Broke, of the British frigate Shannon, to come out and fight him. Lawrence ought not to have accepted the banter; for his equipments were incomplete and his crew ill assorted, sick and half mutinous. But he was young, and the favorite of the nation; fired with applause, he went unhesitatingly to meet his foe. Eastward from Cape Ann the two vessels met on the first day of June. The battle was obstinate, brief, dreadful. In a short time every officer who could direct the movements of the Chesapeake was either killed or wounded. The brave young Lawrence was struck with a musket-ball, and fell dying on the bloody deck. As they bore him down the hatchway he gave in feeble voice his last heroic order-ever afterward the motto of the American sailor-"DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP!" The British were already leaping on deck, and the flag of England was hoisted over the shattered vessel. Both ships were charnel-houses; but the Shannon was still able to tow her prize into the harbor of Halifax. There the bodies of Lawrence and Ludlow, second in command, were tenderly and honorably buried by the British.

The next important naval battle was fought on the 14th of August between the American brig Argus and the British Pelican. The former vessel had made a daring cruise about the coasts of England, capturing more than twenty ships. Herself overtaken by the Pelican, she was obliged, after a severe conflict, to surrender. On the 5th of September another British brig, the Boxer, cruising off the coast of Maine, was overhauled and captured by the American Enterprise, commanded by Captain Burrows. The fight raged for three-quarters of an hour, when the Boxer surrendered. Captain Blyth, the British commander, was killed; and the gallant Burrows received a mortal wound. The bodies of both officers were taken to Portland and buried side by side with military honors. All summer long Captain Porter in the frigate Essex cruised in the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For five months he was the terror of British merchantmen in those broad waters. On the 28th of the following March, while the Essex was lying in the harbor of Valparaiso, she was beset, contrary to the law of nations, by two powerful British vessels, the Phoebe and the Cherub. The Essex had been crippled by a storm, and was anchored in neutral waters; in that condition Captain Porter fought his two antagonists until nearly all of his men were killed or wounded; then struck his colors and surrendered. Notwithstanding the losses sustained by the American navy, privateers continued to scour the ocean and capture British vessels.

From honorable warfare the naval officers of England stooped to marauding along the sea-shore. Early in the year a squadron entered

Delaware Bay and anchored before Lewistown. A requisition on the inhabitants to supply the fleet with provisions was met with a brave refusal. A threat to burn the town was answered with a message of defiance. A bombardment of twenty-four hours' duration followed; the houses were much injured, and the people fled, carrying their property to places of safety. Other British men-of-war entered the Chesapeake and burned several villages on the shores of the bay. At the town of Hampton, just above the Roads, the soldiers and marines perpetrated such outrages as covered their memory with shame. Commodore Hardy, to whom the blockade of the New England harbors had been assigned, behaved with more humanity; even the Americans recognized and praised his honorable conduct. The year 1813 closed without decisive results.

IN

CHAPTER LI.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF '14.

N the spring of 1814 another invasion of Canada was planned. The Niagara frontier was the scene of operations; but there was much delay in bringing the scattered detachments of General Wilkinson's army into proper position. Not until the 3d of July did Generals Scott and Ripley, at the head of three thousand men, cross the Niagara from Black Rock to Fort Erie. This post, garrisoned by two hundred British, was surrendered without a battle. On the following day the Americans advanced down the river-bank in the direction of Chippewa village. Before reaching that place, however, they were met by the British army, led by General Riall. On the evening of the 5th a severe battle was fought on the plain just south of Chippewa River. The Americans, led on by Generals Scott and Ripley and the gallant Major Jessup, won the day; but their loss amounted to three hundred and thirty-eight men. The British veterans, after more than five hundred of their number had fallen, were driven into their entrenchments.

General Riall retreated first to Queenstown and afterward to Burlington Heights. General Scott, commanding the American right, was detached to watch the movements of the enemy. On the evening of the 25th of July he found himself suddenly confronted by Riall's army, strongly posted on the high grounds in sight of Niagara Falls. Here

was fought the hardest battle of the war. A man less courageous and self-confident than Scott would have retreated; but with extraordinary daring he held his own until reinforced by the other divisions of the army. The British reserves were also rapidly brought into action. Twilight faded into darkness, and still the battle was undecided. A detachment of Americans, getting upon the British rear, captured General Rial and his entire staff. Still the contest raged. The key to the enemy's position was a high ground crowned with a battery. Calling Colonel James Miller to his side and pointing to the hill, General Brown said, "Colonel, take your regiment and storm that battery." "I'LL TRY, SIR," was the answer of the gallant officer; and he did take it, and held it against three desperate assaults of the British. In the last charge General Drummond, who led, was wounded, and the royal army, numbering fully five thousand, was driven from the field with a loss of eight hundred and seventy-eight men. The Americans engaged in the battle numbered about four thousand; their loss in killed, wounded and missing was more than eight hundred.

After this battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane, as it is sometimes called, General Ripley took command of the American forces; for Generals Brown and Scott were both wounded. It was deemed prudent to fall back to Fort Erie. To that place General Gaines crossed over from Buffalo, and being the senior officer, assumed command of the army. Very soon General Drummond received reinforcements, moved forward, and on the 4th of August invested Fort Erie. The siege continued for ten days, and then the British attempted to storm the works, but were driven back with severe losses. But the enemy was reinforced and the siege resumed. A regular and destructive bombardment was kept up by the British, and was answered by the Americans with equal energy. On the 28th of August General Gaines was injured by the explosion of a shell and obliged to relinquish his command. General Brown, though still suffering from the wound received at Niagara, was again called to direct the defences of the fort. On the 17th of September a sortie was ordered, and the advanced works of the British were gallantly carried. At the same time news arrived that the American general Izard was approaching from Plattsburg with strong reinforcements. Alarmed at the threatening aspect of affairs, the British raised the siege and retreated to Fort George. On the 5th of November Fort Erie was evacuated and destroyed by the Americans, who then recrossed the Niagara and went into winter quarters at Black Rock and Buffalo. So ended the war in the country between Lakes Erie and Ontario.

The winter of 1813-14 was passed by the Army of the North at

French Mills, afterward called Fort Covington. In the latter part of February General Wilkinson advanced his forces to Plattsburg, and in the following month began an invasion of Canada. At La Colle, on the west bank of the Sorel, he encountered a force of the enemy, made an imprudent attack and was defeated. Falling back to Plattsburg, he was superseded by General Izard. How that officer marched to the relief of General Brown at Fort Erie has already been narrated. The remaining division of the northern army, fifteen hundred strong, was left under command of General Macomb at Plattsburg. At this time the American flotilla on Lake Champlain was commanded by Commodore MacDonough. For the purpose of destroying this fleet and obtaining control of the lake, the British general Prevost advanced into Northern New York at the head of fourteen thousand men, and at the same time ordered Commodore Downie to ascend the Sorel with his fleet.

The invading army reached Plattsburg without opposition. Commodore MacDonough's squadron lay in the bay. On the 6th of September General Macomb retired with his small but courageous army to the south bank of the Saranac, which skirted the village. On came the British, entered the town, and attempted to cross the river, but were driven back. For four days they renewed their efforts; the Americans had torn up the bridges, and a passage could not be effected. The British fleet was now ready for action, and a general battle by land and water was planned for the 11th. Prevost's army, arranged in three columns, was to sweep across the Saranac and carry Macomb's position, while Downie's powerful flotilla was to bear down on MacDonough. The naval battle began first, and was obstinately fought for two hours and a half. At the end of that time Downie and many of his officers had been killed; the heavier British vessels were disabled and obliged to strike their colors. The smaller ships escaped; for the American brigs were so badly crippled that pursuit could not be made. Nevertheless, the victory on the lake was complete and glorious. The news was carried ashore, where the Americans were bravely contesting the passage of the river against overwhelming numbers. At one ford the British column succeeded in crossing; but the tidings from the lake fired the militia with ardor; they made a rush, and the enemy was driven back. Prevost, after losing nearly two thousand five hundred men and squandering two and a half million dollars in a fruitless campaign, retired precipitately to Canada. The ministry of England, made wise by the disasters of this invasion, began to devise measures looking to peace.

In the country of the Chesapeake the scenes of the previous year were renewed by the British. Late in the summer Admiral Cochrane

arrived off the coast of Virginia with an armament of twenty-one vessels. General Ross with an army of four thousand veterans, freed from service in Europe, came with the fleet. The American squadron, commanded by Commodore Barney, was unable to oppose so powerful a force. The enemy's flotilla entered the Chesapeake with the purpose of attacking Washington and Baltimore. The larger division of the British fleet sailed into the Patuxent, and on the 19th of August the forces of General Ross were landed at the town of Benedict. Commodore Barney was obliged to blow up his vessels and take to the shore. From Benedict the British advanced against Washington. At Bladensburg, six miles northeast of the capital, they were met, on the 24th of the month, by the militia and the marines under Barney. Here a battle was fought. The undisciplined militia behaved badly. Barney's seamen were overpowered by the British, and himself taken prisoner. The news of the defeat was rapidly borne to Washington. The President, the cabinet officers and the people betook themselves to flight, and Ross marched unopposed into the city. He had been ordered by his superiors to use the torch, and the work of destruction was accordingly begun. All the public buildings except the Patent Office were burned. The beautiful but unfinished Capitol and the President's house were left a mass of blackened ruins. Many private edifices were also destroyed; but General Ross, himself a humane man, did less than he was ordered to do.*

Five days after the capture of Washington, a portion of the British fleet, ascending the Potomac, reached Alexandria. The inhabitants of that town, in order to avoid the fate of the capital, purchased the forbearance of the enemy by the surrender of twenty-one ships, sixteen thousand barrels of flour and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. Baltimore redeemed herself more bravely. Against that city, after the capture of Washington, General Ross proceeded with his army and fleet. Meanwhile, the militia, to the number of ten thousand, had gathered under command of General Samuel Smith, a Revolutionary veteran., On the 12th of September the British were landed at North Point, at the mouth of the Patapsco; and the fleet began the ascent of the river. The land-forces, after marching about halfway to Baltimore, were met by the Americans under General Stricker. A skirmish ensued in which General Ross was killed; but Colonel Brooks assumed command of the invading army, and the march continued. When approaching the city, the British came upon the American lines and were brought to a halt by a severe cannonade. General

* An excuse for this outrageous barbarism was found in the previous conduct of the Americans, who, at Toronto and other places on the Canadian frontier, had behaved but little better.