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MAJOR-GENERAL

JACOB BROWN.

THE ancestors of General Brown emigrated from England with William Penn, in the first settlement of the colony of Pennsylvania, and for successive generations, have been respectable members of the society of Friends, improperly called Quakers. The General was born in Buck's county, Pennsylvania, a few miles below Trenton in New-Jersey. He received a plain country education, taught a country school in his early years, according to report; and acquired a knowledge of surveying, the practice of which art led him to emigrate, at the age of 23, to the state of New-York, where he became acquainted with an agent who had the direction of a large landed concern in the vicinity of the waters of Lake Ontario. 'With this man he contracted for a tract of several thousand acres of land not far from Sackett's Harbour, and began its settlement in 1799. Here he resided in the laudable pursuits of agricultural improvement, beloved and respected. In 1808 he was elected a member of the New-York Agricultural and Philosophical Society. His acceptance, in 1809, of a colonelcy (the first military office he ever held) in the New-York militia, proclaimed him no longer a member of that religious fraternity to which his family had been for ages attached. In consequence of the rage of party spirit, the appointments made by the NewYork Council of Appointment, particularly in times of peace, are governed often more by the consideration of political influence of the person to be commissioned, than by his capacity to dis

charge the duties annexed to the station they design him to fill. Considerations of this nature, no doubt, induced Colonel Brown's promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General, in 1811, as he was not led to this important station by gradation or singular military services. Practices of this kind, while they reflect no dishonour on persons thus appointed, deserve the highest censure, because while the elevation is not derived from conspicuous talents, it tramples on the rights of seniority in commission.

It is thus accounted for, that, at the commencement of hostilities on the part of the United States against Great Britain, an important frontier of the state of New-York was found under the military command of General Jacob Brown. Of the first detachment of New-York militia, called into actual service of the United States, one brigade was committed to his charge. That the subsequent development of General Brown's military character cannot be ascribed to the wisdom and foresight of that body to whom he owed his commission, the preceding observations will amply warrant; hence it is but fair to infer, that his subsequent military career is ascribable alone to his prowess and talents, perhaps not unaided with Executive favour.

The General's first command embraced the whole line of frontier from Oswego to St. Regis, a distance of more than three hundred miles.Within this line was included the important post of Sackett's Harbour, the security of which, being essential to the success of ulterior operations, constituted the first object of his attention. Having fortified this in the best manner his time and seanty means would allow, he reconnoitered in person the shores of the St. Lawrence, and, pro

vided as far as practicable, for the defence of the country. His transportation, a short time afterwards, of a party of four hundred men from Sackett's Harbour to Ogdensburgh, manifested firmness of purpose and intrepidity of spirit. The roads were impassible for baggage and artillery, and the enemy was in undisputed possession of the lake and river. On the subject of a passage by water, there existed but one opinion; an attempt at it was considered as fraught with destruction. The General, however, having been ordered to proceed, was bent on obedience. He, accordingly, embarked with his troops in the best flotilla he could provide for the purpose, and, determined to fight his way through whatever might oppose him, arrived in safety at his place of destination.

While stationed at Ogdensburgh, he so galled and harassed the enemy, in their navigation of the St. Lawrence, that, impatient of further annoyance, they fitted out a formidable expedition for his capture or destruction. The number of men they despatched on this enterprise was upwards of 800, commanded by some of their best officers, and provided with every thing deemed necessary to insure success. The American force opposed to them was less than 400. Notwithstanding this vast númerical difference, General Brown forced the enemy to retreat precipitately, with considerable loss in boats and men, not one of his party having received even a wound. No further attempts were made to dislodge him during the continuance at that post.

His term of service having soon afterwards expired, the General returned to his family at Brownville, and resumed his agricultural pursuits. In the spring of 1813, General Brown again took

the field, and once more was intrusted with the defence of Sackett's Harbour, then menaced by a serious attack from the enemy.

All the regular troops, except about four hundred, who, from their recent arrival on the spot, were but little better than fresh recruits, had been removed from the harbour, to co-operate in the meditated reduction of Fort George. The furniture of the cannon having been carried off to complete the outfit for the same service, the batteries were nearly in a dismantled state: nor could any efficient aid be derived from the cooperation of the fleet, in as much as that, with the exception of two small schooners, was all employed in the expedition up the lake. In fact, considering its exposed situation, and the vital importance of the post, Sackett's Harbour had been, to the astonishment of all military men, left in a most unprotected and perilous condition. To aid in its defence, General Brown embodied, with all practicable promptitude, a few hundred militia from the adjacent district, who had scarcely arrived when the enemy made his appearance. The General's situation was critical in itself, and to the heart of a soldier trying in the extreme. It was his duty to meet the fire, perhaps the bayonets of veterans, with a handful of raw, undisciplined troops, many of them but a few days from the bosom of their families, their domestic feelings still awake-and their habits of civil life perfectly unbroken, none of whom having ever before faced an enemy in the field. But his own activity, valour and skill, aided by the determined bravery of Lieutenant-Colonel Backus, of the regular army. supplied all deficiencies. Arrangements were made to receive the enemy with a warm and galling fire at his place of landing.

and to contest the ground with him in his advance towards the fort.

The regiment of United States' troops were stationed in the rear, while General Brown, at the head of his new levies, occupied in person the first post of danger. On the second fire the militia broke and fled in disorder, but were rallied again by the exertions of their commander. During the remainder of the conflict, which was warm, and continued some time with varying success, the presence of the General was every where felt, applauding the brave, encouraging the timid, and rallying the flying, till his efforts were ultimately crowned with victory. In consequence of the firm front presented by the regulars, and the judicious disposition of a body of militia threatening his rear, the enemy without accomplishing his object, was compelled to relinquish the contest, and retreat in great haste, and in some disorder, to his place of embarkation.

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General Brown, returning once more to private life, was offered the command of a regiment in the regular army. This offer, he unhesitatingly declined. The acceptance of it would have placed him below officers whom he might then command, and, as the regiment was yet to be raised, a considerable time must have elapsed before he could possibly have taken the field. In plain terms, he felt himself entitled to a higher rank. Nor was it long till the government appointed him a Brigadier General in the army of the United States.

The first service in which General Brown was engaged under his new appointment, was the superintendence and direction of the arrangements for transporting from Sackett's Harbour, down the St. Lawrence, the army commanded by General Wilkinson, in the autumn of the year 1813, in

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