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General Dearborn in Turn
Superseded.—Successful Attacks on Fort Schlosser and Black Rock.—Death of
Colonel Bisshopp.—Attack, on Sackett's Harbour.— Prevost's Demonstration on
Fort George.— The Glengarry Regiment's Timely Occupation of Burlington
Heights. — York Again Taken.— Canada Menaced in Three Directions in the
Autumn of 1813. — Disasters on Lake Erie.—Evacuation of Detroit.—General
Proctor Defeated at Moraviantown.—Death of Tecumseth —Court-Martial on
Proctor.
General Dearborn was
succeeded by Generals Boyd and Lewis, The enemy, by these successes of the
British, was compelled to confine himself to Fort George and its environs,
where sickness broke out and his troops suffered considerably. Though
General Vincent's force amounted to only eighteen hundred men, he beleagured
the Americans, numbering some four thousand, and before the 1st of July the
British had formed a line extending from Twelve Mile Creek on lake Ontario
across to Queenston on the Niagara River, nor did they leave the enemy idle.
The "glorious Fourth" of
July, of all days in the year, was selected by Colonel Clark, of the 2nd
Lincoln Militia, for a descent of Fort Schlosser, immediately above Niagara
Falls, and during the night a small party of militia with a few regular
soldiers surprised the guard at that post and brought away a brass
six-pounder, upwards of fifty stands of arms, a quantity of stores, with a
gunboat and two batteaux, without loss of life. Again, on the 11th July,
poor Colonel Bisshopp, who had so distinguished himself on the Niagara
Frontier in the preceding autumn and spring, crossed over to Black Rock,
near Buffalo, at daybreak with two hundred and forty men, consisting of a
small party of militia and detachments of the Eighth, Forty-first and
Forty-ninth Regiments. He effectually surprised the enemy and burnt his
block houses, stores, barracks, dock-yard and a vessel, but while occupied
in securing the stores the enemy, with a reinforcement of militia and
Indians, under cover of the surrounding woods, opened a smart fire and
compelled the British to hasten their retreat, with the loss of thirteen
killed and a number of wounded, among the latter being Colonel Bisshopp
himself, who died almost immediately, to the deep regret of his companions
in arms. He was an officer of singular merit and but thirty years of age. A
beautiful monument in the graveyard at Drummondville, erected by his family
in England, marks his resting-place.
On the same day that the
Americans took Fort George (27th May), Sir James Yeo having arrived in
Kingston from England, with some naval officers and seamen to the number of
four hundred and fifty, and Sir George Prevost being also at Kingston, it
was determined by these two officers that an attack should be made on
Sackett's Harbour, on the American side, somewhat higher up the Lake, the
enemy's fleet being then at Niagara. Some seven hundred men, including a
company of the Glengarry Regiment, set out from Kingston on board three
frigates, four gunboats and some batteaux, and at noon of the 28th they were
on Sackett's Harbour. An unfortunate delay occurred, however, which was the
precursor of other miscarriages. This delay enabled the Americans to
assemble their militia from the surrounding district, and thus, by the
material addition of some five hundred men to their regular force
(consisting of dragoons, artillery and infantry, to the number of seven
hundred and eighty-seven) largely to outnumber the invading force. The
landing took place, after much difficulty, on the morning of the 29th, not
without strong opposition on the pan of the enemy, under General Brown,
while the fleet which was to have supported the advance of the troops was,
owing to adverse winds, a long way off. Colonel Baynes, Colonel commanding
the Glengarry Regiment and Adjutant-General of the forces in British North
America, who was in charge of the attacking party, having at length secured
a landing, ordered his men to divide and scour the woods, where the enemy
had taken refuge, and kept up a sharp fire on the British.
They succeeded in dislodging
the enemy at the point of the bayonet, who thereupon fled to their fort and
blockhouses, whither they were pursued by the British, who set fire to the
barracks. Colonel Biynes considered, however, that it would be impossible to
capture the enemy's blockhouses and stockaded battery without the assistance
of artillery, which had not been landed, and without the aid of the fleet,
which was still out of reach, while his men were exposed to the fire of the
enemy, secure within his works. Colonel Bockus, of the American Army, had,
however, in the meantime, been killed, and part of his force had fled. The
signal for retreat to the boats was given to the British and the enterprise
abandoned at the very moment that victory was within their grasp, the enemy
so far calculating upon a decisive victory for our forces as to have set
fire to their naval storehouses, hospital and marine barracks, by which all
the booty previously taken at York was consumed. It was a most unfortunate
occurrence, and all the more so owing to the presence of the leaders of the
land and naval forces, and the attack having been under the immediate
direction of the Adjutant-General. The British loss was one officer and
forty-seven men killed and two hundred wounded and missing; that of the
Americans about three hundred killed and wounded. The Glengarry Regiment
lost six rank and file killed, Captain McPherson was severely and Ensign
Matheson slightly wounded; one sergeant and seventeen of their rank and file
were also wounded. Colonel Baynes, in his report to Sir George Prevost,
stated that Captain Macpherson's company of the Glengarry Light Infantry,
the one present in this action, evinced most striking proof of their
loyalty, steadiness and courage.
This untoward event was a
grievous blow to the military reputation of Sir George Prevost, nor was it
strengthened by what took place on the Niagara Frontier in August following.
The two armies had there
remained in sight of each other, inactive, until the Commander of the Forces
had arrived from Kingston when the speedy reduction of Fort George, where
the Americans were entrenched, was confidently expected. The Governor, to
ascertain, as it was pretended, the extent of the enemy's works and the
means he possessed of defending the position which he occupied, determined
upon making a demonstration on that for on the 24th of August, and the army
was put in movement as if for an assault anon. The enemy's pickets were
driven in, several of them being taken- and the British advanced within a
few hundred yards of the enemy, who. although supported by a fire upon the
British from their bateries on the opposite shore, declined leaving their
entrenchments to venture into the field. Sir George, however, did not deem
it advisable to risk a trill for the recovery of the Fort, which, as he
deemed it, was not of sufficient moment to compensate for the loss that must
have ensued had an attack been made. It is true the American forces within
the fort numbered four thousand, while those in the neighbourhood of Fort
George did not exceed two thousand on an extended line, yet the Americans
were totally dependent upon their own resources for their subsistence, and
were compelled to act solely on the defensive from the hostile front assumed
by the British in their neighbourhood.
This fruitless
"demonstration," coming, as it did, so soon after the fiasco at Sackett's
Harbour, dispelled whatever confidence in Sir George Prevost as commander of
the forces, the army and those in the country best able to judge of his
capacity as such previously entertained. nor was he ever able to regain it.
Shortly before this however,
the Glengarry Regiment had another opportunity of distinguishing itself. On
the 28th July the American fleet under Commodore Chauncey, which was then
lying off the Niagara River, having on board a battery of artillery and a
considerable number of troops under Colonel Scott, U.S.A., proceeded to the
head of the Lake, with a view of seizing and destroying the stores at
Burlington Heights, the principal depot of the army on the Niagara frontier,
then garrisoned by a small detachment under Major Maule. The design of the
enemy against the depot being suspected, the Glengarry Regiment, under
Battersby, was ordered by Colonel Harvey from York, and by a march of
extraordinary celerity arrived in time to save the place. The enemy, upon
hearing of their arrival, wisely determining to abandon the proposed attack.
The Glengarry Regiment unfortunately lost their baggage which they had left
in some boats in a creek in the neighbourhood of York. Colonel Battersby
wrote to Major William Allan to send some of the militia to secure it, but
the letter did not reach its destination, as the gallant officer to whom it
was addressed had retired to the woods when the Americans appeared off York.
Commodore Chauncey, however, on ascertaining that York, by the advance of
the Glengarry Regiment to Burlington Heights, was left unprotected, seized
the opportunity and bore down upon that unfortunate place, which he entered
on the 31st July. The Americans landed without opposition, and having taken
possession of a small quantity of stores, set fire to the barracks and
public storehouses, and having re-embarked their troops, and carrying with
them some sick and wounded American prisoners found in York and a quantity
of provisions from the shop of Mr. William Allan, bore away for Niagara.
Some naval engagements took
place about this time on Lake Ontario between the rival naval commanders,
Yeo and Chauncey, each striving for the command of the Lake. The British
captured two small vessels (the "Julia" and "Growler") off Niagara, and the
Americans lost two others, the "Scourge" and "Hamilton," in a press of sail
to escape the British; all the officers and men, except sixteen of the
latter, being drowned. No general engagement, however, occurred. On the 1st
October the American fleet set sail from Fort George with a convoy of troops
for Sackett's Harbour, where an expedition was preparing whose destination
was as yet unknown, and was, as we shall shortly see, fated ultimately to be
untoward. In their way they fell in with and captured five small vessels out
of seven, with upwards of two hundred and fifty men of De Watteville's
Regiment, from York bound for Kingston, where an attack was apprehended, a
loss which, although small, was. owing to the scarcity of troops in the
Upper Province, severely felt.
It was during this autumn
that the Americans made the most strenuous, and in one quarter, most
successful efforts of the War. Three separate armies menaced Canada in as
many directions. In the East, during the month of September, the forces
which had been concentrated at Burlington, in the State of Vermont, under
General Hampton, moved across Lake Champlain to Plattsburg, with a view of
penetrating into the District of Montreal, the army under Hampton's command,
consisting of seven thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry, and being
well supplied with artillery.
General Wilkinson at
Sackett's Harbour, on Lake Ontario, a short distance above Kingston, on the
opposite side of Lake Ontario, was preparing, under the immediate direction
of General Armstrong, the American Secretary at War, a large flotilla of
batteaux and Durham boats for an expedition of ten thousand men, destined
against Kingston or Montreal, though fated to reach neither place.
General Harrison, with an
army shortly reinforced until it numbered eight thousand men, was camped on
the Miami River, in Michigan, only awaiting the equipment of the American
fleet fitting out at Presq' Isle, some distance below on Lake Erie, to move
his forces against Detroit, which still continued in possession of the
British (since its capture by Brock at the beginning of the War), and carry
on offensive operations in the neighbourhood of Lake Erie. Fortunately only
the latter was successful, and in the West the most disastrous engagements
of the War, both on water and land, with the exception possibly of
Plattsburg, took place, though the valour of the British naval forces
retrieved to some extent the serious loss sustained.
The British fleet on Lake
Erie was commanded by Captain Robert Barclay, who had seen service under
Nelson, and lost an arm at Trafalgar, his flagship being the "Detroit"; his
squadron consisting in all of six vessels and sixty-three guns, while
Commodore Perry was in command of the enemy's fleet, his flagship, the
"Laurence," and his Squadron comprising nine vessels, with fifty-two guns,
the weight in metal being, however, in favour of the Americans, in the
proportion of over two to one in pounds.
During the month of July the
British had maintained an effective blockade on the American fleet in Presq'
Isle Harhour, where a sandbar prevented the larger American vessels moving
out without unshipping their guns, but towards the end of August, Barclay
having occasion to proceed to Long Point, on the Canadian side, for
provisions, the Americans took advantage of his absence and crossed the bar.
The British fleet then sailed for Amherstburg, followed shortly by Commodore
Perry, for the head of the Lake. The British forces in the Michigan
Territory, under the command of General Proctor, falling short of supplies,
for which they depended solely upon the fleet. Captain Barclay had no
alternative but a general engagement, which accordingly took place on the
10th September, near Put-in-Bay, though the British fleet had but fifty
experienced sailors between its six vessels, the rest of the crews being
made up of two hundred and forty soldiers and eighty volunteer Canadian
seamen, while Perry's ships were fully manned with six hundred skilled
seamen. The battle began about half after twelve, and continued with great
fury until half past two, the advantage being then on the side of the
British, Commodore Perry being obliged to abandon his flagship and take to
another vessel, the "Laurence" shortly afterwards striking her colours, but
the British, from the weakness of their crews, were unable to take
possession of her. A sudden and strong breeze enabled the Americans to
retrieve the fortunes of the day, Barclay's, vessels, owing to lack of
seamen, becoming unmanageable.
Captain Barclay himself was
dangerously wounded, his thigh being battered and his only arm disabled.
Captain Finnis, of the "Queen Charlotte," killed, and every British
commander and officer second in command either killed or wounded, forty-one
of the British officers and seamen and soldiers were killed and ninety-four
wounded. Little wonder the flag was struck! The American loss was
twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded, though the battle lasted but
little over three hours.
Mrs. Edgar, in her
interesting book, "Ten Years of Upper Canada," states that when some months
afterwards the gallant Barclay (who had been placed on parole and then
exchanged), was brought before a court of enquiry to answer for the loss of
his fleet, his judges were moved to tears as they looked at the mutilated
form of the hero who had fought so well. She mentions that he was a
Scotchman, and had attended school at Keltie, at which Bishop Strachan, who
afterwards taught at Cornwall, was the master.
Disastrous was the engagement
itself, in that the whole British squadron on Lake Erie was captured by the
enemy, who now became masters of the Lake, it was even more so by reason of
the fact that the British army in possession of the Michigan Territory, and
in the neighbourhood of' Detroit, was thus deprived of every prospect of
obtaining future supplied and a speedy evacuation of Detroit and a retreat
towards the head of Lake Ontario became inevitable. Fort Detroit, therefore,
was immediately evacuated; Proctor, on leaving, destroying the magazines,
barracks and public stores. Had the retreat been properly managed matters
would not have been so bad.
Commodore Perry, as soon
after the engagement of the 10th as circumstances permitted, transported the
American forces under command of Harrison to Put-in-Bay, from whence they
were conveyed to the neighbourhood of Amherstburgh (or Maiden, as it was
then called), which also had been abandoned by the British, which they
occupied on the evening of the 23rd September.
Proctor's troops were
altogether too inadequate in numbers and destitute in resources to make a
stand against the overwhelming forces of the enemy and retreat along the
River Thames was determined upon, the Indians, under Colonel Elliott, of the
Indian Department, with their great Chief Tecuinseh, still adhering to his
standard in his reverses with unshaken fidelity, and covering his retreat.
He was closely followed by General Harrison, whose force was escorted by a
number of batteaux under the immediate direction of Commodore Perry, by
which they were enabled to overtake, on the 4th October, the rear guard of
the British, and succeeded in capturing the whole of their ammunition and
stores. It was under these adverse circumstances that Proctor was compelled
to stake the fate of his small army in a general engagement. He accordingly
assumed a position on the right bank of the River Thames, at the Indian
Village of Moraviantown, where he awaited the approach of the enemy, who had
crossed the river in the morning, and came up in the afternoon of the 5th
October. The battle was of short duration. Harrison had among his forces a
large number of Kentucky cavalry, accustomed to ride with extraordinary
dexterity through the most intricate woods. These he ordered to charge full
speed upon the British. By this charge of the enemy our soldiers, worn out
with fatigue and hunger, and dispirited by the unpromising appearance of the
campaign, became totally routed, and for the most part surrrendered
prisoners to the enemy, while General Proctor and his personal staff sought
safety in flight. The Indians behaved with a gallantry worthy of the chief
who led them, and for a considerable time carried on the contest with the
left of the American line with great determination, but finding all hope of
retrieving the day to be futile, at length yielded to the overwhelming
numbers of the enemy, and reluctantly left the field, but not until the
great Tecumseh had fallen.
Mr. James states that
Tecumseh, although he had received a musket ball in the left arm, was still
seeking the hottest of the fire, when he encountered Colonel Johnson, Member
of Congress for Kentucky. Just as the chief; having discharged his ride, was
rushing forward with his tomahawk, he received a ball in the head from the
colonel's pistol. Thus fell the great Indian warrior in the forty-fourth
year of his age. What Brant had been to the British in the Revolutionary
War, Tecumseh was in the War of 1812, and the memory and services of these
two great men would, were other motives wanting, of themselves constitute a
reason why the Indian tribes of British America should be treated with
justice, consideration and respect by those who are charged with the
administration of affairs. He was a great leader of his people, of strong
intellect and lofty spirit, sufficiently austere in manner to control the
wayward passions of those who followed him in war. He had a flow of oratory
that enabled him, as he governed in the field, so to guide in council.
Though he frequently levied subsidies to a large amount, yet he preserved
little or nothing to himself—not wealth but glory being his ruling passion.
After the capture of Detroit, in which his knowledge of the surrounding
country, as well as the awe inspired by his followers, had been of
inestimable value. General Brock, as soon as the business was over, publicly
took off his sash and placed it around the body of the chief. Tecumseh
received the honour with evident gratification, but was the next day seen
without the sash. General Brock, fearing something had displeased the
Indian, sent his interpreter for an explanation. The latter soon returned
with an account that Tecumseh, not wishing to wear such a mark of
distinction when an older, and, as he said, abler warrior than himself was
present, had transferred the sash to the Wyandot Chief Roundhead, which act
of disinterestedness proved him to have had the highest and best instincts
of a gentleman. The Prince Regent, cut of respect to his memory, sent out a
valuable sword as a present to his son, a lad seventeen years of age, who
fought by his father's side when he fell. That he was scalped by the
Americans is beyond doubt, and Mr. James proves conclusively that the
Kentucky soldiery, not content with his scalp, which would be the property
of but one, absolutely flayed his body in order to procure "trophies" which
all might share, quoting from Burdick's Pol. and Hist. Reg., p. 84, which
American authority admits that "some of the Kentuckians disgraced themselves
by committing indignities on his dead body. He was scalped and otherwise
disfigured. He held the rank of Brigadier-General in the British Army.
The British loss at
Moraviantown was twelve killed, twenty-two wounded, while thirty-three of
our Indians were found dead on the field. Upwards of six hundred of the
army, including twenty-five officers, were made prisoners of war. The
American loss was but seven killed and twenty-two wounded. Such of the
British as escaped made the best of their way to Ancaster, at the head of
Lake Ontario, exposed, at an inclement season, to all the horrors of the
then wilderness. On the seventeenth of October they arrived at that place to
the number of two hundred and forty-six, including General Proctor and
seventeen officers.
General Proctor was tried by
court-martial at Montreal in December, 1814, on five charges preferred
against him for misconduct on this occasion. He was found guilty of portions
of the charges and sentenced to be publicly reprimanded and to be suspended
from rank and pay for six months, but though it was found that he did not
take proper measures for conducting the retreat, and had been guilty of
errors of judgment and deficient in those energetic and active exertions
which the situation of his army so particularly required, the Court
nevertheless most fully acquitted him of any defect or reproach in regard to
his personal conduct during the action of the 5th October. The Prince
Regent, in confirming the finding of the Court, animadverted upon its
"mistaken lenity " towards the accused, and directed the general officer
commanding in Canada to convey to General Proctor His Royal Highness' high
disapprobation of his conduct, and directed that the charges preferred
against him, together with the finding and sentence of the Court, and the
Prince Regent's remarks thereupon, should be entered in general orders and
read at the head of every regiment in His Majesty's service. His previous
services in this war, when he defeated the enemy at Brownstown, which
contributed much to the fall of Detroit and the capitulation of Hull, and
the American army, and his brilliant victory over a superior force under
Winchester on the River Raisin, in Michigan, were however, remembered to his
advantage, and the Canadian people viewed the defeat at Moraviantown with
generous indulgence. He commanded again during the War, was afterwards
promoted to the risk of Lieutenant-General, surviving until 1859, when he
died at his seat in Wales.
Shortly after this untoward
event General Vincent, who continued the investment of Fort George, deemed
it expedient to raise the siege of that place and fall back upon Burlington
Heights, lest General Harrison, by a bold and rapid march, or by a sudden
descent in the fleet from Amherstburg, should re-occupy that important
position, which would have the effect of placing him, Vincent, between the
two hostile armies. This he succeeded in doing, though not without great
difficulty, being closely pressed for several days by a brigade of one
thousand five hundred men under Generals McClure and Porter from Fort
George.
Fortunately, though General
Harrison had carried all before him in the extreme west of the Province,
neither Wilkinson's force, which had assembled at Sackett's Harbour, nor
Hampton's, which it was intended should invest Montreal, were equally
successful. |
