USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > An authentic and comprehensive history of Buffalo : with some account of its early inhabitants, both savage and civilized ; comprising historic notices of the Six Nations or Iroquois Indians, including a sketch of the life of Sir William Johnson, and of other prominent white men, long resident among the Senecas ; arranged in chronologial order > Part 19
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" This achievement does equal honor to both officers and men engaged in the expedition. * % The boarding party had one killed and eight or ten wounded. A marine was killed a few hours after, while unloading the Caledonia, by a cannon shot.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
" The first shot from the British batteries killed Major Cuyler, whose death is published in the succeeding column. A twenty-four lb. ball passed through the house of Orange Dean. Another six lb. shot passed through the store of N. Sill & Co. Above three hun- dred shots were fired from the British batteries." * *
Perhaps there was scarcely an incident during the whole war that created a profounder sensation than the death of Major Cuyler, mentioned above. The capture of the two armed vessels from under the very guns of the fort, and the death of an officer who had already at- tracted universal notice and admiration, being almost the first of the war, touched a chord of sympathy in the hearts of multitudes both in and out of the army. Major Cuyler belonged to a wealthy family, early set- tled at Palmyra, in Ontario county. He came on to the lines as the aid of Maj. Gen. Hall, of the New York Volunteers, who was from the same county. He was a young man of fine appearance and address, and entered upon the discharge of his duties with great energy and enthusiasm. On this occasion, it is said, he was en- gaged in procuring relief for the wounded in the boats and upon the vessels. He was mounted and riding rap- idly down the beach of the river, carrying a lantern. He was struck by a cannon shot and instantly killed.
The following is the obituary alluded to above :
" OBITUARY.
" Killed instantly, on Friday morning last, between the hours of four and five o'clock, while passing the
DEATH OF MAJOR CUYLER-AN OBITUARY. 279
beach at Black Rock, on horse-back, at full speed, by a cannon shot from the British batteries, Major William Howe Cuyler, aged thirty-seven years, principal aide-de- camp to Maj. Gen. Hall, late from the town of Palmyra, in the county of Ontario.
" His body was conveyed, to this village, and interred at the burying ground on Saturday, with the honors of war. An address was delivered at the grave by J. E. Chaplin, Esq., from which we make the following extract : * *
" His situation in life was such as to enable him to gratify the benevolent feelings of his heart. The bless- ings of heaven seemed to have descended upon him, and all around seemed to conspire to crown his life with hap- piness. All the comforts which wealth could purchase were within his grasp. The affections of a fond and doating wife had given to his home a charm which noth- ing could dissolve. Three infant children, as they played around his fire-side, awakened the tenderest feel- ings of the parent and gave him all a father's happiness. While thus enjoying every domestic felicity, the din of war reached his ears. His country had resorted to arms against a powerful nation, and called upon her children to exchange the sweets of peace and tranquility for hardship, havoc, carnage and slaughter. His courage and patriotism were too great to suffer him to remain an idle spectator of the contest. * %
* Every selfish consideration vanished before the shrine of patriotism, and friends, and wife, and children, and home,-all, all were left for the service of his country. - Alas !- nor wife nor children more shall he behold, nor friends, nor sacred home ! * * But he is gone ! The friend,
-
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
and husband, and parent, and soldier, and patriot, has gone forever ; and while we mourn his loss, let us endea- vor to imitate his virtues, and teach our hearts to become assimilated to his."
The surrender of Gen. Hull's army at Detriot preceded the capture of the two British vessels at Fort Erie, but a few days, and it appears that on board of these vessels were some of those Amercan prisoners, sent down from Detroit ; a number of these were retaken. The battle of Queenston, also occurred about the same time. These two disastrous events caused great depression in the minds of the inhabitants on the Niagara frontier which the brilliant achievment of the capture of two of the en- emy's war vessels, almost without loss, was calculated in a measure to dispel. The following further notice of the affair and the condition of things here at the time is cop- ied from the Buffalo Gazette of October 20th, 1812 :
"WAR EVENTS AT BLACK ROCK.
" On Monday of last week the British came over to Squaw Island and captured two American boats, one of which was loaded with cannon balls. On the same day while a boat was passing down the river from Black Rock to Schlosser, loaded with flour and whisky, the British opened their batteries upon the boat and fired upwards of thirty rounds of grape shot at her while passing from Squaw Island to the head of Grand Island, most of which struck the sails or some part of the boat. There were about thirty men on board the boat, and only one was wounded. The only thing that saved the men from
281
WAR EVENTS AT BLACK ROCK.
being killed or wounded, was this: whenever they dis- cerned the smoke of the cannon, they resorted to the fashionable mode of prostrating themselves in the boat. The wounded man, Thomas Morgan, lying with his elbow above the railing, received a grape shot in the elbow-joint, which came out at the shoulder. The limb being much shattered, an amputation took place next morning. He survived the wound about thirty hours. He was from the county of Cayuga, a young officer of much merit.
"On Tuesday last, the British batteries below Fort Erie, opened a very heavy fire upon the fortifications and village of Black Rock, which continued with inter- vals, spiritedly all day. But few shots were returned from our batteries, having there no Jarger calibre than field-sixes, at the breastworks. Two shots, in the morn- ing, pierced the house of Orange Dean, which did little damage besides bilging a barrel of old Pittsburgh whis- key in Dean's cellar, belonging to Peter H. Colt. Sev- eral cannon shot struck the battery, and two or three passed through the upper loft of the west barracks. A bomb thrown from a twenty-four pounder struck the east barracks and destroyed them ; it entered and burst near a cask of powder which blew np. Several stands of arms, two boxes of fixed ammunition, and some property of the soldiers was destroyed ; a quantity of skins, a part of the cargo of the Caledonia were much injured. The event caused much shouting among the British. Several shot passed through Sills's store. A twenty-four pounder struck the upper loft of the stone house of Gen. Porter, while the General and his friends were at dinner; it passed through one of the chimneys and injured the ornamental work near the eaves. Another ball passed
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IIISTORY OF BUFFALO.
through the roof of the house. Several other houses were injured. In the course of the day a marine, a black man, was killed by a twenty-four pound shot. The cargo of the Caledonia which has been estimated at the east- ward at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is not now rated higher than eight or ten thousand dollars. The immense packs of beaver, musk-rats, &c., with which it was said the Caledonia was laden, prove to be nothing more than deer, bear, and buffalo skins. * * Capt. Thomas Davis, of this village, commanded one of the boats that captured the Adams and the Caledonia.
* * On Saturday a flag came over from Fort Erie, informing our General, that they should consider any attempt to remove the guns which remained in the hold of the Adams which was burned last week, near Squaw Island, as an infringement of the armstice, (con- cluded at Lewiston,) and would fire upon our troops, should they come near the hulk. An answer, we under- stand, was returned saying that considering the property our own, no attention would be paid to their request. The flag returned and the moment it landed, they fired two guns of grape at our troops on board the hulk which however did no damage. In the course of the night Capt. C. Chapin with a party of soldiers and marines went on board and took out an elegant long twelve pounder from the ruins of the ship, which together with an eighteen pounder lately brought up from Schlosser, are mounted on our batteries. On Sunday evening Liuet. Watts went on board with a number of men, and brought away another long twelve-pounder.
" We are sorry to state that several American officers have met with severe losses in the destruction of the brig
283
OFFICIAL REPORT OF LIEUT. ELLIOTT
Adams. *
*% The property of the American prisoners (on board the Adams) was either plundered or destroyed on board the Adams ; it is suspected a part was taken by the British, when they took possession of the brig a second time. *
" It is ascertained that Major Ormsbee, late Comman- dant at Fort Erie, together with twenty or thirty British were killed on board the brig Adams, after she grounded, on the day of her capture."
The following is an extract of Lieut. Elliott's official report :
" BLACK ROCK, October 9th, 1812.
"SIR: - I have the honor to inform you that on the morning of the 8th instant, two British vessels which I was informed were His Britannic Majesty's brig Detroit, late the United States brig Adams, and the brig Hun- ter, mounting fourteen guns, but which afterwards proved to be the brig Caledonia, both said to be well armed and manned, came down the lake and anchored under the protection of Fort Erie. * * On the morn- ing of their arrival, I heard that our seamen were but a short distance from this place and immediately dispatched an express to the officers directing them to use all possi- ble dispatch in getting their men to this place as I had important service to perform. On their arrival, which was about 12 o'clock, I discovered that they had only twenty pistols and neither cutlasses or battle-axes. But on application to Generals Smyth and Hall. of the regu- lars and the militia, I was supplied with a few arms, and Gen. Smyth was so good on my request as immediately
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
to detach fifty men from the regulars armed with mus- kets. By four o'clock I had my men selected and sta- tioned in two boats which I had previously prepared for the service. With these boats, fifty men in each, and under circumstances very disadvantageous, my men hav- ing scarcely had time to refresh themselves after a fatigu- ing march of five hundred miles, I put off from the mouth of Buffalo Creek at one o'clock, the following morning and at three I was along side the vessels. In the space of about ten minutes, I had the prisoners all secured, the top-sails sheeted home and the vessels under way. * *
* To my officers and men, I feel under great obligation. To Capt. Towson, and Lient. Roach, of the 2d Regiment of Artillery, Ensign Prestman of the Infantry, Capt. Chapin, Mr. John McComb, Messrs. John Tower, Thomas Davis, Peter Overstocks and James Sloan, resident gentlemen of Buffalo, for their soldier and sailor-like conduct. In a word sir, every man fought as if with their hearts animated only by the inter- ests and honor of their country. The prisoners I have turned over to the military.
"The Detroit mounted six six-pounder long guns, a commanding lieutenant of marines, boatswain, gunner and fifty-six men ; about thirty American prisoners on board, muskets, pistols, cutlasses and battle axes. In boarding her, I lost one man, one officer wounded. * The Caledonia mounted two small guns, blunderbusses, pistols, muskets, cutlasses, boarding pikes, twelve men, including officers ; ten prisoners on board. The boat boarding her, commanded by Sailing-master George Watts performed his duty in masterly style. But one man killed and four wounded badly, I am afraid mortally."
CHAPTER XV.
In the battle of Queenston, which resulted so disas- trously to the Americans, notwithstanding the bravery exhibited by some of our officers, some things were de- veloped that gave uneasiness to all true-hearted patriots. It appears that some portion of the volunteer force as- sembled on the Niagara frontier with loud protestations of courage and patriotism, refused to cross the river to sustain Col. Van Rensselaer, taking the ground that they could not be ordered out of the State in which they had enlisted, or had been enrolled. This refusal of some of the forces assembled at Lewiston, to cross into Canada, lost the battle of Queenston. Col. Van Rensselaer was severely wounded and brought to Buffalo, where he lay nearly four weeks and until he was so far recovered as to be able to stand the journey to his own home, in Al- bany. The following article appeared in the Buffalo Gazette, November 11th 1812 :
"COL. SOLOMON VAN RENSSELAER-HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.
"Those to whom the lives of the brave and patriotic are dear, and who regard the welfare of our common country, and esteem its resolute defenders, will learn with
.
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
pleasure and satisfaction that Col. Solomon Van Rensse- laer, who fought and bled under the intrepid Wayne, has so far recovered from the numerous wounds received at the battle of Queenston, as to be able to commence his journey for Albany. He left this village yesterday morning, accompanied by John Lovett, Esq. When the Colonel left Landon's (Hotel,) a salute was given him by Chapin's Independent Buffalo Matross, commanded by Capt. Chapin, Capt. Babcock's Light Dragoons, Capt. Allison's Pennsylvania Volunteers, and a Rifle Company under the command of Lieut. Smith."
The same paper contained the following remarks :
"DRAFTED MILITIA.
" It appears to be pretty generally admitted that the detached military volunteer companies who offer their services to the State, cannot be ordered out of the Union ; and some, indeed, pretend to say that they cannot be marched out of the State where they are enrolled. Now if the militia cannot be depended on to assist in any great enterprise out of the Union, why are the Pennsyl- vania militia ordered to this place? We should say that at a point of so much importance as this, no force should be employed but such as can be ordered where their commanding general may direct. Events have proven that men who boasted and blustered the most at the opening of the campaign, were the last to put their heads in harm's way."
It is very evident that our military interests npon the Niagara frontier suffered for the want of an efficient
287
THE WAR ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER.
head or leader. The frequent changes which took place in the early stages of the war, of the commanding officers on the frontier, led to dissatisfaction, if not jealousy, among the officers themselves, and proved very unfavorable for organizing an efficient force out of the heterogeneous material assembled in considerable num- bers upon the lines.
Gen. Amos Hall, of Ontario, Gen. Wm. Wadsworth, of Genesee, and Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Al- bany, were all upon the frontier early in the war. Each new arrival of volunteers was generally accompanied with a new General, and, instead of adding strength to the defences, actually weakened them.
It was in the latter part of the summer, or in the fall, of 1812, that Brig. Gen. Alexander Smyth arrived upon the lines, and issued an address "to the men of New York," dated at "Camp near Buffalo," in which, after making some allusion to the late disasters, he says :
" The valor of the American people has been con- spicuous ; but the nation has been unfortunate in the selection of some of those who have directed it. One army has been disgracefully surrendered (Hull's) and lost ; another (Van Rensselaer's) has been sacrificed by a precipitate attempt to pass it over at the strongest point of the enemy's lines with the most incompetent means. The cause of these miscarriages is apparent. The commanders were popular men, but destitute alike of theory and experience in the art of war."
He says : " In a few days, the troops under my com- mand will plant the American standard in Canada. They are men accustomed to obedience, silence and steadiness. They will conquer, or they will die."
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
He then makes an appeal to their patriotism, and urges them to " Advance to our aid. I will wait for you a few days. I cannot give you the day of my de- parture ; but come on ; come in companies, half-com- panies, by pairs or singly. I will organize you for a short tour. Ride to this place, if the distance is far, and send back your horses ; but remember that every man who accompanies us, places himself under my com- mand, and shall submit to the salutary restraints of dis- cipline."
On the 17th of November he issued a proclamation, addressed " to the soldiers of the Army of the Centre," in which he says :
" The time has come when you are to cross the stream of the Niagara to conquer Canada-a country that is to be one of the United States." .
He forbids all private plundering, but promises that "" whatever is booty by the usages of war, which shall be captured, you shall have "; and offers two hundred dollars each for all the artillery horses captured from the enemy, to be "secured to the party who may take them," and forty dollars " for the arms and spoils of each sav- age warrior who shall be killed."
He closes his bombastic address in these words :
"Come on, my heroes ; and when you attack the ene- my's batteries, let the rallying word be-The Cannon we lost at Detroit, or Death !"
This proclamation is dated " Camp near Buffalo."
. The following paragraph in the Buffalo Gazette, Dec. 11th, sums up the result of Gen. Smyth's expedition, which was to capture and annex Canada :
289
FAILURE OF GEN. SMYTH'S EXPEDITION.
"From seven until ten or eleven o'clock in the morn- ing there was a constant embarkation of troops at the Navy Yard, (near the head of Squaw Island,) and before the hour of eleven there were about sixty boats loaded and stationed in shore, awaiting the signal to make a descent. The day was fine, the troops were in excellent spirits ; no opposing force appeared on the shore. A flag was now sent by General Smyth to the British com- mander. The flag returned. The troops in the boats were ordered to debark, and the volunteers who were in readiness for embarkation, were ordered back to their respective encampments. Since which period several movements have taken place, but as we are in possession of no official statements, we can at present give no fur- ther account, perhaps indeed hereafter, some satisfactory statement may appear."
A card appeared in the Buffalo Gazette of December Sth, signed by Gen. Peter B. Porter, of which the fol- lowing is a copy :
" TO THE EDITOR OF THE BUFFALO GAZETTE :
"SIR -- A friend has just handed me a proof-sheet of your paper of this morning, in which is contained what purports to be Gen. Smyth's official account of the 28th November, and 1st December. I beg that you will sus- pend the publication so long as to assure the public that in your next I will give a true account of some of the most prominent transactions of those days. When our lives, our property ; when the precious and dear bought gift of our ancestors, the sacred honor of our country ; when everything that we prize as men, or ought to hold
19
290
HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
dear as patriots, are falling and fading before us, it is time to speak out what ever be the hazard.
" In ascribing as I shall not hesitate to do, the late disgrace on this frontier to the cowardice of Gen Smyth, I beg to be understood as not intending to implicate the characters of the officers whose opinions he has brought forward to bolster up his conduct. Several of them I know to be as brave men as ever wielded a sword ; and their advice, if indeed they gave the advice imputed to them, may be accounted for in the obvious consideration with which every one who saw him, must have been im- pressed, that any military attempt under such a leader must in all human probability prove disgraceful."
The publication of the card of Gen. Porter was fol- lowed almost immediately by a challenge from Gen. Smyth, and a meeting upon the head of Grand Island, in the Niagara River, was arranged by their respective friends; Gen. Winder, of the army in behalf of Gen. Smyth, and Lieut. Angus, of the Navy for Gen. Porter. They met and after the exchange of one ineffectual shot, through the interference of their seconds, an amicable arrangement was made and further hostilities prevented. The following is a notice of the affair copied from the Buffalo Gazette of December 15th, 1812 :
" We are happy to have it in our power to give the official account of the recent affair on Grand Island. It will tend to counteract the numerous falsehoods which are in circulation respecting the meeting. The chal- lenge, we understand, was given by Gen. Smyth."
" A meeting took place between Gen. Smyth and Gen.
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DUEL BETWEEN GEN. SMYTHI AND GEN. PORTER.
Porter, yesterday afternoon, on Grand Island in pursu- ance of previous arrangements. They met at Dayton's Tavern and crossed the river with their friends and sur- geons. Both gentlemen behaved with the utmost coolness and unconcern ; a shot was exchanged in as intrepid and firm a manner as possible by each gentleman, bat with- out effect. It was then represented by Gen. Smyth's second, that Gen. Porter must now be convinced that the charge of cowardice against Gen. Smyth was unfounded and should in honor be retracted, which after mutual ex- planations as to the matters which had given rise to the charge, was accordingly done by him. Gen Smyth then explained that his remarks on Gen. Porter were the re- sult of irritation and were intended as provocation from having been assailed by Gen. Porter, and that he knew nothing derogatory to Gen. Porter's character as a gen- tleman and officer. The hand of reconciliation was ex- tended and received. We congratulate the friends of these gentlemen upon the fortunate termination of a dif- ference arising from too much precipitation, but which has been adjusted in a manner so honorable to both. "W. H. WINDER, "SAM'L ANGUS.
" Black Rock, December 13th, 1812."
Of course the public mind was greatly agitated and excited by the events connected with "Smyth's Expedi- tion," the result of which was so different from what his bombastic addresses and proclamations had given the people reason to expect. Gen. Porter was a member of Congress. IIe had returned home and entered into the war a volunteer with great spirit. Although he had ad-
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HISTORY OF BUFFALO.
vocated a declaration of war, in Congress, yet he advised a prudent delay, in order to give time for preparation, as he well knew the defenceless condition of the country, especially upon the Niagara frontier, where his own home was situated.
Gen. Smyth was a Virginian. He had recently been promoted to the office of Brigadier, and had been ordered on to the Niagara frontier with some fifteen hundred reg- ular troops and instructed to report to Gen. Van Rensse- laer, who was then in command. But instead of marching to sustain Gen. Van Rensselaer, at the battle of Queenston, he lay encamped at " Flint Hill," a little east of the Four-mile or Granger's Creek, near Buffalo, where he remained passive, until after the defeat of our army at Queenston, when Gen. Van Rensselaer withdrew and left Gen. Smyth in command on the Niagara frontier. He signalized the event by issuing the celebrated address already given, in which he casts unnecessary reflections and imputations upon those who had preceded him in command, arrogating to himself superior sagacity, skill and experience, and when the performance fell so far be- low the promise, it is not surprising that all the officers and soldiers under him should have become perfectly disgusted, and demoralized. There were unquestionably many palliating circumstances in the case, but they seem to be in general such as ought to have been foreseen, and acted upon before the disaster, and not pleaded in exten- uation afterwards. An epidemic prevailed upon the frontier at this time which made frightful havoc, not only in the army, but among the inhabitants. The sea- ·son, too, was far advanced, and the inclemency of the weather, and consequent exposure of the troops, added
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GEN. SMYTH AND HIS ATTEMPTED EXPEDITON.
greatly to the prevailing mortality, and also made the crossing of the river much more difficult. Notwith- standing all these obstacles, had Gen. Smyth landed his whole army on the opposite shore at the first attempt, the expedition would undoubtedly have been successful ; but, failing in this, the volunteers lost confidence, and numbers of them became disheartened and withdrew, greatly weakening the force which had been assembled under Gen. Smythi's pretentious proclamations. Under all these discouraging circumstances, it is not surprising that, on consultation with his officers, Gen. Smyth found many of them doubtful of the propriety of any further attempts under the then existing circumstances.
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