hero of the western campaign.
He could be also a loyal as well as a successful subordinate, for he
ably defended Harrison against the indignation which menaced his station
as commander of the army. The new Secretary of War, John Armstrong,
ironically referred to Procter and Harrison as being always in terror of
each other, the one actually flying from his supposed pursuer after his
fiasco at Fort Stephenson, the other waiting only for the arrival of
Croghan at Seneca to begin a camp conflagration and flight to Upper
Sandusky.

The reconquest of Michigan and the Northwest depended now on the
American navy. Harrison wisely halted his inglorious operations by land
until the ships and sailors were ready to cooperate. Because the British
sway on the Great Lakes was unchallenged, the general situation of the
enemy was immensely better than it had been at the beginning of the
campaign. During a year of war the United States had steadily lost in
men, in territory, in prestige, and this in spite of the fact that the
opposing forces across the Canadian border were much smaller.

That the men of the American navy would be prompt to maintain the
traditions of the service was indicated in a small way by an incident of
the previous year on Lake Erie. In September, 1812, Lieutenant Jesse D.
Elliott had been sent to Buffalo to find a site for building naval
vessels. A few weeks later he was fitting out several purchased
schooners behind Squaw Island. Suddenly there came sailing in from
Amherstburg and anchored off Fort Erie two British armed brigs, the
_Detroit_ which had been surrendered by Hull, and the _Caledonia_ which
had helped to subdue the American garrison at Mackinac. Elliott had no
ships ready for action, but he was not to be daunted by such an
obstacle. It so happened that ninety Yankee seamen had been sent across
country from New York by Captain Isaac Chauncey. These worthy tars had
trudged the distance on foot, a matter of five hundred miles, with their
canvas bags on their backs, and they rolled into port at noon, in the
nick of time to serve Elliott's purpose. They were indubitably tired,
but he gave them not a moment for rest. A ration of meat and bread and a
stiff tot of grog, and they turned to and manned the boats which were to
cut out the two British brigs when darkness fell.

Elliott scraped together fifty soldiers and, filling two cutters with
his amphibious company, he stole out of Buffalo and pulled toward F