha. 
 On the 23rd, a detachment, under Colonel 
 Caulfield, was dispatched to attack Osuchee, 
 whose rendezvous was on the borders of the 
 Ahapopka lake. Osuchee was surprised, 
 and, with three of his warriors, killed ; and 
 nine women and children, and eight negroes 
 captured : from them it was ascertained 
 that the main bod} 7 of the Seminoles had 
 gone southward. Pursuit was immediately 
 made, and, on the 27th, they were dis 
 covered on the Hatchee-Sustee, in and 
 about the Great Cypress Swamp. A suc 
 cessful charge was made upon them, and 
 twenty-five Indians and negroes, chiefly 
 women and children, and their horses and 
 baggage, were captured. Colonel Hender 
 son pursued the fugitive warriors into a 
 swamp, across the Hatchee-Sustee river, and 
 thence into a more extensive swamp, where 
 a larger force was required to continue the 
 pursuit. He sent a messenger to General 
 Jessup, informing him of his situation ; and 
 the disposable force of General Armistead s 
 brigade, Major Graham s infantry, and Ma 
 jor Morris s Indian warriors, were ordered 
 to Colonel Henderson s support. The main 
 body of the Indians was soon overtaken by 
 Major Norris, on the border of a consider 
 able stream, some twenty-five yards wide, 
 in the midst of a swamp. The hostile In 
 dians were in possession of the opposite 
 side ; and, when Major Morris s warriors 
 came up, a skirmish ensued. The creek 
 was difficult to cross, and the Indians had 
 passed it by two trees felled from the op 
 posite banks. These furnished a sure mark 
 for the Indians rifles, and a few could 
 oppose the passage against a much greater 
 number. The whites and friendly In 
 dians, however, spread themselves up and 
 down the river, by which the hostile In 
 dians were exposed to a cross fire, and soon 
 began to abandon their position. The order 
 being now given to cross the creek, Captain 
 Morris was the first to advance on the log, 
 followed by the other officers and men. 
 Having all crossed safely, the Indians, 
 
 after a few attempts to stand against them, 
 were finally put to flight, and the troops 
 returned to camp, which they reached 
 about ten o clock at night. 
 
 On the next morning, the 28th, General 
 Jessup sent a prisoner to Jumper, and the 
 other hostile chiefs, with an offer of peace, 
 on a strict fulfilment by them of the 
 treaty ; while the army moved forward and 
 occupied a position on Lake Tohopekaliga, 
 within a few miles of the point at which 
 the Cypress Swamp approaches it, and 
 where several hundred head of cattle were 
 obtained. The prisoner sent to Jumper, 
 by General Jessup, returned on the night 
 of the 29th, with pacific messages from Al 
 ligator and Abraham ; and, on the 31st, 
 Abraham visited the general in his camp. 
 After a brief interview he returned to the 
 Indians ; and, on the 3rd of February, 
 again appeared, bringing with him Jumper 
 and Alligator, with two sub-chiefs ; one a 
 nephew of Micanopy, named IIolatooch.ee. 
 These chiefs entered into an arrangement 
 to meet General Jessup at Fort Dade, with 
 the other chiefs of the nation, on the 18th 
 of February, and also promised to send out 
 runners, and cause hostilities to be sus 
 pended until the conference should have 
 taken place. 
 
 Notwithstanding this promise, however, 
 ten days before the time assigned to treat 
 with General Jessup, on the 8th of Febru 
 ary, an attack was made on Fort Mellon, or 
 Camp Monroe, on Lake Monroe (com 
 manded by Colonel A. C. "W". Fanning), by 
 a band of 200 Seminoles, under Coacoochee, 
 or Wildcat. A little before daylight, the 
 garrison was aroused by the war-whoop, and 
 the men sprang at once to the breastworks. 
 A sharp contest ensued. The men, being 
 recruits, at first wasted their ammunition, 
 by throwing away their shot; they soon, 
 however, recovered their presence of mind, 
 and acted well. 
 
 Lieutenant Thomas was ordered to man 
 the Sautee, a steam-boat, lying in the lake, 
 under cover of the fort, and to serve a 6- 
 pounder, which was on board of her, upon 
 the right of the Indians. This he was 
 enabled to effect, and they were soon driven 
 
 491 
 
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1837. 
 
 from that position. They pertinaciously 
 hung, however, upon the front and right 
 flank for nearly three hours, but at last 
 retired, evidently weary of the contest. 
 Captain Mellon, of the 2nd regiment of 
 artillery,, received a ball in his breast soon 
 after the contest commenced, and fell dead 
 at his post. Fifteen others were wounded, 
 some dangerously. None of the Indians 
 were found dead on the field ; but several 
 trails were discovered, apparently made by 
 dragging off dead bodies. 
 
 The Seminoles engaged in this attack, 
 apparently acted in violation of the armis 
 tice just agreed upon with Jessup, though 
 it is possible that they had not been in 
 formed of the arrangement. Through the 
 mediation of the friendly Creeks, after 
 much delay, and various understandings 
 and stipulations among all parties, the In 
 dians assembled, in considerable numbers, 
 under their respective chiefs, on the 6th of 
 March, at Fort Dade, on the Withlacoo- 
 chee. The locality was chosen in the first 
 arrangement made with Jumper and Abra 
 ham, and a capitulation was entered into, 
 and signed by Jumper, Ilolatoochee, or 
 Davy, nephew of Micanopy, Hoethleema- 
 tee, Yaholoochee, or Cloud, and Halpatah 
 Hadjo. 
 
 The capitulation stipulated that hostili 
 ties should from that time cease ; that the 
 entire nation should immediately emigrate 
 to the country assigned them beyond the 
 Mississippi ; that hostages, one of which 
 should be Micanopy, should be given for 
 the faithful performance of their engage 
 ments ; that all the Indians should imme 
 diately withdraw south of the Hillsborough; 
 and that, by the 10th of April, all were to 
 be ready to remove. General Jessup agreed, 
 on the part of the United States, that the 
 Seminoles and their allies, who should come 
 in and emigrate to the west, should be 
 secure in their lives and property; that 
 their negroes, their bona fide property, 
 should accompany them to the west, and 
 that their cattle and ponies should be paid 
 for by the United States at a fair valuation. 
 He also stipulated that the expenses of 
 their transportation, and of their subsis 
 tence from the date of their arrival in 
 camp, preparatory to removal, till twelve 
 months after their arrival at their homes 
 west of the Mississippi, should be borne by 
 the United States ; and that all the advan 
 tages secured to the Indians by the treaty 
 of Payne s Landing, and not enumerated 
 492 
 
 in the present articles, should be recognised 
 as still binding on the United States. 
 
 On the 18th of March, Micauopy signed 
 a written acknowledgment of his acquies 
 cence in the articles of capitulation ; and 
 General Jessup felt quite assured that the 
 war was at an end. A location, within a 
 few miles of Fort Brooke, was designated 
 as the spot where the Indians should as 
 semble preparatory to removal ; and by the 
 8th of May, large numbers had arrived 
 there, under the direction of Micanopy. 
 Captain Page, of the United States army, 
 was engaged in enrolling their names as 
 they came in, and in issuing provisions and 
 clothing; and twenty-four vessels lay in 
 the harbour at Tampa, ready to transport 
 the Indians to New Orleans and up the 
 Mississippi. The period of embarkation, 
 i however, was postponed from week to week, 
 upon the application of the chiefs, on the 
 plea of the expected arrival of friends, 
 whom they wished to accompany them. 
 An express finally arrived from Fort 
 Mellon, announcing the arrival there of 
 Osceola with his famil} r , who expressed a 
 wish for peace, and his approval of the 
 terms agreed upon in the articles of ca 
 pitulation at Fort Dade. General Jessup, 
 believing now that he had no farther oc 
 casion for their services, discharged the 
 ! volunteer and militia .force ; the detach- 
 ! ment of marines, under Colonel Henderson, 
 was ordered to the north ; and the regular 
 j forces remaining were posted at eligible 
 ! points for health and comfort. 
 
 Thus stood matters on the 1st of June. 
 The citizens of Florida, who had been ex 
 iles from the territory, believing that the 
 conflict was over, were rapidly returning to 
 their deserted homes, and the sun of peace 
 seemed about to break forth, and dispel the 
 clouds which had rested so heavily upon 
 the prosperity of the Floridian peninsula. 
 But these high-built hopes of peace proved 
 illusory. On the morning of the 2nd of 
 June, General Jessup ascertained, to his 
 extreme astonishment, that all the Indians 
 who had surrendered for emigration at 
 Fort Brooke, and were ready to embark, 
 had, during the previous night, precipi 
 tately fled into their own wilds and fast 
 nesses. Various causes were assigned for 
 this unexpected stampede on the part of 
 the Indians. The true one, however, was 
 that which had influenced all their move 
 ments a deep-rooted disinclination to leave 
 the country ; and a determination, on the 
 
A.D. 1837.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 part of the younger chiefs, that they never 
 should. Osceola had been some time absent ; 
 but returning with Coacoochee and 200 
 Mickasauky warriors, in the night of the 
 1st of June, he compelled all to go off with 
 him, whether willing or not. Mican- 
 opy at first refused to leave. lie said he 
 had agreed to emigrate, and was deter 
 mined to keep his word. On being told 
 that he had but the alternatives of com 
 pliance or death, he answered, that he pre 
 ferred death to dishonour, and would not 
 leave the camp ; but he was forced upon 
 his horse and driven off. 
 
 The sickly season now just commencing, 
 precluded the possibility of any further 
 military operations till autumn. Therefore, 
 the Indians felt sure of another six months 
 lease of their Florida homes, during which 
 time they could cultivate and gather in 
 their crops, and be prepared, when the 
 healthy season returned, admitting of a 
 renewal of the conflict, to enter into it with 
 better prospect of success than ever. 
 
 So unaffected and infamous an act of 
 treachery was totally disheartening to Gen 
 eral Jessup and all those acting under him. 
 The utmost vigilance and the wisest fore 
 cast seemed utterly futile, in a contest with 
 an enemy so lost to all sense of honour or 
 integrity. The popular feeling became 
 intensely excited ; and, looking alone to 
 results, the commanding general, though 
 he had done everything he or any other 
 commander, in like circumstances, could 
 have done, was, without inquiry or investi 
 gation, condemned, through the press and 
 by the popular voice, in unmeasured terms. 
 Feeling that, however meritorious his con 
 duct might appear in the eyes of the gov 
 ernment, he could not be faithful to his 
 country or himself, when embarrassed by 
 popular prejudices, General Jessup wrote 
 to the secretary of war, requesting to be 
 relieved from the command in Florida. 
 This request was subsequently withdrawn, 
 and lie continued in command. 
 
 Another campaign was now projected 
 as soon as the season would admit of it. 
 The term of service of the Creek volun 
 teers having expired on the 1st of Sep 
 tember, they were accordingly discharged, 
 and proceeded to New Orleans, where their 
 families were awaiting their arrival, pre 
 paratory to their removal to the Indian 
 territory beyond the Mississippi. Volun 
 teers were now called for from Florida and 
 the neighbouring states, and required to 
 VOL. ir. 33 
 
 be in the field by the 1st of October. Or 
 ders were also issued for enlisting the wes 
 tern Indians; and, during the month of 
 September, there had arrived in Florida 
 upwards of 1,100 warriors of the Shawnee, 
 Delaware, and Kikapoo tribes, prepared to 
 act in conjunction with their white allies 
 against the hostile Seminoles. 
 
 The first affair worthy of record, in the 
 autumn campaign of 1837, was the expedi 
 tion to Durlawton, Tomaka, and the lichees, 
 under General Hermandey, who commanded 
 the troops and posts east of the St. John s. 
 He was at Fort Peyton, seven miles south 
 of St. Augustine, on the 4th of September, 
 when four negroes, belonging to Major 
 Ileriot, came in and delivered themselves 
 up, stating that a body of Indians and 
 negroes were south of Tomaka, forty or 
 fifty miles below. Preparations were im 
 mediately made for an expedition in that 
 direction, General Hermandey heading the 
 troops, as already stated. The result of 
 his operations was the surprise and capture 
 of two camps of Indians and negroes ; 
 among whom were several important chiefs. 
 One of them, Emathla, or King Philip, 
 wished to communicate with his family, 
 to induce them to surrender. General 
 Hermandey permitted one of the prisoners 
 to bear his message ; Coacoochee, a son of 
 Philip, returned with the messenger. After 
 conferring with him, Philip proposed to 
 send him out with messages to the chiefs 
 and people, promising that many of them 
 would return with him. General Herman 
 dey submitted the proposition to General 
 Jessup, who permitted him to go. lie pro 
 mised to bring in all the Seminoles of the 
 St. John s. He was enjoined to invite none 
 to come in for any other purpose than to 
 remain ; General Jessup promising, at the 
 same time, that all who came in and sur 
 rendered should receive kind treatment. 
 
 Coacoochee returned on the 17th of Oc 
 tober, and reported that about a hundred 
 Indians, and as many negroes, were on 
 their way to St. Augustine. General Her 
 mandey, with a detachment of troops, went 
 to welcome them. He met the advance at 
 Pellicier s Creek, and directed them to move 
 forward to Fort Peyton, where it was in 
 tended they should encamp. 
 
 On the 20th, John Cavallo, a sub-chief, 
 a hostage, who had violated his parole in 
 May, 1837, came into St. Augustine, with 
 I a message from Osceola and Coahago, stat 
 ing that they had encamped near the fort, 
 
 493 
 
OSCEOLA, A PRISONER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.-D. 1837. 
 
 and desired to see General Hermandey 
 Several Indians came in on the same day. 
 From them it was ascertained that the 
 savages had but a short time previous mur 
 dered a white man ; that they did not in 
 tend to leave the country ; that they were 
 desirous of obtaining powder and clothing ; 
 and, as some of the negroes expressed it, 
 had " come for no good ;" and that, when 
 they set out for St. Augustine, a party of 
 Mickasaukies and Tallahassees had started 
 from their camp for the Alachua frontier, 
 to steal horses and drive off cattle. Gen 
 eral Jessup ordered Lieutenant Peyton to 
 get the Indians into the fort, if he could, 
 and then to seize them. But in this he 
 did not succeed ; and General Hermandey 
 was sent out with 200 men to commence 
 a parley with them. Lieutenant Peyton 
 was also sent out to learn whether the In 
 dians answered General Hermandey s ques 
 tions in a satisfactory manner. He soon 
 1 returned, and reported that the answers 
 were evasive and unsatisfactory. General 
 Jessup then ordered their capture, which 
 was accomplished without the discharge of 
 a gun on either side. Seventy-five Indians 
 were, by this manoeuvre, taken with loaded 
 rifles in their hands, disarmed, and confined 
 in the fort. Osceola and Coahago, and six 
 other chiefs, were among the number. 
 
 Soon after their seizure, Osceola and Al 
 ligator requested an interview with General 
 Jessup. He met them at his quarters at St. 
 Augustine. They informed him that Mi- 
 canopy, Jumper, Holatoochee, and the 
 larger portion of the Seminoles, were ready 
 to execute their treaty, and were only de 
 terred from coming in by the Mickasaukies. 
 They suggested that messengers should be 
 sent to Micanopy and Jumper, and re 
 quested to be allowed to send for their own 
 people, who, they said, would come in, on 
 being assured that their lives would be 
 spared. General Jessup permitted them to 
 communicate with their families and people, 
 and he sent a messenger to Micanopy. 
 
 The principal Indian force, on the 1st of 
 October, General Jessup ascertained was 
 concentrated on the tipper St. John s, 
 though there were several small roving 
 bands north of Fort Mellon and Tampa 
 Bay, and others scattered about the coun 
 try south to Florida Point. The theatre 
 of his operations extended over more 
 than five degrees of latitude. To cover a 
 country so vast, forty posts had to be oc 
 cupied during the campaign ; and he was 
 494. 
 
 required to operate from a base, extending 
 from Charlotte s Harbour, by way of the 
 Suwanee, to St. Augustine, upwards of 
 300 miles. 
 
 It had been the intention of General 
 Jessup to commence operations on the 1st 
 of October ; because, at that time, the St. 
 John s was navigable a greater distance than 
 at a later period ; and he could then have 
 availed himself, for more than two months, 
 of the services of the Florida troops, 
 whose duties expired in December. The 
 regular troops, however, did not begin to 
 arrive until near the end of October, and 
 they continued to come in till December. 
 The principal volunteer force also arrived 
 about the 1st of December. 
 
 The messengers sent out by Osceola and 
 Coahago to their people, by permission of 
 General Jessup, as already mentioned, in 
 viting them to come in and prepare to emi 
 grate, were instructed to request all who 
 were disposed to comply with the proposi 
 tion, to meet General Jessup at Fort Mellon, 
 on Lake Monroe, or General Hermandey, at 
 New Smyrna, as might be most convenient 
 to the several parties coming in. The 
 messenger sent to Micanopy soon returned, 
 with assurances from the old chief that he 
 was ready to fulfil the arrangement made 
 at Fort Dade, and that he had no doubt of 
 being able to induce the chiefs and the 
 greater part of his people to surrender. 
 
 Meantime, a deputation of Cherokee 
 chiefs arrived with a " talk" from their 
 principal chief, John Ross, to the Semi 
 noles. General Jessup deeming the proposi 
 tions of the " talk * at variance with his in 
 structions, required its modification. It 
 held out to the Seminoles the promise of a 
 treaty ; whereas, he was required to enforce 
 the provisions of an already existing treaty. 
 Having consented to change that more ob 
 jectionable portion of the " talk," they were 
 allowed to proceed on their mission. Coa 
 hago, who was desirous of collecting and sur 
 rendering his people, was sent as a guide to 
 the Cherokees, and as General Jessup s mes 
 senger to the Seminole chiefs. The general 
 authorised no assurances to be given to the 
 Indians that they were to come into his 
 camp, and be permitted to return ; but he 
 promised them protection and kind treat 
 ment. Coahago returned with many of his 
 people, accompanied by the Cherokees, and 
 by the chiefs Micanopy, Cloud, Tuskegee, 
 and Nocose Yohalo, with fifteen or twenty 
 of their followers. Micanopy told General 
 
A.H. 1838.] 
 
 [SINGULAR ESCAPE. 
 
 Jessup that he intended to remain with 
 him; and assured him that his people 
 would come in and immigrate. 
 
 A council was held, and the chiefs 
 agreed to fulfil their treaty : they se 
 lected messengers to be sent out to collect 
 their people, and bring them to the camp. 
 Some of the Cherokees accompanied these 
 messengers, and returned with favourable ac 
 counts ; but they went out again, and had to 
 report the failure of their mission. During 
 the last visit of the Cherokees, most of the 
 attendants of Micanopy and Cloud left 
 them. The former chief reported their flight 
 to General Jessup, and requested that they 
 might be pursued ; and Coahago, fearing 
 that some of his people might follow them, 
 desired that they might be brought into 
 camp. The Cherokees returned to Wash 
 ington, whence they had come. 
 
 While these negotiations were going 
 on, Coacoochee, or Wildcat, and Tolmas 
 Hadjo, who had been held prisoners in the 
 old Spanish fort San Marco now Fort Ma- 
 -at St. Augustine, effected their escape. 
 
 non 
 
 Coacoochee made his way south, and 
 reached the camp of Aspeika (Sam Jones), 
 who was on his way to Fort Mellon to 
 meet General Jessup, with the other chiefs 
 of the nation. Coacoochee did not relish 
 the treatment that he and the other In 
 dians, captured near Fort Peyton, received 
 in prison at St. Augustine ; and his story 
 so excited the suspicions and resentment of 
 Aspeika, that he at once relinquished 
 his design of surrendering or holding any 
 further communication with General Jessup. 
 He succeeded in preventing all the Indians 
 who were out from going in, or listening 
 to any proposal for peace. This was the 
 cause of the sudden failure of the Cherokee 
 mission, as already mentioned. 
 
 Fort Marion, from which Coacoochee and 
 his companion escaped, is the oldest fortifi 
 cation in the United States, and a fine 
 specimen of ancient military work. The 
 manner in which they gained their freedom, 
 as related by Coacoochee, was as follows : 
 " We had been growing sickly from day to 
 day, and we resolved to make our escape, 
 or die in the attempt. We were in a small 
 room, eighteen or twenty feet square. All 
 the light admitted, was through a hole 
 [embrasure] about eighteen feet from the 
 floor. Through this we must effect our 
 escape, or remain and die with sickness. 
 A sentinel was constantly posted at the 
 door. As we looked at the hole from our 
 
 beds, we thought it small ; but believed that, 
 could we get our heads through, we should 
 have no further or serious difficulty. To 
 reach the hole was the first object. In. 
 order to effect this, we, from time to time, 
 cut up the forage-bags allowed us to sleep 
 on, and made them into ropes. The hole I 
 could not reach when upon the shoulders 
 of my companion ; but, while standing upon 
 his shoulder, I worked a knife into a 
 crevice of the stonework, as far up as I 
 could reach ; and upon this I raised myself 
 to the aperture, when I found, that with 
 some reduction of person, I could get 
 through. In order to reduce ourselves as 
 much as possible, we took medicine five 
 days. Under the pretext of being very 
 sick, we were permitted to obtain the roots 
 we required. For some weeks we watched 
 the moon, in order that, on the night of 
 our attempt, it should be as dark as possi 
 ble. At the proper time we commenced 
 taking the medicine, calculating upon the 
 entire disappearance of the moon. The 
 keeper of this prison, on the night deter 
 mined upon for making the effort, annoyed 
 us by frequently coming into the room, and 
 talking and singing. At first we thought 
 of tying him, and putting his head in a 
 bag, so that, should he call for assistance, 
 he could not be heard. We first, however, 
 tried the experiment of pretending to be 
 asleep, and when he returned, to pay no 
 regard to him. This accomplished our ob 
 ject. He came in, and went immediately 
 out, and we could hear him snore in the 
 immediate vicinity of the door. I then 
 took the rope, which we had secreted under 
 our bed, and, mounting upon the shoulders 
 of my comrade, raised myself upon the 
 knife worked into the crevice of the stone, 
 and succeeded in reaching the embrasure. 
 Here I made fast the rope, that my friend 
 might follow me. I then passed through 
 the hole a sufficient length of it to reach 
 the ground upon the outside (about fifty 
 feet), in the ditch. I had calculated the 
 distance when going for roots. With much 
 difficulty I succeeded in getting my head 
 through, for the sharp stones took the skin 
 off my breast and back. Putting my head 
 through first, I was obliged to go down 
 head-foremost, until my feet were through, 
 fearing everv moment the rope would 
 break. At last, safely on the ground, I 
 awaited with anxiety the arrival of my com 
 rade. I had passed another rope through 
 the hole, which, in the event of discovery, 
 
 495 
 
DEATH OF OSCEOLA.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1838. 
 
 Tolmas Hadjo was to pull, as a signal to 
 me on the outside, that he was discovered 
 and could not come. As soon as I struck 
 the ground, I took hold of the signal for 
 intelligence from my friend. The night 
 was very dark. Two men passed near me, 
 talking earnestly, and I could see them 
 distinctly. Soon I heard the struggle of 
 my companion far above me. He had 
 succeeded in getting his head through, but 
 his body would come no further. In the 
 lowest tone of voice I urged him to throw 
 out his breath, and then try ; soon after, he 
 came tumbling down the whole distance. 
 For a few moments I thought him dead. 
 I dragged him to some water close by, 
 which restored him., but his leg was so lame, 
 he was unable to walk. I took him upon 
 my shoulder to the bushes near the town. 
 Daylight was just breaking ; it was evident j 
 we must move rapidly. I caught a mule 
 in the adjoining field, and, making a bridle 
 out of my sash, mounted my companion, 
 and started for the St. John s river. The 
 mule we used one day ; but, fearing the 
 whites would track us, we felt more secure on 
 foot in the hummock, though moving very 
 slowly. Thus we continued our journey 
 five days, subsisting upon roots and berries, 
 when I joined my band, then assembled on 
 the head-waters of the Tomoka river, near 
 the Atlantic coast. I gave my warriors 
 the history of my capture and escape, and 
 assured them that they should be satisfied 
 that my capture was no trick of my own, 
 and that I would not deceive them. When 
 I came in to St. Augustine, to see my 
 father, I took the word of friends; they 
 said I should return, but they cheated me. 
 When I was taken prisoner, my band was 
 inclined to leave the country; but, upon 
 my return, they said, Let us all die in 
 Florida. I had rather be killed by a white 
 man in Florida, than die a natural death in 
 Arkansas."* 
 
 The Seminole chiefs, with Coahago and 
 his people in all, seventy-two were sent 
 to St. Augustine, and thence, with Osceola, 
 to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, to be 
 securely kept till they could be shipped to 
 the country appropriated to them beyond 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 But, for Osceola, that period never 
 arrived. His proud spirit, which had ex 
 perienced restraint only during the brief 
 period he was held in durance by General 
 
 * Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida 
 War ; by John T. Sprague. 
 490 
 
 Thompson, and for which he took so ter 
 rible a revenge, was broken by imprison 
 ment, and the consciousness of defeat ; 
 and when he was removed to Fort Moul 
 trie, his last hope was gone. The con 
 viction was now forced upon him that 
 he had seen Florida for the last time ; 
 that he was for ever banished from the 
 land associated with his earliest recollec 
 tions. Efforts were made to reconcile him 
 to his destiny, by picturing to him the 
 many advantages of his future home in the 
 Arkansas country ; but they proved of no 
 avail. He declined seeing visitors, and 
 refused nourishment, until his system sunk 
 under physical exhaustion. He died on, 
 the 30th of January, 1838, in the thirty- 
 third year of his age. 
 
 In consequence of the delay occasioned 
 by the attempts at negotiation through 
 the Cherokee chiefs, General Jessup lost 
 fifteen most important days a loss, the 
 consequences of which no subsequent effort 
 could retrieve ; for, in the meantime, the 
 Seminoles had dispersed, and the water in 
 the St. John s had fallen so low as to require 
 the use of boats, propelled by oars and poles, 
 to transport supplies to the depots which he 
 found it necessary to establish further south 
 on that river. 
 
 Major Dearborn was sent forward with 
 a detachment and supplies, in barges, to 
 establish a depot at the head of Lake 
 Harvey ; and General Eustis moved, with 
 the principal force, by land. The country 
 was so difficult that his march was neces 
 sarily slow. He erected Fort Christmas at 
 Powell s (Osceola s) Town, on the 25th of 
 December, and arrived, on the 16th of 
 January, 1838, at Fort Taylor, about 
 one hundred miles south of Fort Mellon, 
 established by Colonel Twiggs, who had 
 been sent in advance. Lieutenant Searle 
 was dispatched to explore the St. John s ; 
 and Colonel Harvey had followed, with 
 several barges loaded with forage. They 
 ascertained the practicability of navigating 
 the river to Fort Taylor. 
 
 Colonel Zachary Taylor, who was sta 
 tioned at Fort Gardner, south of the With- 
 lacoochee, was also ordered, on the failure 
 of the negotiations above referred to, to 
 proceed, with the least possible delay, 
 against any portion of the Indians he might 
 hear of within striking distance, and to 
 destroy or capture them. 
 
 The next day, the 19th of December, 
 Colonel Taylor, with about 1,000 men, and 
 
A.D. 1837.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [DEATH OF GENTRY. 
 
 twelve days rations (his means of trans 
 port not enabling him to take more), 
 marched in pursuit of the enemy. He 
 moved down the west side of the Ivissimmee 
 river, in a south-easterly direction, toward 
 Lake Istopoga. On the evening of the first 
 day he met sixty-three Indians, headed by 
 the chief, Jumper, on their way to give 
 themselves up, agreeably to an arrangement 
 he had previously made with that chief. 
 Having, the next morning, dispatched 
 them, in charge of some Shawnees, to Fort 
 Frazer, Colonel Taylor continued his march, 
 following the meanderings of the Ivis 
 simmee, and arriving, on the 21st, at a 
 point on its banks, fifteen miles above its 
 entrance into Lake Okeechobee (signifying, 
 in the Indian language, Big Water). He 
 here ascertained, from a prisoner who had 
 fallen into his hands, that Aspeika, or Sam 
 Jones, with Alligator and Coacoochee, and a 
 large body of Mickasaukies, were encamped 
 about twenty miles off, on the east side of 
 Kissimmee river. 
 
 Laying out a small stockade work, for 
 the protection of a future depot, Colonel 
 Taylor, in order to move with the greater 
 celerity, deposited here his heavier lug 
 gage, including artillery and ammunition. 
 Having furnished ample provisions, and 
 leaving Captain Monroe with his company, 
 the pioneers, pontoniers, and a large por 
 tion of the friendly Indians, who were 
 unable to proceed, from lameness, occa 
 sioned by their feet and legs being badly 
 cut with the saw-palmetto ; he, the next 
 morning, crossed the Kissimmee, and taking 
 the captured Indian as a guide, moved on 
 with the remainder of his force After 
 passing several cypress swamps and dense 
 hummocks, he reached the vicinity of the 
 Indians encampment, on the morning of 
 the 25th. Here a young Indian warrior 
 was captured, who pointed out a dense 
 hummock, on their right, about a mile dis 
 tant, in which, he said, the hostile Indians 
 were situated, and waiting to give them 
 battle. 
 
 At this place the final disposition was 
 made to attack them, which was in two 
 lines ; the volunteers, under Colonel Gentry, 
 and Morgan s spies, to form the first line, 
 in extended order ; who were instructed to 
 enter the hummock, and, in the event of 
 being attacked and hard pressed, were to 
 fall back in the rear of the regular troops, 
 out of reach of the enemy s fire : the second 
 line was composed of the 4th and 6th in 
 
 fantry, who were instructed to sustain the 
 volunteers, the 1st infantry being held in 
 reserve. 
 
 Moving on in the direction of the hum 
 mock, after proceeding about one-fourth of 
 a mile, they reached the swamp which 
 separated them from the enemy, three- 
 fourths of a mile in breadth, being totally 
 impassable for horse, and nearly so for foot ; 
 covered with a thick growth of saw-grass, 
 five feet high, and about knee-deep in mud 
 and water, which extended to the left as 
 far as the eye could reach, and, to the right, 
 to a part of a swamp and hurnmock they 
 had just crossed, through which ran a deep 
 creek. At the edge of the swamp, all the 
 men were dismounted, and the horses and 
 luggage left under a suitable guard. Cap 
 tain Allen was detached, with two com 
 panies of mounted infantry, to examine the 
 swamp and hummock to the right; and in 
 case he should not find the enemy in that 
 direction, was to return to the luggage : 
 in the event of his hearing a heavy 
 firing, he was immediately to join the main 
 body. 
 
 After making these arrangements, the 
 swamp was crossed in the order stated. 
 On reaching the borders of the hummock, 
 the volunteers and spies received a heavy 
 fire from the enemy, which was returned 
 by them for a short time, when their 
 gallant commander, Colonel Gentry, fell 
 mortally wounded. They mostly broke, 
 and, instead of forming in the rear of the 
 regulars, as had been directed, they retired 
 across the swamp to their luggage and 
 horses ; nor could they be again brought 
 into action as a body, although efforts were 
 made repeatedly, by the colonel s staff, to 
 do so. 
 
 The Indians were, however, promptly 
 checked and driven back by the 4th and 
 6th infantry, which, in truth, might be 
 said to be a moving battery. The weight 
 of the enemy s fire was concentrated on 
 five companies of the 6th infantry, which 
 not only stood firm, but continued to ad 
 vance, until their gallant commander, 
 Colonel Thompson, and his adjutant, Lieu 
 tenant Center, were both killed, and every 
 officer, with a single exception, as well as 
 most of the non-commissioned officers, were 
 killed or wounded, of those companies. 
 That portion of the regiment now retired a 
 short distance, and was again formed, one 
 of the companies having but four men 
 
 unharmed. 
 
 497 
 
BATTLE OF OKEECHOBEE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.-P. 1839. 
 
 Colonel Foster, with six companies of 
 the 4th infantry, numbering 160 men, 
 gained the hummock in good order, when 
 he was joined by Captain Noel, with the 
 two remaining companies of the 6th in 
 fantry, and Captain Gilham, of Gentry s 
 volunteers, with a few additional men, and 
 continued to drive the enemy for a con 
 siderable time, and, by charging the front, 
 separated his line, still driving him, until 
 he reached the great lake Okeechobee, 
 which was in the rear of the enemy s 
 position, and along which their encamp 
 ment extended for over a mile. The first 
 infantry was now ordered to move to the 
 left, and turn the enemy s right flank, 
 which order was promptly executed ; and 
 as soon as that regiment got in position, 
 the enemy gave one fire and retreated, 
 being pursued by the 1st, 4th, and 6th, 
 and some of the volunteers, who had joined 
 them, till near night, and, in fact, till these 
 troops were well nigh exhausted, and the 
 enemy driven in all directions. The action 
 was the most sanguinary since the war 
 began, with the single exception of that 
 in which Major Dade and his troops 
 were cut off. Colonel Taylor s loss was 
 twenty-seven killed, and 111 wounded; 
 about one-fifth of his force being engaged. 
 Colonel Taylor now directed his attention 
 to taking care of the wounded, and facili 
 tating their removal, as well as the bodies 
 of the dead, to the spot where he had lefb 
 his luggage, and where he had ordered an 
 encampment to be formed " And here, 
 I trust," said he, in his report, " I may be 
 permitted to say, I experienced one of the 
 most trying scenes of my life ; and he who 
 could have looked on it with indifference, 
 must have had nerves very differently con 
 structed from my own. Besides the killed, 
 among whom were some of my personal 
 friends, there lay 111 wounded officers and 
 soldiers, who had accompanied me 145 
 miles, most of the way through an unex 
 plored wilderness, without guides ; who had 
 so gallantly beaten the enemy, under my 
 orders, in his strongest position ; and who 
 had to be conveyed back through swamps 
 and hummocks,whence we set out, without 
 any apparent means of so doing. This ser 
 vice, however, was encountered and over 
 come ; and they have been conveyed thus 
 far, and proceeded on to Tampa Bay, on 
 rude litters, constructed with the axe and 
 knife alone, with poles and dry hides, the 
 latter being found in great abundance at 
 408 
 
 the encampment of the hostiles. The lit 
 ters were conveyed on the backs of our 
 weak and tottering horses, aided by the re 
 sidue of our command, with more care and 
 comfort to the sufferers than I could have 
 supposed, and with as much as they could 
 have been in ambulances of the most ap 
 proved and modern construction." 
 
 The results of Colonel Taylor s expedi 
 tion, which so brilliantly closed with the 
 battle of Okeechobee Lake, just recorded, 
 were the capture of thirty, and the sur 
 render of 150 Indians and negroes, includ 
 ing the chiefs, Tustenuggee and Holatoo- 
 chee, and other principal warriors ; the 
 capture of 600 head of cattle, and one hun 
 dred horses ; and the obtaining a thorougli 
 knowledge of the country through which 
 they operated, which was previously almost 
 a terra incognita, except to the enemy. 
 
 The importance of the battle of Okee 
 chobee, so successfully fought by Colonel 
 Taylor, was properly appreciated by the 
 government. He was raised to the rank of 
 brigadier- general; and, as will be seen 
 further on, subsequently intrusted with the 
 chief command in Florida. 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1838, General 
 Jessup, with about 500 mounted men, 
 dragoons and volunteers, left Fort Taylor, 
 and moved forward for the purpose 
 of communicating with General Taylor. 
 Previous to his departure, Lieutenant 
 Ross had arrived, with abundant sup 
 plies in barges. On the 7th, he crossed 
 the Big Cypress Swamp, and discovering 
 fresh trails of Indians, sent out several 
 scouting parties. One of them fell-in, 
 with a small body of Indians, of whom 
 they killed one warrior, and captured an 
 other, who was subsequently employed as a 
 guide. 
 
 On the 9th, General Jessup arrived at 
 the head of St. John s, where he was joined 
 by General Hermandey, from the eastern 
 side of the river. On the 10th, he pro 
 ceeded forward, for the purpose of finding 
 General Taylor s route. On the llth, the 
 guide informed him that he had mistaken 
 the trail, and brought him too far to the 
 east. As it was important, not only to 
 communicate with General Taylor, but to 
 be certain of supplies at Fort Pierce, 
 General Jessup directed the troops to fall 
 back to the camp, near the head of the St. 
 John s, whence they were moved to Fort 
 Pierce. Having obtained a supply of forage, 
 I and directed that a depot be established on 
 
A.D. 1838.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PEACE PROPOSED. 
 
 the St. Lucey river, General Jessup re 
 turned to camp, where he found General 
 Eustis, with the main force; he having 
 arrived, as mentioned in a previous page, 
 on the 16th. His private affairs now claim 
 ing his attention, and the regular and vol 
 unteer force being deemed sufficient to pro 
 tect the inhabitants, and subdue the enemy, 
 General Hermandey and his brigade were 
 discharged from service, in accordance with 
 his own request. 
 
 On the 15th of January, Lieutenant 
 Powell, of the navy, with a small naval and 
 military force, proceeded south from Fort 
 Pierce, and landed at the head of the 
 Lucha-IIatche, one of the branches of 
 Jupiter river, where he fell-in with a body 
 of Indians, whom he found prepared for 
 him, and the war-whoop was immediately 
 raised. The action soon became severe. 
 Lieutenant Harrison was shot down at the 
 head of his men, who were thus left with 
 out an officer. Lieutenant Fowler, of the 
 artillery, was directed to penetrate the 
 swamp to the right, while the remaining 
 two companies, under Lieutenant McArthur, 
 of the navy, advanced in line. By these 
 mano3uvres the Indians were driven, or 
 retreated, to a large cypress swamp, 800 
 yards in the rear, where they made a most 
 determined stand. Lieutenant McArthur 
 was badly wounded, and Dr. Leibner was 
 killed while in the discharge of his duty 
 as surgeon. Night approaching, Lieutenant 
 Powell ordered a retreat. In this affair 
 the whites suffered severely, losing five 
 killed, and thirty wounded, many of them 
 severely. The Indians loss was four killed, 
 and one was taken prisoner. 
 
 On the 20th of January, surmising that 
 the Indians had probably made their head 
 quarters on the Lucha-Hatche, the scene 
 of the above action, General Jessup marched 
 with the force under his immediate com 
 mand, from Fort Lloyd, near the head of 
 the St. John s, where he found the enemy 
 in an almost impregnable position. He 
 commenced an attack upon them ; forced 
 them from the position, and dispersed them. 
 He had nine men killed, and twenty-eight 
 wounded ; several severely. The following 
 day he crossed the river, and encamped 
 on Jupiter Bay, where he erected a stock 
 ade fort, and remained until the 5th of 
 February, waiting for shoes, and other 
 supplies. Everything necessary being re 
 ceived, he advanced about twelve miles, 
 and encamped again. On the 6th, he 
 
 moved forward ; and in the afternoon, some 
 Indian trails being discovered, the troops 
 encamped, and a detachment of dragoons, 
 with some Shawnee Indians, were sent 
 forward to reconnoitre. While the recon 
 noitring party was out, General Eustis, 
 Colonel Twiggs, and several other officers, 
 came to General Jessup, and urged that 
 he should terminate the war, by allowing 
 the Indians to remain in Florida the 
 southern part of the peninsula to be a s- 
 signed to them. Understanding that most, 
 if not all the army, entertained similar 
 views, General Jessup decided to send a 
 messenger to the Indians, and offer them 
 peace ; but they were to be allowed the 
 privilege of remaining in the country only 
 on the condition that the general govern 
 ment sanctioned the measure. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th, the army 
 was put in motion, a Semiuole negro being 
 previously sent out to endeavour to come 
 up with the Indians, and invite the chiefs 
 to a conference. After proceeding a few 
 miles, Indians were discovered, waiting in 
 advance of a cypress swamp, under a flag 
 of truce. General Jessup met them ; a 
 young chief, named Hallee Hajo, con 
 ducting the conference on the part of 
 the Indians He stated that they were 
 in a wretched condition ; were desirous 
 of peace, but very unwilling to leave 
 the country ; and would thankfully re 
 ceive any portion of it, however small, 
 that the government might think proper 
 to assign to them for a residence ; but that 
 if the government required them to leave 
 the country, they must go. General Jessup 
 now demanded hostages, or that their arms 
 should be given up ; but the chief would 
 not consent to either, from the difficulty of 
 enforcing such a measure. He then re 
 quested a conference with Taskeegee, the 
 principal chief of the band. The next day 
 Taskeegee met him, with Hallee Hajo ; 
 and after some discussion, it was arranged 
 that the Indians should assemble, within 
 ten days, in a camp near Fort Jupiter, 
 with their families, and await the decision 
 of the president whether they should remain 
 in the country. General Jessup promised 
 to recommend that a small district should 
 be assigned for their residence, in the 
 southern part of the peninsula ; and they 
 agreed, if the Mickasaukies should come, 
 to furnish guides to conduct the troops to 
 their fastnesses. 
 
 The following extract from the letter of 
 
 499 
 
JESSUP S PLAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AD. 1839. 
 
 General Jessup to the secretary of war in 
 which he urges upon the government, with 
 forcible reasoning, the adoption of a mea 
 sure which he believed the only means of 
 terminating the war is too important a 
 record in the history of the Seminole war, 
 as well as of the Indian policy of the 
 government, to be omitted : 
 
 " Before presenting my views on that 
 subject, and redeeming my pledge to the 
 Indians, it might be proper for me to state 
 my own position in regard to the question 
 of emigration, so tnat in what I shall say 
 in relation to the Seminoles, my views in 
 regard to the general principle may not be 
 mistaken. Believing, as I do, that the 
 Indians cannot, under our constitution, 
 have a separate political existence within j 
 an independent state of this Union, without 
 the consent of the state, I believe it is due j 
 to the states, in which they are congregated j 
 in large bodies, to remove them whenever ; 
 they are pressed upon by the white popu 
 lation, and their lands become necessary to ! 
 the agricultural wants of the community. ! 
 And I hold that congress, and not the 
 Indians, is to determine the proper time 
 for their removal. We, in our federal 
 capacity, owe the Indians protection ; not 
 that protection secured to our own citizens, 
 by the equal operations of our laws for 
 that, in their condition, would be merely 
 nominal protection but we owe them, in 
 their individual and collective capacity, 
 that protection which the parent owes to 
 the child, or the guardian to the ward ; 
 and to secure them that protection, we 
 must place them beyond the operation of 
 state laws. With the fullest conviction, 
 therefore, not only of the policy, but of the 
 justice and humanity of the measure, I am 
 in favour of their entire emigration ; and I 
 have supported that policy through four 
 successive administrations. But I believe 
 we should not apply the principle until the 
 white population are in contact with, or 
 intermingled among them. The state of 
 things in which I consider their removal 
 imperative, actually existed when the tribes 
 inhabiting Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
 Mississippi, and Southern Alabama, were 
 sent to the west. That state of things 
 actually exists in relation to the Cherokees 
 in Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and 
 Georgia ; and regardless of the opposition 
 made to the measure, they should be at 
 once removed. In regard to the Seminoles, 
 we have committed the error of attempting 
 500 
 
 to remove them, when their lands were not 
 required for agricultural purposes; when 
 they were not in the way of the white in 
 habitants ; and when the greater portion 
 of their country was an unexplored wilder 
 ness, of the interior of which we were as 
 ignorant as of the interior of China. We 
 exhibit, in our present contest, the first 
 instance, perhaps, since the commencement 
 of authentic history, of a nation employing 
 an army to explore a country (for we can 
 do little more than explore it), or attempt 
 ing to remove a band of savages from one 
 unexplored wilderness to another. As a 
 soldier, it is my duty, I am aware, not to 
 comment upon the policy of the government, 
 but to carry it out in accordance with my 
 instructions. I have endeavoured faith 
 fully to do so ; but the prospect of termi- 
 ; nating the war, in any reasonable time, 
 j is anything but flattering. My decided 
 ; opinion is, that unless immediate emigra 
 tion be abandoned, the war will continue 
 I for years to come, and at constantly accu- 
 ! mulating expense. Is it not, then, well 
 worthy the serious consideration of an en 
 lightened government, whether, even if 
 I the wilderness we are traversing could be 
 inhabited by the white man (which is not 
 the fact), the object we are contending for 
 would be worth the cost ? I certainly do 
 not think it would ; indeed, I do not con 
 sider the country south of Chickasa- 
 Hatchee worth the medicines we shall 
 use in driving the Indians from it. 
 
 "If I were permitted and it is with 
 great diffidence that I venture to make the 
 suggestion I would allow them to remain, 
 and would assign them the country west of 
 thelvissimmee,0keechobee, and Panai-Okee, 
 i and east of Pease Creek ; south to the ex 
 treme of Florida. That would satisfy them ; 
 and they might hold it on the express con 
 dition, that they should forfeit their right 
 to it, if they should either commit depre 
 dations upon the white inhabitants, or pass 
 the boundaries assigned to them, without 
 the written permission of the military com 
 mander, or agent. By placing an agency, 
 and authorising trading-houses on Char 
 lotte s Harbour, they would be soon con 
 centrated ; and stationing a competent 
 military force there, and at Tampa Bay, 
 they might be readily controlled, and, if 
 necessary, removed from the country, should 
 they become troublesome, or fail to fulfil 
 their engagements. I respectfully recom 
 mend the measure to your consideration, 
 
A.D. 1838 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [RETIREMENT OF JESSUP. 
 
 and that of the president, as the only 
 means of terminating immediately a most 
 disastrous war, and leaving the troops dis 
 posable for other service. I desire a de 
 cision as soon as your convenience will 
 permit, as, by the middle of April, at 
 farthest, the troops must be withdrawn 
 from the interior, in order to preserve their 
 lives." 
 
 Mr. Poinsett, the secretary of war, re 
 plied to General Jessup, on the 1st of March, 
 that it was not then a question, whether 
 the government ought not to have waited 
 until the Indians were pressed upon by the 
 white population, and their lands had 
 become necessary to the agricultural wants 
 of the community. He stated that the 
 treaty had been ratified, and was the law 
 of the land ; and the constitutional duty 
 of the president required that he should 
 cause it to be executed. The president, 
 however, assented to the making of a tempo 
 rary arrangement with the Seminoles, by 
 which the safety of the settlements and the 
 posts might be secured through the summer, 
 or until the season would admit the com 
 mencement of active operations again. 
 
 The answer of Mr. Poinsett was received 
 by General Jessup on the 17th of March. 
 On the 19th, he directed the Seminole 
 chiefs to meet him in council at twelve 
 o clock on the 20th. Taskeegee sent him 
 word that he did not wish to attend ; that 
 he and his people would go with Hola- 
 toochee.* 
 
 Looking upon this as a mere subterfuge, 
 General Jessup directed Colonel Twiggs to 
 arrest the whole party. Five hundred and 
 thirteen Indians were secured on the 21st, 
 and two succeeding days; which, with 165 
 negroes, made an aggregate of 678, which 
 were taken and sent to Tampa Bay. 
 
 On the 24tb, Holatoochee, Tastenuck- 
 Cocha-Conee, and the negro chief, Abraham, 
 were sent to the Indians, west of Okee- 
 chobee, and prevailed upon Alligator, and 
 360 Indians and negroes, to surrender to 
 Colonel Smith and General Taylor. Soon 
 after, Pahase-Micco, a sub-chief of Tas- 
 
 * This chief, the nephew of Micnnopy, had ceased 
 his resistance to the execution of the treaty, and 
 was now actively engaged in urging the other chiefs, 
 and their people, to emigrate. He is thus spoken of 
 by Captain Sprague " Holatoochee was a remark 
 able man, and, in all respects, superior to his asso 
 ciates. Good judgment, prudence, and integrity 
 marked all his acts, both among his own people 
 and with the citizens. He was acknowledged a 
 brave warrior and a great hunter. In council, he 
 VOL. II. 3 T 
 
 keegee, with his band of forty-seven per 
 sons, was captured by Lieutenant Anderson. 
 
 Colonel Bankhead proceeded into the 
 everglades, in pursuit of Sam Jones. The 
 nature of the country was such, that the 
 soldiers could not even carry their car 
 tridge-boxes. They were compelled to de 
 posit them, with their muskets, in light 
 boats, which they pushed before them 
 through the mud for many miles, to an 
 island, where they found the Indians. 
 Colonel Bankhead attempted to communi 
 cate with them, but they fired upon his flag. 
 lie attacked and dispersed them, but the 
 troops were unable to find or follow them. 
 Colonel Harney relieved Colonel Baukhead 
 in command. lie pursued the Indians; 
 came up with Sam Jones, fifteen miles 
 south-west of Key Biscayne, attacked, and 
 beat him. He was preparing for a further 
 pursuit, when he was recalled. 
 
 In April, General Jessup crossed from 
 Fort Jupiter to Tampa Bay, and was pre 
 paring to attack the Mickasaukies and Tal- 
 lahopees, in the swamps to which they had 
 retired, near the mouth of the Withla- 
 coochee, under the lead of Indian guides 
 acquainted with the positions they occupied, 
 when he was ordered to proceed to the 
 Cherokee country, and leave General Taylor 
 in command of the United States forces in 
 Florida. 
 
 Although General Jessup had not the 
 good fortune to see the war terminated before 
 his recall from Florida, yet he had the satis 
 faction of knowing that his labours there 
 had not been without their fruits. From 
 the time he commenced operations, in 
 December, 1836, to the period of his recall, 
 in May, 1838, 2,400 Indians and negroes 
 were either killed or taken, or voluntarily 
 surrendered to be transported to the west. 
 Seven hundred of the number were warriors. 
 Many of the principal chiefs had already 
 been sent out of the territory. King 
 Philip, Cloud, and Coahago, arrived at New 
 Orleans on the 12th of March. King 
 Philip, however, never reached his western 
 home. He died on board the transport, 
 
 spoke with energy and boldness, and led his com 
 panions, at all times, with the same spirit. He 
 was banished from his tribe four years, for adul 
 tery, during which time he lived with the Spanish 
 Indians, inhabiting the everglades, who Created 
 him with great distinction. At the breaking out 
 of hostilities, he rejoined his band, and became an 
 active leader. After resisting three years, he 
 surrendered for emigration, and became useful in 
 inducing others to follow his example." 
 
 501 
 
BLOODHOUNDS EMPLOYED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1838. 
 
 when within forty miles of Fort Gibson. 
 He was buried on shore with the honours of 
 war, one hundred guns being fired over his 
 grave. Jumper, who had left Florida in 
 February, reached no further than New 
 Orleans. He was taken ill, and, after 
 languishing two months at the barracks 
 there, died on the 19th of April. He was 
 also buried under arms. In conformity 
 to the Indian custom, his rifle, pipe, and 
 tobacco, and other equipments, were de 
 posited in his coffin.* 
 
 On his retirement from the command in 
 Florida, General Jessup received the follow 
 ing testimonial to the zeal and ability with 
 which he had performed his duties there, 
 from the secretary of war : " You have 
 accomplished all that could be expected, 
 under the peculiar and difficult circum 
 stances in which you were placed, from a 
 zealous, active, and energetic officer ; and, 
 in withdrawing you from Florida, the de 
 partment was actuated by no want of con 
 fidence in your zeal or ability to carry on 
 the war to a successful issue, but from a 
 belief that you might now return to the 
 performance of the appropriate duties of 
 your department, without injury to the 
 public service." 
 
 General Taylor assumed command of ope 
 rations in Florida on the 15th of May, 
 1838, establishing his head-quarters at 
 Tampa Bay. The success of General 
 Taylor, in his action with the Seminoles at 
 Okeechobee, indisposed the latter from 
 attempting another general engagement. 
 The operations of the war were, therefore, 
 mostly confined to skirmishes with small 
 parties of the Indians. The belief had 
 become quite general, that so many of the j 
 Seminoles had been sent beyond the Mis- ; 
 sissippi, that but few could be left to keep , 
 up hostilities. But it proved far otherwise. ; 
 Their bloody outrages continued with, if 
 possible, augmented ferocity and boldness. 
 Settlers were shot down whilst sitting at 
 the doors of their own houses ; and, some 
 times, the houses would be surrounded 
 while whole families were in them. With 
 over 50,000 square miles to protect, it was 
 impossible, with the utmost vigilance, to 
 guard wholly against their bloody depre 
 dations. They would come out from their 
 hiding-places, rush upon some unprotected 
 settlement, plantation, or isolated dwelling ; 
 murder, pillage, and destroy, and retreat to j 
 their fastnesses, before information of their 
 
 502 
 
 Diake. 
 
 presence could be conveyed to the nearest 
 post. Nor were their depredations con 
 fined to the unarmed settlers of Florida. 
 Vessels were frequently wrecked or stranded 
 on the extended coast of the Floridian 
 peninsula ; and if their crews escaped the 
 perils of the sea, they, in many cases, suf 
 fered a more terrible fate at the hands of 
 the sanguinary Seminoles, who seemed to 
 look upon every white man as their enemy, 
 and would make no exception, even in the 
 case of the unfortunate mariner, whom 
 accident alone had thrown among them. 
 
 The principal difficulty, in fighting the 
 Indians, being to track them to their hiding- 
 places in the swamps and hummocks, the 
 employment of bloodhounds to scent them 
 out was seriously agitated. The propo 
 sition was favourably looked upon by Gen 
 eral Taylor, and also by Mr. Poinsett, the 
 secretary of war, who authorised their em 
 ployment in the following order : " I have 
 always been of opinion that dogs ought 
 to be employed in this warfare, to protect 
 the army from surprises and ambuscades, 
 and to track the Indian to his lurking- 
 place ; but supposed, if the general con 
 sidered them to be necessary, he would 
 not hesitate to take measures to procure 
 them. The cold-blooded and inhuman 
 murders lately perpetrated upon helpless 
 women and children by these ruthless 
 savages, render it expedient that every 
 possible means should be resorted to, in 
 order to protect the people of Florida, and 
 to enable the United States forces to follow, 
 and capture, or destroy the savage and un 
 relenting foe. General Taylor is, there 
 fore, authorised to procure such number of 
 dogs as he may deem necessary, it being 
 expressly understood that they are to be 
 employed to track and discover the Indians, 
 not to worry or destroy them." 
 
 General Taylor, however, took no mea 
 sures to carry this order into effect ; but the 
 territorial government of Florida, the fol 
 lowing year, sent an agent to Cuba, who 
 succeeded in purchasing thirty-three blood 
 hounds, at a cost of five thousand dollars. 
 On this fact coming to the knowledge of 
 the war department, General Taylor was 
 directed, in case of their being employed 
 by any officer under his command, that 
 their use should be confined strictly to 
 tracking the Indians ; and in order to insure 
 this, and to prevent the possibility of their 
 injuring any person whatsoever, that they 
 be muzzled when in the field, and held 
 
A.D. 1339.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TAYLOR S PLAN. 
 
 with a leash whilst following the track of 
 the enemy. Their employment, however, 
 proved a complete failure. Although these 
 dogs had been long successfully used in the 
 West Indies, in tracking the negro, when 
 put upon the track of an Indian, finding 
 the scent far different from that of a negro, 
 they refused to follow. 
 
 On the 20th of October, General Ta)dor 
 succeeded, without compulsory measures, 
 in embarking the whole of the Appa- 
 lache Indians, about 220 in number, for 
 their new home beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 On the 29th of December, an attack was 
 made on camp Forbes by a party of In 
 dians ; but they were repulsed, leaving 
 two of their number dead. The next 
 day, Lieutenant Thomas went in pursuit of 
 the savages, and came up with them on the 
 Chattahoochee, when they were dispersed 
 with loss. 
 
 On the 25th of February, 1839, 200 In 
 dians and negroes, who had been collected 
 for emigration, were shipped from Tampa 
 Bay for the Arkansas country. 
 
 Being fully convinced that the Indians 
 could not be brought into action in any 
 considerable numbers while, at the same 
 time, no opportunity was left by them unim 
 proved to wreak their vengeance on the un 
 armed inhabitants of the country General 
 Taylor commenced carrying out a plan, 
 which he previously submitted to, and 
 had received the sanction of, the war de 
 partment. This was to divide the country 
 into military districts of twenty miles 
 square. In the centre of each, or at the 
 most eligible point, a post was to be estab 
 lished, and occupied by twenty or thirty 
 men, a portion of them mounted. The 
 officer in command at each post was to 
 patrol his district each alternate day ; tho 
 roughly examine the swamps and hum 
 mocks ; and to be held responsible that it 
 was kept clear of Indians. This plan Gen 
 eral Taylor was rapidly carrying into ope 
 ration, through the aid of skilful topogra 
 phical engineers, who, in parties of five and 
 ten, encamped in the woods, without a 
 guard or escort. The success of it, how 
 ever, was not tested. On the 30th of April, 
 General Macomb, the general-in-chief of 
 the United States army, arrived at Fort 
 King, empowered by the president of the 
 United States, to e nter into an arrangement 
 with the Seminoles. Communication was 
 had, after considerable difficulty, through a 
 friendly young chief, with Halleck-Tuste- 
 
 nugge and Tigertail, who visited the forfc 
 with forty- six warriors. Sam Jones sent 
 Chitto-Tustenugge as his representative, he 
 arriving at the fort with Colonel Harncy, 
 of the 2nd Dragoons. Chitto-Tustenugge 
 had been recently elected principal chief, 
 at a council held by the Seminoles and 
 Mickasaukies. Another council was held 
 on the 18th of May, at which Heelek-Tuste- 
 nugge acted as " lawyer," or principal 
 speaker, for the Indians. A verbal arrange 
 ment was entered into, under which hostili 
 ties were immediately to cease between the 
 parties ; the Seminoles and Mickasaukies 
 agreeing to retire into a district of country 
 1 of specific boundaries, below Pierce Creek ; 
 they being allowed sixty days in which 
 to remove their families and effects into the 
 said district, where they were to remain un 
 til further arrangements were made, under 
 the protection of the troops of the United 
 States, who were to see that they were not 
 molested by intruders, citizens or foreigners; 
 and they were not to pass the limits assigned 
 them, except to visit the posts thereafter 
 to be indicated. Provisions and cloth 
 ing were issued to the Indians ; and, after 
 a three days jubilee on the occasion, they 
 left with the utmost good feeling, giving 
 an assurance of a prompt fulfilment, on their 
 part, of the arrangement made. General 
 Macomb returned to Washington, in full 
 confidence that the obligations entered into 
 by the Indians would be faithfully dis 
 charged by the respective tribes. General 
 Taylor, however, who was left in command, 
 had had too much experience in the trea 
 chery of the Indians to place the slightest 
 reliance upon them. 
 
 For four or five weeks after this verbal 
 arrangement was entered into, the country 
 was free from alarms ; and, though some 
 were incredulous, many were induced to be 
 lieve that peace and tranquillity were again 
 to bless their homes. The abandoned plan 
 tations were soon occupied by their pro 
 prietors with their families, who were re 
 joiced to escape from the crowded towns, to 
 which they had fled for refuge. Their hal 
 cyon hopes and expectations were, however, 
 once more brought to nought. Early in Juty, 
 the same bloody scenes were renewed ; travel 
 lers, post-riders, and express-men, were as 
 sailed and murdered on the highway ; plan 
 tations were again attacked, and their oc- 
 ! cupants, if fortunate enough to escape with 
 j their lives, fled, leaving everything behind 
 1 them. A wide-spread panic now prevailed* 
 
 503 
 
HARNEY S ESCAPE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1839. 
 
 Many residents, in final despair, abandoned 
 the territory altogether, and betook them 
 selves to the neighbouring states. 
 
 On the 22nd of July, Colonel Harney, 
 who had proceeded to Charlotte Harbour, 
 to establish" a trading-house for the conveni 
 ence of the Indians who were expected to re 
 move within the specified limits, was at 
 tacked in a most treacherous manner. His 
 detachment consisted of about twenty-eight 
 men, armed with Colt s rifles, and were 
 encamped in an open pine-barren, on the 
 Cabbashat-Chee river, but unprotected by 
 defences of any kind, and without sentinels. 
 For several days previous the Indians 
 visited the camp in the most friendly man 
 ner; but, at dawn on the above-named 
 day, an attack was made by 250 Indians, 
 led by Holatter-Micco, or Billy Bowlegs, or 
 Bolecks, as his name is sometimes written.* 
 The surprise of the force was complete. 
 Housed by the hideous yells, and continuous 
 discharge of rifles, and overpowered by num 
 bers rushing suddenly upon them, no ef 
 fectual resistance could be made. Eighteen 
 of the men were killed. The remainder, 
 several of them severely wounded, with Colo 
 nel Harney, in their shirts and drawers, 
 fled on the first fire, and succeeded in reach 
 ing a sloop in the river, and thus escaped. 
 
 Lieutenant Hanson, commanding at Fort 
 Mellon, on receipt of the intelligence of 
 this massacre, immediately seized forty-six 
 Seminoles, then visiting his post to obtain 
 provisions, and shipped them to Charleston, 
 South Carolina, whence they were sent to 
 the Arkansas country. 
 
 It now became painfully evident that, 
 composed, as the Florida Indians were, of 
 remnants of tribes that had, from time to 
 time, taken refuge there, and acknowledg 
 ing no common head, treaty stipulations 
 could not be relied upon, unless sanctioned 
 by the chiefs of all the tribes inhabiting 
 the peninsula. Neither Sam Jones nor 
 Tigertail, the two principal chiefs of the 
 Semiuoles, had anything to do with the 
 treaty of General Macomb. The latter, in 
 fact, issued a proclamation, declaring that 
 treaty null and void. When, in addition 
 to the difficulties above named, the noto 
 riously treacherous character of the Indians 
 was taken into consideration, the convic 
 tion was unavoidable, that nothing short 
 
 * Chakika, the chief of the Spanish Indians, in 
 habiting the almost extreme southern point of the 
 Floridian peninsula, and Haspetaske, both of them 
 hereafter spoken of, were with Billy Bowlers in 
 leading on this attack. Haspetaske was a Seminole, 
 504 
 
 of the complete extinction of the Indian 
 race in Florida, either by death or expatri 
 ation, could pacify that unfortunate terri 
 tory. Tedious as the task might prove to 
 be, there was no alternative but, as soon 
 as the season would permit, to recommence 
 operations, and prosecute them until Flo 
 rida was wholly freed from its merciless 
 foes. 
 
 The territorial government now of 
 fered a reward of 200 dollars for every In 
 dian taken alive or dead. It was at this 
 time, also, that the experiment was made 
 (already referred to) to track the Indians to 
 their secret hiding-places by the aid of 
 Cuban bloodhounds. 
 
 Although, during the winter of 1839- 40, 
 the operations against the Indians were 
 conducted with vigour and ability, under 
 the direction of General Taylor, still the 
 results were meagre and unsatisfactory, 
 though he accomplished all that could be 
 expected with the limited means placed 
 at his command, extending, as they did, 
 over so wide a field of operations. His 
 exertions had been unremitting in pur 
 suing, with determination and energy, 
 everj scheme which held out any promise 
 of success. His officers and soldiers en 
 dured fatigue and privation, sickness and 
 suffering, without a murmur or complaint. 
 With untiring perseverance, they opened 
 roads through the swamps, in pursuit of 
 the enemy ; and, whenever they could 
 bring him to action, displayed the utmost 
 coolness and intrepidity ; in every instance 
 driving him from his fastnesses. But all 
 these exertions and successes proved un 
 availing. Their main purpose was as far 
 from accomplishment as ever. Heretoiore, 
 the Indian population of the states and 
 territories had been expelled by the gradual 
 increase and advance of a superior race; 
 but in Florida, as has already been stated, 
 the attempt was made, for the first time, 
 to drive the Indians from the unsettled 
 wilderness, or, what was still more difficult, 
 to capture them, for the purpose of trans 
 porting them beyond its limits. To accom 
 plish that, scattered, as they were, over a 
 space of nearly 50,000 square miles of ter 
 ritory, abounding in provisions suited to 
 their habits, and defended by a climate, 
 benign to them, but deadly to the whites, 
 
 and upwards of eighty years of age. His wife was a 
 Spanish woman; and with a portion of his followers 
 he lived in the country occupied by the Spanish 
 Indians, who were, to some extent, acquainted with 
 the useful implements of civilisation. 
 
A.P. 1840.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MASSACRE OF DR. PERRINE. 
 
 and presenting difficulties to the march of 
 armies that could scarcely be exaggerated, 
 was a task not easy of accomplishment, 
 and one that, in its conception, was sadly 
 underrated. 
 
 In April, 1840, the sickly season had 
 again returned, and it became necessary 
 to withdraw the troops from the field. 
 General Taylor having requested to be re 
 lieved from duty in Florida, General "W. 
 R. Armistead was directed to succeed 
 him ; and, on the 6th of May, he assumed 
 command, establishing his head-quarters 
 at St. Augustine. 
 
 On the 7th of August, an attack was 
 made on Indian Key a small island, which 
 lies off the mainland of Florida, near its 
 southern terminus bya band of Spanish In 
 dians in boats, and six of the residents mur 
 dered : among them Dr. Perrine, a distin 
 guished naturalist. The marauders occu 
 pied a tract of country near the extreme 
 southern point of the peninsula, and were 
 governed by an intelligent chief, named 
 Chekika. They spoke a language which was 
 a mixture of Spanish and Indian ; and num 
 bered about one hundred warriors. This 
 band was almost entirely unknown. They 
 had taken no part in the war up to this time, 
 when, being joined by Indians from the 
 north, who were driven down by the whites, 
 they were induced to become participants 
 in the hostilities, attacking the various set 
 tlements of the islands on the western 
 coast, with whom, for years, they had lived 
 on terms of friendship. The following de 
 tails of the massacre at Indian Key, gathered 
 from a narrative by an officer of the army, 
 possess interest sufficient to justify the 
 space given to them here : Between two 
 and three o clock in the morning of the day 
 above mentioned, the residents of the 
 island were aroused from their slumbers by 
 the discharge of musketry, and the terrible 
 Indian war-whoop. Mrs. Perrine, the wife 
 of the gentleman above alluded to, alarmed 
 by the breaking of the glass in their 
 chamber window, with her three children, 
 descended into a small room at the foot 
 of the stairs, in which was a trap-door that 
 led to the cellar used for bathing, as the 
 tide filled it twice a day. Dr. Perrine ac 
 companied her as far as the door, and then 
 returned to reconnoitre. Mrs. Perrine re 
 sisted the entreaties of her daughters to 
 go down into the water, until they heard 
 the Indians breaking into the house oppo 
 site to theirs. Hesitating no longer, they 
 
 went down into the cellar, passed through 
 the bathing-room into a small place about 
 three feet high, and four feet by ten in 
 length and breadth, walled up on each side 
 by sacks, and thick planks over the top ; 
 then covered by marl and stone, and thin 
 planks again, to make it level with the 
 wharf which extended beyond, and was sepa- 
 | rated from it by palmetto posts driven deep 
 into the marl. Under this wharf was a 
 large turtle-crawl. Soon after they had 
 secreted themselves here, they heard Dr. 
 Perrine telling the Indians, from the upper 
 piazza, in Spanish, that he was a physician, 
 upon which they gave a shout, and left the 
 house. "When the Indians were gone, Dr. 
 Perrine came down and closed the trap 
 door, and drew a heavy chest of seeds, 
 which was in the room, over it ; believing 
 that he would be saved, and he could try to 
 save his family. During this time the 
 Indians were heard breaking into different 
 houses, while Dr. Perrine s was left un 
 touched ; but about daylight they returned, 
 jumped into the piazza, and commenced 
 battering at the doors and windows. One 
 of them was heard to say, "Stop that;" 
 and then they rushed upstairs. The same 
 voice was again heard to say, " They are 
 all hid the old man up stairs" for the 
 doctor had evidently retreated to the cu 
 pola, which was entered by a heavy trap 
 door. The Indians were soon heard pound 
 ing at that door, accompanying the action, 
 with the most terrific yells. From its 
 strength, the door resisted for some time. 
 It ultimately gave way, when their yells 
 became perfectly demoniacal ; and the mas 
 sacre of Dr. Perrine was then undoubtedly 
 accomplished. They were soon heard break 
 ing crockery, glass, doors, and, indeed, 
 everything they could lay their hands 
 upon ; while trunks, chests of clothing, and 
 all that they wished to carry off, were 
 being dragged over the heads of the family 
 that lay concealed, and loaded into boats. 
 Indeed, while the family were in their 
 place of retreat, there were two or three 
 Indians, most of the time, sitting over 
 their heads, talking, and giving their com 
 mands; they even lifted the plank from 
 the turtle-crawl, and looked down, but, 
 fortunately, did not direct their gaze to 
 wards the end where the fugitives were 
 concealed, and they thus escaped discovery. 
 Soon after sunrise smoke began to fill 
 the cellar, but did not seriously affect Mrs. 
 Perrine and the children till about an 
 
 505 
 
ARKANSAS DEPUTATION.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 
 
 hour before they left, at which time 
 the whole house fell into the cellar. It 
 then became intolerable, and was so thick 
 that, though clasped in each other s arms, 
 they could not see one another. They kept 
 their faces towards the water s edge, plas 
 tered their heads with marl, and threw the 
 water constantly over them to keep the air 
 in motion, so that they could breathe. The 
 planks that supported the stone over them 
 took fire, when they threw the marl upon 
 them to stop the flames. Henry, Mrs. 
 Perrine s son, began to scream, when his 
 mother held his mouth with her hands, 
 fearing that the Indians would hear him ; 
 and his sister held his arms until he burst 
 from them, declaring that he would rather 
 be killed by the savages than be burnt 
 or smothered to death. He forced aside a 
 palmetto post, and passing through the 
 turtle -crawl, got out; while the others 
 waited in horrible suspense, believing that 
 he would be killed, and their discovery 
 be inevitable. Hearing no noise, however, 
 and knowing that they could live but a 
 short time there, Mrs. Perrine dug down 
 in the marl with her hands, until she was 
 enabled to draw out the posts from the 
 bottom. They then passed under the wharf, 
 on which there was a pile of wood on 
 fire, and the floor being burnt through, 
 the coals fell upon their necks as they 
 went along. In passing out from be 
 neath this place, they discovered Henry, 
 and also a large launch at the wharf. 
 Beckoning him to come to them, they 
 jumped into the launch, and, rowing with all 
 their strength, were soon out of rifle-shot of 
 the Key. They were taken up by a boat from 
 the schooner Medium. The boat in which 
 the family escaped was one that the Indians 
 were loading with plunder. They were 
 subsequently transferred to the Flirt, and 
 taken to Cape Florida, whence they took 
 the steamer Santee, and proceeded to St. 
 Augustine. There were upon Indian Key, 
 at the time of the attack, forty-fcmr re 
 sidents, all of whom, except the six before 
 named, had the good fortune to escape. 
 All the houses were burnt without a single 
 exception. 
 
 "When General Armistead assumed com 
 mand, as already stated, the sickly season 
 had arrived, and the troops had been 
 withdrawn from the field. But although 
 active operations had been suspended on 
 the part of the whites, the savages did not 
 stay their work of murder and devastation, 
 506 
 
 wherever and whenever opportunity offered 
 for striking a blow. 
 
 Undeterred by the failure of previous 
 attempts, the government once more de 
 termined on attempting pacific measures. 
 General Armistead was directed to act on 
 the defensive, merely adopting protective 
 measures ; at the same time, to endeavour, 
 by every possible means, to influence the 
 Seminoles to go quietly to the lands as 
 signed them at the west. To carry out 
 these designs more effectually, a deputa 
 tion of their countrymen had been sent 
 for, from the Arkansas country, to come 
 and intercede with their friends and 
 brothers to cease their opposition, con 
 sent to emigration, and- thus end the diffi 
 culties. This proposition was agreed to, 
 and a party of fourteen chiefs left their 
 western home on this embassy, and arrived 
 at Tampa Bay on the 2nd of November. 
 
 Among this deputation was the noted 
 chief Holatoochee. They came prepared 
 to assure their Florida brethren that they 
 would be far better off in their western 
 homes ; and, as the members of this de 
 putation were known to have been ex 
 ceedingly opposed to emigration, and had 
 been forcibly compelled to leave Florida 
 themselves, their influence with their re 
 fractory brethren, it was thought, would 
 prove irresistible. 
 
 The deputation left Tampa Bay for Fort 
 King on the 3rd of November, the day suc 
 ceeding their arrival, reaching the latter 
 place on the 7th. Through the efforts of 
 these chiefs, General Armistead obtained 
 an interview with Halleck-Tustenugge and 
 Tigertail, near Horseshoe hummock, in the 
 vicinity of Fort King, on the 10th of 
 November. These chiefs came with forty 
 warriors, prepared to strike a blow as op 
 portunity might offer, or to improve the 
 terms of peace, in order to obtain a supply of 
 provisions and ammunition. General Ar 
 mistead approached the hummock, accom 
 panied by several officers, when Halleck- 
 Tustenugge cautiously came out to meet 
 him, having a white flag. After a talk 
 upon the long continuance of hostilities, in 
 which the latter expressed a desire that they 
 should be brought to a termination, he was 
 reluctantly persuaded to return with Gen 
 eral Armistead to Fort King, where he 
 remained four days ; his warriors, mean 
 time, remaining secreted in the hummock. 
 While at Fort King, he was visited daily 
 by Tigertail and small parties of his band, 
 
A.D. 1840.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HARNEY S EFFORTS. 
 
 who would return to their camping-ground 
 in the hummock, with a supply of pro 
 visions for the whole band. Thus they con 
 tinued till the night of the 14th, when the 
 entire body suddenly disappeared. Tiger- 
 tail appears to have been the arch director 
 of the Indians in this movement. He 
 urged Halleck-Tustenugge to accompany 
 General Armistead to Fort King; and, 
 after a sufficient supply of provisions, as 
 well as many presents, were obtained, to 
 return to their old fastnesses. 
 
 As soon as the escape of the Indians was 
 ascertained the following morning, pursuit 
 was given by the troops in camp, but to 
 no purpose; not even a track could be 
 discovered. Their sudden departure ap 
 peared as much a matter of surprise to the 
 Arkansas deputation as to the whites. 
 General Armistead thus despondingly closes 
 his report of this unsuccessful attempt at 
 negotiation, to the secretary of war : 
 " Thus have ended all our well-grounded 
 hopes of bringing the war to a close by 
 pacific measures. Confident in the re 
 sources of the country, the enemy will 
 hold out to the last, and c,an never be in 
 duced to come in again." 
 
 An event occurred soon after this failure 
 of the attempt at pacific measures, which 
 not only excited the indignation of officers 
 and soldiers, but aroused the spirit of re 
 taliation throughout the country. On the 
 28th of December, Lieutenant Sherwood 
 and twelve men, acting as an escort to 
 Mrs. Montgomery (wife of Lieutenant 
 Montgomery, who had been married about 
 three weeks), were proceeding on horse 
 back from Micanopy to Walkaboota eight 
 miles accompanied by a waggon and 
 five mules. They had proceeded about 
 half the distance, when they were fired upon 
 from a hummock, and two privates killed. 
 This was followed by the war-whoop and 
 savage yells. Lieutenant Sherwood ral 
 lied the escort, determined to stand his 
 ground. To protect Mrs. Montgomery, he 
 persuaded her to dismount and get into the 
 waggon : in doing this, she received a 
 ball in her breast, which proved fatal. 
 Sending a messenger immediately to Mica 
 nopy for reinforcements, Lieutenant Sher 
 wood, with the remainder, fought hand to 
 hand with the savages, as they advanced 
 from the wood, until he fell, exhausted and 
 overpowered by superior numbers, a sacri 
 fice to his intrepidity, with the sergeant- 
 major by his side. After scalping and 
 
 otherwise mutilating the bodies, the Indians 
 retreated to the hummock. They num 
 bered about thirty, and were led on by chiefs 
 Halleck-Tustenugge and Cosa-Tustenugge. 
 The latter, intimidated by the atrocity of 
 this act, soon after sought an opportunity 
 to surrender ; and his whole band, consist 
 ing of thirty-two warriors and sixty women 
 and children, were sent beyond the Mis 
 sissippi into Arkansas. 
 
 The instructions to the commanding gen 
 eral, to urge the Indians to an amicable 
 surrender, were now rescinded, and he was 
 directed to prosecute the war with vigour, 
 and bring it to a close, upon the terms re 
 quired by the treaty of Payne s Landing ; 
 and abundant means were placed in his 
 hands for that purpose. 
 
 In December, an expedition was under 
 taken into the everglades, by Colonel 
 Harney. These extensive retreats of the 
 savages, called by them " Pah-ha-go-kee," 
 or " Grass Water," include about one mil 
 lion of acres, and are an expanse of shoal 
 water, varying from one to five feet in 
 depth, dotted with innumerable low and flat 
 islands, generally covered with trees or 
 shrubs. Much of the water is shaded by 
 an almost impenetrable saw-grass, as high 
 as a man s head; but the little channels 
 in every direction are free from it. A 
 negro, named John, who had been captured 
 by the Indians in 1835, but escaped from 
 a band in the everglades, came in at Cape 
 Florida. Taking John as a guide, Colonel 
 Harney, with ninety men in boats, set out 
 in search of the Indians retreat in these 
 hitherto unexplored regions. John faith 
 fully led the expedition directly to the 
 island where the Indians were, which 
 proved to be the band of Spanish Indians 
 before spoken of, who had betaken them 
 selves to the everglades for security, and who 
 were at once surrounded, several of them 
 killed, including their chief Chekika, and 
 the remainder of his band taken prisoners. 
 
 When Colonel Harney, with his detach 
 ment, came upon the band, Chekika was 
 a short distance off, chopping wood. At 
 sight of the whites, he turned and fled for 
 the high grass. Several soldiers started in 
 pursuit; and finding that he could not 
 escape by running, and being unarmed, 
 he turned and threw up his arms, in token i 
 of surrender. But he was too late. Simul 
 taneously with the movement, the fatal 
 bullet sped, entered his brain, and he fell 
 lifeless into the water. 
 
 507 
 
THE WAR POLICY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1841. 
 
 The success of this expedition caused 
 much alarm among the other Indians, who 
 had taken refuge in this last foothold in 
 the territory. To elude capture, and to 
 direct operations in the everglades, they 
 adopted the old stratagem upon their too 
 credulous foe. The more sagacious were 
 sent into Sarasota, the nearest station to 
 the everglades, professing a desire for peace, 
 and a willingness to emigrate. Among 
 them was Tigertail, who exculpated himself 
 for his conduct at Fort King, by criminat 
 ing the Mickasaukies, and cautioned the 
 commander against their hostility and artful 
 designs. These Indians, after remaining 
 a few days, enjoying the hospitality of the 
 garrison, were permitted to depart as mes 
 
 sengers to the hostile Indians, whom it was 
 hoped they would influence to come in. 
 Some never returned ; others came back 
 with the story that their friends were 
 assembled in camp not far distant, ready 
 to emigrate, but that the inability of the 
 women and children to travel without food 
 would necessarily cause delay. To facili 
 tate their reaching Tampa Bay, the place 
 of embarkation, provisions were liberally 
 dealt out to them. It is, perhaps, needless 
 to say that their tales were but cunningly 
 devised fables, unqualified with a particle 
 of truth. The time had been improved by 
 the Indians, however, to remove their 
 women and children still deeper into the 
 recesses of the everglades. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SECOND SEMINOLE OR FLORIDA WAR CONTINUED. 
 
 GENERAL ARMISTEAD having expressed a 
 wish to be relieved from duty in Florida, 
 Colonel W. J. Worth, being the officer 
 next in rank on duty, was named as his 
 successor. He assumed command on the 
 31st of May, 1841. In his letter of in 
 structions, he was advised of the "earnest 
 desire of the government to terminate, as 
 speedily as possible, the protracted hostil 
 ities in Florida ; and to cause the most 
 perfect protection and security to be given 
 to the frontiers, and to those citizens who 
 may be disposed to penetrate the country 
 for lawful purposes of trade or settlement." 
 The duties thus imposed, as may readily 
 be conceived, were not a holiday task. A 
 war, which had extended through six years, 
 and exhausted the energies of as many 
 different commanders, offered but slight 
 encouragement of a "speedy termination." 
 The Indians still remaining in Florida, 
 comprised Seminoles, Mickasaukies, Uche- 
 ses, Tallahassees, and Creeks. They con 
 stituted that portion most determined in its 
 opposition to emigration ; and when, from 
 time to time, they saw portions of the 
 tribes depart for their future homes beyond 
 the Mississippi, they showered their male 
 dictions upon them and upon the whites, in 
 508 
 
 no measured terms ; reiterating the reso 
 lution to die rather than abandon their 
 native soil. Therefore, though each fresh 
 emigration rendered their number less, it 
 did not lessen the passion for revenge, 
 or their power for evil. 
 
 The position of the various bands at the 
 time Colonel Worth assumed command, was 
 subsequently ascertained to be as follows : 
 Sam Jones, or Aspeika, with seventeen 
 warriors, and a large number of women 
 and children, was located near the mouth 
 of the Klssimmee river, and the eastern 
 border of Lake Okeechobee. Otalke- 
 Thloko, usually called the Prophet, a re 
 negade Creek, was associated with him. 
 There has been occasion, in previous pages, 
 to speak of the influence exercised over the 
 Indians by their prophets. The present case 
 was not an exception. By certain practices, j 
 such as midnight fires, dances, songs, and 
 various kinds of ceremonies, the Prophet 
 made the Indians believe that he held com 
 munion with the Great Spirit ; and by the 
 use of roots as medicine, that he could eflect 
 remarkable cures. He also claimed the gift 
 of looking into futurity, and foretelling 
 events about to happen. His impostures 
 were executed so successfully, that the most 
 
A.T>. 1839.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DESPERATE WARFARE. 
 
 intelligent chiefs looked up to him with 
 awe and reverence, and greatly feared his 
 indignation. Even those who had sur 
 rendered for emigration, and were hundreds 
 of miles distant, held social festivals to 
 avert his evil influences. Billy Bowlegs, 
 Haspetaske, Parsacke, Assinowar, and Fuste 
 Iladjo, stigmatised him as a coward ; yet 
 he was viewed by them with fear and 
 apprehension. In the Big Cypress Swamp, 
 under the above-named chieftains, there 
 were about 160 warriors. In this swamp, 
 the vegetation is so dense that the sun s 
 rays do not touch the earth, and, all the 
 year round, the water stands from six to 
 twenty-four inches in depth, and covered 
 with a green slime, which emits a noxious 
 vapour when agitated. Alligators and 
 venomous snakes abound in this swamp. 
 In its centre are a few islands, and on these 
 the Indians lived and planted. From the 
 head waters of the St. John s to St. Augus 
 tine, was the country occupied by Coacoochee 
 and his band of eighty warriors. Ilalleck- 
 Tustenuggee had a band of thirty-five 
 warriors. Associated with him was an 
 old Indian named Powis-fixico, or Short 
 Grass, who had several followers. Tiger- 
 tail, with his brother, Nethlockemathla, 
 had about sixty warriors. The Suwanee 
 river, Waccassassee river and hummock, 
 Chocochote and Annuttiliga hummocks, 
 and Crystal and Ilamasassa rivers, thence 
 east to the Charlopopka lakes (trout ponds), 
 were their resort. A Creek chief, named 
 Octiarche,had nineteen warriors; he planted 
 in the Waccassassee hummock, and camped 
 wherever most convenient and secure. 
 West of the Suwanee were located the 
 remnants of Alligator s and Mad Tiger s 
 band, numbering forty-two warriors. On 
 the Ocklockonne river were forty Creek 
 warriors, under the chief Pascaffer, with a 
 large number of women and children. 
 
 Spread over a surface of 50,000 square 
 miles, making their homes in its numerous 
 swamps and marshes, unaffected by their 
 miasmatic influences, so fatal to the white 
 men ; battling, as they looked upon it, in 
 defence of the soil which gave them birth, 
 and against what they deemed an unjust 
 attempt to drive them from it a course 
 which has nerved many an arm before and 
 since ; their revengeful and vindictive feel 
 ings uncontrolled by those rules which 
 govern civilised warfare few as they were, 
 as has been before remarked the Indians 
 
 in Florida still proved a formidable foe. 
 VOL. n. ii u 
 
 Hitherto, owing to the heat and un- 
 healthiness of the climate, no campaign 
 had been carried on during the summer. 
 That season of the year was the Indians 
 ally. During this period, while the army 
 was idle in camp, they obtained time to 
 cultivate and gather their crops, and thus 
 I obtain the means of subsistence while prose 
 cuting the war during the winter months. 
 Colonel Worth resolved on adopting a new 
 plan, which would break up this resource 
 j of the enemy, by pursuing the Indians 
 j during the entire year, without regard to 
 j the climate or its results. Though the 
 consequences might be detrimental to those 
 to whom the task was assigned, he felt that 
 the end would justify the means. The 
 roots of this detestable warfare must be 
 thoroughly destroyed, and nothing but a 
 summer s campaign, active and unceasing, 
 would accomplish so desirable a result. 
 This determination of the commanding 
 officer was responded to by the army with 
 out a dissenting voice. 
 
 Preparations were immediately made to 
 give the utmost activity to the troops. 
 Colonel Worth also determined to change 
 the mode of action to that of a partizan 
 warfare, thus urging the men to vigorous 
 measures without the restraint of higher 
 authority. The simple command, " Find 
 the enemy capture or exterminate him," 
 was to govern the various detachments in 
 their operations. The aggregate strength 
 of the army at this time, present and absent, 
 officers and men, was a little short of 5,000. 
 Of these, there were in hospital and absent 
 on leave, from twelve to fourteen hundred 
 men, leaving a disposable force to take the 
 field, of about 3,400 men, and 200 commis- 
 1 sioned officers. 
 
 The train of Ilalleck-Tustenuggee being 
 discovered, as it was supposed, near Fort 
 King, Colonel Worth established his head 
 quarters there, with a view of securing this 
 most active and vindictive of the hostile 
 j chiefs, should he, in consequence of the 
 change of commanders, seek an interview 
 I with the design of obtaining supplies. On 
 j the 8th of June, the negro guides reported 
 that they had discovered his trail, leading 
 into the extensive swamps and hummocks 
 | surrounding Lake Fanee Sufekee. This, 
 from its seclusion, was believed to be his 
 : favourite resort, and measures were imrne- 
 ! diately adopted to follow it up. With about 
 200 men and officers, Colonel Worth, under 
 I the direction of the negro guides, started for 
 
 509 
 
THE SWAMPS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1839. 
 
 the neighbourhood of the lake. The swamp 
 was reached by midnight of the 10th, the 
 troops having marched forty- four miles. 
 The negro guides said the Indian camp 
 was on the opposite side of the swamp, a 
 distance of five or six miles. Just at break 
 of day was the best time to surprise the 
 camp ; for at that hour, the Indian, around 
 his camp-fire, feels secure. The horses 
 being picketed, and the baggage left with a 
 small guard on the margin of the swamp, 
 the troops moved quietly but resolutely 
 into the swamp ; the soldier carrying only 
 his musket and ammunition, and the 
 officers a rifle or sword. At every step the 
 water became deeper and colder, and halts 
 were frequently necessary to extricate some 
 of the more unfortunate from the mud. 
 The darkness of the night, when added to 
 the dismal shadows of a cypress swamp 
 where, even at mid-day, the sun s rays 
 never find their way was rendered so im 
 penetrable, that the officers and men could 
 only follow by the sounds of the splashing of 
 water, and the voices of those who, guided 
 by the negroes, led the way. The advance 
 reached the opposite side of the swamp, 
 which was believed to be the stronghold of 
 the enemy, just before the break of day. 
 With deep solicitude they awaited the 
 approach of the main body of the troops, 
 who had not yet reached terra firma, and 
 joyously greeted every officer and soldier, 
 as, covered with mud and water, he 
 emerged from the swamp. Day soon 
 broke, when, not daring to await any 
 longer the arrival of the entire force, for 
 fear of discovery, the order was given to 
 fall in line. Only eleven officers and thirty- 
 five privates were now present, though 
 stragglers were continually arriving, each 
 of whom would report those in the rear a 
 near at hand. By the grey dawn, the 
 Indian huts, twenty-four in number, could 
 be discovered through the bushes, some 
 300 paces distant ; and, judging from their 
 appearance, the occupants were believed to 
 outnumber the attacking party. It wa 
 determined, however, such was the danger 
 of delay, at once to vigorously assail them 
 and, if outnumbered, to rely upon those in 
 the rear. The muskets were reprimed 
 and, on his hands and knees, each man 
 cautiously worked his way through the 
 dense undergrowth, to within a few yard 
 of the cluster of huts and temporary sheds 
 Silently the soldiers grasped their muskets 
 and anxiously awaited the first indication 
 510 
 
 of life from those who were supposed to 
 
 )e sleeping within the rude shelters in 
 
 ancied security. A musket was at last 
 
 Lischarged to alarm them. Save its dull 
 
 choes, all was silent as before. To their 
 
 jitter disappointment and chagrin, the 
 
 liscovery was now made that not a 
 
 olitary being occupied the huts. The 
 
 attacking party were the sole tenants of 
 
 the spot. Extensive fields, bearing the 
 
 marks of former cultivation, gave indication 
 
 hat this was once the home of a powerful 
 
 )and. Razing the huts and sheds, and 
 
 hus leaving evidence that they had been 
 
 there, the troops, dispirited and dissatisfied 
 
 with the results of their expedition, retraced 
 
 heir steps, having to traverse the swamp 
 
 in the same toilsome way in which they 
 
 ame.* 
 
 On the 15th of June, Colonel Worth 
 received intelligence that Coacoochee, his 
 brother, and a brother of King Philip, with 
 thirteen warriors and their negroes, had been 
 seized ; and that, in compliance with pre 
 vious orders from General Armistead, they 
 had been sent to New Orleans, en route for 
 the Indian country beyond the Mississippi. 
 Colonel Worth immediately dispatched an 
 agent to New Orleans to intercept the 
 prisoners, and bring them back to Tampa 
 Bay, where the colonel immediately re 
 paired to meet them on the way. The 
 order for the return of so formidable 
 and active a chieftain, who had caused so 
 much desolation and distress, was strongly 
 denounced by the citizens of Florida, who 
 knew not the motives of the commander of 
 the army in bringing him back. After 
 events, however, amply vindicated the act. 
 
 In the meantime, Colonel Worth had 
 dispatched expeditions, with instructions to 
 penetrate the strongholds of the enemy in 
 every direction, and to capture and destroy 
 everything calculated to give them strength 
 or sustenance. These instructions were 
 carried into execution with the utmost 
 activity and determination. The month of 
 June saw the Indian corn-fields destroyed, 
 and desolation carried into every portion of 
 the country known or supposed to be occu 
 pied by the Indians. Captain Miller, with 
 seventy men, ascended the Hamasassa and 
 Crystal rivers, successfully destroying many 
 corn-fields. Colonel Clarke scoured the 
 Wahoo swamp, and the neighbourhood of 
 Forts Armstrong, Dade, and M Clure, with 
 like success. The Withlacooch.ee, from Fort 
 * Sprague. 
 
A.D. 1840.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. 
 
 Bade to camp Izard, was ascertained to be 
 a succession of lakes, from one to two miles 
 wide, studded with willow islands, sur 
 rounded by a dense cypress swamp. Sev 
 eral fields, producing various kinds of vege 
 tables, were here found and destroyed. 
 Each was in the care of one or two Indians ; 
 but not a footprint or a habitation could 
 be discovered in any direction. The Chado- 
 Papka country, a succession of lakes, inter 
 spersed with islands, extending about twelve 
 miles, was explored by Lieutenant Gates. 
 Many of these islands were ascertained to 
 be in a high state of cultivation. Huts, 
 corn-fields, and palmetto-sheds, were found 
 upon many of them. Tigertail planted a 
 large field upon one island; but it was 
 destroyed ; and he stated, after his surren 
 der, that it was his main reliance for the 
 coming year. At the time of its destruc 
 tion he was secreted in a tree in an ad 
 joining hummock, from which he saw his 
 corn torn up by the roots, and his house 
 burnt to the ground. 
 
 Detachments of forty or fifty were sent 
 out from Micanopy in every direction. Cap 
 tain Sea well captured a straggling party, 
 consisting of a man, woman, and two chil 
 dren, belonging to the band of Halleck- 
 Tustenuggee. Under the guidance of the 
 man, the captain discovered the Indians 
 trail, and followed it for three days, when 
 the band was found in a hummock. They 
 fled ; but the trail was kept up until the day 
 following, when it was lost, by the savages 
 burning the shrubs and grass as they passed. 
 Finding himself besieged in the Wahoo, 
 Halleck-Tustenuggee was making his way 
 to Lake George. A detachment from Fort 
 Fanning, under Captain Bonneville, de 
 stroyed several fields on the Suwanee 
 river, and in the Waccassassee hummock. 
 
 Immediately after the capture of Coa- 
 coochee, Major Childs, his captor, under 
 the direction of negro Joe (the chief s 
 interpreter and agent), made a rapid march 
 for his camp. But his band, after waiting 
 one day for his return, suspecting he was 
 captured, fled to the hummocks for safety. 
 Captain Burke, on the 25th of June, with 
 fifty men, in boats, made an exploration of 
 the everglades. Abandoned camps and 
 fields everywhere indicated that the Indians 
 had scattered in small parties for safety. 
 
 To sum up the results of these operations, 
 thirty-two fields were destroyed, from five 
 to twenty-five acres each in extent, and 
 containing all kinds of products suitable 
 
 for sustenance ; and 180 huts or sheds were 
 burnt. For years the Indians had lived, 
 from season to season their wants abun 
 dantly supplied, enjoying their corn-dances 
 and festivals, and committing their depre 
 dations and outrages upon the whites as 
 suited their inclination or convenience. 
 They had at last found that they could be 
 pursued at all seasons ; that the swamps 
 and hummocks no longer furnished a secure 
 retreat. In small parties they were now 
 driven to remote and disagreeable hiding- 
 places, and were dependent upon the in 
 dustry of their women for subsistence. 
 
 The Indians, finding themselves so closely 
 pursued, held a council, at the end of June, 
 in the long swamp, near Fort King, to 
 concert measures for their common defence. 
 One hundred and twenty warriors, with 
 Halleck-Tustenuggee, Tigertail, Nethlocke- 
 mathla, and Octiarche, were present. The} 
 pledged themselves never to surrender, nor 
 listen to any terms for peace : and it was 
 enjoined upon all, to put to death any mes 
 senger, whether Indian, negro, or white, 
 who should presume to come within their 
 reach. By combining together they could 
 protect their families ; and, if compelled, 
 make such a resistance as to cover their 
 retreat. Scouts, composed of from six to 
 ten Indians, were organised daily, who 
 examined the country for twenty miles 
 around, and, at night, made report to their 
 chiefs of the number of United States 
 troops they had discovered, and their direc 
 tion and place of encampment. By this 
 means they eluded the various detach 
 ments that were scouring the country in 
 search of them and their camping-grounds. 
 
 Colonel Worth arrived at Fort Brooke, 
 Tampa Bay, on the 3rd of July, and, on the 
 4th, had an interview with Coacoochee and 
 his warriors, who were already there, and 
 were in irons on board the transport in the 
 harbour. The colonel, with a number of 
 officers and interpreters, proceeded on a visit 
 to the vessel about ten o clock in the 
 morning. As the prisoners, numbering 
 fifteen hardy young men, came up slowly 
 to the quarter-deck, the manacles upon 
 their ankles hardly permitting them to step 
 four inches, and took the seats assigned 
 them in front of Colonel Worth, the latter 
 arose, and taking their chief by the hand, 
 said to him : " Coacoochee, I take you by 
 the hand as a warrior, a brave man ; you 
 have fought long, and with a true and 
 strong heart, for your country. I take 
 
 511 
 
THE LAST WARNING.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 your hand with feelings of pride. You 
 love your country as we do ; it is sacred to ! 
 you. The ashes of your kindred are dear 
 to you and the Seminoles. These feelings 
 have caused much bloodshed, distress, and 
 many horrid murders. It is time now the 
 Indian felt the power and strength of the 
 white man. Like the oak, you may bear 
 up for many years against strong winds ; 
 the time must come when it must fall : 
 this time has arrived. You have with 
 stood the blasts of five winters, and the 
 storms of thunder, lightning, and wind, five 
 summers. The branches have fallen, and 
 the tree, burnt at the roots, is prostrated. 
 Coacoochee, I am your friend, so is your 
 great father at Washington. What I say 
 to you is true ; my tongue is not forked 
 like a snake s ; my word is for the happi 
 ness of the red man. You are a great war 
 rior ; the Indians throughout the country 
 look to you as a leader ; by your councils 
 they have been governed. This war has 
 lasted five years; much blood has been 
 shed much innocent blood. You have 
 made your hands and the ground wet with 
 the blood of women and children. This 
 war must now end. You are the man to 
 do it ; you must and shall accomplish it. 
 I sent for you, that, through the exertions 
 of yourself and men, you might induce your 
 entire band to emigrate. I wish you to 
 state how many days it will require to effect 
 an interview with the Indians in the woods. 
 You can select three or five of these men 
 to carry your talk. Name the time ; it 
 shall be granted. But I tell you, as I wish 
 your relatives and friends told, that unless 
 they fulfil your demands, yourself and these 
 warriors now seated before us, shall be hung 
 to the yards of this vessel, when the sun 
 sets on the day appointed, with the irons 
 upon your hands and feet. I tell you this, 
 that we may well understand each other. 
 I do not wish to frighten you ; you are too 
 brave a man for that; but I say what I 
 mean, and I will do it. It is for the benefit 
 of the white and red man. This war must 
 end, and you must end it." 
 
 The calm but determined manner in 
 which this was uttered, assured the captives 
 that they were not idle words, spoken 
 merely to intimidate. With an evident 
 struggle to suppress his feelings, Coacoochee 
 rose, and, in a subdued tone, replied " I 
 was once a boy. Then I saw the white 
 man afar off. I hunted in these woods, 
 first with a bow and arrow, then with a 
 512 
 
 rifle. I saw the white man, and was told 
 he was my enemy. I could not shoot him 
 as I would a wolf or a bear ; yet, like these 
 he came upon me ; horses, cattle, and fields 
 he took from me. He said he was my 
 friend ; he abused our women and children, 
 and told us to go from the land. Still he 
 gave me his hand in friendship ; we took 
 it ; while taking it, he had a snake in the 
 other. His tongue was forked ; he lied, and 
 stung us. I asked for but a small piece 
 of these lands, enough to plant and to live 
 upon, far south a place where I could 
 put the ashes of my kindred a spot 
 only sufficient for me to lay my wife 
 and child. This was not granted ; I was 
 put in prison; I escaped. I have been 
 again taken ; you have brought me back. 
 I am here ; I feel the irons in my heart. 
 I have listened to your talk. You and 
 your officers have taken us by the hand in 
 friendship. I thank you for bringing me 
 back. I can now see my warriors, my 
 women, my children. The Great Spirit 
 thanks you ; the heart of the poor Indian 
 thanks you. We know but little ; we have 
 no books which tell all things ; but we have 
 the Great Spirit, moon, and stars : these 
 told me last night you would be our friend. 
 I give you my word ; it is the word of a 
 warrior, a chief, a brave it is the word of 
 Coacoochee. It is true I have fought like a 
 man ; so have ray warriors ; but the whites 
 are too strong for us. I wish now to have 
 ray band around me, and go to Arkansas. 
 You say I must end the war. Look at 
 these irons ! Can I go to my warriors ? 
 Coacoochee chained ! No ; do not ask me 
 to see them. I never wish to tread upon 
 my land unless I am free. If I can go to 
 them unchained, they will follow me in ; 
 but I fear they will not obey me when I 
 talk to them in irons. They will say my 
 heart is weak, I am afraid. Could I go free 
 they will surrender and emigrate." 
 
 Colonel Worth told him frankly and fairly, 
 in reply, that he could not go, nor would his 
 irons be taken off until his entire band 
 had surrendered ; and also repeated, that he 
 might select three or five of the warriors 
 who were his fellow- prisoners; that they 
 should be liberated, and permitted to carry 
 a message to his people; that they should 
 be granted thirty, forty, or fifty days, if 
 necessary. " I tell you again, and for the 
 last time," he said, in conclusion, " that 
 unless the band acquiesce promptly with 
 your wishes to the utmost, the sun, as 
 
A.D. 1840 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [COACOOCHEE S SPEECH. 
 
 it goes down on the last day appointed for 
 their appearance, will shine upon the bodies 
 of each of you hanging in the wind." 
 
 The expression of their countenances, as 
 these words were uttered, was evidence 
 that they believed he had said what would 
 be literally carried out. After consulting 
 his warriors, Coacoochee selected five to 
 carry a message to his band. Their 
 irons were taken off, and preparations 
 made to proceed to the shore. The chief 
 addressed them, and, in a calm tone 
 and manner, endeavoured earnestly to 
 show the importance of the mission upon 
 which they were sent. " Has not Coa 
 coochee," said he, "sat with you by the 
 council-fire at midnight, when the wolf and 
 white man were around us ? Have I not 
 led the war-dance, and sung the song of 
 the Seminole ? Has not my scalping-knife 
 been red with blood, and the scalps of our 
 enemies been drying in our camps ? Have 
 I not made the war-path red with blood, 
 and has not the Seminole always found a 
 home in my camp ? Will, then, the war 
 riors of Coacoochee desert him ? No ! If 
 your hearts are bad, let me see them now ; 
 take them in your hands, and let me know 
 they are dark with bad blood ; but do not, 
 like a dog, bite me as soon as you turn 
 your backs. The great white chief has 
 given you forty days to do this business in. 
 If you want more, say so ; I will ask for 
 more ; if not, be true to the time. Take 
 these sticks ; here are thirty-nine, one for 
 each day ; this, much larger than the rest, 
 with blood upon it, is the fortieth. When 
 the others are thrown away, and this only 
 remains, say to my people, that with the 
 setting sun Coacoochee hangs like a dog, 
 with none but white men to hear his last 
 words. Come, then ; come by the stars, as 
 I have led j r ou to battle ! Come, for the 
 voice of Coacoochee speaks to you !" 
 
 Shaking each by the hand as they passed 
 over the side of the vessel, he gave to the 
 last a silk handkerchief and a breast-pin. 
 " Give these," said he, " to my wife and 
 child." 
 
 Great interest was felt in the result of 
 this mission ; for, upon its success or failure, 
 rested, not merely the lives of Coacoochee 
 and his fellow-captives, but, as all believed, 
 and as was afterwards proved, the termina 
 tion of the war. 
 
 Old Micco an intelligent Indian, who 
 had been " sense-bearer" to Kin g Ph ilip, Coa- 
 coochee s father accompanied the young 
 
 warriors on their mission to the band. Ilia 
 influence, and his solicitude to save this 
 young chief from an ignominious death, 
 rendered him an important auxiliary in 
 inducing the band to come in. He returned 
 in ten days, with six warriors and several 
 women and children. From this period, 
 numbers arrived daily, until the 31st of 
 July. The entire band of warriors, women, 
 and children, including the wife and child 
 of Coacoochee, 189 in number, were en 
 camped at Fort Brooke. When informed 
 of the success which had attended the mis 
 sion, the chief s spirits, which had been de 
 pressed by doubts and fears, revived, and 
 ne exclaimed, " Take off my irons, that I 
 may meet my warriors like a man." Hia 
 manacles were removed, and he proceeded 
 to the shore, accompanied by an officer. 
 He was gaudily dressed, with silver orna 
 ments covering his breast, three ostrich 
 plumes hanging from his crimson turban, his 
 frock of many colours, and a sash around 
 his waist, in which was thrust his scalping- 
 knife. As he stepped upon the shore, he 
 drew his form to its full height, waved his 
 arms, and, by a sonorous whoop, announced 
 his freedom and his arrival. Though 
 the Indians crowded the landing-place 
 on his arrival, he noticed no one, but pro 
 ceeded directly to the head-quarters, where 
 he met Colonel Worth, whom he saluted 
 in the most respectful manner. Turning 
 then to his band, who were gathered around 
 him, he addressed them briefly as follows : 
 "Warriors! Coacoochee speaks to you! 
 You have listened to my word, and taken 
 it. I thank you. The Great Spirit speaks 
 in our councils. The rifle is hid, and the 
 white and red man are friends. I have 
 given my word for you. I am free. Then 
 let my word be true. I am done. By our 
 council-fire I will say more." 
 
 This powerful chief, with his band, being 
 now within the line of sentinels, measures 
 were immediately adopted to make effective 
 the influence he possessed over the chiefs 
 still remaining in the hostile ranks. Through 
 him communication could be had with 
 those who expressed and evinced a deter 
 mination to perish before they would yield. 
 As the die was now cast with respect to 
 himself and his band, all that he could pre 
 vail upon to accompany him would add 
 importance to his position beyond the Mis 
 sissippi river. 
 
 On the llth of August, a camp was 
 established on Pierce Creek, twenty miles 
 
 513 
 
THE PROPHET S ANGER.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 from its mouth ; soon after which, Old 
 Micco, accompanied by Ah-ah-Tustenuggee, 
 Kle-is-ti-an, and twenty women and chil 
 dren, came in, claiming protection, they 
 being closely pursued by a party of the 
 Prophet s men, from the Big Cypress 
 Swamp. He was one of the Indians who 
 had come into the camp at Sarasota, and, 
 on his return, had been suspected by the 
 Prophet of bearing a message from the 
 whites, and was sentenced to death. A 
 few resolute warriors, however, put the 
 authority of the impostor at defiance, and 
 prevented the execution of the sentence. 
 He was placed under such a strict surveil 
 lance by that individual, however, that he 
 determined to escape, which he had just 
 been able to effect. The information ob 
 tained, through Old Micco, of the vindictive- 
 ness of the Prophet s band, made Coacoo- 
 chee apprehensive about his brother, Otulke, 
 who he thought was in that region with his 
 family. At Coacoochee s request, a younger 
 brother, a captive in the prison-ship, was 
 dispatched to find and request his relative 
 to accompany him to their future home 
 beyond the Mississippi. In ten days the 
 messenger returned, with Otulke and five 
 others, to the camp at Pierce Creek, and 
 with a message from Haspetaske, that he 
 was soon coming to see Coacoochee. The 
 next day, a messenger, with a white 
 flag, arrived, who stated that Haspetaske 
 was about one day s march south, and 
 had sent in for whisky and tobacco. 
 The following night another messenger 
 arrived, stating that Haspetaske was about 
 five miles off old, fatigued, and sick, and 
 asking for more whisky and tobacco, to 
 give him strength to reach the camp. 
 This intercourse was kept up for five days, 
 his messengers coming and going, obtain 
 ing supplies on each visit. The old chief, 
 however, resisted all temptations to come 
 within the chain of sentinels, sending 
 various excuses for not doing so. 
 
 Coacoochee, with Colonel Worth, now 
 arriving at the Pierce Creek camp, the 
 former immediately set out for the camp of 
 Haspetaske, and, before sundown, returned 
 with that chief and eighteen warriors. They 
 brought bottles and bags to carry away 
 liquor and provisions, but left their women 
 and children behind. They also brought 
 a large number of deer-skins, for which 
 they were more anxious to obtain powder 
 than money. It was plainly evident that 
 their actions were but a repetition of their 
 514 
 
 old tricks. They came for tobacco, whisky, 
 powder, and bread, with no intention to 
 emigrate or surrender. Coacoochee so looked 
 upon their movements, and advised Colonel 
 Worth to seize and take them to Fort 
 Brooke. A council was arranged to be 
 held on the following day, on board the 
 steam- boat in the river. The frankness 
 and kindness with which Haspetaske and 
 his warriors had been treated, quieted all 
 apprehensions, and, at the appointed time, 
 they went on board, and entered the cabin, 
 Haspetaske taking a seat at the right of 
 Colonel Worth, who opened the council by 
 alluding to their scattered condition, and 
 the advantages to be derived in accept 
 ing the offers of friendship, surrendering 
 peacefully, and emigrating to the country 
 assigned them at the west. He asked 
 them to accompany him to Fort Brooke, 
 where they should be kindly treated, and 
 every want supplied, and that their women 
 and children should be sent for to join 
 them, preparatory to leaving for their 
 western home. 
 
 Haspetaske replied, giving various reasons 
 why he could not then comply with the 
 request. He promised that, by the next 
 moon, he and all his band would be pre 
 pared to emigrate. Wishing, if possible, 
 to avoid the adoption of forcible measures, 
 Colonel Worth again appealed to them by 
 every argument he was master of; but all 
 to no purpose : no inducement or entreaty 
 could move the determination of the old 
 chief and his warriors not to go. 
 
 The crisis which was now approaching 
 had been prepared for. The officers, and a 
 detachment of soldiers, were so placed as 
 to intercept or put to death any who 
 might attempt to escape. Colonel Worth, 
 giving the signal to the officer to be ready, 
 addressed Haspetaske as follows : " You 
 and your followers have now come into the 
 white man s camp three times ; have made 
 faithful promises, and obtained all you 
 wished for yourselves and families. None 
 of these promises have you ever complied 
 with. Such practices have existed long 
 enough. It is now time they should come 
 to an end. I have offered you peace ; I 
 have given you food and clothing ; we have 
 all treated you as friends. You have not 
 been heretofore, nor are you now, disposed 
 to comply with one single wish offered you. 
 I have invited you to go to Fort Urooke ; 
 j you say, No. I now say to you, and the 
 I men seated here, you shall go, and be on 
 
A.D. 1841.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MASSACRE OF WHITES. 
 
 the way before the sun sets. Not one of 
 you will again leave the boat." 
 
 They were then told that their wives and 
 children should be sent for. Five messen 
 gers were selected for that purpose, who 
 were to find the women and children, and 
 proceed to Punta Rassa, at the mouth of 
 the Carlosahatchee river, where a steam 
 boat would be in waiting to take them to 
 Fort Brooke. Early in September, the 
 messengers reached Punta Rassa, where 
 they found the steam-boat in readiness to 
 take their party on board. They not only 
 brought the women and children, but the 
 entire band of Haspetaske. 
 
 "While encamped at Fort Brooke, nightly 
 sacrifices, by songs and dances, were made 
 to the Great Spirit, to free them from the 
 evil influences of the prophet, though they 
 were 200 miles distant from his camping- 
 ground. So much did they dread his ven 
 geance, that they looked anxiously forward 
 to the day when they should set sail for 
 their western home, where they believed 
 they would be beyond his evil influence. 
 
 On the 12th of October, the earnestly- 
 looked-for day arrived, when Coacoochee 
 and Haspetaske, and their bands, with the 
 exception of seven of the former and ten of 
 the latter, who remained for the purpose of 
 aiding in the bringing in of other bands, 
 sailed from Tampa Bay, for their new homes 
 in the west. 
 
 On the 14th, Alligator, with five war 
 riors, arrived at Fort Brooke. He had 
 been sent for at the suggestion of Coa 
 coochee, who thought he might be useful in 
 communicating with, and influencing the 
 Indians still remaining in Florida to emi 
 grate. At the commencement of hostilities 
 Alligator had been one of the most daring 
 of the instigators, and it was believed he 
 might now be equally influential in bring 
 ing the war to a close. The day after his 
 arrival, he left with a party, for Annutti- 
 liga hummock, to meet Tigertail and his 
 brother, Nethlockemathla. In this he 
 was successful, the latter returning with 
 him to Fort Brooke. Nethlockemathla 
 had an interview with Colonel Worth, and 
 after remaining in camp four days, left, 
 taking with him several friendly Indians, 
 promising to come in with his men as soon 
 as they could be collected. Tigertail came 
 in a few days after, and stated that his war 
 riors were on the march for the post, and 
 offered to accompany Alligator into the 
 interior in search of Halleck-Tustenuggee. 
 
 A brother of the latter chief had come 
 in at Fort King; and thirty Indians be 
 longing to Halleck-Tustenuggee s band, 
 had surrendered, through the instrumen 
 tality of the friendly Indians; but they 
 professed the most profound ignorance of 
 that chief s hiding-place. His brother 
 also said he had not seen him for several 
 months. The bands of Tigertail and Neth 
 lockemathla were soon after brought in, 
 and were encamped at Fort Brooke. They 
 numbered fifty-two warriors, and 110 
 women and children. 
 
 On the llth of November, Captain Wade, 
 after a successful scout of six days, returned 
 to Fort Lauderdale, bringing in fifty-five 
 Indians, having killed eight, who attempted 
 to escape. He also captured thirteen rifles 
 and other munitions for defensive opera 
 tions, besides destroying twenty boats, and . 
 a large amount of provisions. 
 
 On the 20th of December, the settlement 
 of Mandarine, twenty miles south of Jack 
 sonville, on the eastern bank of the 
 St. John s, and thirty-five from St. Augus 
 tine, was attacked by a marauding party 
 belonging to the band of Halleck-Tuste 
 nuggee. The men composing the settle 
 ment had that morning, in a body, gone 
 to a deer-hunt, thus leaving the village 
 unprotected. The Indians, seventeen in 
 number, assailed the houses, yelling furi 
 ously, and murdered the inmates, as, panic- 
 stricken, they ran for the main road. Two 
 men, who had returned from the hunting 
 excursion, two women, and an infant, were 
 killed ; the remainder of the inhabitants 
 being fortunate enough to escape. The 
 houses were plundered and burnt, the In 
 dians dancing round the flames. Since the 
 capture of Coacoochee, not an Indian had 
 been seen or heard of east of the St. John s. 
 So unexpected an attack, in a section of 
 country thickly settled, consequently caused 
 much alarm. The trail of the Indians 
 being taken up by experienced guides, 
 divulged the hiding-place of Halleck-Tus 
 tenuggee, who, for seven months, had 
 eluded the most diligent search, by widely- 
 extended operations of troops, aided by 
 Indian guides. He was ascertained to be 
 in the vicinity of Ham Creek and Dunn s 
 Lake. From the most reliable information 
 that could be obtained, he had with him 
 about thirty-five warriors, mostly Micka- 
 saukies, with a few Seminoles and Creeks, 
 including Powis-fixico, or Short Grass, as 
 stated in a previous page. This band was 
 
 515 
 
INDIANS ROUTED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1842. 
 
 well armed with rifles, and supplied with 
 ammunition taken from soldiers and citi 
 zens murdered on the highway. From 
 the position just named, detachments from 
 his band could emerge from the roads 
 leading to St. Augustine, and the inter 
 mediate places ; murder and plunder any 
 travellers who might be unfortunate enough 
 to come within the range of their rifles, 
 and retreat to their hiding-places. To 
 guard against the assaults of this band, 
 additional forces were sent to St. Augus 
 tine, Picolata, and the general hospital at 
 St. John s bluff. A patrol of twenty men 
 was also stationed on the main road from 
 the Atlantic coast to St. John s, as well 
 as a body of sixty men, to move up and 
 down the St. John s, in boats, to cut off 
 their retreat. In conjunction with these 
 measures, three companies, under Major 
 Plympton, started, on the 2nd of January, 
 1842, to find Halleck-Tustenuggee s retreat. 
 After examining Graham and Bulam 
 Swamps, Teraaka River, Lake Spring Gar 
 den, and the neighbouring hummocks and 
 scrubs, a solitary track was discovered, which, 
 on the 25th, led him to the enemj -, whom 
 he found posted in a hummock. For a short 
 time the Indians resolutely stood their 
 ground, yelling and whooping, to intimi 
 date the troops, and prevent their making 
 an attack. After a well-directed volley, 
 the latter closed in with rapidity and 
 vigour, causing the Indians to retreat in 
 confusion, and leaving two wounded upon 
 the field. Though the force of Major Plymp- 
 ton was exposed to the unceasing fire of 
 the Indians, covered by a dense hummock, 
 but one man was killed, and two wounded. 
 It was ascertained from the disabled In 
 dians, that Halleck-Tustenuggee, finding 
 himself too closely pursued, was making 
 his way across the St. John s, and the 
 stand taken here was to cover the retreat 
 of the women and children, who were one 
 day in advance. Their trail was followed 
 to the river, when it was discovered that 
 the chief had crossed at the southern 
 end of Lake George, his rafts and a canoe 
 being visible on the opposite shore. The 
 trail was taken up on the western bank, 
 and followed to a swamp three miles 
 wide, through which the detachment 
 carried their provisions and camp-equi 
 page on their backs, the mud and water 
 being from one to three feet deep. On 
 reaching the opposite side of the swamp, 
 the trail was lost, the Indians having scat- 
 516 
 
 iered in small parties, and set the scrub on 
 fire in this manner obliterating every 
 vestige of the direction they had taken. 
 Orders had been sent to Lieutenant "Wessels, 
 at Fort King, to ascend the Oclawaha 
 river, in canoes, with fifty men, to inter- 
 ept the band, if possible, when crossing 
 that river. Halleck-Tustenuggee, however, 
 was prepared for this, and crossed the 
 Oclawaha ten miles south of any known 
 ford, into a swamp hitherto deemed im 
 penetrable. The expedition was not alto 
 gether fruitless. Besides freeing the regions 
 of the St. John s from the ravages of this 
 desperate band, Powis-fixico, or Short 
 Grass, with four warriors, who were active 
 participators in the attack on Mandarine, 
 were captured by Major Plympton. 
 
 Among other schemes devised by gov 
 ernment for expelling the Indians from 
 Florida, was the adoption of measures, not 
 only to induce the settlers who had aban 
 doned their homes to return to them again, 
 but to stimulate and encourage further 
 settlements. As Colonel Worth truly re 
 marked, in alluding to the measures which 
 had been taken with that end in view, a 
 few cabins, tenanted with stout hearts, 
 would exert a greater influence in causing 
 the Indians permanently to abandon their 
 resistance, than the bayonets of the troops ; 
 for while the latter are regarded as tran 
 sient, the former would be indisputable 
 evidence of determined occupancy. Autho 
 rity had been given by the president of the 
 United States for the issuing of rations to 
 those who would penetrate the country 
 with a view to permanent settlement, during 
 the necessary preparations for raising the 
 means of subsistence at their selected 
 homes. The beneficial effects of the mea 
 sures adopted for this purpose were appa 
 rent. The untiring efforts of Major Wilcox 
 and Lieutenant Patrick, to whom had been 
 assigned the special duty of carrying 
 out this measure, had been crowned with 
 complete success. Thirty-two settlements 
 had been established at various points, pre 
 viously subject to the incursions of the 
 savages. Block-houses had been erected by 
 the government in each settlement, as a 
 place of refuge, in case of threatened attack. 
 Arms and ammunition were placed in the 
 hands of the settlers; and, with the rations 
 issued from month to month by govern 
 ment, there was every prospect that these 
 settlements would become a powerful aux 
 iliary force to the other measures adopted 
 
A.D. 1842.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A PLOT DISCOVERED. 
 
 by the government, in subduing and ex 
 pelling the savage foe. It has been truly 
 said, that the most formidable enemy to 
 the Indian is the log-cabin and the wood 
 man s axe. 
 
 On the 30th of December, Nethlocke- 
 mathla was dispatched, with other Indians, 
 in a steamer, to the mouth of the With- 
 lacoochee, where, in conjunction with 
 Colonel Garland, an interview had been 
 arranged to take place with Octiarche, and 
 his band of Creeks. Nethlockemathla and 
 his companions were, encamped on the 
 margin of the hummock, near the mouth 
 of the river, where, for five days, he had 
 communication with Octiarche ; but the 
 wily chief could not be prevailed upon to 
 visit the steamer. His object evidently was 
 to obtain subsistence and ammunition. He 
 asked till the 12th of January to collect 
 his band for emigration, which was given 
 him ; and another meeting was to be held 
 at the same place, when he promised that 
 his band would be prepared to come in to 
 Fort Brooke. Nethlockemathla was at the 
 mouth of the "Withlacoochee on the day 
 appointed, the 12th of January, 1842, and 
 was on shore for four days, in communica 
 tion with Octiarche and his band ; but no 
 inducement could prevail upon them to go 
 on board the boat, or fulfil their promise 
 of coming in to Fort Brooke. While here a 
 plot was revealed to Nethlockemathla, of the 
 intention of the Creeks to put him to death ; 
 and then, through his brother Tigertail, to 
 induce those Indians at Fort Brooke to 
 join them in a vigorous persecution of the 
 war on the whites. The old chief returned 
 to Fort Brooke, determined on revenge. 
 He called a council of the warriors there, 
 to whom he related the plot that had been 
 laid against him. He proposed that they 
 should visit the Creeks under Octiarche, 
 offer them terms of peace, and, if they de 
 clined, to punish them for their meditated 
 attempt upon his life. This was concurred 
 in by all, except Tigertail, who professed 
 to be indignant at their treachery ; but his 
 feelings went no further. To permit a 
 body of Indians to leave the camp, armed 
 with rifles, and supplied with ammunition, 
 provisions, and horses, was looked upon as 
 hazardous ; but, if it resulted in the capture 
 or destruction of Octiarche and his band, 
 the evil would justify the risk, as it was 
 pretty evident he would be taken in no 
 other way. Nethlockemathla was, there- ; 
 fore, placed at the head of thirty warriors, 
 
 VOL. II. 3 X 
 
 I who left Fort Brooke for Fort Clinch, eighty 
 miles distant, determined to accomplish 
 their object. On the second night after 
 their departure, Tigertail managed to elude 
 the vigilance of the guard, and escaped 
 with his wife and child, and all his baggage, 
 which had been taken out in small pack 
 ages by the women and children who had 
 connived to aid his flight. The moment 
 his escape was known, pursuit was given, 
 and his wife, child, and five other women, 
 two of whom were the wives of his younger 
 brothers, absent with the armed party, were 
 recaptured. Three men, it was ascertained, 
 went with Tigertail. Two of them came 
 in with him the day before, having joined 
 him, he said, while hunting; but they were 
 unquestionably messengers from Octiarche. 
 
 The extent of this disaffection not being 
 known, fears were entertained that the 
 armed party were privy to it, and a mounted 
 force was dispatched immediately to Fort 
 Clinch, with instructions to the commander 
 to seize and disarm every Indian ; to put 
 all of them under guard on board a steam 
 boat in the river, send them, to Cedar Key, 
 and thence to Fort Brooke. The mounted 
 force reached there at midnight. The entire 
 party being within the chain of sentinels, 
 they were required to come at once to 
 the commander s tent, and lay down their 
 arms, when the escape of Tigertail, and the 
 circumstances connected with it, were made 
 known to them. Nethlockemathla, com 
 prehending at once the subtle and treach 
 erous mind of his brother, and the propriety 
 of the course adopted, endeavoured to allay 
 the indignation of those who felt the dis 
 grace of being suspected of a participation 
 in the conspiracy. 
 
 On their return, the war party was not 
 permitted to land, but were put on board 
 transports in Tampa Bay, where the} were 
 joined by their women and children, and the 
 remainder of the Indians in camp. Neth- 
 lockemathla s fidelity being undoubted, 
 he, with his sisters, remained at Fort 
 Brooke. 
 
 Tustenuggee-Chapco, a sub-chief belong 
 ing to the band of Sam Jones, with sixty- 
 seven followers (thirty-two of whom were 
 active young warriors), having been taken, 
 it was deemed necessary that another em 
 barkation should take place. Consequently, 
 on the 5th of February, 230 Indians went 
 on board the ship Rosalind, sixty-eight of 
 whom were warriors, comprising Seminoles, 
 Creeks, -Tallahassees, Mickasaukies, and 
 
 517 
 
WORTH S PLAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1842. 
 
 Uchees. On the day of sailing, Nethlocke- 
 mathla, who remained behind, went on 
 board, and bade them good-bye, enjoining 
 upon them good behaviour and obedience 
 to the officer in command. A few of each 
 band were retained to aid in obtaining in 
 terviews with the Indians still remaining in 
 the territory. 
 
 On the 14th of February, Colonel Worth 
 addressed a communication to General 
 Scott, in relation to what he deemed the 
 most judicious measures to adopt, in the 
 present stage of the contest, to bring it to 
 a close. The following extracts comprise 
 the material and most interesting portion 
 of it : " I believe there has been no in 
 stance in which, in the removal of Indian s, 
 some, more or less, have not been left. 
 This unavoidably arises from their wander 
 ing life and habits ; to which may be 
 added, in the case of the Seminoles, the 
 peculiar character of the country. I have 
 the honour to submit a statement of the 
 whole number Seminoles, Mickasaukies, 
 and Creeks now at large, and their general 
 range and location. This statement has 
 been carefully prepared from the exami 
 nation of various Indians, chiefs, and others, 
 of each and every tribe and band, and at 
 different times. Generally there has been 
 a remarkable concurrence in the statements; 
 nevertheless, in case of discrepancy, the 
 highest number has been assumed. From 
 this statement, it appears there are but 
 301* Indians men, women, and children 
 remaining scattered throughout the vast 
 and almost boundless swamps of this terri 
 tory : of whom, including the aged, incapable 
 of enterprise, and the younger, yet unaccus 
 tomed to the use of arms, there are but 112 
 men a number, it is admitted, sufficient, if 
 kept in a state of irritation by constant and 
 fruitless pursuit, acting upon such and so 
 sparse a population, to do much mischief. Of 
 the number stated, 143 are in the south, who 
 have never manifested a disposition to ap 
 proach the settlements ; and 120 are Creeks, 
 who were not original parties to the con 
 test. It may be here reasserted, that every 
 diminution of numbers adds to the difficulty 
 of taking the remainder. The operations 
 since June conclusively demonstrate, to my 
 mind, the utter impracticability of securing 
 them by main force. The object must be 
 attained by pacific and persuasive measures, 
 or not at all. Every display of force, 
 
 * This number was ascertained, by subsequent 
 developments, to have been too low ffn estimate. 
 518 
 
 while it tends to make the enemy more 
 mild in his habits, and savage in his nature, 
 places the object in view his total expul 
 sion more remote; and yet the commander, 
 with so large a force, who fails to give it 
 the highest activity, disappoints an inor 
 dinate public expectation, while, by so 
 doing, he defeats the object. ***** 
 ask the instructions of the command 
 ing general on these subjects ; and, if my 
 suggestions shall be approved, I then in 
 voke authority to say to these people, 
 through friendly Indians, that while inof 
 fensive, they may remain where they are, 
 and plant and reap in quiet meantime, 
 to permit the Arkansas delegates, and 
 one or two of the chiefs now in our pos 
 session, whose tribes and families have 
 been sent off, to go away then, and at their 
 pleasure reside with them, availing them 
 selves of the proper time and occasion to 
 reason with and explain to them their true 
 condition, not doubting that in a few moons 
 they will be thereby induced to come in, 
 and ask to be sent to their new homes." 
 
 The communication from which the 
 above extracts are made, was referred by 
 General Scott to Mr. Spencer, secretary of 
 war, and by him laid before a council of 
 officers, who did not consider the measures 
 proposed as politic, expedient^ or judicious. 
 The only dissenting voice from this decision 
 was that of General Jessup, a member of 
 the council, and whose experience in Flo 
 rida enabled him to appreciate the wisdom 
 of the measure recommended. 
 
 On the 10th of April, another embark 
 ation of one hundred Indians took place. 
 Twenty- five of those associated at Fort 
 Brooke, with their families, remained be 
 hind to act as traders or guides. Old 
 Nethlockemathla was among the number 
 who went at this time. The troops at 
 Fort Brooke were relieved, by the depar 
 ture of these Indians, from the duty to 
 which they had long been subjected, and 
 were enabled to join the remainder of the 
 army in active service in the field. 
 
 To thoroughly scour the country in and 
 around the favourite haunts of the Indians, 
 a combined movement was made upon the 
 TVahoo Swamp, the Withlacoochee River, 
 the Coue, Lake Panee-Safekee, and the 
 Chaslopopka lakes. On the night of the 
 12th of April, the various detachments 
 were in position. Simultaneously they 
 
 There must have been, at this time, at least 500 
 Indians remaining in the territory. 
 
A.D. 1842.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A SKIRMISH. 
 
 entered the swamps and the hummocks on 
 the 13th, and penetrated them from every 
 quarter, with three days provisions on 
 their backs. Every part was examined by 
 land and water ; but not the sign of an 
 Indian was discovered, save old camps and 
 abandoned corn-fields. Colonel Worth be 
 ing on the ground, the detachments ren 
 dezvoused at Jumper Creek on the ] 6th, 
 to report and receive instructions for the 
 further pursuit of the enemy, hopes being 
 still indulged of compensation for the 
 labours and disappointments they had un 
 dergone. On the following day, the old 
 chief Holatoochee discovered a track lead 
 ing to the Palacklikoha hummock, distant 
 about twenty miles ; and by the movements j 
 indicated by the footprint, he thought the 
 man might be a spy upon the troops. The 
 latter took up the line of march the next 
 day, the 18th, and encamped at Absalom s 
 Old Town, four miles from the hummock, 
 which was believed to be the Indians 
 hiding-place. At break of day, on the 
 19th, the troops were in motion, each man 
 with three days rations, under the guidance 
 of Holatoochee. 
 
 The old chief would dismount from time 
 to time to remove the high grass, in search 
 of a track to guide them to the enemy s 
 camp. "An Indian has just passed here," 
 said he, on one of the occasions referred 
 to. " How do you know ?" he was asked. 
 " This blade of grass," said he, as he held 
 it up, " was trod upon this morning ; you 
 see it is crushed ; the sun has not shone 
 upon it : had it, it would have melted ; 
 you see it is green, but crushed. Here are | 
 more ; there is the print of a foot/ The 
 troops halted, when tracks were pointed 
 out at a great distance from each other. | 
 " He is running," said Holatoochee, " to 
 make known the approach of the troops."* 
 
 The senses of these untutored sons of na 
 ture, being, from their very habits and ne 
 cessities, called into frequent exercise, be 
 come extraordinarily acute. They will thus 
 notice and interpret indications that the less 
 acute senses of the white man would pass 
 unheeded. With unfailing certainty they 
 will observe and follow, through swamp 
 or forest, the track of man or beast ; and, j 
 as in the instance of the old chief just 
 noticed, will unerringly divine their des 
 tination and mission. 
 
 The footprint above noticed was followed 
 for three miles, when a trail was struck, 
 * Sprague. 
 
 leading directly through mud and water, 
 from one to three feet deep. The hummock 
 was now in full view, in which it was be 
 lieved the Indians had taken their posi 
 tion. It was surrounded by water, and 
 presented a mass of dark-green foliage, 
 seemingly impenetrable. A detachment of 
 infantry, under Colonel Garland and Major 
 Plympton, in extended order, charged the 
 hummock at a rapid pace, first discharging 
 a volley into it, which was immediately re 
 sponded to with the whar-whoop and a 
 volley of rifle-shots ; but the troops pushed 
 steadily on with the bayonet. The Indians 
 obstinately defended themselves, keeping 
 up a continuous discharge of their rifles, 
 while the shrill tones of the savage whoop 
 were mingled with the answering yells and 
 shouts of the soldiery. 
 
 In the meantime, Colonel Worth, with a 
 company of dragoons, assailed their posi- 
 tion in the rear. Thus unexpectedly at 
 tacked, the Indians fought desperately. 
 Relying upon a partial breastwork of fallen 
 timber, and the thick undergrowth, which 
 rendered a man invisible at twenty feet dis 
 tant, they maintained their ground firmly 
 for a time. The voice of Halleck-Tuste- 
 nuggee could be heard amid the noise of the 
 musketry and rifles, calling on his band. 
 He and his warriors were in a state of nu 
 dity, their bodies painted scarlet, and deco 
 rated with scalps and other trophies from, 
 the whites. The troops, returning yell for 
 yell, finally gained the hummock, when the 
 Indians retreated, breaking into parties of 
 four or five, the better to effect their escape. 
 They were followed, as far as the nature of 
 the ground permitted, but with indifferent 
 success ; the only capture being the father- 
 in-law of Halleck-Tustenuggee. The aban 
 doned camp of the Indians contained large 
 quantities of dried deer-meat, dressed deer 
 skin, half- finished moccasins, axes, hoes, 
 kettles, and clothing. The well-built pal 
 metto and bark huts gave evidence of a 
 permanent abode. The women and chil 
 dren had departed previous to the fight, 
 evidently in haste ; as they had left behind 
 them several highly ornamented dresses, 
 besides thimbles, thread, and needles. The 
 Indians loss was two killed, three wounded, 
 and one captured : that of the Americans, one 
 killed and four wounded. The few killed 
 and wounded on both sides, is also to be 
 attributed, on the part of the Indians, to 
 their being so well protected in front by the 
 dense foliage, and in the rear by the fallen 
 
 519 
 
INDIANS DECOYED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1842. 
 
 timber and thick undergrowth before spoken 
 of; while the small loss of the whites was 
 probably owing, in the first place, to the 
 thick foliage interfering with the aim of 
 the Indians rifles ; and, in the next place, 
 to their careless manner of loading and 
 firing when in the heat of battle. To be 
 effective, a rifle requires to be carefully 
 loaded. But, in the midst of a fight, an 
 Indian s bullet-pouch is his mouth ; he 
 pours the powder from the horn into the 
 barrel, drops a ball in from his mouth, shakes 
 it down without the use of patch or ramrod, 
 and then, as hurriedly and^ carelessly, fires- 
 
 Osone Micco (the king of the Lakes), 
 the father-in-law of Halleck-Tustenuggee, 
 begged permission to visit his son-in-law ; 
 expressing a belief that he would be open 
 to negotiation. He was permitted to go, 
 with the understanding that he was to meet 
 General Worth at Wann Spung, near Lake 
 Panee-Safekee, on the 24th. The troops 
 reached there on the 23rd. The old man 
 returned on the appointed day. He stated 
 that Halleck-Tustenuggee was but six 
 miles distant, with his band, and would be 
 in on the following day. Instead of coming 
 himself, however, he sent a sub-chief, with 
 a request for provisions and a shirt, as, in 
 his recent flight, all his clothing had been 
 left behind. His request was complied 
 with ; but the next day he sent two mes 
 sengers, (asking for whisky and tobacco, 
 with an excuse that the chief was sick and 
 lame. Although this was but a repetition 
 of the old game of duplicity and cunning, 
 yet, as it was only by yielding to his re 
 quests, and gaining his confidence, that 
 he could be captured, his desire was 
 consequently acceded to. On the morning 
 of the 29th, however, he rode boldly into 
 eamp, accompanied by two wives and two 
 children, ten and twelve j^ears of age. 
 Colonel Worth immediately had an inter 
 view with him, to sound his feelings upon 
 a surrender and emigration. The result 
 of the interview, however, indicated that 
 he had no thought of either ; but his con 
 fidence was secured, and his vindictiveness 
 quieted ; which was something gained. He 
 also promised his influence in bringing Octi- 
 arche and Sam Jones. Before night, he left 
 for his camp, accompanied by Ilolatoochee 
 and the negro interpreter, Primus. He 
 returned the next morning, with five mes 
 sengers, to send to Octiarche. 
 
 The men, women, and children of Halleck- 
 Tustenuggee s band came daily to the camp, 
 520 
 
 and returned without molestation ; while 
 the demands for provisions and whisky in 
 creased exorbitantly, far beyond their imme 
 diate wants. They were called for by Hal 
 leck-Tustenuggee in an imperative and 
 overbearing manner. His insolence, how 
 ever, was submitted to, as a day of reckon 
 ing was at hand. 
 
 Soon after, Colonel Worth invited Hal 
 leck-Tustenuggee and his two wives to 
 accompany him to Fort King. This invi 
 tation was readily accepted, as he could 
 there procure a supply of powder and lead, 
 which, with the provisions already ob 
 tained, would enable him to take the field 
 again against the whites. That this was 
 the design of himself and his band was 
 subsequently acknowledged. On leaving 
 for Fort King, Colonel Worth left instruc 
 tions with Colonel Garland, on whom the 
 command devolved, to take such measures 
 as he considered would prove successful; 
 to seize the entire band, tie them hand and 
 foot, and send them to Tampa Bay ; and 
 when he had succeeded in doing so, to 
 send an express to inform him of the fact. 
 The duty imposed upon Colonel Garland 
 was not one of easy accomplishment. The 
 Indians were suspicious, and ventured 
 within the line of sentinels only in small 
 parties. But Colonel Garland was well 
 acquainted with the Indian character, and 
 knew how to gain their confidence. Games 
 and dances, plenty to eat and drink, had 
 the desired effect. The women and chil 
 dren came in to participate with the men 
 in the enjoyment; while the latter were 
 less guarded in the absence of their chief. 
 The third day after Colonel Worth and the 
 chief had left, a feast was proposed, in 
 honour of Halleck-Tustenuggee, to come off 
 that evening, when they looked for his re 
 turn. The preparations were extensively 
 made, and, early in the day, the entire band 
 assembled. At twelve o clock, at noon, 
 they were carefully counted by a sub-chief, 
 who announced that all were in. Colonel 
 Garland then calmly addressed them. After 
 alluding to the importance of perfect se 
 curity to the country, and of his gratifica 
 tion that the Indians and whites could 
 shake hands in friendship, he said " You 
 have caused much trouble, and have been 
 false in all your intercourse with the officers. 
 You have promised, and have violated 
 everything. You have procured food, 
 powder, and lead; then taken to the 
 swamps, and there murdered women and 
 
A.D. 1842.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDIAN PRISONERS. 
 
 children, whenever found unprotected. You 
 are now all present, and I take this oppor 
 tunity to say, that you are prisoners ; and 
 that on to-morrow morning you will be 
 sent in waggons to Tampa Bay, thence to 
 Horse Key (an island), where, in due time, 
 you will be joined by your chief." 
 
 So sudden and unexpected was this an 
 nouncement, that the Indians were at first 
 disposed to treat it as a joke, as there was 
 no force present to keep them in custody. 
 At a single blast of the bugle, however, a 
 hundred armed men sprang forth from the 
 hummock in the immediate vicinity, and 
 surrounded the council-house, when the 
 truth became painfully apparent to them 
 that they were prisoners. The fears of the 
 women and children were soon allayed by 
 assurances of kind treatment, and five 
 women were dispatched to the camp to 
 bring in their rifles and luggage. At night, 
 twenty- five warriors were bound hand and 
 foot, securely guarded, and the women 
 forbidden any communication with them. 
 An express was immediately dispatched to 
 announce the result to Colonel Worth at 
 Fort King. He was seated with Halleck- 
 Tustenuggee, in front of his quarters, when 
 the messenger from Colonel Garland rode 
 up. The chief inquired the news. Colonel 
 Worth soon informed him that his men 
 were taken prisoners, and on their way to 
 Tampa Bay ; also, that he himself was a 
 captive, and would not again be permitted 
 to return to the woods. Quivering with 
 excitement, his breast heaved with rage ; 
 and he seemed as though he was about to 
 revenge himself on the actors in this sudden 
 turn in his fortunes. But the presence of 
 armed soldiers soon convinced him of the 
 folly of any such demonstration, and he 
 dropped upon the ground, giving vent to 
 his feelings in sobs and tears. He was 
 soon after, with his wives, on his way to 
 Horse Key, accompanied by Colonel Worth 
 and a guard, where his band would meet 
 him. They met, at Fort Waccassassa, the 
 five messengers sent by him to Octiarche, 
 who brought the concurrence of this chief to 
 proposals for peace, but protesting against 
 emigration. The five messengers were 
 astonished to learn that their chief was a i 
 prisoner ; but still more so, when they 
 were told that the same fate had befallen 
 the entire band, including themselves. The 
 whole of them, consisting of thirty-two 
 warriors, and thirty-eight women and 
 children, were soon on Horse Key, under a 
 
 guard of 150 soldiers; and Florida was 
 relieved from the presence of a savage, who 
 recognised neither age, sex, nor condition, 
 in the gratification of his revenge. 
 
 The measures proposed by Colonel Worth 
 for bringing the Florida war to a close, in 
 his letter to General Scott, of the 14th of 
 February (given in a previous page), al 
 though rejected at the time, having been 
 maturely considered, the government de 
 termined to adopt them, and bring the war 
 to a close. Accordingly, on the 10th of 
 May, the president presented his views to 
 congress in the following message : 
 
 "The season for active hostilities in Florida 
 having nearly terminated, my attention has neces 
 sarily been directed to the course of measures to 
 be pursued hereafter, in relation to the few Indians 
 yet remaining in that territory. Their number is 
 believed not to exceed 240,* of whom there are 
 supposed to be about 80 warriors, or males bearing 
 arms. The further pursuit of these miserable be 
 ings by a large military force, seems to be as inju 
 dicious as it is unavailing. The history of the last 
 year s campaign in Florida, has satisfactorily shown 
 that, notwithstanding the vigorous and incessant 
 operations of our troops (which cannot be exceeded), 
 the Indian mode of warfare, their dispersed condi 
 tion, and the very smallness of their number (which 
 increases the difficulty of finding them, in the abun 
 dant and almost inaccessible hiding-places of the 
 territory), render any further attempt to secure 
 them by force impracticable, except by the employ 
 ment of the most expensive means. The exhibition 
 of force, and the constant efforts to capture or de 
 stroy them, of course place them beyond the reach 
 of overtures to surrender. It is believed, by the 
 distinguished officer in command there, that a dif 
 ferent system should now be pursued, to attain the 
 removal of all the Indians in Florida. And he re 
 commends that hostilities should cease, unless the 
 renewal of them be rendered necessary by new ag 
 gressions ; that communications should be opened, 
 by means of the Indians, with him, to insure them 
 a peaceful and voluntary surrender ; and that the 
 military operations should hereafter be directed to 
 the protection of the inhabitants. These views are 
 strengthened and corroborated by the governor of 
 the territory, by many of its most intelligent citi 
 zens, and by numerous officers of the army, who 
 have served, and are still serving, in that region. 
 Mature reflection has satisfied me that these recom 
 mendations are sound and just. And I rejoice that, 
 consistent with duty to Florida, I may indulge my 
 desire to promote the great interests of humanity, 
 and extend the reign of peace and good-will, by 
 terminating the unhappy warfare that has so long 
 been carried on there, and, at the same time, gratify 
 my anxiety to reduce the demands upon the 
 treasury, by curtailing the extraordinary expenses 
 which have attended the contest. I have, therefore, 
 authorised the colonel in command there, as soon 
 as he shall deem it expedient, to declare that hos 
 tilities against the Indians have ceased, and that 
 they will not be renewed, unless provoked and ren 
 dered indispensable by new outrages on their part ; 
 * Ante, vol. ii., p. 518 (Note). 
 521 
 
PEACE PROPOSED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1842. 
 
 but that neither citizens nor troops are to be re- 
 strained from any necessary and proper acts of self- 
 defence against any attempts to molest them. He 
 is instructed to open communications with those yet 
 remaining, and endeavour, by all peaceable means, 
 to persuade them to consult their true interests by 
 joining their brethren of the west. And directions 
 have been given for establishing a cordon, or line 
 of protection for the inhabitants, by the necessary 
 number of troops. But to render this system o f 
 protection effectual, it is essential that settlements 
 of our citizens should be made within the line so 
 established, and that they should be armed, so as to 
 be ready to repel any attack. In order to afford 
 inducements to such settlements, I submit to the 
 consideration of congress the propriety of allowing 
 a reasonable quantity of land to the head of each 
 family that shall permanently occupy it, and of ex 
 tending the existing provisions on that subject, so 
 as to permit the issue of rations for the subsistence 
 of the settlers for one year. And, as few of them 
 will probably be provided with arms, it would be 
 expedient to authorise the loan of muskets, and the 
 delivery of a proper quantity of cartridges, or of 
 powder and balls. By such means, it is to be 
 hoped that a hardy population will .soon occupy 
 the rich soil of the frontiers of Florida, who will 
 be as capable as willing to defend themselves and 
 their houses, and thus relieve the government from 
 further anxiety or expense for their protection." 
 
 Instructions of the same date, embody 
 ing the sentiments of the foregoing mes 
 sage, were forwarded to Colonel Worth, 
 from the war department, through General 
 Scott. At the time they were received by 
 Colonel Worth, he was endeavouring to 
 effect the surrender of Octiarche and his 
 band. Halleck-Tustenuggee and his sub- 
 chiefs had been sent to Octiarche, and had 
 a talk with him, and another meeting was 
 appointed to take place on the 4th of June. 
 Before starting for that interview, he 
 used every artifice and argument he was 
 master of to have his wives and children 
 accompany him. This request was refused. 
 Had he succeeded, he would not have 
 returned. His want of sincerity was suffi 
 cient to insure the failure of his mission. 
 Halleck-Tustenuggee, finding himself de 
 feated in his attempts to escape, resolved to 
 become reconciled to his fate, and prepare 
 for emigration. On the 14th of July, he 
 and his band were embarked for New Or 
 leans, whence they were to proceed to the 
 Indian territory. 
 
 On the 5th of August, Billy Bowlegs 
 (Holatter-Micco), with his sub-chief Fuse- 
 Hadjo (the Lawyer), and Nocase-Mathlar 
 (the Bear- King), arrived at Fort Brooke ; 
 where Colonel Worth was stopping for the 
 time being. Billy Bowlegs was em 
 powered, by the Indians occupying the 
 southern part of Florida, to negotiate terms 
 522 
 
 of peace. His known intelligence, his 
 hereditary right as chief, with the arrange 
 ment made in council before he left, gave 
 assurance that his engagements would be 
 faithfully complied with. Sam Jones had 
 become superannuated, and was living on 
 Lake Okechabee, with twelve followers. 
 Otalke-Thloko, the Prophet, had lost his 
 influence, as his former followers attributed 
 their misfortunes to his trickery. 
 
 Bowlegs, and the other two chiefs, ac 
 companied Colonel Worth to Cedar Key, 
 from which placo they proceeded to Wac- 
 cassassa hummock, and returned on the 
 9th of August, with Tigertail and Octi 
 arche. A council was held on the follow 
 ing day, when the terms of peace were ex 
 plained and agreed to. The chiefs were 
 required to hold themselves responsible for 
 the conduct of all belonging to their re 
 spective bands ; and, on the slightest viola 
 tion of the terms agreed on, the parties 
 offending were to be surrendered to the 
 military authorities for punishment. Ho 
 latter-Micco returned to his camp, satisfied 
 with the arrangement, and of the integrity 
 of Colonel Worth. Octiarche promised to 
 move immediately south, within the lines 
 established ; but was apprehensive that the 
 young Indians, who had been brought up 
 to look upon a white man as a proscribed 
 enemy, and were naturally mistrustful, 
 would require forbearance and kindness to 
 bring them to terms. If incursions should 
 be made upon the frontier, it would be by 
 such characters. Octiarche and Tigertail 
 returned, to hasten the departure of those 
 preparing to proceed south. 
 
 The lands temporarily assigned to the 
 Indians remaining in Florida, were stated 
 to be within the following boundaries: 
 From the mouth of Pease Creek, up the 
 left bank of that stream, to the fork of 
 the southern branch, and following that 
 branch to the head or northern edge of 
 Lake Istopago ; thence down the eastern 
 margin of that lake to the stream which 
 empties from it into the Kissimmee river, 
 following the left bank of that stream and 
 river, to where the latter empties into Lake 
 Okechabee ; thence down the south, through 
 said lake and everglades, to Shark river, 
 following the right bank of that river to 
 the Gulf; thence along the Gulf shore (ex 
 cluding all islands between Punta Rassa 
 and the head of Charlotte s Harbour), to 
 the mouth of Pease Creek, the place of 
 beginning. 
 
1842.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [INDIANS SURRENDER. 
 
 After making his arrangements for the 
 disposition of the troops remaining in Flo 
 rida, Colonel "Worth was instructed to pro 
 ceed to Washington, where, in conjunction 
 with "the proper authorities, further mea 
 sures could be adopted for the continuance 
 of peace in Florida, and thus relieve the 
 treasury from the heavy drafts to which it 
 had so long been subjected. On the 17th 
 of August he relinquished the command to 
 Colonel Vase, the officer next in rank, and 
 repaired to Washington. Upon reaching 
 that city, he waited upon the president, who 
 handed to him the commission of a brevet 
 brigadier-general, conferred by the senate 
 of the United States, in consideration "of 
 gallantry, and highly distinguished services 
 as commander of the forces in the war 
 against the Florida Indians." 
 
 The apprehensions expressed by Octi- | 
 arche, in relation to some of the younger | 
 Creeks, was painfully realised. On the 
 1 1th of August, while, in fact, the chiefs 
 were negotiating terms of peace at Cedar 
 Key, a war party of ten attacked the settle 
 ments in the neighbourhood of San Petro, 
 killing two citizens. Pursuit was imme 
 diately made by a party of twenty volun 
 teers; and the ten being overtaken, two 
 were killed, and five wounded of the 
 number. The intelligence of this affair 
 reached Colonel Vase, at Cedar Key, on the 
 22nd. Tigertail and Octiarche came in 
 without delay, to ascertain if it were known, 
 as the party had arrived at their camp, and 
 gave a confused and unsatisfactory account 
 of what had transpired. They said that 
 those who had committed the act were 
 ignorant that hostilities had ceased, and 
 asked that it might not interrupt the 
 harmony existing. 
 
 When the news of this affair reached 
 Washington, a doubt was raised whether 
 the instructions of the president, as made 
 known in his message, might not have 
 been injudicious and ill-timed. Colonel 
 Vase was accordingly ordered to take the 
 field immediately, muster into service a 
 militia force, and push vigorously such 
 operations as would punish and capture the 
 enemy. These instructions, had they been 
 put into execution, would have defeated, be 
 yond redemption, all hopes of peace, and irri 
 tated the Indians by an apparent duplicity, 
 rendering them unmanageable by either 
 force or negotiation. Colonel Vase, there 
 fore, guided by his own better judgment and 
 correct knowledge of the chiefs and their 
 
 followers, postponed the execution of his 
 orders, first giving the war department his 
 reasons for so doing. 
 
 Matters thus remained until the 1st of 
 November, when General Worth resumed 
 command in Florida. He met Colonel 
 Vase at Fort Brooke, which had been made 
 the place of rendezvous, and where he was 
 awaiting the arrival of Octiarche and other 
 Indians, on their way to the country tem 
 porarily assigned them. 
 
 Octiarche reached Fort Brooke on the 
 10th of September, with a few men, dis 
 satisfied with the Seminoles, who, cherish 
 ing the old feud which originally separated 
 the tribe, had threatened to put him and 
 his followers to death as soon as they ven 
 tured within the boundaries assigned them. 
 Bowlegs, chief of the Seminoles, was assert 
 ing his right to govern the Creeks, as the 
 Seminoles were the original owners of the 
 land, and were now more respectable in 
 character and numbers. It became plainly 
 evident, that ill-feelings thus created and 
 fostered would soon lead to bloodshed. 
 Orders were consequently given to Major 
 Seawell, commanding at Fort Brooke, to 
 take the earliest opportunity of seizing 
 Octiarche and his band, and send them at 
 once to Horse Key. Unjust and injudicious 
 as this course might appear, circumstances 
 rendered it impera 1 ive. Peace must be 
 established. The interests of the terri 
 tory and of the government demanded it. 
 But there could be, it was now painfully 
 apparent, no peace so long as both of these 
 vindictive and hostile bands remained in 
 the territory. The deep-seated animosity 
 ! existing between them, and the struggles 
 jof Octiarche and Holatter-Micco for as 
 cendancy, would cause constant feuds, and 
 result in bloodshed among themselves, in 
 which the border settlers would be liable to 
 become involved. 
 
 The head- quarters of the army were tem 
 porarily transferred to Cedar Key, where 
 ; Tigertail was sending messengers constantly 
 ] from his camp, nine miles off, for whisky and 
 provisions. He had, under various pretences, 
 evaded the fulfilment of every promise to 
 go south, and was idling away his time, in- 
 j dulging in almost continual intoxication. 
 A detachment was sent, under Lieutenant 
 Gordon, to bring him to the fort. By a 
 quick and decided movement, his camp 
 was surrounded; and Tigertail, with six 
 warriors, and thirteen women and children, 
 were arrested, and tranferred to Horse Kev. 
 
 523 
 
PEACE ATTAINED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1843. 
 
 On the 20th of December, Major Sea- 
 well, by well-arranged plans, succeeded in 
 arresting Octiarche and his entire band. 
 They had come to the garrison, and were 
 indulging in excesses, as usual, when Major 
 Seawell invited them, to his quarters ; and 
 while speaking to them of their peculiar 
 position, and their connection with the 
 Seminoles, they were suddenly surrounded 
 by four companies of infantry, at a precon 
 certed signal. The chief privately ex 
 pressed his gratification at their arrest, as 
 his situation was becoming extremely criti 
 cal, from the vindictive and restless cha 
 racter of the younger warriors. 
 
 Octiarche s band, with Tigertail and his 
 few adherents, embarked for New Orleans 
 barracks, immediately after the arrest of 
 the former. 
 
 Pascaffer and his band, comprising 
 twenty-nine warriors, and twenty-two 
 women and children, finding themselves so 
 hemmed in by the position of the troops, 
 mounted, on foot, and in boats, surrendered 
 to Colonel Hitchcock ; and, on the 26th of 
 January, 1843, sailed for New Orleans 
 barracks. The capture of Pascaffer and his 
 band relieved Middle and West Florida 
 entirely of Indians. 
 
 On the 22nd of February, sixty-two 
 Seminoles Mickasaukies, Creeks, and 
 Uchees embarked from Fort Brooke, for 
 New Orleans, under Parsacke, a faithful 
 sub- chief. These Indians had been em 
 ployed during the past year as guides and 
 negotiators. 
 
 The number now gathered at New 
 Orleans barracks, preparatory to proceed 
 ing to the country of their future resi 
 dence, comprised 250 souls, some of each 
 tribe that had been in Florida ; the larger 
 portion destitute of wives, parents, chil 
 dren, or relatives of any kind. Imme 
 diately after the arrival of the party of 
 guides and negotiators named above, the 
 whole number at the barracks left for Fort 
 Gibson, under the charge of Captain M Ka- 
 vitt. Tigertail, the most noted chief among 
 them, died at the barracks at New Orleans, 
 soon after his arrival there. 
 
 Florida being now delivered of the most 
 vindictive of her savage foes, the few In 
 dians still in the territory, confining them 
 selves within the temporarily assigned limits, 
 524 
 
 andevincing a disposition to remain at peace 
 with the whites this protracted contest, 
 which for eight years had rendered that un 
 fortunate peninsula an almost continuous 
 scene of depredation and murder, seemed 
 at last to be finally terminated, and the 
 military force in the territory was reduced 
 to the regular peace establishment. The 
 number of Indians remaining in the terri 
 tory, as stated in the report of General 
 Worth to the adjutant-general, under date 
 of the 17th of November, 1843, was ninety- 
 five warriors; and, including old men, 
 women, and children, about 300. Billy 
 Bowlegs, the nephew of Micanopy, was the 
 acknowledged chief, and Aspeika (Sam 
 Jones), Otalke-Thloko (the Prophet), and 
 Assinowar, were sub-chiefs. The Prophet, 
 however, died soon after the date men 
 tioned above. Sam Jones was accorded the 
 position of sub-chief, more in consideration 
 of his advanced age ninety-two years 
 than for his abilities or services. He had 
 become childish, and was so feeble as to be 
 dependent upon the young warriors and 
 women for subsistence and care. 
 
 The close of the Indian hostilities in 
 Florida was thus announced to congress by 
 the president : " The vexatious, harassing, 
 and expensive war which has so long pre 
 vailed with the Indian tribes inhabiting 
 the peninsula of Florida, has happily been 
 terminated ; whereby our army has been 
 relieved from a service of the most disa 
 greeable character, and the treasury from 
 a large expenditure. Some casual out 
 breaks may occur, such as are incident to 
 the close proximity of border settlements 
 and the Indians ; but these, as in all other 
 cases, may be left to the care of the local 
 authorities, aided, when occasion may re 
 quire, by the forces of the United States. 
 A sufficient number of troops will be main 
 tained in Florida, so long as the remotest 
 apprehension of danger shall exist; yet 
 their duties will be limited rather to the 
 garrisoning of the necessary posts, than to 
 the maintenance of active hostilities. It is 
 to be hoped, that a territory so long re 
 tarded in its growth, will now speedily 
 recover from the evils incident to a pro 
 tracted war, exhibiting, in the increased 
 amount of its rich productions, true evi 
 dences of returning wealth and prosperity." 
 
A.T). 1833.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NATIONAL BANK. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 BANK OF THE UNITED STATES ; REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS ; FINANCIAL DISTRESS ; VAN BUREN S 
 ADMINISTRATION SUCCESS OF THE WHIGS AND THEIR RUPTURE WITH TYLER; ELECTION OF POLK. 
 
 JACKSON S presidential administrations were 
 remarkable for turbulent excitement and 
 partisan vehemence. His supporters ad 
 mired his manner and prescriptive prac 
 tice ; while, on the other hand, his political 
 opponents feared that he had inaugurated a 
 system that would, in the end, subvert the 
 integrity of the government, and produce 
 its final overthrow. It is a grave problem, 
 whether or not his executive career, ulteri 
 orly considered, was beneficial or injurious 
 to the nation. He was no idle spectator ; 
 nor was he content to let the affairs of state 
 glide along without his careful considera 
 tion, that he might commend or reprehend, 
 as circumstances, according to his judg 
 ment, should dictate. He decided promptly, 
 and his convictions were unalterable ; and in 
 all cases he fulfilled the whole responsibility 
 that devolved upon him. Jackson was an 
 honest man a patriot of unquestionable 
 fervency ; and whenever these elements of 
 his character were seemingly wanting, the 
 cause did not spring from impure motives, 
 but from a misguided judgment, supported 
 by an iron will that lay beyond the reach 
 of reason, or the intensity of the sufferings 
 experienced by those whom, he wronged. 
 He possessed all the qualifications of a great 
 agitator, and he satiated his vengeance upon 
 his opponents in every possible manner 
 within the periphery of his executive power. 
 As a warrior, he was brave, and equal to the 
 most responsible position ; but, as a states 
 man, he has left but little to commend. The 
 principle, " to the victors belong the spoils," 
 was practically developed by him, in the 
 expulsion or removal from official positions, 
 of thousands of well-qualified persons, for 
 no other reason than that their political 
 opinions did not harmonise with his. Until 
 this epoch in the national history, there had 
 been but few removals from office; and 
 those were for other considerations than 
 political. The prescriptive policy was a 
 lamentable misfortune to the nation, because 
 it inaugurated a system of barter for office, 
 and it brought forth a host of ambitious 
 men, eager to secure a maintenance from the 
 government treasury. This was the inevit- 
 
 VOL. II. 3 Y 
 
 able result ; and the immorality became the 
 common rule of action by the opposing 
 parties in subsequent years. 
 
 The Blackhawk war, and the South 
 Carolina nullification of the federal laws, 
 were the principal events of Jackson s first 
 executive term ; and these were happily and 
 popularly terminated. The second term 
 was not so fortunate ; it was a period of 
 great excitement and partisan virulence. 
 The principal measures that developed the 
 most portentous apprehensions, were the 
 proposition to re-charter the bank of the 
 United States ; removal of the government 
 deposits from the national bank to local in 
 stitutions; distribution of the proceeds 
 resulting from the sales of the public lands ; 
 the specie basis system ; the executive 
 patronage ; and the integrity of certain acts 
 of the president. 
 
 The bank of the United States was 
 originally chartered in 1791 ; and re- 
 chartered, as a new institution, in 1816, by 
 the democratic part)% or by the influence 
 of those who subsequently became the 
 leading members of that political faith. 
 The law of 1816, chartering the bank, 
 directed that the federal revenue should 
 be deposited in the national bank and its 
 branches. As a compensation for the use 
 of the money deposited, the banks were 
 required to act as the fiscal agents of the 
 government. By this arrangement the 
 bank became the recipient of a national loan, 
 without interest, of a sum amounting to 
 many millions ; and the people were accom 
 modated with this money, on bills ot ex 
 change or promissory notes, for an annual 
 interest averaging at least seven per cen 
 tum. Notes or bills of credit were issued by 
 the bank, which served as a circulating me 
 dium in all parts of the country. The parent 
 bank was established at Philadelphia ; but 
 there were branches in most of the principal 
 cities of the Union, each having a separately 
 subscribed capital and issue. The object 
 in establishing the bank, was to have safe 
 and reliable fiscal agents for the govern 
 ment in different parts of the country ; to 
 afford relief to the commercial people by 
 
 52 o 
 
NATIONAL BANK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1833. 
 
 granting loans ; and to effect a uniform cir 
 culating medium, which was at that period 
 of great importance. The merchant in the 
 west was enabled to send the notes of that 
 bank, or its branches, to other parts of the 
 Union, and pass them at par. The issues 
 of the local banks were not of equal value 
 in distant parts of the country; and it 
 was not possible to use them as acceptable 
 currency, except near their place of issue. 
 Henry Clay, and nearly all the leading 
 statesmen of the nation, had favoured the 
 chartering of the bank in 1816 ; and it was 
 a democratic measure. Unfortunately, 
 however, for the institution, the principal 
 managers of the parent and branch banks 
 were political opponents of Jackson ; and it 
 was alleged that the directors of the banks 
 granted loans to the members of their own 
 political party, but not to the friends 
 of the administration. It so. happened, 
 that the people most requiring the aid of 
 the banks, were admirers of Henry Clay, 
 who had been a rival candidate for the 
 presidency; and it was to him, too, that 
 Adams owed his election in 1824. Jackson 
 was an unforgiving man, and he failed not 
 to adopt every possible means to thwart 
 the measures of his rivals ; and, on the 
 other hand, the spirit of opposition to 
 Jackson was unbounded with Clay. The 
 former had resolutely determined to oppose 
 the bank during his first term ; and in 
 his message of December, 1832, he recom 
 mended the removal of the government 
 deposits from those banks ; and, through 
 his influence, the secretary of the trea 
 sury expressed similar views to congress. 
 The condition of the bank was investi 
 gated, and it was found that its liabilities 
 amounted to 37,296,950 dollars; and the 
 fund to meet them was 79,593,870 dollars. 
 These facts did not sustain the proposition 
 made by Jackson, nor his fears with respect 
 to the safety of the government deposits, 
 and his plans were thus, for the time, de 
 feated. He was not content, however, to let 
 the institutions rest ; and his next step was 
 a recommendation to congress to sell the 
 shares of the bank that belonged to the 
 government. This proposition was nega 
 tived, in the house of representatives, by a 
 vote of 102 to 91 ; and a resolution ex 
 pressing confidence in the bank, was adopted 
 by a vote of 109 to 46. The charter of the 
 
 * Taney sacrificed his ambition to gratify the 
 president; but, true to his habits, Jackson rewarded 
 him in due time. Chief Justice Marshall died in 
 
 626 
 
 bank was to expire in 1836. William J. 
 Duane, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the 
 treasury, was strongly urged by the presi 
 dent to withdraw from the national bank 
 and its branches, the moneys belonging to 
 government. Duane did not concur in the 
 proposition, but was induced to appoint 
 Amos Kendall, an agent, to ascertain what 
 arrangements could be made with the local 
 banks for the reception and disbursement 
 of the federal revenues. Kendall discharged 
 the duties of his mission to the entire satis 
 faction of the president; but Duane was 
 not willing to carry out the scheme pro 
 posed, without first being authorised by 
 congress. The executive argued to his 
 cabinet, that the secretary of the treasury 
 had the power to remove the deposits, and 
 he deemed the measure to be indispensably 
 necessary ; declaring, as a reason, that the 
 bank was using its influence to effect 
 popular elections. Roger B. Taney, then 
 the attorney-general, was of opinion that 
 the president had the power, through the 
 secretary of the treasury, to remove the 
 deposits : but Duane was inexorable, and re 
 fused to conform to the executive s behest; 
 nor would the former resign his office, to 
 afford an opportunity for the latter to ap 
 point a successor with opinions more in har 
 mony with his own. At this time Jackson 
 dispatched Kendall to Taney, with the re 
 quest that he would resign the office of 
 attorney- general, and accept the treasury- 
 ship, to be made vacant by the dismissal of 
 Duane. Taney hesitated, because the 
 transfer was calculated to take him from 
 the legal profession to a political position, 
 and thus change the fixed course of his 
 life, aiming as he did at the acquisition of a 
 seat in the supreme court of the United 
 States. He was finally prevailed upon to 
 accept the treasuryship : at the same time, 
 however, he stated to Kendall, that, in 
 doing so, he was abandoning the object of 
 his ambition, as above mentioned.* Duane 
 was dismissed, and Taney was appointed to 
 the vacancy. The removal of the govern 
 ment moneys from the national bank im 
 mediately followed, and other eflorts were 
 made to destroy the credit of that fiscal 
 institution. The notes issued by the re 
 spective branches were tendered for re 
 demption, in very large sums, by the people ; 
 but in all cases the specie was promptly 
 
 1835, and Taney was appointed to fill the vacancy, 
 March loth, 1836. He thus attained more than 
 lie had aspired for. 
 
A.D. 1836.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ARKANSAS. 
 
 paid. The blow did not alone fall upon 
 the shareholders of the banks, but also upon 
 the whole country, as the directors were 
 necessitated to reduce their discounts to a 
 nominal sura ; and thus withdrew from 
 commerce at least fifty millions of dollars 
 within a few months. This sudden con 
 traction of the revenue of the country, pro 
 duced wide-spread distress. The proceed 
 ings of the president were condemned by 
 his opponents with great animosity, and 
 many efforts were made to defeat him in the 
 succeeding session of congress. Petitions 
 from all parts of the country, signed by 
 many thousands, were, from time to time, 
 transmitted to congress, expressing dissent 
 with respect to the president s bank policy. 
 The directors of the United States bank 
 issued an elaborate defence of their pro 
 ceedings ; and declared, that " the main 
 purpose of the president s manifesto ap 
 peared to be, to prove that the bank was 
 unfriendly to his re-election, and that he 
 endeavoured to trace that opposition to 
 him and his measures 1st. In the appli 
 cation to congress for a renewal of the 
 charter. 2nd. In the extension of the loans 
 of the bank in 1831 and 1832. 3rd. In 
 the claim for damages on the French bill. 
 4th. In the circulation of documents vindi 
 cating the bank from the imputations he 
 had cast upon it." The congress that as 
 sembled in December, 1833, was divided 
 with respect to the propriety of the execu 
 tive s proceedings against the national bank. 
 The house was in his favour by a very 
 decided majority ; but the senate was op 
 posed to him. In the latter, the following 
 resolution was passed by a vote of 26 to 
 20; viz. 
 
 " Resolved, That the president, in the late execu 
 tive proceedings in relation to the public revenue, 
 has assumed upon himself authority and power not 
 conferred by the constitution and laws, but in 
 derogation of both." 
 
 This censure of the president was pro 
 posed by Henry Clay, and supported by 
 Daniel Webster. Thomas H. Benton, and 
 the immediate friends of the president, 
 energetically opposed the resolution. Jack 
 son defended his conduct in an elaborate 
 message to the senate, and protested against 
 the act of that body, in convicting him 
 without formal trial, as prescribed by the 
 constitution. The senate, however, refused 
 to record the president s protest. In the 
 house, the resolution above given, was re 
 jected by 114 to 101. 
 
 The political party that sustained Jack 
 son s policy was styled Democratic, though 
 it had other names in different sections of 
 the country. In New York, the " Equal 
 Rights Party" was formed in 1835, in oppo 
 sition to monopolies, bank-notes, paper 
 money, and various other issues then pend 
 ing between the administration and its op 
 ponents. About this time, a meeting of the 
 "Equal Rights" was held in Tammany 
 Hall, New York city, at which a few dis 
 contented persons extinguished the lights ; 
 but immediately thereafter, the candles 
 were re-lighted by the aid of friction, 
 or locofoco matches. From this circum 
 stance the Equal Rights men were styled 
 " Locofocos;" and the same designation soon 
 became general to the democratic party. 
 The national republicans, headed by Henry 
 Clay, were opposed to Jackson and the poli 
 tical associations that sustained his admin 
 istration. In 1834, the term " whig" was 
 applied to the republican party in New 
 York city, and the name rapidly spread 
 throughout the states. 
 
 Besides the national bank question, 
 which occasioned the organisation of the 
 parties during Jackson s second term, there 
 were other important issues ; one of which 
 was the scheme to distribute, among 
 the states, the proceeds resulting from the 
 sale of public lands. Clay strongly advo 
 cated the measure ; and Calhoun denied that 
 congress had any constitutional power to 
 thus apply the revenue. In order to avoid 
 a defeat, a bill was proposed, which pro 
 vided, that the revenue created from the 
 sale of lands should be deposited with the 
 respective states, according to a specific 
 scale, subject to be recalled by act of con 
 gress, should an emergency arise requiring 
 it. This bill passed by 38 to 6 in the senate, 
 and by a very large majority in the house. 
 In accordance with this law, 28,000,000 of 
 dollars were divided among the states. 
 
 The state of Arkansas was admitted into 
 the Union, June 15th, 1836. It was, origi 
 nally, a part of Louisiana; and after the 
 state bearing that name was formed, the 
 country north of its jurisdiction came 
 under the authority of the Missouri terri 
 torial government. In 1819, Arkansas was 
 taken from Missouri, and became a separate 
 territory, with its capital at Little Rock; 
 and the first legislative assembly met 
 February 10th, 1820. On the 1st of March, 
 1836, the constitution of the state was pre 
 sented to congress ; and by an act of that 
 
 527 
 
MICHIGAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [\.D. 1837. 
 
 body, the state was formally admitted into 
 the Union, as already mentioned. 
 
 The state of Michigan, originally a part 
 of the "western territory," ceded by the 
 state of Virginia, was admitted into the 
 Union on the 26th of January, 1837. In 
 1805, the district of Michigan was organised 
 into a territory, and Detroit was made its 
 capital. For a long time its population 
 remained under 10,000 ; in 1830, it had 
 31,639 ; and, in 1834, the census showed a 
 population of 87,273, exclusive of Indians. 
 In 1833, the people of that territory peti 
 tioned congress to authorise a state orga 
 nisation; and the measure finally passed 
 that body. The constitution was adopted 
 on the 15th of June, 1836 ; and after the 
 presentation of that document to congress, 
 the state was established on the date before 
 given. 
 
 Early in 1835, the politicians became 
 very much concerned with respect to who 
 should be the presidential candidates, The 
 members of congress were not unanimous 
 in favour of any particular mode of nomi 
 nation : some advocated the "caucus" sys 
 tem ; but the leaders among whom was 
 Martin Van Buren, the vice-president 
 expressed a preference for the organisation 
 of a national democratic convention, to be 
 composed of delegates from the different 
 states of the Union. A body thus con 
 stituted assembled at Baltimore on the 
 20th of May, 1835. This association con 
 sisted of upwards of 600 members, repre 
 senting twenty states. Van Buren was 
 nominated on the first ballot for the presi 
 dency, and Richard M. Johnson for the 
 vice-presidency. These nominations, how 
 ever, were not wholly acceptable to the 
 democratic party, though they were, after 
 some expressions of dissatisfaction, finally 
 acquiesced in. The whig party was not 
 united on any candidate ; and at the 
 elections, "William H. Harrison, of Ohio, 
 Daniel "Webster, of Massachusetts ; Hugh 
 L. White, of Tennessee; and Willie P. 
 Mangum, of North Carolina, were voted 
 for. The popular ballot resulted in favour 
 of Van Buren, by a majority of 24,893 
 over all other candidates. There were cast 
 for Van Buren, 761,549 ; all others, 736,656. 
 It was generally believed that the president 
 would have to be chosen by the house of 
 representatives, as had been the case in 
 1824, and each nominee was anxious to 
 secure a vote sufficient to qualify him as a 
 candidate in that body. 
 
 The electoral vote resulted as follows : 
 
 Election for the Thirteenth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1837, and terminating 3rd March, 1841. 
 
 STATES, 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 M. Van Buren, of 
 New York. 
 
 Wm. H. Harrison, 
 of Ohio. 
 
 Hugh L. White, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Daniel Webster, of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 W. P. Manffura, of 
 N. Carolina. 
 
 O 
 
 It 
 
 fs 3 
 
 | 
 
 p* 
 
 P rancis Grander, of 
 New York. 
 
 John Tyler, of 
 Virginia. 
 
 William Smith, of 
 Alabama. 
 
 Maine 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island .... 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 \crmont 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 4 f, 
 
 
 
 
 
 4? 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 so 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 ?3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 North Carolina ...... 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 ?,1 
 
 
 
 
 
 VI 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 Alabama 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 
 
 
 Michigan 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 170 
 
 73 
 
 26 
 
 14 
 
 11 147 
 
 77 
 
 47 
 
 23 
 
 Majority ...148 
 
 The resolution presented by Henry Clav, 
 condemnatory of Jackson s proceedings with 
 respect to the removal of the deposits, was, 
 at the time, as we have already stated, 
 resolutely opposed by Thomas Hart Benton, 
 who, after the vote of censure had passed, 
 gave notice that he would never cease in 
 his efforts towards a repeal of the resolu 
 tion, as long as he remained in the senate; 
 and, in order to make the measure the 
 more marked, he styled his proposition to 
 repeal, the "expunging resolution." On 
 the 18th of February, 1835, he presented 
 the question, declaring, as a reason, that 
 the resolution of censure was " illegal and 
 unjust, of evil example, indefinite and 
 vague expressing a criminal charge with 
 out specification ; and was irregularly and 
 unconstitutionally adopted by the senate, 
 in subversion of the rights of defence which 
 belong to an accused and impeachable offi 
 cer; and at a time, and under circum 
 stances, to endanger the political rights, 
 and to injure the pecuniary interests, of the 
 people of the United States." Benton con 
 tinued his most zealous efforts to have the 
 vote of censure expunged, from time to time, 
 until the year 1837, when he triumphed. 
 The opposition protested against the de 
 
A.D. 1837.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [VAN BUREN S POLICY. 
 
 facement of the journal; but the friends of 
 Jackson were in the majority. The vote 
 was taken, which resulted 24 to 19 in 
 favour of the proposition ; and, immediately 
 thereafter, the secretary of the senate, as 
 ordered, took the manuscript journal of the 
 senate, and drew a square of broad black 
 lines around the resolution of the 28th of \ 
 March, 1834, and wrote across it, "Ex- ; 
 punged, by order of the senate, this 16th 
 day of January, 1837." By this undig 
 nified performance, the friends of Jackson 
 gratified their revenge against their political | 
 opponents, for having exercised, with like 
 animosity, a questionable right three years 
 before. 
 
 The overthrow of the bank of the United 
 States, finally produced a financial crisis 
 throughout the whole country, and the 
 commercial people rapidly yielded under 
 the great pressure. Many thousands be 
 came overwhelmed in bankruptcy. 
 
 The general involvement did not, how 
 ever, culminate until towards the next pre 
 sidential term. Many banks suspended 
 specie payment, and were forced to wind up 
 their affairs. As a relief to the circulating 
 medium of the country, individuals, and 
 corporations of all kinds, issued printed 
 scrip for different amounts ; and there were 
 thousands put in circulation for -the sum of 
 five cents. These evidences of debt pro 
 mised redemption in current bank-notes, 
 when presented in sums amounting to five 
 dollars. Specie was scarce ; and these issues, 
 called " shin-plasters," were readily re 
 ceived and passed, without much concern 
 whether or not the person who issued them 
 was really solvent. About 1841, millions 
 of these irresponsible issues were refused 
 redemption ; and, in a few months, they 
 ceased to circulate, or to be of any worth. 
 All kinds of property deteriorated in value, 
 and a state of distress extended throughout 
 the country, never before experienced. 
 
 On the llth of July, 1836, Jackson 
 issued a circular letter, requiring the land 
 agents to receive only gold or silver, or 
 the notes of specie-paying banks, for public 
 lands sold to individuals, and forbidding 
 the reception of bank-notes in payment at 
 those sales. This gave a very severe blow 
 to the land speculators, and checked the 
 circulation of bank-notes generally. After 
 the adjournment of congress in March, 1837, 
 the universal distress of the country was 
 forcibly made known to President Van 
 Buren ; and, with a view to remedy the 
 
 difficulties, he issued a proclamation for 
 congress to assemble on the 4th of Septem 
 ber, 1837. That body convened at the 
 time mentioned, and the president fully 
 explained the fiscal affairs of the country ; 
 but in no sense did he indicate a disposition 
 to recede from the policy adopted by his 
 predecessor. He recommended, as a sub 
 stitution for banks, an official agency, 
 styled a "sub- treasury." He proposed 
 that the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, 
 and disbursement of the public moneys, be 
 confided to officers of the government, and 
 that specie alone should be employed in its 
 fiscal affairs. This system did not receive 
 the approval of the entire democratic party ; 
 and, in every respect, was opposed by the 
 whigs, both in and out of congress. Not 
 withstanding the general distress that per 
 vaded the whole country, the administration 
 candidate for the speakership of the house - 
 of representatives, James K. Polk, was 
 elected by a vote of 116, against 103, cast 
 for John Bell. At this extra session of 
 congress, a bill for the establishment of the 
 sub-treasury, was passed in the senate by 
 a vote of 26 to 20 ; but, in the house, it was 
 laid on the table by a vote of 120 to 107. 
 The president again recommended the es 
 tablishment of the sub-treasury to the con 
 gress that assembled in December, 1837. 
 In the meantime, however, several of the 
 state legislatures adopted resolutions in 
 structing their senators to vote against the 
 scheme: among these were Tennessee, Penn 
 sylvania, and New Jersey. The bill passed 
 the senate by 27 to 25 ; and, in the house, 
 j it was laid on the table by 106 to 98. 
 i During this session of congress, a resolution 
 I passed both houses, declaring that there 
 should not continue in force any order of 
 the executive department that made a dif 
 ference between the respective branches of 
 revenue, as to the money or medium of 
 payment in which debts or dues accruing 
 to the United States were paid. This was, 
 practically, a repeal of the specie circular 
 that had been issued in 1836. During the 
 next congress which assembled in De 
 cember, 1839 the sub-treasury scheme was 
 again introduced ; and, after a very lengthy 
 consideration, the bill passed both houses, 
 and became a law. 
 
 The term of Van Buren s presidency 
 
 was not remarkable for any particular 
 
 event. The democratic party seemed to 
 
 have in view a rigid adherence to the 
 
 political ideas advanced by Jackson, not- 
 
 529 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 withstanding the change of public opinion, 
 and the interest of the people. On the 
 other hand, the whigs advocated such 
 measures as were more generally approved 
 of throughout the country; and, as the 
 principles proposed by them were novel 
 and untried, they readily commanded ad 
 herents, who indulged the opinion that 
 almost any change would be for the best. 
 
 The failure of the Van Buren adminis 
 tration to retain the confidence of the en 
 tire democratic party, rendered his chances 
 for a re-election more and more doubtful 
 as that period approached. The whig 
 party had become of great proportions ; 
 and each member prepared for the most 
 determined contest. The "election cam 
 paign" commenced early in 1839 ; and, 
 on the 4th of December in that year, the 
 " whig national convention" met at Harris- 
 burg, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of 
 nominating candidates for the presidency 
 and vice-presidency. There were twenty- 
 two states represented. The proceedings of 
 this meeting were regarded with the most 
 profound interest throughout the states ; 
 and the hopes of many for the perpetuity 
 of the Union, were based upon its course 
 of action. The rival candidates were Wil 
 liam Henry Harrison, of Ohio; Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky ; and Winfield Scott, o: 
 New Jersey. The most popular of these 
 was Clay ; yet it was feared that he coulc 
 not command the votes of a very large 
 number of people who did not belong to 
 either of the political parties ; and of these 
 were the Anti-Masons, a very large class 
 of fanatics, who had been led to entertain 
 political aspirations by a few demagogues 
 Clay had been a distinguished Freemason 
 and, in this instance, was more sincere ii 
 his devotion to correct principles than hi 
 former friend John Quincy Adams, who ab 
 negated the morality of that institution, and 
 withdrew from it. Clay had also advocated 
 a protective tariff, and the distribution of 
 the revenue resulting from the sale of the 
 public lands, among the states ; which, in 
 its effect, would lessen the available national 
 revenue for carrying on the government; 
 and, as a consequence, a high tariff would 
 be required to sustain the treasury depart 
 ment. No one was more conscious of the 
 opposition to Clay, than himself; and he 
 frankly expressed his willingness to sus 
 tain the nomination of the Harrisburg con 
 vention, and do all in his power to con 
 
 centrate 
 
 the whole 
 530 
 
 whig: vote for the 
 
 lominee. The ballot was taken in the 
 onvention by states, each casting as many 
 r otes as it had presidential electors. The 
 irst ballot stood Clay, 103 ; Harrison, 94 ; 
 ind Scott, 57. On the third day, the final 
 )allot took place, which resulted Harrison, 
 148; Clay, 90; and Scott, 16. John Tyler, 
 >f Virginia, was then unanimously elected 
 lie candidate for the vice-presidency. The 
 convention did not adopt a code of prin- 
 iples, but adjourned soon after the nomi 
 nees were selected. 
 
 The democratic convention met in Balti 
 more on the 5th of May, 1840; in which were 
 represented twenty-one states. Martin Van 
 Buren was re-nominated unanimously. No 
 candidate was proposed for the vice-presi 
 dency, although it was generally understood 
 that Richard M. Johnson was to be the asso- 
 :iate candidate with Van Buren. The con 
 vention adopted a series of resolutions de 
 claring the political doctrines of the party : 
 among which were, a declaration recognising 
 the sovereignty of the states; against the 
 internal improvement system proposed by 
 the leading whigs ; the distribution of the 
 land proceeds; the protective tariff; the 
 chartering of a national bank ; interference 
 with slavery; and in favour of the sub- 
 treasury; economy in the public affairs; 
 and non- abridgment of the naturalisation 
 laws. 
 
 The abolitionists of the northern states 
 were not content to cast their influence 
 with either of the two great parties ; and 
 on the 13th of November, 1839, a conven 
 tion of delegates assembled at Warsaw, 
 New York ; on which occasion, James GT. 
 Birney, of New York, and Francis J. Le- 
 moyne, of Pennsylvania, were respectively 
 nominated for the presidency and vice- 
 presidency. These gentlemen, considering 
 it unwise to waste the votes of their friends, 
 subsequently declined their nominations. 
 
 The " campaign" opened with great en 
 thusiasm throughout the whole country. 
 The whigs alleged that the democratic 
 party had been extravagant and corrupt. 
 The private expenditures of the president 
 were dwelt upon with great animosity by 
 his opponents ; and among the undignified 
 accusations, was one by Charles Ogle, a 
 member of congress from Pennsylvania, 
 who produced an inventory of the household 
 effects belonging to the president s mansion ; 
 in which it was stated that he used gold 
 spoons and forks on his table. The whigs 
 rallied the people, and urged them to rise 
 
A.D. 1840.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 en masse, to check the extravagance of 
 the democratic party, and save the nation 
 from ruin. For six months the people 
 were almost constantly engaged in elec 
 tioneering ; meetings were held nightly in 
 nearly every town throughout the country ; 
 and processions marched through the streets 
 with banners and flags, having emblazoned 
 thereon devices peculiar to their respective 
 patires. Glee-clubs were formed in the 
 towns; and these assembled nearly every 
 night, and sung jubulent songs, in order to 
 keep up the excitement. Torchlight pro 
 cessions were common ; and, on these occa 
 sions, the most curious mottoes and carica 
 tures were exhibited. Many men travelled 
 from place to place, making speeches in 
 favour of their favourite candidates; and 
 thus, by change of speakers, the people 
 were continuall} r kept in a state of excite 
 ment. The most signal demonstration that 
 transpired, was the Young Men s Whig Con 
 vention, held at Baltimore, in May, 1840. 
 At that great gathering, more than a million 
 of people took part ; and the enthusiasm dis 
 played was unbounded. The president of 
 the" day, John V. L. M Mahan, called "the 
 nation to order ;" and a vast variety of 
 speeches were made to the multitudes. The 
 democratic party had ridiculed some of the 
 peculiar incidents of Harrison s life such, 
 for example, as his fondness for hard cider ; 
 his having spent the greater part of his life 
 in a log- cabin in the far west ; and his coon- 
 skin apparel. As a rebuke for the alleged 
 democratic haughtiness, the whigs adopted 
 the barrel, log-cabin, and a raccoon for 
 their leading symbols ; and these were 
 carried over 500 miles from the west, across 
 the Appalachian mountains, to the grand 
 convention that assembled at Baltimore. 
 These strange proceedings had a great 
 effect upon the people, and many thousands 
 were influenced by other considerations 
 than reason, to cast their votes for Harrison 
 and Tyler. The whigs were efficiently or 
 ganised, and more energetic in maintaining 
 the excitement. No one can calculate the 
 injury sustained by the country in the 
 loss of labour during this " campaign," as 
 many thousands neglected their work to 
 participate in the general furor. The 
 elections took place in the respective states ; 
 and the result was for Harrison, 1,275,011 ; 
 Van Buren, 1,122,912 : the abolition vote 
 was 7,609; Harrison s majority, 138,940. 
 The electoral vote was more decisive than 
 indicated by the popular election. This cir 
 
 cumstance was owing to the fact, that, in 
 some of the states, the whig majority was 
 very small ; as in the state of Pennsylvania, 
 wherein the whole vote cast was 287,693. 
 Harrison s majority was only 1,349; and 
 this insignificant number gave him nearly 
 one-seventh of his electoral vote, as will be 
 seen in the following table : 
 
 Election for the Fourteenth Term, commencing 47i, 
 March, 1841, and terminating 3rd March, 1845. 
 
 
 PRE3IDKNT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 
 ij 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 Ij? 
 
 .2 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Ho 
 
 "* 
 
 t* 
 
 Ws 
 
 3 
 
 Si o *** c} 
 
 
 S o 
 
 ag 
 
 H g, 
 
 "! 
 
 ,. * 1: H 
 
 
 ei 
 
 "" <J 
 
 c.b 
 Sfr 
 
 ^2 
 
 
 g"3 
 
 
 > M 
 
 * 
 
 o 
 
 1-5 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 __ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New York . 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New Jersey . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 _ 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee . . 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio .... 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 __ 
 
 Louisiana . . 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi . . 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana ..... 
 
 9 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Michigan 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 234 
 
 60 
 
 234 
 
 48 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 Majority 148 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The congressional elections resulted in 
 favour of the whigs ; and thus that party, 
 for the first time, was in power, not only 
 in the executive, but also in the legislative 
 department of the government. Harrison 
 was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 
 1841, in the presence of a vast concourse 
 of people. Shortly after, he issued a pro 
 clamation, convening an extra session of 
 congress, to assemble on the 31st of May. 
 Ere the bells tolled the close of his first 
 month s administration, Harrison died ! On 
 the 4th of April, at twenty minutes before 
 one o clock in the morning, he ceased to 
 live, and the nation was thrown into 
 mourning. The sad event was communi 
 cated to Vice-president Tyler, who was at 
 
JOHN TYLER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1841. 
 
 his residence in Charles city, county Vir 
 ginia. He immediately repaired to Wash 
 ington ; and, on the 6th of April, qualified 
 himself by taking 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 best of 
 my ability, preserve, protect, and defend 
 the constitution of the United States. " 
 The heads of the respective departments 
 waited upon the new executive shortly 
 after his arrival at the capital. He signi 
 fied his deep feeling of the public calamity 
 sustained by the death of Harrison ; and 
 expressed his profound sensibility of the 
 heavy responsibilities so suddenly devolved 
 upon him. He desired the respective heads 
 of the departments to continue in the places 
 they then held, and declared his unqualified 
 confidence in their integrity and abilities 
 to discharge the important trusts committed 
 to their care. 
 
 The mortal remains of Harrison were 
 carried to North Bend, a few miles below 
 Cincinnati, on the banks of the Ohio river, 
 where they were interred on a high mound 
 beneath a few trees, which served as monu 
 ments to mark the spot where the hero 
 returned to earth. 
 
 The extra session of congress assembled 
 on the 31st of May. The people antici 
 pated the realisation of much good from 
 the new state of things : they had un 
 bounded confidence in President Tyler and 
 the whig party. The great question before 
 congress was the financial affairs of the 
 country ; and the whigs were expected to 
 effect an immediate relief. The bill to 
 repeal the sub-treasury was introduced 
 early in the session. In the senate it 
 passed on the 9th of June, by a vote of 29 
 to 18 ; and, in the house, on the 9th of 
 August, by a vote of 134 to 87. The next 
 measure of importance that was enacted, 
 was a bill for the establishment of a " fiscal 
 bank of the United States," which was to 
 be located in the district of Columbia, with 
 power to organise branches, with the con 
 sent of the states respectively. Henry Clay 
 reported the bill to the senate, and ably 
 advocated its enactment; and, on the 6th 
 of August, it passed by a vote of 26 to 23. 
 It subsequently passed the house by 128 
 to 97. To the astonishment of the nation, 
 Tyler vetoed the bill; and thus, at the 
 beginning of his executive term, defeated 
 the great measure of the whig party. In 
 the veto message, however, the president 
 532 
 
 indicated that he was in favour of the 
 establishment of a fiscal institution, divested 
 of the ordinary banking combinations. In 
 order to ascertain the correct views of the 
 executive, a committee waited upon him ; 
 and, on that occasion, he stated that he 
 would approve of an agency divested of the 
 discounting power, and dealing in domestic 
 bills. The details were fully understood ; 
 and, in accordance with the declared wishes 
 of the president, a bill for the establish 
 ment of a " fiscal agency" was presented to 
 congress; which, on the 23rd of August, 
 passed the house by a vote of 125 to 94 ; 
 and, on the 3rd of September, it passed 
 the senate by a vote of 27 to 22. Tyler 
 vetoed this act ! These extraordinary pro 
 ceedings of the president defeated the will 
 of the people, and prevented the whigs 
 from effecting any of the promised relief 
 for the country. The cabinet officers were 
 unwilling to remain in executive associa 
 tion with one whom they considered had 
 broken his pledged faith to the party ; and 
 all of them, except Daniel Webster, the 
 secretary of state, resigned two days after 
 the last veto. At the close of congress, a 
 large number of whigs published a circular 
 denouncing Tyler s proceedings, and de 
 clared that such conduct had separated his 
 administration from the whigs ; and that, 
 for the future, he could be regarded only 
 as an enemy to their policy. The rupture 
 between Tyler and the party that elected 
 him, paralysed the power of both ; and from 
 thence the executive term was productive 
 of very little good. Laws for establishing a 
 uniform bankruptcy system, the distribu 
 tion of the public land proceeds, and for 
 regulating the safe-keeping of the govern 
 ment revenues, were enacted during Tyler s 
 term ; but, in a general sense, his adminis 
 tration was the most unpopular that had 
 ever occurred in the history of the Union. 
 The will of the people was disregarded ; the 
 spirit of public rule practically negatived ; 
 and, in lieu thereof, the executive opiiiion 
 was made absolute. 
 
 The most important acts of the president, 
 were his efforts to secure the annexation of 
 Texas, the particulars of which we shall 
 hereafter narrate. The whigs opposed the 
 annexation without the consent of Mexico, 
 and the democratic party sustained the exe 
 cutive proceedings in favour of that mea 
 sure ; adopting the proposition as a part of 
 its policy. 
 
 The whigs met in convention at Balti- 
 
A.D. 1*44.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [ABOLITION PARTY. 
 
 more, May 1st, 1844, and Henry Clay was 
 nominated, by acclamation, as a candidate 
 for the presidency. Theodore Frelinghuy- 
 sen, of New Jersey, was nominated for the 
 vice- presidency. The principles of the party 
 were briefly summed up in the following 
 resolution, which was adopted by the con 
 vention : 
 
 " Resolved, That these principles may be summed 
 as comprising a well-regulated national currency; a 
 tariff for revenue to defray the necessary expenses 
 of the government; and discriminating with special 
 reference to the protection of the domestic labour 
 of the country the distribution of the proceeds 
 from die sales of the public lands a single term 
 for the presidency and a reform of executive 
 usurpation." 
 
 The democratic national convention as 
 sembled at Baltimore on the 27th of May, 
 1844. The party was much divided ; but 
 the leading candidates for nomination were 
 Van Buren and Lewis Cass. On the eighth 
 ballot, it was admitted that the party could 
 not harmonise respecting either of those 
 gentlemen ; and, after much private consul 
 tation, it was determined to nominate James 
 K. Polk, of Tennessee, whose political career 
 had never been marked by any particular act 
 of greatness. George M. Dallas, of Pennsyl 
 vania, was nominated as the candidate for the 
 vice- presidency. The convention adopted 
 a series of resolutions, declaring against 
 the distribution of the proceeds from the 
 sales of the public lands; the establish 
 ment of a national bank ; in favour of the 
 veto power ; and the annexation of Texas. 
 
 In 1840, the democratic party perceived 
 that, in several of the northern states, 
 there were many people who felt anxious 
 to establish an abolition party, having for its 
 object the destruction of negro slavery in 
 the southern or slaveholding states. These 
 efforts were very generally considered revo 
 lutionary and treasonable; but, as their 
 numbers, nationally considered, were but 
 few, no fears of immediate injury were en 
 tertained. With a view, however, of warn 
 ing the nation of the dangers that would 
 result from the enforcement of the doctrines 
 promulgated by this party, the democratic 
 convention of 1840 adopted the following 
 resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That congress has no power, under the 
 constitution, to interfere with or control the domes 
 tic institutions of the several states ; and that such 
 states are the sole and proper judges of everything 
 pertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by 
 the constitution ; that all efforts, by abolitionists and 
 others, made to induce congress to interfere with 
 questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in , 
 
 VOL. II. 3 Z 
 
 relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most 
 alarming and dangerous consequences; and that all 
 such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish 
 the happiness of the people, and endanger the 
 stability and permanency of the Union, and ought 
 not to be countenanced by any friend of our political 
 institutions." 
 
 The above resolution was re-adopted by 
 the convention of 1844. The whig party 
 remained silent upon the subject. 
 
 The abolitionists having formed a "liberty 
 party," assembled as a national convention 
 at Buffalo, on the 30th of August, 1843. 
 James G. Birney, of Michigan, was nomi 
 nated for the presidency ; and Thomas 
 Morris, of Ohio, for the vice-presidency. 
 The convention adopted a series of resolu 
 tions in favour of the liberty of " the human 
 brotherhood ;" the abolition of slavery in 
 the district of Columbia, and in the terri 
 tories governed by congress ; and against, 
 the enforcement of the fugitive slave law 
 of 1793. 
 
 Within the succeeding four years, after 
 1839, the abolition party, which had been 
 formed to oppose the continuance of negro 
 slavery, became of considerable importance, 
 and, in several of the northern states, in 
 fluenced the result of local elections. The 
 term "Abolitionist," however, was not 
 popular; and, in order to gain strength, 
 the new name, "Liberty Party," was 
 adopted, although the leaders were noto 
 rious for their radical and anti-slavery 
 principles. They were of opinion, that 
 the laws of God decreed that man should 
 not be held in bondage, and that the 
 legislature could not enact statutes in 
 contravention oi the "higher laws" of 
 the Creator. The convention of 1843 
 adopted a series of resolutions, declaring 
 the supremacy of the " higher laws" over 
 those enacted by congress, or embraced 
 within the constitution : viz. 
 
 " Whereas, The constitution of these United States 
 is a series of agreements, covenants, or contracts 
 between the people of the United States, each with 
 all, and all with each. And 
 
 " Whereas, It is a principle of universal morality, 
 that the moral laws of the Creator are paramount 
 to all human laws ; or, in the language of an Apostle, 
 that we ought to obey God rather than men. 
 And 
 
 " Whereas, The principle of common law that 
 any contract, covenant, or agreement, to do an act 
 derogatory to natural right, is vitiated and annulled 
 by its inherent immorality has been recognised by 
 one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States ; who, in a recent case, expressly holds, 
 that any contract that rests upon such a basis is 
 void. And 
 
 Whereas, The 3rd clause of the 2nd section 
 
 533 
 
ELECTION OF POLK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1844. 
 
 of the 4th article of the constitution of the United 
 States, when construed as providing for the sur 
 render of a fugitive slave, does rest upon such a 
 basis, in that it is a contract to rob a man of a 
 natural right namely, his natural right to his own 
 liberty ; and is, therefore, absolutely void. There 
 fore 
 
 "Resolved, That we hereby give it to be distinctly 
 understood by this nation and the world, that, as 
 abolitionists, considering that the strength of our 
 cause lies in its righteousness, and our hope for it 
 in our conformity to the laws of God, and our 
 respect for the RIGHTS OP MAN, we owe it to the 
 Sovereign lluler of the Universe, as a proof of our 
 allegiance to Him in all our civil relations and 
 offices, whether as private citizens, or as public 
 functionaries sworn to support the constitution of 
 the United States, to regard and to treat the 3rd 
 clause of the 4th article of that instrument, when 
 ever applied to the case of a fugitive slave, as 
 utterly null and void, and, consequently, as 
 forming no part of the constitution of the United 
 States, whenever we are called upon or sworn to 
 support. 
 
 " Resolved, That the power given to congress by 
 the constitution, to provide for calling out the 
 militia to suppress insurrection, does not make it 
 the duty of the government to maintain slavery by 
 military force ; much less does it make it the duty 
 of the citizen to form a part of such military force. 
 When freemen unsheathe the sword, it should be 
 to strike for liberty, not for despotism. 
 
 " Resolved, That to preserve the peace of the citi 
 zens, and secure the blessings of freedom, the legis 
 lature of each of the free states ought to keep in 
 force suitable statutes rendering it penal for any of 
 its inhabitants to transport, or aid in transporting 
 from such state, any person sought to be thus 
 transported, merely because subject to the slave 
 laws of any other state ; this remnant of indepen 
 dence being accorded to the free states by the deci 
 sion of the Supreme Court."* 
 
 The "election campaign" was very 
 warmly conducted, and each party en 
 deavoured to arouse the people to a similar 
 degree of excitement that had been effected 
 in 1840 ; but this could not be consum 
 mated. The admirers of Clay were really 
 enthusiastic ; but they could not infuse the 
 public generally with an equal degree of 
 solicitude for the success of their favourite 
 candidate. Conventions of the people were 
 held in the different states, counties, and 
 towns ; glee-clubs were formed, and songs 
 were nightly sung; processions marched 
 and counter-marched through the streets, 
 headed by bands of music : during the day, 
 nags and banners, with mottoes inscribed 
 thereon, were unfurled ; and, at night, torch- 
 
 * In the ca^e of Prigg v. the State of Pennsylvania. 
 534 
 
 light processions exhibited caricatures of 
 the opposing partisans. 
 
 The popular election resulted in favour 
 of Polk and Dallas. The democratic vote 
 was 1,337,243; whig vote, 1,299,062; 
 abolition, 62,300 ; majority against Polk, 
 24,119. The electoral vote, however, was 
 more decisive in favour of Polk, as will 
 be seen from the following table : 
 
 Election for the Fifteenth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1845, and terminating 3rd March, 1849. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. V. PRESIDENT. 
 
 Maine . . . 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 lihode Island 
 Connecticut . 
 Vermont . . 
 New York . . 
 New Jersey 
 Pennsylvania 
 Delaware . . 
 Maryland . . 
 Virginia . . 
 North Carolina 
 South Carolina 
 Georgia . . 
 Kentucky . . 
 Tennessee . . 
 Ohio. . . . 
 Louisiana . . 
 Mississippi . 
 Indiana . . . 
 Illinois . . . 
 Alabama . . 
 Missouri . . 
 Arkansas . . 
 Michigan . . 
 
 Totals . 
 Majority 
 
 138 
 
 36 
 26 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 170 
 
 105 
 
 31 
 
 36 
 
 26 
 
 12 
 4 
 6 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 13 
 23 
 
 170 
 
 105 
 
 The abolition vote was principally taken 
 from the whig party ; and the organisation 
 of those extremists produced the defeat of 
 the whigs, although their leader, Henry 
 Clay, was a friend of the anti-slavery 
 cause, whenever and wherever proposed to 
 be carried out in conformity with the laws 
 of the government having jurisdiction. 
 
A.D. 1845.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [GEOGRAPHY OF MEXICO. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MEXICO ; REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, AND ITS ANNEXATION TO TI1E 
 
 UNITED STATES; WAR WITU MKXICO. 
 
 A BRIEF sketch of the country which be 
 came the unfortunate theatre of the short 
 but sanguinary contest, generally known as 
 the Mexican war, may not unappropriately 
 preface its details. The territory of Mexico 
 lay immediately south of that of the United 
 States, and between the fifteenth and thirty- 
 fourth parallels of north latitude, with the 
 Gulf of Mexico for its eastern, and the Pa 
 cific Ocean for its western boundary. Its 
 greatest length was nearly 1,400 miles, and 
 its utmost breadth about 650, with a su 
 perficial area approaching 1,000,000 square 
 miles. From the extreme irregularity of 
 the surface of the country, though lying 
 mostly within the torrid zone, it comprised 
 almost every variety of soil and climate. 
 On the immediate Gulf and Pacific coasts, 
 the land lay low and marshy, inducing fe 
 brile diseases ; among which was the vomito 
 pricto, so fatal to foreigners landing on the 
 coast during the months of August, Sep 
 tember, and October. Advancing towards 
 the interior, the aspect of the country soon 
 changed ; the surface became more ele 
 vated ; the plains of sand disappeared, and 
 fresh breezes, and a healthier atmosphere, 
 succeeded the insalubrious climate of the 
 tierra calientas, or hot regions of the coast. 
 The Cordillera mountains, which com 
 menced at Panama, and running north 
 ward, after leaving Central America, 
 formed the southern boundary of Mexico, 
 diverged into two great arms, inclining 
 towards the coast on either side. The vast 
 tract between these mountain chains formed 
 the table-lands of Mexico the plateau of 
 Anahuac elevated from six to eight thou 
 sand feet above the ocean-level. Some 
 very high mountains were dispersed over 
 these table-lands ; and in some parts there 
 were several well-defined ridges, dividing 
 the country into sub- plateaux, which were 
 known under a variety of local names. 
 The surface was interrupted by few trans 
 verse valleys ; and in some directions it 
 was quite unbroken by either depressions 
 or hills. The most remarkable tract in this 
 elevated region was the plain (or valley, 
 as it was called) of Tenochticlan, on which 
 
 was located the city of Mexico, the capital 
 of the republic. This plain was of an oval 
 form, fifty-four miles long, and thirty-seven 
 broad, occupying an area of 1,700 square 
 miles, of which about 160 were covered 
 by water. 
 
 On the south-east side of the Tenoch 
 ticlan, several volcanic mountains were 
 seen towering above the plain, at an ele 
 vation ranging from thirteen to eighteen 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 The ordinary temperature of the table 
 lands of Mexico ranged from fifty to seventy- 
 five degrees of Fahrenheit, or from fifteen 
 to twenty-five degrees of Reaumer. The 
 atmosphere of these table-lands, from their 
 great elevation, was extremely rarefied, 
 which gave a fairy-like appearance to the 
 landscape; and distant objects had a dis 
 tinctness of outline which seemed to lessen 
 space. Hills which were twenty miles off, 
 appeared scarcely five miles away ; while 
 mountains, whose snow-capped summits 
 seemed within a few hours ride, would 
 require a week s toil to reach them. The 
 vegetation of this vast central plain was 
 less luxuriant than that of the tierra tem- 
 plada, or temperate region ; while the latter 
 was inferior, in production, to the hot or 
 torrid region. In journeying from the 
 coast to this central plain, the traveller 
 passed in review the entire scale of vegeta 
 tion, from the parasitic plants of the tropics 
 to the pines of the arctic regions. 
 
 The rivers of Mexico, considering its ex 
 tent, were few and unimportant, and great 
 disadvantages were suffered from want of 
 water communication. The Rio Grande 
 del Norte, otherwise called the Rio Bravo 
 del Norte, which subsequently formed the 
 boundary line between Mexico and the 
 United States, for several hundred miles 
 from its mouth, had a long course ; but the 
 trade on that river was mostly monopolised 
 by the superior ability and enterprise of 
 citizens of the United States. The Rio 
 Grande de Santiago rose in the centre of 
 the republic, not far from the capital, and 
 emptied into the Pacific at San Bias. The 
 Balses, or Zucatala, JNorta, and Verde, were 
 
 535 
 
PRODUCTS OF THE COUNTRY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A D. 1845. 
 
 other rivers, on the west of the plateaux ; 
 and on the east were the Tula, Tampico, 
 and Tabasco, flowing into the Gulf of 
 Mexico ; but they had bars at their mouths, 
 which prevented the entrance of large 
 ships. 
 
 Among the animals of Mexico, were the 
 bison and the musk-ox, which wandered in 
 immense herds in the north. The jaguar, or 
 Mexican tiger, and the cougar, or Mexican 
 lion, were met with in the tropical regions. 
 The Mexican bear was the same as that in 
 the United States. Other wild animals of 
 Mexico, such as the red-deer, the wolf, and 
 the porcupine, existed in great numbers. 
 Wild horses, in immense herds, galloped 
 over the vast plains ; and domestic animals, 
 such as horses, cattle, and sheep, were 
 numerous in some parts of the country. 
 Among the exports, hides and tallow 
 formed important articles. 
 
 The principal wealth of Mexico lay 
 in its mines, more particularly those 
 of silver. The} numbered about 3,000, 
 which formerly produced about 20,000,000 
 of dollars, or 4,000,000 sterling an 
 nually ; but the ignorance and misrule 
 which prevailed in the country greatly 
 diminished their importance and value. 
 Iron ore was found in abundance in Guada- 
 laxara, Michoacan, and Zacatecas ; copper 
 in Michoacan and Guanaxuato. Tin was 
 obtained partly from mines, but principally 
 from the washings of the ravines. The 
 lead mines, though rich, were entirely 
 neglected. Zinc, antimony, and arsenic 
 were found, but neither cobalt nor man 
 ganese. Carbonate of soda, used in smelting 
 the silver, was obtained in great abundance, 
 crystallised on the surface of the lakes, 
 which were numerous and extensive. 
 
 Mexico had been celebrated for the 
 great variety of agricultural products which 
 could be raised there; among which were 
 maize, or Indian corn (producing, in some 
 localites, two crops a-year), wheat, barley, 
 rye, and potatoes. Most of the fruits of 
 the temperate and tropical climates flou 
 rished, among which the banana occupied 
 a prominent place ; and cotton, coffee, 
 sugar, tobacco, indigo, honey, wax, va 
 nilla, cochineal, dye-woods, and mahogany, 
 were also among the productions of that 
 remarkable country. 
 
 Manufactures were in a very rude state. 
 
 The factories in general were so many 
 
 prisons, in which the work-people, taken 
 
 from the gaols, or from the most debased 
 
 536 
 
 classes of society, were treated with the 
 greatest rigour. Criminals and insolvent 
 debtors were made to labour in the prisons 
 as a punishment. The only articles pro 
 duced on a large scale, were hats, glass, 
 cigars, and earthenware. Mexican leather 
 was very indifferent ; paper was of a poor 
 quality ; cutlery and hardware were scarcely 
 attempted. The use of cast-iron and tin 
 for culinary utensils was almost unknown ; 
 and there had been, till within a few years, 
 only one manufacturer of watches and opti 
 cal instruments in the whole country. 
 
 When the war between the United 
 
 States and Mexico commenced, the com- 
 
 | merce of the latter did not correspond with 
 
 i its reputed wealth. The precious metals 
 
 , formed its principal articles of export ; and 
 
 next to them, may be named cochineal, 
 
 drugs, dye-stuffs, and the products of the 
 
 soil. The imports were of all kinds of 
 
 foreign manufactures, and spirits. The 
 
 principal ports were Vera Cruz, Tampico, 
 
 Soto la Marino, Alvarado, and Mata- 
 
 moras, on the Gulf of Mexico ; and 
 
 Acapulco, San Bias, and Mazatlan, on the 
 
 Pacific. 
 
 Vera Cruz, the principal port on the 
 gulf, was a well-built town, of about 20,000 
 inhabitants. Its towers, cupolas, and bat 
 tlements gave it an imposing appearance 
 from the sea. It was, however, surrounded 
 by barren sand-hills, and ponds of stagnant 
 water, which rendered it extremely un 
 healthy, originating the vomito and bilious 
 fever. Natives and foreigners, who have 
 been acclimated, were not so subject to the 
 former disease ; but the utmost precaution 
 could scarcely shield strangers from its at 
 tacks during the eeason when it prevailed. 
 Many of the dwelling-houses were large; 
 some of them three storeys in height, 
 and built in the old Spanish or Moorish 
 style, generally enclosing a square court, 
 with covered galleries. They had flat 
 roofs, glass windows, and balconies in front. 
 There was a public square, and the streets 
 were generally clean and neat. The side 
 walks in many of the streets run under 
 the piazzas, protecting the passengers from 
 the heat of the sun, or from heavy rains. 
 The wealthy merchants of Vera Cruz had 
 country-seats at Jalapa, where they en 
 joyed a cool and healthy retreat that place 
 being elevated 4,000 feet above the level of 
 the sea, where the coast was rendered almost 
 uninhabitable by the mosquitoes, the sum- 
 , mer heat, and the justly dreaded vomito. 
 
A.D. 1845.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CITY OF MEXICO 
 
 The castle of San Juan de Ulloa, which 
 defended the town, was built on a small 
 island or bar, about three-fifths of a mile 
 from the shore. Its construction was com 
 menced in 1582, and cost 50,000,000 of 
 dollars, or upwards of 12,000,000 ster 
 ling, before it was completed. It was a 
 fortress of immense strength, and had a 
 lighthouse on its north-west angle, with a 
 brilliant revolving light, eighty feet above 
 the sea. The harbour of Vera Cruz was 
 a mere roadstead between the town and 
 the fortress, and afforded little protection 
 against storms, the anchorage being so in 
 secure, that a vessel, to be safe, required to 
 be made fast to brass rings, fixed for the 
 purpose in the castle walls. 
 
 The city of Mexico, the capital of the 
 republic, was situated, as has already been 
 stated, on the plain of Tenochticlan, 7,400 
 feet above the level of the sea. The present 
 city of Mexico occupies a portion of the 
 site of the ancient city of Tenochticlan, 
 which was founded 200 years anterior to 
 the conquest of Cortez ; and it was con 
 sidered to be one of the finest cities ever 
 built by Europeans on the American con 
 tinent. It was laid out in a quadrilateral 
 form, of about four miles on a side. Many 
 of the streets extended two miles in length, 
 
 * The cathedral occupies the site of the ancient 
 temple dedicated to the sun, which was a place for 
 worship and human sacrifice. When this great 
 temple was consecrated (so runs tradition), thou 
 sands of human beings were immolated. Its flights 
 of steps, its broad terraces and frowning battle 
 ments, were wet with human gore. It was a triple 
 pyramid, with a place for sacrifice on the top; being 
 surrounded by a stone wall, eight feet thick, 
 crowned with battlements, and ornamented with 
 figures in the form of serpents. The interior of the 
 enclosure was paved with polished porphyry; and 
 was spacious enough to contain 500 horses. The 
 walls had four gates, and over each was a military 
 arsenal. From the centre arose the great Teocatlis, 
 or temple, which was erected by Montezuma s imme 
 diate predecessor, in 1486, It was destroyed by 
 Cortez, in 1521. 
 
 t If we may believe the glowing accounts of 
 Ciavigero and other early Spanish writers, concern 
 ing the wealth and magnificence of Montezuma (the 
 last of the ancient Mexican sovereigns), the splen 
 dour and pageantry of his court rivalled that of 
 Eastern monarchs, famed in history and romance. 
 The palace, or " Halls of Montezuma," covered a 
 vast area in the centre of the ancient city, near the 
 Great Temple, as is stated in the text. Its interior 
 columns and tesselated pavements of porphyry and 
 amygdaloid were beautiful in the extreme; while 
 the external walls were so well whitened and 
 polished, that, to the excited imaginations of the 
 Spaniards, they seemed constructed of silver. 
 Some idea of the extent of the palace, or " Halls," 
 
 perfectly level and straight. The Plaza 
 Major, or Grand Plaza, was one of the 
 most beautiful squares to be seen in any 
 city, American or European. The east 
 side of the square was occupied by the 
 cathedral, a magnificent building ;* the 
 north by the national palace, a splendid 
 edifice, formerly occupied by the vicerovs ; 
 the southern side by a fine row of houses ; 
 in the centre of which was the Gaza del 
 Estada, on the reputed site of the " Halls 
 of Montezuma ;"f and on the west were 
 ranges of handsome shops and private 
 dwellings. The public buildings were very 
 numerous. A short distance from the 
 Plaza Major was the Alameda, or great 
 promenade, in the centre of which was a 
 magnificent fountain 
 
 The population of the city of Mexico 
 was of a mixed character; about one-half 
 being Creoles ; one-fourth half-blood In 
 dians, with some negroes and mulattoes ; 
 and about 7,000 Europeans. The people 
 were much addicted to pleasure and gam 
 bling. The ladies seldom went out during 
 the day; but, after sunset, the public 
 squares were thronged with them. The 
 Roman Catholic religion was the only one 
 that was publicly recognised in Mexico ; 
 but others were tolerated. Ecclesiastical 
 
 may be formed by a consideration of the fact, that, 
 in addition to a large number of resident servants, 
 all of noble extraction, 200 nobles were in daily at 
 tendance upon the emperor. The servants that ac 
 companied them were more numerous than their 
 masters, and occupied small courts of the palace; 
 and a seraglio or harem, forming a part of the 
 royal house, contained over 600 women. And yet 
 so extensive were the " Halls," that Montezuma 
 entertained Cortez, and nearly 500 of his followers, 
 for several days beneath the palace roof. Besides 
 the palace in which Montezuma kept his court, it is 
 said he had several magnificent pleasure houses, in 
 one of which, a most elegant building, supported 
 by pillars of jasper, he kept an aviary of birds, re 
 markable either for their singing or plumage so 
 numerous, that 300 men were employed in attend 
 ing them. In another, he had a menagerie of wild 
 beasts, consisting of bears, tigers, lions, and Mexi 
 can bulls. Montezuma s grandeur was equally 
 conspicuous in his armories. In one building, he 
 had a large number of workmen employed in 
 making shafts for arrows, grinding flints for the 
 points, and forming all sorts of arms, offensive and 
 defensive. Whole pages might be filled with these 
 details; but enough has been given on which to 
 base an idea of the almost fabulous magnificence 
 of Montezuma s court. The immense revenues 
 which enabled him to maintain such an expensive 
 style, was drawn from the salt-works, the produce 
 of the gold and silver mines, and the contributions 
 levied on the people, which amounted to one-third 
 of the annual produce of the empire. 
 
 537 
 
CONQUEST OF MEXICO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1825. 
 
 property was free from taxation, and the 
 priests had the sole management of property 
 bequeathed for pious purposes. The neces 
 sity of education was recognised by the 
 regulation which required the priests to 
 teach all persons to read and write; but 
 the law was disregarded. 
 
 The aborigines of Mexico, as far as can 
 be ascertained from tradition and history, 
 were a very wild race ; and, about the year 
 472, were supplanted by the Tultecs, a 
 superior tribe which came from the north. 
 Pestilence and famine having dispersed the 
 Tultecs, they were succeeded by the Chiche- 
 mecas and Acolhuons, who emigrated from 
 the mountains in the north, about 580. 
 They were conquered by the Aztecs, who 
 also came from the north in 1210, and who 
 established a mighty Indian empire. The 
 conquest of the country was completed by 
 Cortez, the Spanish invader, in 1521, after 
 perpetrating great cruelty and oppression 
 upon the natives. Having got possession of 
 the person of Montezuma, Cortez endeav 
 oured, by his intervention, to effect the sub 
 jugation of the empire. But the Mexicans, 
 having recovered from the surprise into 
 which they were first thrown by the seizure 
 of the country, resolved, at all hazards, to 
 attempt the expulsion of the Spaniards. 
 Montezuma was soon after killed in a 
 popular tumult, and Cortez was compelled 
 to retreat to Flascala. Here, having reor 
 ganised his forces, and secured the co-opera 
 tion of a large body of Indians, he again 
 pushed forward to the city, recommenced 
 the siege, and took it, after an obstinate 
 resistance of seventy-five days. The fate 
 of the capital decided that of the empire. 
 Province after province submitted; and 
 the power of Spain was extended from the 
 Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 From the period of the Spanish conquest 
 to the revolution which separated Mexico 
 from Spain, a period of 300 years, the 
 country was governed by viceroys, with 
 powers nearly equal to those of the sove 
 reign, checked only by the resldenda, or 
 court of investigation, before which the 
 viceroy was liable to be called to account for 
 his administration, on his return home, and 
 by the audencia, or court of final appeal in 
 Mexico. By these arrangements, also, the 
 natives were to be considered as freemen 
 and vassals of the crown ; and the Spanish 
 
 * La Salle was a brave and gallant knight of 
 Louis XIV. He was a native of Kouen, in Nor 
 mandy. Born of a good family, and destined for 
 
 538 
 
 discoverers, settlers, and their posterity, 
 were to have a preference in all civil and 
 ecclesiastical appointments. The natives 
 were thus excluded from holding all offices 
 of trust or profit, and reduced, in fact, to 
 the condition of abject slaves. The rapa 
 city of the viceroys and their minions 
 crushed the poor Mexicans to the very 
 earth ; and yet, so cruel were their oppres 
 sors, that fear hushed even the trembling 
 voice of murmuring. Their burdens at 
 length became intolerable ; and at the be 
 ginning of the present century, a revolu 
 tionary spirit was evinced, that assumed a 
 tangible form in 1808, when the king of 
 Spain, Charles IV., abdicated the throne 
 in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII. ; but 
 which was at once seized by Napoleon, on 
 which he placed his brother Joseph. The 
 Mexicans soon after, in 1810, unfurled the 
 banner of rebellion; and a revolutionary 
 contest ensued, which was carried on for 
 ten years, until, in 1820, it assumed new 
 vigour and power, and resulted in the final 
 overthrow of the Spanish rule in Mexico, 
 and the declaration of its independence in 
 1821. A provisional government was or 
 ganised, intended to be republican in form ; 
 but, through the influence of powerful 
 friends, and the military force, Iturbide, 
 one of the leaders of the revolution, was 
 proclaimed emperor, under the title of 
 Augustin I. His dissolution of the con 
 gress, however, by military force, raised a 
 feeling against him, which, finding it im 
 possible to suppress, led him to abdicate 
 the throne. He was not only allowed to 
 withdraw from the country, but rewarded 
 for his past services by an annual allow 
 ance of 5,000 sterling, accompanied by 
 an edict of outlawry in case of return. In 
 spite, however, of this prohibition, he re 
 turned clandestinely, and was soon dis 
 covered, apprehended, and executed. A 
 new constitution was formed, modelled on 
 that of the United States, which was rati 
 fied on the 4th of October, 1824, under 
 which the first congress was convened in 
 January, 1825. From that period followed 
 a series of revolutions and counter-revolu 
 tions, instigated by ambitious chiefs grasp 
 ing for the prize of the presidency. 
 
 The first European emigrants to Texas, 
 were led hither by Robert Cavalier, the 
 Sieur de la Salle,* who, in attempting to 
 
 the church, he received, under the guidance of the 
 Jesuits, an excellenf scientitic education. He was 
 a man of great abilities, of an enterprising spirit, 
 
A.D. 1833.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SETTLEMENT OF TEXAS. 
 
 establish a colony at the mouth of the Mis 
 sissippi, was deceived by his reckoning, 
 and landed at the head of Matagorda Bay, 
 where the settlement of St. Louis was 
 formed. Although this little colony was 
 soon after broken up by the Indians, yet, 
 as the standard of France had first been 
 planted there, this region was thenceforth 
 claimed by the French, as forming a por 
 tion of Louisiana. With the exception of 
 a few missionary stations, no other settle 
 ments were attempted in Texas until 1692, 
 when a Spanish colony was established at 
 San Antonio de Bexar.* Owing to various 
 circumstances it remained almost entirely 
 unknown to the rest of the world, until the 
 breaking out of the first Mexican revolu 
 tion, in 1810. The only settlements of any 
 importance at that time, were those of San 
 Antonio de Bexar, Nacagdoches, and La 
 Buhia, or Galiad. 
 
 When, in 1803, the United States pur 
 chased the territory of Louisiana of France, 
 they obtained with it the disputed claim to 
 Texas, which France had never surren 
 dered ; but, in 1819, when Florida was ceded 
 by Spain to the United States, the latter 
 gave, in exchange, Texas to Spain. The 
 following year Moses Austin, a native of 
 Connecticut, applied to the Mexican autho 
 rities for permission to establish a colony 
 in Texas. The permission was granted, the 
 Spanish authorities in Mexico wishing to 
 encourage immigration into the territory, 
 as a means of defence against the hostile 
 Comanche Indians. The grant, however, 
 was coupled with the condition that the 
 immigrants should merge their religion 
 and their language into those of Mexico. 
 
 In 1821, after the establishment of the 
 independence of Mexico, Stephen F. Austin, 
 the son of Moses (the latter in the mean 
 time having died), proceeded to carry out 
 the plan of his father; and taking with 
 him a number of his countrymen, he estab 
 lished a settlement between the rivers 
 Brazas and Colorado. From this period, 
 immigrants in large numbers, mostly from 
 the United States, continued to flow into 
 Texas, under the encouragement of the 
 Mexican government. The catholic priests 
 in Mexico now discovered, that the con- 
 
 and possessed of a firmness of mind which peril 
 and adversity seemed only to strengthen. He 
 kept his own counsel, relied upon his genius, and 
 bore without a murmur whatever ills befel him. 
 But, with all these good qualities, such was his 
 ambition, that it rendered him morose, sullen, and 
 haughty, not only to his dependents, but to his as- 
 
 dition which required the settlers to ac 
 knowledge the Roman faith, and establish 
 Spanish schools, had been treated by the 
 settlers as a dead letter ; and becoming 
 alarmed at the establishment of so many 
 heretics among them, they determined that 
 the colonists should either conform to 
 the catholic faith, or be expelled from the 
 territory. Added to this came propositions 
 from the United States to the Mexican 
 government to purchase Texas. f Then, 
 again, reports had been circulated in the 
 newspapers of the United States, that Texas 
 would be invaded by American adventurers ; 
 and, although it had no foundation in fact, 
 it found ready hearers among the jealous 
 Mexicans. They immediately suspected that 
 the settlers in Texas were only sent out 
 as a cover to a design, on the part of the 
 United States, to take forcible possession of 
 their territory. A decree was consequently - 
 passed, on the 6th of April, 1830, pro 
 hibiting natives of the United States from 
 emigrating to Texas. 
 
 Under the constitution of 1824, the pro 
 vince of Cohahuila and Texas were united as 
 a single state. Cohahuila being the most 
 populous, its Spanish residents outvoted, 
 and pursued an oppressive policy against, 
 the citizens of Texas. In 1833, Stephen 
 F. Austin was chosen a commissioner to 
 proceed to the Mexican capital, to petition 
 for a separate state organisation, and the 
 redress of other grievances to which the 
 Texans were subjected. Austin arrived at 
 the capital, where he endeavoured in vain 
 to obtain the advice of the government 
 upon the matters he had laid before it. 
 His petitions were referred to a committee of 
 the Mexican congress, where they remained 
 unnoticed ; while Mexico, and especially 
 the capital, was convulsed with the throes 
 of a revolutionary contest, in which St. 
 Anna was a principal. To add to the confu 
 sion, the Asiatic cholera made its appear 
 ance with extreme virulence, carrying off 
 10,000 of the inhabitants of the capital 
 alone. The panic occasioned by the epi 
 demic, deranged the meetings of congress, 
 destroying the slight hopes that Austin 
 entertained of obtaining a favourable re 
 sponse to his petitions. With despondent 
 
 sociates. He was assassinated by some of his 
 followers on the 20th of March, 1687, on the 
 banks of the river Neches in Texas, they fearing his 
 just vengeance for having murdered three of their 
 associates. Travels of Captain Bossu. 
 
 * Ante, vol. ii., p. 445. 
 
 f Yoakum, vol. i. , p. 277. 
 
 539 
 
REVOLUTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1835. 
 
 feelings, Austin wrote, on the 2nd of Oc- 
 tober, to the municipality of Bexar, recom 
 mending that all the municipalities of 
 Texas should unite in organising a separate 
 state government, under the provisions of 
 the constitution of 1824 ; and, by union 
 and harmony, prepare for a refusal of their 
 application by the supreme government. 
 
 Austin succeeded, however, in obtaining 
 a repeal of the odious decree of April 6, 
 1830, and left the Mexican capital, on his 
 return to Texas, on the 10th of December. 
 His letter, however, of the 2nd of October, 
 was transmitted to the supreme govern 
 ment at Mexico ; and Austin was arrested 
 at Saltillo, taken back to Mexico, and thrown 
 into the dungeons of the Inquisition, where 
 he was confined till the 13th of May, 1834, 
 when he was released by St. Anna, who 
 meanwhile had obtained the reins of power ; 
 but he was not permitted to return to 
 Texas till September, 1835, being detained 
 as a hostage for the good behaviour of 
 its inhabitants. 
 
 In the meantime the legislature of Coha- 
 huila and Texas had been forcibly dissolved 
 by St. Anna ; and a movement towards 
 an independent organisation in Texas had 
 been made through committees of safety, 
 the first of which was appointed at Mina 
 (now Bastrap), on the 17th of May, 1835. 
 This example was soon followed by all the 
 other municipalities ; and Austin, on his 
 return, was placed at the head of the com 
 mittee of safety at San Felipe. 
 
 In the meantime, St. Anna was engaged 
 in Mexico, in the consolidation of a despot 
 ism. Although there were in that country 
 many ardent supporters of the constitution 
 of 1824, the terrors of death or banishment 
 restrained them. The congress was com 
 pletely in his hands. With the clergy and 
 the army, over a timid and superstitious 
 people, his power had become nearly omni 
 potent. All but Texas had bowed the neck 
 to his imperious and dictatorial rule. His 
 plan for her subjugation was, however, 
 skilfully laid. It was to fill the country 
 with military forces, under different pre 
 tences. The troops were to be in Texas 
 by the time of the change in the form 
 ot government, and the overthrow of the 
 federal constitution of 1824, which St. 
 Anna had designed to effect by a coup- 
 
 * It will be understood that the term " Ame 
 ricans" or "American," here and elsewhere, is ap 
 plied exclusively to the citizens or forces of the 
 United States, in contradistinction from " Mexi- 
 540 
 
 d etat, in the coming October. Custom 
 houses were to be established in the Texan 
 ports, and defended by a military force. 
 The anti-immigration law of April 6th, 1830, 
 was to be revived ; and all Americans* who 
 had come into Texas since that date, were 
 to be driven from the country, and future 
 immigrants supplied from Mexico. These 
 and other oppressive measures formed the 
 programme of operations for the subjuga 
 tion of Texas. A considerable body of 
 troops had been already sent there at 
 the period of the return of Austin ; and, 
 to add to the war-feeling of the Texans, 
 positive intelligence was received that 
 General Cassa, the brother-in-law of St. 
 Anna, with an additional force, had landed 
 at Matagorda, and was on his way to Bexar, 
 to overrun and disarm the country, to 
 drive out the immigrants who had arrived 
 since 1830, and to punish those who had 
 trampled upon Mexican authority. On 
 the receipt of this news, the committees of 
 safety warned the people that war was their 
 only resource, and recommended that volun 
 teer companies be immediately formed. 
 
 The opening conflict of the Texan revolu 
 tion was at Gronzales. In 1831, the com 
 mandant at Bexar had furnished the cor 
 poration of Gonzales with a piece of ord 
 nance, to aid the citizens in their defence 
 against the Indians. An order was now sent, 
 through the commandant at Bexar, for it 
 to be delivered up ; but the order was dis 
 obeyed. Troops were sent to take it; and, 
 on the 18th of October, the Texans attacked 
 and drove them from the field, killing 
 several of their number, the former not 
 losing a single man. 
 
 The contest was now fairly opened ; and 
 news of the affair soon spread throughout 
 Texas. The people became intensely ex 
 cited, and expresses and circulars were sent 
 everywhere to raise volunteers. To take 
 Bexar and drive the Mexican soldiery out 
 of Texas, was the object boldly announced 
 at San Felipe, and repeated by every com 
 mittee of safety throughout the country. 
 A permanent council, consisting of one 
 member from each of the committees of 
 safety, was organised, at the suggestion of 
 Colonel Austin, to meet at San Felipe. 
 
 While these events were passing, the 
 destruction of the federal constitution was 
 
 cans," or citizens or soldiers of Mexico. It is a 
 distinctive term used by the Mexicans themselves, 
 in all their reports and letters, when referring to 
 the people of the United States. 
 
A.D. 1836.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 consummated in Mexico. By a decree of 
 the 3rd of October, the state legislatures 
 were abolished, and their places supplied 
 by a department council. St. Anna now 
 caused the fortresses of Galiad and the 
 Alamo, or citadel of Bexar, to be strongly 
 fortified. The latter was the head-quarters 
 of General Cassa. 
 
 The Texan volunteers continued to arrive 
 at Gonzales in such numbers, that, in a 
 short time, a large force was collected. 
 They were well supplied with provisions, 
 but were deficient in arms and ammunition. 
 Stephen F. Austin arrived at Gonzales on 
 the 10th of October, and was elected com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Texan forces. The 
 same day, forty-eight Texans, under the 
 command of Captain Collingsworth, sur 
 prised Galiad, and captured it. Military 
 stores, to the value of 2,000 sterling, were 
 taken at Galiad, besides some pieces of 
 artillery, and 300 stand of arms, all of which 
 were greatly needed by the Texans. The 
 communication between the Gulf and Bexar 
 was thus cut off. 
 
 On the 28th of October, a reconnoitring 
 force of ninety men, under Captains Fan- 
 nin and Bowie,* encountered a body of 
 400 Mexicans, at Conception, about a 
 mile and a-half from Bexar; and, after 
 an engagement of thirty minutes, the 
 Mexicans were driven off the field, with a 
 loss of sixty killed, and as many wounded. 
 The Texans lost but one killed, and nine 
 wounded, being protected by a bluff. 
 
 Austin, on assuming command of the 
 Texan forces, sent for General Samuel Hous 
 ton who had been chosen by the people 
 of San Augustine and Nacogdoches, to 
 take command of the volunteers of Eastern 
 Texas to join him. On Houston s arrival, 
 Austin offered to resign the command in 
 his favour, as he was satisfied that he could 
 render more service to the country in other 
 situations than at the head of the army. 
 But though urged to assume the com 
 mand, Houston would not consent, for the 
 reason that Austin had been elected by 
 the troops at Gonzales, and that many 
 had joined with the belief that he was 
 to command them. General Houston was, 
 however, elected to that position in Novem 
 ber ; and General Austin, Branch T. Ar 
 thur, and William H. "Wharton, were 
 elected commissioners to the United States, 
 
 * The bowie-knife, a weapon extensively used in 
 the Texan Mar, was invented by, and named after 
 Captain Bowie, referred to above. 
 
 VOL. II. 4 A 
 
 by a convention of delegates, who assembled 
 at San Felipe on the 1st of November, for 
 the purpose of establishing a provisional 
 government ; which duty they also accom 
 plished, electing Henry Smith governor, 
 and James "W. Robinson, lieutenant-gov 
 ernor of Texas. 
 
 On the llth of December, the Texan 
 forces, under General Bucleson, after a 
 sanguinary siege of five days, captured the 
 strong fortress of the Alamo, and the city 
 of San Antonio de Bexar. General Cassa, 
 his officers and men, were permitted to re 
 turn with their arms and private property, 
 on their parole that they would not oppose 
 the re-establishment of the constitution of 
 1824 ; for this was the limit of their pre 
 sent efforts. Texas was again free from 
 the footsteps of the enemy ; for not a 
 Mexican in arms remained upon the Texan 
 soil after General Cassa and his troops had 
 retired. 
 
 St. Anna, however, was gathering his 
 forces, and preparing for an overwhelming 
 demonstration against the rebellious state. 
 In February, 1836, information was received 
 that he was approaching at the head of 
 6,000 men. 
 
 On the 1st of March, a Texan conven 
 tion met at Washington, on the Brazos; 
 and, on the 2nd, adopted a declaration of 
 independence. They had desired to unite 
 with their Mexican brethren in support of 
 the constitution of 1824, but their efforts had 
 j been in vain. They appealed to the world 
 to approve of the course they had adopted ; 
 and after reciting a series of complaints 
 against the federal government, they for 
 mally declared Texas to be a free, sovereign, 
 and independent republic, fully invested 
 with all the rights and attributes which 
 properly belong to an independent nation. 
 i A constitution was also adopted by the 
 convention, its provisions being a combi 
 nation of the principles of the state and 
 federal constitutions of the United States. 
 A government ad interim was provided 
 for, as the constitution was to be submitted 
 j to the popular vote. David G. Burnett 
 ! was chosen president, and Lorenzo de 
 Zavola, vice-president, under the consti 
 tution. Secretaries of state, war, navy 
 and treasury, and attorney-general, were 
 also chosen, all of whom immediately en 
 tered upon their respective duties. 
 
 St. Anna, with 4,000 men, the remain 
 der of his army, under General Urrea, hav 
 ing marched to San Patricio, reached San 
 
 541 
 
BATTLE OF SAN JAC1NTO.] HISTOHY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1836. 
 
 Antonio on the 23rd of February, and j 
 commenced an attack on the Alamo, which ! 
 was garrisoned by only 188 men, under j 
 Colonel Travis. The attack was kept up 
 from day to day, till the Gth of March, 
 when the fortress was carried by assault, 
 after repeated failures. The survivors 
 within the walls still continued to fight, till 
 they were nearly all cut down. A few, it 
 is said, cried for quarter, but the appeal 
 was unheeded. Every human being within 
 the fortress, except three women, a child, 
 and a negro, was slaughtered. Among the 
 slain were Colonel David Crockett, some 
 what famous as a pioneer and a member 
 of the American congress from Tennessee; 
 and Captain Bowie. The latter w r as butch 
 ered and mutilated in his bed, where he 
 had been lying ill for several days. The 
 bodies of the Texans were dragged out, 
 piled together with wood, in one vast heca- | 
 tomb, and burnt. The dead bodies of 521 
 Mexicans indicated the desperate valour and 
 determination with which the fortress was 
 defended. 
 
 The troops at Galiad were commanded 
 by Fannin. He had endeavoured to ob 
 tain reinforcements ; but was directed to 
 save his garrison by retreat. He did so ; 
 and left the fort with about 350 men ; 
 meeting the forces under Urrea, when near 
 the Caleta, on the 20th of March. An 
 action ensued, and the Texans, being over 
 powered by numbers, surrendered as pri 
 soners of war. They were taken back to 
 Galiad, where, on the 27th, under an order 
 from St. Anna, the whole number, with 
 the exception of a few who succeeded in 
 escaping, were shot. Fannin had been an 
 officer in the army of the United States, 
 and his name has had favourable mention 
 in previous pages. 
 
 This dreadful massacre, coupled with that 
 of the Alamo, spread consternation over 
 Texas. St. Anna next made his appear 
 ance at Harrisburg, to which place the 
 Texan seat of government had recently 
 been removed. He reached there with a 
 single division of his army, on the 15th of 
 April, and immediately reduced it to ashes. 
 Thence he marched to New Washington, 
 where he committed some depredations, and 
 took up the line of march to Lynch s ferry, 
 on the San Jacinto, where he was met by 
 General Houston, with a force of about 
 800 men. That of St. Anna was about 
 1,500. After some preliminary skirmish 
 ing, the .main battle between the opposing 
 542 
 
 forces took place on the afternoon of the 
 21st. The Mexicans had but a single piece 
 of ordnance (a 9-pounder) ; while Houston 
 had two 6-pounders, called the "Twin 
 Sisters," a present from some gentlemen of 
 Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 The battle commenced with a fire of 
 grape and canister from the C- pounders, 
 which was followed by a general charge, 
 led on by Houston in person, with the 
 war-cry of " Remember the Alamo ! 
 Remember Galiad !" Sheltered by breast 
 works, the Mexicans received them with 
 a heavy fire of musketry and their 
 9-pounder. General Houston had his ankle 
 shattered by a musket-ball, and his horse 
 received several shots in the breast; but 
 he spurred the dying animal to within 
 a few yards of the enemy s intrench- 
 ment, over which the Texans, having first 
 poured in a terribly destructive fire from 
 their rifles, forced their way in spite of a 
 resolute resistance. Having no bayonets, 
 and not stopping to reload their rifles, the 
 Texans used them as clubs ; and dealt such 
 vigorous blows, that they soon broke at the 
 breech. Throwing away the useless pieces, 
 they drew their pistols, and discharg 
 ing them once, hurled the empty weapons 
 at the heads of the enemy ; then, drawing 
 their bowie-knives, threw themselves in a 
 single mass upon the Mexican host. The 
 enemy stood their ground bravely ; but 
 nothing could withstand the impetuous 
 valour of the Texans. The keen blades of 
 their bowie-knives flashed continually in 
 the air, and were plunged with lightning 
 velocity into the bosoms of their Mexican 
 enemies. The field was literally strewn 
 with the slain, and blood flowed in streams. 
 The Mexicans endeavoured to escape ; but 
 the unrelenting Texans pursued eagerly, 
 and, urged on by the remembrance of Alamo 
 and Galiad, cut them down with their 
 deadly weapons without remorse. The 
 Mexicans were now fleeing in wild disorder, 
 and General Houston vainly endeavoured 
 to stop the carnage ; but, panting for ven 
 geance, the Texans unceasingly continued 
 their bloody work. 
 
 The Mexicans had left behind them 
 nearly 700 men, dead and dying, on the 
 field of battle ; to which additions were con 
 tinually made by the enraged Texans, who 
 followed closely upon them in their flight. 
 The Mexican cavalry spurred their horses 
 towards Vince s bridge, which, stretching 
 ; across a bayou of that name, had been 
 
A.D. 1836.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ST. ANNA A PRISONER. 
 
 destroyed by Houston the morning previ 
 ous, to cut off the retreat in that direction. 
 The victors pursued eagerly ; and when the 
 retreating army arrived at the bank of the 
 river, an appalling scene ensued. Finding 
 the bridge destroyed, the Mexicans, struck 
 with terror, plunged indiscriminately into 
 the river, and attempted to swim across. 
 Many were either carried down by the cur 
 rent, and drowned before reaching the oppo 
 site shore, or were shot by the Texans, who 
 had retained their rifles, upon the banks. 
 One-half of the Mexican army perished in 
 the combat. The other half, including St. 
 Anna himself, were taken prisoners. The 
 Texan loss, remarkable as it may seem, was 
 but seven killed and fifteen wounded. As 
 already incidentally remarked, General 
 Houston rode about the field, exerting him 
 self to stop the carnage, regardless of his 
 own wound, until, exhausted by loss of 
 blood, he fell from his horse, and was car 
 ried by his aides, and laid at the foot of an 
 oak, which had served as his head-quarters 
 previous to the action. It was on the fol 
 lowing day that St. Anna was captured, 
 disguised as a common soldier, on the 
 prairie, and brought before General Hous 
 ton, who rebuked him for the barbarous 
 and perfidious massacres of the Alamo and 
 Galiad, but treated him with the considera 
 tion due to his rank, and, by his firmness, 
 protected him from the vengeance of the 
 Texans, who would have put him to death, in 
 retaliation for the massacre of their friends 
 and relatives. About 900 stand of English 
 muskets, 300 sabres, and 200 pistols, be 
 sides 300 mules, 100 horses, and 12,000 
 dollars, with a large quantity of provisions, 
 clothing, tents, and munitions of war, fell 
 into the hands of the Texans by this vic 
 tory. General Houston s wound rendering 
 him nearly helpless, he requested to be re 
 lieved from the command of the army; 
 which was complied with, and General 
 Thomas J. Rusk was appointed in his 
 place. 
 
 By the recommendation of General 
 Houston, two treaties were made, by the 
 government of Texas, with St. Anna ; a 
 public one, in which the cessation of hos 
 tilities, and the retirement of the Mexican 
 troops beyond the Rio Grande, were stipu 
 lated ; and a secret one, in which St. 
 Anna solemnly pledged himself to an ac 
 knowledgment of the independence of 
 Texas by the Mexican cabinet. These 
 treaties were subsequently disavowed by 
 
 Mexico, on the ground that they were made 
 while St. Anna was a prisoner. Although 
 the United States, England, and other 
 powers, acknowledged the independence 
 of Texas, yet, through all her revolu 
 tions and changes of rulers, Mexico per 
 sisted in claiming Texas as a Mexican prov 
 ince, and occasionally sent small bodies of 
 troops there to keep up the war by pre 
 datory incursions. 
 
 Meantime, General Houston had been 
 elected president of Texas, and was inaugu 
 rated on the 22nd of October, 1836. One 
 of his first acts was to visit St. Anna, who 
 had been kept in captivity in constant peril 
 of his life, and, after an interview, to libe 
 rate the prisoner, and send him to Washing 
 ton, to confer with the president of the 
 United States, General Jackson. For all 
 practical purposes his visit to Washington 
 was of no account. He was kindly received 
 by Jackson, who sent him to Mexico in a 
 national vessel. St. Anna was coldly re 
 ceived on his return to his country ; and at 
 the presidential election, which took place in 
 March, 1837, he received but two elec 
 toral votes out of sixty-nine. He retired 
 to his country seat, whence he issued 
 a manifesto, in which he disavowed all 
 the treaties and promises made by him 
 while a prisoner. After many vicis 
 situdes, he succeeded again to the presi 
 dency of Mexico in 1841, which he sig 
 nalised by entering once more upon a 
 course of hostility towards Texas. 
 
 The government of Texas made early ap 
 plication to be received into the American 
 Union. Although its independence had 
 been recognised by the United States, and 
 a charge, d affaires appointed to the new 
 republic by President Jackson, and one 
 received therefrom, yet recognition and 
 annexation were different questions. In 
 determining with regard to the first, the 
 United States looked merely to the fact. If 
 Texas were really independent, it was the 
 duty and interest of the United States to 
 recognise that independence, without re 
 gard to the merits of the original contro 
 versy between Mexico and her rebellious 
 province. But, so long as Texas remained 
 at war with Mexico, and the United 
 States at peace with the latter, the annexa 
 tion of Texas to the American Union would 
 have involved the government of the United 
 States in a breach of treaty with Mexico, 
 and necessarily led to war. So reasoned 
 John Forsyth, who was the American 
 
 543 
 
ANNEXATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1843. 
 
 secretary of state during the last two years 
 of Jackson s, and the entire period of 
 Van Buren s administration. The appli 
 cation, which was made soon after Van 
 Buren was inducted to the executive chair, 
 was withdrawn by Texas, when his objec 
 tions to it, as well as the opposition of the 
 senate, were ascertained. 
 
 The people of Texas being unanimously 
 in favour of annexation to the United 
 States, the proposition was again renewed 
 in 1842, when John Tyler occupied the 
 presidential chair of the United States. On 
 the 2Gth of January of the latter year, Mr. 
 Reilly, the Texan charge d affaires at 
 Washington, was instructed to direct his 
 attention to the subject, and observe 
 whether there was any disposition, on the 
 part of the government of the United 
 States, to assent to or offer a proposal of 
 that kind ; and whether the American 
 congress and people manifested a like dis 
 position. If so, he was to report the facts 
 for further instructions. After making the 
 necessary inquiries, Mr. Reilly reported to 
 his government, that the administration of 
 President Tyler was decidedly in favour of 
 the annexation policy ; that it was popular 
 with congress ; and that Texas was in 
 creasing rapidly in reputation and character 
 in the United States. 
 
 Since the battle of San Jacinto, the an 
 nexation of Texas had been, more or less, 
 discussed by the people and press of the 
 United States ; and it was soon evident that 
 its consummation was only a question of 
 time. The emigration to Texas, following 
 the achievement of her independence, ex 
 cited and hurried on this feeling in the 
 popular mind. President Tyler saw it, and 
 determined that its accomplishment should 
 assist in the redemption of an other 
 wise unpopular administration. He spoke 
 freely to the Texan minister on the subject. 
 " I am anxious for it," said he, " and wish 
 most sincer/ely I could conclude it at once." 
 But the assent of the senate was necessary ; 
 and it was evident that two-thirds of its 
 members could not be brought to support 
 it without the previous assent of Mexico. 
 As matters thus stood, it was deemed best 
 to have recourse to mediation. Instructions, 
 therefore, were sent to the American special 
 
 * By the Hamilton convention of November 14th, 
 1840, Great Britain offered her mediation between 
 the belligerent states, upon the consideration that, if 
 successful, Texas "would take upon herself a por 
 
 tion, amounting to 1,000,000 sterling, of the capi- Texas, vol. ii., p. 420. 
 
 544 
 
 minister at Mexico, "VVaddy Thompson, to ! 
 use his best endeavours to bring about 
 amicable relations between Texas and 
 Mexico. Daniel Webster, the American 
 secretary of state, in his letter of instruc 
 tions to Mr. Thompson, referred to the fact, 
 that the language, customs, and habits of 
 the Texans were different from those of the 
 people of Mexico ; to the great distance of 
 Texas from the Mexican capital ; the long 
 period during which they had been sepa 
 rated ; the recognition of the independence 
 of Texas by so many great states ; the 
 treaties and commercial reLi ions entered 
 into with her ; and the additional but im 
 portant fact, that the ultimate re-annexa 
 tion of that province to Mexico was among 
 the things most to be doubted. For these 
 reasons, the United States looked upon the 
 war as useless, and quite annoving to the 
 commerce on the Gulf of Mexico ; and, 
 while they could not interfere, if the par 
 ties were determined to continue the con 
 test, they could not look at it with indif 
 ference, and would cheerfully accept the 
 office of mediator, if desired. Mexico, how 
 ever, rejected the proffered mediation, as 
 it had previously declined a similar offer 
 on the part of Great Britain.* 
 
 In 1843, the subject of annexation was 
 again brought forward. On the 18th of 
 September, the Texan government was 
 notified, through Mr. Van Zandt, its charge 
 d affaires at Washington, that Abel P. Up- 
 shur, who had succeeded Webster as secre 
 tary of state, brought forward the subject 
 in his official interviews, stating that it was 
 the great measure of Tyler s adminis 
 tration, and that he was actively engaged, 
 under the instructions of the president, in 
 preparing the minds of the people for it, 
 and in learning the views of senators on 
 the subject. Secretary Upshur further in 
 formed Van Zandt, that the president con 
 templated an early action on the subject ; 
 and requested him to make the same 
 known to his government, in order that, if 
 Texas desired to treat on that subject, she 
 might furnish her representative with suit 
 able powers. On the 16th of October, 
 Upshur made a formal proposition to 
 treat on the question ; and Van Zandt 
 transmitted it to Texas, asking the advice 
 
 tal of the foreign debt contracted by Mexico, prior 
 to the 1st day of February, 1835." This tender 
 of the mediation of Great Britain was rejected by 
 Mexico, of which Texas had due notice. Y oakum s 
 
A.]). 
 
 1843.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MKXICAN PROTEST. 
 
 of his government. The proposition was 
 favourably received by the Texan govern 
 ment, and General Ilenderson was ap 
 pointed, by President Houston, to co-operate 
 with Van Zandt in negotiating a treaty 
 of annexation. The commission was soon 
 assembled at Washington, the capital of 
 the United States, and the business of form 
 ing a treaty at once entered upon. 
 
 While these preliminaries to annexation 
 were transpiring, Mexico had not been an 
 idle spectator. On the 23rd of August, 
 1843, Mr. Boconegra, the Mexican minis 
 ter of foreign relations, addressed a note 
 to Thompson, the substance of which is 
 embraced in the following extract : "And 
 if a party in Texas is now endeavouring to 
 effect its incorporation with the United 
 States, it is from a consciousness of their 
 notorious incapability to form and consti 
 tute an independent nation, without their 
 having changed their situation, or acquired 
 any right to separate themselves from their 
 mother country. His excellency, the pro 
 visional president, resting on this deep con 
 viction, is obliged to prevent an aggression, 
 unprecedented in the annals of the world, 
 from being consummated; and if it be in 
 dispensable for the Mexican nation to seek 
 security for its rights at the expense of the 
 disasters of war, it will call upon God, and 
 rely upon its own efforts for the defence of 
 its just cause." 
 
 This note elicited a reply from Thompson ; 
 in which, though he alluded to the above 
 declaration as a threat or a warning, no 
 explanation or information was tendered 
 as to the position or intentions of the 
 United States government on the question 
 of annexation. 
 
 A few weeks subsequent to this corres 
 pondence, on the 3rd of November, Gen 
 eral Almonte, the Mexican minister at 
 Washington, to prevent any misunderstand 
 ing of the intentions of Mexico in the event 
 of annexation, in a note to the secretary 
 of state, thus spoke to the point : " But 
 if, contrary to the hopes and wishes enter 
 tained by the government of the under 
 signed, for the preservation of the good 
 understanding and harmony which should 
 reign between the two neighbouring and 
 friendly republics, the United States should, 
 in defiance of good faith and the principles 
 of justice which they have constantly pro 
 claimed, commit the unheard-of act of vio 
 lence of appropriating to themselves an 
 integrant part of the Mexican territory. 
 
 the undersigned, in the name of his nation, 
 and now for them, protests, in the most 
 solemn manner, against such an aggression; 
 and he, moreover, declares, by express 
 order of his government, that, on sanction 
 being given, by the executive of the Union, 
 to the incorporation of Texas into the 
 United States, he will consider his mission 
 ended ; seeing that, as the secretary of state 
 will have learned, the Mexican government 
 is resolved to declare war as soon as it re 
 ceives intimation of such an act." 
 
 These declarations of the Mexican au 
 thorities, of the interpretation they should 
 give to the act of annexation of Texas to 
 the United States, were noticed by Presi 
 dent Tyler, in his annual message to con 
 gress, on the 5th of December following. 
 A few brief extracts will illustrate his po 
 sition on the question : " I communicate 
 herewith certain despatches, received from 
 our minister at Mexico ; as also a corres 
 pondence which, has recently occurred be 
 tween the envoy from that republic and 
 the secretary of state. It must be regarded 
 as not a little extraordinary, that the gov 
 ernment of Mexico, in anticipation of a 
 public discussion which it has been pleased 
 to infer, from newspaper publications, as 
 likely to take place in congress, relative to 
 the annexation of Texas to the United 
 States should so far have anticipated the 
 result of such discussion, as to have an 
 nounced its determination to visit any such 
 anticipated decision by a formal declaration 
 of war against the United States. If de 
 signed to prevent congress from introducing 
 that question as a fit subject for its calm 
 deliberation and final judgment, the exe 
 cutive has no reason to doubt that it will 
 entirely fail of its object. The representa 
 tives of a brave and patriotic people will 
 suffer no apprehension of future conse 
 quences to embarrass them in the course of 
 their proposed deliberations. Nor will the 
 executive department of the government 
 fail, for any such cause, to discharge its 
 whole duty to the country. Eight years 
 have now elapsed since Texas declared her 
 independence of Mexico ; and, during that 
 time, she has been recognised as a sovereign 
 power by several of the powerful civilised 
 states. Mexico, nevertheless, perseveres in 
 her plans of reconquest, and refuses to re 
 cognise her independence. * A 
 border warfare is even more to be depre 
 cated ; and over such a war as has existed 
 for so many vears between these two states^ 
 
 545 
 
SOVEREIGNTY OF TEXAS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1844. 
 
 humanity has had great cause to lament. 
 * * * Wars may sometimes be neces 
 sary ; but all nations have a common in 
 terest in bringing them speedily to a close. 
 The United States have an immediate in 
 terest in seeing an end put to the state of 
 hostilities existing between Mexico and 
 Texas. They are our neighbours of the 
 same continent, with whom we are not only 
 desirous of cultivating the relations of 
 amity, but of the most extended commer 
 cial intercourse, and to cultivate all the 
 rites of a friendly hospitality. * * * * 
 It is time that the war had ceased. There 
 must be a limit to all wars ; and if the 
 parent state, after an eight years struggle, 
 has failed to reduce to submission a por 
 tion of its subjects standing out in revolt 
 against it, and who have not only pro 
 claimed themselves to be independent, but 
 have been recognised as such by other 
 powers, she ought not to expect that other 
 powers will quietly look, to their obvious 
 injury, upon a protraction of hostilities. 
 These United States threw off their colonial 
 independence, and established independent 
 governments ; and Great Britain, after 
 having wasted her energies in the attempt 
 to subdue them, for a less period than 
 Mexico had attempted to subjugate Texas, 
 had the wisdom and justice to acknowledge 
 their independence ; thereby recognising 
 
 the obligation which rested on her as one J this treaty was sent to the senate, a ma- 
 of the family of nations. An example thus ; jority of the people of the United States 
 set by one of the proudest, as well as most j were in favour of its ratification ; but the 
 powerful nations of the earth, it could in senate, a deliberate and grave body, gene 
 rally just in its conclusions and advice, was, 
 at that time, seriously interested in the 
 approaching presidential election. The 
 popular voice in the United States, though 
 slow in finding utterance, was always, in 
 the end, heeded. This voice was more 
 
 senate, for ratification ; and during the 
 same month, Secretary Calhoun advised the 
 charge d affaires in Mexico, that " the step 
 had been forced on the government of the 
 United States in self-defence, in conse 
 quence of the policy adopted by Great 
 Britain in reference to the abolition of 
 slavery in Texas." This assertion of 
 Calhoun would indicate his ignorance of 
 the fact, that there was, on the files of the 
 state department (presented on the 26th of 
 February, before he succeeded to that de 
 partment), a solemn disclaimer of the British 
 government, through Lord Aberdeen, of 
 any such interference. The noble lord 
 said <( With regard to Texas, we avow 
 that we wish to see slavery abolished there, 
 or elsewhere ; and we should rejoice, if the 
 recognition of that country by the Mexican 
 government should be accompanied by an 
 engagement, on the part of Texas , to 
 abolish slavery, and, under proper condi 
 tions, throughout the republic. But, al 
 though we earnestly desire, and feel it to 
 be our dut} r , to promote such a consumma 
 tion, we shall not interfere unduly, or with 
 an improper assumption of authority, with 
 either party, in order to insure the adoption 
 of such a cause. We shall counsel, but we 
 shall not seek to compel, or unduly control 
 either party." 
 
 There is little doubt that, at the time 
 
 no way disparage Mexico to imitate. 
 While, therefore, the executive would de 
 plore any collision with Mexico, or any dis 
 turbance of the friendly relations which 
 exist between the two countries, it cannot 
 permit that government to centralise its 
 policy, whatever it may be, towards Texas ; 
 but will treat her as, by the recognition 
 of her independence, the United States 
 have long since declared they would do 
 as entirely independent of Mexico." 
 
 On the 12th of April, 1844, the treaty of 
 annexation was completed, and signed by 
 the Texan commissioners, and by John C. 
 Calhoun, who had succeeded to the state de- 
 partmentafter the untimely death of Upshur, 
 who was killed, as was Thomas W. Gilmer, 
 the secretary of the navy, and several other 
 distinguished citizens, by the bursting of a 
 large gun on board the Princeton, on the 
 28th of February, 1844. The treaty was 
 immediately sent by the president to the 
 546 
 
 powerful for annexation than most of the 
 members of the senate believed it to be. 
 
 The treaty of annexation was discussed 
 in the senate of the United States until the 
 8th of June, when a vote was taken upon 
 it, and it was rejected by thirty-five to six 
 teen. Whereupon Thomas H. Benton, in 
 open senate, immediately introduced a bill 
 for the annexation of Texas, the consent 
 of the Mexican government to be first 
 obtained. 
 
 On the 10th of June, only two days sub 
 sequently to the decision arrived at by 
 the senate, President Tyler sent a message to 
 the house of representatives, announcing the 
 rejection of the treaty with Texas, with a 
 
A.D. 1845.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TEXAS IN CONGRESS. 
 
 view of inducing that body to originate some 
 measure that might accomplish the object 
 which the treaty contemplated. The house 
 referred the message to their committee on 
 foreign relations ; but the subject was not 
 definitely acted on until the next session. 
 In the senate, on the same day that the 
 message above referred to was sent to the 
 house, Mr. Benton, in a speech of two 
 hours, characterised the Texas project as a 
 fraud upon the people of the country a 
 base, wicked, miserable, presidential in 
 trigue, originating in the most wicked pur 
 pose, and, so far, prosecuted for the most 
 knavish conclusions, regardless alike of the 
 character of the country, its treaty obliga 
 tions, or its peace. He moved to suspend 
 all previous orders, for the purpose of taking 
 up the bill before referred to, which he had 
 submitted for the annexation of Texas, when 
 Mexico should give its sanction. Themes- 
 sage of President Tyler, appealing from the 
 decision of the senate, in a case in which 
 the constitution makes that body expressly 
 his advisers, and the controllers of his 
 cause, Senator Benton considered to be an 
 insult to that body, which merited impeach 
 ment. 
 
 An effort was made by the most zealous 
 office-holders under the general govern 
 ment, and other persons interested in the 
 success of the president, to create a popu 
 larity for him out of the question of the 
 annexation of Texas ; but the attempt to 
 enlist the feelings of the advocates of that 
 measure, in favour of his re-election to the 
 presidency, proved a total failure. 
 
 The nomination of Polk and Dallas had 
 the effect of completely uniting the demo 
 cratic party throughout the country, and 
 the Texan and Oregon* questions had a 
 tendency to infuse renewed vigour among 
 the masses belonging to the party, and they 
 entered into the election contest with ex 
 cited hopes and well-grounded promises of 
 success. " The reoccupation of Oregon, 
 and the reannexatlon of Texas/ were prin 
 ciples adopted by the democratic party in 
 1845; and, at the election, a very large 
 majority of the people cast their ballots in 
 favour of James K. Polk, the candidate for 
 the presidency, favouring those measures. 
 
 Under the endorsement thus given to the 
 
 * Among the resolutions adopted by the conven 
 tion which nominated Polk and Dallas, was one 
 which declared, " that our title to the whole of the 
 territory of Oregon is clear and unquestionable ; 
 that no portion of the same ought to be ceded to 
 
 measure of annexation, the subject was 
 again brought before congress at its next 
 session, which commenced on the 2nd 
 of December, in the form of joint reso 
 lutions, which passed the house of repre 
 sentatives on the 25th of January, 1845, 
 by a vote of 120 to 98 against them. They 
 were sent to the senate, where, after amend 
 ment, they were passed, by a vote of 27 to 
 25 against them. On their return to the 
 house, the amendment was concurred in, 
 on the 28th of February, by a vote of 132 
 to 76 ; and, on the 1st of March, they re 
 ceived the signature of the president, by 
 whom a messenger was immediately dis 
 patched to lay the same before the govern 
 ment of Texas, for its acceptance. 
 
 The terms of the resolutions of annexa 
 tion were, that all questions of boundary 
 should be settled by the United States ; 
 that Texas should give up its harbours, 
 magazines, and all public property; but 
 should retain its funds and debts ; and, 
 until the discharge of the latter, its un 
 appropriated lands ; that additional new 
 states, not exceeding four, might be formed, 
 with or without slavery, as the people should 
 elect, if south of the Missouri restriction of 
 182036 30 N. lat. 
 
 General Almonte, the Mexican minister 
 at Washington, on the passing of the reso 
 lutions of annexation, made a formal pro 
 test, in the name of the Mexican govern 
 ment, against the proceeding, denouncing it 
 as the most unjust act recorded in history. 
 He was informed that the government of the 
 United States did not look upon the act of 
 annexation as any infringement of the 
 rights of Mexico, or as giving any just 
 cause of offence to his government; that 
 the republic of Texas was an independent 
 power, owing no allegiance to Mexico, and 
 constituting no portion of her territory, 
 rightful sovereignty, or jurisdiction. He 
 was assured that it was the sincere desire of 
 the American government to maintain, 
 with that of Mexico, relations of peace and 
 good understanding. General Almonte, 
 however, notwithstanding these represen 
 tations and assurances, abruptly terminated 
 his mission, demanded his passports, and 
 soon afterwards left the country. The 
 American minister to Mexico was refused 
 
 England or any other power; and that the reoccu 
 pation of Oregon, and the reannexation of Texas, at 
 the earliest practicable period, are great American 
 measures, which this convention recommends to 
 the cordial support of the democracy of the Union." 
 
 547 
 
TEXAS A STATE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1845. 
 
 all official intercourse with that govern 
 ment; and, finally, by permission of his 
 own government, returned to the United 
 States. Thus all diplomatic intercourse 
 between the two governments was sus 
 pended.* 
 
 The president of Texas, on the reception 
 of the resolutions of annexation, as passed 
 by the American congress, immediately 
 called a convention of sixty-one delegates, 
 to meet on the 4th of July ensuing, to con 
 sider the propositions embraced in them. 
 He also called an extra session of the Texan 
 congress, to meet on the 16th of June, to 
 authorise the anticipated convention. The 
 congress assembled on the date above- 
 named ; and, by a joint resolution, ap 
 proved on the 23rd of June, accepted the 
 American resolutions of annexation, and 
 conferred the necessary powers on the con 
 vention to act on that and other matters 
 pertaining thereto. The latter body, as 
 sembling on the 5th of July, ratified 
 the act of annexation ; and, before it ad 
 journed, formed a state constitution, which, 
 with the question of annexation, was sub 
 mitted for final decision to the direct vote 
 of the people. They were approved by 
 them ; and thus, " the lone star of Texas," 
 after a persistent struggle of ten years, 
 took its place in the constellation of the 
 American Union. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1845, two days after 
 the enactment of the ordinance of annexa 
 tion by the Texan convention, a request 
 was dispatched to President Polk, to send 
 an armed force to protect Texas against the 
 threatened invasion of Mexico. On the 
 30th of July, General Zachary Taylor, then 
 stationed at Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, 
 was ordered by the war department to pro 
 ceed to the western frontier of Texas, with 
 an efficient military force, and take a posi 
 tion between the Nueces and the Rio 
 Grande, where he was peaceably to re 
 main, unless the Mexicans should cross the 
 Rio Grande in force ; which act was to be 
 looked upon as an invasion of the territory 
 of the United States, and a virtual declara 
 tion of war. After mature consideration, 
 General Taylor selected Corpus Christi, a 
 town on the bay of the same name, an in 
 dentation of the Gulf of Mexico, and near 
 the river Nueces. The troops were accord 
 ingly embarked at New Orleans, taker- 
 down the Mississippi, and across the gulf, 
 reaching their destination, Corpus Christi, ! 
 * Message of the president, December 2nd, 1845. ( 
 548 
 
 about the 1st of August. Here the general 
 
 received another order, informing him that 
 
 | his forces were to be increased to 4,000, 
 
 and that he was, in case of emergency, to 
 
 call immediately on the governors of the 
 
 adjoining states for volunteers, they being 
 
 | instructed to furnish them. All the autho- 
 
 j rity which he could command was to be 
 
 ! used to protect Texas from hostile invasion. 
 
 At the same time that General Taylor 
 : was ordered to the Texan frontier, an effi 
 cient squadron was sent to the coast of 
 Mexico, as a precautionary measure, to 
 protect American commerce, and co-operate 
 with the army in case of hostilities. 
 
 There were other causes of misunder 
 standing between the United States and 
 Mexico, besides the annexation of Texas, 
 growing out of unredressed injuries, in 
 flicted by the Mexican authorities and 
 people on the persons and- properties of 
 citizens of the United States in previous 
 years. Mexico had admitted these in 
 juries, but had neglected and refused to 
 repair them. As early as the 8th of Feb 
 ruary, 1837, President Jackson declared, in 
 a message to congress, that " the length of 
 time since some of the injuries have been 
 committed, the repeated and unavailing 
 applications for redress, the wanton cha 
 racter of some of the outrages upon the 
 persons and property of our citizens, upon 
 the officers and flag of the United States, 
 independent of recent insults to this gov 
 ernment and people by the late envoy extra 
 ordinary of the Mexican government, would 
 justify, in the eyes of all nations, immediate 
 war." President Jackson did not recom 
 mend, in his message, a resort to this ex 
 treme measure, which, he declared, " should 
 not be used by just and generous nations, 
 confiding in their strength for injuries com- 
 mitted, if it can be honourably avoided ;" 
 but, in a spirit of forbearance, proposed 
 that another demand should be made on 
 Mexico, for that redress which had been so 
 long and unjustly withheld. A special 
 agent was dispatched, in the summer of 
 1838, with full authority to make another 
 and final demand for redress. The Mexican 
 government promised to repair the wrongs 
 complained of; and, after much delay, a 
 treaty of indemnity, with that view, was 
 concluded between the two powers, on the 
 llth of April, 1839, and was duly ratified 
 by both governments. By this treaty, a 
 joint commission was created to adjudicate 
 and decide on the claims of American 
 
A.D. 1845.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MEXICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 citizens upon the government of Mexico. 
 The commission was organised at Wash 
 ington, August 25th, 1840. Their term of 
 service was limited to eighteen months ; at 
 the expiration of which time they had adju 
 dicated and decided claims amounting to 
 something over 2,000,000 of dollars, in fa 
 vour of citizens of the United States. Their 
 proceedings, however, were so dilatory, 
 that claims for upwards of 3,000,000 dollars 
 still remained undecided. Those for the 
 2,000,000 dollars were promptly acknow 
 ledged by the Mexican government ; but 
 time was asked for payment, which was 
 granted ; and on the 30th of January, 
 1843, a new treaty was concluded ; by 
 which it was provided, that the interest 
 due on the awards in favour of claimants, 
 under the convention of the llth of April, 
 1S39, should be paid on the 30th of April, 
 1843 ; and that the principal of the said 
 awards, and the interest arising on them, 
 should be paid in five j ears, in equal instal 
 ments every three months : the said period 
 of five years to commence on the 30th of 
 April, 1843. The interest due on that day, 
 and the first three of the twenty instal 
 ments, had been paid ; the remaining seven 
 teen had not been paid up to the period of 
 the fresh troubles occasioned by the an 
 nexation of Texas. 
 
 The claims for the 3,000,000 dollars left 
 undecided by the commission of 1840- 41, 
 together with others for spoliations of pro 
 perty of Americans, were subsequently pre 
 sented to the Mexican government for pay 
 ment ; and were so far recognised, that a 
 treaty, providing for their examination and 
 settlement by a joint commission, was con 
 cluded and signed at Mexico, on the 20th 
 day of November, 1843. It was ratified 
 by the United States, with certain amend 
 ments, but had not been confirmed by the 
 Mexican government. 
 
 Determined to make an effort to preserve 
 peace if possible, President Polk, in the 
 month of September, 1845, caused steps to 
 be taken, to ascertain distinctly, and in an 
 authentic form, what the designs of the 
 Mexican government were ; whether it was 
 their intention to declare war, and invade 
 Texas, or whether they were disposed to 
 adjust and settle, in an amicable manner, 
 the pending differences between the two 
 countries. Through the American consul, 
 at the city of Mexico, inquiry was made, on 
 the 13th of October, of the authorities there, 
 whether a minister would be received from 
 
 VOL. n. 4 B 
 
 the United States, intrusted with powers to 
 negotiate a settlement of all difficulties. 
 On the 9th of November, an official answer 
 was received, that the Mexican government 
 consented to renew the diplomatic relations 
 which had been suspended in March pre 
 vious, and, for that purpose, was willing to 
 accredit a minister from the United States. 
 A request was at the same time made, 
 that the American naval force at Vera 
 Cruz should be withdrawn, lest its pre 
 sence might assume the appearance of 
 menace and coercion, pending the negotia 
 tions. This force was immediately ordered 
 to retire ; and, on the 10th of November, 
 John Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned 
 as minister plenipotentiary to Mexico, and 
 intrusted with full powers to adjust both 
 the questions of the Texas boundary, and 
 of indemnification to American citizens. 
 
 Slidell arrived at Vera Cruz on tho 
 30th of November, and was courteously 
 received by the authorities of that city. 
 But the government of Herrera, then 
 president of Mexico, was tottering to its 
 fall. He was sincerely desirous of peace, 
 but knew the prejudices of the people ; 
 and he was opposed by Paredes, who filled 
 the republic with clamour against Herrera, 
 who, he said, was about to betray the coun 
 try by parting with Texas. In this emer 
 gency, President Herrera, through Senor 
 Pena y Pena, minister for foreign affairs, 
 begged the American envoy to delay pre 
 senting his credentials. Minister Slidell, 
 however, considered he had no choice but 
 to obey his instructions. The question was 
 thus brought to a crisis ; and on the 21st 
 of December, he was officially informed, 
 that the Mexican government could not 
 admit him to the exercise of the func 
 tions of the mission conferred on him by 
 the United States government. The ground 
 of the refusal was, that the American envoy 
 was appointed as a general and ordinary 
 minister, when, in consequence of the inter 
 rupted and critical relations between tho 
 two governments, he should have been ap 
 pointed a special minister to settle the 
 questions in dispute between them 
 
 On the 29th of December, President 
 Herrera yielded the government to General 
 Paredes without a struggle, and the follow 
 ing day resigned the presidency. This re 
 volution was accomplished solely by the 
 army, the people having taken little part 
 in the contest; the supreme power in 
 Mexico thus passing into the hands of a 
 
 549 
 
TAYLOR S ARMY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D 1840. 
 
 military leader. General Almonte was a 
 leading member of the new government. 
 
 The American envoy now retired to Ja- 
 lapa, to wait until the turmoil of the revo 
 lution had partially subsided. In March, 
 1846, under instructions from the presi 
 dent, he offered his credentials to the new 
 government. To this proposition, Senor 
 Castillo y Lanzas, the Mexican minister 
 for foreign affairs, in his reply, under 
 date of March 12th, reiterated the argu 
 ments of his predecessor ; stating that it 
 was the unalterable determination of the 
 Mexican government to admit a plenipo 
 tentiary from the United States, clothed 
 only with special powers to treat upon the 
 question of Texas. Minister Slidell now de 
 manded his passports, and returned to the 
 United States. 
 
 The forces under General Taylor re 
 mained at Corpus Christi, subjected to 
 many privations and inconveniences for 
 the low sandy plain on which they were 
 encamped was frequently swept by heavy 
 gales, prostrating their tents ; and the 
 country around was so sparsely inhabited, 
 that it furnished few stores until March, 
 1846, on the 8th of which month, pursuant 
 to orders from Washington, he commenced 
 moving forward to the Rio Grande. 
 
 The boundary of Texas was at this time 
 a disputed question. The Mexicans as 
 serted the river Nueces to be the limit of the 
 Texan territory ; while the Texans claimed 
 to the Rio Grande del Norte, by virtue 
 of conquest and occupancy; as, in the treaty 
 with Santa Anna, after the battle of San Ja- 
 cinto, the Mexicans were required to retire 
 beyond the Rio Grande ; and the territory 
 between that stream and the Nueces had 
 remained, from that period, under the juris 
 diction of Texas ; had been represented in 
 the Texan congress and convention, and 
 had thus taken part in the act of an 
 nexation itself. The American congress, 
 by the act of December 31st, 1845, recog 
 nised that territory as included within its 
 revenue system, and a revenue officer had 
 been appointed to reside within that dis 
 trict. Other considerations for occupying 
 the country were, the facilities furnished by 
 the ports at Brazas Santiago and the mouth 
 of the Rio Grande, for the reception of 
 supplies by sea, and the advantages afforded 
 by that river for forwarding supplies to 
 such posts as might be established in the 
 interior, and upon the Indian frontier. 
 The movement of Taylor s army was 
 550 
 
 made under positive instructions to abstain 
 from all aggressive acts towards Mexico 
 and Mexican citizens, and to regard the 
 relations between that republic and the 
 United States as peaceful, unless it should 
 declare war, or commit acts of hostility 
 indicative of a state of war. He was spe 
 cially directed to protect private property, 
 and respect personal rights. 
 
 On the 8th of March, as already 
 stated, the American army commenced its 
 march for the Rio Grande. The advance 
 column, under Colonel Twiggs, moved on 
 that day, followed, on the three following 
 days, by the brigades of infantry. The 
 siege-train and a field battery were sent by 
 water to Point Isabel, with a corps of 
 engineers and the officers of ordnance, 
 under the command of Major Monroe. 
 Prior to leaving Corpus Christi, Taylor 
 issued a proclamation in Spanish, addressed 
 to the Mexican inhabitants on the Rio 
 Grande, assuring them of the most friendly 
 treatment, and that their civil and religious 
 rights should be respected, and that what 
 ever provisions they should bring into 
 camp should be paid for at the highest 
 price. This was a necessary precaution, as 
 the troops were now leaving that portion of 
 Texas settled principally by Americans, 
 and entering a district where the Spanish 
 population prevailed. 
 
 On the 18th of March, the whole force 
 had reached the banks of the Arrago Colo 
 rado, about thirty miles from the Rio 
 Grande, opposite Matamoras. Here they 
 encountered a body of Mexican guerilla 
 cavalry (Rancheros), which appeared on the 
 opposite bank, and notified Taylor, that if 
 he attempted to cross he would be fired 
 upon. The general answered, that as 
 soon as a road could be cut down the bank, 
 which was here twenty feet high, he in 
 tended to cross the river, and that the first 
 person who attempted to prevent the cross 
 ing should be shot. The road was soon 
 cut ; and on the 20th, the Rio Grande was 
 crossed ; Worth, with his staff, moving in 
 the advance. The Mexicans, notwithstand 
 ing their threats, retired without firing a 
 gun. The army moved on, and, on the 
 25th, reached Point Isabel. As he ap 
 proached the latter place, Taylor was met 
 by an official deputation from Matamoras, 
 and presented with a formal protest from 
 the prefect of the northern district of 
 Tamaulipas, against his occupation of the 
 country. At this moment, the discovery 
 
A.D. 
 
 1840.1 
 
 HISTOEY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE AIIMIES. 
 
 was made that the buildings at Point Isabel 
 were on fire. General Taylor informed 
 the bearers of the protest, that he should 
 answer it when opposite Matamoras, and 
 dismissed the deputation. He looked upon 
 the conflagration as a decided evidence of 
 hostility, and was not willing to be trifled 
 with any longer, particularly as he had 
 reason to believe that the prefect, in making 
 this protest, was but a tool of the military 
 authorities at Matamoras. The advance 
 guard of the cavalrj , however, fortunately 
 arrived in time to arrest the fire, which con 
 sumed only three or four houses. The post- 
 captain who committed the act, under the 
 orders, it was stated, of General Mejia, the 
 governor of Matamoras, had made his escape 
 before the advance of Taylor s army had ar 
 rived there. This place was important to 
 the Americans, as, from the nature of the 
 coast, this must be the depot for stores. 
 Leaving them here, under charge of 
 Major Monroe, with 450 men, the general 
 advanced to the left bank of the Rio 
 Grande, opposite Matamoras, and about 
 thirty miles from Point Isabel, arriving 
 there on the 28th. He encamped on a 
 commanding position, and commenced the 
 erection of a fort, which was soon com 
 pleted, furnished with six bastions, and 
 capable of containing 2,000 men. The 
 Mexicans also erected fortifications on the 
 right bank of the Rio Grande, both parties 
 assuming the attitude of belligerents. 
 
 Worth was now deputed to cross to 
 Matamoras, and reply to the protest which 
 Taylor had received from the prefect when 
 near Point Isabel. He was not permitted 
 to enter the town ; but held a conference 
 with General La Vega on the bank of the 
 Rio Grande. The interview, in its results, 
 was fruitless. On the 10th of April, the 
 first American blood was shed. Colonel 
 Cross, the deputy-quartermaster-general, 
 rode out that morning, according to custom, 
 to take exercise, and was attacked by some 
 lawless Rancheros, murdered, and stripped. 
 A party was sent out, on the 16th, in search 
 of the body of the missing officer, which 
 was attacked by the guerillas, and Lieu 
 tenant Porter and one of his men were 
 killed. Colonel Cross s body was found on 
 the 20th, and interred with suitable 
 honours. 
 
 On the 10th of April, General Ampudia 
 arrived at Matamoras, and took command 
 of the Mexican forces. On the 12th, he 
 formally notified Taylor that he must break 
 
 up his camp within twenty-four hours, and 
 withdraw his army beyond the Nueces ; an- 
 nouncing that, in the event of failing to 
 comply with his demands, arms and arms 
 alone must decide the question. Taylor re 
 plied, that he had come to the Rio Grunde 
 with peaceful intentions, by order of the 
 American government ; that he should 
 remain ; and that the responsibility of a 
 war, if that should be the result, would be 
 on that side which fired the first gun. 
 
 General Taylor now took every precau 
 tion to guard against surprise, and to resist 
 an attack. His fortifications were extended 
 and strengthened. Among other measures, 
 he ordered a blockade of the mouth of the 
 Rio Grande, by the naval forces under his 
 command. Soon after (on the 17th), two 
 schooners, bound for Matamoras, with sup 
 plies for the Mexican army, were ordered 
 off when near the mouth of the river.- 
 Ampudia complained to Taylor, in a letter 
 dated the 22nd, of the blockade. The 
 latter replied immediately, in a calm but 
 decided tone, expressing surprise that 
 the Mexican commander should complain 
 of a measure which was no other than a 
 natural result of the state of war, so much 
 insisted on by the Mexican authorities, as 
 existing at that time. He reviewed the 
 circumstances connected with his moving 
 forward to the Rio Grande ; closing as fol 
 lows : " In conclusion, I take leave to 
 state that I consider the tone of your com 
 munication highly exceptionable, where 
 you stigmatise the movement of the army 
 under my orders, as marked with the seal 
 of universal reprobation/ You must be 
 aware that such language is not respectful 
 in itself, either to me or my government ; 
 and while I observe, in my own correspon 
 dence, the courtesy due to your high posi 
 tion, and to the magnitude of the interests 
 with which we are respectively charged, I 
 shall expect the same in return." 
 
 President Paredes issued a proclamation 
 on the 22nd of April, declaring the exist 
 ence of war between the two republics. 
 General Arista arrived at Matamoras, and 
 assuming command of the Mexican army 
 on the 24th, sent an official letter, the same 
 day, to Taylor, stating, that he considered 
 hostilities had commenced, and he should 
 prosecute them. 
 
 Reports had reached the American camp 
 that the Mexican forces were crossing the 
 river in large numbers, designing to cut off 
 Taylor s communication with Point Isabel , 
 
 551 
 
HOSTILITIES COMMENCED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 his principal depot of supplies. To be 
 assured of the truth of these rumours, 
 Taylor dispatched reconnoitring parties, 
 both above and below the fort. One 
 of these, numbering sixty men, under 
 the command of Captain Thornton, on the j 
 24th, had proceeded up the river about 
 twenty-five miles, when the Mexican guide 
 halted, stating that a large partyof his coun 
 trymen were in advance, and that he would 
 proceed no further. Not giving credence 
 to the statement of the guide, Captain 
 Thornton again moved forward, until lie 
 reached a farmhouse, the garden of which 
 was surrounded by a chapparel hedge. 
 Entering the enclosure, he left his men \ 
 near the entrance, and rode forward with a 
 few attendants to speak to the inmates. 
 In this divided state of his small force, 
 he suddenly discovered that the chapparel 
 was swarming with armed Mexicans, who 
 almost instantly were pouring forth volleys 
 of musketry. Shouting to his men to 
 charge the chapparel, he dashed forward, 
 reined-in his horse for a moment, and then 
 sprang completely over the hedge. His 
 horse, in the act of leaping, received a 
 musket-ball ; but he succeeded in penetrat 
 ing the enemy s lines, and got out of sight. 
 In passing some rocks, the horse fell, to 
 gether with the captain. He disengaged 
 himself, however, and continued his flight 
 on foot. He was overtaken and cap 
 tured, his party sharing a similar fate, 
 and sixteen of the number being killed or 
 wounded. On the evening of the 26th, as 
 soon as the attack on Captain Thornton s 
 party became known, Taylor dispatched 
 messengers to the governors of Texas 
 and Louisiana, respectively, for eight regi 
 ments of state troops, two regiments from 
 Texas to be mounted. 
 
 On the 27th, the camp of Captain 
 "Walker s Texan rangers was attacked, the 
 captain being absent, and several killed 
 and wounded. This camp lay between the 
 fort and Point Isabel. 
 
 Taylor now ascertained that a large 
 Mexican force had crossed the Rio Grande 
 above his position, and that another was 
 preparing to cross the river below. Satisfied 
 that their attack would be directed against 
 Point Isabel, to seize the large depot of 
 provisions he had in store there, he re 
 solved on proceeding thither with his whole 
 force. 
 
 Leaving a small garrison to defend the 
 river fort, under command of Major Brown, 
 552 
 
 on the 1st of May Taylor left the Rio 
 Grande, and marched for Point Isabel. The 
 departure of the larger part of the American 
 army was taken advantage of by the enemy 
 at Matamoras, for an attack on the river 
 fort. At sunrise on the morning of the 
 3rd of May, a heavy bombardment was 
 opened on the fort from the Mexican bat 
 teries across the river, which was kept up, 
 with intermissions, till the 10th, when, on 
 the return of Taylor s forces, the attack 
 ceased. Major Brown was mortally 
 wounded by a shell, when the command 
 devolved on Captain Hawkins. 
 
 The Americans reached Point Isabel, 
 without interruption, on the 2nd of May, 
 and found their flag still waving over 
 Fort Polk. The men had slept on their 
 arms one night on the open prairie, and, 
 after their second day s march, were glad 
 to avail themselves of an opportunity for 
 repose, and soon sunk to slumber. But by 
 sunrise on the morning of the 3rd of 
 May, the heavy booming of artillery, from 
 the direction of Matamoras, aroused their 
 camp. Had Taylor obeyed the first im 
 pulse, he would have returned at once, 
 with his whole force, to protect the gar 
 rison, which these sounds indicated to be 
 in peril. After mature reflection, he de 
 cided to try and open a communication 
 with the fort. Captain Walker, of the 
 Texas rangers, volunteered to xindertakc 
 this perilous and difficult task, and left the 
 camp immediately, being escorted a portion 
 of the distance by Captain May. lie was 
 absent till the morning of the 5th, when 
 he arrived with the intelligence that the 
 garrison considered itself able to protect 
 the fort ; and, in any event, should defend 
 it to the last. 
 
 The anxiety of the general was some 
 what relieved by this intelligence ; but 
 he nevertheless felt that no time should 
 be lost in preparing to return. The sound 
 of artillery still continued from the direc 
 tion of the Rio Grande, and stimulated the 
 exertions of the men in getting ready to 
 move. Information was brought in by 
 scouts, of immense bodies of the Mexicans 
 having crossed the Rio Grande, and that 
 they were occupying the prairie between 
 Point Isabel and the river fort. 
 
 By the evening of the 7th everything 
 was ready for an advance. Taylor now 
 issued the order to march. " It is known 
 that the enemy has recently occupied the 
 route in force," said the general, in this 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF PALO ALTO. 
 
 memorable order : " if still in possession, 
 the general will give him battle. The com 
 manding general has every confidence in 
 his officers and men. If his orders and in 
 structions are carried out, he has no doubt 
 of the result, let the enemy meet him in 
 what numbers they may. He wishes to 
 enjoin upon the battalions of infantry that 
 their main dependence must be upon the 
 bayonet." 
 
 Having garrisoned the depot with new 
 troops, Taylor set out on his return on 
 the evening of the 7th, as already men 
 tioned. The army was accompanied by a 
 train of waggons, and encamped that night 
 seven miles from Point Isabel. His force 
 amounted to about 2,300 men. The 
 march was resumed on the morning of 
 the 8th, and continued till noon, when 
 scouts came in with intelligence that the 
 Mexicans were drawn up in line directly 
 across the road. The time so anxiously 
 looked forward to by the soldiers had now 
 arrived, and each man was to test his cool 
 ness and bravery on the field of battle. 
 The fatigue of their march, the exhaustion 
 from thirst, were forgotten. An eager 
 ness to engage in the deadly conflict was 
 manifested by their accelerated movement. 
 Onward they went, until the long lines 
 of the enemy, in dense and apparently 
 interminable masses, darkening the prairie, 
 broke upon their view, though still at a 
 considerable distance. 
 
 Taylor now halted, and made his dis 
 positions for the approaching battle. The 
 Mexican forces were drawn up in battle 
 array exactly as the scouts had reported. 
 His position had been well selected, and 
 extended in a long line on the prairie, in 
 front of the chapparel and a thicket of 
 musgueli, from which the field received its 
 name of Palo Alto, or " tall timber." 
 
 With the self- possession and forethought 
 so characteristic of the man, General Tay 
 lor, after forming his troops into columns 
 of attack, directed them, by detachments, 
 to fill their canteens from small pools of 
 water, which lay on the flanks of both 
 armies. An hour s rest was now permitted, 
 when the advance was resumed. The 
 right wing of the American army was 
 commanded by Colonel Twiggs, and com 
 prised the 5th infantry, under Colonel 
 M Intosh; Ringgold s flying artillery ; 3rd 
 infantry, under Captain Morris ; two 18- 
 pounders, under Lieutenant Churchill ; 4th 
 infantry, under Major Allen; and two squad 
 
 rons of dragoons, under Captains Ker and 
 May. The left wing, under Colonel Belk- 
 uap, was formed of a battalion of artillery, 
 serving as infantry, under Colonel Child ; 
 Duncan s flying artillery; and the 8th in 
 fantry, under Captain Montgomery. 
 
 The enemy s cavalry (lancers) was on 
 their left; next a battery, then masses 
 of infantry ; another battery, and agaiu 
 masses of infantry ; then another battery, 
 with masses of infantry. As near as could 
 be estimated, they amounted to 6,000. 
 After allowing for a force left to guard 
 the train, Tavlor s army numbered about 
 2,000. 
 
 As the Americans approached, the Mexi 
 cans opened their artillery upon them, 
 which was returned from Major Ringgold s 
 and Duncan s batteries, with terrible effect. 
 The fight was at first maintained by the 
 artillery alone, the cannonade being inces 
 sant on both sides, and the infantry stand 
 ing idle. The fire from Ringgold s battery 
 and the two 18-pounders, told with deadly 
 effect upon the Mexican cavalry, whole 
 platoons appearing to be mowed down at a 
 time. Finding it getting too warm for 
 them, they suddenly moved to the left, ap 
 parently with a design of turning tho 
 American right. This movement threat 
 ened the train, and was promptly met by 
 a section of Ringgold s artillery, under 
 Lieutenant Ridgely, the 3rd and 5th in 
 fantry, and Walker s rangers. The strength 
 of the Mexican cavalry was computed at 
 800, and was therefore a formidable demon 
 stration. The 5th received them in a 
 square, and, by an angular fire, emptied 
 twenty saddles. Some of them still pressed 
 on, until they saw the 3rd infantry ad 
 vancing in column by division, when they 
 rapidly retreated. Meanwhile, Riuggold, 
 with the remainder of his battery, was 
 dealing destruction to the Mexican left with 
 his rapid and well-aimed discharges ; while 
 Captain Duncan, on the American left, 
 worked his battery incessantly, and with 
 good effect. Major Ringgold at length 
 fell mortally wounded; but Lieutenant 
 Shover, on whom the command devolved, 
 skilfully managed the battery during the 
 remainder of the battle. 
 
 The tall grass of the prairie having 
 taken fire from the discharges of the 
 cannon, soon enveloped both armies in a 
 cloud of smoke, and produced a temporary 
 cessation of hostilities. In the interval, 
 the Mexican artillery retreated before the 
 
 553 
 
MEXICANS DEFEATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 fire of Ringgold s battery, and Shover 
 pushed forward his pieces to the ground 
 they had abandoned. The 4th infantry, 
 under Major Allen, was ordered to support 
 these guns; and, while making the neces 
 sary movements, suffered severely from the 
 fire of the enemy. Captain Page was 
 mortally wounded, having his lower jaw 
 shot away ; and a number of others were 
 shot down. 
 
 Another demonstration was now made 
 by the Mexican cavalry on the American 
 right. The battalion of Colonel Child was 
 pushed forward to that quarter, and a 
 heavy fire was opened upon the advancing 
 column of the enemy. The infantry was 
 formed in square to receive the charge; 
 but the tempest of canister-shot which 
 was hurled through the ranks of the Mexi 
 can cavalry, proved too much for them, and 
 they turned and fled, followed by a destruc 
 tive fire of musketry. Night was rapidly 
 approaching, and the Mexicans made no 
 further attempt on the American right. 
 
 In the meantime they attempted a sud 
 den movement against the American left ; 
 but were promptly met, however, by a 
 detachment of Duncan s artillery, under 
 Lieutenant Belknap, and forced to halt 
 before they had fired a single shot. A 
 strong body of Mexican infantry, sup 
 ported by two squadrons of horse, at the 
 same time issued forth from the chapparel 
 in their rear, and advanced to the attack. 
 A battery was opened upon them by the 
 Americans, with such effect, that the 
 whole advance, horse and foot, fell back 
 in disorder to the chapparel. Having 
 re-formed, they again advanced ; but 
 had scarcely emerged from the chapparel, 
 ere they were greeted by a fire from the 
 American battery, which hurled them back 
 to their cover; and the two sections of 
 Duncan s battery having been united, it 
 followed up their flight with such destruc 
 tive discharges, that the Mexicans, both 
 horse and foot, retreated tumultuously, and 
 could not be rallied. The action was now 
 at an end, having continued about five 
 hours. The Americans encamped, as vic 
 tors, upon the field of battle. In this 
 engagement, Taylor s army lost four killed 
 and thirty-seven wounded, several of the 
 latter mortally. The wounds received by 
 the men were mostly from cannon-shot, 
 and therefore severe, requiring, many of 
 them, amputation of some limb. The 
 Mexican loss, as subsequently ascertained, 
 554 
 
 in killed, wounded, and missing, was 600. 
 The American troops, few of whom had 
 ever been in battle, were animated and 
 encouraged by the bravery and intrepidity 
 exhibited by the officers ; the general 
 himself frequently being where the battle 
 raged the fiercest. In his official despatch, 
 he attributed his success mainly to the 
 artillery, and the excellent manner in 
 which it was mano3uvred. The rapidity 
 with which Duncan s battery was served, 
 astonished and confounded the enemy. 
 
 Notwithstanding the severe defeat which 
 the Mexicans had suffered, the impression 
 prevailed that they had fallen back to a 
 stronger position, where they would again 
 give battle. Deeming it prudent to act 
 on this supposition, and in order that the 
 march might be unincumbered, the wounded 
 were sent back to Point Isabel. While the 
 luggage-train was being packed, a tempo 
 rary breastwork was thrown up, on which 
 some 12-pounders, which had been in the 
 waggons, were mounted, and guarded by 
 the 1st brigade ; and as a precaution, the 
 American general had thrown forward a 
 hundred picked men under Captain M Call, 
 to ascertain the enemy s force and position. 
 
 The main body moved forward about 
 two o clock in the afternoon of the 9th ; 
 and at three, reports of musketry were 
 heard, when Taylor soon learned that the 
 Mexicans were posted in force near the 
 road. The advance under M Call had dis 
 covered them, and, after a spirited brush, 
 retired, agreeably to orders, to await the 
 arrival of the main body. 
 
 The Mexicans had placed themselves in 
 a very strong position, behind a semi 
 circular ravine, in front of which the thick 
 chapparel bristled like a continuous chevaux- 
 de-frieze. The route of Taylor s army lay 
 across this ravine, which was about four 
 feet deep, and from one to two hundred wide. 
 In rainy seasons its bed formed a series of 
 pools, which disappeared on the return of 
 dry weather, and hence it was named 
 Resaca de la Palma. The Mexicans had 
 so planted their batteries as to command 
 the road, and every opening, though few in 
 number, through the almost impenetrable 
 chapparel ; while masses of infantry lined 
 the ravine, and concentrated their fire on 
 the openings. 
 
 Like the battle of Palo Alto of the pre 
 ceding day, that of Resaca de la Palma 
 was initiated by the artillery. Lieutenant 
 Ridgely, the successor to the lamented 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [RESACA DE LA PALMA. 
 
 Ringgold, was ordered forward with his 
 battery, which he placed within one hun 
 dred yards of the enemy. The struggle for 
 victory then commenced. The artillery of 
 the Mexicans swept the ground with their 
 grape and canister. Lieutenant Ridgely 
 returned their fire with deadly effect. The 
 Mexican infantry, lining the ravine, and 
 pressing forward into the chapparel, were 
 met by the American skirmishers on the 
 left, w ith a gallantry and determination, 
 on both sides, rarely equalled. Bayonets 
 were repeatedly crossed, the enemy giving 
 way slowly, and fighting for every inch 
 of the ground. The 4th, 5th, and 8th, 
 and a part of the 3rd regiment, were 
 on the left, and engaged in this san 
 guinary struggle. Owing to the dense 
 chapparel, the regiments became mixed, 
 but fought no less severely. The Mexi 
 cans clung to their batteries with the 
 greatest pertinacity. Although one of 
 their guns on the right had been cap 
 tured, no impression was made on the 
 centre. The battery there commanded 
 the ravine, and so effectually was pursuit 
 prevented, that the flying cavalry rallied 
 and prepared for a charge ; the infantry 
 re-forming and commencing anew their fire. 
 Taylor now perceived that victory de- j 
 ponded upon carrying the centre battery, 
 which formed the key to the Mexican | 
 position ; and ordering up Captain May j 
 with his dragoons, directed him to take 
 the battery. The heroic captain shouted 
 to his men " We must take that battery- 
 follow !" May and his gallant followers 
 dashed forward down the narrow road 
 toward the enemy s battery. When they 
 reached Ridgely s battery, he begged 
 them to pause a moment, till he could 
 draw their fire. The blaze of the enemy s 
 answering shot had scarcely passed, when 
 May again pushed forward with his squad- ; 
 ron, plunging into the ravine; and almost 
 before the eye had time to trace their j 
 course, they were within a few yards of i 
 the fatal guns. The captain was foremost ; 
 and as he neared the battery, he turned for ; 
 a moment, and, with his sword, beckoned ! 
 on his men. Fast as their straining steeds 
 could gallop they were hastening on, when, j 
 suddenly, a volley from the higher battery 
 swept fearfully upon their column, pros 
 trating eighteen horses, and killing seven 
 of their riders. But the living paused not. 
 With his surviving dragoons May reached 
 the battery, and, sword in hand, drove off j 
 
 the surrounding artillerymen. Rallied by 
 a Mexican officer, they came back, and 
 attempted to recover the guns. They were 
 again repelled ; and their officer, seizing 
 a match, made a desperate effort to dis 
 charge one of the guns, when May dashed 
 up to him and summoned him to surrender. 
 Finding himself abandoned by his men, 
 and that further resistance was useless, 
 he gave up his sword, at the same moment 
 announcing himself as General La Vega. 
 The 8th regiment of infantry, and a 
 portion of the 5th now coming up, secured 
 what the dragoons had taken. Calling to 
 gether his scattered troops, the gallant May 
 charged back through the thronging enemy 
 to his own lines. Sending his distinguished 
 prisoner in charge of Lieutenant Stearns, 
 the captain galloped on until he found 
 General Taylor, to whom he delivered La 
 Vega s sword. 
 
 The battery of Lieutenant Ridgely had 
 been temporarily silenced, from fear of in 
 juring the American dragoons while strug 
 gling with the enemy. As soon as May 
 had captured the battery in the centre, 
 however, Ridgely pushed forward his pieces 
 to the edge of the ravine. The Mexican, 
 infantry poured a volley of musketry upon 
 him, and their cavalry made a furious 
 onslaught. A single discharge of canister, 
 however, hurled them back. The battle 
 now became warm and bloody. The Mexi 
 cans, in spite of the loss of their artillery, 
 rallied in the ravine ; the Americans rushed 
 upon them, and the fight became a hand- 
 to-hand encounter. At last the Mexicans, 
 after making a most desperate resistance, 
 gave way. Their retreat became a perfect 
 rout. They fled towards Matamoras, A 
 squadron of dragoons, the flying artillery, 
 and the infantry pursued the fugitives, 
 and drove them in all directions, they 
 availing themselves of every trail that led 
 to the river. 
 
 About two hundred yards from the ra 
 vine, the Americans reached the deserted 
 camp of the Mexicans. Here they found 
 camp-kettles on the fires, and carcasses 
 of oxen lay ready for the spit ; indicating 
 preparations for a feast, which showed 
 how little the Mexicans had anticipated the 
 unfortunate result of the day s struggle. 
 In the midst of the camp stood the splen 
 did mosque of Arista, containing treasures 
 of plate, hangings, and other luxuries, 
 with his private correspondence, which fell ^ 
 into the hands of the victors. Eight pieces 
 
 550 
 
MEXICO INVADED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 of artillery, many small arms, piles of am 
 munition-boxes, 150,000 rounds of ball- 
 cartridges, and 500 pack saddles, with a 
 large number of baggage-mules, were 
 among the booty The American loss was 
 thirty-nine killed, among whom were three 
 lieutenants ; and eighty-two wounded, in 
 eluding two lieutenant-colonels, two cap 
 tains, and eight subalterns. The loss of 
 the Mexicans, in killed and wounded, was 
 about 600, and 100 prisoners, many of whom 
 were officers. 
 
 The return of Taylor to his fort 
 opposite Matamoras, was hailed by the 
 worn-out garrison with unbounded joy. 
 As previously mentioned, it had sustained 
 
 an almost continual bombardment since 
 the second day after the general and his 
 army left for Point Isabel. In honour of its 
 valued and heroic commander, Taylor 
 named the place Fort Brown. One non 
 commissioned officer, and ten men wounded, 
 comprised all the casualties incident to 
 this severe and prolonged bombardment. 
 
 On the llth of May, General Taylor re 
 turned to Point Isabel, to meet the fresh 
 reinforcements which had arrived at that 
 place, and also to have an interview with 
 Commodore Connor, whose squadron was 
 anchored off the harboiir, and arranging 
 with him a combined movement up the 
 river. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 INVASION OP MEXICO ; MATAMOKAS TAKKN ; SIEGE AND FALL OP MONTEREY; BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA; 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE MEXICANS. 
 
 GENERAL TAYLOR, on returning to the camp 
 opposite Mataraoras, immediately made 
 every preparation that his limited means 
 allowed, to cross the river, and take pos 
 session of that place. Had he been pro 
 vided with a pontoon train, he could have 
 crossed at once. But he had not a suffi 
 cient number of boats accumulated for the 
 purpose before the 18th. On the 16th, 
 however, a parley was sounded from the 
 opposite side of the river, and a commis 
 sioner came from General Aris-ta, desiring | 
 a suspension of hostilities until the question 
 of boundary between the two countries 
 should be decided. Taylor met the pro 
 position with a prompt and decided nega 
 tive, saying, that the time for an armistice 
 had passed. On the 18th, he crossed the 
 Rio Grande with a sufficient force, and 
 took possession of the city. General Arista, 
 with his army, had retired on the previous 
 night, carrying with them most of the 
 public stores and munitions, and taken 
 post at Monterey, a fortified town, situated 
 in the centre of rugged hills, on the sides of 
 that vast table-land which rises, as has 
 been described in a previous page, in the 
 centre of Mexico. Colonel Twiggs was 
 appointed military governor of Matamoras. 
 556 
 
 Barita, a small town situated on the 
 Mexican side, and near the mouth of the 
 Rio Grande, was entered, and taken pos 
 session of, on the 15th of May, by Colonel 
 Wilson, with a body of Louisiana and Ala 
 bama volunteers, and four companies of 
 regulars. Having, by a conciliatory pro 
 clamation, invited the people, who had 
 abandoned the town on his approach, to 
 return, he erected there a breastwork, to 
 command the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
 and defend the village as a depot and rest 
 ing-place for the American forces. 
 
 Intelligence of the attack upon, and cap 
 ture, of Captain Thornton and his party, 
 reached Washington on the 9th of May, 
 and created an intense excitement. On the 
 llth, the president communicated a mes 
 sage to congress ; in which, after recapitu 
 lating the state of affairs as existing between 
 the United States and Mexico, he invoked 
 the prompt action of congress to recognise 
 the existence of the war, and to place at the 
 disposition of the executive the means of 
 prosecuting it with vigour, thereby hasten 
 ing the restoration of peace. To this end, 
 he asked for authority to call into service 
 a large body of volunteers, for not less 
 than six or twelve months, unless sooner 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PLAN OF INVASION? 
 
 discharged. Prompt and energetic mea 
 sures, and the immediate appearance in 
 arms of a large and overpowering force, he 
 deemed the most certain and efficient means 
 of bringing the existing collision with 
 Mexico to a speedy and successful termina 
 tion. In making these recommendations, 
 the president stated, that he deemed it 
 proper to declare, that it was his anxious 
 desire, not only to terminate hostilities 
 speedily, but to bring all matters in dispute 
 between the United States and Mexico, to 
 an early and amicable adjustment; and, 
 with this view, he should be prepared to 
 renew negotiations, whenever Mexico 
 might be ready to receive or to make pro 
 positions. 
 
 The subject immediately received the at 
 tention of congress, and a bill was passed, 
 the preamble of which declared, that " by 
 the act of the republic of Mexico, a state of 
 war exists between that government and 
 the United States." This declaration was 
 objected to by the whigs in congress, who 
 expressed themselves ready to vote any 
 amount of money or men to carry on the 
 war, if the preamble could be struck out. 
 The democrats, however, were in the as 
 cendant in congress, and, refusing to expunge 
 the obnoxious preamble, the bill finally 
 passed as reported, the whigs generally 
 voting under protest.* It received the 
 signature of the president on the 13th of 
 May, only two days after the subject was 
 submitted to congress. Fifty thousand 
 volunteers were authorised to be called out 
 by this act, for twelve months ; and 
 10,000,000 of dollars appropriated for car 
 rying on the war. 
 
 Much anxiety was felt for General Taylor, 
 menaced, as he was, by an enemy far supe 
 rior in numbers, and to whose vindictiveuess 
 the massacres of Galiad and Alarno testified. 
 The news of the victories of Palo Alto 
 and Resaca de la Palma, however, soon 
 arrived, and relieved the public mind. In 
 recompense for these brilliant victories, 
 the gallant Taylor was made a full major- 
 general. 
 
 The president and secretary of war, aided 
 by General Scott, now sketched the plan of 
 operations against Mexico, which helped to 
 shadow forth the uses to which it was in 
 tended to apply the anticipated results of 
 the contest ; which appear to have been, to 
 
 * "The truth of history demands," says Benton, 
 in his Thirty Years 1 View, " that this assertion 
 
 [the preamble above referred to] be pronounced 1 immediate cause. 
 VOL. II. 4 C 
 
 take for indemnity, and as a permanent ac 
 quisition, that portion of the Mexican terri 
 tory lying between the United States and 
 the Pacific ; and so to carry the war into 
 the more vital and richer portions of the 
 enemy s country, that he would be willing 
 to receive terms of peace, and a reasonable 
 compensation in money for the relinquish- 
 ment of this territory ; and fixing the boun 
 dary of Texas at the Rio Grande. The plan 
 of campaign, as drawn up by the president 
 and his advisers, contemplated the sending 
 | of vessels round Cape Horn to the coast of 
 California, to aid those already there in 
 conquering the country. An " army of the 
 west" was to be assembled at Fort Leaven- 
 worth, on the Missouri; and, under com 
 mand of General Kearney, was to capture 
 the province of New Mexico, and then pro 
 ceed westward to the Pacific, to co-operate 
 with the fleet. An " army of the centre" 
 was to be collected by General Wool, from 
 different and distant parts of the Union, 
 and to rendezvous at San Antonio, and 
 thence to invade Cohahuila and Chihuahua. 
 These armies were mostly to be created 
 from the raw material, and not merely to 
 be called out ; the existing regular army of 
 the United States, officers and men, num 
 bering about 9,000. The force under 
 General Taylor was called the "army of 
 occupation." 
 
 When the news of the critical position in 
 which Taylor and his army were placed, 
 previous to the victories of Palo Alto and 
 Resaca de laPalma, reached General Gaines, 
 the commander of the southern department 
 at New Orleans, he at once called for volun 
 teers, in addition to those authorised by gov 
 ernment. With such alacrity did recruits, 
 under both calls, flock to the camp, that Tay 
 lor was soon embarrassed by their numbers. 
 They were scantily provided with muni 
 tions ; and the commander not being ready 
 to move, they were of no other service than 
 to consume his stores. On correspondence 
 with the war department, it was decided 
 that those not regularly enlisted under the 
 act of congress must be dismissed. And, 
 although great energy and activity were 
 exeicised by the quartermaster s and 
 commissary s departments, in providing 
 waggons, horses, provisions, munitions, 
 and supplies of all kinds, more than 
 three months passed away before Taylor 
 
 untrue. The annexation of Texas was the real 
 cause of the war." It was the mediate, but not the 
 
 557 
 
S-ANTA ANNA IN MEXICO.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 was prepared to move upon the interior, j 
 In the meantime, the Mexican villages of | 
 Reinaso, Mier, Revilla, and Camargo, were 
 taken and occupied by the Americans. 
 The last-named village, about 180 miles ! 
 above the mouth of the Rio Grande, at 
 the junction of the San Juan, was made 
 the depot of provisions and stores, being 
 garrisoned by about 2,000 men, under 
 General Patterson. The entire army under 
 Taylor numbered about 9,000 men. De- ; 
 ducting those stationed at Camargo, and 
 a small number assigned to garrisons, the 
 remainder, numbering about 6,600, were 
 destined for the march to Monterey. 
 These were classed into three divisions, as 
 follows : The first division of regulars, ; 
 under General Twiggs, comprised 2,080 
 men ; the second division, mostly regulars, 
 under General Worth, numbered 1,780 ; : 
 and the third division, composed exclu 
 sively of volunteers, under General But 
 ler, included 2,800 men. The division 
 under General Worth, commenced its 
 march for Monterey on the 20th of August. 
 On the 15th of September, the several 
 divisions had arrived at Marin, about 
 twenty- five miles from Monterey, where 
 they were concentrated under the command 
 of General Taylor. On the 18th they 
 moved on, and, on the 19th, arrived at 
 Walnut Springs, three miles from Mon 
 terey, having met with no more serious 
 resistance than that of skirmishing parties [ 
 of Mexican cavalry. 
 
 While the American commander was pre 
 paring for the invasion of Mexico, other I 
 events were in progress, which, it was vainly i 
 hoped, might arrest hostilities, and lead to a 
 speedy and permanent peace. The United j 
 States government knew that Santa Anna 
 was an exile in Cuba ; and, believing 
 that if he should return to his native coun- ; 
 try, he would prove an obstacle in the way i 
 of Paredes and his administration, which j 
 was becoming unpopular in Mexico, and 
 perhaps, by its overthrow, bring about a 
 change of feeling towards the United States, 
 the secretary of the navy was directed to 
 give orders for his admission into Mexico 
 whenever he might wish to do so. A brief ! 
 note was addressed by George Bancroft, 
 then secretary of the navy, to Commodore 
 
 *"What must history say of the policy and 
 morality of such doings ? The butcher of the 
 American prisoners at Galiad, San Patricio, the 
 
 Connor, directing him, if Santa Anna should 
 endeavour to enter the Mexican ports, to 
 allow him to pass. The latter readily 
 availed himself of this opportunity to 
 return to Mexico ; when his friends* ful 
 minated a pronunciamento against Presi 
 dent Paredes, who, on the 5th of August, 
 was made a prisoner, and finally sent into 
 exile. On the 16th of the month, Santa Anna 
 made a triumphant entry into Vera Cruz, 
 the garrison of which had declared in his 
 favour, as well as those of Mexico and other 
 places. On reaching the capital, the supreme 
 authority was offered to him: he, however, 
 declined it ; but accepted the chief com 
 mand of the army, General Arista having 
 been displaced ; and, by the vigour with 
 which he entered into the prosecution of 
 the war, showed how groundless were all ex 
 pectations created by his former professions 
 of friendship for the United States.* 
 
 The Mexican provisional government, 
 under Salas, its nominal head, immediately 
 ordered a levy of 30,000 troops ; and all the 
 disposable force of the capital was sent to 
 San Luis Potosi, to which place Santa Anna 
 at once repaired, to organise and discipline 
 the large force with which he hoped to 
 win imperishable honours, by crushing or 
 driving out the " insolent invaders." Gene 
 ral Ampudia, who held command of the 
 northern army, being stationed at Mon 
 terey, was directed to retire from that city, 
 and fall back upon San Luis Potosi, unless 
 fully assured that he could make a suc 
 cessful resistance to the American forces 
 under Taylor, then rapidly marching to 
 attack the former place. He felt so 
 confident, however, from its natural and 
 artificial defences, and his large force 
 (numbering about 10,000 men, 7,000 of 
 which were regulars, with ample munitions 
 and stores of all kinds), that he could hold 
 the place against the comparatively small 
 force of Taylor, that he determined to 
 remain and defend it against the threat 
 ened attack. 
 
 Monterey, the capital of New Leon, was 
 a city of about 15,000 inhabitants. It lay 
 in a valley, at the base of the Sierra Mad re, 
 by the peaks of which it was overshadowed. 
 In its rear, and under the ridge of hills, ran 
 the river San Juan de Monterey. On the 
 
 dictator aspiring to permanent supreme power this 
 man to be restored to power by the United States, 
 for the purpose of consummating speculative and 
 
 Old Mission, and the Alamo ; the destroyer of i indemnity calculations on which a war was begun !" 
 republican government at home; the military j Benton. 
 
 558 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [ARMIES AT MONTEREY. 
 
 east, or left of the road, approaching from 
 Marin, the river makes a turn, so as nearly 
 to cover that side of the city. The road to 
 Cordeseta crosses the river at that point. 
 On the west, or right side, lay the road to 
 Saltillo, up the valley San Juan. In front, 
 the road from Marin, by which the Ameri 
 can army approached, entered the town. 
 In front, also, at the junction of the Marin 
 and two other roads, leading to Pesquesia 
 and Monclova, stood the cathedral fort or 
 citadel, which was a regular bastioned 
 work, of solid masonry, with embrasures 
 for thirty-four guns, though having but 
 twelve mounted, commanding the approach 
 from the north-east, north, and north-west. 
 Within its inclosure were the stone walls 
 of an unfinished cathedral, sufficiently high 
 and strong to afford secure cover for a 
 large number of troops. On the eastern 
 side of the city, near the suburbs, several 
 redoubts were built, the southernmost of 
 which extended to the base of the heights 
 in the rear, between which and the city, 
 as already mentioned, runs the San Juan. 
 Following this course to the south-west 
 extremity of the city, two forts are seen on 
 the heights (the Loma de Confederation), 
 on the further side of the river ; while on 
 the nearer side of it, as well as of the Sal 
 tillo road, was an isolated height (the Loma 
 d Independencia] } on which, half-way up, 
 stood the ruins of the Obispado, or Bishop s 
 Palace, which had been fortified as a cover 
 in case of retreat ; while a redoubt crowned 
 its summit. Entrance to the town on that 
 side was also forbidden by the walls of the 
 cemetery, forming a strong breastwork, 
 with embrasures. These various works 
 were mounted with forty-two large guns. 
 
 The interior of the city was also well 
 adapted for defence ; for, its streets being 
 straight, a few pieces of ordnance could 
 command their whole length ; while the 
 stone walls of the houses rose above the 
 roofs, forming regular parapets, affording 
 thorough protection to its defenders. With 
 the city thus admirably defended, exteriorly 
 and interiorly, an abundant supply of am 
 munition, and everything necessary for sub 
 sistence, and with a force nearly double 
 that of Taylor, Ampudia s confidence in his 
 ability to hold the city against the threat 
 ened attack, can scarcely be considered un 
 grounded. 
 
 Neither the full extent of the defences of 
 Monterey, nor the number of troops by 
 which they were garrisoned, were known 
 
 to General Taylor before he arrived in 
 front of the city, although he had received 
 information on the route, which led him 
 to believe that the enemy would defend 
 it. On reaching the neighbourhood of 
 Monterey on the morning of the 19th of 
 September, this belief was fully confirmed. 
 The configuration of the heights and 
 gorges in the direction of the Saltillo road, 
 as visible from the point attained by the 
 United States army on the morning of the 
 19th, led Taylor to believe that it was 
 practicable to turn all the fortifications 
 in that direction, and thus cut the enemy s 
 line of communication. He therefore or 
 dered a close inspection of the ground 
 in question, which was executed, on the 
 evening of the 19th, by the engineer 
 officers, under the direction of Major 
 Mansfield. A reconnaissance of the eastern 
 approaches was, at the same time, made by 
 Williams, of the topographical engineers. 
 The examination made by Mansfield was 
 very minute, and proved the entire practica 
 bility of throwing forward a column to the 
 Saltillo road, and thus turning the position 
 of the enemy. Deeming this to be an 
 operation of essential importance, orders 
 were promptly given to Worth, commanding 
 the second division, as already mentioned, 
 to march with his troops on the 20th ; to 
 turn the hill of the Bishop s Palace ; to 
 occupy a position on the Saltillo road ; and 
 to carry the enemy s detached works in 
 that quarter, where practicable. The first 
 regiment of Texas mounted volunteers, 
 under command of Hays, was associated 
 with the second division on this service. 
 Captain Sanders, of the engineers, and 
 Lieutenant Meade, of the topographical 
 engineers, were also ordered to report to " 
 Worth for duty with his column. 
 
 At two o clock in the afternoon of the 
 20th, the second division took up its march. 
 It was soon discovered by officers who were 
 reconnoitring the town and vicinity, and 
 communicated to Worth, that the movement 
 had been noticed by the enemy, and that ho 
 was throwing reinforcements towards the 
 Bishop s Palace, and the height which 
 commanded it. To divert his attention as 
 far as practicable, the first division, under 
 Twiggs, and the division of volunteers, in 
 cluding the Louisville legion, under Butler, 
 were displayed in front of the town until 
 dark. Arrangements were at the same time 
 made to place in battery, during the night, 
 at a suitable distance from the enemy s main 
 
 559 
 
BATTLE OF MONTEREY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1840. 
 
 work (the citadel), two 24-pounder howit 
 zers, and a 10-inch mortar, with a view of 
 opening fire on the following day, when 
 Taylor proposed to make a diversion in 
 favour of Worth s movement. The 4th 
 infantry covered this battery during the 
 night. "Worth had, in the meantime, 
 reached, and occupied for the night, 
 a defensive position just without range of 
 the enemy s battery above the Bishop s 
 Palace, having made a reconnaissance as 
 far as the Saltillo road. 
 
 At an early hour on the morning of the 
 21st, Taylor received a communication 
 from Worth, written at half-past nine 
 the evening previous, suggesting what the 
 former had already intended a strong 
 diversion against the centre and left of the 
 town, to the latter s approaches against the 
 heights in the rear. The infantry and ar 
 tillery of the first division, and the field 
 division of volunteers, were ordered under 
 arms, and took the direction of the city, 
 leaving one company of each regiment as a 
 camp guard. The 2nd dragoons, under 
 Lieutenant-colonel May, who had been 
 promoted for the gallantry he displayed at 
 Resaca de la Palma, and Colonel Wood s 
 regiment of Texas mounted volunteers, 
 under the immediate direction of General 
 Henderson, were directed to the right, to 
 support Worth, if necessary, and to make 
 an impression, if practicable, upon the 
 upper quarter of the city. 
 
 Upon approaching the mortar battery, 
 the 1st and 3rd regiments of infantry, and 
 a battalion of Baltimore and Washington 
 volunteers, with Captain Bragg s field bat 
 tery (the whole under the command of 
 Lieutenant-colonel Garland), were directed 
 towards the lower part of the town, with 
 orders to make a strong demonstration, 
 and carry one of the enemy s advanced 
 works, if it could be done without too 
 heavy a loss. Major Mansfield, Captain 
 Williams, and Lieutenant Pope, of the to 
 pographical engineers, accompanied this 
 column ; the major being charged with its 
 direction, and the designation of points of 
 attack. 
 
 In the meantime, the mortar, served by 
 Captain Ramsay, of the ordnance, and the 
 howitzer battery, under Captain Webster, 
 of the 1st artillery, had opened their fire 
 upon the citadel, which was deliberately 
 sustained, and answered from the work. 
 Butler s division of Kentucky and Ohio 
 volunteers had now taken up a position in 
 560 
 
 rear of this battery, when the discharges of 
 artillery, mingled finally with a rapid fire 
 of small arms, showed that Garland s forces 
 had become warmly engaged. To support 
 this attack, Taylor ordered the 4th infan 
 try, and the regiments of Butler s division, 
 to march at once, by the left flank, in the 
 direction of the advanced work at the lower 
 extremity of the town, leaving one regi 
 ment, the 1st Kentuckv, to cover the 
 mortar and howitzer battery. By some 
 mistake, two companies of the 4th infantry 
 did not receive this order, and consequently 
 failed in joining the advance companies 
 until some time afterwards. 
 
 Colonel Garland s forces had approached 
 the town in a direction to the right of the 
 advanced work, at the north-eastern angle 
 of the city ; and the engineer officer, cov 
 ered by skirmishers, had succeeded in en 
 tering the suburbs and gaining a cover. 
 The remainder advanced and entered the 
 town, under a heavy fire of artillery from 
 the citadel and works on the left, and of 
 musketry from the houses and small works 
 in front. A movement to the right was 
 attempted, with a view of gaining the rear 
 of No. 1, and carrying that work ; but the 
 troops were so much exposed to a fire 
 which they could not effectively return, 
 and bad already sustained such severe loss, 
 particularly in officers, that it was deemed 
 best to withdraw them to a more secure 
 position. Captain Backus, of the 1st in 
 fantry, however, with a portion of his own 
 and other companies, had gained the roof 
 of a tannery, which looked directly into 
 the gorge of No. 1, and from which he 
 poured a most destructive fire into that 
 work, and upon the strong building in its 
 rear. This fire happily coincided, in point 
 of time, with the advance of a portion of 
 the third division upon No. 1, and con 
 tributed largely to the fall of that strong 
 and important work. 
 
 The three regiments of the third divi- 
 under the immediate command of 
 
 sion, 
 
 Butler, had, in the meantime, advanced 
 in the direction of No. 1. The leading 
 brigade, under General Quitraan, con 
 tinued its advance upon that work, pre 
 ceded by three companies of the 4th in 
 fantry; while Butler, with the 1st Ohio regi 
 ment of volunteers, entered the town to the 
 right. The companies of the 4th infantry 
 had advanced within short range of the 
 work, when they were received by a fire 
 that, almost in one moment, struck down 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF MONTEREY. 
 
 one-third of the officers and men, and ren 
 dered it necessary to retire and effect a 
 junction with the two other companies then 
 advancing. Quitman s brigade of volun 
 teers, though suffering most severely, par 
 ticularly in the Tennessee regiment, con 
 tinued its advance, and finally carried the 
 work, in handsome style, as well as the 
 strong building in its rear. Five pieces of 
 artillery, a considerable supply of ammuni 
 tion, and thirty prisoners, including three 
 officers, fell into their hands. 
 
 Butler, with the 1st Ohio regiment, after 
 entering the edge of the town, discovered 
 that nothing of importance was to be accom 
 plished in his front; and at this point, 
 yielding to the suggestions of several 
 officers, Taylor ordered a retrograde move 
 ment ; but, learning almost immediately 
 from one of his staff that the battery No. 1 
 was taken, the order was countermanded, 
 and he determined to hold the battery 
 and defences already gained. Butler, 
 with his regiment, then entered the town 
 at a point further to the left, and 
 marched in the direction of the battery 
 No. 2. While making an examination, 
 with a view to ascertain the possibility of 
 carrying this second work by storm, the 
 general was wounded, and soon after com 
 pelled to quit the field. As the strength 
 of No. 2, and the heavy musketry fire 
 Hanking the approach, rendered it impos 
 sible to carry it without great loss, the 1st 
 Ohio regiment was, for the time being, 
 withdrawn from the town. 
 
 Portions of the various regiments en 
 gaged were now under cover of the cap 
 tured battery, and some buildings in its 
 front and on the right. The field batteries 
 of Bragg and Ridgely were also partially 
 covered by the captured Mexican battery. 
 An incessant fire was kept up on this position 
 from battery No. 2, and other works on 
 its right, and from the citadel on all the 
 approaches. Twiggs, though very unwell, 
 joined Taylor at this point, and was instru 
 mental in causing the well- supplied ar 
 tillery taken from the enemy to be placed 
 in battery, and served by Captain Ridgely 
 against No. 2, until the arrival of Captain 
 Webster s howitzer battery, which took 
 its place! In the meantime, Taylor 
 directed such men as could be collected, 
 of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th regiments, and 
 Baltimore battalion, to enter the town, pene 
 trate to the right, and carry the Mexicans 
 second battery, if possible. The troops com 
 
 manded by Garland advanced beyond 
 the narrow stone bridge over the Puri- 
 sima, a small tributary of the San Juan, 
 that runs through the city ; when, finding 
 it impracticable to gain the rear of the 
 second battery, a portion sustained them 
 selves some time in that advanced position ; 
 but as no permanent impression could be 
 made at that point, and tb.3 main object 
 of the general operation had been success 
 fully effected, the troops, including a section 
 of Ridgely s battery, which had joined 
 them, were withdrawn to battery No. 1. 
 During the absence of this column, a demon 
 stration of the Kentucky cavalry was re 
 ported in the direction of the citadel. Bragg, 
 who was at hand, immediately galloped 
 with his battery to a suitable position, 
 from which a few discharges effectually 
 dispersed the enemy. Captain Miller, of 
 the 1st infantry, was dispatched with a 
 mixed force, to support the battery on this 
 service. The enemy s lancers had pre 
 viously charged upon the Ohio and a part of 
 the Mississippi regiments, near some fields 
 at a distance from the edge of the town, 
 and had been repulsed with considerable 
 loss. A detachment of Mexican lancers, 
 on the opposite side of the river, was also 
 dispersed, in the course of the afternoon, 
 by Ridgely s battery, and the squadrons 
 returned to the city. At the approach 
 of evening, all the troops that had been 
 engaged were ordered back to the 
 camp, except Ridgely a battery, and the 
 regular infantry of the first division, who 
 were detailed as a guard for the works 
 during the night, under the command of 
 Colonel Garland. One battalion of the 
 1st Kentucky regiment was ordered to 
 reinforce this division of the army. In 
 trenching tools were procured, and addi 
 tional strength was given to the works, 
 and protection to the men, by working 
 parties during the night, under the direc 
 tion of Lieutenant Scarlett, of the engineers. 
 The main object proposed in the morning 
 having been effected, a powerful diversion 
 was now made to favour the operations 
 of the second division under Worth. One 
 of the enemy s advanced works had been 
 successfully carried, and a strong foothold 
 gained in the town. But this had not been 
 accomplished without a very heavy Ame 
 rican loss, embracing some of the most 
 gallant and accomplished officers. The 
 number of killed and wounded of the 
 Americans, incident to the operations in, 
 
 561 
 
BA.TTLE OF MONTEREY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 the lower part of the city, on the 21st 
 of September, was 394. 
 
 Worth s operations, with the second 
 division, against the fortifications on the 
 western side of the town, were entirely dis 
 tinct from those of Taylor. On the 20th, as 
 will be recollected, the former moved towards 
 the Saltillo road, and having discovered 
 that the heights beyond the San Juan 
 were strongly occupied and fortified, and 
 that besides these (as already stated), 
 the eminence on which the Bishop s Palace 
 stood, was occupied above that building 
 (which, with a fort adjoining it, was also 
 strongly defended), he resolved that the 
 heights first mentioned should be taken 
 the next day, before assaulting the palace it 
 self. Four companies of the 4th artillery, 
 and six companies of Texan riflemen, the 
 whole numbering 300 men, were selected to 
 storm this work. The command was given to 
 General Percifer F. Smith. On the morn 
 ing of the 21st, taking a circuitous route to 
 avoid the fire of the enemy, the San Juan 
 was forded ; but before the troops reached 
 the foot of the hill, Worth, perceiving indi 
 cations of determined resistance, dispatched 
 Captain Miles with the 7th to their sup 
 port, who forded the river, directly in 
 front of the battery, under a severe dis 
 charge of musketry, grape, and round shot. 
 In a short time the fire became general, 
 the enemy gradually yielding, and retiring 
 up the rugged acclivity, and the Americans 
 as steadily pursuing. The appearance of 
 heavy Mexican reinforcements on the sum 
 mits, and the importance of the operations 
 demanding further support, the 5th, under 
 Major Scott, and Blanchard s companies of 
 volunteers, were immediately detached, ac 
 companied by General Smith, who was in 
 structed to take command in that quarter. 
 On reaching the advance parties, the general 
 discovered that, under favour of the ground, 
 he could, by directing a portion of the 
 force to the right, and moving it obliquely 
 up the hill, carry the Saldada simul 
 taneously with the Feelccocion. These were 
 the names by which the two fortifica 
 tions on the heights were distinguished. 
 He accordingly very judiciously pointed 
 and accompanied the 5th, 7th, and 
 Blanchard s company in that direction. 
 Smith s forces having gallantly carried 
 the first object of attack, promptly turned 
 the captured gun a 9 -pounder upon 
 the second, and moved on with his main 
 body to participate in the attack on the 
 562 
 
 Saldada, which was successfully carried by 
 the forces under Scott, Miles, Blanchard, 
 and Hays; the whole directed by General 
 Smith. At this point another 9-pounder 
 was secured, and immediately both pieces 
 were brought to bear upon the Bishop s 
 Palace. A violent storm ensued, and night 
 closing in, operations for the day ceased. 
 The troops had now been thirty-six hours 
 without food, and constantly tasked to their 
 utmost physical exertions. Such as could 
 be permitted slept with arms in hand, sub 
 jected to the pelting storm, and without 
 covering, till three o clock in the morning, 
 when they were aroused to carry the Loma 
 d In dependencia . 
 
 Colonel Childs was assigned to lead the 
 storming parties, consisting of three com 
 panies of artillery, three of infantry, and 
 200 Texan riflemen, under Hays and 
 Walker, acting in co-operation. Favoured 
 by the weather, they succeeded in reach 
 ing the base of the hill, on the north 
 western side of the Loma d Indeptndencia, 
 without arousing the enemy. Childs now 
 detached Captain Yinton, with three com 
 panies and some Texans, to move round 
 the hill, and take a position on the north 
 eastern side, whence he was to ascend at 
 the proper moment. The assault com 
 menced at daylight, the colonel leading his 
 force up the western acclivity of the hill, 
 and meeting with no resistance until near 
 the summit, when the enemy, discovering 
 their approach, opened upon them, and 
 swept down the leading files of the assail 
 ants ; those behind, however, rushed for 
 ward with a shout, over their dead and 
 wounded comrades. Yinton had also 
 brought his force to the top, and charged 
 the Mexican battery at the same moment 
 that those on the other side made the 
 assault. 
 
 Thus fiercely beset, the Mexicans fled 
 down the hill, taking with them one of 
 their guns ; and, pitching the other over the 
 precipice, sought shelter in the Bishop s 
 Palace. Three more companies were now 
 sent to the support of Childs, by Worth, 
 the former being thus enabled to secure 
 complete possession of the summit, where 
 he posted some of the troops; while 
 the rocks on each declivity in advance 
 were held by four companies, under the 
 command of Captain Vinton. The next 
 movement was to gain possession of the 
 Bishop s Palace; and Worth s attention 
 i was now occupied in preparing to effect 
 
A.TX 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [BATTLE OF MONTKHEY. 
 
 it. A 12-pouuder howitzer was, with great 
 labour, dragged to the summit above the 
 palace, and mounted upon the captured 
 Mexican work. A fire was immediately 
 opened from the howitzer, covered by the 
 epaulement of the captured battery, upon 
 the palace and its outworks, 400 yards 
 distant; and soon produced a visible sen 
 sation. 
 
 After some movements of light troops, 
 and several feints, a heavy sortie was made, 
 sustained by a strong corps of lancers, 
 with a determination to repossess the 
 heights. Such a sortie had been anticipated 
 and provided for. The troops of Captain 
 Vinton, before spoken of, flanked on the 
 right by Hays, and on the left by Walker s 
 Texans, stood ready to receive them. The 
 Mexicans advanced boldly, but being met 
 by a general discharge from all arms, they 
 turned and fled in confusion, closely pressed 
 by Childs and Hays, preceded by the light 
 troops under Vinton ; and while the former, 
 in their panic, fled past, the Americans 
 entered the palace and fort. In a few 
 moments the star-spangled banner replaced 
 the gaudy standard of Mexico. 
 
 The captured guns one 6-inch howitzer, 
 one 12-pounder, and two 9-pounder brass 
 guns together with Duncan s and M Call s 
 batteries, which came up at a gallop, were 
 in full and effective play upon the retiring 
 and confused masses that filled the street 
 leading to the nearest plaza, La Capella, 
 also crowded with troops. The investment 
 was now complete. Except the forces 
 necessary to hold the positions on Loma 
 d Independencia, and serve the guns (shifted 
 to points where the shot could be made to 
 reach the great plaza), the division was now 
 concentrated around the palace, and prepa 
 ration made either to assault the city on the 
 following day, or sooner, should the general- 
 in-chief so direct, or, before communica 
 tion could be had, to renew the assault on 
 the opposite quarter. 
 
 About ten o clock in the morning of the 
 23rd, a heavy fire was heard on the east of 
 the town. Its magnitude and continuance, 
 as well as other circumstances, did not 
 admit a doubt that General Taylor had 
 commenced the main attack; and that 
 his orders for the co-operation of Worth 
 (having to travel a circuit of at least six 
 miles) had either miscarried or failed to 
 reach the latter, by means of the numerous 
 cavalry of the enemy. Under these convic 
 tions, Worth immediately ordered the com 
 
 mencement of an important operation, 
 which, if not otherwise directed, lie had de 
 signed to execute in part, under favour 
 of the night. 
 
 Two columns of attack were organised, to 
 move along the two principal streets, lead 
 ing from the position where the American 
 troops were stationed, in the direction of 
 the great plaza, composed of light troops 
 slightly extended, with orders to mark the 
 men, whenever practicable; avoid those 
 points swept by the enemy s artillery ; to 
 press on the first plaza, La Capella ; to get 
 hold of ends of streets beyond ; then enter 
 the buildings, and, by means of picks and 
 bars, break through the longitudinal section 
 of the walls ; work from house to house, and, 
 ascending the roofs, to place themselves on 
 the same breast height with the enemy. 
 Light artillery, by sections and pieces, fol 
 lowed at suitable intervals, covered by 
 reserves, to guard the pieces and the troops 
 against the probable enterprises of Mexi 
 can cavalry on their left. This was effec 
 tually done by seizing and commanding 
 the head of every thoroughfare. The streets 
 were, at different and well-chosen points, 
 barricaded by heavy masonry walls, with 
 embrasures for one or more guns ; and, in 
 every instance, well supported by cross 
 batteries. These arrangements gave to the 
 offensive operations a complicated character, 
 calling for much care and precaution ; but 
 the work went on steadily, simultaneously, 
 and successfully. About the time the 
 assault commenced, the fire ceased from 
 the guns on the eastern side. Disengaged 
 on that point, the Mexicans were enabled to 
 shift men and guns to the side on which 
 Worth was operating, as was soon mani 
 fested by their fire being increased. At 
 dark, the forces under Worth had worked 
 their way through the walls and squares, 
 and reached to within one block of the 
 great plaza, leaving a covered way in their 
 rear. They had also carried a large build 
 ing, which towered over the principal de 
 fences; and this, during the night, they 
 had surmounted with two howitzers and a 
 6- pounder. Everything was now prepared 
 to renew the assault at dawn of day, when 
 operations were suspended by a conference 
 between the Mexican commander and Gen 
 eral Taylor, to whose movements we will 
 now return. 
 
 The 22nd of September passed without 
 any active operations in the lower part 
 of the city. The occupants of the citadel 
 
 563 
 
FALL OF MONTE RE Y.I 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D 1846. 
 
 continued to fire on parties exposed to their 
 range, and at the work now occupied by the 
 American troops. The guard left in it the 
 preceding night, except Ridgely s company, 
 was relieved at mid-day by Quitman s bri 
 gade of volunteers. Bragg s battery was 
 thrown under cover in front of the town, 
 to repel any demonstration of the Mexican 
 cavalry in that quarter. 
 
 During the night of the 22nd, the Mexi 
 cans evacuated all their defences in the 
 lower part of the city. This was reported 
 to Taylor, early in the morning of the 23rd, 
 by Quitman, who had already prepared to 
 make an assault upon those works. The 
 former immediately sent instructions to 
 the latter, leaving it to his discretion to 
 enter the city, covering his men by the 
 houses and walls, and advance carefully, as 
 far as he might deem prudent. 
 
 After ordering the remainder of the 
 troops to act as a reserve, under the com 
 mand of Twiggs, the commander-in-chief 
 repaired to the abandoned works, and dis 
 covered that a portion of Quitman s bri 
 gade had entered the city, and were suc 
 cessfully forcing their way towards the 
 principal plaza. The 2nd regiment of 
 Texas mounted volunteers was then ordered 
 up, which entered the city, dismounted, 
 and, under the immediate orders of General 
 Henderson, co-operated with Quitmau s in 
 trepid brigade. Bragg s battery was also 
 immediately ordered up, supported by the 
 3rd infantry ; and, after firing for some time 
 at the cathedral, a portion of it was like 
 wise thrown into the city. The troops ad 
 vanced from house to house, and from 
 square to square, until they reached a 
 street only one square in rear of the prin 
 cipal plaza, in and near which the enemy s 
 force was mainly concentrated. This ad 
 vance was conducted vigorously, but with 
 due caution ; and, although destructive to 
 the enemy, was attended with but small loss 
 on the side of the Americans. Ridgely, 
 in the meantime, had successfully served 
 a captured piece in battery No. 1, against 
 the city, until the advance of the Ameri 
 cans rendered it imprudent to fire in the 
 direction of the cathedral. General Taylor 
 was now satisfied that he could operate 
 successfully in the city, and that the enemy 
 had retired from the lower portion of it to 
 make a stand behind the barricades erected 
 in the streets. As Quitman s brigade had 
 been on duty the previous night, Taylor 
 determined to withdraw the troops to the 
 564 
 
 evacuated works, and arrange with Worth 
 for a combined attack upon the town. 
 They accordingly fell back deliberately, in 
 good order, and resumed their original posi 
 tions; Quitman s gallant brigade being 
 relieved, after nightfall, by that of General 
 Harner. 
 
 Late that evening, Taylor received a 
 note from Worth, informing him of the 
 progress made in the western quarter, and 
 that he had advanced to within a short 
 distance of the principal plazu, in which 
 the Mexicans were concentrating their 
 whole force. Not wishing to make any 
 further attempt upon the city without com 
 plete concert as to the line and mode of ap 
 proach, Taylor instructed Worth to suspend 
 his advance until he could have an inter 
 view with him on the following morning, 
 at his (Worth s) head-quarters. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 24th, 
 Taylor received a communication from 
 General Ampudia, through Colonel Mo 
 reno, proposing to evacuate the town. After 
 maturely considering the proposition sub 
 mitted by the Mexican commander, a ces 
 sation of hostilities was consequently agreed 
 upon with Moreno, till twelve o clock, at 
 which hour Taylor would receive the answer 
 of Ampudia at Worth s head-quarters, to 
 which the American commander soon after 
 repaired. In the meantime, the Mexican 
 general had signified to Worth his desire 
 for a personal interview with Taylor, to 
 which the latter acceded, and which finally 
 resulted in a convention for the surrender of 
 the town and materiel of war. 
 
 Thus fell, under the attack of an army, 
 numbering, as already stated, less than 
 half of those gathered for its defence, one 
 of the best-fortified places on the Ame 
 rican continent. This stronghold of Nor 
 thern Mexico had never before been cap 
 tured by force of arms ; and during the 
 Mexican war for independence, it with 
 stood, successfully, an attack by Spanish 
 troops for thirteen days. The American 
 loss was 120 killed, and 3b 8 wounded, 
 four-fifths of the whole number having 
 been killed or wounded in the action on 
 the eastern side, on the 21st. The Mexican 
 loss has never been officially stated, but 
 was believed to exceed that of the Ame 
 ricans. 
 
 The terms of the capitulation were, that 
 the city, the fortifications, cannon, muni 
 tions of war, and all other public property, 
 with certain specified exceptions, should be 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE SURRENDER. 
 
 surrendered to the commanding general of 
 the United States forces then at Monte 
 rey ; that the Mexican officers should be 
 allowed to retain their side arms ; the in 
 fantry and cavalry their arms and accou 
 trements; and the artillery one field bat 
 tery, not to exceed six pieces, with twenty- 
 one rounds of ammunition ; that the Mex 
 ican armed forces should retire, within 
 seven days from the date of the capitula 
 tion, beyond the line formed by the pass of 
 the Rinconada, the city of Linares, and San 
 Fernando de Presas ; that the citadel of 
 Monterey should be evacuated by the 
 Mexican, and occupied by the American 
 forces, on the morning succeeding the 
 signing the articles of capitulation; that 
 the United States should not enter the 
 city until the Mexican forces had with 
 drawn, except for hospital and storage pur 
 poses ; that the United States forces should 
 not advance beyond the line specified above, 
 before the expiration of eight weeks, or un 
 til orders or instructions of the respective 
 governments could be received; that the 
 public property to be delivered should be 
 turned over to, and received by, officers ap 
 pointed by the commanding generals of the 
 two armies; and that the Mexican flag, 
 when struck at the citadel, might be saluted 
 by its own battery. 
 
 General Taylor had what he deemed 
 good and sufficient reasons for making 
 these terms with the retiring army. They 
 failed, however, to secure the approbation of 
 his government. Xot only were the terms 
 deemed altogether too lenient to the retiring 
 army, but he was censured for not having 
 carried all the defences by assault, and 
 thus compelling an unconditional surrender. 
 The armistice, also, was disapproved of, and 
 he was directed to give notice to the enemy 
 that it must cease, and that each party 
 should be at liberty to resume hostilities. 
 Time, however, has shown, that Taylor s 
 course in agreeing to the above terms, 
 dictated as it was by feelings of humanity, 
 was the most advantageous to his troops 
 and to the country that he could have 
 adopted. 
 
 The following were the general s rea 
 sons for acceding to the terms of the 
 capitulation: "The convention presents 
 two distinct points : first, the permission 
 granted the Mexican army to retire 
 with their arms; secondly, the tempo 
 rary cessation of hostilities for the term of 
 eight weeks. I shall remark on these in 
 
 VOL. ii. -4 n 
 
 order. The force with which I marched 
 on Monterey was limited, bv causes be 
 yond my control, to about "6,000 men. 
 With this force, as every military man 
 must admit, who has seen the ground, 
 ; it was quite impossible to invest Mon- 
 i terey so closely as to prevent the escape of 
 | the garrison. Although the main com- 
 j munication with the interior was in our 
 possession, yet one route was open to the 
 Mexicans throughout the operations, and 
 could not be closed ; as were also other minor 
 tracks and passes through the mountains. 
 Ilad we, therefore, insisted on more vigorous 
 terms than those granted, the result would 
 have been, the escape of the body of the 
 Mexican force, with the destruction of its 
 artillery and magazines ; our only advantage 
 being, the capture of a few prisoners of war, 
 at the expense of valuable lives, and much 
 damage to the city. The consideration of 
 humanity was present to my mind during 
 the conference which led to the convention, 
 and outweighed, in my judgment, the 
 doubtful advantages to be gained by a re 
 sumption of the attack upon the town. 
 This conclusion has been fully confirmed 
 by an inspection of the enemy s position 
 and means since the surrender. It was 
 discovered that his principal magazine, con- 
 | taining an immense amount of powder, 
 was in the cathedral, completely exposed 
 to our shells from two directions. The ex 
 plosion of this mass of powder, which most 
 have ultimately resulted from a continuance 
 of the bombardment, would have been in 
 finitely disastrous, involving the destruction, 
 not only of the Mexican troops, but of non- 
 combatants ; and even our own people, had 
 we pressed the attack. In regard to the tern- 
 porary cessation of hostilities, the fact that 
 we are not, at this moment (within eleven 
 days of the termination of the period fixed 
 ; by the convention), prepared to move for 
 ward in force, is a sufficient explanation of 
 the military reasons which dictated this 
 suspension of arms. It paralysed the enemy 
 during a period when, from the want of 
 necessary means, we could not possibly 
 move. I desire distinctly to state, and to 
 call the attention of the authorities to the 
 fact, that, with all diligence in breaking 
 mules and getting up waggons, the first 
 I waggons, in addition to our original train 
 j from Corpus Christi (and but 125 in 
 ! number), reached my head-quarters on the 
 same day with the secretary s communi 
 cation of the 13th of October viz , the 2nd 
 
TAYLOR S DEFENCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 in st. At the date of the surrender of 
 Monterey, our force had not more than 
 ten days rations ; and even now, with all 
 our endeavours, we have not more than 
 twenty-five. The task of fighting and beat 
 ing the enemy is among the least difficult 
 that we encounter: the great question of 
 supplies necessarily contracts all the ope 
 rations in a country like this. At the date 
 of the convention, I could not, of course, 
 have foreseen that the department would 
 direct an important detachment from my 
 command without counselling me, or with 
 out waiting the result of the main operation 
 under my orders. I have tendered the 
 prominent military points involved in the 
 convention of Monterey. There were 
 other considerations which weighed with 
 me in approving the articles of the con 
 vention. In the conference with General 
 Ampudia, I was distinctly told by him 
 that he had invited it to spare the further 
 effusion of blood ; and because General Santa 
 Anna had declared himself favourable to 
 peace, I knew that our government had 
 made propositions to that of Mexico to 
 negotiate ; and I deemed that the change 
 of government in that country, since my 
 instructions, fully warranted me in en 
 tertaining considerations of policy. My 
 grand motive in moving forward with 
 very limited supplies, had been to increase 
 the inducements of the Mexican govern 
 ment to negotiate for peace. Whatever 
 may be the actual views or disposi 
 tion of the Mexican rulers, or of General 
 Santa Anna, it is not unknown to the 
 government that I had the very best reason 
 for believing the statement of General 
 Ampudia to be true. It was my opinion 
 at the time of the convention and it has 
 not been changed that the liberal treat 
 ment of the Mexican army, and the sus 
 pension of arms, would exert none but a 
 favourable influence in our behalf. The 
 result of the entire operation has been to 
 throw the Mexican army back more than 
 300 miles to the city of San Luis Potosi, 
 and to open the country to us as fur as we 
 choose to penetrate it up to the same point. 
 It has been my purpose in this communi 
 cation, not so much to defend the conven 
 tion from the censure which I deeply re 
 gret to find implied in the secretary s letter, 
 as to show that it was not adopted without 
 cogent reasons, most of which occur of 
 themselves to the minds of all who are ac 
 quainted with the condition of things here." 
 566 
 
 After the capitulation, the commander- 
 in-chief established his head-quarters at 
 Monterey. The orders of the government, 
 as stated in the foregoing extract, to termi 
 nate the armistice, reached him on the 2nd 
 of November. At the same time, in order to 
 raise supplies, he was instructed, by the 
 secretary of war, to resort to the exception 
 able system of forced contributions upon the 
 inhabitants. In his letter of instructions, the 
 secretary stated, in defence of his recom 
 mendations, that it was far from being cer 
 tain that the military occupation of an 
 enemy s country was not a blessing to the 
 inhabitants in the vicinity. They were 
 shielded from the burdens and exactions of 
 their own authorities, protected in their 
 persons, and furnished with a most profit 
 able market for most kinds of their pro 
 perty. A state of things so favourable to 
 their interests might induce them to wish 
 for the continuance of hostilities. An in 
 vading army, the secretary stated, had the 
 unquestionable right to draw its supplies 
 from the enemy without paying for them, 
 and to require contributions for its support. 
 It might be proper, and good policy re 
 quired, that discriminations should be made 
 in imposing these burdens. Those who 
 were friendly disposed, or contributed aid, 
 should be treated with liberality ; yet the 
 enemy might be made to feel the weight of 
 the war, and thereby become interested to 
 use their best efforts to bring about a state 
 of peace. It was but just, he said, that a 
 nation involved in a war to obtain justice, 
 or to maintain its just rights, should shift 
 the burden of it, as far as practicable, from 
 itself, by throwing it upon the enemy. 
 
 To the secretary s instructions Taylor re 
 plied, that it was utterly impossible to sus 
 tain the army, to any practicable extent, in 
 the way suggested. The country between 
 the Rio Grande and Sierra Madre being 
 poor, furnishing only corn and beef, these 
 articles were obtained at moderate rates; 
 but, if a different system had been adopted, 
 it was certain that they would not have 
 been procured at all in sufficient quantities. 
 The prompt payment in cash for the few 
 articles of supply drawn from the countr} r , 
 neutralised much of the unfriendly feeling 
 with which the army was regarded, and 
 contributed greatly to facilitate operations. 
 The people had it in their power, at any 
 time, to destroy their crops ; and would un 
 doubtedly have done so, rather than have 
 them taken forcibly. Added to which 
 
A.D. 1840.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PLAN OF INVASION. 
 
 they would have had no inducements to 
 plant again. The prices paid were reason 
 able ; being, in almost all cases, those of 
 the country. 
 
 The first waggons, in addition to those 
 brought by General Taylor from Corpus 
 Christi (as stated in his letter, given in a 
 previous page), reached him on the 2nd of 
 November. On the 12th, the second division, 
 under Worth, reduced to 1,200 men, with 
 eight pieces of artillery, took up their march 
 for Saltillo, which was soon after occupied 
 by them. 
 
 In the meantime, the naval force in the 
 Gulf of Mexico was actively employed. On 
 the 23rd of October, a squadron, under 
 Commodore Matthew C. Perry, proceeded 
 to the mouth of the Tobasco, captured the 
 seaport of Fontera, and, sailing up the 
 river to the town of Tobasco, made a 
 demonstration, which effectually checked 
 the active opposition of the place. Two 
 attempts were made upon Alvarado by 
 Commodore Connor, but without success, 
 in consequence of the vessels grounding on 
 the bar. An attempt to capture Tusspan 
 also resulted in a loss of one of the vessels 
 from the same cause. She struck upon the 
 bar, and could not possibly be got off. 
 Her officers and men, with the exception of 
 Lieutenant Hunter and a boat s crew, fell 
 into the hands of the Mexicans. On the 
 14th of November, Tampico was taken pos 
 session of by Commodore Connor : it was 
 garrisoned by a force sent by General Patter 
 son, from Camargo, and strictly blockaded 
 by the men-of-war. 
 
 The plan of campaign, as arranged at 
 Washington, and given in a preceding 
 page, contemplated an " army of the 
 centre," to be placed under the command 
 of General John E. Wool, for the invasion 
 of Cohahuila and Chihuahua. To him, 
 also, had been confided the task of mus 
 tering, and preparing for service, the 
 twelve months volunteers of the western 
 and south-western states. He had been 
 for twenty-five years an inspector- general 
 in the army, and his duties were connected 
 with every department of the military 
 establishment in the United States and its 
 territories, extending from Maine to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific. His annual tours of inspection 
 embraced a distance of nearly 10,000 miles. 
 He was, therefore, by skill and experience, 
 admirably adapted for the special duties 
 with which he was now intrusted. 
 
 On receiving his orders at Washing 
 ton, on the 29th of May, Wool pro 
 ceeded at once to the west, passing through 
 the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ken 
 tucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi meeting 
 the enlisted volunteers at the various places 
 of rendezvous, and inspecting and deciding 
 upon their qualifications for the proposed 
 service in the volunteer ranks. In six 
 weeks he accomplished the task assigned to 
 him. In that brief space of time, twelve 
 and a-half regiments, two of them cavalry, 
 or over 12,000 troops, were inspected, mus 
 tered into service, and forwarded to their 
 destination by the 16th of July. Nine 
 thousand of these troops were sent to the 
 Rio Grande to reinforce General Taylor. 
 Those to form the " army of the centre," 
 were, by different routes, to rendezvous at 
 San Antonio, some going by the way of 
 Little Rock, in Arkansas ; and some by sea- 
 and through Lavaca, on Matagorda Bay. 
 General Wool, after making the necessary 
 arrangements in New Orleans for the com 
 fort and efficiency of his troops, proceeded, 
 on the 1st of August, to Lavaca, where the 
 Illinois regiments arrived on the 7th. On 
 the llth, after forwarding his waggon 
 trains, Wool, with his whole volunteer force, 
 assembled at Lavaca, and took up the line 
 of march for San Antonio. The route lay 
 through a dry prairie, crossing the head 
 streams of the San Antonio and Guadaloupe 
 rivers. 
 
 The different corps comprising the "army 
 of the centre," although travelling by vari 
 ously-divergent routes, yet arrived at San 
 Antonio with remarkable uniformity in 
 point of time, the entire force reaching 
 there in the last week of August. 
 
 At San Antonio began that thorough 
 drill and strict discipline of the volunteers, 
 which, though unpopular with the subjects 
 of it at the time, yet, with Wool s unceasing 
 care in providing everything that could 
 contribute to their health and efficiency, 
 gave the " army of the centre" the repu 
 tation of being " a model army." 
 
 On the 26th of September, two days after 
 the capitulation of Monterey, the advance, 
 under Colonel Harney, marched for the 
 Rio Grande, followed soon after by General 
 Wool, who left Colonel Churchill, inspec 
 tor-general, to bring up the rear, which 
 he began to do on the 14th of October. 
 Wool s entire force amounted to 2,940, of 
 which only 500 were regulars. The troops 
 crossed the Rio Grande at Presidio, on a 
 
 567 
 
WOOL S BRIGADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AD. 1846. 
 
 flying bridge, prepared for the purpose. 
 Hence they proceeded westward twenty- six 
 miles, to San Juan de Nova, over a level 
 country, without seeing a human habita 
 tion. Continuing on by long and weari 
 some marches, they finally reached the 
 base of the Sangore mountains, which at 
 first seemed to present a barrier to their 
 further progress. A route was, however, 
 discovered, winding through the gorges, 
 and up and down the rugged ridges of the 
 hills. Passing these, the troops came to a 
 plain that extended to the village of 
 Santa Rosa, which lies at the foot of the 
 mountains of the same name. After cross 
 ing the unbridged rivers of Alama and Sa- 
 binos, the streams of which intersect the 
 vast plain, they entered and took posses 
 sion of the village. 
 
 General Wool now ascertained that it 
 was impracticable to pass the mountains, 
 their summits reaching 4,000 feet above 
 the level of the plain, and crossing 
 the direct route to Chihuahua. The offi 
 cers of topographical engineers having 
 looked in vain for a defile through which 
 the troops might pass to the west, were 
 obliged to turn south towards Saltillo ; 
 and, on the 29th of October, reached 
 Monclova, one of the chief towns of Coha- 
 huila, where the general unfurled the Ame 
 rican flag over the government-house of 
 the province. Here he opened a commu 
 nication with Taylor at Monterey, who 
 conveyed to him the news of the cap 
 ture of that city, and of the armistice | 
 which had been agreed to. Wool remained 
 with his army at Monclova nearly four 
 weeks. Here he ascertained that the pro 
 jected route to Chihuahua lay along the base 
 of the Sierra Madre, and was impracticable 
 for the passage of his heavily laden waggons 
 and artillery ; and that he could only reach 
 Chihuahua by a circuitous route leading 
 through Patras. On consultation with, 
 and in obedience to orders from, the com- 
 mander-in-chief, Wool, on the 25th of No 
 vember, abandoned the contemplated march 
 upon Chihuahua, and proceeded to Patras, 
 a place still further to the south, and 120 
 miles from Saltillo. On the march to Pa 
 tras, the troops traversed a region of cal 
 careous marl, which, for a long distance, 
 was like dry ashes, rising in a cloud of 
 dust, which filled their eyes and breathing 
 organs, rendering their route anything but 
 agreeable. The forces under Wool remained 
 at Patras eleven davs, in friendly intercourse 
 56S 
 
 with the Mexican people, many of whom 
 were highly intelligent. Patras contained 
 about 8,000 inhabitants, who, had they 
 been disposed, might have made a vigorous 
 and protracted defence. In the rear the 
 city abutted on a range of high mountains. 
 The streets were narrow ; the buildings of 
 stone, and surrounded by high walls. It 
 was in the centre of the best grain-pro 
 ducing country in Mexico, although its 
 immediate vicinity was covered by exten 
 sive vineyards, producing delicious grapes, 
 from which wine and brandy were manu 
 factured. During their temporary stay in 
 this pleasant location, the troops found an 
 agreeable relaxation after their long and 
 weary marches. 
 
 On the 16th of December, Worth, who 
 lay at Saltillo, received intelligence, which 
 he believed to be authentic, that Santa 
 Anna was within three days march of him, 
 with 30,000 well-drilled men, and advanc 
 ing. He immediately dispatched expresses 
 to Monterey and Patras for reinforcements, 
 promising to hold out one day against any 
 force that might be opposed to him ; and 
 expressed a hope that aid might arrive 
 by the fourth day. Wool received this 
 news on the evening of the 17th ; and in less 
 than two hours thereafter the whole of his 
 troops were on the march, accompanied by 
 an immense train of 350 waggons, laden 
 with ammunition and stores for a year s 
 campaign, and sixty days rations for each 
 soldier. Forty miles march brought them 
 to Patras, which was accomplished in less 
 than thirty hours, over a country almost 
 destitute of roads and bridges. There was 
 a brief halt at that place, to refresh the 
 troops, and obtain forage for the horses and 
 mules. The soldiers were kindly received 
 by the inhabitants, who extended to them a 
 cheerful welcome; while Wool was cordially 
 invited, and hospitably entertained, at the 
 hacienda of Seiior Jacopo Sanchez, a wealthy 
 proprietor. 
 
 On the 19th, the march was resumed; 
 and, on the 21st, the troops reached Agua 
 Nueva, twenty-one miles in advance of 
 Saltillo. By a prompt and rapid move 
 ment, Wool had placed his force on the 
 principal road between San Luis Potosi and 
 Saltillo, and thus interposed an obstacle to 
 the advance of Santa Anna. The general 
 learned at this place, that the report of Santa 
 Anna s making an advance movement was 
 not true, and that the Mexican commander 
 still remained at San Luis Potosi, mustering 
 
A.T>. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SCOTT S ARMY. 
 
 and organising his powerful army for the 
 contemplated attack upon the forces of 
 Taylor. In the meantime, the latter had 
 been carrying out his plan of a defensive 
 line, by moving a force to take possession 
 of Victoria. Twiggs first division, with 
 the 7th regiment, detached from that under 
 command of Worth, was sent on in advance. 
 The brigade of volunteers under Quitman 
 folio wed, accompanied by Taylor; and all the 
 troops had arrived at Montemorelos, on the 
 route, and were on the point of proceeding 
 to Victoria, when the rumour from "Worth, i 
 of the advance of Santa Anna, reached 
 them. On receipt of this, the coinmander-in- 
 chief deemed it advisable at once to turn 
 back, return to Monterey, and be prepared j 
 to reinforce Saltillo, if necessary. This was 
 accordingly done ; and, on arriving at Mon 
 terey, he ^hastened to send forward his 
 succour in the expected attack on Worth. 
 He had advanced but a few miles on the 
 road to Saltillo, however, when he was 
 intercepted by a messenger from the latter, 
 with information of the falsity of the story 
 of Santa Anna s approach. He at once 
 turned his troops about, and resumed his 
 march to Victoria, whither Quitman, who 
 did not turn back with Taylor, had mean 
 while, on the 29th of December, advanced, 
 and occupied the town without encounter 
 ing any resistance. Six days later, on the 
 4th of January, 1847, Taylor arrived with 
 the division of Twiggs; and the same day 
 Patterson also arrived, he having been 
 ordered forward with his brigade from the 
 Rio Grande. About this time Taylor re 
 ceived from Winfield Scott, the commander- 
 in- chief of the American army, an order 
 for a large proportion of his troops to 
 assist in contemplated operations on the 
 Gulf coast. The latter had been ordered 
 to Mexico, not to supersede Taylor in 
 the immediate command on the line of 
 operations (rendered illustrious by the latter 
 and his whole army), but to carry out pro 
 jected operations against Vera Cruz, and 
 ultimately against the city of Mexico. The 
 following is an extract from the letter of 
 Major- general Scott to Taylor, dated at New 
 York, on the 25th of November, 1846, in 
 relation to the withdrawal of a portion of 
 his forces: "I am not coming, my dear 
 general, to supersede you. My proposed 
 theatre is different. * * * JJ u t I shall 
 be obliged to take from you most of the 
 gallant officers and men (regulars and 
 volunteers) whom you have so long and so 
 
 nobly commanded. I am afraid that I 
 shall, by imperious necessity the approach 
 of yellow fever on the Gulf coast reduce 
 you, for a time, to stand on the defensive. 
 This will be infinitely painful to you, and, 
 for that reason, distressing to me. But I 
 rely on your patriotism to submit to the 
 temporary sacrifice with cheerfulness. No 
 man can better afford to do so. Recent 
 victories place you on that high eminence ; 
 and I even flatter myself, that any benefit 
 that may result to me, personally, from 
 the unequal division of troops alluded to, 
 will lessen the pain of your consequent 
 inactivity." 
 
 Almost all of the regular troops, com 
 prising the divisions of Worth and Patter 
 son, the brigades of Quitman and Twiggs, 
 and all other corps which could possibly 
 be spared from the field of operations 
 around the Rio Grande, were oi dered to 
 Vera Cruz. Five hundred regulars, with 
 4,000 newly-arrived volunteers, were all 
 that remained to constitute Taylor s de 
 fensive force. 
 
 It was with melancholy feelings that 
 the veteran general took leave of his old 
 companions in arms. At parting he ad 
 dressed them as follows : " It is with 
 deep sensibility that the commanding 
 general finds himself separated from the 
 troops he has so long commanded. To 
 those corps, regulars and volunteers, who 
 have shared with him the active services of 
 the field, he feels the attachment due to 
 such associations ; while, to those who are 
 making their first campaign, he must ex 
 press his regret that he cannot participate 
 with them in its eventful scenes. To all, 
 both officers and men, he extends his heart 
 felt wishes for their continued success and 
 happiness, confident that their achieve 
 ments on another theatre will redound to 
 the credit of their country and its arms." 
 
 After the departure of his troops to 
 reinforce Scott, Taylor again retired to 
 Monterey ; soon after reaching which, he 
 received intelligence that a reconnoitring 
 party of Arkansas and Kentucky cavalry, 
 under Majors Solon Borland and John P. 
 Gaines, with Captains Cassius M. Clay, and 
 Daniel Drake Henry (seventy-one in num 
 ber), had been surprised and taken prisoners 
 at Encarnacion, about thirty miles from 
 Saltillo, on the 20th of January, by 1,000 
 Mexican cavalry, under General Minon. 
 Captain Henry soon after escaped, and 
 brought the news of their capture to Gen- 
 
 569 
 
BUENA VISTA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 eral Wool s camp at Agua Nueva. A few 
 days after, another party of seventeen Ken 
 tucky cavalry, with their captain, William 
 J. Heady, met with a similar fate, while 
 examining the pass of Polmas Adentro, 
 about five miles north of Saltillo. Believing 
 that these demonstrations of the enemy 
 indicated an advance of the force of Santa 
 Anna from San Luis Potosi, Taylor, leaving 
 1,500 men at Monterey, to garrison that 
 city, advanced with the remainder of his 
 troops to Saltillo, reaching there on the 
 2nd of February, determined to give the 
 Mexicans battle, should they approach. 
 
 On the 4th, the commander-in-chief ad 
 vanced to Wool s camp at Agua Nueva. 
 Their combined forces were a little short of 
 5,000, less than 500 of whom were regulars, 
 the remainder being volunteers. Here 
 Taylor remained ; in the meantime making 
 reconnaissances, to learn the position and 
 approach of the enemy, until the 21st, when, 
 becoming satisfied, from information he 
 received, that Santa Anna was in large 
 force at Encarnacion, meditating an imme 
 diate forward movement to attack his posi 
 tion, he broke up the camp at Agua Nueva, 
 and took a new position a little in front of 
 the hacienda of Buena Vista, and nearly 
 ten miles in advance of Saltillo, or about 
 midway between that place and Agua 
 Nueva. The consideration that his camp at 
 the last-named place could be turned on 
 either side, with the immense superiority of 
 the enemy s forces, especially in cavalry, 
 led Taylor to abandon that position, and 
 retire to Buena Vista. 
 
 With a small force the American gene 
 ral proceeded to Saltillo, to make some 
 necessary arrangements for the defence of 
 that town, leaving Wool in immediate 
 command of the troops. Before those ar 
 rangements were completed, however, on 
 the morning of the 22nd, Taylor was 
 informed that the Mexicans were in sight, 
 and advancing. He repaired immediately 
 to the ground, when he ascertained that 
 their advance cavalry was in his front, 
 having marched from Encarnacion the day 
 previous as he afterwards learned driv 
 ing in a mounted force left to cover the re 
 moval of public stores. 
 
 The Americans were in position, occupy 
 ing a line of remarkable strength, in the 
 pass between the valley of La Encantada 
 and that of Saltillo. Breaking through the 
 range of arid mountains that stretch their 
 lofty and rugged tops from east to west, it 
 570 
 
 led through a steep defile, varying in 
 width from one to four miles, from the 
 rancho of La Encantada, at the southern 
 end, where it suddenly opens upon the 
 plain of the valley of that name, to Saltillo, 
 where it abruptly terminates by a declivity 
 at the north, upon which that town is built. 
 A stream runs through the pass, for the 
 most part, coursing close to the base of the 
 mountains, which rise on the western side, 
 but leaving here and there patches of allu 
 vial land in a state of cultivation. On the 
 eastern bank of this rivulet the road 
 stretches upon the high table-land, which 
 rises sixty or seventy feet above the water, 
 and gradually ascends to the lofty moun 
 tains beyond. The pass could only be en 
 tered from the south-west, in the direction 
 whence Santa Anna s forces were approach 
 ing, by the narrows called La Angostura, 
 where the road, with scarcely a foot of earth 
 to spare, is closely compressed between the 
 precipitous ridge on the east, and the per 
 pendicular bank of the stream on the west. 
 With high mountains on the right and 
 left, and a river; deep gullies crossing and 
 recrossing each other, and an abrupt bluff, 
 scored with ravines intervening, there was 
 evidently no other way for the opposing 
 army to approach but by the narrow defile.* 
 The features of the ground were such as 
 nearly to paralyse the artillery and cavalry 
 of the enemy ; while his infantry could not 
 derive all the advantages of numerical 
 superiority, f 
 
 The American troops were drawn up in 
 the following order of battle : Captain 
 Washington s battery (4th artillery) was 
 posted to command the narrow road at La 
 Angostura; while the 1st and 2nd Illinois 
 regiments, under Colonels Hardin and 
 Bissel, each eight companies (to the 
 latter of which was attached Captain 
 Conner s company of Texan volunteers, and 
 the 2nd Kentucky, under Colonel M Kee), 
 occupied the crest of the ridges on the left 
 and in the rear. The Arkansas and Ken 
 tucky regiments of cavalry, commanded by 
 Colonels Yell and Marshall, occupied the 
 extreme left, near the base of the mountain ; 
 while the Indiana brigade, under General 
 Lane, composed of the 2nd and 3rd regi 
 ments, under Colonels Bowles and Lane ; 
 the Mississippi riflemen, under Colonel 
 
 * Battles of America by Sea and Land. 
 
 t The whole American force was 4,000 volun 
 teers, and 500 regulars. The Mexican army num 
 bered 18.133. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF BXJENA VISTA. 
 
 Davis ; the squadrons of the 1st and 2nd 
 dragoons, under Captain Steen and Lieu 
 tenant-colonel May ; and the light bat 
 teries of Captains Sherman and Bragg, of 
 the 3rd artillery, were held in reserve. 
 
 At eleven o clock, General Taylor received 
 from Santa Anna, under a flag of truce, 
 the following communication : " You are 
 surrounded by 20,000 men,* and cannot, in 
 any human probability, avoid suffering a 
 rout, and being cut to pieces with your 
 troops. But, as you deserve from me con 
 sideration and particular esteem, I wish to 
 save you from a catastrophe ; and, for that 
 purpose, I give you this notice, in order 
 that you may surrender at discretion, under 
 the assurance that you will be treated with 
 the consideration belonging to the Mexican 
 character. To this end, you will be granted 
 an hour s time to make up your mind, to 
 commence from the moment when a flag of 
 truce arrives in your camp. With this 
 view, I assure you of my particular con 
 sideration. God and Liberty ! Camp at 
 Encantada, February 22, 1847." 
 
 With characteristic brevity and promp 
 titude, Taylor briefly answered thus : 
 " In reply to your note of this date, sum 
 moning me to surrender my forces at dis 
 cretion, I beg leave to say that I decline 
 acceding to your wishes." 
 
 General Santa Anna, however, still forbore 
 his attack, evidently waiting for the arrival 
 of his rear columns, which could be dis 
 tinctly seen, by the American scouts, as 
 they approached the field. Perceiving a 
 demonstration on the enemy s left, Taylor 
 detached the 2nd Kentucky regiment 
 and a section of artillery to the right, in 
 which position they bivouacked for the 
 night. In the meantime, the Mexican I 
 light troops had engaged the Americans on 
 the extreme left, which was composed j 
 partly of the Kentucky and Arkansas i 
 cavalry, dismounted, and a rifle battalion 
 from the Indiana brigade, under Major 
 Gorman ; the whole being commanded by 
 Colonel Marshall. The Mexicans kept up 
 a sharp fire, climbing up the mountain 
 side, with the endeavour to gain the Ameri 
 can flank. Three pieces of Captain Wash 
 ington s battery had been detached to the 
 left of the American army, and were sup 
 ported by the 2nd Indiana regiment. The 
 Mexicans occasionally threw shells into 
 
 * In his official report of the battle of Buena 
 Vista, Santa Anna stated that his whole army con 
 sisted of 18,133 men. 
 
 this part of the line, but without effect. 
 The skirmishing of the light troops was 
 kept up, with trifling loss to the Americans, 
 until dark, when Taylor, becoming satis 
 fied that no serious attack would be made 
 before morning, returned, with the Mis 
 sissippi regiment, and a squadron of the 
 2nd dragoons, to Saltillo. The troops 
 bivouacked without fires, and rested on 
 their arms. 
 
 A body of Mexican cavalry, 1,500 strong, 
 had been visible all day in the rear of the 
 town, having entered the valley through a 
 narrow pass, east of the city. This cavalry, 
 commanded by General Minon, had been 
 thrown into the rear of the Americans, to 
 break up and harass their retreat, and, 
 perhaps, to make some attempt against the 
 town if practicable. Saltillo was occupied 
 by four companies of Illinois volunteers, 
 under Major Warren, of the 1st regiment. 
 A field-work, which commanded most of 
 the approaches, was garrisoned by Captain 
 Webster s company of the 1st artillery, and 
 armed with two 24-pounder howitzers; 
 while the train and head-quarter camp were 
 guarded by two companies of Mississippi 
 riflemen, under Captain Rogers, and a 
 field-piece, commanded by Captain Shover, 
 of the 3rd artillery. Having made these 
 dispositions, Taylor proceeded, on the 
 morning of the 23rd, to Buena Vista, 
 ordering forward all the other available 
 troops. The action had commenced before 
 his arrival on the field. 
 
 During the evening and night of the 
 22nd, General Santa Anna had thrown a 
 body of light troops on the mountain side, 
 with the design of outflanking the Ameri 
 can left ; and it was here that the action 
 commenced at an early hour. The Ameri 
 can riflemen, under Colonel Marshall, 
 who had been reinforced by three companies 
 under Major Trail, of the 2nd regiment of 
 Illinois volunteers, maintained their ground 
 against a greatly superior force, holding 
 themselves under cover, and using their 
 weapons with deadly effect. About eight 
 o clock, a strong demonstration was mado 
 against the centre of the American posi 
 tion, a heavy column moving along the 
 road. This force was soon dispersed by 
 a few rapid and well-directed shots from 
 Washington s battery. In the meantime, 
 the enemy was concentrating a large force 
 of infantry and cavalry, under cover of the 
 ridges, with the obvious purpose of forcing 
 the American left, which was posted on an 
 
 571 
 
BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 extensive plateau.* The 2nd Indiana and 
 2nd Illinois regiments formed this part of 
 the American line, the former covering 
 three pieces of light artillery, under the 
 orders of Captain O Brien General Lane 
 being in immediate command. In order 
 to bring his men within effective range, 
 Lane ordered the artillery and 2nd Indiana 
 regiment forward. The former was ad 
 vanced within musket range of a heavy 
 body of Mexican infantry, and opened 
 against it with great effect, but without 
 being able to check its advance. The in 
 fantry ordered to support the artillery had 
 fallen back in disorder, being exposed, as 
 well as the battery, not only to a severe 
 fire of small arms from the front, but also 
 to a murderous cross-fire of grape and 
 canister from a Mexican battery on the 
 left. Captain O Brien, finding it impos 
 sible to retain his position without aid, 
 attempted to withdraw his pieces, but was 
 successful with only two of them, all the 
 horses and cannoneers of the third being 
 either killed or disabled. The 2nd Indiana 
 regiment, which had fallen back, as stated, 
 could not be rallied, and took no further 
 part in the action, excepting a few of the 
 men, who, under the lead of its gallant 
 colonel, Bowles, joined the Mississippi regi 
 ment, and did good service ; and those 
 fugitives who, at a later period in the day, 
 assisted in defending the train and depot 
 at Buena Vista. This portion of the Ameri 
 can line having given way, and the enemy 
 appearing in overwhelming force against its 
 lei t flank, the light troops, which had ren 
 dered such good service on the mountain, 
 were compelled to withdraw, which they 
 did, for the most part, in good order. 
 
 The 2nd Illinois regiment, commanded by 
 Colonel Bissel, which had been joined by a 
 section of Captain Sherman s battery, had 
 become completely outflanked, and was com 
 pelled to fall back, being entirely unsup 
 ported. The Mexicans were now pouring 
 masses of cavalry and infantry along the 
 base of the mountain on the American left, 
 and gaining its rear in great force. At this 
 moment Taylor arrived on the field. The 
 Mississippi regiment of volunteers had been 
 directed to the left before reaching the 
 
 * This plateau is about 400 yards in width nearest 
 the road, and some 200 yards at its upper extremity. 
 In the rear of it there is a dee]) ravine, too pre 
 cipitous for the passage of artillery, and very diffi 
 cult for cavalry. In front there is another, still 
 deeper, and more difficult. Thence, nil the way to 
 
 position, and immediately came into action 
 against the Mexican infantry which had 
 turned the American flank. The 2nd Ken 
 tucky regiment, and a section of artil 
 lery, under Bragg, had previously been 
 ordered from the right to reinforce the 
 American left, and arrived at a most op 
 portune moment. That regiment, and a 
 portion of the 1st Illinois, under Hardin, gal 
 lantly drove the enemy back, and recovered 
 a portion of the ground the Americans had 
 most unfortunately lost. The batteries of 
 Sherman and Bragg were in position 
 on the plateau, and did much execution, 
 not only in front, but particularly upon the 
 masses which had gained the American 
 rear. Discovering that the enemy was 
 pressing heavily upon the Mississippi regi 
 ment, Taylor dispatched the 3rd Indiana 
 regiment, under Lane, to strengthen that 
 important portion of the American line, 
 which formed a crotchet perpendicular 
 to the first line of battle. Lieutenant 
 Kilburn, at the same time, with a 
 piece of Bragg s battery, was directed to 
 support the infantry there engaged. The 
 action was, for a long time, warmly sus 
 tained at that point the enemy making 
 several efforts, with both infantry and 
 cavalry, against the American line, and 
 being always repulsed with heavy loss. 
 All the regular cavalry, and Captain Pike s 
 squadron of Arkansas horse, had been 
 placed, by Taylor, under the orders of 
 Colonel May, with directions to hold the 
 enemy s column which was still advanc 
 ing to the rear, along the base of the moun 
 tains in check, which was successfully 
 accomplished in conjunction with the Ken 
 tucky and Arkansas cavalry, under the re 
 spective commands of Marshall and Yell. 
 
 In the meantime, the American left, 
 which was still strongly threatened by a 
 superior force, was further strengthened 
 by the detachment of Bragg s, and a por 
 tion of Sherman s, invincible batteries to 
 that quarter. The concentration of artillery 
 fire upon the masses of the enemy along 
 the base of the mountain, and the deter 
 mined resistance offered by the two regi 
 ments opposed to them, had created confu 
 sion in their ranks, and some of the corps 
 
 La Encantada, the whole pass, to the left of the 
 stream, is a succession of alternate ridges and 
 barrancas, wonderfully calculated to cripple the 
 movements of cavalry and artillery, and to deprive 
 infantry of every advantage which it might other 
 wise possess by superiority in numbers. Carleton. 
 
1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. 
 
 attempted to effect a retreat upon their 
 main line of battle. The squadron of the 
 1st dragoons, under Lieutenant Rucker, 
 was now ordered up the deep ravine which 
 these retreating Mexican corps were en 
 deavouring to cross, in order to charge 
 and disperse them. It proceeded to the 
 point indicated, but could not accomplish 
 the object, being exposed to a heavy fire 
 from a battery established to cover the re 
 treat of these corps. While the squadron 
 was detached on this service, a large body 
 of the enemy was observed to concentrate 
 on the extreme left of the American line, 
 apparently with the view of making a de 
 scent upon the hacienda or village of Buena 
 Vista, where the American train, ammuni 
 tion, and baggage were deposited. May was 
 ordered to the support of that point with 
 two pieces of Sherman s battery, under 
 Lieutenant Reynolds. In the meantime, 
 the scattered troops of the hacienda, 
 composed in part of Majors Trail and 
 Gorman s forces, had been, to some ex 
 tent, organised under the advice of Major 
 Monroe, chief of artillery, with the assist 
 ance of Major Morrison, of the volunteer 
 staff, and were posted to defend the posi 
 tion. Ere the American cavalry had 
 reached the hacienda, that of the enemy had 
 made its attack, having been handsomely 
 met and defeated by the Kentucky and 
 Arkansas cavalry, under Marshall and Yell. 
 The Mexican column immediately divided, 
 one portion sweeping by the depot, where 
 it received a destructive fire from the force 
 which had collected there, and then gain 
 ing the mountain opposite, under a de 
 structive fire from Reynolds section; the re 
 maining portion regaining the base of the 
 mountain on the American left. In the 
 charge at Buena Vista, Colonel Yell fell 
 gallantly at the head of his regiment. Ad 
 jutant Vaughan, of the Kentucky cavalry, 
 a young officer of much promise, was also 
 slain. The gallant May, who had been re 
 joined by the squadron of the 1st dragoons, 
 and by portions of the Arkansas and In 
 diana troops, under Lieutenant- colonel 
 Roane and Major Gorman, now approached 
 the base of the mountain, holding in check 
 the right flank of the enemy, upon whose 
 masses, crowded into the narrow gorges 
 and ravines, the American artillery was 
 doing fearful execution. The position of 
 that portion of the Mexican army which 
 had gained the rear of the American line 
 was now extremely critical, and it seemed 
 VOL. n. 4 K 
 
 exceedingly doubtful whether it could re 
 join the main body. 
 
 At this moment, as Taylor was sitting 
 quietly on his horse, intently engaged 
 in watching the movements of the respec 
 tive armies, a Mexican officer was presented 
 to him, bearing a white flag, with a mes 
 sage from Santa Anna, desiring to know 
 what Taylor wanted. The latter imme 
 diately dispatched General "Wool to the 
 Mexican general-in-chief, and, at the same 
 time, gave orders to the American forces to 
 cease firing. Upon reaching the Mexican 
 lines, Wool could not prevail upon the enemy 
 to cease their fire, lie therefore declared 
 the parley at an end, and returned with 
 out obtaining an interview. The extreme 
 right of the enemy availed itself of this 
 temporary cessation of fire to retreat along 
 the base of the mountain, and finally, in 
 spite of the efforts to prevent them, suc 
 ceeded in effecting a junction with the re 
 mainder of the Mexican forces. The flag of 
 truce was evidently a ruse of Santa Anna s 
 to check the galling fire, which was doing 
 such fearful execution in this column of his 
 troops, and enable them, to rejoin the main 
 body. 
 
 During the day, the cavalry of General 
 Minon had ascended the elevated plain 
 above Saltillo, and occupied the road from 
 the city to the field of battle, where they 
 intercepted several of the American sol 
 diers. Approaching the town, they were 
 fired upon by Captain Webster, from the 
 redoubt occupied by his company, and then 
 moved off towards the eastern side of the 
 valley, and obliquely towards Buena Vista. 
 At this time, Captain Shover moved 
 rapidly forward with his piece, supported 
 by a miscellaneous body of mounted vol 
 unteers, and fired several shots at the 
 Mexican cavalry with telling effect. They 
 were driven into the ravines which lead to 
 the lower valley, closely pursued by Captain 
 Shover, who was further supported by a 
 piece of Captain Webster s battery, under 
 Lieutenant Donaldson, which had advanced 
 from the redoubt, supported by Captain 
 Wheeler s company of Illinois volunteers. 
 The enemy made one or two efforts to 
 charge the artillery, but was finally driven 
 back in a confused mass, and did not appear 
 again upon the plain. 
 
 In the meantime the firing had partially 
 ceased upon the principal field. Santa 
 Anna seemed to confine his efforts to the 
 protection of his artillery. Taylor had left 
 
 573 
 
AMERICAN VICTORY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 the plateau for a moment, when he was unex 
 pectedly recalled thither by a very heavy 
 musketry fire. On regaining that position, 
 he discovered that the Illinois and Kentucky 
 infantry had engaged a greatly superior 
 force of the enemy evidently his reserve 
 and that they were overwhelmed by 
 numbers. This was the hottest, as well as 
 the most critical part of the action. Lieu 
 tenant O Brien, with his two pieces, had 
 sustained this heavy charge in a bold and 
 gallant manner, and maintained his posi 
 tion until his supporting force was com 
 pletely routed by immensely superior num 
 bers. His men and horses being nearly 
 all wounded, he found himself under the 
 necessity of abandoning his two pieces, and 
 they fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 Captain Bragg, who had just arrived from 
 the left, was ordered up with his battery. 
 Without any infantry to support him, and 
 at the infinite risk of losing his guns, this 
 officer came rapidly into action, the Mexi 
 can line being but a few yards from the 
 muzzles of his pieces. The first discharge 
 of canister caused the enemy to hesitate ;* 
 a second opened lanes through his ranks ; 
 and the third drove him back in disorder, 
 and saved the day. The 2nd Kentucky 
 regiment, which had advanced beyond sup 
 porting distance in this affair, was driven 
 back, and closely pressed by the Mexican 
 cavalry. Taking a ravine, which led in 
 the direction of Washington s battery, their 
 pursuers became exposed to his fire, which 
 soon checked and drove them back with 
 great loss. In the meantime, the remainder 
 of the American artillery had taken a posi 
 tion on the plateau, covered by the Missis 
 sippi and the 3rd Indiana regiments, the 
 former of which had reached the ground in 
 time to pour a fire into the right flank of 
 the enemy, and thus contribute to his re 
 pulse. In this last conflict, the Americans 
 had the misfortune to sustain the loss of 
 three of their most valuable officers. Colo 
 nel Hardin, commanding the 1st Illinois 
 regiment, Colonel M Kee, and Lieutenant- 
 colonel Clay, of the 2nd Kentucky regiment, 
 fell at this time, while gallantly leading 
 their men against the overwhelming force 
 of the enemy. 
 
 No further attempt was made by the 
 * It was at this critical moment that the memor 
 able order, so often quoted in American journals, 
 is said to have been given by General Taylor. 
 After the first discharge, he rode up behind the men 
 who were working their pieces with desperate 
 energy, and, addressing their commander, said 
 574 
 
 enemy to force the American position, and 
 the approach of night gave an opportunity 
 of paying proper attention to the wounded, 
 and also of refreshing the soldiers, who had 
 been exhausted by incessant watchfulness 
 and combat. Though the night was se 
 verely cold, the troops were compelled, for 
 the most part, to bivouac without fires, ex 
 pecting that morning would renew the con 
 flict. During the night, the wounded were 
 removed to Saltillo, and every preparation 
 made to receive the enemy, should he again 
 attack the American position. Seven fresh 
 companies were drawn from the town ; and 
 General Marshall, with a reinforcement of 
 Kentucky cavalry, and four heavy guns, 
 under Captain Prentess, of the 1st artillery, 
 was near at hand. But, at daybreak, it 
 was discovered that Santa Anna and his 
 army had retreated under cover of the night, 
 leaving about 1,000 dead, and several hun 
 dred wounded, on the field of battle, and 
 294 prisoners, one standard, and a large 
 number of arms, in the hands of the 
 Americans. 
 
 It was soon discovered that the Mexi 
 can general had fallen back on Agua 
 Nueva. The great disparity of numbers, and 
 the exhaustion of the troops, rendered it 
 inexpedient and hazardous, in the opinion 
 of Taylor, to attempt pursuit. A staff 
 officer was sent to Santa Anna, to nego 
 tiate an exchange of prisoners, which 
 was satisfactorily completed on the follow 
 ing day, including those captured by the 
 Mexicans at Encarnacion Major Borland 
 and others. 
 
 The American loss, in this battle, was 
 267 killed, 456 wounded, and 23 missing. 
 The dead were collected and buried ; and 
 the Mexican wounded, which, it has already 
 been stated, were left upon the field, were 
 removed to Saltillo, and rendered as com 
 fortable as circumstances would permit. 
 
 On the evening of the 26th, a close re 
 connaissance was made of the enemy s posi 
 tion, which was found to be occupied only 
 by a small body of cavalry, the infantry 
 and artillery having retreated in the direc 
 tion of San Luis Potosi. On the 27th, 
 General Taylor, with his forces, resumed 
 their former position at Agua Nueva, the 
 Mexican rear-guard evacuating the place 
 " A little more grape, Captain Bragg." The can 
 noneers, inspired to renewed exertions by the calm 
 tones of the commanding general, managed their 
 pieces with a rapidity of movement, and accuracy 
 of aim, which told with fearful effect upon the 
 Mexican columns. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TAYLOR S REPORT. 
 
 as the Americans approached it, leaving a 
 considerable number of wounded. It was 
 Taylor s intention to beat up his quarters 
 at Encarnacion early the next morning ; 
 but, upon examination, the weak condition 
 of the cavalry horses rendered it unad- 
 visable to attempt so long a march without 
 water. A portion of the troops were, 
 however, dispatched to that place on the 
 1st of March, under Colonel Belknap; 
 where some 200 wounded, and about sixty 
 Mexican soldiers, were found, their com 
 rades having passed on in the direction 
 of Matehuala, with greatly reduced num 
 bers, and suffering much from hunger. The 
 dead and dying were strewed upon the 
 road, and crowded the buildings of the 
 hacienda.* 
 
 The following remarks in relation to the 
 battle of Buena Vista, are taken from a 
 private letter of General Taylor to General 
 Butler, who, in consequence of his severe 
 wound, received at Monterey, had returned 
 to his home in Kentucky, and consequently 
 did not participate in the glories of that 
 engagement : "In the morningof the 23rd, 
 at sunrise, the enemy renewed the contest 
 with an overwhelming force artillery, 
 infantry, and dragoons which lasted, with 
 slight intermissions, until dark. A portion 
 of the time the contest was much the 
 severest I have ever witnessed, particularly 
 towards the latter part of the day, when 
 Santa Anna brought up his reserve ; and, in 
 spite of every effort on our part, after the 
 greatest and most heroic exertions on 
 both sides, drove us, by an immense supe 
 riority of numbers, for some distance. He 
 had at least five to one at the point against 
 us. Fortunately, at the most critical mo 
 ment, two pieces of artillery, which I had 
 ordered up to support that part of the line, 
 met our exhausted men retreating, when 
 they were formed into a battery, and opened 
 on the enemy, then within fifty yards, in 
 hot pursuit, with canister and grape, which 
 brought him to a halt, and soon compelled 
 him to fall back. In this tremendous con 
 test we lost three pieces of artillery, nearly 
 all the men having been killed or crippled, 
 which put it out of our power to bring them 
 off, nor did I deem it advisable to attempt 
 to regain them. The enemy directed his 
 principal efforts against our flanks. He was 
 
 * The details of the battle of Buena Vista, are 
 gathered mainly from the official reports of Gen 
 erals Taylor and Wool. 
 
 f Agua Nueva. 
 
 handsomely repulsed on our right, but suc 
 ceeded, early in the day, in gaining our left, 
 in consequence of the giving way of one of 
 the volunteer regiments, which could not 
 be rallied; the greater portion, with but 
 few exceptions, retiring about a mile to a 
 large rancho, or farm-house, where our 
 waggons, and a portion of our stores were 
 left. These were soon after attacked by the 
 enemy s cavalry, which was repulsed with 
 some loss. For several hours the fate of 
 the day was extremely doubtful ; so much, 
 so, that I was urged by some of the most 
 experienced officers to fall back and take a 
 new position. This, I knew, it would never 
 do to attempt with volunteers, and at once 
 declined it. The scene had now become 
 one of the deepest interest. Between the 
 several deep ravines there were portions of 
 land from one to four hundred yards in 
 extent, which became alternately points of 
 attack and defence, after our left was 
 turned, by both sides. These extended 
 along and near the base of the mountain 
 for about two miles; and the struggle 
 for them may very appropriately be com 
 pared to a game of chess. Night put a 
 stop to the contest ; and, strange to say, both 
 armies occupied the same positions they held 
 in the morning, before the battle com 
 menced. Our artillery accomplished won 
 ders. We lay resting on our arms, as we 
 had done the two previous nights, without 
 fires, there being no wood to be had, and 
 the mercury below the freezing point 
 ready, and expecting, to renew the contest 
 the next morning ; but we found, at day 
 light, the enemy had retreated during the 
 night, leaving his killed, and many of his 
 wounded, for us to bury and take care of, 
 carrying off everything else, and taking up 
 a position at this place.f We did not think 
 it advisable to pursue, not knowing whether 
 he would renew the attack, continue his 
 retreat, or wished to draw us from our 
 strong position but contented ourselves 
 with watching his movements closely. The 
 loss on both sides was very great, as you 
 may suppose enough so, on ours, to cover 
 the whole country with mourning, for some 
 of the noblest and purest of the land have 
 fallen. I hope the greater portion of the 
 good people of the country will be satisfied 
 with what we have done on this occasion. 
 I flatter myself, that our compelling a 
 Mexican army of more than 20,000 men, 
 completely organised, and led by their 
 chief magistrate, to retreat, with less than 
 
 575 
 
SANTA ANNA S REPORT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 500 regulars, and about 4,000 volunteers, 
 will meet their approval. I had not a 
 single company of regular infantry; the 
 whole was taken from me." 
 
 Such were the circumstances under which 
 the battle of Buena Vista was fought and 
 won; and, though remarkable from many 
 points of view, is especially so in the exhi 
 bition it furnished of steadiness, endurance, 
 and courage on the part of raw troops, 
 brought into action for the first time. Men 
 who, less than a year previous, were en 
 gaged in peaceful avocations, at the plough 
 or in the workshop, were here successfully 
 confronted with a body of regulars, im 
 mensely superior in numbers, and com 
 manded by the ablest and most experienced 
 military leader in Mexico. And while the 
 unflinching determination and courage of 
 the men who fought the Mexican hosts at 
 Buena Vista, are so nobly vindicated by its 
 results, they demonstrate, also, the ability 
 and industry of the officers who, in so brief 
 a space of time, brought those raw mate 
 rials into such a state of discipline and effi 
 ciency. But the credit of the victory at 
 Buena Vista is more especially due to the 
 commanding general, to whom all eyes 
 were turned in every crisis of danger ; who 
 was, in himself, the sheet-anchor of the 
 hopes of the whole army. It is, perhaps, 
 not too much to say, that he was the only 
 man living who could have won the battle 
 of Buena Vista, against such odds. At all 
 times imperturbable and self-possessed, he 
 held the battle in his eye, and inspired the 
 men to increased efforts by his presence at 
 every point of danger. 
 
 After the engagement, General Taylor ad 
 dressed the following letter to Henry Clay, 
 concerning the death of his son. It is in 
 teresting, from the evidence it affords, that, 
 although he could look unmoved on scenes 
 of carnage on the field of battle, he yet 
 had a soul alive to the kinder impulses of 
 humanity : " It is with no wish of intrud 
 ing upon the sanctuary of paternal sorrow, 
 and with no hope of administering any 
 consolation, to your wounded heart, that 
 I have taken the liberty of addressing 
 you ; but I have felt it a duty which I 
 owe to the memory of the distinguished 
 dead, to pay a willing tribute to his many 
 excellent qualities ; and, while my feelings 
 are still fresh, to express the desolation 
 which his untimely loss, and that of other 
 kindred spirits, has occasioned. I had 
 but a casual acquaintance with your son, 
 576 
 
 until he became, for a time, a member of 
 my military family ; and I can truly say, 
 that no one ever won more rapidly upon 
 my regard, or established a more lasting 
 claim to my respect and esteem. Manly 
 and honourable in every impulse, with no 
 feeling but for the honour of the service 
 and of the country, he gave everv assur 
 ance that, in the hour of need, I could lean 
 with confidence upon his support. Nor 
 was I disappointed. Under the guidance 
 of himself and the lamented M Kee, gal 
 lantly did the sons of Kentucky, in the 
 thickest of the strife, uphold the honour of 
 the state and the country. A grateful 
 people will do justice to those who fell on 
 that eventful day. But I may be per 
 mitted to express the bereavement which I 
 feel in the loss of valued friends. To your 
 son I felt bound by the strongest ties of 
 private regard ; and when I miss his 
 familiar face, and those of M Kee and 
 Hardin, I can say, with truth, that I feel 
 no exultation in our success." 
 
 General Scott, when necessity compelled 
 him to deprive Taylor of the flower of 
 his gallant army, advised him to concen 
 trate all his forces at Monterey. But to 
 this Taylor was averse, and he soon de 
 cided on a different course. The result at 
 Buena Vista vindicated his judgment. Had 
 he abandoned Saltillo, Santa Anna would 
 have unresistingly poured his troops into 
 the lower country, and perhaps have re 
 gained the whole territory to the Rio 
 Grande. In such an event, immense muni 
 tions of war would have fallen into the 
 hands of the Mexican commander; while 
 the American forces, shut up in Monterey, 
 would have been useless. The bolder course, 
 and the one more congenial to Taylor s 
 feelings, was that which he adopted. 
 
 The following extract from Santa Anna s 
 official report of the contest at Buena Vista, 
 possesses interest, as giving a view of this 
 important contest from the Mexican stand 
 point, that will justify the space allotted to it 
 in these pages : 
 
 " The army moved from San Luis Potosi by bri 
 gades, in order to render available the meagre 
 resources afforded by the country we were to cross. 
 The force consisted of 13.432 infantry, divided into 
 twenty-eight battalions ; 4.338 cavalry, in thirty- 
 nine squadrons; and a train of artillery of three 
 24-pounde.rs, three IB-pounders, five 12-pounders, 
 five S.poundera, and a seven-inch howitzer; all served 
 by 413 artillerymen the total being 18,133 men. 
 Of this force, there remained behind, the garrison of 
 the works at San Luis Potosi, and others which I 
 allotted to the towns on the route ; as also two 
 
A.D. 1847] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SANTA ANNA S REPORT. 
 
 squadrons to escort our small and only reserve of 
 ammunition ; a brigade of infantry, of two bat 
 talions, under General Don Ciriaco Vasquez, which 
 remained as a corps of reserve in Matehuala, and 
 of observation upon Tula; as also a brigade of 
 cavalry, under General Don Jose Urrea. The latter 
 was intended to pass Tula, and move through Ta- 
 maulipas to the neighbourhood of Monterey, so as 
 to call the enemy s attention to that quarter. The 
 point of concentration for the brigades ought neces 
 sarily to be near this place, so that, in the region 
 through which they had to move, many troops 
 might not be at once thrown together. I there 
 fore fixed on the hacienda of Encarnacion for that 
 point, it being, as 1 calculated, the last staue but 
 one of my march. I there held a review of the 
 army, which had already lost 1,000 men by sick 
 ness and desertion. The former was caused bv 
 the scantiness and bad quality of food, and still 
 more of water, which was brackish as well as scarce ; 
 as also by srow-storms and the exposure of the 
 troop*, who had always to be in bivouac, and with 
 out fuel. These snow-storms obliged me to sus 
 pend the march two days, till the weather became 
 more settled; for the cold had already caused the 
 death of several men and horses, and I felt bound 
 by every n eans to diminish the losses we were in 
 curring. These hardships will account for the 
 number of desertions which occurred up to our 
 arrival at Encarnacion, and which afterwards even 
 increased. It must also be remembered, that 
 almost the whole army had been recently formed, 
 and, as it is well known, of men taken by violence 
 from their homes. 
 
 " \Ve had advices that the enemy was fortified 
 in the hacienda of Agua Nueva, with 6,000 men, 
 and thirty pieces, resolved to defend the defiles 
 known by the. names of the passes of Carnero and 
 Agua Nueva. The Americans did not know the 
 precise point on which our march was directed ; for, 
 though they exchanged some shots with our ad 
 vance in Encarnacion, and had frequent small 
 skirmishes with us in the above passes, they sup 
 posed our troops to be scouting pariies of the first 
 brigade of cavalry, under Don Jose V. Minon, 
 whom I had advanced as far as the hacienda of 
 Potosi. These were the impressions when I made 
 my dispositions. It was my intention to place my 
 lorces between the enemy and Saltillo, so as to 
 oblige him to fight under the disadvantage of 
 having his communication cut off, or, if he would 
 not leave his works, to enable me to besiege him in 
 Agua Nueva. The plan might be carried out in 
 three different ways. One was by marching twenty 
 leagues by the direct road ; another by moving to 
 the right by La Hedionda, so as to occupy Buena 
 Vista; and the third, by moving to the left by La 
 Punta de Santa Elena, so as to occupy the hacienda 
 of La Banqueria, and thereafter the road to Sal 
 tillo. The last two movements were at this time 
 impracticable ; for they would either of them re 
 quire three or four days march, while we were 
 without provisions, forage, or water. I therefore 
 resolved to operate by the direct road, force the 
 positions, and, after passing the last defiles, make 
 a diversion by the left, and occupy the rancho of 
 Encantada, with the view of obtaining water, none 
 of which was to be had for more than eighteen 
 leagues. All this was favoured by the enemy s 
 ignorance of our march ; but misfortune still fol 
 lowed us. A deserter from the regiment of Cora- 
 
 ceros, a native of Saltillo, named Francisco Valdes, 
 passed over from Encarnacion. to the enemy, and 
 gave him information of the movement. The ex 
 ecrable treason of this infamous wretch frustrated 
 the best combinations. 
 
 " On the 21st, at noon, I ordered the march to 
 commence, the four light battalions, under General 
 Don Pedro Ampudia, forming the vanguard. I 
 had not hesitated to allow that general, and other 
 officers who had been court-martialed for the affair 
 of Monterey, to participate in these operations; 
 not only because I did not consider them culpable, 
 but also on account of the zeal they manifested. 
 This brigade was followed by one of artillery, of 
 16-pounders with the regiments of engineers and 
 their train, and those by the park of the regiment 
 of hussars. Then came the first division, com 
 manded by General Don Manuel Lombaidini, with 
 four 12-pounders and the park. The second divi 
 sion, under General Don Francisco Pacheco, fol 
 lowed next, with four 8-pounders and their park; 
 after these, the whole of the cavalry, under Don 
 Julian Juvera; and then the remainder o? the gen 
 eral park and baegage, the rear being covered by a 
 hiigiide of cavnliy, under General Don Manuel 
 Andiade. In this order of march the troops were 
 ordered to make the first fourteen leagues, between 
 Encantada and a plain called De La Uuerra, which 
 is in front of the first defile, called the Pass of the 
 Pinones; and to pass the night on that plain in the 
 same order of column. The troops having eaten 
 their rations, order was given for carrying water, as 
 none could be met with till the day following, after 
 having overcome the enemy at Agua Nueva, three 
 leagues beyond the aforesaid pass. I, with my 
 staff and the regiment of engineers, occupied the 
 front, a little behind the light troops. On arriving 
 at the plain De La Guerra, I continued the march in 
 order to pass the defile of Pinones, which was ac 
 complished ; and I ordered the light brigade to- 
 take a position in the pass of Carnero, where it had 
 a skirmish with an advance of the enemy. Under 
 these dispositions we passed the night. 
 
 "At dawn, on the 22nd, the army continued its 
 march, with the idea of carrying, by force of arms, 
 the pass of Agua Nueva, which, I supposed, would 
 be defended by the enemy; but I found, to my 
 surprise, that it had been abandoned. I then con 
 cluded that the American forces had retired to their 
 fortifications in the hacienda, to concentrate their 
 defence under cover of the intrenchments, which I 
 had heard they had there thrown up. Under this 
 idea I continued the march, in order to turn by the 
 right to the rancho of Encantada, which, as I have 
 before mentioned, is on the Saltillo road, being 
 between that city and Agua Nueva, and four or 
 five leagues from each. Till that time no one had 
 appeared to give me information, nor did any one 
 after, except a servant from Agua Nueva, who told 
 me that the enemy had been evacuating his posi 
 tion since the day previous, and falling back towards 
 Saltillo; and that on that same morning the haci 
 enda had been wholly abandoned, by the retreat of 
 a small detachment, which escorted a large quan 
 tity; of munitions. By this movement my first 
 plans and dispositions, founded on an expected 
 resistance, were rendered abortive ; but I still did 
 not despair of a successful result; for I had, 
 in anticipation, directed General Minon, with his 
 cavalry brigade, 1,200 strong, to occupy, on the 
 morning of the 22nd, the hacienda of Buena Vista, 
 
 577 
 
SANTA ANNA S REPORT.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 distant three short leagues from Saltillo. This 
 force might arrest the enemy s march, or, at least, 
 make a diversion that would give time for the 
 army to come up. I therefore continued my 
 march, without losing more time than would allow 
 the soldiers to drink water on the road. The light 
 brigade came within sight of the enemy s rear 
 guard, and I ordered them to charge in conjunc 
 tion with the hussar regiment. I had reason to 
 believe the Americans were making a precipitate re 
 treat, as they left several articles on the road, such 
 as carts, forge implements, extra wheels, and other 
 things, which we gathered while marching. In 
 consequence of the different reports I received, I 
 ordered the cavalry to advance ; thinking we should 
 be able to reach their rear-guard, I placed myself 
 at the head of those troops. 
 
 " On arriving at a place called Angostura, I found 
 the main body of the enemy awaiting me in posi 
 tion. The road, from the Pass of Pinones to Sal 
 tillo, runs between two chains of mountains, which 
 form that pass and those of Carnero and Agua 
 Nueva. The ridges open beyond the hacienda, and 
 approach each other again at Angostura, where the 
 road turns to the right. At this place there is a 
 succession of ridges, which run out towards the 
 line of our route, and at right angles with it ; and 
 between them are ravines, which form the drains of 
 the mountains on the right. They are more or less 
 passable, but all very difficult. The enemy s posi 
 tion was in front and in rear of the road, his right 
 and front being covered by ravines that were im 
 passable, even for infantry ; and a battery of four 
 pieces being planted on the highest point. His 
 battalions were formed on the heights, M ith two 
 other batteries, one of which was in a low part of 
 the road, between two hills ; and, to my view, their 
 forces appeared to be about 8,000 men, with twenty 
 pieces ; but the prisoners taken from them report 
 twenty-six pieces, and upwards of 8,000 combatants. 
 I reconnoitred the position and situation of the 
 enemy, and ordered the director of engineers, 
 General Don Ignacio de Mora y Villamil, to do the 
 same. After ascertaining the force of the invader, 
 it was necessary either to await the infantry, to 
 take position, or to fight, as might seem most 
 advisable. At this interval, I observed that the 
 enemy had neglected to occupy a height on his left 
 flank ; and, without losing a moment, I ordered 
 General Ampudia s light brigade to take possession 
 of, and hold it at every cost. As the brigade came 
 up, I formed them in two lines on a rising ground 
 that fronted the enemy, there being another emi 
 nence between our two positions : the first division 
 of infantry was under the command of General 
 Lombardini ; and the second under the command of 
 General Pacheco. I directed that General Mora y 
 Villamil, in conjunction with the commanding 
 general of artillery, Don Antonio Corona, should 
 find a position for a battery of 16-pounders, to be 
 sustained by the regiment of engineers. Two 
 other batteries of 12- and 8-pounders were located 
 by me. The cavalry, commanded by General Ju- 
 vera, was placed on the right of our rear, and on 
 our left flank. The regiment of hussars was also 
 posted in the rear; and, on the left flank aforesaid, 
 was a height, which I ordered the battalion of 
 Leon to occupy. The general park was in the rear, 
 covered by the brigade of General Andrade ; and 
 between this park and the lines of battle I took my 
 own position. The making of these dispositions, as 
 
 may be supposed, occupied some time, for the 
 troops arrived at their positions after a march of 
 more than twenty leagues. Jt was, therefore, not 
 an hour for combat, and the army lay on its arms. 
 The enemy, however, so soon as he perceived that 
 we had occupied the height that flanked his lft 
 and our right, dispatched two battalions to dislodge 
 us, which led to a warm engagement that lasted 
 all the afternoon, and till after dark, when he was 
 repulsed with a loss of 400 men, according to the 
 report of the prisoners. Ours was much less, as 
 we had the advantage of the ground. 
 
 "At dawn, on the 23rd, I mounted my horse;, 
 the enemy had not changed his previous disposi 
 tions, and was ready to receive us. I observed but 
 one difference ; which was, that on his right, and at 
 some distance from his position, he had formed two 
 bodies of infantry, with a battery of four pieces, as 
 if with the intent of threatening our left flank ; but 
 I at once believed this to be a mere demonstration, 
 for he would never have left in his rear the difficult 
 ground which gave strength to that position, being 
 the web of impassable ravines before referred to. 
 I therefore gave no attention to this disposition of 
 his forces, and resolved to move mine by the right. 
 With this intention, I advanced the divisions of 
 General Lombardini and General Pacheco in that 
 direction. I ordered General Don Manuel Michel- 
 torena to plant the battery of 8-pounders on our 
 right flank, so as to rake obliquely the enemy s 
 line, and to remain with the staff, of which he was 
 chief, and await my orders. I directed that General 
 Ampudia, with the light brigade, should charge by 
 our left flank on the enemy s right, and that General 
 Mora y Villamil should form a column of attack, 
 composed of the regiment of engineers, the 12th 
 battalion, \he fijo de Mexico, and the companies of 
 Puebla and Tampico, commanded by Colonel Don 
 Santiago Blanco. At the same time I directed 
 General Corona, commanding the artillery, to place 
 the battery of 12-pounders in a more commanding 
 position, while the third division remained in reserve 
 under Brevet-general Don Jose Maria Ortega. So 
 soon as the enemy perceived our movements, he 
 commenced the action at all points, attacked our 
 troops with intrepidity, and maintained the conflict 
 with great vigour. Our men received them with 
 proper energy, driving back and following up the 
 assailants. At this time my horse was disabled by 
 a grapeshot, and it was some time before I could 
 mount another. As the enemy had yielded ground, 
 I ordered the cavalry to advance and charge, which 
 was done with vigour. Suitable orders had been 
 sent to the generals of division and brigade ; among 
 the rest to General Don Angel Guzman ; but 
 though the officers and troops acted with great 
 resolution, it was impossible to overcome the diffi 
 culties of the ground ; and, after a struggle which 
 did them honour, they were obliged to fall back to 
 their positions. After various alternations, the 
 same occurred with the infantry. 
 
 "The battle, which commenced at seven in the 
 morning, was prolonged for many hours, our loss 
 every moment accumulating. Many officers and 
 soldiers had already been killed, and a number of 
 commanders and distinguished officers wounded, 
 among whom were General Lombardini, Lieu 
 tenant-colonels Brito, Galloso, and others. Among 
 the slain were Lieutenant-colonels Asonos, Berra, 
 and other meritorious officers, whose loss the country 
 will ever lament. The enemy maintained his ground 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [GUERILLA WARFARE. 
 
 with the utmost obstinacy, insomuch that some of 
 our troops faltered in their attacks, and many of 
 the raw recruits dispersed. This, however, ought 
 to exalt the merit of those whose intrepidity was 
 never paralysed, and may also be cited to show how 
 hotly contested was the action. Things were in 
 this situation when I concluded to make the final 
 effort. With this view I ordered that a battery of 
 24-pounders should be mounted ; that the column 
 of attack, then posted on our left flank, where it had 
 no object of operation, should be transferred to our 
 right, and there be joined by the remains of the 
 llth regiment, the battalion of Leon, and the 
 reserves, all under the command of Brevet-general 
 Don Francisco Perez. I executed this in person, 
 and afterwards sent for General Mora y Villamil, 
 and made him acquainted with my final disposition. 
 I had already directed Generals Perez and Pacheco, 
 each with his command, to be prepared for an 
 extreme struggle, and had ordered the battery of 
 8-pounders to advance and take the enemy s line in 
 Hank. The charge was made with daring valour, 
 and was resisted with animated vigour, with a fire 
 so heavy and rapid as to cause admiration ; but the 
 Americans could not sustain themselves they were 
 driven back and overcome, with the loss of three 
 pieces of cannon, and as many stands of colours. I 
 sent two of the latter to the government, Avith my 
 last despatch ; the other, which I then omitted to 
 notice, will be presented to the honourable congress 
 of the states of San Luis Potosi, as a testimonial of 
 the army s gratitude for the patriotic services they 
 had rendered, and the generous sacrifices they had 
 made for its benefit. We, moreover, captured a 
 travelling forge, and some smaller articles, which I 
 will not enumerate. Our cavalry, which so bravely 
 executed the order to charge, reached the enemy s 
 rearmost positions ; but, owing to the nature of the 
 ground, and the fatigue of the men and horses, I 
 did not think it prudent to attempt to dislodge 
 them from those. The battle closed at six in the 
 evening, our troops being then formed on the 
 ground which the Americans had occupied. Our 
 Jast effort would have been decisive, if General 
 Minon had done his part by attacking the enemy 
 in the rear ; but he omitted to do it, and I am 
 under the painful necessity of subjecting his conduct 
 to a court-martial, that he may explain it. An 
 action thus contested, necessarily involved con 
 siderable loss. Ours, in killed and wounded, 
 amounted to more than 1,500 men ; and that of the 
 enemy was much greater, for we had time to take 
 a view of the great number of their dead. 
 
 "The formidable position which the enemy occu 
 pied, was all that saved him ; the victory would 
 otherwise have been decisive, notwithstanding his 
 obstinate resistance. Still this triumph will have 
 favourable results to the national cause, as it will 
 show to every one what can be accomplished when 
 all hearts are united, and with one aim. The army 
 has done more than could be expected under the 
 laws of nature. It had just been formed, and, as 
 yet, had not acquired discipline or military habits; 
 yet, in marching to the combat, it overcame diffi 
 culties which might have subdued the stoutest 
 heart. After a march of twenty leagues, sixteen of 
 them without water, and without other food than a 
 single ration, which was dealt out at Encarnacion, 
 it endured the fatigue of combat for two days, and 
 finally triumphed." 
 
 History, and especially modern history, is 
 
 full of instances, to prove that Santa Anna 
 is no exception in the attempt to gloss over 
 and turn disaster into victory. Notwith 
 standing his effort, however, the truth is 
 patent that, in the battle of Buena Vista, 
 the best troops of Mexico were defeated and 
 demoralised, and the prestige of their gene 
 ral s name for ever destroyed. The in 
 fluence of Taylor s victory was felt through 
 out the war. From this period, the entire 
 territory between Saltillo and the Rio 
 Grande remained in undisturbed possession 
 of the Americans until the end of the war. 
 
 The unsuccessful attack of General Jose 
 V. Minon upon the rear-guard of the 
 Americans at Buena Vista, has already been 
 stated. General Jose Urrea, as ordered by 
 Santa Anna, and mentioned in his report, 
 with 1,000 cavalry, went into the vicinity 
 of Monterey, where, at Ramos, a waggon- 
 train was captured, and forty-five wag- - 
 goners barbarously murdered. On the 26th 
 of February, Urrea was encountered and 
 defeated by a force under Colonels Morgan 
 and Irwin, at Agua Frio, losing sixty men. 
 The American loss was but six. 
 
 On the 7th of March, Major Giddings, 
 with 260 men, while convoying a train of 
 150 waggons, was attacked near Cesalvo, 
 by 1,600 Mexicans; the party of Urrea 
 combining with that of General Romera. 
 After a desperate conflict the Americans 
 were victorious, with a loss of seventeen, the 
 enemy losing forty. On being informed of 
 this bold incursion, General Taylor started 
 in pursuit of Urrea ; but the latter succeeded 
 in making his escape beyond the moun 
 tains. Taylor now retired to Monterey, 
 where he issued a proclamation on the 
 21st of March, addressed to the inhabitants 
 of Tamaulipas, Nueva Leon, and Cohahuila, 
 declaring that they should in future be 
 held responsible for all trains cut off. This 
 had the desired effect of putting an end 
 to the system of guerilla warfare in that 
 region. 
 
 Taylor remained (it may as well, per 
 haps, be here added), during the summer, 
 at Monterey, in a state of inactivity. He 
 had contemplated marching on San Luis 
 Potosi, and was arranging matters for 
 that purpose in August, when Scott, 
 making another draft on him for troops, 
 left him powerless for offensive operations. 
 In November he returned to the United 
 States, on leave of absence, "Wool being 
 left in command. Before his furlough ex- 
 expired, peace was declared. 
 
 579 
 
ARMY OF THE WEST.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ARMY OF THE WEST; CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA; THE EXPEDITIONS OF DONIPHAN 
 
 AND FREMONT. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after the commencement of 
 the war, orders were issued for organising 1 
 the "ai my of the west" in accordance with 
 the plan of campaign, as given in a pre 
 vious page to be commanded by General 
 Stephen Watts Kearney, for the purpose 
 of capturing the province of New Mexico, 
 and thence to move westward to the Pa 
 cific ; and, in co-operation with the fleet, 
 to occupy the province of California. This 
 army was to be composed of mounted 
 volunteers from the state of Missouri, with 
 one battalion of infantry, one of light ar 
 tillery, and one of dragoons. 
 
 In the early part of June, 1846, the 
 forces destined for this expedition began 
 to assemble at Fort Leaven worth, situated 
 on the Mississippi river, a few miles above 
 the mouth of the Kansas river. A. W. 
 Doniphan, a legal practitioner of eminence, 
 residing at St. Louis, Missouri, was chosen 
 colonel of the 1st Missouri regiment, which 
 was composed principally of young men, 
 most of whom were from the best families 
 in the state of Missouri, and who were in 
 spired by a thirst for wild adventure, which 
 gave promise of brilliant results. 
 
 For twenty days they were drilled and 
 instructed in military science, by such of 
 their officers as had been educated at West 
 Point. 
 
 On the 30th of June, General Kearney, 
 having sent forward his baggage, and 
 taken in convoy the annual train of mer 
 chants waggons, over 400 in number, go 
 ing to trade at Santa Fe and Chihuahua, 
 marched from Fort Leavenworth with his 
 army, which numbered 1,600 regulars and 
 volunteers. They took a south-westerly 
 direction, across the branches of the Kansas, 
 along the Arkansas river to Bent s Fort, 
 which they reached on the 1st of August. 
 In this adventurous march the infantry 
 had outstripped the cavalry, marching with 
 such precision as to arrive at Bent s Fort 
 on the very day named by Kearney. The 
 route thus far lay over vast plains, which 
 had, from time immemorial, been the pas 
 turage of the buffalo, or the hunting-ground 
 of the red man. Short dry grass occa- 
 580 
 
 sionally only the arid soil with, at rare 
 intervals, skirts of trees in the valleys of 
 the streams, formed nearly the whole land 
 scape. After leaving Bent s Fort the 
 scene changed. The treeless plains disap 
 peared, the country assumed a mountainous 
 character, and forests of pine, spruce, and 
 other evergreens, cast their shadows across 
 the way. The regions now traversed were, 
 however, in many respects, more desolate 
 than the plains below. For twenty miles, 
 in some cases, no spring was to be found ; 
 and, in one case, in going from the valley 
 of the Cavodean, a whole day was passed 
 without meeting with either wood, water, 
 or grass. The eye was occasionally greeted, 
 however, with glimpses of magnificent 
 scenery. At the pass of the Raten, a 
 branch of the great Aztec mountains, one of 
 those splendid mountain scenes burst upon 
 their sight, which frequently occur in such 
 sublimity on the spurs of the Cordilleras. 
 Towards the north-west, the lofty top of 
 Pike s Peak (since become so celebrated 
 for its vast quantities of gold treasure) 
 was visible ; and other peaks, whose white 
 limestone cliffs glittered in the sun, like 
 snow-banks in the air.* 
 
 During this march of 900 miles, how 
 ever, the troops had to endure many hard 
 ships. The waggons would frequently 
 sink in the soft and spongy ground, and 
 the strength of the men had to be added to 
 that of the horses to pull them out. Then 
 torrents had to be bridged, and chasms 
 to be filled. Sometimes their camping- 
 place at night was infested with snakes, 
 lizards, and mosquitos. On two occa 
 sions they suffered from a stampede 
 among their horses. The first occurred 
 shortly after leaving Bent s Fort. The 
 horses were turned loose to feed on the 
 prairie, when a few of them took fright 
 at the sight of an Indian. The panic was 
 contagious, and became general. The 
 keepers tried to stop them ; but 1,000 
 horses were dashing over the plain, en 
 raged and driven to madness by the iron 
 pickets and the lariats, which goaded and 
 * Emory s Journal. 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DONIPHAX S EXPEDITION. 
 
 lashed them at every step. About sixty- 
 five of the best were irrecoverably lost.* 
 
 On the 13th of August, 1847, Kearney 
 arrived at the Mexican settlements:. Don 
 Manuel Armijo, the governor of New 
 Mexico, having previously been informed 
 of his approach, had gathered a consid 
 erable force, and, on the 16th of the 
 month, he marched out of Santa Fe, and 
 took post on an eminence commanding a 
 defile, known as the Canon or Pass of Ga- 
 liateo, not more than forty feet in width, 
 about fifteen miles from Santa Fe, and 
 through which the road to the latter place 
 lay. With reliable troops, such a position 
 might be looked upon as nearly impreg 
 nable. The governor held a council of 
 war; and his second in command and other 
 officers, advising against defence, the army 
 retreated, and Armijo, with a body-guard 
 of one hundred dragoons, left the province 
 for Chihuahua. 
 
 Kearney entered Santa Fe, which, was 
 thus left undefended, on the 18th of 
 August. Marching his troops to the gov 
 ernor s palace, he took possession, and 
 hoisted over it the standard of the United 
 States. The following day he addressed 
 the people, and told them that the Ameri 
 cans had come to establish free govern 
 ment; that the country having now become 
 a part of the United States, the inhabitants 
 were to consider themselves bound to obey 
 the laws, and submit to the authority of 
 the new government. Thus, in forty-nine 
 days, had this army, under Kearney, trav 
 ersed an uninhabited region of nearly 900 
 miles, and proclaimed the conquest of New 
 Mexico, containing a superficial area of 
 80,000 square miles, though numbering 
 only about 80,000 inhabitants. Considered 
 as a march, for both infantry and artillery, 
 it has been deemed one of the most re 
 markable achievements on record. 
 
 The American general now proceeded to 
 establish a territorial government for New 
 Mexico, making Charles Bent the chief 
 executive. Leaving Doniphan as military 
 commander in the province, on the 2oth of 
 September, Kearney left Santa Fe, with 
 400 dragoons, for California. He in 
 structed Doniphan, that on the arrival of 
 the 2nd regiment of Missouri volunteers, 
 under Colonel Price, who were daily ex 
 pected, he was to leave him in com 
 mand at that place, and proceed with his 
 own regiment, and some additional forces, 
 * Doniphan s Expedition; by Hughes. 
 
 VOL. II. 4 F 
 
 to Chihuahua, and there report to General 
 Wool. 
 
 On the 20th of October, when about 
 300 miles west of Santa Fe, Kearney met 
 Christopher Carson, who had been ordered 
 with fifteen men, by Fremont, to convey 
 despatches to the government at Wash 
 ington. From him he learned that Fre 
 mont had already taken possession of Cali 
 fornia. Selecting one hundred of the 
 dragoons, he ordered the remainder to 
 return to Santa Fe; and directing Carson 
 to resign his despatches, to be taken 
 on to Washington by Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
 Kearney, under the direction of Carson as 
 a guide, proceeded on his way to Cali 
 fornia. 
 
 On the 28th of September, three days 
 after Kearney departed for California, 
 Colonel Sterling Price arrived, with the 
 2nd regiment of Missouri volunteers, when- 
 Colonel Doniphan made preparations for 
 his march upon Chihuahua, to join Gen 
 eral Wool. Before his departure, how 
 ever, on the llth of October, he received 
 an order from Kearnev, dated " Near La 
 Joya," to march against the Navajo Indians, 
 who had long been a terror and scourge 
 to New Mexico and the neighbouring 
 provinces, having recently killed several 
 of the inhabitants, and taken captive a 
 number of women and children. Before 
 starting, Doniphan, the more thoroughly to 
 scour the Indian country, divided his regi 
 ment into three parlies: one, under Colonel 
 Jackson, to take a southern route ; another, 
 under Major Gilpin, to pursue a northern 
 course; while Doniphan headed the third, 
 and took a central range. They were all 
 to meet at Bear Springs, bringing in the 
 chiefs whom they might succeed in captur 
 ing, and there to hold a council. A detach 
 ment, under Captain Walter, at the same 
 time, went down the Rio Grande, to con 
 voy a train of merchant waggons destined 
 for the Chihuahua trade. They were here 
 menaced by a Mexican force ; but the 300 
 dragoons returned by Kearney fortunately 
 came up, and joining the escort, they 
 proved too strong to be successfully at 
 tacked. 
 
 The three detachments of Doniphan s 
 force now set forward ; and, after thrilling 
 adventures among the savages, enduring 
 extraordinary hardships, crossing unex 
 plored mountain heights and gorges, and 
 losing several of their men from exposure, 
 thinly clad as they were, to the severe 
 
 581 
 
PLAINS OF THE DEAD."] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 climate of the mountains at that season of 
 the year, they accomplished the object of 
 the expedition. A treaty was signed at 
 Bear Springs, on the 22nd of November, 
 by the terms of which the Navajoes bound 
 themselves to cease their depredations on 
 the New Mexicans, and to become the 
 friends of the United States. 
 
 Doniphan now prepared for his expe 
 dition to Chihuahua. Yalnesde was se 
 lected as the place of rendezvous for the 
 troops who were to accompany him. In 
 the latter part of December he commenced 
 his march, with about 800 men. Ten pieces 
 of artillery were to be sent on from Santa 
 Fe. His force was moved in three divi 
 sions, with his baggage- waggons and mer 
 chant trains in convoy. Marching through 
 unknown regions, and across a dreary 
 desert of ninety miles, called El Jornanada 
 de los Muertos* where there was neither 
 water, food, nor fuel, was a perilous 
 enterprise, and attended with peculiar 
 trials. The desert crossed, at Donanna the 
 army obtained refreshment. Proceeding 
 in the direction of Paso del Norte, as they 
 approached Bracito, on the 25th of Decem 
 ber, they were suddenly met by a force of 
 Mexicans, numbering nearly 1,000, under 
 General Ponce de Leon. An officer, bear 
 ing a black flag, was dispatched by the 
 Mexican general to the American com 
 mander, demanding that the latter should 
 appear before him. Compliance with the 
 demand was at once decidedly declined, 
 when the messenger haughtily informed 
 him that they neither gave nor expected 
 quarter. The Mexicans advanced, and, as 
 soon as they were within range, the Ameri 
 cans opened upon them with so fatal a 
 fire, that, at the third round, they fled in 
 confusion, leaving 200 of their dead and 
 wounded behind them. The American 
 loss was but seven wounded and nine 
 killed. Among the spoils was a fine piece 
 of ordnance, and, more welcome still to 
 men who had been several days on short 
 allowance, ample stores of bread and wine. 
 
 On the 27th of December, Doniphan 
 reached El Paso del Norte, a town of about 
 3,000 inhabitants. In this delightful local 
 ity the troops rested a month, taking time 
 to get fully recruited before pushing on to 
 
 * " The Journey of the Dead." Its character 
 vindicated its title to this mournful appellation an 
 arid plain of ninety miles, strewed with the bones 
 of animals that had perished of hunger and thirst 
 little hillocks of stone and the solitary cross, erected 
 582 
 
 Chihuahua, which still lay 300 miles dis 
 tant. While here they learned that Gen 
 eral "Wool was not at Chihuahua. Doni- 
 phan s artillery reached him on the 1st of 
 February, 1847, having encountered perils 
 almost insurmountable on the way. 
 
 On the 8th of February, the combined 
 
 force, now numbering 924 men, resumed 
 
 its march ; and, for twenty days, pushed 
 
 patiently on towards their destination. They 
 
 | encountered, as they went from the Rio 
 
 i Grande, another desert, some sixty-five 
 
 ! miles across, in which their sufferings from 
 
 ! thirst became intense. Some of the men, 
 
 | as well as many of the horses, became so 
 
 j exhausted that they lay down to die. A 
 
 copious shower of rain, however, came on 
 
 the 16th, and relieved their sufferings. 
 
 On the 17th they reached the Laguna de 
 
 los Potos, where they remained one day to 
 
 rest; and, on the 18th, resumed their 
 
 march. 
 
 At length, on the 28th of February, they 
 arrived within fifteen miles of Chihuahua, 
 when a large body of Mexicans, numbering 
 1,600, was discovered drawn up at the pass 
 of Sacramento, an almost impregnable posi 
 tion, on a ridge between the Sacramento and 
 Seco rivers. As the position commanded 
 the road, Doniphan had no alternative but 
 to make the attack. His forces had crossed 
 the Seco, and were deploying on the table 
 land, when a body of Mexican cavalry, 800 
 in number, under General Conde, dashed 
 from its cover, and galloped furiously on 
 the American right. The battery, under 
 command of Major Clark, numbering six 
 pieces, instantly opened fire; but neither 
 the first nor the second discharge could 
 arrest the progress of the enemy, who, 
 closing his ranks, came rushing on. At 
 the third discharge, however, the cavalry 
 broke, and fled in confusion to the Mexican 
 rear, where they rallied behind a redoubt. 
 The Americans now attacked this with 
 artillery; Captain Weightman, who ad 
 vanced with two howitzers, supported by 
 Captain Reed s company of horse, and then 
 "by Colonel Mitchell, delivering his fire 
 with deadly effect. After a short struggle 
 the Mexicans abandoned their works, and 
 fled to the mountains, pursued by the 
 American cavalry. In the meantime the 
 
 by pious hands, marking the spot where some 
 Christian had fallen a victim of the savage, of the 
 robber, or of the desert itself. No water no 
 animal life no sign of habitation nothing but a 
 vast desert. Benton. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [DCLMPHAN S TRIUMPHS. 
 
 Mexicans had planted some of their artil 
 lery on the Cerro Sacramento a pile of 
 volcanic rocks to cover the retreat. The 
 fire of the American cannon soon silenced 
 these pieces ; and the Rancho Sacramento 
 was then attacked, and successfully carried. 
 The Mexicans were thus driven from their 
 last position, and the victory was complete. 
 The American loss was but two killed and 
 seven wounded ; while that of the Mexicans 
 was a hundred killed, and forty prisoners. 
 Doniphan also captured ten pieces of artil 
 lery, ten waggons, and a large amount of 
 provisions. 
 
 On the 1st day of March, Doniphan 
 took formal possession of Chihuahua, in the 
 name of the United States government. 
 He now ascertained that Wool was at 
 Saltillo. After remaining at Chihuahua 
 several weeks, to recruit his troops, he set 
 out, in the latter part of April, to join 
 "Wool, and reached Saltillo on the 22nd of 
 May. The term of service of his men 
 expired on the 1st of May; Doniphan, 
 therefore, remained but three days at Sal 
 tillo, and left on the 25th for Monterey. 
 Here his corps was complimented in a public 
 order by General Taylor, who allowed them 
 to take home, as trophies, the seventeen 
 pieces of ordnance they had captured from 
 the enemy. Pursuing their journey with 
 rapid steps, they reached Matamoras about 
 the 1st of June. Here they embarked for 
 New Orleans, and, arriving on the 15th, 
 were discharged from the service of the 
 United States: they then embarked in 
 steamers for St. Louis, and thence to 
 their several homes in Missouri. 
 
 Thus this corps of volunteers, drawn from 
 the quiet pursuits of private life, had, in little 
 more than a year, travelled, by land and 
 water, over mountains and through deserts, 
 a distance exceeding 5,000 miles. Mr. 
 Benton, in his address, on occasion of the 
 welcome accorded to the corps on its return 
 to St. Louis, concluded as follows : " You 
 arrive here to-day absent one year ; march 
 ing and fighting all the time ; bringing 
 trophies of cannon and standards from fields 
 that were unknown to you before you set 
 out, and only grieving that you could not 
 have gone further. Ten pieces of cannon 
 which rolled out of Chihuahua to arrest 
 your march, now roll through the streets of 
 St. Louis, to grace your triumphal return. 
 Many standards, all pierced with bullets 
 while waving over the heads of the enemy 
 at the Sacramento, now wave at the head 
 
 of your column. The black flag, brought 
 to the Brocito, to indicate the refusal of that 
 quarter which its bearers so soon needed 
 and received, now takes its place among 
 your trophies, and hangs drooping in their 
 nobler presence. To crown the whole to 
 make public and private happiness go 
 together to spare the cypress where the 
 laurel hangs in clusters this long and 
 perilous march, with all its accidents of 
 fields and camp, presents an incredibly 
 small list of comrades lost. Almost all 
 return ; and the joy of families resounds, 
 intermingled with the applauses of the 
 state." 
 
 A parallel has been drawn by an Ameri 
 can author between the march of Doni 
 phan and that of Xenophon, of olden time. 
 The 10,000 Greeks who had followed the 
 standard of Cyrus the younger, after the 
 decisive battle of Canaxa, and the fall of 
 that ambitious prince, found themselves 
 2,000 miles from their native home, sur 
 rounded by a victorious enemy, without 
 money, without provisions, and without a 
 leader. The Greek philosopher, historian, 
 and general, led them out of the hostile 
 country, and over a mountainous region, 
 from the centre of Persia to Chrysopolis, a , 
 distance of 3,500 miles, in 215 days, having 
 been absent fifteen months. Doniphan led 
 his band through New Mexico, across the 
 dreary desert, El Jornanada de los Muertos, 
 to Chihuahua, to Saltillo, to the mouth of the 
 Rio Grande, and thence to their homes in 
 Missouri, in twelve months, over a region 
 of 5,000 miles in extent, less known and 
 more desolate than the American moun 
 tains. Xenophon s march was a retreat, 
 while that of Doniphan was a succession of 
 victories. Literature has shed an unfading 
 lustre upon the former; the latter should 
 not be forgotten for want of a fitting 
 record.* 
 
 Although the conquest of New Mexico 
 had been bloodless, it was not destined to 
 be held so cheaply. Soon after the de 
 parture of Doniphan, an organised con 
 spiracy was formed, through the machina 
 tions of the men who had been displaced 
 from oifice, to throw off the American yoke. 
 The plan contemplated a general insur 
 rection and overthrow of the Americans 
 on Christmas night. But the plot was dis 
 covered, and, as it was supposed, suppressed. 
 On the 15th of January, 1847, however, 
 Governor Bent, Sheriff Elliott, and twenty- 
 * Battles of America. 
 
 583 
 
AMERICANS IN CALIFORNIA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 three others, were massacred at Fernando 
 de Taos, and many more were murdered 
 at other places. On the 20th, Colonel 
 Price, the military commandant at Santa 
 Fe, received information that a large 
 body of New Mexicans and Indians were ! 
 approaching to attack the place. His num- ! 
 bers were at this time so reduced by sick- i 
 ness that he could muster scarcely 400 
 men. With these, consisting of cavalry, ! 
 infantry, and artillery, he marched out 
 against the foe on the 23rd. He found 
 them, about 1,500 in number, strongly 
 posted near the village of Covoda, and, 
 after an engagement of an hour and a- half, 
 defeated and dispersed them. His loss 
 was but two killed and six wounded ; that 
 of the enemy was thirty-six in all. Rein 
 forced by 180 men, under Captain Burgwin, 
 Price, on the 29th, again encountered the 
 enemy at the mountain gorge called the 
 Pass of Einbudo, near Lagoga, and routed 
 them, killing twenty, and wounding sixty. 
 
 On the 1st of February, the Americans 
 reached the top of the Taos mountains, 
 where the snow was two feet in depth ; and, 
 on the 2nd, quartered at Rio Chiciti. On 
 the 3rd, they reached Fernando de Taos, 
 where Governor Bent and his party were 
 massacred. They found the village evacu 
 ated, the enemy having retreated to the 
 Indian town of Puebla de Taos. a strongly- 
 fortified post, the key to which was a 
 church, and two pyramidal structures, 
 several storeys in height, and pierced for 
 rifles, the latter surrounded by a wall. The 
 Americans commenced the attack on the 
 3rd, with a 6-pounder and howitzer ; but 
 their ammunition waggons not having 
 come up, after continuing the offensive for 
 two hours, they were obliged to desist for 
 the day. On the 4th, however, it was 
 renewed with the 6-pounder and two 
 howitzers. After two hours firing, an 
 assault was ordered on the church, which 
 was repulsed, and Burgwin and several 
 dragoons were killed. As yet there was 
 no practical breach ; but ladders were 
 planted, and a hole cut with axes, through 
 which fire was thrown into the church. 
 An assault was now made on the door of 
 that building, but without results. 
 
 The 6-pounder being quickly run up 
 within sixty yards, a breach was made wide 
 enough to admit four men at once. Through 
 this a storming party entered, when it was 
 soon abandoned by the enemy. The two 
 pyramidal buildings were still in oosses- 
 
 sion of the enemjr ; but, night coming on, 
 further operations were postponed till the 
 following day. In the morning, however, 
 the Mexicans begged for mercy, and the 
 rebellion was suppressed. The loss of the 
 latter in all these engagements was 
 about 300 killed, and a much larger num 
 ber wounded. That of the Americans, 
 in killed and wounded, was about sixty. 
 Fifteen of the leading conspirators were 
 shot. To prevent a repetiiion of this in 
 surrection, and to protect the inhabitants 
 of New Mexico from Indian outrages, the 
 troops stationed in those regions were in 
 creased. Brief as it was, occupying but 
 fifteen days, this campaign of Colonel Price 
 was one of the most brilliant of the minor 
 operations of the war. 
 
 The narrative of events now requires a 
 return to California, an incidental mention 
 of the capture of which occurs in a previous 
 page. Lower, or Old California, was dis 
 covered by Zi mines, a Spanish explorer, 
 as early as 1534 ; but the first settlements 
 were made much later, in 1683, by the 
 Jesuit missionaries. The date of the dis 
 co very of New, or Upper California, is uncer 
 tain ; but it was subsequent to that of Old 
 California; and the first mission, that of San 
 Diego, was founded as late as 1769. Other 
 missions and presidios were established in 
 the following years, and the government of 
 the country, both spiritual and temporal, was 
 intrusted to certain monks of the order of 
 St. Francis, after which was named the 
 bay of San Francisco, it being discovered 
 about 1770. Under their guidance, and 
 the protection afforded by the military 
 posts in the vicinity of their missions, 
 numerous flourishing towns soon sprung 
 up, around which gathered thousands of the 
 natives, by whose labours in rearing herds, 
 and cultivating the most fertile parts of the 
 soil, the wealth and prosperity of the Jesuits 
 became immensely great. In 1803, eighteen, 
 missions had been established, with over 
 15,000 converts. The Spanish power in 
 California was overthrown by the Mexican 
 revolution in 1822, from which period the 
 missions declined in wealth and power, in 
 consequence of the interference of the 
 Mexican government with the vested rights 
 of the Franciscan fathers, which ultimately 
 resulted in their being utterly stripped of 
 all property, and the immense influence 
 that they hud enjoyed among the people. 
 
 The centralisation of power in the federal 
 capital, under the first administration of 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FREMONT S EXPEDITION. 
 
 Santa Anna, caused a rebellion in California 
 in 1836, which resulted in the expulsion of 
 the federal officials, and a declaration of 
 independence on the part of the Califor- 
 nians ; but in the following year, when the 
 excitement had subsided, the people came 
 back to their allegiance, and quietly sub 
 mitted to the new order of things. The 
 settlement of the country advanced, espe 
 cially from the immigration of foreigners, 
 the people of the United States being largely 
 represented. 
 
 On the 20th of October, Commodore 
 Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, under the 
 impression that the United States were at 
 war with Mexico, took forcible possession 
 of Monterey, and declared Upper Cali 
 fornia to be United States territory. Dis 
 covering his mistake, the following day 
 he hauled down his flag, surrendered the 
 city to the Mexican authorities, and made 
 such apology as the circumstances would 
 admit. This precipitate movement on his I 
 part, however, called for a change in the i 
 command, as a species of propitiatory offer- ] 
 ing to the Mexicans, lie was therefore 
 recalled, and Commodore John D. Sloat 
 was sent out as his successor. From this 
 period to the breaking out of the war in 
 1846, emigration from the United States to 
 California was extensive, and the country 
 gave promise of being rapidly Americanised. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, Com- ! 
 modore Sloat lay at Mazatlan, on the 
 Pacific coast, in the Savannah, a 44- ; 
 gun frigate, and nine smaller vessels, 
 which came and went as circumstances \ 
 required, keeping a close watch upon the 
 course of events in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 He had been advised, by the navy depart 
 ment, that war with Mexico might occur; 
 that he must be careful to observe the rela 
 tions of peace, unless they were violated by 
 the opposing party. Should this t;ike 
 place, however, he was, without further 
 notice, to employ his fleet for hostile pur 
 poses.* He had a line of active communi 
 cation across the continent, by moans of 
 different commercial houses; and on the 
 7th of June, he received, through that 
 channel, the important news of the victo 
 ries of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. 
 He was without specific instructions to 
 meet this particular state of affairs, as war 
 had not been declared ; but he came to a 
 prompt decision. He sailed northward the 
 
 Letter of the secretary of the navy to Commo 
 dore Sloat. 
 
 next day, leaving the Warren at Mazatlan 
 to wait further intelligence, and reached 
 Monterey on the 2nd of July. The pre 
 vious arrangement having been made, the 
 standard of the United States was raised 
 without opposition over Monterey. On 
 the 9th, San Francisco was taken posses 
 sion of by a part of the Pacific squadron, 
 under Commander Montgomery, and the 
 whole of the important bay of that name 
 became subject to the American flag. On 
 the 15th of July, the Congress arrived from 
 ValparaisOjUnderComrnodore Stockton, who 
 reported himself for duty to his senior 
 officer. As Commodore Sloat had now ac 
 complished the principal object of his mis 
 sion, and having remained longeron the Pa 
 cific coast than his health justified, he trans 
 ferred the command of the entire American 
 naval force in those waters to Commodore 
 Stockton, and, on the 29th of July, sailed 
 in the Levant for the United States. 
 
 Other important movements were trans 
 piring simultaneously with those which 
 have just been narrated. In the spring of 
 1845, Captain John C. Fremont, of the 
 topographical engineers, with a force of 
 sixty-two men, prepared for hunting and 
 Indian warfare, set out on an expedition 
 to explore the great basin and the maritime 
 region of Oregon and California. One of 
 the objects contemplated in the expedition 
 was the discovery of a new and shorter 
 route from the western base of the Rocky 
 Mountains to the mouth of the Columbia 
 river. The summer was spent in examin 
 ing that section of the Rocky Mountains 
 which gives rise to the Arkansas, the Rio 
 Grande del Norte, and the Rio Colorado of 
 California; and, in October, he encamped 
 on the shores of the Great Salt Luke. 
 Thence he pursued his course unmolested, 
 until, in January, 1846, he arrived in the 
 neighbourhood of Monterey, in California. 
 Halting his men one hundred miles short 
 of that place, he proceeded alone to ex 
 plain the object of his visit, and obtain 
 permission to enter the valley of the 
 Joaquin. At Monterey, where he arrived 
 on the 29th, he went direct to the residence 
 of the American consul, Thomas 0. Larkin, 
 who accompanied him on an official visit 
 to General De Castro, the military gov 
 ernor, to whom he made his wishes 
 known, and who granted the permission 
 asked for. Resting two days in Monterey, 
 and obtaining from Consul Larkin supplies 
 for his men, Fremont returned to his camp. 
 
 585 
 
FREMONT IN CALIFORNIA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 Availing himself of the conceded privilege, 
 the general had approached within thirty 
 miles of Monterey, when he was warned 
 by Larkin, that the military governor 
 was preparing an armed force to capture 
 his party, under the pretext that, behind 
 the veil of a peaceful mission, he was 
 coming to incite the American settlers to 
 revolt. Thus forearmed, he took a strong 
 position on the summit of the Sierra, over 
 looking Monterey; intrenched it, hoisted 
 the flag of the United States, and calmly 
 awaiting the approach of De Castro and his 
 forces, the heroic band determined to de 
 fend themselves to the last man. With his 
 telescope, Fremont could look down from 
 his eagle height upon the movements of the 
 Mexican governor at the missionary station 
 of San Juan. De Castro advanced within 
 about four miles, with 200 men, and, after re 
 connoitring the position of his opponent, de 
 clined to approach within attacking distance. 
 
 After waiting till the 10th of March, 
 Fremont abandoned his position, and com 
 menced his march for Oregon, intending 
 by that route to return to the United 
 States. Moving by slow marches, as the 
 state of his men and horses required, it was 
 not till the month of May that he reached 
 the Great Tlamoth Lake, within the limits 
 of the Oregon territory, but near the bor 
 ders of California. Here he found himself 
 surrounded by hostile Indians, while before 
 him rose the snowy summits of the Sierra 
 Nevada. 
 
 On the evening of the 9th of May, two 
 messengers reached Fremont at the north 
 ern end of the Tlamoth Lake, who informed 
 him that Lieutenant Gillespie, of the United 
 States army, was in search of him, with 
 despatches from the government. At day 
 light the next morning, Fremont, accom 
 panied by Kit Carson and eight other men, 
 started off in pursuit of Lieutenant Gillespie. 
 Following the western shore of the Tlamoth 
 Lake, at night they providentially met the 
 lieutenant, who had left Washington in No 
 vember, by the way of Vera Cruz, city of 
 Mexico, Mazatlan, and Monterey, to find 
 Fremont, who had suffered his party to 
 retire to sleep without appointing a watch ; 
 and during the night, ere an alarm could 
 be given, hostile Indians stole within the 
 camp, and four of his men were murdered. 
 He now removed the whole party further 
 south, into the valley of the Sacramento. 
 At this place, he learned that De Castro 
 had issued a proclamation requiring all 
 
 foreigners to leave the country; and was 
 collecting an army to enforce his orders. 
 Fremont determined at once to protect his 
 countrymen, and even to retaliate, not 
 merely in the defeat of De Castro, but in 
 the total overthrow of the Mexican autho 
 rity in California, and the establishment of 
 an independent government. Sending 
 Lieutenant Gillespie down the river, to 
 secure the co-operation of the fleet, Fremont 
 commenced operations. It was on the 6th 
 of June that this determination was formed, 
 and before the commencement of hostilities 
 between the United States and Mexico 
 could have been known in California. On 
 the llth of June, a convoy of 200 horses, 
 belonging to De Castro, which were being 
 taken from Sonoma to his camp at Santa 
 Clara, with an officer and fourteen men, 
 were surprised and captured by twelve of 
 Fremont s party. Word was sent to De 
 Castro, that if he wanted his horses he 
 must come and take them. On the 15th, 
 the military post of Sonoma was surprised 
 at daylight, and taken, with nine brass 
 cannon, 250 muskets, and other munitions of 
 war. Hurrying to the Sacramento to obtain 
 recruits, Fremont had scarcely arrived 
 there, when an express reached him from the 
 garrison at Sonoma, consisting of only four 
 teen men, announcing thatDe Castro s whole 
 force was crossing the bay to attack that 
 place. He immediately started to its relief, 
 with ninety mounted riflemen ; and, though 
 eighty miles distant, they reached Sonoma 
 in thirty-six hours ; but not a moment 
 too soon. Scouts were sent out to recon 
 noitre ; and a party of twenty encountering 
 the vanguard of De Castro s force a squad 
 ron of seventy dragoons, commanded by 
 De la Torre attacked and defeated it, 
 killing and wounding eight, and taking a 
 number of prisoners. Meantime, two of 
 Fremont s men, sent on an express, had 
 been captured by the commander of the 
 dragoons, bound to trees, and cut w> pieces 
 with knives. To avenge this barbarous act, 
 three of his men who had been taken prison 
 ers were shot. De la Torre had now gone 
 to the south, and no enemy remained on 
 the north side of the bay of San Francisco. 
 On the 5th of July, Fremont assembled 
 the Americans at Sonoma, explained to 
 them the condition of things, and recom 
 mended an immediate declaration of inde 
 pendence. His advice was followed; and 
 being selected to take the chief direction 
 of affairs, he accepted the position, and 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CALIFORNIA TAKEN 
 
 raised the flag of California!! independence, 
 bearing upon its folds the figure of that 
 aboriginal inhabitant of the Pacific forests 
 the grizzly bear. 
 
 Fremont, now at the head of the Califor- 
 nian battalion, which numbered 160 men, 
 moved his camp to Sutler s Fort, or New 
 Helvetia, of which he took possession, 
 placing in command Mr. Kern, one of his 
 topographical corps. An attack on De 
 Castro was the next object which occupied 
 his attention. The Mexican commander 
 was at Santa Clara, an intrenched post 
 on the upper or south side of the bay 
 of San Francisco, with 400 men, and two 
 pieces of field artillery. A circuit of more 
 than a hundred miles must be traversed to 
 reach him. On the 6th of July, leaving 
 about fifty men in garrison, the pursuit 
 commenced by a body of 106 mounted 
 riflemen, commanded by Fremont in person, 
 who, in three days, arrived at the American 
 settlements on the Rio de los Ameri 
 canos. Learning that De Castro had aban 
 doned Santa Clara, and was retreating 
 south toward Ciudad de los Angeles (the 
 City of the Angels), the seat of the civil 
 governor of the Californians, and 400 miles 
 distant, Fremont instantly resolved to 
 pursue him to that place. Just as he 
 was on the point of starting, he re 
 ceived intelligence from Commodore Sloat 
 that hostilities with Mexico had been com 
 menced ; that Monterey, on the coast of 
 California, had been taken by the naval 
 forces of the United States ; and that the 
 American flag had been raised there on the 
 7th of July, just two days subsequent to the 
 declaration of Californian independence at 
 Sonoma; and that the fleet would co 
 operate in the pursuit of De Castro and 
 his forces. The grizzly-bear flag of Cali 
 fornia was immediately struck, and the 
 star-spangled banner of the American 
 Union hoisted, amid the hearty greetings, 
 and to the intense satisfaction, of the 
 Americans. 
 
 After receiving the message of Com 
 modore Sloat, Fremont hastened with his 
 force to join him at Monterey. On his 
 arrival, he repaired at once, in company 
 with Gillespie, now his second in command, 
 on board the commodore s ship, when mu 
 tual explanations ensued. "I wish to 
 know," said the commodore, "by what 
 authority you are acting. Mr. Gillespie 
 has told me nothing. He came to Mazatlan, 
 and I sent him to Monterey ; but I know 
 
 nothing." Commodore Sloat heard with 
 astonishment that Fremont had not re 
 ceived any specific instructions from the 
 president to commence hostilities, having 
 acted on his own responsibility in the 
 movement he had initiated ; but in accord 
 ance, as he presumed, with the views of the 
 government at Washington. Sloat had 
 supposed that Fremont was acting under 
 orders from the secretary of war, knowing 
 that Gillespie had been sent out as a special 
 messenger to him ; and he had relied upon 
 that, in some measure, for the justification 
 of his own acts. Calling to mind the 
 premature conduct of Commodore Jones 
 (mentioned in a previous page) in seizing 
 Monterey, and being apprehensive that 
 his information of hostilities having com 
 menced received, as it was, through in 
 direct and unofiicial channels might prove 
 to be erroneous, he became uneasy, lest 
 fault should be found with his own act. On 
 the contrary, Sloat was censured, and a 
 letter of recall written on the 13th of 
 August, on account of his inactivity in not 
 sooner commencing the offensive in Cali 
 fornia. Previous to the date of the letter, 
 however, as already stated, he had left 
 the Pacific coast on his return to the 
 United States. 
 
 When Fremont and his mounted riflemen 
 arrived in the city of Monterey, a British 
 squadron, comprising the Collingwood, of 
 80 guns, and other vessels of war, under 
 Admiral Seymour, lay in the harbour. 
 The impression made upon the British 
 officers by the appearance of Fremont and 
 his men, is thus recorded by one of them : 
 " During our stay in Monterey, Captain 
 Fremont and his party arrived. They 
 naturally excited curiosity. These men 
 had passed years in the wilds, living upon 
 their own resources ; they were a curious 
 set. A vast cloud of dust appeared first, 
 and thence, in long file, emerged this 
 wildest wild party. Fremont rode ahead 
 a spare, active-looking man dressed in a 
 blouse and leggings, and wearing a felt hat. 
 After him came five Delaware Indians, 
 who were his body-guard, and have been 
 with him through all his wanderings; 
 they had charge of two baggage horses. 
 The rest, many of them blacker than the 
 Indians, rode two-and-two, the rifle held 
 by one hand across the pommel of tho 
 saddle. His original men are principally 
 backwoodsmen, from the state of Tennessee, 
 and the banks of the upper waters of the 
 
 587 
 
ARMY OF THE PACIFIC.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 Missouri. He has one or two with him 
 who enjoy a high reputation in the prairies. 
 Kit Carson is as well known as the 
 Duke is in Europe. The dress of these 
 men was principally a long, loose coat of 
 deerskin, tied with thongs in front ; trousers 
 of the same, of their own manufacture, 
 which, when wet through, they take off, 
 scrape well inside with a knife, and put on 
 as soon as dry. The saddles were of various 
 fashions; though these, with a large drove 
 of horses, and a brass field-gun, were things 
 they had picked up about California."* 
 
 When Commodore Stockton assumed the 
 command, he prepared to co-operate ener 
 getically with Fremont in his measures for 
 the completion of the conquest of Califor 
 nia. The battalion was reorganised, with 
 Fremont as commander, and Gillespie 
 as captain ; and taking service under 
 Stockton, they ranked as a part of the 
 forces of the naval commander. A corps 
 of sailors and marines was also organised, 
 to act on land, under the command of 
 Stockton, in co-operation with the " naval 
 battalion," under Fremont. 
 
 A movement was now projected on 
 Ciudad de los Angeles, information having 
 been received that General De Castro, in 
 conjunction with the civil governor, Don 
 Pio Pico, had then an armed force of 600 
 men. Stockton and Fremont both em 
 barked their forces at Monterey those of 
 the latter, in the Cyane, for San Diego; 
 followed, on the 1st of August, by the 
 former, in the Congress, bound to San 
 Pedro, both places being below and within 
 easy marching distance of Ciudad de los 
 Angeles. 
 
 Stockton having, on his way down, 
 landed, and captured Santa Barbara, pro 
 ceeded to San Pedro, where he disembarked 
 his force, numbering about 300, with only 
 ninety muskets, and some light pieces of 
 ordnance. San Diego, Fremont s point of 
 landing, lay further down, and was selected 
 for placing his force in a position to intercept 
 the Mexican troops, should they attempt 
 to retreat into Lower California. Fremont 
 soon after formed a junction with Stockton, 
 and they moved on towards Los Angeles. On 
 their approach, however, the enemy hastily 
 broke up his camp, and retreated towards 
 the province of Sonora. On the 13th of 
 August, the combined force entered, and 
 took quiet possession of the capital of 
 
 * Four Years in the Pacific; by Lieutenant Frede 
 rick Walpole. 
 
 588 
 
 the Californians, with the buildings, the 
 archives, and all other public property. 
 
 Fremont, with a detachment of his 
 mounted riflemen, immediately started in 
 pursuit of the leaders of the Mexican 
 forces, and succeeded in overtaking and 
 capturing Jose Maria Flores and Don 
 Jesus Pico, the brother of the governor, 
 and a few others. On giving their parole 
 not to bear arms against the government 
 of the United States, unless exchanged, 
 they were all restored to liberty. The 
 native Californians now came forward in 
 considerable numbers, and promised alle 
 giance to the American government. 
 
 Tranquillity having been thus restored, 
 Commodore Stockton, on the 17th of 
 August, issued his proclamation ; in which 
 he declared to the people of California, 
 that that province was now a territory of 
 the United States, and would soon be pro 
 vided with a civil government. But until 
 that time it was under military law, to be 
 administered by himself, the commander- 
 in-chief, or by a military governor whom 
 he should appoint. The people were 
 ordered to meet, on the loth of September, 
 in the several towns, and elect their offi 
 cers under the new government. Military 
 men, who chose to remain, would be re 
 quired to take an oath to support the ex 
 isting government. He proclaimed a tariff 
 of duties, and established a tonnage-tax on 
 all foreign vessels. 
 
 Stockton now appointed Fremont mili 
 tary governor of California, and Gillespie 
 secretary. On the 28th of August, Kit 
 Carson, with a guard of fourteen men, was 
 dispatched by the way of Santa Fe, to 
 carry reports of their proceedings to Wash 
 ington. It was on this overland journey 
 that he met General Kearney, and com 
 municated to him the news of the con 
 quest of California, as mentioned in a pre 
 vious page. Carson being compelled to 
 return with Kearney, his despatches, as 
 already stated, were forwarded to Wash 
 ington by Mr. Fitzpatrick. They reached 
 their destination just in time to enable the 
 executive to congratulate the nation upon 
 the success of the army of the Pacific, in 
 i his annual message to congress. 
 
 On the 2nd of September, having com 
 pleted his arrangements at Los Angeles, 
 ! Stockton returned to San Pedro, and pro 
 ceeded with the Congress to Monterey, 
 where everything was tranquil; though 
 rumours were current of aa intended 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PROGRESS OF THE ARMY. 
 
 rising among the Wah-lah-wah-lah In 
 dians at the north, threatening an attack 
 on Suiter s fort. Stockton immediately 
 sent the Savannah to San Francisco, and 
 followed himself in the Congress, to be in a 
 position, if necessary, to co-operate with 
 his sailors and marines in protecting the 
 threatened settlement. At San Francisco, 
 however, it was ascertained, that though 
 there was dissatisfaction and discontent 
 among the Indians, yet that the appre 
 hended danger had been greatly exagge 
 rated. The rumour, however, having 
 reached Fremont, he started at once for 
 the scene of trouble, leaving his battalion 
 behind him, and accompanied by only 
 three tried men. Reaching the Wah-lah- 
 wah-lah encampment, he, with his three 
 companions, went boldly among them. 
 While they were in a state of excitement, 
 the Indians told him of their wrongs how 
 they had been robbed, and one of their 
 young chiefs killed by the settlers. Fre 
 mont promised them redress if they would 
 follow his advice. He said he had very 
 pressing duties, and could not attend to 
 their complaints till the spring ; but that he | 
 would then meet them, and have justice, 
 enforced in their behalf. In the meantime 
 he advised them to go off on a winter s 
 hunt; promised that he would let one of; 
 his own men go with them, bearing the > 
 United States flag ; and declared that who 
 ever struck that flag struck him. The 
 Indians were perfectly subdued by Fre 
 mont s appeal. They abandoned the idea 
 of a forcible redress of their grievances, I 
 and gave ten young warriors to go with i 
 the Americans. Those Indians proved to j 
 be generally useful, and of great service to 
 the army in particular.* 
 
 While Fremont was still among the 
 Wah-lah-wah-lah Indians, and Stockton at 
 San Francisco, a courier arrived from Gil- 
 lespie, who had been left in command at Los 
 Angeles, with news of a fresh rising at that 
 point, and that a large force was besieging 
 him in the government-house of that capital. 
 Stockton immediately dispatched the Sa 
 vannah, Captain Mervine, with 400 marines 
 on board, to San Pedro, for the purpose of 
 affording succour to the besieged party. 
 He also dispatched a messenger to Fremont, 
 bidding him to hasten to San Francisco 
 with what force he could muster ; and ex 
 erted himself to the utmost to collect the 
 American settlers, to obtain a sufficient 
 * Upham s Life of Fremont. 
 
 VOL. II. 4 G 
 
 force to restore the authority of the United 
 States. On the 12th of October, Fremont 
 reached San Francisco, and immediately 
 embarked with a small corps of volunteers, 
 numbering about 100, on board of a trad 
 ing vessel, bound to Santa Barbara, where 
 he was to procure horses, and advance at 
 once upon the enemy, who was supposed to 
 be encamped in the neighbourhood of 
 Ciudad de los Angeles. Stockton sailed in 
 the Congress, in company with the vessel 
 which bore Fremont s volunteers ; but they 
 separated in a fog. While sailing down 
 the coast, the Congress was spoken by a 
 merchantman, bound to the northward, and 
 despatches were received from Lieutenant 
 Maddox, in command at Monterey, bring 
 ing the important intelligence that the 
 city was threatened with an assault, and 
 asking for reinforcements. Running into 
 the bay, Stockton landed two officers, fifty 
 men, and some pieces of ordnance, and 
 then proceeded onward. At San Pedro, the 
 commodore found the Savannah, on board 
 of which were Gillespie and his whole 
 party, who had been forced into a capitula 
 tion with General Flores. Previously to 
 this measure, however, an unsuccessful at 
 tempt was made by Captain Mervine, with 
 the marines from the Savannah, to relieve 
 him. They had been landed, and a march 
 commenced upon the capital ; but, by some 
 oversight, no artillery was provided ; and, 
 on encountering the enemy twelve miles 
 from San Pedro, a skirmish took place, 
 in which the Mexicans had the advantage 
 of a field-piece, which they used with effect. 
 The disadvantage under which he was act 
 ing, and the loss of several men, induced 
 Captain Mervine to fall back upon San 
 Pedro, and await the arrival of Stockton. 
 
 The commodore, finding the roadstead at 
 San Pedro too much exposed to the prevalent 
 gales of the season, proceeded further south 
 to San Diego, where, although not so near 
 his great point of attack, there was an excel 
 lent harbour for such vessels as could 
 enter it. On his arrival off the harbour, he 
 was informed by the officer left in com 
 mand, that this place was also in a state of 
 siege ; that the provisions were getting low, 
 and that he required reinforcements. On 
 attempting to enter, the Congress struck, 
 and she was compelled to anchor outside. 
 
 The Savannah was now dispatched to 
 Monterey, to forward operations there, while 
 the Congress proceeded to San Pedro, to 
 perfect the necessarv arrangements, but 
 
 589 
 
KEARNEY S MARCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 returned immediately to San Diego. This 
 time she was successful in crossing the bar, 
 but got aground within the bay. While 
 all hands were at work with the spars, to 
 shore her up, and prevent her from tum 
 bling over, the insurgents made an attack 
 upon the town of San Diego, a mile from 
 the entrance to the bay. Notwithstanding 
 the perilous position of the ship, as soon as 
 a sufficient force could be landed, the enemy 
 was repelled by a charge made under the 
 orders of Lieutenant Miner, of the navy, 
 and Gillespie. The little town, which had 
 been deserted by the male inhabitants, was 
 in want of supplies. Commodore Stockton, 
 after feeding and clothing the women and 
 children with stores from his ship, took 
 possession of the place, built a fort for its 
 protection, and sent out parties to obtain 
 cattle and horses, holding in check the 
 surrounding inhabitants and Indians. Pio 
 neers were also sent out to ascertain the 
 position of the enemy, who was discovered 
 encamped on the San Bernardo, about thirty 
 miles distant. An expedition was imme 
 diately got ready, under Gillespie, to sur 
 prise the enemy in their camp. Before 
 he was ready to march, however, Stock 
 ton received a despatch from Kearney, 
 who had effected the passage of the moun 
 tains, expressing a wish that he would open 
 a communication with him, and inform him 
 of the state of affairs in California. The 
 direction of Gillespie s movement was im 
 mediately changed, and that officer was 
 ordered to make a junction, as soon as pos 
 sible, with the new reinforcement. This 
 was on the 4th of December. 
 
 Kearney, it will be remembered, was left, 
 in the narrative of events in a previous 
 page, pursuing his tedious way, under the 
 guidance of Kit Carson, to the shores of the 
 Pacific. Crossing the Rio Grande near 
 lat. 35 N., he directed his course across 
 the Sierra de los Mimbres. He was now 
 in the country of the fierce and warlike 
 Apaches, and cut off from all reliable com 
 munication with either New Mexico or the 
 United States. The Indians, however, 
 appeared friendly, and furnished the Ame 
 ricans with four young warriors as guides 
 to the expedition. 
 
 As Kearney penetrated further into the 
 country of the Apaches, they showed them 
 selves more frequently and in larger num 
 bers. One of their principal chiefs, named 
 Redslave, rode into the encampment with 
 some twenty of his warriors and their 
 590 
 
 squaws. Those who had lived and ranged 
 along the confines of civilisation on the 
 Mexican and Californian frontiers, had ob 
 tained and learned the use of fire-arms, and 
 were habited in the slashed trousers and con- 
 picuous girdles of the Mexican ranchero ; 
 but the greater portion of them, with dish- 
 veiled hair, and but a slight departure 
 from nature s costume, had a wild and 
 savage appearance, and were armed with 
 bows and arrows, and stone-pointed lances. 
 Though some of the Apaches, here and 
 there, on the sides of the mountain rivulets, 
 cultivated small plots of corn, and others 
 engaged in trade (dealing in horses and 
 mules), the majority of the tribe were more 
 disposed to plunder and destroy than to till 
 the soil, or to buy and sell. The chief 
 just alluded to indicated the natural incli 
 nation of the tribe, in his address to 
 Kearney : " You fight for the soil. We 
 fight for plunder. We agree perfectly. 
 You have taken Santa Fe. Go on and take 
 Chihuahua and Sonora. We will go with 
 you. Their people are bad Christians. 
 Let us give them a good thrashing." It is, 
 perhaps, needless to say that the proposed 
 offensive alliance was declined. 
 
 Kearney now pursued his way through a 
 deep and winding gorge, enclosed on either 
 side by rugged steeps of rock of volcanic 
 origin, and along a narrow creek, until, on 
 the 20th of October, he reached the Gila 
 river. He here encamped, at the head of a 
 canon that opened into the hills beyond. 
 The next morning they commenced an 
 arduous journey over steep cliffs and 
 through gorges, across mountain-plains, 
 sometimes on the right bank, and then on 
 the left of the Gila, meeting with little to 
 interest and lighten the tedium of their 
 route, until, on the 10th of November, they 
 reached the ruins of the ancient Mexicans. 
 On their left were the remains of the walls 
 of four buildings; while piles of earth 
 showed wr -re others had been. One of the 
 buildings was still quite complete as a ruin ; 
 the others had all crumbled, except a few 
 pieces of low, broken wall. The large Casa 
 was fifty feet by forty, and had been four 
 storeys high ; but the floors and roof had 
 long since been burnt out. The charred ends 
 of the cedar-joints were still in the walls ; 
 being round sticks, about four inches in 
 diameter. There were four entrances 
 north, south, east, and west ; and the doors 
 were about four feet by two. There was 
 no sign of a fireplace in the building. The 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [KEARNEY S SUCCESS. 
 
 lower storey was filled with rubbish ; all 
 above it being open to the sky. The walls 
 were four feet thick at the bottom, and had 
 a curved inclination inward to the top. 
 The house was built of a sort of white 
 earth and pebbles, probably containing 
 lime, which abounded on the adjacent 
 grounds. The walls had been smoothed 
 outside, and plastered inside ; and the 
 surfaces still remained firm, although it 
 was evident that they had been exposed to 
 great heat from the fire. Some of the 
 rooms did not open into others, but had a 
 hole, a foot in diameter, to look through. 
 In other places were smaller holes. Two 
 hundred yards from this building, was a 
 mound, in a circle a hundred yards around 
 it. The centre was a hollow, twenty-five 
 yards in diameter, with two vamps or slopes 
 going down to its bottom. It was a well, 
 partially filled up. A similar one was seen 
 near Mount Dallas. A few yards further, 
 in the same direction, northward, was a 
 terrace, 300 feet long by 200 broad, and 
 about five feet high. Upon this was a pyra 
 mid, about eight feet high, and seventy-five 
 feet square at the top ; from which could be 
 overlooked the vast plain lying north-east 
 and west, on the left bank of the Gila. The 
 ground within view extended about fifteen 
 miles, all of which, it would seem, had been 
 irrigated by the waters of the Gila. Leav 
 ing the Casa, and turning towards the 
 Pimos, the invaders travelled at random 
 over the plain, which was covered with mos- 
 quete ; piles of earth and pottery being scat 
 tered, indiscriminately, in every direction. 
 
 On reaching the village of the Pimo In 
 dians, Kearney and his party were met with 
 a frank welcome. Applying to them for 
 provisions, the answer was " Bread is to 
 eat, not to sell. Take what you want." 
 Kearney inquired of a Pimo respecting the 
 ruins of the principal house he had seen. 
 " It is the Casa de Montezuma," he replied. 
 "It was built by the son of the most 
 beautiful woman who once dwelt on yonder 
 mountain. She was fair, and all the hand 
 some men came to court her ; but in vain. 
 When they came they paid tribute ; and 
 out of this small store she fed all people in 
 times of famine, and it did not diminish." 
 
 "While resting here, messengers from 
 the Maricapa tribe arrived, to inquire of 
 Kearney what his business was, and where 
 he was going. They said their people 
 
 * These details are gathered from the Rough 
 Notes of Captain A. K. Johnstone, aide-de-camD of 
 
 were at peace with all the world, except 
 some of their neighbours, the Apaches, and 
 that they did not desire any more enemies. 
 They were of course told to say to their 
 chief, that the only object of the Ameri 
 cans was to pass peaceably through their 
 country. 
 
 The Pimos and Maricapas, though living 
 close to each other, are distinct tribes, 
 speaking different languages. The latter 
 tribe once lived near the mouth of the 
 Gila. The former had long occupied their 
 present abodes, and were known to all the 
 trappers as a virtuous and industrious people. 
 The two tribes numbered over 2,000 souls.* 
 
 Crossing a wide desert, where neither 
 water nor grass could be obtained for 
 forty miles, the gallant invaders were for 
 awhile out of reach and sight of the Gila, 
 but again entered its valley at the Big- 
 Horn mountain, on the 15th of November. 
 As Kearney neared the boundaries of Cali 
 fornia, he heard rumours in the Indian 
 villages he passed through, of the insurrec 
 tion in Southern California. On reaching 
 the junction of the Gila with the Rio 
 Colorado, these rumours were confirmed. 
 Lieutenant Emory, of the topographical 
 engineers, with a reconnoitring party, on 
 the 23rd of November, captured a carrier 
 with the mail for Sonora ; which contained 
 letters recounting the affair at San Pedro, 
 where Captain Mervine, with his ma 
 rines, was prevented from, marching on 
 Los Angeles. The way-worn party now 
 pushed on ; and, on the 4th of Decem 
 ber, reached Warner s rancho, where they 
 learnt that Stockton was then at San 
 Diego, only thirty-three miles distant, and 
 immediately sent an express forward to 
 acquaint Stockton of their arrival, as 
 already mentioned. On the next day, 
 December 5th, Kearney was joined by 
 Gillespie, with the small party Stockton 
 had sent forward to his aid, consisting of 
 Lieutenant Beale, Midshipman Duncan, ten 
 carbiniers, and twenty-five men of the Cali 
 fornia battalion. From Gillespie, Kearney 
 learnt full particulars of the insurrection 
 in California, and of the measure taken 
 by Stockton to repress it. Gillespie also 
 reported the presence at San Pascual, ten 
 miles distant, of a mounted force of hostile 
 Californians, and Kearney immediately 
 dispatched Lieutenant Hammond, of the 
 1st dragoons, with a few men, to make a 
 
 General Kearney ; who was killed, December 8th, 
 at the battle of San Pascual. 
 
 501 
 
A SKIRMISH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 reconnaissance of them. Lieutenant Ham 
 mond returned at two o clock in the morning 
 of the 6th, with intelligence that the Califor- 
 nians were in force in the place mentioned ; 
 and Kearney determined that he would 
 march forward, and attack them by break 
 of day. Captain Johnstone, with twelve dra 
 goons, mounted on the best horses they had, 
 formed the advance. Then followed fifty 
 dragoons under Moore, mounted, with few 
 exceptions, on the tired mules they had 
 ridden from Santa Fe, 1,050 miles. Next 
 came twenty volunteers, under Gibson and 
 Gillespie ; and Lieutenant Davidson brought 
 up the rear with two mounted howitzers, 
 with dragoons to manage them. The 
 remainder of the force, under Major 
 Swords, was ordered to follow on the trail 
 with the baggage, and see to its safety. At 
 dawn, they approached the enemy at San 
 Pascual, the latter being already in their 
 saddles. Johnstone at once made a furious 
 charge upon them with the advance guard, 
 and was, in a short time after, supported by 
 the dragoons. The enemy soon gave way, 
 followed by Captain Moore and the dragoons 
 mounted on horses, in pursuit, distancing 
 those seated on mules. The Californians 
 were well mounted ; and after retreating 
 about half a mile, seeing an interval be 
 tween Moore and his advance and the re 
 mainder of the dragoons, they rallied their 
 whole force, and charged with their lances. 
 The advance dragoons thus suffered severely. 
 In a few minutes, however, the remainder of 
 the force came up, and the enemy made a 
 final retreat from the field. Johnstone was 
 shot dead atthe commencementof the action. 
 Moore, Lieutenant Hammond, and sixteen 
 non-commissioned officers and privates, were 
 also killed ; and Kearney, Gillespie, Gib 
 son, Lieutenant Warner, and eleven pri 
 vates, were wounded. Before the howit 
 zers could be brought into action, the mules 
 attached to one of them became frightened, 
 and freeing themselves from their driver, 
 dragged the gun into the ranks of the 
 enemy. On the morning of the 7th, having 
 provided ambulances for the wounded, 
 and interred the dead, the Americans pro 
 ceeded on their march ; when the enemy 
 showed himself, occupying the hills in their 
 front, but which were abandoned as the 
 former approached. Reaching San Ber 
 nardo, a party of the enemy took possession 
 of a hill near to it, and maintained their posi 
 tion until attacked by the American troops, 
 who quickly drove them from it, killing and 
 59.2 
 
 wounding five of the enemy, with no loss 
 to themselves. General Kearney now took 
 post on the hill, and determined to defend 
 it until reinforced. In the meantime, Kit 
 Carson, Lieutenant Beale, and an Indian 
 servant, volunteered to go to San Diego 
 and obtain succour. It was almost a for 
 lorn hope for the messengers to escape the 
 keen eye of the enemy. But they suc 
 ceeded in reaching the commodore s quar 
 ters in safety. Not a moment was lost 
 after the condition of Kearney and his 
 party became known to Stockton, before 
 measures were taken for their relief. Lieu 
 tenant Gray, and 180 sailors and marines, 
 left San Diego on the night of the 9th. 
 They remained concealed during the day 
 of the 10th ; and, at night, succeeded in 
 reaching the position of Kearney. Pico 
 having retired with his whole force, the 
 Americans continued their march without 
 further molestation, reaching San Diego 
 on the 12th of December. 
 
 Stockton and Kearney now prepared an 
 expedition against the enemy. By mutual 
 agreement the former retained the com 
 mand. Five hundred men, and six pieces 
 of artillery, composed the force. On the 
 29th of December they were ready to 
 march, having provided well against sur 
 prise by organising a scouting party, 
 with Carson for its leader. Their march 
 was along the coast, across the Salidad, 
 reaching the deserted mission of San Luia 
 Rey on the 4th of January, 1847. Here 
 they were met by a flag of truce from 
 General Flores, the chief of the insurgents, 
 proposing a cessation of hostilities, leaving 
 the sovereignty of California to be decided 
 by the result of the war between the United 
 States and Mexico. Stockton, however, in 
 his assumed capacity of governor and com- 
 mander-in-chief, at once declined the pro 
 position, and the troops accordingly pushed 
 on. Their course lay through a narrow 
 pass, between the ocean and a neigh 
 bouring mountain, to another deserted mis 
 sion that of San Juan de Capistrano, now 
 owned by the Pico family.* 
 
 On the evening of the 7th, the American 
 forces reached the Rio San Gabriel, where 
 the enemy was discovered 500 strong, all 
 mounted men, and posted on the rising 
 ground which formed the opposite bank. 
 On the following morning, the Americans 
 
 * Here were the ruins of a cathedral, which had 
 been destroyed by an earthquake in 1822, killing 
 fifty people who had fled there for safety. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PICO CONDEMNED. 
 
 prepared to cross the stream. As they 
 moved amid the thickets along the slope 
 which led to the brink of the river, they 
 were met by a scattering fire ; and, at the 
 same time, the Mexicans were busy plant 
 ing their guns on the heights. A party of 
 marines was ordered to cross in advance. 
 Fording the stream, which, though flowing | 
 in a rapid current, was but knee-deep, they 
 reached the other side, some three hundred 
 feet, under a fire from the enemy, but 
 without the loss of a man. The cannon 
 were next dragged over, and immediately 
 opened upon the commanding position of 
 the enemy s guns, the fire of which was 
 thus checked, affording opportunity for the 
 safe passage of the train and the cattle. 
 The Mexicans made an effort to cut off the 
 pack-horses and cattle in the rear, but the 
 firmness of the guard repulsed them. They 
 then made two successive charges upon the 
 right and left flanks of the Americans ; 
 both of which, however, were received by 
 the latter formed in square, and promptly 
 repulsed. A charge was now made up the 
 height, carrying the position, driving the 
 enemy and his guns before it, and leaving 
 the ground in possession of the Americans, 
 who encamped there for the night. 
 
 The next day, January 9th, the Ameri 
 cans advanced, when they were again met 
 by General Flores on the plains of Mesa. 
 His troops were discovered in position, on 
 the right of the road, and under cover of 
 the crest of a hill. A hot cannonading 
 succeeded, and the Mexicans made several 
 attempts to charge, but could not be brought 
 within fifty yards of the American lines. 
 After a final and furious, but fruitless effort 
 upon the American left, the Mexicans 
 turned their horses, and fled in the direc 
 tion of Sonora. The American forces now 
 moved on to the Rio Mesa, three miles be 
 low Ciudad de los Angeles, where they en 
 camped for the night. Their entire loss, 
 in the two engagements, was but one killed 
 and fourteen wounded, including twoofncers. 
 
 On the 10th, the city was surrendered to 
 the Americans, when they marched in, and 
 again raised the flag of the United States 
 over the capital of California. 
 
 Colonel Fremont, whom we left in a 
 trading vessel bound for Santa Barbara, 
 learned, on his arrival at the latter place, 
 that such was the hostility of the people 
 at the south, that it would be utterly im 
 possible to obtain horses in that region. 
 He therefore returned to Monterey for that 
 
 purpose. Having procured them, he com 
 menced, in the inclement season of Decem 
 ber, to make a tedious march of 400 miles 
 from Monterey to Los Angeles. His first 
 destination was the missionary station of San 
 Luis Obispo, between the mountain range 
 and the Pacific, about 150 miles from Mon 
 terey, lie came so quietly upon the place, 
 on the 14th of the above-named month, 
 that it was captured by surprise. Its com 
 mandant, Don Jesus Pico, it will be recol 
 lected, had been previously taken prisoner, 
 and released on his parole of honour ; 
 which he had broken, and was, in this 
 section, the head of the insurrection. He 
 was now again in the hands of the Ameri 
 cans. A court-martial was at once con 
 vened by Fremont, and he was tried and 
 sentenced to be shot. Throughout the ex 
 amination he remained cool and composed, 
 receiving the sentence of death with genuine 
 Castilian dignity. The affecting scene which 
 followed cannot be more vividly pictured 
 than in the words of Lieutenant Talbot, 
 who was an eye-witness : " There was no 
 time to lose. The hour of twelve, next 
 day, was fixed for the execution. It was 
 eleven o clock, and I chanced to be in the 
 colonel s room, when a lady with a group 
 of children, followed by many other ladies, 
 burst into the room, throwing themselves 
 upon their knees, and crying for mercy 
 for the condemned father and husband. 
 They were the wife, children, and friends 
 of Pico. Never did I hear such accents 
 of grief, or witness such an agonising 
 scene. I turned my eyes, for I could not 
 look at it, and soon heard from Colonel 
 Fremont the order for his pardon, Then 
 the tumult of feeling took a different turn. 
 Joy and gratitude broke out, filling the 
 room with benedictions, and spreading to 
 those without. To finish the scene, the 
 condemned man was brought in, and then 
 I saw the whole impulsiveness and fire of 
 the Spanish character when excited by 
 some powerful emotion. He had been 
 calm, composed, quiet, and almost silent, 
 under his trial and condemnation ; but at 
 the word pardon, a storm of impetuous 
 feeling burst forth, and, throwing himself 
 at the feet of Colonel Fremont, he swore to 
 him eternal fidelity, and demanded the 
 privilege of going with, and dying for 
 him." And he was true to his word. 
 From that day forward the colonel had not 
 a more faithful and firmer friend than Don 
 Jesus Pico. 
 
 593 
 
FREMONT S ARMY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 Fremont now took up his march for Los 
 Angeles. The papers taken at San Luis 
 Obispo, informed him of the action at 
 San Pascual; by which he learnt that a 
 small American force was approaching 
 overland, but by whom commanded he 
 was yet in ignorance. 
 
 On the 25th (Christmas-day), amid cold 
 winds and a deluge of rain, Fremont s 
 patient and hardy troops made their way 
 over the mountain of Santa Barbara. So 
 severe was the storm in crossing this 
 mountain, that more than 100 horses and 
 mules perished. At the maritime pass of 
 El Rincon, or Punta Gorda, fifteen miles 
 long, formed by the jutting of a precipitous 
 mountain into the sea, and which can only 
 be passed when the tide is out and the sea 
 calm, and even then in many places through 
 the waves, the little army was threatened 
 by mounted horsemen. But they did not 
 attack, and Fremont consequently forbore 
 to molest them. In like manner, at the 
 pass of San Fernando, he restrained his 
 troops. 
 
 As the Americans entered the plain of 
 Comenga, twelve miles from Los Angeles, 
 there came two officers from the Mexicans, 
 who were in the immediate neighbourhood, 
 to treat for peace. Accompanied only by 
 Don Jesus Pico, Fremont visited the insur 
 gent camp. After negotiation, articles of 
 capitulation were agreed upon and signed, 
 on the 13th of January, 1847. By this 
 capitulation, the Mexicans stipulated that 
 their entire force should deliver the artillery 
 and public arms to Fremont ; that they 
 should return peaceably to their homes, 
 and conform to the laws of the United 
 States ; but that no Californian, until after 
 a treaty should have been made between 
 the American and Mexican governments, 
 should be bound to take an oath of allegi 
 ance to the former. On the following day, 
 January 14th, Fremont entered Los An 
 geles, and joined his forces to those of 
 Stockton and Kearney, when the compact 
 which had been entered into by Fremont 
 with the enemy, was ratified by the former, 
 and proved the final pacification of Upper 
 California. 
 
 One other measure in connection with 
 the capture of California requires to be 
 named, indicating, as it does, a design, at 
 the commencement of the war, on the part 
 of the United States, to take and hold that 
 country as a permanent acquisition. This 
 was the raising, organising, and equipping, 
 504 
 
 in the city of New York, of a regiment of 
 volunteers, under the command of Colonel 
 J. D. Stevenson. The destination and ob 
 ject of this regiment were for some time a 
 subject of conjecture and discussion. It 
 was at length embarked for California, 
 via Cape Horn, where it was to form a 
 portion of Kearney s force. In the cor 
 respondence of the war department, sub 
 sequently published, a letter from Wil 
 liam L. Marcy, the secretary of war, dis 
 closes the fact, that the men composing 
 the regiment were designed to act as 
 pioneers in the work of conquest and colo 
 nisation. He said "The president ex 
 pects, and, indeed, requires, that great care 
 should be taken to have it composed of 
 suitable persons I mean of good habits, 
 as far as practicable of various pursuits, 
 and such as would be likely to remain, at 
 the end of the war, either in Oregon, or in 
 any other territory in that region of the 
 globe which may then be a part of the United 
 States."* 
 
 The regiment of Colonel Stevenson 
 reached California in different vessels, at 
 various dates, during the months of March 
 and April, 1847. Its commander arrived 
 with his volunteers on the 5th of March, 
 bringing mill irons, and various articles 
 useful to settlers, as well as munitions 
 of war. On their arrival they were di 
 vided, placed under different officers, and 
 stationed at Monterey, Los Angeles, San 
 Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma. 
 Stevenson, himself, was appointed colonel- 
 commandant of the southern military dis 
 trict of California, with his head-quarters 
 at Los Angeles. 
 
 The day following the capitulation of 
 Comenga, it has already been stated, 
 Fremont marched his forces into the capital 
 of California, and formed a junction with 
 those under Stockton and Kearney. Be 
 fore entering the city he had heard of 
 the arrival of the latter; and immedi 
 ately after the capitulation he sent forward 
 Colonel Russell, to ascertain if either of 
 them were in chief command, and to 
 make his report of military operations 
 accordingly. Fremont met his returning 
 messenger when within five miles of the 
 city, and was informed by him that Kearney 
 had been sent to California to take posses 
 sion, and establish a government there ; 
 that Stockton was in command, but that 
 
 * Appendix to the Congressional Qlobe, 1845- 46, 
 p. 809. 
 
A.P. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [KEARNEY S AUTHORITY. 
 
 Kearney claimed that, by virtue of his 
 orders, the right to supreme command was 
 vested in him. Under these circumstances, 
 although Stockton and Kearney had met 
 as friends, much irritation of feeling was 
 soon excited each believing that the other 
 claimed what of right belonged to him. 
 Fremont, in this dilemma, was called upon 
 to decide, before entering the city, to which 
 of the claimants his allegiance was due. 
 His position was peculiarly embarrassing, 
 as, should his decision not be confirmed by 
 that of the government at Washington, he 
 would be subjected to the pains and penal 
 ties of disobedience of orders. 
 
 Fremont had accepted a commission from 
 Stockton as commander of the battalion of 
 volunteers, and had been appointed by him 
 governor of California, to take effect as 
 soon as the commodore went to sea, which 
 was to have taken place in October, but 
 had been prevented by the insurrection, 
 which both were engaged in subduing. 
 This arrangement had been transmitted to 
 Washington ; and it was, undoubtedly, now 
 understood by the government there that 
 Fremont was exercising the prerogatives of 
 the chief executive officer of the newly- 
 acquired territory. His decision was soon 
 made. He looked upon Kearney s orders as 
 absolute, and that they recognised the con 
 quest of the territory of California by Kear 
 ney, whereas it had been accomplished by 
 Stockton and himself, previous to Kearney s 
 arrival there. Fremont now moved for 
 ward to Los Angeles, where he was met 
 by both Kearney and Stockton with the 
 utmost cordiality. That of the former, how 
 ever, was soon changed to bitterness ; for 
 he learnt that it was Stockton, and not 
 himself, that Fremont looked upon as en 
 titled to his allegiance. The 16th of 
 January, the second day subsequent to his 
 arrival, Fremont received from. Stockton 
 his commission as governor of California. 
 In the evening of the same day he also re 
 ceived from General Kearney a copy of the 
 orders from the war department, giving to 
 the latter the chief command in California, 
 and also a written order from himself, 
 directing Fremont to make no changes 
 in the California battalion without his 
 (Kearney s) sanction. The former returned 
 a written answer to the latter, stating 
 the reasons for his determination not to 
 acknowledge him as his superior officer. 
 "Until you adjust, between yourselves, the 
 question of rank," he said, in conclusion, 
 
 " I shall have to report and receive orders, 
 as heretofore, from the commodore." 
 
 On reading Fremont s letter, which was 
 delivered to him by the writer personally, 
 on the 17th, Kearney requested him to take 
 it back and destroy it ; and kindly remon 
 strated against the course he was pursuing. 
 It proved of no avail, however ; Fremont 
 remaining inexorable to the counsel of his 
 generous superior ; and, from that moment, 
 Kearney was compelled to recognise him as 
 guilty of insubordination, and deserving of 
 punishment, which his duty compelled him 
 to regard at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 On the following morning, January 18th, 
 Kearney left Los Angeles, and returned to 
 San Diego, to meet the expected Mormon 
 battalion of Colonel Cooke. During the 
 summer of 1846, a demonstration had been 
 made against the Mormons, who were 
 settled at Nauvoo, in Illinois ; their leader, 
 Joe Smith, being killed, and the entire body, 
 numbering several thousand, driven from 
 the state. They had moved off in search 
 of a new camping-ground further west. A 
 battalion of 400 of them enlisted in the 
 army, and followed Kearney to California, 
 under the command of Colonel St. George 
 Cooke. That officer had already arrived at 
 San Diego when Kearney reached there, 
 leaving the Mormons in the vicinity. They 
 were subsequently sent to the missionary 
 station of San Luis Rey, one hundred miles 
 from Los Angeles. Leaving Cooke in com 
 mand of all his forces in that vicinity, 
 Kearney went by sea to Monterey, to confer 
 with the naval authorities. He got there 
 on the 8th of February, where he found 
 Shubrick, who had arrived, on the 27th 
 of January, in the Independence, to as 
 sume command of the naval forces in the 
 Pacific ; Stockton having sailed for the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 In the meantime Fremont occupied the 
 executive mansion at Los Angeles, vacated 
 for him by Stockton. His Californian bat 
 talion was sent, for quarters, to the deserted 
 station of San Gabriel, nine miles from the 
 capital ; but he retained with him Russell 
 (who had been appointed by Stockton, before 
 going to sea, secretary of the territory), 
 Captain Owens, and one other officer of the 
 California battalion. 
 
 On hearing of the arrival of Commodore 
 Shubrick as successor to Stockton, Fremont 
 wrote to him, stating the course he had 
 adopted, and giving the reasons which had 
 influenced his conduct. Shubrick replied to 
 
 595 
 
FREMONT SUPERSEDED.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 him on the 22nd, that he was instructed 
 by the government that Kearney was gov 
 ernor of California ; but intimated that he 
 should not interfere with present arrange 
 ments until further advised from Wash 
 ington. 
 
 On the llth of March, only a few 
 days after receiving the above reply from 
 Shubrick, Fremont was surprised by two 
 public proclamations issued from Monterey, 
 under date of the 1st of March ; the first 
 of which was jointly signed by Kearney 
 and Shubrick, and declared that the presi 
 dent of the United States had assigned to 
 the latter (Shubrick) the regulation of the 
 import trade, and the conditions on which 
 all vessels were to enter and clear the ports 
 of California; and to the commanding 
 military officer, the direction of all opera 
 tions on land, and the administrative func 
 tions of the government. 
 
 The second proclamation above alluded 
 to was issued by Kearney alone. In it he 
 stated that, having been appointed to the 
 direction of civil affairs in California, he 
 entered upon the duties assigned him with 
 a wish and intention to promote the welfare 
 of the people. Freedom of conscience and 
 protection of life and property were guaran 
 teed to them. He said it was the desire 
 and design of the government of the United 
 States to provide for California, with the 
 least possible delay, a free government, 
 similar to those in its other territories, and 
 that the people would soon be called upon 
 to exercise their rights as freemen, in elect 
 ing their own representatives. But in the 
 meantime, the laws of Mexico, when not 
 conflicting with those of the United States, 
 would remain in force; and persons holding 
 office would not be disturbed in the exercise 
 of their respective duties, provided they 
 would swear to support the constitution of 
 the United States, and faithfully perform 
 those duties. All the inhabitants of Cali 
 fornia were absolved, by this proclamation, 
 from any further allegiance to the republic 
 of Mexico, and were required to consider 
 themselves as citizens of the United States. 
 Complete and permanent annexation was 
 declared. Californians and Americans were 
 proclaimed to be one and the same people. 
 " The star-spangled banner/ said Kearney, 
 "floats over California; and as long as the 
 sun continues to shine, so long will it float 
 there." 
 
 The sudden change in the course pursued 
 bv Shubrick from that indicated in the letter 
 596 
 
 to Fremont (before referred to) was occa 
 sioned by more recent advices from Wash 
 ington, dated the 5th of November, 1846, 
 and brought out by Colonel R. B. Mason, 
 who had been appointed to relieve Kearnev, 
 he having permission to return to the United 
 States. Instructions were also forwarded 
 to allow Fremont to join his regiment in 
 Mexico, or to pursue his explorations. 
 
 At the date of the instructions under 
 which Stockton had acted, and which had 
 led to the confusion and difficulties between 
 them, it was deemed doubtful whether 
 Kearney would be able to proceed bevond 
 Santa Fe before spring, if at all. It was 
 then anticipated that the naval force might 
 take possession of important places on the 
 coast of California some time before a land 
 force could arrive in that country to co 
 operate with it, and the earlier instructions 
 were framed with only a remote expectation 
 of the presence of a land force. But in the 
 instructions brought out by Colonel Mason, 
 the views of the government, in relation to 
 the operations of the two branches of the 
 service, were more clearly set forth. To the 
 senior naval officer all military operations 
 on the water were confided, and with them 
 the officers of the army were not to inter 
 fere, except when the enterprise required 
 the co-operation of the land forces. So, on 
 the other hand, to the senior officer of the 
 army in that country, all the operations on 
 land were entrusted, and by him were to be 
 conducted, assisted, if the exigency of the 
 occasion required, by the naval force. 
 When brought together, and co-operating 
 for any particular object, the superior in 
 rank, according to regulations furnished in 
 previous instructions, would have the com 
 mand for the time being. 
 
 Captain Turner, through whose hands 
 Fremont received the proclamations of 
 Kearney and Shubrick (already mentioned), 
 also had a communication from Kearney, 
 advising him that he had appointed Colonel 
 St. George Cooke to the supervision of the 
 southern military district, for the defence 
 and protection of which his Mormon bat 
 talion would be placed wherever he should 
 deem most eligible. He ordered Fremont, 
 as commander of the California!! battalion, 
 to muster the men, if not already done, 
 with a view to their regular payment, 
 and according to acts of congress, into 
 the regular service of the United States ; 
 while, if there were any who were unwil 
 ling to enter that service, Fremont was 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [FKEMONT AND KEARNEY. 
 
 ordered to conduct them to San Francisco, 
 by way of Monterey, and there to discharge 
 them from service. 
 
 These orders Fremont at first desired to 
 obey to the very letter ; but the entire bat 
 talion, officers and men, refused to go into 
 the regular army. Fremont felt that it 
 was his duty to see them paid for past 
 services, and his course was quickly decided 
 on. Ordering his officers to look to the ord 
 nance and stores, that they might remain un 
 disturbed until his return, he took with him 
 his friend Don Jesus Pico, and a single ser 
 vant, and, at daybreak on the morning of 
 the 22nd of March, he set out to proceed, 
 in the shortest possible space of time, to 
 Monterey, to have a personal interview with 
 Kearney in regard to the disposition of the 
 Californiun battalion, which, under the still 
 critical state of affairs in California, he 
 thought ought not to be disbanded ; as also 
 to devise measures by which the liabilities 
 above mentioned might be promptly met. 
 Each of the party had three horses nine 
 in all to take their turns for the saddle. 
 
 The first day they accomplished 125 miles, 
 passing the San Fernando mountain, the 
 defile of the Rincon (mentioned in a previ 
 ous page), and several other mountains, 
 sleeping at the rancho of Don Tomas Rob- 
 beris, beyond the town of Santa Barbara. 
 The second day they made another 125 
 miles, passing the formidable mountain of 
 the above country, and, at nine o clock in 
 the evening, reaclied the house of Don Jesus 
 Pico, at San Luis Obispo, where an affecting 
 reception awaited Fremont from the grate 
 ful family of his fellow-traveller. 
 
 Having procured a change of horses, 
 Fremont proceeded at the usual pace, and 
 by eight o clock in the evening the party 
 had reached the valley of the Salnus (Salt 
 River), where they encamped till daybreak: 
 then resuming their journey, Monterey was 
 reached, eighty miles further, early in the 
 afternoon, having accomplished the entire 
 distance of 400 miles, on horseback, in three 
 days and ten hours. 
 
 On his arrival at Monterey, Fremont 
 repaired at once to the house of Consul 
 Larkin, and sent thence a note to Kearney, 
 desiring to see him on business. An hour 
 that evening being named for the in 
 terview, the consul accompanied Fremont 
 to Kearney s quarters, but soon withdrew. 
 Colonel Mason being present, Fremont sug 
 gested that he wished a private interview. 
 Kearney replied that Mason was to succeed 
 
 VOL. IT. 4 H 
 
 him in the direction of affairs in Califor 
 nia, and that he neither wished to hear or 
 to communicate anything to which the latter 
 could not be a party. Under these cir 
 cumstances Fremont declined to make 
 known his business ; and, consequently, 
 utterly failed in the object of his rapid and 
 fatiguing journey. He was, however, pe 
 remptorily questioned by Kearney, whether 
 he would obey his orders ; and he replied 
 promptly and directly in the affirmative. 
 He then received an order to send those of 
 his battalion who refused to enter the re 
 gular service, by water to Monterey, and 
 to repair himself to that place speedily by 
 land. The latter was a concession on the 
 part of Kearney, in consequence of Fre 
 mont s expressed repugnance to travel by 
 water. 
 
 The following day, at three in the after 
 noon, the party set out oil their return, 
 which was accomplished in the same rapid 
 manner as they came, reaching Los An 
 geles on the evening of the 29th, having 
 accomplished the entire distance of 800 
 miles, including stoppages, on horseback, 
 in less than eight days. 
 
 On reaching Los Angeles, Fremont found 
 new troubles awaiting him. Colonel Cooke 
 had arrived there during his absence, and 
 demanded, in virtue of his appointment aa 
 commandant of the southern military di 
 vision, that the ordnance of the California 
 battalion should be turned over to him. 
 The officers of that battalion, however, act 
 ing under the directions of Fremont, had 
 refused to deliver it up. 
 
 Not long after Mason arrived at Los 
 Angeles, with orders from Kearney, under 
 date of the 28th of March ; by which he 
 was to be received as governor, and obeyed 
 as such by Fremont, who was ordered to 
 appear in Monterey within twelve days 
 from the date of the embarkation of the 
 battalion. 
 
 The position of affairs at this period 
 in California, as already stated, was ex 
 tremely critical. Parties of armed men 
 were passing to and fro ; and the country 
 appeai-ed in the throes of an impending in 
 surrection. The proclamation of permanent 
 annexation, issued by Kearney, excited the 
 fears and feelings of those whose sympathies 
 were with the Mexican republic by reason 
 of habits, language, and religion; and 
 whose hope it had been, with the return of 
 peace, to be restored to the protection of 
 its flag. They were also struck with terror 
 
 597 
 
FREMONT CONVICTED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 at the idea of having their country overrun 
 by the Mormons ; the arrival of a battalion 
 of those people giving colour to the rumour 
 that the entire society, blackened, as they 
 had been represented to them, with foul and 
 bloody crimes, were coming to settle among 
 them. It was also rumoured that General 
 Bustamente, with a large Mexican force, 
 was on his way to California, to recapture the 
 country from the hands of the Americans. 
 
 April had now passed, and Fremont not 
 having come to Monterey, as Kearney had 
 ordered, the latter proceeded to Los An 
 geles, arriving there on the 9th of May. 
 Fremont had provided horses at San 
 Gabriel, sufficient for his original party, 
 intending, in accordance with the expressed 
 permission of government, to either rejoin 
 his regiment in Mexico, or to pursue his 
 explorations. But Kearney having previ 
 ously determined to arrest him, and bring 
 him to trial for mutiny and disobedience 
 of orders, now refused him permission to 
 rejoin his regiment, or to exercise any 
 official functions. 
 
 Towards the end of May, both being 
 then at Monterey, Kearney required Fre 
 mont to transmit to other hands his ex 
 ploring instruments, and prepare to accom 
 pany him to the United States. Early in 
 June, Mason being left in command, they 
 commenced their return overland, by way 
 of the South Pass, and arrived at Fort 
 Leayenworth on the 22nd of August. At 
 
 this place he put Fremont under arrest, 
 and directed him to repair to Washington, 
 and report himself to the adjutant-general. 
 
 On the 3rd of November, a court- martial 
 was convened at Fortress Monroe, which 
 ;ontinued its sittings until the 31st of Janu 
 ary, 1848, when it pronounced him guilty 
 of mutiny, of disobedience to the lawful 
 commands of a superior officer, and of 
 conduct prejudicial to good order and 
 military discipline, and sentenced him to 
 be dismissed from the service. A majority 
 of the members of the court, however, in 
 consideration of his eminent services, and 
 the peculiarity of his position, arising from 
 the conflicting claims of his two superior 
 officers, recommended him to the clemency 
 of the president. 
 
 When the finding of the court came 
 before the executive for his approval, he 
 replied that he was not satisfied that the 
 first charge had been proved against him ; 
 but that the second and third were sus 
 tained by proof, and that the conviction 
 on these charges warranted the sentence 
 of the court. He therefore approved the 
 verdict ; but, in consideration of mitigating 
 circumstances, and his previous meritorious 
 and valuable services, the penalty was re 
 mitted. Fremont was then discharged from 
 arrest ; and with a great degree of mortifi 
 cation on account of his conviction, he 
 resigned his office, and retired from the 
 army. 
 
 THE plan of operations for the conduct of 
 the war against Mexico, as arranged by 
 the executive and secretary of war, under 
 the advice of General Scott, has been given 
 in previous pages. That plan, compre 
 hensive as it was, did not include an 
 attack upon, and capture of the capital 
 of Mexico. It was thought that a few 
 decisive victories over the Mexican forces 
 would have a desirable effect, and compel 
 them to sue for peace on almost any 
 598 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INVASION OF CENTRAL MEXICO ; CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ ; BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO ; OCCUPATION OF 
 JALAPA, PEROTE, AND PUEBLA ; SCOTT S PROCLAMATION. 
 
 terms that might be dictated to them. 
 This belief soon proved to be founded 
 on a mistaken idea of the Mexican 
 character. Beyond the vindication of 
 the superiority of the American forces 
 on the field *of battle, even when op 
 posed by four to one in numbers, 
 and the valuable acquisition of the ter 
 ritory of New Mexico and California, the 
 results were unimportant. The main 
 object of a vigorous prosecution of the 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SCOTT S EMBARKATION. 
 
 war to conquer the Mexicans, for the pur 
 pose of effecting a peace, and with it 
 the establishment of legitimate boundaries 
 between the two nations, was, even after the 
 brilliant victories of Taylor, no nearer its 
 accomplishment than before the first drop 
 of blood had been shed. It was therefore 
 determined, after the capture of Monterey, 
 to carry the war into the heart of Mexico, 
 and dictate terms of peace in the ancient 
 city of the Montezumas. Two routes to 
 the capital were open to the choice of 
 the forces destined for the expedition : 
 one of them lay through Monterey, Sal- 
 tillo, and San Luis Potosi ; and the other 
 through Vera Cruz and Puebla. The for 
 mer was preferable, from the fact of being, j 
 for a good portion of the route, already 
 in possession of the American forces ; but 
 that advantage was counterbalanced by its 
 distance, and by the vast deserts which 
 it would be necessary to traverse before the 
 city of Mexico could be reached. The 
 route by way of Yera Cruz, not only 
 afforded a better road and shorter route to 
 the capital ; but the fact that it would call 
 for the reduction of that place, with the 
 castle of San Juan d Ulloa, by which it was 
 defended in itself an acquisition that would 
 have an important bearing in bringing the 
 war to a successful termination was a 
 strong argument in its favour. The latter 
 route was, after mature deliberation, de 
 cided upon, and preparations immediately 
 commenced for operations against Yera 
 Cruz. General Scott, the commander-in- 
 chief of the American army, was selected 
 to conduct this important enterprise. At 
 the commencement of hostilities, Scott had 
 desired to take the post to which, by virtue 
 of his rank, he was entitled, and lead the 
 forces of the United States, in person, on the 
 Rio Grande. At first the government had 
 yielded to his wishes ; but an unpleasant 
 misunderstanding and controversy arose 
 between the president, secretary of war, 
 and the general ; the result of which was, 
 that although the latter had made every 
 preparation to leave Washington, he was 
 ordered to remain at home. But though 
 the government thus deprived the country 
 of the services of Scott in the field, it 
 availed itself, as has already been seen in 
 previous pages, of his practical knowledge 
 and untiring industry in mustering into 
 the service, and providing with the means 
 and munitions of war, the volunteer regi 
 ments authorised by congress, with which 
 
 to prosecute hostilities. The duties and 
 experience of his previous life amply qua 
 lified him for this service. 
 
 The announcement that Scott had been 
 appointed to command the expedition 
 against Yera Cruz, and thence to the po 
 litical metropolis of Mexico, met with uni 
 versal approval throughout the country. 
 On the 18th of November, 1846, he was 
 directed to hold himself in readiness to as 
 sume the command of the forces destined 
 for the descent on that city. On tho 
 23rd, he received a general order, in which 
 he was informed that it was not proposed 
 to control his operations by definite and 
 positive instructions, but that he would 
 be left to prosecute them as his own judg 
 ment, under a full view of all the circum 
 stances, after arriving at the theatre of ac 
 tion, should dictate. The work was before 
 him ; and the means provided, or to be pro 
 vided, for accomplishing it, were committed 
 to him, in the full confidence that he would 
 use them to the best advantage. 
 
 On the day following, the 24th of No 
 vember, Scott left Washington for New 
 York, to complete the preliminary arrange 
 ments for carrying out his plans of the cam 
 paign. A large number of transports were 
 to be provided, as well as surf-boats, for 
 landing the troops ; a train of siege ord 
 nance was to be collected and sent forward ; 
 and ten new regiments to be added to the 
 line of the army, at the earliest possible 
 moment after the meeting of congress."* 
 
 The only drawback to the gratification 
 with which Scott received orders to proceed 
 to Mexico, arose from a reluctance to in 
 terfere, in the slightest degree, with the 
 operations of his long-tried friend, General 
 Taylor, whom he would be under the ne 
 cessity of depriving of a large portion of 
 his troops. This regret was strongly ex 
 pressed to Taylor, in a letter addressed to 
 him by Scott, dated at New York, on the 
 25th of November ; the substance of which 
 has been given in an extract in a previous 
 page. But the deadly summer climate of 
 Vera Cruz required immediate action there, 
 and would not admit of the delay of raising 
 and disciplining new troops. 
 
 On the 30th of November, Scott sailed 
 from New York, accompanied by General 
 Jessup, the quartermaster-general, to New 
 Orleans, to render his valuable aid in the 
 preparations necessary^ for a foreign siege. 
 One hundred and sixty-three vessels were 
 * Mansfield. 
 
 599 
 
DISEMBARKATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 employed as transports. The general ren 
 dezvous of the various corps which were 
 to compose the invading army under Scott, 
 was the island of Lobos, about 125 miles 
 north and west of the city of Vera Cruz. 
 Various delays occurred ; and it was not till 
 early in March that everything was ready 
 to move forward towards the capital. After 
 the troops were all embarked on board the 
 transports, the sloop of war, St. Mary s, 
 under Commander Saunders, was dis 
 patched by Commodore Connor, to conduct 
 them to a safe anchorage between the island 
 of Salmadini and Point Anton Lizardo, 
 some ten or twelve miles eastward of Vera 
 Cruz. On the 6th of March, Scott arrived 
 off Anton Lizardo, in the steamer Massa 
 chusetts. On the 7th, Scott and Connor, 
 in the steamer Petrita, made a reconnais 
 sance of the city of Vera Cruz, the castle, 
 and the adjacent coast, for the purpose of 
 selecting thebest landing-place forthe army. 
 The steamer was greeted by a shot or two 
 from the castle, in token of defiance. The 
 spot selected for landing was the beach due 
 west of the island of Sacrificios. The an 
 chorage being too narrow for a large 
 number of vessels, the greater portion of 
 the troops were removed from the trans 
 ports to the larger vessels of war. All the 
 preliminaries having been made, on the 
 morning of the 9th, the fleet the flag 
 ship Raritan, under Captain Forest, lead 
 ing, and Scott following at a short dis 
 tance, in the steamer Massachusetts 
 weighed anchor, and soon was gallantly 
 ploughing its way from Anton Lizardo 
 towards Sacrificios. In about two hours 
 the entire fleet arrived at the latter place, 
 and the landing immediately commenced. 
 Sixty-seven surf-boats, manned by ex 
 perienced boatmen, were hauled alongside 
 the vessels; and the soldiers, fully armed 
 and equipped, were passed into them. As 
 each boat received its quota of soldiers, it 
 was moored a short distance from the vessel : 
 the boatmen then rested on their oars, and 
 waited till the other boats were filled. 
 The command of the vanguard was given 
 to General Worth. When all was ready, 
 and the sixty-seven surf-boats had each 
 received its men, a signal-gun gave the 
 notice to start. Worth entered his boat, 
 and placing himself at the head of his 
 troops the first division of regulars the 
 rowers bent to their oars, and, under cover 
 of the guns of two steamers, the Spitfire and 
 the Vixen, and five gun-boats, the little fleet 
 600 
 
 ! moved in a semicircle towards the shore. 
 I Rarely has a spectacle of greater beautj 
 ! and magnificence been witnessed than that 
 I afforded by the disembarkation of the 
 troops on this occasion. The sun was fast 
 sinking in the west ; the waters were but 
 just ruffled by a breeze ; and the walls of 
 the town and castle, the domes of the 
 churches, and the rigging and mast heads 
 of the foreign men-of-war at anchor in the 
 harbour of Sacrificios, were filled with 
 crowds of eager and excited spectators. 
 The first division having lauded, Worth 
 found the men on the beach, and, as the sun 
 went down, the flag of the United States was 
 hoisted amid the cheers of army and fleet. 
 The second and third divisions followed ; 
 and by ten o clock, the entire force, num 
 bering 12,000 men, was safely lauded with 
 out the slightest accident. 
 
 Having thrown forward their advanced 
 guards, the troops, on the night of the 
 landing, bivouacked on the beach without 
 tents. The Mexicans made no demonstra 
 tions of attack, but hovered in flying par 
 ties around; occasionally, during the night, 
 waking the invaders by a desultory shot. 
 
 At an early hour on the morning of the 
 10th, the guns of the castle and the town 
 commenced trying their range, throwing 
 round shot and Paixhan shells. The several 
 divisions immediately occupied the positions 
 respectively assigned by the orders of Scott. 
 These orders were based on information 
 previously acquired by the engineer and 
 topographical bureaux, which had been 
 closely studied, and thoroughly analysed 
 bv Scott. This information proved so accu 
 rate, and was so well understood, that the 
 various regiments and companies took the 
 respective places assigned them as quietly 
 and orderly as if they had been stationed 
 there for months. By the 12th, the invest 
 ment of the city was complete, the lines of 
 the besiegers being five miles in extent. 
 This was not accomplished, however, without 
 exposure, labour, and consequent fatigue. 
 With a few exceptions, the necessary horses, 
 mules, and carts had not yet arrived ; and 
 the ground of operations was covered by 
 countless hills of loose sand, and almost im 
 penetrable thickets of chapparel. Through 
 these the provisions and munitions of war 
 were dragged or carried on their backs by 
 the soldiers, regulars and volunteers, under 
 the rays of a tropical sun. In these labours 
 I the officers and seamen of the navy co-ope- 
 | rated with those of the army, nobly bearing 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SIEGB OF VERA CRUZ. 
 
 their part of the burden. Several skir 
 mishes, in the meantime, had taken place 
 with the cavalry parties of the Mexicans. 
 
 The head-quarters of Scott were located 
 in the American line immediately south 
 east of the city, near the point where the 
 troops first landed. The division of regu 
 lars, under Scott, occupied this portion of 
 the line ; and Twiggs, with the second divi 
 sion of regulars, took up his position at 
 Vegara, on the north side of the city. 
 Patterson, with the division of volunteers, 
 was stationed on that portion of the line 
 west of the city. 
 
 While these preparations were being 
 made, a " norther" (a wind of the Gulf so 
 designated) prevailed, and, for a time, all 
 communication with the shipping was sus 
 pended, rendering it impossible to land the 
 heavy ordnance. On the 13th, the storm 
 abated, arid the officers and seamen of the 
 navy laboured, with the utmost zeal and 
 activity, in taking on shore the required 
 articles, and commenced landing the artil 
 lery and mortars. By the 17th, the neces 
 sary intrenching tools, and carts, ten mor 
 tars, four 24-pounders, and some howitzers, 
 with a quantity of shells, were landed. A 
 desultory fire had meanwhile been kept up 
 by the Mexicans, from the guns of the 
 castle of San Juan d Ulloa, and the batteries 
 of Vera Cruz. Little damage was done, 
 however, to the American lines; but three 
 were killed, and four or five wounded 
 by this fire. Among the former was 
 Captain Alburtis ; and one of the latter, 
 Lieutenant-colonel Dickenson, who was 
 afterwards killed in the valley of Mexico. 
 
 By the night of the 18th everything was 
 ready ; the trenches were opened, and the 
 engineers and sappers and miners leading 
 the way, they were taken possession of by the 
 troops. On the 22nd, seven of the 10-inch 
 mortars were placed in battery, and Scott 
 formally summoned the governor of Vera 
 Cruz to surrender the city. General 
 Morales, who was governor of both the 
 city and the castle of San Juan d Ulloa, 
 declined the proposition, and announced 
 his intention to defend the place to the last 
 extremity. Commodore M. C. Perry, who 
 had succeeded Connor in the command of 
 the naval forces the latter having returned 
 to the United States now prohibited all 
 communication with the town by neutral 
 vessels (which, up to this time, had been 
 permitted), and Scott ordered the batte 
 ries to open upon the town. These were 
 
 numbered 1, 2, and 3. A little prac 
 tice gave the gunners the exact range 
 of their shells, and they threw them, with 
 surprising accuracy, into those portions of 
 the town which they selected as their 
 targets. The fire of the Americans was 
 returned from the Mexican batteries with 
 little effect, however, though Captain 
 Vinton, who was in command of battery 
 No. 3, was killed. 
 
 Scott s efforts on the land were ably 
 seconded by Perry on the water. The 
 latter directed the Spitfire and Vixen, and 
 the gun-boats Petrel, Bonita, Reefer, Falcon, 
 and Tampico, to take up a position within 
 a proper distance of the city, and open 
 their guns upon the enemy. This order 
 was promptly obeyed ; and the vessels 
 anchoring about a mile from the city walls, 
 opened a destructive fire upon the besieged, 
 which was kept up with rapidity and steadi 
 ness until late in the evening. 
 
 The American fire was now returned by 
 the Mexicans in earnest, and the contest 
 was furiously waged. The castle had been 
 supplied with some large mortars, which 
 discharged shells of an enormous size with 
 a terrific force. Awful as was the spectacle 
 presented by the contending parties, yet it 
 is described as having been grand and im 
 posing. Bomb-shells were flying into Vera 
 Cruz from every quarter, while cannon- 
 flashes, clouds of smoke, and the dull boom 
 of the heavy guns arose from the walls of 
 the city in return. The immense shells of 
 the Mexicans rose in rapid succession from 
 the heavy mortars before alluded to, on the 
 ramparts of the castle ; and, after describing 
 a fiery arch in the air, they descended 
 within the American lines, and, burying 
 themselves in the ground, would burst with 
 a detonation that made the earth tremble. 
 At nightfall both parties ceased the fire of 
 their cannon ; but their mortars continued 
 throwing shells until the next morning. 
 
 During the night, the gun-boats and two 
 steamers were supplied with ammunition, 
 and, early in the morning of the 23rd, 
 they moved to a still nearer and more 
 favourable position. It soon became appa 
 rent, however, that the flotilla was too 
 near the Mexican fortress, and a signal 
 was consequently given for its recall. In 
 spile of the terrible fire to which the fleet 
 had been exposed for nearly an hour, it 
 retired without having sustained any 
 material loss. During the forenoon a gale 
 arose, and continued throughout the day, 
 
 601 
 
SIEGE OF VERA CRUZ.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 preventing any intercourse between the land 
 and sea forces, and, consequently, materi 
 ally retarded the progress of the besiegers. 
 Two parapets, or breastworks, for siege 
 guns, were constructed ; and three mortars, 
 which had been previously landed, were j 
 placed in position. General Scott, upon a \ 
 reconnaissance with his glass, discovered 
 that the shells were not producing effect in 
 quarters where it was desirable. Houses 
 were shattered ; and one shell fell through 
 the dome of the church of San Domingo, 
 whither the injured inhabitants were being ; 
 taken to have their wounds dressed ; but 
 the fortifications and the troops had suf 
 fered scarcely at all. He therefore saw the 
 necessity of carrying the place by assault. 
 The heavy siege pieces, however, had not 
 arrived. Scott, therefore, applied to Com 
 modore Perry for some of his guns. This 
 application was promptly answered. Three 
 8-inch Paixhan guns, 68-pounders, and 
 three 32-pounders, were landed from the 
 squadron ; and, after vast labour in drag 
 ging them three miles through the sand 
 (in which duty the sailors were aided by 
 detachments from the army), they were 
 mounted on a small fortification constructed 
 of sand-bags one of the two breastworks 
 above referred to and which was as yet 
 concealed from the eyes of the Mexicans, 
 by being in the rear of an almost imper 
 vious chapparel, south of the centre of the 
 city, in General Patterson s portion of the 
 line of investment. Colonel Bankhead, 
 meantime, had mounted three 24-pounders 
 on the remaining battery ; to which were 
 subsequently added a fourth 24-pounder, 
 and two 8-inch Paixhans. This battery 
 was designated as No. 4 ; while the naval 
 battery was known as No. 5. During 
 the night of the 23rd, the chapparel 
 had been cut away, disclosing, at day 
 light, the naval battery to the gaze of 
 the astonished Mexicans, who soon opened 
 fire upon it. About ten o clock, Captain 
 Aulich, the second in command of the 
 squadron, with a party of officers and sea 
 men, took charge of the naval battery, and 
 commenced such a rapid and destructive 
 fire upon the city, that its effects were ap 
 parent at once. The walls crumbled be 
 neath the heavy shot ; and the Mexicans, 
 in the hope of silencing this formidable 
 battery, concentrated upon it the tire of 
 three batteries. The former, however, 
 continued its fire, with marked effect, 
 until two o clock in the afternoon, when 
 602 
 
 Aulich was relieved by Captain Mayo, who 
 landed with a fresh supply of ammunition. 
 The heavy guns of the Mexicans were 
 served with wonderful precision, their shot 
 frequently striking the fort, bursting open 
 the sand- bags of which it was constructed, 
 and enveloping the officers and men in a 
 cloud of dust. Some of their shot and 
 shell were thrown directly through the 
 embrasures. Opportunity was taken, during 
 the night, to repair the breastworks ; and, 
 on the morning of the 25th, with a fresh 
 body of officers and seamen, the naval bat 
 tery was again in operation. The fire of 
 four of the Mexican batteries was now 
 concentrated upon this work. An active 
 cannonade was kept up till half-past two 
 in the afternoon, when the Mexican bat 
 teries were silenced. Two other batteries 
 then turned their fire upon the naval bat 
 tery, and they, also, were soon rendered 
 inefficient. Midshipman T. B. Shubrick 
 was killed, on the 25th, while sighting a | 
 gun. One seaman was also killed, and 
 three wounded. The cannonade of the 
 day again gave employment, during the 
 night, in restoring the dilapidated defences. 
 
 During the day (the 25th) an engage 
 ment took place between the troops of 
 Colonel Persifer F. Smith, which were sta 
 tioned at Vergara, and a body of about 400 
 Mexicans, near a bridge which crosses a 
 small stream that empties into the Rio 
 Antigua. After a brief contest the Mexi 
 cans retreated. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 25th, the consuls 
 of Great Britain, France, Prussia, and 
 Spain, sent a memorial to Scott, asking him 
 to grant a truce, to enable the neutral resi 
 dents, and the women and children of the 
 Mexicans, to retire from the city. Scott 
 replied that a truce could only be granted 
 on the application of the Mexican general- 
 in-chief, with a view to surrender ; that in 
 sending safeguards to the different consuls, 
 beginning as far back as the 13th instant, 
 j he had distinctly admonished them, par 
 ticularly the French and Spanish consuls ; 
 and, of course, through those two, the other 
 consuls were warned of the dangers that had 
 followed : that although, at that date, he had 
 refused to allow any person whatever to 
 pass the line of investment either way, yet 
 the blockade had been left open to the 
 consuls and other neutrals, to pass out to 
 their respective ships of war, up to the 
 22nd instant ; that, in his summons to the 
 governor to surrender, of which he inclosed 
 
A.D. 1846.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SURRENDER OF VERA CRUZ. 
 
 to the memorialists a copy, it would be seen 
 that he had fully considered the impending 
 hardships and distresses of the place, in 
 cluding those of the women and children, 
 before a single gun had been fired in that 
 ftirection ; that the intercourse between the 
 neutral ships of war and the city had 
 been stopped at the last-mentioned date by 
 Perry, with his (Scott s) concurrence, on the 
 ground that such intercourse could not fail 
 10 give the enemy moral aid and comfort. 
 The memorial of the consuls represented 
 lhat the batteries of the Americans had 
 already produced a terrible effect on the 
 city ; and by this, as well as other in 
 dications, it was evident that it must soon 
 surrender. 
 
 The cannonading was continued till five 
 o clock in the afternoon, when the batteries 
 of the besieged were nearly silenced. Ar 
 rangements were now made by Scott for 
 carrying the city by assault the following 
 day. During the night, Morales and the 
 commander of the Mexican militia, made 
 their escape from the city in a small boat, 
 leaving the command of the garrison in the 
 hands of General Landero. 
 
 At eight o clock in the morning of 
 the 26th, Scott received a flag of truce, 
 with overtures of surrender. A terrible 
 storm of wind and sand made it difficult to 
 communicate with the city, and impossible 
 to refer to Perry. Scott was therefore 
 compelled to entertain the proposition alone, 
 or to continue his fire upon a city that had 
 shown a disposition to surrender ; for the 
 loss of even a single day could not be per 
 mitted. Therefore he acceded to the pro 
 position of the Mexican commander, and 
 appointed Generals Worth and Pillow, and 
 Colonel Totten, of the corps of engineers 
 (to whom was subsequently added Captain 
 Aulich, on the part of the navy), as commis 
 sioners, to treat with a like number of 
 persons on the part of the Mexicans. 
 Late on the night of the 27th, the articles 
 of capitulation were signed and exchanged. 
 According to their stipulations, the gar 
 risons of the town and castle of San 
 Juan d Ulloa were to be surrendered to 
 the arms of the United States as pri 
 soners of war, on the 29th instant, at 
 ten o clock in the morning ; and to be 
 permitted to march out with all the 
 honours of war, but to lay down their 
 arms to such officers as should be ap 
 pointed by the general- in-chief of the 
 United States army, and at a point to be 
 
 agreed upon by the commissioners. Mexican 
 officers were to retain their arms and 
 private effects, including horses and horse 
 furniture ; as also the rank and file ; and 
 five days were given them to retire to their 
 respective homes on parole. Coincident with 
 the surrender, the Mexican flags of the 
 various forts and stations were to be struck, 
 being saluted by their own batteries ; and 
 immediately thereafter, the forts Santiago 
 and Conception, and the castle San Juan 
 d Ulloa, were to be occupied by the forces 
 of the United States. The rank and file 
 of the regular portion of the prisoners were 
 to be disposed of, after surrender and parole, 
 as their general- in-chief might desire; but 
 the irregulars were to be permitted to 
 return to their homes ; the officers, in respect 
 to all arms and descriptions offeree, giving 
 the usual parole, that the said rank and file, 
 as well as themselves, shall not serve again 
 till duly exchanged. All the materiel of 
 war, and all public property of every de 
 scription found in the city, the castle of 
 San Juan d Ulloa, and their dependencies, 
 were to belong to the United States ; but 
 the armament of the same (not injured or 
 destroyed in the further prosecution of the 
 actual war) was to be considered as liable 
 to be restored to Mexico by a definite treaty 
 of peace. The sick and wounded Mexicans 
 were to be allowed to remain in the city, 
 with such medical officers and attendants, 
 and officers of the army, as would be neces 
 sary to their cure and treatment. Absolute 
 protection was guaranteed to persons and 
 property in the city ; nor was any private 
 building or effects to be taken or used by 
 the forces of the United States, without 
 previous arrangement with the owners, and 
 for a fair equivalent. Perfect freedom 
 of religious worship was solemnly gua 
 ranteed. 
 
 In accordance with the terms of capitu 
 lation, as above given, on the 29th the 
 Mexican troops marched out, and laid down 
 their arms. Worth then entered with his 
 division, and took possession of the city 
 and castle that famed citadel, said to be 
 impregnable, and which had been refitted 
 and equipped in the best possible manner. 
 This great success was achieved with the 
 trifling loss, on the part of the Americans, 
 of three officers killed, and three wounded; 
 and ten privates killed, and sixty wounded. 
 
 General Worth was appointed, tempo 
 rarily, military governor of Vera Cruz ; and, 
 bv a prompt and active exercise of the 
 
 603 
 
 i i 
 
NAVAL EXPEDITIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1846. 
 
 means at his disposal, he soon brought 
 order out of chaos. The remains of the 
 buildings which had been demolished and 
 scattered by the shower of shells poured 
 into the city, were cleared away, and the 
 filthy streets cleansed ; while the famished 
 poor were fed by 10,000 rations gratuitously 
 distributed from the military stores. The 
 confidence of the people being restored, the 
 daily routine of business and habits of life 
 were resumed, and went on as usual. 
 
 On the 29th of March, the day following 
 the surrender of Vera Cruz, a combined 
 movement was made against the post of 
 Alvarado, which, it will be recollected, had 
 successfully resisted two previous attempts 
 at capture. In the present instance the 
 movement resulted successfully. Quitman, 
 with his brigade of volunteers, was ordered 
 to proceed by land, in order to cut off the 
 retreat of the Mexicans, and especially to 
 obtain possession of the horses and mules, 
 upon which the army was depending for a 
 forward movement. Lieutenant Charles G. 
 Hunter, commanding the steamer Scourge, 
 was ordered by Perry to move forward in 
 advance with his vessel, and blockade the 
 harbour ; while the commodore would follow 
 more slowly with the remaining vessels 
 destined for the expedition, but, in sea 
 son, to co-operate with Quitman s brigade 
 when it should arrive in the rear of the 
 town. Lieutenant Hunter, however, having 
 reached the bar on the 30th of March, 
 instead of obeying the letter of his instruc 
 tions, and simply blockading the harbour, 
 immediately commenced an attack upon 
 the fortifications at the mouth of the river. 
 On the 31st, he renewed the attack, when 
 the Mexicans withdrew from their bat 
 teries and the town. Hunter entered the 
 river, captured four schooners, and, leaving 
 the garrison to guard the place, proceeded 
 up the river to Tlacotalpan, which surren 
 dered without resistance. 
 
 Though the ostensible object of the ex 
 pedition had been thus accomplished before 
 the chief land and naval force arrived, its 
 real purpose, that of obtaining supplies 
 from this quarter for the army, was entirely 
 defeated. The Mexicans, taking the alarm, 
 drove off all their animals before the forces 
 of Quitman could possibly hem them in. 
 The main body of the squadron, under 
 Perry, arrived on the 2nd of April, only to 
 see the United States flag already flying 
 over Alvarado. The over-zealous lieu 
 tenant was immediately arrested, and being 
 604 
 
 subsequently tried before a court-martial 
 for disobedience of orders, was sentenced to 
 dismissal from, the naval service of the 
 United States. 
 
 Quitman, with his brigade, now returned 
 to Vera Cruz, and Perry projected an ei- 
 pedition against Tuxpan, which had been 
 also unsuccessfully attacked in 1846, re 
 sulting at that time in the loss of the brig 
 Truxton, by striking on the bar, and re 
 sisting all attempts to get her off. On the 
 17th of April, Perry, with a large fleet, 
 arrived off the bar of Tuxpan, and prepared 
 for an attack the following: day. Anchor- 
 
 i 
 
 ing the larger vessels outside, the gun 
 boats, small steamers, and about thirty 
 barges, crossed the bar safely on the morn 
 ing of the 18th. The entire force detached 
 from the ships forming the landing party 
 on board the barges amounted to about 
 1,500 men, with four pieces of light artil 
 lery for land service. The approach to 
 Tuxpan was defended by two forts, on 
 both banks of the river, on which were 
 mounted the guns taken from the Truxton. 
 The forts were in excellent position to 
 sweep any force coming up the river. They 
 were garrisoned by 650 troops, under Gen 
 eral Cassa. As the flotilla came within 
 range of their guns, the barges sheered 
 off to land the detachment which was 
 to operate on shore, under command of 
 Captain Breeze, while the gun-boats and 
 steamers moved up the river. The Mexi 
 cans fired from the forts, and also with 
 musketry along the borders of the stream. 
 It was, however, but a weak defence. As the 
 Americans came up, the enemy fell back, 
 abandoning their batteries before the attack 
 ing party could get near enough to storm 
 them. The capture of the forts and the 
 town was easily accomplished, with a loss 
 to the Americans of only three killed and 
 eleven wounded. The entire Mexican 
 coast on the Gulf was now in possession 
 of the United States; and its coast towns 
 being either garrisoned or guarded by a 
 sufficient force, it was deemed advisable to 
 again open the ports of Mexico to com 
 merce, and to direct the revenue into the 
 United States treasury. The blockade 
 which had been maintained at the Mexican 
 ports, was consequently raised. A naval 
 force, however, was necessary to carry out 
 the revenue system imposed. Perry, with 
 a portion of his fleet, sailed as far as 
 Yucatan, opening the ports, and establish 
 ing the necessary revenue regulations. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [TOBASCO TAKEN. 
 
 An expedition was now projected against 
 Tobasco. On the 13th of June, Perry arrived 
 off the mouth of the Rio Tobasco, with his 
 fleet; consisting of ships of war, mortar 
 vessels, gun- boats, steamers, and barges. 
 A force of 1,200 men was put on board the 
 barges, with seven pieces of artillery. 
 Having transferred his pennant to the 
 steamer Scorpion, which, in connection with 
 the other steamers, took barges and gun 
 boats in tow, he moved up the Rio Tobasco 
 on the 14th. The flotilla had arrived within 
 about twelve miles of Tobasco, when it was 
 fired upon by an armed force, concealed in 
 the chapparel on the left bank of the river. 
 The gjuns and musketry of the vessels, 
 however, soon silenced this fire ; and night 
 coming on, the flotilla rested here till day 
 light. Proceeding up the river, the vessels 
 encountered artificial obstructions; and on 
 the shore opposite, was a well- constructed 
 breastwork, from which a party of Mexi 
 cans opened fire. Apprehending that 
 the steamers might suffer an inconvenient 
 delay before being able to remove the 
 obstructions, Commodore Perry decided on 
 landing, and forcing his way through 
 to Tobasco. This was successfully effected 
 under cover of the heavy guns of the 
 flotilla, which raked the intrenchments of 
 the enemy. In less than fifteen minutes 
 the entire detachment was formed on the 
 shore ; the seven pieces of ordnance having 
 been taken from the boats, and dragged up 
 a steep bank, twenty feet high. Three 
 pieces were also landed from the bomb- 
 vessels, when, with intense enthusiasm, the 
 men moved forward to the attack. The 
 outposts of the enemy were soon driven in, 
 and their breastwork was abandoned before 
 coming to close quarters. The steamers 
 had now safely passed the obstructions, 
 and were able to co-operate with the land 
 forces. On a commanding point, about a 
 mile further up, one of the principal works 
 of the Mexicans was located, defended 
 by about 600 troops, regular and irregular, 
 in about equal proportions. They, how 
 ever, made but a feeble resistance, and 
 then fell back upon their remaining de 
 fences, which were also carried as soon as 
 reached. Nine of the Americans were 
 wounded in this attack, but none killed. 
 The Mexicans lost about thirty. It was 
 judged expedient to leave a strong force 
 at Tobasco, as a precautionary measure, the 
 enemy still hovering around the city. Con 
 sequently the Scourge, Spitfire, Scorpion, 
 
 VOL. n. 
 
 4i 
 
 and Etna, with about 400 officers and men, 
 under the orders of Commander Bigelow, 
 remained off the city. Several skirmishes 
 occurred between the Americans and the 
 Mexicans, in which the former most gen 
 erally came off victorious. At Tomultay, a 
 village located about three miles from To 
 basco, nearly 500 Mexicans had collected ; 
 and the annoying attacks were kept up from 
 this point. Determining to dislodge them 
 from their position, and so, if possible, to 
 disperse them, on the morning of the 30th 
 of June, Commander Bigelow marched, at 
 the head of 240 men, with two field-pieces, 
 in the direction of the village. He was 
 still two furlongs from it, when his troops 
 were assailed by a fire of musketry 
 from both sides of the road, where the 
 enemy had posted himself in ambush. The 
 Americans, however, remained firm, and 
 promptly returned the fire. The Mexicans, 
 still holding their ground, the two field- 
 pieces were brought into action, when, 
 after a few discharges, they broke and fled 
 in confusion. The American loss was two 
 killed and five wounded : that of the Mexi 
 cans is not known. From this period, the 
 operations of the naval forces in the Gulf 
 were principally confined to a blockade of 
 the Mexican coast, and in preventing the 
 enemy from obtaining aid and succour in 
 that direction. 
 
 Vera Cruz having been secured as a basis 
 of operations, it was the wish of General 
 Scott to advance immediately into the inte 
 rior of the enemy s country, cutting his 
 way to the city of Mexico, and, by its cap 
 ture, put an end to hostilities, by compelling 
 the Mexican government to sue for peace 
 on such terms as the victors might exact. 
 But he was compelled to stay two weeks 
 at Vera Cruz, waiting for the means of 
 transport to be supplied by the authorities 
 at Washington. On the 8th of April, how 
 ever, availing himself of the waggons he 
 had, and forcing into his service the 
 horses and mules obtained in the imme 
 diate vicinity of Vera Cruz, he determined 
 to move forward, and the order to march 
 was given. Twiggs division formed the 
 advance, and moved along the highway 
 towards Jalapa. On the 9th he was fol 
 lowed by Patterson, with two brigades. 
 The remainder of the troops were to follow 
 immediately on the reception of supplies at 
 Vera Cruz, now daily expected. The route 
 pursued was the national road to the city 
 of Mexico, laid out by the Mexican mer- 
 
 605 
 
CKRHO GORDO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 chants before the revolution, but had since 
 been suffered in many places to be badly 
 broken up. The intentions or movements 
 of the enemy were almost entirely unknown 
 to the Americans. Vague rumours of the 
 advance of Santa Anna were brought in by 
 the scouts ; but nothing definite was known 
 until Twiggs reached the village of Rio 
 del Plan, near the mountain pass of Cerro 
 Gordo. Here, making a reconnaissance, 
 he discovered the enemy occupying the 
 road and pass in his front, in great force, 
 under the command of Santa Anna in 
 person. 
 
 The Mexican chief had acted with the 
 promptness of an able and experienced 
 general. After his defeat at Buena Vista, 
 with the demoralised remnant of his great 
 army, he had retired to San Luis Potosi, 
 which he had scarcely reached when in 
 formation was brought him of dissensions 
 at the capital. Taking a select corps of his 
 troops, he hastened to the city of Mexico ; 
 quelled an insurrection, which had already 
 reached a sanguinary stage before his 
 arrival ; and, diverting the fury of civil 
 strife into a patriotic channel, succeeded in 
 arousing the Mexicans to an enthusiastic 
 effort for the defence of their country, now 
 in such imminent peril from the threatened 
 advance of the conquerors of Vera Cruz. 
 Nearly 2,000,000 of dollars were given 
 by the clergy from their affluent stores ; a 
 large volunteer force soon gathered under 
 his standard ; and Santa Anna, in an almost 
 incredibly brief space of time, left the city 
 of Mexico at the head of an army of 8,000 
 men, moving forward on the road to Vera 
 Cruz, in order to intercept the advance of 
 Scott. Santa Anna was joined at Puebla by 
 a large number of the national guard, and 
 again at Jalapa, by 2,000 men, increasing 
 his forces to 13,000, with which he moved 
 forward and took up a position at the pass 
 of Cerro Gordo. 
 
 The forces of Santa Anna were flanked 
 on their right, as they encamped in the 
 pass, by three hills, which extended along 
 one side of the road. These hills, separated 
 by deep ravines, which were rilled in with 
 jagged rocks and a growth of chapparel, 
 rose from the precipitous banks of the Rio 
 del Plan (River of the Plain), a small but 
 rapid stream. To the left of the Mexican 
 position was seen the towering height of 
 Cerro Gordo, commanding every approach 
 on that flank. Santa Anna had fortified 
 himself on the hills at his right, and on the 
 606 
 
 summit of Cerro Gordo, where was erected 
 a citadel, called by the Mexicans El Tele- 
 grafo (the Telegraph), around which was a 
 strong work, mounted with six pieces of 
 ordnance. He had also established two 
 batteries across the road one at the head 
 of the pass, near the base of Cerro Gordo ; 
 and the other further up the road, towards 
 Jalapa. The Mexican works, on the hills 
 on their right, consisted of a series of 
 breastworks, armed with cannon. These 
 breastworks were so arranged as not only 
 to command the road, but to serve as a pro 
 tection to each other ; so that in the event of 
 the first line being taken, the second might 
 be opened against it ; and so on, to the end. 
 Timber and other obstructions were thrown 
 along the slope of the heights and the front 
 of the batteries, to impede the progress of 
 storming parties. Near the base of Cerro 
 Gordo was a stone breastwork, for the cover 
 of foot soldiers ; and the hill called Atalaya, 
 and other eminences, were also occupied by 
 small detachments of Mexican soldiers. 
 With these ample defences, Santa Anna 
 felt the utmost confidence in his ability to 
 repel his approaching foe. 
 
 After a hasty reconnaissance, Twiggs de 
 termined to attack with the troops he had, 
 and, if possible, to win a battle before 
 Scott came up. So ill-advised was he of 
 the numbers of the Mexicans, that he had 
 estimated them at from two to three thou 
 sand. He saw, at a glance, that the enemy s 
 left might be turned, and issued the 
 requisite orders for a movement in that 
 direction on the 14th. Fortunately for 
 the result, though unfortunately for Twiggs, 
 before dawn on the 14th, an aide-de-camp 
 from Patterson reached him, with orders 
 to suspend the attack until Scott came 
 up; who was near at hand, and arrived 
 a few hours after ; and Worth, who com 
 manded the rear division, was but a day s 
 march behind. Scott, feeling secure in 
 his own position, with Vera Cruz as a basis 
 of operations, went deliberately to work. 
 Sending out reconnoitring parties in every 
 direction, he succeeded in ascertaining, 
 with comparative accuracy, the strength 
 and position of the Mexicans. He also 
 coincided in the opinion that Twiggs had 
 previously expressed that the left of the 
 Mexicans was their more assailable point ; 
 and he determined to turn it, and assault 
 them in the rear. To effect this purpose, 
 it became necessary to cut a road, which 
 should wind around the base of Cerro 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO. 
 
 Gordo, and debouch into the national road, 
 in the rear of the enemy s camp. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 15th, work 
 ing parties, under the direction of Captain 
 Lee and Lieutenant Beauregard, com 
 menced the undertaking, and made such 
 progress as to open the way to a flank 
 attack to the heights of Cerro Gordo. They 
 were pushing on still further, to effect an 
 entrance into the national road in the 
 enemy s rear, when the Mexicans observing 
 them, opened fire, and they immediately 
 fell back. 
 
 The rear division, under "Worth, arriving 
 at midnight of the 16th, Scott determined 
 to commence the attack on the following 
 day. His entire force now numbered about 
 8,500 men. Early on the morning of the 
 17th, Twiggs was ordered forward with his 
 division, to take the new road, hasten its 
 completion, and assail the heights of Cerro 
 Gordo, where it now terminated. Harassed 
 by a party of skirmishers on his left, Lieu 
 tenant Gardner was sent forward with a 
 company to dislodge them, and a sharp 
 encounter took place. The Mexicans being 
 in greater force than was supposed, a party 
 of rifles, under Major Sumner, and a bat 
 talion of artillery, under Colonel Childs, 
 were sent to Gardner s support ; but, as 
 soon as they were perceived, a reinforce 
 ment of more than twice their number 
 hurried up from th-e Mexican camp, and 
 Santa Anna himself rode to the point of 
 attack. The struggle was brief. The 
 Mexicans were soon scattered, and the 
 Americans followed, in hot pursuit, to the 
 base of the hill called Atalaya. Here the 
 men stopped for an instant to gain breath : 
 then, notwithstanding a heavy flank fire 
 from the batteries on the road, they rushed 
 up the hill side, and drove the Mexicans 
 from the crest with the bayonet. Carried 
 away by the excitement of the moment, 
 Childs no sooner found himself master of 
 Atalaya, than he led his men into the 
 valley below, and began to ascend the 
 other height Cerro Gordo with the de 
 sign of assaulting it with his small force. 
 It was not till they had begun to scale the 
 heights of Cerro Gordo, that Childs dis 
 covered he had but sixty men with him, 
 having lost thirty- two in the charge, and 
 that the recall had been sounded. He had 
 no chance but to fall back to the other 
 eminence (Atalaya), which was occupied 
 by the American troops. During the night, 
 which was very dark, a 24-pounder gun, and 
 
 two 24-pounder howitzers, were mounted 
 upon its summit. This was only effected 
 with great labour and difficulty. The 
 heavy pieces had to be lifted up the almost 
 perpendicular sides of the hill, hundreds of 
 feet high. One thousand men were de 
 tached for this purpose, divided into two 
 parties of 500 each for relief; and it was 
 not until three o clock in the morning, 
 after eight hours of unremitting labour, 
 that the three pieces were planted on the 
 summit. An 8-inch howitzer was also 
 placed in position on the other side of the 
 river, opposite to the advanced batteries 
 of the Mexicans, on their right. This 
 heavy piece of ordnance was taken over 
 the bridge which spans the Rio del Plan, 
 and dragged the entire distance above two 
 miles by hand. And though the ground 
 over which the gun was drawn was of the 
 most rugged character, yet the men having 
 it in charge, worked their way, step by 
 step, until their Herculean task was accom 
 plished, and the gun was prepared to do 
 execution upon the enemy s right. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 17th, Scott 
 issued, in a general order, the detailed 
 plan of the main attack which was to take 
 place oil the following day. This order of 
 battle, which has been so justly cele 
 brated for simplicity of statement, clear 
 ness and precision of directions, calm, 
 confidence of victory, and accurate de 
 lineation of every movement, as (with a 
 single exception the repulse of General 
 Pillow s brigade) actually carried out on 
 the following day, has since become a 
 model in war. The enemy s whole line of 
 intrench ments and batteries was directed 
 to be attacked in front, and, at the same 
 time, flanked. The second (Twiggs ) divi 
 sion of regulars had instructions to move 
 forward before daylight on the day of 
 battle, and take up a position across the 
 national road in the enemy s rear, so as to 
 cut off a retreat towards Jalapa. The first 
 division of regulars (Worth s) was to 
 follow the movement against the enemy s 
 left at sunrise ; Brigadier-general Pillow s 
 brigade was to march at six o clock in the 
 morning, along the route he had carefully 
 reconnoitred, and stand ready as soon as 
 he heard the report of arms on the right, 
 or sooner, if circumstances should favour 
 him, to pierce the enemy s line of batteries 
 at such point the nearer the river the 
 better as he might select. Once in the 
 rear of that line, he was to turn to the 
 
 607 
 
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 right or left, or both, and attack the bat 
 teries in reverse ; or, if abandoned, to 
 pursue the enemy with vigour until further 
 orders. Wall s field battery and the cavalry 
 were to be held in reserve on the national 
 road, a little out of view and range of the 
 enemy s batteries, at nine o clock in the 
 morning. The latter being carried, or 
 abandoned, all the divisions and corps 
 were to pursue with vigour. The pursuit 
 was directed to be continued many miles, 
 until stopped by darkness or fortified 
 positions, towards Jalapa. Consequently, 
 the principal part of the army was not 
 expected to return to Cerro Gordo encamp 
 ment, but was to be followed by the baggage 
 trains of the several corps. 
 
 At daybreak on the morning of the 18th, 
 the guns which had been dragged with 
 such extraordinary efforts to the summit 
 of Atalaya, gave the signal of battle by 
 opening fire on the Mexican batteries in 
 both front and flank. This height com 
 manded all the positions but Cerro Gordo. 
 The latter, consequently, formed the key 
 to all the rest. Colonel Harney, who was 
 in command on the height of Atalaya, sent 
 his rifles, under Major Loring, round to 
 the ravine on the left of the hill, to intercept 
 reinforcements, and as a diversion ; then 
 forming the 3rd and 7th infantry, and 
 1st artillery in line, prepared to storm 
 the works on the summit of Cerro Gordo. 
 Santa Anna himself stood upon the latter 
 height, encouraging his men to their best 
 efforts ; and had ordered up from his camp in 
 the rear a large reinforcement of infantry, 
 to add to their numerical strength. Harney 
 had intended to wait for the rifles in the 
 ravine to commence the engagement, be 
 fore moving with his storming force ; but 
 the impatience of the men could not brook 
 the delay ; and, a few minutes after the 
 rifles had set out, he led them rapidly down 
 the slope. A sheet of flame burst from the 
 crest of the hill, and from the breastworks, 
 as the storming party descended in double- 
 quick time down the hill. The road was 
 exceedingly rough, through a growth of 
 tangled shrubbery, and over rocks and 
 chasms. As the column approached the 
 base of Cerro Gordo, it suffered severely 
 from a well-directed fire of shot and 
 canister. Unchecked, however, in its move 
 ment, the storming party ascended the 
 steep acclivity amid constant and incessant 
 discharges of cannon and musketry from 
 the enemy. Soon they reached the outer 
 608 
 
 works, situated about sixty yards from the 
 base of the hill. For a moment the con 
 tending parties struggled with crossed 
 bayonets, when the Mexicans, flying to 
 their second work, abandoned the outer 
 breastwork to the Americans. Although 
 thus deprived of their first line of defence, 
 the Mexican troops in the works above 
 continued to pour down upon their assail 
 ants missiles of destruction, but with little 
 effect, their balls, for the most part, passing 
 over the heads of the storming party, which 
 moved steadily up; and nearing the works, 
 they clubbed their muskets, and, with loud 
 shouts, leaped into the works. The Mexi 
 cans struggled, in a hand-to-hand conflict, 
 but a few minutes. General Vasquez, who 
 commanded the hill, being killed, the gar 
 rison, panic-stricken, leaped over their de 
 fences, and poured like an avalanche down 
 the side of the hill towards Jalapa. 
 
 The 2nd infantry, and 4th artillery, 
 under Colonel Riley, in the meantime, 
 were following as a cover to the working 
 parties and engineers, who were employed 
 in completing the road before spoken of, 
 to its junction with the national highway 
 in the rear of the enem} r . In approach 
 ing the termination of the road, they 
 were exposed to a sharp fire from the 
 skirmishers of the enemy, on the side of 
 the hill next the Mexican camp. Riley 
 immediately ordered two companies to 
 hold them in check ; and, hearing the fire, 
 Twiggs pushed forward the remainder of 
 his force to their support. Thus strongly 
 attacked, the Mexican skirmishers were 
 forced to abandon their position, when 
 Riley, with his force, followed them in 
 their retreat up the heights of Cerro Gordo, 
 and reached the summit at the very mo 
 ment that the storming party of Harney 
 had entered from the opposite side. At 
 the same time, the riflemen, under Major 
 Loring, had clambered up the summit from 
 the south side, announcing themselves by 
 the sharp crack of their weapons. 
 
 The brigade of General Shields, com 
 prising the 3rd and 4th regiments of Illinois, 
 and a battalion of New York volunteers, 
 as Riley diverged from the new road to 
 the rear of Cerro Gordo, continued on 
 towards the junction with the national road. 
 As they were about to debouch upon the 
 main road, a battery of five guns, hitherto 
 undiscovered in the rear of the Mexican 
 camp, supported by a body of cavalry, 
 opened with a volley of grapeshot upon 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [MEXICANS DEFEATED. 
 
 them. The front line was badly cut up 
 and thrown into confusion ; Shields himself 
 being shot through the lungs, and supposed 
 to be mortally wounded. 
 
 Colonel Baker, on Shields becoming dis 
 abled, at once assumed command, and 
 brought forward the force in the rear ; 
 meanwhile, the front troops having rallied, 
 he led them against the battery, and cap 
 tured two of the guns. Twiggs, who, at the 
 base of Cerro Gordo, was watching Shields 
 movement, seeing the struggle likely to 
 be severe, immediately dispatched a mes 
 senger up the ascent, for Riley to bring 
 down his whole brigade to Shields support. 
 The former at once moved rapidly down 
 with his men, and made directly for the 
 Mexican battery. The enemy, horse and 
 foot, immediately fled, without attempting a 
 defence. The force under Puley thus com 
 pleted the capture of the battery, from which 
 Baker, in his gallant charge, after Shields 
 was wounded, had taken two of the guns. 
 Santa Anna, and some six or seven thousand 
 of his troops, escaped towards Jalapa just 
 before Cerro Gordo was carried, and, of 
 course, prior to the forces of Twiggs having 
 reached the national road to cut off their 
 retreat, and before the guns of Cerro Gordo, 
 which commanded the road, could be turned 
 against them. 
 
 While the operations which have been 
 detailed were taking place on the American 
 right, General Pillow was actively occupied 
 on the left. As soon as he became aware that 
 Twiggs was engaged, he moved forward a 
 storming party, under Colonels Haskell and 
 Wyncoop, to assail the batteries on the ridge 
 of hills already described. For some distance 
 in front of the batteries, the Mexicans had 
 cut down the chapparel, and strewed it on 
 the ground, so as to impede the advance 
 of the Americans. This obstruction had 
 not been foreseen ; and it threw the first 
 storming party the Tennesseeans, under 
 Haskell into confusion. The moment 
 they gave indications of the impediment, 
 the batteries opened with grape, and at 
 least 2,000 infantry, securely posted behind 
 breastworks, delivered a fatal fire. Not a 
 single eminence afforded shelter to the 
 storming party. They were within easy 
 
 * Whatever of this property belonged personally 
 to Santa Anna, General Scott was most careful to 
 return to his agent and man of business. It was a 
 principle with the American commander, which he 
 most carefully carried out, that war was not a scheme 
 for robbery, but the honourable contest of nations 
 for national rights. He suffered no plunder of 
 
 range of the enemy s fire ; and, had they 
 stood their ground, they would probably 
 have been entirely cut off. As it was, 
 Haskell, unwilling to fall back without an 
 attempt to execute his orders, pressed for 
 ward at the head of his men till one hun 
 dred of them had fallen, when he ordered 
 a retreat. The Pennsylvanians were to 
 follow him ; but they, too, fell into dis 
 order ; and, to add to the panic, Pillow was 
 wounded the moment he appeared on the 
 scene. A hasty retreat was effected ; and 
 Pillow, wrapping a handkerchief around 
 his wounded arm, now ordered his brigade 
 to re-form and prepare for another attempt 
 to assault. But many of the raw volun 
 teers could not be rallied. At length, 
 hearing the enemy s fire slacken on the 
 American right, he correctly judged that 
 the contest was over, and suspended further 
 operations. The 24-pounder, which had 
 been, at such immense labour, transported 
 to the opposite bank of the river, to co 
 operate with Pillow s movement against 
 the Mexicans advanced works on their 
 right, had done effective service. But the 
 capture of Cerro Gordo, and the defeat of 
 the enemy on their left and rear, had 
 isolated the Mexican forts on the right. 
 The guns of Cerro Gordo were now turned 
 upon them, and they were obliged to sur 
 render at discretion. 
 
 Scott had, in the meantime, reached the 
 summit of Cerro Gordo ; and immediately 
 ordering forward the dragoons of Harney, 
 and the fresh troops of Worth, which had 
 been held in reserve, to close up with the ad 
 vanced corps of Twiggs, the Mexicans were 
 followed up until within sight of Jalapa. 
 The pursuit was pressed so closely upon the 
 trains of their army, that Santa Anna and 
 his staff, General Ampudia, the second in 
 command, and Generals Canalizo and 
 Almonte, barely escaped capture. The 
 private carriage of Santa Anna, his bag 
 gage, and the military chest of the army, 
 were taken.* The pursuers being brought 
 to a halt, and encamped, Patterson was 
 sent forward to take command of the ad 
 vance. 
 
 The spoils of the victory at Cerro Gordo 
 were so immense, that Scott was absolutely 
 
 private property ; no invasion of domestic sanctity ; 
 nor any aggression on the rights of citizens; 
 being ever anxious to vindicate the American 
 soldier and the American name from the barbarism 
 which would convert war into the pillage of plun 
 derers, and the glory of victory into the grossness 
 of brutality. Mansfield. 
 
 fiOO 
 
RESULT OF THE BATTLE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 embarrassed in the disposal of them. There 
 were forty-three pieces of bronze ordnance, 
 manufactured at Seville,in Spain, with 5,000 
 stand of arms ; five generals viz., Pinson, 
 Jarrero, La Vega, Noriega, and Obando 
 and 3,000 officers and men being made pri 
 soners. Not having the means of feeding or 
 guarding so large a number, Scott paroled 
 them, officers and men, except six of the 
 former, the highest in rank, who refused to 
 give their parole, and were sent to Vera 
 Cruz. The small arms and accoutrements 
 were of no value to the American army, as 
 the latter was already well supplied ; and 
 there being no means of conveying them to 
 a place of safety, they were destroyed. The 
 ordnance, with the exception of a field- 
 piece, which he took with him, was left 
 temporarily where captured. It would have 
 taken a brigade and half the mules in 
 the army to transport the captured cannon. 
 Besides, Scott had his own siege-train, and 
 the carriages for it. 
 
 This brilliant victory cost Scott 431 men, 
 of whom sixty-three were killed. The 
 Mexican loss was about 350, exclusive of 
 those who perished in the flight. The 
 following vivid picture of the battle 
 ground, is given from the pen of one who 
 visited that " weltering field of the tomb- 
 less dead," after the conflict was over : 
 "No one, from reading the newspaper ac 
 counts, or the reports of the generals, can 
 form a proper idea of the advantages pos 
 sessed by the enemy in his chosen position. 
 The battle I knew had been fought, and 
 won by our troops ; yet it seemed, in, its 
 bare, still reality, a dream. I could not 
 shake off this feeling as, riding along the 
 enemy s lines of intrenchments, I entered his 
 dismantled forts and magazines, and looked 
 from his chosen heights upon the paths by 
 which our troops rushed into the jaws of 
 death. * * * Passing down the ravine 
 where the national guard had attempted to 
 dislodge the mounted riflemen, who, sup 
 ported by the howitzer battery, literally 
 rained death among their ranks, I was 
 obliged to turn back and retrace my steps. 
 The gorge was choked up with the mangled 
 bodies of the flower of the Mexican army. 
 The wolf-dog howled, and the buzzard 
 screamed as 1 rode by, and the stench was 
 too sickening to be endured. Returning 
 to the national road, I passed a large 
 number of cannon taken by our troops, and 
 saw piles of muskets, charred with fire, in 
 where they had been gathered 
 610 
 
 together, and burned. * * * All along 
 the road were the bodies of Mexican lancers 
 and their horses, cut down by Harney s 
 dragoons, when those " fire-eaters" chased 
 Santa Anna and his retreating troops into 
 and beyond Jalapa. Almost every man s 
 skull was literally split open with the sabres 
 of our horsemen, and they lay stretched 
 upon the ground in ghastly groups." 
 
 On the morning of the 19th, the day 
 after the victory at Cerro Gordo, Patterson, 
 with the advance, moved on, and took 
 possession of Jalapa without resistance ; 
 Scott, and the remainder of the forces, 
 coming up during the day. Worth and 
 his division of regulars were sent forward 
 on the 20th, and moved on rapidly with 
 out meeting a single Mexican in arms. 
 He found the strong pass of La Hoy a, with 
 its formidable works and heavy guns, 
 utterly abandoned. Pushing on, Worth 
 reached Perote on the 22nd, the castle and 
 town of which he occupied without resist 
 ance the enemy having evacuated the 
 place the night previous. Here fifty-four 
 bronze and iron cannon and mortars, of 
 various calibres, upwards of 14,000 bomb 
 shells and hand-grenades, 11,000 cannon- 
 balls, and 500 muskets, swelled the muni 
 tions of war taken from the Mexicans. 
 
 Scott wished and designed to press on to 
 the capital before Santa Anna could have 
 time to repair his losses, or reorganise his 
 scattered and demoralised forces. The 
 cavalry, under Ampudia, numbering about 
 3,000, was the only portion of his army 
 that retained even the semblance of mili 
 tary organisation. The foot soldiery, when 
 driven from Cerro Gordo, dispersed in 
 every direction, each man looking out for 
 his own safety. Most of them, as they fled, 
 threw away their arms; and by many of 
 those who retained them, they were bartered 
 for food. 
 
 Scott met an obstacle to his immediate 
 advance in the volunteers. Unfortunately, 
 their term of enlistment, for twelve months 
 only, would expire in June ; and as the 
 sickly season was approaching, they ear 
 nestly entreated the general to grant them 
 their discharge before it began ; and being 
 influenced by considerations of humanity, 
 their request was granted. As a measure 
 of prudence, the general directed that the 
 men should be dismissed as soon as pos 
 sible; and to that end, 3,000 men, the 
 division of Patterson, left for Vera Cruz, 
 and embarked for the United States. 
 
A.-D. 1817.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SURRENDER OF PTJEBLA. 
 
 Having sent f-r fresh reinforcements, 
 Scott, on the 6th of May, ordered Quitman 
 to move from Jalapa with his whole force, 
 leaving but a single regiment as a garri 
 son, and to join Worth at Perote, who was 
 to march on Puebla with his entire divi- 
 On the 8th of May, Worth moved 
 
 sion. 
 
 with his division for PueWa : followed by 
 Quitman, with his brigade, on the 9th. 
 Meeting with no resistance, the troops 
 reached Amozaque, within four leagues of 
 Puebla, on the 14th. Here a messenger 
 was dispatched to the governor of the city, 
 asking an interview, preparatory to its 
 occupation by the American forces. While 
 waiting an answer, a drummer-boy, who 
 had advanced beyond the pickets, rushed 
 back with the information that a large 
 body of Mexican cavalry was approaching. 
 Preparations were immediately made to 
 receive them. Worth, on reconnoitring, 
 ascertained that the Mexican cavalry were 
 making a curve to get in his rear, and he 
 detached Colonel Garland with the 2nd 
 artillery, acting as infantry, and two pieces 
 of Duncan s battery, to open on them. 
 Meanwhile, he stood ready with his line to 
 repel any attack in front. But none came ; 
 and a few discharges from the two cannon 
 proved sufficient to put the cavalry to 
 night, though led by Santa Anna in 
 person. After this repulse, the unfortunate 
 Mexican chief abandoned Puebla, and 
 hastened to the city of Mexico, to arouse 
 the faltering citizens to a last and desperate 
 effort in its defence. 
 
 Worth now moved forward to the imme 
 diate suburbs of the capital, where he was 
 met by the governor, who formally surren 
 dered to him the city without resistance. 
 On the 15th, his forces marched in, and 
 took possession. The troops, having been 
 soaked in a pouring rain, and bearing upon 
 their countenances the mottled blots of 
 exposure to sun and weather, and, in their 
 whole appearance, the wear and tear of 
 service, had anything but a holiday look 
 to the crowds which thronged the streets to 
 catch a sight of the modern conquerors of 
 Mexico. Half-curious, half-frightened, the 
 Pueblanas congregated in groups around 
 them, wondering at the feeble numbers 
 and squalid appearance of the army to 
 which they had surrendered without firing 
 a shot. 
 
 An intelligent Mexican, a native and 
 citizen of Puebla, thus expressed himself 
 in a letter written on the day after Worth s 
 
 occupation of the place : " Nor does their 
 armament seem to me anything extraordi 
 nary. In a word, except the draught 
 horses, which are very good, I assure you, 
 without exaggeration, that these men bring 
 nething that we have not seen a thousand 
 times. Even the immense number of their 
 waggons is not a proof of large stores. 
 They are all empty; and I understood 
 their principal use to be for the trans 
 port of troops. How, then, have they 
 done what they have ? How have they 
 continually beaten our army, which not 
 only surpasses them in appearance for 
 that is unquestionable but, in my opinion, 
 has real and positive advantages over 
 them ? Everyone asks this question ; to 
 which there is but one reply. Their 
 leaders, and particularly the colonels of 
 their regiments, are old gray-haired men. 
 This explains the phenomenon ; makes me 
 still more rely on our soldiers ; and gives 
 me for the future some hopes, which we 
 require more than ever." 
 
 The " gray hairs" of the officers of the 
 American army in Mexico, indicating, as 
 they did, years and experience, may be 
 accepted as a partial explanation of the 
 success which had attended the American 
 arms, even when contending against great 
 odds. Many of them had served with dis 
 tinction in the war of 1812, above thirty 
 years previous, against the veterans of 
 Great Britain. But an additional explana 
 tion was to be found in that intrepid deter 
 mination, so marked a characteristic in the 
 American people, and which was manifested 
 by all, from the general- in-chief to the 
 humblest soldier in his army. This self- 
 reliance was shown in the confidence with 
 which the forces of Worth, about 4,000 in 
 number, marched into the plaza major of 
 an enemy s city, containing a population 
 of over 80,000 quietly stacked their arms, 
 and lay down to sleep, as utterly regardless 
 of the opinions, as they were fearless of the 
 hostility of the people 
 
 The city of Puebla was situated on a lofty 
 plain, 7,000 feet above the level of the 
 sea, being bounded by the Cordilleras ; and 
 although within the torrid zone, was 
 called the tierros frios, or cold grounds. 
 Notwithstanding the frigidity of the 
 climate, and altitude above the sea, the 
 grains and fruits of the most temperate 
 climes luxuriantly grew upon the plains 
 of Puebla. The city was compactly and 
 uniformly built ; and the streets, though 
 
 611 
 
DESCRIPTION OP PUEBLA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 not very wide, were straight, and intersected 
 each other at right angles. The houses 
 were built of stone, and generally two storeys 
 high, with flat roofs, having mostly a court 
 in the centre, surrounded with open gal 
 leries, and a fountain of pure water, con 
 veyed thither by earthen pipes. Many had 
 iron balconies towards the streets ; and their 
 fronts were inlaid with highly- glazed tiles, 
 or else gaudily and fantastically painted. 
 The apartments were spacious, and mostly 
 paved with porcelain carpets not being 
 used and the walls were adorned with 
 paintings in fresco. The family usually 
 resided in the upper storey, the ground- 
 floor being occupied with shops or offices. 
 
 Being situated on the national road from 
 Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, about 200 
 miles from the former, and half that dis 
 tance from the latter, Puebla was favourably 
 situated for trade; while its position in a 
 fertile and healthy country, rendered it a 
 desirable place of residence. Many of the 
 inhabitants were wealthy, and had hand 
 some carriages drawn by mules ; but, like 
 Mexico, the city swarmed with beggars 
 a consequence of the lack of industry the 
 result principally of the mildness of the 
 climate, though, in some degree, owing to 
 the practice of distributing provisions at 
 the convent doors. It contained no less 
 than sixty-nine churches, twenty monas 
 teries and nunneries, and twenty-three 
 colleges. The first-named were of the most 
 sumptuous character. A European tra 
 veller remarked, that while the churches 
 of Milan, Genoa, and Rome, in the Old 
 World, were built in better taste, those 
 of Puebla and Mexico were far superior 
 in expensive interior decorations, in the 
 quantity and value of the ornaments of 
 their altars, and in richness of vest 
 ments. The cathedral, which formed one 
 side of the principal plaza, on which 
 the troops of Worth encamped, had nothing 
 remarkable in its exterior ; but the interior 
 was very rich. The altar was particularly 
 splendid. 
 
 The soil of the province of Puebla, of 
 which the city was the capital, was scattered 
 over with, and partially composed of the 
 volcanic remains of ancient convulsions. 
 The ground was covered with lava, in dif 
 ferent varieties, resembling the cinders of 
 an iron furnace. At the summits of the 
 loftiest mountains were seen the craters of 
 extinct volcanoes, whence, in past ages, 
 had streamed out from unknown depths, 
 612 
 
 vast quantities of melted matter. Notwith 
 standing, the earth was there un garnished 
 with that richness of foliage, and that pleni 
 tude of vegetable production, which cha 
 racterised the great alluvials of the United 
 States. The cactus, or prickly pear, was the 
 common product of the barren lands, which 
 extended from Vera Cruz to within a few 
 miles of Puebla. These immense barrens, 
 producing only the cactus and a few palms, 
 gave a desolate appearance to the country. 
 
 Near Puebla, however, cultivated fields 
 and waving grain indicated that husbandry 
 received some attention, and that man was 
 not content to rely upon the mere chance 
 productions of nature for subsistence. Yet 
 he was but the creature of twenty centuries 
 since. Time, which, in its progress, had 
 revolutionised empires, and established the 
 supremacy of science on other lands, had 
 left the Aztec, to some extent, the un 
 altered image of his ancient fathers, 
 in contentment and unchangeableness of 
 habits. He cared not for the progress 
 that had been made in the useful arts 
 throughout the other sections of the civi 
 lised world ; the enjoyment of the status 
 of his ancient race, filled the measure of his 
 ambition. 
 
 The province of Puebla once included 
 one of the most numerous populations of 
 the ancient Mexicans ; but it scarcely con 
 tained, and barely supported, at the epoch 
 of the invasion, fifty souls to a square 
 mile a number still large, in comparison 
 with most of the provinces of Mexico ; but 
 small, compared with the population it con 
 tained in the time of Cortez. There the 
 Tlascalans and Cholulans, the most nume 
 rous and civilised of the ancient Mexicans, 
 built splendid cities and towering temples. 
 Six miles from the present city of Puebla, 
 was the great city of Cholula, which once 
 contained nearly a quarter of a million of 
 inhabitants, and where Cortez, the Spanish 
 conqueror of Mexico, looked with wonder 
 upon 400 idol temples. Of this great city, 
 not a vestige now remains not a brick or 
 a stone stands upon another. In the vast 
 plain which surrounded it, a single massive 
 pyramid stood in gloomy and solitary 
 grandeur; which, truncated at the top, 
 is supposed to have been dedicated to 
 the worship of the gods of the Aztecs ; and 
 was looked upon as one of the most 
 remarkable among the ruins of ancient 
 nations. It measured 1,440 feet on the side, 
 at the base ; was 177 feet in height ; and 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NICHOLAS p. TRIST. 
 
 formed an area of upwards of 45,000 square 
 feet at the summit.* 
 
 In a few days after the successful occu 
 pation of Puebla by the forces under 
 Worth, Scott joined them with the remain 
 der of his army, entirely abandoning Jalapa, 
 and moving his hospital to Perote. There 
 was now a pause in active operations, the 
 reason for which was twofold. The Ameri 
 can army having overrun the northern 
 portion of the country, and made a suc 
 cessful movement towards the capital, the 
 president of the United States appointed 
 Nicholas P. Trist, chief clerk in the state 
 department at Washington, as a commis 
 sioner to visit Mexico, and make an effort 
 to settle the differences between the two 
 nations by negotiation. Mr. Trist arrived 
 in the American camp just as Scott was on 
 the point of leaving Jalapa for Puebla ; and 
 after a conference with the commissioner, 
 the general determined to proceed no fur 
 ther than the latter place, whither he sent 
 forward Twiggs with his division, and 
 followed himself on the 23rd of May. 
 
 Previous to the arrival of Mr. Trist at 
 Jalapa, Scott, on the llth of May, had 
 issued an eloquent appeal for a pacifi 
 cation of existing differences, in the form 
 of a reasonable and humane proclamation, 
 addressed to the Mexican people; which 
 has been pronounced one of the finest speci 
 mens, in both matter and manner, of mili 
 tary literature extant. f The general de 
 clared that he felt it his duty to lay before 
 the people truths which had been crimi 
 nally concealed from them ; that he did not 
 ask for reliance upon what he stated on his 
 word alone, though he who had not been 
 found false had a claim to be believed ; but 
 he wished them to judge for themselves of 
 its truth or falsity from facts within the 
 view and scrutiny of them all. 
 
 Whatever might have been the origin oi 
 the war between the United States and 
 Mexico, he assured them that the former 
 power regarded it as an evil that war was 
 ever such to both belligerents. Govern 
 ments, however, have sacred duties to per 
 form, from which they cannot swerve ; and 
 these duties, from national considerations, 
 frequently impose a silence and a reserve 
 that displease, at times, the majority of 
 those who, from views purely personal or 
 
 Mansfield s Mexican War; Waddy Thomp 
 son s Recollections of Mexico ; and Humboldt s 
 Travels in New Spain. 
 
 t Mansfield, p. 210. 
 
 VOL. n. 4 K 
 
 private, are found in opposition ; to which 
 :he executive authorities can pay but little 
 attention, expecting the nation to repose in 
 them the confidence due to a magistracy 
 of its own selection. 
 
 In spite of the circumspection of the 
 abinet at Washington, events had been 
 precipitated by considerations of high 
 policy and of continental American inter 
 ests. That cabinet, ardently desirous of 
 terminating all differences with Mexico, had 
 spared no efforts compatible with honour 
 and dignity. It had cherished the most 
 flattering hopes of attaining this end by 
 frank explanations and reasonings, ad 
 dressed to the judgment and prudence of 
 the virtuous and patriotic government of 
 Herrara. An unexpected misfortune dis 
 pelled those hopes, and closed every avenue 
 to an honourable adjustment. The new 
 government, disregarding the interests of. 
 Mexico, as well as those of continental 
 America, yielded to foreign influences the 
 most opposed to those interests, and the 
 most fatal to the future of Mexican liberty, 
 and of that republican system which the 
 United States held it a duty to preserve 
 and to protect. Duty, honour, and dig 
 nity placed the latter under the necessity 
 of embracing a season of which the monar 
 chical party was fast taking advantage. As 
 not a moment was to be lost, they acted 
 with a promptness and decision adapted to 
 the urgency of the case, in order to avoid a 
 complication of interests which might 
 render their relations more difficult and 
 involved. 
 
 Again, in the course of the civil war, the 
 administration of General Paredes was over 
 thrown. The government of the United 
 States could not but look upon this as a 
 fortunate event, believing that any other 
 executive, representing Mexico, would be 
 less deluded, more patriotic, and more 
 prudent looking to the common good, 
 weighing probabilities, strength, resources, 
 and, above all, the general opinion as to 
 the inevitable results of a national war. 
 The American government was deceived, 
 \ as were, perhaps, also the Mexicans, in 
 ! judging of the real intentions of Santa 
 ! Anna, who had been recalled by the latter, 
 and permitted, by the former, to return. 
 
 Under this state of things the Mexican 
 nation had seen the results lamented by 
 all, and by the people and government of 
 the United States most sincerely ; for they 
 appreciated, and justty, the valour and noble 
 
 613 
 
OVERTURES FOR PEACE.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 decision of the unfortunate men who went 
 forth to battle, ill-conducted, worse cared 
 for, and always enforced by violence, deceit, 
 or perfidy. They were witnesses, and 
 could not be taxed with prejudice, as a 
 party interested, when they expressed their 
 regret with surprise, that the heroic beha 
 viour of the garrison at Vera Cruz, in its 
 valiant defence, should be aspersed by the 
 general who had just been routed, and put 
 to shameful flight, at Buena Vista, by a 
 force far inferior to his own ; that the same 
 general should reward the insurgents of 
 the capital promoters of civil war and 
 heap outrages on those who had just ac 
 quired for themselves singular distinction 
 by a resistance beyond expectation, and of 
 admirable decision. Finally, the sanguinary 
 event of Cerro Gordo had plainly shown 
 the Mexican nation what it might rea 
 sonably expect, if it still continued blind 
 to its real situation, to which it had been 
 brought by some of its generals, in whom 
 it had chiefly confided, and particularly 
 distinguished. 
 
 The hardest heart would have been 
 moved to grief in contemplating any battle 
 field of Mexico a moment after the last 
 struggle. Those generals whom the nation 
 paid without service rendered for so 
 many years, had, in the day of need, with 
 some honourable exceptions, but served to 
 injure it by their bad example or unskil- 
 
 fulness. The dead and wounded on those 
 fields received no marks of military distinc 
 tion, sharing alike the sad fate which had 
 attended others, from Palo Alto to Cerro 
 Gordo : the dead remained unburied, and 
 the wounded abandoned to the clemency 
 and charity of the victor. Soldiers who went 
 to battle, knowing they had such indigni 
 ties to look for, deserved to be classed with 
 the most heroic ; for they were stimulated by 
 no hope of glory, remembrance, or sympathy 
 not even a grave ! 
 
 The American general informed the 
 Mexicans that his army had neither profaned 
 their temples, abused the women, nor seized 
 property, as the press would have them 
 believe. With great pride he appealed to 
 the bishops and the curates of Tampico, 
 Tuxpan, Matamoras, Monterey, Yera Cruz, 
 and Jalapa to the clergy, civil autho 
 rities, and inhabitants of all the places he 
 had occupied, as witnesses to confirm his 
 statements. He assured them that the 
 army of the United States had respected, 
 and would ever respect, both private pro 
 perty of every class, and that of the Mexi 
 can church. 
 
 Scott further informed the Mexicans that 
 he should march with this army upon 
 Puebla and Mexico. He would not con 
 ceal this from them; and that, from those 
 capitals, they might be again addressed in 
 behalf of peace. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 STATE OF THE ARMY ; REINFORCEMENTS ; THE MARCH ; BATTLES OF CONTRERAS AND CHURUBUSCO. 
 
 IT was stated, in the preceding chapter, j 
 that General Scott had two reasons for the ; 
 temporary suspension of active operations, j 
 One to allow time for a renewed attempt 
 at negotiation has been given. The other 
 was the inefficiency of his forces. On ! 
 mustering the troops at Puebla, he found 
 he had scarcely 4,500 men fit for active i 
 service on the 1st of June. As already | 
 stated in a former chapter, the presi 
 dent had been authorised, by act of con 
 gress, passed in May, 1846, to call out 
 50,000 twelve-months volunteers. Under 
 614 
 
 this authority, twenty-three regiments, 
 numbering about 20,000 men, had been 
 serving since May and June, 1846, and 
 their term of enlistment had of course now 
 expired. Several of these regiments were 
 1 among the troops of Scott ; and their dis 
 charge, as mentioned in a former page, 
 | had especially aided to deplete his nu- 
 merical force". The men had also suf- 
 ! fered greatly from exposure . to the heat 
 ; and poisonous exhalations of the low country, 
 1 on their march from Vera Cruz to the 
 i elevated plains, where they were now 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MARCH ON MEXICO. 
 
 encamped. Hundreds died, and many were 
 so debilitated as to be incapable of duty. 
 Besides the decimation by death and disease, 
 a large number deserted, and not a few 
 were cut off by the guerilla bands. 
 
 The government at AYashington, how 
 ever, had become impressed with the neces 
 sity of reinforcing the army in Mexico ; 
 and the business of recruiting had been 
 actively carried on stations for that pur 
 pose having been established in the prin 
 cipal towns of the United States. The 
 liberal inducements offered in the way of 
 pay and bounty-lands, soon filled the ex 
 hausted ranks of the regular service. A 
 bill for the enlistment of ten regiments of 
 volunteers, to serve during the war, had 
 passed both houses of congress, and been 
 signed by the president. Under this law, 
 several regiments of volunteers were organ 
 ised, and dispatched to the seat of war. 
 The spirit of the people had been roused ; 
 and whatever difference of opinion might 
 have existed in regard to the origin of 
 the war, there was a unanimity of senti 
 ment as to the necessity of its vigorous 
 prosecution to a successful termination. 
 This sentiment was encouraged by the con 
 viction that the capture of the Mexican 
 capital would lead to a speedy and perma 
 nent peace. 
 
 The reinforcements, as they arrived at 
 YeraCruz, immediately marched for Puebla, 
 to join the forces already there. In mov 
 ing from the former city to the mountain, 
 they had to sustain a running fight with 
 numerous bands of guerillas. The prin 
 cipal object of the latter, however, was 
 plunder. Their movements, therefore, were 
 directed rather against the trains than 
 the main bodies of the troops. Hiding 
 themselves in the mountain passes, or 
 thickets of cactus and wild thorn, they 
 would dash upon the trains, or detached 
 parties of troops acting as a guard, sud 
 denly discharge their escopetas, and then 
 rush upon them with their knives, kill the 
 guard, plunder the waggons, and escape 
 with the booty to their hiding-places. 
 
 On the 5th of May, a large train, under 
 the escort of 800 men, commanded by 
 Colonel M Intosh, started from Yera Cruz ; 
 and when it reached the Pass de Ovejas, 
 was attacked by a party of guerillas, and 
 thirty waggons and 200 mules were cut 
 off, and captured. The force of M Intosh 
 made a determined resistance, but was 
 overpowered, losing thirty men in killed 
 
 and wounded. On the 10th of May, Gen 
 eral Cadwallader marched to the relief of 
 M Intosh, from Vera Cruz, with 600 men, 
 chiefly of the new regiment of voltigeurs, 
 and six howitzers. A junction was formed, 
 and the detachment, with its train, now 
 moved forward, and reached Puebla with 
 out further annoyance. 
 
 On the 17th of May, General Pillow, 
 who, after the battle of Cerro Gordo, had 
 proceeded to the sea-coast, to take command 
 of the new levies as they arrived, left Vera 
 Cruz with 1,000 men ; and, finally, on the 
 Gth of August, General Franklin Pierco 
 arrived at Puebla, with 2,500 volunteers. 
 These accessions augmented the forces 
 under Scott to about 11,000 effective men, 
 or nearly 13,000 in all. The efforts of 
 Mr. Trist at negotiation having proved 
 ineffectual, Scott now resolved to push for 
 ward at once on the Mexican capital. - 
 Leaving upwards of 2,000 men at Puebla, 
 in hospital and in garrison, under Colonel 
 Childs, the effective force for an advance 
 numbered 10,738 men. 
 
 The army was arranged in four divisions, 
 and a cavalry brigade, as follows : 
 
 CAVALRY BRIGADE. Colonel Harney. 
 
 1st Dragoons, Captain Kearney; 2nd Dragoons, 
 Captain Sumner; 3rd Dragoons, Captain M Rey- 
 nolds. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. General Worth. 
 
 First Brigade. Colonel Garland. 2nd and 3rd 
 regiments of Artillery; 4th regiment of Infantry; 
 Duncan s field-battery. 
 
 Second Brigade. Colonel Clarke. 5th, Gth, and 
 8th regiments of Infantry. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. General Twiggs. 
 
 First Brigade. General Smith. Rifle regiment; 
 1st regiment of Artillery; 3rd regiment of Infan 
 try ; Taylor s Battery. 
 
 Second Brigade. Colonel Riley. 4th regiment of 
 Artillery ; 1st and 7th regiments <^f Infantry. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. General Pillow. 
 
 First Brigade. General Cadwallader. Voltigeurs; 
 
 llth and 14th regiments of Infantry. 
 Second Brigade. General Pierce. 9th, 12th and 
 
 15th regiments of Infantry. 
 
 FOURTH DIVISION. General Quitman. 
 
 First Brigade. General Shields. South Carolina 
 
 Volunteers; New York Volunteers. 
 Second Brigade. 2nd Pennsylvanian Volunteers; 
 
 detachment of United States Marines. 
 
 A full regiment consisted of 1,000 men. 
 But some of the above were mere skeletons, 
 containing scarcely 300 ; while the whole 
 number averaged less than 500. That the 
 various divisions might be kept distinct 
 
 615 
 
SUBLIME SCENERY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.B. 1847. 
 
 from each other, Scott directed them to 
 take up their line of march on different 
 days. The second division, under Twiggs, 
 preceded by the 2nd and 3rd dragoons, 
 under Harney, led the van on the 7th, the 
 day following Pierce s arrival with the last 
 body of reinforcements. On the 8th, the 
 fourth division, under Quitman, followed. 
 On the 9th, the first division, under Worth, 
 moved; and, on the 10th, the third divi 
 sion, under Pillow, brought up the rear. 
 The general-in-chief left Puebla on the 8th, 
 with the 1st dragoons, and having joined, 
 he moved with the second division in ad 
 vance. The movement of the different divi 
 sions was so arranged that they might re 
 inforce each other at five hours notice. 
 The route taken was the national road, on 
 which they had marched from Vera Cruz, 
 and which now led over the Anahuac range 
 of the Cordilleras, ascending gradually to 
 the plain or elevated valley, in the centre 
 of which was the city ; and its capture was 
 the end and purpose of their march. 
 
 On the 9th of August the advance divi 
 sion of Twiggs reached the pass of Rio 
 Frio, a small stream which descended from 
 the snow-clad mountains, of icy coldness, 
 and crystal purity. The mountains, in 
 which it has its source, are composed of 
 porphyritic rocks ; and, at their summits, 
 are the craters of extinct volcanoes. At 
 the pass of Rio Frio the mountains closed 
 down on both sides of the road, so as com 
 pletely to overhang and enfilade it. The 
 place being so favourable for defence, 
 opposition was here anticipated ; but though 
 evidences of intended resistance were pre 
 sent, such as temporary parapets and fallen 
 timber, no enemy appeared. 
 
 A few miles beyond, the highest crest 
 of the mountain range, at this point, was 
 reached. The troops were now upwards of 
 10,000 feet above the level of the ocean, 
 having gradually ascended about 3,000 feet 
 since leaving Puebla, now nearly fifty miles 
 distant. Here a scene of unparalleled beauty 
 and sublimity burst upon their view. From 
 the summit on which they stood they 
 looked down upon the magnificent valley 
 of Mexico, with the city itself glittering in 
 the centre, and bright lakes, grim forts, 
 and busy causeways, dotting the dark 
 expanse of marsh and lava. An officer of 
 the rifle regiment thus speaks of the pros 
 pect which then opened to their sight : 
 
 "When all of us were pretty nearly worn out, 
 a sudden turn in the road brought to our view a 
 616 
 
 sight which none can ever forget. The whole vast 
 plain of Mexico was before us. The coldness of 
 the air, which was most sensibly felt at this great 
 height, our fatigue and danger, were forgotten, and 
 our eyes were the only sense capable of enjoy 
 ment. Mexico, with its lofty steeples and its 
 checkered domes its bright reality and its former 
 fame- its modern splendour and its ancient mag 
 nificence was before us ; while around, on every 
 side, its thousand lakes seemed like silver stars on a 
 velvet mantle." 
 
 With this sketch may appropriately be 
 given, as a parallel, the description, by 
 Prescott,* of the same scene, as looked upon 
 by Cortez and his army, three- and- a-quarter 
 centuries previous : 
 
 " They had not advanced far, when, turning an 
 angle of the Sierra, they suddenly came on a view 
 which more than compensated for the toils of the 
 preceding day. It was that of the valley of Mexico, 
 or Tenochtitlan, as more commonly called by the 
 natives; which, with its picturesque assemblage of 
 water, woodland, and cultivated plains, its shining 
 cities and shadowy hills, was spread out like some 
 gay and gorgeous panorama before them. In the 
 highly-rarefied atmosphere of these upper regions, 
 even remote objects have a brilliancy of colouring, 
 and a distinctness of outline, which seem to annihi 
 late distance. Stretching far away at their feet 
 were seen noble forests of oak, sycamore, and 
 cedar ; and beyond, yellow fields of maize and the 
 towering maguey, intermingled with orchards and 
 blooming gardens ; for flowers, in such demand for 
 their religious festivals, were even more abundant 
 in this populous valley than in other parts of Ana 
 huac. In the centre of the great basin were beheld 
 the lakes, occupying then a much larger portion of 
 its surface than at present ; their borders thickly 
 studded with towns and hamlets ; and in the midst 
 like some Indian empress with her coronal of 
 pearls the fair city of Mexico, with its white 
 towers and pyramidal temples, reposing, as it were, 
 on the bosom of the waters the far-famed Venice 
 of the Aztecs. High over all rose the royal hill of 
 Chapultepec, the residence of the Mexican monarchs, 
 crowned with the same grove of gigantic cypresses 
 which, at this day, fling their broad shadows over 
 the land. In the distance, beyond the blue waters 
 of the lake, and nearly screened by intervening 
 foliage, was seen a shining speck, the rival capital 
 of Tezcuco ; and still further on, the dark belt of 
 porphyry, girdling the valley around, like a rich 
 setting which nature had devised for the fairest of 
 her jewels. Such was the beautiful vision which 
 broke on the eyes of the conquerors. And even 
 now, when so sad a change has come over the 
 scene when the stately forests have been laid low, 
 and the soil, unsheltered from the fierce radiance of 
 a tropical sun, is, in many places, abandoned to 
 sterility when the waters have retired, leaving a 
 broad and ghastly margin, white with the incrusta 
 tion of salts while the cities and hamlets on their 
 borders have mouldered into ruins even now that 
 desolation broods over the landscape, so inde 
 structible are the lines of beauty which nature has 
 traced on its features, that no traveller, however 
 cold, can gaze on them with any other emotions 
 than those of astonishment and rapture." 
 * Conquest of Mexico. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [SCOTT BEFORE MEXICO. 
 
 The plain or valley of Tenochtitlan, in 
 which the capital of the Mexican republic 
 is located, has been briefly noticed in the 
 introductory chapter to this history of the 
 war. It was also stated that one-tenth of 
 its surface was covered by water. The 
 aqueous portion of the plain comprises five 
 lakes, the largest of which, Lake Tezcuco 
 near which stands the city of Mexico covers 
 a surface of seventy-seven square miles. 
 The water of Lake Tezcuco is salt, while 
 that of the other four is fresh. The moun 
 tains which enclose the plain on the north, 
 rise but a few hundred feet above the level 
 of the table-land ; but, on the south, they ap 
 pear much higher; while at the south-east, 
 are the two loftiest mountains in Mexico 
 Istaceihuatal, which rises 15,700 feet, and 
 the volcanic mountain, Popocatepetl, 17,884 
 feet above the ocean-level. The surface of 
 the plain is not smooth, but roughened 
 by irregular-shaped rocks scattered over 
 it, and by inequalities of ground. Towns, 
 villages, and extensive fields of culture, 
 where wheat, other grains, and the fruits 
 of the temperate latitudes grow in abun 
 dance, occupy the districts between the 
 hills on the west and the lakes. There 
 are extensive tracts of country east of the 
 latter, however, which are uncultivable, 
 being sterile, and covered with a saline 
 efflorescence. 
 
 The advanced division, under Twiggs, 
 descended the mountain, and encamped at 
 its base, on the night of the 10th of August, 
 with the enemy s scouts on every side. 
 On the llth the men moved along by 
 the national road, to the little town of 
 Ayotla, only fifteen miles from the capital. 
 Here they halted till the rear divisions, 
 under Worth, Pillow, and Quitman, should 
 come up. 
 
 The general-in-chief, who accompanied 
 the advanced division, as already stated, 
 having resolved to move without delay upon 
 the capital, immediately gave orders to 
 reconnoitre the country in advance, in order 
 to select the best route for approaching 
 the city, from which the Americans were 
 now separated by Lake Tezcuco, and the 
 marshes which surround that lake. Three 
 routes presented themselves which respec 
 tively reached Mexico by causeways over 
 the marshes just alluded to. One was the 
 national road, by which they had hitherto 
 advanced, and leading along the southern 
 shore of Lake Tezcuco, to the eastern gate 
 of the capital; another passed to the west 
 
 of Lakes Chalco and Jochimilco, and, by 
 the Acapulco road, through the villages of 
 San Augustine and San Antonio, entering 
 the city on the south-west ; and the third 
 was by the Tolnea road, passing over the 
 Tacubaya causeway, the capital being 
 entered further to the west. 
 
 The national road was first reconnoitred, 
 on the 12th, by the rifle regiment, and 
 three companies detached from Harney s 
 cavalry brigade. It was found to be 
 commanded, seven miles from the city, by 
 a steep and lofty rocky eminence called 
 El Penon. This hill, inaccessible on one 
 side by nature, had been rendered so on all 
 others by art. Batteries, mounting fifty- 
 one guns of different calibres, had been 
 placed on its sides ; and, to render it com 
 pletely impregnable, a ditch, twenty-four 
 feet wide, and ten feet deep, had been cut 
 around its base, and filled with water, con 
 necting the forts already surrounded by 
 marshes. As this position could not be 
 turned, it would have to be carried by 
 assault, probably at an immense sacrifice of 
 life. Scott, therefore, decided to abandon 
 the attempt, actuated, as he remarked in 
 his report, by a desire to spare the lives of 
 his gallant army for a general battle, which 
 he knew they had got to win before captur 
 ing the city, or obtaining the great object 
 of the campaign an honourable peace. 
 
 The reconnaissance was continued, and 
 another road discovered, which passed 
 around and to the left of El Penon ; but this 
 was found to be strongly fortified at a 
 bridge which crossed the outlet of Lake 
 Jochimilco, at a place called Mexicalcingo, 
 about five miles distant from the capital. 
 
 Scott remarked, in alluding to this route, 
 that it might have been easy (masking the 
 Penon) to force the passage; but, on the 
 other side of the bridge, they would have 
 found themselves, four miles from this 
 road, on a narrow causeway, flanked to the 
 right and left by water, on boggy ground. 
 He therefore determined to avoid the 
 strong eastern defences of the city, by 
 making a circuitous march around the 
 eastern end of Lake Chalco, and, passing 
 along the southern shore of that lake and 
 Lake Jochimilco, at the foot of the hills 
 and mountains, gain the Acapulco road at 
 San Antonio, and thus enter the city by its 
 south-western or western gate, which had 
 been more or less in contemplation since 
 his arrival on the 10th.* 
 
 * Scntt s Official Report, No. 31. 
 017 
 
DEFENCE OF THE CITY.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.TX 1847. 
 
 The rear divisions of the army had in the 
 meantime arrived. Worth s division was 
 encamped at Chalco, on the east of the lake 
 of that name, and about five miles south 
 east of Ayotla, in a direct line, and about ten 
 miles by the road. Pillow and Quitman 
 were encamped, with their divisions, on the 
 borders of the lake, between the troops of 
 Worth and Twiggs. 
 
 On the 15th of August the several divi 
 sions took up their line of march, the order 
 of which was now reversed ; that of Worth, 
 which had formed the rear at Chalco, now 
 forming the advance marching round 
 the south end of Lake Chalco, and cutting 
 their way to San Augustine. The road lay 
 along the base of a high range of moun 
 tains, at times crossing rocky spurs of the 
 same ; and at others, along the margin of 
 the lake, on narrow causeways very much 
 cut up. The hills on the left were often 
 precipitous ; and a party of sharpshooters 
 stationed there, might have seriously 
 harassed the march, and the road also might 
 have been easily blocked up by rolling 
 down rocks upon it ; but it appears to have 
 been attempted only in a single instance ; 
 and, in that case, a few shots were sufficient 
 to dislodge the enemy, and the road was 
 soon cleared of the rocks. On the 17th, 
 the division of Worth reached San Augus 
 tine, through which the Acapulco road 
 passed, as already mentioned, nine miles 
 from the city of Mexico. In a few hours 
 after, the divisions of Pillow and Quitman 
 arrived within striking distance. 
 
 Twiggs division left Ayotla on the 
 morning of the 15th, with the train, the 
 brigade of Smith forming the rear-guard. 
 As the rear division was passing a small 
 village, called, by a singular coincidence, 
 liuena Vista, a Mexican force was seen ap 
 proaching, through some fields of half- 
 grown barley, on the left, with an apparent 
 design of cutting off the rear-guard, and cap 
 turing the train. Twiggs promptly formed 
 in line of battle, and his forces were soon 
 deploying through the grain to turn the 
 left of the Mexicans, and cut them off from 
 the mountains. A few shots from the 
 battery, however, proved sufficient to make 
 them hastily retreat, leaving their dead 
 on the field. Twiggs moved forward to 
 Chalco, where he encamped. 
 
 The next morning the march was re 
 sumed, which was long and toilsome, over 
 the route which has already been described 
 as havincr been passed by the other divi- 
 613 
 
 sions. 
 
 It was with the utmost labour, of 
 both men and mules, that they succeeded 
 in dragging their waggons over the diffi 
 cult road. On the third day, the 18th, 
 the rear division successfully reached San 
 Augustine, where Scott had established his 
 head-quarters, and was preparing for his 
 final march on the capital, with the hope of 
 conquering with it " an honourable peace," 
 as desired by the American government. 
 
 The city of Mexico is favourably situated 
 for defence, and Santa Anna had availed 
 himself of every precaution which genius 
 could suggest, or science indicate, to 
 strengthen the natural barriers. Two lines 
 of defences were constructed, an exterior 
 and an interior one. The first extended in 
 a semicircle around the city, from Lake 
 Tezcuco on the east, to the mountains on 
 the west, and consisted of fortified emi 
 nences, lines of intrenchments, and arti 
 ficial inundations, by which, the natural 
 defences of mountain, marsh, and lake, 
 were ingeniously connected. 
 
 The American general-in-chief,as already 
 stated, found these defences on the prin 
 cipal routes, of so formidable a character, 
 that he would not consent to the fear 
 ful sacrifice of life which it would cost to 
 carry them by assault. He therefore sought 
 another approach to the city of Mexico, 
 which, though exceedingly rugged and 
 difficult, the spirit and endurance of his 
 men rendered practicable; and he now 
 presented himself, with his entire force, 
 in a direction from which Santa Anna had 
 little expected to see his enemy approach. 
 The Acapulco road had consequently been 
 but partially fortified. 
 
 When the Mexican commander ascer 
 tained that the Americans were approach 
 ing the city in this direction, he moved the 
 greater portion of his forces to defend the 
 Acapulco route ; while he did his utmost, in 
 the brief time left him, to increase and 
 strengthen its defences. San Antonio, 
 which is situated two or three miles nearer 
 the city of Mexico than San Augustine, 
 was garrisoned with soldiei s, and had its 
 armament increased by guns from the bat 
 teries at Mexicalcingo and El Peiion. The 
 church and bridgeof Churubusco the latter 
 a tete-du-pont at the crossing of a canal on 
 the Acapulco road, and still nearer to the 
 capital than San Antonio, being but four 
 miles distant were also strongly fortified. 
 Further to the west of Churubusco, was 
 the hill of Perdierna, near the village of 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MEXICAN DEFENCES. 
 
 -Contreras,* thoroughly armed with batteries 
 and breastworks. In the route, and still 
 nearer to the city, being about two miles 
 distant, to the south-west, was the hill of 
 Chapultepec, a rocky eminence rising about 
 150 feet, and crowned by a castle. The 
 entire length of the fortification was 900 
 feet. That of the main building and the 
 terre-pleine, was 600 feet. This was at the 
 point where the mountains approached the 
 city. It was a tine position, and strongly 
 fortified. In addition to these defences, 
 and nearer to the American camp at San 
 Augustine, the Indians were drawn from 
 their villages, pressed into the service, and 
 compelled to dig ditches across the Aca- 
 pulco road, and otherwise obstruct the way 
 by rocks and felled trees, in order to impede 
 the progress of the American army. 
 
 It will thus be seen that, with the single 
 exception of the more remote approaches 
 around the southern shores of Lakes Chalco 
 and Jochimilco, to the Acapulco road, Santa 
 Anna had, with untiring industry and con 
 summate skill, guarded every practicable 
 avenue to the capital ; and the Acapulco 
 road was strongly defended as it neared the 
 city. The exterior line of defences, it 
 should be added, comprised forty-five bat 
 teries, mounting 169 guns, and twenty -five 
 infantry breastworks. 
 
 The defences that were constructed im 
 mediately round the city, consisted, first, of 
 innumerable ditches, generally twenty-five 
 feet wide, and five feet deep, filled with 
 water, their banks forming natural para 
 pets ; and, second, by garitas, or small 
 forts, at the eight gateways through which 
 the causeways open to the town, and which 
 were mounted with a large number of guns. 
 There were also seventeen infantry breast 
 works. 
 
 Had the Mexicans exhibited, in defence 
 of these works, courage in proportion to the 
 industry displayed in their erection, Mexico 
 could never have been taken, at least by the 
 small force brought against it by Scott. 
 Men, women, and children were busy night 
 and day ; and even ladies of the higher class 
 are said to have been liberal in their toil, 
 in adding to the common defence, for some 
 time anterior to the battles before Mexico. 
 Works, complete in every part, sprung up 
 as if by magic. The morning light would 
 dawn upon some well-barricaded approach, 
 
 * This village, in accounts of the action which took 
 place near it, and by the name of which the battle is 
 distinguished, has been variously called Ansalda 
 
 which, the night before, was apparently 
 open to the advance of an armed foe. From 
 the outposts of the Americans, at any time 
 during the few eventful days preceding 
 the surrender of the city, thousands of 
 Mexicans could be seen, spade and mattock 
 in hand, strengthening old, and forming 
 new barriers ; and the busy hum of labour 
 reached the ears of the American sentinels 
 ven during the still hours of the night, as 
 fresh guns were placed in position, or new 
 avenues of approach were closed against 
 the invaders. 
 
 On the 18th of August, "Worth was 
 ordered by Scott to advance his division 
 along the Acapulco road, towards San An 
 tonio, to make a reconnaissance of the 
 defences of the Mexicans at that place. A 
 squadron of cavalry pushed forward in 
 advance, when the enemy s batteries were 
 opened upon them ; and a shot killed Cap- " 
 tain Thornton, a brave but unfortunate 
 officer of the 2nd regiment of dragoons. 
 The place proved to be strongly fortified, 
 and could only be approached by the front 
 over a narrow causeway of great length, 
 flanked by ditches filled with water of 
 great depth. Worth being ordered not to 
 attack, but to threaten and mask the place, 
 he took up his position for the night at a 
 hacienda on the road, within reach of the 
 enemy s guns. On the same night, Twiggs 
 division encamped within sight of Worth s 
 troops. 
 
 Santa Anna had ordered General Va 
 lencia who had under his command a 
 division of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, 
 numbering about 7,000 men, considered 
 the choicest troops in the Mexican army 
 to take post at San Angel, to repel the 
 invaders should they turn San Antonio. 
 This, however, was looked upon as imprac 
 ticable, as, on the right, it was all marsh ; 
 and, on the left, or west, there stretched an 
 immense field of volcanic rocks and lava, 
 called the Pedregal, through which there 
 was only a mule-path from San Augustine 
 to Contreras, on the San Angel road. This 
 passage was extremely rough, and deemed 
 only passable for the slow but sure-footed 
 animals that traversed it. Santa Anna, 
 consequent!} , countermanded his previous 
 order, and directed General Valencia to 
 retire to the village of Cayhoocan (or 
 Coyocan, as it is otherwise spelt), and to 
 
 Encelda, San Jeronimo or Geronimo, and Con 
 treras. By the latter name, however, the action is 
 now generally known. 
 
 619 
 
PEDREGAL ROAD.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 forward his ordnance to strengthen the 
 armament at Churubusco bridge and church. 
 This identical movement had been sug 
 gested by Valencia ; but suddenly changing 
 his views as to its expediency, he assumed 
 the responsibility of disobeying the orders 
 of Santa Anna ; and, instead of retiring to 
 Cayhoocan, he advanced two miles from 
 San Angel, and encamped his troops upon 
 the hill Perdierna, near Contreras, already 
 spoken of as strongly fortified. 
 
 Seeing the importance, if anywise prac 
 ticable, of turning the strong works of 
 San Antonio, Scott determined to test the 
 feasibility of making a road for the artillery 
 and train over the Pedregal. Captain Lee, 
 with Lieutenants Beauregard and Towers, 
 of the corps of engineers, escorted by a 
 company of dragoons and a battalion of 
 infantry, was ordered to take the mule-path 
 leading from San Augustine, and make 
 a survey of the proposed route. Pro 
 ceeding along the rugged way as far as the . 
 Zacotepee hill, they encountered some 
 Mexican skirmishers, and were driven back 
 with a loss of some ten or twelve in killed 
 and wounded, and of five who were taken 
 prisoners. They had gone far enough, 
 however, for Captain Lee to be able to re 
 port to the general, that, with considerable 
 labour, a road through the Pedregal was 
 practicable. 
 
 Upon receiving this report, Scott deter 
 mined at once to open the road, and then, 
 moving forward with his whole force, to 
 carry the fortified height near Contreras, oc 
 cupied by Valencia, and pass along the road 
 to San Angel, thus gaining the rear of San 
 Antonio. Pillow s division of volunteers 
 was accordingly, on the 19th, ordered on 
 the contemplated route, to make a prac 
 ticable road for heavy artillery, the engi 
 neers again going forward to reconnoitre 
 and direct the way ; while, about 1 P.M., 
 Twiggs division followed, with orders to 
 overtake it, and march in advance, to cover 
 the engineer and working parties. 
 
 For about two miles from San Augus 
 tine, the route being comparatively clear 
 of chapparel and rock, they succeeded in 
 cutting their way into the Pedregal 
 rapidly, and with very little difficulty ; but 
 from this point the passage was more en 
 cumbered, and the men made slower pro 
 gress. The reconnoitring parties soon 
 after returned, bringing the information 
 which has already been given to the 
 reader, that the Mexicans were strongly in- 
 620 
 
 trenched on an eminence in the vicinity of 
 the village of Contreras, and evidently 
 preparing to dispute, in force, the ad 
 vance of the Americans. Twiggs brigade 
 had not yet come up ; and the working 
 parties, under Pillow, being anxious for a 
 brush with the Mexicans, that general 
 dispatched a messenger to Scott for in 
 structions to that effect. The answer of 
 the general-in-chief, however, was, not to 
 engage the enemy, but to continue his 
 work of opening a route for the heavy 
 artillery and train to the San Angel road. 
 
 The working parties, consequently, toiled 
 slowly on, and had reached the slope of 
 the Zacotepee hill, when, about two o clock 
 in the afternoon, the troops under Twiggs 
 came up. The whole force now ascended 
 the hill together, clearing the way, and 
 dragging up Magruder s battery and the 
 mountain howitzers. Arriving at the top, 
 the enemy was discovered on the eminence 
 before alluded to. Although still more 
 than a mile distant, the Americans had no 
 sooner come within view of the enemy, than 
 the latter opened fire on them from their 
 ; heavy guns. The range was yet too long, 
 I however, for them to fire with accuracy, 
 ! and the working parties toiled on without 
 being seriously molested with the shot and 
 shells of the enemy. 
 
 The ardour of the troops, however, be 
 coming too intense, with the enemy in full 
 view, to be confined to the dull, plodding 
 operations of making a road, it was deter 
 mined to suspend the work, and, dragging 
 their guns over the rough surface of the 
 Pedregal the remainder of the way, .to 
 attack the Mexicans in their intrench- 
 ments on the hill of Perdierna, although 
 the latter had every advantage in numbers 
 as well as in position. Valeveire had 
 posted skirmishers in front, among the 
 rocks of the Pedregal; and his cavalry 
 hovered around the flank and rear. His 
 position, also, being on the San Angel 
 road to the capital, gave him facilities for 
 being promptly reinforced from the main 
 body of the Mexican army, which Santa 
 Anna had under his immediate command 
 near the capital ; while his fortifications, on 
 the Perdierna hill, mounted twenty -two 
 guns, half of them of heavy calibre. Opposed 
 to which, the Americans had the light field- 
 pieces of Magruder s battery, consisting of 
 6 and 12-pounders, and Lieutenant Cal- 
 lender s battery of mountain howitzers 
 and rockets. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PIERCE S BRIGADE. 
 
 With an intrepidity amounting almost 
 to rashness, the gallant invaders, notwith 
 standing the odds in favour of their an 
 tagonists, and without any plan of attack, 
 or reconnaissance of the ground for that 
 purpose, marched boldly forward to give 
 them battle. Twiggs led the advance with 
 the brigade commanded by Persifer F. 
 Smith ; while the rifle regiment, which 
 formed a portion of that brigade, deployed 
 as skirmishers around the front, and Ma- 
 gruder and Callender s batteries brought 
 up the rear. 
 
 The progress of the army over the rugged 
 surface of the Pedregal was necessarily toil 
 some and slow. The ground was covered 
 with rocks, large and small, prickly fern or 
 cactus ; obstructed, also, by ditches filled 
 with water in all directions, and lined with 
 maguey-plant, itself imperviable to cavalry, 
 and with patches of corn, which concealed 
 the enemy s skirmishers, while it impeded 
 the progress of the American forces. The 
 artillery, as may readily be conceived, ad 
 vanced but slowly under a deadly fire of 
 grape, canister, and round shot from the 
 Mexican intrenchments, which seriously in 
 jured it before it could be got within range ; 
 while the thickness of the undergrowth 
 caused the skirmishers thrown forward to 
 lose their relative position. At length, 
 after the utmost exertion, the artillery 
 was stationed about 900 yards distant 
 from the intrenchments of the enemy. 
 Smith s brigade was now moved to the left ; 
 while that of Pierce, the 2nd, of Pillow s 
 division, having come up, took post on 
 the right. The 2nd brigade of Twiggs 
 division, commanded by Colonel Riley, 
 had been ordered to take a different route 
 through the Pedregal, with a view to gain 
 the San Angel road in the rear of Contreras ; 
 and Cadwallader, with the 1st brigade of 
 Pillow s division, followed in support of 
 Riley. 
 
 The light guns of the Americans re 
 sponded but feebly to the fire of the heavy 
 ordnance of their opponents; \et, for two 
 hours, the infantry and artillery of the 
 former bravely stood their ground against 
 the deadly storm of iron and lead which 
 was poured upon them from the Mexican 
 intrenchments, without flinching. At the 
 flash of every discharge of the enemy s 
 cannon, the American artillerymen would 
 drop flat upon the ground till the iron 
 tempest had passed over them, when they 
 would spring to their feet, and continue to 
 
 VOL. 11. 4 L 
 
 : serve their guns. At the end of that time, 
 two of the American guns were dismounted, 
 fifteen of the cannoneers either killed or 
 wounded, and thirteen of the horses used 
 in dragging the guns, were killed or dis 
 abled. 
 
 The Mexican skirmishers, meanwhile, 
 had been driven back by Smith; but 
 deeming it too hazardous to undertake an 
 assault on the enemy s position, which had 
 the additional protection of a ravine that 
 ran along in front, he led back his infantry 
 and rifles, leaving a support for the artillery 
 in front, somewhat sheltered in a hollow, 
 and withdrew to the Pedregal, where, amid 
 the irregularities of the ground, his men 
 might be under partial cover. Here they 
 gallantly resisted every attempt, by the 
 Mexican lancers and skirmishers, to dis 
 lodge them from their position, repelling 
 the former in three successive charges. 
 
 Pierce s brigade (now under the com 
 mand of Colonel Ransom ; Pierce having 
 been temporarily disabled by being thrown 
 from his horse) maintained its position in 
 the ravine on the right, being protected, 
 in a great measure, from the fire of the 
 Mexican musketry, and the plunging shot 
 of their batteries, by the trees and dense 
 undergrowth. The action continued for 
 about three hours, and terminated without 
 any decisive results for either side. The 
 Americans had not carried the Mexican 
 works, which was contemplated in making 
 the attack; nor had they been repulsed. 
 Their infantry, being unsustained by either 
 cavalry or cannon of sufficient calibre, 
 could not charge in line without being suc 
 cessfully assailed by the Mexican cavalry, 
 nor attempt an assault in column without 
 being mowed down by the enemy s bat 
 teries. 
 
 The general-in-chief, who arrived at the 
 scene of action about four o clock in the 
 afternoon, on taking a position on an emi 
 nence for observation, noticed that the 
 hamlet or village of Contreras intervened 
 between Valencia s camp and the Mexican 
 capital. His quick perception at once 
 convinced him of the necessity of oc 
 cupying that village by as strong a force as 
 he could spare from the main body of his 
 array, and thus cut off the junction of re 
 inforcements, a large body of which could 
 be discerned in the distance, apparently 
 approaching by the San Angel road. 
 
 It was for this purpose that the brigades 
 of Rilev and Cadwallader, as previously 
 
 621 
 
COXTRERAS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1817. 
 
 stated, had been ordered to take a different 
 route through the Pedregal, in order to 
 gain, unobserved, the rear of Valencia. 
 Colonel Morgan, with the 15th regiment, 
 belonging to Pierce s brigade, which had 
 till then been held in reserve, was directed 
 to push forward for the same purpose ; and 
 the brigade of Shields, belonging to Quit- 
 man s division, was ordered up by Scott 
 from San Augustine. 
 
 Smith, also, conceiving the idea of turn 
 ing Valencia s left, with great difficulty 
 had succeeded in crossing the rock for 
 Dearly a mile, and descended towards the 
 village of Contreras, its church being 
 visible among the trees. As his forces 
 emerged from the rocks, they saw immense 
 numbers of troops, cavalry and infantry, 
 approaching from the direction of the 
 capital, and forming on the slope on the 
 opposite side of the village. Smith moved 
 his forces across two small streams, at the 
 bottom of deep and difficult gulleys, and 
 entered the village, where he found Cad- 
 wallader, with his brigade, and Colonel 
 Morgan, with the loth, had already arrived. 
 Smith, as the senior officer, at once as 
 sumed command. 
 
 The village lay entirely on the west side 
 of the main road, and a small stream ran 
 between them at the bottom of a ravine. 
 On the road, and between it and the stream, 
 was a garden and house, surrounded by a 
 high and strong stone wall. The town 
 was intersected by narrow lanes, lying 
 between high dikes, enclosing gardens full 
 of trees and shrubbery the lanes affording 
 cover, and the trees concealment for the 
 men. At the centre stood an old stone 
 church. Cadwallader s force was drawn up 
 on the outer edge of the village, facing the 
 enemy; the 3rd infantry and rifle regi 
 ment were placed in column by company- 
 left in front, and on the right ; the church 
 was occupied by Lieutenant Smith s com 
 pany of engineers, and Captain Irwin s 
 company of the llth regiment ; and Major 
 Dimick s regiment was placed in the garden 
 on the road, to secure that avenue and 
 their rear. 
 
 The Mexican force was now drawn up 
 opposite to the Americans, in two lines, 
 numbering ten or twelve thousand. Soon 
 after sunset, Riley s brigade reached there. 
 They had worked their way over the 
 volcanic rocks and lava, across the ditches 
 and deep ravines, and through the thick- set 
 chapparel of the Pedregal, towards the left 
 62? 
 
 and rear of Valencia s camp ; as they neared 
 which, bodies of lancers were sent out to 
 dispute their advance. Riley, however, 
 pushed on, driving the lancers before him, 
 and entered the village of Contreras with 
 out loss. 
 
 General Smith now ordered an attack on 
 the enemy s right, intending to do so in 
 two columns Riley s brigade on the left, 
 and Cadwallader s on the right of the 
 former, formed en echelon ; * but before 
 the troops could be disengaged from the 
 thickets (the officers being without horses), 
 it became so dark that the enemy s line 
 could not be seen, and the order for attack 
 was countermanded. Cadwallader resumed 
 his position on the outer edge of the village ; 
 Riley s brigade being parallel to it, in a long 
 line inside ; the rifles, under Major Loring, 
 on his right, and the 3rd infantry in the 
 churchyard. The troops were without 
 shelter or fire, and it rained all night. 
 
 On a reconnaissance of the enemy s posi 
 tion, Scott determined, on the following 
 day, to make a diversion in front of the 
 intrenched position of Valencia, with Pierce s 
 brigade ; while the forces of Smith, Riley, 
 and Cadwallader, should assault the enemy s 
 works from the rear; that Shields brigade, 
 which was expected during the night, 
 should hold the village of Contreras, and 
 prevent the junction of reinforcements 
 to the enemy, on the one hand, and cut 
 off the retreat of Valencia s forces on the 
 other. 
 
 After making his arrangements for the 
 morrow, Scott retired to his head-quarters 
 at San Augustine, about eight o clock; 
 and Twiggs and Pillow came in about 
 eleven, but completely exhausted. The 
 strength of the works of the enemy near 
 Cnntreras had evidently been underrated. 
 When the attack was arranged, in the 
 absence of the general-in-chief, on the 19th, 
 it was thought that the batteries could be 
 taken at a dash, and that the troops would 
 be comfortably quartered in the intrenched 
 camp of the enemy, on the heights of Per- 
 dierna, that night. On the contrary, as 
 already stated, the greater portion of them 
 were compelled to bivouac without shelter, 
 or even blankets, in the midst of a pitiless 
 storm. 
 
 An officer of the rifle regiment, belonging 
 to Smith s brigade, thus vividly pictures 
 
 * In military tactics, an army formed en echelon, 
 is in form of stairs or steps, one division being more 
 advanced than another. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NIGHT MARCH. 
 
 their situation,* while bivouacked in the 
 lanes and pardons of the hamlet of Con- 
 treras, on that dismal and stormy night : 
 " There we were, completely surrounded by 
 the enemy cut off from our communica 
 tions ignorant of the ground without 
 artillery weary, dispirited, and dejected. 
 We were all disheartened. With Santa 
 Anna and Salas promise of no quarter/ 
 a force of four to one against us, and one- 
 half defeated already no succour from 
 Puebla, and no news from General Scottf ! 
 all seemed dark. Suddenly the words : 
 were whispered along, We storm at mid- : 
 night. Now we are ourselves again ! | 
 But what a horrible night ! There we lay, 
 too tired to eat, too wet to sleep ; in the 
 middle of that muddy road officers and 
 men side by side, with a heavy rain pouring 
 down upon us ; the officers without blankets 
 or overcoats (they had lost them in coming 
 across), and the men worn out with fatigue. 
 About midnight the rain was so heavy that 
 the streams in the roads flooded us; and 
 there we stood, crowded together, drenched 
 and benumbed, waiting till daylight." 
 
 The critical position in which the Ame 
 rican forces occupying Contreras were now 
 placed, rendered it absolutely necessary to 
 carry out the plan of the contemplated attack 
 at the earliest practicable hour in the 
 morning. The projected movement was a 
 hazardous one at best, and could only be 
 successful by the most prompt and energetic 
 action. They had in their front, and on their 
 left, nearly 18,000 Mexicans, one-third 
 of whom were cavalry, with about thirty 
 cannon, many of them of heavy calibre. 
 The Americans, at most, numbered scarcely 
 4,000, including Shields brigade, without 
 cavalry or cannon. During the night the 
 engineers completely reconnoitred every 
 road and pathway in the neighbourhood, 
 and reported, that the ravine which sepa 
 rated the Americans from the height upon 
 which the forces of Valencia were encamped, 
 though very difficult, was practicable for 
 infantry. 
 
 The darkness and the heavy rain ren 
 dered the transmission of despatches and 
 orders so difficult, that communication with 
 the general-in-chief at head-quarters was 
 next to impossible. Scott dispatched seven 
 messengers, at as many different periods of 
 the night, to Contreras for information, 
 
 * Letter to the Neio York Courier, from an es 
 pecial correspondent. 
 
 t Scott was, till after dark, in a position opposite 
 
 , not one of whom was fortunate enough to 
 I reach his destination. Captain Lee, of the 
 engineers, with a message from Smith to 
 i Scott, informing him that he would make 
 j the assault on the Mexican works at day- 
 , break (being somewhat familiar with the 
 route), alone succeeded in getting through, 
 and reaching head-quarters. 
 
 To be prepared for any emergency that 
 might arise, Scott sent orders to Worth to 
 leave one of his brigades to mask San An 
 tonio, and to fall back with the other to 
 San Augustine; and thence, in the early 
 morning, move on to Contreras. Quitrnan 
 was also ordered to push on with his divi 
 sion from San Augustine, where he was 
 posted, and reach the scene of the ap 
 proaching action at the earliest possible 
 moment. 
 
 At three o clock in the morning of the 
 20th of August, the great movement com 
 menced in the rear of the enemy s camp, 
 Riley s brigade leading, followed succes 
 sively by those of Cadwallader and Smith ; 
 that of the latter temporarily under the 
 command of Major Dimick, of the 1st 
 artillery the whole force being commanded 
 by Smith, the senior officer of the assault 
 ing party. The march was rendered tedi 
 ous by the darkness, rain, and mud. So 
 extremely dark was it, that Smith ordered 
 every man to touch his front file as he 
 marched. Now and then a flash of light 
 ning lit up the narrow ravine ; and occa 
 sionally a straggling moonbeam pierced 
 the clouds, and shed an uncertain glimmer 
 on the heights; but these flitting guides 
 only seemed to render the darkness more 
 intense. The path was narrow ; lull of 
 rocks and mud ; and so difficult was the 
 march, that daylight appeared before the 
 head of Cadwallader s brigade got out 
 of the village, where the path descended 
 to the ravine ; and as it was a flank 
 march, the line of troops was stretched out 
 thrice its length. Having followed up the 
 ravine, where it was possible to get at 
 the back of the work, the men in advance 
 were halted, and the rear closed up. Riley 
 having ordered his men to look to their 
 guns, and reload those which were wet, 
 formed two columns by divisions, and ad 
 vanced further up the ravine, when, turn 
 ing to his left, and rising over the bank 
 he stood fronting the rear of the work, 
 
 the enemy s centre. He then retired to San Angus- 
 tine, and wrote the despatch of the day. Mans 
 field. 
 
 623 
 
MEXICANS DEFEATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 but still sheltered from its fire by a slight 
 acclivity before him. Having re-forrned 
 his ranks, he ascended to the top of the 
 hill, and was in full view of the enemy. 
 No sooner did the Mexicans discover the 
 glittering bayonets of the American sol 
 diers, appearing from behind the mound, 
 than they opened a terrific fire of artillery 
 and musketry upon them not from their 
 intrenchments merely, but from a body of 
 troops posted upon Riley s right flank. 
 The latter immediately threw out his first 
 two divisions as skirmishers, to protect the 
 flanks ; and then, at the head of his men, 
 rushed headlong down into the enemy s 
 works. The engineer company, under 
 Lieutenant Smith, and the rifles, had been 
 thrown across an intervening ravine, be 
 neath the brow of the slope, and from this 
 position swept it in front ; and then, inclin 
 ing to the left, joined in the attack on the 
 troops outside of the left bank of the fort. 
 Colonel Ransom, with General Pierce s bri 
 gade, conducted by Captain Lee, engineer, 
 not only made the movement to divert and 
 distract the enemy in front ; but, after cross 
 ing the deep ravine before him, advanced, 
 and poured into the Mexican works, and 
 upon the fugitives, a destructive fire. 
 In the meantime, Cadwallader followed the 
 route taken by Riley ; and forming his 
 columns as the troops came up, moved on 
 to the latter s support. The 1st brigade, 
 under Major Dimick, had been ordered to 
 follow the same route ; but, whilst he was 
 still marching in that direction, by its 
 right flank, up the ravine, and nearly op 
 posite the work, seeing a large body of 
 Mexican cavalry on its left flank, Smith 
 ordered Dimick to face his brigade to the 
 left, and attack that force in flank. This 
 was done in fine style : the men mounting 
 the bank of the ravine, rushed down the 
 next, and up its opposite bank, charg 
 ing the Mexican cavalry outside of the 
 work, almost at the moment that Riley s 
 brigade poured into it. The cavalry at 
 tempted to make a stand; but the fierce 
 onset of Dimick s men proved too much 
 for them ; and, yielding to the bayonet, 
 they drove the horses, in their retreat, 
 over the infantry, trampling under foot 
 their own comrades and companions 
 Riley s brigade having, in the meantime, 
 cleared the works with the bayonet and 
 clubbed musket, the rout was complete. 
 Shields, it will be recollected, with his 
 brigade, numbering not more than 600 
 624 
 
 men, remained at Contreras, to protect the 
 rear of the attacking party, and intercept 
 :he retreat of the enemy. 
 
 When the insignificant number of men 
 Left with General Shields to keep at bay 
 the overwhelming Mexican force amount 
 ing to twice as many thousands as he 
 bad hundreds, hovering in the immediate 
 vicinity, and awaiting only the morning s 
 light to sweep down upon him is taken 
 into consideration, the effort seemed un 
 reasonable in the extreme. And so it un 
 doubtedly would have proved, had he not 
 called stratagem to his aid. When the 
 assaulting party marched to the attack, 
 Shields spread his men over the line the 
 entire force had occupied, and directed 
 them to make fires towards daylight, as 
 though the whole force were preparing 
 their breakfast. The ruse was completely 
 successful. The enemy in front had, 
 during the night, placed batteries along 
 the line, and, in the morning, moved de 
 tachments forward, to take in flank the at 
 tack they supposed the Americans were 
 meditating the night before, which they 
 were prepared to meet ; thinking, from the 
 indications, that the Americans were still 
 in full force in the village. When, after 
 daylight, they saw an extended column 
 moving on Valencia s intrenched work, 
 and already prepared to turn it, they 
 undoubtedly supposed that the Americans 
 had been strongly reinforced. Their move 
 ments now, to and fro, indicated great 
 perplexity. All doubts as to the matter, 
 however, were soon resolved by the cap 
 ture of Valencia s fortified camp, which 
 was accomplished in seventeen minutes 
 from the first attack, when they immedi 
 ately commenced a hasty retreat along the 
 top of the hill, inclining towards the San 
 Angel road. Shields having thus disposed 
 of one enemy, turned his attention to the 
 other; and the fugitives, in their flight, found 
 themselves intercepted, Shields having or 
 dered his brigade into the road, to cut off 
 their retreat. Large numbers were, how 
 ever, either shot down by the fire of 
 Shields forces, or made prisoners. 
 
 The victory of Contreras was brilliant 
 and decisive. By it, one road to the capi 
 tal was opened ; 1,700 of the enemy killed 
 and wounded ; and 818 taken prisoners, in 
 cluding, among eighty-eight officers, four 
 generals Salas, Mendoza, Garcia, and 
 Gaudalupe. Besides many colours and 
 standards, twenty-two pieces of brass 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 ordnance, half of large calibre ; thousands 
 of small arms and accoutrements ; an im 
 mense quantity of shot, shells, powder, and 
 cartridges; 700 pack-mules, and many 
 horses, were also captured.* 
 
 The American loss, in killed and wounded, 
 did not exceed sixty. Among the guns 
 taken, were two of the three captured by 
 the Mexicans at Buena Vista. Scott, in 
 his official report, thus speaks of the recap 
 ture of these two guns : " One of the most 
 pleasing incidents of the victory is the 
 recapture, in the works, by Captain Drum, 
 of the 4th artillery, under Major Gardner, 
 of the two brass 6-pounders, taken from 
 another company of the same regiment, 
 though without the loss of honour, at the 
 battle of Buena Vista, about which guns 
 the whole regiment had mourned for so 
 many long months. Coming up a little 
 later, I had the happiness to join in the 
 protracted cheers of the gallant 4th, on 
 the joyous event; and, indeed, the whole 
 army sympathises in its just pride and 
 exultation." 
 
 At as early an hour, on the morning of 
 the 20th, as they could see to pick their 
 way over the Pedregal, Twiggs and Pillow 
 had started for the scene of action, followed 
 soon after by Scott, accompanied by Worth 
 and Quitman, with their respective forces. 
 The reports of the heavy guns, and the 
 rattling of musketry, announced that the 
 action had already commenced. Before 
 the latter had reached these, however, they 
 were met by Captain Mason, with the gra 
 tifying intelligence that the intrenchments 
 had been carried, and the enemy put to 
 flight, after a brief but terrible struggle. 
 Worth and Quitman were at once ordered 
 to return, and resume their previous posi 
 tions the former to prepare to attack San 
 Antonio in front, and the latter to again 
 occupy San Augustine, and hold it at all 
 hazards. 
 
 Meanwhile, the troops which had so 
 successfully assaulted and carried the in 
 trenched camp near Contreras, and put 
 the Mexicans to flight, had started in pur 
 suit along the San Angel road, under the 
 lead of Twiggs, who had reached the scene 
 of action just at its close. As the pur 
 suing army approached San Angel, the rifle 
 men were thrown forward as skirmishers, 
 and entered the town at the heels of the 
 enemy s lancers, capturing an ammunition 
 waggon. The Mexicans did not stop here, 
 * Scott s Official Report. 
 
 however, but continued their flight to 
 Churubusco. At San Angel, Pillow, who 
 had followed on, and overtaken the pur 
 suing column, assumed command ; and the 
 chase was continued to Cayhoocan, where 
 Pillow halted and awaited the arrival of 
 the commander-in-chief. He had not long 
 to wait, as Scott and his staff" soon reached 
 the village, where he was received by the 
 American troops with deafening cheers. 
 The stormy night had been succeeded by 
 an unclouded morning, and the cheerless 
 bivouac by a brilliant victory ; and as the 
 spirits of the troops were correspondingly 
 elated, they were now eager to press on to 
 further achievements. 
 
 The first works requiring to be carried 
 were those of San Antonio, to clear a pas 
 sage for the artillery and train along the 
 Acapulco road. It has already been stated, 
 that Scott, on receiving intelligence of the, 
 victory at Contreras, had ordered Worth to 
 return to his former position before San 
 Antonio, and prepare to attack the Mexicans 
 in front, as soon as another force could be 
 sent on by the way now made clear to open 
 a simultaneous attack on their rear. Pillow, 
 with Cadwallader s brigade, was now sent 
 forward by a cross-road, which led to the 
 rear of San Antonio, for that purpose. 
 Before he reached that position, however, 
 Worth had, by skilful and daring move 
 ments upon the front and right, turned 
 and forced San Antonio its garrison, 
 probably, disheartened by the defeat at 
 Contreras. Worth s 2nd brigade, com 
 manded by Colonel Clarke, being wholly 
 infantry, conducted by Captain Mason, of 
 the engineers, made a wide detour through 
 the meadows to the right, and came out 
 on the high road to the capital, in its 
 rear. As Clarke s troops struck the high 
 way, they cut the garrison, numbering 
 about 3,000 men (who were in retreat), in 
 about the centre one portion, the rear, 
 being driven upon Doloses, off to the right, 
 and the other upon Churubusco. The 1st 
 brigade, commanded by Colonel Garland, 
 being mostly artillery, and thus necessarily 
 confined to the causeway, followed in pur 
 suit through the town, taking one general 
 prisoner, capturing five abandoned guns, 
 much ammunition, and other public pro- 
 pert) . The forcing of San Antonio was, 
 as Scott expressed it, the second brilliant 
 victory of the day. Just beyond it, the 
 two brigades of Worth formed a junc 
 tion, and pressed on towards Churubusco, 
 
 625 
 
BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 against which Scott had, by way of Cay 
 hoocan, pushed forward, and commenced 
 an attack. 
 
 The Mexicans had strongly defended 
 both of the above approaches to Churu- 
 busco. In the rear of the village of that 
 name, was a wide and deep canal, cutting the 
 causeway from San Antonio, and continuing 
 over the plain, at right angles with that 
 road, for a long distance to the right. The 
 causeway crossed the canal by a bridge, 
 at the head of which was constructed a 
 field-work, termed a tcle-du-pont, which 
 commanded the main approach by the 
 causeway, and that also by its left flank. 
 The works were defended by four guns, 
 two being placed in front, and two on the 
 left flank. Dykes, which had been con 
 structed ages previous, to guard against 
 inundation, extended along the banks of 
 the canal. To the distance of a mile and 
 a-half, to the left of the tcte-du pont, at the 
 bridge, these dykes were converted into 
 ramparts, and occupied by dense masses of 
 Mexican infantry. In front of the dykes 
 the ground was level, affording no protec 
 tion to the assailants. About one-fourth 
 of a mile from the tcte-du-pont, to the right, 
 and somewhat in advance of it, on the road 
 leading into the causeway from Cayhoocan, 
 and about a mile from the latter village, 
 the Mexicans had established another forti 
 fied position, commanding the approach 
 from that direction. This work, the con 
 vent of San Pablo, consisted of an enclo 
 sure of stone walls, which was overtopped 
 by a stone building inside ; and the latter 
 was, in turn, overtopped b} a stone church. 
 The outside walls were pierced for two 
 ranges of musketry ; the building and 
 church for one each ; so that four different 
 ranges of men could thus fire at the same 
 time. This work was open on the rear 
 and right flank, the latter portion of it 
 not having been completed. It was also 
 further defended by six cannon. Besides 
 the ten pieces of artillery in these two 
 positions, the Mexicans had various other 
 powerful batteries of movable pieces on the 
 ground. 
 
 Santa Anna s entire force, numbering 
 about 27,000 men cavalry, artillery, and 
 infantry collected from every quarter, was 
 now in, on the flanks, or within sup 
 porting distance of, these works, and seemed 
 determined to make a last and desperate 
 stand. If beaten here, the feebler defences, 
 at the gates of the citv (four miles distant), 
 626 
 
 could not, as was well known to both 
 parties, delay the victory an hour. Long 
 lines of Mexican infantry and cavalry were 
 drawn up on the causeways, and many de 
 tachments occupied houses every house 
 being in itself a fortification on both sides 
 of the road, and the cross-dykes that cut 
 up the fields. The entire American force 
 numbered less than a third of that of the 
 Mexicans; but not a man among them, 
 from the general-in-chief to the humblest 
 soldier in the ranks, had a doubt as to the 
 result. They were determined to conquer 
 either the capital of an ancient empire 
 but now of a great republic or an early 
 peace.* 
 
 After his arrival at Cayhoocan, Scott 
 waited to make a reconnaissance of the 
 position at San Pablo; sending forward 
 Lieutenant Stevens, of the engineers, sup 
 ported by Lieutenant Smith s company of 
 sappers and miners, of the same corps. 
 He then dispatched Twiggs, with Smith s 
 brigade (less the rifle regiment, which 
 was held in reserve), and Captain Tay 
 lor s field battery, to attack the convent 
 or church of San Pablo. Major Smith, of 
 the corps of engineers, accompanied Twiggs, 
 to concert with him the manner and means 
 of attack. The other brigade belonging 
 to Twiggs division, commanded by Riley, 
 was soon after ordered up to the support of 
 that under Smith. 
 
 Scott next directed Shields and Pierce 
 (the latter of whom was still suffering from 
 his injury before alluded to, and was just 
 able to keep his horse), with their brigades, 
 under the guidance of Captain Lee, of the 
 engineers, to proceed by a road a little to 
 the left, reach and attack the enemy s 
 right and rear, and thus favour Twiggs 
 movement ; and, at the same time, to 
 cut off the enemy s retreat towards the 
 capital. Shields, being the senior officer, 
 assumed command of the troops sent on 
 this service, and was subsequently rein 
 forced by the rifle regiment, from Smith s 
 brigade, and Captain Sibley s company of 
 the 2nd dragoons. 
 
 Finding himself at Cayhoocan, from 
 which so many roads conveniently branched, 
 without escort or reserve, Scott had to 
 advance, for safety, closely upon Twiggs 
 rear. The battle was now raging from 
 the right to the left of the whole American 
 line. 
 
 In the meantime, Worth s division had 
 * Scott s Official Report. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BATTLE OF CHTJRTJBTJSCO. 
 
 been joined by Pillow, with Cadwallader s 
 brigade. The latter, as already men 
 tioned, had marched from Cayhoocan for 
 the purpose of aiding in the attack on San 
 Antonio ; but finding it had been carried, 
 he immediately turned to the left, according 
 to the commanding general s instructions ; 
 and, though much impeded by ditches and 
 swamps, hastened on to the attack of Churu- 
 busco. The fortified church or convent, 
 closely besieged by the forces under Twiggs, 
 had already held out about an hour, when 
 Worth and Pillow began to manceuvre 
 warily upon the tcte-du-pont, with the con 
 vent within half-gun-shot to their left. 
 Colonel Garland s brigade, to which had 
 been added the light battalion under Lieute 
 nant-colonel Smith, continued to advance in 
 front, and, under the fire of a long line of in 
 fantry, turned off on the left of the bridge ; 
 while Colonel Clarke, of the same division, 
 directed his brigade along the road, or 
 close by its side. Two regiments, the 
 llth and 14th, belonging to Cadwallader s 
 brigade, supported and participated in 
 this direct movement. The remaining 
 regiment of that brigade, the voltigeurs, 
 was left in reserve. Most of these corps, 
 especially Colonel Clarke s .brigade, ad 
 vancing perpendicularly, suffered severely 
 from the fire of the tete-du-pont; and they 
 would have suffered much more by flank 
 attacks from the convent, but for the pres 
 sure of Twiggs on the other side of that 
 work. 
 
 The forces engaged in this daring 
 and well-combined movement at length 
 reached the principal point of attack, 
 and the formidable tete-du pont was at 
 once assaulted, and carried by the bayonet. 
 Its deep, wet ditch was first gallantly 
 crossed by the 8th and 5th regiments of 
 infantry, belonging to Clarke s brigade, 
 and commanded respectively by Major 
 Wake and Lieutenant-colonel Scott, fol 
 lowed closely by the 6th infantry, be 
 longing to the same brigade, which had 
 been so much exposed on the road ; the 
 llth regiment, under Lieutenant-colonel 
 Graham ; and the 14th, commanded by 
 Colonel Trousdale both of Cadwallader s 
 brigade. About the same time, the enemy 
 in front of Garland s brigade, after a hotly 
 contested conflict of an hour and a-half, gave 
 way, and retreated towards the capital. 
 
 The immediate results of this third signal 
 triumph of the day were, four field-pieces, 
 192 prisoners, much ammunition, and two 
 
 1 standards taken at the ttte-du-pont. Lieu- 
 : tenant J. F. Irons, of the 1st artillery, and 
 aide to Cadwallader (a young officer of great : 
 I merit, and conspicuous in battle on several 
 [ previous occasions), was mortally wounded 
 in front of the work. 
 
 As the concurrent attack upon the con 
 vent favoured, physically and morally, the 
 assault upon the tete-du-pont, so, recipro 
 cally, beyond any question, the fall of the 
 latter contributed to the reduction of the 
 former. The two works being scarcely 
 450 yards apart, as soon as the Americans 
 were in possession of the tete du pont, a 
 captured 4-pounder was turned and fired 
 several times upon the convent. In the 
 same brief interval, Colonel Duncan 
 brought two of his guns to bear, at a short 
 range, from the San Antonio road, upon 
 the principal face of the work, and on the 
 tower of the church, which, in the obstinate 
 contest, had been often refilled with some of 
 the best sharpshooters of the Mexican army. 
 In about twenty minutes after the tete- 
 du pont had been carried by the forces of 
 Worth and Pillow, and at the end of a 
 desperate conflict of two hours and a-half, 
 the church or convent of San Pablo the 
 citadel of the strong line of defence along 
 the canal (or rivulet, as it is termed by 
 Scott) of Churubusco suddenly exhibited 
 on all sides signals of surrender. This was 
 not done, however, until the 3rd infantry, 
 of Smith s brigade, under the lead of Cap 
 tain Alexander, had cleared the way by 
 fire and bayonet, and entered the work. 
 Alexander received the surrender, and in 
 stantly hung out from the balcony the 
 standard of his regiment. Major Dim- 
 ick, with a portion of the 1st artillery 
 belonging to Smith s brigade, serving as 
 infantry, entered the works, nearly abreast 
 with the leading troops. 
 
 Taylor s battery, belonging to the same 
 brigade, had opened the attack upon the 
 outworks of the convent, and the tower of 
 ; its church. Exposed to the severest fire of 
 the enemy, the officers and men attached 
 to this battery, vigorously kept up their 
 attack, until, much disabled iu both men 
 and horses, the battery was withdrawn 
 about half-an-hour previous to the surrender 
 of the convent. The rifle regiment, the 
 remaining corps of Smith s brigade, it will 
 be recollected, had been detached to sup 
 port Shields on the extreme left. Riley s 
 brigade, with the exception of the 4th 
 artillery, which had been left in charge of 
 
 627 
 
BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 the camp and trophies at Contreras, had 
 meantime kept up an attack upon the right, 
 and a portion of the rear of the work. 
 
 By the capture of the citadel of San 
 Pablo, which formed the fourth successful 
 operation of the American arms on the 
 same day, the entire fortified position of 
 Churubusco was in possession of the Ame 
 rican forces. The immediate results of 
 this last victory were, the capture of seven 
 cannon, a quantity of military stores, three 
 generals, and nearly 1,300 other prisoners. 
 
 Pending these conflicts, which resulted 
 in the capture of the ttte-du-pont and the 
 convent of San Pablo, another, as deadly 
 as either of them, was raging behind 
 the Mexican fortifications. It will be 
 recollected that, soon after the conflict 
 commenced, the brigades of Pierce and 
 Shields, under the command of the latter, 
 had been detached to the extreme left, to 
 turn the enemy s works, to prevent the 
 escape of the garrison, and to oppose the 
 extension of the enemy s numerous corps 
 from the rear, upon and around the Ame 
 rican left. Taking into consideration the 
 dangerous and difficult nature of the ser 
 vice, with the inferior numbers of the two 
 brigades scarcely 1,600 men in all- 
 Scott subsequently dispatched the rifle 
 regiment to reinforce them, as already 
 mentioned. 
 
 Leaving Cayhoocan by a left-hand road, 
 and advancing about a mile upon it, Shields 
 moved thence with his men towards the 
 right, through a heavy corn-field, and 
 gained an open but swampy field, in which 
 was situated the Hacienda de los Partales. 
 On the edge of this field, beyond the 
 hacienda, he discovered the road by which 
 the enemy must retire from Churubusco ; 
 and also saw that his reserve of about 
 4,000 infantry already occupied it, just 
 in rear of the town. Establishing his 
 right upon a point recommended by Cap 
 tain Lee, of the engineers, on whose 
 skill and judgment Shields had every con 
 fidence, he commenced a movement to 
 the left to flank the enemy s right, and 
 throw the American troops between the 
 Mexican reserve and the city ; but find 
 ing the right of the latter supported by 
 a heavy body of cavalry, some 3,000 
 strong, and seeing, also, that the Mexicans 
 
 * Among the prisoners taken were twenty-nine 
 
 men of the "Companies of St. Patrick," principally 
 
 Irishmen, who had deserted from the American 
 
 ranks, and joined the Mexican army. " These 
 
 628 
 
 answered to his movement by a corres 
 ponding one towards their right flank 
 gaining ground more rapidly, owing to 
 the heavy mud and swamp through which 
 Shields had to operate the latter withdrew 
 his men to the cover of the hacienda, and 
 determined to attack the enemy in front. 
 
 Selecting the Palmetto volunteers of 
 South Carolina as the base of his line, 
 this gallant regiment moved forward 
 rapidly and firmly, under a fire of mus 
 ketry as terrible, perhaps, as any which 
 soldiers ever faced. The New York volun 
 teers, and the 12th and 15th regiments 
 of regulars, deployed gallantly on the 
 right, and the 9th on the left; and the 
 whole advanced, opening their fire as they 
 came up. The enemy began to waver ; 
 and, when an order to charge was given, 
 the men rushed upon and scattered his 
 broken ranks. As they reached the road, 
 the advance of Worth s division ap 
 peared, driving the enemy from his strong 
 hold of Churubusco. Shields took com 
 mand of the front, and continued to press 
 upon the fugitives to within a mile and 
 a-half of the capital. Here Colonel Harney, 
 with a small portion of his cavalry brigade, 
 rapidly passed to the front, and charged 
 the enemy, scattering them right and left. 
 Captain Kearney, of the 1st dragoons, not 
 hearing the recall that had been sounded, 
 followed, with some of his men, the retreating 
 Mexicans to the San Antonio gate of the 
 capital. Not till then did he discover that 
 he was alone with his little party, nearly 
 all of whom were wounded, Kearney him 
 self having lost his left arm. In spite 
 of the hundreds of escapetas which were 
 levelled at them with the exception of 
 Major F. 0. Mills, of the 15th infantry, a 
 volunteer in this cavalry charge, who was 
 shot at the gate of the capital the daring 
 little party galloped back to quarters with 
 out further harm. 
 
 Thus was terminated, and won, the 
 fifth action and victory on that memo 
 rable day. The last three, however, may 
 be viewed as different parts of the same 
 battle. As summed up by Scott, in his 
 report of the day s operations, the Ame 
 ricans had, in a single day, in many 
 battles, as often defeated 32,000 men ; 
 made about 3,000 prisoners,* including 
 
 wretches," says General Worth, in speaking of 
 them, " served" the guns the use of which they had 
 been taught in our own service and with fatal 
 effect, upon the persons of their former comrades." 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE RESULT. 
 
 eight generals (two of them ex-presidents) 
 and 205 other officers ; killed or wounded 
 4,000 of all ranks, besides entire corps 
 dispersed and dissolved; captured thirty- 
 seven pieces of ordnance more than tre 
 bling the American siege-train and field 
 batteries with a large number of small 
 arms, and a full supply of ammunition of 
 every kind.* 
 
 The American loss amounted to 1,053 ; 
 of which 139 (including sixteen officers) were 
 killed, and the remainder were wounded 
 and missing. Of the latter, however, but 
 few ever regained the American lines. 
 
 Thus ended this day of battles, one of 
 the most sanguinary since the breaking 
 out of hostilities. All along the causeway, 
 and in the fields and swamps on either 
 side, heaps of dead men and cattle, inter 
 mingled with broken ammunition carts, 
 marked where the American shot had told. 
 A gory track leading to the tcte-du-pont 
 groups of dead in the fields on the west of 
 Churubusco, over whose pale faces some 
 stalks of battered corn still waved red 
 blotches in the marsh next the causeway, 
 where the rich blood of the volunteers of 
 New York and South Carolina soaked the 
 earth showed where the fire of the heavy 
 Mexican guns, and the countless escapetas 
 of the Mexican infantry, had been most 
 murderous. 
 
 One of the American officers who took 
 part in these engagements, and therefore 
 an eye-witness, thus remarked upon the 
 combatants, Mexican as well as Ameri 
 can : " Never has there been exhibited, 
 in one day, so many individual instances 
 of heroic courage, indomitable valour, 
 and determination in overcoming great 
 and apparently insurmountable obstacles. 
 From one end of the army to the other, 
 there prevailed but one feeling and one 
 resolve, and that was victory or death. 
 
 They were tried by court-martial, found guilty, and 
 all sentenced to be hung. Only sixteen of them, 
 however, were executed, as General Scott pardoned 
 the rest, on the ground of having deserted previous 
 to the war, and other mitigating circumstances. 
 Among the latter was their leader, the notorious 
 VOL. II. 4 M 
 
 Our officers set noble examples to their 
 men, which were imitated with as much 
 cool determination as they were set. There 
 was no faltering, no holding back; and 
 there is no corps or company but ac 
 quitted itself with honour to themselves, 
 and credit to the country. The regulars 
 have added new laurels to those already 
 acquired and the volunteers have given a 
 repetition of the noble bearing of their 
 countrymen on the sanguinary field of 
 Buena Vista. South Carolina chivalry, 
 and the sons of the empire state, have 
 inscribed their names on the roll of fame, 
 and will return home bright ornaments to 
 the states whence they came. The Mexi 
 cans also fought as they never fought 
 before ; they strongly resisted us at every 
 point, and contested every inch with the 
 most determined obstinacy, and even to 
 desperation. They knew that their capi 
 tal and their all depended upon the issue ; 
 and, with this knowledge, and thus 
 prompted, they threw themselves into the 
 breach as no person ever expected that 
 they would ; and one of the best evidences 
 of this is the number of killed and wounded 
 on both sides. General Scott, at the head 
 of our army during the engagement, re 
 ceived a slight wound in the leg; and, 
 what is very remarkable, no person what 
 ever, except himself, was aware of it until 
 after the battle was over. A great deal 
 has been said and written in reference to 
 the ability of General Scott as a military 
 man ; but those who have not seen him in 
 command, and under fire, cannot form any 
 just conception of his abilities. His cool 
 consideration of everything around him ; 
 his quick perception ; his firm resolves, 
 and immediate execution equal, if they 
 do not surpass, those of any of the great 
 generals whose deeds have been made so 
 conspicuous in history." 
 
 O Reilly, formerly a sergeant in one of the British 
 regiments in Canada, from which he had deserted, 
 after having committed a disgraceful transaction. 
 His sentence was accordingly commuted to whip 
 ping and branding. 
 
 * Scott s Official lit port. 
 
 629 
 
ARMISTICE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ARMISTICE ; FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS; BATTLES OF EL MOLING DEL RET AND CHAPULTEPEC; CAPTURE 
 
 AND OCCUPATION OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 THE city of Mexico (capital of the repub 
 lic), the capture and occupation of which 
 was the object of his campaign, now lay 
 within the grasp of Scott and his victorious 
 army. " After so many victories," he re 
 marked, in his despatch to the war depart 
 ment, " we might, with but little additional 
 loss, have occupied the capital the same 
 evening. But Mr. Trist, the commissioner, 
 as well as myself, had been admonished by 
 the best friends of peace intelligent neu 
 trals, and some American residents against 
 precipitation ; lest, by wantonly driving 
 away the government and others, dis 
 honoured, we might scatter the elements 
 of peace, excite a spirit of national despe 
 ration, and thus indefinitely postpone the 
 hope of accommodation. Deeply impressed 
 with this danger, and remembering our 
 mission to conquer a peace the army 
 very cheerfully sacrificed to patriotism 
 to the great wish and want of our country 
 the eclat that would have followed an 
 entrance, sword in hand, into a great 
 capital." 
 
 In accordance with this impression, Scott 
 repressed the ardour of his troops, and or 
 dered a halt outside the walls of the capital. 
 On the morning of the 21st of August, he 
 posted his forces in the different villages 
 or hamlets, before the gates of the city. 
 Twiggs division was directed to occupy 
 San Angel ; that of Quitman was posted 
 at San Augustine ; Pillow s at Mixcoac ; 
 and that of Worth at Tacubaya; Scott 
 establishing his own head-quarters at the 
 latter place, which is located some two- 
 and-a-half miles from the capital. About 
 a mile north of Tacubaya rises the porphy- 
 ritic rock of Chapultepec, which the neces 
 sities of defending the city at every point 
 had converted into a fortress. The mili 
 tary college, and other fortified buildings, 
 occupied its summit; while its base was 
 nearly surrounded by a strong stone wall. 
 
 The commander-in-chief was on his way 
 to Tacubaya, on the day succeeding the 
 battles of Contreras and Churubusco, when 
 he was met by commissioners from Santa 
 Anna, proposing an armistice. The Mexi- 
 630 
 
 can leader, aware of the desire of the United 
 States for peace, and secretly informed that 
 Scott had been instructed by his govern 
 ment not to press things to extremity, was 
 probably influenced more by a desire to 
 avail himself of the breathing-time which an 
 armistice would afford (giving him oppor 
 tunity to increase his defences of the capi 
 tal), than by any expectation of a successful 
 result of negotiations. Scott informed the 
 commissioners that he should sleep that 
 night at Tacubaya. They then proposed 
 to him to delay his march a few hours, 
 and they would transmit an order to 
 the fortress of Chapultepec not to fire 
 on him ! Scott, however, declined the 
 proffered service, and continued his march, 
 reaching Tacubaya early in the afternoon, 
 escorted only by Harney s dragoons, 
 Worth s division not arriving there till late 
 in the night. Scott took up his head- quar 
 ters at the archiepiscopal palace of Tacu 
 baya, and, on the following morning, re 
 ceived the propositions of the Mexican 
 commissioners for an armistice, and ap 
 pointed Quitman, Smith, and Pierce to 
 confer with them. The terms of the tem 
 porary armistice concluded by them were, 
 that hostilities should instantly and abso 
 lutely cease between the American and 
 Mexican armies, within thirty leagues of 
 the capital of Mexico, to allow time for the 
 commissioners of the respective republics 
 to negotiate. The armistice was to con 
 tinue as long as the commissioners of the 
 two governments might be engaged in 
 negotiations, or for forty-eight hours after 
 the commander of the army of either 
 nation should give formal notice to the 
 other of its cessation. In the meantime, 
 neither army should, within thirty leagues 
 of the city of Mexico, commence any new 
 work of military offence or defence, or do 
 anything to enlarge or strengthen any 
 existing work within those limits. Neither 
 army, within the same time, was to receive 
 reinforcements in troops or munitions of 
 war (food excepted) ; and any of the former, 
 when approaching either army, should be 
 stopped at the distance of twenty-eight 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PROPOSED TREATY. 
 
 leagues from the capital of Mexico. Nor 
 was any detachment or individual, on 
 either side, to advance beyond the line it 
 then occupied, except under a flag of truce 
 bearing the correspondence between the 
 two armies, or engaged in the transmis 
 sion of supplies of food, which were to have 
 unobstructed passage to the Mexican in 
 habitants and army on the one hand, and 
 to the American troops on the other. Any 
 individuals of either army who, by chance, 
 might wander within the neutral limits, 
 were to be kindly warned off, or sent to 
 their own army under a flag of truce. 
 Prisoners of war remaining in the hands of 
 either party, were immediately, or as soon 
 as practicable, to be exchanged, regard : 
 being had to equality of rank and numbers. 
 It was also agreed, that any courier with 
 despatches that either army might desire 
 to send along the line from the city of j 
 Mexico or its vicinity, to and from Vera. | 
 Cruz, should receive a safe-conduct from 
 the commander of the opposing army. The 
 administration of justice between Mexicans, 
 according to the general and state consti 
 tutions and laws, by the local authorities 
 of the towns and places occupied by the 
 American forces, was not to be obstructed 
 in any manner. Persons and property 
 were to be respected in the towns and 
 places occupied by the Americans. No 
 person was to be molested in the exercise 
 of his profession, nor should his services 
 be exacted without his consent ; and where 
 they were voluntarily rendered, a just price 
 should be paid for them. 
 
 These were the main points of the armis 
 tice, which was ratified by the commanding 
 generals of the American and Mexican 
 armies, on the 24th of August ; and hopes 
 were confidently entertained by Scott, and 
 the friends of peace, that the pending dif 
 ficulties between the two republics would 
 be amicably terminated without further 
 bloodshed. The negotiations which ensued 
 were conducted by Nicholas P. Trist, on 
 the siue cf the Americans ; and by General 
 Herrera, and three other commissioners, on 
 the part of Mexico. Herrera, at first, de 
 clined to participate in the negotiations. 
 He was president of Mexico, it will be 
 recollected, in 1845, when John Slidell 
 was sent there, by the American gov 
 ernment, to endeavour to negotiate a treaty 
 of peace and friendship with the Mexican 
 government. For the single act of being 
 willing to listen to the propositions of 
 
 Slidell, his administration was calumniated 
 and overthrown. This was the reason of 
 his now declining to act in the negotia 
 tions. His objections, however, were over 
 ruled, and he finally yielded, and consented 
 to serve on the occasion. 
 
 Mr. Trist had been appointed, as men 
 tioned in a previous page, in April, and 
 had already made fruitless efforts to 
 treat for peace. His commission invested 
 him with " ample power and authority, 
 in the name of the United States, to meet 
 and confer with any person or persona 
 who should have similar authority from 
 the republic of Mexico, and, between 
 them, to negotiate and conclude an arrange 
 ment of the differences which existed 
 between the two countries, by a treaty of 
 peace, amity, and lasting boundaries." 
 
 The manner of the appointment of Mr. 
 Trist by the president, without asking or- 
 receiving the consent of the senate, was 
 irregular, and entirely without precedent 
 in the previous diplomatic history of the 
 United States. The opponents of the ad 
 ministration alleged that the president had 
 no power, under the constitution, to create 
 a new mission to a foreign government ; nor 
 had he any authority to negotiate a treaty 
 without the advice and consent of the 
 senate. President Polk, however, vin 
 dicated his act on the ground of neces 
 sity, and a desire to put an early end to the 
 war. 
 
 Under the circumstances, Mr. Trist met 
 the Mexican commissioners on the 27th of 
 August, and submitted to them the project 
 of a treaty which he had brought with him 
 from, Washington. The adjustment of a 
 boundary line between Mexico and the 
 United States, was the point upon which the 
 negotiations centred. The line mentioned 
 in the project of Mr. Trist, commenced 
 in front of the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
 and followed up the middle of that river to 
 the southern boundary of New Mexico; 
 thence west with the southern line of New 
 Mexico to the western boundary ; thence 
 north with the river Gila till it empties 
 into the Rio Colorado; thence down the 
 Colorado and the Gulf of California, to 
 the Pacific. In other words, this line re 
 quired the cession of the disputed territory 
 of New Mexico, and both Upper and 
 Lower California. Article 8th of the pro 
 ject also demanded the right of way, in per 
 petuity, across the isthmus of Tehuantepec. 
 And, finally, in consideration of these 
 
 631 
 
CONDITIONS OF PEACE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 cessions of territory, the American project 
 stipulated that the United States should 
 pay to the Mexican government 15,000,000 
 of dollars. 
 
 The Mexican commissioners presented a 
 counter-project, which proposed that the 
 boundary line should commence in the bay 
 of Corpus Christi ; thence up the middle of 
 the Nueces to its source ; thence west to 
 the eastern boundary of New Mexico; 
 thence north with that boundary to the 
 37th parallel of latitude ; thence west, 
 along that parallel, to the Pacific. Their 
 project also stipulated, that no American or 
 Mexican colony or settlement should be 
 established between the Nueces and the 
 Rio Grande ; but that that territory should 
 for ever remain an uninhabited frontier. 
 The Mexicans also claimed indemnification 
 for the ceded territory. 
 
 It will readily be conceived that such 
 diverse propositions afforded but slight 
 grounds on which to base a hope of an 
 amicable settlement of the difficulties be 
 tween the hostile republics. It has been 
 already stated, that an important object 
 with Santa Anna in proposing an armis 
 tice, was, through the time gained during 
 the negotiations, to prepare still further for 
 a vigorous and determined defence of the 
 capital. Even had he been in earnest in 
 his expressed desire for a successful termi 
 nation of the negotiations, he would hardly, 
 at that stage of affairs, have dared to put 
 himself in a position so antagonistic to the 
 then existing state of popular feeling in 
 the capital, which, as evinced from day 
 to day, was utterly opposed to any treaty 
 of peace while a hostile foot pressed the 
 soil of Mexico. The defences of the city 
 were looked upon as impregnable, not only 
 by the populace, but by a large number of 
 the more intelligent classes. The states 
 of Mexico, Zacatecas, and Jalisco, issued a 
 protest ; in which they stated that, with the 
 enemy in an intimidating attitude before 
 the gates of the capital, the Mexican gov 
 ernment were not allowed the requisite 
 freedom for the discussion of terms of 
 peace, and that any treaty resulting from 
 negotiations under such circumstances, 
 would be regarded by them as null and 
 void without the ratification of the Mexican 
 congress. This expostulatory address from 
 
 prejudice conjoined with the belief of 
 Santa Anna and his army that they could 
 yet defeat the invaders, and drive them in 
 disgrace from before the capital, if not 
 to utterly annihilate them could not but 
 operate as a restraint upon the Mexican 
 commissioners, who were in constant com 
 munication with their government, and 
 prevent them from deviating in the slightest 
 degree from their original projet for the 
 settlement of the pending difficulties with 
 the United States, although Mr. Trist, in 
 his solicitude to negotiate a treaty of peace, 
 had very essentially modified his demands, 
 proposing to abandon the claim to Lower 
 California, and to refer the question of the 
 disputed territory between the Nueces and 
 the Rio Grande to the decision of his 
 government. 
 
 In the discussions which took place 
 during the progress of the negotiations, 
 Mr. Trist, having to contend alone, and 
 without consultation with his government, 
 was not a match for his Mexican opponents, 
 who uniformly exhibited the most diplo 
 matic skill. In their written reply to his 
 project of a treaty, they stated that the 
 existing war had resulted from the annexa 
 tion of Texas to the United States ; but, 
 as the federal government had offered to 
 indemnify Mexico, the cause of hostilities 
 had disappeared, and the war itself ought 
 to cease. " To the other territories," they 
 went on to say, "mentioned in the 4th 
 article of your excellency s draft, no 
 right has heretofore been asserted by the 
 republic of North America; nor do we 
 believe it possible for it to assert any; 
 consequently, it could not acquire them, 
 except by the right of conquest, or by the 
 title which will result from the cession or 
 sale which Mexico might now make. But 
 as we are persuaded that the republic of 
 Washington will not only absolutely repel, 
 but will hold in abhorrence the first of 
 these titles; and as, on the other hand, it 
 would be a new thing, and contrary to 
 every idea of justice, to make war upon a 
 country for no other reason than because it 
 refused to sell territory which its neighbour 
 sought to buy; we hope, from the justice 
 of the government and people of North 
 America, that the ample modifications 
 which we have to propose to the cession 
 
 three of the most wealthy and influential of territory, will not be a motive to persist 
 
 states of Mexico, whose combined popula- in a war which the worthy general of the 
 
 tion comprised one-third of that of the North American troops has justly styled as 
 
 entire republic, backed up by the popular unnatural. In our conferences, we have 
 632 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 informed your excellency that Mexico 
 cannot cede the tract which lies between ! 
 the left bank of the Bravo [Rio Grande] 
 and the right of the Nueces. The reason \ 
 entertained for this is not alone the full 
 certainty that such territory never belonged 
 to the state of Texas, nor is it founded 
 upon the great value, in the abstract, which 
 is placed upon it. It is because that tract, 
 together with the Bravo [Rio Grande], 
 forms the natural frontier of Mexico, in 
 both a military and a commercial sense; 
 and the frontier of no state ought to be 
 sought, and no state ought to consent to 
 abandon its frontier. But, in order to 
 remove all cause of trouble hereafter, the 
 government of Mexico engages not to found 
 new settlements, nor establish colonies in 
 the space between the two rivers ; so that, 
 remaining in its present uninhabited con 
 dition, it may serve as an equal security to 
 both republics. Pursuant to our instruc 
 tions, the preservation of this territory is a 
 condition sine qua non of peace. Senti 
 ments not only of delicacy (which your 
 excellency s noble character will know how 
 worthily to estimate), but also a calculation 
 of interests, prevent our government from 
 consenting to the dismemberment of New 
 Mexico. Upon this point we deem it 
 superfluous to add anything to that which 
 we had the honour to explain to you orally 
 in our conferences." 
 
 The Mexican commissioners gave, as a 
 reason for declining to yield a right of way 
 across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, that 
 the government of Mexico had, some years 
 previous, granted a like privilege to a 
 private individual, who had subsequently 
 transferred the right thus acquired to 
 subjects of Great Britain. " We have 
 entered into this plain statement," they 
 said, in the written answer above referred 
 to, " for the motives which the republic 
 has for not agreeing to alienate all the 
 territory asked of it beyond the state of 
 Texas, because we desire that the North 
 American government and people may be 
 persuaded that our partial refusal does not 
 proceed from feelings of aversion created 
 by the antecedents in this war, or by the 
 suffering which it has inflicted upon 
 Mexico ; but rests upon considerations dic 
 tated by reason and justice, which would 
 operate in all time, with reference to the 
 most friendly nation, in the midst of the 
 closest relations of friendship." 
 
 After proposing, if a treaty were 
 
 negotiated, that Great Britain should be 
 asked to guarantee it, the Mexican com 
 missioners said in conclusion " The good 
 and salutary work can, in our opinion, 
 reach a happy end, if each of the contend 
 ing parties resolve to abandon some of its 
 original pretensions. This has been always 
 so ; and no nation ever hesitated, at such a 
 juncture, to make great sacrifices to extin 
 guish the destructive flame of war. Mexico 
 and the United^ States have special reasons 
 thus to act. We must confess, not without 
 a blush, that we are exhibiting to mankind 
 the scandal of two Christian people of two 
 republics, in the presence of all the 
 monarchies mutually doing one another 
 all the harm they can, by disputes about 
 boundaries, when we have an excess of 
 land to people and cultivate in the beau 
 tiful hemisphere where Providence caused 
 us to be born. We venture to recom-- 
 mend these considerations to your excel 
 lency before you come to a definite decision 
 upon our propositions." 
 
 Had the Mexican government, acting 
 through its commissioners, been disposed 
 to concur in the sentiments expressed in 
 the above closing remarks of the latter, and 
 " resolved to abandon some of its original 
 pretensions, to extinguish the destructive 
 flame of war," the negotiations might have 
 terminated in an amicable settlement of 
 the difficulties between the two republics, 
 without further bloodshed. But while the 
 American commissioner was called upon to 
 abate some portion of his demands, and 
 expressed a willingness to do so, the 
 Mexican commissioners would not, and 
 did not, as already incidentally stated, 
 yield an iota from the position they had 
 taken at the commencement of the negotia 
 tions. This was, however, not the fault 
 of the commissioners. Their remarks, as 
 above given, would indicate that General 
 Herrera and his colleagues were sincerely 
 desirous, personally, to bring the negotia 
 tions to a successful termination ; yet, con 
 trolled and hampered in their action by 
 the causes before mentioned, the commis 
 sioners could not give their pacific senti 
 ments a practical expression. 
 
 The negotiations were actively continued, 
 with apparently some prospect of a success 
 ful result, up to the 2nd of September, 
 when Mr. Trist handed in his ultimatum 
 on boundaries, and the negotiators ad 
 journed, to meet again on the 6th. Some 
 infractions of the truce, in respect to 
 
 633 
 
HOSTILITIES RENEWED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 American supplies from, the city, had 
 already occurred, and were duly apologised 
 for, on the part of the Mexican authorities. 
 These vexations, Scott was disposed to attri 
 bute to the imbecility of the government ; 
 and, while any hope remained of a satis 
 factory termination of hostilities, he waived 
 pointed demands for reparation. 
 
 On the 7th of September, the Mexican 
 commissioners reported to the secretary for 
 foreign relations, that the discussions had 
 closed, and the negotiations failed. But 
 as early as the 5th, and more fully on the 
 6th, Scott was informed that Santa Anna, 
 without giving him the slightest notice, 
 was actively engaged in strengthening the 
 military defences of the city, in gross vio 
 lation of the armistice. On receiving that 
 information, which was subsequently fully 
 verified, Scott addressed to Santa Anna 
 a note on the subject, charging him with 
 being guilty of a breach of faith. He 
 added, that if satisfactory explanations 
 were not made in forty-eight hours, he 
 should renew hostilities. The reply of the 
 Mexican general dated the same day, but 
 received by Scott on the morning of the 
 7th, not only retorted the charge of the 
 latter, but asserted that the American 
 soldiers had been guilty of acts of rapine 
 and brutality in the neighbouring villages, 
 and affirmed his willingness to recommence 
 hostilities. Nothing could be more un 
 founded than this assertion of Sonta Anna, 
 which was characterised by Scott, in his 
 official report, as " absolutely and notori 
 ously false, both in recrimination and ex 
 planation." It can be said, without feai 
 of contradiction, that never was an invad 
 ing army more orderly than that of Ame 
 rica in Mexico, or one guilty of fewer 
 excesses. 
 
 The mask being now thrown off, and 
 Scott having been delayed in his opera 
 tions by the terms of the armistice and 
 the attempts at negotiation, he determined 
 to lose no more time, but to commence at 
 once his preparations to carry the city by 
 assault. For this purpose a series of recon 
 naissances of the different approaches to 
 the capital within his reach became neces 
 sary, before he could lay down any defini 
 tive plan of attack. 
 
 In the afternoon of the day on which 
 Santa Anna s reply was received, Scott, 
 accompanied by Worth, reconnoitred the 
 formidable defences of the city immediately 
 in front of Tacubaya, and commanding the 
 634 
 
 principal causeway and the aqueduct sup 
 plying the city with water. The fortress 
 of Chapultepec, located some 1,200 yards 
 north of Tacubaya, has been briefly noticed 
 in a previous page. This porphyritic 
 eminence, called, in the Aztec language, 
 " Grasshopper s Hill," once lay imme 
 diately upon the margin of the lake of 
 Tezcuco, and was the favourite resort of 
 the Aztec princes, some writers locating 
 here the much-sought site of the " Halls of 
 Montezuma." However that may be, the 
 remains of gardens, groves, and grottoes, 
 still testify to the prodigal splendours of 
 the ancient city of Mexico. The receding 
 of the waters of the beautiful lake which 
 bathed its base, has deprived Chapultepec 
 of much of its former attractions. 
 
 On three sides, the north, east, and south, 
 the eminence of Chapultepec is rugged 
 and precipitate j but on the west it slopes 
 gradually down into a thick forest at its 
 base, being the only side that seemed to 
 permit any approach. The road from 
 Tacubaya passed directly under the eastern 
 side of the hill, and thence diverged into 
 the causeway of the same name, leading 
 through the Belen gate to the south-wes 
 tern angle of the city. At the point of its 
 divergence, the Tacubaya road also forms 
 a junction with another communicating 
 with the San Casme causeway, which 
 leads to the north-western entrance of 
 the capital. The fortress of Chapultepec 
 commanded these approaches, and was, 
 consequently, the key to the capital on this 
 side. 
 
 At the wooded base of the slope of 
 Chapultepec, on its western side, was located 
 El Molino del Hey (the King s Mill), a 
 stone building, with high walls and turrets. 
 It was strongly garrisoned, and employed 
 by the Mexicans as an arsenal and cannon- 
 foundry, to which, as Scott had ascertained 
 two days previous, a large number of church 
 bells had been taken from, the city to be 
 cast into guns. About one-fourth of a 
 mile further to the west, and in a line with 
 Chapultepec and El Molino del Hey, was 
 the Casa de Mata, another massive, thick- 
 walled, stone structure, occupied as a depot 
 for gunpowder. 
 
 The heights of Chapultepec commanding, 
 as already stated, the western approaches 
 to the Mexican capital, and even the capital 
 itself, the reduction of that fortress was 
 necessary as a preliminary movement to an 
 attack from this side. Scott s practised eye 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [MOLING DEL KEY. 
 
 quickly perceived, that with these heights 
 in his possession, and heavy guns planted 
 upon them, the city would be completely 
 at his mercy ; and as the fortress of Cha- 
 pultepec was only accessible by the gradual 
 slope on its western side, and El Molino 
 del Rey and the Casa de Mata both barring 
 the approach from that side, Scott deter 
 mined without waiting for further recon 
 naissances early on the following morn 
 ing to capture these outposts of Chapul- 
 tepec, destroy the cannon-foundry, and all 
 munitions of war found in either place. 
 He was induced to make this prompt move 
 ment from his knowledge of the fact, that 
 his recent captures had left the enemy 
 short of cannon for the effective defence of 
 the capital a deficiency which Santa Anna 
 was attempting to supply by recasting the 
 church bells into those instruments of 
 death, as already stated. Scott could not 
 stop the communication between the foundry 
 and the capital without first capturing the 
 formidable works on the heights of Chapul- 
 tepec ; and for this difficult operation he 
 was not quite prepared ; as, upon further 
 and fuller reconnaissances, should the 
 southern approaches to the city prove more 
 eligible, he might decide upon making an 
 assault from that side, and thus avoid the 
 sacrifice of life which the capture of the 
 fortress of Chapul tepee might call for. 
 
 In examining the enemy s positions on 
 the afternoon of the 7th, a large force 
 was discovered near and around the heights 
 of Chapultepec, exhibiting an extended 
 line of cavalry and infantry, sustained by a 
 field battery of four guns. Their left rested 
 upon and occupied El Molino del Rey, ad 
 joining the grove at the foot of the height, 
 and directly under the guns of the castle 
 which crowns its summit ; and their right 
 rested upon the Casa de Mata. The recon 
 naissance gave fair observation of the con 
 figuration of the enemy s ground, and, to 
 some extent, of his force ; but, as appeared 
 in the sequel, an inadequate idea of the 
 nature and strength of his defences, they 
 being skilfully masked. To Worth was 
 assigned this difficult and desperate task, 
 with the following forces : First division 
 (Worth s), about 2,000; Cadwallader s 
 brigade (llth and 14th regiments of infan 
 try and voltigeurs), 784 ; three squadrons 
 of dragoons, and one company of mounted 
 riflemen, under Major Sumner, 270 ; three 
 pieces of field artillery, under Captain 
 Drum ; two battering guns (24-pounders), 
 
 under Captain Huger, 100 : total number 
 of men, 3,154. 
 
 It was well known that this force was 
 largely outnumbered by the enemy posted 
 around the defences of Chapultepec. But 
 neither Worth, nor any one of the brave 
 officers and men he led to this desperate 
 encounter, imagined, as was subsequently 
 proved by the concurrent testimony of 
 prisoners, that the Mexican force opposed 
 to them numbered 14,000 men, commanded 
 by Santa Anna in person.* 
 
 As the Mexican system of defence was 
 connected with the hill and castle of Cha 
 pultepec, and as the operations of Worth 
 were limited to a specific object to break 
 up the enemy s line of intrenchments, and 
 destroy the munitions in Molino del Rey ; 
 after which the troops were to retire it 
 became necessary to isolate the work to be 
 accomplished from the citadel of Chapul 
 tepec and its immediate defences. Worth 
 made his dispositions accordingly. Gar 
 land s brigade was to take position on the 
 right, strengthened by two pieces of Drum s 
 battery, to look to El Molino del Rey, as 
 well as any support of that position from 
 Chapultepec ; and also within sustaining 
 distance of the assaulting party and the 
 battering guns, which, under Captain 
 Huger, were placed on the ridge, five or 
 six hundred yards from El Molino del Rey, 
 to batter and loosen that position from 
 Chapultepec. An assaulting party of 500 
 picked men and officers, under the com 
 mand of Major Wright, of the 8th infantry, 
 was also posted on the ridge to the left of 
 the battering guns, to force the enemy s 
 centre. The 2nd brigade (the command 
 of which devolved on Colonel M Intosh, 
 Colonel Clarke being ill), with Duncan s 
 battery, was to take position still further 
 up the ridge, opposite the enemy s right, 
 to look to the American left flank, to sus 
 tain the assaulting column, if necessary, or 
 to discomfit the enemy (the ground being 
 favourable), as circumstances might require. 
 The brigade of Cadwallader was held in 
 reserve, in a position on the ridge, between 
 the battering guns and M In tosh s brigade, 
 and in easy support of either. The cavalry, 
 under Sumner, to envelop the American 
 extreme left, and to be governed by cir 
 cumstances to repel or attack, as the com 
 mander s judgment might suggest. The 
 troops to be put in position under cover of 
 the night, and the work to begin as soon 
 * Worth s Official Report. 
 635 
 
MOLING DEL KEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847- 
 
 as the heavy metal could be properly 
 directed. Duncan was charged with the 
 general disposition of the artillery. 
 
 Accordingly, at three o clock in the 
 morning of the 8th, the several columns 
 were put in motion, on as many different 
 routes ; and, when the gray of morning 
 permitted them to be seen, they were as 
 accurately in their assigned positions as if j 
 posted at mid-day for a review. The early 
 dawn was the moment appointed for the 
 attack, which was announced to the troops 
 by the opening of the battering guns, under 
 Huger, on Molino del Key, upon which 
 they continued to play actively until this 
 point of the Mexican line became sensibly 
 shaken, when the assaulting party, com- \ 
 manded by Wright, and guided by Captain 
 Mason, of the engineer corps, assisted by j 
 Lieutenant Foster, dashed gallantly for 
 ward to the assault. Unshaken by the 
 galling fire of musketry and canister which 
 was showered upon them, on they rushed, 
 driving infantry and artillerymen before 
 them at the point of the bayonet. The 
 enemy s field artillery was captured, and his 
 own guns were trailed upon his retreating 
 masses. Before, however, they could be 
 discharged, perceiving that he had been 
 dispossessed of this strong position by com 
 paratively a handful of men, he made a 
 desperate effort to regain it. His retiring 
 forces accordingly rallied and formed with 
 this object. Aided by the infantry, which 
 covered the house-tops (within reach of 
 which the battery had been moved during 
 the night), the enemy s whole line opened 
 upon the assaulting party a terrific fire of 
 musketry, which struck down eleven out 
 of the fourteen officers who took part in 
 the assault, and non-commissioned officers 
 and men in proportion, including, among 
 those severely wounded, "Wright, Mason, 
 and Foster. 
 
 For a moment that gallant band was 
 staggered by this severe shock. The light 
 battalion, which was to cover Huger s bat 
 tery, under Captain E. Kirby Smith (Colonel 
 Smith being ill) , and the right wing of Cad- 
 wallader s brigade, were promptly ordered 
 forward to its support, which order was 
 executed in the most praiseworthy style. 
 The enemy was again routed, and this 
 point of his line carried, and fully pos 
 sessed by the Americans. 
 
 In the meantime, the 1st brigade, under 
 Garland, ably sustained by the artillery 
 under Drum, assaulted the enemy s left, 
 636 
 
 and, after an obstinate and very severe 
 contest, drove him from this apparently 
 impregnable position, immediately under 
 the guns of the fortress of Chapultepec. 
 Drum s section, and the battering guns 
 under Huger, advanced to the enemy s posi 
 tion ; and the captured guns were now 
 opened upon his retreating forces, on which 
 they continued to fire until the fugitives 
 were beyond their range. 
 
 While this work was in progress of ac 
 complishment by the American centre and 
 right, the troops on the left were not 
 idle. Duncan s battery opened upon the 
 right of the enemy s line, up to this time 
 engaged; and the 2nd brigade, under 
 M Intosh, was now ordered to assault 
 the extreme right. The direction of this 
 brigade soon caused it to interfere with 
 Duncan s battery, the fire of which, for 
 the moment, was discontinued ; and the 
 ! brigade moved steadily on to the assault of 
 the Casa de Mata, which, instead of an 
 ordinary field intrenchment, as had been 
 [ supposed, proved to be, as already stated 
 in a previous page, a strong stone citadel, 
 ! with bastioned intrenchments and im- 
 | passable ditches an old Spanish work, 
 recently repaired and enlarged. When 
 within easy musket range, the enemy 
 i opened a most deadly fire upon the ad- 
 ! vancing troops, which was kept up, without 
 ! intermission, until they had reached the 
 very slope of the parapet of the work which 
 surrounded the citadel. By this time a 
 large proportion of the troops had been 
 either killed or wounded ; among whom 
 were the three senior officers present Colo 
 nel M Intosh, Lieutenant-colonel Scott, of 
 the 5th, and Major Waite, of the 8th, 
 infantry. Scott was killed, and the other 
 two were severely wounded. Still the fire 
 from the citadel was unabated. In this 
 crisis of the attack the troops were momen 
 tarily thrown into disorder, and fell back 
 | on the left of Duncan s battery, where they 
 rallied. 
 
 As the 2nd brigade moved to the as 
 sault, about 4,000 cavalry, under Alvarez, 
 were discovered approaching rapidly upon 
 the American left flank, to reinforce the 
 enemy s right. When Duncan s battery 
 was masked, as stated above, supported 
 by Andrews voltigeurs (of Cadwallader s 
 brigade), it moved promptly to the extreme 
 left of the American line, to check the 
 threatened assault on this point. The 
 Mexican cavalry came rapidly within 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AMERICAN VICTORY. 
 
 canister range, when the whole battery 
 opened a most effective fire, which soon 
 broke the squadrons, and drove them back 
 in disorder. During this fire upon the 
 enemy s cavalry, Sumner moved to the j 
 front, and changed direction in admirable i 
 order, under a most appalling fire from the : 
 Casa de Mata. This movement enabled j 
 his men to cross the ravine immediately on 
 the left of Duncan s battery, where it re 
 mained, doing effective service till the close 
 of the action. At the very moment the 
 cavalry were driven beyond reach, the 
 American troops drew back from before 
 the Casa de Mata, and enabled the guns of 
 Duncan s battery to reopen upon this posi 
 tion, which, after a short and well-directed 
 fire, the enemy abandoned. The guns of 
 the battery were now turned upon the re 
 treating columns, and continued to play 
 upon them until they were beyond reach. 
 
 The Mexicans were now driven from 
 every point of the field, and their strong 
 lines, which Worth gives them the credit 
 of having well defended, were in possession 
 of the Americans. In fulfilment of the 
 instructions of the general- in-chief, the 
 Casa de Mata was blown up by Worth, 
 and such of the captured ammunition as 
 could not be made use of, as well as the 
 cannon-moulds found in El Molino del 
 Rev, were destroyed : after which, Worth, 
 with his troops, returned to quarters at 
 Tacubaya, with three of the enemy s four 
 guns, the fourth having been rendered 
 unserviceable from being spiked; as also 
 a large quantity of small arms, with can 
 non and musket ammunition, and upwards 
 of 800 prisoners, including fifty-two com 
 missioned officers. 
 
 The action lasted about two hours ; and 
 it proving much more severe and obstinate 
 than Scott anticipated, he had ordered up 
 the brigade of General Pierce, and subse 
 quently that of Colonel Riley, from their 
 positions three miles distant. They came 
 rapidly forward ; but the conflict had just 
 terminated as Pierce s brigade reached the 
 ground, and had interposed between Gar 
 land s brigade and the retreating enemy. 
 
 Thus terminated the battle of El Molino 
 del Rey ; the heavy losses, for the numbers 
 engaged on both sides, marking it as one 
 of the severest and most sanguinary on 
 record. The Mexican loss, in killed (in 
 cluding among the number Generals 
 Valderez and Leon, the second and third 
 in command), wounded, and prisoners, 
 VOL. n. 4 v 
 
 amounted to about 3,000, or nearly one- 
 fifth of the numbers engaged, and almost, 
 or quite, equal to the entire American force 
 opposed to them ; while that of the latter 
 was 833 killed and wounded, and ten miss 
 ing, being more than one-fourth of the 
 number that went into action. 
 
 By the capture of El Molino del Rey 
 and the Casa de Mata, the way was cleared 
 for the assault upon the fortress of Chapul- 
 tepec, should the general-in-chief decide 
 upon approaching the city from that direc 
 tion. The 9th and 10th of September 
 were devoted to reconnoitring purposes 
 by the engineers Captain Lee, and Lieu 
 tenants Beauregard, Stevens, and Tower; 
 Major Smith, the senior engineer, being 
 ill, and Captain Mason wounded in the 
 battle of the 8th. Through these recon 
 naissances, Scott ascertained that the Mexi 
 can capital was approached by five prin 
 cipal roads : first, the national road from 
 Yera Cruz, which the American army had 
 followed as far as Ayotla ; second, the road 
 from Acapulco, on which lay San Antonio 
 and Churubusco, and which they had taken, 
 after turning Lake Chalco, as far as Churu 
 busco; third, the road from Toluca, on 
 which the American army now lay at 
 Tacubaya; fourth, the road from Guada- 
 lupe ; and fifth, that from Tampico, which 
 approached from the north-east, around 
 Lake Tezcuco. These roads entered the 
 city, as previously stated, by eight gates : 
 three of them, the San Antonio, Perdido 
 (San Angel), and Piedad, were reached 
 by causeways from the Acapulco road ; 
 two the Belen and San Cosme by cause- 
 waj s from the Toluca road ; and the re 
 maining three, also reached by causeways 
 from the national or Yera Cruz, Guada- 
 lupe, and Tampico roads respectively. 
 
 The many cannon captured by the Ameri 
 cans in their recent victories, had not left 
 the Mexicans one-fourth of the guns neces 
 sary to fortify, at the same time, all the 
 strong works at each of the city gates. 
 Santa Anna had consequently mounted 
 most of his remaining guns at the gates on 
 the south, which were approached by cause 
 ways from the Acapulco road, where the 
 Mexicans expected the main assault. 
 
 The city stands on a slight swell of 
 
 ground, and is girdled with a ditch, in its 
 
 greater extent a navigable canal of great 
 
 i breadth and depth very difficult to bridge 
 
 I in the presence of the enemy s fire, and 
 
 serving at once for drainage, custom-house 
 
 637 
 
CHAPULTEPEC.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 181 
 
 purposes, and military defence. The cause 
 ways on the south by which, as just 
 stated, the Mexicans evidently expected | 
 the approach of their enemy were found , 
 to be cut in many places, and flanked, on 
 both sides, by ditches, also of unusual 
 dimensions. The numerous cross-roads 
 were flanked in like manner, having bridges 
 at the intersection, which had been recently 
 broken. The meadows, then checkered, 
 were, moreover, in many spots, under 
 water or marshy it being in the midst of 
 the wet season, though with less rain than 
 usual ; but Scott could not wait for the fall 
 of the neighbouring lakes, and the conse 
 quent drainage of the wet grounds at the 
 edge of the city, the lowest in the whole 
 basin. 
 
 After a close personal survey of the 
 southern gates, covered by Pillow s divi 
 sion and Riley s brigade, with four times 
 their numbers concentrated in his imme 
 diate front, Scott determined, on the llth, 
 to avoid that network of obstacles, and to 
 seek, by a sudden inversion to the south 
 west and west, more favourable approaches. 
 To economise the lives of his officers and 
 men, as far as possible, as well as to insure 
 success, he determined to conceal his de 
 sign from the enemy as long as possible; 
 and, again, that the new movement, when 
 discovered, should be mistaken for a feint; 
 and the old as indicating the real and ulti 
 mate point of attack. 
 
 Accordingly, without delay, on the llth, 
 Scott ordered Quitman s division from 
 Cayhoocan, to join Pillow s division by 
 daylight, before the southern gates; and 
 then that the two major-generals, with 
 their divisions, should, by night, proceed 
 two miles to join the general-in-chief at 
 Tacubaya, where he was quartered with 
 Worth s division. Twiggs, with Riley s 
 brigade, and Captains Taylor and Steptoe s 
 field batteries (the latter of 12-pounders), 
 was left in front of the southern gates, to 
 manoeuvre, to threaten, or to make false 
 attacks, in order to occupy and deceive the 
 enemy. Twiggs other brigade, commanded 
 by Smith, was left in supporting distance 
 in the rear, at San Angel, till the morning 
 of the 13th, and also to aid the general 
 depot at Miscoac. The stratagem against 
 the southern defences was admirably exe 
 cuted throughout the 12th, and down to 
 the afternoon of the 13th, when it was 
 too late for the enemy to recover from the 
 effects of his delusion. 
 638 
 
 It. has been remarked that Chapultepec 
 commanded, with its cannon, the two 
 causeways (its own and that of San Cosme). 
 The first step, therefore, in the new 
 movement was to carry that position. 
 Its castle was about ten feet in height ; 
 and the whole structure, including the 
 wings, bastions, parapets, redoubts, and 
 batteries, was very strongly built, and of 
 the most elaborate architecture. A splendid 
 dome decorated the top, rising in great 
 majesty about twenty feet above the whole 
 pile, and near which was the front centre, 
 supported by a stone arch, emblazoned 
 with the coat-of-arms of the republic, 
 and from which floated the tricoloured 
 banner of Mexico. Two very strongly- 
 built stone walls surrounded the whole ; 
 and, at the west end, the outer walls were 
 some ten feet apart, and twelve or fifteen 
 feet high. The fortress was defended by 
 heavy artillery, manned by the most 
 skilful gunners of the Mexican army, 
 including some French artillerists of dis 
 tinction. The infantry force consisted of 
 the officers and students of the military col 
 lege (which was located here), the na 
 tional guards, and chosen warriors of the 
 republic; the whole under the command 
 of General Bravo. The entire hill was 
 dotted with forts, outposts, and stone and 
 mud walls, which were filled with their 
 picket or castle guard. A huge high stone 
 wall extended around the whole frowning 
 craggy mount, and another along the 
 south-east base, midway from the former 
 and the castle. A well-paved road led up, 
 in a triangular form, to the main gate, 
 entering the south terre-plein ; and the 
 whole works were ingeniously and beau 
 tifully ornamented with Spanish fastidious 
 ness and skill.* 
 
 In the course of the night of the llth of 
 September, heavy batteries, within easy 
 range of the fortress, were established. 
 Battery No. 1, commanded by Captain 
 Drum, and mounting two 18-pounders, 
 and one 8-inch mortar, was stationed 
 about 600 yards from the castle, just to 
 the left of the Tacubaya road. Battery 
 No. 2, commanded by Captain ITuger, 
 of the Ordnance, and mounting one 24- 
 pounder, and one 8-inch mortar, was sta 
 tioned in the front, and to the left of 
 Tacubaya, a little further from the castle. 
 Battery No. 3, commanded by Captain 
 Brooks and Lieutenant Anderson, of the 
 * From a Letter of Lieutenant Sutten. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [CJIAPULTEPEC. 
 
 2nd artillery, alternately, and mounting 
 one LS-pounder, and one 8-inch mortal-, [ 
 was placed half-way between Tacubaya 
 and El Molino del Rey. Battery No. 4, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Stone, of the 
 Ordnance, and mounting one large mor 
 tar, was placed near El Molino del Rey. 
 The ground for the batteries was traced by 
 Huger and Lee, of the engineers, and con 
 structed by them, with the assistance of 
 the young officers of those corps and the 
 artillery. 
 
 To prepare the way for an assault, the 
 general-in-chief foresaw that the fire of the 
 batteries might extend into the second day ; 
 but recent captures had not only trebled 
 his siege pieces, but also his ammunition ; 
 and he knew that he should greatly aug 
 ment both by capturing the place. He 
 was, therefore, in no haste in ordering an 
 assault before the works were well crippled 
 by the fire of the batteries. 
 
 The bombardment and cannonade, under 
 the direction of Huger, were commenced 
 early in the morning of the 12th, and con 
 tinued throughout the day. The sky was 
 traversed incessantly by shells and balls, 
 projected from the batteries of the Ameri 
 cans on the one hand, and from the bat 
 teries and bastions of Chapultepec on the 
 other. At nightfall, which necessarily 
 caused a cessation of the bombardment, 
 the impression of the American fire upon 
 the castle and its outworks was visible. A 
 large body of the enemy had remained 
 outside of the castle, towards the city, 
 throughout the day, to avoid the fire, and 
 to be at hand at its cessation, in order to 
 reinforce the garrison against an assault. 
 On the morning of the 13th, the same 
 outside force was discovered, after the 
 American batteries had reopened upon the 
 fortress thereby again reducing the garri 
 son to the minimum needed for the guns. 
 
 Pillow and Quitman had been in position 
 since early in the night of the llth. 
 Worth was now ordered to hold his divi 
 sion in reserve, near El Molino del Rey, to 
 support Pillow ; and Smith, of Twiggs 
 division, had just arrived from Piedad, to 
 support Quitman. Twiggs guns were dis 
 tinctly heard, indicating that, with Riley s 
 brigade, and Taylor and Steptoe s batteries, 
 he was still actively engaged, threaten 
 ing the southern gates, and there holding 
 a great part of the Mexican army on the 
 defensive. 
 
 The signal Scott had appointed for the 
 
 assault, was the momentary cessation of 
 fire from the American batteries : and 
 it was to take place in two columns, 
 commanded respective!) by Quitman and 
 Pillow, each preceded by a storming 
 party of 250 select officers and men. 
 Worth s division furnished the storming 
 party for Pillow, under Captain M Kenzie, 
 of the 2nd artillery ; and Twiggs supplied 
 a similar one for Quitman, commanded by 
 Captain Case) -, of the 2nd infantry. Each 
 of these little columns was furnished with 
 scaling-ladders. 
 
 About eight o clock on the morning of 
 the 13th, judging that the time had arrived, 
 by the effect of the missiles which had been 
 thrown, Scott sent an aide-de-camp to 
 Pillow, and another to Quitman, with 
 notice that the concerted signal was about 
 to be given. Both columns now advanced 
 with an alacrity that gave assurance of 
 prompt success. The batteries, seizing 
 opportunities, threw shot and shells upon 
 the enemy, over the heads of the assaulting 
 parties, with good effect, particularly at 
 every attempt to reinforce the works from 
 without, to meet the assault. 
 
 Pillow s approach, on the west, lay 
 through an open grove, filled with sharp 
 shooters, who were speedily dislodged ; an 
 open space, about five rods wide, which 
 intervened between the trees and the 
 ascent, was scoured by incessant discharges 
 of musketry. The Americans gathered in 
 clusters at the edge of the wood, the storm 
 ing party of picked men in front, with 
 swords drawn and bayonets fixed. As they 
 emerged into the open space, Pillow fell, 
 severely wounded. The immediate com 
 mand devolved upon Cadwallader, the 
 senior brigadier, Pierce having been an 
 invalid since the stirring events of August 
 20th. On a previous call of Pillow, Worth 
 had just sent him Colonel Clarke s brigade 
 as a reinforcement. 
 
 The broken acclivity was still to be 
 ascended, and a strong redoubt, midway, to 
 be carried before reaching the castle on the 
 heights. The advance, though necessarily 
 slow, was unwavering, over rocks, chasms, 
 and mines, and under the hottest fire of can 
 non and musketry. The redoubt was carried, 
 and the shouts that followed announced to 
 the castle the fate that impended. The 
 enemy was steadily driven from shelter to 
 shelter. The retreat was so rapid that not 
 a single mine could be fired without the 
 certainty of blowing up friend and foe. 
 
 639 
 
CHAPULTEPEC.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 Those who, at a distance, attempted to apply 
 matches to the long trains, were instantly 
 shot down by the advancing assailants. 
 There was death below as well as above 
 ground. At length the ditch and wall of 
 the main work were reached ; the scaling- 
 ladders were brought up and planted by 
 the storming parties; some of the daring 
 spirits, first in the assault, being cast down, 
 killed, or wounded: but a lodgment was 
 soon made ; streams of heroes followed ; all 
 opposition was overcome, and several of the 
 American regimental banners were flung 
 out from the upper walls, amid long- con 
 tinued shouts and cheers, which sent dis 
 may into the Mexican capital. 
 
 Quitman, who led the other assaulting 
 column, nobly supported by Shields and 
 Smith, as also by his own officers and men, 
 well sustained the par t assigned him. Simul 
 taneously with the movement of the column 
 on the west, he had gallantly approached 
 the south-east of the same works over a 
 causeway, with cuts and batteries, and de 
 fended by an army strongly posted outside, 
 to the east of the works. Those formid 
 able obstacles Quitman had to face, with 
 but little shelter for his troops, or space for 
 mauo3uvring. Deep ditches, flanking the 
 causeway, made it difficult to cross on 
 either side into the adjoining meadows ; 
 and these, again, were intersected by other 
 ditches. Smith s brigade had been early 
 thrown out to make a sweep to the right, 
 in order to present a front against the 
 enemy s line, outside, and to turn two 
 intervening batteries, near the foot of Cha- 
 pultepec. This movement was also intended 
 to support Quitman s storming parties, both 
 on the causeway. The first of these, fur 
 nished by Twiggs division, was com 
 manded in succession by Captain Casey, 
 of the 2nd, and by Captain Paul, of 
 the 7th, infantry, after Casey had been 
 severely wounded; and the second, ori 
 ginally under Major Twiggs, of the marine 
 corps, who was killed; and then Captain 
 Miller, of the 2nd Pennsylvania volunteers. 
 The storming party now commanded by 
 Captain Paul, seconded by Captain Roberts, 
 of the rifle regiment, Lieutenant Stewart 
 and others, of the same regiment, carried 
 the two batteries in the road, took some 
 guns, with many prisoners, and scattered 
 the enemy posted behind in support. The 
 New York and South Carolina volunteers 
 (Shields brigade), and the 2nd Penn 
 sylvania volunteers (all on the left of Quit- 
 640 
 
 man s line), together with portions of his 
 storming parties, crossed the meadows in 
 front, under a heavy fire, and entered 
 the outer inclosure of Chapultepec just 
 in time to join in the final assault from 
 the west. 
 
 An officer of the rifle regiment (one or 
 two brief extracts from whose letters have 
 been given in previous pages) thus graphi 
 cally describes the scene at the capture of 
 the castle-: " After an hour s hard fighting 
 the enemy s fire began to slacken, and the 
 word was given to charge. "We rushed 
 forward, and, in three minutes, carried 
 the first battery. The riflemen entered it 
 with the storming party, which was com 
 manded by one of its captains. We fol 
 lowed the fugitives close up to the aque 
 duct, and, turning to the left, clambered 
 up the steep path to the castle. The Mexi 
 cans were running down in crowds, and 
 the slaughter was tremendous in the road 
 and orchard. Our men were infuriated 
 by the conduct of the enemy at Molino 
 del Rey, and took but few prisoners. The 
 castle was completely shattered ; nearly 
 every part was riddled by our shot ; while 
 the pavements and fortifications were com 
 pletely torn up by the shells. In it were 
 crowds of prisoners of every rank and 
 colour ; among whom were fifty general 
 officers, and about a hundred cadets of the 
 Mexican military academy. The latter 
 were pretty little fellows, from ten to six 
 teen years of age. Several of them were 
 killed fighting like demons; and, indeed, 
 they showed an example of courage worthy 
 of imitation by some of their superiors in 
 rank and age." 
 
 Scott came up to the castle just after 
 the general retreat, consequent upon its 
 capture, and mounted to the top, whence 
 the whole field to the east lay plainly under 
 his view. There were two routes from 
 Chapultepec to the capital, as already 
 stated the one on the right entering the 
 Belen gate, and the other obliquing to the 
 left, to intersect the great western or San 
 Cosme road, in a suburb outside the gate 
 of San Cosme. Each of these routes pre 
 sented a double roadway, on the sides of an 
 aqueduct of strong masonry and great 
 height, resting on open arches and massive 
 pillars, which, together, afforded fine points 
 for both attack and defence. The sideways 
 of both aqueducts were, moreover, defended 
 by many strong breastworks at the gates, 
 and before reaching them. As Scott had 
 
A.I). 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [AMERICAN SUCCESSES. 
 
 anticipated, the four tracks were found 
 unusually dry atid solid, for the season. 
 
 In pursuance of orders from the general- 
 in- chief, Worth had turned the castle 
 during the conflict, passed round to the 
 north centre of Chapultepec, and there 
 attacked the right wing of the Mexican 
 army, resting on the road, about the mo 
 ment of the general flight of the Mexicans 
 in consequence of the capture of the castle 
 and its outworks. Worth and Quitman 
 were prompt in pursuing the retreating 
 enemy the former by the San Cosme aque 
 duct or causeway, and the latter along 
 that of Belen. Each had advanced some 
 hundreds of yards at the moment that 
 Scott, arriving at the castle, took a coup- 
 d ceil of the whole field as it lay spread 
 out to his view. The determination of the 
 general-in-chief was instantly taken. 
 
 Deeming it all-important to profit by pre 
 sent successes, and the consequent dismay 
 of the enemy, which could not be other 
 wise than general, Scott hastened to dis 
 patch from Chapultepec first, Clarke s 
 brigade, and then Cadwallader s, to the 
 support of Worth, and gave orders that 
 the necessary heavy guns should follow. 
 Pierce s brigade was, at the same time, 
 sent to Quitman ; and, in the course of the 
 afternoon, Scott ordered some additional 
 siege pieces to be added to his train. Then, 
 after designating the loth regiment of 
 infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howard 
 (Morgan, the colonel of that regiment, 
 having been disabled by a wound at Churu- 
 busco), as the garrison of Chapultepec, and 
 giving directions for the care of the pri 
 soners of war, the captured ordnance, and 
 army stores, the general-in-chief pro 
 ceeded to join the column of Worth, on 
 the San Cosme road. This corps had 
 carried two batteries, both of them strong 
 works, and enfilading the road. They had 
 just reached the Campo Santo, or English 
 burying-ground, near which the road and 
 aqueduct bend to the right, when the 
 general-in-chief, with his staff, came up. 
 He instructed Worth to press on, and carry 
 the garita, or gate, of San Cosme, and, if 
 possible, penetrate to the Alameda. Shortly 
 after, Cadwallader, with his brigade, ar 
 rived. Leaving him in position at Campo 
 Santo, to hold that point, and look to the 
 left and rear, Worth pushed on, and soon 
 came in front of another battery, beyond 
 which, distant some 250 yards, and sus 
 taining it, was the last defence, or the 
 
 garita, of San Cosme. The approach to 
 these two defences was in a right line; 
 and the whole space was literally swept by 
 grape, canister, and shells, from a heavy 
 gun and howitzer ; added to which, severe 
 fires of musketry were delivered from the 
 tops of the adjacent houses and churches. 
 It hence became necessary for Worth to 
 vary his mode of operations. Garland s 
 brigade was thrown to the right, within, 
 and masked by, the aqueduct, and instructed 
 to dislodge the enemy from the buildings 
 in his front, and endeavour to reach and 
 turn the left of the garita, taking advantage 
 of such cover as might offer, to enable him 
 to effect his object. Clarke s brigade 
 was, at the same time, ordered to take the 
 buildings on the left of the road ; and, by 
 the use of bars and picks, burrow through 
 from house to house ; and, in like manner, 
 carry the right of the garita. 
 
 While these orders were being executed, 
 a mountain howitzer was placed on the top 
 of a commanding building on the left, and 
 another on the church of San Cosme, on 
 the right, both of which opened with ad 
 mirable effect. The work of the troops was 
 tedious, and necessarily slow, but greatly 
 favoured by the fire of the howitzers. 
 Finally, by five o clock both columns had 
 reached their positions ; and it then became 
 necessary, at all hazards, to advance a piece 
 of artillery to the evacuated battery of the 
 enemy, between the assailants and the 
 garita. Lieutenant Hunt gallantly and 
 successfully accomplished this duty, with 
 the loss of one killed and four wounded, 
 out of nine men, although the piece was 
 taken at full speed over a distance of only 
 150 yards. Reaching the breastwork, he 
 came muzzle to muzzle with the enemy. 
 
 The moment had now arrived for the 
 final and combined attack upon the last 
 stronghold of the enemy in this quarter. 
 It was made by the men springing, as if 
 by magic, to the tops of the houses into 
 which they had patiently and quietly made 
 their way by the bar and pick; and, to 
 the utter surprise and consternation of the 
 Mexicans, opening upon them, within easy 
 range, a destructive fire of musketry. A 
 single discharge, in which many of the 
 gunners were killed at their pieces, was 
 sufficient to drive them in confusion from 
 the breastwork, when a prolonged shout 
 from the storming party announced that 
 they were in possession of the garita of San 
 Cosme, and already in the city of Mexico. 
 
 641 
 
CITY OF MEXICO TAKEN.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 The remainder of Worth s division was 
 now marched within the city gate ; and 
 Huger, of the Ordnance, was directed by 
 Worth to advance a 24- pounder and a 
 10- inch mortar, place them in position on 
 the garita, obtain the distance, and open a 
 few shot and shell upon the grand plaza 
 and palace, assumed to be about 1,600 
 yards distant. This battery opened about 
 nine o clock, three shots being fired from 
 the gun, and five from the mortar. They 
 told with admirable effect, as, at one 
 o clock at night, a commission from the 
 municipality came to the advanced post of 
 the Americans, announcing that, imme 
 diately after the heavy guns opened, the 
 goveri m nt and army commenced evacuat 
 ing the city, and that the commission was 
 deputed to confer with the general-in-chief, 
 to whose head-quarters it was passed, under 
 Assistant Adjutant- general Mackall. 
 
 Scott had gone back to the foot of Cha- 
 pultepec the point from which the two 
 aqueducts begin to diverge some hours 
 before the capture of the gate of San Cosme, 
 in order to be near that new depot, and in 
 easy communication with Quitman and 
 Twiggs, as well as with Worth. From 
 this point he ordered all detachments and 
 stragglers to their respective corps, then 
 in advance ; sent to Quitman additional 
 siege guns, ammunition, and intrenching 
 tools ; directed Twiggs remaining brigade 
 (Riley s) from Piedad, to support Worth ; 
 and Steptoe s field battery, also at Piedad, 
 to rejoin Quitman s division. 
 
 Scott had been, from the first, well aware 
 that the San Cosme was the less difficult 
 route to the centre and conquest of the 
 capital ; and therefore intended that Quit 
 man should only manoeuvre and threaten 
 the Belen, or south-western gate, in order 
 to favour the main attack by Worth, know 
 ing that the strong defences at that point 
 were directly under the guns of the much 
 stronger fortress, called the Citadel, just 
 within. Both of these defences of the 
 enemy were also within easy supporting 
 distances from the San Angel, or Nino 
 Perdida, and San Antonio gates. Hence 
 the greater aid, in numbers, given to 
 Worth s movement. 
 
 Though Scott had communicated this 
 arrangement to Quitman, yet, being in 
 hot pursuit brave himself almost to a 
 fault and ably supported by Shields and 
 Smith (the former, although severely 
 wounded before Chapultepefy still refusing 
 642 
 
 to retire from the field), as well as by all 
 the officers and men of the column, Quit 
 man continued to press forward, and 
 turned the feigned into a real attack upoa 
 the Belen gate. 
 
 At about a mile from Chapultepec, upon 
 the Belen causeway, the forces under Quit 
 man encountered a strong battery, which 
 had been thrown across the road, having 
 four embrasures, with a redan work on the 
 right. At this point, the enemy, in con 
 siderable force, made an obstinate resist 
 ance ; but, with the aid of the effective 
 fire of an 8-inch howitzer, under the direc 
 tion of Drum, and the daring bravery of 
 the rifle regiment, the battery was carried 
 by assault. 
 
 Quitman now reorganised his column 
 for an attack upon the batteries at the 
 garita. The regiment of riflemen, inter 
 mingled with the bayonets of the South 
 Carolina regiment, was placed in the ad 
 vance three rifles and three bayonets 
 under each arch. They were supported 
 by the residue of Shields brigade, the 
 2nd Pennsylvania regiment, and the re 
 mainder of Smith s brigade, together with 
 a portion of the 6th infantry, under Major 
 Bonne ville, who had turned into this road. 
 In this order the column resolutely ad 
 vanced from arch to arch of the aqueduct, 
 under a tremendous fire of artillery and 
 small arms from the batteries of the garita, 
 the Paseo, and a large body of the enemy 
 on the Piedad road, to the right, extending 
 from the left of the garita. 
 
 A 16-pounder having been brought xip, 
 Drum and his subalterns poured inces 
 sant rounds of shot into the garita. As 
 the enfilading fire of the Mexicans from the 
 Piedad road became very annoying to the 
 advance of the column, a few rounds of 
 canister were thrown by the artillery in 
 that direction, which effectually dispersed 
 them. The entire column was now under 
 a galling fire; but it continued to move 
 steadily and firmly forward. The rifle 
 regiment, well sustained by the South 
 Carolinians, gallantly pushed on to the 
 attack ; and at twenty minutes past one, 
 the Belen gate was carried, and the capital 
 of Mexico entered at that point. In a few 
 moments the whole of the troops were 
 compactly up a large portion of them 
 within the gate. 
 
 Upon the carrying of the Belen gate, 
 the riflemen and South Carolina regiment 
 rushed forward and occupied the arches of 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE CAPITAL TAKEN. 
 
 the aqueduct, within a hundred yards of 
 the citadel. The ammunition of their 
 heavy guns having been expended, a cap 
 tured 8-pounder was turned upon the 
 enemy, and served with good effect, until 
 the ammunition taken with it was ex- 1 
 hausted. The piece, supported by the ad- j 
 vance, had been run forward in front of 
 the garita. Twice had the South Carolina 
 regiment supplied additional men to work 
 the gun, when Captain Drum, who, with 
 indomitable energy and iron nerve, had 
 directed the artillery throughout this try 
 ing day, fell mortally wounded by the side 
 of his gun. A few moments later, Lieute 
 nant Benjamin, who had displayed the 
 same cool, decided courage, met a similar 
 fate. 
 
 The Mexicans, now perceiving that the 
 heavy ammunition of the assailants had 
 been expended, redoubled their exertions 
 to drive them from the lodgment they 
 had effected. A terrible fire of artillery 
 and small arms was opened from the 
 citadel, 300 yards distant, from the batte 
 ries on the Paseo, and the buildings on 
 the right of the American forces in front. 
 Amid this iron shower, which swept the 
 road on both sides of the aqueduct, it was 
 impossible for the latter to bring forward 
 ammunition for their large guns. While, 
 however, they were awaiting the approach j 
 of darkness, to enable them to bring 
 up those heavy pieces, and place them in 
 battery, the Mexicans, under cover of their 
 cannon, attempted several sallies from the 
 citadel and buildings on the right; but 
 were readily repulsed by the skirmishing- 
 parties of riflemen and infantry. To prevent 
 their flank from being enfiladed by mus 
 ketry from the Paseo, two companies of the 
 Pennsylvania regiment were ordered to 
 protect a battery of sand bags, which was 
 being constructed about a hundred yards 
 in that direction. They gallantly took the 
 position, and held it, in the face of a severe 
 fire, until the object was attained. At 
 night, the fire of the enemy ceased ; and 
 before the dawn of day, by the persevering 
 exertions of the working parties, the para 
 pets were completed, and a 24- pounder, an 
 18 pounder, and an 8-inch howitzer, placed 
 in battery. Quitman now awaited the re 
 turn of daylight, to open upon the citadel 
 yet to be reduced. The expenditure of life 
 and blood which its forced reduction would 
 have called for, waa fortunately avoided by 
 its surrender. 
 
 At dawn of day, on the 14th of September, 
 as Steptoe was preparing his heavy missiles 
 for an immediate commencement of a bom 
 bardment of the citadel, a white flag was 
 sent from the fortress, the bearers of which 
 invited Quitman to enter and take peaceable 
 possession of it ; giving him the intelli 
 gence that the city had been abandoned by 
 Santa Anna and his army. Quitman im 
 mediately ordered his whole force under 
 arms. Lieutenants Lovell and Beauregard 
 were, by their own request, authorised to 
 go to the citadel, in advance, to ascertain 
 the truth of the information. At a signal 
 from the ramparts (the South Carolina 
 regiment being left in garrison at the 
 garita), the remainder of the column, 
 Smith s brigade in front, marched into 
 the citadel, and took possession of it, 
 in which they found thirty pieces of 
 cannon ; but of this number, only fifteen 
 were mounted. 
 
 At four o clock on the morning of the 
 14th, the commission or deputation of the 
 ayuntamicnto, or city council of Mexico 
 (before referred to, as having been passed 
 under charge of Assistant Adjutant-general 
 Mackall), waited upon Scott, to report that 
 the federal government and army had fled 
 from the capital, by the Guadalupe gate, 
 some three hours before ; and to demand 
 terms of capitulation in favour of the 
 church, the citizens, and the municipal 
 authorities. Scott promptly informed them 
 that he would sign no capitulation ; that 
 the city had been virtually in his possession 
 from the period of the lodgments effected 
 by Worth and Quitman, the day previous; 
 that he regretted the silent escape of the 
 Mexican army; that he should levy a 
 moderate contribution, for special purposes ; 
 and that the American army should come 
 under no terms not self-imposed such 
 only as its own honour, the dignity of the 
 United States, and the spirit of the age, 
 should, in his opinion, imperiously demand 
 and impose. 
 
 At the termination of the interview with 
 the deputation from the city council, Scott 
 communicated orders to Quitman and 
 Worth, to advance slowly and cautiously 
 (to guard against treachery) towards the 
 heart of the city, and to occupy the 
 stronger and more commanding points. 
 Quitman, leaving the 2nd Pennsylvania 
 volunteers to garrison the citadel, pro 
 ceeded, with the remainder of his column, 
 to the great plaza or square; planted guards, 
 
 643 
 
F 
 
 RETREAT OF SANTA ANNA.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 and hoisted the colours of the United States 
 on the national palace, containing the halls 
 of congress, and executive departments of 
 the federal government of Mexico. In 
 this agreeable service Quitman might have 
 been anticipated by Worth, but for Scott s 
 express orders halting the latter at the 
 head of the Alameda park, within a few 
 hundred feet of the plaza. This was done 
 in consideration of Quitman having been 
 the first to gain a foothold within the walls 
 of the city. "The capital, however," as 
 the general-in-chief justly said, " was not 
 taken by any one or two corps, but by 
 the talent, the science, the gallantry, the 
 prowess of the entire army. In the glo 
 rious conquest all had contributed early 
 and powerfully the killed, the wounded, 
 and the fit for duty at Vera Cruz, Cerro 
 Gordo, Contreras, San Antonio, Churu- 
 busco (three battles), El Molino del 
 Rey, and Chapultepec as much as those 
 who fought at the gates of Belen and San 
 Cosme." 
 
 The suspense and alarm which had pre 
 vailed among the Mexican population, on 
 the flight of their army the night previous, 
 but which had somewhat subsided towards 
 morning, was revived as the American 
 troops made their appearance in the heart 
 of the city. A hum of excitement ran 
 through the streets, and crowds gathered 
 at various points, with curiosity, fear, hate, 
 and anxiety, variously depicted in their 
 countenances. At about nine o clock, the 
 tumultuous huzzas which broke from a 
 corner of the plaza, announced the approach 
 of the general-in-chief, who soon made his 
 appearance upon the great square, sur 
 rounded by his staff, and escorted by the 
 2nd dragoons, under the command of Major 
 Sumner. Scott was readily recognised by 
 his commanding form ; and he was received 
 with the most enthusiastic greetings ; even 
 some of the Mexicans, in the wild excite 
 ment of the moment, joining in the shouts 
 which welcomed the conqueror of their 
 nation, and their nation s capital. 
 
 Scott took possession of the national 
 palace, making that his head- quarters. He 
 had scarcely done so, and the troops were 
 retiring to their quarters, when a straggling 
 assassin-like fire commenced from some of 
 the house-tops and windows, which con 
 tinued, in some parts of the city, for more 
 than twenty-four hours resulting in the 
 loss of many men, and several officers killed 
 or wounded. Among the latter were 
 644 
 
 Colonel Garland, who was severely, and 
 Lieutenant Sydney Smith, who was mor 
 tally, wounded. By the free use of heavy 
 battering guns upon every building from 
 which these dastardly shots proceeded, 
 together with musketry from some of the 
 men thrown out as skirmishers, these hidden 
 and cowardly attacks were finally sup 
 pressed on the morning of the 15th, and 
 the miscreants engaged in them, so far as 
 they could be reached, severely punished. 
 In this work the municipal authorities of 
 the city nobly rendered their utmost exer 
 tions. It appears that, about the time of 
 the entrance of the American troops into 
 the city, and the consequent flight of the 
 Mexican army and government, the con 
 victs in the different prisons, to the number 
 of about 2,000, were liberated by the order 
 of Santa Anna, and armed and distributed 
 in the most advantageous positions, upon 
 the tops and at the windows of houses, 
 including the churches, convents, and even 
 the hospitals, for the purpose, if possible, 
 of exciting the entire population of the city 
 to revolt. These felons, from the prisons 
 of Mexico, were joined by about the same 
 number of vagrants and Mexican soldiers, 
 purposely left behind by Santa Anna, who 
 had disbanded and thrown off their uni 
 forms. It was ascertained, after the out 
 break had been quelled, that those engaged 
 in it had not confined themselves to 
 murderous assaults upon the American 
 j soldiers, but had, many of them, under 
 cover of a rising against the invaders, 
 ! taken advantage of the alarm and confu 
 sion which prevailed, to plunder the houses 
 | of the wealthier inhabitants, particularly 
 those which had been deserted by their 
 ! owners.* 
 
 The American commander, with a for 
 bearance characteristic of the man, did not 
 allow this murderous attack upon the troops 
 to alter his course of action towards the city. 
 He immediately gave to his army strin 
 gent orders concerning discipline and beha 
 viour. After directing that companies and 
 regiments be kept together, he said " Let 
 there be no disasters, no straggling, no 
 drunkenness. Marauders shall be punished 
 by courts-martial. All the rules so honour 
 ably observed by this glorious army in 
 Puebla, must be observed here. The honour 
 of the army, the honour of our country, 
 call for the best behaviour from all. The 
 valiant must, to win the approbation of 
 Scott s Official Report. 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE ARMIES. 
 
 God and their country, be sober, orderly, 
 and merciful. The noble brethren in arms 
 will not be deaf to this hasty appeal from 
 their commander and friend." On the 
 16th, he called on the army to return 
 public and private thanks to God for vic 
 tory. On the 19th, for the better preserva 
 tion of order, and the suppression of crime, 
 he proclaimed martial law. Under his 
 mild but firm rule, confidence was soon 
 restored; families, who had fled, panic- 
 stricken, from the capital on the approach 
 of the American army, generally returned 
 to their deserted homes; business of all 
 kinds was resumed, and the city wore a 
 tranquil and cheerful look; while, under 
 the protection of martial law, the citizens 
 of Mexico probably felt far more secure 
 from violence, and from fear of robbery 
 and murder, than they ever had under that 
 of their own impotent government. 
 
 The series of brilliant military operations 
 of the campaign of Scott, reached their 
 crowning event in the capture and occupa 
 tion of the city of Mexico, and may be 
 said to have terminated the war; for, 
 although some collateral movements and 
 minor events, contemporary and subse 
 quent, remain yet to be noticed, they had 
 no bearing or influence on the general 
 result. From the Gulf of Mexico to the 
 Pacific Ocean, every position which was 
 valuable, in a military or commercial view, 
 or accessible to the channels of business 
 and population, was in the possession of 
 the army or navy of the United States. 
 Mexico, throughout her broad domains, to 
 all practical intents, was conquered. 
 
 At the battles of Contreras and Churu- 
 busco, on the 20th of August, Scott had 
 
 only 8,500 men in action; at El Molino 
 del Rey, about 3,000; at Chapultepec, 
 scarcely 7,000; and he finally entered 
 the capital with less than 6,000. His 
 forces were, in no case, opposed by less 
 than three-and-a-half times their numbers ; 
 and, in some instances, by a far greater 
 excess. The entire losses in those battles, 
 beginning with that of Contreras, down to 
 the successful occupation of the capital on 
 the 14th of September, in killed, wounded, 
 and missing, were 2,703 ; of whom 383 were 
 officers. 
 
 On the other hand, this small force had 
 beaten, on the same occasions, in view of 
 their capital, the whole Mexican army, 
 numbering over (at the beginning) 33,000 
 men, posted always in chosen positions, 
 behind intrenchments, or more formidable 
 defences of nature and art ; killed or 
 wounded, of that number, more than 7,000 
 officers and men ; taken nearly 4,000 pri 
 soners, one- seventh of them officers, includ 
 ing thirteen generals, three of whom had 
 been presidents of the Mexican republic ; 
 captured more than twenty standards, and 
 seventy-five pieces of ordnance, besides 
 fifty-seven wall-pieces, 20,000 small arms, 
 with an immense quantity of shot, shells, 
 and powder. 
 
 Of the Mexican army, once so formidable 
 in numbers, appointments, and artillerv, 
 more than 20,000 had disbanded them 
 selves in despair, leaving not more than 
 three fragments, numbering but a few 
 thousand altogether, wandering in different 
 directions, without magazines or supplies, 
 and living upon their own people. Thus 
 was Santa Anna abandoned by his country 
 men after the fall of the capital. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SIEGE OF PUEBLA ; BATTLE OF HTJAMANTLA ; CAPTURE OP ATLIXCO ; EVENTS IN CALIFOIINIA AND NEW 
 MEXICO; NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE ; RATIFICATION OF TREATY. 
 
 AFTER the retreat of Santa Anna from the 
 Mexican capital, on the night of the 13th 
 of September, nothing was known of his 
 whereabouts for several days. On the 
 22nd, however, he suddenly appeared be- 
 VOL. ii 4 o 
 
 fore Puebla, at the head of some three or 
 four thousand cavalry, the remnant of his 
 army. Colonel Childs, it will be recollected, 
 had been left, on the march of the main 
 body of the army for the capital, in com- 
 
 645 
 
SAN JOSE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1847. 
 
 mand of the garrison at Puebla, with 1,800 
 men in hospital, and but 400 effective men 
 for service. With this Hmall force, San 
 Jose, the grand depot in the city, and the 
 adjacent heights of Loretto and Guadalupe, 
 were to be garrisoned and held against 
 the combined efforts of the military and 
 populace. 
 
 The isolated positions which had been 
 selected for the hospitals, compelled Childs 
 to remove them within the protection of 
 San Jose, on the first demonstration of 
 hostility. This was not long in exhibiting 
 itself; when, with such means as he had at 
 his disposal, he put himself in the best 
 possible state for defence, confining his 
 efforts to the square immediately around 
 San Jose, where he felt assured the main 
 attacks of the enemy would be made. And 
 from these points, during the protracted 
 siege which followed, the enemy was un 
 able (except, perhaps, momentarily) to force 
 in a sentinel. 
 
 No open acts of hostility, other than the 
 murdering of soldiers who had wandered 
 beyond the line of defence, occurred until 
 the night of the 13th of September, the 
 date of the battle of Chapultepec, when a 
 fire was opened, from some of the streets, 
 upon the garrison of San Jose. On the 
 night of the 14th it recommenced, and 
 from every street, with a violence which 
 knew no cessation for twenty-eight days 
 and nights. The enemy, with his nume 
 rous cavalry, under the command of the 
 Mexican general Rea, who had entered the 
 town at the head of a large band of gue 
 rillas, succeeded in cutting off at once every 
 kind of supply, and vainly attempted to 
 change the current of the stream of water, 
 that the American garrison might become 
 a more easy prey. The night, however, 
 before the cattle and sheep disappeared 
 from the vicinity, two well-directed parties 
 from the garrison, succeeded in obtaining 
 thirty head of the former, and 400 of the 
 latter. 
 
 The various points to be defended for 
 the preservation of San Jose, on which 
 the safety of the other posts depended, 
 demanded the untiring vigilance of every 
 officer and man. The enemy rapidly aug 
 mented in numbers, and the firing daily 
 increased. On the 22nd Santa Anna 
 came to their assistance, as already 
 stated, with his wandering cavalry, much 
 to the joy of the besiegers ; on which occa 
 sion a general ringing of bells took place, 
 646 
 
 and which was only suppressed, as it had 
 been several times previously, by a dis 
 charge of shells and round shot from the 
 guns of Loretto, into the heart of the city. 
 On the 25th of September, Santa Anna 
 summoned Childs to surrender. The latter 
 answered promptly that the place would be 
 defended to the last : and having thus re 
 plied, it occurred to him that not a moment 
 would be lost by the Mexican commander in 
 attacking him at all points. He rode to the 
 different posts, and announced to the troops 
 the demand, the force with which it was 
 backed (about 8,000), and the reply he had 
 returned to Santa Anna. Their response 
 satisfied him that a hard and bloody battle 
 must be fought ere the Mexicans could 
 overcome his little band. 
 
 The point of attack was San Jose, upon 
 which a shower of bullets, as already stated, 
 had been poured, day after day, from the 
 streets, the balconies, the house-tops, and 
 the churches, upon the heads of Childs and 
 his garrison. Never did troops endure 
 more fatigue by watching, night after 
 night, nor exhibit more patience, spirit, 
 and gallantry. Not a post of danger could 
 present itself, but it was instantly filled ; 
 not a sentinel could be shot, but another 
 was ready and anxious to take his place. 
 Officers and soldiers vied with each other 
 to be honoured martyrs in defence of their 
 position. While such was the determined 
 character of his small but gallant force, 
 Colonel Childs felt confident that the enemy 
 would be repulsed in any attempt to carry 
 their intrenchments by assault. 
 
 On the 30th Santa Anna had established 
 his battery upon San Jose, and opened 
 with considerable spirit. Childs, how 
 ever, having anticipated this movement, 
 had thrown up a transverse on the plaza, 
 and withdrawn a 12-pounder from Loretto, 
 I by which means he was enabled to answer 
 the enemy s shot. Towards night the bat 
 tery of the latter ceased its fire, and on the 
 next morning was withdrawn, Santa Anna 
 retiring with three or four thousand of the 
 besieging force, to endeavour to intercept 
 the reinforcements for General Scott, under 
 General Lane, which he had ascertained 
 were soon expected at Final. 
 
 Lane left Vera Cruz about the 1st of 
 October, with nearly 3,OUO troops, in 
 cluding four companies of mounted men, 
 under the command of Captain Samuel 
 II. Walker, the noted Texan ranger, and 
 five pieces of artillery. At various points 
 
1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [HUAMANTLA. 
 
 on the road, rumours reached General 
 Lane that a large Mexican force was con 
 centrating between Perote and Puebla. 
 These rumours were confirmed on his 
 arrival at the first-named place ; and he 
 here also learnt that Santa Anna was 
 in command. No molestation occurred, 
 however, until Lane arrived at the hacienda 
 of San Antonio Tamaris ; at which place, 
 through the medium, of his spies, he 
 learnt that the enemy was at the city 
 of Huamantla. On arriving near it, at 
 about one o clock in the afternoon of the 
 9th of October, Captain Walker, com 
 manding the advance guard, was ordered 
 to move a-head of the column, but within 
 supporting distance, to the entrance of the 
 city, and, if the Mexicans were in force, to 
 await the arrival of the infantry before 
 entering. When within about three miles, 
 parties of horsemen being seen making 
 their way through the fields towards the 
 city, Captain Walker ordered a gallop. 
 Owing to the thick maguey-bushes lining 
 the sides of the road, it was impossible to 
 distinguish the further movements of the 
 captain : but a short time had elapsed, 
 ere firing was heard from the city; which 
 continuing, the main column was pressed 
 forward as rapidly as possible. At this 
 time a body of about 2,000 lancers was seen 
 hurrying over the hills towards the city. 
 General Lane ordered Colonel Gorman, 
 with his regiment, to advance towards, and 
 enter, the west side of the city ; while Colonel 
 Wyncoop s battalion, with the artillery, 
 moved towards the east side Captain 
 Heintzelman a moving on his right, and 
 Major Lally s constituting the reserve. 
 
 Upon arriving at the entrance of the 
 city, Captain Walker discovered the main 
 body of the enemy (about 500 in number) 
 in the plaza, and he ordered a charge. A 
 hand-to-hand conflict took place between the 
 forces; but so resolute was the charge, that 
 the Mexicans were obliged to give way, being 
 driven from their guns. They were pur 
 sued by the American dragoons for some 
 distance ; but the pursuit was checked by 
 the arrival of their reinforcements. Colo 
 nel Gorman s regiment, on arriving at 
 the entrance of the city about the same 
 time as the reinforcements of the enemy, 
 opened a well-directed fire, which succeeded 
 in routing them. With the left wing of his 
 regiment he proceeded, in person, towards 
 the upper part of the town, where the 
 Mexicans still were, and dispersed them. 
 
 Colonel Wyncoop s men, with the batteries, 
 assumed their position ; but, before they 
 were in range, the enemy fled in haste. The 
 same occurred with Captain Heintzelman s 
 troops. The Mexicans entering the town 
 becoming somewhat scattered Major Lallv, 
 with his regiment, proceeded across the 
 fields, to cut off their rear and intercept the 
 retreat. This movement not being per 
 ceived, General Lane ordered him to ad 
 vance towards the town thus uninten 
 tionally depriving him of the opportunity 
 of doing good service. 
 
 The victory thus achieved over the Mexi 
 cans was saddened by the death of Captain 
 Walker. Foremost in the advance, he had 
 routed the enemy, when he fell mortally 
 wounded. The American total loss was 
 thirteen killed, and eleven wounded ; that 
 of the enemy was about 150. The Ameri 
 cans captured one 6-pounder brass gun, 
 and one mountain howitzer, both mounted, 
 together with a large quantity of ammuni 
 tion and waggons, which they were com 
 pelled to destroy. 
 
 General Lane now moved forward to 
 Puebla, where the siege was still main 
 tained by General Rea. The latter, how 
 ever, hearing of his approach, hastily raised 
 the siege on the 12th, and retreated towards 
 Atlixco, whither he was soon followed by 
 Lane, with a portion of his force. 
 
 About four o clock in the afternoon of 
 the 18th, the advance of the forces 
 under Rea, was discovered near Santa 
 Isabella, about twenty miles from Puebla. 
 Lane ordered a halt, until the cavalry, 
 which had previously been detached to ex 
 amine a hacienda, should arrive. The 
 Mexicans, with their accustomed bravado, 
 came to the foot of the hill on which they 
 were stationed, firing their escapetas, and 
 waving their lances. On the arrival of the 
 cavalry, a forward movement was made by 
 | the American column. A large deep ravine 
 appearing on the left of the road, Colonel 
 Moore, with the Ohio regiment, was ordered 
 to flank it; Major Lally, with his battalion, 
 leading the advance. The column had 
 scarcely commenced its movement, when 
 signs of confusion were visible among the 
 Mexicans, in consequence of which the 
 cavalry was ordered to charge, follow them 
 up, and engage them until the infantry could 
 arrive. Lieutenant Pratt, with his battery, 
 was ordered to follow in rear of the d ragoons, 
 at a gallop. Had this movement been per 
 formed, the entire force would have been 
 
 647 
 
ATLIXCO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1817. 
 
 taken. But by some misapprehension, 
 Major Lally ordered Lieutenant Pratt from 
 the position assigned him by General Lane, 
 and he was thus detained until a greater 
 portion of the column had passed ; then, 
 owing to the nature of the ground, it was 
 impossible for his battery to proceed with 
 rapidity. 
 
 The cavalry pursued the retreating Mexi 
 cans for about a mile and a-half, skirmish 
 ing with them. On arriving at a small hill, 
 they made a stand, and fought severely 
 until the American infantry appeared, when 
 they took to flight. The American artillery 
 fired a few shots as it came up, but without 
 effect, as, by their rapid retreat, they had 
 placed themselves beyond range. The 
 dragoons were again ordered to follow, and 
 keep them engaged. After a running fight 
 of about four miles, and when within a mile 
 and a-half of Atlixco, the whole body of 
 the enemy was discovered on a hill-side 
 covered with chapparel, forming hedges, 
 behind which they had posted themselves. 
 The dragoons dashed among them, cutting 
 them down in great numbers. So thick 
 was the chapparel, that the men were 
 ordered to dismount, and fight on foot. 
 A most bloody conflict ensued, fatal to the 
 Mexicans. The American infantry, for the 
 last six miles, had been straining them 
 selves to the utmost to overtake them, 
 pressing forward most arduously, notwith 
 standing a forced march of sixteen miles 
 since eleven o clock in the morning. win g 
 to the nature of the road, almost entirely 
 destroyed by gulleys, the artillery could 
 only advance at a walk. As soon as the 
 infantry reappeared in sight, the enemy 
 again retreated. So worn out were the 
 horses (the sun having been intensely hot 
 all day), that the dragoons could pursue 
 the Mexicans no further. The column was 
 pressed forward as rapidly as possible to 
 wards the town ; but night had already set 
 in, affording, however, the advantage of a fine 
 moonlight. As the Americans approached, 
 several shots were fired at them ; and 
 deeming it unsafe to risk a street-fight in 
 an unknown town at night, General Lane 
 ordered the artillery to be posted on a hill 
 near to the town, and overlooking it, and 
 open its fire. This was soon done, and a 
 brisk cannonade commenced against the 
 town, every gun being served with the ut 
 most rapidity. The bright light of the moon 
 enabling their shots to be directed against 
 the most thickly populated portion of the 
 648 
 
 town, the sounds of the crash of walls and 
 roofs of houses soon mingled with the roar 
 of the artillery, indicating the telling effect 
 of the shot and shells. 
 
 The bombardment of the town was thus 
 kept up for about three- fourths of an hour, 
 when, the enemy s fire having ceased, 
 Lane ordered Major Lally and Colonel 
 Brough to advance cautiously with their 
 troops into the town. The general him 
 self soon after entered it, when he was 
 waited upon by the ayuntamiento, who 
 asked that their town might be spared. 
 The following morning, after searching 
 for arms and ammunition, and disposing 
 of what was found, the general returned 
 with his forces to Puebla. General Rea 
 had two pieces of artillery; but, as soon 
 as he was aware of the approach of the 
 Americans, he ordered them to Mata- 
 moras a small town, thirty miles beyond 
 Atlixco to save them from capture. The 
 Mexican loss in this action was 219 killed, 
 and about 300 wounded. The Americans 
 had but one man killed and one wounded. 
 
 Seldom has a more rapid forced march 
 been made than this, or one productive of 
 better results. Atlixco had been the head 
 quarters of the guerillas in this section of 
 the country, and whence all their expedi 
 tions were fitted out. The terror impressed 
 upon them by having the war thus brought 
 to their own homes, had an admirable 
 effect in repressing their operations in 
 future. 
 
 In the meantime Santa Anna had been 
 suddenly deserted by all his troops, except 
 ing about 130 hussars. They gave, as their 
 grounds for abandoning him, that they 
 believed him incapable of accomplishing 
 any further service ; and that inevitable 
 destruction only awaited them should they 
 any longer cling to a leader whose fortunes 
 were so unpromising, and whose career, 
 since the breaking out of the war, had been 
 an unbroken series of reverses, without a 
 redeeming feature. Thus this celebrated 
 Mexican chief, after many daring enter 
 prises, sanguinary battles, and signal de 
 feats, became again a wanderer, abandoned 
 by fortune, and by friends and followers. 
 On the 18th of October, at Guadalupe 
 Hidalgo, whither he had proceeded after 
 being deserted by his troops, he formally 
 resigned the supreme power into the hands 
 of Pena-y-Pena, presiding judge of the 
 supreme court of the republic. The latter, 
 however, had assumed the reins of power, 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PACIFIC COAST. 
 
 in virtue of his office as presiding judge, 
 as early as the 27th of September, when 
 the executive chair was declared vacant. 
 On the 22nd of October, Santa Anna issued 
 a proclamation to the Mexican people, an 
 nouncing his resignation, and, in particu 
 lar, attempting to vindicate his conduct 
 throughout the exciting scenes and unfor- 
 nate events of the war. He now retired 
 to Orizaba, where he had an estate a 
 memorable instance of the instability of 
 power, and the evanescence of popular 
 applause. Finally, charges having been 
 preferred against him, affecting his fidelity 
 to the republic, an expedition was dispatched 
 to Orizaba, on the 20th of January, 1848, 
 to arrest him ; but he effected his escape, 
 and soon after left Mexico an exile. Few 
 men have experienced more of the vicissi 
 tudes of public life than Santa Anna : from 
 wielding high dictatorial power, he, for 
 the third time, had become an outlaw from 
 his country. 
 
 The narrative of events now takes us 
 back to California, where active operations 
 were principally confined to the naval 
 arm of the service, the land forces being 
 scarcely sufficient to garrison and hold 
 important points. The force that Commo 
 dore Shubrick found under his orders, on 
 assuming command of the American squad 
 ron in the Pacific, in January, 1847 (as 
 mentioned in a previous chapter), comprised 
 the flag-ship Independence, of fifty-four 
 guns ; the Congress and the Savannah, 
 of forty-four guns each ; the Portsmouth, 
 Warren, and Cyane, each of twenty guns ; 
 and the Preble and Dale, of sixteen guns 
 each. Soon after his arrival at Monterey, 
 the Lexington, store-ship, arrived there, 
 having on board two companies of Steven 
 son s regiment of New York volunteers. 
 The seamen were withdrawn from the fort, 
 and the town left under protection of the 
 infantry and marines. A similar arrange 
 ment was made at San Francisco. 
 
 The first event of sufficient importance 
 to call for record, was the capture of Guaya- 
 mas, lying on the eastern shore of the Gulf 
 of California, on the 20th of October, 1847, 
 by Captain Lavalette, of the Congress. The 
 place had a considerable force, and works 
 of respectable extent. On the 19th, La 
 valette took his own ship and the Ports 
 mouth, under Commander Montgomery, 
 within range of the enemy s guns. He 
 also planted two pieces of heavy artillery 
 on two islands, favourably situated ; and, 
 
 after a bombardment of nearly an hour, 
 which commenced at sunrise the next 
 morning, a white flag was hoisted from the 
 shore. On landing, the place was found to 
 have been abandoned by the garrison and 
 the inhabitants. Lavalette caused all the 
 batteries on the water front to be blown 
 up ; and leaving the Portsmouth to block 
 ade the port, he withdrew with the 
 Congress. 
 
 In November, the sloop of war Dale, 
 under Commander Selfridge, was sent to 
 Guayatnas to relieve the Portsmouth, the 
 latter vessel joining the main squadron. 
 The American flag was now flying at La 
 Paz, in the province of Lower California, 
 protected by a detachment of 110 men of 
 Stevenson s regiment of New York volun 
 teers, under the command of Lieutenant- 
 colonel Burton. In this month, it was also 
 hoisted at San Jose, in the same province, 
 while the flag-ship was off that place; Lieu 
 tenant Charles Heywood, with four mid 
 shipmen and twenty men, being left in com 
 mand. He was also provided with some 
 fire-arms, to place in the hands of friendly 
 Californians, in case of emergency, and a 
 9-pounder carronade. His force was posted 
 in an old mission-house, located on the 
 higher portion of the town. 
 
 On the 8th, Commodore Shubrick left 
 San Jose, with the Independence (the flag 
 ship), the Congress, and the Cyane, for 
 Mazatlan, lying near the entrance of the 
 Gulf of California. The place was occu 
 pied by a Mexican force of ten or twelve 
 hundred troops, under the command of 
 Colonel Telles. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 10th, the 
 squadron came in sight of the town. 
 The Congress took a position near a bend 
 in the coast, known as the " old harbour," 
 where, the shore being low, she could 
 command some of the avenues leading 
 from the town, and thus cover the landing, 
 should the surf permit that point to be 
 selected for the purpose. The Indepen 
 dence stood for another bend in the penin 
 sula, on which Mazatlan is situated a 
 break in the coast-range here exposing to 
 view the most important portion of the 
 town, and the flag-ship bringing her guns 
 to bear direct upon it. The Cyane took up 
 a position in the new harbour, her light 
 draught permitting her to get close enough 
 to the bar for her guns to reach the wharf, 
 and cover the landing at that place. 
 
 On the morning of the llth, Commodore 
 
 649 
 
MAZATLAN TAKEN.J 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1818. 
 
 Shubrick summoned Mazatlan to surren 
 der, Captain Lavalette being tbe bearer of 
 tbe summons. The military commandant, 
 Colonel Telles, uttering insolent threats, 
 immediately tore the document in pieces. 
 On the return of his messenger, the com 
 modore at once gave orders for an imme 
 diate landing. The surf not permitting 
 the attempt to be made outside, the ordinary 
 place of landing, inside, was selected. The 
 boats entered the harbour in three lines, 
 commanded by the officers of their respec 
 tive vessels, under the direction of Commo 
 dore Shubrick in person. A party from j 
 the Congress, under Lieutenant Livingston, 
 had charge of five pieces of artillery. On 
 reaching the shore the guns were landed, 
 and the companies formed; and then, about 
 600 strong, they marched through the town 
 to the Cuartee, situated on an eminence 
 overlooking the surrounding country, 
 from the walls of which the American 
 banner was immediately hung out, under 
 a salute from the guns of the commodore s 
 fla^-ship. 
 
 It was a bloodless victory ; the Mexican 
 force, under the lead of their commander, 
 Telles, having fled, on the approach of the 
 Americans, without firing a gun. The 
 capture was an important one ; Mazatlan, 
 a city of about 11,000 inhabitants, being, 
 at that time, the most important com 
 mercial town of either of the Californias. 
 Measures were at once taken for effectually 
 holding it, and for its municipal gov 
 ernment. 
 
 The forces of Telles occupied a position 
 a few miles from the town, and seriously 
 interfered with the interior trade ; though, 
 seaward, the place soon resumed its accus 
 tomed activity. On the 20th of Novem 
 ber, a land party, consisting of ninety- four 
 sailors, under Lieutenant Selden, and one 
 in boats, comprising sixty- two men under 
 Lieutenant Rowan, were sent to disperse a 
 body of the enemy about ten miles out. 
 The attack, though stubbornly resisted, 
 was completely successful, the Mexicans 
 finally giving way in confusion, and throw 
 ing away their arms to facilitate their 
 flight. The American loss was one killed, 
 and twenty wounded ; that of the enemy 
 being seven killed, and about thirty 
 wounded. The Mexicans were thus driven 
 further back, and intercourse with the in 
 terior left more open. 
 
 Muleje, San Bias, San Antonio, Toas ! 
 Santas, La Paz, and San Jose, were all the \ 
 650 
 
 scenes of skirmishes and combats, more or 
 less severe; but all of them, without an 
 exception, ending in the defeat of the 
 Mexicans. The last-named place, in the 
 early portion of the year 1848, became 
 the scene of active military operations. 
 It was garrisoned by fifty-seven men, 
 under Lieutenant Heywood. The town 
 was deserted by the inhabitants ; and about 
 fifty women and children had sought pro 
 tection in the fort, and were supported 
 from its scanty supplies. In the latter 
 part of January, the Mexicans appeared 
 before the fort in considerable force. On 
 the 4th of February they had drawn their 
 lines closely around it ; and, from this 
 period, up to the 14th of the month, kept 
 up an incessant fire upon the little garrison. 
 Several sorties were made, but to no pur 
 pose : the investment continued to be drawn 
 closer, until, at the last-named date, the 
 supply of water began to fail. Fortunately, 
 relief was at hand. In the afternoon the 
 Cyane anchored off the town. On the 
 morning of the 15th, at daybreak, the boats 
 of that vessel were seen moving towards 
 the shore. They bore 102 officers and 
 men, commanded by Commodore Dupont. 
 The Mexicans, taking advantage of the 
 covers along the road, kept up an annoying 
 flank and rear fire upon the advancing 
 Americans. The latter, however, moved 
 steadily on, forcing their opponents br.ck 
 at every point, or pouring in upon them 
 volleys of musketry, to the right or left, as 
 occasion demanded. The troops in the 
 garrison, unable to curb their impatience, 
 soon sallied out to form a junction with 
 their allies. A party of Mexicans was 
 still firing on the fort as He} r wood led his 
 men out, who charged upon the assailants, 
 drove them from the road, and opened the 
 way for the union of the two detachments. 
 Just before this junction was formed, the 
 Mexicans made a final stand, and exerted 
 themselves to maintain their ground. But 
 it was in vain : they were forced to give 
 way ; and the shout of victory was raised 
 just as the lieutenant and his little band 
 reached the party of their friends. The 
 loss of the enemy during the siege, and in 
 the fight with the Cyane s men, was about 
 thirty killed, and as many wounded. Hey- 
 wood s party, during the siege, escaped 
 with only three killed, and four slightly 
 wounded ; the party from the ship, re 
 markable as it may seem, considering their 
 exposure to a continued and harassing 
 
A.D. 1847.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 fire from three times their number, had 
 merely four slightly, but none fatally, 
 wounded. The Mexicans, on their defeat at 
 San Jose, retreated towards La Paz, and 
 soon made an attack upon the garrison at 
 that place, which, as already stated, con 
 sisted of a detachment (two companies) of 
 Stevenson s regiment of New York volun 
 teers. After a severely-contested battle, the 
 enemy was repulsed with considerable loss. 
 
 Commodore Shubrick soon after received 
 information of a provisional suspension of 
 hostilities on the part of the main army in 
 Mexico. Presuming it to be but the pre 
 lude to the establishment of a definitive 
 treaty of peace, he entered into a similar 
 arrangement, and withdrew the garrison 
 from Mazatlan, leaving merely a nominal 
 guard to protect the works. From this 
 period, to the close of the war, the opera 
 tions of the naval forces on the California 
 coast were confined to the maintenance of 
 the positions already occupied by the United 
 States forces. 
 
 In New Mexico, General Price remained 
 in command of the American forces, and 
 as military governor of the territory. Ru 
 mours reaching him at Santa Fe, that 
 General Urrea was advancing against Chi 
 huahua and El Paso, threatening an attack 
 on the latter place, which was garrisoned by 
 American troops, Price left Santa Fe on the 
 8th of February, 1848, with reinforcements, 
 in order to relieve the garrison at El Paso. 
 The Mexican general, however, hearing of 
 these reinforcements, abandoned his design. 
 Price reached El Paso on the 20th, and 
 proceeding on, arrived at Chihuahua, three 
 hundred miles further south. No signs of 
 an enemy being visible, he continued his 
 route, and, on the 16th of March, came up 
 with a large Mexican force, under the com 
 mand of General Don Angel Trias, strongly 
 intrenched at Santa Crus de Rasales, about 
 sixty miles from Chihuahua. A sharp 
 action commenced, which lasted nearly all 
 day, when the Americans carried the place 
 bv assault, capturing the Mexican general 
 and forty-two other officers, besides four 
 teen pieces of ordnance, and 1,000 muskets. 
 The Mexican loss, in killed and wounded, 
 was 238 ; that of the Americans about 
 twenty. This victory ended the war in 
 that section of the Mexican republic. 
 
 When Ptna-y-Ptna assumed the reins 
 of government, on the 2?th of September, 
 he immediately addressed circulars to the 
 states, calling on them to send deputies to 
 
 Queretaro, to pay their expenses, and provide 
 funds for their support. Under this urgent 
 appeal, the Mexican congress assembled at 
 that town in November; and, on the llth, 
 General Anaya was elected president of 
 the republic, and Pena-y-Pena, secretary 
 of state. Soon after the capture of the 
 capital, Mr. Trist had sounded the latter 
 in regard to the renewal of peace nego 
 tiations ; but it was not till the end of 
 October that he ventured to express, through 
 his secretary, Don Luis de la Rosa, a 
 desire for the cessation of hostilities. When 
 Anaya succeeded to the presidency, and 
 Pena-y-Pena became a member of his cabi 
 net, one of the first acts of the new admin 
 istration was to appoint a commission, con 
 sisting of Messrs. Cauto, Atristain, Cuevas, 
 and Rincar, to proceed to Mexico, and ne 
 gotiate with Mr. Trist a treaty of peace, on 
 the basis of his former projet. In the mean 
 time, however, the American administra-- 
 tion, feeling assured, from the result of 
 the armistice of Tacubaya, that Trist s 
 efforts were not likely to result in satis 
 factory terms, had sent orders for his 
 recall. General Scott, who was empowered 
 to act as commissioner, was directed to 
 inform the Mexican authorities of the 
 revocation of Trist s commission ; the lat 
 ter being, at the same time, directed to 
 break off any unfinished negotiations, and 
 to bring with him to Washington any 
 treaty he might have succeeded in negoti 
 ating previous to his receiving notice of 
 recall. These orders were reiterated in the 
 next despatches from the American gov 
 ernment; the confidence of the latter in 
 the ultimate success of his negotiations, 
 apparently growing less as time wore 
 on. Trist, however, feeling assured, from 
 his better knowledge of the feelings and 
 desires of the Mexican government and 
 commissioners, that he would be able to 
 effect a treaty, ventured to disregard the 
 instructions of his government, and to con 
 tinue negotiations, with the approval of 
 Scott, trusting to final success for the vin 
 dication of his conduct. He felt that a 
 treaty the stipulations of which were ad 
 vantageous and honourable to the United 
 States, would receive the sanction of the 
 American government, without special in 
 quiry into the authority under which it 
 might have been negotiated. The result 
 justified his reliance. 
 
 Meantime Scott became involved in diffi 
 culties with some of his immediate subordi- 
 
 651 
 
TREATY OF PEACE.] 
 
 [A.D. 1848. 
 
 nates; and, in consequence of certain 
 charges made against him, was deprived of 
 his command; William 0. Butler, as senior 
 major-general, succeeding him. A court 
 of inquiry, to examine the allegations, and 
 for other purposes, was ordered to assemble 
 in the city of Mexico; General Towson being 
 sent out to preside. When the investigation 
 commenced, however, the charges were 
 withdrawn; the principal complainant, Gen 
 eral Worth, refusing to prosecute them. 
 The court of inquiry, nevertheless, continued 
 its labours, in order to examine into certain 
 charges preferred by Scott against Worth. 
 The inquiry was subsequently removed to 
 the United States, where it was continued 
 after the return of peace. Into the merits 
 of these personal dissensions among the 
 American commanders in Mexico, it is not 
 the province of the historian to enter ; they 
 belong more properly to biography than 
 history. They are alluded to here simply 
 as an explanation for Scott s suspension 
 from the command, and his retirement from 
 the scenes of his successes, before peace was 
 fully established ; for, although the charges 
 against him were withdrawn, as mentioned 
 above, he did not again resume command 
 in Mexico, but soon after returned to the 
 United States. The parting between Scott 
 and the army which had shared with him 
 in so many dangers, long marches, and 
 battles, was impressive. In a temperate 
 and appropriate address, in which he highly 
 commended Butler (his successor), he bade 
 them farewell. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1848, the Mexican 
 congress terminated its sittings; the period 
 for which the members had been elected 
 having expired. A new congress, however, 
 had been chosen, which met on the 8th of 
 the same month, at Queretaro. The period 
 for which Anaya had been elected presi 
 dent having expired with the term of the 
 old congress, a new administration was now 
 organised by the return of Pena-y-Pena 
 to the executive chair, ex officio as pre 
 siding judge of the supreme court of the 
 federal republic. 
 
 Mr. Trist, in the meantime, continued 
 his unauthorised negotiations with the 
 Mexican commissioners; and, on the 2nd 
 of February, a treaty of peace was agreed 
 upon, and signed, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
 by him, on the part of the United States ; 
 and Messrs. Cauto, Atristain, and Cuevas, 
 commissioners, on the part of Mexico. On 
 the 6th of February, the negotiation of the 
 652 
 
 treaty was officially announced by a cir 
 cular from Don Luis de la Rosa, acting 
 secretary of state. The treaty was im 
 mediately dispatched to Washington ; and, 
 on the 22nd of February, only twenty days 
 after it was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
 President Polk, notwithstanding the irre 
 gular manner of its negotiation, submitted 
 it to the United States senate; and, on 
 the 26th, he transmitted a message to 
 that body, recommending its ratification. 
 Daniel Webster, senator from Massachu 
 setts, at once offered a resolution, proposing 
 that a new commission should be appointed 
 to negotiate a fresh treaty. This resolution 
 was laid on the table, and the senate pro 
 ceeded to consider the treaty in detail. 
 After several important amendments to its 
 original form, it was, on the 10th of March, 
 finally ratified by the constitutional majo 
 rity (two-thirds) of the senate advising and 
 consenting thereto, as follows : 
 
 YEAS. Ashley, Atherton, Bagby, Bell, 
 Bradbury, Bright, Butler, Calhoun, Came 
 ron, Cass, Clarke, Crittenden, Davis, Day 
 ton, Dickinson, Dix, Felch, Foote, Greene, 
 Hale, Hannegan, Hunter, Johnson of Mary 
 land, Johnson of Louisiana, Johnson of 
 Georgia, Mangum, Mason, Miller, Moore, 
 Niles, Rusk, Sevier, Sturgeon, Turney, 
 Downs, Clayton, Yulee, Underwood 38. 
 
 NAYS. Allen, Atchison, Badger, Bald 
 win, Benton, Ben-Jen, Breese, Corwin, 
 Douglas, Lewis, Spruance, Upham, Web 
 ster, Westcott 14. 
 
 The alterations proposed to the treaty 
 by the senate, rendered it necessary that, 
 as amended, it should be ratified by the 
 Mexican congress. Nathan Clifford, at 
 torney-general of the United States, and 
 Ambrose Sevier, chairman of the committee 
 of foreign relations in the senate, were 
 accordingly appointed by the president as 
 commissioners to go to Mexico, and lay the 
 treaty, in its modified form, before that 
 body. These gentlemen proceeded at once 
 to Mexico ; but the Mexican congress not 
 being in session, several weeks elapsed 
 before a quorum could be assembled at 
 Queretaro. This was at length accom 
 plished ; and President Pena ably and elo 
 quently urged the ratification of the 
 amended treaty by that body. He was 
 successful, it being ratified by an over 
 whelming majority in the popular branch, 
 and by thirty-three to five in the Mexican 
 senate. Ratifications were exchanged at 
 Queretaro on the 30th of May; and 
 
A.D. 1848.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE BOUNDARIES. 
 
 Sevier, one of the American commissioners, 
 returned with the ratified treaty to the 
 United States, Clifford remaining as per 
 manent envoy ; and, on the 4th of July, 
 1848, the fact was formally proclaimed by 
 the president to the people of the United 
 States. 
 
 In accordance with a provision in the 
 treaty, hostilities had been suspended from 
 the day of its signature by the commis 
 sioners, on the 2nd of February. The 
 treaty further stipulated, that all Mexico 
 should be evacuated by the American 
 forces within three months from the ex 
 change of ratifications, or sooner, if pos 
 sible ; that all castles, forts, territories, 
 places, and possessions, taken or occupied 
 by the forces of the United States, during 
 the war, within the limits of the Mexican 
 republic, as established by this treaty, with 
 all the artillery, arms, apparatus of war, 
 munitions, and other public property, which 
 were in said castles and forts when cap 
 tured, and which remained there at the 
 date of the ratification of the treaty, should 
 be restored to the said republic ; that all 
 prisoners of war, taken on either side, 
 should be given up ; that all Mexicans 
 held captive by any savage tribe, within 
 the limits of the United States, as estab 
 lished by this treaty, should be restored to 
 their country, the government of the 
 United States being required to exact such 
 restoration. 
 
 The boundary line, as defined in the 
 5th article, was to commence in the Gulf 
 of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande, or facing the 
 opening of its deepest branch; thence 
 to proceed along the deepest channel of 
 that river, to the southern boundary of 
 New Mexico ; thence, westwardly, along the 
 whole southern boundary of New Mexico 
 (which runs north of the town called Paso], 
 to its western termination ; thence, north 
 ward, along the western line of New Mexico, 
 until it intersects the first branch of the 
 river Gila ; thence down the middle of said 
 branch and of the said river, until it empties 
 into the Rio Colorado, folio wing the division- 
 line between Upper and Lower California, 
 to the Pacific Ocean. The vessels and citi 
 zens of the United States were, however, to 
 have a free and uninterrupted passage by 
 the Gulf of California, and by the Rio 
 Colorado, below its junction with the Gila, 
 to and from their possessions situated north 
 of the boundary line, just defined. If it ( 
 
 VOL. II. 4 P 
 
 should be found practicable, and judged 
 expedient, to construct a canal, road, or 
 railway along the Gila, or within a league 
 of either margin of that river, then both 
 nations were to unite in its construction 
 and use. The navigation of the river 
 Gila, and that portion of the Rio Grande 
 lying below the southern boundary of New 
 Mexico, was to be free to the vessels and 
 citizens of both nations, and to be inter 
 rupted by neither. Mexican citizens within 
 the limits of the relinquished territories of 
 New Mexico and Upper California, were to 
 be allowed a year to make their election, 
 whether they would continue Mexican 
 citizens, with the privilege of remaining as 
 such within the ceded territory, or removing 
 with their property to the Mexican repub 
 lic, or whether they would become citizens 
 of the United States. The latter were 
 also to forcibly restrain the incursions of 
 all the Indian tribes, within the limits of 
 the ceded territory, into the dominion of 
 Mexico ; and to return all Mexican captives 
 thereafter made by those savages. In con 
 sideration of the territory acquired by the 
 extension of the boundaries of the United 
 States, the government of the latter was 
 to pay to that of the Mexican republic 
 15,000,000 of dollars, and also to assume her 
 debts to American citizens, to the amount of 
 three-and- a- quarter millions more. Of the 
 15,000,000 stipulated to be paid to Mexico, 
 3,000,000 were to be paid upon the ex 
 change of ratifications (congress having, 
 the preceding winter, placed that amount 
 with the president, in anticipation of its 
 being called for in the negotiation of a 
 treaty) ; the remaining 12,000,000 to ba 
 paid in four annual instalments of 3,000,000 
 each, together with interest on the same, 
 at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum. The 
 treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, 
 concluded at the city of Mexico, between, 
 the two republics, on the 5th of April, 
 1831, except the additional article, and 
 those incompatible with the present treaty, 
 was to be revived for eight years, from the 
 date of the exchange of ratifications of the 
 present treaty ; " and when the said period 
 of eight years shall have expired, for one 
 year after either party shall have given 
 notice to the other of its intention to termi 
 nate said treaty." All further supplies for 
 United States troops, were to be exempt 
 from duties. These comprise all the stipu 
 lations of the treaty of sufficient importance 
 to call for record here. 
 
 653 
 
RESULT OF THE WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.TX 1848. 
 
 The evacuation of the territory of the 
 Mexican republic by the American troops, 
 as called for by the 4th article of the 
 treaty, took place immediately on the ex 
 change of ratifications; and, on reaching 
 the United States, they were received, offi 
 cers and men, with the honours so justly 
 merited by those who, by their bravery, 
 endurance, discipline, activity, and military 
 genius, had so nobly sustained and elevated 
 the national character. In summing up 
 the results of the war with Mexico, or, in 
 other words, in striking a balance of loss and 
 gain to the United States, four items enter 
 into the account namely, the expenditure 
 of blood and treasure on the one hand, and 
 the gain in territory and in national posi 
 tion, on the other. The sacrifice of life in 
 the army of the United States engaged in 
 the war with Mexico, was at least 25,000. 
 The official reports, however, made the 
 number 17,906; but this did not embrace 
 those who died from disease after they had 
 Served their term of enlistment. 
 
 The expenditures in money, in conse 
 quence of the war, can only be arrived at 
 approximately, on account of the difficulty 
 of separating those expenditures from 
 what properly belongs to the administra 
 tion of the government in time of peace. 
 
 * The aggregate expenditures of the United States 
 government for the previous eight years from 
 1837 to 1844, inclusive were $206,353.645 15c.; 
 being an annual average of 325,794,205 64c. 
 
 f In the month of February, 1848, a private 
 discovery of gold was made on the property of 
 Captain Suter. A mechanic, named James W. Mar 
 shall, was employed in building a saw-mill for the 
 captain, on the south branch of the llio de las 
 Americanas. While cutting a race for this im 
 provement, Mr. Marshall discovered the particles 
 of gold as they glistened in the sunlight, at the 
 bottom of the sluice. He gathered a few, examined 
 them, and became satisfied of their value. He in 
 formed Captain Suter of his discovery, and they 
 ngreed to keep it a secret, until the mill of the 
 latter was finished. The affair, however, became 
 known, and in a few weeks hundreds of men were 
 drawn thither. Examinations were prosecuted at 
 other points alorg the stream, and almost every 
 where with success. Rumours of the discoveries 
 of gold in California reached the Atlantic shores ; 
 which were changed to certainty by the president s 
 message to congress, in December, 1848. Among 
 the accompanying documents, was a letter from 
 the governor of California, to the president, from 
 which these details are taken. On the 4ih of July, 
 
 654 
 
 The total appropriations of congress, for the 
 fiscal years 146 and 1847, were 136,000,000 
 of dollars. Add to this say 20,000,000 
 principal and interest of the amount paid 
 to Mexico under the treaty, and 20,000,000 
 for probable arrears and value of bounty 
 land-warrants paid to soldiers, and deduct 
 50,000,000 as the most likely expenditures 
 of the government during the same period 
 had it been at peace,* and it leaves 
 126,000,000 of dollars as approximating 
 the cost of the war with Mexico. Thus 
 much for the darker side of the issue. 
 
 The territory acquired through the treaty 
 of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was upwards of 
 600,000 square miles enough to cut up 
 into a dozen large states, or more than five 
 times the area of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland combined. The value of this im 
 mense territory, sufficient, in an agricul 
 tural point of view, for the homes and sus 
 tenance of many millions of the human 
 race, was largely increased by the ex 
 tensive gold mines found to exist within its 
 limits. f But the acquisition of California 
 had an importance beyond that of its 
 immense ledges of gold-bearing quartz in 
 its extended coast, with the noble buy of 
 San Francisco, and other fine harbours 
 which look out upon the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 the governor of California was at Suter s fort, on 
 his way to the gold region. On his route, he 
 passed houses deserted, and fields of wheat going 
 to ruin, their owners having abandoned them in 
 the eager search for gold. Labour, and all the 
 comforts and necessaries of life, commanded enor 
 mous prices. Suter paid his waggon-maker and 
 blacksmith ten dollars a-day each for their services ; 
 and received 500 dollars a-month for the rent of a 
 two-storey house within the enclosure of his fort. 
 The governor sailed up the south fork of the Rio 
 de las Ameiiranas, to the mill where the discovery 
 was first made, and there he found 200 persons 
 engaged in gathering gold. He then followed the 
 stream further into the mountains, where he found 
 other parties similarly engaged. The gold thus ob 
 tained by individual enterprise, in the early days of 
 the search for the precious metal, though amounting 
 to many millions of dollars in value, was gathered 
 by no greater effort thun merely scratching the 
 earth s surface ; and the quantity was inconsiderable, 
 compared with the amount \\hich combined labour 
 and capital, with the aid of efficient machinery for 
 crushing quartz, subsequently brought to light. 
 The gold found in the beds of the streams, had 
 been cut or worn from the veins in the quarz 
 through which they forced their way. 
 
A.D. 1844.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI, 
 
 POLITICAL PARTIES ; DEMOCRATS, WHIGS, ABOLITIONISTS, FREE-SOILERS, NATIVE AMERICANS, KNOW- 
 NOTHINGS, UNIONISTS, AND REPUBLICANS ; PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS; STATE OF 1IIE UNION; 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE popular vote cast for the respective 
 candidates for the presidency in 1844, very 
 clearly indicated that the abolitionists 
 had assumed an organisation of sufficient 
 strength to be regarded as a political party; 
 one, too, that would control the result of 
 future elections. The southern politicians 
 exhibited considerable uneasiness on ac 
 count of the rise and progress of this sec 
 tional party ; and President James K. Polk 
 expressed his solicitude for the discon 
 tinuance of sectional organisations having 
 in view an interference with the domestic 
 institutions of the states ; and he warned 
 the nation against meddling with the 
 compromises contained in the constitution, 
 and that the non-enforcement of that com 
 pact, with respect to the rights of the 
 states, would be " ruinous and disastrous." 
 He sincerely regretted, that, " in some sec 
 tions of the country, misguided persons 
 had occasionally indulged in schemes and 
 agitations, the object of which was the de 
 struction of the domestic institutions exist 
 ing in other sections." He was satisfied, 
 however, " that there existed, among the 
 great mass of the people, a devotion to the 
 union of the states, which would protect it 
 against the moral treason of those who 
 would contemplate its destruction." 
 
 The Mexican war soon followed the in 
 auguration of the president, and all other 
 issues became matters of very ordinary 
 importance. The sub-treasury system, that 
 had been repealed in 1842, was re-enacted 
 early in 1846; and the bills providing for 
 internal improvements, at the expense of 
 the federal government, enacted during 
 the preceding administration, were also 
 repealed. 
 
 The whigs were very much disappointed 
 at the defeat of Clay for the presidency in 
 1844, and immediately thereafter a new 
 party was formed, principally from the 
 whigs, which was called " Native Ameri 
 can ;" and it hud for its object the prolon 
 gation of the time of residence, required 
 by the statutes, for the naturalisation of 
 foreigners to become citizens. This new 
 
 party increased with great rapidity through 
 out the country, and in several of the state 
 and county elections it triumphed. 
 
 These new parties were losses to the 
 whigs, as they were principally composed 
 of people who had advocated their political 
 principles. The abolitionists succeeded, in 
 some of the northern states, in electing re 
 presentatives to congress; and the Native 
 Americans were equally successful in secur 
 ing elections in Pennsylvania, and several 
 other states. The members of this party as^ 
 sailed immoderately the Roman Catholics } 
 and their hostility to this religious denomi 
 nation was as ardent as their opposition to 
 the naturalisation of foreigners. They ad 
 vocated a residence of twenty-one years 
 before a foreign subject could be qualified 
 to become an American citizen. 
 
 The successful prosecution of the Mexi 
 can war very materially changed the 
 status of the respective political parties 
 ere the " presidential campaign" of 1848. 
 General Zachary Taylor had won victory 
 after victory, and added great lustre to tho 
 American arms by his rapid achievements 
 on the Rio Grande and in the enemy s 
 country. The battles of Palo Alto, Resaca 
 de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena Vista, 
 were events that made Americans feel an 
 increased pride for their country, and Tay 
 lor received distinguished honour from his 
 countrvmen. The general had done good 
 service in the late war with Great Britain, 
 and his operations against the savage tribes 
 had won for him an exalted reputation as 
 a military chieftain. With an almost unani 
 mous voice he was nominated for the next 
 presidency by the people, although his po 
 litical opinions were unknown. He had 
 never been a partisan ; and having been in 
 service the greater part of his life, he had 
 not given his ballot for many candidates 
 for official positions. The whigs were the 
 most energetic in pressing the nomination 
 by a national convention ; and, in the 
 meantime, the democratic leaders becamo 
 thoroughly organised in favour of nomi 
 nating a civilian for the presidencv, abne- 
 
 655 
 
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1848. 
 
 gating the expediency of selecting a mili 
 tary man for mere availability. The lead 
 ing whigs of the country seriously doubted 
 the propriety of having a candidate who 
 was wholly inexperienced in. affairs of state, 
 and only acquainted with the sound of 
 the cannon. The " second sober thought" 
 began to have an effect throughout the 
 whole country ; and, for a short time before 
 the nominating convention assembled, in 
 1848, it was apprehended by many that 
 Taylor would not be a candidate of any 
 party. General Scott had also achieved 
 many victories in Mexico ; and he, too, was 
 a favourite candidate with a considerable 
 number of the whigs, who favoured the se 
 lection of a leader for availability. The 
 ardent friends of Henry Clay pressed the 
 nomination of a civilian for the presi 
 dency, and expressed themselves against 
 the propriety of placing military chieftains 
 in high positions of state. 
 
 With respect to the democratic party, it 
 was very much divided by sectional dis 
 sensions, especially in the state of New 
 York, where there was an actual rupture 
 between the friends of certain leading 
 men ; and the more northern democrats 
 opposed the fixed purpose of the southern 
 ers to declare opposition to any interference 
 with the domestic affairs of the respective 
 states, especially considering the institution 
 of African slavery. 
 
 The democratic national convention as 
 sembled at Baltimore on the 22nd of May, 
 1848. The principal candidates were 
 Lewis Cass, of Michigan ; Levi Woodbury, 
 of New Hampshire ; James Buchanan, of 
 Pennsylvania; and John C. Calhoun, of 
 South Carolina; and, on the first ballot, 
 Cass received the nomination. General 
 William O. Butler, of Kentucky, was 
 unanimously nominated for the vice- presi 
 dency, on the third ballot. The convention 
 then proceeded to consider a series of reso 
 lutions embracing the political principles 
 advocated by the party ;* and, among them, 
 was the resolution that had been adopted 
 in 1840,t against the right of the federal 
 government to interfere with the domestic 
 institutions of the respective states ; another 
 against the constitutionality of a national 
 bank, a protective tariff, internal improve 
 ment, and the assumption of state debts. 
 Besides the regular code of principles re 
 ported by the committee, a delegate, and an 
 
 * The resolutions declaring the principles of a 
 political party, were generally styled the " platform" 
 656 
 
 extremist from Alabama, proposed a reso 
 lution, declaring, " that the doctrine of non 
 interference with the rights of property of 
 any portion of the people of this con 
 federacy, be it in the states or territories 
 thereof, by any other than the parties 
 interested in them, is the true republican 
 doctrine recognised by this body/ This 
 resolution, plainly directed against the 
 abolitionists of the northern states, was 
 rejected by 216 to 36, The members of 
 the convention did not think it expedient to 
 adopt any ultra measure ; as, by so doing, it 
 was feared that the extremists of the north, 
 who were co-operating with them, would 
 consider such a proceeding as offensive, 
 and withdraw from the democratic party. 
 
 The whig national convention met at 
 Philadelphia on the 7th of June, 1848, 
 when the principal candidates for nomi 
 nation were Zachary Taylor, of Loui 
 siana ; Henry Clay, of Kentucky ; Winfield 
 Scott, of New Jersey ; and Daniel Webster, 
 of Massachusetts. On the fourth ballot, 
 Taylor was nominated for the presidency. 
 Millard Fillmore, of New York, was chosen 
 the candidate for the vice-presidency. 
 Several attempts were made to induce the 
 convention to adopt resolutions declaring 
 the principles favoured by the whig party ; 
 but none were adopted. On the 9th of 
 June, a general meeting of the people was 
 held in Philadelphia ; and a series of reso 
 lutions was adopted, declaring the prin 
 ciples that had been proclaimed by the 
 whig party in former years. 
 
 A very large division of the democratic 
 party was dissatisfied with the nominations 
 that had been made at Baltimore, and a 
 rupture among its members occurred in 
 the state of New York. A convention of 
 the discontented assembled at Utica, New 
 York, on the 22nd of June, 1848, and 
 nominated ex-president Martin Van Buren, 
 of New Y"ork, for the presidency ; and 
 Henry Dodge, of Wisconsin, for the vice- 
 presidency. This convention was con 
 sidered too local to be of national im 
 portance, and another was convened at 
 Buffalo, on the 9th of August, 1848 ; at 
 which there were delegates from seventeen 
 non-slaveholding states. Van Buren was 
 again nominated ; and Dodge having de 
 clined, Charles Francis Adams, of Massa 
 chusetts, was substituted for the vice- presi 
 dency. A series of preambles and resolu- 
 
 of the party; and each resolution, a " plank" of the 
 " platform." f See ante, p. 533. 
 
A.D. 1848.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 tions were adopted : and among them were 
 the following : 
 
 " Whereas, We have assembled in convention, as 
 of 
 
 Party," composed of abolitionists, put in 
 nomination John P. Hale, of New Hamp 
 shire, for the presidency ; and Leicester 
 King, of Ohio, for the vice- presidency. 
 This P"? comparativelv iosigmficanJ ; 
 
 resolve to maintain the rights of free labour against n <>r was there much etfort made to secure a 
 the aggressions of the slave power, and to secure large popular vote, as the Free- Soil party 
 free soil to a free people. And whereas, the poli- was considered to be sufficiently anti-slavery 
 tical conventions recently assembled at Baltimore J Q princ ipl e to command the suffrages of 
 and Philadelphia the one stilling the voice or a .,,< , mu i i i 
 
 great constituency, entitled to be heard in its deli- the abolitionists. Ihe election resulted in 
 berations ; and the other abandoning its distinctive favour of the whigs. Taylor received 
 principles for mere availability have dissolved the j 1,360,099 votes ; Cass, 1,220,544 ; Van 
 national party organisations heretofore existing, | Buren 291,263 ; and Hale, 7,000. The dis 
 hy nominating for the chiei magistracy, under the ../, - .1 j 
 slaveholding dictation, candidates, neither of satisfaction amongst the democratic voters, 
 whom can be supported by the opponents of slavery undoubtedly produced the election of Taylor, 
 extension, without a sacrifice of consistency, duty, j by a majority over Cass of 139,555. The 
 
 and self-respect. And whereas, these nominations electoral vote was as follows : 
 
 so made, furnish the occasion, and demonstrate the 
 
 necessity, of the union of the people under the Election for the Sixteenth Term, commencing 4th 
 
 banner of Free Democracy, in a solemn and! March, 1849, and terminating 3rd March, 1853. 
 
 furmal declaration of their independence of the slave 
 
 power, and of their fixed determination to rescue PRESIDENT. Y. PRESIDENT. 
 
 the federal government from its control. 
 
 "Resolved, therefore, That we, the people here 
 assembled, remembering the example of our fathers, 
 in the days of the first declaration of independence ; STAIES, 
 
 putting our trust in God for the triumph of our | | 
 
 cause, and invoking His guidance in our endea- 2 JC 
 
 vours to advance it, do now plant ourselves upon 
 
 the national platform* of freedom, in opposition to 
 the sectional platform of slavery. 
 
 " lie-solved, That slavery in the several states of -, Maine 9 
 
 this Union which recognise its existence, depends New Hampshire 6 6 
 
 upon state laws alone ; which cannot be repealed or Massachusetts j 12 12 
 
 modified by the federal government, and for which Rhode Island | 4 4 
 
 laws that government is not responsible. We, Connecticut \ 6 6 
 
 therefore, propose no interference by congress with Vermont j 6 6 
 
 slavery within the limits of any state. New York j 36 36 
 
 "Resolved, That the true, and, in the judg- New Jersey \ 7 7 
 
 ment of this convention, the only safe means of Pennsylvania 26 26 
 
 preventing the extension of slavery into territory Delaware 3 3 
 
 now free, is to prohibit its extension in all such Maryland ,8 8 
 
 territory by an act of congress. Virginia I 17 17 
 
 "Resolved, That we accept the issue which the ; North Carolina 11 11 
 
 slave power has forced upon us ; and to their de- South Carolina 9 9 
 
 mands for more slave states, and more slave terri- Georgia 10 j 10 
 
 lory, our calm, but final, answer is no more slave Kentucky ....... I 12 12 
 
 states, and no more slave territory. Tennessee : 13 13 
 
 " Resolved, That we inscribe on our own banner, Ohio j 23 23 
 
 4 Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labour, and Free Louisiana 6 6 
 
 Men ; and under it we will fight on, and fight Mississippi 6 6 
 
 ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our Indiana 12 12 
 
 exertions." Illinois 9 9 
 
 Alabama i 9 9 
 
 This new party was strongly supported Missouri 7 I 7 
 
 in the northern, or non -slaveholding states ; Arkansas 
 
 and it was feared by the whig and demo- j^^" * * * | ! ~ 3 _ ~ 
 
 cratic parties, that it might produce in the Texas . i 4 4 
 
 future very serious complications. It was Iowa 4 4 
 
 sometimes called the "Free Democratic," Wisconsin 4 
 
 but it was generally styled the " Free-Soil TTT H7^ To^ 
 
 T> T *u LI <i T -\. Totali 163 12/ 
 
 Party." In the meantime, the " Liberty Majority .... H6 
 
 * It must be remembered that the term "plat- " ,. ,, ". 
 
 form" means "principles," when used in connection On tne dav preceding the inauguration 
 with American politics. of Polk as president, March 4th, 1845, the 
 
 657 
 
ABOLIIION PARTY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1819. 
 
 state of Florida was admitted into the 
 Union. By its constitution, which had 
 been presented to congress on the 20th of 
 February, 1839, the institution of African 
 slavery was recognised ; and, for that reason 
 amongst others, its creation as a federal 
 state was delayed. The annexation of 
 Texas, in 1845, added another slavehold- 
 ing state to the Union ; but, as a balance 
 to these, were the subsequently formed 
 states of Iowa, admitted December 28th, 
 1846, under its constitution presented 
 December 9th, 1844 ; and Wisconsin, ad 
 mitted May 29th, 1848, under its constitu 
 tion adopted January 21st, 1817. These 
 states were admitted at the respective 
 dates, because justice towards the people 
 who had formed them, could not, with any 
 reasonable propriety, be further delayed. 
 Not so, however, with the western ter 
 ritories, embraced within the vast regions 
 acquired by the treaty of Guadalupe, 
 Hidalgo, and the Pacific frontiers of the 
 United States. On the proposition to 
 organise the territory of Oregon, the slavery 
 issue became seriously involved, and to such 
 an extent, that the dissolution of the Union 
 was very much feared by many statesmen. 
 The northern abolitionists, in congress, 
 attempted to restrict the spread of slavery, 
 and were favourable to the enacting of laws 
 by congress, to forbid its extension over the 
 territories that had not been organised into 
 states. On the other hand, the southern 
 pro-slavery representatives denied that con 
 gress had any right to legislate in any 
 manner whatever forbidding the intro 
 duction of slavery in any part of the 
 country, whether in states, organised, or 
 unorganised territories. The temporary 
 government that had been formed in Ore 
 gon had prohibited slavery therein ; and 
 the pro-slavery majority in congress denied 
 the propriety of the prohibitive legislation 
 in Oregon (above referred to), and favoured 
 an annulment of the territorial laws by 
 congress. A law was, ultimately, in the 
 month of August, enacted for the extension 
 of the Missouri restriction, with respect to 
 the regions north-west thereof. 
 
 For some years prior to this period, the 
 abolitionists in the northern states had 
 been making rapid strides towards political 
 power ; and, in several of the states where 
 they had not a majority of the popular 
 vote, they were of sufficient strength to 
 exercise a balance of power between the two 
 great parties. These extremists favoured 
 658 
 
 the candidates who promised the most for 
 promoting their sectional theories; and, 
 in this manner, they effected the enact 
 ment of statutes nullifying the fugitive 
 slave law of congress, enacted at the re 
 commendation of Washington, in 1793. 
 The legislature of Massachusetts adopted a 
 law prohibiting the enforcement of this act 
 of congress ; and those who aided in its 
 execution were subjected to severe penal 
 ties. Other states followed the example of 
 Massachusetts; and, among them, was 
 Pennsylvania, the legislature of which 
 enacted the following as a part of its anti- 
 fugitive slave law : 
 
 " Any person who violently and tumultuously 
 seizes upon any negro or mulatto, and carries such 
 negro away to any place, with or without the inten 
 tion of taking such negro before a circuit or dis 
 trict judge, shall be fined not exceeding 1,000 
 dollars, and imprisoned in the county gaol not 
 exceeding three months. * * * * No judge 
 of any of the courts of this commonwealth, nor any 
 alderman or justice of the peace of said common 
 wealth, shall have jurisdiction or take cognizance 
 of the case of any fugitive from labour fn>rn any of 
 the United States or territories, tinder a certain act 
 of congress, approved the 12th of February, 1793, 
 entitled An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, 
 and Persons escaping from the Service of their 
 Masters; nor shall any judge or justice of the 
 peace of this commonwealth, issue or grant any 
 certificate, or warrant of removal, of any such 
 fugitive from labour, under the said act of congress, 
 or under any other law, authority, or act of con 
 gress of the United States; and if any alderman, or 
 justice of the peace of this commonwealth, shall 
 take cognizance or jurisdiction of the case of any 
 such fugitive, or shall grant or issue any certificate 
 or warrant of removal as aforesaid, then, and in 
 either case, he shall be deemed guilty of a mis 
 demeanor in office, and shall, on conviction thereof, 
 be sentenced to pay, at the discretion of the court, 
 any sum not less than 500 dollars, nor exceeding 
 1,000 dollars." 
 
 The enactment of laws, of the character 
 of the preceding, by several of the northern 
 states, aroused the people of the south, and 
 they hastily determined to maintain their 
 rights, under the constitution, to arrest 
 their fugitive slaves wherever found. The 
 legislature of Massachusetts was foremost 
 in the nullification of the act of congress 
 passed in 1793 ; but Pennsylvania was 
 equally determined to prohibit the enforce 
 ment of this federal law. It was dangerous 
 to the life of any man who attempted to ar 
 rest a fugitive slave in that state ; and it 
 became almost impossible for the owner of 
 the slave to recover his property after it 
 had been found therein, as mobs quickly 
 formed to rescue the runaway from the offi 
 cers of the government. These deliberate 
 
A.D. 
 
 1850.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [THE COMPROMISE. 
 
 nullifications, by some of the northern states, 
 of the federal constitution and congressional 
 enactment, rendered it necessary, in the 
 opinion of the southern people, to have 
 more stringent federal laws. 
 
 The organisation of the thirty- fifth con 
 gress, that met on the 3rd of December, 
 1849, was protracted, from day to day, for 
 three weeks, on account of the slavery ques 
 tion becoming involved in the election of the 
 speaker. A pro-slavery candidate, Ilowell 
 Cobb, of Georgia, was finally elected on the 
 sixty-second ballot. The people through 
 out the whole country had, for some time, 
 observed the rapid expansion of the slavery 
 issue, and the growing excitement both 
 at the north and south. The western states 
 were more moderate in their deportment on 
 the question ; and they were anxious to effect 
 another settlement, through an amicable 
 arrangement in the form of a compromise. 
 Kentucky was seriously moved in the mat 
 ter, and its legislatuT-e again elected Henry 
 Clay to the United States senate, although 
 he had formally retired from public life. 
 This great statesman accepted his election, 
 with the sole view of using his influence 
 towards the restoration of peace among 
 the people, through the acts of congress. 
 Shortly after he entered the senate, he 
 succeeded in causing all the issues involved 
 to be referred to a committee on the 
 state of the Union consisting of seven 
 southern, and six northern senators of 
 which he was made chairman. On the 
 8th of May, 1850, the committee presented a 
 very long report, accompanied with sundry 
 bills, having in view a compromise of all 
 the questions pertaining to slavery, the 
 admission of California, and the organisa 
 tion of certain territories. The substance 
 of this report was as follows : 
 
 "1st. The admission of any new state or states 
 formed out of Texas,* to be postponed until they 
 shall hereafter present themselves to be received 
 
 * According to the annexation treaty, Texas 
 might, in the future, be divided into, not exceeding 
 five states i s area being 237,505 square miles; 
 nearly equalling the aggregate of the north-western 
 territory, ceded by Virginia, which, too, had been 
 divided into five states. 
 
 t The "Wilmot proviso" originated in 1846, 
 when it was proposed, in congress, to appropriate 
 30,OCO dollars for the use of the president in nego 
 tiating with Mexico, the acquisition of a large 
 tract of country west of the United States frontiers 
 bein^ contemplated. When this proposition was 
 pending, David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, and a re 
 presentative from that state in the lower house of 
 
 into the Union, when it will be the duty of con 
 gress J airly and faithfully to execute the compact 
 with Texas, by admitting such new state or states. 
 
 "2nd. The admission, forthwith, of California 
 into the Union, with the boundaries which it has 
 proposed. 
 
 "3rd. The establishment of territorial govern 
 ments, without the Wilmot proviso,! for New 
 Mexico and Utah, embracing all the territory re- 
 crntly acquired by the United States from Mexico, 
 not contained in the boundaries of California. 
 
 "4th. The combination of these two last-men 
 tioned measures in tiie same bill. 
 
 "5th. The establishment of the western and 
 northern boundary of Texas, and the exclusion 
 from its jurisdiction of all New Mexico, with the 
 grant to Texas of a pecuniary equivalent; and the 
 section for that purpose to be incorporated in the 
 bill admitting California, and establishing terri 
 torial government-; for Utah and New Mexico. 
 
 " 6lh. More effectual enactments of law to secure 
 the prompt delivery of persons bound to service or 
 labour in one state, under the laws thereof, who 
 escape into another." 
 
 The important questions involved in the 
 report, were those having reference to 
 slavery such as the extension of involun 
 tary servitude in the territories acquired 
 from Mexico; the fugiti ve slave law of 1793 ; 
 and the state of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia. The most exciting of these, how 
 ever, were the two former. With respect 
 to the first, it was alleged, by the anti- 
 slavery people, that the restriction to invo 
 luntary servitude was fixed by the ordi 
 nance of 1787, for the government of the 
 north-west territory. Then slavery was 
 confined to certain organised states, and 
 it could not extend beyond them with 
 out an express act of congress. On tho 
 other hand, the pro-slavery people alleged 
 that the slave was property, and could be 
 carried into the common territory of the 
 Union in the same manner as other 
 species of property could be taken there. 
 
 Respecting the fugitive slave question, 
 the committee reported as follows: 
 
 " The committee will now proceed to the con 
 sideration of, and to report upon, the subject or 
 
 congress, offered to amend the bill by adding 
 thereto the following proviso : 
 
 "Provided, Tnat, as an express and fundamental 
 condition to the acquisition of any territory from 
 the republic of Mexico by the United States, by 
 virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated be 
 tween them, and to the use, by the executive, of the 
 moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any pait of 
 said territory, except for crime, whereof the party 
 shall be first duly convicted." 
 
 The " Wilmot proviso" never was adopted, thouh 
 the principle of non-extension of slave territory 
 was thenceforth agitated by the northern people. 
 
 659 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1850. 
 
 persons owing service or labour in one state, 
 escaping into another. The text of the constitu 
 tion is quite clear : No person held to labour or 
 service in one state, under the laics thereof, 
 escaping into another, shall, in consequence of 
 any law or regulation therein, be discharged from 
 such service or labour ; but shall be delivered up 
 on the claim of the party to whom such service 
 or labour may be due. Nothing can be more ex 
 plicit than this language nothing more manifest 
 than the right to demand, and the obligation to 
 deliver up to the claimant, any such fugitive. 
 And the constitution addresses itself alike to the 
 states composing the Union and to the general 
 government. If, indeed, there were any difference 
 in the duty to enforce this portion of the con 
 stitution between the states and the federal gov 
 ernment, it is more clear that it is that of the 
 former than of the latter. But it is the duty of 
 both. It is now well known, and incontestable, 
 that citizens in slaveholding states encounter 
 the greatest difficulty in obtaining the benefit of 
 this provision of the constitution. The attempt 
 to recapture a fugitive is almost always a subject 
 of great irritation and excitement, and often 
 leads to most unpleasant, if not perilous, collisions. 
 An owner of a slave, it is quite notorious, cannot 
 pursue his property, for the purpose of its recovery, 
 in some of the states, without imminent personal 
 hazard. This is a deplorable state of things, 
 which ought to be remedied. The law of 1793 
 has been wholly ineffectual, and requires more 
 stringent enactments. There is, especially, a 
 deficiency in the number of public functionaries 
 authorised to afford aid in the seizure and 
 arrest of fugitives from labour, as the committee 
 believe, from a misconception of their duty arising 
 under the constitution of the United States. It 
 is true that a decision of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States has given countenance to them 
 in withholding their assistance. But the com 
 mittee cannot but believe that the intention of 
 the Supreme Court has been misunderstood. 
 They cannot but think that that court merely 
 meant, that laws of the several states which 
 created obstacles in the way of the recovery of 
 fugitives, were not authorised by the constitution, 
 and not that state laws affording facilities in 
 the recovery of fugitives, were forbidden by that 
 instrument. 
 
 "The non-slaveholding states, whatever sym 
 pathies any of their citizens may feel for persons 
 who escape from other states, cannot discharge 
 themselves from an obligation to enforce the con 
 stitution of the United States. All parts of the 
 instrument being dependent upon, and connected 
 with each other, ought to be fairly and justly 
 enforced. If some states may seek to exonerate 
 themselves from one portion of the constitution, 
 other states may endeavour to evade performance 
 of other portions of it ; and thus the instrument, 
 in some of its most important provisions, might 
 become inoperative and invalid. 
 
 " But, whatever maybe the conduct of individual 
 states, the duty of the general government is per 
 fectly clear. That duty is, to amend the existing 
 law, and to provide an effectual remedy for the 
 recovery of fugitives from service or labour. In 
 devising such a remedy, congress ought, while, on 
 the one hand, securing to the owner the fair 
 restoration of his prooerty, effectually to guard, 
 660 
 
 on the other, against any abuses in the application 
 of that remedy. 
 
 "In all cases of the arrest, within a state, of 
 persons charged with offences ; in all cases of the 
 pursuits of fugitives from justice from one state 
 to another state ; in all cases of extradition pro 
 vided for by treaties between foreign powers 
 the proceeding uniformly is summary. It has 
 never been thought necessary to apply, in cases 
 of that kind, the forms and ceremonies of a final 
 trial. And when that trial does take place, it is 
 in the state or country from which the party has 
 fled, and not in that in which he has found refuge. 
 By the express language of the constitution, 
 whether the fugitive is held to service or labour, 
 or not, is to be determined by the laws of the 
 state from which he fled ; and, consequently, it is 
 most proper that the tribunals of that state should 
 expound and administer its own laws. If there 
 have been any instances of abuse in the erroneous 
 arrest of fugitives from service or labour, the 
 committee have not obtained knowledge of them. 
 They believe that none such have occurred, and 
 that such are not likely to occur. But, in order to 
 guard against the possibility of their occurrence, 
 the committee have prepared, and herewith report, 
 a section to be offered to the Fugitive Bill now 
 pending before the senate. According to this 
 section, the owner of a fugitive from service or 
 labour, is, when practicable, to carry with him to 
 the state in which the person is found, a record 
 from a competent tribunal, adjudicating the facts 
 of elopement and slavery, with a general descrip 
 tion of the fugitive. This record, properly attested 
 and certified under the official seal of the court, 
 being taken to the state where the person owing 
 service or labour is found, is to be held competent 
 and sufficient evidence of the facts which had been 
 adjudicated, and will leave nothing more to be 
 done than to identify the fugitive. 
 
 "Numerous petitions have been presented, 
 praying for a trial by jury, in the case of arrest 
 of fugitives from service or labour, in the non- 
 slaveholding states. It has been already shown 
 that this would be entirely contrary to practice 
 and uniform usage in all similar cases. Under 
 the name of a popular and cherished institution 
 an institution, however, never applied in cases of 
 preliminary proceeding, and only in cases of final 
 trial there would be a complete mockery of jus 
 tice, so far as the owner of the fugitive is con 
 cerned. If the trial by jury be admitted, it would 
 draw after it its usual consequences, of continu 
 ance, from time to time, to bring evidence from dis 
 tant places ; of second or new trials, in cases where 
 the jurors do not agree, or the verdict is set aside ; 
 and of revivals of the verdict, and conduct of tho 
 jurors by competent tribunals. During the pro 
 gress of all these dilatory and expensive proceed 
 ings, what security is there as to the custody and 
 forthcoming of the fugitive upon their determina 
 tion? And if, finally, the claimant should be 
 successful, contrary to what happens in ordinary 
 litigation between free persons, he would have to 
 bear all the burdens and expense of the litigation, 
 without indemnity, and would learn, by sad expe- 
 1 rience, that he had much better have aban- 
 I doned his right in the first instance, than to 
 I establish it at such unremunerated cost and heavy 
 ; sacrifice. 
 
 "But whilst tho committee conceive that a 
 
A.TX 1850.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [THE "OMNIBUS BILL/ 
 
 trial by jury, in a state where a fugitive from 
 service or labour is recaptured, would be a virtual 
 denial of justice to the claimant of such fugitive, 
 and would be tantamount to a positive refusal to 
 execute the provision of the constitution, the 
 same objections do not apply to such a trial in the 
 state from which he fled. In the slavehokling 
 states, full justice is administered, with entire 
 fairness and impartiality, in cases of all actions 
 for freedom. The person claiming his freedom is 
 allowed to sue in forma pauperis; counsel is 
 assigned him ; time is allowed him to collect his 
 witnesses, and to attend the sessions of the coxirt ; 
 and his claimant is placed under bond and security, 
 or is divested of the possession during the pro 
 gress of the trial, to insxire the enjoyment of these 
 privileges ; and, if there be any leaning on the 
 par . ,-jf courts and justice, it is always on the side 
 of the claimant for freedom. 
 
 "In deference to the feelings and prejudices 
 which prevail in the non-slaveholding states, the 
 committee propose such a trial in the state from 
 which the fugitive fled,in all cases where he declares 
 to the officer giving the certificate for his return, 
 that he has a right to his freedom. Accordingly, 
 the committee have prepared, and report herewith, 
 two sections, which they recommend should be 
 incorporated in the Fugitive Bill pending in the 
 senate. According to these sections, the claimant 
 is placed under bond, and required to return the 
 fugitive to that county in the state from which 
 he fled, and there to take him before a competent 
 tribunal, and allow him to assert and establish his 
 freedom, if he can, affording to him for that pur 
 pose all needful facilities. 
 
 "The committee indulge the hope that, if the 
 Fugitive Bill, with the proposed amendments, 
 shall be passed by congress, it will be effectual to 
 secure the recovery of all fugitives from service 
 or labour, and that it will remove all causes of 
 complaint which have hitherto been experienced 
 on that irritating subject. But if, in its prac 
 tical operation, it shall be found insufficient, and 
 if no adequate remedy can be devised for the 
 restoration, to their owners, of fugitive slaves, 
 those owners will have a just title to indemnity 
 out of the treasury of the United States. 
 
 "It remains to report upon the resolutions in 
 relation to slavery and the slave-trade in the Dis 
 trict of Columbia. Without discussing the power 
 of congress to abolish slavery within the district, 
 in regard to which a diversity of opinion exists, 
 the committee are of opinion that it ought not 
 to be abolished. It could not be done without 
 indispensable conditions, which are not likely to 
 be agreed to. It could not be done without 
 exciting great apprehension and alarm in the 
 slave states. If the power were exercised within 
 this district, they would apprehend that, under 
 some pretext or another, it might be hereafter 
 attempted to be exercised within the slaveholding 
 states. It is true that, at present, all such power 
 is almost unanimously disavowed and disclaimed 
 in the free states. But experience has too often 
 shown, that, where there is a desire to do a parti 
 cular thing, the power to accomplish it, sooner or 
 later, will be found or assumed. 
 
 "Nor does the number of slaves within the 
 district make the abolition of slavery an object of 
 any such consequence as appears to be attached 
 to it in some parts of the Union. Since the retro- 
 
 VOL. II. 4 Q 
 
 cession of Alexandria County to Virginia, on the 
 south side of the Potomac, the district now con 
 sists only of Washington County, on the north 
 side of this river ; and the returns of the decennary 
 enumeration of the people of the United States, 
 show a rapidly progressive decrease in the number 
 of slaves in Washington County. According to 
 the census of 1830, the number was 6,119; and, 
 in 1840, it was reduced to 4,G94, showing a reduc 
 tion in ten years of nearly one-third. 
 
 "But a majority of the committee think differ 
 ently in regard to the slave-trade within the dis 
 trict. By that trade is meant the introduction of 
 slaves from adjacent states into the district, for 
 sale, or to be placed in depot, for the purpose of 
 subsequent sale or transportation to other and 
 distant markets. That trade, a majority of the 
 committee are of opinion, ought to be abolished. 
 Complaints have always existed against it, no less 
 on the part of members of congress from the 
 south, than on the part, of members from the 
 north. It is a trade sometimes exhibiting revolting 
 spectacles, and one in which the people of the 
 district have no interest ; but, on the contrary, 
 are believed to be desirous that it should be dis 
 continued. Most, if not all, of the slaveholding 
 states have, either in their constitutions, or by 
 penal enactments, prohibited a trade in slaves as 
 merchandise within their respective jurisdictions. 
 Congress, standing, in regard to the people of this 
 district on this subject, in a relation similar to 
 that of the state legislatures to the people of the 
 states, may safely follow the examples of the 
 states. The committee have prepared, and here 
 with report, a bill for the abolition of that trade, 
 the passage of which they recommend to the 
 senate. This bill has been framed after the model 
 of what the law of Maryland was when the general 
 government was removed to Washington. " 
 
 The several bills accompanying the re 
 port of the senate committee, were promptly 
 taken up and considered. They embraced 
 all the vexed questions then distracting 
 the country; and, from the number of 
 topics comprised therein, and as forming 
 one scheme of action, it was called the " Om 
 nibus Bill." After having been amended 
 from time to time, the respective measures 
 passed both houses of congress; and, as a 
 whole, the proceedings were styled the 
 "Compromise of 1850." The Fugitive 
 Slave Bill passed in the senate by a vote of 
 27 to 12; and, in the house, by 109 to 75. 
 On the consideration of the bill providing 
 for the abolition of the slave-trade in the 
 District of Columbia, William II. Seward, a 
 senator from New York, proposed to abolish 
 slavery therein ; which was negatived by 4G 
 to 5. The bill passed the senate by 33 to 
 19 ; and, in the house, by 124 to 59. 
 
 The people, who desired to see their 
 nation abide in peace, and in the enjoyment 
 of one common prosperity, hoped that this 
 last compromise would be a final settle 
 ment of the slavery excitement. TTnfor- 
 
 661 
 
THE " HIGHER LAW."] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1855. 
 
 tunately, there were agitators, north and 
 south, whose ambition could only be grati 
 fied by a disturbance of the nation s tran 
 quillity ; and especially was this the case in 
 some of the northern states. Treason had 
 not been definitely explained by the judi 
 ciary of the country ; and it was an easy 
 matter for politicians to compromise their 
 oaths of allegiance from state to national 
 sovereignty, or vice versa, as best com 
 ported with their ambitious purposes. These 
 demagogues in the northern states, smart 
 ing from the settlement of the excitement 
 by the compromise, proceeded to encourage 
 the people to nullify the laws of congress, 
 and commit treason by legislative and 
 individual acts. Sectional animosity was 
 aroused, and many factitious politicians suc 
 ceeded in attaining power. In some of the 
 state legislatures, the fanatics were successful 
 in procuring the enactment of laws to nega 
 tive the compromise that had been adopted 
 by congress in 1850 ; because, as they 
 alleged, it violated the " higher law," pro 
 claimed by the Almighty. These nullify 
 ing laws were styled "Personal Liberty 
 Bills :" and in order that the success of the 
 extremists may be fully comprehended, we 
 insert the following, as a digest of the 
 proceedings of some of the northern state 
 legislatures :* 
 
 By the laws of the state of Maine, it was 
 provided, that if a fugitive slave should be 
 arrested, he was to be defended by the 
 attorney of the commonwealth, and all ex 
 pense of such defence paid out of the public 
 treasury. All state and county gaols, and 
 all buildings belonging to the state, were 
 forbidden the reception or securing of fugi 
 tive slaves ; and all officers were prohibited, 
 under heavy penalties, from arresting, or 
 aiding in the arrest, of fugitive slaves. If 
 a slaveholder, or other person, should un 
 lawfully seize or confine a fugitive slave, 
 he was liable to be imprisoned for not more 
 than five years, or fined not exceeding 
 1,000 dollars. If a slaveholder took a 
 slave into the state, the latter was made 
 free ; and if the master undertook to 
 exercise any control over him, he was sub 
 jected to imprisonment for not less than 
 one year, or fined not exceeding 1,000 
 dollars. 
 
 In New Hampshire, a law existed, de 
 claring, that all slaves entering the state, 
 either with or without the consent of their 
 masters, were declared free, and any at- 
 
 * Shajfner s Secession War in America; p. 321. 
 
 C62 
 
 tempt to capture or hold them was de 
 clared to be a felony. 
 
 In the state of Vermont, the law pro 
 hibited all citizens and officers of the state 
 from executing, or assisting to execute, the 
 Fugitive Slave Act of the congress of the 
 United States, or to arrest a fugitive slave, 
 under penalty of imprisonment for one 
 year, or a fine not exceeding 1,000 dollars. 
 It also prohibited the use of all public gaols 
 and buildings for the purpose of securing 
 such slaves. The attorneys for the state 
 were directed, at the public expense, to 
 defend, and procure to be discharged, every 
 person arrested as a fugitive slave. The 
 Habeas Corpus Act also provided that fugi 
 tive slaves should be tried by jury, and it 
 interposed other obstacles to the execution 
 of the Fugitive Slave Act. 
 
 The law further provided, that all per 
 sons unlawfully capturing, seizing, or de 
 taining a person as a fugitive slave, should 
 be confined in the state prison not more 
 than ten years, and fined not exceeding 
 1,000 dollars. Every person held as a 
 slave, who should be brought into the state, 
 was declared free ; and all persons who 
 should hold, or attempt to hold, as a slave, 
 any person so brought into the state, in 
 any form, or for any time, however short, 
 should be confined in the state prison not 
 less than one, nor more than fifteen, years; 
 and fined not exceeding 2,000 dollars. 
 , The laws of the state of Massachusetts, 
 prohibited, under heavy penalties, its citi 
 zens, and state and county officers, from 
 executing the Fugitive Slave Act, or from 
 arresting a fugitive slave, or from aiding 
 in either denying the use of the gaols and 
 public buildings for such purposes. 
 
 The governor was required to appoint 
 commissioners in every county, to aid fugi 
 tive slaves in recovering their freedom 
 when proceeded against as fugitive slaves ; 
 and all costs attending such proceedings 
 were directed to be paid by the state. 
 
 Any person who should remove, or at 
 tempt to remove, or come into the state 
 with the intention to remove, or assist in 
 removing, any person who was not a fugi 
 tive slave within the meaning of the con 
 stitution, was liable to punishment by a 
 fine not less than 1,000, nor more than 
 5,000 dollars, and imprisonment for not less 
 than one, nor more than five years. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act gave trial by jury 
 to fugitive slaves, and interposed other im 
 pediments to the pursuing of them. 
 
A.D. 1855.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS. 
 
 By legislative resolve of 1855, it was 
 declared 
 
 " Inasmuch as there is neither any power granted 
 to the general government of the United States for 
 the enactment of any law by congress for the return 
 of alleged fugitive slaves, nor any prohibition 
 therein to the states against the passage of laws 
 upon that subject, that the Fugitive Slave Act is a 
 direct violation of the 10th article of the amend 
 ments of the constitution of the United States; 
 which declares that the powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the constitution, nor prohibited 
 by it to the states, are reserved to the states respec 
 tively, or to the people." 
 
 By the same resolve, the senators and 
 representatives, in congress of the state 
 of Massachusetts, were instructed to use 
 their exertions to get a repeal of the com 
 promise fugitive slave law of 1850 
 
 "Which is hostile alike to the provisions of the 
 national constitution, and to the dictates of the 
 Christian religion ; an infraction equally of the 
 supreme law of the land, and of the higher law 
 of God, in consonance therewith." 
 
 The first law of that state against the 
 rendition of fugitive slaves, under the act 
 of congress passed in 1793, was enacted 
 in 1843 ; and, in 1855, the same law was 
 re-enacted, with provisions to defeat the 
 Compromise Act of congress, passed in 
 1850. It prohibited any of the officers of 
 the state from issuing warrants for the arrest 
 of fugitive slaves ; and declared, that 
 
 No person, while holding any office of honour, 
 trut, or emolument under the laws of this com 
 monwealth, shall, in any capacity, issue any warrant 
 or other proof, or grant any certificate under or by 
 virtue of an act of congress, approved the 12th of 
 February, in the year 1793, entitled, An Act 
 respec:ing Fugitives from Justice, and Persons 
 escaping from the Service of their Masters ; or 
 under or by virtue of an act of congress, approved 
 the 18th day of September, 1850, entitled, An 
 Act to amend, and supplementary to, an Act re 
 specting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons es 
 caping from the Service of their Masters ; or shall 
 in any capacity serve any such warrant or other 
 process." 
 
 If any officer of the state should comply 
 with the laws of congress of 1793, and of 
 the compromise fugitive slave law of 1850, 
 and, in accordance therewith, issue a war 
 rant for the arrest of a fugitive from ser 
 vice, he was to be subjected to the follow 
 ing penalty : 
 
 "His office shall be deemed vacant, and he shall 
 for ever thereafter be ineligible to hold any office of 
 trust, honour, or emolument, under the laws of this 
 commonwealth." 
 
 If a lawyer should serve in behalf of the 
 
 master of the fugitive slave, the law sub 
 jected him to the following penalty : 
 
 " He shall be deemed to have resigned any com 
 mission from the commonwealth that he may pos 
 sess : and he shall be thereafter incapacitated from 
 appearing as counsel or attorney in the courts of 
 this commonwealth." 
 
 If any judge should issue a warrant, 
 under the fugitive slave laws of congress, 
 although he was sworn to support the con 
 stitution and laws of the United States, he 
 was subjected to the following penalty : 
 
 " It shall be considered as in violation of good 
 behaviour, as well as a reason for loss of confidence, 
 and as furnishing sufficient grounds either for im 
 peachment or removal by address." 
 
 Any sheriff, gaoler, coroner, constable, 
 or other officer of the commonwealth, in 
 cluding militia officers, who should even 
 
 "Aid in arresting, imprisoning, detaining, or re 
 turning any person, for the reason that he is 
 claimed or adjudged to be a fugitive from service 
 or labour, shall be punished by fine not less than 
 1,000 dollars, and not exceeding 2,000 dollars, and 
 imprisoned in the state prison for not less than 
 one, nor more than two years." 
 
 The state of Connecticut, which, as late 
 as 1840, tolerated slavery within its own, 
 borders, prohibited, under severe penalties, 
 all its officers from aiding in executing the 
 Fugitive Slave Act of congress. 
 
 The statutes of Rhode Island prohibited 
 all officers from aiding in executing the 
 Fugitive Slave Act of congress, or arrest 
 ing a fugitive slave, and denied the use of 
 its gaols and public buildings for securing 
 any such fugitives. 
 
 The New Jersey law provided, that if 
 any person should forcibly take away from 
 the state any man, woman, or child, bond 
 or free, into another state, he should be 
 fined not exceeding 1,000 dollars, or im 
 prisoned, with hard labour, not exceeding 
 five years ; or both. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act gave a trial by 
 jury to fugitive slaves; and all judicial 
 officers were prohibited from acting under 
 anv other than the law of New Jersey. 
 
 trior to 1847, in Pennsylvania, non 
 resident owners of slaves were allowed to 
 retain that species of property in the state 
 for a term not exceeding six months. In 
 1847 this privilege was revoked. 
 
 Illinois prohibited, under pain of impri 
 sonment for not less than one, nor more 
 than seven years, any person from stealing 
 or arresting any slave, with the design of 
 taking such slave out of the state, without 
 first having established his claim thereto, 
 
 663 
 
PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS ] HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1S55. 
 
 according to the laws of the United States. 
 The Habeas Corpus Act allowed trial by 
 jury to fugitive slaves. 
 
 The law of Indiana was similar to that 
 of Illinois, except that the penalties were 
 greater. The fine was not less than 1,000 
 dollars, nor more than 5,000 ; and the 
 term of imprisonment not less than one, 
 nor more than fourteen years. 
 
 The laws of the state of Ohio were pecu 
 liarly stringent and effective. They not 
 only denied the use of the gaols and public 
 buildings to secure fugitive slaves, and 
 required the attorneys for the common 
 wealth to defend them at the expense of 
 the state ; but the law of Connecticut, in 
 relation to the punishment of persons falsely 
 alleging others to be slaves, was adopted, 
 with the addition, that any person who 
 carried away a slave should be punished 
 by imprisonment in the state prison, for a 
 period not exceeding ten years, or by a 
 line not exceeding 1,000 dollars. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act also provided 
 trial by jury in cases where fugitives were 
 claimed. 
 
 Wisconsin, in some particulars, exceeded 
 all the rest. It directed its district attor 
 neys, in all cases of fugitive slaves, to 
 appear for and defend them at the expense 
 of the state. It required the issue of the 
 writ of habeas corpus, on the mere state 
 ment of the district attorney, that a person 
 in custody was detained as a fugitive slave ; 
 and directed all its judicial and executive 
 officers who had reason to believe that a 
 person was about to be arrested or claimed 
 on such ground, to give notice to the dis 
 trict attorney of the county where the 
 person resided. If a judge in vacation 
 failed to discharge the arrested fugitive 
 slave on habeas corpus, an appeal was al 
 lowed to the next circuit court. Trial by 
 jury was to be granted at the election of 
 either party ; and all costs of trial, which 
 would otherwise fall on the fugitive, were 
 assumed by the state. A law was also 
 enacted, similar to that of Connecticut, for 
 the punishment of any one who should 
 falsely and maliciously declare a person to 
 be a fugitive slave, with intent to aid in the 
 procuring the forcible removal of such 
 person from the state as a slave. 
 
 The law relative to kidnapping, punished 
 the forcible seizure, without lawful autho 
 rity, of any person of colour, with intent to 
 cause him to be sent out of the state, or 
 sold as a slave, or in any manner to trans- 
 664 
 
 fer his service or labour, or the actual sell 
 ing or transferring the service of such 
 person, by imprisonment in the state prison 
 from one to two years, or by fine of from. 
 500 to 1,000 dollars. The consent of the 
 person seized, sold, or transferred, not to 
 be a defence, unless it appear to the jury 
 that it was not obtained by fraud, nor ex 
 torted by duress or by threats. 
 
 The law of the state of Iowa was similar 
 to that of Indiana, except that the maxi 
 mum of the punishment was five years in 
 the state prison, and a fine of 1,000 dollars. 
 The following is an analysis of those 
 laws: States which prohibited their offi 
 cers and citizens from aiding in the execu 
 tion of the law of congress, were Maine, 
 Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, 
 New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New 
 Jersey, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Michi 
 gan, and Vermont. 
 
 States which denied the use of all public 
 edifices in aid of the master, were Maine, 
 Rhode Island, Vermont, Michigan, and 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 States which provided defence for the 
 fugitive, were Maine, New York, Wis 
 consin, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachu 
 setts, and Michigan. 
 
 States which declared the fugitive free, if 
 brought by the master into the state, were 
 Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. 
 The latter declared him free absolutely. 
 
 The following is a recapitulation of the 
 penalties provided for the master who pur- 
 1 sued his rights under the law of congress 
 j and constitution, but in contravention of 
 state statutes framed for the purpose of em 
 barrassing his action, defeating his claim, 
 ! and rendering the law ineffectual : In 
 I Maine, a fine of 1,000 dollars, and five years 
 ! imprisonment ; Vermont, 2,000, and fifteen 
 ! years; Massachusetts, 5,000, and five years; 
 Connecticut, 5,000, and five years ; Penn- 
 ! sylvania, 1,000, and three months ; Indiana, 
 ! 5,000, and fourteen years ; Michigan, 1,000, 
 1 and ten years ; Wisconsin, 1,000, and two 
 ! years ; Iowa, 1,000, and five years. 
 
 On the 9th of July, 1850, one year and 
 ! four months after his inauguration as pre- 
 | sident, Zachary Taylor died. This mourn 
 ful event was received by the nation with 
 the most profound sense of regret. On the 
 next day, at twelve o clock, Millard Fill- 
 more, the vice-president, was formally qua 
 lified, and commenced his executive career : 
 he had the confidence of the whig party, 
 and the respect of his political opponents. 
 
A.D. 1852.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 Early in 1852, the people commenced 
 their primary movements for the approach 
 ing presidential election. The three great 
 parties were, the Democratic, Whig, and 
 Free Soil. The first of these assembled in 
 national convention at Baltimore, on the 
 1st of June, 1852. On the forty-ninth bal 
 lot, Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was 
 nominated for the presidency, and William 
 R. King, of Alabama, for the vice-pre 
 sidency. The " platform" was composed 
 of sundry resolutions, reiterating the poli 
 tical doctrines declared by preceding con 
 ventions. AVith respect to slavery, the fol 
 lowing additional resolution was adopted : 
 
 " Resolved, That the democratic party will re 
 sist all attempts at renewing in congress, or out of 
 it, the agitation of the slavery question, under 
 whatever shape or colour the attempt may be 
 made." 
 
 This convention was decidedly favourable 
 to states rights much more so, in fact, 
 than any previous political organisation that 
 had been formed since the foundation of 
 the government. It declared in favour of 
 the doctrines enacted by the legislatures of 
 Kentucky and Virginia in 179b- 9, already 
 given.* The following is this most re 
 markable resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That the democratic party will 
 faithfully abide by, and uphold, the principles laid 
 down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 
 1798 and 1799, and in the report of Mr. Madison 
 to the Virginia legislature in 1799 : that it adopts 
 those principles as constituting one of the main 
 foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to 
 carry them out in their obvious meaning and im 
 port." 
 
 The whig convention met at Baltimore 
 on the 16th of June ; and Major-general 
 Winfield Scott, of New Jersey, was nomi 
 nated for the presidency, on the fifty-third 
 ballot ; and William A. Graham, of North 
 Carolina, for the vice-presidency. The con 
 vention adopted a series of resolutions, 
 similar in principle to those that had been 
 issued by the party on former occasions. It 
 also adopted a resolution in favour of sup 
 porting the enforcement of the compromise 
 of 1850, respecting, and deprecating, all 
 further agitation of the slavery question. 
 
 The Free Soil, or anti-slavery convention, 
 assembled at Pittsburg on the llth of 
 August, 1852. John P. Hale, of New 
 Hampshire, was nominated for the presi 
 dency ; and George W. Julian, of Indiana, 
 for the vice-presidency. A "platform" 
 embracing a preamble and twenty-two 
 * Ante, p. 242, vol. ii. 
 
 resolutions was adopted. It declared, that 
 slavery was a sin against God, and a crime 
 against man, which no human enactment 
 nor usage could make right. That the 
 Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was repugnant 
 to the constitution ; to the principles of 
 common law ; to the spirit of Christianity ; 
 and to the sentiments of the civilised world. 
 It denied its binding force upon the people, 
 and demanded its immediate repeal. It 
 denounced the democratic and whig parties 
 as corrupt, and unworthy of support and 
 confidence, because they were both, more 
 or less, " wings of the great slave com 
 promise party." The public lands were 
 declared to belong to the people, and should 
 not be sold to individuals nor corpora 
 tions, but should be granted, free of cost, 
 in limited quantities, to actual settlers. 
 Various other measures received the con 
 sideration of the convention ; but the prin 
 cipal object of the free democratic party 
 was, to maintain an organisation " for the 
 purpose of taking possession of the federal 
 government, and administering it for the 
 better protection of the rights and interests 
 of the whole people." It inscribed upon 
 its banner, "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free 
 Labour, and Free Men;" and, under it, 
 each member pledged to "fight on, and 
 fight ever, until a triumphant victory" 
 should reward their exertions. 
 
 The Free Democrats, generally known 
 at that time as Free-Soilers, assumed no 
 organisation in any of the slaveholding i 
 states ; and, in several of the non-slave- 
 holding, they had but few local nomina 
 tions to support their national measure. 
 
 The whigs lost their able and distin 
 guished leader on the 29th of June, 1852. 
 Henry Clay died at Washington, and his 
 death was lamented by all classes through 
 out the country. Never, since the death of 
 George Washington, did the nation exhibit 
 such extraordinary signs of grief. The peo 
 ple of the towns and cities, in the different 
 states, appointed particular days for mani 
 festing, in some public manner, their pro 
 found regret for the nation s loss; and, on 
 those occasions, the houses along the streets 
 and highways were draped in black. Ere 
 the presidential election, another great man 
 passed from this sublunary world to eter 
 nity Daniel Webster, who died at Marsh- 
 field, Massachusetts, on the 23rd of Octo 
 ber, 1852. John C. Calhoun died on the 
 31st of March, 1850; and his loss to the 
 nation was properly appreciated. Calhoun, 
 
 66-5 
 
PIERCE S ELECTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OP AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1856. 
 
 Clay, and "Webster were brilliant stars in 
 the American galax}\ 
 
 The election took place in November, 
 1852; and resulted, for Pierce, 1,601,274; 
 Scott, 1,386,580 ; Hale, 155,825 ; the former 
 having a majority over the latter two, 
 of 58,869. The electoral vote was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 Election for the Seventeenth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1853, and terminating 3rd March, 1857. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 Franklin Pierce, of 
 New Hampshire. 
 
 Winfield Scott, of 
 New Jersey. 
 
 William R. King, 
 of Alabama. 
 
 W. A. Graham, of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 
 8 
 5 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 35 
 
 7 
 27 
 3 
 8 
 15 
 10 
 8 
 
 10 
 9 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 11 
 4 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 23 
 5 
 4 
 4 
 3 
 
 13 
 5 
 
 12 
 12 
 
 8 
 5 
 
 4 
 G 
 
 35 
 7 
 27 
 3 
 8 
 15 
 10 
 3 
 
 10 
 9 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 11 
 4 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 23 
 5 
 4 
 4 
 3 
 
 253 
 
 13 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 New Hampshire 
 Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island 
 Connecticut . 
 
 New York 
 New Jersey . 
 Pennsylvania . 
 Delaware ..... 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 North Carolina . . . 
 South Carolina . 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Mississippi .... 
 
 Indiana .... 
 
 Arkansas ... 
 Missouri ... 
 Texas* .... 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Wisconsin .... 
 
 California 
 
 Florida 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 253 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 Majority . . . 149 
 
 During Mr. Pierce s administration, no 
 important event transpired, other than 
 that which pertained to the slavery issue. 
 Senator Douglas submitted a bill on the 
 4th of January, 1854, for the organisation 
 of Kansas and Nebraska territories, which 
 contemplated, that the people residing 
 therein, on their formation into states, were 
 to decide whether or not slavery should 
 exist in the said states. The anti-slavery 
 members of congress opposed the measure, 
 as it repealed the Missouri restriction that 
 
 * Texas was entitled to four electoral ballots, 
 but only three were cast. 
 666 
 
 had been adopted in 1820. Never before, 
 during the existence of the nation, was 
 there manifested so much determination 
 between the north and the south, as when 
 these measures were pending before con 
 gress. Against the most extraordinary 
 efforts of the abolitionists of the north, the 
 bill finally passed, and became a law, and 
 the Missouri restriction was thereby vir 
 tually repealed. 
 
 The organisation of these territories, 
 particularly Kansas, gave rise to personal 
 conflicts, and the destruction of property by 
 mobs assuming military authority. Secret 
 combinations were formed by northern 
 people, to prevent the establishment of 
 slavery in Kansas; and, on the other hand, 
 pro-slavery men of the south made an 
 effort for the introduction of slave labour 
 into that territory. 
 
 While congress was intently engaged in 
 issues rapidly distracting the nation, the re 
 spective political parties were organising for 
 the forthcoming election. On the 22rid of 
 February, 1856, the American, or " Know- 
 Nothing" party formed of fragments 
 from the democratic and whig parties 
 organised a national convention at Phila 
 delphia, and nominated Millard Fillmore, 
 of New York, for the presidency; and 
 Andrew J. Donaldson, of Tennessee, for 
 the vice-presidency. A large number of 
 the delegates were dissatisfied with the 
 nominations, and withdrew. The seceders 
 called another convention, which was known 
 as the "National Convention of North 
 Americans ;" and it assembled on the 12th 
 of June, 1856, at New York. Nathaniel 
 P. Banks, of Massachusetts, was nominated 
 for the presidency; and J. Johnson, of 
 Pennsylvania, for the vice-presidency. The 
 Free Soil national convention, under the 
 name of " Republicans," assembled at Phila 
 delphia on the 17th of June, 1856 ; and John 
 C. Fremont of California, was nominated 
 for the presidency ; and William L. Dayton, 
 of New Jersey, for the vice-presidency. 
 Banks having declined the nomination 
 made by the convention at New York, that 
 party formally co-operated with the repub 
 licans, and nominated Fremont. The de 
 mocratic national convention assembled at 
 Cincinnati on the 2nd of June, 1856 ; and, 
 after considerable excitement, on the seven 
 teenth ballot, James Buchanan, of Pennsyl 
 vania, was nominated for the presidency; 
 and John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky 
 for the vice-presidency. 
 
A.D. 1857.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. [BUCHANAN S ELECTION. 
 
 The principles declared by the demo 
 cratic party were decidedly in favour of 
 states rights, and the right of the people 
 of the states and territories to govern the 
 institution of slavery, and that congress 
 had no jurisdiction over the question. The 
 republicans re-declared their principles 
 against the introduction of slavery into the 
 territories. The American party proclaimed 
 that "Americans must rule America ; and, 
 to this end, native-born citizens should be 
 selected for all state, federal, and munici 
 pal offices of government employment, in 
 preference to all others." 
 
 The election took place in November, 
 1852; and Buchanan received 1,838,169 bal 
 lots; Fremont, 1,341,264; Fillmore, 874,534. 
 The electoral vote was as follows : 
 Election for the Eighteenth Term, commencing Uh 
 March, 1857, and terminating 3rd March, 1861. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 James Buchanan, of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 John C. Fremont, of 
 California. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, of 
 New York. 
 
 J. C. Breckenridge, 
 of Kentucky. 
 
 to co W. L. Dayton, of 
 ....*. tn CT> . -co <y< o> *. o w <y co js- ew Jersey. 
 
 A. J. Donaldson, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 
 
 8 
 5 
 13 
 5 
 4 
 6 
 35 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 27 
 3 
 
 15 
 10 
 
 8 
 10 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 7 
 12 
 12 
 
 is 
 11 
 
 9 
 4 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 27 
 3 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 15 
 10 
 8 
 10 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 7 
 12 
 12 
 
 23 
 
 "6 
 5 
 4 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 Florida 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 Ten nessee 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Indiana 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Michigan 
 
 Wisconsin . 
 
 
 Iowa 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 9 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 Texas 
 
 California 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 174 
 
 114 
 
 8 
 
 174 
 
 114 
 
 8 
 
 Majority 149 
 
 
 The administration of Mr. Buchanan 
 was remarkable for a deficiency of execu 
 tive force. In his anxiety to harmonise the 
 
 conflicting sectional elements, he failed to 
 retain, as a unit in his support, the demo 
 cratic party. In the meantime the repub 
 licans were rapidly increasing in numbers, 
 and entertaining hopes of success at the 
 next presidential election. The southern 
 politicians had recommended the cotton 
 states to secede in case of Fremont s elec 
 tion ; and Buchanan contemplated an ex 
 tinction of the slavery issue by the admis 
 sion of Kansas into the Union. The 
 measure failed. In the meantime, the 
 Supreme Court of the United States 
 informally decided, in the case of Dred 
 Scott, that the enactment of the Missouri 
 restriction in 1820 was unconstitutional. 
 
 This opinion was denounced by the re 
 publican, or abolition party, as a dogma; 
 and the politicians of the north, in order 
 to get into power, fanned the flame of dis 
 cord, and characterised the judges as the 
 dupes of the slave power. 
 
 In 1858, Minnesota and Oregon were 
 admitted into the Union, after prolonged 
 discussions, as sovereign states. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, 1860, the demo 
 cratic party held a national convention at 
 Charleston, South Carolina, for the purpose 
 of nominating a candidate for the presi 
 dency. A division occurred, and the con 
 vention adjourned, to meet at Baltimore on 
 the 18th of June. A want of harmony among 
 the delegates also produced a division of 
 this latter meeting, and those remaining 
 in the convention nominated Stephen 
 A. Douglas, of Illinois, for president, and 
 Hershel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for vice- 
 president. The seceding delegates, repre 
 senting, in part, twenty-one states, met on 
 the 28th of June, at Baltimore, and nomi 
 nated John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, 
 for president, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, 
 for vice-president. 
 
 The republican national convention met 
 at Chicago, on the 16th of May, 1860, and 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, 
 for president, and Hannibal Hamlin, of 
 Maine, for vice-president. The principles 
 advocated by the party were the same as 
 those declared by the former conventions, 
 the leading purpose being the non-exten 
 sion of slavery in the territories. 
 
 A new organisation, calling itself the 
 " Constitutional Union Party," held a na 
 tional convention at Baltimore, on the 9th 
 of May, 1860, and nominated John Bell, 
 of Tennessee, for president, and Edward 
 Everett, of Massachusetts, for vice-presi- 
 
 667 
 
LINCOLN S ELECTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICA. 
 
 [A.D. 1860. 
 
 dent. The principles declared were conser 
 vative, and in favour of harmonising the 
 sectional animosities that were rapidly dis 
 tracting the people throughout the Union. 
 The election took place in November. 
 Lincoln received 1,857,610; Douglas, 
 1,365,976; Breckenridge, 847,953; and 
 Bell, 590,631. The electoral vote was as 
 follows : 
 
 Election for the Nineteenth Term, commencing 4th 
 March, 1861, and terminating 3rd March, 1865. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, of 
 Illinois. 
 
 J, C. Breckenridge, 
 of Kentucky. 
 
 John Bell, of Ten 
 nessee. 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas, 
 of Illinois. 
 
 Hannibal Hamlin, 
 of M aine. 
 
 Joseph Lane, of 
 Oregon. 
 
 Edward Everett, of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 o . 
 2 
 jS fi 
 
 Maine 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 13 
 
 
 
 
 13 .:. 
 
 
 
 Vermont 5 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Connecticut fi 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 New York ; 35 
 
 
 
 
 35 ... 
 
 
 
 New Jersey 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Pennsylvania 27 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Maryland ; 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 Florida 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 fi 
 
 
 
 
 fi 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 1? 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 
 1? 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 71 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 13 ... 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 1] 
 
 
 
 Michigan 
 
 fi 
 
 
 
 
 6 .. 
 
 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 5 ... 
 
 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 Iowa 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Texas 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 California 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 4 . 
 
 
 Oregon 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 3 ::: ::: 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 180 
 
 72 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 ISO 72 
 
 Sa 
 
 12 
 
 Majority 152 
 
 The two divisions of the democratic 
 party, and the National Union party, were 
 in favour of the opinions expressed by the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, in 
 the case of Dred Scott namely, that the 
 federal constitution admitted the right to 
 hold negroes as property in the territories. 
 663 
 
 The republicans denied the correctness of 
 that judgment ; and their leader, Mr. Lin 
 coln, declared that involuntary servitude 
 could only exist by municipal law; that, 
 without permissive statutes, it could not be 
 recognised in the territories ; and that 
 slavery, under the ordinance of 1787 and 
 the constitution, was confined to the states ; 
 but that congress had no jurisdiction over 
 the institution, either directly or indirectly, 
 in the states, and he disclaimed any inten 
 tion of attempting to interfere therewith. 
 
 The election of Mr. Lincoln the leader 
 of the republican or abolition party of the 
 northern states was the signal for the 
 dissolution of the Union. The southern 
 people prepared for the disruption of the 
 stately fabric that had been erected by 
 Washington and his coadjutors of the last 
 century; and the flag that had so proudly 
 floated throughout the world as the banner 
 of the free, was no longer a loved symbol 
 among them. They believed that the suc 
 cess of the abolitionists would lead to the 
 destruction of their rights and property ; 
 and that the only course for them to pursue 
 was, to sever their connection from the 
 northern people, who had so latety ex 
 hibited a sectional determination antago 
 nistic to the principles of the constitutional 
 compact. The events that followed were 
 full of import ; and the pen, to record them 
 impartially, must be plucked from the 
 pinion of the eagle long after the present 
 generation has returned to dust. For 
 upwards of two centuries, military im 
 plements of death were comparatively un 
 known in the land where Powhattan once 
 ruled his savages : but, within a few months, 
 the glittering steel, and all the modern 
 appliances of war, were at work in the 
 destruction of life and property : the blood 
 of thousands crimsoned the soil ; and the 
 bones of gallant freemen were laid in monu 
 ments, commemorative of the sanguinary 
 deeds amongst a hitherto united people, who 
 had been blessed, beyond parallel, by the 
 Divinity that comprehendeth the mysteries 
 of all nature, and the bounds of eternity. 
 
 THE END. 
 
YE ! 1422. 
 

 
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