VICTORY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN
Spectacular as were the exploits of the American navy on the sea, they
were of far less immediate consequence in deciding the destinies of the
war than were the naval battles fought on fresh water between hastily
improvised squadrons. On Lake Erie Perry's victory had recovered a lost
empire and had made the West secure against invasion. Macdonough's
handful of little vessels on Lake Champlain compelled the retreat of ten
thousand British veterans of Wellington's campaigns who had marched down
from Canada with every promise of crushing American resistance. This was
the last and most formidable attempt on the part of the enemy to conquer
territory and to wrest a decision by means of a sustained offensive. Its
collapse marked the beginning of the end, and such events as the capture
of Washington and the battle of New Orleans were in the nature of
episodes.
That September day of 1814, when Macdonough won his niche in the naval
hall of fame, was also the climax and the conclusion of the long
struggle of the American armies on the northern frontier, a confused
record of defeat, vacillation, and crumbling forces, which was redeemed
towards the end by troops who had learned how to fight and by new
leaders who restored the honor of the flag at Chippawa and Lundy's Lane.
Although the ambitious attempts against Canada, so often repeated, were
so much wasted effort until the very end, they ceased to be inglorious.
The tide turned in the summer of 1814 with the renewal of the struggle
for the Niagara region where the British had won a foothold upon
American soil.
In command of a vigorous and disciplined American army was General Jacob
Brown, that stout-hearted volunteer who had proved his worth when the
enemy landed at Sackett's Harbor. He was not a professional soldier but
his troops had been trained and organized by Winfield Scott who was now
a brigadier. After two years of dismal reverses, the United States was
learning how to wage war. Incompetency was no longer the badge of high
military rank. A general was supposed to know something about his trade
and to have a will of his own.
With thirty-five hundred men, Jacob Brown made a resolute advance to
find and join battle with the British forces of General Riall which
garrisoned the forts of St. George's, Niagara, Erie, Queenston, and
Chippawa. Early in the morning of July 3, 1814, the American troops in
two divisions crossed the river and promptly captured Fort Erie. They
then pushed ahead fifteen miles until they encountered the British
defensive line on the Chippawa River where it flows into the Niagara.
The field was like a park, with open, grassy spaces and a belt of
woodland which served as a green curtain to screen the movements of both
armies. Riall boldly assumed the offensive, although he was aware that
he had fewer men. His instructions intimated that liberties might be
taken with the Americans which would seem hazardous "to a military man
unacquainted with the character of the enemy he had to contend with, or
with the events of the last two campaigns on that frontier." The
deduction was unflattering but very much after the fact.
The British attack was unlooked for. It was the Fourth of July and in
celebration Winfield Scott had given his men the best dinner that the
commissary could supply and was marching them into a meadow in the cool
of the summer afternoon for drill and review. The celebration, however,
was interrupted by firing and confusion among the militia who happened
to be in front, and Scott rushed his brigade forward to take the brunt
of the heavy assault. General Jacob Brown rode by at a gallop, waving
his hat and cheerily shouting, "You will have a battle." He was hurrying
to bring up his other forces, but meanwhile Scott's column crossed a
bridge at the double-quick and faced the enemy's batteries.
Exposed, taken by surprise, and outnumbered, Winfield Scott and his
regiments were nevertheless equal to the occasion. A battalion was sent
to cover one flank in the dense woodland, while the main body drove
straight for the columns of British infantry and then charged with
bayonets at sixty paces. The American ranks were steady and unbroken
although they were pelted with musketry fire, and they smashed a British
counter-charge by three regiments before it gained momentum. Handsomely
fought and won, it was not a decisive battle and might be called no more
than a skirmish but its significance was highly important, for at
Chippawa there was displayed a new spirit in the American army.
Riall retreated with his red-coated regulars to a stronger line at
Queenston, while Jacob Brown was sending anxious messages to Commodore
Chauncey begging him to use his fleet in cooperation and so break the
power of the enemy in Upper Canada. "For God's sake, let me see you," he
implored. But again the American ships on Lake Ontario failed to seize
an opportunity, and in this instance Chauncey's inactivity dismayed not
only General Brown but also the Government at Washington. The fleet
remained at Sackett's Harbor with excuses which appeared inadequate:
certain changes were being made among the officers and crews, and again
"the squadron had been prevented being earlier fitted for sea in
consequence of the delay in obtaining blocks and iron-work." Chauncey
subsequently fell ill, which may have had something to do with his lapse
of energy. The whole career of this naval commander on Lake Ontario had
disappointed expectations, even though the Secretary had commended his
"zeal, talent, constancy, courage, and prudence of the highest order."
The trouble was that Chauncey let slip one chance after another to win
the control of Lake Ontario in pitched battle. Always too intent on
building more ships instead of fighting with those he had, he is
therefore not remembered in the glorious companionship of Perry and
Macdonough.
This failure to act at the moment when Jacob Brown was so valiantly
endeavoring to wrest from the British the precious Niagara peninsula was
responsible for the desperate and inconclusive battle of Lundy's Lane.
Winfield Scott frankly blamed the unsuccessful result upon the freedom
with which the British troops and supplies were moved on Lake Ontario.
For ten days Jacob Brown had remained in a painful state of suspense and
perplexity, until finally the word came that nobody knew when the
American fleet would sail. As he had feared, the British command, able
to move its troops unmolested across the lake, planned to attack him in
the rear and to cut his communications on the New York side of the
Niagara River. For this purpose two enemy brigs were filled with troops
and were sent over to Fort Niagara with more to follow.
It was to parry this threat that Brown moved his forces and brought
about the clash at Lundy's Lane. "As it appeared," he explained, "that
the enemy with his increased strength was about to avail himself of the
hazard under which our baggage and stores were on our side of the
Niagara, I conceived the most effectual method of recalling him from the
object was to put myself in motion towards Queenston. General Scott with
his brigade were accordingly put in march on the road leading thither."
The action was fought about a mile back from the torrent of the Niagara,
below the Falls, where the by-road known as Lundy's Lane joined the main
road running parallel with the river. Here Scott's column came suddenly
upon a force of British redcoats led by General Drummond. Scott
hesitated to attack, because the odds were against his one brigade, but,
fearing the effect of a retreat on the divisions behind him, he sent
word to Brown that he would hold his ground and try to turn the enemy's
left toward the Niagara. It was late in the day and the sun had almost
set. Gradually Scott forced the British wing back, and Brown threw in
reinforcements until the engagement became general. The fight continued
furious even after darkness fell and never have men employed in the
business of killing each other shown courage more stubborn. Both sides
were equally determined and they fought until exhaustion literally
compelled a halt.
Later in the evening fresh troops were hurled in on both sides, and
they were at it again with the same impetuosity. A small hill, over
which ran Lundy's Lane, was the goal the Americans fought for. They
finally stormed it, "in so determined a manner," reported the enemy,
"that our artillery men were bayoneted in the act of loading and the
muzzles of the enemy's guns were advanced within a few yards of ours."
Back and forth flowed the tide of battle in bloody waves, until
midnight. Then sullenly and in good order the Americans retired three
miles to camp at Chippawa. Next day the enemy resumed the position and
held it unattacked.
It is fair to call Lundy's Lane a drawn battle. The casualties were
something more than eight hundred for each side, and the troops engaged
were about twenty-five hundred Americans and a like number of British.
Both the shattered columns soon retired behind strong defenses. General
Drummond led the British troops into camp at Niagara Falls, and General
Ripley, in temporary command of the American brigades, Scott and Brown
having been wounded, occupied the unfinished works of Fort Erie, on the
Canadian side, just where the waters of Lake Erie enter the Niagara
River.
The British determined to bombard these walls and intrenchments with
heavy guns and then carry them by infantry assault. But this plan failed
disastrously. On the 15th of August the British charged in three columns
the bastions and batteries only to be savagely repulsed at every point
with a loss of nine hundred men killed, wounded, or prisoners, while the
defenders had only eighty-five casualties. Then Drummond settled down to
besiege the place and succeeded in making it so uncomfortable that Jacob
Brown, now recovered from his wound, organized a sortie in force which
was made on the 17th of September. In the action which followed, the
British batteries were overwhelmed and the American militia displayed
magnificent steadiness and valor. Jacob Brown proudly informed the
Governor of New York that "the militia of New York have redeemed their
character--they behaved gallantly. Of those called out by the last
requisition, fifteen hundred have crossed the state border to our
support. This reinforcement has been of immense importance to us; it
doubled our effective strength, and their good conduct cannot but have
the happiest effect upon our nation."
This bold stroke ended the Niagara campaign. The British fell back, and
the American army was in no condition for pursuit. In ten weeks Jacob
Brown had fought four engagements without defeat and, barring the battle
of New Orleans, his brief campaign was the one operation of the land war
upon which Americans could look back with any degree of satisfaction.
The scene now shifted to Lake Champlain. The main work was the building
up of an army to resist the menacing preparations for a British invasion
from Montreal. Among the new American generals who had gained promotion
by merit instead of favor was George Izard, trained in the military
schools of England and Prussia, and an aide to Alexander Hamilton during
his command of the army of the United States. Izard had been sent to
Plattsburg in May, 1814, on the very eve of the great British campaign,
and found everything in a deplorable state of unreadiness and
inefficiency. While he was manfully struggling with these difficulties,
Secretary Armstrong directed him to send four thousand of his men to the
assistance of Jacob Brown on the Niagara front. General Izard obediently
and promptly set out, although the defense of Lake Champlain was thereby
deprived of this large body of troops. The expedition was almost barren
of results, however, and at a time when every trained soldier was needed
to oppose the march of the British veterans, Izard was at Fort Erie,
idle, waiting to build winter quarters and writing to the War
Department: "I confess I am greatly embarrassed. At the head of the most
efficient army the United States have possessed during this war, much
must be expected of me; and yet I can discern no object which can be
achieved at this point worthy of the risk which will attend its
attempt."
Izard had already predicted that the withdrawal of his forces from
Plattsburg would leave northeastern New York at the mercy of the British
and he spoke the truth. No sooner had his divisions started westward
than the British army, ten thousand strong, under General Prevost,
crossed the frontier and marched rapidly toward the Saranac River and
then straight on to Plattsburg. Possession of this trading town the
British particularly desired because through it passed an enormous
amount of illicit traffic with Canada. Both Izard and Prevost agreed in
the statement that the British army was almost entirely fed on supplies
drawn from New York and Vermont by way of Lake Champlain. "Two thirds of
the army in Canada are supplied with beef by American contractors,"
wrote Prevost, and there were not enough highways to accommodate the
herds of cattle which were driven across the border.
To protect this source of supply by conquering the region was the task
assigned the splendid army of British regulars who had fought under
Wellington. The conclusion of the Peninsular campaign had released them
for service in America, and England was now able for the first time to
throw her military strength against the feeble forces of the United
States. It was announced as the intention of the British Government to
take and hold the lakes, from Champlain to Erie, as territorial waters
and a permanent barrier. To oppose the large and seasoned army which was
to effect these projects, there was an American force of only fifteen
hundred men, led by Brigadier General Alexander Macomb. All he could do
was to try to hold the defensive works at Plattsburg and to send forward
small skirmishing parties to annoy the British army which advanced in
solid column, without taking the trouble to deploy.
On the 6th of September Sir George Prevost with his army reached
Plattsburg and encamped just outside the town. From a ridge the British
leader beheld the redoubts, strong field works, and blockhouses, and at
anchor in the bay the little American fleet of Commodore Thomas
Macdonough. To Prevost it looked like a costly business to attempt to
carry these defenses by assault and he therefore decided to await the
arrival of the British ships of Captain George Downie. A combined attack
by land and sea, he believed, should find no difficulty in wiping out
American resistance.
Such was the situation and the weighty responsibility which confronted
Macdonough and his sailors. It was the most critical moment of the war.
With a seaman's eye for defense Macdonough met it by stationing his
vessels in a carefully chosen position and prepared with a seaman's
foresight for every contingency. Plattsburg Bay is about two miles wide
and two long and lies open to the southward, with a cape called
Cumberland Head bounding it on the east. It was in this sheltered water
that Macdonough awaited attack, his ships riding about a mile from the
American shore batteries. These guns were to be captured by the British
army and turned against him, according to the plans of General Prevost,
who was urging Captain Downie to hasten with his fleet and undertake a
joint action, for, as he said, "it is of the highest importance that
the ships, vessels, and gunboats of your command should combine a
cooperation with the division of the army under my command. I only wait
for your arrival to proceed against General Macomb's last position on
the south bank of the Saranac."
These demands became more and more insistent, although the largest
British ship, the _Confiance_, had been launched only a few days before
and the mechanics were still toiling night and day to fit her for
action. She was a formidable frigate, of the size of the American
_Chesapeake_, and was expected to be more than a match for Macdonough's
entire fleet. Captain Downie certainly expected the support of the army,
which he failed to receive, for he clearly stated his position before
the naval battle. "When the batteries are stormed and taken possession
of by the British land forces, which the commander of the land forces
has promised to do at the moment the naval action commences, the enemy
will be obliged to quit their position, whereby we shall obtain decided
advantage over them during the confusion. I would otherwise prefer
fighting them on the lake and would wait until our force is in an
efficient state but I fear they would take shelter up the lake and would
not meet me on equal terms."
Compelled to seek and offer battle in Plattsburg Bay, the British
vessels rounded Cumberland Head on the morning of the 11th of September
and hove to while Captain Downie went ahead in a boat to observe the
American position. He perceived that Macdonough had anchored his fleet
in line in this order: the brig _Eagle_, twenty guns, the flagship
_Saratoga_, twenty-six guns, the schooner _Ticonderoga_, seven guns, and
the sloop _Preble_, seven guns. There was also a considerable squadron
of little gunboats, or galleys, propelled by oars and mounting one gun.
Opposed to this force was the stately _Confiance_, with her three
hundred men and thirty-seven guns, such a ship as might have dared to
engage the _Constitution_ on blue water, and the _Chub_, _Linnet_, and
_Finch_, much like Macdonough's three smaller vessels, besides a
flotilla of the tiny, impudent gunboats which were like so many hornets.
Macdonough was a youngster of twenty-eight years to whom was granted
this opportunity denied the officers who had grown gray in the service.
The navy, which was also very young, had set its own stamp upon him, and
his advancement he had won by sheer ability. Self-reliant and
indomitable, like Oliver Hazard Perry, he had wrestled with obstacles
and was ready to meet the enemy in spite of them. His fame among naval
men outshines Perry's, and he is rated as the greatest fighting sailor
who flew the American flag until Farragut surpassed them all.
The battle of Plattsburg Bay was contested straight from the shoulder
with little chance for such evolutions as seeking the weather gage or
wearing ship. With one fleet at anchor, as Nelson demonstrated at the
Nile, the proper business of the other was to drive ahead and try to
break the line or turn an end of it. This Captain Downie proceeded to
attempt in a brave and highly skillful manner, with the _Confiance_
leading into the bay and proposing to smash the _Eagle_ with her first
broadsides. The wind failed, however, and the British frigate dropped
anchor within close range of the _Saratoga_, which displayed
Macdonough's pennant, and pounded this vessel so accurately that forty
American seamen, or one-fifth of the crew, were struck down by the first
blast of the British guns.
Meanwhile the _Linnet_ had reached her assigned berth and fought the
American _Eagle_ so successfully that the latter was disabled and had to
leave the line. To balance this the _Chub_ was so badly damaged that
she drifted helpless among the American ships and was compelled to haul
down her colors. The _Finch_ committed a blunder of seamanship and by
failing to keep close enough to the wind, which soon died away, she
finally went aground and took no part in the battle. The _Preble_ was
driven from her anchorage and ran ashore under the Plattsburg batteries,
and the _Ticonderoga_ played no heavier part than to beat off the little
British galleys.
The decisive battle was therefore fought by four ships, the American
_Saratoga_ and _Eagle_, and the British _Confiance_ and _Linnet_. It was
then that Macdonough acquitted himself as a man who did not know when he
was beaten. The _Confiance_, which must have towered like a ship of the
line, had so cruelly mauled the _Saratoga_ that she seemed doomed to be
blown out of water. So many of his gunners were killed by the
double-shotted broadsides that Macdonough jumped from the quarter-deck to
take a hand himself and encourage the survivors. He was sighting a gun
when a round shot cut the spanker boom, and a fragment of the heavy spar
knocked him senseless.
Recovering his wits, however, he returned to his gun. But another shot
tore off the head of the gun captain and flung it in Macdonough's face
with such force that he was hurled across the deck. At length all but
one of the guns along the side exposed to the _Confiance_ had been
smashed or dismounted, and this last gun broke its fastening bolts,
leaped from its carriage with the heavy recoil, and plunged into the
main hatch. Silenced, shot through and through, her decks strewn with
dead, the _Saratoga_ might then have struck her colors with honor. But
Macdonough had not begun to fight. Prepared for such an emergency, he
let go a stern anchor, cut his bow cable, and "winded" or turned his
ship around so that her other side with its uninjured row of guns was
presented to the _Confiance_. Captain Downie had by this time been
killed, and the acting commander of the British flagship endeavored to
execute the same maneuver, but the _Confiance_ was too badly crippled to
be swung about. While she floundered, the Saratoga reduced her to
submission. One of the surviving officers stated that "the ship's
company declared they would no longer stand to their quarters nor could
the officers with their utmost exertions rally them." The ship was
sinking, with more than a hundred ragged holes in her hull and fivescore
men dead or hurt. Fifteen minutes later the plucky _Linnet_ surrendered
after a long and desperate duel with the _Eagle_. The British galleys
escaped from the bay under sail and oar because no American ships were
fit to chase them, but the Royal Navy had ceased to exist on Lake
Champlain. For more than two hours the battle had been fought with a
bulldog endurance not often equaled in the grim pages of naval history.
And more nearly than any other incident of the War of 1812 it could be
called decisive.
The American victory made the position of Prevost's army wholly
untenable. With the control of Lake Champlain in Macdonough's hands, the
British line of communication would be continually menaced. For the ten
thousand veterans of Wellington's campaigns there was nothing to do but
retreat, nor did they linger until they had marched across the Canada
border. Though the way had lain open before them, they had not fought a
battle, but were turned out of the United States, evicted, one might
say, by a few small ships manned by several hundred American sailors. As
Perry had regained the vast Northwest for his nation so, more
momentously, did Macdonough avert from New York and New England a tide
of invasion which could not otherwise have been stemmed.
[Illustration: _THOMAS MACDONOUGH_
Painting by J. W. Jarvis. In the City Hall, New York, owned by the
Corporation. Reproduced by courtesy of the Municipal Art Commission of
the City of New York.]
[Illustration: _JACOB BROWN_
Painting by J. W. Jarvis. In the City Hall, New York, owned by the
Corporation. Reproduced by courtesy of the Municipal Art Commission of
the City of New York.]