University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.
THE MIDNIGHT ARMY.

On the eighth of November, all things being in readiness, it was
resolved, at a council of the leaders of the expedition, to dispatch
an express to Syracuse, with orders for the immediate embarkation
of the recruits, who were in waiting at that rendezvous. Two
schooners, chartered by the invaders, were lying at anchor in the
Oswego harbor, awaiting orders; and when the canal boats, two
days later, arrived by way of the Oswego canal, it was an easy
matter, under cover of the night, to transfer their living freight to
the larger vessels, which immediately moved out of the harbor,
and made sail in a northerly direction, filled with armed men.
With the exception of a small number of officers, however, who
were placed on board the schooners, the party at Oswego did not
embark in these vessels, but remained until the afternoon of the
next day in that village, and then when the steamboat United
States was ready to sail on a regular trip for Ogdensburg, they took
passage in her as ordinary travellers.

The sudden appearance of so many men almost at the moment
of the starting of the steamboat, excited no little surprise; but
coming from different quarters of the town, being unarmed and
deporting themselves with strict propriety, and in no respect like
an organized company, there was no excuse for denying them the
ordinary right of travellers, whatever suspicion may have been excited
in regard to them.

“They look at me very close,” said Colonel Van Shoultz
whose foreign and military air excited much attention. “I
thought that large gentleman, whom you call United States—
what?”

“Marshal,” said Harry.

“Marshal—I thought he was going to invite me to go on
shore with him. Ah! I should not like that,” added the Polander,
breathing freer at the thoughts of his narrow escape and of
the endangered loss of his military glory.

They were safe out of the harbor when this conversation took
place, and the young men continued at intervals to discuss the
prospects of the opening campaign, as, seated upon the deck
they glided down the lake, and watched the various objects of
interest which presented themselves to view.

“Do you know the number of our present force?” asked
Vrail.

“Not precisely. We count our men by hundreds as yet I
believe; but it is said that we are to receive large accessions at
Sackett's Harbor and Ogdensburgh. If we should not, however,
I doubt not our present force is sufficient for the slightly garrisoned
fort we are to attack. Our true strength lies in the disaffection
of the Canadian people towards their government, and
in the great popularity of our cause in your States. One success
you perceive, must bring many thousands to our standard from
both sides of the frontiers.”

“Of course—and success at an early period becomes consequently
of most vital importance to the cause. Doubtless our
leaders will neglect no precautions to render the contemplated
blow effectual.”

“Our arms and military stores are ample, our officers and men
are brave and enthusiastic—I see no obstacles. I have known
a European State revolutionized by a fewer men and less brave
than those engaged in this enterprise.”

“I was slow to be convinced,” said Harry, “that the quarrel
between the Canadian people and their government was such as
to justify the interference of our citizens, but I believe that when
tyranny and oppression become manifest and manifold, its victims
are legitimate objects of interest and aid for the whole human
family. Such seems to me the present case, and, unless we are
strangely deceived, the voice of the mass of our northern brethren
is calling upon us for the assistance which we are about to offer
them. It becomes, then, a sort of holy crusade, in which the
patriot and the philanthropist may engage with ardor, satisfied that
whatever may be his individual fate, the wise and good will
everywhere approve his conduct.”

This conversation was carried on under some restraint, for the
colloquists well knew that they were objects of suspicion to the
commander of the boat, who was greatly alarmed lest his involuntary
agency in transporting patriot troops should render his vessel
liable to seizure.

“Tell you what, gentlemen,” he said to Vrail and Van Shoultz,
stepping in front of them, in the midst of the dialogue, which
was conducted in a mysterious half whisper, “I don't want to
know anything of your affairs, but if you are `hunters' please keep
as quiet as possible until my boat is clear of you. I've washed
my hands of this affair from the beginning, and yet it seem as if I
were destined to be mixed in it some way, in spite of all I can do.

Vrail and Van Shoultz politely promised not to say or do anything
which could give offence.

Later in the day, the brothers were surprised to discover among
the passengers their stage-coach companion, Mr. Barak Jones,
who they supposed had remained at Oswego.

“Ah! gentlemen, I'm glad to see you,” said Jones, approaching
them with an air of boldness and enthusiasm; “the ball is rolling
now, isn't it? The blow will soon be struck—the great—the
de-cisive—the victorious blow.”

Impressed by his courageous deportment, for which quality he
had not before given him much credit, Harry replied,

“I am happy to see you so sanguine of success Mr. Jones.”

“Sanguine! oh, yes, sir—I have no fears of the result, sir—
not I. The whole country is rising, sir, and let us but once plant
our flag on the battlements of”—

“Yes, but when did you change your mind about accompanying
us to the field?”

“Oh, bless you, sir, I'm not going over,” replied Jones with
great coolness; “I am only going to Ogdensburgh, to address a
meeting to-morrow.”

“Oh—ah—yes, I see.”

“You know, the fact is, I can't be spared.”

“I suppose not..'

“But do you see those two schooners about half a mile ahead
of us? The wind has failed them, and they are dropping slowly
down with the current.”

“Can they be our vessels?” asked Harry, in a whisper.

“They ain't anything else,” replied Jones also in a low voice;
“and although you can't see more than two or three people on
board either of them, they are chock full of armed men. Col.
Smith is in command there, and I reckon I know what he is after
now.”

“What is that?”

“He means to get towed down by our innocent captain here,
who is already scared half out of his wits, lest he should be
suspected of aiding the patriots, and thus should have his boat
seized.”

Mr. Jones' calculations did not prove incorrect. As the United
States drew near, and was about to pass the schooners, the usual
signal was given from the deck of each vessel, by some one personating
the character of master, that they desired to be taken in tow.
As this was a part, and a profitable part, of the ordinary business of

the steamboat, it was complied with, without other questions than as
to the destination and freight of the weather bound vessels.

We are going to Ogdensburgh, and we are both loaded with
flour,” was the reply.

The steamer passed between them, and one being secured to
either side, she continued her course down the lake, with no material
diminution of her speed.

Jones and his companions watched their movements with great
interest.

“Do you see that little fellow with the boatman's ragged coat
on, and with a jammed hat?” said Barak; “he stands just alongside
of the helmsman, on that off schooner here?”

“Yes—a Scaramouch of a fellow.”

“That's Colonel Smith—a wide-awake fellow, as you'll see tomorrow.
He is disguised now, of course.”

“He had better stay below—he may be recognized.”

“No; he has something to say to us, you may depend. I
shouldn't wonder if he should come aboard.”

But Col. Smith manifested no such immediate design, but contented
himself with walking the deck of his vessel, apparently
much engaged in whittling a pine stick, yet losing no opportunities
of observation of the steamboat's passengers. No signs, however,
were exchanged, and no communication passed during daylight,
but as the day drew to a close, the officers came on deck,
and sauntered, as if by accident, to that side of the steamboat
nearest the disguised colonel, who, soon after dark, joined them
without difficulty. The coolness of the evening had driven most
of the passengers below, and there was no difficulty in finding a
retired spot where their conversation would be private.

Their deliberations resulted in a determination to continue their
present course down the lake and its outlet, the St. Lawrence
river, until they arrived near Ogdensburg, and then, after transferring
to the schooners all that portion of the party who were passengers

on the steamboat, to part summarily with that vessel, and
pursue quietly the small remainder of their voyage without its aid.
This plan was carried into effect. Smith returned to his vessel,
and Gen. B— caused his whispered orders to be circulated
among his party, to hold themselves in readiness to go on board
the schooners at the shortest notice.

It was not, indeed, expected to carry out this measure without
detection by the officers and crew of the United States, but they
cared not, when once their object was accomplished, how soon
their unwilling allies should discover the nature of the trick which
had been played upon them.

“It will serve them right, the shilly-shally fellows, who are afraid
to help such a cause as ours,” said Jones; “I only hope their boat
will be seized in the first port it enters, for bringing us so far on
our way.”

It was, perhaps, at his instance, that it was resolved, on approaching
the place of intended separation, to summon the men
with fife and drum, and depart with all the parade and éclat which
their straitened quarters would admit of.

Great therefore, was the consternation of Captain B., and great
the amazement of his unsuspecting passengers, when they were
awakened from the sound sleep of a later hour than midnight, by
the loud réveillé upon deck, and by the hurried tread of those who
had awaited the signal in their berths, and who now hastened to
obey the summons.

Rushing upon deck, and vainly seeking to gain an explanation of
the turmoil which surrounded him, and as vainly exerting his
authority to suppress it, the discomfited captain, whose angry
shouts were drowned by the music and by the loud tones of military
command, resigned himself to his fate, and waited with what
patience he could summon, to see the upshot of so strange an
affair.

Still unsuspecting the character of the two schooners at his

side, he became impressed with the idea that his boat had been
seized, and was about to be pressed into the service of the invaders
of Canada, (a feat which would have been by no means difficult
to perform,) but he was soon relieved from this apprehension, by
the sudden departure of the midnight army over the sides of his
vessel. Turning his eyes for the first time toward the schooners,
he discovered, by the dim starlight, that their decks were crowded
with men, who had emerged from the cabins and holds, and whose
numbers seemed scarcely to afford room for the additional forces
who were joining them.

As soon as the last of Gen. B— party had left the steamboat,
he gave orders to detach the schooners from their fastenings.

Dropping silently down the stream with no propulsion save
that of the current, the invading party found themselves at daylight
between the villages of Ogdensburgh and Prescott, the former
being a republican, and the latter a royal town, situated, vis-à-vis,
upon opposing shores of the St. Lawrence. Here it was
their misfortune to get into shoal water, and one of the vessels became
stranded, an event which, for a while, threatened the most
disastrous consequences to the expedition.