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dible it may appear, before they could fire a 1813, single great gun on board the Detroit, the men were Sept. obliged to discharge a pistol at the touch-hole! By Strong adding 80 Canadians, and 240 soldiers from the instance Newfoundland and 41st regiments, to the 50 british of bad seamen, the crew of commodore Barclay's squadron state of is made to amount to 345; whereas commodore ment of Perry had picked crews to all his vessels, parti- british cularly on board the Lawrence and her sister-brig, and his total of men amounted to at least 580.

equip

vessels.

squa

gain a

On the 10th, soon after daylight, commodore Bar- The clay discovered the american squadron at anchor in two Put-in bay, and immediately bore up, with the wind drons from the south-west, to bring the enemyto action. Com- mutual modore Perry immediately got under way to meet sight. the British; who, at 10 A. M., by a sudden shift of wind to south-east, were thrown to-leeward of their opponents. Commodore Barclay, who carried his broad pendant on board the Detroit, so stationed his vessels, that those which were the nearest to an equality of force in the two squadrons might be opposed together. The schooner Chippeway, commanded Capt. by master's mate J. Campbell, was in the van. BarThen came, in succession, the Detroit and Queen- clay's Charlotte, the latter commanded by captain Robert of Finnis, brig Hunter, lieutenant George Bignell, battle. schooner Lady-Prevost, lieutenant Edward Buchan; and the sloop Little-Belt, by whom commanded we are not aware, brought up the rear.

order

dore

At about 11 h. 45 m. A. M. the action began; and the Detroit became closely engaged with the Law-Comrence, commodore Perry's brig, supported by the moschooners Ariel and Scorpion. Although the matches Perry and tubes of the Detroit were so defective, that dons pistols were obliged to be fired at the guns to set them the off, the seamen, Canadians, and soldiers plied their Lawguns so well that, in the course of two hours, they and she knocked the Lawrence almost to pieces, and, after surrendriving commodore Perry out of her, compelled her Detroit

rence

ders to

1813. to surrender; but, having sailed with only one boat, Sept. and that being cut to pieces, the Detroit could not but re- take possession of the american brig, and the latter, hoists as soon as she had dropped out of gun-shot, rehoisted lours. her colours.

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Queen

lotte

surren.ders.

In the mean time the Queen-Charlotte, with her Char- 24-pounder carronades, had been opposed by the Niagara, supported, as the Lawrence had been, by two schooners with heavy long guns. In a few minutes captain Finnis was killed; and his successor in the command, lieutenant John Stokes, was struck senseless by a splinter. The next officer, provincial lieutenant Irvine, was without any experience, and therefore comparatively useless. The Queen-Charlotte soon afterwards struck her colours. From having kept out of the range of the Charlotte's carronades, the Niagara was a fresh vessel, and to her captain Perry proceeded. As soon as he got on board, the american commodore, accompanied by some of his schooners, bore down, and took a raking position Niaga athwart the bows of the already disabled Detroit. In schoo- a short time lieutenant John Garland, first of the Detroit was mortally, and captain Barclay himself Detroit most severely, wounded. The command then deand volved upon lieutenant George Inglis; who fought his her ship in the most determined manner, until, out of and re- the 10 experienced british seamen on board, eight der of were killed or wounded, and every hope of success flotilla or of escape had fled: he then ordered the colours to sur- of the Detroit to be struck. The Hunter and Lady-Prevost surrendered about the same time; as did the Chippeway and Trippe, as soon as some of the american vessels overtook them on their retreat.

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british

render.

Loss on

each side.

The loss on the british side amounted to three officers and 38 men killed, and nine officers and 85 men wounded. The officers killed were, lieutenant S. J. Garden, of the Newfoundland regiment, and John Garland, the first lieutenant, on

Sept.

board the Detroit; and the captain of the Queen- 1813. Charlotte. The officers wounded were captain Barclay most dangerously in his left or remaining arm, Mr. John M. Hoffmeister, purser of the Detroit, lieutenant John Stokes, and midshipman James Foster, of the Queen-Charlotte, lieutenants Edward Buchan and Francis Roulette, and master's mate Henry Gateshill, of the Lady-Prevost, and master's mate, J. Campbell, commanding the Chippeway. The loss on the american side, as taken from captain Perry's letter, amounted to 27 killed and 96 wounded, including 22 killed and 61 wounded on board the Lawrence.

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Perry's

Law

The fact of this brig having surrendered is Comadmitted by captain Perry himself, in the following dore words: "It was with unspeakable pain, that I saw, Perr soon after I got on board the Niagara, the flag of sion the Lawrence come down, although I was perfectly that sensible that she had been defended to the last, and rence that to have continued to make a show of resistance, struck. would have been a wanton sacrifice of her brave crew. But the enemy was not able to take possession of her, and circumstances soon permitted her flag again to be hoisted." The chief fault to be found with captain Perry's letter is, that it does not contain the slightest allusion to the bravery of captain Barclay, or the inferiority of his means of resistance.

Bren

count.

As the Americans are by this time pretty well Capt. ashamed of all the bombastic nonsense circulated ton's by the press of the United States, day after day acduring many months of the war, on the subject of captain Perry's "nelsonic" victory, we shall not rake the trash up again; but we fear that the professional, and therefore presumably correct, dictum of a contemporary, that, "in number and weight of guns, the two squadrons were nearly equal,”* will make the Americans imagine, that they

* Brenton, vol. v. p. 132.

1813. really had some ground for their extravagant Sept. boasting. However, on referring again to our contemporary's account, we feel satisfied that little harm will arise; for, should the evident partiality that is shown to sir George Prevost miss being seen, the statement, that both the Detroit and QueenCharlotte struck to the United States' ship St.-Lawrence, commodore Parry," will satisfy the american reader, that captain Brenton knew very little about the action he was attempting to describe.

Courtmartial

On the 16th of September, 1814, captain Barclay, oncapt. and his surviving officers and men, were tried by a Bar- court-martial on board the Gladiator at Portsmouth,

clay. for the loss of the late Erie flotilla, and the following was the sentence pronounced: "That the capture of his majesty's late squadron was caused by the very defective means captain Barclay possessed to equip them on Lake Erie; the want of a sufficient number of able seamen, whom he had repeatedly and earnestly requested of sir James Yeo to be sent to him; the very great superiority of the enemy to the british squadron; and the unfortunate early fall of the superior officers in the action. That it appeared, that the greatest exertions had been made by captain Barclay, in equipping and getting into order the vessels under his command that he was fully justified, under the existing circumstances, in bringing the enemy to action; that the judgment and gallantry of captain Barclay in taking his squadron into action, and during the contest, were highly conspicuous, and entitled him to the highest praise; and that the whole of the other officers and men of his majesty's late squadron conducted themselves in the most gallant manner; and did adjudge the said captain Robert Heriot Barclay, his surviving officers and men, to be most fully and honourably acquitted." Rear-admiral Edward James Foote, president.

Notwithstanding this flattering testimonial, notwithstanding the severity of his wounds, wounds

;

by one of which his right arm had been entirely 1813;

lost, many years before the Lake Erie defeat, and Neg

ment

two others, received in that action, his remaining lected arm had been rendered permanently motionless, or treatnearly so, and a part of his thigh cut away, captain of Barclay was not confirmed as a commander until capt. the 19th of November, 1813; and he is not, even clay. yet, any higher in rank.

Bar

attack

Cham

The first naval event of the late war upon Lake Boat Champlain, a lake, all, except about one-twentieth on Lake part, within the boundaries of the United States, plain. occurred on the 3d of June, 1813. Two american armed sloops appeared in sight of the british garrison at Isle-aux-noix. Three gun-boats immediately got under way to attack them; and the crews of two batteaux and of two row-boats were landed, to annoy the enemy in the rear, the channel being very narrow. After a contest of three hours and a half, the two sloops surrendered. They proved to be the Growler and Eagle, mounting 11 guns, and having a complement of 50 men, each; both under the command of lieutenant Sidney Smith, of the United States' navy. The British had three men wounded; the Americans, one man killed, eight severely wounded, and, including the latter, 99 prisoners. No british nayal officer was present. The feat was performed by detachments of the 100th regiment, and royal artillery, under the direction of major Taylor, of the former.

Eve

Platts

On the 1st of August, some officers and seamen Capt. having arrived from Quebec, captain Thomas rard Everard, late of the 18-gun brig-sloop Wasp, with attacks the two prize-sloops, three gun-boats, and several burg, batteaux, containing about 1000 troops under the &c. command of colonel Murray, entered the american port of Plattsburg. Here the colonel landed with his men; and, after driving away the american militia at the post, destroyed all the arsenals, block-houses, barracks, and stores of every description, together with the extensive barracks at Saranac. The two

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