Title

Chapter 3

Identifier

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?b=1&ref=oo&id=297994

page

18-23

Bibliographic Citation

The siege of Fort Erie: an episode of the war of 1812 / by Louis L. Babcock.

10195727

The siege of Fort Erie: an episode of the war of 1812 / by Louis L. Babcock.

Type

Text

extracted text

18

The Campaign down the Niagara

The Siege of Fort Erie

CHAPTER III.

The Campaign down the Niagara.
Besides thebrilliant incidents in the minor operations of the campaign, the splendid
victories gained on the Canadian side of the Niagara by the American forces under Major
General Brown and Brigadiers Scott and Gaines have gained for these heroes and their emulating companions the most unfading laurels.—Madison.

On the second day of July, 1814, General Brown issued an
order to his command stating that he was authorized by the
government to put it in motion against the enemy; and on the
same day, accompanied by Generals Scott and Ripley, he made a
careful reconnoissance of Fort Erie to determine upon a plan of
attack. Fort Erie will be described later on. It is sufficient to
state here that it was a poorly fortified stone fort defended by a
small garrison of about one hundred and forty officers and men
under command of Major Buck of the British army.
On the third of July, pursuant to the plan agreed upon,
Scott, with his brigade and some artillery and Indians, crossed
the river from Black Rock, about a mile below the fort, whilst
Ripley, with a portion of his brigade, crossed about a mile above.
Scott reached the fort first (as Ripley from some cause—a fog,
some authorities say—seems to have been delayed), and alone
invested the fort at daylight. Scott posted some eighteenpounders within easy range of the fort, and his Indians scoured
the woods. Ripley soon joined Scott, and the fort was given
two hours to surrender. Much to the disgust of the British
commander in chief, the fort capitulated Sunday afternoon, July
third, 1814, and the Americans took possession with a loss of only
four men wounded, the garrison marching out and stacking arms.
The British appeared to feel its loss keenly. General Drummond,
writing to Sir George Prevost July tenth, says:
.

" I regret exceedingly the loss of this place, which I had the
strongest hopes would have made an excellent defence, or, at all
events, held the enemy in check for several days."

19

As the British forces were stationed at Chippewa Creek, only
a day's march away, reinforcements could have reached the fort
during the night and possibly have outnumbered and routed the
Americans. 'In fact, several companies of the Royal Scots were
marching to the assistance of the fort when the news reached
them that it had capitulated. In a general order issued by the
governor in chief of Canada, that official expresses his surprise
and mortification that the fort surrendered "without having made
an adequate defence."
General Brown's forces camped about the fort that night;
but early the next day, leaving Lieutenant McDonough and a
small force to garrison the fort, Brown put his army in motion to
attack the British forces who were encamped near Chippewa
Creek, eighteen miles away down the Niagara River. By early
morning of the fifth the American army had taken up position
in front of the enemy, and on that day the severe engagement of
Chippewa took place. Both sides claimed a victory in the official
reports; but the Americans clearly had the best of the battle in
every respect, and our forces were jubilant over the showing they
had made against the British regulars.*
General Brown soon set to work cutting a road through the
woods to Chippewa Creek, and working parties protected by the
riflemen and Indians built a bridge across the creek, as the old
bridge was occupied by the British. The building of the bridge
enabled Brown to turn the enemy's right flank, which Riall, the
British commander, was quick to perceive. He, therefore, on
the eighth of July, retreated to Fort George, at the mouth of the
Niagara, the American army following and investing the fort.
Here the Americans remained until July twenty-fifth, when Brown,
failing to secure the cooperation of the fleet on Lake Ontario,
and finding his communications threatened, determined to move
his army against Burlington, where the enemy had troops and
*" We had never seen those gray jackets before. We supposed it was only a line of
militia men, and wondered why you did not run at the first fire. We began to doubt when
we found you stood firmly three or four rounds and when at length in the midst of our battery
blaze we saw you ' port arms' and advance upon us we were utterly amazed. It was clear
enough we had something besides militia men to deal with."—A British officer to Douglass.
.

The Siege of Fort Erie

The Campaign down the Niagara

stores, first falling back to Chippewa in order to deceive the
enemy as to his intentions.
While before Fort George no engagements worth mentioning occurred; but, in accordance, apparently, with the well-settled
Custom at that time, the Americans carried on a predatory warfare against the defenseless noncombatant Canadians. Major
MacFarla nd, of the Twenty-third United States Infantry, in a
letter to his wife, written at the time, says:

was with the main body. Scott maintained the contest alone with
great skill for almost an hour, but after a time Ripley and Porter
came up with their brigades and the battle became general.
The story of the fight has been well told by Colonel Cruikshank. As the battle was fought partly in the dark ( from six
o'clock to eleven) many curious mistakes occurred. General
Riall, accompanied by his staff and preceded by an aide, was
riding over the field when he came upon a regiment. The aide
shouted, " Make room there, men, for General Riall." The ranks
gave way, and the general and his staff started to ride through
the regiment, when, much to his surprise, he was suddenly seized
and pulled off his horse. Astonished beyond measure he shouted,
" What does all this mean?" "You are prisoners, sir," was the
answer. " But I am General Riall." "There is no doubt of that,"
responded his captor, " and I am Captain Ketchum, of the United
States army." Seeing that resistance was useless, the general
was heard to remark sotto voce," Captain Ketchum—Ketchum.
Well, you have caught us, sure enough."
Both sides claimed a victory—the British because the Americans retreated from the field of battle, leaving their killed and
wounded, all the captured guns but one, and many small arms;
the Americans because they drove the British from their position
and held it until it seemed advisable to fall back to their camp,
two miles away, for supplies and water. Porter, speaking of this
fi ght in writing Governor Tompkins, says:

20

" The [American ] militia and Indians plundered and burnt
everything. The whole population is against us ; not a foraging
party but is fired on, and not infrequently returns with missing
numbers. This state was to be anticipated. The militia have
burnt several private dwelling houses and on the t9th inst. burnt
the village of St. Davids, consisting of 3o or 4o houses. This
was done within three miles of our camp, and my battalion was
sent to cover the retreat, as they had been sent to scour the
country and it was presumed they might be pursued. My God,
what a service! I never witnessed such a scene, and had not the
commanding officer of the party, Lieut. Colonel Stone been disgraced and sent out of the army I would have resigned." *
In short, no one can examine the history of this period without coming to the conclusion that the well-recognized laws of warfare were ignored by both sides and that each burned and sacked
defenseless hamlets almost as often as an opportunity presented
itself.
On the afternoon of the twenty-fifth of July the movement
to Chippewa began, General Scott, with the First Brigade and
the artillery, having the advance. When Scott reached the vicinity of Niagara Falls he received intelligence that the enemy was
. posted at Lundy's Lane, one half mile west of the falls, and,
although it was nearly sunset, he resolved to attack at once, which
he did with great vigor, first sending word back to Brown, who
* Poor MacFarland fell a few days afterwards at Lundy's Lane.

2

"Our victory was complete, but, alas, this victory, gained by
exhibitions of bravery never surpassed in this country, was converted into a defeat by a precipitate retreat, leaving the dead, the
wounded, and captured artillery and our hard-earned honor to
the enemy. I entered my remonstrance against this measure,
and I confess at the time I almost wished that fate had swept
another General from the combat.* But it is certain that no
Militia General is to gain any military fame while united to a
Porter would then have succeeded to the command.

The Siege of Fort Erie

The Campaign down the Niagara

regular force and commanded by their officers. * * * In
short, I have been brigadiered until I am quite satisfied."

wounded. In fact, Scott's brigade was all cut to pieces, and its
remnants were collected and served during the siege of Fort Erie
under a lieutenant colonel.
The following table of losses is interesting:

22

Colonel Hercules Scott, of the One-hundred-and-third Regiment, writing to his sister, says:
"On the 5th of this month a severe action [ Chippewa ] was
fought within about five miles of this place, wherein our troops
were defeated with heavy loss. In the first action I was not
engaged, but we had another severe one on the 25th, when we
had rather the advantage."
A table of the losses at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane will be
found at the end of this chapter, which will show how desperate
was the fighting. As Generals Brown and Scott were both
severely wounded, the command devolved upon Ripley, who,
acting under Brown's directions, withdrew the army to Fort Erie,
which he reached at eleven o'clock on the night of July twentysixth. He immediately took up the strongest position possible,
and awaited the attack he knew was inevitable.
As an illustration of how severe the losses were at Lundy's
Lane: Colonel Miller's regiment lost one hundred and twenty-six
killed, wounded, and missing out of about three hundred men.
Colonel Miller was the man who, being asked during the battle
if his regiment ( the Twenty-first infantry) could take a certain
battery made the historic response, " I will try, sir." Listen to
Miller's report:
,

"It was then evening, but moonlight. General Brown turned
to me, and said: ` Col. Miller, take your regiment and storm that
work and take it.' I had short of three hundred men with me,
as my regiment had been much weakened by the numerous
details made from it during the day. I, however, immediately
obeyed the order."
Of the First Brigade, the commander (Scott), his aide, a staff
major, and every commander of battalion were either killed or

23

CHIPPEWA.
American,
British,

Killed.

Wounded.

Missing.

Total.

6o
148

249
221

19
46

328
415

117
235

858
873*

LUNDY'S LANE.
American,
British,

171
84

570
554

*Colonel Scott stated the English loss at 939 killed, wounded, and missing.