1812

ON THE LAKES

_PRELIMINARY.--The combatants starting nearly on an
equality--Difficulties of creating a naval force--Difficulty of
comparing the force of the rival squadrons--Meagreness of the
published accounts--Unreliability of James--ONTARIO--Extraordinary
nature of the American squadron--Canadian squadron forming only a
kind of water militia--Sackett's Harbor feebly attacked by Commodore
Earle--Commodore Chauncy bombards York--ERIE--Lieutenant Elliott
captures the_ Detroit _and_ Caledonia--_Unsuccessful expedition of
Lieutenant Angus._

At the time we are treating of, the State of Maine was so sparsely
settled, and covered with such a dense growth of forest, that it
was practically impossible for either of the contending parties to
advance an army through its territory. A continuation of the same
wooded and mountainous district protected the northern parts of
Vermont and New Hampshire, while in New York the Adirondack region
was an impenetrable wilderness. It thus came about that the
northern boundary was formed, for military purposes, by Lake
Huron, Lake Erie, the Niagara, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence,
and, after an interval, by Lake Champlain. The road into the States
by the latter ran close along shore, and without a naval force the
invader would be wholly unable to protect his flanks, and would
probably have his communications cut. This lake, however, was
almost wholly within the United States, and did not become of
importance till toward the end of the war. Upon it were two