{046}
_Fight at Gananoqui--Expedition against Ogdensburg--Elliott captures
two War-vessels--Gathering of Forces on the Niagara--Battle of
Queenstown--Death of General Brock._
|Hull's surrender by no means put an end to the design of invading
Canada, but neither did it have any effect in changing the vicious plan
of striking the enemy on the wrong flank.
In the night of September 20th, Captain Benjamin Forsyth embarked at
Cape Vincent, New York, with about a hundred men, and in the morning
landed near the village of Gananoqui, Canada. Here an engagement
took place with about an equal number of British troops--regulars and
militia--at the close of which the enemy fled, leaving ten men dead on
the field and several wounded and prisoners. Captain Forsyth then burned
the military storehouse--which was the object of his expedition--paroled
the captured militia, and returned to the American shore with a few
regulars as prisoners of war and a considerable quantity of arms and
ammunition. One man of his party had been killed. {047}In retaliation,
the Canadians fitted out a much more formidable expedition against
Ogdensburg. It consisted of about seven hundred and fifty men, who on
the 2d of October embarked in forty boats, and under the escort of
two gunboats moved up the St. Lawrence. At the same time, the British
batteries at Prescott, opposite Ogdensburg, opened fire on that place,
which was returned by an American battery. The next day was spent
in preparations, and in the forenoon of Sunday, the 4th, the final
embarkation was made from Prescott, in twenty-five boats and the two
gunboats. As a blind, they proceeded up the river past Ogdensburg for
some distance. Then suddenly they turned about and bore down upon that
place, while at the same instant the British batteries reopened fire on
the village. The American battery, together with a company of riflemen,
all under command of General Jacob Brown, reserved fire till the
flotilla was within point-blank range, and then opened all at once,
the fire was returned, and kept up steadily for an hour. Two of the
boats were so damaged that they had to be abandoned, and another, with
its crew, was captured. The expedition then returned to Prescott without
having effected a landing on American soil.
In the surrender of Detroit was included the brig-of-war _Adams_, which
left the Americans with no {048}naval force whatever on the upper
lakes. Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, of the navy, was sent to Buffalo to
organize a flotilla, and soon after a detachment of sailors to man it
was ordered thither from New York. In October the _Adams_, which the
British had renamed _Detroit_, and a smaller vessel, the _Caledonia_,
which had taken part in the capture of Michilimackinac, came down Lake
Erie, and cast anchor near Fort Erie. Elliott formed a plan for their
capture, and with a force of fifty sailors and fifty soldiers embarked
in boats at midnight of the 8th. They rowed silently across the river,
and before they were discovered leaped upon the decks of the vessels,
secured the crews, weighed anchor, and headed for the American shore. As
the wind was too light to carry them up stream, they were obliged to run
down past the British batteries. The _Caledonia_, which had a valuable
cargo of furs, was run ashore at Black Rock and secured. The _Detroit_
fought the enemy's batteries while unsuccessful efforts were made to
tow her beyond their reach. Finally she drifted ashore at Squaw Island,
where her captors abandoned her, taking away their prisoners. A party of
British soldiers subsequently boarded her, but were driven off by fire
from a battery. In the course of the day she underwent a heavy fire from
both sides, and in the evening a British party were {049}preparing to
recover her, when they were anticipated by an American party who boarded
her and set her on fire. For this exploit, in which half a dozen of his
men were killed, Congress gave Lieutenant Elliott a vote of thanks and a
sword.
These comparatively trifling incidents of border war were succeeded by
one much more serious, though not more effective. In the summer General
Dearborn had entered into an armistice with Sir George Prevost, the
British commander in Canada, which set free the enemy's troops on the
Niagara frontier, who were promptly moved against Hull at Detroit. That
campaign being finished, a large part of them was drawn back to the line
of the Niagara, and when in the autumn a movement in that quarter was
contemplated by the Americans, they were confronted by a considerable
force at every point where a crossing was possible, while General Brock,
the victor of Detroit, was on the ground, commanding the whole, and
ready to concentrate them at any point that might be attacked. He
expected the crossing to take place at the mouth of the river.
General Stephen Van Rensselaer, commanding all the forces on the
American side of the Niagara, determined to cross from Lewiston, at
the foot of the rapids, seven miles below the great Falls, and seize
Queenstown. The importance of the place arose {050}from the fact that
it was the terminus of the portage between Lake Ontario and the upper
lakes. At this point the high ground through which the great Chasm of
the river below the Falls has been cut slopes down to a lower plateau,
on which stands the village of Queenstown.
The British had one piece of artillery on the Heights, south of the
village, and another on the bank of the river a mile below. It was
believed by many that General Van Rensselaer, who had been a prominent
Federalist, was opposed to the war and purposely delayed moving against
the enemy. Whether this was true or not, the discontent with his
tardiness was so loudly expressed and had begun so to demoralize his
troops, that at last he acknowledged himself compelled by it to move. He
had minute information as to the situation and strength of each post
of the enemy on the western bank of the river, and could choose his
own point for crossing. He had about six thousand troops under his
command--regulars, volunteers, and militia. The immediate command of the
attacking force was assigned to his cousin, Lieutenant-Colonel Solomon
Van Rensselaer, which occasioned serious dissatisfaction, because he was
only an officer of New York militia, while some of the officers who had
been ordered to join the expedition were commissioned in {051}the United
States regular army, and therefore ranked him.
Thirteen large boats, capable of carrying 340 men, with their
equipments, were brought on wagons and launched at Lewiston on the 10th
of October, and arrangements were made for crossing before daylight the
next morning.
That night a cold, northeast storm set in, and the troops, who were
promptly brought to the rendezvous, stood shivering for hours in the
rain and darkness, on the river-bank, waiting for the boats, which, did
not come. At length day dawned, and the crossing had to be postponed. It
afterward appeared that the boats had been intrusted to one Lieutenant
Sims, who was said to have taken them up the river, far beyond the
point at which they were wanted, and then abandoned the expedition. No
sufficient motive has ever been assigned for this extraordinary conduct
on the part of the lieutenant. It has been suggested that he was so
incensed at seeing the command given to an officer of militia, that he
was willing to destroy his own reputation, if he had any, for the sake
of frustrating the movement.
Two days later the attempt was renewed. Three hundred regulars under
Lieutenant-Colonel John Chrystie, and an equal number of militia under
{052}Colonel Van Rensselaer, were to cross the river before daybreak of
the 13th, and storm the Heights of Queenstown, and the remainder of the
troops to follow and reenforce them. Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott
arrived from Buffalo on the evening of the 12th, and asked leave to join
the expedition, but was refused. Yet he placed a battery on Lewiston
Heights, to protect the troops while they were crossing.
It was still cold and stormy when the embarkation took place. All the
regulars and a few of the militia crossed, and ten of the boats returned
for a second load. The other three boats, in one of which was Chrystie,
had missed their way in going over.
A force of the enemy, under Captain Dennis, moved down promptly to
resist the landing, and some of the Americans were killed or wounded
before they stepped on shore. Captain John E. Wool, being the senior
officer present, assumed the command, and quickly moved his troops up
the bank, where they formed in line at the foot of the Heights. The
enemy was reenforced almost at the same time, and attacked the Americans
in front and on the right flank with artillery and musketry. Wool stood
his ground, though he had no artillery, and a short but bloody fight
ensued. Of the ten officers of regulars, two were killed, and four,
including Wool himself, {053}severely wounded. The left wing was
composed of the militia. There the fighting was less severe, but
Lieutenant-Colonel Van Rensselaer was so seriously wounded that he was
obliged to withdraw from the contest and recross the river. The steady
and well-directed fire of Wool's men drove the enemy's left wing back
into the village; but his right wing, stationed on the Heights, was
unmoved. Annoyed by the fire from that quarter, the Americans fell
back to the river-bank to re-form, and were soon reenforced by another
company of regulars.
Receiving leave, rather than orders, from Van Rensselaer to capture the
Heights, Wool placed the fresh troops on his right, and set out upon the
task, while Lieutenant Lush followed in rear of the column, with
orders to shoot down any man who faltered. Wool first moved his command
southward along the water's edge, the bank sheltering them from the
sight of the enemy, and then at the point where the gorge of the river
made a sharp edge, as it were, to the Heights began the ascent, still
out of sight of the battery-men. In many places the pathway was so steep
and rugged that the soldiers had to use their muskets like alpenstocks,
and climb by seizing the bushes, and "boost" one another. Wool was
foremost in the scramble, and near the top found a fisherman's path
which led to the plateau, {054}and had been left unguarded because it
was supposed to be impassable. By this path they gained the Summit, and
silently filed out upon the plain to the rear and right of the British
battery.
Meanwhile General Brock, hearing the sounds of battle, had ridden up
rapidly from Fort George at the mouth of the river, and now stood near
this battery, watching the operations below. A sudden volley of musketry
in the rear startled him, and the appearance of Wool's column rushing
down upon the battery caused him to retreat down the slope without
waiting to mount his horse, followed by his staff and the artillerymen,
and their entire infantry support. When the sun rose, a few minutes
later, it shone upon the American flag floating over the captured works.
Brock sent orders to General Sheaffe at Fort George to bring up
reënforcements, and at the same time to open an artillery fire on Fort
Niagara, on the opposite bank; for the British commander had been all
the while of opinion that the movement on Queenstown was but a feint,
and that the real attack would be made at the mouth of the river.
Without waiting for the reënforcements. Brock placed himself at the head
of the troops that had just been driven from the Heights, and the troops
in the village, and attempted to recapture the lost position. As the
{055}assaulting force moved up the slope, it bore to the west, to
envelop the left flank of the Americans. Wool sent a detachment to
check this movement; but his men were too few, and his whole command was
forced back till it stood with a powerful enemy in front and a precipice
behind it. At this point of time, a captain raised a white handkerchief
on the point of a bayonet; but in an instant Wool tore it down with his
own hands, and then, addressing a few inspiriting words to his men, he
persuaded them to re-form their somewhat broken ranks, and keep up a
steady and effective fire. When their ammunition was nearly exhausted,
they made a gallant bayonet charge which drove the enemy down the slope.
Brock rallied his troops for another assault, received a few
reënforcements, and was just setting the column in motion when a bullet
struck his breast and he fell mortally wounded. His troops, now under
command of Lieutenant-Colonel McDonell, rushed forward with the cry of
"Revenge the General!" but to no purpose. Wool's little band stood firm,
and drove back the enemy once more with serious loss, McDonell being
mortally wounded, and the two officers next in command disabled, while
ten men and an Indian Chief remained with the Americans as prisoners.
The troops who had {056}accomplished this gallant feat were recruits who
had never seen service before, and their leader, now but twenty-three
years of age, had not received a military education, but was a
bookseller and then a law-student, until commissioned as a captain.
About ten o'clock reënforcements were sent over to Wool, and
Lieutenant-Colonels Winfield Scott and John Chrystie, and General
William Wadsworth, soon followed them. The last-named officer, who was
in plain clothes, modestly made known his rank, but insisted that the
command should be assumed by Scott, whom he heartily and efficiently
supported. * Wool was now, from loss of blood, obliged to withdraw from
the field. Scott had about six hundred men--three hundred and fifty
regulars and two hundred and fifty militia. He placed them in position
to repel any attack of the enemy, and at the same time to cover the
crossing of the remaining militia, which was to be sent over to him at
once.
All this time General Roger H. Sheaffe was hurrying up from Fort George
with troops, in obedience to the orders sent to him by Brock in the
morning. He arrived on the field, and was ready for action
* He was uncle of General James S. Wadsworth, who was killed in the
battle of the Wilderness in 1864.
{057}about two o'clock. His entire force consisted of about thirteen
hundred soldiers and five hundred Indians.
The militia on the American shore could overlook the field of battle,
and saw the approach of Sheaffe. But when General Van Rensselaer
attempted to move them across the river to the support of their
victorious but hard-pressed countrymen, they refused to stir. The law
provides that militia shall not be compelled to serve beyond the bounds
of the State against their will; the men fell back upon this privilege,
and all entreaty was in vain. This action--or non-action--on the part
of the militia has subjected them to severe censure, and has uniformly
been attributed to pure cowardice. But while it was probably not
altogether justifiable, there were some circumstances, not generally
mentioned, which partially excuse it. For instance, they knew that,
through gross mismanagement, all the boats, except one small scow, had
been allowed to float off down the current or be captured by the enemy;
and hence if they crossed it must be by a small boatload at a time,
instead of in a body.
In spite of this disappointment, Scott resolved to make the best fight
he could with what troops he had. The first attack was made on his left
flank by the Indians, who were commanded by John Brant, {058}a son of
the Joseph Brant of Revolutionary fame. This attack Scott repelled with
gallant bayonet charges; but when about four o'clock Sheaffe moved up
his whole force, and doubled back the right flank, the Americans were
obliged to retreat. A few let themselves down the precipice, clambering
from ledge to ledge and bush bush to bush, but when they reached the
water's edge there were no boats to receive them. The greater part
retreated a short distance along the road leading from Queenstown to the
Falls; but seeing escape was impossible, they surrendered in a body. To
do this, they had to send a flag of trace through the line of Indians,
and it was three times fired upon before it finally reached the British
commander. The last time it was borne by Scott in person.
So fended the battle of Queenstown, which was a very remarkable action,
and with better management might have had a different termination.
General Van Rensselaer, in his official despatches, labored to create
the impression that the refusal of the militia to cross the stream
was the whole cause of the final disaster, and at the same time he
studiously avoided mentioning the names of the officers--Wool and
Scott--to whom was due the credit for all the successes and glory of the
day.
The Americans, in this series of engagements, {059}lost about ninety men
killed, a hundred wounded, and nearly a thousand taken prisoners. The
British loss has never been determined. The American prisoners were sent
to Quebec, where twenty-three Irishmen were separated from the others
and sent to England to be tried for treason, on the ground that they
were British subjects and had been fighting against their own flag. As
soon as the American authorities had an equal number of prisoners in
their possession they placed them in close confinement, and gave
notice that their fate would be determined by that of the twenty-three
Irishmen. People who know nothing of historical experience in such
matters always cry out against any proposal of retaliation, arguing that
it will simply result in the murder of all the prisoners on both sides.
As a matter of fact, when retaliation is promptly and firmly threatened
for violation of the laws of war, it always has the effect of stopping
the outrage. And so it proved in this case; for twenty-one of the
captured Irishmen lived to return to their adopted country. The other
two died in prison.
During the funeral of General Brock, minute guns were fired by the
Americans on the eastern bank of the river, "as a mark of respect to a
brave enemy." There was perhaps no harm in this little bit of sentiment,
though if the Americans remembered that {060}two months before, in
demanding the surrender of Detroit, General Brock had threatened to
let loose a horde of savages upon the garrison and town, if he were
compelled to capture it by force, they must have seen that their minute
guns were supremely illogical, not to say silly. Brownell, in one of his
best poems, expresses the true sentiment for such a case:=
```"The Muse would weep for the brave,
````But how shall she chant the wrong?
```When, for the wrongs that were,
````Hath she lilted a single stave?
```Know, proud hearts, that, with her,
````'Tis not enough to be brave."=