Chapter VI: Part 6

Isaac Shelby, a distinguished American revolutionary officer, was born on the 11th of December, 1750, near the North Mountain, in Maryland, where his father and grandfather settled after their emigration to America from Wales. In that early settlement of the country, which was much annoyed by wars with the Indians, Shelby obtained only the elements of a plain English education; but born with a rugged constitution, capable of bearing privations and fatigue, he became accustomed to the early use of arms and pursuit of game. General Evan Shelby, the father of the subject of this memoir, was born in Wales, and arrived in this country when quite a small lad with his father, and settled near Hagerstown, Maryland. He possessed a strong mind, with great perseverance and unshaken courage, which, with his skill as a hunter and woodsman, induced his appointment as captain of a company of rangers, in the French and Indian war, which commenced in 1754. During this year he made several successful expeditions into the Alleghany mountains. He fought many severe battles with the unfortunate Braddock, and was appointed a captain in the provincial army destined for the reduction of Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburgh. He planned and laid out the old Pennsylvania road across the Alleghany mountains, and led the advance of the army commanded by General Forbes, which took possession of Fort Du Quesne in 1758. He was distinguished for his bravery at the battle of Loyal Hanning, now Bedford, Pennsylvania. In 1772 he removed to the western waters, and commanded a company in 1774, in the campaign under Lewis and Lord Dunmore, against the Indians on the Scioto river. Isaac Shelby was appointed a lieutenant in the company of his father, and fought in the memorable battle of Kenhawa, and at the close of that campaign was appointed by Lord Dunmore to be second in command of a garrison, to be erected on the ground where this battle was fought. This was considered to be the most severe battle ever fought with the western Indians; the contest continued from sunrise to sunsetting, and the ground along the banks of the Ohio, for nearly half a mile, was scattered with bodies at the end of the conflict. The Indians, under their celebrated chief, Cornstalk, abandoned the ground during the darkness of the night. Lieutenant Isaac Shelby remained in this garrison until 1775, when it was disbanded by Governor Dunmore, fearing it might be held for the benefit of the rebel authorities; he then removed to Kentucky, and engaged in the business of a land surveyor; but after living for nearly twelve months in the cane-breaks, without either bread or salt, his health began to decline and he returned to Virginia.

Immediately on his return in 1776, the committee of safety in Virginia, appointed him captain of a minute company--a species of troops organized upon the first breaking out of the revolution, but not called into service from the extreme frontier where he lived. In the year 1777 he was appointed by Governor Henry a commissary of supplies for an extensive body of militia, posted at different garrisons to guard the frontier settlements, and for a treaty to be held at the Long Island of Holston river with the Cherokee tribe of Indians. These supplies could not be obtained nearer than Staunton, Virginia, a distance of three hundred miles; but, by the most indefatigable perseverance, one of the most prominent traits in his character, he accomplished it to the satisfaction of his country. In 1778 he was still engaged in the commissary department to provide supplies for the continental army, and for a formidable expedition, by the way of Pittsburgh, against the northwestern Indians. In 1779 he was appointed by Governor Henry to furnish supplies for a campaign against the Chicamanga Indians--a numerous banditti on the south side of the Tennessee river, under the control of a daring Cherokee chief, called Dragon Canoe, who, after his defeat at the Long Island of Holston, in 1776, had declared eternal war against the whites.

The frontiers from Georgia to Pennsylvania suffered from their depredations, more than from all the other hostile tribes together. Owing to the poverty of the treasury at this time, the government was unable to advance the necessary funds, and the whole expense of the supplies, including transportation, was sustained by his own individual credit. In the spring of that year he was elected a member of the Virginia legislature from Washington county, and in the fall of that year, was commissioned by Governor Jefferson as a major in the escort of guards to the commissioners for extending the boundary line between that state and the state of North Carolina. By the extension of that line Major Shelby became a resident of North Carolina, and Governor Caswell immediately appointed him a colonel of the militia of the new county of Sullivan, established in consequence of the additional territory acquired by the running of that line. During the summer of 1780, whilst Colonel Shelby was in Kentucky, securing and laying out those lands which he had five years previously improved for himself, the intelligence of the surrender of Charleston and the loss of the army, reached him.

He immediately returned home, determined to enter the service of his country, to quit it no more but by death, or until her independence should be secured. He was not willing to be a cool spectator of a contest in which the dearest rights and interests of his country were involved. On his arrival in Sullivan, he found a requisition from General McDowell, requesting him to furnish all the aid in his power to check the enemy, who had overrun the two southern states, and were on the borders of North Carolina.

Colonel Shelby without delay called on the militia of his county to volunteer their services for only a short time, on an occasion so trying, and accordingly he collected three hundred mounted riflemen, and marched across the Alleghany mountains. Having arrived at McDowell’s camp, near the Cherokee ford of Broad river, Colonel Shelby was detached with Lieutenant-Colonels Sevier and Clarke, with six hundred men, to surprise a post of the enemy in front, on the waters of the Pacolet river. This post was a strong fort surrounded by abattis, built in the Cherokee war, and commanded by Captain Patrick Moore. The Americans surrounded the post within musket-shot and gave the summons to surrender; this was unheeded, but the second had the desired effect. Captain Moore surrendered the garrison with one British sergeant-major, ninety-three loyalists, and two hundred and fifty stand of arms, loaded with ball and buckshot, and so arranged at the port-holes, that with a very little sagacity, they might have repulsed double the number of the American detachment. Shortly after this affair, Colonels Shelby and Clarke were detached, with six hundred mounted men, to watch the enemy and intercept, if possible, his foraging parties. Several attempts were made by a party of about twenty-five hundred, composed of British and tories, with a small squadron of British horse, commanded by Major Ferguson, an officer of some enterprise, to surprise Colonel Shelby, but the enemy was baffled. On the first of August, however, the American commander had reached a place called Cedar Spring, where the advance of Major Ferguson, amounting to about six or seven hundred, came up, and a sharp conflict ensued for half an hour, when Ferguson approached with his whole force. The Americans then retreated, carrying off the field fifty prisoners, mostly British, including two officers. The enemy followed in quick pursuit for nearly five miles, in order to regain the prisoners; but the American commander, by forming frequently on the most advantageous ground to give battle, so retarded the pursuit, that the prisoners were placed beyond their reach. The American loss was ten or twelve killed and wounded. Only a few days after this conflict, intelligence was received from General McDowell, that five or six hundred tories were encamped at Musgrove’s Mill, on the south side of the Enoree, about forty miles distance, with orders to Colonels Shelby, Clarke and Williams, of South Carolina, with about seven hundred horsemen, to surprise and disperse them. The American commanders took up their line of march from Smith’s Ford of Broad river, on the evening of the 18th of August, continuing through the woods until dark, and then pursuing a road, leaving Ferguson’s camp about three miles to the left. After riding hard all night, frequently on a gallop, and just at the dawn of day, and about half a mile from the enemy’s camp, they met a strong patrol party, with whom a short skirmish ensued, and several of them were killed. At that juncture, a countryman living just at hand, came up and informed Colonel Shelby, that the enemy had been reinforced the evening before with six hundred regular troops from New York, under Colonel Innes, destined to reinforce Ferguson’s army. This intelligence, which was found to be correct, changed the movement of the troops, for, fatigued and exhausted as they were, it was deemed improper to march on and attack the enemy. They instantly determined to form a breastwork of old logs and brush, and make the best defence in their power. Captain Inman and a detachment of twenty-five men were sent out to meet the enemy, and skirmish with them as soon as they crossed the Enoree river. Captain Inman was ordered to fire upon them, and retreat according to discretion. This stratagem drew the enemy out in disorder, supposing the whole army was near. When they came within seventy yards, a most destructive fire commenced from the American riflemen, concealed behind the breastwork of logs. For an hour the American army kept possession of the slender breastwork, during which Colonel Innes was wounded, and all the British officers, except a subaltern, being previously killed or wounded, and Captain Hawzey, a noted tory leader, being shot down, the whole of the enemy’s line made a precipitate retreat, closely pursued by the Americans, who beat them across the river. In this pursuit Captain Inman was killed, bravely fighting hand to hand. Colonel Shelby commanded the right wing, Colonel Clarke the left, and Colonel Williams the centre. In M’Call’s History of Georgia, (the only work in which this battle is related,) the British loss is stated to be sixty-three killed and one hundred and sixty wounded and taken; the American loss to be four killed and nine wounded. Amongst the killed was Captain Inman, and amongst the wounded, Colonel Clarke and Captain Clarke. The Americans mounted their horses, intending to reach Ninety-six, a small British post, that night, but before they had commenced their march, an express in great haste arrived from General McDowell, apprising them of the defeat of the grand American army under General Gates, near Camden, and advising them to be on the alert, as the enemy would, no doubt, endeavor to improve their victory by destroying all the small corps of the American army within their reach. Colonel Shelby disposed of his British prisoners by distributing them amongst the companies, so as to make one to every three men, who carried them alternately, directly towards the mountains, and commenced a rapid march all that day and night, and the next day until late in the evening, without even halting to refresh. Harassing as this long and rapid march must have been, it saved them, as they were pursued until late in the afternoon of the second day after the action, by a strong detachment from Ferguson’s army. Ferguson was so anxious and determined to recapture the prisoners, and to check those daring adventures of the mountaineers, that, in order to intercept their march, he, with his main body, took post at a place called Gilbert Town, whence he sent messages, by paroled prisoners, to the officers west of the mountains, threatening the devastation of their country if they did not cease their opposition to the British government.

This was the most critical period of the revolutionary war at the south. It appeared doubtful whether a force sufficient could be raised to prevent the entire devastation of that portion of the continent. Cornwallis and the main army were posted at Charlottetown, in North Carolina, and Ferguson, with three thousand at Gilbert Town; while many of the best friends of the American government, despairing of the eventual independence of America, sought protection under the British standard. At this season of gloom, Colonel Shelby proposed to Colonels Sevier and Campbell to raise a force from their several counties, and to march hastily through the mountains, and attack and surprise Ferguson in the night. Accordingly they collected about one thousand strong, but when, on the 26th of September, they commenced their march, it was discovered that three men had deserted to the enemy. This disconcerted their first design, and induced them to turn to the left, gain his front, instead of his rear, as was first intended, and act as events might suggest. For days they traveled through mountains almost inaccessible to horsemen, but soon entered the level country, where they met Colonel Cleaveland with three hundred men, and with Colonels Williams, Lacy and others, who had heard of Cleaveland’s advance. Three hundred more were thus added to the force of the mountaineers. They now considered themselves sufficiently strong to encounter Ferguson; and by a council of officers it was agreed that Colonel Campbell, of the Virginia regiment, should be appointed to the command. They accordingly selected the best horses and rifles, and at the dawn of day nine hundred and ten expert marksmen commenced their march. In their council, also, they determined that as Ferguson was their object, they would not be diverted from the main point by any collection of tories in the vicinity of their march.

For the first thirty-six hours they traveled, they alighted from their horses but once, and that only for one hour. They at last found Ferguson securely encamped on King’s Mountain, which was about half a mile long, and from which he declared but the evening before that “GOD ALMIGHTY could not drive him.”

On approaching the mountain, the two centre columns displayed to the right and left, formed a front, and commenced an attack; while the right and left wings were marching to surround the enemy. In a few minutes the action was general and severe. It continued furiously for three-quarters of an hour, when the enemy, being driven from the east to the west end of the mountain, surrendered at discretion. Ferguson was killed, with three hundred and seventy-five of his officers and men, and seven hundred and thirty taken prisoners. The Americans had sixty killed and wounded; among the former was Colonel Williams.

This glorious victory took place at the most gloomy period of the revolution, and may be styled the first link in the great chain of events at the south, which established the independence of the United States. It was achieved by raw, undisciplined riflemen, who had no authority from the government under which they lived; who were without pay, rations, ammunition, or even the expectation of reward, other than that which resulted from the noble attempt to advance the independence of their beloved country. The tories were completely dispirited, and Cornwallis, who then lay within thirty miles of King’s Mountain, became so alarmed that he ordered an immediate retreat to Winnesborough, sixty or eighty miles distant, where he remained for three months, until reinforced by General Leslie, with two thousand men from the Chesapeake.

The legislature of North Carolina passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Shelby and his brother officers, and directed each to be presented with an elegant sword, for his patriotic conduct in the attack and defeat of the British on King’s Mountain, on the memorable 7th of October, 1780. Colonel Shelby served the two following years under that distinguished partisan officer, General Marion. In 1782, Colonel Shelby retired from the army, and was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the pre-emption claims upon the Cumberland river, and to lay off the lands allotted to the officers and soldiers of the North Carolina line, south of where Nashville now stands. In 1783, he returned to Boonsborough, Kentucky, and married Susanna, second daughter of Captain Hart, one of the first settlers of Kentucky, and one of the proprietors styled Henderson & Co., by their purchase of the country from the Cherokees. Colonel Shelby established himself on the first settlement and pre-emption granted in Kentucky, for the purpose of cultivating the soil; and it is a remarkable fact, that at the period of his death, forty-three years after, he was the only individual in that state residing upon his own settlement and pre-emption. In 1812 he was chosen governor of the state in which he lived; and during the trying crisis of 1813, at the request of the legislature, he organized a body of four thousand volunteers, which he led in person, at the age of sixty-three, under General Harrison, into Canada. His gallantry and patriotism at that ever memorable victory on the Thames, were acknowledged by the commanding general, and by President Madison, and in resolutions by the legislature of Kentucky, which recognized “his plans and the execution of them as splendid realities, which exact our gratitude and that of his country, and justly entitle him to the applause of posterity.” Congress also passed a vote of thanks, and awarded a gold medal (_see_ Plate VII.), as a testimony of its sense of his illustrious services.

In 1817, he was selected by President Monroe to fill the department of war, but his advanced age induced him to decline the honor. In February, 1820, he was seized with a paralytic affection, which disabled his right arm and was the occasion of a lameness the remainder of his life. His mind continued unimpaired until his death by apoplexy, on the 18th of July, 1826, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was fitted, by a vigorous constitution, to endure active and severe bodily exercise, and the energetic symmetry of his person rendered his deportment impressively dignified. His strong, natural sense was aided by close observation of matters and things; and the valuable qualities of method and perseverance imparted success to all his efforts.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.

OCCASION.--Battle of the Thames.

DEVICE.--Bust of General Shelby.

LEGEND.--Governor Isaac Shelby.

REVERSE.--A representation of the battle of the Thames, in Canada; Governor Shelby charging the enemy with his mounted rangers.

LEGEND.--Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813.

EXERGUE.--Resolution of Congress, April 4th, 1818.

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_W. L. Ormsby, sc._]

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

William Henry Harrison was born at the seat of his father, at Berkely, on James river, twenty-five miles from Richmond, Virginia. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was a descendant of the celebrated leader of that name in the wars of Oliver Cromwell. He appears to have inherited republicanism, for he acted a most conspicuous part in our own revolutionary struggle. He represented Virginia in Congress, in the years 1774, 1775 and 1776, and was chairman of the committee of the whole house when the Declaration of Independence was read, and was one of the signers of that act. In 1782 he succeeded Governor Nelson in the executive chair of that state. William Henry Harrison, the subject of this memoir, was educated at the college of Hampden Sydney, which he left at the age of seventeen, to obey the wishes of his father in the study of medicine, and for that purpose repaired to Philadelphia in 1791, that he might prosecute his studies with greater advantage.

He had hardly commenced the study of his new profession when the death of his distinguished parent obliged him to return. After his return, and during the time appropriated for the settlement of his father’s estate, the preparations for a campaign against the Indians of the west caused much excitement, and Harrison resolved to enter the service of his government despite the most eloquent entreaties and persuasions of his guardian and friends. Nothing could check his enthusiastic ardor. He begged, he importuned, and Washington at last yielded to his constant importunities, and presented him with an ensign’s commission. With a heart beating with enthusiasm, he departed for Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, where he arrived only in time to learn the unparalleled massacre of St. Clair’s army, and the deaths of several distinguished officers. The sight of the broken troops had no effect on the warlike zeal of young Harrison. In the following year, General Wayne assumed the command, and appointed Ensign Harrison as one of his aids.

The first time he had a chance to distinguish himself was in the engagement of _Roche de Bouc_, in the official report of which, his general did him the justice to name him especially.

After the departure of General Wayne for the Atlantic States, in 1795, Harrison was left in command of Fort Washington. During the first year of his garrison life, he married the daughter of Judge Symmes, the proprietor of the Miami purchase. But the active mind of Harrison could not be confined within the walls of a garrison; he therefore resigned his commission, and obtained an appointment as secretary of the northwestern territory. His able talents, exercised in that capacity, soon made him popular, and in 1799 he was elected the first delegate in Congress for that extensive region, now comprising the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory of Michigan. The first object of his attention was a repeal of the obnoxious land bill, which ordained, that not less than four thousand acres could be sold at once. He became chairman of the committee on lands and framed a bill, which was carried with very little opposition. This bill lowered the number of acres to sections, half-sections, and quarter-sections, so as to enable the industrious husbandman to commence his labors; also providing for the payment of the lands in such a way as to meet the exigences of the most frugal means.

To this grand and important act of William Henry Harrison, is imputed the rapid settlement of the whole of that extensive region; and had he only been permitted to live to see this noble act completed, he would richly have merited the title of a benefactor to mankind. Shortly after, Indiana was erected into a separate territory, and Mr. Adams appointed Harrison the first governor.

In 1801, Governor Harrison entered upon the duties of his new office, with powers never before conferred upon any other officer, either civil or military, that of commissioner to treat with the Indians. In this capacity he negotiated and concluded fifteen treaties, with their title to upwards of seventy millions of acres of land. Although he was surrounded by numerous tribes of warlike Indians, whose hostile feelings were constantly inflamed by the intrigues of British agents and traders, and often by the American hunters themselves, Harrison kept down Indian invasion in the territory, only by conciliation accompanied by firmness. His administration of justice was always tempered with mildness. In this way he surmounted difficulties which would have prostrated any ordinary capacity. The ability and success of the administration of Governor Harrison are recorded in his voluminous correspondence with Mr. Jefferson from 1802 till 1809.

During the year 1811, affairs approached a crisis which appeared to render hostilities unavoidable; and Governor Harrison found it necessary to apply to Colonel Boyd, of the 4th United States regiment, then at Pittsburgh, who immediately joined him, with as large a force of militia as time permitted him to collect, together with a small but gallant band of volunteers from Kentucky, numbering about seventy persons. With these he marched towards the prophet’s town, at Tippecanoe. His object was to bring about a negotiation with Tecumseh and his prophet brother, who for a long time had been harassing and plundering the inhabitants of that part of the country. On the 6th of November he arrived in sight of the Indian village, and commenced his attempts at negotiation with these ruthless savages. Finding, however, that all his attempts were fruitless, he resolved to encamp for the night, the chiefs having promised to listen to him on the day following. Governor Harrison was careful in selecting a spot for the encampment, in case of a sudden attack, which he anticipated. His anticipation proved too true; for on the morning of the 7th, before daylight, the onset of these blood-thirsty savages was announced by their hideous yells. The Indians fought with their usual desperation, and for some time were victorious; but the extraordinary skill and courage of the American officers changed the tide against them, and they fled before their pursuers. Victory was propitious, but at the expense of some of the most gallant spirits of the age.

Colonels Davis and Owen, of Kentucky, and Captain Spencer, of Indiana, were among the slain. Governor Harrison received a bullet through his stock, but without injury.

Governor Harrison still continued to negotiate with the Indians, until the declaration of war against England, in 1812. He then received a commission as a major-general in the army of the United States, embracing a larger sphere of action. At that period the greatest confusion prevailed. Money, arms, and men must be raised, but who would assume the responsibility of procuring them?

All the talents and energies of our hero were called into action. He organized his army, obtained money, arms, and ammunition, and on the 5th of October, 1813, he brought the British army, with their Indian allies under Tecumseh, to action, near the river Thames. The decisive victory achieved by militia over the disciplined troops of England, was a matter of joy and exultation through the whole Union. This gallant victory is attributed to the novel maneuver of General Harrison, that of charging through the British lines with mounted infantry. For this important action, Congress presented a vote of thanks and a gold medal. (_See_ Plate VIII.)

General Harrison, having given the necessary aid to Niagara and the western frontier, left his troops at Sacket’s Harbor under the command of Colonel Smith, and repaired to Washington for the purpose of resigning his commission, in consequence of a misunderstanding between the Secretary of War and himself. The resignation was presented and accepted by Secretary Armstrong, much to the regret of the President, who was absent at the time; on his return he remarked, in a letter to a friend, “that had he been in Washington, it should not have been accepted.” General Harrison retired to his estate at North Bend, in Ohio. Thence he was successively called to represent the people of Ohio in the House of Representatives, and Senate of the United States, by which he was appointed minister to Colombia, till recalled by President Jackson. On his return to the United States, General Harrison again enjoyed the pursuits of agriculture in the bosom of his family at North Bend, until 1834, when he was appointed prothonotary of the court of Hamilton county. This office he punctually attended in person, until 1840, when he was triumphantly elected to the presidency of the United States. He was inaugurated and entered upon the duties of his office on the 4th of March, 1841, and died on the following 4th of April. In their official announcement of the death of General Harrison, the members of his cabinet say, “that the people of the United States, overwhelmed, like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life had been patriotic, useful, and distinguished, and that the last utterance of his lips expressed a fervent desire for the perpetuity of the constitution, and the preservation of its true principles.”

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.

OCCASION.--Battle of the Thames.

DEVICE.--Bust of General Harrison.

LEGEND.--Major General William H. Harrison.

REVERSE.--A female placing a wreath round two bayonets fixed on muskets, and a color staff stacked, over a drum and a cannon, a bow and a quiver; her right hand resting on a shield, bearing the stars and stripes of the United States, and holding a halbert. From the point of union of the stack, hangs a badge with the inscription, Fort Meigs, Battle of the Thames.

LEGEND.--Resolution of Congress, April 4th, 1818.

EXERGUE.--Battle of the Thames, Oct. 5th, 1813.

LIEUT.-COLONEL CROGHAN.

George Croghan was born at Locust Grove, near the falls of Ohio, on the 15th of November, 1791. His father, Major William Croghan, left Ireland at an early period of life; was appointed an officer in our revolutionary army, and discharged his duties to the satisfaction of the commander-in-chief. His mother was the daughter of John Clark, Esq., of Virginia, a gentleman of worth and respectability, who exerted himself greatly, and contributed largely towards the support of our just and glorious contest.

George Croghan received all the advantages of education which the best grammar-schools in Kentucky could afford. In his seventeenth year he entered the ancient college of William and Mary in Virginia. Both at school and at college, he was remarked for an open manliness of character, for elevation of sentiment, and for strength of intellect, connected with a high and persevering ambition. In July, 1810, he graduated at William and Mary College, and soon afterwards entered the law school of that institution, where he remained until the fall of 1811, when he volunteered his services as a private in the campaign up the Wabash. A short time before the action of Tippecanoe, he was appointed aid-de-camp to General Boyd, the second in command; and, although from his situation, he was not enabled to evince that activity which has since so much distinguished him, he exhibited a soul undaunted in one of the most sanguinary conflicts of that time, and accordingly received the thanks of the commanding general. In consequence of his services on the Wabash expedition, he was appointed a captain in the provincial army, directed to be raised and organized in the spring of 1812. In August he marched with the detachment from Kentucky, under General Winchester, destined to relieve General Hull in Canada. During the movements of that gallant but unfortunate little army, the caution, zeal and military capacity of Captain Croghan were conspicuous.

Upon visiting the various encampments of the army on its march along the Miami of the Lake, both before and after the attack on Fort Wayne, the ground occupied by Captain Croghan was easily designated by the judicious fortifications erected for the night. On the movement of the army towards the Rapids, he was entrusted with the command of Fort Winchester, at the junction of the Anglaize and Miami rivers, where he adopted his usual military arrangements. After the defeat at the river Raisin, he joined General Harrison at the Rapids, previous to the erection of Fort Meigs. General Harrison has often expressed the great confidence he had in the judicious arrangements of Captain Croghan, during the trying, brilliant and ever memorable siege of Fort Meigs.

In the sortie under the gallant Colonel, now General Miller, on the 5th of May, the storming of the British batteries was confided to the companies led by Captains Croghan, Langhan and Bradford. These batteries were defended by a regular force and a body of Indians, either of them superior in number to the assailants. Here Captain Croghan’s gallantry was again noticed in general orders. At a critical period in the campaign of 1813, Captain Croghan was promoted to a majority, and appointed to the command of Fort Sandusky, at Lower Sandusky.

On his conduct in the defence of that post, the official documents of the time, and the applause of a grateful country, are the most honorable commentary. The defence of the fort of Sandusky took place on the 4th of August, 1813, and although the work of a few hours, and of a small force, was an achievement brilliant in itself and important in its consequences. However diminutive it may appear, when compared with many of the military feats in the revolutionary war, it is justly entitled to a distinguished place in the annals of our country. It was among the first events of the last war that gave confidence to our soldiers, and compelled the enemy to respect our arms. It furnished, moreover, a memorable instance of what a few bold and determined spirits can perform, when opposed even to more than fourfold their number. It is not too much to add, that, under Providence, it was highly instrumental in preserving from the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, many of our defenceless frontier inhabitants.

The inclosure of Fort Sandusky, like that of most fortresses that are suddenly erected in our new settlements, was composed of picket-work, and surrounded by a ditch nine feet wide and six deep. The number of its defenders, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel, then Major Croghan, amounted to about one hundred and sixty, most of them raw, unexperienced troops. It contained but a single piece of mounted ordnance, and that only a six pounder.

The assailing force consisted of nearly a thousand men, one-half of them British regulars, commanded by General Proctor in person, and the remainder savages, led on, as we believe, by the celebrated Tecumseh. Their means of annoyance, besides small arms, were five six pounders, and one howitzer of considerable calibre. The fort was regularly summoned to surrender, under the usual plea of a wish to prevent the effusion of blood. To give to this message the greater weight, the force of the assailants was somewhat exaggerated, and it was added that, should the works be carried by assault, it would be impossible to restrain the savages from massacre. Undismayed by the odds that were against him, and the unsoldierly threat, that, should the enemy be successful, he would receive no quarter, Colonel Croghan unhesitatingly returned the customary answer, that he would defend his post “to the last extremity.”

This conference being ended, the British regulars, led on by Lieutenant-Colonel Short, an officer of high character and daring courage, advanced to the assault in a solid column, under the discharge of all their artillery. Notwithstanding a galling fire from the small arms of the fort, the assailants approached with firmness and gallantry, till, following the example of their intrepid leader, a large portion of them had leapt into the ditch. At this moment, when the enemy were completely within the toil he had prepared for them, Major Croghan unmasked his piece of cannon, which had been hitherto concealed, and poured among them a discharge of grape-shot which raked the ditch with terrible carnage. In the number of those who fell under this first and most destructive fire, was Lieutenant-Colonel Short. Another discharge or two from this piece of ordnance carried confusion into the British ranks, and forced them to retreat with the utmost precipitation; nor had they sufficient hardihood to return the charge. Panic-struck by this disaster of their allies, the savages also fled in all directions, leaving our countrymen in undisturbed possession of their well-defended fortress. The combined loss of the British and Indians in this affair, was computed at somewhat upwards of a hundred men; that of the Americans was one man killed and seven slightly wounded.

Such was the dismay created among the enemy by this signal and unexpected chastisement, that they precipitately abandoned their position, leaving behind them a large boat loaded with clothing and military stores. In consequence of the gallantry of this achievement, and the important effects of which it was productive, the brave Croghan, as yet but a major, besides being honorably mentioned in Congress, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. An affair of such brilliancy, achieved under such circumstances, could not fail to endear him to his country, and to exalt his name in the ranks of honor. Some years since Congress voted to Colonel Croghan a gold medal. (_See_ Plate VIII.)

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.

OCCASION.--Defence of Fort Sandusky, 2d August, 1813.

DEVICE.--Bust of Colonel Croghan.

LEGEND.--Presented by Congress to Colonel George Croghan, 1835.

REVERSE.--The fort of Sandusky, with the enemy arrayed in front; American flag flying on the tower; columns of smoke from the fort, &c.

LEGEND.--Pars magna fuit.

EXERGUE.--Sandusky, 2d August, 1813.

PAUL JONES.

John Paul Jones was born on the 6th of July, 1747, at Arbigland, in the parish of Kirkbean, Scotland.

The residence of his father was near the shores of the Solway, one of the most beautiful and picturesque points of the Frith, where our young hero passed his hours of pastime in launching his “tiny bark” on the waters, and issuing to his supposed officers and crew his naval commands. At the age of twelve years, having made known his determination to lead a seafaring life, it was deemed proper to yield to it by his reluctant parents. Accordingly, he was apprenticed to a merchant at Whitehaven, on the opposite side of Solway Frith, in the American trade.

He made his first voyage before he was thirteen, in the ship Friendship of Whitehaven, bound for the Rappahannock. His elder brother, William, had married and settled at Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where Jones found a happy home during his stay in America.

Although his first visit was of but short duration, he appears to have become greatly prepossessed in favor of America. These feelings he fostered under circumstances which made them keen and enduring, being so intimately connected with his first impressions of a naval life. His master, finding his affairs embarrassed, was induced to cancel the indentures of Jones, who now found himself at liberty to think and act as he pleased; but his fixed determination was the sea. He fortunately obtained the appointment of third mate of the ship King George, of Whitehaven, a vessel engaged in the slave trade. After making one voyage, he shipped as chief mate on board the brigantine Two Friends, of Kingston, Jamaica, engaged in the same traffic.

We have reason to believe that, after his second voyage in this brutalizing and unmanly traffic, he became disgusted and took a passage from the West Indies to Scotland in the John, of Kirkcudbright.

The slave trade was then tolerated by Great Britain, and the cruel and infamous manner in which its unfortunate victims were treated, evidently exercised a strong influence upon the mind of the inexperienced young seaman, and it probably tended, in after life, to make him inconsiderate of justice as well as regardless of the sufferings of others. Nevertheless, it is fair to infer, that the exhibition of these horrors, at which his feelings revolted, strengthened his love for that liberty for which he afterwards fought, and for that land which knew how to vindicate the cause of liberty. On the passage to Scotland, in the _John_, the master and mate both died of the yellow fever, and Jones took the command of the vessel, and brought her safely into port. For this service the owners placed him on board the same vessel as master and super-cargo. He then made two prosperous voyages to the West Indies, at the end of which, he was honorably discharged on account of the dissolution of the firm to which the vessel belonged. At this period the trade to the Isle of Man was principally contraband, and offered great facilities for making money. Our adventurous young hero, now in his twenty-third year, active, ambitious and self-confident, ready to steer his way through life as circumstances might serve, earnestly embarked in this trade, which, by a large portion of society was held not to be criminal, but simply illegal. After having been engaged in this trade for some time, in 1773 he was called to Virginia at the death of his brother William, who died without heirs. Jones took possession of the property, formally abandoned the sea, and declared his intention of devoting himself to agriculture. This intention he really commenced to carry into effect, but the quiet domestic life of the planter soon became irksome; and when the American Revolution broke out, his liberty-loving, and chivalric soul could no longer bear the ignoble life of a farmer, and he eagerly embraced the cause of the rebellious provinces. He immediately offered his services to Congress; they were accepted, and he received a commission in the navy as lieutenant.

No man appeared better qualified for the part he had to perform. Nature had made him a hero, and circumstances had prepared him to command men, as well as to give direction to the development of their energies; and these qualifications united with a brave heart and chivalrous spirit, rendered him able to vindicate the rights, which he knew so well how to assert.

The American navy at this time consisted of the following vessels:

Guns. Men.
Alfred 30 300
Columbus 28 300
Andrew Doria 16 200
Cabot 14 200
Providence 12 150
Hornet 10 120
Wasp 8 100
Fly, dispatch vessel.

Jones, who had been appointed lieutenant of the flag ship, Alfred, hoisted with his own hands the first American flag that ever waved over the ocean. He does not give the date of this transaction, but his commission dates 7th of December, 1775. The device was a pine tree, with a rattlesnake coiled at its root in the act of striking. This was the national insignia until 1777, when the present standard was adopted. On the 17th of February, 1776, the first American squadron sailed for the West Indies. During the passage they captured two small vessels, and made preparations for the capture of the island of New Providence, where a large quantity of stores and ammunition was deposited. The enterprise succeeded, the island was captured, the governor taken prisoner; also a hundred cannon and a large quantity of stores and ammunition fell into their hands.

In October, 1776, when the grade of naval captains was established by Congress, he received a full commission as one of the number.

Having now acquired the entire confidence of the marine committee of Congress, he repaired to France to arrange some naval operations with the American commissioners. His next voyage was to Whitehaven, in the north of England, where, with a few men, he spiked all the cannon of two of the forts, the sentinels being first secured in their own guard-house.

This and similar rapacious attacks, he justified upon the principle of retaliation for the destruction of private property by the British troops in America. Off Carrickfergus, on the southern coast of Scotland, he had an engagement with the British sloop of war Drake, which, after a severe and close action of an hour, he captured and carried in triumph into France. The day only before this action occurred the atrocious act at St. Mary’s Isle. Thinking that the capture of the Earl of Selkirk, who resided at Selkirk Abbey, St. Mary’s Isle, might enable Congress to obtain more equal terms in the exchange of prisoners, his object was to seize his lordship and detain him as prisoner on board the Ranger, until Congress could demand a suitable exchange. This, however, was defeated by the absence of his lordship; and the excuse which Jones gave for entering the Abbey and bringing away all the family plate, was, that his men, remembering the scenes of devastation occasioned by the British in America, disregarded all restraints of wholesome discipline, and acted at their own discretion. Jones, in a communication from Brest to the countess, informed her that he should gratify himself by purchasing the plate and returning it uninjured, which he did, and received a formal acknowledgment from the earl upon the subject. In August, 1779, Jones first sailed in the Bon Homme Richard, with six other vessels, forming a squadron under his command.

In September, 1779, he fell in with the Serapis, off Flamborough-head, on the northeast coast of England, where that celebrated action took place, in view of hundreds of inhabitants of the neighboring coast, which has imparted so much renown to the name of Jones. The Serapis was a new ship, of forty-four guns and a picked crew. It was a clear, moonlight night, about seven o’olock, when the enemy first hailed Jones, who answered with a whole broadside. The action, which lasted several hours, raged with incessant fury, until the enemy’s bowsprit coming over the poop of the Bon Homme Richard, by the mizzenmast, Jones, with his own hand, seized the ropes from the enemy’s bowsprit, and made them fast to his own ship. The Serapis swung round, so that the ships lay square alongside of each other, the stern of the enemy close to the bow of the Bon Homme Richard. In this desperate situation the conflict lasted for some hours, each fighting with a vigor that seemed to threaten mutual extermination. At length, about half past ten o’clock, the enemy struck his colors and surrendered. Both ships were much injured in the contest; the Bon Homme Richard sunk the day after the battle. Her crew was transferred to the Serapis, and sailed for the Texel.

On his arrival in France, Jones was received with the most flattering attention by the most distinguished persons in Paris. Louis the Sixteenth presented him with the cross of military merit, and a magnificent gold mounted sword, bearing this inscription: “Maris Ludovicus 16 Remunerator Strenuo Vindici.” He returned to America in the ship Ariel of twenty guns, after an absence of nearly three years. Congress immediately adopted the following resolutions:--

“_Resolved_,--That the Congress entertain a high sense of the distinguished bravery and military conduct of John Paul Jones, Esq., captain in the navy of the United States, and particularly in his victory over the British frigate Serapis, on the coast of England, which was attended with circumstances so brilliant as to excite general applause and admiration.

“_Resolved_,--That _a gold medal_ (_see_ Plate VIII.) be struck and presented to the Chevalier Paul Jones, in commemoration of the valor and brilliant services of that officer; and that the Hon. Mr. Jefferson, minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of Versailles, have the same executed in France with proper devices.”

Late in the year of 1787 he returned to Europe in order to settle some disputes relative to certain prizes which had been sent into Denmark; which, after much trouble, he accomplished to the satisfaction of his government. After a year of ill health, he died at Paris, on the 18th of July, 1792, aged forty-five years. President Washington designated him for the important mission to treat with the Dey of Algiers on the ransom of American captives. His credentials reached Paris the day after his death.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL.

OCCASION.--Capture of the English frigate Serapis, Captain Pearson, by the Bon Homme Richard, Captain John Paul Jones.

DEVICE.--Head of John Paul Jones.

LEGEND.--Joanni Paulo Jones classis prefecto comitia Americana.

REVERSE.--Two frigates engaged yard-arm and yard-arm; the English ship severely battered in the sides. Another ship lying across the bow of the British frigate.

LEGEND.--Hostium navibus captis aut frigatis.

EXERGUE.--Ad nam Scotiæ, 23d September, 1778.

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_W. L. Ormsby, sc._]

CAPT. THOMAS TRUXTUN.

The subject of the following memoir, whose achievements shed a lustre on the infant navy of his country, was the son of an eminent English barrister of the state (then colony) of New York, and was born at Long Island, on the 7th of February, 1755. Our hero, in consequence of the death of his father, was placed under the guardianship of his intimate friend, John Troup, Esq., of Jamaica, on Long Island. In a short time, however, the kindling spark of that spirit, which has since shone so conspicuously in his character, led him to the sea. At the early age of twelve years, he embarked, on his trial voyage, in the ship Pitt, Captain Joseph Holmes, bound to Bristol, England. In the following year he was placed, at his own request, under the direction of Captain James Chambers, a celebrated commander in the London trade. During his apprenticeship, when the armament, in consequence of the dispute respecting the Falkland Islands, took place, he was impressed on board the Prudent, an English man-of-war of sixty-four guns; but was afterwards released through the application of a person in authority. While on board the Prudent, the Captain, pleased with his intelligence and activity, endeavored to prevail on him to remain in the service, and assured him that all his interest should be used for his promotion; but notwithstanding the prospects thus opened to his youthful and aspiring mind, he left the Prudent, and returned to his old ship. He conceived that his engagements with his former commander would not permit him with honor to indulge his wishes. In the early part of 1775, he commanded a vessel, and succeeded in bringing considerable quantities of powder into the United Colonies. About the close of the same year, when bound to St. Eustatius, he was seized off the Island of St. Christopher by the British frigate Argo, and detained until the general restraining bill came out, when his vessel and cargo, of which he owned the half, were condemned. But what “ill wind” can wreck the buoyant mind of the sailor? He made his way from St. Christopher’s to St. Eustatius, and thence embarking in a small vessel, after a short passage, arrived in Philadelphia. At this period the two first private ships of war fitted out in the colonies, called the Congress and Chance, were equipping for sea, and he entered on board the former as lieutenant. They sailed in company early in the winter of 1776, and proceeded off the Havana, where they captured several valuable Jamaica ships, bound home through the Gulf of Florida. Of one of these he took the command, and brought her safe into New Bedford. In June, 1777, in company with Isaac Sears, Esq., he fitted out, at New York, a vessel called the Independence. Of this he took the command, and passing through the Sound, (Lord Howe having arrived with the British fleet at Sandy Hook and blocked up that outlet,) he proceeded off the Azores, where, besides making several other prizes, he fell in with a part of the Windward Island convoy, and captured three large and valuable ships. One of these was much superior to the Independence in both guns and men. On his return, he fitted out the ship Mars, mounting upwards of twenty guns, in which he sailed on a cruise in the English Channel. Some of his prizes, which were numerous, he sent into Quiberon Bay. The success of this cruise was, in a great measure, the cause of Lord Stormont’s remonstrance to the French court, against the admission into her ports of our armed vessels and the prizes which had been taken by them.

He commanded, and in part owned, during the rest of the war, several of the most important armed vessels built in Philadelphia; and brought in from France and the West India Islands, large cargoes of those articles, which, during the Revolution, our army most greatly needed. While carrying out to France Thomas Barclay, Esq., our consul-general to that country, he had a very close and severe engagement with a British ship-of-war of thirty-two guns, (double his own force,) which he obliged to sheer off; and she was afterwards towed into New York by one of the king’s ships, in a very dismantled condition. The ship under his command was called the St. James, and mounted twenty guns, with a crew of about one hundred men--not half the number on board his enemy. From this voyage he returned with the most valuable cargo brought into the United States during the war. It would be impossible, within the limits of this memoir, to recount the various instances of activity and zeal displayed by this gallant officer during our struggle for independence; but in all his actions with British vessels of war, many of which were of force greatly superior to his own, he was invariably victorious.

After the peace of 1783, at the commencement of our naval establishment, he was one of the six captains selected by President Washington. The frigate Constellation, of thirty-six guns, which he was appointed to command, was built under his superintendence at Baltimore. She was the first of the required armament that put to sea.

Appointed, with a squadron under his command, to the protection of American commerce in the West Indies, Captain Truxtun had an arduous duty to perform, at a time when our navy was scarcely yet organized; but every difficulty yielded to the excellence of that discipline for which he was ever celebrated. On this station, by his indefatigable vigilance, the property of our merchants was protected in the most effectual manner, and an enemy’s privateer could scarcely look out of port without being captured.