Sustained honor: The Age of Liberty Established

  CHAPTER XIV.

  FERNANDO SEES SERVICE.

  The trump of war stirred two passions in the heart of Fernando Stevens,revenge and patriotism. One was a noble and the other a very human butignoble passion; but Fernando was only a common mortal with mortalweaknesses. When he reflected on the wrongs he had suffered; when heremembered the death of poor Boseley, slain to gratify the malice ofCaptain Snipes, and poor Sukey still the slave of the British monarch,he could not be other than revengeful.

  "Mother," he said one day, shortly after they had heard of war. "I amgoing to enter the army."

  The mother, who was plying her needle, sat for several moments insilence. She was not surprised at the declaration. For several days, shehad watched her son with the care and anxiety of a mother. She had notedthat he read the papers regularly. He pored over any news which hintedof war and was an eager listener to the latest rumor which his fatherbrought from town. The parents had talked the matter over frequently,and Captain Stevens, himself a veteran, said:

  "I can't blame him; no, I can't blame him. Poor boy, he has sufferedenough to know the wrongs done to our flag."

  "But would it be for the flag, or revenge?" said the mother.

  "Both," answered the practical father. "He is only human, wife, andhuman hearts can't endure what he endured without human resentment."

  The mother hoped it was more patriotism than revenge, for she was aChristian lady, and while war might be proper, even for Christianpeople, she thought it should be purely a conflict of principle and notof revenge.

  "Fernando," said the mother laying aside her knitting and taking off herglasses and wiping them, "do you really mean to go?"

  "Yes, mother. My country needs my services. There are thousands ofunfortunate Americans, still in bondage. I seem to hear their pitifulcries calling on their country to send brave men to their rescue."

  "I have expected this," sighed Mrs. Stevens, and tears gathered in hereyes.

  "Mother, would you have me stay?"

  It was hard for a mother to say it; but she had to do so. She waspatriotic, and she answered:

  "No."

  "Then I will go."

  "When?"

  "They are beating up for volunteers at town, and I am going there toenlist in a day or two. First I must help father drain the flat andclear off a few timber patches."

  It soon became rumored all over the neighborhood that Fernando was goingto enlist. Many friends came to see him, bid him good-by and wish himGod-speed. The day before he went away, he was chopping wood, when hesaw a large man riding a large bay mare followed by a large colt, crossthe old bridge a few hundred paces below and ascend the hill toward thehouse. The visitor was Mr. Winners. He had grown older and stouter, andthe mare was older and heavier, and this was her fourth colt since hehad come over to talk with his neighbor about sending his son to collegewith Fernando. The kind, good face of the old farmer expressed sadness,and his eye, always dull, seemed melancholy.

  He rode slowly up the hill to where Fernando was chopping wood. Fernandosaw him coming and laid down his axe, for it was quite evident that Mr.Winners wanted to speak with him. The old man, drawing rein close byFernando, said:

  "Mornin', Fernando, how's all?"

  "We are all well, Mr. Winners. How are yourself and family?"

  "Oh, we are just middlin' like."

  "Won't you alight and come into the house?"

  "No; I ain't got time, Fernando. I just came to see you, that's all.Fernando, I hear as how you're goin' t' ther war."

  "I am, Mr. Winners. I am a young man with no wife or children. Mycountry just now stands in need of young men."

  "Ya-as, it does, an' I don't come t' blame ye for it,--mind ye, I don'tblame ye fur it. I'm sometimes tempted to go myself, old as I am."

  "No, no, Mr. Winners, there is no occasion. Let the younger men do theservice."

  "I don't blame ye, for goin', Fernando; but I hope ye won't furgit onething."

  "What?"

  "My Sukey's on t'other side. Now that fightin's begun, he'll have tolight his own flag; but he won't do it with a very good grace, lem metell ye. No, he won't. Now, Fernando, I don't want to ask ye to easedown on the British a bit; but when ye come to the crowd that Sukey'swith, won't ye kind a shoot easy?"

  Fernando promised to do all he could to aid Sukey to escape, and assuredhim that, when once he was free, the cruel masters should pay for theirtyranny. The old man seemed partially satisfied, and, as he rode away,he twisted himself half way round in the saddle to say:

  "Now, Fernando, if ye meet Sukey's crowd, I want ye to remember to shooteasy."

  "I will not harm Sukey, if I can help it," Fernando answered. Nextmorning, he bade his parents farewell and, with his clothes tied up in alittle bundle, set out on his way to the town.

  A flag was streaming from a long pole, and Fernando heard the roll ofthe drum and the shrill notes of a fife. The company was more than halfmade up when he arrived. He enlisted at once and four days later thecompany was ready to march.

  As yet the armies of the United States were not organized, and for sometime Captain George Rose was at a loss what to do with his volunteers.They were riflemen, ready for any detached service to which they mightbe assigned. The militia forces raised were, of course, to serve intheir own respective States; but the volunteers were allowed to attachto any regiment they chose. For some time, it was doubtful whetherCaptain Rose would be sent West under Hull and Harrison, or to the Northto act under General Jacob Brown.

  The latter course was at last decided upon, and they hurried to thenorthern frontier of New York. But small preparations had been made forthe defence of this portion of the frontier. From Oswego to Lake St.Francis, an expansion of the St. Lawrence, General Brown's forces werescattered. The length of this territory was about two hundred miles.There was only one American war-vessel (the _Oneida_) on Lake Ontario.This was commanded by Lieutenant Melancthon Woolsey; while the British,in anticipation of difficulties, had built at Kingston, at the foot ofthe lake, a small squadron of light vessels-of-war. Brown and Woolseywere authorized to defend the frontier from invasion, but not to act onthe offensive except in certain emergencies.

  About the 20th of July, Fernando's company joined the regiment ofColonel Bellinger at Sackett's Harbor, at the eastern end of LakeOntario. Nine days later, the British squadron composed of the _RoyalGeorge_, 24 guns, _Prince Regent_, 22 guns, _Earl of Moira_, 20 guns,_Simcoe_, 12 guns, and _Seneca_, 4 guns, appeared and bore down on theAmerican forces there. Fernando was sleeping when the discovery wasmade, but was soon roused and saw soldiers hauling in the _Oneida_ so asto lay her broadside to the approaching enemy. Colonel Bellinger'smilitia were many of them raw recruits, and the approach of a fleetunnerved a few of them; but the majority were cool as veterans.

  "Take that thirty-two pound gun up on the bluff," commanded thecolonel, pointing out an old iron cannon down by the shore.

  Fernando assisted them to drag it to the rocky bluff, and the wholebattery was placed in charge of Captain Vaughn, a sailing master in thenavy. Slowly the fleet bore in, the _Royal George_, having the heaviestguns, coming ahead of the others. A wreath of smoke curled up from herforecastle, and a ball, skipping over the water, struck the sandy beach.

  Captain Rose and his company of riflemen took up their station on thehigh bluff, where, should the troops attempt to land, they might doeffective work. Fernando had been promoted to sergeant in the companyand was quite popular with both officers and men.

  For two hours, a cannonade between the _Royal George_ and the big gunson shore was kept up, with very little effect, when a 32 pound ball fromthe former came over the bluff and ploughed a furrow near where theriflemen were standing. Fernando ran and caught up the ball and, runningwith it to Captain Vaughn, said:

  "Captain Vaughn, I've been playing ball with the redcoats, and I havecaught them out."

  "That will just fit our gun," said the captain. "Hand it to the gunner."

  Fernando did s
o. The gunner said:

  "Captain, it fits better than our own balls. The shot we have beenfiring were all too small."

  "Send it back to them," said Captain Vaughn.

  The gun was trained and fired. The heavy boom rang out over the bluffsand water. The ball went through the _Royal George_ from stern to stem,sending splinters as high as her mizzen topsail yard, killing fourteenmen and wounding eighteen.

  This ended the bombardment. The squadron, alarmed, sailed out of theharbor.

  Eight merchant schooners were at Ogdensburg, being converted intoAmerican war vessels, and, immediately after being repulsed at Sackett'sHarbor, two of the British armed vessels started to Ogdensburg todestroy them. The American schooner _Julia_ was armed and, with sixtyvolunteers from the _Oneida_ and Fernando's company of riflemen in aboat, set out to overtake the British. They caught up with them amongthe Thousand Islands, on the 31st of July, fought for three hours withthe enemy, and then, in the shadows of an intensely dark night, relievedoccasionally by flashes of lightning, reached Ogdensburg in safetybefore morning.

  During the armistice which was granted shortly after this, the _Julia_and her consort and the six schooners made their way to the lake, wherethe latter were converted into vessels-of-war.

  On the 8th of November, Chauncey appeared in those waters with a fleetof seven armed war-schooners and, after a short cruise, disabled the_Royal George_ and blockaded the British harbor of Kingston. Fernando,meanwhile, was at Ogdensburg under General Brown, who had about fifteenhundred troops, including the militia. On the 1st of October, the veryday of General Brown's arrival, a large flotilla of British bateaux,escorted by a gun-boat, appeared at Prescott, on the opposite side ofthe river. This flotilla contained armed men, who, on the 4th ofOctober, attempted to cross the river and attack Ogdensburg, but wererepulsed by the Americans. Eight days later, Fernando was with MajorG.D. Young when he captured a large portion of a British detachment atSt. Regis, an Indian village on the line between the United States andCanada. Fernando was close at the side of Lieutenant William L. Marcy(afterward governor of New York), when he captured a British flag, thefirst trophy of the kind taken on land in the war.

  While lying at Ogdensburg, Fernando heard of the daring feat ofLieutenant Jesse Elliott, who, with a picked party of seamen andriflemen, had at Black Rock, under the British heavy guns, captured thewar-schooner _Caledonia_ and burned the _Detroit_. While these manystories of the bravery of Americans were thrilling the hearts ofpatriots, the cowardice of the pompous General Smythe at Buffalo causedmuch ridicule and humiliation.

  Despite all his boasts and threats to invade Canada, he remained onAmerican soil. He was finally dismissed from the service, and, in apetition to congress to reinstate him, he prayed for permission to "diefor his country." His petition excited much ridicule, and, at a publiccelebration of Washington's birthday, a wit proposed the following:

  "General Smythe's petition to congress to die for his country. May it beordered that the prayer of said petition be granted!"

  Early in January, 1813, Fernando Stevens' company, being Ohiovolunteers, was for some reason, he never knew what, transferred to thearmy of the West. General William H. Harrison had succeeded Hull incommand of this army. Historians do not accord to General Harrison thedistinction of greatness, though he was one of the successful generalsof the last war with England. It was under him that first victories weregained over the British in the Northwest. Though his name goes down toposterity connected with the battle of the Thames, Colonel Richard M.Johnson was the real hero of that conflict. Johnson's Kentucky riflemenfought and won the battle, though Harrison received the credit. Harrisonwas even more honorably remembered for his Indian wars, and, as the heroof Tippecanoe, gained a fast hold on the public heart; but Tippecanoewas only a skirmish and, viewed in the light of a battle, could hardlybe considered a great victory. The American losses were probably asgreat, if not greater than the Indians, and it was only an accident thatHarrison was not surprised. Tippecanoe was fought by the soldiers, andto their coolness and courage belonged the victory. Critically speaking,General Harrison was inferior in military genius to both Jackson andBrown. He wanted the terrible energy, the almost reckless bravery whichcharacterized these two leaders. He belonged to a different schoolaltogether. His was a policy of Fabius rather than of Marcellus, andthis not from necessity but for choice. The bent of his mind was to beprudent, economic of means, willing to listen to advice, a veryexcellent qualification for a general or a statesman.

  The dispute between Harrison and Winchester had been settled beforeCaptain Rose with his company reached the army and joined GeneralWinchester, then on his march to the Raisin, January 21, 1813. AsWinchester's volunteers were mostly Kentuckians, Fernando found manyfriends among them. Some had formerly lived in Ohio. On the sameevening, they reached Frenchtown, where they found Colonel Lewis, who,with Allen and six hundred men, had defeated and routed a force ofBritish and Indians under Major Reynolds.

  The troops were in the highest spirits, and all were anxious to press onto drive General Proctor from Malden.

  The day had been cold, and Fernando was wearied with long marchesthrough snow, ice and mud. The ground was covered with snow which hadbut a thin frozen crust over it, and the soldiers frequently brokethrough, especially in the swampy regions they crossed. Their secondlieutenant was sick; the first lieutenant, being wounded, was leftbehind, and the management of the company fell upon Captain Rose and hisorderly sergeant, Fernando Stevens.

  Captain Rose, though a brave man, loved his ease and comfort, so themost irksome duty fell upon the orderly. He saw that quarters ascomfortable as were possible were made for the men. Boards, canvas,brush and everything possible to make a shelter were provided. Thewintry sky was clear, and when night came on the stars came out one byone. The moon shone on the snow-covered earth, so soon to be crimsonedwith patriotic blood.

  Fernando Stevens and Captain Rose were quartered in an old shedbuilding, with a roaring fire in the broad fireplace. Their quarterswere quite comfortable, and, after having made all the necessaryarrangements for the company's comfort, Fernando partook of a lightsupper and, wrapping himself in a blanket, lay down on the left side ofthe broad fireplace to sleep. Corporal Mott entered and told CaptainRose, who sat smoking his pipe, that Colonels Wells and Lewis werehaving some trouble about their positions.

  "Why should they quarrel over that?" asked Captain Rose taking his pipefrom his mouth.

  "Wells, who is colonel of regulars, claims to outrank Lewis, and demandsto be posted on the right."

  "That's in an open field."

  "Yes; Lewis thinks that, in case of an attack, Wells should be posted insome gardens on the left."

  "Lewis knows more about it than Wells or Winchester either," growledCaptain Rose.

  "Yes; but Winchester decided in favor of Wells. There is also a rumorthat Proctor is on his way from Malden to attack us."

  "I hope it is so," said Captain Rose. "If he will come here and take hiswhipping like a man, it will save us going to Malden to give it to him."

  Then they wondered what General Harrison was doing and when they wouldjoin him; but Fernando left off listening to their conversation andgazed into the glowing fire before which he lay stretched onhis blanket.

  His mind was busy with his own sad life. All through the long years oftrying events, he had never forgotten Morgianna. Her sweet face hadhaunted him while a slave on the British war-ship. In the camp, or onthe battle field, she was ever near him. A thousand times he had saidto himself:

  "Oh, why can I not forget her? Morgianna is nothing to me. No doubt,long ere this she has married Lieutenant Matson and is happy. May Godbless her in her happiness, and may Heaven spare her husband."

  It never once entered his mind that she could possibly care for him. Shehad been so cool, so careless, and seemed so unconcerned on the night oftheir parting, that he thought she must be glad that he was away and hadceased to annoy her.

  Yet her face, as he
remembered it that night, lying gazing into thefire, half asleep and half awake, was lovely, and she was blameless. Tohim, she was a goddess to be worshipped, one incapable of wrong. If shehad rejected him, it was right. If she had loved the lieutenant, it wasperfectly right; yet he could not crush her image out of his heart. Itwas indelibly stamped there, and had become a part of his existence.

  The bleak northeast wind swept through the woods and howled about therude shanty, rattling the boards and causing the sentries to shiver, asthey drew their cloaks about their shoulders. Fernando felt almostcomfortable in this retreat, and the fire burned low, still giving out agenerous heat.

  Two officers from another company came to their quarters, and the lastFernando remembered was hearing them talking of the disposition of thetroops and the probability of meeting the enemy and sharing the glorywhich Lewis and Allen had won but three days before.

  Their voices were low and indistinct and finally became mingled with hisdreams of the past, forming a mass of events, sights and sounds which atfirst had no meaning. At last the scene changed. The officers ceasedtalking, the firelight disappeared, and his dreaming fancy, which hadbeen struggling with these realities, was freed to take what courseit chose.

  He was once more on the sands of Mariana. He saw the great white stonehouse on the hill and the form of Morgianna descending toward theseashore. He knew he had been gone for years, was conscious that theirparting had been unpleasant, and yet her appearance seemed to inspirehis heart with hope. The sun's golden rays fell upon the bright,fairy-like being as, with a glad smile she hastened toward him.

  "You have come at last," she said, with a happy smile. "I have waited solong, oh, so long, that I feared you would never come."

  "Morgianna!" he cried, starting forward and clasping her in his arms."Are you pleased to see me?"

  "I am happy, Fernando, oh, so happy----"

  Then he was partially awakened by some one throwing logs of wood on thefire, and he had an indistinct impression of hearing a soldier say:

  "It's four o'clock and has begun to snow a little. We'll have it cold asblazes by morning."

  As the fire roared, and the wind whistled about their miserablebarracks, he sank away into dreamland again. He had hardly beensufficiently awakened to break the thread of his dreams. His mindhowever was disturbed by the entrance of the officer, and though hewooed back the gentle dream, it had lost much of its charm andbrightness.

  He saw Morgianna no longer wreathed in sweet smiles; her face wasexpressive of distress and agony. The joy and sunlight had given placeto sorrow and gloom. What had occasioned this change?

  "Morgianna, do you not love me?"

  She bowed her head and wept.

  "What is amiss?"

  She pointed to her once beautiful home, and he discovered that it was inflames. Painted demons, whose yells seemed to make the earthquake, weredancing about the blazing, crackling building. Then wild cheers camefrom the ocean, with the boom of a cannon.

  He saw British marines, headed by Captain Snipes and Lieutenant Matson,leap from boats and rush toward them as they stood on the beach.

  "Fly! Morgianna, fly!" he cried.

  She turned to run, and Fernando, all unarmed as he was, wheeled to facethe foe. Suddenly there came a rattling crash of firearms. He sawMorgianna throw up her arms, and he sprang toward her, as she fellbleeding at his feet. He uttered a cry of horror and became conscious ofsome one shaking his shoulder.

  "Wake up, for Heaven sake, awake! we are attacked!" cried the voice ofCaptain Rose.

  On his ear, there still came a confused noise of cries, shouts, reportsof firearms and boom of artillery.

  "Sergeant Stevens, awake!"

  He sprang to his feet and seized his rifle. The roaring of the battlecould be plainly heard, and a cannon-ball came crashing through the topof their miserable shanty.

  They leaped out to find all in utter confusion. General Winchester, who,despite his faults, was no coward, was mounted on his horse rallying hismen at every point. Wells was forming on the open fields, and Lewis, ina very disadvantageous position, was making a strong fight. It wasscarcely daylight yet. The air was sharp and frosty; but the snow hadceased falling. Day was dawning; but in the deeper shadows of the woodthe night lingered in patches.

  From the forest came those streams of fire, those storms of grape-shotand the yells of savage demons. A bombshell came screaming through theair and fell into one of the shanties, exploding and scattering theloose boards in every direction.

  "Who has attacked us?" some of the officers asked Winchester.

  "Proctor from Malden," was the answer.

  It was just as day began to dawn, that Proctor, with his combined forceof British, Canadians and Indians, attacked the Americans, whileFernando was still lost in the mazes of a troubled dream. With his rightcovered with artillery, and his flanks with marksmen, Proctor advancedat first gallantly; but when he approached within musket-shot of thepickets, he was met by such a galling and incessant fire, that thecentre of his army fell back in confusion. On the left, however, he wasmore successful. Perceiving the exposed situation of the detachmentunder Wells, Proctor hastened to concentrate all his forces against it.A furious conflict ensued on this part of the field. Sharp and rapidvolleys followed in quick succession from either side, while high andclear above the terrible din of battle, rose the war-whoop of savagesand the wild cheers of the Kentuckians. That little band, unprotected asit was, could not long hold out against overwhelming numbers. The sunrose over the bleak woods, and, after a short fight of twenty minutes,Winchester ordered Wells to fall back and gain the enclosures of Lewis.

  At the first symptom of retreat, the enemy redoubled their exertions andpressed so obstinately on the Americans, that the little line was soonthrown into disorder. A panic seized the Kentuckians, who had justdefended themselves so bravely, and mistaking the command to fall back,for directions to retreat, they rushed to the river, which they crossedon the ice, and began to fly through the woods, in the direction of theMaumee Rapids. Exhilarated by victory, the British gave pursuit, thechase being led by the savages, who tasted, in anticipation, the bloodof the fugitives. In vain Winchester, riding among the men, endeavoredto rally them; in vain Colonels Lewis and Allen, hurrying from theirenclosures with a company of fifty men each, struggled to check thetorrent of defeat. Nothing would avail. Allen fell, bravely fighting inthe desperate attempt; while Winchester, with Lewis and other officerswere taken prisoners. The rout now became a massacre. The Indians, likehungry tigers, pursued the soldiers and brought them down with rifle ortomahawk. Of the whole of that chivalrous band which had left the Raisinwith Winchester two days before, all were slaughtered except forty whowere taken prisoners and twenty-eight who escaped. The troops atFrenchtown, about six hundred able-bodied men, surrendered. Sixty-fourwounded prisoners were burned in a house.

  Why dwell on the horrors of the River Raisin? They are matters ofhistory which had better be forgotten than remembered. Fernando Stevens'company did excellent work until the retreat began. Captain Rose, withhis sharpshooters, sought to cover the retreat of the Americans, butdiscovered that they were about to be flanked.

  "Sergeant, Sergeant!" cried Captain Rose, "we must fly!"

  The two officers were almost alone on the field; but, taking to theirheels, they soon outstripped three big Indians who were trying to headthem off. Fernando shot one of the savages with his pistol and, dodgingthe hatchets which the others threw at him, charged them with hisclubbed rifle and knocked one down. The other fled. Fernando did notattempt to pursue him, but flew as fast as his legs could carry him tothe river.

  He had reached the middle of the frozen stream, which was covered withghastly forms, when Captain Rose suddenly clasped his hand to his sideand uttered a groan.

  "Captain, are you hit?" he asked.

  Captain Rose made no answer, but turned partially around. His eyes wereclosed; his jaw fell, and Fernando saw he was sinking. He caught him inhis arms; but Captain Ro
se was dead before he touched the ice.

  There was no time to waste with dead friends, and Fernando fled to thewood beyond.

  For a long time, the Indians were close at his heels. Once they were sonear that he heard a tomahawk as it came fluttering through the air pasthis head. Then the sounds of pursuit grew less, and at last he foundhimself alone on a hill. Three Indians were following on his trail, andhe concealed himself behind a tree until they were within range of hisrifle, and then fired.

  One of them fell, and his companions ran away.

  Fernando continued his flight until nearly night, when he fell in withfour Kentuckians, who had escaped the massacre, and they proceeded tothe Maumee Rapids, where General Harrison was building Fort Meigs.

  Fernando was in the fort when it was besieged several weeks later byProctor and Tecumseh with fully two thousand men. General Clay coming tohis assistance on the 5th of May, Proctor retreated.

  Colonel Dudley made a sortie from Fort Meigs on the same day and wasdrawn into an ambuscade. He was mortally wounded and lost six hundredand fifty men.

  Mr. Madison, who had been re-elected president of the United States,showed a disposition to prosecute the war with great vigor. While thesuccess of the Americans on land was not very encouraging, to thesurprise of everybody, their greatest achievements were on water.England's boasted navies seemed to have become second to the Americanwar-vessels. On Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Perry, in command of aninferior fleet, had won a signal victory over Commodore Barclay after along and hotly contested battle. There has never been such a remarkablenaval victory on fresh water. Perry's famous dispatch to GeneralHarrison, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," has becomea proverb.

  Shortly after the repulse of Proctor, Fernando, who had taken a place inanother company, was sent to Fort Stephenson, then commanded by MajorGeorge Croghan, a regular army officer only twenty-one years of age.Proctor's dusky allies marched across the country to assist the Britishin the siege of the fort; and when, on the afternoon of the 31st, theBritish transports and gunboats appeared at a turn in the river a milefrom the fort, the woods were swarming with Indians.

  JAMES MADISON.]

  Within the fort, all were calm, pale, yet determined. Only one hundredand sixty men were there to oppose the hosts of Proctor and Tecumseh.Proctor sent a demand to the fort for surrender, accompanied by theusual threat of massacre by the Indians in case of refusal. To hissurprise, Major Croghan sent a defiant refusal. A cannonade from thegunboats and howitzers which the British had landed commenced.

  All night long the great guns played upon the fort without any seriouseffect, occasionally answered by the solitary six-pound cannon of thegarrison, which was rapidly shifted from one block house to another, togive the impression that the fort was armed with several guns. Duringthe night, the British dragged three six-pound cannon to a point higherthan the fort to open on it in the morning.

  It was a trying night for Fernando. All night long, the incessantthunder of cannon shook the air, and the great balls, striking the sidesof the earthworks, or bursting over their heads, presented a scene grandbut awful.

  Morning came slowly and wearily to the besieged. As the gray dawn meltedinto the rosy hues of sunrise, many a brave man within that fort lookedup for the last time, as he thought, but still with no unmanly fear,only with that sad feeling which the boldest will experience when hesees himself about to be immolated. Such a feeling, perhaps, crossed theheart of Leonidas, when he fastened on his buckler and waited for thePersian thousands. Fernando stood near Croghan, who was in front of hismen, calm in that hour of extreme peril. It soon became apparent thatthe enemy did not intend an immediate assault, for, with the battery ofsix pieces, they began a fearful cannonade.

  "Lie under the breastworks," said Croghan to his men as the balls werehurled about the fort, or bounded from the ramparts. The surface of theground in the line of fire, soon became covered with smoke, which everyfew moments was rent by a whistling ball.

  All that long forenoon Fernando Stevens remained behind the worksoccasionally picking off a gunner at long range. When the hot August sunbegan to decline in the West, the roar of artillery seemed to increaserather than diminish. At last he heard the young commander say:

  "They are concentrating on the northwest corner of the fort; that is thepoint from which the attack will be made." He called to Fernando and adozen other sharpshooters and hastened to the threatened spot. Every manwho could be spared from other quarters was put in requisition, andevery bag of sand and flour that could be found was hurriedly collectedand sent to strengthen the angle.

  "Lieutenant Stevens," said Major Croghan, "get your riflemen togetherand pick off those fellows as fast as you can. Never mind those bags ofsand. Others will attend to them."

  Fernando and his score of sharpshooters soon began dropping the redcoatsas fast as they could see them. The solitary cannon, the only hope ofthe defenders, was loaded to its fullest capacity and trained so as toenfilade the enemy. The gunner who rammed home the charge said:

  "By thunder, she's almost full to the muzzle. Shouldn't wonder if she'dbust." Each soldier took his position. A tremendous volley of cannonshots suddenly rained on the fort. It seemed as if the British had firedevery gun at the same instant. A profound silence succeeded within,which lasted for perhaps two minutes, at the end of which time the enemywas seen to advance through the smoke, in one compact column, with thesteady tread of assured victors. When Croghan gave the order to fire,such a withering volley was poured in by the garrison, that the Britishreeled and fell into disorder. Whatever others may have done in thatfire, Fernando's sharpshooters wasted no bullets. For a moment, theBritons wavered and were about to fly, when Lieutenant-Colonel Short,who led the British in assault, sprang to the front of his soldiers and,waving his sword above his head, cried:

  "Cut away the pickets, my brave boys, and show the d--d Yankees noquarter!"

  A wild, angry shout answered this appeal, and the ranks recovering theirorder, the head of the column rushed forward, and leaped down into theditch, which was soon densely crowded. This was the time for whichCroghan had waited. Another minute and the fort would have beencaptured. The over-loaded six-pounder, so trained as to rake theassailants, now bore fully on the masses of soldiery in the ditch. Thedark mask which had concealed it was suddenly jerked aside, andCroghan cried:

  "Fire!"

  The match was applied. A clap of thunder, a sheet of flame, a hissingsound of grape, shrieks and groans, and Fernando saw whole ranks moweddown, as the white smoke arose for a moment hiding the prospect fromview. When the veil of battle blew aside, he saw such a scene of horroras he had never before witnessed. At first a lane was perceptibleextending through the densest portion of the assaulting mass, markingthe path traversed by the shot; but as the distance from the gunincreased, and the grape scattered, this clearly defined line gave placeto a prospect of the wildest confusion. One third of those who hadentered the ditch lay there a shapeless, quivering mass. In manyinstances, the dead had fallen on the wounded, and as the latterstruggled to extricate themselves, the scene resembled that depicted inold paintings of the final judgment, where fiends and men wrestle inhorrible contortions. Groans, shrieks and curses more terrible than allrose from that Golgotha. Lieutenant-Colonel Short was among the slain.The few who retained life and strength, after the first second ofamazement, rushed from the post of peril, leaped wildly upon the bank,and, communicating their terror to the rest of the column, the wholetook flight and buried itself in the neighboring woods; while such ashout went up to heaven from the conquerors as had never been heard onthat wild shore before. Well might the Americans exult, for thesuccessful resistance was against ten times their own number. TheBritish loss was one hundred and fifty. That hot day, August 2, 1813, atfive o'clock in the evening, George Croghan by one cannon-shotimmortalized himself.

  Fernando Stevens had been under a terrible strain all the day and thenight before, and no sooner was the enemy gone, than he sank exha
ustedon the ground with scores of others.