CHAPTER IV OPERATIONS IN THE WEST: THE MAUMEE, FORT MEIGS, AND FORT STEPHENSON. 1813 F ORT MEIGS.-On the 23rd of April Procter started for the Maumee with 1000 whites. He had a slightly greater number of Indians, some of whom joined only after his arrival. There were 400 men of his own regiment, the 41st. The Indians were led by Tecumseh. Heavy rains caused delay; and it was the 1st of May before his battery opened fire on the fort. A second and a third battery opened, but without decisive effect. These batteries. were thrown forward rather far from the camp and were guarded only by the two flank companies of the 41st in face of a strong enemy. Meanwhile Harrison heard of his own approaching reinforcements under Clay. He ordered Clay to carry the batteries with 800 men and then cross over at once to join the camp. Clay sent Dudley with the 800, who rushed the batteries and spiked the guns, but who did not cross over as ordered. Some of the men skirmished off towards the woods and were cut up by the Indians. Others remained at the batteries, where they were attacked and either driven out or taken by Procter. Only 150 escaped to report in Harrison's camp. This success, however, could not turn the tide. The Indians began to leave in large numbers. The militia had to be sent home by detachments to their farms. So Procter was left with barely 500 men in face of greatly superior numbers and a very strong fort. He therefore broke camp on the 9th and retreated. 2. FORT STEPHENSON.-Procter's difficulties now rapidly increased. The Indians had to be fed, though provisions were running short. The militia could not be called out in force. Men and means were lacking everywhere. Nevertheless, with a slight reinforcement of the 41st and a new gathering of Indians, Procter set out for the other American stronghold, Fort Stephenson, towards the end of July. His first idea was to try Fort Meigs again. But it was evidently beyond his strength. Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky seemed more promising; and he went up to attack it on the 1st of August. Major Croghan, the commandant, had only 160 men and a single gun. But the fort itself was well made and Procter's artillery was much too light to breach it. The assault was delivered on the 2nd and beaten back with a British loss of about 100 men. Procter then retired and remained on the defensive till the final disaster in October. CHAPTER V OPERATIONS ON LAKE ONTARIO: YORK, FORT ORK.-The American plan for 1813 had included Y an attack on Kingston about the 1st of April. But in March Dearborn became alarmed over the force he imagined Prevost to have collected there. That part of the plan was therefore omitted. Four thousand men had been designated for it. But only 1700 embarked at Sackett's Harbour with Chauncey's squadron on the 25th of April to proceed against York and Fort George. York was then a mere village in size. But it was the capital of Upper Canada; and it contained the Provincial Parliament buildings and offices. Sheaffe wrote from it on the 5th, saying he hoped to put it into a better state of defence before he left for Fort George, especially as the new ship was then building there. A fatal mistake was made when Gray's suggestion to create a naval yard at York was approved by Prevost. But, once the suggestion had been accepted, the yard ought to have been fortified. Sheaffe had not even mounted all the guns when Chauncey and Dearborn arrived. Then he made another mistake in remaining to fight when there was no chance of success; for he lost a good many men who could ill be spared. The American squadron stood in at dawn on the 27th. The landing party was put ashore to the west of York under the command of Brigadier-General Pike. There was a skirmish but no effectual resistance at the landing place. |