him and was about despatching him, when Dickson interposed and restrained the savage. Croghan, who had been standing on the ramparts, and had observed the insult offered to Shipp, called to him, “ Shipp, come in, and we'll blow them all to hell.” Shipp went in, bidding Dickson “good-bye.” The cannonading then commenced, and in twenty-four hours upwards of five hundred shot struck the works, though with little effect.

Croghan had but one piece of artillery, a six-pounder, which by his order was removed to the block-house and loaded with musket balls. On the evening of the next day the enemy determined to carry the works by storm. They advanced in two columns; one led on by Lieutenant-Colonel Short, the other by Colonel Chambers. Under cover of the smoke of the fort, the men advanced until they came to the ditch, where they paused. Colonel Short rallied them, crying out to push on," and give the damned Yankees no quarters.” The six-pounder, which had been placed at a masked embrasure in the block-house, at thirty feet distance from them, now opened, pouring death and destruction among them. Of those in the ditch few escaped. A precipitate retreat commenced. The column under Colonel Chambers was also routed by a severe fire from Captain Hunter's line; and the whole fled into an adjoining wood. Lieutenant Short and twenty-five privates were left dead in the ditch, and twenty-six were afterwards taken prisoners. The total loss of the enemy was one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. When night came on, the wounded in the ditch suffered indescribably. Croghan conveyed them water over the pickets, and opened a ditch through the ramparts, by which they were invited to enter the fort. Let the reader compare this act of magnanimity with the conduct of Proctor at the river Raisin!

In the night the combined force of the “allies" commenced a rapid and disorderly retreat, leaving part of their baggage and wounded behind them. For his act of gallantry on this occasion, Croghan was promoted to the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel.

Shortly after the retreat of Proctor, he sent a flag with his surgeon, Dr. Banner, to inquire into the condition of the

wounded. After an examination of them, the doctor expressed himself highly gratified with the tenderness and skill with which they had been treated. When introduced to Croghan, he could not but express his astonishment that such a post had been held in such a manner by such a boy.

It appears to be the invariable fortune of great men to be libelled. Even Washington, the Father of his Country, was calumniated and denounced. Jefferson was opprobriously stigmatised, and every act of his career tortured to suit the base purposes of faction. Simon Snyder, the Father of Democracy in Pennsylvania, was accused even of theft, and are we to be surprised that the great and good Harrison has not been exempt from the stings of malice and falsehood? These reflections are awakened by a recollection of the flagrant injustice which has been attempted against General Harrison, by some of his political enemies, in the grossest misrepresentations in reference to the defence of Fort Stephenson. This has been ventured, upon the presumption of the ignorance of the public in regard to the events of that period. A simple statement, founded on facts which NONE CAN QUESTION, will put these slanderers to flight.

At the date of the attack on Fort Stephenson, the enemy had nearly seven thousand men in the field-two thousand of whom were British regulars and Canadians, and the remainder were warriors of the fiercest Indian tribes. The army under General Harrison was greatly inferior in numbers, and it became his duty, as a skilful commander, to withdraw his unimportant outposts, to avoid risking unnecessarily the loss of a single soldier, and to enable him, by concentrating his forces, to hold the enemy in check, at least, if he should not prove strong enough to give him battle. Fort Stephenson was a temporary and unimportant station, and so commanded by the high ground in its neighbourhood, as to be utterly indefensible against heavy artillery—and such, from their command of the lake, the British could easily transport to its attack. Fully aware of this, from having reconnoitered the ground in person, General Harrison, on learning that this station was about to be assailed, thought at expedient to withdraw the garrison of Fort Stephenson. The order which was accordingly sent to Croghan, the con. demnation of the Fort by a Council of Officers, as worthless and untenable, the reason why Croghan could not obey tho order, and the subsequent result, have been already detailed.

The gallant defence of a position which General Harrison had ordered to be abandoned, with the unanimous approbation of a Council of his Officers, was seized upon by the malicious among his political opponents, who industriously circulated the falsest statements and most unfounded charges in relation to it. But fortunately the plain truth soon became so well known, that his fair fame suffered no injury from the unfounded calumnies. So many gallant officers bore witness of their own accord, to the military foresight and wisdom of his measures, that no slander which even the malice of his calumniators could devise, ever darkened for a moment his unsullied reputation.

The following short extracts are from an address to the public, relative to this affair, which was voluntarily published by the general, field, and staff-officers of General Harrison's army; among whom were Col. Cass, late Secretary of War, General Wells and others scarcely less distinguished in the army and the councils of their country. After expressing their

“ Regret and surprise, that charges, as improper in form as in substance, should have been made against General Harrison, during the recent investment of Lower Sandusky, they go on to say:

“On a review of the course then adopted, we are decidedly of the opinion, that it was such as was dictated by military wisdom, and by a due regard to our circumstances and to the situation of the enemy. And with a ready acquiescence, beyond the mere claims of military duty, we are prepared to obey a general, whose measures meet our most deliberate approbation, and merit that of his country.”

The chivalrous and noble-spirited CROGHAN, who was one of the signcrs of the above address, about the same time published another paper on this subject, dated from Lower Sandusky, in which he says:

“I have with much regret seen in some of the public prints such misrepresentations respecting my refusal to evacuate this post, as are not only calculated to injure me in the estimation of military men, but also to excite unfavourable impressions as to the propriety of General Harrison's conduct relative to this affair.

“ His character as a military man is too well established to need my approbation or support, But his public service entitles him at least to common justice. This affair does not furnish cause of reproach. If public opinion has been lately misled respecting his late conduct, it will require but a moment's cool, dispasionate reflection, 10 convince them of its propriety. The measures recently adopted by him, so for from deserving censure, are the clearest proofs of his penetration und able generalship

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. It is true that I did not proceed immediately to execute his orders to evacuate this fort, but this disobedience was not as some would wish to believe) the result of a fixed determination to maintain the post contrary to his most positive order.

“I desire no plaudits which are bestowed upon me at the expense of General Harrison.

“I have felt the wirmest attachment for him as a man, and my confidence in kim as an able commander remains unshaken. I shall not hesitate to unite with the army in bestowing upon him that confidence which he so richly merits, and which has on no occasion been withheld."

We have dwelt on this passage in the life of General Harrison, somewhat longer than is consistent with the brevity of this sketch; but the political opponents of General Harrison can find so few points in his whole life that afford them the slightest apology for censure, that they have been driven to pervert and misrepresent an affair of so simple a nature as this, and one that in truth entitled him, as the gallant Croghan justly says, “to the highest commendation.” We have therefore thought it no more than common justice to him, and to our readers, to lay before them this plain exposition of facts. The wisest and best actions are often misunderstood or perverted by the ignorant or malicious. We trust and believe that the former constitute the larger portion of those who have sought to shadow the fair fame of General Harrison; but while meara, and sordid spirits exist, envy and detraction will always pursue exalted merit.

At last, disappointed in their hopes of plunder, and dispirited by the numerous defeats they had sustained, the savage allies of the British became discontented. The second siege of Fort Meigs had been abandoned, when the enemy learned that Harrison had prepared to give them a warm reception; and gradually the Indians and their white associates entirely withdrew from our territory. They soon after concentrated their forces at Malden, their principal stronghold in Upper Canada. It will thus be seen that the skill and triumphant gallantry with which General Harrison had conducted his defensive operations--the only resources left him in the face of a foe far superior to his forces in point of numbers and discipline-had not only protected our widely extended frontier, but had eventually

compelled the enemy to leave our soil, mortified and humbled by frequent defeats.

The activity and enterprise of Harrison did not long permit the enemy to rest in security, even after they had retreated from our territory. He immediately commenced preparations for carrying the war into their own country, and formed a bold project for the capture of Malden, and the conquest of Upper Canada.

On the 20th of July, HARRISON was informed that the naval armament, which had been built under Perry's superintendence, was prepared to co-operate with him in the reduction of Malden. With a view to this, he wrote to Governor Shelby of Kentucky, earnestly soliciting a body of militia, not less than four hundred nor mire than two thousand ; and requesting that he would accompany them in person. Old Kentucky responded instantly to the call, and Governor Shelby, the hero of King's Mountain, took command of the forces, fifteen hundred strong, among which were Colonel Johnson's regiment of mounted men.

We cannot refrain from introducing the following extract of a letter written about this time to General Harrison, by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, now Vice-President of the United States, as illustrative of the ardour of the people of the West to serve under the command of one who they knew would lead them to victory. It is dated at Lower Sandusky, July 4th, 1813,* and was sent for the purpose of apprizing General Harrison that its writer and the brave Kentuckians under his command, had arrived and were waiting his orders.