Events of the War of 1812,
between the U. States and Great Britain.
This war was undertaken in defence of the commerce of the Unites States with France and Spain, their colonies, and other nations at war with Great Britain, whose cruisers, contrary to the law of nations, had plundered American vessels on the high seas, under pretended blockades of the ports of those nations and colonies, and had impressed Amercian seamen from on board of them. It was undertaken in defence, likewise, of our newly settled frontiers, whose inhabitants were daily massacred by the Indians, incited by British traders and garrisons in Canada, who furnished them with arms, &c. to carry on their murderous warfare. -Boston Patriot.
1812. June 18.--The Congress of the United States declared war with Great Britain.
July 12.--Canada invaded by Gen. Hull.
July 17.--The garrison of Mackinaw, who were ignorant of the declaration of hostilities, captured by a party of British and Indians.
July 18.--The frigate Constitution, Captain Hull, on her passage from Chesapeake Bay to New York, escaped from an English ship of the line and five frigates, who had chased her for sixty hours.
August 8.--Gen. Hull relinquished the plan of investing Fort Malden, and returned to Detroit with his army.
August 9th.--A detachment under Lieut. Col. Miller attacked near Brownstown, Michigan, by a superior body of British and Indians, the latter commanded by Tecumseh, and repulsed, after a sanguinary conflict, in which the Americans lost 55 men, and the enemy upwards of 100.
August 16.--Gen. Hull surrendered the army under his command to the British General Brock as prisioners of war. For this he was tried by a Court Martial, and sentenced to be shot; which sentence was remitted by President Madison, in consideration of his revolutionary services and of his advanced age.
August 17.--British sloop of war Alert captured by the frigate Essex, Capt. Porter.
August 19.--The Constitution captured the Guerriere, in lat. 41 42 N. lon. 55 48 W after an action of 45 minutes. The Guerriere's loss was 78 killed, wounded, and missing; the Constitution had 7 killed and 7 wounded.
Sept. 12.--Fort Wayne relieved by Gen. Harrison, after a defence of 9 days against a numerous Indian force.
September 14.--Two detachments from Fort Wayne destroyed the Putawatomie (Indian) towns at Elk Hart, and the Miami towns at the forks of the Wabash.
Sept. 16.--Fort Harrison, which had been invested on the 3d Sept. by a large body of Indians under the Prophet, relieved by Col. Russel.
Oct. 13.--Battle of Queenstown Heights, in which the British Gen. Brock was killed. The Americans remained masters of the field after three attacks, but the British were strongly reinforced, and made a fourth attack, which would also have been repulsed, had not 1200 American volunteers refused to embark to assist the regulars, and remained inactive spectators of their defeat and capture.
Oct. 18.--The British sloop of War Frolic, of 22 guns, captured in Lat. 37, N. lon. 65, W. by the U. S. sloop of war Wasp, of 18 guns, Captain Jacob Jones, after an action of 43 minutes. The Frolic had 30 killed and 50 wounded. The Wasp 5 killed add 5 wounded. Both vessels were much disabled, and were captured a few hours after by the British seventy-four Poictiers.
Oct. 26.--The British frigate Macedonian, of 49 guns, captured in lat. 29, N. lon. 29, 30, W. by the frigate United States, Capt. Decatur, of 44 guns. The enemy lost 104; the United States 12.
Dec. 29.--The British frigate Java captured and destroyed by the Constitution, Capt. Bainbridge, on the Coast of Brazil. The Constitution had 9 killed and 25 wounded; the Java 60 killed and 120 wounded.
1813 January 22.--General Winchester attacked at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, Michigan, by a British army of 2100 men, under Col. Proctor and Tecumseh, after a hard fought battle surrendered his force, consisting of 522 men; 312 having been killed, wounded or dispersed. The British lost 24 killed and 158 wounded. A great number of the prisoners taken in this battle, and especially the wounded were left by Col. Proctor to the mercy of his Indian allies, notwithstanding the promise of protection, and the remon strances of Gen. Winchester. The savages burnt the houses in which some of them were placed, and finding, that others were unable to join their march, they set them up for targets, shooting and scalping them. Among these unfortunate men were Col. Allen, Captains Woodfolk, McCracken, Hickman, and Hart.
Feb. 24.--The British brig Peacock sunk by the Hornet, after an action of 15 minutes, off Demarara.
April 27.--Capture of York, Upper Canada, by the Americans, under Gen. Pike, who was mortally wounded, and 260 of his men either killed or wounded, by the explosion of a magazine of powder, fired by order of the British General Sheaffe. Fifty of the British were also killed by the explosion.
May 3.--Havre de Grace, in Maryland, pillaged and burnt by Admiral Cockburn.
May 9.--General Proctor, with about 1400 troops and an immense body of Indians, withdrew from before Fort Meigs, where he had besieged the American garrison, under General Harrison, for 13 days. A detachment of Kentuckians under Col. Dudley, sent to relieve the garrison , after capturing four batteries, fell into an ambuscade, and only 150 men out of 800 escaped.
May 27.--Fort George captured by the Americans, under Gen. Dearborn and Commodore Chauncey.
May 29.--Attack on Sackett's Harbour, by Sir George Provost, who was repulsed by Gen. Brown at the head of a small body of regulars and the neighboring militia. In this attack the British lost about 150, the Americans 156.
June 1.--The U. S. frigate Chesapeak captured by the British frigate Shannon. The Chesapeak had 47 killed, 99 wounded; the Shannon 27 killed, 58 wounded. Capt. Broke, of the Shannon, and Capt. Lawrence & Lieutenant Ludlow, of the Chesapeake, were wounded, the two latter mortally.
June 6.--Generals Chandler and Winder surprised by the British General Vincent, at Stoney Creek. The two Generals were captured, but the enemy were repulsed with great slaughter, and about 100 taken prisoners. The Americans lost 154 killed, wounded, and missing.
June 18.--The town of Sodus, N. Y. destroyed by the British.
June 22.--The British made an attack with 3000 men on Craney Island, preparatory to one on Norfolk, Va. but were repulsed by about 480 Virginia militia and 150 sailors and marines. The invaders lost about 200 killed and wounded, and 40 deserters. The Americans did not lose a man.
June 23.--The village of Hampton, Va. sacked and destoyed after an obstinate defence.
Oct. 5. Battle of the Thames, in which 600 British regulars were captured and 1200 Indians put to flight, by a part of the American army, under Gen. Harrison. In this action the famous Indian warrior Tecumseh was killed.
Dec. 10. Fort George evacuated, and the village of Newark burnt by Gen. M'Clure, of the New Nork militia, which was retaliated by the British in the destruction of Buffalo, Lewistown, Manchester, and Youngstown.
1814. Jan. 22--Gen. Jackson defeated the Creeks at Tallapoosa.
March 28--The frigate Essex, Captain Porter, captured near Valparaiso by the British frigate Pheba and sloop of war Cherub, after an action of two hours and twenty minutes. The Essex lost, 153 men.
April 29--The British brig Epervier captured by the U. States sloop of war Peacock, Capt. Warrington, off Cape Carnaveral, Florida.
June 28.--The British sloop of war Reindeer captured by the U. S. sloop of war Wasp--the Scilly Isles bearing W distant about 40 leagues.
July 3--Fort Erie, occupied by a garrison of 470 men, captured from the British.
July 5.--Battle of Chippewa, between the British, under Gen. Riall, and the Americans, under Gen. Brown, in which the British were driven back to their fort whence they had made a sortie.
July 25--Battle of Niagara, or Bridgewater, which commenced on an eminence near Lundy's Lane, where the British had planted nine pieces of artillery. The cannon were taken after much hard fighting, and three desperate attempts made by the British to recover them were gallantly repulsed--The action lasted from half past 5 P. M. till 12. When the battle commenced the British force amounted to about 1600 men, and the American to 750: but by continual reinforcements on both sides, the whole British force engage d amounted to 5130, and the American to 2417. The British lost 878 men; the Americans 851. It was in this battle that the brave Col. Miller answered to the proposition of General Ripley, to carry the enemy's battery with the 21st regiment, "I'll try sir."
August 9--The British attacked and bombarded Stonington, but were repulsed on the 11th.
August 24--Battle of Bladensburg, and capture of Washington City. The public buildings at Washington and several private houses burnt, by order of Admiral Cockburn; and the navy yard, a new frigate, and a sloop of war, destroyed by order of the U. S. government.
Sept. 1.--British sloop of war Avon, disabled by the Wasp, in a night battle. Three other vessels coming up, the Wasp did not take possession of her prize, which sunk soon after her crew were taken out by her companions. Castine taken by the British, who claimed, as their territory, that part of Maine between Penobscot river and Passamaquoddy Bay
Sept. 3--The U. S. frigate Adams burnt by Capt. Morris, in Penobscot river, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy.
Sept. 11--Battle of Lake Champlain. One frigate, one brig, and two sloops, captured from the British squadron by an inferior American squadron, under com. McDonough. Com. Downie, the British commander, was killed in this action. The Americans lost 52 killed and 58 wounded; the British 84 killed, 110 wounded, & had 856 taken prisoners, which latter amounted to more that the number of Americans engaged in the battle. Battle of the Saranac.--The British had been five days in possession of the right bank of the river, waiting for their squadron to engage Com. McDonough's. The Americans, under Gen. McComb, succeeded in preventing their crossing the river, and Gen. Provost made a precipitate retreat on hearing the fate of the British squadron, leaving his sick and wounded, besides a large quantity of provisions and munitions of war.
Sept. 12--Attack on Baltimore in which the British were repulsed with the loss of their leader, Gen. Ross.
Sept. 17.--Brilliant sortie from Fort Erie in which the besiegers under Gen. Drummond were so much weakened, that they raised the seige three days after.
Dec. 15--A convention of delegates from the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and the counties of Cheshire and Grafton, New Hampshire, met at Hartford, Con.
Dec. 24--The treaty of peace between the United States and G. Britain signed at Ghent, on the part of the U. States by John Q. Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin; and on the part of Great Britian by Lord Gambier, Henry Coulburn, and William Adams.
1815. January 8.--Battle of New Orleans. The British force of upwards of 14,000 men were repulsed by 3,300 Americans under Gen. Jackson, with the loss of about 4000 men in killed, wounded, and missing. Among the former were Genrals Packenham and Gibbs.--The Americans did not lose in all 500 men.
January 16.--The frigate President, Captain Decatur, was captured by a British squadron. She had sailed on that day from New York, in leaving which port, she grounded on a bar, by a mistake of the pilot, and was considerably injured. The Endymion, one of the British squadron was engaged by the President, and silenced before her final capture. The President lost 24 killed, 65 wounded.
Feb. 17.--Treaty of Peace ratified.
Feb. 20.--The Cyane and the Levant captured off Madeira, by the Constitution, capt. Stewart, in 40 minutes. The Levant was re-captured by a British squadron. The Constitution had 4 killed and 10 wounded. The Levant lost 33 men, and the Cyane 8.
March 28--British brig Penguin captured by the Hornet, capt. Biddle, off Tristan D'Acunha, S. Atlantic ocean. The Penguin lost 42 men; the Hornet 12.
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