Part 28
Major-general Brown having crossed Niagara River (July 3, 1814) and captured Fort Erie, General Riall marched to attack him. The two forces met (July 5) on the plains of Chippewa, midway between Forts George and Erie, and after a sharp skirmish the British retreated to Queenstown. The importance of the battle was overshadowed by that of Lundy’s Lane, which occurred the same month.—ED.
Footnote 73:
It is held that Niagara Falls have receded seven miles from their position when first known, the average yearly recession being from four to six feet.—ED.
Footnote 74:
Augustus Porter, brother of General Peter Porter, was born at Salisbury, Connecticut, in 1769. When twenty years of age, he left home for western New-York, becoming a surveyor in the Phelps and Gorham Tract, and later in the Holland Purchase. In 1806, he removed with his family to Niagara Falls, where he continued to reside until his death in 1825. In association with three others, he formed the Portage Company, which leased from the state for fifteen years the exclusive privilege of transporting property across the portage between Lewiston and Schlosser. He was the first judge of Niagara County, opening his first term at Buffalo in 1808. The unusual length of his life enabled him to see the country, through which he had travelled for days without meeting a white man, develop into a populous agricultural and commercial region.—ED.
Footnote 75:
For a brief account of Black Rock and Buffalo, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, _ante_, notes 4 and 9.—ED.
Footnote 76:
The Oneida alone remained neutral, and in consequence suffered severely at the hands of the Mohawk, who burned their villages and drove them to seek shelter at Schenectady.—ED.
Footnote 77:
For the early history of Fort Erie, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, _ante_, note 5.
Eleazer Derby Wood, born in New-York City (1783), a graduate of West Point (1806), served in the West during the early part of the war, having conducted the defense of Fort Meigs, and commanded the artillery at the battle of the Thames. He was killed in General Brown’s sortie to raise the siege of Fort Erie (September 17, 1814), and a monument to his memory was erected by that general at West Point.
James Gibson, who also died from a wound received in this sortie, was a native of Sussex County, Delaware, and a graduate of West Point. He had been in the battle of Queenstown Heights; was made a colonel, and in July, 1813, inspector-general of the army.—ED.
Footnote 78:
In 1750, Joncaire built a stronghold at the upper end of the Niagara portage, which was known as Fort au Portage; but when, eight years later, the English advanced to invest Fort Niagara, he blew it up and retired across the river. At the close of the French and Indian War (1763), the English built a fort at this point, which they named Fort Schlosser, in honor of Captain Joseph Schlosser, its first commander.—ED.
Footnote 79:
In retaliation for the burning of Newark, General Riall, upon the capture of Fort Niagara (December, 1813) ordered his troops to destroy all American settlements on the Niagara frontier. Buffalo, Black Rock, Lewiston, Schlosser, and the friendly Seneca and Tuscarora villages were accordingly burned, and the people driven to seek shelter at Batavia.—ED.
Footnote 80:
The Seneca Indians were the most western of the Iroquois, and during the Revolutionary War had their principal villages on the Genesee River, one of them containing one hundred and twenty-eight houses. These were completely destroyed by Sullivan’s expedition (1779); but although the English invited them to cross into Canada with the Mohawk, they refused to go, and a considerable number settled near the mouth of Buffalo and Cattaraugus creeks. When in 1797 the Holland Company purchased the Indian title to their lands, the Seneca retained reservations at these points, also the Allegheny and Tonawanda reservations already mentioned (_ante_, p. 153), and five smaller ones in the Genesee valley. In 1838 pressure was brought to bear by the Ogden Land Company, and certain chiefs signed a treaty ceding their lands in New-York, Congress at the same time granting them lands in Indian Territory. The body of the people, however, refused to move; the New-York and Pennsylvania Friends interested themselves in their behalf, and they were allowed to remain.—ED.
Footnote 81:
The history of the tribe known as the Erie or Cat Nation is obscure and involved, and their habitat uncertain. See _Jesuit Relations_, viii, p. 305; xxi, pp. 313–315.—ED.
Footnote 82:
For the early history of Presqu’ Isle, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 62.—ED.
Footnote 83:
For the Grand, Cuyahoga, and Rocky Rivers, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, notes 70, 72, and 73.—ED.
Footnote 84:
This stream drains Medina and Lorain counties, Ohio, entering Lake Erie about thirty miles west of Cleveland.—ED.
Footnote 85:
For the Vermillion River, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 76.—ED.
Footnote 86:
The Huron River rises in northern Ohio, and flowing north-westward empties into Lake Erie about nine miles east of Sandusky.—ED.
Footnote 87:
The Black Swamp, extending from the Sandusky to the Maumee River, and covering an area of over one hundred and twenty miles in length and an average of forty in width, was entirely avoided by early settlers in northern Ohio. By the Indian treaty signed at Brownstown (1808), the United States government acquired a strip of land to make a road through the swamp; but nothing further than the preliminary surveys being accomplished, the land was later transferred to the State, and the first road completed in 1827. It was very little settled before 1830. In accordance with a state law passed in 1859, a system of public ditches was introduced, which rapidly drained the swamp and transformed it into a fertile agricultural region.—ED.
Footnote 88:
These rapids of the Sandusky River were located about eighteen miles from where the river empties into Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie.—ED.
Footnote 89:
Upper Sandusky was formerly the seat of a Wyandot settlement. Near there, Crawford was defeated by the Indians (June, 1782) and subsequently tortured to death. General Harrison built a temporary fort at that point during the War of 1812–15. For the Wyandot villages on the Sandusky, see Weiser’s _Journal_, volume i of our series, note 26.—ED.
Footnote 90:
For the events leading up to the treaty, see _ante_, note 11. It was signed (August 3, 1795) by ninety chiefs and delegates from twelve tribes, and established the following Indian boundary line: up the Cuyahoga River and across the Tuscarawas portage to a point near Fort Laurens, thence south-west to Laramie’s Station, thence north-west to Fort Recovery, and thence south-west to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.—ED.
Footnote 91:
This stockade, better known as Fort Stephenson, was constructed in the spring of 1813. In August following, it was attacked by General Proctor as here related. The British troops stormed it fiercely for two hours, all their officers and a fifth of their men being killed or wounded.
George Croghan, a nephew of George Rogers Clark, was born at Locust Grove, near Louisville, Kentucky, November, 1791. Graduating from William and Mary’s College (1810) he entered the army and took part in the battle of Tippecanoe. He so distinguished himself at the siege of Fort Meigs that he was promoted to the rank of major, and placed in charge of Fort Stephenson. For his gallant defense of this post, he was voted a medal by Congress. After an unsuccessful attack on Fort Mackinac (1814), he left the army for a short time and acted as postmaster at New-Orleans. In 1823 he re-entered the army, was made inspector-general with the rank of colonel, and later served with distinction in the Mexican War. See Williams, “George Croghan,” in Ohio Archæological and Historical Society _Publications_, xii, pp. 375–409.—ED.
Footnote 92:
Portage River, entering into Sandusky Bay from Wood County.—ED.
Footnote 93:
Across the river from the present Maumee City, Henry County, Ohio. This fort, built in February, 1813, was twice besieged during that year by the British and their Indian allies under Tecumseh, but was not captured.—ED.
Footnote 94:
At the Raisin River, see _post_, note 63.—ED.
Footnote 95:
While General Proctor was besieging Fort Meigs (May, 1813), Colonel Dudley with eight hundred Kentucky militia descended the rapids and surprised the British, driving them from their battery and spiking their cannon. But, too elated by success to enter the fort as ordered, they pursued the enemy for nearly two miles into the woods and swamps, and were finally surrounded and captured.—ED.
Footnote 96:
After the battle of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne (September, 1794) proceeded to destroy the Miami villages at the junction of the St. Mary and St. Josephs rivers, and there built Fort Wayne. It had long been a centre of Indian trade, and the French had maintained a post there through the first half of the eighteenth century. See Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 87.—ED.
Footnote 97:
General Wayne destroyed the Indian villages at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers (August, 1794), and established Fort Defiance at that point. On his march from Fort Recovery for that purpose, he also built Fort Adams at the place where he crossed St. Mary’s River, at Girtystown, an old Indian trading place twenty-five miles north of Fort Recovery. For the history of the forts of Ohio, see Graham, “Military Posts in Ohio,” in Ohio Archæological and Historical Society _Publications_, vol. iii.—ED.
Footnote 98:
The building of Fort Miami by the British in a time of peace between that nation and the United States (1794) was one of the grievances of the frontiersmen. After Wayne’s victory, the Indians were chased to the gates of Fort Miami. The British surrendered this fort with the other North-west posts in 1796. The Americans made the post at this place the rendezvous for the campaign of 1812–13.—ED.
Footnote 99:
This was probably the village at the mouth of Otter Creek, forty-two miles south-west of Detroit. The land had been purchased from the Indians and settlement begun in 1794.—ED.
Footnote 100:
This road, begun under the direction of the secretary of war, May, 1816, was built by soldiers stationed at Detroit. By November, 1818, seventy miles had been completed. It was eighty feet wide and contained over sixty causeways and many bridges.—ED.
Footnote 101:
In 1784 a small body of French Canadians purchased land from the Indians and settled at the mouth of Raisin River, forty miles south of Detroit. They traded in furs with the agents of the North-West Company. In 1812 the village contained about forty-five French families and a few Americans. It has now been incorporated in the city of Monroe.—ED.
Footnote 102:
General Winchester, having reached the Maumee Rapids, did not wait for the remainder of the army under Harrison, but proceeded to Frenchtown, although his men had little ammunition and the town was unprotected, save for a line of pickets. Proctor, the British general, crossed from Malden and attacked him, January 22, 1813. A panic seizing one portion of the army they fled to the woods where they were overtaken and most of them scalped by the Indians; the militia at the same time surrendering to Proctor. Without providing sufficient protection for the wounded left at Frenchtown, this general hastened back to Canada, and the following morning a horde of painted savages broke into the town and shot and scalped the helpless prisoners.—ED.
Footnote 103:
Brownstown is situated on the Huron River, twenty-five miles south of Detroit; Magagua (Monguagon) is about twenty miles south of Detroit. The engagement at the former place occurred August 5; at the latter, August 9, 1812.—ED.
Footnote 104:
For the early history of Detroit, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 18.—ED.
Footnote 105:
Lewis Cass was governor of Michigan from 1814 to 1831.—ED.
Footnote 106:
Alexander Macomb (1782–1841) was a lieutenant colonel in the regular army at the outbreak of the War of 1812–15. Having served on the Niagara frontier during 1813, he commanded the regular troops at the battle of Plattsburg (September, 1814), and for his bravery was made a major-general and received a gold medal from Congress. Upon the death of General Brown in 1828, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army.—ED.
Footnote 107:
Either the common whitefish (_Coregonus clupeiformis_) or the blue fins (_Coregonus nigripinnis_).—ED.
Footnote 108:
For an account of the North-West Company, consult the preface to Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, p. 16.—ED.
Footnote 109:
Hog Island, about three miles above Detroit, was so named by the French in the early years of discovery, because of the number of wild swine found thereon. Near this island occurred the defeat of the Fox Indians in 1712. See _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi, p. 283. This island was purchased by William, father of General Macomb, in 1786.—ED.
Footnote 110:
For the Ottawa Indians, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 37.—ED.
Footnote 111:
This unimportant post was established (1765) and commanded by Patrick Sinclair, a British army officer, who also purchased a large tract of land along the river. Both fort and river were for a long time called Sinclair, and as late as 1807 are so given in an Indian treaty drawn up by Governor Hull. See _State Papers, Indian Affairs_, i, p. 747.—ED.
Footnote 112:
The battle of the Thames, in which Proctor was put to flight and Tecumseh killed, was fought two miles west of Moraviantown, or about sixty-five miles north-east of Detroit.—ED.
Footnote 113:
In 1793 Governor Simcoe made a trip to Detroit, and selected the present site of London for the capital of Upper Canada. However, the surrender of Detroit (1796), in accordance with Jay’s Treaty, rendered such a plan impracticable, and York was chosen capital instead. London, situated on the Thames one hundred and ten miles north-east of Detroit, was laid out in 1826 and incorporated in 1840.—ED.
Footnote 114:
For the Delaware and Chippewa Indians, see Post’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 57; Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, note 42.—ED.
Footnote 115:
For a brief biography of General Arthur St. Clair, see F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 33. Evans would seem to imply that the lake and river were named for this officer. The name was assigned by La Salle’s expedition in 1679. See Hennepin, _A New Discovery_ (Thwaites’s ed., Chicago, 1903), pp. 59, 108.—ED.
Footnote 116:
The English, upon their surrender of Mackinac in 1796, thinking the Americans might claim St. Joseph Island, hastened to take possession. A stockade was erected and subsequently a blockhouse, but the place was not suited for a military station. In 1815, the buildings were repaired and a garrison established; it was removed, however, to Drummond’s Island the following year. For further information regarding this island, see _Michigan Pioneer Collections_, xvi, p. 69.—ED.
Footnote 117:
For information concerning these lakes, see Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, pp. 145, 191.—ED.
Footnote 118:
For the early history of Mackinac, see Thwaites, “Story of Mackinac,” in _How George Rogers Clark won the North-west_ (Chicago, 1903).—ED.
Footnote 119:
A brief sketch of Fort St. Joseph is given in Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 85.—ED.
Footnote 120:
Evans probably refers here to the fall five miles from the mouth of Fox River, at De Pere (French, _Rapides des pères_), so called because it was the site of a Jesuit Indian mission established in 1669–70. See _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi. Our author in his description omits mention of the Lower Fox, flowing from Lake Winnebago into Green Bay.—ED.
Footnote 121:
Fort Howard, named in honor of General Benjamin Howard, formerly commander in the Western territory, was constructed (1816) a mile above the mouth of Fox River, when the Americans took possession, after the War of 1812–15. A French settlement, chiefly on the opposite side of the river at Green Bay, had existed here since about 1745.—ED.
Footnote 122:
There were two villages of Winnebago (French Puans) on the lake of that name: the principal one was situated on Doty’s Island, at the mouth of the lake; the other at the junction of the Upper Fox and the lake, near the waterworks station of the modern Oshkosh. This latter was familiarly known to the French voyageurs as Saukière. The village on the Menominee (Malhominis) River was, as Evans says, a mixed one, composed principally of the tribe which gave name to the river. For these two tribes, see Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, notes 81, 86. For the Potawatomi, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 84.—ED.
Footnote 123:
A piece of land six miles square situated on the Chicago River, having been ceded to the United States by the treaty of Greenville (1795), orders were issued by the War Department (1803) for the construction of a fort on the north branch of the river. Fearing a combined English and Indian attack, the garrison evacuated the fort August 15, 1812; but had proceeded but a little way, when they were attacked by the Indians and the greater number massacred. Fort Dearborn was rebuilt in 1816, and garrisoned for several years thereafter. It was torn down in 1857, and the last of the buildings connected with it were consumed in the Chicago fire of 1871.—ED.
Footnote 124:
For a brief description of Sault Ste. Marie, consult Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, note 38.—ED.
Footnote 125:
For these tribes, many of whom are merely clans of the larger tribes, consult _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xvi, index.—ED.
Footnote 126:
See Franchère’s _Narrative_, volume vi of our series, note 205, for a brief description of the Grand Portage.—ED.
Footnote 127:
For Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake, see Franchère’s _Narrative_, notes 201, 204.
The maps of Evans’s period represent White Bear Lake as the source of the Mississippi, and Red or Mississagan Lake as the origin of Red River of the North. The latter retains its name. The former is probably that now known as Leech Lake.—ED.
Footnote 128:
Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1818, and the part north of its present boundary was annexed to Michigan Territory. For the various divisions of the North-west Territory, see Thwaites, “Division of the North-west,” in _How George Rogers Clark won the North-west_.—ED.
Footnote 129:
Grose Isle, nine miles in length and about a mile in width, was purchased from the Indians in 1776 by William Macomb; it extends to the mouth of Detroit Strait.—ED.
Footnote 130:
When Perry reached Erie, Pennsylvania, to take charge of naval affairs (March, 1813), he found two vessels, the “Niagara” and the “Lawrence,” already under construction. Working with tireless energy he equipped his fleet of ten vessels by August 12, and sailing up the lake anchored in Put-in-Bay to await the enemy. On the morning of September 10, the British squadron of six vessels, under Captain Barclay, appeared and the battle began. The “Lawrence,” Perry’s ship, being shot to pieces, he boarded the “Niagara,” and again attacked the British at close range. At three in the afternoon, Barclay’s two large vessels surrendered, and two others attempting to escape were captured. This victory compelled the British to evacuate Detroit.—ED.
Footnote 131:
The “Wasp” under command of Johnston Blakely sailed from Portsmouth for the British Channel (May, 1814), and began the destruction of English merchantmen. June 28, the brig “Reindeer” bore down upon her, but after twenty minutes of hard fighting was compelled to surrender. Although suffering severely in this engagement, the “Wasp” continued her ravages until October, when she disappeared and was never heard from again.—ED.
Footnote 132:
Henry Langdon and Frank Toscan were both midshipmen on the “Wasp” during her fight with the “Reindeer,” and died from wounds received in the battle.—ED.
Footnote 133:
James Lawrence, born in Burlington, New Jersey (1781), served with Decatur in the War with Tripoli, and as lieutenant on the “Constitution.” In 1811 he was placed in command of the “Hornet,” his most notable achievement with that vessel being the destruction (1813) of the British ship “Peacock.” For this victory he was given command of the “Chesapeake,” and accepting the challenge of the “Shannon,” fought with her off Boston harbor, June, 1813. He fell, mortally wounded, and the “Chesapeake” was compelled to surrender. His countrymen, stirred by his dying cry, “Don’t give up the ship,” had his body brought from Halifax, and buried with military honors in Trinity Churchyard, New-York City.—ED.
Footnote 134:
General Anthony Wayne died at Erie, Pennsylvania, in December, 1796.—ED.
Footnote 135:
For a brief history of Fort Le Bœuf, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 65.—ED.
Footnote 136:
This was Fort Venango; see Croghan’s _Journals_, note 64. For Meadville, see Harris’s _Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 25.—ED.
Footnote 137:
Consult Post’s _Journals_, in volume i of our series, notes 22, 89, for these rivers.—ED.
Footnote 138:
Armstrong, nine miles north-east of Pittsburg, was named in honor of Colonel John Armstrong. In 1756 he led an expedition against the Delaware Indians who were ravaging the frontier, and destroyed their town at Kittanning.
Lawrencetown, now Lawrenceville, is two miles east of Pittsburg.—ED.
Footnote 139:
For a brief account of this journey, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 45. Washington’s starting point was the Virginia capital, Winchester. Fort Duquesne was not erected until 1754.—ED.
Footnote 140:
For information regarding these forts, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, notes 11, 12; F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, _op. cit._, note 20.—ED.
Footnote 141:
Regarding Grant’s defeat, see Harris’s _Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 30.—ED.
Footnote 142:
For an account of Braddock’s defeat, see F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, note 19.—ED.
Footnote 143:
The Louisville-Portland Canal was completed in 1830.—ED.
Footnote 144:
For the Virginia-Pennsylvania boundary, consult F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, note 31.—ED.
Footnote 145:
For Wheeling, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_, note 15; for Grave Creek, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 78.—ED.
Footnote 146:
For Chartier River, see Weiser’s _Journal_, volume i of our series, note 18; for the Little and Big Kanawha, see Croghan’s _Journals_, _op. cit._, notes 98, 101; for Fish Creek, see Harris’s _Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 37.—ED.
Footnote 147:
A brief account of Gallipolis may be found in F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, pp. 182–185. The settlement was not entirely abandoned.—ED.
Footnote 148:
See Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 67, for the early history of Steubenville.—ED.
Footnote 149:
Three Legs town, so called from a famous Delaware Indian, was situated at the junction of Tuscarawas Creek and the Muskingum, near the site of the present Coshocton.
The portage path from the Cuyahoga to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, a distance of eight miles, is probably one of the oldest highways in the West, having been the route of the buffaloes across the summit of the state. It formed part of the Indian boundary line in the treaties of Fort McIntosh (1785), Fort Harmar (1789), and Fort Wayne (1795). A road built between these two streams in 1898, followed almost exactly this old portage trail. See Hulbert, “Indian Thoroughfares of Ohio,” in Ohio Archæological and Historical Society _Publications_, volume viii.—ED.
Footnote 150:
For the early history of Marietta and Fort Harmar, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 16.—ED.
Footnote 151:
On the Hockhocking River, consult Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series, note 99.—ED.
Footnote 152:
For a brief account of Chillicothe, see F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 35.—ED.
Footnote 153:
Regarding the early history of Cincinnati, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 166.—ED.
Footnote 154: