The Naval War of 1812 | Page 5

the Northwest. In
this quarter it must be remembered that the war was, on the part of the
Americans, mainly one against Indians; the latter always forming over
half of the British forces. Many of the remainder were French
Canadians, and the others were regulars. The American armies, on the
contrary, were composed of the armed settlers of Kentucky and Ohio,
native Americans, of English speech and blood, who were battling for
lands that were to form the heritage of their children. In the West the
war was only the closing act of the struggle that for many years had
been waged by the hardy and restless pioneers of our race, as with rifle
and axe they carved out the mighty empire that we their children inherit;

it was but the final effort with which they wrested from the Indian lords
of the soil the wide and fair domain that now forms the heart of our
great Republic. It was the breaking down of the last barrier that stayed
the flood of our civilization; it settled, once and for ever, that
henceforth the law, the tongue, and the blood of the land should be
neither Indian, nor yet French, but English. The few French of the West
were fighting against a race that was to leave as little trace of them as
of the doomed Indian peoples with whom they made common cause.
The presence of the British mercenaries did not alter the character of
the contest; it merely served to show the bitter and narrow hatred with
which the Mother-Island regarded her greater daughter, predestined as
the latter was to be queen of the lands that lay beyond the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, on Lake Ontario, the Americans made successful descents
on York and Fort George, scattering or capturing their comparatively
small garrisons; while a counter descent by the British on Sackett's
Harbor failed, the attacking force being too small. After the capture of
Fort George, the Americans invaded Canada; but their advance guard,
1,400 strong, under Generals Chandler and Winder, was surprised in
the night by 800 British, who, advancing with the bayonet, broke up the
camp, capturing both the generals and half the artillery. Though the
assailants, who lost 220 of their small number, suffered much more
than the Americans, yet the latter were completely demoralized, and at
once retreated to Fort George. Soon afterward, Col. Boerstler with
about 600 men surrendered with shamefully brief resistance to a
somewhat smaller force of British and Indians. Then about 300 British
crossed the Niagara to attack Black Rock, which they took, but were
afterward driven off by a large body of militia with the loss of 40 men.
Later in the season the American General McClure wantonly burned
the village of Newark, and then retreated in panic flight across the
Niagara. In retaliation the British in turn crossed the river; 600 regulars
surprised and captured in the night Fort Niagara, with its garrison of
400 men; two thousand troops attacked Black Rock, and after losing
over a hundred men in a smart engagement with somewhat over 1,500
militia whom they easily dispersed, captured and burned both it and
Buffalo. Before these last events took place another invasion of Canada
had been attempted, this time under General Wilkinson, "an
unprincipled imbecile," as Scott very properly styled him. It was

mismanaged in every possible way, and was a total failure; it was
attended with but one battle, that of Chrystler's Farm, in which 1,000
British, with the loss of less than 200 men, beat back double their
number of Americans, who lost nearly 500 men and also one piece of
artillery. The American army near Lake Champlain had done nothing,
its commander, General Wade Hampton, being, if possible, even more
incompetent than Wilkinson. He remained stationary while a small
force of British plundered Plattsburg and Burlington; then, with 5,000
men he crossed into Canada, but returned almost immediately, after a
small skirmish at Chauteaugay between his advance guard and some
500 Canadians, in which the former lost 41 and the latter 22 men. This
affair, in which hardly a tenth of the American force was engaged, has
been, absurdly enough, designated a "battle" by most British and
Canadian historians. In reality it was the incompetency of their general
and not the valor of their foes that caused the retreat of the Americans.
The same comment, by the way, applies to the so-called "Battle" of
Plattsburg, in the following year, which may have been lost by Sir
George Prevost, but was certainly not won by the Americans. And,
again, a similar criticism should be passed on General Wilkinson's
attack on La Colle Mill, near the head of the same lake. Neither one of
the three affairs was a stand-up fight; in each a greatly superior force,