France two weeks after the declaration of war, and on the 13th of October again put to sea. On the 16th, he experienced a heavy gale, in which the Wasp lost her jib-boom and two men. On the evening of the following day, the Wasp found herself near five strange sail, and as two of them appeared to be ships of war, it was thought proper to keep at a distance.

At day-light on Sunday morning, they were discovered to be six merchant ships, from Honduras to England, under strong convoy of a brig and two ships, armed with six teen guns each. The brig, which proved to be the Frolic, Capt. Winyates, dropped behind, while the others made sail. The Wasp, being prepared for action, at 32 minutes past 11 o'clock, came down to the windward in handsome style, when the action was begun by the enemy's cannon and musketry. This was returned, and approaching still nearer the enemy, brought her to close action. In five minutes the main-topmast of the Wasp was shot away, and falling down with the main-topsail yard across the larboard fore and fore-topsail, rendered her head yards unmanagea ble during the rest of the action. In two minutes more her gaft and mizzen top-gallantmasts were shot away. The sea being exceedingly rough, the muzzles of the Wasp's guns were sometimes under water.

The English fired as their vessel rose, so that their shot was either thrown away, or touched the rigging of the Americans; the Wasp, on the contrary, fired as she sunk, and every time struck the hull of her antagonist.— The Wasp now shot ahead, raked her, and then resumed her position. The Frolic's fire had evidently slackened, and the Wasp gradually neared her, until, the last broadside, they touched her side with their rammers. It was determined to lay her by the board. The jib-boom of the Frolic came in between the main and mizzen-mast rigging of the Wasp, and, after giving a raking fire, which swept the whole deck, they resolved to board.

Lieutenant Biddle sprang on the rigging of the enemy's bowsprit, where he was at first somewhat entangled, and Midshipman Barker, in his impatience to be on board, caught hold of Biddle's coat, and fell back on the deck, but in a moment sprang up and leaped on the bowsprit,

His sur

where he found one Lang, and another seaman. prise can scarcely be imagined, when he found no person on deck except three officers, and the seaman at the wheel. The deck was slippery with blood, and presented a scene of havoc and ruin, such as has been seldom witnessed. As he advanced the officers threw down their swords in submission. The colours were still flying, there being no seamen left to pull them down. Lieutenant Biddle leaped into the rigging, and hauled them down with his own hands.

Thus, in forty-three minutes, complete possession was taken of the Frolic, after one of the most bloody conflicts any where recorded in naval history. The condition of this unfortunate vessel was inexpressibly shocking. The birth deck was crowded with the dead, the dying, and the wounded; and the masts, which soon after fell, covering the dead, and every thing on deck, leaving her a most melancholy wreck. Captain Jones sent on board his surgeon, and humanely exerted himself in their relief, to the utmost of his power. The loss on board the Frolic was thirty killed, and fifty wounded; on board the Wasp, five killed, and five slightly wounded. This was certainly the most decisive action fought during the war. The Wasp and Frolic were both captured that very day by a British. seventy-four, the Poictiers, Captain Beresford.

On the 4th of March, 1813, Mr. Madison entered upon the second term of his office, Mr. George Clinton was elected vice-president, but soon after died, and was succeeded by Elbridge Gerry.

So great was the desire of the citizens of the western country to regain possession of the territory of Michigan, that, in order to effect it, General Harrison resolved to undertake a winter campaign. General Winchester, with a portion of the western army, proceeded in advance to Frenchtown, a village on the River Raisin, not far from Detroit. A British party, stationed in the village, was attacked, routed, and entirely dispersed.

The Americans encamped near the field of battle, a part of them being protected by close garden pickets. Although near an enemy's post, but little precaution was taken to prevent a surprise. Early in the morning of the

The

22d of January, they were attacked by a large force of British and Indians, the former commanded by Colonel Proctor, the latter by the Chiefs Roundhead and Splitlog. The troops in the open field were thrown into disorder. General Winchester, and other officers, made an ineffectual attempt to rally them. They fled, but, while attempting to escape, were mostly killed by the Indians. eneral, and Colonel Lewis, were made prisoners. The troops behind the pickets maintained the contest with undaunted bravery. At length Colonel Proctor assured General Winchester, that if the remainder of the Americans would immediately surrender, they should be protected from massacre; but otherwise he would set fire to the village, and would not be responsible for the conduct of the savages. Intimidated by this threat, General Winchester sent an order to the troops to surrender, which they obeyed.

Colonel Proctor, leaving the wounded without a guard, marched back immediately to Malden. The Indians accompanied them a few miles, but returned early the next morning. Deeds of horror followed. The wounded officers were dragged from the houses, killed and scalped in the streets. The buildings were set on fire. Some who attempted to escape, were forced back into the flames. Others were put to death by the tomahawk, and left shockingly mangled in the highway. The infamy of this butchery should not fall upon the perpetrators alone. It must rest equally upon those who instigated them to hostility, by whose side they fought, who were able and were bound by a solemn engagement to restrain them.

The battle and massacre at Frenchtown, clothed Kentucky and Ohio in mourning. Other volunteers, indignant at the treachery and cruelty of their foes, hastened to the aid of Harrison. He marched to the rapids of the Miami, where he erected a fort, which he called Fort Meigs, in honour of the governor of Ohio. On the first of May, it was invested by a large number of Indians, and by a party of British troops from Malden, the whole commanded by Colonel Proctor.

Five days afterwards, General Clay, at the head of 1200 Kentuckians, made an attempt to raise the siege. Divi

ding his force into several parties, and making an impetuous onset, he drove the besiegers from their works. His troops, supposing the victory complete, and disregarding the orders of their commander, dispersed into the woods. The enemy, returning from their flight, obtained an easy victory.

Of the Americans, two or three hundred escaped into the fort; about three hundred were killed or made prisoners; the remainder fled to the nearest settlements. The enemy sustained considerable loss. The fort continued to be defended with bravery and skill. The Indians, unaccustomed to sieges, became weary and discontented. On the 8th of May, notwithstanding the entreaties of their chief, Tecumseh, they deserted their allies. On the 9th, the enemy, despairing of success, made a precipitate retreat. General Harrison, leaving General Clay in command, returned to Ohio for reinforcements; but in this quarter active operations were not resumed, until a squadron had been built and prepared for action on Lake Erie.

At Sackett's Harbour, on the northern frontier, a body of troops had been assembled, under the command of General Dearborn, and great exertions were made, by Commodore Chauncey, to build and equip a squadron, on Lake Ontario, sufficiently powerful to contend with that of the enemy. By the 25th of April, the naval preparations were so far completed, that the general, and 1700 troops, were conveyed across the lake to the attack of York, the capital of Upper Canada.

On the 27th, an advanced party, led by Brigadier-General Pike, who was born in a camp, and bred a soldier from his birth, landed, although opposed at the water's edge by a superior force. After a short but severe conflict, the enemy were driven to their fortifications. The rest of the troops having landed, the whole party pressed forward, carried the first battery by assault, and were moving towards the main works, when the enemy's magazine blew up, with a tremendous explosion, hurling upon the advancing troops immense quantities of stone and timber.

Numbers were killed; the gallant Pike received a mortal wound; the troops halted for a moment, but recover

ing from the shock, again pressed forward, and soon gained possession of the town. Of the British troops, one hundred were killed, nearly three hundred were wounded, and the same number made prisoners. Of the Americans, three hundred and twenty were killed and wounded, and nearly all of them by the explosion of the magazine. The flag which waved over the fort, was carried to the dying Pike; at his desire it was placed under his head, when, with the smile of triumph on his lips, he expired.

The object of the expedition attained, the squadron and troops returned to Sackett's Harbour, whence the wounded and prisoners being landed, and other troops taken on board, it sailed to Fort George, at the head of the lake. After a warm engagement, the enemy abandoned, and the Americans entered the fort. The fugitives retired to the heights at the head of Burlington Bay. On their retreat, they were joined by a detachment from Fort Erie and Chippeway. Two brigades, under Generals Chandler and Winder, were despatched in pursuit. On the evening of the 5th of June, they encamped at Stoney Creek, in the vicinity of the enemy, who, considering their situation desperate, turned upon their pursuers, and attacked them in the night.

The Americans received them with coolness; but such was the darkness, that General Chandler, intending to place himself at the head of his artillery, threw himself into the midst of a British party. A few minutes afterwards, the same mistake was committed by General Winder. Satisfied with the capture of these officers, and a few other prisoners, the enemy made a precipitate retreat. The American troops returned to Fort George. The misfortune was soon followed by another. LieutenantColonel Boerstler, having been sent, with five hundred men, to disperse a body of the enemy collected at the Beaver Dams, was surrounded, and the whole detachment made prisoners..

While the greater part of the American army was thus employed in Canada, the British made an attack upon the important post of Sackett's Harbour. On the 27th of May, their squadron appeared before the town. Alarm