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Forays Along the St.
Lawrence.—Unsuccessful Attack on Ogdensburg.— St. Regis Surprised.—Americans
Repulsed at Fort Erie.—"General Van Bladder" and His Proclamations.—Naval
Encounters.—Battle of Stoney Creek.— The Taking of Ogdensburg.—York Taken by
the Americans, April 27th, 1813.
Along the St. Lawrence some
attacks were made during the autumn on posts on either side. On the 4th
October Colonel Lethbridge, who commanded at Fort Wellington (Prescott)
determined to assault the American fort at Ogdensburg. He took with him
eight artillerymen, two companies of the Canadian Fencibles, about forty of
the Newfoundland regiment under Captain Skinner, and one hundred and my
Glengarry militia, who, after travelling the whole night, had just 3rrived
in carts from Cornwall, distant fortv-eight miles. There were other militia
men at the post, but the Highlanders, fatigued as they necessarily must have
been, were the only ones that would consent to accompany the regulars across
to the attack. Colonel Lethbridge with his few men advanced towards
Ogdensburg, and Captain Skinner, having his small detachment on board two
gunboats, attacked and silenced the American battery upon the point below
the town. The small force that had embarked could make little or no
impression upon so strong a position, the boats therefore returned with a
trifling loss. It afterwards was ascertained, however, that General Brown
was preparing to abandon the Fort so that had all the men embarked the
enterprise might have been brought to a successful conclusion. The American
version of this affair is to the effect that the attacking force numbered
over one thousand men.
On the 23rd of October, the
Indian village of St. Regis was surprised by a force of four hundred men
detailed from Plattsburg.
The outpost at this point
consisted of twenty men and an officer of the Canadian Voyageurs, Lieutenant
Rototte. Sergeant McGillivray and six men were killed, the remainder taken
prisoners. In a cupboard of the wigwam of the Indian interpreter was found a
Union Jack. This windfall of colours, as stated by Colonel Coffin, was
grandiloquently announced to the world as "the capture of a stand of colours,
the first colours taken during the War," whereas dozens of them might have
been obtained at far less cost in any American shipyard.
This affront was resented
forthwith. On the 23rd November, small parties of the Forty-Ninth Foot and
Glengarry Light Infantry, supported by about seventy men of the Cornwall and
Glengarry Militia, about one hundred and forty in all, under
Lieutenant-Colonel McMillan, crossed the St. Lawrence and pounced on the
American Fort at French Mills on Salmon River, opposite Summerstown—since
called Fort Covington in honour of the American general of that name who was
killed at the battle of Chrysler's Farm. The enemy took to the block-house,
but finding themselves surrounded, surrendered prisoners of war. One
captain, two subalterns and forty-one men were taken, with four batteaux and
fifty-seven stand of arms No "stand of colours" was captured with the
Americans; as it's not usual to confide standards to the guardianship of
detached parties of forty or fifty men in any service (Coffin, page 69).
Captain Duncan Greenfield Macdonell's company of the First Glengarry
Regiment was, as I see by papers in my possession, in this engagement.
Colonel Macmillan, who commanded, was married to his sister.
During the autumn, some
fighting took place in the vicinity of Kingston, on the lake, in which our
boats seem to have got somewhat the worst of it, though nothing occurred of
any importance. The Lower Canadian frontier was threatened by General
Dearborn, who had assembled some ten thousand men in the neighbourhood of
Plattsburg, and an attack was made on a picket at Lacolle by a force from
Champlain Town on the 20th November. Some frontier militia and Indians under
Colonel McKay, of the Northwest Company, drove them back with some loss to
the Americans. Dearborn then went into winter quarters.
In the West, between Port
Erie and Chippewa, General Smythe detached some 2500 men "to take Canada,"
without any success. Colonel Bisshopp, a gallant officer who was killed in
the following summer, with some six hundred regulars and militia, beat them
off with considerable loss to the Americans in killed and wounded, while an
aide-de-camp to the American General, some other officers and forty men were
taken prisoners. General Smythe then despatched a flag of truce to Fort
Erie, politely requesting a surrender, stating that it was desirable to
"prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood by a surrender of Fort Erie to a
force so superior as to render resistance hopeless," a suggestion which
Colonel Bisshopp, with scarcely equal politeness, declined, sending Captain
Fitzgerald with his answer: "Come and take it". Two other feints were made,
after which General Smythe, having abandoned his intention of taking Canada
for the present, went into winter quarters. The Americans, however, made it
hot for this gallant soldier, whose inflated proclamations to '"the men of
New York" must have made poor Hall green with envy, when he declared that
the present is the hour of renown. You desire your share of fame; then seize
the present moment. Advance to our aid. I will wait for you for a few days.
I cannot give you the hour of my departure to plant the American standard in
Canada. But come on. Come in companies, half companies, pairs or single."
The peroration of his manifesto to the soldiers of the Array of the Centre
was positively immense.
"Soldiers of every corps! It
is your power to retrieve the honour of your country and to cover yourselves
with glory. Every man who performs a gallant action shall have his name made
known to the nation. Rewards and honours await the brave. Infamv and
contempt are reserved for cowards. Companions in arms! You came to vanquish
a valiant foe; I know the choice you will make. Come on, my heroes! And when
you attack the enemies' batteries let your rallying word be, 'the cannon
lost at Detroit or death'."
The Americans of those days
liked a little highfaluting (let me dare the odious word), but the contrast
between this and the result was a little too strongly marked. Military
conventions were held, resolutions very disparaging to this Boanerges were
passed, suggestions of a nice, close-fitting coat of tar-and-feathers were
made, to escape which he went South, was summarily dismissed from the
service without trial, and eventually found his proper sphere in the
American Congress, though the appropriate soubriquet of' "General Van
Bladder" conferred upon him by his grateful and admiring countrymen followed
him to his grave!
During the first year of the
war, therefore, Britain and British Canadians had decidedly the best of it
on land in all except proclamations. In that field Generals Hull and Smythe
positively annihilated the poor "Britishers."
At sea, however, it had been
different. The admiralty could not or would not understand that the
Americans were building vessels superior in all respects to those which
constituted the fleet on the North American station, and the first
engagement in which the British "Belvidere," in charge of a convoy bound for
the West Indies, beat off Commodore Rogers with a squadron of three frigates
and two sloops, rescued the merchantmen and saved herself, was calculated to
impress them with the fact that it was impossible for Britain to be
otherwise than supreme upon the sea. Moreover, the nominal strength in
equipage and tonnage of the American vessels was not a fair criterion when
compared with the nominal strength of the British. Their vessels were new,
while the British were for the most part old; they had but one war on hand,
while Britain had ships fighting on every sea; their crews were picked
crews, while the British vessels were manned—in most cases under-manned at
that—with motley crews, pressed into the service from every available
quarter and largely undisciplined.
The British "Guerriere;"
after an unequal contest, was obliged to strike her flag to the American
vessel "Constitution," and in October the "Frolic" succumbed to the American
ship "Wasp," the latter, however, being taken and the "Frolic" rescued the
same day by "Poictiers." A few days later the "United States" beat the
"Macedonian," and about the same time the British ship "Peacock'' was, after
a desperate encounter, sunk by the American "Hornet," four of the American
sailors nobly losing their lives in an effort to save the "Peacock's" crew.
The British at last achieved a brilliant victory, however, in the celebrated
battle between the "Shannon," Captain Broke commanding, and the
"Chesapeake." It was probably one of the shortest and most spirited actions
ever fought at sea, lasting only fifteen minutes. Eleven minutes from the
firing of the first shot, Captain Broke boarded the "Chesapeake," and in
four minutes more her flag was hauled down. Captain Lawrence was mortally
wounded, and died almost immediately after, with forty-seven of his officers
and men killed and ninety-nine wounded, fourteen mortally. Captain Broke was
severely wounded, his first lieutenant and twenty-three others killed and
fifty-eight wounded.
The campaign of 1813 opened
on the extreme western frontier, where, owing to the climate being less
rigourous than in the east, they were naturally able to go to work earlier.
Colonel Proctor had been left in command at Detroit by General Brock, when
in the proceeding August the latter had gone to the Niagara frontier.
On the 19th January, he
received information that a division of the American army under General
Winchester was encamped at Frenchtown, some twenty-six miles from Detroit.
He promptly determined to attack them before they could be reinforced by
General Harrison, who was then three or four days' march in the rear. His
disposable force was assembled at Brownstown on the 21st, consisting of five
hundred regulars and militia, and six hundred Indians. The next morning he
advanced some twelve miles to Stoney Creek, and made, at day-break, a
resolute attack on the enemy's camp. General Winchester himself, soon after
the commencement of the action, fell into the hands of the Wyandot Chief
Roundhead, who surrendered him to Colonel Proctor. His forces retreated to
the houses and enclosures, from which they made a vigourous resistance, but
soon surrendered. Their loss in killed and wounded was between three hundred
and four hundred men, while over five hundred men, with one
Brigadier-General, three field officers, nine captains, twenty subalterns,
surrendered prisoners of war. The British loss was twenty-four killed and
one hundred and eighty-five wounded. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada,
then in session, passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Proctor and to the
officers and men of his force. Colonel Proctor was immediately promoted to
the rank of Brigadier-General by the commander of the forces, which was
approved of and confirmed by the Prince Regent.
The next engagement of
moment, the assault and capture of Ogdensburg, was one in which the
Glengarry Light Infantry and the Glengarry Militia played so important a
part that I may be permitted to narrate if at greater length, as it must of
necessity be of interest to-the descendants of those who principally earned
the credit of it— nor is the credit denied them by any of those who have
written on the subject of the war, all bearing testimony to the daring of
the man who devised it, and who, acting on his own discretion, and without
orders to do what he so gallantly accomplished, would probably have been
broken had he failed.
Sir George Prevost, the
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, having closed the Session of the
Legislature, left Quebec on the 17th February on a journey to Upper Canada.
On his arrival at Prescott Lieutenant-Colonel George Macdonell, second in
command there, proposed to him, as he passed through, an attack on
Ogdensburg in retaliation for an excursion by the enemy from thence upon
Brockville some days previously, where a sentry had been wounded, some
cattle pens sacked, some private houses and the gaol burned and fifty-two of
the inhabitants taken into captivity, amongst them two majors, two captains
and two lieutenants, elderly gentlemen who, as a compliment, retained their
commissions in the miiitia.
Mr. James states that Colonel
Macdonell had been sent across the river by Colonel Pearson, his senior
officer, to remonstrate with the American commander at Ogdensburg against
the commission of such depredations. Forsyth was exceedingly insolent to him
and expressed a wish to meet Pearson and his men upon the ice, declaring in
his own vernacular that he could "whip" him with the greatest ease, to which
Macdonell replied that the command at Fort Wellington would in a few days
devolve upon him and that he would have no objection to indulge Colonel
Forsyth in the manner indicated by him.
Ogdensburg was then a
fortified military post, garrisoned and armed, but still more effectually
protected by the breadth of the St. Lawrence, at this point a mile and a
quarter wide. One rash attempt upon it had, as we have seen, already failed.
The Governor did not deem it expedient to order an attack, but as two men
had deserted on the evening of his arrival, and had gone over to the enemy,
who might, on ascertaining of the arrival of the Governor, waylay him on his
route, it was determined that Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell should make a
demonstration on the ice in front of Ogdensburg, as well with a view of
engaging the attention of the enemy as by drawing out their forces to
ascertain the strength of the garrison.
But such a thing as an attack
was expressly forbidden, Sir George Prevost repeating more than once his
prohibition in unequivocal terms. He particularly objected to the hazard of
doing anything that might tend to interrupt the transport of stores then
going on by land, and he would give no credit to the rumour then current and
communicated to him by Colonel Macdonell, that the enemy were about to
concentrate a large force at Ogdensburg for that very purpose. He strictly
enjoined on Colonel Macdonell the necessity of great prudence on his part to
justify the strong step he had taken on placing him (Macdonell) above all
the majors in his army, a measure, he stated, that had already excited great
murmurs among that class of officers. The only admission of the possibility
of an attack that His Excellency would make, was that on the expected
arrival at Prescott of Major Cotton and three hundred men of the King's
Regiment, then some days' march distant, Colonel Macdonell might write to
Major-General de Rottenhurg, commanding at Montreal, and act as that officer
might be pleased to direct.
Colonel Coffin, in his
account of the affair, states that Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell at this time
commanded the Glengarry Light Infantry. This, however, is a mistake. It is
true that on the occasion of the attack he commanded such of them as were
present, as he did the other forces, but it was for the very reason that he
did not receive the command of the regiment which he raised and completed in
the additional establishment, that the local rank of Lieutenant Colonel and
the command of the St. Lawrence frontier was conferred upon him The facts
are stated in Colburn's Military Gazette of 1848, and as they are of
interest and some importance, I quote them at length before giving an
account of the engagement:
"It happened that in the end
of January, 1813, the Glengarry-Highland Militia. Regiment, being much
harassed by severe duties arising out of predatory excursions by the enemy's
strong garrison at Ogdensburg, sent in a petition to the Governor-General
that their personal acquaintance and clansman, Major Macdonell of the
Glengarry Light Infantry, should (since deprived of that corps) be appoint-d
to command them, and the highly vulnerable frontier they had charge of
extending about one hundred miles, and more than half of it at that moment a
bridge of ice, passable for artillery. This petition was of course
undeniable: first, because, without disparagement to the brave and loyal
English and Anglo-Dutch settlers, these Highlanders were, from the; numbers
and peculiar locality, indisputably the sheet anchor of the English tenure
of Canada, and secondly for the following reason:—The Governor-General had,
most unfortunately on the eve of hostilities, by a very inconsiderate breach
of public faith, (more, it is believed, the act of an interested official
than himself) unjustly deprived Major Macdonell of the expressly stipulated
command of the Glengarry Light Infantry, which he had raised and which, but
for his local influence, never could have been attempted, and had placed in
command, from private favour, an Irish officer, undoubtedly brave, but an
utter stranger to the Highlanders in the Glengarry District. The immediate
consequence of this unjust and dangerous act, was mutiny in the corps
itself, and something not unlike an insurrection among their fathers and
brothers in the settlement, a circumstance which can excite the surprise in
anyone who has read Colonel David Stewart's "History of the Highland
Regiments." True, the extreme forbearance of the Catholic Priest in
Glengarry (the Chaplain of the Regiment) and the temperate fullness of Major
Macdonell had allayed the effeivescence, but deep resentment still lurked in
the breast of those sturdy Highlanders, many of whom could not speak one
word of English, at the thought of their relative and clansman having been
betrayed, as they alleged, by the Government, and placed tinier an Irish
Protestant, an alien to them and their peculiar feelings, and as they not
unnaturally but erroneously thought, a bitter enemy to their religion. The
Governor-General appreciated the necessity of putting these brave and loyal
men into good humour with him and the Government, and this he accomplished
by placing Colonel Macdonell at their head and giving him the command in
their own District.
On the morning of the 23rd
February, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell commenced his march on the ice with
about two hundred and thirty militia and two hundred and fifty regulars, two
thirds of the little force being Glengarry Highlanders. The distance across
the river, in the direction of the point of attack, was about a mile and a
half. Owing to the caution requisite in marching over ice with four hundred
and eighty men, at a place which had never been crossed in the same manner,
the troops and militia were divided into two columns and formed in extended
order.
Obeying for some time the
command of Prevost, Colonel Macdonell played with the enemy, but, as Mr.
Rattray observes, the season for action had come. They needed no martial
address or inflated proclamation. The Highland blood was up. 'These men did
not plead qualms of conscience or constitutional scruples for not daring the
ice which undulated and cracked and gaped beneath their feet. The American
Commandant Forsyth was at his breakfast, and affected to ridicule the
demonstration. Macdonell divided his force into two columns, having, as
stated, advanced rapidly to the attack—speed and resolution alone could save
him. The Americans, more wary than their chief, sprang to their guns;
musketry and cannon opened on the advancing columns. The left, under
Macdonell himself, rushed rapidly on, under a heavy fire, and through the
deep snow ascended the river bank and swept from the ice into the village of
Ogdensburg, overwhelming all opposition. Here, from the eastern bank of the
Oswegatchie, he commanded to a great extent the flank and rear of the old
French Fort Presentation and the batteries which raked the river; but his
own guns were behind hand, they had stuck in the deep snowbank and rough
ice, broken and piled, at the river bank. By furious efforts they were
forced to the front, and not a moment too soon. While this was doing Captain
Jenkins, of the Glengarry Fencibles, who commanded the right wing, a gallant
New Brunswicker, was making a most desperate effort to carry out the part
assigned to him. Seven pieces of artillery, backed by two hundred good
troops, smashed the head of his advance; gallantly he rallied his broken
column; not a living man shrank; springing forward with a cheer, his left
arm was shattered by a shot; nothing daunted, forward and still cheering on,
his upright right arm was disabled by a case shot; still disregarding all
personal consideration, he nobly ran on, cheering his men, to the assault,
till, exhausted by pain and loss of blood he became unable to move, his
company gallantly continuing the charge under Lieutenant Macaulay. The
Glengarries, with broken formation, through the deep snow, in front of the
deadly battery, were reforming for a charge with the bayonet, when,
fortunately, Macdonell's guns on the left got within range. Captain Eustace,
with the men of the King's Regiment, crossed the Oswegatchie and captured
the eastern battery, and, together, both attacks swarmed into the body of
the place, to find it vacated, except by dead and dying—the enemy having
withdrawn to the woods in their west rear, where there was no means of
intercepting their retreat."
"The gallant little
band—worthy sons of the Gaelic clans—had nobly vindicated their claim to
ancestral valour. Ogdensburg was theirs and an end was put to frontier raids
from the other side."
Eleven pieces of cannon and
all the ordnance, mariial, commissariat and quartermaster-general's stores,
four officers, seventy men were taken, and two armed schooners, two large
gunboats and both the barracks burnt, twenty of the enemy killed and a large
number wounded. Of the British seven were killed and seven officers
(including Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell) and forty-one men wounded. Colonel
Coffin suggests that on crossing the river a little of the old raiding
temper had revived among the Highlandmen, and the word "spulzie" had passed
and many facts glistened with glee at the hopeful prospect. This is the only
case in which I find my old friend drawing upon his imagination for his
facts!
On the day following this
action Sir George Prevost was at dinner with the officers of his staff at
Kingston when his Colonial Aide-de-Camp, Captain Percival, who had remained
behind for a day at Montreal when Sir George left there, walked in, holding
in his hand Colonel Macdonell's despatch announcing his success at
Ogdensburg, and apologizing to the Governor-General for having dared to take
it. His Excellency filled a bumper to the captor and that night wrote hima
as follows ;—
"Kingston, 24th February,
1813.
* My Dear Sir,—Although you
have rather exceeded my orders, I am well pleased with what you have done,
and so I have just told you in a general order, which is to announce to the
troops in British America your achievement.
"I am, yours faithfully,
"(Signed), George Prevost.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell."
The general order stated
that. "* * * " His Excellency feels much pleasure in publicly expressing
his- entire approbation of the gallantry and judgment with which the taking
of Ogdensburg appears to have been conducted. A salute to be fired
immediately."
On the 8th March, 1813, the
House of Assembly of Upper Canada passed a vote of thanks to
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell and his force for what the Speaker, in his
letter transmitting it styled, "the splendid victory at Ogdensburg." Sir
Roger Sheaffe, Lieutenant-Governor and Major-General commanding in Upper
Canada, although a personal stranger to Colonel Macdonell, wrote to the
latter from York a letter of congratulation on his recent success in the
brilliant affair of Ogdensburg. The Governor-General recommended to the
Horse Guards that Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, who had been severely
wounded in the action, should receive by brevet a confirmation of the local
rank in which he performed the service, and in consideration of the
political importance even then visible, but not fully appreciated until
afterwards, proposed to the Government that the capture of Ogdensburg be
made a medal day. Indeed, even His Royal Highness the Duke of York himself,
at a later period, also recommended that it should be made a medal day, but
Lord Bathurst replied that the list had been closed and could not be
re-opened. It seems scarcely fair that it should have been left to a
civilian such as Lord Bathurst to pronounce upon and determine a matter
purely military. A medal was given for the taking of Detroit, where not a
life was lost on either side. A motion was made, some time after the vote of
thanks was passed in the House of Assembly, that a sword of the value of one
hundred guineas should be presented to Colonel Macdonell. It seems scarcely
credible, and certainly is far from creditable-, that religious differences
should have determined a matter such as this, but I fear it was so. The
writer in the Military Gazette does not hesitate to state that it was
because Colonel Macdonell was "a Papist" that the motion was allowed to
drop, and declared that the then Speaker of the House boasted afterwards
that he had quashed ir by using the "argument" that on account of his
religion Colonel Macdonell ought not to receive from a Protestant House any
recognition of his bravery and services. the name of his authority is given,
Mr. John Cumming, of Kingston, then or afterward member for that town.
Sir George Prevost, in his
proclamation to the inhabitants of His Majesty's Provinces in North America,
of 12th January, 1814, in contrasting the conduct of the troops under his
command with that of the American forces, refers to the conduct of the
British on this occasion as follows : * * * "In the winter of the following
year, when the success which attended the gallant enterprise against
Ogdensburg had placed that populous and flourishing village in our
possession, the generosity of the British character was again conspicuous in
scrupulous preservation of every article which could be considered as
private property, such public buildings only being destroyed as were used
for the accommodation of troops and for public stores. The destruction of
the defences of Ogdensburg and the dispersion of the enemy's force in that
neighbourhood laid open the whole of the frontier on the St. Lawrence to the
incursion of his His Majesty's troops, and Hamilton, as well as the other
numerous settlements on the banks of the river might, at any hour, had such
been the disposition of His Majesty's Government, or of those acting under
it, been plundered and laid waste."
A correspondent in the United
Service Magazine, 1848, part 1, page 452, does not hesitate to affirm that
this important part was taken on that morning contrary to the most positive
orders, verbal and written, of the Governor-General in person and on the
spot only one-half hour previous to the attempt, and that when
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell hazarded the attack he was acting under
something like a certainty of being cashiered by a court martial, if not
indeed sentenced to be shot, for disobedience of orders in the event of
failure. Nothing but success could justify the attempt—it was a case of do
or die—and yet, when it was done, the despatch announcing it to the Home
authorities and published in the London "Gazette" was altered, and Colonel
Macdonell was made to say, over his own signature, that he had taken
Ogdensburg "by the command of His Excellency."
Being constantly employed in
remote parts of the upper country, Colonel Macdonell did not discover this
misrepresentation of fact until November, 1816, and when he called the
attention of the Colonial Military Secretary to it, the only reply he
received was that such alterations were customary in the service. The matter
was subsequently brought before the Duke of York, but the time had gone by
and Colonel Macdonell was left without satisfaction. He was a rash young
officer and did more than his duty, for which men are seldom thanked.
The statement has frequently
been made that, having acted in disobedience of orders, he was obliged to
leave the service. This, of course, is untrue. Though he never received for
this and other important services rendered by him, any reward commensurate
with his merits, he continued on the service, received one of the two gold
medals given for Chateauguay, and in 1817 was made a Commander of the Bath.
He afterwards commanded the 79th Highlanders.
When General Pike arrived at
Ogdensburg in the week following with five thousand regular American troops,
he found the garrison had fled to Sackett's Harbour, the barracks all burned
down, the fort dismantled and all the artillery, stores and provisions
transferred to our side of the river, and, having no food or cover for his
men, and setting his grand plan of taking Prescott, and with it hampering
all Upper Canada, anticipated and counteracted, he thought it prudent to
abandon all idea of conquest and to hurry on to Lake Ontario. Thus the
taking of Ogdensburg completely frustrated all the enemy's schemes; it
forced him to remove the seat of war for six months thereafter three hundred
miles further from Montreal, and so compel him to waste his time and
strength in that, for him, remote and useless locality, and this too when
time was everything for Britain, as it gave time for the arrival of troops.
The return of killed and
wounded shows:—Royal Artillery, two rank and file killed Eighth or
King's Regiment, one sergeant killed, one subaltern, twelve rank and file
wounded; Glengarry Light Infantry, two rank and file killed, one captain,
one subaltern, three sergeants, nine rank and file wounded. Militia,
nineteen wounded. The officers wounded were:—King's Regiment, Ensign Powell;
Glengarry Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, Captain Jenkins and Ensign
McKay; Militia, Captain Macdonell and Lieutenants Impey, McLean and
Macdonell.
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell,
in his despatch to Sir George Prevost, among other officers mentioned for
their gallant conduct, Lieutenant Macaulay, and Ensigns Macdonell and Kerr,
of the Glengarry Regiment, and Ensign Kerr, of the Militia, the two latter
of whom had each charge of a field piece. Needless to say, the gallantry and
devotion of Captain Jenkins was first recorded.
The following men of the
Glengarry Militia Regiments, who were wounded at the taking of Ogdensburg,
received a pension of twenty pounds each:
First Regiment Glengarry
Militia:—D. McDermid, Farquhar McBean, Donald Macdonell, John Macdonell,
Thomas Ross.
Charles Mackinnon and Finlay
Munro were wounded near Cornwall on the 10th November, 1812, and also
received a pension of twenty pounds.
To Glengarry and Glengarry
men, I think I have shown, must that important achievement, one of the most
daring of the war, be credited in greater part.
I have obtained, from the
official records, a list of the officers and men of the flank companies of
the Glengarry Militia Regiments who were present both at the taking of
Ogdensburg and the capture of Fort Covington, in the same year, all of whom
received grants of two hundred acres of land from the Crown for their
services on the conclusion of the war, but I regret that want of space will
net permit me to insert it.
When the Legislature of Upper
Canada assembled at York on 25th February, 1813, General Sir Robert Sheaffe,
commanding the forces in Upper Canada, and who had succeeded Sir Isaac Brock
as President of the Province, in his address to the House stated, "It
affords me satisfaction that the first time I am called upon to address you
in this place, I have to offer you my cordial congratulations on the uniform
success which has crowned His Majesty's arms in this Province. The enemy has
been foiled in repeated attempts to invade it. Three of his armies have been
surrendered or completely defeated, and two important posts wrested from
him. In this glorious campaign, the valour and discipline of His Majesty's
regular troops have been nobly supported by the zeal and bravery of our
loyal militia."
The Americans' plan of
campaign for this season included attacks on Kingston, Fort George, Niagara
and York. Their superiority on the lake rendered the situation of these
places very critical—that of York, which was entirely unprotected, extremely
much so. It was then, as now, the capital of the Province, though in 1812,
instead of a population of two hundred and sixteen thousand, it contained
one thousand souls. The Legislative Buildings and Government Offices were
there, and all official people were obliged to live in "Muddy little York,"
as people of other places then and for many years after called it. The
British force stationed there consisted of but six hundred men under General
Sheaffe.
In April, 1813, Commodore
Chauncey, with a squadron of sixteen sail, and having on board of the
various vessels General Dearborn and some two thousand five hundred American
soldiers, left Sickett's Harbour, and on the 26th of that month arrived at
York, which fell an easy prey on the following day. It was as well defended
as could be expected, by the regular force, consisting of a company of the
Glengarries, a company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (which served in
this Province throughout the whole War) and two companies of the Eighth
Regiment (which happened to be at York en route from Kingston to Niagara),
and the local militia; but successful resistance was out of the question.
The enemy had virtually captured the place when an explosion occurred at the
powder magazine, where some two hundred and fifty of the Americans were
killed or wounded, including General Pike, their commander (General Dearborn
appearing to have remained on board), as well as a few of the British, The
American papers endeavoured, with their usual untruthfulness, to show that
this was done intentionally, though the evidence was all to the contrary,
and even if it had been it was perfectly consistent with the rules of
Warfare.
General Sheaffe retired with
the regular forces to Kingston, and the militia, to the number of two
hundred and ninety three, with a few officers and men of the Royal Navy,
surrendered prisoners of war. The Americans burned the public buildings with
the libraries and all the records and papers of Parliament, and gained
possession of a great quantity of naval and other stores. The British loss
was sixty-two killed and seventy-two wounded. Of the Glengarry Regiment, two
rank and file were killed, Ensign Robins and three rank and file wounded,
and three rank and file missing. The militia rolls fell into the hands of
the enemy, who claimed many as prisoners who never surrendered into their
hands. York had a. fictitious importance, owing to its being, the capital
'of the Province, and we can easily understand, as the fact was, that the
Americans made the most of its capture. Commodore Chauncey forwarded to the
Secretary of the Navy the British standard which was taken, accompanied by
the mace, and what he claimed was a human scalp which hung over it. Colonel
Coffin says it was a peruke such as was commonly worn in those days, and
very likely belonged to the Speaker, while Mr. Auchinleck suggests it was
the scalp of an unfortunate Indian who was shot in a tree by the Americans,
and was taken by Commodore Chauucey himself.
They held possession of York
about a week, evacuating it on the 2nd May, when they proceeded to the
Niagara frontier. The regular force in that district at the time consisted
of the Forty-Ninth Regiment, and of detachments of the Eighth, Forty-First,
Glengarry-Light Infantry, and Royal Newfoundland corps, with some artillery,
the whole commanded by Brigadier-General Vincent. At Fort George were about
a thousand of these, with three hundred militia and about fifty Indians, but
unfortunately there was so great a scarcity of powder that they were able to
mate but little use of the guns.
After being driven back in
three separate efforts to land, the Americans on the 27th May obtained
possession of the fort, which General Vincent abandoned, having lost three
officers, one noncommissioned officer and forty-eight rank and file killed,
eleven officers, four sergeants and twenty-nine men wounded and one officer,
thirteen sergeants and two hundred and forty rank and file wounded and
missing; and the Americans thirty-one killed and one hundred and eleven
wounded. The Eighth Regiment, Glengarry Light Infantry and Royal
Newfoundland detachments lost about half their united force. The Glengarry
Regiment had one captain, one ensign, one sergeant, twenty-four rank and
file killed; one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, three sergeants,
twenty rank and file wounded; one lieutenant, two sergeants, twenty-three
rank and file wounded and missing. The officers of the Glengarry Regiment
killed were Captain Lidell and Ensign McLean; those wounded Captain Roxburgh,
lieutenant Kerr and Ensign Kerr. General Vincent fell back to the head of
the lake, the enemy not attempting to follow, and eventually encamped at
Burlington Heights, when his supply of ammunition was reduced to ninety
rounds per man. On the 5th June the enemy were encamped at Stoney Creek Mr
Auchirdeck shows conclusively that their force was not less than from two
thousand two hundred to two thousand five hundred men, while Genera! Vincent
states it to have been three thousand five hundred, with two hundred and
fifty cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey (afterwards Sir John Harvey,
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick:), who had been sent by General Vincent
to reconnoitre, recommended a night attack, which General Vincent determined
on and advanced with a force of seven hundred and four men. Colonel Harvey
led the attack; the enemy was completely surprised. He was charged again and
again, and before daybreak the battle was over; the first and second
officers in command, Brigadier-Generals Chandler and Winters. and upwards of
one hundred officers, non-commissioned officers and men made prisoners and
the remainder of the survivors in lull retreat to Forty-Mile Creek, where a
junction was effected with two thousand men who were on their march to
reinforce him. The British loss was twenty-three killed, including one
lieutenant, twelve officers, nine sergeants and one hundred and fifteen men
wounded arid fifty-five missing. On the 14 June Colonel Boerstler, of the
United States Army, with a force of five hundred and forty-one men, having
been sent to surprise an outpost in the vicinity, and having been rather
severely handled on the way by Colonel Bisshopp, Colonel Clark of the
Lincoln Militia and a few Indians, was summoned to surrender by Lieutenant
(afterwards Colonel) Fitzgibbon, who was at the head of some thirty men and
two hundred Indians, which with praiseworthy exaggeration he represented to
be many times their number and the vanguard of a large army in the immediate
vicinity. Colonel Boerstler threw up the sponge and surrendered to this
imposing force. Just as the enemy were being drawn up, Major De Haren, of
the Canadian Fencibles, arrived with two hundred and twenty-nine men, and
articles of capitulation were agreed upon. Very naturally, there was a row
in Congress over this succession of mortifying defeats. It culminated in the
recall of General Dearborn, who bad been scarcely been more fortunate than
Generals Hull and Smvthe, and the taking of York and Fort George were amply
avenged. |
