6. Perceiving how the battle stood, Perry seized his banner, got overboard into an open boat, passed within pistol-shot of the enemy's ships, a storm of balls flying around him, and transferred his flag to the _Niagara_. With this powerful vessel he bore down upon the enemy's line, drove right through the midst, discharging terrible broadsides right and left. In fifteen minutes the British fleet was helpless. Perry returned to the hull of the _Lawrence_, and there received the surrender. And then he sent to General Harrison this dispatch: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." [Illustration: Fall of Tecumtha at the Battle of the Thames.] [Sidenote: Battle of the Thames.] 7. For the Americans the way was now opened to Canada. On the 27th of September Harrison's army was landed near Malden. The British retreated to the river Thames, and there faced about to fight. The battlefield extended from the river to a swamp. Here, on the 5th of October, the British were attacked by Generals Harrison and Shelby. In the beginning of the battle Proctor fled. The British regulars were broken by the Kentuckians under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. The Americans wheeled against the fifteen hundred Indians, who lay hidden in the swamp. Tecumtha had staked all on the issue. For a while his war-whoop sounded above the din of the conflict. Presently his voice was heard no longer, for the great chieftain had fallen. The savages, appalled by the death of their leader, fled in despair. So ended the campaign in the West. All that Hull had lost was regained. [Sidenote: General Jackson in Alabama.] 8. Meanwhile, the Creeks of Alabama had taken up arms. In the latter part of August, Fort Mims, forty miles north of Mobile, was surprised by the savages, who murdered nearly four hundred people. The governors of Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi made immediate preparation for invading the country of the Creeks. The Tennesseeans, under General Jackson, were first to the rescue. Nine hundred men, led by General Coffee, reached the Indian town of Tallushatchee, burned it, and left not an Indian alive. On the 8th of November a battle was fought at Talladega, and the savages were defeated with severe losses. 9. During the winter, Jackson's troops became mutinous and were going home. But the general set them the example of living on acorns, and threatened with death the first man who stirred from the ranks. And no man stirred. At Horseshoe Bend the Creeks made their final stand. On the 27th of March, the whites under General Jackson stormed the breastworks and drove the Indians into the bend of the river. There, huddled together, a thousand Creek warriors, with the women and children of the tribe, met their doom. The nation was completely conquered. [Sidenote: Expedition against Toronto.]