five men, under Colonel Van Rensselaer, crossed to attack the British. posted at Queenstown. After mnch loss from a shower of musketry and grape, they effected a landing, and, led up the rocks by Captains Wool and Ogilvie, after the Colonel had fallen, they drove the English behind a stone house, and silenced all their batteries. Then the roll of the drum was heard, and General Brock came up with the Forty-ninth British regiment, and forced the little American detachment to the very verge of the precipice. One officer actually hoisted the white flag, but Wool tore it away, and by a desperate charge drove the British back, and when their general, Van Rensselaer, was in vain endeavoring to send over fresh troops, the militia declined to leave the State, and only a thousand, under General Wadsworth, crossed. At three o'clock in the afternoon the enemy rallied, and, aided by several hundred Indians, attacked the American lines. With severe loss, the little force, under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, repulsed them. But the English were constantly bringing up fresh troops. An hour later, reinforced by eight hundred men under General Sheaffe, they again advanced. General Wadsworth, with men exhausted by a day's constant fighting, without food, and no hope of reinforcement or relief, had no alternative. He made a gallant fight for a time, but as he could not retreat for want of boats, he at last surrendered, many, after laying down their arms, to be butchered by the savages whom England was not ashamed to array against civilized men. This gallant but unfortunate day cost America eleven hundred in killed, wounded, or taken; while the English loss was comparatively small.

Disgusted at this reverse, and the miserable inefficiency and incapacity manifested in all departments, Van Rensselaer resigned, and was succeeded by General Smythe, of Virginia.

The conduct of the Administration was far from creditable. The War Department planned no campaign, and raised no army. It invested the generals in command of the several divisions with discretionary powers, and left everything to them, and the militia were called out without any object, or any orders to guide them. The whole year was spent in fruitless marches and countermarches, or in unimportant skirmishes.

In October, Dearborn occupied the Indian town of St. Regis, which lies partly in New York and partly in Canada, but advancing, he was defeated in a movement against La Colle, and a month later, lost a detachment in an action at Salmon river.

At Niagara, General Smythe issued a pompous address, and finally sent a detachment under General Winder across the river. One detachment under King gallantly carried a British battery, but being unsupported, at last retreated, leaving a part to surrender to the English. In the West, Zachary Taylor, at Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, found himself and his little garrison of fifty invested, in September, by several hundred Indians, who attacked with great fury. Steadiness and intrepidity disconcerted the savage foe, who drew off after heavy loss.

Some expeditions took the field against the Indians, but beyond destroying some of their towns near Peoria, no good was effected.

This virtually closed the campaign of 1812. Amid the excitement of war, a presidential election had taken place. Mr. Madison was again put forward as President, with Elbridge Gerry as Vice-President. The candidates of the opposition, with whom the Federalists operated, were De Witt Clinton, of New York, and Jared Ingersoll. Madison was re-elected by a large majority.

MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN ELLIS WOOL.

We introduce here a sketch of Wool, whose first exploits we have just briefly noted. His career as an officer was long and glorious, extending over half a century of our history.

He was born at Newburgh in 1789, in a house which had been for a time the headquarters of General Wayne. Profiting by such advantages for education as were afforded, and his own energy, he, was, before reaching manhood, owner of a bookstore in Troy, but only to see his whole stock destroyed by fire. He was diligently studying law when war was declared against Great Britain: but that act decided his career for life. The friendship of De Witt Clinton obtained for him a captaincy in the 13th Infantry on the 14th of April, 1812. Rapidly acquiring the knowledge of his profession, he gained the first and important success in the battle of Queenstown Heights, Oct. 13, being for a time in command on the field, but, shot through both thighs, he fell into the hands of the enemy. His exchange soon came, and with it the commission of major in the 29th Infantry. Serving still on the frontiers of his native State, he so distinguished himself

in the battle of Beekmantown, near Plattsburg, in September, 1814, that he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and retained in the reduced

army at the peace. His appointment as inspector-general of the army,

in 1821, shows the opinion formed of his merit. He was then lieutenant-colonel, and in 1826 was made brevet brigadier-general. The following years were employed in various important duties, a visit to Europe to study foreign systems, the removal of the Cherokees, and the coast defences.

The Mexican war found him a brigadier. He was ordered West, to organize and forward volunteers. Rapidly discharging this duty, he pushed on with the centre division assigned to him to San Antonio de Bexar, to operate against Chihuahua or elsewhere, under Taylor's orders. He advanced to Parras, but here received orders from Taylor, who heard of Santa Ana's approach, to join him at Agua Nueva. He did so, and soon remarked the superior advantages of Buena Vista for an action. On the 22d of February, 1847, being in command in the absence of General Taylor, he at once occupied the all-important position and opened the battle, holding Santa Ana's force of 20,000 at bay till General Taylor came up and assumed command. The glory of the day, both for the selection of ground and able handling of his men, belongs therefore to Wool, who in consequence received a brevet of major-general in May, 1848.

On Taylor's return General Wool commanded the army of occupation until the peace, exhibiting marked administrative ability in clearing the country of robbers and guerillas, and restoring order.

He was subsequently in the department of the East, with his headquarters at Baltimore, and then at Troy, having in an interim been appointed to the department of the Pacific, where in three months he