The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume II Part 41

The British squadron having, for the present, a decided ascendency on Lake Ontario, blockaded Sackett's Harbour, in order to intercept the supplies which might, from time to time, be forwarded from Oswego for the equipment of the American fleet. On the 29th of May, they captured a boat laden with two twenty-four-pounders, and a large cable for one of the American ships of war, and, with two gun-boats and five barges, pursued fifteen other boats, loaded with naval and military stores, and which took shelter in Sandy Creek; but they were met in the Creek by an American force, consisting of 150 riflemen, nearly 200 Indians, and a strong body of militia and cavalry, which overpowered the British party, of whom eighteen were killed and fifty wounded--the rest being taken prisoners. Captain Popham, in his official dispatch to Sir James L. Yeo, on this affair, acknowledged with warmest grat.i.tude the humane exertions of the American officers of the Rifle Corps, commanded by Major Appling, in saving the lives of many of the officers and men, whom the American soldiers and Indians were devoting to slaughter.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 220: History of the War of 1812.]

CHAPTER LVIII.

LAST INVASIONS AND LAST BATTLES OF THE WAR.

PART I.

GENERAL BROWN TAKES FORT ERIE--DEFEATS GENERAL RIALL ON THE PLAINS OF CHIPPEWA--ADVANCES TO FORT GEORGE--HIS OFFICERS AND ARMY PLUNDER THE INHABITANTS--RETREATS BACK TO CHIPPEWA--BURNS THE VILLAGE OF ST. DAVID'S ON THE WAY.

On the Niagara frontier, the American army commanded by General Brown, and consisting of about 7,000 men, began early in the summer to concentrate at Buffalo, Black Rock, and other points, and on the 3rd of July invaded Canada in two brigades, under the command of Brigadier-Generals Scott and Ripley. They embarked in boats and batteaux, and effected a landing on the Canada side of the river without opposition--one brigade landing about a mile above, and the other brigade a mile below Fort Erie. The fort was under the command of Major Buck, of the 8th Regiment, with about seventy men of his regiment; it had been put in a state of defence by that officer, with a view of causing a temporary check to an invading force, rather than for the purpose of defending it against a regular siege. But Major Buck was so careful of himself and his men as to abandon the fort without firing a shot--an error fatal to the British--for although Fort Erie could not have been held for any length of time against the overwhelming strength of the enemy, still a few hours' defence would have enabled General Riall to concentrate his forces and attack the Americans before they were firmly established on Canadian soil. The able dispositions which General Riall had made of the forces under his command along the Niagara line by the direction of General Drummond, who had antic.i.p.ated an invasion at that point where it commenced, were such, that the least impediment to the progress of the invaders would have enabled General Riall to have concentrated his troops, and to have fallen upon and dispersed the enemy before they could have time to be prepared for an effectual resistance. As it was, the Americans were permitted to occupy this important post without resistance, and transfer, unmolested, to the Canadian side all the troops they pleased.

On the following day, General Brown advanced with his whole force, of over 4,000 men, down the river to the plains of Chippewa, with the intention of taking possession of the British post at the mouth of the Chippewa or Welland river. General Riall, having collected what forces he could, consisting of five companies of the Royal Scots, a part of the 8th or King's Regiment, a part of the 100th Regiment, and the 2nd Lincoln Militia, amounting in all to about 1,500 men, determined to check him, until further a.s.sistance should arrive. A series of manoeuvres ensued on both sides, and the most furious battle hitherto occurring during the war, followed, when General Riall, finding himself no longer able to sustain the fight against a force so unequal in universal strength, gave orders to abandon the field--his troops retiring in the rear of the works at Chippewa and destroying the bridge across the river, which they had previously repaired.

The loss on both sides is said to have been nearly equal--amounting to between 400 and 500 on each side.

"The 2nd Lincoln Militia, under Major David Secord, distinguished themselves in this action by feats of genuine bravery and heroism, animated by the example of their gallant leader, which are seldom surpa.s.sed even by the most experienced veterans. Their loss was proportionate with that of the regular army.

"Three or four days subsequent to this sanguinary battle on the plains of Chippewa were mostly employed in burying their own dead, and in burning those of the British, after which several ineffectual efforts were made by General Brown to cross the Chippewa river, contemplating an advance on Fort George; but at each of his attempts he was promptly met by picket guards of the British, posted along the margin of the river for that purpose."

General Riall, however, in a few days gave orders that the remnant of his army should retire under the shelter of Fort George and Mississagua until reinforcements could be collected to place him on more equal ground with the enemy; after which General Brown moved his army towards those posts within a mile and a half of the British--his army forming a crescent; his right resting on Niagara river, his left on Lake Ontario.

The American army had no sooner taken up a position in front of Fort George than their foraging parties, or rather marauders, commenced a systematic course of plunder upon the defenceless inhabitants within the vicinity of their camp, most of whom, at the time, consisted of women and children. Even amongst general officers were acts of pillage perpetrated, that, had such occurred with private soldiers in the British army, would have stamped on the character of the British, in the eyes of America, for which no course of conduct which they could ever after have pursued, would have sufficiently atoned.

During the interval in which General Riall was receiving reinforcements from York and other military posts on that side of Lake Ontario, General Brown also received a strong reinforcement under General Izard, after which he made a few ineffectual a.s.saults on Fort George; but, finding all his efforts to carry that fort fruitless, and the British army receiving fresh acquisitions of strength, all seemed to conspire to render the case of General Brown hopeless; who, now perceiving the situation in which he was placed--the forts in his front to him completely impregnable, and an army in his rear in full flow of spirits, and every day gathering new strength (though by no means equal to his as regarded numbers), a Canadian Militia, and unexpectedly to him, fervent beyond a parallel in the cause of their King and country--began now to think of a safe retreat, in pursuance of which, on the morning of the 25th of July, he commenced his retrograde movement; he retreated towards Chippewa, after burning the village of St. David's. Riall pushed on in pursuit, when the Americans halted at Lundy's Lane (called Bridgewater by the Americans), where took place the most stubborn fight of the war--known as _the Battle of Lundy's Lane_--which may be regarded as terminating the American invasions of Canada, and the last field battle of the war.

We will here give a brief account of this celebrated battle, from Thompson's History of the War of 1812, and the events which followed at Fort Erie, and afterwards we will review the transactions of this battle, together with the true principles of loyalty, the causes and character of the war, and the reciprocal relations between Great Britain, Canada and the United States.

PART II.

BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE--PRELIMINARIES.

"The British army, at the time General Brown commenced his retreat from Fort George and Queenston to Chippewa, was scattered in small cantonments over twenty or thirty miles of country; but like a well-ordered and systematic machine, every part was in a moment simultaneously in motion, to concentrate their united strength at a point where they would be likely to intercept the enemy.

"Detachments of the Royal Scots and 41st Regiments, and a small body of Indians, amounting in all to about 500 men, under the command of Colonel Tucker (supported on the river by a party of seamen and marines under the direction of Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy), pa.s.sed over to the American side of the River Niagara, with a view to disperse or capture a body of the enemy stationed at Lewiston. The object of this movement being accomplished, the troops were again withdrawn at Queenston. The 41st and 100th Regiments, under Colonel Tucker, were sent back to garrison Fort George, Mississagua, and Niagara; General Drummond moving on towards the falls, with a force of about 800 strong, consisting of detachments of the Royal Scots, 89th, and King's, with the light company of the 41st Regiment, to join General Riall's division of the army as soon as it could arrive from the several bivouacs at which it had been stationed.

"As soon as the column of the British army under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison had arrived at the rising ground near the end of Lundy's Lane, on the main road leading from Queenston to Chippewa, the enemy was just taking possession of that position. Without a moment's delay, the troops which had arrived on the ground were formed in line on the north-east side of the height, their left resting on the Queenston road.

"The troops from the Twelve and Twenty Mile Creeks, together with a detachment of the King's Regiment, as they arrived, were formed on each side of Lundy's Lane. This line was supported in front by two twenty-four-pounders [field-guns], which were covered by a small squadron of the 19th Light Dragoons and a detachment of the infantry.

"_The battle itself._--The troops of the line being thus disposed, notwithstanding the superior strength of the enemy, in about ten minutes dislodged him from the position he had first taken, at the point of the bayonet.

"The sun was now fast descending towards the western horizon; and detachments of the 1st and 2nd Lincoln Militia continued to arrive from the different outposts they had been occupying, who joined in maintaining the summit of the hill until the whole of General Riall's division should come up.

"General Drummond, after dislodging the enemy from the partial possession he had gained on the hill, again formed his line with as much despatch as existing circ.u.mstances would admit, placing his artillery, which consisted of two twenty-pounders, two six-pounders [bra.s.s field-pieces], and a rocket party, in front of the centre of his position, near the right side of Lundy's Lane, leading down the hill to the Queenston road, supported by the 2nd battalion of the 89th Regiment, under Colonel Morrison. Scarcely had this arrangement been completed before the position was furiously a.s.sailed by General Winfield Scott's brigade at the point of the bayonet; but the enemy was repulsed with great slaughter. A tremendous fire was then commenced on the crest of the British position, by the first brigade of the enemy, stationed near the copse between Lundy's Lane and the Falls of Niagara, and the 9th and 22nd Regiments and Captain Lawson's brigade of artillery, stationed on the Queenston road.

"During this stage of the engagement, the Light Company of Royal Scots arrived on the ground from the Twenty Mile Creek; and a courier was despatched to countermand the route of the 103rd Regiment, and the detachment of the King's and 104th Regiments, who had, in a mistake, taken the road to Queenston from the Beach Woods, and to hasten their movement to the field of action.

"On the brow of the hill, at the east end of Lundy's Lane, for the possession of which the armies. .h.i.therto had princ.i.p.ally contended, General Drummond had now planted his artillery, as it appeared to form the key to the position. On this quarter, therefore, the enemy for a length of time directed his whole efforts; and notwithstanding the carnage was truly appalling, no visible impression had yet been made.

Still on this part of the field did the whirlwind of the conflict rage with awful and destructive fury; columns of the enemy, not unlike the undulating surge of the adjacent cataract, rushed to the charge in close and impetuous succession.

"In this fearful and tremendous stage of the contest, the British forces, both regulars and militia, finding themselves pressed by an overwhelming force, simultaneously closed round the guns, apparently determined to contest their possession with the last drop of British blood on the ground, fully a.s.sured of their importance to a favourable termination of the engagement--in short both armies appeared to be roused to a state of desperation for victory.

"The enemy at length succeeded to make a slight turn on the left of the British position; at which period, General Riall, who commanded that division of the army, was severely wounded in the arm, and having pa.s.sed to the rear for the purpose of having his wound dressed, on his return to resume the command, was intercepted by a column of the enemy and made prisoner of war.

"It was long before this crisis of the engagement that the curtain of night had enveloped the scene; but instead of this circ.u.mstance abating the fury of war, which had now completely drenched the field with the blood of the combatants, the rage of battle appeared only to increase as the night advanced. Still did the enemy continue to direct his strongest force against the crest of the British position; but his repeated charges were as often received and repelled by the regular, fencible, and militia forces engaged, with that intrepid gallantry for which the British army was ever characterized. Charges were made in such rapid succession and with such determined vigour that often were the British artillerymen a.s.sailed in the very act of springing and charging their guns; and often were the muzzles of the guns of the contending armies hauled up and levelled within a few yards of each other. The havoc of lives on both sides, under such circ.u.mstances, may be better conceived than described.

"The battle having raged with almost unprecedented fury for upwards of three hours, both sides appeared for a time mutually to suspend hostilities; during which the British troops were supplied with fresh ammunition, and the enemy employed himself actively in bringing up his reserve columns; after which, the fire was recommenced from the Queenston road, on the left of the British column; however, it was discovered that this was only a diversion to mask the intention of a large body of the enemy's fresh troops, which was actually moving on the right of the British position, to outflank it. General Drummond commenced immediately to draw his strength towards this flank of the army, forming a line in a field of grain, upon which the enemy were seen to advance in slow and silent pace. The British line formed to repel this new attack was directed to kneel sufficiently low to prevent being perceived by the enemy; but scarcely had General Drummond completed this order of arrangement, before the enemy's column made its appearance and advanced within a few yards of the British line, when the signal was made to fire a volley and charge. The effect of that single fire upon the enemy's ranks was awful in the extreme--those of the enemy who were able made a precipitate retreat.

"'The enemy's efforts to carry the hill,' says General Drummond, in his official report, 'were continued until 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 Chippewa, burning, as he pa.s.sed the (Street) flour mills at Bridgewater. On the following day he abandoned his camp, threw the greatest part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions into the rapids above the falls; and destroying the bridge at Chippewa, he continued his retreat in great disorder towards Fort Erie.

"'The loss sustained by the enemy,' adds General Drummond, 'in this severe action, cannot be estimated at less than 1,500 men, including several prisoners left in our hands. Generals Brown and Scott were among the wounded. His whole force, which was never rated at less than 5,000 men, were all engaged.'

"In General Drummond's report of this action, the total number of killed, wounded, and missing of the British army was 878.

"By the regimental returns of the British army, including those of the militia, both before and after this engagement, the whole British force consisted of 2,800; but before the arrival of the troops under Colonel Scott, of the 103rd Regiment, it did not exceed 1,600.

"Of all the battles (says a writer on this subject) fought in America, the action of Lundy's Lane was unquestionably the best sustained and by far the most sanguinary. The rapid charges and real contest with the bayonet were themselves sufficient to render this engagement conspicuous. Traits of real bravery and heroic devotion were that night displayed by those engaged, which would not suffer in comparison with those exhibited at the storming of St. Sebastian, or the conflict of Quatre Bras.

"Both the belligerent armies have offered their claims for victory in this engagement. Upon what grounds the American general could propose such a claim are best known to himself--General Brown not only abandoned the plans of operations which he had formed previous to the action at Lundy's Lane [of advancing to Queenston, Fort George, and Burlington Heights], but 'retreated in great disorder towards Fort Erie,' where his egress from the territory might be more easy; and in his way destroyed the bridge at Chippewa, in order to r.e.t.a.r.d the advance of the British light troops in his rear."[221]

PART III.

AMERICAN ARMY RETREATS TO FORT ERIE, PURSUED BY GENERAL DRUMMOND, WHO INVESTS THE FORT--UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO STORM IT--SORTIE OF THE WHOLE AMERICAN FORCE, TWICE THAT OF GENERAL DRUMMOND, BUT DEFEATED--RAIN COMPELS THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE--GENERAL BROWN EVACUATES THE FORT AND CROSSES THE RIVER TO THE AMERICAN SIDE, AND THIS ENDS THE THREE YEARS'

INVASIONS OF CANADA, WITHOUT ACQUIRING AN INCH OF ITS TERRITORY.

On the American army reaching Fort Erie, they entrenched and strengthened the fortifications of the fort. Thither General Drummond pursued, and immediately invested the fort, although his army was not half the strength of the American army. General Drummond having reconnoitred the enemy's position, determined to storm his entrenchments. On the 13th of August, General Drummond, having completed his batteries, commenced a brisk cannonade on the position of the enemy, which, with few interruptions, was continued for two days with great effect; after which he was determined to carry the fort and outworks by nocturnal a.s.sault. In pursuance of this purpose, he formed his troops into three divisions: the first, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fischer, of De Watteville's, consisting of the King's Regiment, the regiment of De Watteville, and flank companies of the 89th and 100th Regiments, directed against the enemy's entrenchments at and near Snake Hill; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, of the 104th Regiment, consisting of the 41st and 104th Regiments, and a body of seamen and marines under the direction of Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy, against the fort; and the third, under Colonel Scott, consisting of his own regiment, supported by two companies of the Royals, against the entrenchments adjoining the fort.

About two o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the several divisions of the British army moved towards the enemy's entrenchments; but as soon as the column against Snake Hill had emerged from the woods, it came in contact with an abatis within twelve or fifteen yards of the enemy's entrenchments, defended by a heavy column of infantry, under the command of Major Wood, and the artillery under Captain Towson. This for a time completely checked his advance.

However, it was soon announced by a tremendous fire from the guns in the fort, and from the columns of infantry defending the entrenchments near the sh.o.r.e of the lake, that the other two columns, under Lieutenant-Colonels Scott and Drummond, had commenced an a.s.sault upon the enemy's works.

At the first outset of the two last columns, the enemy succeeded in turning the column on the left, under Colonel Scott; but that under Colonel Drummond penetrated the enemy's works and charged through his ranks with such irresistible impetuosity that nothing seemed sufficiently impregnable to arrest its progress. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott in the meantime rallied his column, which had been partially turned on one flank, and the fort was a.s.sailed in almost every quarter by the besiegers; an escalade was effected, the enemy driven from the ramparts at the point of the bayonet, and the guns of the fort turned upon the garrison; all of which preludes to victory had actually been gained a few minutes after the first alarm.

The battle raged with a fury seldom equalled. The British troops, in pursuance of an order to that effect, having previously divested their muskets of the flints, every foot of ground was contested at the point of the bayonet, which rendered the carnage more dreadful and appalling.

Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond (brother of General Drummond), during the conflict within the fort, performed extraordinary acts of valour. In the hottest of the battle he presented himself, encouraging his men, both by example and precept. But at the very moment when victory was declaring in favour of the British arms, some ammunition which had been placed under the platform ignited, and a dreadful explosion was the result, by which the greater part of the British forces, which had entered the fort, were literally blown into the air.[222] All exertions of the few British troops who survived the explosion were found ineffectual to maintain their ground, in the panic of the moment, against such an unequal force as the enemy was enabled to bring up against them, and the British forces were compelled to retire.

In this a.s.sault the loss of the British was severe. Colonels Scott and Drummond fell, while storming the works, at the head of their respective columns. General Drummond reported the killed, wounded, and missing, officers and men, as 904. The missing were reported at nine officers and 530 men--afterwards ascertained to have been princ.i.p.ally killed. The American statement of their own loss made it 84 in killed, wounded, and missing.