Cu. XI.] THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE. and as additional precautions against the enemy, destroyed the bridge over the Chippewa, and threw part of his baggage and stores into the rapids of the Niagara. Both sides claimed the victory; the Americans, because they captured the British guns, and drove the enemy from his position; the British, because they recovered the guns which Ripley had omitted bringing away, and, as Ingersoll says, found a cannon accidentally left by the Americans in their retreat; and also because the American force the next morning, did not attack them, but retired rather rapidly from the field. "Had General Drummond," says Ingersoll, "availed himself of this hasty and ill-judged retreat" on the part of Ripley, who does not seem to have entered heartily into Brown's views and plans,—“not a man of our army could have escaped. Whether it was the purpose of General Ripley to defend Fort Erie, or to cross the Niagara, he should have held the Chippewa, which was a strong fortress in itself. By leaving the Chippewa, he put the army, its artillery, all its supplies, and the whole Niagara frontier, into the power of the enemy. Fortunately for his reputation, and that of the country, Drummond failed to avail himself of any of the advantages thus offered to him." Arrangements for defending Fort Erie were urged forward, and General Brown, not altogether trusting in Ripley, sent orders to General Gaines, at Sackett's Harbor, to repair to Fort Erie * Ingersoll's "History of the Second War," vol. ii, p. 108. 237 and take command of the army. The British, reinforced by General De Watteville, with a thousand men, followed the Americans and laid siege to 1814. Fort Erie, on the 3d of August. The same day a detachment, under Colonel Tucker, crossed the Niagara, for the purpose of attacking Buffalo and recapturing General Riall. This party, although subsequently increased by reinforcements to twelve hundred men, was repulsed by Major Morgan with a rifle corps of two hundred and forty men. General Gaines arrived at the fort on the 4th of August, and entered zealously upon his important duties. The defences were in rapid progress, and the enemy were quite as active in preparing to attack the Americans. For a week or more, an incessant cannonade was kept up by the batteries of both besiegers and besieged; and frequent skirmishes took place, in one of which, on the 11th, Major Morgan lost his life. On the 14th, from various indications, it was evident that the enemy were intending to try the fortune of an assault. General Drummond had made his arrangements to assail the works at Fort Erie on the right, centre and left at the same moment; and General Gaines prepared to meet him at all points. Late in the afternoon, one of the enemy's shells lodged in a small magazine, and blew it up with a tremendous noise, which caused a loud shout on the part of the British troops, although the Americans suffered no loss of men by the explosion. The British commander, hoping to profit by the injury which he supposed the Americans to have received, determined to assault the fort that night, under cover of the rain and deep darkness which envelopped all surrounding objects. Accordingly, at half past two, in the morning of the 15th of August, he sent forward his right column, thirteen hundred strong, under command of Colonel Fischer. Advancing quickly and steadily, the British assailed Towson's battery with scaling ladders, and the line towards the lake with the bayonet. A tremendous fire from the battery threw them into confusion, but, urged on by Colonel Fischer, they again advanced, and again were compelled to retire. Fischer next endeavored to pass round the abattis, by wading breast deep in the lake; but this attempt also failed, and nearly two hundred of his men were killed or wounded. Meanwhile, the left and central columns, under Colonels Scott and Drum mond, advanced to the assault 1814. of the fort. The attack was furiously made, and though gallantly resisted, was partially successful. Drummond and his corps mounted the scaling ladders, gained the parapet, and with the savage cry, "give the Yankees no quarter!" fell upon the brave men there. The bastion was lost; Captain Williams was mortally wounded; Lieutenants Watmough and M'Donough, severely. The latter, no longer able to fight, called for quarter. This was refused by Colonel Drummond, who repeated his instructions to his troops to deny it in every instance. The almost exhausted strength and spirits of M'Donough were roused by the barbarity of this order, and seizing a handspike, with the desperation of madness, he defended himself against the assailants, until he was shot by the infuriate Drummond himself. The latter survived this act only a few minutes; he received a ball in his breast, which terminated his career. The enemy held what they had gainea until daylight, although they suffered severely.. The left column had already been repulsed with great loss. General Gaines ordered up reinforcements, and vigorous efforts were made to drive out the invaders, which were beginning to be successful, when a terrible explosion took place under the platform of the bastion, and carried it away and all who were on it. The contest was now brought to a speedy close, and the enemy, repulsed at all points, retreated to their encampinent. According to the British accounts, their loss was, in killed, wounded, and missing, six hundred and fifty; the American accounts estimate the British loss at about nine hundred men, while their own was only eighty-four. The next day, General Drummond was reinforced by two regiments; but he did not deem it advisable to renew the assault. The siege, however, was continued, and some apprehensions began to be felt as to its result. General Izard, at Plattsburg, was ordered, on the 12th of August, by the secretary of war, to proceed to the relief of the besieged army, and he accordingly set out, at the close of the month, with five thousand for that purpose." men, * Armstrong (vol. ii., pp. 100-108) is particularly caustic in his review of the course pursued by Izard. Ca. XI.] ATTACKS ON NORTHERN SEA COAST. The British pushed forward their regular approaches, while the Americans assiduously labored to complete their defences. General Brown, having recovered from his wounds, reassumed the command at Fort Erie, on the 2d of September; and frequent skirmishes occurred, without any material advantage to either side. On the 17th of September, a brilliant sortie was made against the enemy's batteries, which he had been busily occupied in erecting for a number of days, quite near to the fort; and after an hour's vigorous fighting, the ob1814. jects of the sortie were accomplished, and the Americans returned to the fort in good order, with many trophies of victory. The enemy's works were carried, the labors of six or seven weeks destroyed, the cannon spiked, and a thousand men placed hors de combat. General Brown's official report speaks in glowing terms of the gallantry of both officers and men. On the night of the 21st, General Drummond broke up his camp and retired to his entrenchments behind the Chippewa. 239 a body of militia, aided by some marines and sailors, under Captain Jones and Lieutenant Biddle, from the neighboring American squadron, endeavored to cut them off from retreat, but unsuccessfully. Some $200,000 worth of shipping was destroyed on this occasion. 1814. About this time, the coasting trade was almost destroyed by a British pri vateer, the Liverpool Packet, which cruised in Long Island Sound. Commodore Lewis sailed with a detachment of thirteen gunboats, and succeeded in chasing her off. Proceeding to Saybrook, on his arrival there he found upwards of fifty vessels bound eastward, but afraid to venture out. The commodore undertook to convoy them, and sailed for that purpose on the 25th of April. Lewis, with his gunboats, gallantly put himself between the coasting vessels and a British frigate and sloop of war. The coasters escaped to New London, and Lewis at tacked the English vessels to considerable effect. The harbors of New York, New London and Boston continued to be blockaded, and the whole coast was exposed to incursions of the enemy. Commodore Hardy, as we have before men * The northern sea coast, which had thus far experienced little molestation from the enemy, became the object of attack early in the spring. On the 7th of April, a body of sailors and marines, to the number of two hundred, ascending the Connecticut River, landed at Pettipaug Point, about six miles above Saybrook, and destroyed the shipping winter of 1813, but as often as he attempted it, blue they found there: thence, proceeding to Brockway's Ferry, they did the same; and, remained there, amusing themselves, unapprehensive of attack, for twenty-four hours. In the mean time, * Ingersoll (vol. ii., p. 55) devotes a page or two to the subject of the "blue lights treason," as he phrases it, which the reader may examine, not without profit. Commodore Decatur, who was shut up in the harbor of New London, was very anxious to get out, in the light signals, he averred, were displayed at the harbor's mouth, and the blockading squadron put on the alert. Decatur's official letter of the 20th of December, was brought up in the House of Representatives in Janu ary, 1814, but no result came of the movement. The vituperative expression, "blue light federalist," took its rise from this quarter tioned, (p. 192) endeavored to prevent outrage upon private property and defenceless villages, but occasionally his orders were not obeyed. Wareham, Scituate, Booth's Bay, and other places, suffered from the cupidity and violence of the enemy. On the 11th of July, Hardy, with eight ships and two thousand men, made a descent on Moose Island, in Passamaquoddy Bay, 1814. and having taken possession of Eastport, situated on that island, declared all the islands and towns in the bay to appertain to his Britannic majesty, and required the inhabitants to appear within seven days and take the oath of allegiance. About two-thirds of the inhabitants submitted to this indignity, in the hope of benefit from their submission; but to no purpose. Eastport was soon after strongly fortified, and remained in the possession of the British until the conclusion of the but they found extreme difficulty in subsisting their troops, and desertions were so frequent that the officers were often compelled to perform the duties of sentinels. war; On the 9th of August, Commodore Hardy sailed with a part of his squadron, for the purpose of attacking Stonington. The appearance of this force before the town excited much alarm, which was increased by a message from Hardy directing them to remove the women and children, as he was about to reduce the town to ashes. Although the means of defence were small, the inhabitants of Stonington determined to make an effort to repel the enemy. Bravely did the volunteers man the battery, and resist the attempt of the British to land from their boats, an attempt which was made in the evening, under cover of a heavy fire from the ships. Purposing to renew the attack next day, the enemy kept up a steady discharge of cannon until midnight. On the morning of the 10th, at dawn, one of the enemy's vessels approached within pistol shot of the battery, and the barges advanced in still greater numbers than the day before: these were again gallantly repulsed, and the vessel was driven from her anchorage. The squadron then renewed the bombardment of the town, but without effect; and on the 12th, the commodore thought proper to retire. The inhabitants of Stonington received, as they deserved, much praise for their resolute defence of their hearths and homes. On the 1st of September, a squadron of over twenty British vessels entered the mouth of the Penobscot, and took possession of Castine and Bel- 1814. fast. They destroyed all the vessels which they found there, garrisoned the former place, and thence proceeded against other places in the vicinity. All the country east of the Penobscot River, which Great Britain had formerly contended was the true St. Croix, was at the same time claimed as British territory; and, could she have made good her claim, it would have been very valuable to her interests, as being the most convenient route between Canada and Nova Scotia. And thus, as was reproachfully said, "without a blow struck, Massachusetts passed under the British yoke; and so remained, without the least resistance, till restored at the peace. It was the Cu. XI.] PREVOST MARCHES AGAINST PLATTSBURG. only part of the United States under undisputed British dominion." Part of the force employed in this expedition, ascended the river in pursuit of the United States frigate, John Adams, Captain Morris, which had taken refuge at Hampden, on the Penobscot, when chased by the British squadron. They succeeded in driving away the militia who had been summoned to defend the ship, and the vessel was burnt after the conflict. Preparations were thus made for the setting out of a great expedition, which had been arranged for the purpose of retaliating upon the Americans the invasion of Canada. Plattsburg was at this time almost wholly denuded of troops, who had been ordered (p. 238) to join the expedition under General Brown. Sir George Prevost, on the other hand, had received such reinforcements from the British army abroad, that he had under his command, at this time, not fewer than from twelve to fourteen thousand men. Nine or ten thousand of these, 1814. all of them veterans in arms, with a formidable train of artillery, and commanders of equal experience and skill, were collected on the frontier of Lower Canada. The naval part of the expedition, however, which, as all former attempts had showed, was of first importance for success, by no means corresponded in fitness and extent with these military preparations. A frigate, a brig, two sloops, and twelve gunboats, badly equipped, and manned for the most part with soldiers and militia, commanded too by an officer with whom the few sailors in the flotilla were unac quainted, composed the force on which VOL. III.-31 241 Prevost relied for co-operation and support in crushing his American opponents, and invading New York.* On the 3d of September, this formidable army took possession of the village of Champlain, and, from the proclamations and the impressments of wagons and teams in this vicinity, it was soon discovered that the immediate object of attack was Plattsburg. General Macomb lost no time in placing the works in a state of defence. In order to create emulation and zeal among the officers and men, they were divided into detachments, and stationed in the several forts; and the general declared, in his orders, that each detachment was the garrison of its own work, and bound to defend it to the last extremity. At the same time, he called on General Mooers, of the New York militia, and with him adopted measures for calling them out en masse. General Mooers, having collected about seven hundred militia, advanced, on the 4th, seven miles on the Beekmantown road, to watch the motions of the enemy and skirmish with them as they approached, and at the same time to obstruct the road by breaking down the bridges and felling trees. The rifle corps, under Colonel Appling, on the lake road, fell back as far as Dead Creek, having done every thing in their power to retard the enemy's progress. The next day, 1814. *Such is the British account: American authorities, on the other hand, claim that the enemy's force was superior to that of the Americans; the British numbering ninety-five guns and a thousand men, while the Americans had only eighty-six guns and eight hundred and twenty men. |