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Evacuation of Fort George by
the Americans, Who, Before Leaving, Destroy the Town of Newark
(Niagara).—Taking of American Fort Niagara by British, December 19th, 1813,
and or Lewiston, 20th, and or Black Rock and Buffalo, December,
1823—Retaliation.—Close of Second-Year of the. War.
Matters being thus, in a
comparatively satisfactory position in Lower Canada, it became essential to
take immediate and effective steps as regards the Upper Province. Towards
this end Major-General De Rottenburg was relieved of the command in the
Province, arid Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond appointed in his stead.
That active, brave and resolute officer, of Scotch descent, though born in
Canada, immediately proceeded to show the stuff' of which he was made, and
entered upon a most vigorous and successful campaign.
His first objective point was
Port George, but General McClure, hearing of the disasters which had
befallen Wilkinson and Hampton on the St. Lawrence, relieved him of further
anxiety in regard to that post by evacuating it and moving his force to Fort
Niagara on their own side of the river, on the 12th December. Before leaving
Canadian soil, however, he was guilty of an offence against the rules of
civilized warfare, and acting under the immediate instructions of the
American Secretary at War, he set fire, on the tenth December, to the
Village of Newark, as Niagara was then called, whereby over a hundred and
fifty houses were laid in ashes, and four hundred and fifty women and
children were exposed to the inclemency of a Canadian winter at half an
hour's notice to the defenceless inhabitants. On the same day McClure
reported exultingly from Port Niagara to the Secretary of War: "The village
is now in flames and the enemy shut out of hope and means of wintering in
Fort George."
Now, when Detroit had been
taken by the British, and Michilimackmack and Ogdensburg, Forts Schlosser
and Black Rock, all private property had been respected, and only public
property destroyed, in conformity to the views and disposition of the
British commanders and the liberal and magnanimous policy of the British
Government. It was reasonable, therefore, to suppose that the invaders of
Canadian territory would have abstained from acts of wantonness and
unnecessary violence and not have brought disgrace upon a nation calling
itself civilized and Christian, the more especially as General McClure had,
by a recent proclamation in which he affected to consider Upper Canada as
abandoned by the British Army, proffered his protection to those "innocent,
unfortunate, distressed inhabitants," whom he thus made the mournful
spectators of the conflagration and total destruction of all that belonged
to them. Retribution quickly followed.
"The British Commander would
have ill consulted the honour of his country and the justice due to His
Majesty's injured and insulted subjects, had he permitted an act of such
needless cruelty to pass unpunished, or had he failed to visit, whenever the
opportunity arrived, upon the inhabitants of the neighbouring American
frontier, the calamities thus inflicted upon those of our own."
"Let us retaliate by fire and
sword," we are told that Colonel Murray said to General Drummond, as they
gazed on the sinking ruins of the town.
"Do so, swiftly and
thoroughly," said the Commander; and bitter indeed was the vengeance taken.
Fortunately, in his haste to
take refuge at Niagara, McClure, had neglected to destroy Fort George, and
Colonel Murray, who was in command of a small corps of observation which lay
at Twelve-Mile Creek, and to whom the flames of the burning village became a
signal, putting his men in sleighs, hurried forward through a blinding
snowstorm, and marched in on the fight of the day. McClure evacuated the
fort. Once more the British flag waved over its walls and the left bank of
the Niagara was in possession of the British forces. It was immediately
decided to take Fort Niagara, and on the night of the 18th December, a
sufficient number of batteaux having been conveyed overland from Burlington,
"it was done accordingly."
The manner in which Colonel
John Murray performed the task is thus described in general orders, dated
Quebec 29th, 1813:
"The Fort of Niagara was most
gallantly carried by assault at the point of the bayonet at daybreak, on the
morning of the 19th instant, by a detachment consisting of the Grenadiers of
the Royals, of the flank companies of the Forty-First, the Hundredth
Regiment, and a small party of the Royal Artillery, under the command of
Colonel Murray. The enemy suffered severely in killed and wounded. Captain
Leonard, the commandant, several officers and the greater part of the
garrison were made prisoners. This gallant enterprise was achieved with the
loss on our part of very few of our brave men; but His Excellency has to
regret the fall of Lieutenant Nolan, of the Hundredth Regiment, and that
Colonel Murray has been wounded. All the ordnance mounted in the fort,
together with three thousand stand of arms, clothing and military stores of
all descriptions, to a considerable amount, have fallen into our hands. His
Excellency is in hourly expectation of receiving the official details of
this brilliant affair, which reflects the highest honour upon Colonel Murray
and the small detachment under his command."
The Provincial Corps acted as
boatsmen on the occasion. two of the enemy's picquets were cut of and the
sentinels on the glacis and at the gate surprised, from whom the watchword
was obtained, which greatly facilitated the enterprise. One British officer
and five men were killed, two officers and three men wounded. Of the enemy
sixty-five men and two officers were killed and twelve men wounded, and over
three hundred soldiers of the regular army of the United States taken
prisoners. General McClure had left for Buffalo a few days previous and thus
escaped.
Major-General Riall, who had
crossed over immediately after Colonel Murray with a large force of Indians,
the First Battalion Royal Scots and the Forty-First Regiment, in order to
support the attack, proceeded up the river upon Lewiston, where the enemy
had established a fort and erected batteries for the avowed purpose of
destroying the village of Queenston, immediately opposite on our side, and
which they had been bombarding with red-hot shot. These, however, they
abandoned, together with a considerable quantity of arms and stores, and
then began the work of vengeance, and Lewiston, Youngs town, Tuscorora
Village, Manchester, Schlosser and the circumjacent country were laid in
waste by our Indians and exasperated soldiers who had witnessed the scene of
devastation at Newark. But the end was not yet; the opportunity was at hand
and a full measure of retaliation was essential; justice demanded that the
whole of their frontier should be laid in ashes.
General Drummond accordingly
moved his forces up to Chippewa on the 28th December, and on the following
day approached to within two miles of Fort Erie, and having reconnoitred the
enemy's position at Black Rock, determined upon an attack. General Riall was
accordingly directed to cross the river at midnight on the 29th with about a
thousand men, composed of four companies of the King's Regiment, the light
company of the Eighty-Ninth, under Colonel Ogilvy, two hundred and fifty men
of the Forty-First, the Grenadiers of the Hundredth, and some militia and a
body of Indians. He succeeded in surprising and capturing the greater part
of the enemy's picquets. At daybreak he attacked the enemy, who were in
great force and strongly posted, and maintained their position for some
time, but a reserve under Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon having arrived, they
were compelled to give way, and were driven through their batteries at the
point of the bayonet. The Americans fled to Buffalo, about two miles
distant, where they received a reinforcement and rallied, attempting to
oppose the advance of the British by the tire of a field piece, but they
shortly broke and took to the woods. Their forces greatly exceeded those of
the British, numbering not less than twenty-five hundred. They lost in
killed and wounded from three to four hundred men and one hundred and thirty
were made prisoners. The British loss was thirty-one killed, four officers
and sixty-eight men wounded and nine missing. Captain Robinson, with two
companies of the King's, was immediately despatched to destroy four of their
lake squadron, a short distance below the town. Buffalo and Black Rock then
followed the fate of Lewiston and their other frontier towns, only four
buildings being left standing. In the former and one in the latter to mark
where once their sites had been, and all their public stores, with such of
their contents of clothing, spirits and flour as could not be carried away,
entirely consumed.
These successes put the
British force in possession of an ample and sorely-needed supply of
provisions, ammunition and stores of all kinds. Hitherto they had had no
winter clothing, and even yet were without any regularly organized
commissariat.
The resources of the enemy
being thus completely exhausted, there being no more towns left to take, nor
anything to destroy, General Drummond went into quarters for the winter.
Hampton's army had been beaten, Wilkinson's had, after being badly defeated
at Chrystler's Farm, recrossed to his own side without taking either
Kingston and Montreal, and the Upper Province was rid of all appearance of
the enemy, who had at one time threatened to overwhelm it. Thus closed the
second year of the war. |
