Chapter IX: Part II: Origin and History of the Lakes (2)

Before his attack upon the Americans, Brock sought an interview with the Indian chief Tecumseh and succeeded in winning his friendship to the British cause. On August 15th, the attack upon Detroit was made, beginning with a bombardment from guns situated across the river. The Americans in their trenches were eager for battle. Never had a garrison been more confident of repulsing an enemy. As the British and Indians swept up to the attack, the men stood behind their shotted guns with lighted matches in their hands. When the enemy was less than five hundred yards away, and as his men, anxiously awaiting the order to fire, were sighting along their guns, General Hull suddenly commanded the white flag to be hoisted above the fort. Never were two combatants more thoroughly astounded. With a powerful force, strongly entrenched, Hull had surrendered without firing a shot. Two thousand men longing for battle and with the odds all in their favour became the prisoners of less than eight hundred British and six hundred Indians. It was a humiliating defeat. In an hour the prowess of the Americans had dropped to the lowest ebb. Hull’s cowardice not only placed the British in supreme control of the Upper Lake region but added greatly to the foes of the Americans. Those Indian tribes that had remained neutral at once turned to the British, and the disaffected militia of Canada were moved into enthusiastic support of Brock. On this same day Hull was directly responsible for one of the most horrible massacres of the Lake country. The commander at Fort Dearborn, which stood on the present site of Chicago, had received orders from Hull to evacuate his position, and, on the morning of Brock’s bombardment of Detroit, the fort’s entire garrison of seventy soldiers, together with many women and children, set out from its protection. They had gone as far as what is now Eighteenth Street when they were attacked from the rear by Miami Indians and a merciless slaughter followed. When only twenty men remained, the little force surrendered, and the captives were distributed among the savages.

At about this time there occurred an event on Lake Erie which somewhat lightened the gloom occasioned by the American reverses. Commodore Chauncey, in command of the American naval forces on Ontario, had sent Commander Jesse D. Elliott up to Erie to begin the construction of a navy. Elliott was a born fighter and not slow to grasp opportunities that came his way, and when he learned that the British ships _Detroit_ and _Caledonia_ were anchored under Fort Erie, he set out from Black Rock with one hundred and twenty-eight men, ran his boats alongside the two ships, and captured them in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict which began at three o’clock in the morning. The two vessels were at once got under way and the _Caledonia_ was brought within the protection of an American battery near Black Rock. The _Detroit_ was less fortunate and was compelled to haul to within a few hundred yards of a British battery. Elliott refused to abandon her until his ammunition gave out, and even then succeeded in bringing his prize to Squaw Island, where she was within the range of both American and British batteries. No sooner would one side gain possession of her than her captors would be driven off by the guns of the other, and in these attacks and counter-attacks the vessel was destroyed. Elliott, however, had the nucleus for his new fleet in the captured _Caledonia_.

At the beginning of the war, it was believed by both British and American officers that at least one of the decisive battles for the mastery of the Lakes would be fought somewhere on the Niagara frontier, and no sooner had Brock arranged civil and military matters in the West after the fall of Detroit than he hastened back to this scene of action. Meanwhile the Americans had been preparing to attack Queenston, near Niagara Falls, and from that point begin their invasion of Canada. The British were strongly entrenched upon the Heights but their force was considerably inferior in number to that of Colonel Van Rensselaer, who was in command of the Americans. On the evening of October 12th, a dozen boats began ferrying the troops across the river, while at the same time, Colonel Chrystie, with three hundred men, and Colonels Stranahan, Mead, and Bloom were marching to Lewiston. Early on the morning of the 13th, the British opened fire, in the face of which the Americans began scaling the Heights, driving the enemy back as they advanced. At the time of the crossing of the Americans, Brock was at Fort George but lost no time in hastening to the field of battle. In a little marshy plot at the foot of the summit on which the final struggle occurred, now marked by a small stone monument and overgrown with long grass and weeds, a bullet struck him through the body and he fell mortally wounded. This was a terrible blow to the British, but, in the face of the calamity, they gallantly mustered their forces for the recapture of the Heights. There were still about fifteen hundred Americans across the river, and if once they were allowed to join Colonel Van Rensselaer a position would be achieved of even greater importance than that of the British at Detroit and Mackinac. With one thousand men, the British began a furious attack of the Heights, which were defended by not more than three hundred of the Americans who had crossed the river. The battle was one of the most desperate and at the same time one of the most picturesque of the war, parties of the combatants being at times on ground so precipitous that it was difficult to maintain a footing. The Americans were gradually beaten back, and, notwithstanding the fact that a superior force was only a short distance away, they were compelled to surrender, those surrendered including all that had crossed the river, the majority of whom took no part in this last battle of the Heights. Ninety Americans were killed, about one hundred wounded, and over eight hundred became prisoners of war. The British lost less than one hundred and fifty men killed and wounded.

Thus far almost unbroken disaster had followed the American land forces in the Lake regions, much of which must be ascribed to the incompetence of commanding officers. Another fatal mistake was made a few weeks after the battle of Queenston Heights when, on November 28th, another invasion of Canada was attempted. Three thousand men under General Smyth were to comprise this expedition. At three o’clock in the morning, twenty-one boats left the American shore near Black Rock, but met with such a warm reception at the hands of the British that a number of the boats were compelled to fall back, and in the general excitement only a part of the force landed. Captain King, in command of one division, captured two batteries after a desperate struggle, spiked the guns, and with the assistance of Commander Angus and his men would have won a complete victory had not the latter, for some reason that has never been explained, retreated in his boats. As a consequence Captain King and a number of his men were captured, and thus a second attempt at a Canadian invasion fizzled out in complete disaster. This was practically the end of the campaign of the year 1812. There had been several minor naval events besides those which I have described and a few small operations on land, but all of them were unimportant.

The following year opened more auspiciously for the Americans, who were the first to begin active hostilities. On April 25th, Commodore Chauncey set sail with a squadron of fourteen vessels and seventeen hundred troops to attack York (Toronto). At this time York was poorly defended notwithstanding the fact that a 24-gun ship was almost completed in the harbour and an immense quantity of supplies were stored there. The Americans began disembarking early in the morning of the 27th, under the command of Brigadier-General Pike, while the armed schooners beat up to the fort and opened on it with their long guns. A strong wind forced the small boats, in which the troops were being carried, so close to the works that the landing instead of being made at a safe distance as had been planned was in the face of a galling fire. Despite this, General Pike assembled his men on the beach and began an immediate assault, the Canadians and English being driven from their works with heavy loss. In the moment of defeat, the garrison fired their powder magazine, and in the terrific explosion that followed, fifty-two of the victors were killed and one hundred and eighty wounded. Altogether the Americans lost seventy killed in both the land and naval forces, and the British one hundred and eighty killed and wounded and two hundred and ninety prisoners. The 24-gun ship was burned, and another vessel, the _Gloucester_, was added to the American fleet.

This victory was of tremendous importance to the Americans, and it was determined to at once follow it up by an attack on Fort George, where the British General Vincent was stationed with a force of over two thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom were regulars. On May 26th, Commodore Chauncey reconnoitred the enemy’s position and afterward held their interest while the _Conquest_ and _Tompkins_ destroyed a battery some distance down the lake. A part of General Vincent’s regulars attempted to prevent a landing at this point, but they were so terribly cut up by the short-range fire of the ships that they could offer but little opposition. So great was their loss that the British made little further effort to hold their position, blew up their fort, and retreated. Of the Americans, eighteen were killed and forty-seven wounded. The British loss was fifty-two killed, nearly three hundred wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners.

This last blow lost the Niagara frontier to the British. General Vincent at once gave orders that Forts Chippewa and Erie and all public property as far down as Niagara Falls should be destroyed. The magazine at Fort Erie was fired, and a little later, Lieutenant-Colonel Preston, in command of the Americans at Black Rock, took possession of what remained of the stronghold, thus giving Perry an opportunity to get out of the Niagara River five of the vessels which were to play such an important part in the naval history of Lake Erie. Sacketts Harbour was now in much the same condition that York (Toronto) had been, and was even more poorly defended. The British planned to regain a part of their lost prestige by its capture, and on May 27th, Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo sailed with a large fleet and a strong land force under Sir George Prevost to make the attack. On the 29th, eight hundred of the British regulars landed, but despite the astonishing inadequacy of the American garrison they were beaten back with a loss of fifty-two killed and two hundred and eleven wounded, while the Americans lost but twenty-three killed and one hundred and fourteen wounded. The British squadron returned to Kingston, and for several weeks thereafter co-operated with the army forces and made several unimportant naval captures while Chauncey awaited the completion of the new ship _Pike_. During July, General Dearborn was recalled from his command at Fort George because of the capture by the British of Lieutenant-Colonel Boerstler and seven hundred men, and during this same month Black Rock was captured by the enemy and recaptured by the Americans, but it was not until the 30th that an important blow was struck by either side. On this day the Americans again descended upon York, destroyed eleven transports, burned the barracks, and captured a considerable quantity of supplies and ammunition.

Both the Americans and the British were now looking for a decisive naval battle between Yeo and Chauncey upon Lake Ontario. The squadrons were quite evenly matched with the advantage, if any, in favour of the Americans. Both commanders watched for a favourable opportunity to attack, but not until the 11th of August was a gun fired. After an almost harmless long-distance cannonade between the fleets, the _Julia_ and _Growler_, two of Chauncey’s vessels, became separated from the main squadron and were cut off and captured by Yeo. For a month, the two fleets were chasing or evading each other, and it was not until the 11th of September that they approached close enough for another engagement, which was only slight. These “chase-and-run tactics” continued until the 28th, when the squadrons came together again in York Bay. In the action that followed, Yeo’s ships were badly damaged and ran for protection into Burlington Bay. This victory, although not resulting in the capture of the British fleet, completely established Chauncey’s supremacy and for the remainder of the season Yeo remained at Kingston.

For some months past, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, acting under Commodore Chauncey, had been devoting his energies to the creating of a fleet on Lake Erie, and with such energy that on the memorable morning of September 10th, when from the masthead of the _Lawrence_ at Put-in-Bay was seen the approaching squadron of Captain Robert Barclay, he had under his command nine vessels carrying a total of fifty-four guns and five hundred and thirty-two men. These vessels were the _Lawrence_, _Niagara_, _Caledonia_, _Ariel_, _Scorpion_, _Somers_, _Porcupine_, _Tigress_, and the _Trippe_. Barclay’s fleet was composed of the _Detroit_, _Queen Charlotte_, _Lady Prevost_, _Hunter_, _Chippeway_, and _Little Belt_, carrying a total of sixty-three guns and four hundred and forty men. It is interesting to note, according to Theodore Roosevelt’s _Naval War of 1812_, that notwithstanding the superior number of their guns the British ships were capable of throwing a broadside of only 459 pounds as against 936 pounds from the American squadron, a fact which shows the overwhelming superiority of Perry’s fleet and incidentally robs his victory of some of its glory.

In my examination of the many and various accounts of the naval battle of Lake Erie, I have found that the most complete and authentic report is that of Mr. Roosevelt, who goes with minute detail into the preparation, comparative strength, and handling of the two squadrons, and inasmuch as this battle of Erie is one of the most thrilling episodes of our Inland Seas, I have secured the very kind permission of Mr. Roosevelt to use a part of his description of the actual contest. Soon after daylight, on September 10th, Perry got under way and advanced toward the enemy in battle form.

“As, amid light and rather baffling winds, the American
squadron approached the enemy” [says Roosevelt], “Perry’s
straggling line formed an angle of about fifteen degrees with
the more compact one of his foes. At 11.45, the _Detroit_
opened the action by a shot from her long 24, which fell short;
at 11.50, she fired a second which went crashing through the
_Lawrence_, and was replied to by the _Scorpion’s_ long 32.
At 11.55, the _Lawrence_, having shifted her port bow-chaser,
opened with both the long 12’s, and at meridian began with
her carronades, but the shot from the latter all fell short.
At the same time, the action became general on both sides,
though the rearmost American vessels were almost beyond the
range of their own guns, and quite out of range of the guns
of their antagonists. Meanwhile, the _Lawrence_ was already
suffering considerably as she bore down on the enemy. It was
twenty minutes before she succeeded in getting within good
carronade range, and during that time the action at the head
of the line was between the long guns of the _Chippeway_ and
_Detroit_, throwing 123 pounds, and those of the _Scorpion_,
_Ariel_, and _Lawrence_, throwing 104 pounds. As the enemy’s
fire was directed almost exclusively at the _Lawrence_ she
suffered a great deal. The _Caledonia_, _Niagara,_ and _Somers_
were meanwhile engaging, at long range, the _Hunter_ and _Queen
Charlotte_, ... while from a distance the three other American
gun-vessels engaged the _Prevost_ and _Little Belt_. By 12.20
the _Lawrence_ had worked down to close quarters, and at 12.30
the action was going on with great fury between her and her
antagonists, within canister range. The raw and inexperienced
American crews committed the same fault the British so often
fell into on the ocean and overloaded their carronades. In
consequence, that of the _Scorpion_ upset down the hatchway in
the middle of the action, and the sides of the _Detroit_ were
dotted with marks from shot that did not penetrate. One of the
_Ariel’s_ long 12’s also burst. Barclay fought the _Detroit_
exceedingly well, her guns being most excellently aimed, though
they actually had to be discharged by flashing pistols at the
touchholes, so deficient was the ship’s equipment. Meanwhile,
the _Caledonia_ came down too, but the _Niagara_ was wretchedly
handled, Elliott keeping at a distance which prevented the use
either of his carronades or of those of the _Queen Charlotte_,
his antagonist; the latter, however, suffered greatly from
the long guns of the opposing schooners, and lost her gallant
commander, Captain Finnis, and first lieutenant, Mr. Stokes,
who were killed early in the action; her next in command,
Provincial Lieutenant Irvine, perceiving that he could do no
good, passed the _Hunter_ and joined in the attack on the
_Lawrence_ at close quarters. The _Niagara_, the most efficient
and best-manned of the American vessels, was thus almost kept
out of the action by her captain’s misconduct. At the end of
the line the fight went on at long range between the _Somers_,
_Tigress_, _Porcupine_, and _Trippe_ on one side, and _Little
Belt_ and _Lady Prevost_ on the other; the _Lady Prevost_
making a very noble fight, although her 12-pound carronades
rendered her almost helpless against the long guns of the
Americans. She was greatly cut up, her commander, Lieutenant
Buchan, was dangerously, and her acting first lieutenant, Mr.
Roulette, severely wounded, and she began falling gradually to
leeward.

“The fighting at the head of the line was fierce and bloody to
an extraordinary degree. The _Scorpion_, _Ariel_, _Lawrence_,
and _Caledonia_, all of them handled with the most determined
courage, were opposed to the _Chippeway_, _Detroit_, _Queen
Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, which were fought to the full as
bravely. At such close quarters the two sides engaged on about
equal terms, the Americans being superior in weight of metal,
and inferior in number of men. But the _Lawrence_ had received
such damage in working down as to make the odds against Perry.
On each side almost the whole fire was directed at the opposing
large vessel or vessels; in consequence the _Queen Charlotte_
was almost disabled, and the _Detroit_ was frightfully
shattered, especially by the raking fire of the gunboats,
her first lieutenant, Mr. Garland, being mortally wounded,
and Captain Barclay so seriously injured that he was obliged
to quit the deck, leaving his ship in command of Lieutenant
George Inglis. But on board the _Lawrence_ matters had gone
even worse, the combined fire of her adversaries having made
the grimmest carnage on her decks. Of the 103 men who were fit
for duty when the action began, 83, or over four fifths, were
killed or wounded. The vessel was shallow, and the wardroom,
used as a cockpit, to which the wounded were taken, was mostly
above water, and the shot came through it continually, killing
and wounding many men under the hands of the surgeon.

“The first lieutenant, Yarnall, was three times wounded,
but kept to the deck through all; the only other lieutenant
on board, Brooks, of the marines, was mortally wounded.
Every brace and bowline was shot away, and the brig almost
completely dismantled; her hull was shattered to pieces,
many shot going completely through it, and the guns on the
engaged side were by degrees all dismounted. Perry kept up
the fight with splendid courage. As the crew fell one by one,
the commodore called down through the skylight for one of the
surgeon’s assistants; and this call was repeated and obeyed
till none were left; then he asked, ‘Can any of the wounded
pull a rope?’ and three or four of them crawled up on deck to
lend a feeble hand in placing the last guns. Perry himself
fired the last effective heavy gun, assisted only by the purser
and chaplain. A man who did not possess his indomitable spirit
would have then struck. Instead, however, Perry determined to
win by new methods, and remodelled the line accordingly, Mr.
Turner, in the _Caledonia_, when ordered to close, had put his
helm up, run down on the opposing line, and engaged at very
short range, though the brig was absolutely without quarters.
The _Niagara_ had thus become next in line astern of the
_Lawrence_, and the sloop _Trippe_, having passed the three
schooners ahead of her, was next ahead. The _Niagara_ now,
having a breeze, steered ahead for the head of Barclay’s line,
passing over a quarter of a mile to windward of the _Lawrence_,
on her port beam. She was almost uninjured, having so far taken
very little part in the combat, and to her Perry shifted his
flag. Leaping into a rowboat, with his brother and four seamen,
he rowed to the fresh brig, where he arrived at 2.30, and at
once sent Elliott astern to hurry up the three schooners. The
_Trippe_ was now very near the _Caledonia_. The _Lawrence_,
having but fourteen sound men left, struck her colors, but
could not be taken possession of before the action recommenced.
She drifted astern, the _Caledonia_ passing between her and her
foes. At 2.45, the schooners having closed up. Perry, in his
fresh vessel, bore up to break Barclay’s line.

“The British ships had fought themselves to a standstill.
The _Lady Prevost_ was crippled and sagged to leeward, though
ahead of the others. The _Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_ were
so disabled that they could not successfully oppose fresh
antagonists. There could thus be but little resistance to
Perry, as the _Niagara_ stood down, and broke the British line,
firing her port guns into the _Chippeway_, _Little Belt_, and
_Lady Prevost_, and the starboard ones into the _Detroit_,
_Queen Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, raking on both sides. Too
disabled to tack, the _Detroit_ and _Charlotte_ tried to wear,
the latter running up to leeward of the former; and, both
vessels having every brace and almost every stay shot away,
they fell foul. The _Niagara_ luffed athwart their bows, within
half pistol-shot, keeping up a terrific discharge of great guns
and musketry, while on the other side the British vessels were
raked by the _Caledonia_ and the schooners so closely that some
of their grape-shot, passing over the foe, rattled through
Perry’s spars. Nothing further could be done, and Barclay’s
flag was struck at 3 P.M. after three and a quarter hours’ most
gallant fighting.”

In this conflict off Put-in-Bay, the American loss was twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded. Of these, twenty-two were killed and sixty-one wounded aboard the _Lawrence_. The British loss was forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded, the loss falling most heavily on the _Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_.

Immediately after the battle, Perry wrote his famous dispatch to General Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop”; and in a postscript he added, “Send us some soldiers to help take care of the prisoners, who are more numerous than ourselves.”

It is interesting to note what became of the vessels which played such an important part in this tragic drama of Lake Erie. The _Lawrence_, afterward repaired, was sunk in Misery Bay for preservation. Long afterward a part of her stem was raised and kept as a memorial. For years the _Niagara_ was a training ship on Lake Erie, and was then sunk near the Lawrence. The _Ariel_, _Little Belt_, _Chippeway_, and _Trippe_ were destroyed by the British at Buffalo. The _Detroit_ was also sunk near the _Lawrence_, but in 1835, she was raised and rigged by a Captain Miles. She was afterwards purchased by a Niagara man, and as a spectacle for a crowd of curious people was allowed to break herself to pieces on the rocks above the Falls. The _Queen Charlotte_, _Lady Prevost_, and the _Hunter_ were used in the Lake trade, and the _Caledonia_ became the _General Wayne_. Both the _Scorpion_ and the _Tigress_ were recaptured by the British on Lake Huron.

The effects of Perry’s victory over Barclay’s squadron were immediate. The British at once gave up all hope of retaining their possessions on the Upper Lakes, and General Proctor began the evacuation of Forts Detroit and Malden. With all the boats that he could get into his possession he began a precipitate flight up the river Thames, where he was joined by the Indian chief Tecumseh and his warriors. Encouraged by this reinforcement he determined to select his own position for giving battle to the Americans, who were hurrying across country from Amherstburg under the command of General Harrison. Meanwhile, a number of the smaller American war vessels made their way up the Thames and Proctor prepared to meet them with his own armed boats. Harrison’s force, which outnumbered Proctor two to one, came up to the enemy close to the river, and the fierce charge of Colonel Johnson and his Kentucky horsemen almost immediately broke the enemy’s line. After a desperate struggle the regulars surrendered, but Tecumseh, who had from one thousand to two thousand warriors, continued to fight until he fell mortally wounded, when his braves broke and fled. The armed boats in the river were destroyed to keep them from falling into the hands of the Americans. Only a few years ago, two of these were discovered and raised. An accompanying illustration shows one of these vessels just after it was brought above the water, with a heap of old cannon balls amidships.

Perry’s victory and Harrison’s defeat of the British virtually decided the war along the Lakes, although, during the following winter, the British prepared to make one more tremendous effort to regain a part of the supremacy they had lost. This effort was to be made on Lake Ontario. During the whole of the winter of 1813-14, both Yeo and Chauncey strained every resource to prepare themselves for this final conflict, and it was during this time that the largest ships of war that ever floated on the Lakes were built, among them being the American ship _Superior_, to carry sixty-two guns, and the British ships _Prince Regent_, fifty-eight, and the _Princess Charlotte_, forty-two. The two fleets were pretty evenly matched, each squadron having eight ships, but with the Americans leading in tonnage, number of men, and guns. Yeo, however, was prepared for battle earlier than Chauncey, and taking advantage of this he prepared to attack Oswego, which was garrisoned by less than three hundred men and was in a wretched state of defence. On the 3d of May he set sail, having on board his squadron a detachment of over a thousand troops. The fire of the fort was drawn on the fifth, but it was not until the following day that the battle began in earnest, when five of the British warships began a terrific bombardment under cover of which eight hundred troops and two hundred seamen were landed. The little garrison fought with desperate valour and when they were finally driven from their position the British had lost ninety-five men, a number a third as great as the American force opposed to them. The Americans lost six men killed and thirty-eight wounded, the remainder escaping to the Falls.

On May 19th, Yeo transferred his operations to Sacketts Harbour, where he began a strict blockade, much to the discomfiture of Chauncey, who still lacked important material for the completion of the _Superior_. It was while attempting to capture several small boats with a part of this material that two British gunboats, three cutters, and a gig, carrying several heavy guns and one hundred and eighty men, started up Sandy Creek on the thirtieth, and ran into an ambush laid by Major Appling and one hundred and twenty American riflemen. In the terrific volleys that followed, the British suffered heavily, eighteen of their number being almost immediately killed and fifty wounded. The entire force was captured with a loss on the American side of but one wounded. On June 6th, Commodore Yeo raised his blockade and from then until July 31st, when Chauncey brought out his squadron, nothing of importance was accomplished with the exception of two or three successful cutting-out expeditions on the part of the Americans. Even after this date, until the close of navigation, the two fleets acted merely in the capacity of watch-dogs, neither daring to attack the other. During the greater part of this period, Yeo was penned up in Kingston, while Chauncey, whose superior force would have made his co-operation of tremendous value to the land forces under General Brown, peremptorily refused this assistance, saying that his object was the destruction of the enemy’s fleet and not to “become a subordinate or appendage of the army.” On the other hand, he could not get Yeo to fight, so that his powerful force remained practically useless.

Meanwhile General Brown undertook his contemplated invasion of Canada, sending Generals Scott and Ripley to the attack of Fort Erie, which soon surrendered. A few days later, on July 5th, General Riall with a force of nearly 2000 British met the Americans near Chippewa, and one of the fiercest and most important battles of the war was the result. Notwithstanding the superior numbers of the enemy, the victory fell to the Americans, whose loss was 61 killed and 255 wounded as against 236 killed and 322 wounded on the British side. It was at this critical moment, when a successful and complete invasion of Canada might have been made, that General Brown wrote to Chauncey asking for his co-operation. Soon after this, General Riall was reinforced by 800 men under Sir George Gordon Drummond, and on the 25th of July, General Scott was sent against them with a force of 1200 men.

Scott was unaware of the full strength of the enemy until he found Riall and Drummond drawn up to meet him at Lundy’s Lane. This was at five o’clock in the afternoon, and with the idea of impressing upon the British that the entire American army was at his back, General Scott at once began the attack. The struggle was one of intense courage on both sides and continued until 10.30 at night, when the British were driven from the field, leaving General Riall a prisoner. The American loss had also been so severe that they retired from the field, abandoning a captured battery. During the night, this battery was again manned by the British and a bloody fight ensued the following morning before it was recaptured. At Lundy’s Lane, the Americans lost 171 killed and 571 wounded; the British 84 killed and 559 wounded. General Scott had been severely wounded in the struggle, and General Brown was laid up with injuries at Back Rock, so that the command fell upon General Ripley who at once made preparations to recross into the American frontier. Brown sent positive orders that this move should not be made and that General Ripley should hold Fort Erie. On August 2d, General Drummond, who had been reinforced by over 1000 men, laid siege to this stronghold, and for two weeks desultory fighting occurred around it. On the night of the 14th, at twelve o’clock, a terrific assault was begun upon the works and continued until daylight. The British had captured one of the bastions and it was while holding this position that a fearful explosion occurred directly under their feet, killing and wounding the greater portion of them and striking the decisive blow of the siege. The American loss was 17 killed and 56 wounded, while the British lost 221 killed and 174 wounded.

For several weeks, both sides continued to strengthen their positions, and by the middle of September, 5000 Americans under Generals Brown and Porter were ready for an attack on the British. On the 17th, Riall was engaged by the entire American force and was driven from the position he had taken, with a loss of about 500 in killed and wounded. Meanwhile, General Izard’s division was hurrying to the frontier and with his arrival the American force was increased to 8000. Riall and Drummond in the face of these overwhelming odds retreated to Fort George and Burlington Heights, and on November 4th, Fort Erie was blown up, General Izard believing that it would be of no further use to the Americans. Active operations along the frontier then ceased for the winter.

During this breaking of British power along the Niagara frontier, there had occurred one or two interesting events on the Upper Lakes. Now that the British had lost their fleet on Erie, and that they had become almost fugitives from the American forces, those that remained of them seemed endowed with almost superhuman courage and ability. Captain Sinclair had sailed up into Lake Huron with the _Niagara_, _Caledonia_, _Ariel_, _Scorpion_, and _Tigress_, and had burnt the fort and barracks of St. Joseph, when the first of these exploits occurred. On August 4th, Sinclair had made an unsuccessful attack on Fort Michilimackinac (Mackinac), had burned a blockhouse, and then departed for Lake Erie, leaving the _Scorpion_ and _Tigress_ on Lake Huron. On the 3d of September, four small boats filled with British made an attack on the _Tigress_ under cover of darkness, and after a brief hand-to-hand struggle captured her. The commander of the _Scorpion_ had no knowledge of this attack, and on the 5th, he innocently ran within a couple of miles of the _Tigress_, which was still flying the American flag. Early the following morning, the _Tigress_ ran close up to the _Scorpion_, cleared her deck with a volley of musketry, and captured her without resistance being made. Meanwhile on the night of August 12th, a daring British expedition in small boats captured the armed schooners _Somers_ and _Ohio_, with another armed ship, the _Porcupine_, lying near. In this exploit, seventy British seamen in small boats had captured two well-armed vessels carrying ninety men and with a strong sistership a few cable-lengths away, an achievement which has few rivals in naval history.

But these latter events, brilliant though they were, were of but slight importance. The British were defeated and broken from end to end of the Lakes, and peace was at hand. On December 24, 1814, fifteen days before the battle of New Orleans, peace was declared at Ghent, and with the signing of the treaty the sanguinary history of the Lakes, a story that had covered more than two centuries of ceaseless war and bloodshed, was at an end. From this time on, their history was to be one of colonization and commerce.

For a number of years previous to the War of 1812, there had been a growing tendency on the part of the people of the East to emigrate into the West, but the unsettled conditions of the whole Lake region, threatened by Indian war and the bloody feuds of rival trading-companies, held the bulk of the pioneers along Lake Ontario. Now the floodgates burst loose. Thousands of settlers hurried into Ohio, and others pushed on through the wilderness into Michigan. In 1818, the _Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamer to float upon the Upper Lakes, was launched in Lake Erie, and began making trips from Buffalo to Detroit, charging eighteen dollars per passenger for the journey. Other vessels engaged in the passenger trade and emigrants were enabled to travel entirely by water. By 1820, Ohio possessed a population of over half a million. Nineteen out of twenty of the west-bound pioneers stopped somewhere along the shores of Lake Erie, and at this date Michigan’s population was less than nine thousand. But with the coming of other steamers, not only Michigan, but Illinois and Wisconsin began to receive a part of the westward-flowing tide. The Erie Canal had been opened as early as 1825, and the rapidity of the growth of commerce on the Inland Seas may be judged by the fact that in 1836 more than three thousand canal-boats were employed upon it, a large part of their traffic being the transportation of emigrants and their effects to the larger vessels on Lake Erie. During this year, there were ninety steamboat arrivals at Detroit, and one of these vessels, the _United States_, carried as high as seven hundred emigrants on a single trip. From that day to this, the ships of the Great Lakes have never been able to more than keep pace with the demands of trade. In 1836, vessel-men earned as high as eighty per cent. on the cost of their vessels. To-day they are still earning thirty.

Beginning with 1839, the emigrant travel to Chicago was so great that a line of eight vessels engaged in this traffic alone, each vessel making the trip once in sixteen days. It was now impossible to build ships fast enough to keep pace with the developing commerce. During the ten years between 1830 and 1840, the population of Michigan increased from 31,000 to 212,000, and practically the whole of it came by lake. In 1840, Wisconsin’s population was less than 31,000; ten years later, it was 305,000. By 1846, the value of the commerce of the Lakes was already enormous. Its value for that year is estimated to have been over eighty millions of dollars. In 1835, the American Fur Company built the _John Jacob Astor_, the first large ship to sail Lake Superior, and the trade in copper began soon after. With the discovery of the rich mineral deposits, hundreds of prospectors began flocking into the North, men with capital hurried to the regions of the red metal, and, in the race after wealth, vessel-men did not wait to build ships on Superior but hauled their vessels bodily across the mile portage at Sault Ste. Marie. In 1855 was built the Falls Canal, and from that date, the commerce of Superior became an important factor in the traffic of the Lakes. All that was needed to make it the most important body of fresh water on the globe was the discovery of iron. This discovery, and the part that iron has played in the making of our nation, have been described in preceding pages.

INDEX

A

Aborigines, warlike, of the early history of the Lakes, 163

Adams, Mayor, of Buffalo, 127

Aillon, Father Joseph de la Roche d’, mission formed by, 168

Algonquin, a tribe of Indians, 164

_Alpena_, the, of Lake Michigan, 102

American Fur Company, the, 220

American Shipbuilding Company, the, 15, 16

Argosy, the huge, of the Lakes, 26

_Ariel_, the battle-ship, 217

Assiniboines, the, of Minnesota, 176

Astor, John Jacob, 220

_Atlanta_, the loss of the, 102

_Atlantic_, loss of, with valuable cargo, 110

B

_Bannockburn_, the mystery of the, 103

Barre, Governor De la, of Canada, 177

Beauharnois, Governor, of Canada, 1727, 180

Beaver Island, 88

Belle Isle, a great pleasure ground, 85

_B. F. Jones_, the cargo of, 60

“Bread Basket of the World,” the future, 60

Brock, General, the death of, 84

Brule, Stephen, discovers Lake Superior, 166

Buffalo, shipyards at, 10

Burnett, Governor, of New York, 180

C

Cabins on a freighter, 138

Calbick, James A., President of the Lumber Carriers’ Association, 51

_Caledonia_, the capture of, 198

Canada, the fertile regions of western, 63

Canadian Niagara Falls Company, the, 133

Canals, the, at Sault Ste. Marie, 27

Cargoes of the Great Lakes, 1

Caron, Joseph Le, discovers Lake Ontario, 166

“Carriers,” the, of the Great Lakes, 24

Cayuga Indians, the, 165

Cheapness of travel on the Lakes, 75

Chicago, shipyards at, 10

_Chicora_, the passenger steamer, 42

“City of the Five Great Lakes,” the, 48

_City of St. Ignace_, the, a passenger steamer, 74

Cleveland, shipyards at, 10

Cliff stamp mill, the, 32

Coal, immense amount consumed, 27

Cole, Thomas F., President of the Oliver Mining Company, 32

Collisions, danger of, 94

Commerce, the, on the Lakes, 11, 49

Construction of a Lake ship, 23

_Cordurus_, the freighter, 100

Coulby, Harry, President of the Pittsburg Steamship Company, 12

_Cruise of a Lonely Heart, The_, 93

Cuyler, Lieutenant, defeat of, 187

D

_Dacotah_, the loss of the, 104

Dakotas, the powerful tribe of the, 164

Daumont, Simon Francis, takes possession of the Lakes, 175

Davidson, James, mentioned, 40

_Dean Richmond_, the treasure ship, 108

Deluth, Daniel, a fort erected by, 1761, 176

Denonville, Marquis, 178

Detroit, shipyards at, 10;
great industry at, 15;
tonnage passing, 27;
the defence of, 188

Detroit _Journal_, the, 42

Detroit River, the, 27

Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the, 17

Detroit _Tribune_, the, 42

Development, the, of the region, 6

Devil’s Hole, the massacre at, 189

Dining-room on a freighter, 144

Dividends on an investment in a Lake freighter, 61

Douglas, G. L., 14

Duluth, the “highway” to, 3;
the great future of, 123

E

Earle, Commodore, on Lake Ontario, 195

_Earling_, the loading of the, 43

Early history of the Lakes, 159 _ff._

Electrical Development Company, the, 133

Elevators, the building of, 63

Elliott, Commander Jesse D., 197

Elwood, H. C., of the Chamber of Commerce in Buffalo, 116

English, settlements of the olden time on the Lakes, 177;
traders, 179

Erie Basin, the, 131

Erie Canal, transportation on, 7;
the widening of, 63;
the new era for, 132

Escarpments, the worn, of the Lakes, 162

Extent of the ore deposits, 36

F

Five Nations, the Indian tribes known as the, 165

_Flagg_, a cargo of copper on the, 66

Flour, amount carried on the Lakes, 50

Flying Dutchman, the, of the Lakes, 103

Food, the various kinds of, on a freighter, 153

Forests of Minnesota, the, 53

Fort Niagara, the remains of, 84

Foxes, the extermination of the, 165

Freight, amount of, on the Great Lakes, 25

Freighters, the largest fleet of, iii;
the luxuriance of the, 20

Fresh-water seas, iii

Frontenac, Fort, built, 1673, 170;
taken by English, 1758, 182

“Frozen Ship,” the mystery of the, 111

Fuel, the loading of, 65

Fur trade, the increase of the, 194

G

_George W. Perkins_, the record of the, 45

Georgian Bay, a trip past, 86

_Gilcher_, the loss of the, 102

Gilchrist, J. C., the head of the Gilchrist Transportation Company, 13

Glacial Age, the, in North America, 162

Gladwin, Major, defends Fort Detroit, 186

_G. P. Griffin_, the burning of the, 105

“Grain Age,” the beginning of the, 63

“Grand Army,” the, of the Lakes, 52

Great Lakes, the (see Inland Seas)

_Griffin_, the, 84;
the romantic loss of, 111;
the history of the, 171 _ff._

“Groves” as pleasure resorts, 81

“Guests’ quarters,” the, on a freighter, 139

H

_Harry Berwind_, a private room on the, 139

Hatch-bag, playing of, 150

Hazard, Captain Oliver, 205

_Hudson_, the loss of the, 102

Hull, General, invades Canada, 195;
cowardice of, 196

Huron, Lake, a trip up, 3

I

Ice Age, the waning of the, 162

“Ice devils,” the damage done by, 99

Indian canoes, fleets of, 165

Industrial supremacy, 5

Inland Seas, the, commercial life of, iv;
the leviathans of, 3;
the spirit of, 4;
normal condition, 7;
shipbuilding on, 11;
the wonders of, 12;
fortune-making on, 18;
cargoes on, 26;
commerce of, 48;
death of the lumber fleets of, 52;
cheap transportation on, 62;
transportation of copper on, 66;
passenger traffic on, 68;
summer life, 68 _ff._;
Admiral Dewey visits, 73;
marine tragedies of, 77;
the spring rush on, 89;
dangers of navigation, 91;
danger of ice, 96;
mysteries of, 103;
struggle for supremacy of, 117;
greatest ship on the, 137;
early history of, 159 _ff._;
missions established on, 169;
change of masters, 175;
England supreme, 183;
peace on, 193;
naval battle of Lake Erie, 206

“Inner life,” the, of a great freighter, 137

Iron, the prominence of, 28

Iron ore, the transportation of, 8

_Ironsides_, the steamer, 104

Iroquois, the, of Lake Ontario, 165

J

Jackson, Captain James, the heroism of, 95

Jesuits, the missions established by the, 169

K

_Kent_, the wreck of the, 109

King Strang, the Mormon, 88

L

Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, the, 125

_Lady Elgin_, the sinking of the, 104

Lake Carriers’ Association, the, 46

Lakeside inns, life at the, 82

Laurentian River, the, 161

_Lawrence_, the attack on the, 207

_Lexington_, lost with a cargo of whisky, 110

Life of the Great Lakes, iii

Little Venice, mentioned, 85

Livingston, William, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association,
40, 46

Lorain, shipyards at, 10

Loyalty, the, of the Indians, 183

Lumber Carriers’ Association, the, 50

Lumber industry, the extinction of, 52

M

Mackinaw Island, 78

_Maid of the Mist_, the, 83

Manitou Island, a wreck near, 110

Manitowoc, shipyards at, 10

Mapleson Opera Company, the, 42

Mason, F. Howard, 126

_Mataafa_, the steel ship, 105

Matchedash Bay, 166

McKenzie, Captain, peculiar situation of, 100

Mesaba, the, as a wilderness, 34

Mesaba range, the richness of the, 40

Mess-room, the, on a freighter, 154

Mexican mahogany woodwork, 73

Miami Indians, the, 197

Michilimackinac, the fort at, 176;
the destruction of the garrison at, 185

Mines, the working of, 37

Mitchell, Captain John, 14

Mohawks, the, 165

Montreal, the fall of, 1760, 183

N

_Nashua_, the disappearance of, 102

Neuters, a tribe of Indians, 165

New York Steel Company, the, 125

Niagara Falls, money expended above, 9

Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, 133

Niagara Falls Power Company, the, 133

Nicolet, Jean, 167

North Tonawanda, the growth of, 130

O

“Observation room,” the, of a freighter, 142

Ohio River, the country north of, 8

Ojibwas, the, 164

Oliver Mining Company, the, 32

Oneida Indians, the, 165

Onondaga Indians, the, 165

_Ontario_, the battle-ship, 192

Ontario Power Company, the, 134

Ore beds, the, of Minnesota, 4

Ore docks, the, at Duluth, 43

Origin, the, of the Great Lakes, 161 _ff._

_Ostrich_, the resting place of the, 110

Oswego, a trading-post at, 180

Ottawas, the tribe of the, 164

Owners, the ship, 1

P

Palatinate, the War of the, 179

Passenger steamers, the, 69

Passenger traffic, the, 68 _ff._

Pay-rolls, the, of Buffalo, 126

Perry, Commodore, the victory of, 211

Pessano, Antonio C., 15

_Pewabic_, the, in Thunder Bay, 106;
the finding of, 109

Phœnix mine, an accident in the, 32

Pike, Brigadier-General, 201

Pilot-house, the, on a Lake steamer, 149

Pine wood, the total amount from Michigan, 57

“Pittsburg of the North,” the, 124. (See Duluth)

Pittsburg Steamship Company, the, 12

“Plate department,” the, of a shipyard, 22

Point Pelee, the battle of, 187

Pontiac, the Indian chief, 85

Port Arthur, the shipping of, 62

Porter, Moses, 193

Pottawatomies, a tribe of Indians, 164

Purre, Don Eugenio, departure of, 192

Put-in-Bay, historical events at, 84;
the great naval battle of, 210

Q

Queen Anne’s War, 180

_Queen of the West_, the loss of the, 99 _ff._

Queenston, the attack on, 198

Queenston Heights, the battle of, 84

R

Richardson, W. C., 40

Riveting machines, the, 24

Roberts, Captain, at St. Joseph, 195

Rocky River, the change of position of, 191

Romans of the Wilderness, the, 180

Roosevelt, President Theodore, account by, 206

Ruggles’ Grove, overlooking the Lake, 79

S

Sacketts Harbour, operations at, 213

Sacs, a tribe of Indians, 165

Sailors on the Lakes, 1

Sandusky, Port, the capture of, 184

Sault Ste. Marie canals, the, 27

Savages, the first, near the Lakes, 164

Schantz, A. A., General Manager, 72

_Scorpion_, the battle-ship, 218

Sellwood, Captain Joseph, 29

Seneca Indians, the, 165

Seven Years’ War, the beginning of the, 181

Shattuck’s Grove, an inexpensive resort, 79

Sheadle, J. H., 14

Ship-builders, the, of the Lakes, vi

Ships, the, of the Great Lakes, 1

Shuffle-board, the playing of, 150

Signals in code used on the Lakes, 156

Silver-ware on a freighter, 144

Sinclair, Captain, on Lake Huron, 217

Sioux Indians, the, 165

Snyder, W. P., 30

Social equality on the Lakes, the, 70

“Soo,” records of tonnage at the, 27

St. Clair, Lake, a summer at, 83

Steam shovels, the work of, 38

Steel Corporation, the, 122

St. Mary’s River, the, 87

“Stripping,” the work of, 39

Suez Canal, the, in 1908, 6

Summer life on the Lakes, the, 68 _ff._

_Superior_, the steamer, 98

Superior, Lake, commerce on, 10

Supremacy, the struggle for, 114

T

Taxes in Michigan, the lapse of, 58

_Te Deum Laudamus_, the singing of, 171

Thames, the battle of the, 85

_Thomas F. Cole_, the steamer, 19

“Thousand-mile highway,” the, 3, 13

Toledo, shipyards at, 10

Toledo Shipbuilding Company, the, 18

Tomlinson, G. Ashley, 14;
an opinion of, 36

Tonawandas, the twin, 46

Tower, Charlemagne, Ambassador to Germany, 1884, 34

Tragedies, the, of the Lakes, 95

“Twin Cities,” the, 54

“Two Lost Tows,” the, 102

U

_United States_, the emigrant ship, 220

Upper Peninsula, the, 87

Utes, the, of White River, 41

Utrecht, the Treaty of, 1713, 180

V

Van Rensselaer, Colonel, 199

Vermilion ranges, the, 29

Vessels of the Lakes, the construction of, 10 _ff._

W

_Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamboat of the upper Lakes, 219

Wallace, James C., of Cleveland, 16

War of 1812, the, 194 _ff._

_W. B. Kerr_, capacity of the, 61

West Superior, shipyards at, 10

_Western Reserve_, the, 98

Westinghouse, George, an opinion by, 133

_Westmoreland_, loss of the, 110

_W. F. Sauber_, the, 96;
the sinking of, 97

Whisky, a valuable cargo, 110

White River Utes, the, 41

Wickwire Steel Company, the, 125

_William H. Stevens_, the treasure ship, 108

Wolvin, A. B., 40

Y

_Yale_, the steamer, 96

Yellow pine of Louisiana, the, 58

Yeo, Sir James Lucas, 203

_Young Sion_, the disappearance of the, 109

_American Waterways_

The Romance of the Colorado River

The Story of its Discovery in 1540, with an account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons.

By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

_435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. $3.50 net_

“His scientific training, his long experience in this region, and his eye for natural scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado River most graphic and interesting. No other book equally good can be written for many years to come--not until our knowledge of the river is greatly enlarged.”--_The Boston Herald._

“Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balance about his chief, and of the canyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with undiminished interest.”--_New York Tribune._

The Ohio River

A COURSE OF EMPIRE

By Archer B. Hulbert

Associate professor of American History, Marietta College, Author of “Historic Highways of America,” etc.

_390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_

An interesting description from a fresh point of view of the international struggle which ended with the English conquest of the Ohio Basin, and includes many interesting details of the pioneer movement on the Ohio. The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley will find a unique and unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert’s chapters dealing with the Ohio River in the Revolution, the rise of the cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville, the fighting Virginians, the old-time methods of navigation, etc.

“A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book.”--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

Narragansett Bay

_Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting_

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon

Author of “The Hudson River,” “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” etc.

_340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous Photographs and a Map. $3.50 net_

Impressed by the important and singular part played by the settlers of Narragansett in the development of American ideas and ideals, and strongly attracted by the romantic tales that are inwoven with the warp of history, as well as by the incomparable setting the great bay affords for such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor as a contribution to the story of great American Waterways, with the hope that his readers may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm.

“An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island. Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary and historical associations, rather than the present appearance of the shores.”--_N. Y. Sun._

The Great Lakes

By James Oliver Curwood

_With about 80 Illustrations. Probable price $3.50 net_

This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining as it is informing, has the twofold advantage of being written by a man who knows the Lakes and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The general reader will enjoy the romance attaching to the past history of the Lakes and not less the romance of the present--the story of the great commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to transport the fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the bowels of the earth. To the business man who has interests in or about the Lakes, or to the prospective investor in Great Lakes enterprises, the book will be found suggestive. Comparatively little has been written of these fresh-water seas, and many of his readers will be amazed at the wonderful story which this volume tells.

The St. Lawrence River

_Historical--Legendary--Picturesque_

By George Waldo Browne

Author of “Japan--the Place and the People,” “Paradise of the Pacific,” etc.

_385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_