cisive victory over the British fleet at Put-in-Bay on 10 September 1813. Harrison then embarked his troops and sailed against Fort Malden. There the outnumbered British garrison of about 900 Regulars abandoned the fort and retreated eastward with about 2,000 Indians under Tecumseh. Harrison pursued with about 3,500 men, making contact with the British about 85 miles east of Fort Malden on the banks of the Thames River on 5 October 1813. Col. Richard M. Johnson's mounted Kentuckians opened the Battle of the Thames with a charge that routed the Indians. The British surrendered in droves, no more than 250 escaping death or capture. Tecumseh was killed, and the American victory shattered the Indian confederacy. For the rest of the war the Detroit area remained in American control.

Harrison promptly returned with his Regulars to the Niagara frontier, where American garrisons were being stripped of men to support a two-pronged drive on Montreal. This late autumn campaign ended in a fiasco. Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton drove north from Plattsburg with 4,000 men while Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson attacked down the St. Lawrence from Sackett's Harbor with 6,000 men; but the two commanders failed to cooperate with each other, and both forces withdrew ingloriously to Plattsburg after separate brushes with the enemy. Meanwhile, in December 1813, the British took advantage of the weakened state of American defenses on the Niagara frontier by recapturing Fort George and taking Fort Niagara. Bitterness of feeling between the two sides was demonstrated in the burning of Newark and part of Queenston by the Americans, and the retaliatory burning of Buffalo and Black Rock by the British.

During 1813 a new theater of the war opened in the South, where southern expansionists had designs on Florida, a Spanish possession, Spain's status as an ally of England presented an excuse to invade Florida, and Tennessee raised a force of 2,000 men under Andrew Jackson for this purpose. But Congress ruled that only the disputed territory of West Florida could be invaded, refused to entrust the venture

to the Tennesseans, and dispatched a force of Regulars who occupied Mobile unopposed in the early fall of 1813. Jackson energetically turned his attention to fighting a long campaign against the Creek Indians, who in the summer of 1813 had gone on the warpath in Alabama. (See First Creek Campaign, chapter 29.)

Third Phase of the War. Land operations began in March 1814 with a drive north from Plattsburg by Wilkinson with 4,000 men, but a very small enemy force stopped the drive eight miles within the Canadian border. As a result of this and earlier failures, a number of senior generals were replaced by younger and more energetic officers. In order to gain control of Lake Ontario, a plan was adopted in June 1814 under which Commodore Chauncey's fleet would challenge the British on the lake in coordination with a land attack on the Niagara peninsula. Accordingly, Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown captured Fort Erie and then advanced north on the Canadian side of the river with his force of 3,500 men. At the Chippewa River, 16 miles away, a smaller British force of 1,500 regulars, 300 militiamen, and 300 Indians under General Riall gathered to oppose the invasion.

On 5 July Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott's brigade, a part of Brown's command numbering about 1,300 men, moved to an open plain south of the Chippewa to stage a parade. Instead the Americans found themselves confronted by the British advancing in battle order across the plain. Scott had trained his men rigorously, and now at Chippewa (5 July 1814) they demonstrated the value of that training in a disciplined charge which broke the enemy line and drove the British survivors in retreat across the river before Brown could send reinforcements. Scott's casualties were 48 killed and 227 wounded; British losses were 137 killed and 304 wounded.

Brown advanced to Queenston, waited two weeks for Chauncey who failed to cooperate as planned, and then returned to the Chippewa with the intention of driving cross-country to the western end of Lake Ontario. As the Americans arrived at the Chippewa on

the night of 24-25 July 1814, they were unaware that British forces totaling about 2,000 men under General Riall were converging at the junction of Lundy's Lane and Queenston Road (very near the Falls), just three miles to the north. The next morning Scott's brigade moved north on Queenston Road and unexpectedly encountered the British concentration. Lundy's Lane (25 July 1814) was one of the most fiercely contested engagements of the war. With the arrival of British reinforcements the two sides were equally matched, with about 2,900 men each. At midnight Brown withdrew his exhausted troops across the Chippewa, and the British were too spent to follow. Casualties were 878 killed and wounded for the British and 854 for the Americans. Although the battle was a draw (with both sides claiming victory), the British had stopped the invansion of Canada.

After a few days the Americans withdrew to Fort Erie. The British laid siege to this fort until 21 September, when they abandoned the effort after suffering heavy casualties. Later, General Izard arrived with American reinforcements and advanced again to the Chippewa, but after a few skirmishes broke off the campaign for the winter. On 5 November he withrew all American troops from Canadian soil. During the summer of 1814 the British had occupied two towns in MaineCastine and Eastport. Political objectives were apparent in the case of Eastport, since that town was located in territory disputed by Maine and New Brunswick. No such objectives were evident in the Chesapeake Bay area, where British forays first took place in the spring of 1813 with the looting and burning of Hampton, Va., and Havrede-Grace, Md. It had been a different story at Craney's Island on 22 July 1813, when American militia defending Norfolk repulsed and inflicted heavy casualties on a much larger force of British raiders.

Early in August 1814 about 4,000 British led by Maj Gen. Robert Ross landed on the right bank of the Patuxent River. In the march on Washington, Ross easily defeated a mixed force of about 5,000 Americans at Bladens

burg (14 August 1814) that Brig. Gen. William H. Winder had hastily assembled to defend the capital. British losses were around 249 killed and wounded to an American loss of about 100 killed and wounded and another 100 captured. After dispersing the American force the British marched into Washington; burned the Capitol, the White House, and other public buildings; and then returned to their ships.

Next on schedule was Baltimore, where the British staged a combined land and sea attack on 13-14 September 1814. General Ross was killed in the land attack, which failed to break through the well-entrenched militia defenders. The British fleet also broke off the attempt after failing to reduce Fort McHenry (13 September 1814) in a bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The StarSpangled Banner." (See "The National Anthem," chapter 21.)

Meanwhile, in the north, the British had already suffered an even more serious reverse than that at Baltimore. Sir George Prevost had invaded the United States, arriving before Plattsburg with about 11,000 men on 6 September 1814. There he waited almost a week for the arrival of his naval force. When it finally arrived, on 11 September, it was completely destroyed by Commodore Thomas Macdonough's fleet in the Battle of Lake Champlain. With his naval support gone, Prevost marched his force back to Canada, even though General Macomb's garrison at Plattsburg numbered only about 4,500 Americans.

Peace negotiations were under way by this time, and news of the British reverses helped the American peace commissioners to obtain satisfactory terms. The peace treaty was signed late in December, but news of this event arrived too late to halt operations at New Orleans (23 December 1814-8 January 1815). A British expedition had landed below New Orleans early in December and fought an indecisive engagement with American forces under Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson on the 23d of the month. Two days later Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham arrived to take command of the

British force. On 1 January 1815 the two sides fought an artillery duel in which the British came out second best. Finally, on 8 January 1815, Pakenham made a direct assault with about 5,300 Regulars on Jackson's main position, an earthworks reinforced with cotton bales on the east bank of the Mississippi, defended by about 3,500 Americans with another 1,000 in reserve. Jackson's massed fires broke up the attack, the British losing 291 killed, 1,262 wounded, and 484 prisoners. American losses were 13 killed, 39 wounded, and 19 prisoners. Pakenham was killed, and General Lambert, his successor, broke off the engagement, also withdrawing a force of 600 British on the west bank, led by Lt. Col. William Thornton, which had overrun Jackson's supporting artillery. Ten days later the British withdrew. Lambert next made a move to capture Mobile, but broke off operations when news of the signing of the peace treaty arrived on 14 February.

Naval War. The fighting at sea brought lasting glory to the small American Navy, and did much to boost American morale. Perhaps the most famous sea engagement was on 19 August 1812, when the Constitution, commanded by Capt. Isaac Hull, outfought and sank the British frigate Guerriere. This was

only the first of a series of single-ship engagements in which the American 44-gun frigates humbled the pride of the Royal Navy. American privateers were also active, capturing nearly 1,000 British merchant vessels in the course of the war. However, the overwhelming strength of the British Navy finally made itself felt, and an increasingly effective British blockade was established. At first it did not include the New England ports, where dissident elements were willing to trade with the enemy, but at the beginning of 1814 it was extended to encompass the entire coast. Of 22 American warships that managed to get to sea, only the Constitution and 4 smaller ships operating at the war's end.

were

CONCLUSION OF THE WAR. American and British peace commissioners first met at Ghent in the Netherlands on 8 August 1814. Representing the United States were Albert Gallatin, John Q. Adams, Henry Clay, James A. Bayard, and Jonathan Russell; on the British side were Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams. The Peace of Ghent, signed 24 December 1814, was a simple cessation of hostilities on the basis of the state existing before the war (status quo ante bellum). The Senate approved ratification of the treaty of 17 February 1815.

CAUSES OF THE WAR. Although a number of issues had long strained relations between Mexico and the United States, annexation of Texas was the immediate cause of the Mexican War. Mexico believed that the United States had designs on Mexican territory, and looked upon the Texan revolt as largely the work of Americans. As early as August 1843 she had warned that annexation of Texas would be considered equivalent to a declaration of war. On 1 March 1845 President Tyler signed a Congressional resolution providing for annexation, subject to the completion of arrangements with the Texan government. The Mexican Government did not declare war at this point, but did withdraw its minister and sever official relations with the United States

Minister to Mexico. In annexing Texas, which was formally admitted to the Union on 29 December 1845, the United States added insult to injury by upholding Texan claims that the Rio Grande rather than the Nueces River was the international border. An attempt to reach a peaceful settlement of the issue failed when the Mexican Government refused to receive a United States Minister Plenipotentiary, John Slidell, sent to Mexico late in 1845.

Meanwhile, in the summer of 1845, President Polk had sent Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor with about 4,000 Regular Army troops into the disputed territory beyond the Nueces River. On 13 January 1846, after learning of the failure of Slidell's diplomatic mission, Polk ordered Taylor to the banks of the Rio Grande.

The Mexicans met this challenging move with demands that the troops move back to the Nueces. Taylor rejected the demands and built a fort on the Rio Grande opposite the Mexican town of Matamoros. On 24 April 1846 Gen. Mariano Arista ordered his cavalry general, Torrejón, to cross the Rio Grande above Matamoros with about 1,600 troops. Taylor sent Capt. S. B. Thornton to reconnoiter with about 60 dragoons, all of whom were either killed or captured by the Mexican cavalry force on 25 April. When news of this clash arrived in Washington, Polk at once sent a message to Congress declaring that a state of war existed "by an act of Mexico herself." Two days after receiving the message, on 13 May 1846, Congress recognized the existence of a state of war with Mexico and authorized funds and the raising of additional forces to prosecute the war. By this time Taylor's army had already fought two major battles with Mexican forces in the Rio Grande area.

American

TROOPS INVOLVED. Forces. On the eve of the Mexican war the United States, with a population of about twenty million, had a Regular Army with an authorized strength of around 8,600 men but with less than 7,000 actually present for duty. The Army consisted of 8 regiments of infantry, 4 of artillery, 2 of dragoons, and the Corps of Engineers. By the Act of 13 May 1846, Congress doubled the authorized strength of the Regular Army, added a regiment of mounted riflemen, and authorized the PresiIdent to call for volunteer units to a maximum of 50,000 men for a term of one year or the duration of the war. An Act of 11 February 1847 authorized ten new Regular Army regiments with the term of service for the duration of the war. An Act of 3 March 1847 authorized the President to accept volunteers to replace men and units in Mexico, where Gen. Winfield Scott was facing the loss of about a third of his force (some 3,700 men) because of the expiration of one-year enlistments. The strength of the Army increased steadily during the war, reaching a total of 47,319 (including 159 USMA Cadets) in July 1848, just before postwar demobilization. The total num

ber of men who served (including service in the Navy) is estimated at 78,718. The war was marked by the substitution of national volunteers for militia, service in State militia no longer being obligatory.

Casualty figures for American forces are considered incomplete, and the following totals are low estimates based on available records. Battle deaths (killed in action and died of wounds) totaled 1,733 (Army 1,721, Navy 1, Marines 11); wounds totaled 4,152 (Army 4,102, Navy 3, Marines 47). In addition, the Army suffered a loss of 11,550 men by death from other causes, mostly disease.

Mexican Forces. Mexico, with a population of around seven million, had a Regular Army establishment consisting of 15 infantry regiments, 15 light cavalry regiments, 4 artillery brigades, and a miscellany of other units. In 1845, on the eve of war, Mexico had an estimated 32,000 Regulars under arms. In addition the Central Government had more or less control over a large territorial militia. Years of intermittent revolution and civil turmoil had given the Mexican soldiers plenty of experience in the field; Mexican generals were confident of their ability to defeat the United States (a view shared by some foreign observers); and climate, geography, and disease were all on the side of Mexico.

OVERALL STRATEGY. Planners of American strategy had at least one clear objective to seize all of Mexico north of the Rio Grande and the Gila Rivers and westward to the Pacific. A three-pronged thrust was planned to achieve this objective. Taylor was to advance south to Monterrey; another force as to advance from San Antonio against Chihuahua; and a third force was to drive from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe and thence to California. The Navy was to blockade the east coast of Mexico from Tampico to Yucatan and, in the Pacific, was to capture the California coast in conjunction with the land force from Santa Fe. A landing at Vera Cruz, followed by a march on Mexico City, was a later addition to the strategic plan. If Mexico had a strategic plan, it probably amounted merely to beating the American Army

in the field and recovering the territory south of the Nueces; but aggressive action on the part of the United States forced the Mexicans to fight a defensive war. MAJOR BATTLES AND CAMPAIGNS. Campaigns in Northern Mexico. Mexican forces at Matamoros steadily grew stronger in April 1846. By the end of the month General Taylor had become concerned about his lines of communication with his lightly held main base at Point Isabel, near the mouth of the Rio Grande. Therefore, on 1 May Taylor moved the bulk of his army to Point Isabel, leaving a small detachment of artillery and infantry under Maj. Jacob Brown at the fort opposite Matamoros. The Mexicans soon placed this fort (later named Fort Brown) under heavy attack. On 7 May Taylor moved to the rescue with about 2,300 men. On the morning of 8 May, when little more than half way to the fort, the Americans came face to face with the enemy, a force numbering per

haps as many as 6,000 men, commanded by Gen. Mariano Arista. Its right flank rested on an elevation known as Palo Alto (8 May 1846) after which the engagement was named. Taylor moved unhesitatingly into battle, using his artillery to cover the deployment of the infantry. The engagement continued until nightfall, when the Mexicans withdrew. Effective use of artillery fire was largely responsible for the American victory. American losses were 9 killed and 47 wounded. The Mexicans suffered more than 700 casualties, including about 320 deaths.

The next morning Taylor, continuing his advance, found the Mexicans a few miles down the road, where they had taken up a strong defensive position in a dry river bed known as the Resaca de la Palma (9 May 1846). In this second successive day of battle the infantry conducted most of the action, although the dragoons played an important part in knocking out the enemy artillery. Eventually the infantry turned