Part 13

Undaunted by loneliness or wildness, by lurking beast or hostile savages, Boone determined to bring his family to this fair and fertile land. He felt that he had a work to do, “God had appointed him an instrument for the settlement of the wilderness.” Several families set out with the Boone brothers, driving their cattle and conveying their household goods in wagons. They were attacked by Indians and the others became so discouraged that they turned back.

Boone, however, was undaunted. In 1775, as agent of a North Carolina company, he founded Boonesborough, a stockade or station near a salt lick on the Kentucky River. This was near the present site of Frankfort. Thither came his wife and daughter, the first women pioneers in Kentucky. The Indians strove to drive back the white men from their hunting-grounds, and this fort became the center of savage and relentless warfare.

At one time three little girls, one of whom was Boone’s daughter, were captured by the Indians. The settlers marched to rescue them, and did so, it is said, after a long journey and a fierce struggle in which Boone and a companion were captured.

In 1778, Boone with a small party of men left the settlement to get a supply of salt. They were surrounded by a large band of Indians and carried north. Boone was taken as far as the present site of Detroit. He remained with the savages several months without having an opportunity to let his family know his fate. Learning that the Indian warriors were preparing to attack the Kentucky settlements, he managed to escape and made his way two hundred miles southward, through the wilderness swarming with enemies, in time to warn the settlements and to help defend Boonesborough against attack. His family, thinking him dead, had returned to North Carolina. He followed them and returned with them to his chosen home a few months later.

For years there was almost constant warfare against the Indians in the “Dark and Bloody Ground,” as Kentucky was well called. It is said within seven years--from 1783 to 1790--fifteen hundred whites were killed or taken captive in Kentucky.

In 1792 Kentucky, which had been a county of Virginia, was made a state; at this time Boone’s title to his land was found defective. In his old age he was deprived of his small share of the great country he had helped to settle and open to the English.

He moved west to the country owned by Spain, and stopped near the present site of St. Louis. The Spanish governor granted him about eight thousand acres of land. When this territory was sold to the United States, his title was upset and he was deprived of this estate also.

This typical American pioneer died in 1820.

Oliver Hazard Perry and Thomas Macdonough

Two Naval Commanders in the War of 1812

The war of 1812 was brought about by the war between the French and English in Europe. France and England each issued orders forbidding trade with the other. Both claimed the right to confiscate all vessels that engaged in trade with its rival. The English claimed also the right to search American vessels for British seamen; and they seized hundreds of men, many of whom were not English seamen at all but Americans.

In order to avoid war, instead of resisting these unjust demands at once, the United States passed the Embargo Act, forbidding American vessels to sail to any foreign country; this act occasioned discontent and was soon repealed; only trade with England was forbidden. The English impressments of American seamen continued until finally America had to fight for her rights. War was declared, June 18, 1812. Most of the American victories in this war were won at sea. The most famous of the naval commanders was Perry.

Oliver Hazard Perry was the descendant of an English Quaker, who came to America about the middle of the seventeenth century to enjoy the free exercise of his religion. He went first to Plymouth where Quakers were disliked; finally he purchased a tract of land in Roger Williams’ Rhode Island colony and settled there. Here his descendants remained and here Oliver Hazard Perry was born in 1785. His father served in the American navy during the Revolution and became so fond of the sea that he continued his voyages as captain of a merchant-vessel.

Oliver was sent first to a school near his home. A few years later his parents moved from South Kingston to Newport to give their children the advantage of better schools. The war between England and France was now going on, and it seemed at this time as if America would be drawn into war against France. President Adams, therefore, resolved to establish a navy. Captain Perry was given command of a vessel called the General Greene, the business of which was to defend American merchant-vessels trading with the West Indies. Oliver, now thirteen, begged his father to let him enter the navy. Permission was granted, and Oliver became a midshipman on his father’s vessel.

After danger of war with France was over, young Perry still continued in the navy. His next service was in the Mediterranean against the Barbary States. These states,--Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, and Morocco--on the north coast of Africa, had for hundreds of years made a business of piracy. They captured vessels, and used or sold the stores and sold the crews into slavery. America, like England and other countries, for years bribed them not to molest its vessels. At last the Americans determined, instead of paying tribute, longer, to send a fleet to the Barbary coast and force the pirates to respect the American flag. Oliver Perry was on a ship sent in 1802. The fleet cruised about and did little fighting and his ship was recalled to America in 1803.

The most daring deed of the war was performed by a young American lieutenant, Stephen Decatur. An American ship, the Philadelphia, had fallen into the hands of the Barbary pirates and Lieutenant Decatur went into the harbor with a few men in a boat and set fire to the vessel to prevent its being manned by the Tripolitans. The Barbary ruler finally made a treaty of peace with the United States. In the war Perry had had no special opportunity to distinguish himself, but he had proved himself brave and efficient.

When the war against England began in 1812, it seemed that American chances for sea victory were small. England, the mistress of the seas, had a large, well-equipped navy; the American fleet was far inferior in numbers and in size. But the Americans had brave seamen who won some brilliant victories. One of the greatest of these was that of the American vessel the Constitution over the English Guerriére.

The command of the Great Lakes was very important; being on the boundary between the United States and the English colony of Canada, they controlled the entrance to each country. When the war opened, the English had a naval force on the Great Lakes, the Americans had none. A fleet could not be made ready without delay, and an American army under General Hull was sent to invade Canada. General Hull surrendered the fort at Detroit without attempting to defend it, and the English took also Fort Dearborn, on the site of Chicago.

To protect the northern coast, Lieutenant Oliver Perry was sent to build a fleet on Lake Erie and to fight the British there. This was a great undertaking. There was no railroad or canal connecting the western with the eastern part of New York. Nails, sails, guns, powder, shot, and supplies of all kinds had to be carried on ox wagons along the rough roads and on boats up the streams. Perry did not lose time bemoaning the difficulty of the task. The very day that he received his orders he started carpenters to the lake; having arranged about men and supplies, he himself set forth in the depth of winter. In the spring, followed men bringing needed stores. In a few months Perry had a little fleet built of trees which were standing in the forest the summer before. “Give me men,” he wrote, “and I will acquire both for you and for myself honor and glory on this lake, or die in the attempt.”

In September, 1813, the American ships sailed forth and the English fleet, which was about equal in men and guns, made ready to attack. Lieutenant Perry hoisted a flag bearing the words, “Don’t give up the ship,” the dying speech of brave Captain Lawrence for whom the flag-ship was named. The English attacked gallantly, and Perry’s ship was so injured that “hammered out of his own ship,” he had to go in a row-boat to the Niagara. With him he took his flag and Captain Lawrence’s brave words waved as a signal from the Niagara. The Americans raked the English decks with a deadly broadside. The British fought bravely till their ships were crippled and most of their officers and many of their men were wounded. Then the whole squadron was surrendered,--the first time that this fate ever befell the British in a naval battle.

In honor of Captain Lawrence, Perry was determined that the surrender should take place on the Lawrence, so he returned to that vessel and there received the swords of the British officers. On the back of an old letter he wrote his famous dispatch to General Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Yours with very great respect and esteem, O. H. Perry.” This battle of Lake Erie prevented the English and French invasion of the United States and made it possible for the Americans to invade Canada. Perry was made captain, then the highest rank in the American navy. This ended his service in the war of 1812.

In 1816 Captain Perry was sent against the Algerian pirates who were again troublesome. The ruler finally signed a treaty of peace and Perry returned without having had to fight. Two years later, in 1819, he was ordered to Venezuela to protest against seizures of American vessels and to present claims for losses. He succeeded in his mission, but he did not live to return home, dying of yellow fever on his thirty-fourth birthday, August 23, 1819. His body was brought home in a war-vessel and buried with military honors at Newport, Rhode Island.

Another hero of the war of 1812 was Thomas Macdonough, “the hero of Lake Champlain,” who won a decisive victory against odds of men, guns, and ships. Thomas Macdonough was born in Delaware and entered the navy when he was sixteen.

In 1803 he sailed on the frigate Philadelphia bound for Tripoli. At Gibraltar he was left in charge of a captured Moorish ship. The Philadelphia, as you know, was taken by the Tripolitans; its crew was kept in close confinement nearly two years. Macdonough served on board the Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, and he was one of the seventy men who captured and destroyed the Philadelphia, which Admiral Nelson declared to be “the most bold and daring act of the age.” For his gallantry on this occasion, Macdonough was made lieutenant.

In 1810 he made a voyage in the merchant-service; at Liverpool he was impressed and carried on board a British vessel, but he managed to make his escape in the clothes of an English officer.

In 1812 Lieutenant Macdonough, then twenty-six years old, was put in command of the naval force on Lake Champlain. You remember the old plan of the British under Burgoyne for the invasion of New York. A similar plan was now devised by the British and eleven thousand soldiers were collected at the end of Lake Champlain to invade New York by way of the lake. The English had built a fleet to convey this army. The Americans had at the time, in 1814, only a force of about two thousand men at Plattsburg, New York, and on the lake Lieutenant Macdonough’s fleet of fourteen vessels, with eighty-six guns and eight hundred and eighty-two men.

This fleet protected Plattsburg and it was necessary to destroy it before General Prevost, the British commander, could make the land attack. The British fleet, consisting of sixteen vessels with ninety-two guns and nine hundred and thirty-seven men, advanced to the attack early on the morning of September 11, 1814. Macdonough in Plattsburg Bay awaiting the enemy. The shot of the British vessel shattered a hen-coop on board Macdonough’s vessel; a game cock, thus suddenly released, jumped on a gun, flapped his wings, and crowed. “The men laughed and cheered; and immediately afterwards Macdonough himself fired the first shot from one of the long guns.”

During the battle Macdonough worked like a common sailor at the guns and directed the movements of his fleet with a quick eye for every point of advantage. His ship was twice set on fire, and one by one his guns were disabled; the damage inflicted on the British was still more severe and some of their vessels were captured; in two and a half hours their crippled fleet had to withdraw. The American fleet was so injured that Lieutenant Macdonough was unable to pursue the retreating enemy. But General Prevost was forced to retire without attacking Plattsburg and the invasion of New York had to be given up.

From his battleship, Macdonough sent the message: “The Almighty has been pleased to grant us a signal victory on Lake Champlain in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy. T. Macdonough.” For this victory he was made captain.

After the war of 1812, Captain Macdonough was sent on several cruises. In 1825 on account of ill-health he obtained permission to leave the Mediterranean where he was stationed and return to the United States. But he did not live to reach his native shores, dying at sea, November 10, 1825. His body was brought home and buried with military honors.

Marquis de Lafayette

A French Patriot

One of the notable figures of the eighteenth century was a French nobleman who aided in the struggle for freedom in two countries, America and France. This book can give only a brief sketch of his efforts in behalf of the American patriots. By the death of his father and mother, the Marquis de Lafayette in his youth became master of large estates and great wealth.

But he did not settle down to a calm and selfish enjoyment of these. He heard of the struggles of the American colonists against the oppression of the English king and his generous heart was inspired with interest and sympathy. Later, he said, “The moment I heard of America I loved her: the moment I knew she was fighting for freedom, I burned with desire of bleeding for her; and the moment I shall be able to serve her at any time or in any part of the world, will be the happiest one of my life.”

He was only eighteen, lately married to a young and beautiful lady of rank and wealth equal to his own. But he turned from the gay and luxurious court; despite the opposition of the government, he left France and made his way to America to aid the colonists in their fight for freedom.

He went to Philadelphia; there he was coldly received by Congress which hesitated to give the young foreigner the position to which he was entitled by his rank and by the promise of the American commissioner in France. A less enthusiastic patriot might have taken offence. Lafayette only wrote to Congress: “After the sacrifice I have made I have the right to exact two favors; one is, to serve at my own expense, the other is, to serve at first as a volunteer.”

His generosity was not unrewarded. Congress made him major-general; he was soon attached to the staff of Washington and between the two there grew to be the warmest friendship. Lafayette suffered many hardships in the patriot cause. He was wounded in the battle of Brandywine while leading his troops; he bore without a murmur the privations of Valley Forge, and fought gallantly in the battle of Monmouth.

In 1779 Lafayette went to France for a few months; it was largely through his influence that land and naval forces were sent to the aid of America. France formed an alliance with America and aided the patriots chiefly because she hated England and wished revenge for the loss of her northern colonies. The young French officer, however, was inspired by love for the cause of freedom.

In 1781 he was sent in command of twelve hundred New England soldiers to help the Virginians against the invading Cornwallis who had about five thousand men. “The boy cannot escape me,” said Cornwallis when he heard of Lafayette’s approach. But “the boy” managed to keep out of reach, until he was so reinforced that when he offered battle Cornwallis withdrew. It was now Lafayette’s turn to pursue and Cornwallis’s to retreat. At Yorktown the British were hemmed in by the American army under Lafayette on one side and the French fleet on the other, until Washington’s forces came up. The siege and capture of Yorktown followed, and Lafayette who had contributed largely to the success of the campaign was publicly thanked by Washington. In December, 1781, the young nobleman returned to his home in France.

A few years later the French began their struggle for liberty, the famous French Revolution. The Marquis de Lafayette drew up a famous “declaration of rights,” modeled after the Declaration of Independence, and drew his sword again in the cause of the people. The great French prison, the Bastile, regarded as the stronghold of tyranny, was taken, and its key was sent by Lafayette to Washington.

Lafayette wanted freedom but not license for his countrymen, and he lost favor with the violent republican party. At last, sick of anarchy in the name of liberty, he left France, intending to come to America. He was seized by the Austrian authorities, and for five years was kept in close and cruel imprisonment.

In 1824 Lafayette, an old and broken man who had been deprived of wealth and property, came to visit the young republic for which he had fought. He was received as the nation’s guest, the people’s friend; he went from Boston to New Orleans, welcomed and honored at every turn. He made a pilgrimage to Mount Vernon to visit the tomb of his “great good friend,” Washington. In Boston he laid the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument. Congress voted him a grant of two hundred thousand dollars and an American vessel was sent to convey him home. The United States joined France in lamenting the death of this great patriot in 1834.

Some American Improvements and Inventions

Franklin, the first great typical American, was interested in science,--not so much the abstract principles as the practical application of those principles so as to increase the comfort and well-being of people. This was true, also, of Jefferson, another great typical American. From those days to the present time, this practical turn has been characteristic of American talent. Sometimes it has been said in reproach that America stands for progress in material ways, that her men of science care, not for abstract truth, but for its market value.

Let us remember, however, that whenever a great cause or principle has needed support, Americans have always risen to the occasion. Material progress and business ability are good things, if only we do not overestimate their value in comparison with others.

In so large a country as America, the question of methods of travel and means of transportation was of course important from the first. Water-ways were the natural and most convenient mode of communication. If you will look on a map of the colonies, you will see how the settlements clung to water-lines--ocean, lake, and river.

Before the Revolution, men went to and fro as they had done for hundreds even thousands of years. On the water they traveled by slow boats, propelled by oars or sails. On the land they journeyed on foot, or horseback, or in rude vehicles, over roads which were generally rough and bad and often dangerous.

It was so expensive to carry goods to and fro that their carriage within the limits of a state might cost more than the value of the goods. It cost, for instance, two dollars and a half a bushel to carry salt three hundred miles in the state of New York. People who moved from the eastern to the western part of the state could not afford to carry their household goods. They had to be carried by boat from New York to Albany, hauled to Schenectady, carried in boats up the Mohawk River and on a small canal to Utica, then hauled overland to Rome, and carried again in boats down a small canal and creek to Oneida Lake, thence by water to Lake Ontario.

During the early part of the nineteenth century, in three ways travel and hauling were made easier and cheaper. The simplest of these was by the extensive use of canals. A canal is a trench filled with water deep enough to carry well-laden boats. The boats are drawn by horses which travel along a path called a “tow path.” In most cases the boats are moved up and down inclines by means of what are called “locks” on the canal. It is usually cheaper to haul goods by canals than by natural streams as the locks make the water lift or lower loads on inclines.

The people of New York state became convinced that canals along and connecting their water-ways would be a good and cheap way to carry manufactured articles from New York city to the western settlements, and to convey wheat, corn, and other produce to the eastern markets. A canal was planned between Albany and Buffalo, to connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic. But the expense of this canal would be great and many people did not believe that the traffic would repay it. The matter was made a political issue and on it DeWitt Clinton was elected governor.

It was largely through his zeal and energy that the project was carried to a successful issue, and a canal forty feet wide and three hundred and sixty-three miles long was dug. While the canal was being constructed people called it “Clinton’s Folly,” and when it was finished and successful they called it “Clinton’s Big Ditch.”

An effort was made to get the general government to help construct this canal, but the bill was vetoed. Governor Clinton secured the help of the business men of New York, and four months after the aid bill was vetoed, the canal was begun, Clinton himself throwing the first shovelful of dirt. In fact, there was dug not one canal, but two canals,--one between Lake Erie and the Hudson, and the other between the Hudson and Lake Champlain.

[Illustration: DE WITT CLINTON]