Title

Chapter 7

Identifier

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?b=1&ref=oo&id=297998

page

54-64

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

The Siege of Fort Erie

54

The Sortie

few determined officers spurred among the malcontents, arrested
the ringleader, awed his followers, and, aided by a small detachment of regulars, restored order." The refractory jurist was
hustled into a wagon and sent under arrest to Williamsville with
the information that if he ever returned to Buffalo he would be
shot without benefit of clergy.
The force then moved off without further trouble, crossed
the river, and camped on the lake shore to the left of Towson's
battery, throwing up a sod breastwork for protection. This
occurred on September tenth. Their arrival was not hailed with
great enthusiasm by the regular army contingent of the garrison, whose confidence in militia seems to have been somewhat
shaken. But these same troops, ununiformed, and poorly drilled
and equipped, soon showed that if they could not drill they could
fight; and by their gallant conduct they did more than their share
toward redeeming the reputation of the American militiaman
during this war.
The monthly return of our forces on August thirty-first, 1814,
was as follows:
Present for Duty.
N. C. 0. and Privates. Officers.

Dragoons,
Bombardiers, etc.,
Artillery Corps,
First Brigade,
Second Brigade,
Porter's Brigade,
First and Fourth Rifles,
Total,

27
34
206
725
698

I

Aggregate
Present and Absent.

217

to
39
42
16
It

48
51
369
2,311
1,646
599
504

2,127

1 19

5,528

220

55

CHAPTER VII.

The Sortie.
A brilliant achievement—the only instance in history where a besieging army was
entirely broken up and routed by a single sortie.—Sir William Napier.

Although the Americans had received reinforcements, their
position was still regarded as critical. Battery Number Three,
mounting the long twenty-four-pounders, had not as yet opened
fire; but we had suffered quite severely from the fire of Number
One and Number Two, and the new battery was much feared by
Brown because it would rake our position. The spirits of the
men were sinking under the long and constant strain and confinement, and, to make matters worse, the weather was bad, much rain
falling. Brown,therefore, determined to risk a sortie, damage the
enemy's works as much as possible without too severe a loss to
himself, and then retreat upon the fort.
It will be remembered that the works of the enemy were
occupied by only one brigade of the enemy, each of his three
brigades alternating in this duty, while the balance of the army
remained in camp, nearly two miles away through the woods.
Brown's plan, briefly stated, was as follows:
Porter, with a force of about one thousand six hundred,
composed of regulars, militia, and Indians, was to move out from
the left, make a wide detour, strike into the woods, and, following
roads prepared in advance, come upon the enemy's right at
Battery Number Three, and, after crushing the right and spiking
the guns of the battery, to turn towards the center and assist in
the capture of batteries Number Two and Number One. Colonel
Miller, "for whom batteries had no terrors," with five hundred
men from the Ninth, Eleventh, and Nineteenth regiments of regulars, was to take up a position in a ravine formed by a watercourse running into the lake, situate some three hundred yards

The Siege of Fort Erie

The Sortie

southerly from the enemy's line, and, when the noise of Porter's
attack was heard, to rush in between batteries Number Two and
Number Three, and attack Battery Number Two and then Number One. General Ripley,who, it is claimed, had no confidence in
the success of the enterprise, and, as Brown states, wished to take
no part in it, was stationed with the Twenty-first Regiment as a
reserve out of sight between the westerly bastions of the fort.
Major Jessup, recently wounded, was left to garrison the fort with
the Twenty-fifth Regiment, only one hundred and fifty strong.
The plan of attack was simple, and, if success is any criterion,
extremely effective.
On September sixteenth Lieutenants Frazer and Riddle, with
one hundred men each, fifty armed with muskets and fifty with
axes, labored all day without being discovered, constructing rough
roads for Porter's columns up to within one hundred and fifty
yards of the British position. They also built underbrush roads
back to the fort from a point near the front of the British position
in order that the retreat might be unobstructed and the miry and
i mpassable places avoided. Much rain had fallen during the past
twelve days, and the ground in front of our position was little
better than a swamp.
The morning of the seventeenth dawned cloudy and disagreeable, and a light rain was falling. During the forenoon the
volunteers were paraded, and, after arousing their enthusiasm by
the announcement of the recent American victories at Plattsburg
and Lake Champlain, the plan of the proposed sortie was revealed
to them. It was enthusiastically received. Each volunteer was
thereupon directed to take off his headgear and tie a red handkerchief or red cloth around his head so that he might be readily
distinguished, none of them being uniformed. As the day wore
on the rain increased, and a hard thunderstorm, almost a gale,
came up, which continued during the attack. This undoubtedly
aided our forces in advancing unperceived to the attack until
right onto the enemy's works, but many of our muskets were
disabled through water getting into the pans of the guns.

In the afternoon Porter moved out to take up his position on
the enemy's right. He sent forward as an advance two hundred
riflemen, with some Indians, under Colonel Gibson. The balance
of his force was divided into two columns, which marched parallel
to each other, following the brush roads. They were guided
respectively by Riddle and Frazer. Lieutenant Colonel Wood
commanded the right column, which was composed of four
hundred regulars and five hundred militia. These troops were
to attack the enemy's position. Brigadier General Davis, of
Batavia, who, while senior to Porter, volunteered to muster his
brigade and fight under him, waiving all question of rank, commanded the left column consisting of five hundred militia newly
raised. This column was intended to engage the enemy's reinforcements if any should be thrown in.
These columns reached their position a few yards from the
right of the enemy's position without discovery, and at about
three in the afternoon Brown gave Porter the order to attack.
This order was executed with great vigor, and the cheers of the
Americans as they rushed to the assault were plainly heard by
the anxious listeners upon the American shore, notwithstanding
the storm that raged.
The British lines that day were guarded by the Second
Brigade, consisting of the Eighth and De Watteville's regiments of
regulars. The swiftness of the attack utterly surprised these
troops, and the Americans soon captured a blockhouse in the
rear of Battery Number Three, and then the battery itself, destroying the much dreaded twenty-four-pounders and their carriages
and blowing up a magazine. Here the brave Wood* and Brigadier General Davis fell mortally wounded. The loss of both of
these men was greatly mourned.
Porter then swung his forces around and attacked Battery
Number Two conjointly with Major Miller, who had rushed forward as soon as Porter's attack was heard. After a sharp struggle

56

57

* In the cemetery at West Point, a short distance from the grave of General Scott, stands
a cenotaph erected by General Brown to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel Wood. It was
dedicated in 1858, and the inscription states that he fell while leading a charge at the sortie of
Fort Erie, September seventeenth, 5854, in the thirty-first year of his age.

4

58

The Siege of Fort Erie

this battery was captured. Battery Number One was, so Brown
says, abandoned by the enemy. At all events, it was captured;
but by reason of the confusion, and the stout defense the British
soon made, the Americans neglected or were unable to permanently injure batteries Number One and Number Two, although
they were temporarily disabled.
Owing to the suddenness and impetuosity of the American
attack, the Second Brigade of the enemy was crumpled up and
driven away before any arrangements could be made to meet the
attack. It is a maxim of war that "when a force is not deployed
but is struck suddenly and violently on its flank, resistance is
i mpracticable." Chancellorsville, where the Eleventh Corps of
the Union army melted away before Jackson's fierce onslaught,
was an illustration of the truth of this maxim. This attack was
another; and our troops soon swept the front line of intrenchments almost clear of the enemy.
So far the Americans had accomplished much with little
loss, but the end was not yet. As soon as the American attack
was heard, De Watteville promptly sent back to the British camp
for reinforcements, and the First and Third brigades hastened to
the succor of the Second Brigade. In the meantime the Second
Brigade was rapidly recovering from the demoralization from
which it had at first suffered.
The British lines were defended by felled trees, entanglements, and abattis, and whilst the Americans were struggling to
penetrate these defenses they were met with a hot fire from the
enemy posted in the traverses and along the parallel lines of
intrenchments. Then too, at this stage of the attack the enemy's
reinforcements arrived and commenced a determined resistance
to the further advance of the Americans. The fight now raged
furiously. Hand-to-hand encounters occurred all along the line,
and sometimes with the bayonet and sometimes with rifle fire the
enemy sought to regain possession of the lines and drive off the
Americans, now somewhat confused by the constant fire concentrated upon them from all points and through penetrating the

The Sortie

59

abattis and entanglements. Although outnumbered, the Americans stubbornly resisted, and, regardless of the hot fire, gave
back blow for blow.
Brown, fearing for Miller's safety, ordered Ripley forward to
his assistance, who prompty advanced with the Twenty-first Infantry. Ripley soon received a serious wound in the neck, and
was borne to the rear.*
Miller, with excellent judgment, appreciating that nothing
further could be accomplished, and in view of the superior force
of the British, began an orderly retreat towards the fort ; and
Brown soon ordered the other columns to do the same, for the
object of the sortie had been accomplished. They all reached
the fort in good order, but with considerable loss, for by this time
the British were pressing them fiercely. Thus in barely two hours
the result attempted had been achieved, the enemy irreparably
crippled, and one thousand men killed, injured, or taken prisoners.
General Drummond speaks of the retreat of the Americans as
a " precipitate retrograde movement made by the enemy from the
different points of our position of which he had gained a short possession." It should be observed, however, that Drummond, what, ever his faults were as a soldier, was a pronounced success at what
might be termed an explanatory writer. Some one has remarked
of Cellini that he created his own atmosphere. The same remark
applies to Drummond. His despatches to his government are
well worth a perusal. Ingersoll, in his history of the war, dryly
remarks apropos of this part of Drummond's report:
"The coincident exertions of both commanders, Brown to
withdraw his men from, and Drummond with his to recover, the
British entrenchments, soon effected it."
In this sortie we lost seventy-nine killed, two hundred and
sixteen wounded, and two hundred and sixteen missing, a total
of five hundred and eleven. Of this number twelve officers were
• Ripley never fully recovered from this wound, although he afterward served a term
in Congress.

The Siege of Fort Erie

The Sortie

killed, twenty-two wounded, and ten were missing—a most serious blow to the effectiveness of so small an army.
The enemy's loss in killed, wounded, and missing was somewhat under one thousand, and, according to the American accounts, we captured nearly four hundred prisoners. In any event,
the Americans totally disabled his best battery and injured the
others, besides destroying the morale of his troops. Only the pen
of a Drummond could convert this disaster into a repulse of the
Americans, which he did with ease. According to Drummond's
report his loss was one hundred and fifteen killed, one hundred
and forty-eight wounded, and three hundred and sixteen missing
—a total of five hundred and seventy-nine.
During the progress of the fight crowds lined the American
shore and listened to the combat during the lulls in the severe
storm which raged that afternoon. Dorsheimer thus dramatically
describes what was probably a very simple incident :

Holler, at one time secretary to Porter, in an article in volume six
of The Magazine of American History, says:

6o

"All through the afternoon no tidings came. Just at dusk
a small boat was seen struggling in the rapids. An eager crowd
soon gathered on the beach. In the midst of the breakers the
little bark upset. One of its crew was seen floating in the waves.
The bystanders made a line by holding on to each other's clothes,
and, stretching out from the shore, seized the drowning man. As,
exhausted and chilled, he staggered up the beach, he gasped into
the ears of his rescuers the first news they had of the great conflict and victory."
Many friends of General Porter have contended that the
sortie was planned by him and that he suggested it to Brown.
Brown makes no mention of this in his official report or in his
manuscript memoirs. Porter was a man of much more capacity
than Brown, and it is quite likely he had to do with planning the
attack, although Brown was by no means averse to any plan
which would insure fighting. In any event, Porter was selected
to lead the most important column, composed partly of regulars
not in his brigade, which is a significant fact in Porter's favor.

61

"Before battery No. 3 was completed, one bright morning
early in September, as General Porter, Lt.-Col. Wood, and Major
McRea of the engineers were walking from Towson's battery
towards the Fort and discussing the progress of the enemy's
offensive operations, Lt.-Col. Wood half-jestingly suggested that
it might be expedient to attempt a sortie. But no serious proposal of such an enterprise was made until some days later,
when General Porter invited his two friends to his quarters to
examine a plan for it which he had prepared. This plan was
discussed and fully matured in several confidential meetings of
the three officers. It was then submitted to General Brown, who
was still at Buffalo, whither he had retired, as has been stated,
after being wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He neither
encouraged nor discouraged it at the outset, but, on examination
of it as thoroughly as possible in his absence from the ground, he
rather objected to the project.
"General Porter, however, continued to urge it, and his views
were warmly seconded by the two able engineers to whom he
had fully explained his plan. The whole army, General Brown
included, reposed the greatest confidence in these two officers,
particularly in Lt.-Col. Wood.
" General Brown finally required General Porter, whom he
considered responsible for the plan, to give him a written statement of its details over his own signature. After receiving this
document General Brown consented that the enterprise should be
undertaken, and directed General Porter to lead it."
On the other hand, Major Jessup, at that time serving in the
garrison, states positively that the sortie was planned solely by
Brown ; and he was certainly in a position to be well informed as
to what transpired in the little garrison. Major General Brown
was in command, and as he assumed the responsibility for the
movement he is entitled to the credit of its success.

The Sieg e of Fort Erie

The Sortie

An incident during the sortie, in which General Porter was
the hero, is worth repeating. General Porter, so the story runs,
while accompanied only by his orderly, was proceeding between
batteries Number One and Number Two, when, too late to retreat,
he suddenly came upon a small company of the enemy standing
at ease apparently waiting orders. Coming up as though at the
head of a regiment, Porter cried, "That's right, my good fellows,
surrender, and we'll take good care of you." The ruse succeeded,
and man by man the company from right to left threw down
their arms and marched to the rear. Everything went well until
the man next to the left guide was reached, who, not seeing any
soldiers supporting Porter, and suspecting the trick, came to
charge bayonet and demanded that Porter surrender. The boot
was now on the other leg, but Porter dextrously seized the musket and endeavored to wrest it away from the soldier. Several
comrades came to the man's assistance, and in the melee Porter
was thrown down and wounded in the hand. Struggling to his
feet, he told his assailants they were surrounded and if they
did not cease their resistance he would put them to death.
This created a slight diversion, and at this juncture Lieutenant
Chatfield, of the militia, at the head of the Cayuga Rifles, came
up, thus relieving Porter of an embarrassing situation and securing
the prisoners as well. This story smacks of the political campaign more than of the particular campaign with which this
narrative deals, but it may be true. In any event, Porter, in his
official report, mentions Chatfield as one "by whose intrepidity I
was, during the action, extricated from the most unpleasant situation."
On the twenty-first Drummond in great haste retired to the
old position of the British at Chippewa Creek, leaving some of
his stores at Fort Erie and destroying others at Frenchman's
Creek. The raising of the siege showed how severely Drummond
felt the sortie if his reports do not. It practically closed the
campaign upon the Niagara frontier, which since July third, 1814,
had waged with great fierceness.

The following table of losses is interesting, although it should
be remembered it does not include the losses in skirmishes and
minor combats, which were constantly taking place. It is taken
from General Wright's Life of Scott, and differs very slightly from
the figiffes already given.

-

63

Total
British
Loss.

Total
American
Loss.

507
Battle of Chippewa, July fifth, 1814,
Battle of Niagara (Lundy's Lane), July twenty-fifth, 1814, 878
Battle of Fort Erie, August fifteenth, 1814,
905
800
Sortie at Fort Erie, September seventeenth, 1814,

86o
84

3,090

1,783

Total,

328

511

When we consider that neither side had over four thousand,
if that number of men, engaged at any time, the immense percentage of loss will be appreciated.
General James Miller, writing two days after the sortie, says :
" I was ordered to advance and get into the enemy's works
before the column had beaten the enemy sufficiently to meet us
at the batteries. We had no alternative but to fall on them, beat
them, and take them. It was a sore job for us. My command
consisted of the 9th, 11th, and 19th Regiments. Colonel Aspinwall commanded the 9th and 19th and Colonel Bedel the 11th.
Colonel Aspinwall lost his left arm, Major Trimble of the 19th
was severely, I believe mortally, wounded through the body.
Captain Hale of the 11th killed; Captain Ingersoll of the 9th
Wounded in the head, and eight other officers severely wounded
some of them mortally. Colonel Bedel was the only officer
higher than a lieutenant in my whole command but what was
killed or wounded."
After Drummond left our front the fort was garrisoned with
a small force; and the volunteers, who were praised on all sides
for their steadiness and bravery during the whole campaign, and
especially the sortie, were dismissed to their homes. General

64

The Siege of Fort Erie

Brown put the matter in a few words when he said in a letter to
Governor Tompkins, "The militia of New York have redeemed
their character—they behaved gallantly."
The raising of the siege was completely decisive, and the
pioneers along the frontier could again rest in peace without the
disturbing thought that they might be scalped or burned out, or
both, before another day dawned. The fort was occupied until
November fifth, 1814, when it was blown up and destroyed and
the stores and garrison withdrawn to Buffalo, its possession being
no longer of value.
The War of 1812 has been overshadowed by the more important events which preceded and followed it, but when an
adequate history of this trying period of our country's history is
written, and the battles along the Niagara frontier are recounted,
Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and Fort Erie will be awarded places
high up in the record of the many valorous deeds the history of
our country affords. And while the history of our brave men is
written, let due praise be accorded to our former foes, who, through
the mutation of time and circumstance, are now our nearest neigh.
bors and best friends.

THE END.