330

FLIGHT OF GENERAL PREVOST.

At the moment when the naval action had commenced, the British from their works on shore had opened a heavy fire of shot, shells and rockets upon the American lines. Under cover of this fire, three desperate efforts were made to cross the Saranac, for the purpose of carrying the American lines by assault, all which were met and successfully resisted. One ford, guarded by militia, was passed, and a body of the British being drawn into the woods, were so severely handled that they were compelled to recross the river with considerable loss. At six o'clock in the evening, the British batteries were silenced; and during the night the whole army decamped with precipitation, leaving their sick and wounded, and most of their camp equipage, entrenching tools and provisions, behind them. This retreat was so sudden and unexpected, that it was not discovered by the American general till the British were eight miles from the late scene of action. Indeed he had little reason to suppose that a disciplined and well appointed army, 'Wellington's veterans,' numbering some fourteen thousand, would have fled so incontinently from 1,500 American regulars, and 3,000 militia. The hard fighting on the lake must have had what it is the fashion to call a 'moral effect.' In the phrase of Monsieur de Bourrienne, it' demoralized' them. Their commander was dismissed and disgraced by his government.

This battle terminated the active warfare on the Canada border, the general result of which conveys to Americans the important lesson that the genius of their institutions, and the character of the people, are as uncongenial to all schemes of foreign conquest as they are favourable to the resolute and unflinching defence of their own soil. The militia who displayed so much bravery near their own fire-sides, could never be brought to enter heartily into the scheme of invading the British territory. All efforts in that quarter resulted in the same 'lame and impotent conclusion.' Even the splendid achievements at Chippewa, Bridgewater, and Fort Erie, produced nothing in the way of conquest; while the defence of Fort Sandusky and Plattsburg brought the solid advantages of immunity from foreign oppression and savage warfare.

The withdrawal of the British arms from the continent of Europe, and their embarcation for this country rendered it a matter of necessity to fortify every important point on the seaboard, as it could not be known where the anticipated invasion was to take place. The people of the great

ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH IN THE CHESAPEAKE. 331

commercial cities, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore, employed themselves with great activity in strengthening their respective fortifications, and the militia. were mustered, and large bodies of them drafted for camp duty. The military district in the neighbourhood of Washington, was assigned to General Winder, and 1,000 regular troops were placed at his disposal, with authority to call out 15,000 militia, if their services should be required.

On the 10th of August, a British fleet of 60 sail, under Admiral Sir A. Cochrane, with a land force of 6,000, under General Ross, entered the Chesapeake bay, and proceeded to the mouth of the Potomac, when a squadron under Commodore Gordon entered that river, and advanced towards Alexandria. The principal part of the fleet, with the land forces, continued their course to the mouth of the Patuxent, and entered that river on the 18th. Commodore Barney, who commanded the American flotilla of gun-boats on that river, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, blew them up, and proceeded to join General Winder.

The British, on their advance up the Patuxent, learning the defenceless state of Washington, determined on an expedition to that city. Five thousand men, under General Ross, having landed at Benedict, advanced towards the capital; the Americans retiring before him. The whole force for the defence of the city, including militia, did not exceed 7,200. They were concentrated on and near the heights of Bladensburgh. On the 24th the British advanced, and commenced an attack, driving in the advanced parties until they encountered the battery of Commodore Barney, manned with seamen and marines, who gave them the only serious repulse which they met, and inflicted the heaviest loss which they suffered in the battle. Being deserted by the militia, this gallant little band were at length surrounded, and their commander, being wounded, was captured, and paroled for his courage by General Ross. The city was then abandoned by the president and heads of departments; the whole American force retreated to Georgetown.

At eight o'clock in the evening, General Ross entered the city at the head of 800 men. Having arrived on Capitol hill, he offered terms of capitulation, which were, that the city might be ransomed by paying a sum of money nearly equal to the value of public and private property which it contained; and that on receiving it the British troops should retire unmo

332

PLUNDERING OF ALEXANDRIA.

lested. As there was no civil or military authority on the spot, competent to enter into such an arrangement as this, he proceeded to burn the Capitol, the president's house, the offices of the several departments, and a considerable number of private dwellings. The navy yard with its contents, one frigate on the stocks, and several smaller vessels were also destroyed. The libraries and public archives, together with all the works of art contained in the public buildings were included in the general conflagration.

No parallel for this act of Vandalism can be found in the annals of modern warfare. It was felt with the deepest resentment by the American people, and denounced in the severest terms even in the British parliament. The disgrace of having their capital taken by an enemy, was suffered by the Americans in common with every other civilised nation; but the lasting stigma of burning national archives and senate chambers remains with the British alone.

Having accomplished their object, the enemy on the 25th made a precipitate retreat, and on the 30th embarked at Benedict.

The squadron, under Commodore Gordon, which had advanced up the river Potomac, arrived at Alexandria on the 29th; and the commander having granted terms of capitulation to the citizens, by which the shipping, naval stores and merchandise were delivered up, received the surrender of the place. A scene of indiscriminate plunder then ensued. The vessels in the harbour were taken, and loaded with the large stores of flour, tobacco, cotton, wines and sugars, of which Alexandria was the depot, and the whole was carried off with the squadron, on their return down the river. The public and private buildings of the town were mercifully spared. The success of General Ross at Washington induced him to undertake the capture of Baltimore. He boasted that he would make that city his winter quarters, and with the force which he commanded he could march where he pleased in Maryland.

The Americans were not unprepared for an attack in this quarter. A force of militia from Maryland and the neighbouring states, together with the regular troops who had recently been engaged at Washington, amounting in all to 15,000 men, had been assembled for the defence of the city. The command of these troops was given to General Smith, of the Maryland militia, assisted by General Winder.

THE BRITISH FOILED AT BALTIMORE.

333

On the 11th of September, a British squadron of fifty sail, with 6,000 men, entered the mouth of the Patapsco, and on the morning of the 12th commenced landing at North Point, fourteen miles below the city. General Stricker was detached with 3,500 militia to oppose their advance. General Ross, having preceded the main body of his army with a small reconnoitering party, was shot through the breast by a rifleman, fell into the arms of his aide-de-camp, and died in a few minutes. The command devolved on Colonel Brooke, who led on the attack, which was commenced by a discharge of rockets from the British, and was succeeded by grape, canister and small arms on both sides. After maintaining his position for an hour and a half against a great superiority of numbers, General Stricker was at length obliged to retire to Worthington Mills, half a mile in advance of the main body.

On the night of the 12th, the British bivouacked in advance of the battle ground, and on the 13th commenced their march towards the city. When within two miles of the American lines they halted to await the result of the attack on Fort M'Henry. This fortress defends the narrow passage from the Patapsco into Baltimore harbour, two miles below the city, and its command had been intrusted to Major Armistead, with 1,000 men. Fort Covington, on the right of Fort M'Henry, was commanded by Lieutenant Newcomb. On the 12th, a British squadron of sixteen ships drew up in line of battle within two miles and a half of the forts, and at sunrise on the 13th, commenced an attack on them with bombs and rockets. Twelve hundred men were detached to storm the works on the succeeding night, and the battle raged with great fury till the morning of the 14th, when the assailants being completely foiled, were compelled to retire, and the squadron sailed down the river. Their example was speedily followed by the army, who had so sanguinely anticipated the capture and plunder of Baltimore. The whole fleet soon after left Chesapeake Bay for the south.

While the central parts of the American seaboard were suffering these attacks from the British, the towns on the coast of New England were not spared. On the 7th of April a detachment from the blockading squadron in Long Island Sound ascended the Connecticut river to Pettipaug Point, and burned twenty-two vessels which had been moored there as a place of safety. The village was set on fire in several places, but the flames were extinguished by the inhabitants.

334

CONNECTICUT AND MAINE INVADED.

On the 9th of August, another detachment from the same squadron appeared off Stonington Point, and commenced a bombardment of the village. The militia of the neighbourhood, having assembled in considerable numbers with artillery, made so gallant a defence, that the British were compelled on the 11th to give up the contest and retire.

The extensive seaboard of the district of Maine, by its defenceless state and its vicinity to the British provinces, offered an easy conquest to the enemy. On the 11th of July a squadron under Commodore Hardy, with 1,200 troops, took possession of Eastport, on Moose Island, erected fortifications, and required the people to take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic majesty, or quit the island. Having accomplished this object, the commodore returned to his station off New London.

On the 1st of September, an expedition under Sir John Sherbrooke, governor of Nova Scotia, and Admiral Griffith, with forty sail and several thousand troops, entered the Penobscot river and took possession of Castine. They next sent a detachment of 600 men to Belfast, and having received the surrender of that place, proceeded thirty-five miles up the river to Hampden, to which place the American frigate Adams had retired on their approach. The militia had assembled in considerable numbers, but fled on the approach of the enemy. Captain Morris was therefore compelled to blow up this ship, destroy his stores, and retire with his crew to Portsmouth. The British commanders having taken possession of the principal towns on the coast, published their proclamation at Castine, declaring the conquest of all the country east of the Penobscot to Passammaquoddy Bay, and requiring the submission of the people to the British government. The territory thus occupied comprehends forty-two flourishing townsnearly one-half of the district of Maine.

The ravages of the British extended to the coast of Massachusetts. The people of Cape Cod were reduced to great distress, being prohibited from fishing on the banks; the inhabitants of Nantucket were compelled to promise neutrality during the remainder of the war; and the other islands on the seaboard being entirely unprotected, were under the necessity of submitting to such terms as the British naval commanders chose to dictate.

The opposition to the measures of government in New England became more decided than ever at this period of the