A Brief History of the United StatesSteele, Joel Dorman
History
A Brief History of the United States
Steele, Joel Dorman
United States -- History
THE ARMIES OF THE CENTRE AND NORTH did but little. General Dearborn
attacked York, General Pike gallantly leading the assault.
Unfortunately, in the moment of success the magazine blew up,
killing Pike and making sad havoc among his men. Dearborn did
nothing, and soon after resigned. General Wilkinson, his successor,
was directed to descend the St. Lawrence in boats, and join General
Hampton in an attack on Montreal. At Chrysler's Field he repulsed
the British, but owing to a disagreement with General Hampton he
returned. (Map opp. p. 160.) General Hampton went north as far as
St. John's, where he was defeated by the British. He then made the
best of his way back to Plattsburg, where, in the winter, he was
joined by General Winchester's men. Thus ingloriously ended the
campaign of these two armies.
ARMY OF THE WEST.--A detachment of General Harrison's men was
captured at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, by Proctor, who then
besieged Harrison himself at Fort Meigs (megz). Repulsed here,
Proctor stormed Fort Stephenson, garrisoned by only one hundred and
fifty men under Major Croghan, a young man of twenty-one. Beaten
again, he returned to Malden. As yet, however, the British held
Michigan and threatened Ohio, and the Americans had been as
unsuccessful this year as they were the preceding, when a glorious
triumph on Lake Erie gave a new aspect to the campaign.
[Footnote: This party was stationed on the Maumee, under General
Winchester. Having learned that the people of Frenchtown feared an
attack from the Indians, he allowed his military judgment to yield
to his humanity, and marched to their relief. He defeated the
enemy, but was soon attacked by a body of fifteen hundred British
and Indians under Proctor. Winchester, being captured in the course
of the battle, agreed to the surrender of his men under the solemn
promise that their lives and property should be safe. Proctor,
however, immediately returned to Maiden with the British, leaving
no guard over the American wounded. Thereupon the Indians, maddened
by liquor and the desire for revenge, mercilessly tomahawked many,
set fire to the houses in which others lay, and carried the
survivors to Detroit, where they were dragged through the streets
and offered for sale at the doors of the inhabitants. Many of the
women of that place gave for their ransom every article of value
which they possessed. The troops were Kentuckians, and the war-cry
of their sons was henceforth "Remember the Raisin."--The great
object of the Indians in battle was to get scalps, Proctor paying a
regular bounty for every one. They were therefore loth to take
prisoners. Proctor, brutal and haughty, was a fit leader under a
government that would employ savages in a civilized warfare.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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