The March to Buffalo—Capture of Fort Erie—Battle of Chippewa—Brown's Plans—Battle of Lundy's Lane—Siege of Fort Erie by the British.
Colonel Winfield Scott, who after the failure of Wilkinson's expedition had spent a large part of the winter at Albany, arranging with Governor Tompkins the plans for the opening year, was made a brigadier-general in March, and with General Brown put the army at Plattsburg in motion for the Niagara frontier. Brown soon went to Sackett's Harbor, leaving Scott to conduct the long march alone. After passing Utica, the route lay largely through a wilderness. Where now stands Rochester, a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants, there was then but a single log house, and the scenery about the Genesee Falls, now closely hemmed in with tall buildings, was picturesque with forests and lively with rattlesnakes.
The army that assembled at Buffalo consisted of Scott's and Ripley's brigades of regulars, Porter's brigade of militia, and Hindman's battalion of regular artillery. A camp of instruction was formed at once, the modern French system being adopted, and for three months drilling went on every day with the most rigid regularity. The commanding General drilled the officers in squads, and they in turn drilled the men; after which came company and battalion drills, and finally evolutions in line. It is said that Scott had but a single copy of the French work on tactics, on which all his instruction was based, and this had to be explained to the officers individually, most of whom were not able to read French.
Late in June, General Brown reached Buffalo, and a campaign across the river was planned at once. Early in the morning of July 3d the troops of Scott and Hindman crossed the Niagara from Black Rock, landing below Fort Erie, while Ripley's crossed a little later and landed above the fort. The work was invested, and after the exchange of a few shots, by which four Americans and one man of the garrison were killed, it surrendered. A hundred and seventy men were made prisoners and sent across the river.
The main body of the British forces, commanded by General Riall, was at Chippewa, on the bank of the Niagara just above the great falls, about sixteen miles below Fort Erie. A detachment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, had been thrown forward as a corps of observation nearly to the fort.
On the 4th of July the Americans marched on Chippewa. Scott's brigade, starting in the morning, led the van, and had a running fight the whole sixteen miles with Pearson's detachment. That officer afterward remarked that he was surprised at the vigor of the pursuit, and could not account for it till he remembered what day it was. When they arrived at Chippewa River, it was nightfall, and Pearson crossed it and joined Riall. Scott rested or the night on the south bank of Street's Creek, which is two miles south of the Chippewa. These two streams flow by nearly parallel courses into the Niagara, and on the plain between them the battle of Chippewa was fought next day, July 5th. Near the bank of the Niagara ran the high road. About a mile west of it was a heavy wood.
The corps of observation pursued by Scott had destroyed the bridges over the small streams as it retreated; and it was assumed by General Brown that when he approached the Chippewa, the bridge over that stream would also be destroyed. He therefore delayed his attack while materials for a new bridge were prepared, so that when pursuit was begun it might not be interrupted. But General Riall, as it proved, so far from contemplating retreat, determined to assume the offensive himself.
Early in the day, skirmishing began along the edge of the wood on the left, by the light troops and Indians. This at last became so annoying to the American pickets, that Porter's militia and the Indians under Red Jacket were moved through the woods still farther to the left, to flank the enemy's skirmishers. Scouts carried intelligence of this movement to Riall, and Porter's force, which began the action in good order, was soon charged by a heavy column of British regulars, before which it broke and fled.
General Brown, who had been at the front watching this movement, seeing a great cloud of dust on the left of the British lines, rode in that direction and found that Riall was pushing forward his whole force. Then he rode straight for the American rear, to hasten up Ripley's troops, who were considerably behind those of Scott. Soon after he had crossed the bridge over Street's Creek, he met Scott, who was marching over for a dress parade on the plain. "The enemy is advancing. You will have a fight," said Brown to Scott as he passed him.
The British were already deployed in the plain, but hidden from Scott by a fringe of foliage along the creek. "Nothing but Buffalo militia!" said Riall, as the American column came in sight, and opened his guns upon it. But when he saw them pass the bridge without wavering under a heavy fire, and deploy in order of battle, he changed his mind. "Why, these are regulars!" he exclaimed.
Towson's battery, of three guns, included in Scott's command, was planted on the high road, and the British artillery, nine pieces, had a similar position some distance to the north. Of Scott's three battalions. Major Jesup's was thrown out on the left, Major McNeil's had the centre, and Major Leavenworth's the right. The firing along the lines began at once. Seeing that by the retreat of Porter his force was likely to be flanked on the left, Scott ordered Jesup to move obliquely in that direction, and attack the extreme right of the enemy in the woods, which order Jesup's men executed, under fire, with precision and success.
The British right wing, in conflict with Jesup, became detached from the main body, whose right was thereby left exposed. Scott instantly saw his advantage and profited by it. He ordered McNeil's battalion to charge obliquely upon the broken right of the main body of the enemy, and Leavenworth's at the same time to charge obliquely upon its left; the two battalions moving as if to unite at a point behind the British line. When this movement was made, the opposing lines were within eighty paces of each other, and the firing had all the time been increasing in rapidity and destructiveness. Two guns of Towson's battery—for one had been dismounted by a shot from the enemy's —wheeled into a position from which they could pour grape and canister through the British ranks, and their last discharge before the infantry crossed bayonets was an enfilading fire that wrought dreadful havoc.
Thus decimated by the artillery, the enemy's line soon crumbled and broke into a disorderly retreat before the steady charge of the infantry. About the same time Jesup repelled a heavy charge by a counter charge, and the entire body of Riall's forces fled with all haste across the Chippewa, Scott's men following closely and securing some prisoners.
It was a clean victory, gained by hard fighting and skilful manoeuvring; and as the battle took place in a plain where there was scarcely any cover of any kind for the troops on either side, the losses were exceedingly heavy. Just how many men were actually engaged, is a matter of dispute. But on the side of the Americans the number appears not to have been over nineteen hundred, Porter's troops going out of the action before it was fairly begun, and Ripley's not arriving in time to take any part. The number of Riall's troops in the fight appears to have been about twenty-one hundred. The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and missing, was three hundred and twenty-seven; that of the British, five hundred and three. These are the figures of the official reports, which exclude the Indians.
Riall did not tarry long to hold his position on the Chippewa. He soon sent a portion of his troops to the forts on the lower Niagara, while with the remainder he retreated to Burlington Heights. His Indian allies, eighty-seven of whom had been killed, while they had not taken a single scalp, all deserted him in disgust.
This first battle of the new campaign on the Niagara was a great inspiration to the American people, showing them that American soldiers, if properly drilled and handled, could face and defeat the best troops of the British army; for those under Riall at Chippewa were some of the crack regiments—the Royal Scots, the King's, and the Hundredth. An English writer said: "We have now got an enemy who fights as bravely as ourselves. For some time the Americans cut no figure on land. They have now proved to us that they only wanted time to acquire a little discipline. They have now proved to us what they are made of, and they are the same sort of men as those who captured whole armies under Burgoyne and Cornwallis; that they are neither to be frightened nor silenced; and that if we should beat them at last, we cannot expect to do it without expending three or four hundred millions of money, keeping up all our present taxes, and adding to their amount, or imposing new taxes. These are the natural consequences of battles such as that of Chippewa."
Two days after the battle, the Americans crossed Chippewa River, and marched on Fort George. On the way, Colonel Stone, of the New York militia, burned the village of St. Davids, for which he was promptly court-martialled and dismissed from the service. Fort George was invested, and then General Brown sent to Sackett's Harbor to procure heavy guns for its reduction. But Commodore Chauncey was ill, and it seems not to have occurred to him that any other officer could command the fleet for their transportation. So Brown, unable to procure siege guns, abandoned the siege, and marched back to Queenstown, whence he sent his sick across the river, and then prepared for an active campaign.
His idea was, to move against Burlington Heights and capture them, then continue his march along the northern shore of the lake and capture York, and thence, still following the lake shore, march on Kingston. But for the execution of this plan he relied upon the cooperation of Chauncey's fleet, and that he soon found he was not likely to have.
On the 24th of July he continued his retreat to Chippewa, with the hope of drawing out Riall. In the afternoon of the 25th he received information that the enemy had thrown a thousand men across the Niagara, from Queenstown to Lewiston. Supposing they intended to capture the magazine at Schlosser and intercept supplies coming from Buffalo, General Brown determined to draw them back if possible by again threatening the forts at the mouth of the river. With this purpose, he at once sent forward General Scott with thirteen hundred men, consisting of the battalions of Colonel Brady and Majors Jesup, Leavenworth, and McNeil, Tow-son's artillery, and a detachment of cavalry under Captain Harris.
This force, starting about five o'clock in the afternoon, marched down the road to the Falls. As they approached the house of a widow Wilson, near Table Rock, several British officers were seen to come out, mount hastily, and ride away, but not till they had reconnoitred, through their field-glasses, the American column. The widow informed Scott that the officers were Riall and his staff, and that the enemy's advance consisted of eight hundred regulars and three hundred militia, with two pieces of artillery; the truth being that the force had nearly twice that strength.
Scott pressed forward eagerly, throwing out a part of his men to the left, and sent back word to General Brown that the enemy was in front. As the Americans emerged into a cleared field, they suddenly found themselves confronted by the British line, eighteen hundred strong, which was drawn up in Lundy's Lane, a road that starts from a point near the great Falls and runs westward. In the centre of the enemy's line was a battery of nine pieces, which occupied a rounded hillock of gentle slope just high enough to give it command of the entire field. Scott saw at once that he was in presence of a greatly superior force; but retreat was almost impossible, and he judged it best to attack boldly, and trust to Brown for prompt reenforcement. As the Americans deployed in line of battle, the hostile forces were not more than a hundred and fifty paces apart, and firing began at once. The sun was now less than an hour high.
Towson's three guns made a gallant fight, but could effect little against the nine guns of the enemy, which were served rapidly and skilfully. The British left was east of the road that skirted the river, and was separated from the rest of the line by a space of two hundred yards, which was filled with brushwood. Jesup's and Brady's commands, partly hidden by this brushwood in the twilight, attacked the detached wing, and after considerable fighting forced it back upon the centre, capturing General Riall and several officers of his staff, after which Jesup and Brady resumed their place in the line. At the same time, the British right wing, which was longer than the American left, was thrown forward in an attempt to envelop it. To meet this danger, Scott sent McNeil's battalion against it, and after severe fighting, with heavy losses, the enemy's flanking movement was frustrated.
Both the messenger sent back by Scott and the sound of the guns announced to General Brown what was going on, and he ordered Ripley's brigade and Porter's volunteers to advance and join in the action. At the report of the first gun, Ripley had put his men in marching order, and when the word came to move they moved without a minute's delay. General Brown rode before them to the battle-field, and by the time of their arrival it was dark. About the same time, the enemy also was reënforced.
Ripley's brigade formed on Scott's right, and joined in the battle, which had not in the least abated at the departure of daylight. He soon saw that the strength of the enemy lay in the destructive battery that crowned the hill in the centre, and called upon Colonel James Miller, of the Twenty-first Regiment, to take it. "I'll try, Sir," was the now famous answer of Miller, who at once put his men in motion toward the battery. They crept silently up to a fence at the foot of the slope, put their muskets softly through it, took deliberate aim at the gunners, who had lighted matches in their hands, and at a whispered command fired in volley, shooting down every one of them. Miller's men then rose, pushed the fence flat upon the ground, rushed forward, and cleared the hill of the enemy. Meanwhile Scott's men, obstinately holding their first position, had kept on steadily firing, receiving as constant a fire in return, and both inflicted and suffered heavy loss. McNeil's battalion, having lost its commander and every one of its captains, and fired away all its ammunition, retired from the field; and a little later, Colonel Brady being disabled, his regiment also retired for a similar reason. But a considerable number of the men of these two commands joined themselves to the regiments that still stood firm, and reentered the fight.
After Miller's capture of the battery, the American line was re-formed, nearly at right angles to its former position, facing west, and advanced so as to hold the ground occupied by the battery. The enemy also formed a new line, and for two hours made the most desperate efforts to re-take the guns. There was constant firing, aim being taken by the flashes along the opposing lines, and more than once the bayonets were crossed in bloody hand-to-hand work in the darkness. It is said that at one time the continuous blaze of the cannon and small arms made that part of the field almost as light as day. During the struggle, both parties were reenforced by fresh troops, but Ripley's men firmly held the ground, repelling every attack, till the enemy gave it up and retired.
General Brown and General Scott were both wounded, and the command devolved upon General Ripley, who, an hour after the enemy had retired, withdrew the entire American force from the field, carrying off the wounded, and before morning was in camp at Chippewa. As all the artillery horses had been killed, the guns for which so costly a struggle had been made were left where they stood, and of course they fell into the hands of the enemy when he returned next morning and encamped on the deserted battle-ground. The principal reason why the Americans abandoned the field was, the want of water. The whole number of Americans engaged in this battle was about two thousand six hundred; the whole number of British, about four thousand five hundred. The American loss was one hundred and seventy-four killed, five hundred and sixty-five wounded, and one hundred and five missing—almost one third of the entire force. Among the killed or mortally wounded were Colonel Brady and Majors Leavenworth, McNeil, and McFarland. The British loss was eighty-four killed, five hundred and fifty-seven wounded, and two hundred and thirty-five missing or prisoners. The action has been called the Battle of Niagara, and the Battle of Bridgewater, but the most commonly accepted name is Battle of Lundy's Lane.
Ripley soon afterward destroyed the bridge over the Chippewa, and retired toward Buffalo. By Brown's orders, the troops were thrown into Fort Erie, where they were reenforced, and General Ripley was superseded by General Edmund P. Gaines.
As soon as he was able to move, General Drummond, who had succeeded to the command of the British forces, marched on Fort Erie. A detachment which he sent across the river to attack Buffalo was met and defeated at Black Rock, but a party in boats captured two of Perry's vessels which were moored under the guns of the fort. At midnight on the 14th of August, the enemy, who had been busy for two weeks planting batteries and occasionally bombarding the works, attempted to carry them by storm. The Americans were expecting the attack, and the preparations for making it were not more careful and elaborate than those for receiving it. The flints were withdrawn from the British muskets, both to insure silence in the approach and because General Drummond had issued a secret order in which he "strongly recommended a free use of the bayonet," and after dark a great number of scaling-ladders were carried forward and placed in convenient positions. The Americans had their guns charged with grape and canister, dark lanterns burning, and every musket at hand and ready for immediate use. At one battery, for lack of canister, bags were made of tent-cloth, filled with musket-balls, and loaded into the guns.
The storming party was in three columns. That which assaulted the American left, where Towson's battery was placed, marched up in the face of a continuous blaze of artillery and musketry, and, in spite of the storm of shot that rolled through it, tried to scale the defences, and actually crossed bayonets with the defenders. But in vain. Four such assaults were made by this column, and all were bloodily repelled. The rapidity with which the guns of the American battery were served, making an almost constant flash, gave it the name of "Tow-son's lighthouse."
On the right of the American works a similar assault was made at the same time by another column, which was met in a similar way. Major Douglass filled his guns to the muzzle with the bags of musket-balls, and though his cannoneers could not distinctly see their enemies, they were so familiar with the contour of the ground in front that they knew how to sweep it as effectively as if it had been broad daylight. Here also the attack failed.
The central column was a little more successful. The assailants dashed forward with their scaling-ladders, and mounted the parapet of the main fort, but were met at the edge by the Americans, who in a bloody fight hand-to-hand hurled them back. Three times this was repeated, with the same result. The column then moved silently around to another point, put up the ladders again, and mounted so quickly as to get a foothold within the bastion before the Americans could rally in sufficient force at the new point of attack to prevent them. Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, was at their head, and repeatedly called out to his men to "give the Yankees no quarter." Troops were rapidly drawn to this point from other parts of the fort, and here the bloodiest work of the night was done. The highest officers present mingled personally in the fray. Lieutenant McDonough, an American, being badly wounded, asked for quarter, which Drummond refused, at the same time repeating his order to his men to refuse it in all cases. McDonough roused himself for one more effort, seized a handspike, and kept several assailants at bay, till Drummond disabled him with a pistol-shot. An American who saw this at once shot Colonel Drummond through the breast, and followed the shot with a bayonet-thrust. The Colonel had in his pocket a copy of General Drummond's secret order, and the bayonet passed through the sentence in which "a free use of the bayonet" was recommended. *
At daylight the enemy still held the bastion he had gained in the night, and several determined attempts to dislodge him failed, though the number of men he had thrown into it was being continually reduced by an irregular fire directed upon it. The British reserve was now brought up to reenforce the party in the bastion, while Douglass turned the guns of his battery so as to sweep diagonally the
* This blood-stained document is now in the possession of the New York Historical Society.
ground over which it must pass, and Fanning's battery was already playing upon the enemy with considerable effect. But at the moment when the reserves were ready to make a rush for the bastion, there was a tremendous explosion, and the platform of the bastion, with all the men upon it, was hurled into the air. Masses of earth, stones, broken timbers, and dead and living bodies of men rose two hundred feet, and in falling were scattered to a great distance. It was a chest of ammunition that had exploded; but how it happened is unknown. Some of the American officers present believed it to be purely accidental, others said that Lieutenant McDonough, lying wounded at the foot of the bastion, being exasperated at the treatment he had received, applied the match and sacrificed himself for the sake of defeating his barbarous foe. The British reserves at once fell back, the contest was abandoned, and the shattered columns returned to their camp. According to General Drummond's official report, his loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was nine hundred and five. But as he gives the number of his killed as only fifty-eight, while the Americans found two hundred and twenty-two British soldiers dead on the field, it may be that even his acknowledged total loss of nearly a thousand is an understatement. The Americans lost eighty-four, besides forty-five men disabled by the cannonade that preceded the night assault.
General Gaines set to work at once to rebuild the ruined bastion and strengthen the whole line of works, while the enemy, after receiving reenforcements, began a siege by regular approaches. They soon brought their parallels so close that they were able to throw shells and hot shot into the fort every day. One shell descended through the roof of General Gaines's headquarters, and exploded at his feet, so injuring him that he was forced to give up the command to General Brown, and retire to Buffalo. The Americans in the fort, as well as the besiegers, had been reenforced, and General Brown planned a grand sortie to break up the siege works. The enemy's camp was two miles in the rear, and one third of his force was thrown forward at a time to work on the parallels. The Americans secretly marked out a road through the woods, leading from their left around to a point close upon the right of the besiegers. On the 17th of September two columns, of about one thousand men each, sallied out from the fort. One column followed the road through the woods and suddenly burst upon the British right, while the other marched through a ravine, against the centre. Before reënforcements could come from the British camp, the Americans leaped into the siege works, after bloody fighting overcame all resistance, dismounted the guns and rendered them useless, exploded the magazines, and returned to the fort with many prisoners. This operation cost the Americans five hundred and twenty men, killed, wounded, or missing, and the British six hundred and nine.
In the night of the 21st, General Drummond raised the siege, and retired beyond the Chippewa. In October the Americans dismantled Fort Erie, and returned to the eastern shore of the Niagara.
Fight at La Colle Mill—Ship-building—Yeo's Attack on Oswego—Affairs at Charlotte and Poultneyville—Fight at Sandy Creek—Izard's Failure on the Niagara—Expedition against Michilimackinac—Prevost's Advance into New York—Its Purpose—Battle of Plattsburg.
In February General Wilkinson had removed his army from French Mills to Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, and a month later he added one more to the futile invasions of Canada. At the head of four thousand men, he crossed the border, March 30th, met a party of British at Odelltown, with whom skirmishing was carried on for three miles along the road, and found the enemy seriously in his path at La Colle Mill, on the Sorel, four miles from Rouse's Point, where about two hundred men were posted in a stone mill and a block-house, on either side of La Colie Creek.
Wilkinson brought up two pieces of artillery and planted them within two hundred yards of the stone mill. Then he disposed his forces in such a way as nearly to surround it and cut off the retreat of the enemy when his guns should knock the walls of the mill about their heads. But though the guns were served with great skill and rapidity for two hours, the walls would n't budge, and it did not occur to the enemy to attempt a retreat. On the contrary, from their secure position they used their rifles so effectively that Wilkinson's men suffered severely. Captain McPherson, commanding the battery, was wounded in the chin, but tied it up with his handkerchief and remained at his post till another shot broke his thigh, when he was borne off. His successor, Lieutenant Larrabee, was soon shot through the lungs, when he also was borne to the rear; and Lieutenant Sheldon then kept the battery in play till the close of the fight.
Major Hancock, commanding the enemy, having received reënforcements that swelled the number of his men to about a thousand, ordered a sortie, to capture the battery. His troops suddenly burst from the mill, and made a rush for the guns. But this subjected them to a fire from the American infantry, by which they suffered heavily, and they were obliged to return to the mill and the blockhouse. A second and more desperate sortie had the same result, and the enemy then shut themselves up in the house and defied all attempts to drive them out. As the condition of the roads prevented him from bringing up heavier artillery, Wilkinson gave up the expedition and returned through mud, snow, and rain to Plattsburg. The affair had cost him a hundred and fifty-four men, and inflicted on the enemy a loss of sixty-one. The General asked for a court-martial, and was tried and acquitted; but this ended his military career. General George Izard succeeded to his command.
Both belligerents were still building ships for service on Lake Ontario. The British had a large one on the stocks at Kingston, and the Americans an equally large one at Sackett's Harbor. All sorts of insignificant affairs took place during the spring and summer along the shores of this lake and Lake Champlain, effecting nothing, but keeping the people in a state of alarm.
On one occasion three boats approached Sackett's Harbor, carrying two barrels of powder, with which it was intended to blow up the new vessel on the stocks. But they were discovered and fired at, whereupon the crews hastily threw the powder overboard, fearing it would be exploded by a bullet, and pulled away.
Finding that he could not destroy the new ship, Sir James Yeo determined to render her useless by capturing the guns, rigging, and stores intended for her, which were at Oswego. Accordingly he organized an expedition of about three thousand men, the troops being commanded by General Drummond, and sailed for that place early in May. The fort at Oswego, an old affair, in a dilapidated condition, was on one side of the river, and the village-on the other. Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, commanding at the fort, saw the approaching expedition early in the morning of May 5th. As his force was too small to be divided, he sent a large number of tents across the river, and had them pitched in front of the village. This convinced the enemy that there was a heavy force on that side of the river, and he confined his attention to the fort.
The ships bombarded the work, and a force attempted to land by means of boats. But Colonel Mitchell sent a few men down the shore with one old gun, and as soon as they came within range it made such havoc among the boats' crews that they pulled back to the fleet. One of the boats, sixty feet long, propelled by three sails and thirty-six oars, was so shattered that it was abandoned and drifted ashore.
The next day the fleet returned to the attack, and this time succeeded in landing about two thousand men. Colonel Mitchell, who had been reenforced by a small body of militia, gradually retired before the invaders, making a gallant resistance as long as it was of any use, and then retreated to a point several miles up the river, whither most of the stores had been removed, and destroyed the bridges behind him. The enemy raised and carried away the schooner Growler, which, as it contained some of the guns for the new vessel, the Americans had sunk on the approach of the expedition; burned the barracks, took whatever he could find that was movable, and on the 7th sailed away. The action had cost him two hundred and thirty-five men, killed, wounded, or drowned. The Americans had lost sixty-nine.
Five days later a British squadron appeared before Charlotte, at the mouth of Genesee River. The village was guarded by sixty men, with one field-piece. Word was sent to General Peter B. Porter, who arrived on the morning of the 13th, just in time to refuse a demand for the surrender of the place. Two gunboats then entered the river and bombarded the town for an hour and a half, throwing in shells, rockets, and round shot. The women and children were removed, a militia force of three hundred and fifty men was collected, and dispositions were made to capture the boats if they should venture farther up the river. A second demand for a surrender, with a threat to land twelve hundred men and destroy the village, was refused by Porter, and on the 15th the boats bombarded the place again for some hours, and then withdrew. In the evening the squadron sent a force on shore at Poultneyville, where some stores were captured; but a small body of militia under General John Swift soon appeared and drove the enemy precipitately back to their boats.
As Sir James Yeo was blockading Sackett's Harbor for the special purpose of preventing the armament of the new vessel from being carried in, the wits of the Americans were taxed to get the guns and cables there. Transportation all the way by land would have been tedious and costly. The task was assigned to Captain Woolsey, of the navy. He caused a story to be circulated, in a way that made it sure to reach the vigilant enemy, that the guns were to be transported by way of Oneida Lake. They were on nineteen boats, and on the 28th of May he ran the rapids and arrived at Oswego with them at dusk. The plan was, to coast along down the lake as far as Sandy Creek, eight miles from Sackett's Harbor, run up the creek, and thence carry them overland. Accompanied by a hundred and twenty riflemen, under Major Appling, the flotilla went down the lake by night as far as Big Salmon River, and in the morning one boat was missing. At this point a body of Oneida Indians joined the expedition, and at noon on the 29th it reached Sandy Creek. The missing boat had gone on to Sackett's Harbor, where—perhaps purposely—it fell into the hands of the blockaders, to whom its crew told the whole story of Woolsey's flotilla. Sir James at once sent a force, in two gunboats and four smaller craft, to capture it. This expedition sailed up Sandy Creek on the morning of the 30th, thinking to make sure prize of the flotilla and its cargo of guns and cables. But Major Appling had placed his riflemen in ambush along the bank, and near the flotilla was Captain Melville with a company of light artillery and two six-pounders. The enemy's gunboats opened fire on the flotilla as fast as they came within gunshot, and a party of troops was landed. As soon as they were within range of Appling's rifles, he poured in a deadly fire upon their flank and rear, while at the same time the artillery played upon them in front. In ten minutes the British lost eighteen men killed and fifty wounded, when the whole force surrendered. The captured boats mounted seven guns, and there were a hundred and sixty-five prisoners. The Americans had two men wounded. The Indians took no active part in the fight.
This affair inflicted so serious a loss upon the British fleet that it returned to Kingston, and remained there till another ship and more men could be obtained. The Americans arrived safely at Sackett's Harbor with their guns, and the new frigate, the Mohawk, was launched on the 11th of June. Chauncey's squadron then consisted of nine vessels, mounting two hundred and fifty-one guns.
Early in August, General Izard, being ordered to relieve General Brown in the command on the Niagara frontier, marched from Plattsburg with about four thousand troops, leaving General Alexander Macomb in command there with twelve hundred, including the invalids. After his arrival at Buffalo, Izard crossed the Niagara with about eight thousand men, and set forward to attack Drummond on the Chippewa. But the British commander, after one sharp skirmish, withdrew his forces to Fort George and Burlington Heights. Izard, who lacked the energy to follow, persuaded himself, in spite of the almanac, that the season was far advanced, and retired to Black Rock.
Another American expedition on the upper lakes was not more satisfactory or creditable in its result. It was intended for the re-capture of Michilimackinac, the first place taken by the British during the war. The garrison was strengthened in April, 1814, and three months later a detachment sent out from it captured the American post at Prairie du Chien.
The naval portion of the expedition was entrusted to Commander Arthur St. Clair, who had five vessels which had formed part of Perry's fleet. He took on board five hundred regular troops and about the same number of militia, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan, who had made the gallant defence of Fort Stephenson the year before, sailed on the 12th of July, and arrived at Michilimackinac on the 26th. There was a difference of opinion as to the best mode of attack; St. Clair was unwilling to attempt it first with his vessels, because the fort was so far above the water that it could send a plunging fire upon their decks.
On the 4th of August the troops were landed on the north side of the island, to attack the fort in the rear. But Lieutenant-Colonel McDonall, who commanded it, had drawn out his entire garrison, and taken up a strong position in the path of the Americans. His men were behind a small ridge which formed a natural breastwork, the ground in front was perfectly clear, and two field-pieces commanded it. On each of their flanks was a thick wood, and in these woods McDonall posted a force of Indians. Croghan advanced with his militia in front, and attempted to turn the British left. But a volley from the Indians in the woods, whom he had not discovered, killed Major Holmes, wounded Captain Desha, and threw the American right wing into confusion. Croghan then attacked the enemy's centre, and drove him from his breastwork into the woods in his rear. But beyond this point it seemed impossible to accomplish anything, and the Americans soon withdrew from the field and reembarked. They had lost thirteen men killed, fifty-two wounded, and two missing. The British loss is unknown.
But while these insignificant actions were taking place along the whole length of the lakes, a serious danger threatened the country at the eastern extremity of that line, and was averted by a brilliant victory.
The British troops at the foot of Lake Champlain had been heavily reenforced by veterans from the armies that had conquered Napoleon, and Sir George Prevost, who had been ordered to make an invasion of New York by the route taken by Burgoyne in 1777, seized the opportunity when the Americans at Plattsburg were weakened by the absence of Izard and the four thousand men he had taken with him to the Niagara frontier.
The object of the movement was, to capture and hold a portion of the State of New York; so that when the pending peace negotiations were brought to a close, it might be stipulated that all territory should remain with the party in whose possession it then was, and this would give the English complete control of the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, if not of Lake Ontario also. In accordance with this purpose, Prevost issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of that sparsely settled region, calling upon them to renounce allegiance to the United States, renew their allegiance to Great Britain, and furnish his troops subsistence. Had his forces been victorious, he would have claimed that this had been done, and the English would then probably have been successful in their purpose to "change the boundary of New York."
General Alexander Macomb, who had been left in command at Plattsburg on the departure of General Izard, and had been told by that officer that he must expect to be driven out or made a prisoner by the enemy, had made up his mind to falsify the prediction, and exhibited wonderful energy in putting the place into a defensible condition.
Saranac River, after running parallel with the shore of Lake Champlain for a short distance, turns sharply to the east and flows into Cumberland or Plattsburg Bay. On the peninsula thus enclosed, which is about half a mile wide, the Americans constructed three redoubts and two block-houses, one of them being at the mouth of the river. The north bank is about thirty feet high; and the south bank, which was the one occupied by the Americans, about fifty. Macomb had fifteen hundred regulars, and two thousand militia.
Prevost, with fourteen thousand troops, began his advance on the 29th of August, crossed the border on the 1st of September, and thenceforth found his march impeded somewhat by felled trees and broken bridges. He was in no great hurry, however, as he was in advance of the fleet, commanded by Commodore George Downie, on whose cooperation he relied. He impressed the horses of farmers along the route for the transportation of his artillery and supplies, and arrived before Plattsburg on the 6th. The advance of his right column was assaulted by a small body of riflemen under Major John E. Wool, who inflicted some loss and drove it back upon the main body. Wool fell back, was joined by Captain Leonard's battery, made another stand, inflicted more loss with the artillery, and again fell back slowly till he crossed the Saranac, destroying the bridge behind him. The enemy's left column, approaching by a road nearer the lake, was annoyed by skirmishers under Lieutenant-Colonel Appling, and by the American gun-boats. Both bridges were destroyed, and when the enemy's riflemen posted themselves in several houses on the north bank, these were set on fire by hot shot.
But the British fleet had not yet come up, and Prevost, while waiting for it, spent several days in erecting batteries and perfecting his preparations for a serious assault. The fleet appeared on the morning of the nth, and the General gave orders for an immediate advance.
His men attempted to ford the river at three places—where the two bridges had been, and at a point farther up, known as Pike's Cantonment —their movements being covered by a heavy fire from the British batteries. The troops that actually advanced to the assault numbered eight thousand, and they carried an immense number of scaling-ladders, to enable them to climb the high bank and afterward surmount the American works.
At the lower bridge, the fire from the forts and block-houses drove them back. At the upper bridge, they were prevented from landing by a steady fire of musketry. At Pike's Cantonment, where the river was easily fordable, there was only militia to dispute the passage. Yet several attempts to cross were repelled; and when finally a body of regulars succeeded in crossing, the militia rallied and drove it back again with heavy loss. At this point of time the issue of the battle had been decided by the action on the water.
The American flotilla, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, was drawn up in line to await the attack, in such manner that the British ships could not enter the bay without being exposed to a broadside fire. Macdonough's vessels were all stationed with their prows to the north, the Eagle, of twenty guns, at the head of the line; then the Saratoga, flag-ship, of twenty-six guns; then the Ticonderoga, of seventeen; and lastly the Preble, of seven, which was so near a shoal that the enemy could not pass around her. Macdonough also had ten galleys or gun-boats, which he placed inside of his line, opposite the intervals between the larger vessels. The British flotilla also consisted of four large vessels—carrying respectively thirty-seven, sixteen, eleven, and eleven guns—and twelve gun-boats. The total American force was fourteen vessels, with eighty-six guns and eight hundred and fifty men; the total British force, sixteen vessels, with ninety-five guns and one thousand and fifty men.
The peculiar thing in Macdonough's preparations, and the one perhaps which secured him the victory, was an arrangement by which he made it possible to turn his flag-ship almost instantly so as to bring her broadside to bear on any point. He did this by laying a kedge anchor broad off each of her bows, and carrying the hawsers to the quarters. Thus by winding in one or the other of the hawsers the stern of the ship could be swung one way or the other, while the cable of the main anchor kept her bow in one place.
The English line bore down upon the American in fine style, the first two vessels firing as they approached. The flag-ship Confiance did not open fire till she had dropped anchor within a quarter of a mile of her foe.
The Eagle, at the head of the American line, began firing in a wild way, without orders, before her shot could reach the enemy. The excitement was soon felt through the fleet, and was shared by a young cock which had escaped from his coop on the deck of the Saratoga. In response to the boom of the cannon, he flew upon a gun-slide, flapped his wings, and crowed loudly. The sailors burst into a hearty laugh, and gave three cheers. Then a long gun, sighted by Macdonough himself, was fired, and as the shot raked the deck of the Confiance, the whole line opened and the battle became general. The first broadside from the Confiance disabled forty men on the Saratoga; for fifteen minutes everything was ablaze, and the roar was continuous. Then the vessel at the head of the British line struck her colors.
The enemy's shot cut away the Eagle's springs—ropes fastened either to the anchor or to the cable, and passed to the quarter, in order to sway the ship to one side or the other and bring the guns to bear on any desired point. Her commander, Lieutenant Henley, then cut his cable, sheeted home the topsails, ran down behind the Saratoga, and took a position between her and the Ticonderoga, anchoring by the stern, which brought the fresh guns of his larboard battery to bear on the enemy, when they were served with good effect.
The Preble was attacked by the enemy's gunboats, and driven from her position; but they were stopped by the next in line, which they vainly tried to board. Every gun of the starboard battery—-the side nearest the enemy—on the American flag-ship was disabled. Then Macdonough proceeded to "wind ship," that is, to turn the vessel completely round by winding at the hawsers attached to the kedges. This was accomplished without accident, and his gunners, springing to the larboard battery, poured out fresh broadsides that made dreadful havoc with the Confiance. The commander of that vessel attempted to copy Macdonough's manoeuvre, for her battery on the side presented to the enemy was also nearly used up, but failed, and two hours and a quarter after the fight began her colors came down. The remaining British vessels also surrendered, and the victory was complete.
When the tremendous cheer that burst from the sailors of the American fleet announced this news, to friend and foe on shore, Sir George Prevost—who from the first had relied more upon the fleet than upon his army—gave up his whole plan, and made all haste to return to Canada.
In this bloody battle—which defeated what is known as the second invasion of New York, and preserved our territory intact—the American fleet suffered a loss of fifty two men killed and fifty-eight wounded. The British, according to their official report, lost fifty-seven killed, including Commodore Downie, and seventy-two wounded; Macdonough reported their loss at eighty-four killed and a hundred and ten wounded. The British galleys, before the Americans could take possession of them, drifted out into the lake, and escaped.