THE ROBERT LUCAS JOURNAL

INTRODUCTION

The War of 1812, beneficial as it was in its results to the United States, does not present, when studied in detail, a consistent progress toward victory. It was begun with seemingly no thought for preparation and concluded with apparently little heed to the causes which brought it about. It was not well managed by the administration at Washington, and among the generals in the field there was much blundering incompetence. Individual bravery and patriotism brought glory in the naval warfare; but on the land, with a few exceptions, the campaigns were distinctly unfortunate. Particularly discouraging was the opening campaign under the command of General William Hull, Governor of the Territory of Michigan.

The purpose of the Hull campaign was to march to Detroit and from that place cross the river and commence a conquest of Canada. General Hull with an army consisting largely of Ohio volunteers made his way, in May and June, through the swamps and wilderness of Ohio and camped a few miles below the town of Detroit. On July 12, urged by his impatient officers, he crossed the river and began his conquest by issuing a proclamation to the inhabitants of Canada. The following weeks, however, brought little but inaction and vacillation, and early in August he withdrew his force under cover of the night across the river to Amer

ican soil. On Sunday morning, the sixteenth of August, 1812, without having engaged the enemy in a single concerted action, he surrendered Detroit to the British.

Although the officials at Washington were very culpable in the management of the movements in the West, the Administration succeeded in extricating itself from the blame, and General Hull received the outpouring of wrath from the entire country for the failure of the campaign. His disappointed army was particularly bitter and even accused him of a treacherous betrayal. A court-martial tried his case, convicted him of cowardice, and sentenced him to be shot. President Madison, however, spared his life. General Hull spent the remainder of his years in retirement, and died, an old man, still insisting upon the rightness of his course and vainly attempting to justify himself before the nation.

During the disastrous Hull campaign Robert Lucas, of Scioto County, Ohio (afterwards Governor of the State of Ohio and still later the organic Governor of the Territory of Iowa), was in constant service and in a position which brought him in contact with every phase of the campaign. He kept a daily journal of the events, which is distinctly valuable in that it gives a contemporaneous view of the campaign from the standpoint of an actual participant. For over ninety years this interesting Journal, which is here published for the first time, has been carefully preserved by the descendants of Robert Lucas. It is recorded in a note book of about eight by four and one-half inches in dimensions, opening at the end, with board covers and leather back and The covers are broken and the pages are yellow

corners.

with age; but despite its almost one hundred years, the writing is as legible as ever and tells a story of exceeding interest to the student of American history.

Robert Lucas, the author of the Journal, had come to Ohio near the beginning of the nineteenth century and settled in what is now Scioto County.

In 1804 he was commissioned Lieutenant in a company of volunteers recruited in apprehension of the refusal of Spain to peacefully surrender possession of the Louisiana Territory, then recently purchased of Napoleon by the United States. Again in 1807 he was chosen Captain of a volunteer company which tendered its services to President Jefferson during the excitement following the attack upon the Chesapeake by the British ship Leopard. Actual service was, however, not required of either of these companies.

In the Ohio Militia Lucas had risen by successive promotions until at the opening of the War of 1812 he was Brigadier General of the 2d Brigade of the 2d Division. He had been for some time desirous of becoming a regular army officer; and being finally tendered an appointment he accepted in April of 1812 a commission as Captain in the regular army of the United States. A few days later he received orders from Major General Duncan McArthur (at that time in command of the 2d Division of the Ohio Militia) to transmit at once from his brigade its proportion of the twelve hundred men required of the State for the coming campaign against the British. These orders placed Robert Lucas in a rather peculiar position. But having received no orders as a regular army officer he concluded after some

deliberation that the urgency of the call for volunteers necessitated his attending to his duties as a Brigadier General in the Ohio Militia. Without delay he set about recruiting volunteer companies from his brigade.

The need for volunteers was urgent, and Lucas threw himself into the enlistment with all his enthusiasm. Instead of waiting for a position as officer, which he could undoubtedly have had after the organization of his own troops into volunteer companies, he enlisted from the first as a private in one of the companies which chose his brother John Lucas as Captain. His purpose seems to have been to encourage enlistments among the men of his brigade. His name remained upon the company roll throughout the campaign, but he seems to have preferred the independent duties of a scout, guide, express, and ranger, as the Journal clearly shows. Thus Robert Lucas was at one and the same time a Captain in the United States Army, a Brigadier General in the Ohio Militia, and a private in a volunteer company.

The volunteer companies started on their march to the rendezvous at Dayton, Ohio, on April 27, 1812; and from this point The Robert Lucas Journal tells its own story.

Beginning with the twenty-fifth day of April, 1812, the Journal records the details of the campaign until August 16, when Detroit was surrendered. Then it tells of the return of the disheartened Ohio volunteers across Lake Erie and the State of Ohio and down the river to Portsmouth. It ends on September 4, 1812, with the arrival of Robert Lucas at his home in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio. One hundred and forty-one pages are devoted to this daily chronicle. Following these are twenty-eight pages upon