332

PLUNDERING OF ALEXANDRIA.

lested. As there was no civil or military authority on the spot, competent to enter into such an arrangement as this, he proceeded to burn the Capitol, the president's house, the offices of the several departments, and a considerable number of private dwellings. The navy yard with its contents, one frigate on the stocks, and several smaller vessels were also destroyed. The libraries and public archives, together with all the works of art contained in the public buildings were included in the general conflagration.

No parallel for this act of Vandalism can be found in the annals of modern warfare. It was felt with the deepest resentment by the American people, and denounced in the severest terms even in the British parliament. The disgrace of having their capital taken by an enemy, was suffered by the Americans in common with every other civilised nation; but the lasting stigma of burning national archives and senate chambers remains with the British alone.

Having accomplished their object, the enemy on the 25th made a precipitate retreat, and on the 30th embarked at Benedict.

The squadron, under Commodore Gordon, which had advanced up the river Potomac, arrived at Alexandria on the 29th; and the commander having granted terms of capitulation to the citizens, by which the shipping, naval stores and merchandise were delivered up, received the surrender of the place. A scene of indiscriminate plunder then ensued. The vessels in the harbour were taken, and loaded with the large stores of flour, tobacco, cotton, wines and sugars, of which Alexandria was the depot, and the whole was carried off with the squadron, on their return down the river. The public and private buildings of the town were mercifully spared. The success of General Ross at Washington induced him to undertake the capture of Baltimore. He boasted that he would make that city his winter quarters, and with the force which he commanded he could march where he pleased in Maryland.

The Americans were not unprepared for an attack in this quarter. A force of militia from Maryland and the neighbouring states, together with the regular troops who had recently been engaged at Washington, amounting in all to 15,000 men, had been assembled for the defence of the city. The command of these troops was given to General Smith, of the Maryland militia, assisted by General Winder.

THE BRITISH FOILED AT BALTIMORE.

333

On the 11th of September, a British squadron of fifty sail, with 6,000 men, entered the mouth of the Patapsco, and on the morning of the 12th commenced landing at North Point, fourteen miles below the city. General Stricker was detached with 3,500 militia to oppose their advance. General Ross, having preceded the main body of his army with a small reconnoitering party, was shot through the breast by a rifleman, fell into the arms of his aide-de-camp, and died in a few minutes. The command devolved on Colonel Brooke, who led on the attack, which was commenced by a discharge of rockets from the British, and was succeeded by grape, canister and small arms on both sides. After maintaining his position for an hour and a half against a great superiority of numbers, General Stricker was at length obliged to retire to Worthington Mills, half a mile in advance of the main body.

On

On the night of the 12th, the British bivouacked in advance of the battle ground, and on the 13th commenced their march towards the city. When within two miles of the American lines they halted to await the result of the attack on Fort M'Henry. This fortress defends the narrow passage from the Patapsco into Baltimore harbour, two miles below the city, and its command had been intrusted to Major Armistead, with 1,000 men. Fort Covington, on the right of Fort M'Henry, was commanded by Lieutenant Newcomb. the 12th, a British squadron of sixteen ships drew up in line of battle within two miles and a half of the forts, and at sunrise on the 13th, commenced an attack on them with bombs and rockets. Twelve hundred men were detached to storm the works on the succeeding night, and the battle raged with great fury till the morning of the 14th, when the assailants being completely foiled, were compelled to retire, and the squadron sailed down the river. Their example was speedily followed by the army, who had so sanguinely anticipated the capture and plunder of Baltimore. The whole fleet soon after left Chesapeake Bay for the south.

While the central parts of the American seaboard were suffering these attacks from the British, the towns on the coast of New England were not spared. On the 7th of April a detachment from the blockading squadron in Long Island Sound ascended the Connecticut river to Pettipaug Point, and burned twenty-two vessels which had been moored there as a place of safety. The village was set on fire in several places, but the flames were extinguished by the inhabitants.

334

CONNECTICUT AND MAINE INVADED.

On the 9th of August, another detachment from the same squadron appeared off Stonington Point, and commenced a bombardment of the village. The militia of the neighbourhood, having assembled in considerable numbers with artillery, made so gallant a defence, that the British were compelled on the 11th to give up the contest and retire.

The extensive seaboard of the district of Maine, by its defenceless state and its vicinity to the British provinces, offered an easy conquest to the enemy. On the 11th of July a squadron under Commodore Hardy, with 1,200 troops, took possession of Eastport, on Moose Island, erected fortifications, and required the people to take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic majesty, or quit the island. Having accomplished this object, the commodore returned to his station off New London.

On the 1st of September, an expedition under Sir John Sherbrooke, governor of Nova Scotia, and Admiral Griffith, with forty sail and several thousand troops, entered the Penobscot river and took possession of Castine. They next sent a detachment of 600 men to Belfast, and having received the surrender of that place, proceeded thirty-five miles up the river to Hampden, to which place the American frigate Adams had retired on their approach. The militia had assembled in considerable numbers, but fled on the approach of the enemy. Captain Morris was therefore compelled to blow up this ship, destroy his stores, and retire with his crew to Portsmouth. The British commanders having taken possession of the principal towns on the coast, published their proclamation at Castine, declaring the conquest of all the country east of the Penobscot to Passammaquoddy Bay, and requiring the submission of the people to the British government. The territory thus occupied comprehends forty-two flourishing townsnearly one-half of the district of Maine.

The ravages of the British extended to the coast of Massachusetts. The people of Cape Cod were reduced to great distress, being prohibited from fishing on the banks; the inhabitants of Nantucket were compelled to promise neutrality during the remainder of the war; and the other islands on the seaboard being entirely unprotected, were under the necessity of submitting to such terms as the British naval commanders chose to dictate.

The opposition to the measures of government in New England became more decided than ever at this period of the

HARTFORD CONVENTION.

335

war. In Massachusetts it was even proposed to withhold the revenue of the state from the national treasury, and apply it to the purpose of local defence. A convention of delegates was assembled at Hartford for the purpose of taking into consideration the measures which might be deemed necessary for self-defence, and the redress of their alleged grievances. To compose this assembly, members were appointed by the legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; and two from New Hampshire, and one from Vermont, received their appointment from county meetings. The session commenced December 15th, 1814, and lasted three weeks, their deliberations being conducted with closed doors. On adjourning, the convention put forth an address, charging the general government with pursuing a system of measures unfriendly to the interests of New England, and recommending amendments to the federal constitution. A committee was despatched to Washington to confer with the national government, on the subject of applying the revenue of New England to its defence; but the arrival of the news of peace arrested all further proceedings.

The Spanish authorities at Pensacola, who had encouraged the Indians in their hostilities since the commencement of the war, now afforded the same encouragement to the British. On the 25th of August three British ships of war arrived there, and landed military stores and provisions, and 300 troops, which were conducted to the Spanish fort. Colonel Nicholls, the commander, then published an address to the native inhabitants of Louisiana, calling on them to unite with the British in expelling the Americans from the south. This address, however, had very little effect. The enemy's army at Pensacola was supplied with provisions from New Orleans by a direct commerce. General Jackson, who had the command of the military district including Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Mississippi territory, immediately arrested the intercourse between Pensacola and New Orleans, and prohibited all commerce between the two places.

On the island of the Barrataria near the mouth of the Mississippi, a horde of pirates had established themselves, and were committing depredations on the commerce of all nations. As their force was considerable, the British commander at Pensacola endeavoured to engage them in the service of the British, but his offers were declined. The Americans took a more summary course with the pirates. Commodore Patter

336

THE BRITISH EXPELLED FROM FLORIDA.

son, commandant of the American squadron at New Orleans, attacked them with gun-boats, and other small craft on the 16th of September, and compelling them to seek safety in flight, captured their whole fleet of cruisers and prizes, and conducted them safely to New Orleans.

On the 15th of September, the British sent an expedition from Pensacola against Fort Boyer on Mobile Point at the entrance of the bay; which was defeated with the loss of a ship of war, and a considerable number of killed and wounded. The whole armament then returned to Pensacola.

The establishment of the British at this post was so injurious to the United States, that General Jackson determined on his own responsibility to dislodge them. Accordingly, on the 6th of November, he appeared before Pensacola with three regiments of regular infantry and a large body of militia, and sent a flag to the governor, which was fired upon and compelled to return. General Jackson then attacked the fort and carried it after a smart action, and compelled the British to retreat to their shipping; their escape being effected only by the blowing up of Barancas, a valuable fortress belonging to the Spaniards.

The British had for some time been preparing for an expedition against New Orleans. The fleet lately employed in the Chesapeake, and the whole British force which could be spared from the Atlantic coast, had been assembled at Jamaica and at Bermuda, to prepare for this grand attempt. Large reinforcements had been ordered from England, under General Pakenham, furnished not only with the means of war, but with printing presses, and custom-house and civil officers, and everything incident to a permanent establishment. Indeed, so certain were the enemy of accomplishing their object, that there were merchants on board the fleet who went out for the purpose of buying the cotton which was to compose a part of the coveted plunder.

On the 20th of November, this formidable armament, consisting of sixty vessels with 8,000 troops, sailed from the West Indies, and on the 18th of November arrived at the entrance of Lake Borgne. On the 2nd of December, General Jackson with the regular troops from the Mobile and Mississippi territory, arrived at New Orleans, and immediately commenced a system of efficient measures for its defence. The militia of Louisiana and Mississippi were ordered out en masse, and large detachments from Tennessee and Kentucky.