David D. Plain's Blog

Greetings Good Friends!I’ve been very busy with my

Greetings Good Friends!

I’ve been very busy with my new book launch. Over the summer I will also be relaunching my previous works. So I shall be MIA until sometime in the fall. The plan is to return with more First Nation Stories from the post War of 1812 era. I look forward to sharing them with you then! In the meantime here’s the details on my upcoming launch.

 

Book Launch at The Book Keeper – 500 Exmouth St. Sarnia, ON Canada 519-337-3171

Monday June 24, 2013 at 7:00 pm

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga is the latest book from local author and aboriginal historian David D. Plain.

From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga is a compendium of spellbinding short stories of the Great Lakes First Nations. The stories cover a two hundred year period between c1618 and 1818 C.E. The interactions between various First Nations and Colonial Governments are related in traditional storyteller fashion. Discover the intrigues between First Nations as they struggle to stem the tide of European colonists ever westward; a battle they would eventually lose.

David D. Plain is an aboriginal historian/author from Aamjiwnaang Territory, Canada. A graduate of Tyndale Seminary, Toronto, Canada his books have received critical acclaim with The Plains of Aamjiwnaang winning a 2008 Golden Scribe Award for excellence in Non-fiction.

 

 

Beginning of the End

The distinguished Shawnee chief from Ohio was gone. For years after the war great controversy arose over who had killed him and what happened to his body. Much credence was at first given to Colonel Johnson as being the one to fire the fatal shot. The only thing that seems certain is that he did shoot a warrior at close range. By 1830 he was a senator for Kentucky and was being touted as a candidate for president and did rise to vice president in 1837. During this time many so-called witnesses who backed Johnson came forward to corroborate the story. Those who opposed him produced many more deniers. Credit for slaying the great chief had become valuable political capital but he had always resisted never claiming to done the deed. After all he had never seen the great chief in person. Finally he succumbed to temptation in 1843 by affirming that indeed it was him that shot Tecumseh dead, but there is no definitive proof.

Just as many stories swirled about as to where his body was put to rest. Many of the fallen warriors were scalped and mutilated at the end of the battle. Some were skinned for such things as souvenirs and to make items like razor straps. Harrison was shown one body the day after the battle as it lay mutilated on the field. He was told it was Tecumseh but it was so badly abused and the face so swollen that he could not recognize him. One story has the body given to the Canadians who took it back to Sandwich for burial. Another has him buried at the site of the battlefield. Mythical stories arose of his closest companions spiriting the body away to be buried in a secret place. There is a monument at Bkejwanong (Walpole Island, ON) that claims him to be resting on the island. Another possibility, if the story of him being carried away by his comrades is true, is that he may have been interred at the great burial mound west of Chatham. Other great war chiefs were taken there for burial as it was a great honor to be laid to rest with other fallen warriors.

The Battle of Moraviantown and especially the lost of Tecumseh effectively broke his confederacy. Many of the warriors who drifted away never came back. Ojibwa chief Naiwash of Saugeen complained the following year saying “perhaps the Master of Life would give us more luck if we would stick together as we formerly did . . . and we probably might go back and tread upon our own lands. Chiefs and warriors, since our great chief Tecumtha has been killed we do not listen to one another. We do not rise together. We hurt ourselves by it. It is our own fault . . . We do not go to war , rise together, but we go one or two, and the rest say they will go tomorrow.” But there were those who carried on like Wawanosh from Aamjiwnaang who fought at Lundy’s Lane and Megish, a Shawnee who was living at Little Bear Creek (North Sydenham River) in Upper Canada, who also  was killed at Lundy’s Lane. And of course the Caughnawaga Mohawks continued in the east at battles such as Chateauguay.

The War of 1812 ended with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Nothing changed. The U.S./Canada border remained the same. First Nations were left out of the treaty process altogether. The war became a textbook example of how not to conduct a war. Like most wars it consisted of, at least for one side or the other, a series of blunders. One thing it did do for First Nations was usher in a new era. This was the last time they would be looked upon as allies. The future did not bode well for Tecumseh’s people.

In the fall of 1818 the Saulteaux Ojibwa of the St. Clair region were invited to an “Indian Council” at Amherstburg to treat with the British Indian Department for a large tract of land known as the Huron Tract. The Napoleonic Wars were over in Europe and there had been a great flux of immigration to Upper Canada. The Colonial Government of Upper Canada needed more land for the newly arrived settlers. On October 16th the council was convened. In attendance were twenty-seven chiefs and principal men of the bands as Chenaille Escarte, St. Clair, Sable and Thames rivers as well as Bear Creek. The colonial government was represented by John Askin, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Lieutenant Colonel Evans recorded the minutes and J Bth Cadot served as interpreter.

The minutes record that it was the desire of the government to purchase all of the lands north of the Thames River owned by them and asked what their terms were for the tract’s disposal.

The chiefs responded affirmatively by saying a most curious thing. According to the minutes they replied they “were willing to sell our lands . . . that is our wish that he [the Lieutenant Governor of the Province] set the valuation on the tract required. The seller was asking the buyer to set the selling price!

We have here members from two different cultures not communicating. To understand the Ojibwa’s strange request one must also understand their culture. Various nations had always traded with each other but it was not like the trade Europeans conducted. For example when these Ojibwa lived on the north shore of Georgian Bay they traded with their Huron neighbors to the south. The Ojibwa were hunters and fishers while the Huron were more agrarian. Extra produce was exchanged each year but it was done in a spirit of sharing rather than one of negotiations. Commerce for this culture was a system of sharing and if one suffered some calamity such as drought and had no surplus the other shared theirs anyway.

This system flowed out of the Ojibwa worldview where human beings as in the Western creation story were created last. But the stories are diverse from there.  In the Western story humans are presented as the pinnacle of God’s creation and placed on the top of creation’s hierarchy even over and above their environment. The Creator instructs them to subdue and have dominion over it. In this culture any surplus was held back for the best price and if that could not be met the surplus goods could even be let go to waste.

In the Ojibwa story human beings were made weak and vulnerable. Their place on the hierarchy of creation was on the bottom. They were so vulnerable that the Creator called a council with all of creation. He asks the animals, birds, fish, and plants if they would give themselves as sustenance for humanity’s survival. They agreed. So all of nature provided for their sustenance making all things a gift from the Great Mystery. To hold any surplus back would be an affront to him so negotiations were unheard of. The word of this system of sharing was daawed.

Daawed was translated into English variably as sell, purchase, price or trade as understood in Western Culture. The British understood the treaty to mean land title transfer but the Ojibwa understood daawed to mean  a sharing of surpluses. They knew because of a great decrease in their population due to war and disease they had a surplus of land but they had no way of knowing what the government had in the way of a surplus to offer them. So they asked and daawed was translated here as valuation. All treaties with the Crown have such misunderstandings embedded in them and unfortunately these historic documents are still misunderstood today.

For the Ojibwa the treaty was set that day but for the British the treaty would undergo two more revisions and not be completed until nine years later. Treaty No. 29 would see the title for 2.2 million acres transferred to the Colonial Government of Upper Canada and the creation of four reserves containing less than 20,000 acres. From there it would be all downhill.For example, Canada would see the infamous Indian Act enacted in 1876. It is a stifling  paternalistic, monumental piece of legislation designed to control every aspect of First Nations lives. It is still in effect today. In 1887 the U.S. Congress would adopt the Dawes Act. This piece of legislation was designed to relieve First Nations of more of what little land they had left. Today, in Canada, First Nations are calling for the treaty relationship with the Government of Canada to be reset to a nation to nation basis. One of equal partnership sharing the land and its resources as the original treaties called for. The struggle continues.

Retreat up the Thames

The Americans continued their shipbuilding efforts at Presque Isle (Erie, Pennsylvania) unabated. Proctor wanted to use a naval attack to destroy the fruits of their labors but he was just not ready. All summer long they waited for supplies and ammunition to arrive. The supplies included sails and guns for the brig Detroit which was still under construction. There were few trained seamen at Amherstburg to sail the other three war ships anchored there. On June 3rd 1813 Captain Robert Heriot Barclay arrived at Amherstburg with nineteen sailors and the schooners Lady Prevost and Chippewa. These two brought the British fleet to six ships. Barclay had arrived from England that spring fresh from naval action in the Napoleonic wars. He had lost an arm at Trafalgar.

In charge of the American Lake Erie fleet was Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry. He was in charge of the shipbuilding at Presque Isle when Barclay arrived at Amherstburg. He also had to oversee the transfer of five ships built at Black Rock which, with the ships built and under construction at Presque Isle would consolidate his Erie fleet there. During the third week of June while Barclay was cruising the lake trying to catch the transfer Perry slipped the five vessels  into the harbor at Presque Isle under the cover of fog. Barclay missed them. The American fleet was now consolidated and the construction phase was nearing completion. But the British fleet was still not ready so Barclay advised Proctor to attack the U.S. shipyards by land. Proctor had 500 regulars and Tecumseh with 1,000 warriors at Amherstburg but he vacillated saying that he needed to wait for reinforcements to bolster his regiment the 41st Foot.

By August 10th Perry was out on the lake with his fleet of nine war ships. They included the brigs Lawrence 20 guns, Niagara 20,  Caledonia 3, schooner Ariel 4, schooner Scorpion 2, sloop Trippe 1 and schooners Tigress, Porcupine and Ohio 1 each. His plan was to attack Barclay’s fleet at Amherstburg before the Detroit could be completed but he became gravely ill along with 270 of his sailors with lake fever and had to postpone.

The British were now in a desperate situation. Supplies were held up at Long Point because Perry now controlled the lake. DeRottenburg had to impress wagons from the general populace and haul them to the Thames where they could be barged down river to Proctor. On September 5th some supplies along with thirty-six more sailors arrived at Amherstburg. Still not enough but Prevost and DeRottenburg both pressed Proctor to take action. Proctor gave in and stripped Fort Malden of its guns to outfit Detroit.

On September 14th Barclay sailed out of the Detroit River and into Lake Erie woefully out maned and out gunned. His fleet consisted of H.M.S. Detroit 21 guns, H.M.S. Queen Charlotte 18, schooners Lady Prevost 14 and Chippewa 1, the brig Hunter 10 and the sloop Little Belt 3. He could only supply each ship with ten experienced sailors. The balance of the compliment of 440 men was made up of  infantrymen supplied by the 41st.

They engaged Perry off the Bass Islands. For two hours the roar of the ship’s big guns could be heard back at Amherstburg but could not be seen. Then silence. It would be two days before Proctor got word of Barclay’s total defeat. In the meantime Harrison was moving north toward Detroit with 2,500 regulars, 3,000 Kentucky Militia and 150 Pennsylvania Militia. Proctor’s situation had gone from being desperate to hopeless. He planned to evacuate the fort and retreat up the Thames but kept his decision to himself for three days.

Tecumseh wanted to cross back into Michigan and ambush Harrison at the Huron River. But some men were seen dismantling Fort Malden and Tecumseh and the other chiefs demanded a conference with Proctor. Ojibwa war chiefs Naiwash and Nahdee were with him but his closest ally and staunchest supporter Roundhead was not. He had died unexpectedly of natural causes early that summer. Finally, after several days they met in council. Tecumseh spoke for the chiefs:

Listen! When war was declared, our Father [Proctor] stood up and gave us the tomahawk, and told us he was now ready to strike the Americans; that he wanted our assistance; and that he certainly would get us our lands back which the Americans had taken from us. Listen! You told us at that time to bring forward our families to this place. We did so, and you promised to take care of them, and that they should want for nothing while the men would go and fight the enemy . . . When we last went to the rapids [Fort Meigs] it is true we gave you little assistance. It is hard to fight people who live like groundhogs. Father, listen! We know that our fleet has gone out. We know they have fought. We had heard the great guns, but know nothing of what has happened to Our Father with One Arm . . . We are astonished to see our Father tying up everything and preparing to run . . . without letting his red children know what his intentions are . . . and we are sorry to see our Father doing so without seeing the enemy . . . Listen Father! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land; neither are we sure they have done so by water. We, therefore, wish to remain here and fight our enemy should they make their appearance. Father! You have got the arms and ammunition, which our Great Father [the King] sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going away, give them to us, and you may go . . . Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it is his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them.

Proctor was embarrassed by Tecumseh’s speech so promised his answer in two days. Again they met in council but this time Proctor was more forthcoming. With a map of the Detroit area laid out on a table he explained that both his supply lines were now cut off. Fort Malden was now defenseless having lost her guns along with the brig Detroit. Not only did Perry control Lake Erie but he could sail right past the fort into Lake St. Clair to stop supplies arriving via the Thames. Proctor saw no other option but to retreat up the Thames and make a stand near Chatham. Tecumseh reluctantly agreed but Main Poc left with his Potawatomi warriors crossing back into Michigan determined to harass Harrison’s advance.

Harrison crossed into Canada occupying Amherstburg unopposed seventeen days after the battle of Lake Erie. Proctor and Tecumseh left Sandwich about the same time heading for the Thames. Twelve miles upriver they passed the great burial mound left over from the Iroquois War more than a century earlier. They passed Chatham deciding instead to make a stand at the Delaware village of Moraviantown. Harrison left Brigadier General Duncan McArthur with 700 men to defend Detroit and pursued Proctor and Tecumseh up the Thames. On October 3rd Tecumseh decided to test the Americans. He had 1,500 warriors and he prepared an ambush after destroying the two bridges over McGregor’s Creek. One they burnt but the other was too wet so they tore up the planks. Harrison had over 3,000 men and the skirmish lasted for over two hours. Tecumseh’s lines finally broke and he retreated back to Moraviantown. Seeing the strength of the Harrison’s forces many of his warriors drifted away and he was left with only 500.

On the morning of October 5th Proctor formed a line three and one half miles west of the village of Moraviantown. It ran north from the river for 500 yards to a large swamp. That line was held by 540 men of the 41st Foot Regiment and 290 men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The warriors took up positions in the swamp and they waited.

Harrison arrived  at 8:00 o’clock in the morning with 1,000 Mounted Kentucky Riflemen, 2,300 Kentucky Volunteers and 140 regulars. The mounted riflemen were unusually well-trained by Colonel Richard M. Johnson. Each carried a tomahawk, a scalping knife and a long rifle and Johnson had drilled them over again in a highly unusual maneuver  Instead of charging a defensive line then dismounting and continuing the fight on foot they rode right through the line then dismounted attacking from the rear. This took the British by surprise and they surrendered almost immediately. When Proctor saw this he fled in his carriage.

Tecumseh fought on. Johnson’s tactic could not be employed because of the swamp. So they dismounted and advanced on foot. The warriors would wait until the Kentuckians were almost upon them then shower them with a hail of bullets. The Kentuckians kept coming screeching cries of “Remember the Raisin”. Then the great leader fell and the warriors broke away. The British suffered twelve killed, twenty-two wounded and 600 captured. The Americans lost seven killed and twenty-two wounded. The warriors’ casualties are unknown except for the incalculable loss of their august Shawnee leader Tecumseh.

NEXT WEEK:  The Beginning of the End

Fort Meigs II

Robert Dickson, a tall Scotsman with flaming red hair, had been appointed Indian Agent for the First Nations of the far North West Territories. He had traded with them for some time with the reputation of always honest and fair. The Sioux called him Mascotopah or The Red-Haired Man and he was married to one of their own, a Yanktonais woman. In short he was well liked. It was only natural that he was tasked by the British Indian Department to recruit warriors for the cause. Dickson had great success. Sioux war chiefs Little Crow, Itasappa and Red Thunder joined him easily as they had already been plied by Tecumseh and The Prophet a few years earlier.

Tecumseh’s warriors began amassing at Amherstburg again in July. Main Poc returned from Illinois Territory where he had been recruiting with the help of fellow Potawatomi chiefs White Hair and White Pigeon. At the same time a large group of warriors from the North West Territories, flags flying, all decked out in their finest war regalia paddled out of Lake St. Clair and into the Detroit River. In the lead canoe was the red-headed man Dickson. His entourage  included Ojibwa, Sioux, Menominee, Potawatomi, and Winnebago warriors all recruited from his base at Le Bay or Green Bay. Their arrival at Amherstburg bolstered Tecumseh’s forces to 2,500.

Tecumseh pressured Proctor to invade Ohio again. Captain Barclay warned Proctor of the fleet being built at the U.S. Naval Yards at Presque Isle. But Proctor was short on supplies for his heavy artillery so he postponed an attack on the ship yards. However, he did have 2,500 men to add to Tecumseh’s 2,500 which he felt was more than enough to mount an invasion. Tecumseh wanted to return to Fort Meigs but Proctor wanted to attack Fort Stephenson a much weaker fort on the Sandusky River. To take Fort Stephenson would have cut the supply line to Fort Meigs but Tecumseh was insistent so he left Amherstburg in the middle of July bound for Fort Meigs. Proctor followed on July 19, 1813.

General Harrison had left Fort Meigs in the command of General Green Clay while he moved to the Lower Sandusky. Tecumseh’s warriors arrived first at the mouth of the Maumee so Clay called for reinforcements from Harrison. He sent none convinced Fort Meigs with its current garrison was strong enough to withstand any assault. Instead Harrison withdrew up the Sandusky to Old Seneca Town leaving Fort Stephenson under the command of Major George Croghan. From this vantage point he could either move on Fort Stephenson or Fort Meigs wherever he was needed. This was good strategy the only hindrance being he would have to contend with the Black Swamp which lay between them.

Proctor settled in for a siege of the fort and began pounding the stockade with cannon fire. But his guns were not heavy enough. He had come with only three six-pounders and two howitzers. The warriors spread out among the thickets surrounding the fort taking pot shots at the men inside whenever they popped up to fire through the loopholes. Tecumseh complained it was too difficult fighting these Americans who were acting like groundhogs instead of coming out and fighting like men.

He came up with a plan to lure them out. The warriors moved to road that led to Fort Stephenson just out of Clay’s sight. They began firing their rifles and hollering loud war whoops increasing in intensity. This ruse was intended to convince Clay they were engaging a relief force sent by Harrison. But Clay had already received word from Harrison that he would not sent reinforcements unless he received the call from Clay and he had sent no such message. Although he had trouble convincing his officers it was a trap he did manage to hold them back. Tecumseh’s plan failed.

The siege of Fort Meigs was also a failure. A few hundred of Dickson’s warriors from the west drifted away since there was no plunder to be had. Proctor packed up his cannon and sailed to the mouth of the Sandusky and up the river to within a mile of Fort Stephenson. It was a much smaller post than Fort Meigs and although it was an impressive looking fort it was in truth weakly defended. It had a stockade of sixteen foot pickets and was surrounded by an eight foot wide moat. Each picket had a bayonet thrust horizontally through its tip. However, it only had one heavy gun, an old six-pounder left over from the Revolution affectionately referred to as “old Betsy”.

Tecumseh had moved his warriors up the Sandusky between Fort Stephenson and Old Seneca Town to cut off any retreat or prevent any reinforcements arriving. Okemos was a redoubtable Ojibwa war chief from Saginaw and also a nephew of the renowned war chief Pontiac. He and his cousin Manitocorbway were further upriver scouting for any signs of Harrison coming to Croghan’s aid. They ran into one of Harrison’s patrols and Okemos was severely wounded in the skirmish. Meanwhile, the seven hundred warriors with Proctor settled in among the surrounding woods as spectators. A frontal assault facing cannon fire out in the open was not their style of warfare.

Proctor decided to storm the fort. He was in the habit of becoming unsure of himself when patience and resolve was required. His men were unprepared to storm the garrison. They didn’t have the ladders to scale the palisade which was higher than they thought. Their axes were dull from lack of use. The moat was deeper than they realized. Proctor’s men became bogged down in the moat and “old Betsy” raked them lengthwise with grape-shot. They lost 150 men either killed or wounded. Proctor made no second attempt to take the fort but withdrew limping back to Amherstburg.

The Americans had a clear and decisive victory at last. And they had a national hero in Major Croghan a mere youth just turned twenty-one, who had defeated the British General in command of their western army and a force five times his size. Proctor had to explain himself to his superiors. He openly admitted he ordered the disastrous assault on Fort Stephenson under the threat of First Nations withdrawal from the war. General Prevost retorted he never should have committed any part of his valuable force due to the clamoring of “the Indian warriors”.  To Tecumseh the failure to take either fort may have been a sign that the tide of the war was turning but he was resolved to fight on.

NEXT WEEK:  Retreat up the Thames

Fort Meigs

Meanwhile, in the Detroit theater General Harrison was laying plans for his second attempt at a Canadian invasion. In February 1813 he set Captain Wood busy improving Fort Meigs’ fortifications. The fort was vital to his plans as he planned to use it as a springboard for his invasion. Wood work feverishly and by spring the improvements were almost complete. The fort was a potato shaped structure near the mouth of the Maumee River just south of the old British Fort Miami but on the opposite bank. Wood had added a twelve-foot palisade fronted by huge mounds of earth.

On April 1st the six month tour of duty was up for the Virginia and Pennsylvania militias and all but 250 men left the fort for home. The 250 men that remained only planned to stay another two weeks. Tecumseh’s scouts had the fort under surveillance and reported the departure to him immediately. Tecumseh told General Proctor the time to attack Fort Meigs had come and Proctor agreed but bad weather held him up at Amherstburg until April 23rd. Proctor arrived at the mouth of the Maumee on April 26th with 450 regulars and 475 militiamen. Tecumseh joined him with 600 warriors and then Roundhead arrived with another 600.

Harrison who had heard of the British plans to advance on Fort Meigs rushed forward from his winter quarters at Cincinnati. He managed to arrive at Fort Meigs before Proctor and his First Nation allies. All he could do now was take shelter in the fort along with the few troops left there and their Shawnee scouts. They anxiously awaited reinforcements who were on their way from Kentucky.

By May 1st the British had built reinforced blockhouses across the river and were firing on the fort. However, their cannonballs sunk uselessly into the soft mud of the earthen ramparts. Meanwhile, hidden among the woods the warriors busied themselves by taking pot shots at any slight movement behind the stockade. The siege continued for four days during which General Green Clay made his way down the Maumee with 1,200 Kentucky Militiamen.

Most of the Shawnee scouts loyal to the Americans were holed up in the fort but a few others were leading Clay’s forces. These Shawnee were rather reluctant participants. They had preferred to remain neutral in the conflict but were enlisted by the Indian agent John Johnston after he put them under considerable pressure. Among these reluctant warriors was Black Fish the son of a Shawnee war chief.

Black Fish and three militiamen traveling ahead of the main force in a canoe reached a point within sight of the fort. There they ran into a hostile party of Pottawatomie. They turned and fled back up the river but two of the Kentuckians were captured. However, Black Fish and the other man who was wounded in the encounter escaped. Clay kept coming.

On May 1st they landed just south of the fort on the American side of the river. Clay, acting upon Harrison’s orders, split his forces in two. He sent 800 militiamen under Colonel William Dudley along with all his Shawnee warriors across the river with orders to capture and spike the British cannon then recross the river to the fort as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, he and the other 400 fought their way to the fort.

Dudley was successful. The warriors who were fighting Clay outside the fort realized what Dudley was up to and quickly swam the river to engage him. Dudley’s men were raw recruits with no military experience and they became over exuberant at their victory. Tecumseh’s warriors arrived and lured the militia deeper and deeper into the woods. When the Shawnee, who were adverse to the adventure in the first place, saw what was happening surrendered to the British immediately. Tecumseh and Roundhead sprung their trap and the militia panicked and fled back toward British lines to surrender. Dudley was killed and many were cut down. Many more were captured. Of Dudley’s 800 Kentucky Militia fewer than 150 made it back to the fort.

The prisoners were escorted to old Fort Miami where they were held under a small British guard. The warriors were in a highly excitable state and began tormenting the Americans by making them run the gauntlet. Suddenly one was tomahawked and scalped on the spot. Things were getting out of hand. The British soldiers in charge tried to control the situation but one of them was killed so they backed off and sent for help.

Help quickly arrived in the form of one very recognizable warrior riding into the ruins that was once a British fort brandishing a tomahawk and yelling ordered to cease and desist. I was Tecumseh and he quickly took control. He reamed out the leaders of the agitated warriors by threatening death to the next one to disturb any of the prisoners. He didn’t want another massacre like Frenchtown laid at the feet of his confederacy.

Black Fish insisted he and his warriors had been coerced into service by the Americans. In fact he told proctor that all the Shawnee in Ohio had British sentiments but were being held prisoner in their villages at Wapakoneta and Lewistown. Upon hearing this Proctor made an offer to Harrison; the return of all American prisoners if they would allow any loyal Shawnee to remove to Canada. However, this British offer only served to cast suspicion on the Shawnee at Wapakoneta loyal to the Americans. They came under attack again by militia and settlers alike. Black Hoof complained so Johnston intervened managing to settle things down.

The warriors collected all the booty from the battlefield. One by one individual war parties withdrew following their chiefs back to their villages as was their custom after a great military victory. This left Proctor and Harrison stalemated so Proctor withdrew. The weather had been bad the whole time so he blamed his failure to take Fort Meigs on it. He also blamed his commanding officer, General DeRottenburg for not adequately supplying the mission.

NEXT WEEK:  Fort Meigs II

Beaver Dams

In the spring of 1813 the Americans made another attempt at invading Canada. This time they enjoyed more success. General Dearborn left Sackett`s Harbor on April 25th with a flotilla carrying 1,700 men. Although Dearborn was on board he gave the field command to Brigadier General Pike. They managed to establish a beachhead just east of the town of York. It was a small town with a population of only 625 but was the capital of Upper Canada. They fought their way to the town where General Sheaffe was commanding. Seeing he was about to be overpowered he withdrew to Kingston taking his regulars with him. However, before the fall of York a main magazine blew up with a tremendous force exacting a heavy toll on the American forces and killing Pike.

General Dearborn assumed command and headed west with all his forces toward Fort George, but not before some general looting and burning down the Government House. Dearborn arrived on the 8th of May at the mouth of Four Mile Creek just four miles east of Fort Niagara where he established a base camp. By May 25th Commodore Isaac Chauncey had arrived from Sackett`s harbor with Brigadier General John Chandler and 1,450 reinforcements. They began to bombard Fort George with seventy cannon while Brigadier General John Vincent, commander of Fort George, could only answer with twenty canon. Vincent had 1,900 troops in the fort but most of them were unreliable militia.

Dearborn was too ill to participate and watched the battle through his spyglass from the deck of the Madison. Major General Morgan Lewis was tactical commander but the actual battle was directed by Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott and Major Benjamin Forsyth. With the fort about to be overwhelmed General Vincent ordered the canon spiked and abandoned the fort Meanwhile, Chauncey who had received word that Sackett`s was under attack sailed away to assist taking 2,000 men with him.

Now with the town of Newark in their control and the capture of Fort George the Americans finally have a firm foothold on Canadian soil.On the 1st of June Lewis began his advance on Vincent by sending out Brigadier Generals William Winder and John Chandler. The pursuit of Vincent did not go well. The Americans made camp on June 4th along Stoney Creek. Vincent`s forces were camped seven miles away and Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey convinced Vincent that the American`s position was vulnerable. Vincent allowed a night attack where Harvey employed the ruse of using the loud and terrifying war whoops of feared Mohawk warriors. The results were devastating. Both American generals were captured along with large piles of stores. The result of the Battle of Stoney Creek was the Americans were now penned up in Fort George.

The men in the fort had to be supplied with provisions from the lake head. Captain James Lucas Yeo of the British navy was having great success intercepting American supply boats capturing up to fifteen at a time. British patrols were also having the same kind of success bushwhacking American patrols. So Dearborn ordered Lieutenant Colonel Boerstler to take a detachment and clear out Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon who had a company of rangers trained in forest warfare.

Fitzgibbon had appropriated the two-story house of John Cew, a militia captain to serve as his headquarters. The house was near Beaver Dams on Twelve Mile Creek.  After nightfall on June 23rd Boerstler left Fort George with 570 men, two canon and two four-horse wagons headed for Fitzgibbon’s headquarters. As they marched through Queenston civilians who were loyal to the crown realized where the Americans were headed. Someone had to rush on ahead and warn Fitzgibbon. That duty fell to a woman, one Laura Secord who made her way across country. She didn’t get too far when she fell into the hands of some Caughnawaga warriors. She was able to communicate her mission well enough to them that they escorted her to their leader.

Dominique Ducharme, a captain in the Indian Department, was camped near De Cew’s house between Fitzgibbon and the advancing Boerstler. Ducharme commanded some 500 Caughnawaga Mohawk warriors from Lower Canada. So Ducharme was the first to receive Secord’s warning and while she continued on to the De Cew house the warriors headed out to prepare an ambush.

By dawn the warriors had taken up their position hidden among a thick stand of beech trees just east of their main camp. Between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. the head of Boerstler’s column entered the cool shade of the beechwood. When the whole column was strung out along the narrow path the warriors opened fire. There was little room for maneuvering and the first volley knocked all twenty  of the advance point off their horses sending the whole column into a state of confusion.

Boerstler got control of his men and they fought their way out of the woods and into the open. They took up a position at the top of a hill which they held for about two hours. Meanwhile eighty British regulars and about 200 militia had joined the skirmish. Fitzgibbon arrived late as did Norton and his Grand River Mohawks. Fitzgibbon called a ceasefire to parlay with Boerstler. He managed to convince him he was hopelessly outnumbered and Boerstler, seeing no way to escape, surrendered. The Americans began to lay down their arms and the Grand River warriors rushed in to collect the booty. The Caughnawaga warriors were incensed leaving the Niagara area for Quebec.

The Battle of Beaver Dams cost the Americans dearly. The Caughnawaga warriors neutralized almost 600 men and the British captured two cannon and the Grand River warriors looted the supply wagons. Later Norton would write of the battle that the Caughnawaga warriors did the fighting, the Grand River warriors got the booty and Fitzgibbon got the credit.

NEXT WEEK:  Fort Meigs

Queenston Heights

In the fall of 1812 while Harrison was using the western U.S. army to drive First Nations warriors to Tecumseh’s cause the central army was trying to organize for a second invasion of Upper Canada at Niagara. They weren’t doing so well. Governor Daniel D Tompkins of New York was given permission by Eustis to install a major-general of the New York militia. He chose Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer. Although Van Rensselaer was a militiaman he was without campaign experience. Tompkins was a Democrat but likely chose him because he was a staunch Federalist and he needed to gain support for the war as most of the congressmen from New York and along the St. Lawrence had voted against it. In order to compensate for his deficiencies Van Rensselaer chose his kinsman Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer as his aide-de-camp. Solomon had held a commission in the regular army from 1792 to 1800 and had been severely wounded at Fallen Timbers.

When Stephen Van Rensselaer first inspected the troops at the end of August he found less than 1,000 stretched out along the Niagara River. They were ill-equipped, in summer dress, some even shoe-less and far in arrears in pay. There was not enough artillery nor gunners to man them if there were. And tents, medicine and supplies were scarce. This militia was undisciplined, insubordinate and unreliable.

The First Nations at Niagara were Haudenosaunee or Iroquois. Those on the American side of the border had held a council and determined to remain neutral in the conflict. On the Canadian side First Nations warriors sided with the British. Wawanosh was there along with Ojibwa from Aamjiwnaang and Swan Creek. Nawahjegezhegwabe or Joseph Sawyer was there with his a band Mississauga warriors from the Credit. But the bulk of the warriors were Mohawk from the Grand River and Cauhgnawagna.

The warriors put themselves under the leadership of John Brant, the eighteen year old son of the celebrated late Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and John Norton, the son of a Cherokee from Kuwoki whose name was Norton and a Scottish woman named Anderson. He was adopted into the Mohawk Nation at the Grand and made an honorary chief. The older and flamboyant Norton would assume the leadership role.

By late September General Dearborn moved the Fifth and Thirteenth Regiments of the United States Infantry. Also Brigadier-General Alexander Smyth arrived at Buffalo on September 29th with a contingent of recruits. Now the American army which was stretched along the entire length of the Niagara River numbered 6,300 one half of them being militia. On the Canadian side of the river General Brock had a total of 2,200 men also stretched along the length of the river and also half of them militia. Brock had to disperse his inferior numbers so thinly because he did not know where the American’s planned to attack. He felt the invasion would most likely come from Fort Niagara so he took up a position across the river at Fort George. Norton and his 500 plus warriors concurred.

Major General Van Rensselaer planned a two-pronged attack. One division would cross the river by boats and storm Fort George from the rear. The other would cross over at Lewiston and attack Queenston and its heights. The American commanders suffered from bad intelligence estimating the British forces to be 8,500. They didn’t realize the distinct advantage they had. Smyth was not happy that he had to subordinate himself  to a militia commander so he successfully avoided it by insisting that an invasion point below the falls was folly. The result was that he was left out of the plan but this meant that the assault would take place with twenty-five percent fewer troops and there would not be an attack on Fort George.

On October 10th the invasion force of 600 men was assembled. Colonel John Chrystie arrived that morning with 350 recruits for the Thirteenth Infantry and immediately offered hid detachment for the invasion. His offer was refused because Van Rensselaer only had enough boats for his 600. Thirteen rowboats were put in charge of Lieutenant Sims but a severe storm blew through that day so they waited it out until the morning of the 11th. Now all was set but before they could get the flotilla underway Sims inexplicably pushed off in one of the boats with all of the oars. He floated down the river a ways then beached it and disappeared in the forest. Feeling along that all the necessary logistics were in place for an invasion against what he thought was a superior force Van Rensselaer was disposed to abandon this plan. However, his officers demanded another attempt.

The invasion was rescheduled for the night of October 12th. Chrystie moved his men from Fort Niagara and was allowed to join the invasion force after agreeing to put himself under the command of Solomon Van Rensselaer. Late in the afternoon of the 12th Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott arrived with the Second Artillery and placed his cannon to fire on the heights across the river. All was in place.

Under the cover of darkness 4,000 troops amassed on the American side of the river. They still only had thirteen rowboats so the plan called for seven crossing for each one. The river was 200 yards wide with a swift current and the heights on the other side towered 345 feet above the Niagara. Colonel Van Rensselaer stepped into one of the first boats to cross as did Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie but Chrystie’s boat became lost and was swept downstream with two others. The remaining ten boats ferried 300 men across successfully over the next quarter-hour.

The British opened fire on the first of the invasion force. This threw the beachhead into disarray and Colonel Van Rensselaer was severely wounded. Scott’s cannon opened fire on British muzzle flashes forcing the British to retreat to the top of the heights chased by a young Captain John F. Wool. The British who were reinforced by local troops returned fire and forced Wool back to the river bank where he took shelter and hung on to the beach head.

General Brock heard the all the gunfire as did Norton and the warriors. Brock charged out of Fort George at a full gallop toward Queenston some five miles away. He arrived at the British battery near the top of the hill as dawn broke. Wool had launched another assault. Brock had the artillery spiked and they made their escape just in time. Now Wool was above them on the hill and Brock gathered a force of 100 but they were beat back. Brock added another 200 stragglers and made another attempt. Up the heights they charged with Brock leading the way, all six-foot four of him and all decked out in his General’s uniform. The easy target was hit directly in the chest and fell instantly. The death of Isaac Brock was a most serious blow to Upper Canada’s cause. Brock was by far the best military leader the British had.

More senior leaders than Wool began arriving on the Canadian side including Major General Van Rensselaer, Brigadier General William Wadsworth of the New York Militia and Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott, United States Second Artillery. Overall Command was given to Scott and the U.S. force now stood at 350 regulars and 250 militia. Van Rensselaer recrossed the river to bring the balance of the invasion force over.

There had been a lull in the action until early afternoon. But now Major General Sir Roger Sheaffe who had received Brock’s order to come with reinforcements posthumously was now marching down the road from Fort George with 800 men. Scott and Wadsworth were not too concerned because they were expecting Van Rensselaer to arrive with many more reinforcements.

Norton arrived ahead of them and attacked the Americans from the surrounding woods. This threw the regulars into a state of confusion and terrified the militia but after about an hour they managed to beat the warriors back into the woods. At this point Chrystie had found his way to the battlefield and joined Scott. Meanwhile, Sheaffe swung behind the heights and was now on the south side where he picked up a detachment marching north from Chippewa.

The warriors kept the Americans occupied with harassing,  lightning-like sorties from the woods. This also kept them disorganized while Sheaffe formed his battle lines. The loud, screeching war whoops of Norton’s warriors could be heard across the river. This terrified the volunteers who refused to cross over. They stood on their right as a militia not to serve except voluntarily on foreign soil. This was not the only problem the officers had with the reinforcements. The crossing was in a direct line of British cannon fire from Vrooman’s Point so the boat owners refused to let them use their boats claiming it was too dangerous. There would be no reinforcements arriving on the Canadian side to support Scott.

The warriors now attacked head on placing themselves between British and American lines. At first Scott’s line held but then wavered, then it broke. The route was on. The Americans reached the river’s bluffs some tumbling over, some setting up to make a stand. Scott and his officers decided that a quick surrender would be the only thing that would save their men from being massacred by the warriors. But how to get word to Sheaffe? They sent two separate couriers with white flags but the warriors killed them. Scott determined to go himself. He left dressed in his officer’s uniform and carrying his sword with a white scarf tied to its point but only managed to get himself captured by Brant and another warrior, but luck was with him that day. Two York militiamen happened to arrive before the warriors were trying to decide what to do with such a highly prized prisoner. John Beverley Robinson and Samuel Jarvis intervened to take charge of the prisoner and escort him to Sheaffe.

Sheaffe accepted Scott’s surrender and the ceasefire was sounded by the British bugler. But the warriors paid no attention to order. They were enraged by the loss of two of their chiefs in the battle and were intent on annihilating all of the Americans pressed against the river. Sir Roger was so appalled by the carnage wrought by the warriors on the battlefield that he insisted that his men stop Norton and Brant from continuing the battle. They succeeded and finally it ended.

Queenston Heights turned into another American debacle. The second invasion of Upper Canada was also a second dismal failure. Van Rensselaer’s American army suffered 958 captured. Far more militia crossed over that Scott and Wadsworth had realized. Besides this they suffered ninety killed and 100 wounded. By contrast and thanks to Norton’s Mohawks the British suffered only fourteen killed, eighty-four wounded and fifteen missing, but by far the most detrimental loss suffered by the British was the death of Isaac Brock.

NEXT WEEK:  Beaver Dams

Another American Disaster!

The Shawnee scouting for the Americans moved up the Maumee River ahead of General Winchester. They discovered that Roundhead and Muir had left the area and were headed back to Canada. However, the area was infested with pro-British warriors. On October 8th Captain Lewis, Logan and a few other scouts were attacked by Main Poc and a large party of Potawatomi. They escaped without injury beating a hasty retreat back to the American lines.

For the next two months Captain Lewis, Logan, Captain Johnny, Bright Horn, The Wolf and a few other Ohio Shawnee ranged across the region of northwestern Ohio sending intelligence back to the Big Knives. It was doubly dangerous work. They not only had to contend with roving enemy war parties but also roaming detachments of Big Knives who were carrying out Harrison’s orders to clear the area of First Nations people. The Big Knives were randomly destroying all First Nations’ towns they came across, burning them to the ground and destroying their winter supplies of corn. The Americans, especially the Militia, did not distinguish between enemy or friendly “Indians” but operated on the axiom “any dead Indian is a good Indian.”

In the third week of November Shawnee scouts were gathering intelligence on the rapids of the Maumee when they were attacked by an enemy war party. They all managed to escape but Captain Johnny, Logan and Bright Horn became separated from the others and spent the night eluding the enemy by hiding out in the thick Ohioan forest. The three made their way back to the main American camp but their late arrival cast suspicions on them. They were accused of being captured by the enemy and had secured their safe release by providing intelligence on American troop numbers and movements.

The three left the Big Knives camp on November 22nd moving up the Maumee on foot. They intended to prove their loyalty by bringing back either a prisoner or scalps. Some distance up the river on the north bank they encountered s a war party of Potawatomi and Ottawa travelling on horseback. It was led by Winamek and Alexander Elliott who was the son of the old British Indian Agent Matthew Elliott.

The American scouts tried a rouse. They pretended to be pro-British Shawnee trying to get back to Tecumseh’s forces on the Wabash. Winamek and Elliott were suspicious, especially Winamek because one of the three looked strangely familiar. However, they offered to escort them to the British camp. During the trip they kept them under close guard but did not take their guns.

Along the way it dawned on Winamek who the familiar looking Shawnee was. It was Logan so he suggested to Elliott in private that they be disarmed and bound. But he was overheard and the threesome suddenly opened fire killing Winamek,Elliott and one of the Ottawa warriors and wounding another. They seized the dead men’s horses and raced back down the Maumee to the Big Knives camp but they did not escape unharmed. Logan was shot in the abdomen and Bright Horn was wounded in the arm. Bright Horn would recover but on November 24th Logan succumbed to his injury.

By this time winter had set in. Winchester was inching his way down the Maumee to his ordered rendezvous point at the rapids. It was bitter cold and they were ill equipped. Many were suffering from various degrees of frost bite. Most of his Kentucky volunteers had arrived in the early fall with only summer clothing. The regulars were short of winter supplies as well. He had to deal with much complaining from the troops about the slow progress and lack of action as well as a high desertion rate. Even the threat of having to “ride the wooden horse”, a most barbaric punishment, failed to discourage defectors. Deserters who were caught were made to straddle a two-by-four or small log while two soldiers shook it violently up and down causing the prisoner extreme pain. This was not exactly what the men had signed up for!

Finally on January 10, 1813 they arrived at the rapids. Harrison had suggested to Winchester that he wait and not move forward but he did not order it. On June the 13th desperate appeals arrived for help from “marauding Indians” from Frenchtown a small village on the River Raisin some forty miles up the trail towards Detroit. The British had a small garrison of men there along with one hundred or so warriors.

Winchester held a council with his officers and all agreed to act on the calls for assistance. After all, the British only had a small force there which could easily be overwhelmed and any victory over the British after the disasters of Michilimackinac, Detroit and Queenston would instantly make national heroes out of those who claimed it. Besides, their supply line back to Amherstburg or Detroit was choked with deep snow. Frenchtown was the only community south of Detroit and would make the perfect site for launching an all out offensive across the frozen Detroit River to take Fort Malden. Winchester “seized the moment”.

On January 17th Winchester sent Colonel Will Lewis forward with 350 troops hastily followed by Colonel John Allen with 110 more. They reached the Raisin on January 18th and quickly dispatched the 200 British Militia and their 400 warrior allies but at a cost of thirteen killed and fifty-four wounded. They set up camp in the midst of the village, some twenty houses set out in rows on the north bank of the frozen river. Behind the row houses were garden plots protected on three sides by a row of pickets made of split logs sharpened on the top ends. The east side of the area was open leaving a large part of the American line vulnerable. They settled in to wait for Winchester to arrive with the rest of the western branch of Harrison’s army.

Winchester arrived on the 20th of January with another 350 soldiers raising the total to over 800 Kentucky Militia and 175 regulars. Winchester settled himself in at a house on the south side of the river about a quarter mile from the main bivouac and no one gave a second thought to a possible British response!

General Proctor received word that the Americans had taken Frenchtown and were amassing troops there. He had to make a decision and make it on his own. Communication lines were down because of the winter conditions. Proctor was a slow, plodding man not quick to make any hasty decisions. But this time he acted out of character. Perhaps he was inspired by his former commanding officer Isaac Brock. He called to muster every available man and crossed the frozen Detroit leaving the invitation for all First Nations warriors to join them. Roundhead sent war belts to the scattered encampments around Amherstburg. Many of the warriors that had been gathering there were Potawatomi who had been displaced by Winchester’s Kentucky marauders and Miami who had suffered the depredations at Mississinewa.

Trudging through the deep snow on the 21st of January Proctor’s force of 597 men and three six pounders were passed by Roundhead and Splitlog’s 700 warriors on snowshoes gliding over the deep snow drifts covering Hull’s road between Detroit and Frenchtown. Winchester got word of the advancing horde but chose to ignore it not believing they would attempt such a difficult trek.

The town was laid out on the east side of the road. The warriors arrived first in the early hours of January 22nd intent on retribution for the atrocities committed in the fall against their villages. Splitlog and Walk-In-The-Water left the roadway on the west side swinging around to attack from the west. Roundhead did the opposite. After positioning themselves they crouched waiting for Proctor to arrive which he did just before dawn.

The Essex Militia led by John Baptiste Askin joined Splitlog on the west side of the town. The old Shawnee war chief Bluejacket now in his sixties was with them. Proctor setup his battle line of regulars between Roundhead and Splitlog’s warriors and placed his six cannons in the front. The Big Knives were now surrounded on three sides with only the frozen Raisin to their backs. The attack began at the morning’s first light.

The sound of gunfire and the flash of muskets filled the air. The roar of Proctor’s cannons only added to the din. Winchester arrived disheveled his uniform had been quickly pulled over his nightshirt. The American right line had crumpled under Roundhead’s relentless fire. Winchester along with Allen and Lewis tried vainly to rally the troops and form a new line but they were forced back across the river’s slick ice.

Suddenly panic set in. The right line had devolved in a chaotic rush for the road to the west and escape. Many cast their arms aside as they bound through the deep snow pursued by Roundhead’s screeching warriors. Many of the Big Knives were caught and shot or tomahawked on the spot. Allen did not survive. Wounded in the leg he had limped off for a couple of miles but could go no further. A Potawatomi chief, probably Blackbird, also known as Le Tourneau, noticed his officer’s uniform and signaled to another warrior he wanted to take Allen prisoner but the other warrior moved in for the kill. Allen lunged at the wild eyed warrior with his sword running him through. The chief then shot Allen dead and took his scalp.

Winchester and Lewis fared better. They were captured and brought to Roundhead. The warriors demanding their payback wanted him to execute Winchester at once but Roundhead saw the value in keeping the American General alive and took both officers to Proctor.

The warriors were in a most foul mood exacting a take-no-prisoner policy. Unarmed prisoners were being shot or tomahawked then scalped one after the other in front of Winchester and Lewis. This prompted Winchester to sign a note ordering Major George Madison who was commanding the Kentucky Militia on the American left to surrender even though they were holding well and returning fire from behind the pickets. Madison would not comply unless Proctor personally agreed to protect them from the warrior’s fury. He did but later broke that promise.

The fighting ended and the tallies were done. Proctor suffered heavy casualties considering the advantage he held for the whole battle. He lost twenty-four killed and 158 wounded. The high rate was mostly attributable to his placement of his cannons. By placing them in front of his line he opened it up to Americans firing at the big guns and the gunners were left vulnerable to their own regulars who were behind them. For this he was censured but still promoted to Brigadier-General.

American casualties were worse at 300 killed and twenty-seven wounded. The balance of Winchester’s army except for thirty-three who escaped were taken prisoner including Winchester himself. One of the escapees, a Private John J. Brice, did so by discarding his shoes so that his tracks in the snow looked like a warrior’s wearing moccasins. He was the first to make it back to the Maumee and deliver the distressing news. Harrison was despondent. His entire left wing had been annihilated and his invasion plan stopped dead in its tracks.

Proctor feared an imagined approach of Harrison leading an overwhelming army. He bivouacked the American wounded in several of the town’s houses under a very light guard. When he began loading Canadian casualties on sleighs for the haul back to Amherstburg the American surgeon inquired as to why the American sick and wounded were being left behind. Proctor responded that there were not enough sleighs and he must take care of his own first. So the surgeon complained about the light guard given the number of warriors there and their mood. Proctor is said to have replied “the Indians make excellent doctors”.

The U.S. Army surgeon was right. Proctor should have left a reasonable guard for the Kentucky wounded. Part of the booty from the victory at Frenchtown was the town’s supply of liquor and a few of the young warriors drank more than their fair share. Angry and inebriated they began to go from house to house taking out their anger on the sick and wounded prisoners. Their chiefs tried to intervene but were unable to control the enraged young men.

Sometime during the night the light guard, a Major Reynolds plus three interpreters slipped away. A warrior appeared in the room of one of the wounded soldiers speaking fluent English. This could very well have been Wawanosh, a young Ojibwa from Aamjiwnaang, who was known to have an excellent command of the English language. He was asking for intelligence on Harrison’s movements and strength. When he left he made the off handed remark that he was sorry but some of the more mischievous young men would be doing some bad deeds that night. It was a prelude of things to  come.

By the morning the warriors were ransacking the homes for loot. They were looking especially for more whiskey. They begin to strip the sick and wounded of their clothing and in their excitement, fueled by liquor and their hatred for the Big Knives, began to shoot or tomahawk then scalp the helpless Kentuckians.

Captain Nathaniel Hart wounded, half dressed and barefoot was dragged from the home where he was being cared for. While awaiting his fate he recognized one of the warriors surrounding him as the English speaking one from the night before. He knew that he would recognize the name of William Elliott, Matthew Elliott’s son. William was a captain in the Essex Militia so Hart exclaimed that William had promised to send his personal sleigh remove him to  his home at Amherstburg. The bilingual warrior replied that Elliott had lied and there would be no rescue. Hart made him an offer. Take him to Amherstburg and he would give him a horse and one hundred dollars. The warrior replied that he could not because he was too badly wounded.  Then what were their intentions inquired Hart. The reply was chilling. You are all to be killed!

The massacre lasted most of the morning as the drunken, infuriated warriors moved from house to house looting and killing. When the macabre news reached the Americans it was another in a long line of interracial incidents that helped solidify their hatred of First Nations people. This particular incident gave rise to the battle call of the Kentucky Militia, “Remember the Raisin!”

NEXT WEEK:  Queenston Heights

The War Turns Ugly

September arrived heralding autumn.  Tecumseh was resting on the Wabash recuperating from his wound when he received more bad news. Two U.S. forts had been attacked, besieged for days with much ammunition wasted and little to show for the effort. Neither fort was destroyed and only four Big Knives killed.

On September the 5th a large party of Winnebago and Sac warriors besieged Fort Madison on the Mississippi. The siege lasted for three days and although they destroyed the trading post and other property outside the fort they failed to raze the main stockade. After running low on ammunition they abandoned the attack.

The Potawatomi put Fort Wayne under siege the same day Fort Madison was attacked. But Fort Wayne was a stronger fortification and more heavily guarded. The warriors were led by Winamek and a holy man named Five Medals. Like the Winnebago and Sac they destroyed everything outside Fort Wayne. They sprayed the walls of the fort with bullets shooting at every shadow that moved about but had little success. This assault lasted seven days until Harrison arrived from Piqua with a force of 2,000 and the Potawatomi dispersed.

More success was had a Fort Harrison. Shawnee, Winnebago, Kickapoo and Miami warriors from Prophetstown attacked the weakly defended fort. More than half the garrison was down with fever. Included in the fort’s inhabitants were nine women and children who had abandoned their farms for the security of the fort.

During the first night of the siege one of the blockhouses caught fire. It contained the fort’s supply of food along with 25,000 rations of liquor. Soldiers in the fort tried desperately to put out the fire which the whiskey had turned into a raging inferno. The warriors took pot shots at illuminated figures trying to douse the fire with water while others ripped off combustible roofing from other nearby buildings. The din of battle, a strange mixture of gunfire, instructions being shouted by the soldiers, wailing and crying of women and children and loud shrieking of war whoops could be heard for miles. When the smoke cleared in the morning there was a twenty foot breach in the wall of the fort and all its provisions had burned. The Big Knives had lost three killed and three wounded trying to save them.

The warriors from the Wabash withdrew employing the tactic of starving them out. Mounted detachments were sent from Vincennes. At first two smaller ones were turned back by the warriors who killed two of the horsemen. Ten days after the attack began Colonel William Russell with 1,350 men breached the warrior’s lines bringing the fort much needed supplies. Another supply wagon was sent from Vincennes guarded by thirteen army regulars. The warriors ambushed it at the halfway point killing seven guardsmen and wounding one. They took the supply wagon. However, with such a large number of Big Knives now at the fort they abandoned their siege and returned to the Wabash.

Blame for the lack of success in early September can be laid squarely at the feet of the First Nations’ British allies. The Americans were never more vulnerable after having their entire western army captured and Michigan Territory annexed in August. Tecumseh’s Confederacy tried to take advantage of this but lacked the heavy artillery and know how needed to breach the forts’ walls. The Red Coats could have supplied this but Lt. Governor-General Prevost called an armistice hoping that the repeal of the admiralty orders in council in London, a major source of discontent, would appease the U.S. Congress and bring the war to an end. The hope was in vain. The cease fire was called off September 8th and Proctor finally move to support his allies September 12th but it was too little, too late.

The countryside was now mostly void of homesteaders. Most had fled to the east behind American Lines. The majority of those who stayed had either moved inside American forts or built blockhouse near their farms taking refuse there. War parties spent the early fall roaming the territory burning empty farmhouses and killing farm stock and confiscating abandoned supplies.

One small community did not take precautions and paid the price. It was called Pigeon Roost but now is Scott County, Indiana. A war party led by the Shawnee Masalemeta descended quickly upon the area destroying the community which was totally unprotected. Twenty four people lost their lives. Twenty one of them were women and children. Upon their retreat they set up an ambush for their pursuers killing one soldier. In times of war First Nation warriors made little distinction between soldiers or civilians even women and children.

This undesirable trait was not lost on First Nation warriors. It seems to have afflicted the military as well. Even the civilian population exhibited a hatred for the enemy that would only fuel war time atrocities. The civilian population living in the east behind American lines were organizing vigilante parties sending them out to kill, burn and destroy any First Nation persons and property they came across. They were indiscriminate in their raids attacking even their own First Nation allies such as the Ohio Shawnee, the White River Delaware and Sandusky Wyandotte and Mingo.

Meanwhile, Harrison was building a new western army not as a whole but in parts. The plan was send three columns via different routes to congregate at the rapids of the Maumee River. The right column made up of volunteers from Pennsylvania and Virginia was to gather at Upper Sandusky and proceed from there. General Edward Tupper was commander of the center column gathering at Urbana while General Winchester was to lead the left column from old Fort Defiance down the Maumee to the rapids. Once all three were in place at the rapids they would be in position for either a winter or spring offensive to retake Detroit. However, in order for this strategy to work Winchester’s route would have to be cleared of marauding warriors.

Winchester sent out detachments of both U.S. regulars and Kentucky Militia that fall on nine separate excursions. They basically used a scorched earth policy to destroy twenty-one First Nation towns, killing livestock and burning cornfields. They even dug up graves to rob the corpses of their silver trinkets. Fortunately, only two of the towns were inhabited as the others had been abandoned when the Big Knives approached. Fifty First Nations men, women and children were either killed or captured.

On November 21st Kumskaukau, Tecumseh’s younger brother, was with several of his warriors scouting high on a bluff overlooking the Winnebago town on Wild Cat Creek. They spotted one of Major-General Samuel Hopkins’ scouting party coming up the river. They set an ambush, shot one of the riders knocking him off his horse killing him. The others scrambled back down the river to the safety of their main camp.

The next day a large detachment arrived to bury the body of their slain comrade. Sixty mounted horsemen riding in three columns spotted a lone warrior riding ahead of them to their right. The right column gave a shout and peeled off to chase down the single warrior. The other two columns followed. They chased the solitary warrior for about a mile then down into a ravine and past a waiting war party crouched among the scrub brush on three sides. Before the Big Knives realized what was happening they were peppered with gunfire. They panicked retreating pell mell back down the river to their base camp leaving sixteen dead in the ravine.

Kumskaukau’s party was a small one and they knew the Big Knives would return with an overwhelming force so they left the area the next day. Thus went the fall campaigns of 1812, a series of uncoordinated raids by both sides. But now winter was setting in and that was about to make things much more difficult!

NEXT WEEK:  Another American Disaster!

The Warrior’s Offensive Faulters

In April 1812 the simple pioneer homes of Chicago came under attack by the Potawatomi. Cannon fire from Fort Dearborn, which was adjacent to the town, scared the warriors off. The whole populace moved into the security of the fort and waited not knowing what to do next. They waited apprehensively for the next four months until Winamek, a friendly Potawatomi chief arrived on August 7th with an order from General Hull to evacuate. The chief advised against leaving and the garrison’s officers agreed but the commander Captain Nathan Heald was determined to carry out Hull’s order. At the same time the local Potawatomi accepted a red calumet from Main Poc who was at Fort Malden.

Billy Wells was also at the fort. He had been sent with thirty Miami warriors to escort the fort’s garrison as well as the whole civilian population back to the relative safety of Fort Wayne. Wells was a conflicted man. He had been captured by the Miami as a boy and adopted into the band. He took the name of Black Snake and was raised Miami. He married Little Turtle’s sister and fought  with Little Turtle’s confederacy when they smashed the American Armies of Generals Harmar and St. Clair.

However, confusion over his identity brought about feelings of doubt and guilt concerning the Americans he had slain in battle. He thought some could even have been his relatives! He switched sides joining General Wayne as a scout and interpreter. He fought again at Fallen Timbers, but this time on the side of the Big Knives. He went on to become the Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, a position he presently held. Both Wells and his brother-in-law were despised by Tecumseh who considered them turncoats. Although he held great sway with the First Nations friendly to the U.S. he still was not trusted by Harrison who thought he was secretly working with enemy war chiefs.

The Potawatomi were led by war chiefs Assikenack or Blackbird from Milwaukee, Tonquish of the Detroit Potawatomi and Nuscotomeg or Bad Sturgeon who came from a village at the junction of the Iroquois and Kankakee Rivers. Together, with a few Ojibwa, Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors, they commanded 600 warriors. They had the fort surrounded but Heald prepared to abandon the fort anyway. On August 14th he distributed all the goods and supplies they could not carry with them to the warriors as payment for safe passage out of the fort. The Potawatomi withdrew to the sand dunes near road which would become Michigan Avenue.

Unfortunately Heald had destroyed all extra arms, ammunition and liquor the night before so they would not fall into the hands of the warriors. That was probably a mistake because it infuriated the Potawatomi putting them in a most foul mood. They took this action as a betrayal of their agreement thereby nullifying it so they attacked the column as they marched down the road.

The thirty Miami warriors immediately abandoned the field. Captain Heald circled the wagons then he and Wells led a charge up the dunes directly at the warriors’ position. This was Heald’s second mistake. After all he had only fifty-three soldiers under his command. This left the civilians cowering behind their only protection, the wagons. Heald’s men were quickly overwhelmed by far superior numbers as were the civilians.

There was a total of ninety-three persons that filed out of the fort that August 15th. They got to a point three miles from the Chicago River when they were attacked. The civilians included twelve men, nine women and eighteen children.  Of the military twenty-six were killed and scalped including Wells whose heart was cut out and eaten raw by the Potawatomi chiefs in order to absorb his great courage. Five more were put to death that same night. Captain Heald survived and was taken back to the fort where he found his wife who had been rescued by the friendly chief Black Partridge. The other twenty-two soldiers who survived were also taken prisoner. Of the thirty-nine civilians all eighteen men, two women and twelve children were killed and scalped at the wagons. The balance were also herded back to the fort as prisoners. A few were ransomed but most were split up and adopted into various bands. With the fall of Forts Michilimackinac, Dearborn and Detroit the Americans lost control of all territory north and west of the Maumee River.

After the First Nations conference at Brownstown in July Black Hoof, Logan and The Wolf hurried back to Ohio to attend the conference at Piqua. They arrived in time only to find out that the conference had been postponed until August 15th. When it finally did get underway there were only 750 First Nations people in attendance and not the 3,000 expected! Not surprisingly the attendees were the eastern Shawnee from Ohio and the White River Delaware along with a few Ottawa and Kickapoo. Tarhe’s Wyandotte of Sandusky didn’t arrive until September. Fearing attacks by hostile warriors they were busy moving their village to the Upper Sandusky behind American lines. Most of the missing attendees were from the Northwest and had either joined Tecumseh or were observing the war with a view to joining him.

The U.S. commissioners were Governor Meigs, Thomas Worthington and Jeremiah Morrow. In the time leading up to the conference they learned of Tecumseh’s stunning successes. Just after the meetings began they received the news that Detroit had fallen and Chicago was now under Potawatomi domination. The commissioners’ refrain was predictable.

They tried to convince their audience that although the Americans had suffered some losses in the end they would prevail. That the United States harbored no interest in acquiring any more of their lands. If they remained neutral they would receive total protection of U.S. forces against any enemy but if they joined the hostiles that would only end in their destruction. They were preaching to the choir as all of the attendees were already committed to the U.S.

On September 6th the Potawatomi besieged Fort Wayne. Main Poc with his Detroit Potawatomi joined with their Tippecanoe and St. Joseph country men and had the Fort hemmed up. Fort Wayne was a heavily reinforced fortification. The Potawatomi had no heavy artillery with which to breach its walls. They could only hem it in taking pot shots at whatever moved while waiting for British reinforcements. Main Poc built ramparts made of logs and earth in a ruse to make the Big Knives think that British artillery had arrived. It didn’t work.

On September 14th Captain Adam Muir, Roundhead and Tecumseh left Amherstburg with a force of 1,000 to help Main Poc and Winamek take Fort Wayne. Yes, the same Winamek that was pro American. The same Winamek that brought General Hull the news of Fort Michilimackinac’s capitulation in July. The same Winamek that carried Hull’s evacuation order to Fort Dearborn. He had switched sides!

Governor Harrison had been given command of the western army so he relinquished his governorship and took the rank of Major General. He was ordered to raise a force of 10,000 to retake Detroit and then strike into Canada as far as possible. He was in the process of carrying out the order when the siege of Fort Wayne began. Local friendly chiefs and warriors including Captain Lewis, Logan, Bright Horn, Captain Johnny and The Wolf joined him as scouts and interpreters. Harrison marched the army of 2,000 he had raised to Fort Wayne to break the siege. Brigadier-General Winchester arrived just after him with a small contingent of Kentucky Militia. They arrived ahead of Muir and Tecumseh who, when they saw they faced vastly superior numbers turned around and headed back to Fort Malden. The siege was broken and the Potawatomi assault had failed.

NEXT WEEK:  The War Turns Ugly