{231}
_Fight at La Colle Mill--Ship-building--Yeo's Attack on Oswego--Affairs
at Charlotte and Poultneyville--Fight at Sandy Creek--Izard's Failure on
the Niagara--Expedition against Michilimackinac--Prevost's Advance into
New York--Its Purpose--Battle of Plattsburg._
|In February General Wilkinson had removed his army from French Mills
to Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, and a month later he added one more
to the futile invasions of Canada. At the head of four thousand men,
he crossed the border, March 30th, met a party of British at Odelltown,
with whom skirmishing was carried on for three miles along the road, and
found the enemy seriously in his path at La Colle Mill, on the Sorel,
four miles from Rouse's Point, where about two hundred men were posted
in a stone mill and a block-house, on either side of La Colie Creek.
Wilkinson brought up two pieces of artillery and planted them within two
hundred yards of the stone mill. Then he disposed his forces in such a
way as nearly to surround it and cut off the retreat of the enemy when
his guns should knock the walls of the {252}mill about their heads. But
though the guns were served with great skill and rapidity for two hours,
the walls would n't budge, and it did not occur to the enemy to attempt
a retreat. On the contrary, from their secure position they used their
rifles so effectively that Wilkinson's men suffered severely. Captain
McPherson, commanding the battery, was wounded in the chin, but tied
it up with his handkerchief and remained at his post till another
shot broke his thigh, when he was borne off. His successor, Lieutenant
Larrabee, was soon shot through the lungs, when he also was borne to
the rear; and Lieutenant Sheldon then kept the battery in play till the
close of the fight.
Major Hancock, commanding the enemy, having received reënforcements that
swelled the number of his men to about a thousand, ordered a sortie, to
capture the battery. His troops suddenly burst from the mill, and made
a rush for the guns. But this subjected them to a fire from the American
infantry, by which they suffered heavily, and they were obliged to
return to the mill and the blockhouse. A second and more desperate
sortie had the same result, and the enemy then shut themselves up in the
house and defied all attempts to drive them out. As the condition of the
roads prevented him from bringing up heavier artillery, Wil{253}kinson
gave up the expedition and returned through mud, snow, and rain to
Plattsburg. The affair had cost him a hundred and fifty-four men, and
inflicted on the enemy a loss of sixty-one. The General asked for a
court-martial, and was tried and acquitted; but this ended his military
career. General George Izard succeeded to his command.
Both belligerents were still building ships for service on Lake Ontario.
The British had a large one on the stocks at Kingston, and the Americans
an equally large one at Sackett's Harbor. All sorts of insignificant
affairs took place during the spring and summer along the shores of this
lake and Lake Champlain, effecting nothing, but keeping the people in a
state of alarm.
On one occasion three boats approached Sackett's Harbor, carrying two
barrels of powder, with which it was intended to blow up the new vessel
on the stocks. But they were discovered and fired at, whereupon the
crews hastily threw the powder overboard, fearing it would be exploded
by a bullet, and pulled away.
Finding that he could not destroy the new ship, Sir James Yeo determined
to render her useless by capturing the guns, rigging, and stores
intended for her, which were at Oswego. Accordingly he organized an
expedition of about three thousand men, {254}the troops being commanded
by General Drummond, and sailed for that place early in May. The fort
at Oswego, an old affair, in a dilapidated condition, was on one side
of the river, and the village-on the other. Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell,
commanding at the fort, saw the approaching expedition early in the
morning of May 5th. As his force was too small to be divided, he sent a
large number of tents across the river, and had them pitched in front
of the village. This convinced the enemy that there was a heavy force on
that side of the river, and he confined his attention to the fort.
The ships bombarded the work, and a force attempted to land by means of
boats. But Colonel Mitchell sent a few men down the shore with one old
gun, and as soon as they came within range it made such havoc among the
boats' crews that they pulled back to the fleet. One of the boats,
sixty feet long, propelled by three sails and thirty-six oars, was so
shattered that it was abandoned and drifted ashore.
The next day the fleet returned to the attack, and this time succeeded
in landing about two thousand men. Colonel Mitchell, who had been
reenforced by a small body of militia, gradually retired before the
invaders, making a gallant resistance as long as it was of any use, and
then retreated to a point several miles up the river, whither most of
{255}the stores had been removed, and destroyed the bridges behind him.
The enemy raised and carried away the schooner _Growler_, which, as it
contained some of the guns for the new vessel, the Americans had sunk
on the approach of the expedition; burned the barracks, took whatever he
could find that was movable, and on the 7th sailed away. The action had
cost him two hundred and thirty-five men, killed, wounded, or drowned.
The Americans had lost sixty-nine.
Five days later a British squadron appeared before Charlotte, at the
mouth of Genesee River. The village was guarded by sixty men, with one
field-piece. Word was sent to General Peter B. Porter, who arrived
on the morning of the 13th, just in time to refuse a demand for
the surrender of the place. Two gunboats then entered the river and
bombarded the town for an hour and a half, throwing in shells, rockets,
and round shot. The women and children were removed, a militia force of
three hundred and fifty men was collected, and dispositions were made to
capture the boats if they should venture farther up the river. A second
demand for a surrender, with a threat to land twelve hundred men and
destroy the village, was refused by Porter, and on the 15th the boats
bombarded the place again for some hours, and then withdrew. {256}In the
evening the squadron sent a force on shore at Poultneyville, where some
stores were captured; but a small body of militia under General John
Swift soon appeared and drove the enemy precipitately back to their
boats.
As Sir James Yeo was blockading Sackett's Harbor for the special purpose
of preventing the armament of the new vessel from being carried in,
the wits of the Americans were taxed to get the guns and cables there.
Transportation all the way by land would have been tedious and costly.
The task was assigned to Captain Woolsey, of the navy. He caused a
story to be circulated, in a way that made it sure to reach the vigilant
enemy, that the guns were to be transported by way of Oneida Lake. They
were on nineteen boats, and on the 28th of May he ran the rapids and
arrived at Oswego with them at dusk. The plan was, to coast along down
the lake as far as Sandy Creek, eight miles from Sackett's Harbor, run
up the creek, and thence carry them overland. Accompanied by a hundred
and twenty riflemen, under Major Appling, the flotilla went down the
lake by night as far as Big Salmon River, and in the morning one
boat was missing. At this point a body of Oneida Indians joined the
expedition, and at noon on the 29th it reached Sandy Creek. The missing
boat had gone {257}on to Sackett's Harbor, where--perhaps purposely--it
fell into the hands of the blockaders, to whom its crew told the whole
story of Woolsey's flotilla. Sir James at once sent a force, in two
gunboats and four smaller craft, to capture it. This expedition sailed
up Sandy Creek on the morning of the 30th, thinking to make sure prize
of the flotilla and its cargo of guns and cables. But Major Appling had
placed his riflemen in ambush along the bank, and near the flotilla was
Captain Melville with a company of light artillery and two six-pounders.
The enemy's gunboats opened fire on the flotilla as fast as they came
within gunshot, and a party of troops was landed. As soon as they were
within range of Appling's rifles, he poured in a deadly fire upon their
flank and rear, while at the same time the artillery played upon them
in front. In ten minutes the British lost eighteen men killed and fifty
wounded, when the whole force surrendered. The captured boats mounted
seven guns, and there were a hundred and sixty-five prisoners. The
Americans had two men wounded. The Indians took no active part in the
fight.
This affair inflicted so serious a loss upon the British fleet that it
returned to Kingston, and remained there till another ship and more men
could be obtained. The Americans arrived safely at {258}Sackett's Harbor
with their guns, and the new frigate, the _Mohawk_, was launched on
the 11th of June. Chauncey's squadron then consisted of nine vessels,
mounting two hundred and fifty-one guns.
Early in August, General Izard, being ordered to relieve General Brown
in the command on the Niagara frontier, marched from Plattsburg with
about four thousand troops, leaving General Alexander Macomb in command
there with twelve hundred, including the invalids. After his arrival at
Buffalo, Izard crossed the Niagara with about eight thousand men,
and set forward to attack Drummond on the Chippewa. But the British
commander, after one sharp skirmish, withdrew his forces to Fort
George and Burlington Heights. Izard, who lacked the energy to follow,
persuaded himself, in spite of the almanac, that the season was far
advanced, and retired to Black Rock.
Another American expedition on the upper lakes was not more satisfactory
or creditable in its result. It was intended for the re-capture of
Michilimackinac, the first place taken by the British during the war.
The garrison was strengthened in April, 1814, and three months later
a detachment sent out from it captured the American post at Prairie du
Chien.
The naval portion of the expedition was entrusted to Commander Arthur
St. Clair, who had five ves{259}sels which had formed part of Perry's
fleet. He took on board five hundred regular troops and about the same
number of militia, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan, who had made
the gallant defence of Fort Stephenson the year before, sailed on the
12th of July, and arrived at Michilimackinac on the 26th. There was
a difference of opinion as to the best mode of attack; St. Clair was
unwilling to attempt it first with his vessels, because the fort was so
far above the water that it could send a plunging fire upon their decks.
On the 4th of August the troops were landed on the north side of the
island, to attack the fort in the rear. But Lieutenant-Colonel McDonall,
who commanded it, had drawn out his entire garrison, and taken up a
strong position in the path of the Americans. His men were behind a
small ridge which formed a natural breastwork, the ground in front was
perfectly clear, and two field-pieces commanded it. On each of their
flanks was a thick wood, and in these woods McDonall posted a force of
Indians. Croghan advanced with his militia in front, and attempted to
turn the British left. But a volley from the Indians in the woods, whom
he had not discovered, killed Major Holmes, wounded Captain Desha, and
threw the American right wing into confusion. Croghan then attacked the
enemy's {260}centre, and drove him from his breastwork into the woods
in his rear. But beyond this point it seemed impossible to accomplish
anything, and the Americans soon withdrew from the field and reembarked.
They had lost thirteen men killed, fifty-two wounded, and two missing.
The British loss is unknown.
But while these insignificant actions were taking place along the whole
length of the lakes, a serious danger threatened the country at the
eastern extremity of that line, and was averted by a brilliant victory.
The British troops at the foot of Lake Champlain had been heavily
reenforced by veterans from the armies that had conquered Napoleon, and
Sir George Prevost, who had been ordered to make an invasion of New York
by the route taken by Burgoyne in 1777, seized the opportunity when the
Americans at Plattsburg were weakened by the absence of Izard and the
four thousand men he had taken with him to the Niagara frontier.
The object of the movement was, to capture and hold a portion of the
State of New York; so that when the pending peace negotiations were
brought to a close, it might be stipulated that all territory should
remain with the party in whose possession it then was, and this would
give the English complete {261}control of the St. Lawrence and Lake
Champlain, if not of Lake Ontario also. In accordance with this purpose,
Prevost issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of that sparsely
settled region, calling upon them to renounce allegiance to the United
States, renew their allegiance to Great Britain, and furnish his troops
subsistence. Had his forces been victorious, he would have claimed
that this had been done, and the English would then probably have been
successful in their purpose to "change the boundary of New York."
General Alexander Macomb, who had been left in command at Plattsburg on
the departure of General Izard, and had been told by that officer that
he must expect to be driven out or made a prisoner by the enemy, had
made up his mind to falsify the prediction, and exhibited wonderful
energy in putting the place into a defensible condition.
Saranac River, after running parallel with the shore of Lake Champlain
for a short distance, turns sharply to the east and flows into
Cumberland or Plattsburg Bay. On the peninsula thus enclosed, which is
about half a mile wide, the Americans constructed three redoubts and
two block-houses, one of them being at the mouth of the river. The north
bank is about thirty feet high; and the south bank, which was the
one occupied by the Ameri{262}cans, about fifty. Macomb had fifteen
hundred regulars, and two thousand militia.
Prevost, with fourteen thousand troops, began his advance on the 29th
of August, crossed the border on the 1st of September, and thenceforth
found his march impeded somewhat by felled trees and broken bridges.
He was in no great hurry, however, as he was in advance of the fleet,
commanded by Commodore George Downie, on whose cooperation he relied. He
impressed the horses of farmers along the route for the transportation
of his artillery and supplies, and arrived before Plattsburg on the
6th. The advance of his right column was assaulted by a small body of
riflemen under Major John E. Wool, who inflicted some loss and drove it
back upon the main body. Wool fell back, was joined by Captain Leonard's
battery, made another stand, inflicted more loss with the artillery,
and again fell back slowly till he crossed the Saranac, destroying the
bridge behind him. The enemy's left column, approaching by a road nearer
the lake, was annoyed by skirmishers under Lieutenant-Colonel Appling,
and by the American gun-boats. Both bridges were destroyed, and when the
enemy's riflemen posted themselves in several houses on the north bank,
these were set on fire by hot shot.
But the British fleet had not yet come up, and {263}Prevost, while
waiting for it, spent several days in erecting batteries and perfecting
his preparations for a serious assault. The fleet appeared on the
morning of the nth, and the General gave orders for an immediate
advance.
His men attempted to ford the river at three places--where the two
bridges had been, and at a point farther up, known as Pike's Cantonment
--their movements being covered by a heavy fire from the British
batteries. The troops that actually advanced to the assault numbered
eight thousand, and they carried an immense number of scaling-ladders,
to enable them to climb the high bank and afterward surmount the
American works.
At the lower bridge, the fire from the forts and block-houses drove them
back. At the upper bridge, they were prevented from landing by a steady
fire of musketry. At Pike's Cantonment, where the river was easily
fordable, there was only militia to dispute the passage. Yet several
attempts to cross were repelled; and when finally a body of regulars
succeeded in crossing, the militia rallied and drove it back again
with heavy loss. At this point of time the issue of the battle had been
decided by the action on the water.
The American flotilla, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, was
drawn up in line to await {264}the attack, in such manner that the
British ships could not enter the bay without being exposed to a
broadside fire. Macdonough's vessels were all stationed with their prows
to the north, the _Eagle_, of twenty guns, at the head of the line; then
the _Saratoga_, flag-ship, of twenty-six guns; then the _Ticonderoga_,
of seventeen; and lastly the _Preble_, of seven, which was so near a
shoal that the enemy could not pass around her. Macdonough also had ten
galleys or gun-boats, which he placed inside of his line, opposite
the intervals between the larger vessels. The British flotilla also
consisted of four large vessels--carrying respectively thirty-seven,
sixteen, eleven, and eleven guns--and twelve gun-boats. The total
American force was fourteen vessels, with eighty-six guns and eight
hundred and fifty men; the total British force, sixteen vessels, with
ninety-five guns and one thousand and fifty men.
The peculiar thing in Macdonough's preparations, and the one perhaps
which secured him the victory, was an arrangement by which he made
it possible to turn his flag-ship almost instantly so as to bring her
broadside to bear on any point. He did this by laying a kedge anchor
broad off each of her bows, and carrying the hawsers to the quarters.
Thus by winding in one or the other of the hawsers the stern of the ship
could be swung one way or the other, {265}while the cable of the main
anchor kept her bow in one place.
The English line bore down upon the American in fine style, the first
two vessels firing as they approached. The flag-ship _Confiance_ did not
open fire till she had dropped anchor within a quarter of a mile of her
foe.
The _Eagle_, at the head of the American line, began firing in a
wild way, without orders, before her shot could reach the enemy. The
excitement was soon felt through the fleet, and was shared by a young
cock which had escaped from his coop on the deck of the _Saratoga_. In
response to the boom of the cannon, he flew upon a gun-slide, flapped
his wings, and crowed loudly. The sailors burst into a hearty laugh, and
gave three cheers. Then a long gun, sighted by Macdonough himself, was
fired, and as the shot raked the deck of the _Confiance_, the whole
line opened and the battle became general. The first broadside from the
_Confiance_ disabled forty men on the _Saratoga_; for fifteen minutes
everything was ablaze, and the roar was continuous. Then the vessel at
the head of the British line struck her colors.
The enemy's shot cut away the _Eagle's_ springs--ropes fastened either
to the anchor or to the cable, and passed to the quarter, in order to
sway the ship {266}to one side or the other and bring the guns to bear
on any desired point. Her commander, Lieutenant Henley, then cut his
cable, sheeted home the topsails, ran down behind the _Saratoga_, and
took a position between her and the _Ticonderoga_, anchoring by the
stern, which brought the fresh guns of his larboard battery to bear on
the enemy, when they were served with good effect.
The _Preble_ was attacked by the enemy's gunboats, and driven from her
position; but they were stopped by the next in line, which they vainly
tried to board. Every gun of the starboard battery---the side nearest
the enemy--on the American flag-ship was disabled. Then Macdonough
proceeded to "wind ship," that is, to turn the vessel completely round
by winding at the hawsers attached to the kedges. This was accomplished
without accident, and his gunners, springing to the larboard battery,
poured out fresh broadsides that made dreadful havoc with the
_Confiance_. The commander of that vessel attempted to copy Macdonough's
manoeuvre, for her battery on the side presented to the enemy was also
nearly used up, but failed, and two hours and a quarter after the
fight began her colors came down. The remaining British vessels also
surrendered, and the victory was complete.
When the tremendous cheer that burst from the {267}sailors of the
American fleet announced this news, to friend and foe on shore, Sir
George Prevost--who from the first had relied more upon the fleet than
upon his army--gave up his whole plan, and made all haste to return to
Canada.
In this bloody battle--which defeated what is known as the second
invasion of New York, and preserved our territory intact--the American
fleet suffered a loss of fifty two men killed and fifty-eight wounded.
The British, according to their official report, lost fifty-seven
killed, including Commodore Downie, and seventy-two wounded; Macdonough
reported their loss at eighty-four killed and a hundred and ten wounded.
The British galleys, before the Americans could take possession of them,
drifted out into the lake, and escaped.