Title

Chapter 15

Identifier

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?b=1&ref=oo&id=298171

page

160-173

Bibliographic Citation

1812; the war and its moral : a Canadian chronicle / William Foster Coffin.

10167813

1812; the war and its moral : a Canadian chronicle / William Foster Coffin.

Type

Text

extracted text

161

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

RAID ON BLACK ROCK—GENERAL PORTER.

Chippewa to Fort Schlosser, celebrated in after years as the scene of
the capture of the Caroline steamer. To the fate which befel her,
these brave men were exposed, for an accident, an unlucky shot, or a
disabled oar, might have doomed boat and crew to the boiling rapids
and the unsparing cataract. They landed, however, unobserved,
surprised the work, called a fort, and captured the guard there
stationed. They secured several stand of arms, a quantity of ammunition, one brass 6-pounder, and a large store of provisions, and
with this booty and fifteen prisoners returned in safety to the
Canadian side. James Cummings, of Chippewa, also engaged in
the Indian trade at that time, accompanied the expedition. It
is pleasant to receive from the lips of one who took part in these
occurrences, and who at 73 enjoys all the vigour of middle age, a
relation of the exciting incidents, and hair-breadth escapes, over
which horror and wild glee cast a strange and ghastly glamour,
when men laughed and cried in the same breath, and forgot in
the passing struggle with boiling eddy or desperate foe, both the
past and the future. It is necessary to hear these recitals before
we can realize, or indeed understand, the imminence and extent of
these dangers, or the indifference with which, when past, they were
regarded. But Bishopp fired up when he heard of the exploit.
" Hang the fellow, he has got before me. By Jove, it was well
done—we'll try it again ;" and he did try it again.
At 2 a.m., on the morning of the 11th July, accompanied by
Clark, and by Cummings the narrator, and backed by about 240
men, 200 regulars and 40 of the 2nd and 3rd Lincoln, Bishopp
swooped down upon Black Rock, the American naval depot on the
River Niagara.
Black Rock is now a large manufacturing village about three miles
below Buffalo, at the embouchure of the Erie Canal. The furnace
and the forge and the fitful flashes, and the roar of uninterrupted
industry, have succeeded to monotonous earthworks, to the shout of

battle and the red artillery. The great breakwater, which now
divides the still canal from the seething river, did not then exist.
The river was wider, the shore more open than it is now, and the
silence of the summer night was scarcely broken by the muffled oar.
The party had embarked a little below the present village of Waterloo,
and, overshooting their mark, reached the shore below Black Rock.
Bishopp landed at once, alinost without a sound, and dashed into the
encampment of the American Major, Adams, dispersed abmit 300
militia, and captured three heavy guns. These ' were turned instantly
on the Block-house, which, with its garriaen of regular artillerymen,
gave in incontinently. General Porter, AO commanded on the frontier, lived hard by. He escaped out of a window, took to horse,
and rode to Buffalo. Bishopp and his friends repaired to
courteously asked for breakfast, and were hospitably entertained.
In the mean time the work of destructiOn went on. The Blockhouse, and the barracks, and the naval arsenal, and a fine schooner,
were destroyed by fire. All the public stores which could be
removed, were transferred to the boats, and some conveyed across
the river ; but private property was scrupulously respected. The
Buffalo Gazette of July 13, says " while the main body was thus
employed in disposing of the public property, a party entered
the houses in the village, but we have not ascertained that they
committed any outrages on private property."*
While the British were thus employed, General Porter had' made
the best use of his time. He had roused the people of Buffalo,
and brought down strong reinforcements of regulars, militia and
Indians. Titim had crept on, and Cummings, who knew the people
best, and felt much' as if on a hornet's nest, remonstrated with
Bishopp, but the gay and gallant fellow laughed; and " poked fun
at him." He had come to destroy those stores and guns, and

160

• James, Vol. I, page 229. '

162

CHRONICLE 01` THE WAR.

COLONEL CECIL BISHOPP—GENERAL WETHERALL.

meant to do it. Now, anchors and chain cables, and heavy iron
guns, were not toys to be lightly handled nor easily destroyed. The
most that could be done was, to sink them in the Niagara, from
whence they could be fished up with no great trouble. At length
the work was completed, the men re-embarked unmolested, and
Bishopp was the last to retire. Scarcely had they left the bank
when the Indians, who, snake-like, had crawled to the top, com
menced to fire. Part of the men were disembarked, and drove the
enemy back into the woods and upon their supports,; while they in
turn, uniting, forced the small detachment back to their boats.
Bishopp was everywhere, commanding, directing, getting his men
off. In the confusion of the moment, some of the oars of his own
boat were lost, and she drifted, helplessly, down the stream, exposed
to an increasing fire. " Here the gallant Bishopp; the darling of
the army, received his death wound. Never was any officer, save
always the lamented Brock, regretted more than he was." He
was borne back to his quarters, where in a few days, he expired at
the early age of 27. His remains lie beneath a modest monument
erected to his memory by the pious care of his sisters, the Baroness
de la Zouche and Mrs. Pechell, in the churchyard at Lundy's Lane.
Colonel Cecil Bishopp was a son of Sir Cecil Bishopp, Bart.,
afterward Lord de la Zouche. He was an accomplished gentleman.
He had served in the Guards. Had represented Newport in the
Isle of Wight in Parliament. Had been attached to a Russian
embassy. Had served with distinction in Flanders, in Spain and in
Portugal, and died full of hope and promise in Canada, gallantly
" doing his duty " and not without avail, for his example lives.
Bishopp had been appointed Inspecting Field officer of militia
on the Niagara frontier. He won all hearts. He was possessed

of that indescribable fascination of manner and character which,
apparently without an effort, acts like a charm. It was a gift.
His influence over the militia was supreme. He knew that he was
not dealing with raw recruits, with mere children, who have to be
taught and treated like children, kit with men, for the most part
of a certain age, reasoning and reasonable men, who are willing,
nay eager, to learn anything conducive to the defence of all they
hold dear, and who accept the restraints of discipline as indispensable to that end. With an instant and intuitive perception of
what was due to himself and to them,—without departing from his
own dignity, he won their affection, commanded their respect and
" could do with them just as he pleased." Those who can remember the present Sir George Wetherall, when in command of the
volunteers in Montreal, some twenty-five years ago, will recall a
reproduction of the same character. With such an officer at their
head, the militia of Canada, on their own soil, are equal to any
troops this continent can produce, and are content that they
should take the odds of their great name and estimation, and will
try fortune with them. The following epitaph is inscribed on a
tablet erected to the memory of Colonel Bishopp, at the family
burial place, Parham, Sussex, and ascribed. to Sir James Mac-

•

-

* Letter of a " Green 13n" (Judge Jarvis, Cornwall), given by Auchinleck,
p. 178.

163

donald :
His pillow—not of sturdy oak ;
His shroud—a soldier's simple cloak ;
His dirge—will sound till time's no more—
Niagara's loud and solemn roar.
There Cecil lies—say, where the grave
More worthy of a Briton brave.*

These incursions on the part of the British had, as we have just
* The incidents in the early career of Colonel Bishopp, and the epitaph,
have been borrowed from Morgan's Canadian Celebrities, p. 225. For the residue, I am indebted to those who knew him, and who still live near where he died.

164

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.
•

RENEWED ATTACK ON YORK.

observed, led the Americans to have recourse to the assistance of the
Indian tribes who still adhered to the American soil. They were
called " The Six Nations," but consisted chiefly of Mohawks, from
the Mohawk Valley, in the state of New York, and a few relics
of other nations, whose names may possess interest, but afforded
no strength. This Indian alliance has given rise to much useless comment. By enlisting savage mercenaries in their service,
and by denouncing the British for doing the same thing, the
American government became liable to the charge of great inconsistency; but, as we hold that the child of the soil, whether
savage or civilized, is justified in resisting an invader, we have
certainly no right to complain that the Americans should have
defended their country with the same weapons we ourselves employed. The savage, as an instrument of warfare, is not more
repugnant to humanity than is war itself in any shape,—not more
repulsive than mines and torpedoes, and the thousand hideous
forms which war assumes at the hands of refined man The savage
may be inspired, may be taught, may be bribed, to pity and to spare.
Bomb-shells and spherical case discriminate less, spare less, and
are less placable. If, as is stated in the Bufalo Gazette, of the
13th July, 1813—" Our savage friends expressed a desire to scalp
the dead, but were prevented,"—we may admire the precaution
which restrained an instinctive propensity ; but British writers certainly cannot exclaim, if the savage, assailed in his lair, should defend himself in a savage manner. But, without scolding at others,
let us transpose the position ; let us show what we did to humanize
and mitigate the horrors of the war. It has been already shown
that the employment of the Indians on the western frontier,
was justified by necessity. The savage could not be neutral:
his services were sought by the Americans, and secured by
the British, simply because the hatred, engendered by years of
wrong, was not to be appeased by bribes or cajolery. It will be
f

seen hereafter, how earnestly and how effectually the British coin-

165

manders, Brock, Proctor, and St. George, labored to neutralize the
rancorous animosity of the Indian, and to divest of its venom the
weapons which, in self-defence, they were compelled to use. On
the Niagara frontier similar expedients had been employed. Early
in 1813, a committee of officers, headed by General Vincent, had
resolved to pay ten dollars for every prisoner brought in alive by
his Indian captor. The Prince Regent subsequently approved and
confirmed the proceeding. A Boston paper of the time noticed
the resolution, in defiance of the " anathema maranatha" of the
democratic press ; but from among the number saved, not one voice
appears to have been raised in generous recognition, or in reply to
the Thersites of the time, whose tongues, wherever England or
Canada were concerned, " coined slanders like a mint."
We will now, for a brief space, return to Lake Ontario, on our
way down to the province of Lower Canada, and to the scene of
war on Lake Champlain. OU the 26th July, Commodore Chauncey
again appeared on Lake Ontario, in the new ship General Pyke,
which so narrowly escaped destruction by Provost's retreat from
Sackett's Harbour. With a fleet consisting of 14 vessels, mounting
altogether 114 guns, and manned by 1,193 seamen, and having on
board 300 regular troops, under Colonel Scott, he made an attempt
on the position of Burlington Heights, which was defended by
Major Maule, and 150 rank and file. The troops were disembarked
and embarked again. It was understood that the demonstration
on Burlington Heights had attracted thither the Glengarries, which
defended York ; and
Ut canis a corio nunquam absterrebitur uncto,

the Commodore and the Colonel determined to revisit the helpless
scene of their former exploits. On the 31st July, they disembarked, without opposition, at the point termed the " Garrison ;"
took quiet possession of the town ; broke open the gaol, liberated
the prisoners ; and took out of the stores of the inhabitants (called

166

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

" public stores" in the despatch), several hundred barrels of flour
and provisions. They destroyed barracks and other buildings,
eleven boats—magnified into transports ; and having heaped mischief on misery, returned to their safe harbor at the mouth of the
Niagara River.*
While Chauncey was thus marauding at the western extremity of
the lake, Sir James Yeo, after having destroyed the American camp
at Forty-mile Creek, on the 13th June crossed the lake, captured
two schooners and boats with supplies ; then secured a depot of
provisions on the Genessee River. On the 19th he captured more
stores and more provisions at a place called Great Sodus ; and on
the 29th June returned to Kingston. On the 31st July, Sir James
sailed from Kingston with supplies for the army; and having landed
them at Burlington Heights, steered for Niagara, and " looked
in"—in nautical phraseology—as a challenge to Chauncey, who
was not slow in accepting it. The British squadron consisted of
six vessels of war ; the American amounted to fourteen. A great
deal of manoeuvring took place on both sides—" bearing down"
and " bearing up," " getting to windward " and " falling to
leeward," on the " larboard tack " and on the " starboard
tack,"—scientific evolutions quite beyond the lubberly ken of
landsmen ; which ended, however, intelligibly and in stern
earnest. Two fine American schooners, the Scourge, of 8 guns,
and the Hamilton, of 9, were upset in a squall, and all hands
lost, except 16 saved by the British ; and two vessels of the
same class, the Julia and the Growler, were cut off and captured.
Chauncey, though still by far the stronger, retired into Niagara.
But these results were not conclusive, nor were they satisfactory
on our side of the lake ; and landsmen, who did not know the
difference between a caboose and a marlinspike, and who can

• Jamel, Vol. II, 231.

TACTICS OF SIR JAMES YEO.

167

hardly be blamed if they could not stomach such matters, took
upon themselves to pass very hard and very unjust comments
upon Sir James Yeo. A British sailor was expected to do many
impracticable things ; and among the rest, to catch an adversary
who, being a quicker sailor, would not be caught, and whose long
guns, at long distances, made it dangerous to follow. The fact
is, that Sir James did his best to close with his adversary, but
unavailingly. And we have here the evidence of Dr. Richardson,
who was then " sailing master " on board the flag-ship. The
armament of the two squadrons governed, to a great extent, the
• movements of the commander. Sir James was provided, for the
most part, with carronades,--excellent for rapid firing at close
quarter, but unavailable at long range ; while, on the other hand,
Chauncey had long guns, which gave him a decided superiority at
a distance. Thus, while Yeo sought to " lay alongside," the other
disapproved of these familiarities; and, as with sailing vessels,
the closing in action depends on the weather gage, Chauncey's
superiority in sailing enabled him to decline coyly all delicate
attentions of this sort.' " I heard him once remark," says the
venerable narrator, " to an observation from Captain Mulcaster,
' If we were on the high seas, I would risk an action at all hazards ;
because, if I were beaten, I could only lose the squadron ; but to
lose it on this lake, would involve the loss of the country. The
salvation of the western army depends on our keeping open their
communications."'* Thus spoke out the man of thought as well as
action ; thus spoke the man of head, with courage to do what his
brain dictated,----indifferent to disgrace if incurred in the service
of his country. As a brave seaman, he was beyond reproach.
We now leave the blue Ontario for the picturesque shores of
Lake Champlain ; and on our way down the St. Lawrence, pause
,

• Memoirs of Dr. Richardson, D.D.

168

SUPPLIES—TRANSPORT—SERVICES OF THE COMMISSARIAT.

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

for a moment at the scene of one of those daring and sometimes profitless adventures to which seamen are prone. It befell at a place
called, not inappropriately, Goose Creek, lying on the opposite side
of the river, a little below Gananoque. tha the 20th July, the enemy,
lying perdu among the rocks and channels of the Thousand Islands,
had pounced on a brigade of batteaux, conveying provisions and
supplies from Montreal to Kingston, and had spirited away the
whole convoy into the difficult and romantic recesses of the creek
before named. Three gun-boats, under Lieutenant Scott, and a
detachment of Ate lop91. 1 connnandea by Captain Martin, were sent
from Kingston, to intercept * American return to Sackett's Harbour : a very sensible plan, which was unfortunately spoiled by a rush
into his stronghold. They had reaches} the spot as evening fell, and
were compelled, by the darkness, to defer the attack until morning.
In the night came
, up Major Frend, of the 4th Foot, with an additional gun-boat, and a small reinforcement. On his way he had encountered
Captain Milnes, a promising young officer, and Aide-de.
Omni) to Sir George Prevost. Milnes volunteered, of course ; and
at 3 a.m., before dawn, the whole force felt its way forward. They
found the enemy fully prepared. The channel became narrow ;
the banks rocky and precipitous; and large trees felled across the
stream, brought them up in front of a log fort. The woods were
filled with riflemen; and the American plied well his national
weapon. The seamen and troops leaped into the water—carried
the heights and anlye the foe into their fort. But. the odds and
the difficulties were too great. Frend ordered the re-embarkation
of the men, and fought his way out; but with twenty-one. casualties—
among them the gallant Milnes, who was mortally wounded, and
died. shortly after, much deplored by his brothers in arms.
The capture of this brigade of store-boats by the enemy—tub
unfrequent occurrence on bott sides—will convey some idea of the
danger and difficulties surmounted in supplying a military force

_

,

,

169

scattered from Quebec to Michilimacinac, along an exposed frontier of upwards of a thousand miles. It taxed talent, and energy,
and foresight of no ordinary calibre to anticipate and provide for
all wants—to evade or surmount all obstructions, in a climate which
admits of but six months of water conveyance, and at that season,
and on that line of communication, invites and aids attack ; and
in a country where the roads in winter, though practicable, are
so narrow, and at times so cut up, as to make the movement of
weighty articles very slow and protracted. The baggage and daily
supply of a regiment on the march, conveyed in a long single line
of traineaux, would occupy miles of road, from which to diverge
one foot is to plunge into three feet of snow; and where a " break
down" interrupts the advance of the whole line. The troops had
to be supplied for the present, and in anticipation of the casualties
of the future. It will surprise men, living in the abundance of
productive and overflowing Canada, to learn that in 1813 the
soldiery, the militia, and the Indians, were fed upon Irish messpork, and on " pilot bread," or ship biscuit, manufactured at
Portsmouth. In a new country, where population was scattered
and cultivation sparse—where the produce barely sufficed for the
support of the husbandman—and where war disturbed both sowing
and harvest, it became necessary, in providing for the troops, to
consider the wants of the whole population. It is, therefore, easy
to imagine the arduous duties—the responsibilities—the mental
labour which devolved upon the commissariat. What the belly
was to the members, according to the fable of 2Esop, the brain was
to the belly in the story of Canadian warfare. Shoes and bread
were the real pabula belli. These essentials were regularly and
plentifully supplied ; but to secure this supply, demanded great
administrative talent ; a thorough knowledge of the country, the
language, the means of conveyance, channels of communication,
and of the means and resources, however limited, which could bio.
appealed to upon an emergency.

170

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

Sir William Robinson was the commissary general, an experienced
officer of the department, and an excellent link of connection
between the expenditure of the war and the British treasury ; and
he was well supported. It must be evident that, in such a scene
of scattered warfare, waged at the same time on remote frontiers,
much was necessarily left to individual responsibility, and that
much depended on the local knowledge and capacity of subordinate
officers. Fortunately, Sir William found in the country a class of
men, made to his hand, who possessed these requisites. Many
of them were U. E. Loyalists—men who, for opinion's sake, had
abandoned their counting-houses in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and who had applied their commercial talents and habits
of business to the improvement of a new field of enterprise, and,
in some cases, to the acquisition of a new tongue. Among the
names of the officers of the commissariat department in Canada,
returned in July, 1811, by Sir Gordon Drummond, will be found
those of Isaac W. Clarke, Montreal ; James Crookshank, York ;
James Coffin, Fort George ; William Stanton, York ; John Coffin,
Quebec ; William Ross, Kingston ; Robert Reynolds, Amherstburg.
All these gentlemen were U. E. Loyalists—living witnesses of the
gratitude of the crown, which never ignores or forgets fidelity ; but
visits and rewards it from the father to the children. They proved,
all, to be valuable officers in a branch of the service which can
never be sufficiently estimated ; and among them no one more
so than Isaac Winslow Clarke, Deputy Commissary-General of
Montreal.
The career of this gentleman is characteristic of the times. He
was one of the sons, and a partner in the business of Richard
Clarke, a loyal Boston merchant,— consignee of the tea, which,
destroyed by the violence of the mob in Boston Harbour, is noted
as the first outbreak of the revolution. As in all popular convulsions, the weaker and the obnoxious party was treated mercilessly.

SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON—ISAAC WINSLOW CLARKE.

171

The Tory was knocked down, and talked down, and written down ;
and, like in the fable of the lion, the man who put him down, gave
his version of the exploit. The Clarkes were obnoxious to the
men and the opinions of the day. The father took refuge in England, with his son-in-law, Copley the painter, and was written
down and proscribed, without trial, in the " Boston Confiscation
Act."* Isaac, the son, endeavouring to collect some debts due to
the firm, at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, was paid in full by a mob
at midnight. He executed a mutual discharge, saved his life, and
followed his father to the fireside of his talented brother-in-law,
where, with his sister, andher since celebrated son, the late lamented
Lord Lyndhurst, he remained until appointed to the commissariat
in Canada. In this country he served his Sovereign for fifty years.
In 1812 he was regarded as an officer of great trust, of long experience, and indefatigable val. The organization of the batteaux

• In an excellent American work "Biographical Sketches of the American
Loyalists," published in Boston, 1847, and in a well-digested Preface, entitled
an Historical Essay, the author, Lorenzo Sabine, admits, philosophically enough,
that the process of " tarring and feathering" was not one likely to reclaim an
offending brother. What "brother," he exclaims, "who saw only with the
eyes of a British subject, was won over to the right, by the arguments of mobbing, burning, and smoking." He cites many instances of the cruelties of mob
law, and closes with the following : " Did it serve any good end to endeavour
to hinder Tories from getting tenants, or to prevent persons who owed them
from paying honest debts ? On whose cheek should have been the blush of
shame, when the habitation of the aged and feeble Foster was sacked, and he
had no shelter but the woods; when Williams, as infirm as he, was seized at
night, dragged away for miles, and smoked in a room, with fastened doors and
a closed chimney top ? What father who doubted whether to join or fly, determined to abide the issue in the land of his birth, because foul words were spoken
to his daughters, or because they were pelted when riding, or moving in the
innocent dance ? Is there cause to wonder that some who still live, should yet
say of their own, or of their father's treatment, that " persecution made half of
the king's friends."— Vide pp. 76, 77.

172

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

brigades was due to him. These boats fiat-bottomed, of light
draught, but carrying heavy cargoes — were partly towed, partly
punted, partly dragged by ropes up the rapids of the St. Lawrence.
The crews were supplied by a levy or corv4e of French Canadians.
Several thousands of these men were devoted to a service, for which
they were peculiarly qualified by a hardihood, activity, and cheerfulness,—undaunted by fatigue. From five to seven voyageurs were
assigned to each batteau; but at certain difficult points the united
strength of the whole brigade forced the boats, one by one, up the
stream. But the progress was slow, and the opportunities of attack
many ; still, the precautions taken and the bold front shown, for
the most part defeated these attempts. John Finlay, the executive
officer at Lachine, distinguished himself by acts of vigour and
devotion, which, in the sister service, would have been fame. The
commanders in the field, and especialk Sir Gordon Drummond,
repeatedly expressed their obligations to Mr. Clarke. Few but
men in these high positions can appreciate the value of such unpretentious services.*

• In 1824 Deputy Commissary General Clarke, then 76 years of age, was on his
way to England, where his friends had reason to expect that he would receive
from the Crown the same marks of favour which had been bestowed oit others.
He died at sea, leaving one son, who was for many years private secretary to
Lord Lyndhurst, when Lord Chancellor of England ; and two daughters—one
the wife of the Hon. Charles R. Ogden, at one time Attorney-General in Lower
Canada, and now Attorney-General in the Isle of Man ; the second sheds light
and happiness on the hand which traces these lines.

••

CHAPTER XVI.
Montreal the centre of supply—Description of Montreal—View from top of the Mountain
—Montreal of 1840 or 1864, not the Montreal of 1812—Montreal viewed as the Military
Key of Canada—Country around—View of Belceil—Canadian scenery—Canadian
people—The Habitants, their progress, improvement and characteristics—Strong temptation to invasion—Approach to Montreal and the Richelieu country—Description of
Lake Champlain—American force on the New York frontier available for invasion.

Montreal was the source and centre of supply. It was then, as
it is now, the commercial emporium of the Canadas. In population
it exceeded any other settlement on the St. Lawrence. SitUated
on an island in the combined embrace of the Rivers Ottawa and St.
L4wrence, it possesses, partly from its latitude and partly from the
great area of water with which it is surrounded, a mildness and
softness of climate unknown to any other part of Lower Canada.
The Island of Montreal is longer, but not so wide, as the Isle of
Wight ; and the St. Lawrence equals, in varying width, the strait
which divides that island from the coast of Hampshire.* In the
rear of the city, running parallel to the river, at the distance of a
mile and a half from the water's edge, rises a long ridge of rocky and
precipitous hill, some 550 feet above water-level, from which is derived
the original name " Mont Royal." The summit of this mountain
commands a view, extensive and diversified. The city, with its
towers, and spires, and public buildings, covers at the feet of the

• Montreal Island, - - 30 miles long, 101 miles broad.
Isle of Wight, - - - 23
"
13