effects of his previous illness, that he had to be lifted from his horse
and supported to a boat which conveyed him on board the flagship, from
which he viewed the landing of his troops, although unable to keep his
feet for more than a few minutes at a time. The command accordingly
devolved upon Major General Morgan Lewis, an officer of little
experience and less military knowledge, but an active and influential
politician, who had been in turn Chief Justice and Governor of the State
of New York and was a brother-in-law of the Secretary of War. He was
absurdly fond of military pomp, parade and display, and his opponents
delighted to ridicule a speech he had made to the militia when Governor
in which he had remarked that "the drum was all important in the day of
battle." Having the fate of Van Rensselaer and Winchester fresh in his
memory, his movements were cautious to the verge of timidity. An hour
and a half elapsed after Harvey retreated before he ventured to advance
beyond the village. He had then not less than 4,000 men in order of
battle besides the reserve of marines and seamen. His line extended
without a break from the lighthouse on Mississauga Point to the river
above Fort George. That work was approached with excessive caution as
the sound of repeated explosions within, caused them to dread a
recurrence of their disastrous experience at York, and even the
lighthouse was avoided lest it should be hurled in fragments on their
heads. Colonel Scott was in fact unhorsed by a large splinter which
broke his collar bone, but there were no other casualties. When the fort
was entered, it was found that the garrison had disappeared with the
exception of a few soldiers of the 49th Regiment, who were still engaged
in dismantling the works. Some of the men were surprised in the act of
cutting down the flagstaff to obtain the garrison flag from which the
halliards had been shot away, and others were taken prisoners as they
attempted to escape through the main gate. More than a hundred sick and
wounded were found in the hospital. The village of Niagara was entirely
deserted, and many of the houses had been much damaged by cannon shot.
During the afternoon the Second Regiment of United States Dragoons was
brought over from Youngstown, but scarcely any pursuit was attempted as
the American army was described as much exhausted from being under arms
for eleven hours. No one seemed to know positively which way the British
had retreated. Colonel Scott with some of the riflemen seems to have
advanced a few miles along the Queenston road, but was peremptorily
recalled by General Lewis who feared an ambush. Meanwhile Vincent's
column had retired in almost perfect order, leaving scarcely a straggler
behind and marched with such speed that the rear guard arrived that
night at DeCew's house, where a small magazine of provisions had been
formed a few days before in anticipation of a reverse.
About four o'clock in the afternoon a dragoon reached Fort Erie with
information of the loss of Fort George, and Lieut.-Colonel Bishop
immediately began his retreat with the regular troops and field guns
stationed there, leaving Major John Warren with a few men of the Third
Lincoln Regiment of militia to occupy the works and engage the attention
of the enemy on the opposite bank. Soon after his departure, Warren
opened fire on Black Rock from all the batteries, and continued the
cannonade all night. At daybreak the destruction of the stores and
fortifications began. The barracks and public buildings were burnt, the
magazines blown up, the guns burst or otherwise rendered unserviceable
along the whole line from Point Abino to Chippawa. When this had been
thoroughly accomplished, Warren disbanded his men, and an American force
crossed from Black Rock and took possession of the dismantled works. A
quantity of stores which had been abandoned at Queenston, was destroyed
on the same day, by Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Clark, at the head of a small
party of the Third Lincoln Regiment, who had returned from Beaver Dams
for the purpose.
Scarcely had this been done, when a strong brigade of American troops
advanced from Fort George and occupied that village.
During these operations General Vincent had lost the whole of his
garrison ordnance and a considerable quantity of spare arms and military
stores. His regular force had been diminished by 350 officers and men,
nearly all of whom were killed or wounded, but he was joined during the
night of the 27th by two strong companies of the 8th Regiment which had
advanced that day as far as the mouth of the Twelve Mile Creek on their
way to Fort George. The loss of the regulars in the battle was
officially stated at fifty-two killed, forty-four wounded, and 262
missing, nearly all of those reported missing being either killed or
left wounded on the field. The small detachment of Lincoln militia
engaged is stated to have lost five officers and eighty men, killed or
wounded, but no official return seems to have been preserved. The names
only of Captain Martin McClellan and Privates Charles Wright and William
Cameron, who were killed, have been recorded. Two Mohawk Indians, Joseph
Claus and Tsigotea, were also among the slain. General Boyd stated that
his men found 107 dead and 175 wounded of the British troops upon the
field. The losses of some of the detachments actually engaged were truly
appalling. The five companies of the 8th Regiment lost, Lieut. Drummie
killed, Major Cotton, Lieuts. Nicholson, McMahon, and Lloyd, and Ensign
Nicholson wounded, and 196 non-commissioned officers and privates
killed, wounded, or missing out of 310 of all ranks who went into
action. The Glengarry Light Infantry lost Captain Liddle and Ensign
McLean killed, Captain Roxborough and Lieut. Kerr wounded, and 73
non-commissioned officers and men out of an aggregate of 108. The
grenadier company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment lost Capt. Winter,
Lieut. Stewart, and fourteen others out of forty.
The total loss of the American army was officially stated at 150, of
whom thirty-nine were killed. The only officer killed was Lieut. Henry
Hobart, a grandson of General Dearborn. Covered as their landing was by
the fire of so many cannon, it is, perhaps, remarkable that their loss
was so great. As a proof, however, of the severity of the short struggle
on the plain. Dr. Mann, the American army surgeon, who was present,
remarked that he found 27 dead and 87 severely wounded on the field when
he landed and that nearly 400 of both armies lay stretched on a plot of
ground not more than 200 yards in length and fifteen in breadth.
On the 28th, the whole of the militia except Merritt's troop of
Provincial Cavalry, Runchey's company of negroes, and about sixty picked
men of other corps who were determined to follow the fortunes of the
army, were disbanded, and Vincent continued his retreat to Grimsby and
finally to Burlington Heights where he arrived on the 2nd June with
eleven field guns and 1800 seasoned soldiers, who, in spite of their
recent reverse were in high spirits and eager to meet the enemy again on
more equal terms. The brilliant result of the action at Stoney Creek
three days later amply atoned for a defeat by which they had lost no
credit.
The Americans were justly disappointed by the incompleteness of their
success. For nearly two days they appear to have absolutely lost all
track of their enemy. "When we marched for Queenston on the 28th," wrote
an officer in the United States army whose letter was published at the
time in the _Baltimore Whig_, "we found the British far advanced on
their retreat by the back road toward the lower part of the Province.
They collected their force very actively. Our friends hereabouts are
greatly relieved by our visit. They had been terribly persecuted by the
Scotch myrmidons of England. Their present joy is equal to their past
misery. This is a charming country but its uncertain destiny together
with the vexations the farmers endured by being dragged out in the
militia left the fields in a great degree uncultivated. The British
Indians are not of much use to them. They run as soon as the battle
grows hot. I saw but one Indian and one Negro with the Glengarry uniform
on, dead on the field. Their Eighth fought very resolutely and suffered
severely."
Many American historians have condemned General Dearborn for not having
accomplished more with the means at his disposal but they have made
little or no allowance for the physical weakness which actually rendered
him unfit to command at all. General Armstrong, who, as Secretary of
War, was eager to justify his own conduct, declared that "if instead of
concentrating his whole force, naval and military, on the water side of
the enemy's defences he had divided the attack and crossed the Niagara
below Lewiston and advanced on Fort George by the Queenston road, the
investment of that place would have been complete and a retreat of the
garrison rendered impracticable." This, however, was actually the
movement which Dearborn had planned but failed to execute in time.
Ingersol, a member of Congress and a leader of the war party, bitterly
observed that "the British General effected his retreat (probably
without Dearborn knowing it for he stayed on shipboard) to the mountain
passes where he employed his troops in attacking, defeating, and
capturing ours during all the rest of that year of discomfitures."
THE END.
N. B.--For the engraving, "The Taking of Fort George," we
are indebted to the kindness and courtesy of the Hon. P. A.
Porter, Niagara Falls. It is from the portfolio published in
Philadelphia, 1817, and is particularly interesting to us as
giving the appearance of the churches St. Mark's and St.
Andrew's before the town was burnt down, as also the
Lighthouse situated nearly where the Queen's Royal Hotel
stands now.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the |
| original document have been preserved. |
| |
| Typographical errors corrected in the text: |
| |
| Page 5 huudred changed to hundred |
| Page 6 uninhabitated changed to uninhabited |
| Page 7 Presqu'le changed to Presqu'ile |
| Page 9 patroling changed to patrolling |
| Page 12 armisfice changed to armistice |
| Page 14 Rensslaer changed to Rensselaer |
| Page 15 permited changed to permitted |
| Page 19 resourses changed to resources |
| Page 21 Deleware changed to Delaware |
| Page 21 patroled changed to patrolled |
| Page 21 Bisshop changed to Bishop |
| Page 22 detatchment changed to detachment |
| Page 24 missles changed to missiles |
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End of Project Gutenberg's Battle of Fort George, by Ernest Cruikshank