|
Opening of Parliament
February, 1814--Campaign of that Year.—Americans Defeated at Lacolle.—Raid
near Cornwall.—Oswego Taken by British May 6th.—General Brown Succeeds to
Command of Northern Division U.S. Army.—Drummond's Dire
Distress.—Abandonment of Upper Canada Contemplated Owing to Lack of
Supplies.—Desperate Fighting on Niagara Frontier.—Fort Erie Surrendered 3rd
July.—-Americans Victorious at Chippewa July 5th.—The Battle of Niagara or
Lundy's Lane, the Most Sanguinary of the War, 25th July.
When the House of Assembly
met at York on the 15th February, 1814, General Drummond, as President
administering the Government of the Province, was able, as had been his
piedecessor Sir R. Sheaffe at the commencement of the former session, to
congratulate the members and the country upon the results of the previous
year's campaign, proving as it did what could be accomplished m a good cause
by men who had nothing in view but their own honour and the country's
safety. He alluded, more as a matter of regret than surprise, to the fact
that two members of the Legislature, Benjamin Mallory and Joseph Willcocks—the
same two traitors who in the inception of the war had so seriously hampered
General Brock when prompt action was so imperative, and had purposely wasted
the time of the Legislature by futile discussion on school matters when the
exigencies of the situation called for martial law and the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act—had found their proper place in the ranks of the enemy.
Wilcocks' treachery had been rewarded by his being placed in command of what
they were pleased to term a Canadian regiment in the United States army. He
shortly met his fate—far too good for him—being killed when planting a guard
at the siege of Fort Erie.
A small reinforcement,
consisting of the second battalion of the 8th (King's) Regiment came
overland on sleighs through New Brunswick in February, and two hundred and
fifty seamen for the lakes by the same route.
The campaign of 1814 opened
in the neighbourhood of Lake Champlain, Brigadier General Macomb with a
division of the American forces crossing the lake on ice to St. Armands,
while General Wilkinson prepared for an attack on Odelltown, where he was
soon joined by Macomb, their joint force numbering some five thousand men.
The Americans made an attempt to take a blockhouse in the vicinity of
Lacolle, scarcely deserving the appellation of a military post, but were
driven off by a small British force composed of the flank companies of the
Thirteenth Regiment, the Grenadiers of the Canadian Fencibles and some of
the Voltigeurs, and retired in good order upon Plattsburg. Major Hancock,
who commanded the British forces, which consisted of one hundred and sixty
men in the blockhouse, with reinforcements which arrived during the action
to the number of two hundred, had reason to be proud of his achievement in
repelling an army more than seven times his number. His loss was ten killed
and four missing, two officers and forty-four men wounded; that of the
Americans, thirteen killed, a hundred and twenty-three wounded and thirty
missing. The action took place on 30th March. General Wilkinson cannot have
been regarded by his countrymen as a successful commander, or a marked
improvement upon Hull, Smythe, Van Ransaller, Dearborn or Hampton. As was to
be expected, his services were not again called into requisition.
In Upper Canada during the
winter matters had been quiet, the only incident of note being a raid from
Cornwall organized by Captain Sherwood, of the Quartermaster-Generars
Department, who, with twenty marines and ten militia men under Captain Kerr
(I presume of the Glengarry Regiment) on the night of the 6th February made
an incursion upon Madrid on the Grass River, fourteen miles below the
village of Hamilton, and recaptured a quantity of merchandize plundered from
British merchants near Cornwall in October precedirg when on their route to
Upper Canada.
An unsuccessful attack was
made by the British on the 4th March on Longwood in the extreme west of the
Province. A small detachment consisting of the flank companies of the Royal
Scots and the light companies of the Eighty-Ninth, with a few of the Kent
militia and some Indians, under the command of Captain Barsden, of the
Eighty-Ninth, attempted to dislodge a strong party of the enemy, who were
strongly entrenched, by a gallant charge up an ice-covered hill, but after a
spirited contest of an hour and a half the troops were withdrawn, the enemy,
however, shortly abandoning the position. Two British officers and twelve
men were killed, and three officers and forty-nine men wounded; the enemy's
loss being unknown.
It was not, however, until
the opening of navigation that the campaign can be said to have begun in
earnest. The taking of Oswego by the British was the first noteworthy event.
The American forces in the
neighbourhood of Lake Champlain were withdrawn and moved towards Lake
Ontario early in the spring, shortly after the fiasco at Lacolle, the object
being to strengthen the army, which was to recommence offensive operations
in the Niagara District as soon as the fleet at Sackett's Harbour should be
in a state to co-operate with the land forces. General Drummond and Sir
James Yeo determined upon intercepting the enemy's naval stores for the
fleet at Oswego, and with this object in view an expedition against that
place was determined upon. A force consisting of the light companies of the
Glengarry Regiment, six companies of DeWatteville's Regiment, the second
battalion Royal Marines, with a detachment of artillery and two field
pieces, a detachment of a rocket company with a few sappers and miners, set
sail :n the fleet, which had been strengthened by two additional ships, the
"Prince Regent "and "Princess Charlotte" on the 4th May, arriving at Oswego
on the following day, but were unable to land owing to a stiff gale which
sprung up. On the 6th, however, a landing was effected by about a hundred
and forty of the troops and two hundred seamen armed with pikes, in the face
of a heavy fire of round and grape shot from the battery and of musketry
from a detachment of three hundred of the Americans posted on a hill and in
a neighbouring wood. Nevertheless our men pushed on with true British pluck,
pressed up the hill and captured the battery, from which the enemy
retreated, leaving sixty of their wounded behind. The fortifications were
dismantled, the barracks burnt and the stores found in the fort carried off,
but the naval stores which it was hoped would have been secured had been
moved some miles up the River Oswego, and were thus saved to the enemy. The
British loss was severe, Captain Holtaway, of the Marines, and twenty-one
men killed, six officers and sixty-seven men wounded. In his despatch
General Drummond specially mentioned for gallant conduct Captain McMillan,
who commanded the light company of the ubiquitous Glengarries, who covered
the left flank of the troops u the advance. The fleet returned to Kingston
on. the following day.
On the Niagara frontier the
command of the American troops had passed to Major-General Brown, formerly
an officer in the New York militia, who had gained some distinction among
his countrymen by his good fortune in defending Sackett's Harbour in the
previous year, and on General Wilkinson's retirement he became commander of
the northern division of the United States army. He had some excellent
officers under him, notably Brigadier-Generals Winfield Scott and Ripley—the
former of whom was one of the most talented and best trained officers in the
army. Both sides now required their ablest generals, for the skill and
judgment of the commanders as well as the pluck and endurance of their
armies were shortly to be put to the severest test. The Americans had this
great advantage over their opponents, namely, that their troops were not
worn out with fatigue as were those of the British, which from the scarcity
of their number in comparison with the extent of the country they had to
cover and protect, and the number of posts they had to garrison, were so
reduced from exposure and fatigue, and consequent ill-health, as to be
largely unfit for duty. Stores, too, of all kinds had to be brought up from
Montreal at enormous trouble and expense, and provisions were difficult to
obtain owing to the ravages of the enemy, and so many of the farmers, then
comparatively few at the best of times, having been in the two previous
seasons engaged in co-operation with the regular forces in the defence of
the country to the total neglect of their ordinary avocations.
General Drummond had been
unremitting in his preparations for the coming campaign. Through the worst
of weather and execrable roads he hurried from York to Kingston and from
Kingston to Delaware, making enquiries into the resources of the country and
the condition of the inhabitants, with a view to procuring supplies. In the
month of January, indeed, it had become evident that the supply of meat
would soon be exhausted and he began to entertain serious apprehensions that
he would be compelled to abandon all that part of the Province west of
Kingston from sheer want of food. In addition to his troops, he had several
thousand non-combatants to feed, most of the Western Indians who had
survived General Proctor's defeat, as well as the whole of the Six Nations
from the Grand River, three thousand persons in all, of whom two-thirds were
women and children, had sought refuge near the British cantonments at
Burlington. Their depredations so harassed and alarmed many of the
inhabitants in the vicinity that they abandoned their farms and took shelter
in the soldiers' quarters. In addition to these the homeless fugitives from
Niagara were also dependent upon the overtaxed commissariat, Thus while the
armed force numbered less than two thousand, between seven and eight
thousand rations were issued daily. The Indians alone consumed twice as much
flour as the whole of the troops.
Mrs. Edgar points out that
with but three thousand British troops, garrisons were maintained at Forts
George, Niagara, Erie and Mississagua (build early in 1814 after the burning
of Newark by the Americans), the important post at Burlington Heights had to
be protected, detachments were required to guard the provision depots at
Twelve Mile Creek and Twenty Mile Creek. York from its exposed position and
liability to be again attacked, had to be defended. Port Dover, on Lake
Erie, was also in need of protection, owing to the danger that troops might
be landed there and gain the rear of General Riall's division by the Western
road; while at the crossing of the Grand River (Brantford) and also at
Delaware other detachments had to be posted to guard the advance of the
enemy by way of the Thames. It was owing, of course, to the Peninsular War
that material reinforcements could not be sent to Canada until too late for
any practical use, although it is customary with American writers to
describe General Drummond's forces as being composed of Wellington's
veterans. In May, the Sixteenth and Ninetieth Regiments, besides a corps of
Rifles and some artillery, landed at Quebec, but it was not until the autumn
of this year that consequent upon the downfall of Napoleon, Wellington's
troops, released from service on the continent, were despatched in large
numbers to Canada, and enabled us to compete with the enemy on anything like
equal terms. The disaster at Plattsburg, which was the one engagement of
importance in which they participated, could not. however, have been
congenial to regiments which had so recently shared with Wellington the
glory of the Peninsular War.
By the end of June the
American forces concentrated on the Niagara frontier were ready for another
invasion of Upper Canada. They consisted of five thousand regular soldiers
and three thousand New York and Pennsylvania militia, admirably drilled at
the Buffalo camp of instruction, which had been organized under
Brigadier-General Scott; together with some six hundred Indians under the
celebrated Seneca Chief Red Jacket. On the 3rd July the enemy embarked in
boats and batteaux, and effected a landing on the Canadian side, with two
brigades under Brigadiers Scott and Ripley respectively, the former about
one mile below and the latter the same distance above Fort Erie. At this
post was a small British detachment of some seventy men under Major Buck, of
the King's Regiment, who had been engaged in placing it in a state of
defence, more with a view of causing a temporary check to the anticipated
invading force than for defending it against a regular seige, which would
have been impossible. The Americans, after hawing erected some batteries,
and placing their cannon in position, summoned Major Buck to surrender,
giving him two hours to determine. Had he held out even for a few hours,
General Riall would have been able to have concentrated his troops in the
vicinity, and have fallen upon the enemy before they could have had time to
prepare for an effective resistance. Major Buck, however, tamely surrendered
to the enemy without making even a show of resistance, his force being sent
across the river prisoners of war. The loss of this important post was a
most serious matter to the British forces, and many a life was lost around
it before the American General Izard, previous to abandoning the Niagara
peninsula, mined it and on the 5th November laid it in ruins.
The Americans advanced the
next day to Chippewa and were making preparations to carry the post when
General Riall, having collected his forces, and being reinforced by the
arrival of the 8th and 100th Regiments, on the 5th July, gave them battle.
The enemy had much the advantage in point of numbers and a most sanguinary
conflict ensued. After an hour of desperate fighting, General Riall, having
lost no less than six officers and one hundred and forty-two men killed,
twenty-six officers (among them Lieutenant-Colonel the Marquis of Tweeddale,
severely) and two hundred and ninety-five men wounded and an officer and
forty-five men missing, was obliged to fall back upon Chipnewa. The enemy
stated his loss at seventy killed, two hundred and forty-nine wounded and
nineteen missing. Had the American fleet been in the vicinity, the whole of
our forts in the neighbourhood of Niagara might at this time have been
reduced and the greater portion of the Province again subjugated, as shown
in the letter of General Brown to Commodore Chauncey, dated 13th July,
begging him "for God's sake" to meet him with the fleet at Fort George,
where they "would be able to settle a plan of operations that will break the
power of the enemy in Upper Canada and that in the course of a short time."
Fortunately, however, Chauncey was still safely blockaded in Sackett's
Harbour by Sir James Yeo. As was the enemy advanced upon and occupied
Queenston and made demonstrations upon Forts George and Mississagua, without
any result however, falling back on Queenston on the 25th July, and after
firing the village of St. David, retreating to Chippewa, his object being to
disencumber his army of its heavy baggage, draw a supply of provisions from
Fort Schlosser, and then proceed in the direction of Burlington Heights with
a view to capturing that important post.
General Drumrnond had
repeatedly requested that more troops should be sent him for the relief of
the Niagara frontier, but the only reinforcements he received were four
hundred of the Glengarry Regiment, which had formed for some time, past the
garrison at York, a small portion of Marine Artillery, the Hundred and Third
Regiment and some of the Eighty-Ninth, under Colonel Morrison. He also had
the able assistance of Colonel Harvey which came most opportunely.
Sir George Prevost could not,
however, be made to appreciate the imminence of the situation. He was
convinced that the attack would be made from the neighbourhood of Lake
Champlain. Pencilled upon the margin of General Drummond's letter of June
21st, 1814, expressing his firm belief that the main attack would be made on
the Niagara frontier, and that the movement of troops towards Plattsburg was
simply a feint to prevent reinforcements from being despatched from Lower
Canada to his assistance, there is this significant memorandum in Prevost's
own handwriting.
On the 25th July, then, with
such forces as there were at his disposal, General Drummond had to fight the
most stubbornly contested and sanguinary battle ever fought in Upper Canada.
It began between six and seven in the evening and lasted five hours and a
half. Nothing could have been more awful or impressive than this midnight
struggle. In Canada it is commonly known as Lundy's Lane, in British
official records Niagara, while by American writers it is styled
Bridgewater, but by whatever name it many be known it was a glorious victory
for the British forces. The Glengarry Regiment constituted the right wing of
the British army. General Riall had early in the morning sent the Glengarry
Regiment, with the Provincial Dragoons and Incorporated Militia, to
reconnoitre the American camp at Chippewa and watch the movements of the
enemy. They took up their position on the high ground near Lundy's Lane, and
in the afternoon were joined by General Riall and Lieutenant-Colonel
Drummond of the Hundred and Fourth The best and naturally most authentic
account of the battle that ensued is that of the gallant General Drummond
himself in his official despatch to Sir G. Provost;
From Lieutenant-Generai
Drummond to Sir G. Prevost.
Head-quarters, near Niagara
Falls, July 27, 1814.
Sir,
I embarked on board His
Majesty's schooner "Netlcy," at York, on Sunday evening, the 24th instant,
and reached Niagara at daybreak die following morning. Finding, from
Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker, that Major-General Riall was understood to be
moving towards the Falls of Niagara, to support the advance of his division,
which he had pushed on to that place on the preceding evening, I ordered
Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, with the Eighty-Ninth Regiment and a detachment
of the Royals and King's, drawn from Forts George and Mississaga, to proceed
to the same point in order that, with the united force, I might act against
the enemy (posted at Street's Creek, with his advance at Chippeway) on my
arrival, if it should be found expedient. I ordered Lieutenant-Colonel
Tucker, at the same time, to proceed up the right bank of the river, with
three hundred of the Forty-First, about two hundred of the Royal Scots, and
a body of Indian warriors, supported (on the river) by a party of armed
seamen, under Captain Dobbs, Royal Navy. The object of this movement was to
disperse, or capture, a body of the enemy, encamped at Lewistown. Some
unavoidable delay having occurred m the march of the troops up the right
bank, the enemy had moved off previous to Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker's
arrival. I have to express myself satisfied with the exertions of that
officer.
Having refreshed the troops
at Queenstown, and having brought across the Forty-First Royals, and
Indians, I sent back the Forty-First and Hundredth Regiments, to form the
garrisons of Forts George, Mississaga and Niagara, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Tucker, and moved with the Eighty-Ninth and detachments of the Royals and
King's, and the Light company of the Forty-First —in all about eight hundred
men.—to join Major-General Riall's division at the Falls.
When arrived within a few
miles of that position, I met a report from Major-General Riall, that the
enemy was advancing in great force. I immediately pushed on, and joined the
head of Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison's columns just as it reached the road
leading to the Beaver Dam, over the summit of the hill at Lundy's Lane.
Instead of the whole of Major-General Riall's division, which I expected to
have found occupying this position, I found it almost in the occupation of
the enemy, whose columns were within six hundred yards of the top of the
hill, and the surrounding woods filled with his light troops. The advance of
Major-General Riall's division, consisting of the Glengarry Light Infantry
and Incorporated Militia, having commenced a retreat upon Fort George, I
countermanded these corps, and formed the Eighty-Ninth Regiment, the Royal
Scots detachment and the Forty-First Light company, in the rear of the hill,
their left resting on the great road; my two twenty-four pounder brass field
guns a little advanced, in front of the centre, on the summit of the hill;
the Glengarry Light Infantry on the right; the battalion of Incorporated
Militia, and the detachment of the King's Regiment on the left of the great
road; the squadron of the Nineteenth Light Dragoons in the rear of the left,
on the road. I had scarcely completed this formation when the whole front
was warmly and closely engaged. The enemy's principal efforts were directed
against our left and centre. After repeated attacks, the troops on the left
were partially forced back, and the enemy gained a momentary possession of
the road. This gave him, however, no material advantage, as the troops which
had been forced back formed in the rear of the Eighty-Ninth Regiment,
fronting the road, and securing the flank. It was during this short interval
that Major-General Riall, having received a severe wound, was intercepted as
he was passing to the rear, by a party of the enemy's cavalry, and taken
prisoner. In the centre, the repeated and determined attacks of the enemy
were met by the Eighty-Ninth Regiment, the detachments of the Royals and
King's, and the light company of the Forty-First Regiment, with the most
perfect steadiness and intrepid gallantry, and the enemy was constantly
repulsed with very heavy loss. In so determined a manner were their attacks
directed against our guns, that our artillerymen were bayoneted by the enemy
while in the act of loading, and the muzzles of the enemy's guns were
advanced within a few yards of ours. The darkness of the night, during this
extraordinary conflict, occasioned several uncommon incidents; our troops
having been for a moment pushed back, some of our guns remained for a few
minutes in the enemy's hands; they, however, were not only quickly
recovered, but the two pieces (a six pounder and a five and a half inch
howitzer) which the enemy had brought up, were captured by us, together with
several tumbrils, and in limbering up our guns at one period, one of the
enemy's six-pounders was put by mistake on a limber of ours, and one of our
six-pounders limbered on one of his; by which means the pieces were
exchanged; and thus though we captured two of his guns, yet, as he obtained
one of ours, we have gained only one gun.
About 9 o'clock (the action
having commenced at 6) there was a short intermission of firing, during
which it appears the enemy was employed in bringing the whole of his
remaining force; and he shortly afterwards renewed his attack with fresh
troops, but was everywhere repulsed with equal gallantry and success. About
this period the remainder of Major-General Riall's division, which had been
ordered to retire on the advance of the enemy, consisting of the Hundred and
Third Regiment, under Colonel Scott; the headquarter division of the Royal
Scots; the head-quarter division of the Eighth, or King's; flank companies
of the 104th; and some detachments of the militia, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Hamilton, Inspecting Field Officer, joined the troops engaged; and I placed
them in a second line, with the exception of the Royal Scots and flank
companies of the Hundred and Fourth, with which I prolonged my line in front
to the right, where I was apprehensive of the enemy outflanking me.
The enemy's efforts to carry
the hill were continued till about midnight, when he had suffered so
severely from the superior steadiness and discipline of His Majesty's
troops, that he gave up the contest, and retreated with great precipitation
to his camp beyond the Chippeway. On the following day he abandoned his
camp, threw the greater part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions,
into the rapids, and having set fire to Street's Mills, and destroyed the
bridge at Chippeway, continued his retreat in great disorder towards Fort
Erie. My light troops, cavalry and Indians are detached in pursuit, and to
harass his retreat, which I doubt not he will continue until he reaches his
own shore.
The loss sustained by the
enemy in this severe action cannot be estimated at less than one thousand
five hundred men, including several hundred of prisoners left in our hands;
his two commanding generals, Brown and Scott, are said to be wounded, his
whole force, which has never been rated at less than five thousand, having
been engaged.
Enclosed I have the honour to
transmit a return of our loss, which has been very considerable. The number
of troops under my command did not, for the first three hours, exceed one
thousand seven hundred men; and the addition of the troops, under Colonel
Scott, did not increase it to more than two thousand eight hundred of every
description.
In enumerating those by whose
valour and discipline this important victory had been obtained, special
mention was made of the Glengarry Light Infantry, which under
Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby. It was stated, had displayed most valuable
qualities as light troops, while in reviewing the action from the
commencement the first object which presented itself was * * " the very
creditable and excellent defence made by the Incorporated Militia Battalion
under Lieutenant-Colonel Robinson, who was dangerously wounded, and was
succeeded in the command by Major Kirby, who continued very gallantly to
direct its efforts. This battalion has only been organized a few months, and
much to the credit of Captain Robinson, of the King's Regiment (Provincial
Lieutenant-Colonel), has attached a very respectable degree of discipline."
The British loss was: killed
eighty-four, wounded five hundred and fifty-nine; missing one hundred and
ninety-three, prisoners forty-two; total, eight hundred and fifty-eight. The
Glengarry Regiment suffered severely, four privates being killed, Lieutenant
R. Kerr and thirty non-commissioned officers and men wounded, Ensign Robins
and twenty-one non-commissioned officers and men missing. The Incorporated
Militia suffered most of all the provincial corps, losing one hundred and
forty-two officers and men killed, wounded and missing out of about three
hundred engaged, among the wounded being Captain John Macdonell, a brother
of the wife of the late Colonel Alexander Chisholm, of Alexandria. He had
his arm shot off, and died shortly afterwards of wounds at York, now
Toronto. Lieutenant McDougall, of the same corps, was also mortally and
Ensign Macdonell severely wounded, and a gentleman who was afterwards
Sheriff of this district, then an officer in the Eighth (or King's)
Regiment, Donald Æneas Macdonell, was also severely wounded. General
Drummond himself received a painful bullet wound in the neck, which narrowly
missed being fatal, through he paid so little attention to it that he did
not even dismount to have it dressed. A few minutes later his horse was
shot, under him. General Riall, too, rashly brave and impetuous, was before
being taken prisoner wounded in the arm, which it was feared, would require
to be amputated, though the operation was, fortunately, eventually found to
be unnecessary.
The command of the American
forces, in the absence of Generals Brown and Scott, who had retired for the
recovery of their wounds, devolved upon General Ripley for the time being,
but that officer was severely called to account by his Government for his
retreat, and was superseded in the command of the army by General Gaines,
who was summoned from Sackett's Harbour to take command until General Brown
should recover from his wounds. The aides to the commanding officers on
either side, Captain Loring, A.D.C. to General Drummond, and Captain Spencer
to General Brown, were both taken prisoners by their respective opponents,
but were exchanged without the usual delay customary in such cases. Captain
Spencer, who was mortally wounded, died the day he arrived at Fort Erie.
Ripley's retirement to
Chippewa met with the full approval of General Brown, as appears from a
despatch of the latter to the American Secretary-at-War.
The bravery of the militia
engaged in this desperate conflict is stated by Mr. Christie, upon the
authority of Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Lieutenant-General Sir John)
Harvey, to have been beyond all praise. The scene of battle must have been a
gruesome and awful sight. Mr. Christie says than if nothing could have been
more awful and impressive. The desperate charges of the enemy were succeeded
by a death-like silence, interrupted only by the groans of the dying and the
dull sounds of the Falls of Niagara, while the adverse lines were now and
then dimly discerned through the moonlight by the gleam of their arms. Those
anxious pauses were succeeded by a blaze of musketry along the lines and by
a repetition of the most desperate charges from the enemy, which the British
regulars and militia received each time with the most unshaken firmness. The
battlefield remained, of course, in the possession of the British during the
remainder of the night, Pearson's brigade had marched fourteen miles and had
been deprived of sleep the previous night, Morrison's detachment had
accomplished the same distance, and the remainder not less than twenty-one
miles in the heat of a July day. Almost one third of their number had been
killed or were wounded or missing. The survivors were utterly exhausted and
threw themselves down to rest among the dead and dying upon the
blood-stained hill they had finally re-conquered. On the following day the
British buried their own dead and sent a message to the Americans to send
back a detachment to bury their late comrades, which duty they were,
however, unable to fulfil, and the heat being so excessive, nothing was left
for the British but to burn their bodies
Having claimed Queenston
Heights not only as a victory, but declared it to be the chef d'oeuvre of
the War, it is not surprising to find their historians claiming this battle,
too, or to learn that "Niagara Falls" is emblazoned on the flags of such of
their regiments as participated in it. It fell to their lot not infrequently
in this War to extract sunbeams from cucumbers.
Fort Erie, to which after the
battle the Americans had retreated, was now their only foothold on our side
of the river, and here Ripley, under orders from his superior officer,
though much against his own judgment and inclination, which would have led
him to forsake an inhospitable shore, proceeded to entrench himself and to
rebuild, strengthen and enlarge the fortification. General Gaines had
arrived on the 6th to take command. The American fleet had arrived at the
head of the lake, but on finding the army far from being in a state to
co-operate, cooped up at Fort Erie, and incapable of holding any
communication with the naval force on the lake, returned to Sackett's
Harbor.
Captain Dobbs, R.N., had on
the night of the 12th August captured two of the enemy's schooners, the
"Ohio* and "Soiners," close to Fort Erie, each mounting three long twelves,
with complements of thirty five men, which gave spirit to our army, and
General Drummond, after ascertaining their position, determined to storm the
American entrenchments. He accordingly opened a battery on the 13th, and on
the following day made the necessary preparations for an assault, the troops
getting under arms at mid-night of the 14th of August, his force being
divided into three divisions —the first under command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Fischer, of De Watteville's Regiment the second under Lieutenant-Colonel
William Drummond, of the Hundred and Fourth, a nephew of General Drummond,
who had already done much good service, but was fated after this night to do
no more; and the third, under Colonel Scott, of the Hundred and Third, who
also now fought his last battle. At two o'clock in the morning the attack
became general. Colonel Fischer's column had gained the point of attack two
hours before daylight, and the two other columns advanced as soon as the
firing upon his division was heard, and at the same moment stormed the fort
and entrenchments on the right, and after a desperate resistance succeeded
in securing lodgment in the fort. The enemy took to a stone building, being
driven from their posts at the point of the bayonet, which was used with
terrible effect. The victory was about complete when a terrible explosion
occurred within the fort, the ammunition under the platform on which the
guns were placed taking fire, whether accidently or by design has never been
ascertained, and almost all the British troops who had entered the fort were
blown to pieces.
An immediate panic ensued.
Those of the British who survived could not be rallied. Colonel Scott had
been shot dead and Drummond killed by a bayonet thrust in the contest at the
fort, at the head of their respective columns. The enemy had received
reinforcements from the left and centre of their lines, which, taking
advantage of the darkness and confusion of the moment, pressed forward with
a heavy and destructive fire, and compelled their assailants to retire from
the works they had so gallantly carried. General Drummond stated his loss as
follows: killed—four officers, fifty-three non-commissioned officers and
men; wounded, twenty-three officers, two hundred and eighty-five
non-commissioned officers and men; missing, nine officers, five hundred and
thirty nun-commissioned officers and men—a total in killed, wounded and
missing of 904, while the American loss was but 84 all told!
Mrs. Edgar states that in
poor Colonel Drummond's pocket was found a secret order in Colonel Harvey's
handwriting, "The Lieutenant-General most strongly recommends the free use
of the bayonet." Through this paper General Gaines is authority for the
statement that the mark of the bayonet which had him low is to be seen! She
also mentions the fact that Colonel Scott was buried the same evening by his
own men in the presence of the only three officers of his Regiment who came
out of that fatal fort unhurt.
Among the names of those
mentioned in despatches for conspicious gallantry on this occasion was that
of Lieutenant Colonel Battersby, of the Glengarry Regiment, as also that of
Captain Powell, of whom Sir Gordon Drummond reported, "Captain Powell, of
the Glengarry Light Infantry, on the staff as Deputy Assistant in the
Quarter-Master-General's Department, who conducted Lieutenant-Colonel
Fischer's column, and first entered the enemy's entrenchments, by his
coolness and gallantry particularly distinguished himself."
General Drummond was
reinforced a day or two after this assault by the arrival of the Sixth and
Eighty-Second Regiments from Lower Canada, which, however, were barely
sufficient to supply the recent casualties, and he did not deem it expedient
to hazard another attack on Fort Erie, contenting himself with continuing
its investment, thereby cutting off the enemy's communication with the
adjacent country, and by compelling him to draw all his resources from his
own country, rendering the occupation of Fort Erie for the remainder of the
campaign of no service to the invaders. He also constructed new batteries,
and harassed his neighbours constantly with hot shot, shell and rockets, On
the 28th August General Gaines narrowly escaped with his life, a shot
descending through the roof of his quarters and exploding at his feet. He
was so severely wounded that he was obliged to relinquish his command and
retire to Buffalo. |
