The War With the United States : A Chronicle of 1812Wood, William
History
The War With the United States : A Chronicle of 1812
Wood, William
United States -- History -- War of 1812
Down by the Montreal frontier there were three corresponding
British successes. On June 3 Major Taylor of the 100th
captured two American gunboats, the _Growler_ and the
_Eagle_, which had come to attack Isle-aux-Noix in the
Richelieu river, and renamed them the _Broke_ and the
_Shannon_. Early in August Captains Pring and Everard,
of the Navy, and Colonel Murray with nine hundred soldiers,
raided Lake Champlain. They destroyed the barracks, yard,
and stores at Plattsburg and sent the American militia
flying home. But a still more effective blow was struck
on the opposite side of Lake Champlain, at Burlington,
where General Hampton was preparing the right wing of
his new army of invasion. Stores, equipment, barracks,
and armaments were destroyed to such an extent that
Hampton's preparations were set back till late in the
autumn. The left wing of the same army was at Sackett's
Harbour, under Dearborn's successor, General Wilkinson,
whose plan was to take Kingston, go down the St Lawrence,
meet Hampton, who was to come up from the south, and then
make a joint attack with him on Montreal.
In September the scene of action shifted to the West,
where the British were trying to keep the command of Lake
Erie, while the Americans were trying to wrest it from
them. Captain Oliver Perry, a first-rate American naval
officer of only twenty-eight, was at Presqu'isle (now
Erie) completing his flotilla. He had his troubles, of
course, especially with the militia garrison, who would
not do their proper tour of duty. 'I tell the boys to
go, but the boys won't go,' was the only report forthcoming
from one of several worthless colonels. A still greater
trouble for Perry was getting his vessels over the bar.
This had to be done without any guns on board, and with
the cumbrous aid of 'camels,' which are any kind of
air-tanks made fast to the sides low down, in order to
raise the hull as much as possible. But, luckily for
Perry, his opponent, Captain Barclay of the Royal Navy,
an energetic and capable young officer of thirty-two,
was called upon to face worse troubles still. Barclay
was, indeed, the first to get afloat. But he had to give
up the blockade of Presqu'isle, and so let Perry out,
because he had the rawest of crews, the scantiest of
equipment, and nothing left to eat. Then, when he ran
back to Amherstburg, he found Procter also facing a state
of semi-starvation, while thousands of Indian families
were clamouring for food. Thus there was no other choice
but either to fight or starve; for there was not the
slightest chance of replenishing stores unless the line
of the lake was clear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account