Edmund Pendleton Gaines was born in the county of Culpepper, Virginia,
on the 20th of March, 1777. His father, James Gaines, served in the
latter part of the revolutionary war at the head of a company of
volunteers, and having removed with his family to the north-west border
of North Carolina, he was soon after chosen a member of the legislature
of that state. He was the nephew of Edmund Pendleton, for many years
presiding judge of the Court of Appeals, in Virginia, and one of those
illustrious statesmen whose services were most prominent in the cause
which produced a Washington, and enrolled the names of Jefferson,
Madison, Randolph and Mason, among the most distinguished in the annals
of American history. To the early affectionate solicitude and pious
care of a highly gifted mother, may be imputed the strict integrity,
and devoted sense of duty, which have always distinguished the subject
of this memoir; to whose prudence and excellent example he acknowledges
himself indebted for the high sense of honor and rectitude which have
been his support amid the trying and eventful scenes of his life.
At the close of the war of independence, his father returned to his
estate in North Carolina, consisting of some hundred acres. He, like
most of his neighbors, had lost his money in the form of valueless
continental bills. In these circumstances, at this period, all classes
were more or less involved.
Edmund, now in his thirteenth year, assisted his father in the toils
of agriculture. His heart became early imbued with the pleasures which
result from the performance of duties, and his health invigorated by
such wholesome exercise.
About this period, his father removed his family to Sullivan county,
(afterwards the eastern part of Tennessee,) in the immediate vicinity
of which the Cherokee Indians were constantly committing depredations.
With these Indians the United States were at that time, and continued
to be for several years afterwards, at war. Surrounded by hostilities,
our hero’s thoughts now actually turned to arms, and he employed his
leisure hours in the study of such military works as were within his
reach. By the time he was fourteen, he had acquired such skill in the
management of the rifle, as to excel most of his young associates. At
the age of eighteen, he was elected lieutenant of a rifle company of
volunteers, which was raised at that time as a terror to the Cherokees,
who were a continual annoyance to the neighborhood. In January, 1799,
he was appointed an ensign, and attached to the sixth United States
regiment, and ordered on duty in the recruiting service. In the
following year the sixth regiment was disbanded, and Ensign Gaines was
transferred to the fourth infantry, as second lieutenant.
In 1801, Colonel Butler, who commanded the fourth regiment, was
instructed to select the subalterns of that regiment best qualified
for making a topographical survey from Nashville to Natchez, for the
location of a military road.
He appointed Lieutenant Gaines, who, in the performance of this duty,
and in the survey of certain Indian boundary lines, near the Choctaw
nation, was engaged until the winter of 1804. In that year, Spain
having refused to withdraw her troops from the military posts of Mobile
and Baton Rouge, and deliver up the country lying between the island of
Orleans and the rivers Iberville, Mississippi and Perdido, as a part
of Louisiana, the President of the United States determined to appoint
a military collector of the customs, for the district of Mobile, and
appointed Lieutenant Gaines to that office.
He accordingly was stationed at Fort Stoddart, thirty-six miles
north of the town of Mobile, in the confident expectation of sooner
or later having the honor of taking possession of the disputed
territory. In 1806, in addition to the duties hitherto assigned to
him, Lieutenant Gaines was appointed postmaster, and also agent to the
postmaster-general, with authority to suspend all postmasters and mail
contractors who were in any wise aiding persons supposed to be engaged
in the machinations of Colonel Burr. In the interim, he was promoted
to a captaincy. Captain Gaines, as commandant of Fort Stoddart, was
authorized to employ such of the United States troops as should be
deemed necessary for the protection of the mail, and inspectors of
the revenue between the city of Orleans and Athens, Georgia, then a
wilderness of nearly six hundred miles in extent. Having performed
the arduous duties of this situation to the perfect satisfaction of
his government, for nearly five years, Captain Gaines determined to
retire from the army, and engage in the profession of the law. But the
increased probability of a war with England, for a time suspended this
resolution. He at length decided upon asking for leave of absence.
In this interval he commenced the practice of law, in the counties
of Washington and Baldwin, Mississippi territory; but scarcely had he
completed his first year’s practice, when war was declared against
Great Britain, and Captain Gaines joyfully resumed his sword, never
again to abandon it as long as his country should need his services.
In the war which followed, it will be seen that our hero was among the
most steadfast in the performance of every arduous duty.
In the greatest danger he was distinguished alike by the fertility of
his resources, the coolness of his courage, and the amiable simplicity
of his manners. In his operations on the northern frontier, his gallant
conduct received the highest commendation. At the battle of Chrystler’s
Fields, on the 11th of November, 1813, Colonel Gaines commanded the
twenty-fifth regiment of United States infantry. He was deprived of
the honor of a participation in the glory of Harrison’s victory on the
Thames, by a long and serious illness; but his brave regiment was one
of the most effective, on the memorable 11th, covering the retreat of
our several corps, after the check received by the enemy, to their
re-embarkation on the St. Lawrence.
The relative strength of the two armies, when Colonel Gaines, who
had recently been promoted to the rank of Major-General, arrived at
Fort Erie, and took command on the morning of the 4th of August, 1814,
was as follows:--the British veteran force amounted to a fraction
over three thousand six hundred officers and men, besides six hundred
Canadians and Indians--making altogether an aggregate of more than four
thousand two hundred. This force was opposed by only nineteen hundred
United States regulars, and six hundred New York and Pennsylvania
volunteers, making the aggregate strength for duty, nearly two thousand
five hundred. On the following day, August 5th, commenced the first
of those actions, consisting of a vigorous cannonade and bombardment,
with alternate sharp conflicts between the infantry and rifle corps of
the two armies, with occasional skirmishing, which were kept up with a
degree of vigor, daily and successively, until the morning of the 15th.
These daily conflicts were so conducted as to pave the way for the more
important victory which was to follow.
Although the losses in these smaller actions amounted to considerably
more than those sustained in the battle of the 15th, still they were
carried on in a spirit and temper, evincing a determination on the
part of every officer and soldier to maintain the old-fashioned maxim,
namely, “Victory or Death.” This sanguinary battle of the 15th, with
the other actions of the following fourteen days, were altogether so
conducted as to secure to a moral certainty, not only the safety of
the whole northwestern frontier, but to cover the war-worn division
with imperishable fame, by a series of triumphs extending throughout
the months of August and September, 1814, the _value_ and _moral
effect_ of which, can only be rightly estimated by the statesman or
soldier capable of counting the cost of blood and treasure, which
must have followed the sacrifice of that division--and the consequent
recombination of a British army flushed with victory--and their
lately _whipt_, and, therefore, doubly ferocious _savage friends_
and _allies_--with free access to a sparsely settled and unprotected
frontier of near twelve hundred miles in extent, from Buffalo to Lake
Michigan, and thence to the upper Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas:
a frontier embracing an extensive section of the then suffering
northwestern settlements, that had during the first fourteen months of
the war been bleeding at every pore. And this deplorable catastrophe
to have followed upon the heels of the fiendish and disgraceful scenes
which terminated in the taking, sacking, and burning the capitol
of our beloved Union. The total defeat of this crippled and maimed
remnant of Brown’s heroic division, _a catastrophe which, from the
night of the 25th of July, to the fourth of the following month--to
many brave officers of high rank--(one of whom was at the head of a
brigade,) seemed to be inevitable, without an immediate abandonment
of Canada, might have prolonged the war, with its increasing horrors
of the massacre and scalping of women and children, for seven years_.
This mutilated remnant of our noble division, however, gallantly met
and gloriously triumphed over a veteran British army of near double
our numbers during twenty consecutive days, and some nights, and
accomplished these triumphs before the harassed and broken down war
department could send on the requisite reinforcements, to give our
operations the _offensive_ in place of the _defensive_ cast, and
increased vigorous character.
The great and gallant state of New York, with her Tomkins, and her
Clintons, and her Porter, and her Spencer, and hosts of other master
spirits of this state, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, soon devised measures to
put in rapid motion the chivalry--constituting the minute-men of the
volunteers around them--and these sanguinary conflicts, which commenced
on the 5th, and continued until the 28th of August, under the direction
of the gallant Gaines, from thence until the 5th of September, under
Miller, and to the 10th, under Ripley, were brilliantly terminated on
the 17th of that month, under Brown.
It may safely be left to the future statesman and soldier to
decide--and to the impartial historian to record--how far these
triumphs of August, 1814, may have contributed to allay the _panic_
produced by the victory of the British at Bladensburg, the capture
of Alexandria and the city of Washington, with the destruction of
the capitol; or to what extent they may have tended to arrest the
exultation which this _victory_, and these captures produced in the
ranks of the enemy; and to establish throughout the Union the moral
power, and unshaken confidence reposed in the efficiency of our
volunteers. They had never, before the month of August, 1814, given
such indubitable evidence of their being in all respects equal to
the best of veteran regulars, in an open field fight, and in the
close conflict of repeated heavy charges of veteran infantry with the
bayonet--in the deepest darkness of night. It is for posterity to
decide (when the actors are all in the grave), how far the moral effect
of those sanguinary struggles, and long-continued triumphs, may or may
not have contributed to seal the fate of the enemy, from the 29th of
August to the 17th of September, on the Niagara frontier, at Baltimore,
at Plattsburg, and at New Orleans, in December, 1814, and January,
1815. The description of troops here referred to as so eminently
distinguished at each place, had long been known to be invincible
_in the woods_ against Indians and their white allies, and _behind
breastworks_, against the best of British veterans. But they had never,
before the month of August, 1814, afforded such incontestable proofs of
their entire fitness for the close conflicts of the open field, as at
that time near Fort Erie.
These triumphs were duly appreciated by the wise, the just, the
virtuous Madison, as well as by the supreme judiciary of the United
States; by the assembled wisdom of both houses of Congress, and by the
enlightened and patriotic public authorities of the sovereign states
of the Union--who promptly, and in most cases _unanimously_, testified
in terms of high approbation, their sense of the value of the services
rendered by that division of the army during the period here referred
to.
General Gaines, in his official report to the war department, gives
the following account of the battle of the 15th of August: He says, “I
hasten to communicate particulars of the battle fought at this place
(Fort Erie, Upper Canada), on the 15th inst., between the left wing of
the second division of the northern army, under my command, and the
British forces in the Peninsula of Upper Canada.
“At half past two o’clock, on the morning of the 15th, the right
column of the enemy approached; and though enveloped in darkness, was
distinctly heard on our left, and promptly marked by our musketry,
under Major Wood, and artillery under Captain Towson. Being mounted at
the moment, I repaired to the point of attack, where the sheet of fire
rolling from Towson’s battery and the musketry of the left wing of the
21st infantry, under Major Wood, enabled me to see the enemy’s column,
of about fifteen hundred men, approaching on that point; his advance
was not checked until it approached within ten feet of our infantry;
a line of loose brush, representing an abattis, only intervened; a
column of the enemy attempted to pass round the abattis, through the
water where it was nearly breast-deep. Apprehending that this point
would be carried, I ordered a detachment of riflemen and infantry
to its support; but having met with the gallant commander, Major
Wood, was assured by him that he could defend his position without
reinforcements. At this moment the enemy were repulsed; but instantly
renewed the charge, and were again repulsed.
“My attention was now called to the right, where our batteries
and lines were soon lighted by a most brilliant fire of cannon and
musketry. It announced the approach of the centre and left columns of
the enemy, under Colonels Drummond and Scott. The latter was received
by the veteran ninth, under the command of Captain Foster and Captains
Broughton and Harding’s companies of New York and Pennsylvania
volunteers, and were repulsed. That of the centre, led by Colonel
Drummond, was not long kept in check; it approached, at once, every
available point of the fort, and, with scaling ladders, ascended the
parapet, but was repulsed with dreadful carnage. The assault was twice
repeated, and as often checked; but the enemy, having moved around
in the ditch, covered by darkness, added to the heavy cloud of smoke
which had rolled from our cannon and musketry, enveloping surrounding
objects, repeated the charge, re-ascended the ladders--their pikes,
bayonets and spears, fell upon our gallant artillerists. The gallant
spirits of our favorite Captain Williams, and Lieutenants M’Donough
and Watmough, with their brave men, were overcome--the two former,
and several of their men, received deadly wounds--our bastion was
lost. Lieutenant M’Donough, being severely wounded, demanded quarter.
It was refused by Colonel Drummond;--the Lieutenant then seized a
handspike and nobly defended himself, until he was shot down with a
pistol, by the monster who had refused him quarter, who often was
heard to reiterate the order, ‘_Give the damned Yankees no quarter_.’
This officer, whose bravery, had it been seasoned with virtue, would
have entitled him to the admiration of every soldier; this hardened
murderer soon met his fate: he was shot through the heart by ----, of
the ---- regiment, while repeating the order to ‘give no quarter.’ The
battle now raged with increased fury on the right; but on the left, the
enemy was repulsed and put to flight; thence, and from the centre, I
ordered reinforcements--they were promptly sent by Brigadier-Generals
Ripley and Porter. Captain Fanning, of the corps of artillery, kept
a spirited and destructive fire, with his field-pieces, on the enemy
attempting to approach the fort. At this moment, every operation was
arrested by the explosion of some cartridges, deposited in the end of
the stone building, adjoining the contested bastion--the explosion was
tremendous--it was decisive--the bastion was restored. At this moment,
Captain Biddle, with his field-piece, enfiladed the exterior plain and
salient glacis: although not recovered from a severe injury in the
shoulder by one of the enemy’s shells, promptly served his field-piece
with vivacity and effect. Captain Fanning’s battery, likewise, played
upon them at this time with great effect--the enemy were, in a few
moments, entirely defeated, taken, or put to flight, leaving on the
field two hundred and twenty-one killed, one hundred and seventy-four
wounded, and one hundred and eighty-six prisoners--total five hundred
and eighty-one, including fourteen officers killed, and seven wounded
and prisoners. Americans, seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded, eleven
missing, total eighty-four.
“I have the honor, &c.”
It must be remembered that General Gaines had collected and arranged
the requisite papers and memorandums, such as would have enabled
him to make a faithful report of every material incident of each
day’s operations, from the 5th to the 28th of August. But on this
last-mentioned day he was crippled; and the British bomb-shell that
wounded him, demolished his writing-desk, with so many of his valuable
papers, including most of the reports and memorandums just now referred
to, that his detailed report fell very short of what was intended, with
the exception of giving to his officers that praise which their courage
and bravery deserved; this report, as before intimated, was very
hastily and imperfectly thrown together amidst the cares and constant
interruptions of incessant _daily action_ and _nightly vigilance and
preparation for increased vigorous action_, unavoidably omitting some
incidents of great interest to the service, to corps, and to individual
officers and soldiers, gallantly engaged in this as well as in some of
the smaller conflicts.
The official reports of the then acting Adjutant-General Jones,
(now adjutant-general of the army,) and Major Hall, then acting
Inspector-General, show, that in the smaller actions, before referred
to, from the 5th to the 14th, the actual loss of United States regulars
and volunteers, was altogether much greater than in the battle of
the 15th, which, though resulting in a decided victory, in which the
enemy acknowledged his loss to be greater than he sustained in any
one battle during the year 1814 in America, yet this was, in truth,
but one of _twenty-three days’ sharp conflicts_--all crowned with
success; although Gaines’ encampment near Fort Erie, from the daily
flow of blood which it exhibited, was compared by the officers to a
slaughter-pen. And from the 15th to the 28th of August, was still
greater; amounting in all to nearly four hundred--officers and soldiers
killed and wounded. The enemy took from us but one prisoner, it is
believed, during the month; the brave Lieutenant Fontaine, who was
knocked down from his battery in the dark.
For his gallant conduct in this ever memorable battle, General Gaines
was honored by the federal government with an unanimous vote of thanks,
and a gold medal (_See_ Plate V.), whilst the three great and patriotic
states of New York, Virginia and Tennessee, awarded to him unanimous
resolutions of thanks, with a fine gold hilted sword, which he received
from each of these states. This gallant officer is now employed in the
honorable and important service of his country. We are sensible that in
so brief a space allowed us in this memoir, justice cannot be done to
such bravery, magnanimity and patriotism as have marked his character,
through a life which has ever displayed a highly intelligent and
unremitted zeal for the welfare of his country.