the Creeks. 7. Repulse of the British at Mobile. 8. Proclamation of colonel Nichols. 9. Destruction of the settlement at Barrataria. 10. Cap- ture of Pensacola. 11. Capture of the American gun-boats on lake Borgne. 12. Military preparations at New Orleans 13. Landing of the British below the town. 14. Battle of the 23d of December. 15. De. scription of the country around New Orleans. 16. Operations of the British previous to the 8th of January. 17. Battle of New Orleans. 18. Bombardment of Fort St. Philip. 19. Capture of Fort Bowyer. 20. Operations on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia CHAPTER VII. § 1. Cruize of the Essex. 2. Captain Porter's recep- tion at Valparaiso. 3. Destruction of the British commerce in the Pa- cific. 4. Happah war, 5. Typee war. 6. Madison's island. 7. Cap- ture of the Essex. 8. Sequel of the cruize. 9. Result of the campaign on the ocean. 10. Destruction of the General Armstrong: 11. Peace between America and Great Britain. 12. Its reception in the two coun. tries. 13. Lessons taught by the war CHAPTER VIII.-51. Hartford convention. 2. Plan of defence adopted by the general government. 3. Refusal of the militia. 4. Extraordina- ry meeting of the legislature of Massachusetts. 5. A convention of the New England states recommended. 6. Appointment of and instructions to delegates. 7. Meeting of the convention. 8. Their proceedings. 9 Fate of the measures recommended by the convention. 10. Report of American and British accounts of the affair at La Cole American and British accounts of the affair on the river Thames American and British accounts of the attack on Oswego Further operations on lake Ontario Correspondence respecting the co-operation of the fleet on lake Onta- [28 American and British accounts of the capture of Fort Erie, and battle of Chippe wa plains Further operations of the army under general Brown 52 American and British accounts of the battle of Bridgewater Attack upon Buffalo American and British accounts of the storming of Fort Erie 72 American and British accounts of the capture of the Ohio and Somers, on lake Erie Conclusion of the campaign on the Niagara, including the sortie from Fort Erie Expedition of general M'Arthur American and British accounts of the capture of Washington, and of the operations of the British squadron in the Chesapeake, imme. diately preceding and subsequent to that event [117 Correspondence of admiral Cochrane with the secretary of state, and the proclamation of the president consequent thereon [181 American and British accounts of the attack upon Baltimore 1187 Affair at Otter creek (219 American and British accounts of the siege of Plattsburg, and capture of the British fleet on lake Champlain [220 Bombardment of Stonington 235 Capture of the country between the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy bay [236 [89 [110 ANNALS OF AMERICA. CHAPTER I. 1. Introduction. 2. Breaking up of the cantonments at French Mills. $ 3. Affair at La Cole mill. $ 4. General Wilkinson suspended. 5. March of Brown's army to the Niagara. $ 6. Holmes' expedition the Thames. $7. Situation of affairs on lake Ontario. S 8. Attack on the towns on the American margin of the lake. $9. Capture of a British detachment at Sandy-bay. $ 10. Burning of Long Point. 81. THE war with Great Britain, during the two first campaigns, was productive of no events which materially altered the situation of the two countries. With sufficient occupation for her troops in the European peninsula, and with every nerve strained in bringing forth her pecuniary resources, for the support of her allies in Russia and Germany, Great Britain was unable to make any effectual impression on the United States, and could not even have preserved her North American provinces, but for the raw and undisciplined state of the American forces, and the want of knowledge and experience in their commanders. But, amidst all the reverses that attended the first efforts of the army of America, the native bravery of her sons was sufficiently apparent. The events even of the first two campaigns sufficiently proved, that nothing but habits of discipline and able leaders were wanting to convert this rude mass into a body of warriors, not unworthy to defend the soil of freedom, and to carry vengeance against the most powerful aggressors upon the rights of their country. While the army was thus acquiring discipline in the fields of Upper Canada, and in the pathless deserts of Ohio, the republican navy had an apparently still more difficult task to perform. Having annihilated the navies of Europe, in the course of a twenty years war, Britain was enabled fearlessly to cover our coasts with her thousand ships of war. of America was an object of ridicule with the British nation, and it was confidently predicted in her legislative assembly, that in a few A The navy a VOL. IV. short months the “half dozen fir-built frigates, with a piece of striped bunting at the mast-head” would be swept from the ocean. Nay, even the forebodings of our friends were but little more favourable. What could a few frigates and sloops of war effect against a fleet, which had succeeded in breaking down every naval power in the world, and who could exclaim, almost without an hyperbole, " The winds and seas are Britain's wide domain, a But this arduous task was undertaken with undaunted firmness, and the result was as brilliant as unexpected. Frigate met with frigate, and fleet with fleet, and the flag of the conquerors of the world was repeatedly struck to the infant navy of the rude republicans. To hide the disgrace, the enemy was fain to claim kindred with those they had affected to call a degenerate and outcast race, or to resort to the more unfair and mean subterfuge of designating as “ seventy-fours in disguise,” the same frigates which they had had numerous opportunities of examining, both in our ports and their own, and which but a few months before they had laughed to scorn. The Bri. tish vessels were also made to undergo a metamorphosis, but in an inverse ratio to that of the Americans. Their ships, brigs, schooners, and sloops were converted into gun-boatst, in the futile hope of tearing the wreath from the brows of the noble Perry, whose modest demeanour and humane conduct was such as to extort the reluctant applause even of those who submitted to his prowess. Instead, therefore, of being confined to our ports, or swept from the ocean, the little navy of America visited every sea, and everywhere unfurled her stripes and stars. Nor did the coasts of the mistress of the ocean escape. Vessels were even captured in her own narrow seas. Meanwhile the British navy was employed in the vain attempt of “ hermetically sealing the American ports,” or in harassing the coasts of the Chesapeake by petty marauding .excursions, whose prime object seems to have been the burning of farm-houses and oyster-boats, or the plundering stock and tobacco, on this extensive and defenceless frontier. But by the occurrence of one of the most wonderful events in this most wonderful era, the war was now to assume a very * British Naval Register. + See the proceedings of the court martial on the trial of captain Barclay, in the documents at the end of this volume. |