On the 13th of October, 1812, the Americans lost, in killed, wounded and prisoners, about eleven hundred men.  General Van Rensselaer left the service in disgust and was succeeded by Alexander Smythe of Virginia, who accomplished nothing of importance during the remainder of the season.  The situation of the Americans at the close of 1812 was this:  The army of the northwest was occupying a defensive position among the snows of the wilderness on the banks of the Maumee River; the army of the centre, under General Smythe, was resting on the defensive on the Niagara frontier, and the army of the north, under General Bloomfield, was also resting on the defensive at Plattsburgh.

So far, the advantages had been altogether with the enemy, who were no more gratified than the Peace Party, with their excellent excuse for saying, “I told you so!”

CHAPTER XIV.

FERNANDO SEES SERVICE.

The trump of war stirred two passions in the heart of Fernando Stevens, revenge and patriotism.  One was a noble and the other a very human but ignoble passion; but Fernando was only a common mortal with mortal weaknesses.  When he reflected on the wrongs he had suffered; when he remembered the death of poor Boseley, slain to gratify the malice of Captain Snipes, and poor Sukey still the slave of the British monarch, he could not be other than revengeful.

“Mother,” he said one day, shortly after they had heard of war.  “I am going to enter the army.”

The mother, who was plying her needle, sat for several moments in silence.  She was not surprised at the declaration.  For several days, she had watched her son with the care and anxiety of a mother.  She had noted that he read the papers regularly.  He pored over any news which hinted of war and was an eager listener to the latest rumor which his father brought from town.  The parents had talked the matter over frequently, and Captain Stevens, himself a veteran, said: 

“I can’t blame him; no, I can’t blame him.  Poor boy, he has suffered enough to know the wrongs done to our flag.”

“But would it be for the flag, or revenge?” said the mother.

“Both,” answered the practical father.  “He is only human, wife, and human hearts can’t endure what he endured without human resentment.”

The mother hoped it was more patriotism than revenge, for she was a Christian lady, and while war might be proper, even for Christian people, she thought it should be purely a conflict of principle and not of revenge.

“Fernando,” said the mother laying aside her knitting and taking off her glasses and wiping them, “do you really mean to go?”

“Yes, mother.  My country needs my services.  There are thousands of unfortunate Americans, still in bondage.  I seem to hear their pitiful cries calling on their country to send brave men to their rescue.”

“I have expected this,” sighed Mrs. Stevens, and tears gathered in her eyes.