THE WAR ON LAKE ONTARIO
THE CAPTURE OF YORK (TORONTO) BY THE AMERICANS--A VICTORY AT THE
MOUTH OF THE NIAGARA RIVER--BRITISH ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK ON
SACKETT’S HARBOR--TALES OF THE PRUDENCE OF SIR JAMES YEO AND
COMMODORE CHAUNCEY--THE AMERICANS DID SOMEWHAT BETTER THAN THE
BRITISH, BUT MISSED A GREAT OPPORTUNITY--SMALL AFFAIRS ON LAKE
CHAMPLAIN DURING THE SUMMER OF 1813.
While Perry was laboring at Erie to get his squadron ready, the
Americans on Lake Ontario, as has been intimated in what was said about
the capture of Fort George, were by no means idle. Plans were laid
for an assault on Toronto--then called York--to be followed by the
attack on Fort George at the mouth of Niagara River, and after that,
Kingston, the British naval station across from Sackett’s Harbor, was
to be assaulted. A force of 8,300 men was collected for this purpose at
Sackett’s Harbor in the spring of 1813, of whom 1,300 were sailors from
the squadron of Commodore Chauncey. The soldiers were under General
Dearborn, assisted by General Zebulon M. Pike. On April 22, 1813, 1,700
soldiers were embarked on the fourteen ships under Chauncey, the
flag-ship being the _Madison_, commanded by Lieutenant Elliott, who was
afterward to go to aid Perry.
[Illustration: _Map of_
NIAGARA RIVER]
The squadron sailed on the 25th, and after a stormy, sea-sick passage,
appeared off Toronto on the 27th, and the troops were landed under
command of Pike, Dearborn being too sick to go ashore. Pike was a
famous explorer in his day, and the famous Peak of Colorado perpetuates
his memory. As the boats were going ashore he observed that the
leaders were hesitating under fire from the British, and jumping into
a boat, he was quickly at the head of the procession and effected a
landing. The chief work of the navy here was to bombard the works
within reach, and the woods where a lot of Indians were in cover, but
it is worth telling that, as the American troops were advancing, Pike
ordered a bugler to sound a charge, and that the wild notes of this
instrument so terrified the red men that they fled with a horrified
yell in dismay--leaving the Yankees to advance to the tune of “Yankee
Doodle” unmolested by them. And to this must be added the fact that a
magazine in a block-house that the enemy despaired of holding was blown
up, and fifty-two Americans were killed and one hundred and eighty
wounded. As it happened, forty of the British also lost their lives by
the explosion. Pike was among the mortally wounded, but he had the
satisfaction of dying with the flag of the enemy under his head. A
large quantity of naval and military stores were taken here, besides
two hundred and ninety prisoners.
[Illustration: The Death of General Pike.
_From an old wood-cut._]
It is a pleasure to add that in spite of the antagonisms that grew out
of a war which the Americans were compelled to wage to protect their
seamen on the high seas, there is no city in the British domain where
Yankees are more cordially received than at Toronto.
[Illustration: The Niagara River and Scenes from the War of 1812.
_From an engraving in Hinton’s History of the United States._]
From Toronto the American squadron went to the head of the lake,
arriving on May 11th. Here the attack on Fort George, just inside
the mouth of Niagara River, was planned, and on the morning of May
27, 1813, the troops embarked before daylight to make the assault.
It is recorded that a heavy fog prevailed until after sunrise, when
it suddenly cleared away, revealing the squadron with flat-boats and
row-boats, covered with men, afloat on the dimpling waters. A fresh
breeze enabled the vessels to take their designated places with ease.
Three were stationed to care for a battery on the point. Two more were
placed to attack a fort near the landing-place at Two Mile Creek,
and three more were anchored close in at the landing to cover the
troops. The battery at the landing was bombarded so skilfully that
it was silenced, and then the boats loaded with troops, under the
management of Perry, quickly reached the shore, when the troops, led
by Winfield Scott, who lived to become the head of the regular army,
made an effectual landing. But that was only a beginning. Three times
the gallant Scott was repulsed by the superior numbers of the enemy
that met him as he charged up the slope before him, but after twenty
minutes of hard fighting, during which the ships raked the enemy with
their great guns, the enemy broke and fled. Then the Americans dashed
at Fort George itself. The enemy succeeded in blowing up one of their
magazines, but the Americans extinguished the burning trains leading
to two smaller ones, and Scott, with his own hands, hauled down the
British flag.
[Illustration: Isaac Chauncey.
_From an engraving by Edwin of the portrait by Wood._]
But while Chauncey was at the head of the lake, the British at Kingston
learned that Sackett’s Harbor had been left with only a small force
to defend it, and, to quote a British account of what they did in
consequence, “Sir George Prevost now allowed himself to be persuaded
to embark seven hundred and fifty troops on board the squadron for
the purpose of making an attack on Sackett’s Harbor; but to mar the
successful issue of the plan, he resolved to head the troops himself.”
On May 27th, the day when the Americans were taking Fort George at
the head of the lake, the British squadron with a fair wind sailed
across to Sackett’s Harbor, arriving at noon, when the fleet hove to
and prepared to send the troops on shore. Then “Sir George hesitated,
looked at the place, mistook trees for troops and block-houses for
batteries, and ordered the expedition to put back.”
Meantime, however, some Indians had made a dash ashore with canoes and
captured a squad of American soldiers, whom they carried off to the
British squadron. So Sir George tried again, and on the 29th made a
landing. The Americans were outnumbered and at first fled. A new ship
called the _General Pike_, a ship called the _Duke of Gloucester_,
captured at Toronto, and a barrack containing all the stores captured
at the same time, were fired. Then the Americans came back to fight,
“the British retired to their vessels, and the Americans, as soon as
they could credit their senses, hastened to stop the conflagration.”
The _Duke of Gloucester_ and the stores, however, were burned. The
above quotations are from “Military Occurrences between Great Britain
and the United States.”
[Illustration: CAPT^N. SIR JAMES LUCAS YEO.KN^T.]
Soon after his victory at Fort George, Chauncey returned to Sackett’s
Harbor. In the meantime Captain Sir James L. Yeo had been placed in
command of the British naval forces on Lake Ontario. Yeo, in the
frigate _Southampton_, had captured the little American twelve-gun brig
_Vixen_ in the West Indies, on November 22, 1812, but had lost both his
ship and his prize by running ashore on Concepcion Island in the Bahama
group. He had also sent a challenge to Captain Porter of the _Essex_,
as follows:
“Sir James Yeo presents his compliments to Captain Porter, of the
American frigate _Essex_, and would be glad to have a _tête-à-tête_,
anywhere between the capes of Delaware and Havana, where he would have
the pleasure to break his sword over his damned head and put him down
forward in irons.”
It was Sir James who brought Sir George Prevost to Sackett’s Harbor and
carried him back again. Before Chauncey got back to Sackett’s Harbor,
Sir James was able to add a new ship, the _Wolfe_, a twenty-four-gun
sloop-of-war, to his squadron, and this made his force afloat superior
to that of the Americans. Following the failure at Sackett’s Harbor
he went cruising, captured two American supply-schooners, and landed
at Sodus Point, where he got six hundred barrels of flour. This
was in June. During that month the Americans captured a British
supply-schooner, and thereafter nothing was done until near the end of
July.
On July 21st the new American twenty-eight-gun ship _Pike_ was ready to
sail, and a schooner, the _Sylph_, had also been added to the squadron
at Sackett’s Harbor. With his whole force, Commodore Chauncey sailed to
the Niagara River, took on Scott and some regulars, and made another
assault on Toronto, where they destroyed eleven transports, burned
the barracks and carried off five cannon, a lot of flour, and some
ammunition. Returning to Niagara, Lieutenant Elliott and a hundred men
were sent to join Perry. This was done on August 3d. On August 7, 1813,
while the Americans lay at anchor at Niagara, Yeo’s squadron appeared.
The American squadron at this time numbered thirteen vessels, of which
three were built for men-of-war and had bulwarks to protect the men
at the guns from the grape-shot and musketry of the enemy. The rest
were schooners without bulwarks--merchant-schooners that had had guns
mounted on them. The Americans had 965 men on board, and their guns
threw 1,390 pounds of metal at a broadside, of which long guns threw
800 pounds.
Yeo had only six vessels, but these were all men-of-war and had high,
thick bulwarks. They were manned by not less than seven hundred and
seventy men, and their guns threw 1,374 pounds of metal, all but one
hundred and eighty being from short guns. Obviously at long range in
fine weather the Americans would have the advantage of force, while
at short range all but three of the Yankee vessels would be wellnigh
useless; and in rough weather the Yankee schooners would be wholly
useless.
On the 7th the squadrons jockeyed for place. At 1 o’clock next morning
a squall overturned the two American schooners _Hamilton_ and _Scourge_
because their big guns made them top-heavy. This reduced the American
weight of metal thrown to one hundred and forty-four pounds less than
the British. For two days more the two commanders jockeyed for place,
and it is obvious that if either had had the spirit of Perry when he
said “To windward or to leeward they shall fight to-day,” the fight
would have taken place. All the next day still (August 10, 1813) the
two squadrons filled and backed, but at 7 o’clock at night they got
together, the British to windward in a single column, the Yankees in
the lee in two columns, the big ships being in the lee line. Chauncey
hoped that Yeo would try to close on the schooners, and that they could
then slip through between the big ones and beat around to rake the
enemy when engaged with the regular American men-of-war.
At 11 o’clock the American schooners opened fire at long range. Fifteen
minutes later the British knight replied and “the action became general
and harmless.”
At 11.30 all the American schooners but the _Growler_ and _Julia_
squared away and passed to the lee of the big Americans. The two tacked
up ahead of the British squadron. But the British did not come down.
On the contrary, Yeo tacked after the two schooners and got them in
spite of a brilliant dash that they made to run through his line. When
too late, Chauncey tried to beat up to help his two schooners, but he
couldn’t beat fast enough to overtake Sir James Yeo. The next day the
two squadrons were in sight of each other, the British knight being to
windward, but he did not go hunting Yankee war-ships down wind nor did
Chauncey crowd sail to beat up. That night the wind grew so heavy that
two of the schooners had run to shelter and Chauncey with his seven
remaining vessels went to Sackett’s Harbor, reprovisioned his vessels
and came back again. The British had had the best of it, but Chauncey
was by no means crushed.
From August 13th until September 10th the two bold commodores chased
the wind, each very much surprised and disgusted that the other kept
out of the way “though so much superior in force.”
On the day after Perry’s victory the two squadrons did have a brush
at long range in a light breeze. It was a good day for the Yankee
schooners, and Sir James, by his own confession, sailed away after
a few shots had been fired. The Americans lost nothing. The British
lost four killed and seven wounded. Then on the 28th there was another
fight. It was on a very good day for a battle. The Americans made
the attack and came down handsomely on the enemy, who received them
warmly. The three leading American vessels were the new ship _Pike_
and the _Tompkins_ and _Asp_, the last being in tow of the _Pike_.
The _Madison_ and the _Sylph_ had each a little schooner in tow and
so were kept so far astern that they never got into the battle. The
three leaders fired away bravely, the _Pike_ taking the _Wolfe_, Yeo’s
flag-ship, as her special target. The Yankee _Tompkins_ lost her
foremast but the _Pike_ shot away the maintop-mast and mainyard of the
_Wolfe_ and killed so many men that Sir James squared away and made
all sail to escape from the three Yankee ships, the remainder of the
American fleet never getting within range. The Americans lost five in
killed and wounded. The British did not publish the reports of their
losses.
Having chased the British into Burlington Bay, Commodore Chauncey
missed the one great opportunity of his lifetime. Burlington Bay was
undefended. Had he sailed boldly in after the demoralized British,
there was every hope of a triumph as complete as that of Perry on Lake
Erie. But Chauncey did not sail in. He said he was afraid it would come
on to blow and he would be caught on a lee shore. That he was afraid
of something is undisputed. Chauncey, however, did now have command
of the lake and a few days later retook the _Julia_ and the _Growler_
that Yeo had captured at the head of the lake, and took also the
British schooners _Mary_, _Drummond_, and _Lady Gore_. These five were
transporting troops along the lake-shore. Yeo got his warships into
Kingston and Chauncey kept them there.
On the whole, the British had undisputed control of Lake Ontario during
forty-eight days. There was a sort of a contest for the control lasting
sixty-nine days, and the Americans held undisputed control for one
hundred and seven days of the open season of 1813. The British captured
the two schooners _Growler_ and _Julia_. The Americans retook these,
captured a ten-gun brig at Toronto (the _Gloucester_), and burned a
twenty-four-gun ship almost completed. They also destroyed army and
navy supplies and other public property far in excess of the damage the
British inflicted upon the Americans.
[Illustration: Buffalo, N. Y., Burned by the British, December 30, 1813.
_From an old wood-cut._]
There was also a small fight on Lake Champlain during the summer of
1813. The American naval force there was under Lieutenant Thomas
Macdonough, whose name first appears in American history in the story
of the Tripolitan war. Macdonough had two small sloops called the
_Growler_ and the _Eagle_. On June 3d he sent them, under Lieutenant
Smith, to the north end of the lake after three British gun-boats. The
gun-boats fled down the Sorel River, the outlet of the lake. Smith
bravely, but foolishly, followed them, and so got into a trap, for a
strong British land force came to help the gun-boats, and pelted the
American decks with musketry. The Americans had only carronades, while
the gun-boats had long twenty-fours. So the British kept out of range
of the Yankee short guns and kept up a fire from the long twenty-fours
until the _Eagle_ had a plank knocked off under water, when she sank
instantly. The _Growler_ had her main boom and forestay shot away,
and grounded. The British captured both and obtained for a time the
mastery of that lake. The Americans in this fight had one man killed
and nineteen wounded, who, with ninety-two unhurt men, fell into the
British hands.
On July 31st Colonel J. Murray, with 1,000 British troops, aided by
the captured sloops and the three gun-boats, assaulted Plattsburg and
marched thence to Saranac. All the public stores at both places were
burned and then Murray retreated.
How Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough not only prevented any further
incursions of that kind, but retrieved all the losses he had sustained
and shifted the account to the other side--how he fought and whipped a
superior force of the enemy, while a clarion-voiced rooster flapped its
wings and crowed for victory in the shot-frayed rigging--will be told
in the next volume.