Taking of Fort Erie--Battle of Chippewa--Service rendered by the Indians--
General Porter's account of the campaign--Red Jacket commended--Withdrawal
of Indian forces--Other successes--Conclusion of peace.
Directly across from Buffalo, at the head of Niagara river, on the Canada
side, stood Fort Erie. Chippewa, at that time head-quarters of the British
army, was eighteen miles below, on the same side. Fort Erie was garrisoned
by about one hundred and seventy men; at Chippewa and within available
distances from it, was stationed the principal part of the British force
in this region.
The plan with which it was proposed to open the campaign of 1814,
contemplated an attack on both of these places.
The campaign of the previous year, though favorable in a good degree, did
not close with entire success to the American arms. The idea was
entertained of descending the St. Lawrence, with a view of capturing
Montreal, a design which signally failed. Taking advantage of the feeble
defense of our frontier, by the withdrawal of the regular troops for the
purpose named, the enemy, on the 18th of December, surprised and took Fort
Niagara, and sweeping along our frontier settlements on the Niagara river,
ravaged the country by fire and sword, as they passed rapidly on, carrying
the works at Lewiston, and Manchester, and laying in ashes the thriving
villages of Black Rock and Buffalo. They burned also without opposition, a
village of the Tuscaroras.
The voice of Red Jacket was thereupon heard, arousing his people again, to
the necessity of taking up arms. And as the result, about six hundred
warriors, mostly from the Seneca nation, were in readiness to offer their
services, at the opening of the present campaign.
Buffalo was the appointed place of rendezvous, and on the first of July,
General Brown, who commanded our forces, regarding them as sufficient to
warrant the commencement of the plan of operations, began by
reconnoitering Fort Erie. During the night of the second of July, General
Ripley, with a part of his brigade, embarked in boats, with a view of
landing on the opposite shore, one mile above the Fort, at about day break
the next morning.
General Scott with his brigade was to cross the Niagara river, through a
difficult pass in the Black Rock Rapids, and make a simultaneous landing
below the fort. The two brigades enclosing the fort, could prevent the
escape of the garrison, until artillery to reduce it, should be brought
from Buffalo.
General Scott with his usual promptness, made good his landing, and was on
the ground at the hour appointed, and by the aid of a few Indians and
volunteers who accompanied him as guides, invested the fort, so as to
secure its garrison. General Ripley though prompt in his departure, was
delayed in reaching his position, by a dense fog which misled his pilots.
As the sun rose the British commandant and his officers, could see the
busy operations going on in ferrying across from Buffalo, artillery,
Indians and soldiers, with their various preparations of war. They
discovered also how completely they were invested. At the demand of
General Brown, without firing a gun or making any attempt at resistance,
the fort and garrison were surrendered.
This part of their enterprise being accomplished, they next turned their
thoughts toward Chippewa.
The Chippewa or Welland river, is a considerable stream not far from one
hundred yards wide, and from twelve to twenty feet deep, entering the
Niagara at right angles, as it flows in from the west.
On the north or left bank of this stream, near its mouth, the British army
had its station and defenses, consisting of two block houses, connected
and flanked by a parapet.
Street's creek was two miles above, or south of this, a small sluggish
stream, which enters the Niagara in a direction parallel with the
Chippewa. The mouth of this creek was selected by the American commanders,
as affording a favorable position for their army before the battle.
On the evening of the same day of the capture of Fort Erie, General Scott
with his brigade and Towson's artillery, proceeded down the river on his
way toward Chippewa, and on the morning of the fourth, encamped in the
open field, on the south side of Street's creek, having driven in some
advanced posts of the enemy. In the evening he was joined by General
Brown, with General Ripley's brigade, which took post in the same field,
in rear of General Scott.
General Porter with the Indians, and Pennsylvania volunteers, crossed the
Niagara at Black Rock during the night of the fourth, and on the morning
of the fifth, marched for the camp, arriving there at about noon.
The two armies nearly equal in numbers, and well qualified by their
thorough equipments, and the skill of their commanders, to harm each other
effectually, were now encamped with only two miles, and the two streams,
on whose banks they rested, between them.
But though thus near, intervening objects prevented their seeing each
other. Between them was a strip of woodland about one-fourth of a mile in
width, extending from the forest on the west, near to the bank of the
river, where it was cleared for the public highway. This effectually shut
out from the view of the other, the manoeuvres of each army.
The Indians and militia from the British army infested these woods, and
became annoying to our forces. General Porter being well acquainted with
the country, and having charge of the Indians, was requested to take them,
and a part of his Pennsylvania volunteers, and dislodge this portion of
the enemy; General Brown assuring him, that none of the British regulars
would be found south of the Chippewa on that day, and promising him in
case of so improbable a contingency, the support of General Scott's
brigade.
At about three o'clock of the same day of his arrival, General Porter
formed his men, half a mile in rear of the main camp, into single or
Indian file, placing the Indians on the left, and a part of the
Pennsylvanians on the right.
"Thence he marched into the woods in the same order, in a line at right
angles to the river, until the whole Indian force was immerged in the
forest, leaving the white troops in the open field; they had only to halt
and face to the right, when the whole were formed in line of battle,
three-fourths of a mile long and one man deep, looking in the direction
of Chippewa. Red Jacket was placed on the extreme left of the line, and
General Porter took his station on the margin of the woods between his
white and red troops, accompanied by Captain Pollard, a Seneca chief, who,
in this campaign, was considered first in command among the Indians;
Colonel Flemming, the Quarter-master of the Indian corps, Lieutenant
Donald Fraser his aid, and Henry Johnson his interpreter. He was also
accompanied by Major Jones, and Major Wood of the Engineers, as
volunteers; and was supported by a company of regular infantry, marching
in column in rear, as a reserve.
"The Indians were commanded by their war-chiefs, who were indulged in
their own mode of conducting the attack, marching about twenty yards in
advance of the warriors of their respective tribes. General Porter having
sent out scouts to reconnoiter the enemy, the march was commenced by
signal, and proceeded at first with great stillness and caution. The
chiefs have signals, by which, on the discovery of any circumstance
requiring consultation, or change of route or action, they convey notice
through their ranks with great celerity, on which the whole line of
warriors drop instantly on the ground, and remain there until further
orders. Two manoeuvres of this kind occurred on the march, the first of
little moment, but the second communicating through the scouts, the exact
position of the enemy, who, apprised of their assailants' approach, lay
concealed in a thicket of bushes, along the margin of Street's creek.
"A consultation was thereupon held, and new orders given, the purport of
which was to change the line of march, so as to meet the enemy to more
advantage, to increase the speed as much as was consistent with the
preservation of order, and to receive their first fire, but not to return
it except singly, and when it could be done with certain effect, and then
to raise the war-whoop, pursue, capture, and slay as many as practicable,
until they should reach the open ground in front of Chippewa, and thence
return to camp.
"The march was accordingly resumed, the fire of the enemy received, and a
rush accompanied with savage yells made upon them, and continued for more
than a mile, through scenes of frightful havoc and slaughter, few only of
the fugitives offering to surrender as prisoners, while others, believing
that no quarter would be given, suffered themselves to be cut down with
the tomahawk, or turning back upon their pursuers, fought hand to hand to
the last.
"On reaching the open field in front of Chippewa, the assailants were met
by a tremendous discharge of musketry, by which the warriors, who were
principally in front, were thrown back upon the volunteers and reserve,
who for want of equal speed were a short distance in the rear. Presuming
that the fire had come from the enemy he had been pursuing, and who had
rallied on reaching the open ground, General Porter made an effort, not
without success, to reform his line with volunteers, reserve and a portion
of the warriors; but on again advancing to the margin of the woods, found
himself within a few yards of the whole British regular army, formed in
line of battle, and presenting within a given space at least three men
fresh from their camp, to a single one in his own attenuated and exhausted
line. After receiving and returning two or three fires, the enemy rushed
forward with charged bayonets, when hearing nothing from General Scott, he
gave the order to retreat and form again on the left of General Scott's
brigade, wherever it should be found.
"It appears that the British commander had resolved on making a general
attack, that day, on the American camp; and in execution of this purpose
had marched his whole force across the Chippewa, a short time before
General Porter entered the woods with the Indians; and having sent forward
his Indians and militia, which was the British force met in the woods, to
commence his attack on the left flank of the Americans, formed in the
meantime his battalions of regulars on the plain, under cover of the strip
of woodland which divided the two camps, with his artillery on his left,
near the gorge occupied by the road along the bank of the river; ready to
act the moment the effect of the flank attack should be developed.
"The repulse of General Porter's command was thus effected by the main
body of the British army, while General Scott's brigade was more than a
mile in the rear, and had not yet crossed the bridge over Street's
creek.... In a retreat of a mile in a diagonal direction to the right, so
as to uncover the enemy to the fire of the American line, then just
beginning to form, they gained but little distance on the British columns,
who were in hot pursuit. When General Porter and his staff arrived at
Street's creek, they were met by Major Jessup's battalion, then in the act
of taking its position, which was on the left, and a short distance from
the remainder of General Scott's brigade; and the volunteers fatigued as
they were, aided Major Jessup's evolutions, which were executed with great
order and celerity, by breaking down the fences to enable him to pass from
the road bordering on Street's creek, to his position in the field.
"Nothing could exceed the coolness and order with which General Scott's
brigade crossed the bridge and formed its line, under the galling fire of
the enemy's artillery, and the headlong approach of his infantry, who,
when only fifty yards distant, were received by a tremendous discharge of
musketry from the American line, which forced them to fall back for a
considerable distance. But they speedily rallied and advanced again, when
they were met in the same gallant manner; and they thereupon fled, with as
much precipitation as they had entered it, not halting until they had
recrossed the Chippewa and destroyed their bridge.
"General Scott pursued them around the point of woods, beyond which he
could only advance in face of their batteries, and these he could not
reach by reason of the intervening river. He therefore deployed to the
left, and forming a line in the open field, in front of Chippewa, directed
his men to lie down with their heads toward the batteries, the better to
avoid the effect of their fire.
"The battle between the regular troops, was but of a few minutes duration,
with the exception of the artillery, which on both sides was earliest and
longest engaged, and served with the most destructive effect; Colonel
Towson occupying the right of the American line, on Street's creek, and
the British artillery the left of theirs, at the point of woods, and both
commencing with the first movements of the regular troops.
"Immediately after the two lines had encountered on Street's creek, a
magnificent charger completely caparisoned, but without a rider, was seen
prancing and curveting in the centre of the battle field, and endeavoring
to make his escape through the American line to the rear. Presuming that
he belonged to some officer who had fallen, he was forthwith secured by
the servant of General Porter, and immediately mounted by the General, to
whom he was a most acceptable acquisition, after the labors of the day,
which he had performed on foot.
"Riding up to General Brown, who was also in the midst of the action,
General Porter received his orders to march with the two hundred
Pennsylvanians, who had been left in camp, to the support of General
Scott; which orders were promptly executed by following General Scott's
brigade around the point of woods, receiving the fire of the British
batteries, and taking post on his left, with the men in the same recumbent
position. Here they awaited the arrival of General Ripley's brigade, which
on the first discovery that the whole British army was in the field, had
been ordered to make a detour through the woods, and attack the enemy's
right. They soon came up, in the same muddy plight with the volunteers and
Indians, who had previously traversed the same ground; when the whole army
at about sundown quietly retired to their camp, on the south side of
Street's creek.
"And thus ended the battle of Chippewa, which probably produced more
important results in favor of the American arms, than any other engagement
by land in the course of that war; although there were several battles
fought on the Niagara, if not elsewhere, during the same campaign,
exhibiting a greater number of combatants engaged, a larger number of
slain, and a result equally creditable to the gallantry and good conduct
of the American soldiers.
"The first advantage gained was in driving from the British army those
troublesome enemies, their Indian allies, who had been the terror of our
troops in the west, during all the preceding stages of the war, and had
kept the camps of General Dearborn, General Lewis, and General Boyd, in a
perpetual panic during the campaign of 1813. Terrified and disheartened by
the reception they met with at Chippewa, they fled from the battle field
to the head of Lake Ontario, a distance of thirty miles, without halting,
and never again during the remainder of the war appeared in the British
camp." [Footnote: Colonel Stone's Life and Times of Red Jacket. Mr. Stone
refers to General Porter, as his authority, representing him as having
voluntarily prepared the account given of this campaign.]
The Indians during this engagement performed a most important service.
Their conduct was highly commended by General Porter. Speaking of those
under his command, General Porter says: "The great body of warriors as
well as volunteers, engaged in the opening attack, fought with boldness,
not to say desperation, unsurpassed by any other troops, until they were
placed in a situation where it would have been madness not to retreat."
The part Red Jacket took in this battle, though by no means conspicuous,
was such as to call forth from an early biographer the affirmation, that
"he displayed the most undaunted intrepidity, and completely redeemed his
character from the suspicion of that unmanly weakness, with which he had
been charged in early life; while in no instance did he exhibit the
ferocity of the savage, or disgrace himself, by any act of outrage towards
a prisoner, or a fallen enemy."
The same writer adds: "His therefore was that true moral courage, which
results from self respect, and the sense of duty, and which is more noble,
and a more active principle, than that mere animal instinct which renders
many men insensible to danger. Opposed to war, not ambitious of martial
fame, and unskilled in military affairs, he went to battle from principle,
and met its perils with the spirit of a veteran warrior, while he shrunk
from its cruelties with the sensibility of a man and of a philosopher."
[Footnote: Life of Red Jacket. McKenny's Indian Biography.]
Red Jacket as a civil officer was not called to take so prominent a place
on the field of battle, as the war chiefs. Yet in all of their
deliberations, which were frequent during the campaign, he could act as
their counsellor, as he did on every such occasion. He was uniformly their
principal orator, and his manner on these occasions is represented as
being "graceful and imposing in the eye of every beholder, and his voice
music, especially in the ears of his own people. He had the power of
wielding them at will, and the soul stirring trumpet could not produce a
more kindling effect in the bosoms of a disciplined army, than would his
appeals upon the warriors of his race." [Footnote: Col. Stone's Life of
Red Jacket.]
That the battle of Chippewa was particularly severe to the Indian forces
engaged in it, may be inferred from the fact that the British Indians
retreated not only beyond the Chippewa, but stayed not until they had gone
thirty miles further. The battle ground was strewed with many of their
number who had been slain. Two, who had been mortally wounded, and were
still alive, were despatched by a party of New York Indians, who were
looking for the bodies of their fallen friends. Being reproached for their
conduct in taking the life of an unresisting foe, one of them replied, in
a manner that indicated evident sorrow for the deed done, "That it did
seem hard to take the lives of these men, but they should remember that
these were very hard times." [Footnote: Col. Stone.]
The sight of slain warriors was far from being a pleasing object for Red
Jacket to behold, and having ever been opposed to his people engaging in
contests that did not really concern them, he proposed now that the
Indians had helped chastise the British for burning one of their villages,
and as they were no longer on Indian ground, that they should withdraw
from a further participation in the war, in case they could prevail on
their Canadian brethren to do the same.
With the consent and approval of General Brown, a deputation of two brave
and influential chiefs was sent to the Indians, who had fought with the
British, with this in view. They were successful in persuading them to
enter into this arrangement. The Indians therefore after this retired to
their villages, with the exception of a few young braves, with whom the
love of war, was a more potent influence, than the counsels of the aged
and more considerate of their nation.
Soon after the battle, our army forced a passage across the Chippewa, and
after a short engagement the enemy gave way, and retired to Lake Ontario.
Our army continued its march down the Niagara river, destroying some of
the British works on their way.
With new forces brought into the field, General Drummond took command of
the British, and on the 25th of July the two armies met again, and there
was a hard fought, but not very decisive battle, at Lundy's Lane, near
Niagara Falls. The American army soon after fell back to Fort Erie. A
British force of five thousand advanced and laid siege to the Fort, making
a vigorous assault on the 15th of August. They were repulsed with a loss
of a thousand men. Later, General Brown issued from the fort and gave them
so stunning a blow as caused them to relinquish the siege.
Other successful engagements during the year, ending with the signal
victory at New Orleans under General Jackson, inspired greatly the hopes
of the American people, and served likewise to repress the ardor of their
opponents; which led to the return of peace with England, which was
concluded at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814.