CHAPTER XII.

THE GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA HEARS FROM THE NEW REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES-BATTLE

S

AT FORT BOWYER-BARATARIA-JEAN

LAFITTE, THE PIRATE AND

PATRIOT.

COON after closing this Indian business, General

which for a time became his head-quarters. His first step was to ascertain the condition of affairs on the Gulf, and especially did he make it his business to find out what the Indians and their pretended friends, the Spanish and British, were doing in Florida.

Mobile was in no state of defense, and the fort at the Point thirty miles below, on the beautiful Bay, was not in use, and was possessed of an old armament in no wise formidable. Jackson saw that this fort, with its rusty cannon and piles of rusty cannonballs, was the point from which to make the defense. Mobile itself, a town of only a few hundred people, was not worth fighting for; but it was then, as now, a great cotton-market, and was extremely valuable as a point of defensive operations to a vast extent of coast, and next to New Orleans would have been the first object of interest to the British in carrying into effect their scheme of invasion from the South, and forming a connection with Canada by the Mississippi.

Jackson at once set about repairing Fort Bowyer, since called Fort Morgan, at Mobile Point, and in it he placed Major Wm. Lawrence, of the Second Regiment of United States infantry, and one hundred and sixty men. These soldiers knew nothing of artillery fighting, and with them everything was to be learned and to be done to make Fort Bowyer what it was desired to be, a complete defense to the entrance of Mobile Bay.

General Jackson now occupied himself in putting before the Administration the state of affairs at the South, and in urging on the troops then collecting in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, for his army.

On the 12th of September, Colonel Edward Nichols appeared before Fort Bowyer with a small body of English and Indians, the latter actually having submitted to be drilled as white soldiers at Pensacola. On the same day four British war-vessels also appeared, and anchored without the Point. A day or two the enemy now spent in reconnoitering and firing an occasional shot. On the 14th Major Lawrence sent a messenger to General Jackson, notifying him of the state of affairs. This messenger met the General on his way to visit the fort. He returned in great haste in his barge to Mobile, and in a few minutes had Captain Laval with eighty men on his way down to re-enforce Lawrence. Laval reached the neighborhood of the fort when the fighting was going on, and supposing himself too late to be of service, put back to Mobile to tell the General the unwelcome news.

But Lawrence and his men took an oath to stand by the post, and fight while there was any hope. The whole British force, land and naval, was under the

direction of Captain W. H. Percy, of the ship Hermes. At 4 o'clock, on the 15th, the Hermes entered the narrow channel leading to the bay, and anchored within short range of the fort; the other vessels followed, and the battle began.

Broadside after broadside was poured into the fort, and the inexperienced Americans answered back as best they could. An occasional shot from them kept the land force at a respectful distance, and the battle was yet mainly with the ships, on the British side. In an hour and a half the flag of the Hermes went down, and Lawrence, thinking or hoping she had struck, ceased firing; but when the smoke cleared away he saw his mistake, and resumed the contest. A fortunate shot now cut the anchor of the Hermes, when she became unmanageable and soon ran aground, but not until most of her crew had been killed or wounded. At this juncture the flag of the fort was shot down, which discovery led Woodbine, who had charge of the Indians, to think the garrison was beaten, and the time had come for scalps and spoils; and accordingly, with a howl these gentle allies rushed towards the fort. But a little grape and canister speedily changed their view of the case, and sent them behind the hills again. Another of the enemy's vessels now appeared to be crippled, and showed a disposition to give up the contest; and soon they all moved out of the bay, and before midnight the Hermes blew up. When morning dawned nothing could be seen of the gallant Britons but their three ships, and before night they too had disappeared.

On the same morning Laval arrived at Mobile with the news Jackson was loath to receive. And what was

left for him to do? Retake the fort, of course, and restore the loss as well as possible. To this end he began at once preparing to move his entire force. But at this moment the right turn was given to affairs by a courier from Major Lawrence bearing the following information :

"FORT BOWYER, September 15, 1814, 12 o'clock at night.

"SIR,-After writing the inclosed I was prevented by the approach of the enemy from sending it by express. At meridian they were under full sail, with an easy and favorable breeze, standing directly for the fort, and at 4 P. M. we opened our battery, which was returned from two ships and two brigs as they approached. The action became general at about twenty minutes past four, and was continued, without intermission on either side, until seven, when one ship and two brigs were compelled to retire. The leading ship, supposed to be the commodore, mounting twenty-two thirty-two-pound carronades, having anchored nearest our battery, was so much disabled, her cable being cut by our shot, that she drifted on shore, within six hundred yards of the battery, and the other vessels having got out of our reach, we kept such a tremendous fire upon her, that she was set on fire and abandoned by the few of the crew who survived. At ten P. M. we had the pleasure of witnessing the explosion of her magazine. The loss of lives on board must have been immense, as we are certain no boats left her except three, which had previously gone to her assistance, and one of these I believe was sunk; in fact, one of her boats was burned alongside of her.

"The brig that followed her, I am certain, was much damaged both in hull and rigging. The other two did not approach near enough to be much injured, but I am confident they did not escape, as a well-directed fire was kept on them during the whole time.

"During the action a battery of a twelve-pounder and a howitzer was opened on our rear, but without doing any execution, and was silenced by a few shot. Our loss is four privates killed and five privates wounded.

"Towards the close of the action the flag-staff was shot away; but the flag was immediately hoisted on a sponge-staff above the parapet. While the flag was down, the enemy kept up their

most incessant and tremendous fire; the men were withdrawn from the curtains and north-east bastion, as the enemy's own shot completely protected our rear, except the position they had chosen for their battery.

"Where all behaved well, it is unnecessary to discriminate. Suffice it to say, every officer and man did his duty; the whole behaved with that coolness and intrepidity which is characteristic of the true American, and which could scarcely have been expected from men, most of whom had never seen an enemy, and were now, for the first time, exposed for nearly three hours to a force of nearly or quite four guns to one.

"We fired during the action between four and five hundred guns, most of them double shotted, and after the first half hour but few missed effect.

"Upon an examination of our battery the following morning, we found upwards of three hundred shot and shot-holes in the inside of the north and east curtains, and north-east bastions, of all calibers, from musket-ball to thirty-two-pound shot. In the north-east bastion there were three guns dismounted; one of which, a four-pounder, was broken off near the trunnions by a thirty-two pound shot, and another much battered. I regret to say that both the twenty-four pounders are cracked in such a manner as to render them unfit for service.

"I am informed by two deserters from the land force, who have just arrived here, and whom I send for your disposal, that a re-enforcement is expected, when they will, doubtless, endeavor to wipe off the stain of yesterday.

"If you will send the Amelia down, we may probably save most or all of the ship's guns, as her wreck is lying in six or seven feet water, and some of them are just covered. They will not, however, answer for the fort, as they are too short.

"By the deserters we learn that the ship we have destroyed was the Hermes, but her commander's name they did not recollect. It was the commodore, and he, doubtless, fell on his quarter-deck, as we had a raking fire upon it, at about two hundred yards distance, for some time.

"To Captain Sands, who will have the honor of handing you this dispatch, I refer you for a more particular account of the movements of the enemy than may be contained in my letters; his services, both before and during the action, were of great importance, and I consider fully justify me in having detained him.