strong was
made secretary of war in place of William Eustis. Armstrong was never
a favourite. His association with Gates and his subsequent career in
France, made him an object of distrust. But, once in office, he picked
up the Eustis ravellings and announced a plan of campaign which
included an attack on Montreal from Lake Champlain; the destruction of
Kingston and York (Toronto) by the troops from Sackett's Harbour; and
the expulsion of the British from the Niagara frontier. The Kingston
part of the programme possessed genuine merit. Kingston commanded the
traffic of the St. Lawrence, between Upper and Lower Canada, and no
British force could maintain itself in Upper Canada without ready
communication with the lower province; but Dearborn decided to reverse
Armstrong's plan by taking York, afterward the Niagara frontier, and
then unite a victorious army against Kingston. Dearborn, to do him
justice, offered to resign, and Armstrong would gladly have gotten rid
of him, with Morgan Lewis and other incompetents. The President,
however, clung to the old men, making the spring and early summer
campaign of 1813, like its predecessor, a record of dismal failures.
York had, indeed, capitulated after the bloodiest battle of the war,
the American loss amounting to one-fifth the entire force, including
Pike, the best brigadier then in the service. But the British still
held Niagara; two brigade commanders had been sorely defeated; a third
had surrendered five hundred and forty men to a British lieutenant
with two hundred and sixty; and Sackett's Harbour, with its barracks
burned and navy-yard destroyed, had barely escaped capture, while
Kingston was unmolested and Dearborn totally incapacitated "with fever
and mortification."

It was now midsummer. Tompkins and a Republican Senate had been
re-elected, but the Federalists, whose policy was to obtain peace on
any terms, still held the Assembly. Just at this time, therefore,
success in the field would have been of immense value politically, and
as sickness had put Dearborn out of commission, it gave Armstrong an
opportunity of promoting Winfield Scott and Jacob Brown, both of whom
had shown unusual ability in spite of the shameless incapacity of
their seniors. The splendid fighting qualities of Jacob Brown had
saved Sackett's Harbour; and the brilliant pluck of Winfield Scott had
withstood a force three times his own until British bayonets pushed
him over the crest of Queenstown H