He was a constant thorn in
the side of the peace faction, and more than once came to blows with
some of the members. When war was declared, he sent the word to
president that he was ready to set out at once, and shortly after took
command of a privateer, which his father fitted out.
While New England was halting in its support of the war, the people of
the South and West were alive with enthusiasm in favor of prosecuting it
with sharp and decisive vigor. They had already suffered much from the
Indians under British control, and the massacre at Chicago kindled a
flame of indignation not easily to be controlled by prudence.
The government resolved to retrieve the disaster at Detroit, by an
invasion of Canada on the Niagara frontier. For this purpose, a
requisition was made upon the governor of New York for the militia of
that State. He patriotically responded to the call, and Stephen Van
Rensselaer, the last of the Patroons and a patriotic Federalist retired
from public life, was commissioned a major-general and placed in command
of the militia. The forces were concentrated at Lewiston on the Niagara
River, Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain, and at Greenebush,
opposite Albany.
The British had, meanwhile, assembled a considerable force on Queenstown
Heights, opposite Lewiston. At midsummer, hostile demonstrations had
been made on Lake Ontario and on the St.
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