University of Virginia Library

Cato.

“Yours of the fifteenth December came
duly to hand, and has yielded me indescribable
pleasure. The unparalleled achievements of
our gallant sailors, must convince every man, not
blinded by prejudice, of the importance of a respectable
naval establishment. This is a point
to which the strength and resources of our country
can be directed with advantage—with honor—
with complete success. Congress will become
convinced of this without a very long study in
that dear school you speak of.

“O'Hara arrived here, after a journey of twenty
days. The unexpected meeting had like to have
proved as fatal to his affectionate sister, as the
report of his death proved to his poor debilitated
father. His return has dressed the whole family
in smiles, which are at times, however, a little
overclouded by his expressing a determination
to enter on board the squadron, which is to be
established on Lake Erie.

“When I wrote you last, every thing in the
Northwest was going on prosperously, and I had
no doubt but that my next would contain the pleasing
intelligence of Harrison having recovered
all that Hull lost. But my present task is a less
pleasing one, for I am to announce a disaster,
which will long be felt and mourned by our bleeding
country.

“I think I told you, in my last, that the army
was proceeding from Fort Defiance towards the
Lake; but I forgot to mention a previous circumstance
which I know will be interesting to you,
and which shall therefore be noticed in this place.
It is in some measure connected with the event I
allude to, and you will come to the melancholy
catastrophe soon enough.

“Ever since the commencement of hostilities,
our old friend Logan (whom Hull, in his official
despatch represented as an enemy) has been
very solicitous to espouse the cause of the United
States,[1] notwithstanding the flattering offers of
the British, which he had uniformly rejected and

spurned with contempt. Several other chiefs
who were wavering, and stood ready to lead
their followers to either standard, as circumstances
might invite, entertained so much respect
for the opinions and example of Logan, that they
agreed to be governed by his decision. Of this
the British were well aware, and spared no exertions
to win over to their cause a chieftain of
such acknowledged bravery and extensive influence.

“But Logan possessed too much integrity to be
seduced into a cause which his soul condemned,
or to sell the services of his faithful followers to
support injustice and unwarrantable aggression.
Many a feudal lord in Christendom has, on a like
occasion, evinced less of the Christian spirit than
this heathen. He repeatedly solicited Harrison
to accept of his services; who, after considerable
hesitation on the part of government, was
finally permitted to give him employment, and
he joined the American army, in September last,
when marching to relieve Fort Wayne, which,
you know, was then closely besieged. The army
approached that place on the evening of the
twelfth, when the invaders fled with precipitation.
Logan went forward with about seven hundred
of his men, raised an Indian yell, and pursued
the retreating tribes. The signal was answered
by them, at the distance of about one hundred
and fifty yards; but the intervention of the river,
and several other obstacles, prevented the pursuit
being attended with effect.

“Having thus raised the siege of Fort Wayne,[2]

Harrison and Winchester immediately made preparations
for marching a sufficient number of
troops down the bank of the river, to relieve the
intermediate garrisons between that place and
Detroit. Through the exertions of our worthy
and patriotic governor,[3] every necessary supply
was forwarded with the greatest despatch to the
army, and Winchester advanced with about two
thousand men down the river towards Fort Defiance,
while Harrison fixed his head-quarters at
St. Mary's, about sixty miles apart. On approaching
his place of destination, after a tedious
march of seven days, Winchester found the fort
in possession of the enemy, who were so strong
that he thought it imprudent to proceed; he
therefore sent to Harrison for reinforcements,
who immediately proceeded with general Tupper's
mounted men, to the assistance of his friend.
The British and Indians, however, did not wait
to receive him; but, as soon as they heard of his
approach, evacuated the Fort, and took the cannon
with them down the river towards the rapids.

“A considerable period of inactivity succeeded
this event. Harrison had departed to join the
right wing of the army, and to concentrate the
whole at an appointed rendezvous. Until this concentration
could be effected, any further movements
would not tend to promote the end in view.

“But during this interval, Logan was sighing
for more active employment. Such deliberate
operations were not exactly congenial to his ideas
of carrying on the war; he wished to be in the
field with the enemy in front. While thus goaded
by his own impatient ardor to act, a rumor had
reached his ears that the American officers had
expressed doubts of his boasted courage and
skill in war, as he had been so long with the army
and done nothing. “Logan either fears or
loves the enemy.” This was too much for Logan.
Stung to the soul, he immediately demanded
employment, when Winchester permitted him
to take two of his followers, and proceed down
the river bank to examine the movements of the
enemy. In executing this service they had to
pass a narrow defile in the forest, from which an
ambuscade darted so suddenly upon them that
they were instantly made prisoners.

“What must have been the feelings of Logan,
who, so far from having redeemed the reputation
which he imagined had been tarnished, was now
perhaps forever deprived of the power! The party
which had captured them consisted of five
mounted warriors, under the command of the celebrated
Wynemack. Nothing but a stratagem
could rescue the prisoners, and Logan's ready invention
quickly contrived one. He addressed himself
to Wynemack, expressing much surprise at
such hostile treatment of men who had risked so
much in coming to join them. “Since you see we
are friends, (he added) there is no time to be lost;
follows us, and an encampment of white men can
be surprised and destroyed.” The credulous
victors believed him, and permitted their three
captives to lead them on to the anticipated massacre.

Logan having communicated to his comrades
his determination to rescue himself, or perish
in the effort, they wheeled suddenly on their
enemy, and each brought his man to the ground:
Wynemack being one of the fallen. The remaining
three instantly returned the fire, (which
wounded Logan and one of his men) and then
made off. Logan exchanged the shot, notwithstanding
his wound was mortal; and springing
with his wounded companion, upon the horses of
two of those whom they had just killed, whilst his
third man protected him in his retreat, he returned
to the fort. This happened on the twenty-second
of November; on the twenty-eighth he expired,
with the firmness of a brave warrior, sincerely
regretted by the whole garrison.

“Thus has our faithful, generous friend split
his life's blood in the cause of American freedom;
being the second of the name whom the history of
our country will notice for his attachment to her
cause. His brave and enterprising son, who is
now in the field, will be the third; be forever
grateful, George, that you was made the instrument
of preserving a life which will always be devoted
to the defence of our country.

“Some time after the foregoing event, the left
wing of the army, under Winchester, marched
from Fort Defiance down to the rapids, in conformity
to the order of Harrison, who had removed
his head-quarters to Upper Sandusky. In the
mean time, from the movements of the enemy, the
inhabitants of Frenchtown, on the river Raisin,
became so seriously alarmed, that they solicited
Winchester to march immediately to their protection,
although the troops at that time under his
command were far inferior in numbers to the collected

force of the British and Indians by whom
the village was menaced. In compliance with
this earnest solicitation, but without the authority
or knowledge of the commander in chief, Winchester
determined upon marching, with his small
force, (then reduced to eight hundred men, by
the discharge of those regiments whose term of
service had expired) to prevent, if possible, the
destruction of the village, and the massacre of
the inhabitants. “Very wrong as a soldier, but
very right as a man.”

“Colonel Lewis marched first, with his detachment,
which was to be joined on the way by that
of lieutenant-colonel Allen, and followed by the
main body under Winchester himself. On approaching
Frenchtown, Lewis was informed that
about five hundred of the enemy were already encamped
in the village; and, without hesitation,
determined to attack them. The charge was impetuous
and successful; he carried the picketing
of their right wing with ease, dislodged both British
and Indians, and drove them into the woods.
Allen, with his detachment, made a simultaneous
attack on the left, with the same success. Twice
did the enemy rally, and renew the contest with
desperation, and thrice were they compelled to
retreat in disorder, and were finally entirely dispersed.
In this conflict much blood was spilt on
both sides.

“Lewis encamped on the same ground which
had been occupied by the enemy, and was, in two
days after, joined by Winchester with the remainder
of his troops, now amounting in all to
about seven hundred and fifty effective men. Six
hundred were posted in pickets, and the rest encamped
in an open field.

“On the morning of the twenty-second instant,
at revellee, Proctor and Tecumseh, at the head of
above two thousand men, attacked the encampment
so suddenly that many of the Americans
were literally cut to pieces. They were soon
formed, however, and after repelling the assailants
for some time with unparalleled coolness
and intrepidity, the combatants closed in a promiscuous
fray. The contest was now long, obstinate,
and sanguinary; but more like a massacre
than a regular battle. Winchester's quarters
were several hundred yards from the encampment,
to which he had scarcely arrived when he
was taken prisoner. Seeing his brave countrymen
desperately contending with such superior
force, and covering the field with their slain, Winchester
sent a flag to the field and advised a surrender,
which advice was complied with. The
loss of the Americans was two hundred and ninety-seven
men killed and missing, twenty-two of whom
were officers. Only twenty-five were wounded,
which shows the desperate valor with which the
contest was maintained—“every wound was a
death,” with this trifling exception. The loss of
the enemy was not less, but could not be ascertained,
as they resorted to their usual means of
preventing a discovery, by removing the bodies,
&c.

“But the most horrid part of my story is yet
to be told. The express conditions of the surrender
were—that the Americans should be protected
from the fury of the savages; that private
property should be respected, and that the sidearms
of the officers should be returned. Not one
of these conditions was complied with. No sooner
had the Americans relinquished their arms,

than they were robbed of every thing, under uplifted
tomahawks and scalping-knives, and stripped
even of their personal apparel. Every prisoner
whose wounds rendered him unable to
march to Malden, was murdered and scalped on
the spot, and all who gave out on the way, shared
the same bloody fate. Many of the houses in
Frenchtown were wantonly burnt, and several defenceless
inhabitants, who had not been in the engagement,
inhumanly butchered without provocation.
To be sure, all these atrocities were
committed by Indians—but their white allies did
not raise a finger to prevent them. The blood
rests on British heads.

“The barbarities of the enemy, (both white
and red) are shocking beyond conception; and,
as judge Woodward told Proctor, will one day
“meet the steady and impartial eye of history.”
Dr. M`Keehan, surgeon's mate to the second regiment
of our Ohio militia, was sent to Malden under
the protection of a flag, to attend to the sick and
wounded prisoners. But regardless of the sanctity
of his flag, he was fired upon by the enemy,
near the rapids, his companion killed, himself
wounded, and he is now in close confinement as a
spy!

“General Armstrong, I understand, has been
appointed secretary of war, in the room of Eustis,
who has resigned. Write often, and believe
me to be, as ever, your affectionate father,