Chapter 14

Perry's flag-ship, the Lawrence, engaged two of the heaviest vessels of the enemy, and fought them till but eight of his men were left. He helped these to fire the last gun, and then leaping into a boat bore his flag to the Niagara. He had to pass within pistol-shot of the British, who turned their guns directly upon him; and though he was a fair mark for every shot, he escaped without injury. Breaking through the enemy's line, and firing right and left, within fifteen minutes after he mounted the deck of the Niagara the victory was won. Perry at once wrote to General Harrison, "_We have met the enemy, and they are ours._" This laconic despatch produced intense excitement throughout the country. Upon the result of this battle depended, as we shall see, important issues.

[Footnote: From its mast-head floated a blue pennant, bearing the words of the dying Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship." (See p. 166)]

BATTLE OF THE THAMES.--Proctor and Tecumseh were at Maiden with their motley array of British and Indians, two thousand strong, waiting to lay waste the frontier. Harrison, at Sandusky Bay, was nearly ready to invade Canada, and at the news of this victory pushed across the lake. Landing at Maiden, which he found deserted, Harrison hotly pursued the flying enemy and overtook them on the _River Thames_ (temz). Having drawn up his troops, he ordered Colonel Johnson, with his Kentucky horsemen, to charge the English in front. Dashing through the forest, they broke the enemy's line, and forming in their rear, prepared to pour in a deadly fire. The British surrendered, but Proctor escaped by the swiftness of his horse. Johnson then pushed forward to attack the Indians. In the heat of the action, a bullet, said to have been fired by Johnson himself, struck Tecumseh. With his death the savages lost all hope, and fled in confusion.

_Effect._--This victory, with Perry's, relieved Michigan, gave control of Lake Erie, and virtually decided the war. General Harrison returned amid the plaudits of the nation.

NAVAL BATTLES.--The American navy achieved some brilliant successes during the year, but was not uniformly victorious.

_Chesapeake and Shannon_.--Captain Lawrence, of the Hornet, having captured the British brig Peacock, on his return was placed in command of the Chesapeake, the ill-starred frigate which struck her flag to the Leopard off the coast of Virginia. While refitting his vessel at Boston, a challenge was sent him to fight the Shannon, then lying off the harbor. Lawrence, although part of his crew were discharged, and the unpaid remainder were almost mutinous, consulted only his own heroic spirit, and at once put to sea. The action was brief. A hand-grenade bursting in the Chesapeake's arm-chest, the enemy took advantage of the confusion, and boarded the vessel. A scene of carnage ensued. Lawrence, mortally wounded, was carried below. As he left the deck he exclaimed, "_Don't give up the ship_." But the feeble crew were soon overpowered, and the colors hauled down.

WAR WITH THE CREEKS.--Tecumseh had been (1811) among the Alabama Indians, and had aroused them to take up arms against the Americans. They accordingly formed a league (1813), and fell upon _Fort Mimms_, massacring the garrison and the defenceless women and children. (Map opp. p. 160.) Volunteers flocked in from all sides to avenge this horrid deed. Under General Jackson they drove the Indians from one place to another, until they took refuge on the _Horseshoe Bend_, where they fortified themselves for the last battle (March 27, 1814). The soldiers, with fixed bayonets, scaled their breastwork. The Creeks fought with the energy of despair, but six hundred of their number were killed, and those who escaped were glad to make peace on any terms.

[Footnote: An event occurred on Jackson's march which illustrates his iron will. For a long time his soldiers suffered extremely from famine, and at last they mutinied. General Jackson rode before the ranks. His left arm, shattered by a ball, was disabled, but in his right he held a musket. Sternly ordering the men back to their places, he declared he would shoot the first who advanced. No one stirred, and soon all returned to their duty.]

RAVAGES ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.--Early in the spring the British commenced devastating the southern coast. Admiral Cockburn, especially, disgraced the British navy by conduct worse than that of Cornwallis in the Revolution. Along the Virginia and Carolina coast he burned bridges, farm-houses, and villages; robbed the inhabitants of their crops, stock, and slaves; plundered churches of their communion services, and murdered the sick in their beds.

[Footnote: New England was spared because of a belief that the northern States were unfriendly to the war and would yet return to their allegiance to Great Britain.]

1814.

Battle of Lundy's Lane (July 25).--The American army, under General Brown, crossed the Niagara River once more, and for the last time invaded Canada. Fort Erie having been taken, General Winfield Scott, leading the advance, attacked the British at _Chippewa_ (July 5), and gained a brilliant victory. A second engagement was fought at _Lundy's Lane_, opposite Niagara Falls. (Map opp. p. 160.) Here, within sound of that mighty cataract, occurred one of the bloodiest battles of the war. General Scott had only one thousand men, but he maintained the unequal contest until dark. A battery, located on a height, was the key to the British position. Calling Colonel Miller to his side, General Brown asked him if he could take it. "I'll try, sir," was the fearless reply. Heading his regiment, he steadily marched up the height and secured the coveted position. Three times the British rallied for its re-capture, but as many times were hurled back. At midnight they retired from the field. This victory, though glorious to the American army, was barren of direct results.

BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN (September ll).--All but fifteen hundred of the troops at Plattsburg had gone to reinforce General Brown. Prevost, the commander of the British army in Canada, learning this fact, took twelve thousand veteran soldiers, who had served under Wellington, and marched against that place. As he advanced to the attack, the British fleet on Lake Champlain assailed the American squadron under Commodore McDonough.

[Footnote: One of his vessels he had built in twenty days, from trees growing on the bank of the lake.]

The attacking squadron was nearly annihilated. The little army in Plattsburg, by their vigorous defence, prevented Prevost from crossing the Saranac River. When he found that his ships were lost, he fled precipitately, leaving his sick and wounded, and large quantities of military stores.

RAVAGES ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.--The British blockade extended this year to the north. Commerce was so completely destroyed that the lamps in the light-houses were extinguished as being of use only to the English. Several towns in Maine were captured. Stonington, Conn., was bombarded. Cockburn continued his depredations along the Chesapeake. General Ross marched to Washington (Aug. 24) and burned the capitol, the Congressional library, and other public buildings and records, with private dwellings and storehouses. He then sailed around by sea to attack Baltimore. The army having disembarked below the city (Sept. 12), moved against it by land, while the fleet bombarded Fort McHenry from the river. The troops, however, met with a determined resistance, and, as the fleet had made no impression on the fort, soon retired to their ships.

[Footnote: While the British troops were marching toward Baltimore, General Ross rode forward with a part of his staff, to reconnoitre. Two mechanics, who were in a tree watching their advance, fired upon them, and Ross fell mortally wounded. The two patriots were instantly shot.]

[Footnote: During the bombardment of Fort McHenry, Francis S. Key. an American detained on board of an English vessel, wrote the national song, "The Star Spangled Banner."]

The greatest excitement was produced by these events. Every seaport was fortified; the militia were organized, and citizens of all ranks labored with their own hands in throwing up defences. Bitter reproaches were cast upon the administration because of its mode of conducting the war. Delegates from New England States met at Hartford (December 15) to discuss this subject. The meeting was branded with odium by the friends of the administration, and to be called a "Hartford Convention Federalist" was long a term of reproach.

PEACE, as afterward appeared, was made even before the convention adjourned. The treaty was signed at Ghent, December 24. Before, however, the news had reached this country, a terrible, and, as it proved, unnecessary battle had been fought in the South.

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS (January 8, 1815).--A powerful fleet and a force of twelve thousand men, under General Pakenham, undertook the capture of New Orleans. General Jackson, anticipating this attempt, had thrown up intrenchments several miles below the city. The British advanced steadily, in solid columns, heedless of the artillery fire which swept their ranks, until they came within range of the Kentucky and Tennessee riflemen, when they wavered. Their officers rallied them again and again. General Pakenham fell in the arms of the same officer who had caught General Ross as he fell at Baltimore.

[Footnote: Jackson at first made his intrenchments in part of cotton-bales, but a red-hot cannon-ball having fired the cotton and scattered the burning fragments among the barrels of gunpowder, it was found necessary to remove the cotton entirely. The only defence of the Americans in this battle was a bank of earth, five feet high, and a ditch in front.]

[Footnote: The British were tried and disciplined troops, while very few of the Americans had ever seen fighting. Besides, the British were nearly double their number. But our men were accustomed to the use of the rifle, and were the best marksmen in the world.]

Neither discipline nor bravery could prevail. General Lambert, who succeeded to the command, drew off his men in the night, hopelessly defeated, after a loss of over two thousand; while the American loss was but seven killed and six wounded.

RESULTS OF THE WAR.--The treaty left the question of impressment unsettled, yet it was tacitly understood, and was never revived. The national debt was $127,000,000, but within twenty years it was paid from the ordinary revenue. The United States had secured the respect of European nations, since our navy had dared to meet, and often successfully, the greatest maritime power in the world. The impossibility of any foreign ruler gaining a permanent foothold on our territory was shown. The fruitless invasion of Canada by the militia, compared with the brave defence of their own territory by the same men, proved that the strength of the United States consisted in defensive warfare. Extensive manufactories were established to supply the place of the English goods cut off by the blockade. This branch of industry continued to thrive after peace, though for a time depressed by the quantity of English goods thrown on the market. The immediate evils of the war were apparent: trade ruined, commerce gone, no specie to be seen, and a general depression. Yet the wonderful resources of the country were shown by the rapidity with which it entered upon a new career of prosperity.

[Footnote: The Algerines had taken advantage of the war with England to renew their depredations on American commerce. Decatur, in May, 1815, was sent with a squadron to right matters in that quarter. Proceeding to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, he obtained the liberation of American prisoners, and full indemnity for all losses, with pledges for the future. The United States was the first nation effectually to resist the demands of the Barbary pirates for tribute.]

POLITICAL PARTIES.--When Madison's term of office expired, the federalist party had been broken up by its opposition to the war. James Monroe, the Presidential candidate of the republican party, was almost unanimously elected. He was generally beloved, and all parties united in his support.

MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION.

Monroe's administration was one of general prosperity. After the ravages of war, the attention of all was turned to the development of the internal resources of the country and to the building up of its industries.

[Footnote: James Monroe was born 1758; died 1831. As a soldier under General Washington, he bore a brave record, and especially distinguished himself in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. Afterward, he studied law, and entered political life. Having been sent by Washington as Minister to France, he showed such marked sympathy with that country as to displease the President and his cabinet, who were just concluding a treaty with England, and wished to preserve a strictly neutral policy; he was therefore recalled. Under Jefferson, who was his warm friend, he was again sent to France (1803), when he secured the purchase of Louisiana. He is said to have always taken particular pride in this transaction, regarding his part in it as among the most important of his public services. Soon after his inauguration as President, he visited all the military posts in the north and east, with a view to a thorough acquaintance with the capabilities of the country in the event of future hostilities. This tour was a great success. He wore a blue military coat of homespun, light--colored breeches, and a cocked hat, being the undress uniform of a Revolutionary officer. The nation was thus reminded of his former military services. This, with his plain and unassuming manners, completely won the hearts of the people, and brought an overwhelming majority to the support of the administration. Monroe was a man more prudent than brilliant, who acted with a single eye to the welfare of his country. Jefferson said of him: "If his soul were turned inside out, not a spot would be found on it." Like that loved friend, he died "poor in money, but rich in honor;" and like him also, he passed away on the anniversary of the independence of the country he had served so faithfully.]

(FIFTH PRESIDENT--TWO TERMS: 1817-1825.)

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. _The Missouri Compromise_.--When the admission of Missouri as a State was proposed, a violent discussion arose as to whether it should be free or slave. Through the efforts of Henry Clay, it was admitted as a slave state (1821), under the compromise that slavery should be prohibited in all other territories west of the Mississippi and north of parallel 36 degrees 30 minutes--the southern boundary of Missouri.

[Footnote: The question of slavery was already one of vast importance. At first slaves were owned in the northern as well as the southern States. But at the North, slave labor was unprofitable, and it had gradually died out; while at the South it was a success, and hence had steadily increased. In 1793, Eli Whitney, of Connecticut, invented the cotton-gin, a machine for cleaning cotton from the seed, an operation before performed by hand, and very expensive. (Read Barnes's Pop. Hist, of the U. S., p 346.) This gave a new impulse to cotton-raising. Sugar and tobacco, also great staples of the South, were cultivated exclusively by slave labor.]

_La Fayette's Visit_ to this country (1824) as "the nation's guest" was a joyous event. He traveled through each of the twenty-four States, and was everywhere welcomed with delight. His visit to the tomb of Washington was full of affectionate remembrance. He was carried home in a national vessel, the Brandywine, named in honor of the battle in which La Fayette first drew his sword in behalf of the colonies.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS.--_Florida_.--By a treaty (1819), Spain now ceded Florida to the United States. (See p. 146.)

_Monroe Doctrine_.--In one of President Monroe's messages he advocated a principle since famous as the _Monroe Doctrine_. He declared that any attempt by a European nation to gain dominion in America would be considered by the United States as an unfriendly act.

POLITICAL PARTIES.--Divisions now became apparent in the great party which had twice so triumphantly elected Monroe as President. The whig party, as it came to be called in Jackson's time, was forming in opposition to the republican--thenceforth known as the democratic party. The whigs were in favor of a protective tariff, and a general system of internal improvements; the democrats opposed these. No one of the four candidates obtaining a majority of votes, the election went to the House of Representatives, where John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was chosen.

[Footnote: John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay were the champions of the whigs; Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun, of the democrats. In 1834, the democrats began to be called "Locofocos," because, at a meeting in Tammany Hall, the lights having been put out, were relighted with locofoco matches, which several, expecting such an event, had carried in their pockets.]

[Footnote: A _protective tariff_ is a duty imposed on imported goods for the purpose of encouraging their manufacture at home. By _internal improvements_ are meant the improving of the navigation of rivers, the building of bridges and railroads, the dredging of harbors, etc.]

J. Q. ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION.

[Footnote: John Quincy Adams was born in Massachusetts, 1767; died 1848. He was a man of learning, of blameless reputation and unquestioned patriotism, yet as a President he was hardly more successful than his father. This was, doubtless, owing greatly to the fierce opposition which assailed him from the friends of disappointed candidates, who at once combined to weaken his measures and prevent his re-election. Their candidate was Andrew Jackson, a man whose dashing boldness, energy, and decision attracted the popular masses, and hid the more quiet virtues of Adams. To add to his perplexities, a majority of the House, and nearly one-half of the Senate, favored the new party, his own Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, being the candidate of the opposition, and of course committed to it. To stem such a tide was a hopeless effort. In two years Adams was returned to Congress, where he remained until his death, over sixteen years afterward. Ten years of public service were thus rendered after he had passed his "threescore years and ten," and so great was his ability in debate at this extreme age, that he was called "the old man eloquent." Like his father, he was a wonderful worker, and his mind was a complete storehouse of facts. He lived economically, and left a large estate. He was the congressional advocate of anti-slavery, and a bitter opponent of secret societies. His fame increased with his age, and he died a trusted and revered champion of popular rights. He was seized with paralysis while occupying his seat in Congress, after which he lingered two days in partial unconsciousness. His last words were--"This is the last of earth; I am content."]

(SIXTH PRESIDENT: 1825-1829)

This was a period of great national prosperity. During this term the first railroad in the United States was completed, and the Erie Canal opened. The debt was fast diminishing, and there was a surplus of $5,000,000 in the treasury. A protective tariff, known as the "American System," reached its height. It was popular at the east, but distasteful to the south.

[Footnote: The southern States, devoted to agricultural pursuits, desired to have foreign goods brought to them as cheaply as possible; while the eastern States, engaged in manufactures, wished to have foreign competition shut off by heavy duties.]

Adams was a candidate for re-election, but Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, and the democratic nominee, was chosen. The principle of a protective tariff was thus rejected by the people.

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION.

[Footnote: Andrew Jackson was born 1767; died 1845. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father died before he was born, leaving his mother very poor. As a boy, Andrew was brave and impetuous, passionately fond of athletic sports, but not at all addicted to books. His life was crowded with excitement and adventure. At fourteen, being captured by the British, he was ordered to clean the commander's boots. Showing the true American spirit in his refusal, he was sent to prison with a wound on head and arm. Here he contracted the smallpox, which kept him ill for several months. Soon after his mother had effected his exchange, she died of ship-fever while caring for the imprisoned Americans at Charleston. Left destitute, young Jackson tried various employments, but finally settled down to the law, and in 1796 was elected to Congress. His imperious temper and inflexible will supplied him with frequent quarrels. He first distinguished himself as a military officer in the war against the Creek Indians. His dashing successes in the war of 1812 completed his reputation, and ultimately won him the Presidency. His nomination was at first received in many States with ridicule, as, whatever might be his military prowess, neither his temper nor his ability recommended him as a statesman. His re-election, however, proved his popular success as President. His chief intellectual gifts were energy and intuitive judgment. He was thoroughly honest, intensely warm-hearted, and had an instinctive horror of debt. His moral courage was as great as his physical, and his patriotism was undoubted. He died at the "Hermitage," his home near Nashville, Tennessee.--Jackson and Adams were born the same year, yet how different was their childhood. One born to luxury and travel, a student from his earliest years, and brilliantly educated; the other born in poverty, of limited education, and forced to provide for himself. Yet they were destined twice to compete with each other for the highest place in the nation. Adams, the first time barely successful, was unfortunate in his administration; Jackson, triumphing the second, was brilliant in his Presidential career.]

(SEVENTH PRESIDENT--TWO TERMS: 1829-1837.)

President Jackson commenced his administration with an inflexible honesty that delighted all, but with a sturdiness of purpose that amazed both friends and foes. He surrounded himself at once by his political friends, thus establishing the now popular principle of "rotation in office."

[Footnote: "During the first year of his administration, there were nearly seven hundred removals from office, not including subordinate clerks. During the forty years preceding, there had been but sixty-four."]

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.--_Nullification_.--South Carolina (1832) passed a Nullification ordinance declaring the tariff law "null and void," and that the State would secede from the Union if force should be employed to collect any revenue at Charleston. President Jackson acted with his accustomed promptness. He issued a proclamation announcing his determination to execute the laws, and ordered troops, under General Scott, to Charleston.