neighborhood of Cook's Mills, at Lyon's Creek, a branch of the Chippewa, for the purpose of destroying the enemy's stores in that quarter. Having driven in the picket guard, and captured its officers, Bissell encamped for the night. The next morning, he was attacked by the Marquis of Tweedale, with not less than twelve hundred men; but the enemy was repulsed and driven back again to their entrenchments, leaving their killed and wounded behind. Bissell having accomplished his design, returned to Black Rock with a loss of twelve killed and fifty-five wounded. The weather growing cold, and the season for military operations drawing to a close, it was determined to destroy Fort Erie, and evacuate Upper Canada. This was accordingly effected; and early in November, the troops were transported to the American side, and distributed in winter quarters at Buffalo, Black Rock, and Batavia.* During the summer of this year, an expedition was undertaken for the purpose of recovering Mackinaw. A part of the squadron on Lake Erie, had for this object been extended into Lake Huron, under the command of Commodore Sinclair. Colonel Croghan, accompanied by Major Holmes, left Detroit on the 5th of July. Co-operating 245 and the Sault de St. Marie, and then proceeded to Mackinaw. Croghan landed his troops on the 4th of August, but his force was not sufficient to reduce the fortress. The attempt was attended with the loss of many brave officers, among whom was Major Holmes. Two vessels, which were left by the Americans to prevent supplies arriving at the fort, were blown up by the British. Commodore Sinclair, however, succeeded in capturing the last of their vessels on the upper lakes.* General Harrison, vexed at the conduct of the secretary of war, who was no friend of his, and who violated the usual military etiquette on various occasions, sent in his resignation of the post of major-general in the army. His letter was written from Cincinnati, under date of May 11th, and he retired to private life. On the 22d of October, General M'Arthur, who took the command after General Harrison's resignation, left Detroit, with about seven hundred men, and marched in the direction of the River Thames. Having dispersed the British detachments in the vicinity of the Thames, destroyed all their stores, and taken one hundred and fifty prisoners, M'Arthur's detachment, on the 7th of November, returned to Detroit with Commodore Sinclair, they in good order, and with the loss of only succeeded in destroying the one man. The troops were then disBritish establishments at St. Joseph's charged and returned home. 1814. * Ingersoll (vol. ii., pp. 109-14) has some reflections on the "moral effect" of the war as carried on in the north. The reader will find them worthy his attention. * M'Afee, in his History, (p. 410-53) gives a full ao count of the operations in the northwest at this date, with copious quotations from letters, documents, etc. CHAPTER XII. 1814. THE INVASION OF WASHINGTON. The British in the Chesapeake-Barney's flotilla — A heavy blow contemplated by the enemy - Views and plans of the administration for the defence of Washington- General Winder appointed commander- His trials and perplexities-Cochrane's fleet enters the Chesapeake―The force under General Ross landed at Benedict — Advance into the interior - Winder's force and conduct - Stansbury's brigade- Post taken at Bladensburg - The president and secretaries in the camp-Their presence and plans-The battle of Bladensburg-Retreat to the capitol Thence to Georgetown Heights, and fifteen miles further-Destruction at the navy yard-General Ross enters Washington — The city devoted to destruction — The next morning's work—The British anxious to get away-Their retreat at night-Effect of this invasion - Gordon's success at Alexandria - Parker's misfortune - Attempt on Baltimore-Death of General Ross Battle at North Point - The British advance but do not attack-Bombardment of Fort M'Henry - Cochrane and the troops retreat-The return of the president to Washington-Congress meet - The message of the president - Measures entered upon · - Mr. Jefferson offere his library to Congress - Changes in the cabinet-The measures of this session - Finances, taxation, bank scheme, etc. - Monroe's plan for augmenting the army-Death of the vice-president — APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XII. The British account of the invasion of Washington. THE British squadron on the coast continued their system of petty plundering and devastating, wherever they found opportunity. Especially was this plan pursued on the waters of the Ches 1814. apeake, where Cockburn was in command; and numerous and disgraceful inroads were made under his direction, or with his entire sanction. A flotilla for the defence of the inlets and smaller rivers of the bay, consisting of a cutter, two gunboats, and nine barges, was placed under command of Commodore Barney, who, during the month of June, performed a number of gallant exploits in the discharge of his responsible duties. Every attempt of the enemy to capture the flotilla failed, Barney at times running up small creeks out of reach of the British guns; at other times, silencing them by his superior skill and accuracy in firing. Cockburn had menaced Washington during the preceding year; but the sec retary of war and others never believed that any attack was seriously contemplated. The defences appeared to be all that was necessary, and it was thought that the British would not dare, with any force at their command, to attempt so hazardous an expedition as that of assaulting the capital of the United States. But England, now that Napoleon was subdued, having abund ance of ships and men unoccupied, (see p. 228) determined to strike a blow or two which should tell with tremendous effect, and compel the Americans to sue for peace on any terms. The president of the United States, CH. XII.] PLANS FOR DEFENDING THE CAPITAL. not unaware of the threatened invasion, by news which reached him at the end of June, called a council of the heads of the departments, and suggested the propriety of collecting all the regulars within reach, of forming a camp of at least three thousand men at some point between the Patuxent and the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, and of embodying ten thousand militia at Washington. These views appeared to meet the approbation of all; and there seems no reason to doubt, that could they have been carried into execution, both the cities of Baltimore and Washington might safely have bid defiance to the British arms. Steps were immediately taken in furtherance of the plan suggested. Requisitions were made on the District of Columbia, for her whole quota of militia, amounting to two thousand men; on Maryland for the same, six thousand men; on Pennsylvania, for five thousand men; and on Virginia, for two thousand men; making in the whole, fifteen thousand men; of which, ten thousand, it was confidently thought, would not fail to take the field. It was ascertained, that about a thousand regulars could be depended on; besides a squadron of horse then in Pennsylvania, some additional regulars which were ordered from North Carolina, and Commodore Barney's men, in case it should be found necessary to abandon the flotilla. On paper, this was certainly a highly respectable force; but, it is to be remembered, that the ten or fifteen thousand militia were yet to be called together, and when assembled, they were to be disciplined, and put in some sort of preparation to meet 247 a veteran force like that which was about to invade the country. The District of Columbia, Maryland, and part of Virginia, was formed into a new military district, and on the 5th of July, the command was bestowed upon General Winder. He entered upon his difficult command with alacrity, but every thing nearly was to be done, fortifications to be erected, troops collected, plans matured, etc. 1814. Difficulties of various kinds sprang up in his path. The governor of Maryland called for three thousand militia, but his call brought out about as many hundred. The governor of Pennsylvania had no authority at all to draft men, and could only appeal to the patriotism of the people, with very indifferent success, as may be supposed. Thus Maryland and Pennsylvania fail. ing, nearly half of the fifteen thousand were cut off at once, and of the balance, not more than one third could be relied on. At the beginning of August, Winder had only a thousand regulars collected, and less than two thousand militia. Some troops embodied at Annapolis, and a brigade of Maryland militia from Baltimore, under General Stansbury, were placed at the disposal of the American commander; and it was hoped, that volunteers would flock in and repel the insulting and haughty enemy. But, as is at once evident, with such miserably insufficient preparation, the British general would meet with very little to hinder him from accom plishing his purpose.* * Ingersoll (vol. ii., p. 164) gives a graphic account of the position of things at Washington, in view of On the 16th of August, twenty-one sail of the line, under Admiral Cochrane, arrived in Chesapeake Bay, and effected a junction with Cockburn's squad. on. The enemy's force was divided into three parts. One division was sent up the Potomac, under Captain Gordon, for the purpose of bombarding Fort Warburton, and opening the way to the city of Washington; and another, under Sir Peter Parker, was dispatched to threaten Baltimore. The main body ascended the Patuxent, apparently with the intention of destroying Commodore Barney's flotilla, which had taken refuge at the head of that river, but with the real intention, as it was soon discovered, of attacking Washington. In prosecution of this plan, the expedition proceeded to Benedict, the head of frigate navigation, and about forty miles southeast of the capital. Benedict, on the west bank of the Patuxent, was reached on the 19th of August; and on the next day, the debarkation of the land forces, under General Ross, was completed. On the 21st, pur no funds; though the city banks proffered a few hundred thousand dollars of their depreciated, and in a very few days unconvertible paper,-as, with the fall of Washington, all banks south of New England stopped payments in coin. There were no rifles; not flints enough; American gunpowder was inferior to English; there was not a cannon mounted for the defence of the seat of government; not a regular soldier there; not a fortress, breastwork, or military fortification of any kind, within twelve miles. The neighbor ing militia of Maryland and Virginia were worn down by disastrous and mortifying service, routed and disheartened. The proportion of regular troops, all of them mere recruits, never tried in fire, was like that of coin to paper, in the wretched currency; so small an infusion of precious metal, that there was scarcely any substance to rely upon." suing the course of the river, the troops moved to Nottingham, and on the 22d, arrived at Upper Marlborough; a flotilla, consisting of launches and barges, under the command of Admiral Cockburn, ascending the river and keeping pace with them. The day following, the flotilla of Commodore Barney, in obedience to the orders of the secretary of the navy, was blown up by men left for the purpose; the commodore having already joined General Winder with his seamen and marines. 1814. The force under General Ross numbered not more than four thousand five hundred men, although rumor and sudden fright expanded his army into at least ten thousand men. The advance was slow; for not only did the total absence of resistance sug gest the need of precaution against ambuscades, but the soldiers, long cooped up in the ships, were too much fatigued, by the weight of their accoutrements and provisions, to proceed rapidly. Occasionally, a few of the famous riflemen of the backwoods showed themselves to the invading force; who also caught sight of bodies of American soldiery,now posted strongly on some rising ground, whence they hastily withdrew as the British advanced,-now rapidly evacuating some town, as the British entered, and now envelopped in clouds of dust, as they crossed the line of the British march. Later still, at night, the outposts were conscious of the near approach of small parties of Americans, apparently intent on the capture or death of stragglers; and these casualties were so frequent, in consequence of the heat of the weather, and the pe CH. XII.] POST TAKEN AT BLADENSBURG. culiarities of the country and climate, that the halting places were never many miles apart. The inhabitants of both country and towns, panic-stricken, seemed to disappear in mass before the face of the truculent invaders. 1814. 240 and was joined the next evening by the fifth Baltimore regiment, under Colonel Sterrett, and a rifle battalion under Major Pinkney, in all about twenty-two hundred men. Monroe, the secretary of state, who had been active in giving his advice and assistance to Winder, reached Stansbury's quarters about midnight, and informing him of the advance of the enemy on General Winder, advised him to fall on the rear of the British immediately; but Stansbury, with his troops fatigued by their recent march, declined doing this, and remained during the night at his post. Determining to move towards Washington, having heard of 'Winder's retreat, Stansbury, before day, crossed the bridge over the eastern branch of the Potomac, and after securing his rear, halted for a few hours. Early in the morning, he again moved forward, with the view of taking possession of some ground for defence, when orders were received from General Winder to give battle to the enemy at Bladensburg, in case they came that way. Looking up on his tired and raw troops, and considering the number of the enemy, two or three times as great as his own, Stansbury and his officers resolved that it was impossible for them to make head against the invaders; but receiving peremptory orders to meet the enemy at Bladensburg, Stansbury had no alternative, and prepared as best he could, for what was before him. General Winder's force amounted to about three thousand men at this time, the half of whom were militia, who had never seen as yet an engagement. The Baltimore and Annapolis militia had not arrived, and the Virginia detachment was still delayed. Winder's camp was at Woodyard, about twelve miles from Washington. Early on the morning of Monday, the 22d of August, an advance corps, under Colonel Scott and Major Porter marched on the road to Nottingham, and were, for the first time, brought in sight of the enemy; yet the American commander, though the men were eager for action, would not risk it with raw and undisciplined troops. Thus, General Ross, who had left the shipping with great uneasiness, was allowed, without cavalry, with hardly a piece of cannon, to advance unmolested, through a well-settled country, abounding in defiles, ravines, streams, woods, and the like, of which the Americans took no advantage, but kept retreating without a blow in defence of their homes and firesides. Winder fell back to the Battalion Old Fields, a position about eight miles from Marlborough, and covering Bladensburg, the bridges on the eastern branch of the Potomac, and Fort Warburton. On the same evening, General Stans-couraged by the presence of the exbury arrived with his brigade at Bla- ecutive of the United States himself, densburg, after a very fatiguing march, with his secretaries of state, war, and VOL. III.-32 General Winder's camp and army were encumbered rather than en |