Produced by Gerard Arthus, Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. LEARN ONE THING EVERY DAY MARCH 15 1916 SERIAL NO. 103 THE MENTOR [Illustration: Perry's Pennant on the "Lawrence"] THE WAR OF 1812 By Professor ALBERT BUSHNELL HART DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3 FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY Heroes of the Fleet PERRY "September the tenth, full well I ween In eighteen hundred and thirteen, The weather mild, the sky serene, Commanded by bold Perry, Our saucy fleet at anchor lay In safety, moor'd at Put-in Bay; 'Twixt sunrise and the break of day, The British fleet We chanced to meet; Our admiral thought he would them greet With a welcome on Lake Erie." --_Old Song_ LAWRENCE "Let shouts of victory for laurels won Give place to grief for Lawrence, Valor's son. The warrior who was e'er his country's pride Has for that country bravely, nobly died." --_Lines published in June, 1813._ THE WAR OF 1812 By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART _Professor of Government, Harvard University_ _MENTOR GRAVURES_ CAPTAIN JAMES LAWRENCE COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR COMMODORE WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE _MENTOR GRAVURES_ COMMODORE OLIVER HAZARD PERRY THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON [Illustration: Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry] THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY MARCH 15, 1916 Our defeat of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War was conclusive; though "we" in that case included France, without whose aid the patriots must have been defeated. It is not so easy to discover a fund of military glory in the War of 1812. That was a great war year. Within a few days of the declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain, Napoleon's Grand Army of over 400,000 men crossed the Niemen into Russia. Six months later 4,000 of that host recrossed, pursued by the Russians; and probably not more than 100,000 of the whole number ever saw their homes again. In 1813, while the Americans were fighting on the ocean and on Lake Erie, Napoleon was driven out of Germany. A few weeks before the Battle of Lundy's Lane, Napoleon was compelled to abdicate. Soon after the news of the Peace of Ghent with Great Britain was received in the United States, in 1815, Napoleon broke loose from Elba; and a few months later he was again a prisoner and sent to St. Helena. [Entered at the Postoffice at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter. Copyright, 1916, by The Mentor Association, Inc.]