CHAPTER 25

THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1812 1815

[Sidenote:  American plan of campaign, 1812.]

[Sidenote:  Objections to it.]

260.  Plan of Campaign, 1812.—­The American plan of campaign was that General Hull should invade Canada from Detroit.  He could then march eastward, north of Lake Erie, and meet another army which was to cross the Niagara River.  These two armies were to take up the eastward march and join a third army from New York.  The three armies then would capture Montreal and Quebec and generally all Canada.  It was a splendid plan.  But there were three things in the way of carrying it out:  (i) there was no trained American army; (2) there were no supplies for an army when gathered and trained; and (3) there was a small, well-trained and well-supplied army in Canada.

[Illustration:  DETROIT, ABOUT 1815.]

[Sidenote:  Hull’s march to Detroit.]

[Sidenote:  His misfortunes.]

[Sidenote:  He surrenders Detroit, 1812.]

261.  Hull’s Surrender of Detroit, 1812.—­In those days Detroit was separated from the settled parts of Ohio by two hundred miles of wilderness.  To get his men and supplies to Detroit, Hull had first of all to cut a road through the forest.  The British learned of the actual declaration of war before Hull knew of it.  They dashed down on his scattered detachments and seized his provisions.  Hull sent out expedition after expedition to gather supplies and bring in the scattered settlers.  Tecumthe and the other Indian allies of the British captured one expedition after another.  The British advanced on Detroit, and Hull surrendered.  By this disaster the British got control of the upper lakes.  They even invaded Ohio.

[Illustration:  PERRY’S BATTLE FLAG.]

[Sidenote:  Battle of Lake Erie 1813.  McMaster, 234-235.]

[Sidenote:  Battle of the Thames, 1813.]

262.  Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie, 1813.—­But the British triumph did not last long.  In the winter of 1812-13 Captain Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet of warships on Lake Erie.  They were built of green timber cut for the purpose.  They were poor vessels, but were as good as the British vessels.  In September, 1813, Perry sailed in search of the British ships.  Coming up with them, he hoisted at his masthead a large blue flag with Lawrence’s immortal words, “Don’t give up the ship” (p. 212), worked upon it.  The battle was fiercely fought.  Soon Perry’s flagship, the Lawrence, was disabled and only nine of her crew were uninjured.  Rowing to another ship, Perry continued the fight.  In fifteen minutes more all the British ships surrendered.  The control of Lake Erie was now in American hands.  The British retreated from the southern side of the lake.  General Harrison occupied Detroit.  He then crossed into Canada and defeated a British army on the banks of the river Thames (October, 1813).