Britain particularly, who began to inquire into the causes of their defeats.

After the return of the frigate Constitution to Boston, Captain Hull resigned the command for the purpose of attending to his private concerns, and was succeeded by Captain William Bainbridge. Accompanied by the sloop of war Hornet, the Constitution sailed, towards the end of October, on a cruise to the coast of South America. On the 29th of December, after parting with the Hornet, which was left to blockade a sloop of war of equal force, and while near the Brazils, two sails were discovered, one of which bore away, and the other stood for the American frigate. The enemy was soon discovered to be the British ship of war Java, of forty-nine guns, and preparations were made on both sides for action. At two P. M. the action commenced with great vigor, the enemy keeping at long-shot; but the fire of the Constitution was directed with so much precision, that the Java was soon disabled in her spars and rigging, and Captain Bainbridge having taken a position nearer to his opponent, her fire was completely silenced about four o'clock. Concluding that she had struck, he passed ahead to repair the rigging, but finding shortly afterwards that the British flag was still flying, he took a raking position on her bows, and was about to commence a destructive fire, when the enemy called out that he had surrendered. It was soon perceived that the Java had been fought with so much obstinacy that she was not in a condition to be preserved as a trophy of American victory, and Commodore Bainbridge, having removed her crew and stores, destroyed her on the succeeding day. The loss of this vessel was a severe blow to the British. She was commanded by Captain Lambert, an officer of merit and experience, who was unfortunately killed during the action, and had on board one hundred supernumerary seamen for the East India service, besides a lieutenant-general, and other officers, and contained also stores of immense value. The loss of men was exceedingly great; sixty were killed, and upwards of one hundred wounded; while on board the Constitution nine only were killed, and twenty-five were

wounded. The damage, however, received by the latter, and her decayed state, rendered it necessary for her to return to the United States. After landing her prisoners at St. Salvador, on parole, she arrived in Boston on the 8th of the succeeding month. In this, as well as all the preceding actions, the difference between the loss of men on board the vessels engaged was strikingly conspicuous. In none of the engagements between the English and their European antagonists, had the disproportion been so manifest. The British writers, astonished at the result, accounted for it by supposing that riflemen were stationed in the tops of the American vessels, whereas in reality it is to be attributed to the great skill and experience in the art of firing possessed by the Americans of all classes, and the pains that had been taken to discipline them in the use of the great guns. If the bravery of the American seamen was conspicuous in these encounters, their generosity and humanity to their captives were not less strikingly evinced. The official letters of the British officers bore strong testimony to this fact; but while they acknowledged the delicacy and liberality of their enemy, they were not restrained in any one instance by similar feelings from exaggerating the force of the American and diminishing their own.

CHAPTER VIII.

Bloody Action at the river Raisin-Barbarity of British and Indians-Americans not buried-Exposed to beasts of prey.

"He feasts his soul on messages of woe."

JANUARY 22d, 1813, a bloody action was fought at the river Raisin, between a detachment from the North-Western army, exceeding seven hundred and fifty men, under General Winchester, and a combined force of British and Indians, amounting to one thousand five hundred men, under General Proctor. Many of the Americans were killed and wounded; among the latter was General Winchester. The remainder, on surrendering themselves prisoners of war, were nearly all inhu

manly massacred by the Indians, contrary to the express stipulations of General Proctor.

The station of General Harrison, the commander of the North-Western army, was at this time at Franklinton. General Winchester was stationed at fort Defiance, half-way between fort Wayne, on the Miami, and Lake Erie, with eight hundred troops, chiefly young men of the first respectability, from Kentucky. Learning that a body of British and Indians was about to concentrate at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, he sent a detachment to protect that place. Before the arrival of the detachment, Frenchtown was occupied by a party of the enemy, but they were dislodged after a severe engagement, in which the Americans had twelve killed, and fifty-five wounded.

On the 20th, General Winchester joined the detachment at Frenchtown, with the remainder of his troops, and on the 22d the battle of Raisin was fought. After a desperate conflict, in which many on both sides were killed, the Americans surrendered, with the express stipulation of being protected from the Indians.

Contrary, however, to these stipulations, the savages were permitted to indulge their full thirst for blood. The tomahawk was mercilessly buried in many a bosom, and the scalping-knife wantonly tore the crown from many a head.

Even the last sad rites of sepulture were forbidden by their murderers, and the remains of these brave youth of Kentucky lay on the ground, beat by the storms of heaven, and exposed to the beasts of the forest, until the ensuing autumn, when their friends and relations ventured to gather up their bleaching bones, and consigned them to the tomb.

CHAPTER IX.

Captain Lawrence, of the Hornet, conquers the British Sloop of War Peacock -Action lasts only fifteen Minutes-Generosity of the Americans.

66

"O, strike up the harp to the warrior returning

From the toils and the tempest of ocean's rough wave."

AFTER blockading an English sloop of war of equal force, the United States ship Hornet was compelled, by the appearance of a seventy-four gun-ship, to take refuge in the harbour of St. Salvador, from which she escaped in the night, and continued her cruise. Off Demerara, on the 22d of February, her commander, Captain Lawrence, observed a large man-ofwar brig standing towards him. The Hornet was immediately cleared for action; and at twenty-five minutes past five the engagement commenced within half pistol-shot, and was terminated in fifteen minutes by the surrender of the enemy, with six feet water in her hold. The prize proved to be the British sloop of war Peacock, of twenty guns and two swivels, with one hundred and thirty men. Her commander, Captain Peake, was killed at the close of the action. So severe had been the fire of the Hornet, that it was found impossible to keep the prize afloat until all her crew were removed, although the most strenuous exertions were made for that purpose. Nine of her crew, and three from the Hornet, who were generously endeavouring to save them, went down in her. The loss of the British in this action was very severe; of the Americans, only one was killed and two wounded. The humanity displayed by the crew of the Hornet, towards their prisoners, was as honourable to them as their bravery in battle. From the sudden removal of the latter, they were left destitute of suitable clothing; and the fact was no sooner made known to the American seamen, than they immediately divided with them their own equipment, while the public acknowledgments of the captured officers showed that they had received an equal share of generosity and liberality.

On his return to the United States, Captain Lawrence was

promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then lying in the harbour of Boston.

CHAPTER X.

Americans attack York, Capital of Upper Canada-Death of General PikeAmericans push forward and succeed.

"The news came like the falling of a mighty oak in the stillness of the woods."

DURING the winter, which had now passed, Great Britain sent a number of troops to Halifax, and made considerable preparations for the defence of Canada. Similar preparations had been urged by the American government, with the hope of completing the conquest of that territory before the close of another campaign.

About the middle of April, the commander-in-chief, General Dearborn, determined to attack York, the capital of Upper Canada, the great depository of British military stores, whence the western posts were supplied. Accordingly, on the 27th, a successful attack was made, and York fell into the hands of the Americans, with all its stores.

The command of the troops, one thousand seven hundred, detached for this purpose, was given to General Pike. On the 25th, the fleet, under Commodore Chauncey, moved down the lake, with the troops from Sackett's Harbour, and, on the 27th, arrived at the place of debarkation, about two miles westward from York, and one and a half from the enemy's works. The British, consisting of about seven hundred and fifty regulars, and five hundred Indians, under General Sheaffe, attempted to oppose the landing, but were thrown into disorder, and fled to their garrison.

General Pike, having formed his men, proceeded towards the enemy's fortifications. On their near approach to the barracks, about sixty rods from the garrison, an explosion took place which killed about one hundred of the Americans, among whom was the gallant Pike.