USA > New York > Erie County > Centennial history of Erie County, New York : being its annals from the earliest recorded events to the hundredth year of American independence > Part 21
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Not long after this it would seem that the Indians all returned home.
Meanwhile General Dearborn had withdrawn all the regular soldiers from Buffalo and Black Rock, leaving a large amount of public stores entirely undefended. Being advised, however, of
233
AN EXCITING EPISODE.
the danger of a raid, he ordered ten artillerists to be stationed at the block-house at Black Rock, and called for five hundred mili- tia from the neighboring counties. Between a hundred and fifty and two hundred of these arrived at the threatened point carly in July, and were stationed at the warehouses at Black Rock, being under the command of Major Parmenio Adams, of Gene- see county. They had three pieces of field artillery, and near by was a battery of four heavy guns. Nearly a hundred recruits for the regular infantry and dragoons, on their way to Dearborn's headquarters, under the command of Captain Cummings, were ordered to stop at Buffalo ; Judge Granger was directed to en- gage as many Seneca warriors as he could, and General Porter, who was then staying at his residence at Black Rock, was re- quested to take command of the whole.
The episode about to be narrated is one of the most exciting in the annals of this county. Except the burning of Buffalo, no other affair of so much importance took place within the limits of the county during the war of 1812 ; and it was, on the whole, .decidedly creditable to the American arms; yet it is almost.utterly unknown to our citizens, and is rarely mentioned in the annals of that era. Other events of greater magnitude distracted public attention at the time, and the burning of Buf- falo, a few months later, obliterated from the minds of nien all memory of less terrible transactions.
There is a brief mention of it in Ketchum's "Buffalo and the Senecas," but the only extended account I have seen is in Stone's " Life of Red Jacket." The following narrative is de- rived from a careful examination of that account, (which was furnished by Gen. Porter,) of the original description in the Buf- falo Gazette, of a letter from Judge Granger, published by Ketchum, and of personal reminiscences furnished to the His- torical Society by Benjamin Hodge, Daniel Brayman, James Aigin and Mrs. Jane Bidwell.
By the 10th of July Judge Granger had received such positive information of an immediate attack, accompanied by special threats against himself, that he invited some Indians to come to his house, north of the Scajaquada. Thirty-seven of them ar- rived at eleven o'clock that (Saturday) night, under the lead of Farmer's Brother. As they were not all armed, and as the judge
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234
A SUDDEN ATTACK.
was confident that the enemy would be over the next day, he sent to the village and got a full supply of arms and ammuni- tion for his braves that same night.
The British headquarters were at Lundy's Lane, close by the Falls, where their expedition was fitted out. The commander was Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop, a brave and enterprising officer, the same to whom Colonels Boerstler and Chapin had surren- dered at Beaver Dams. He had under him a part of the 41st regiment of the British army, and a detachment of Canadian militia commanded by Col. Clark.
They took boat at Chippewa on the night of the 10th, and, after rowing against the current in the darkness several hours, landed just after daylight a mile below the mouth of the Sca- jaquada. Forming his men, Col. Bishop led them rapidly up the river bank. There was a single sentinel at the Scajaquada bridge, but on the sudden appearance of the red-coats he flung away his musket, dodged into the woods and took a bee-line, as near as he could calculate, for Williamsville. A few men were asleep in the block-house, but the British column swept silently by without disturbing them, and quickly approached the encamp- ment of Major Adams. His men must have been aroused a little before the enemy reached them, for they all made their escape, but they attempted no resistance and fled without even spiking the cannon in their charge. A detachment of the invad- ers went to the house of Gen. Porter, who had barely time to escape, fleeing without his arms, and some say with only a single garment. At first he attempted to reach Major Adams' encamp- ment, but finding this impossible he turned toward Buffalo.
Thus far the affair had been after the usual pattern of oper- ations in the early part of that war, and highly discreditable to the Americans. The victors supposed all resistance at an end. Some of them were set to work burning the block-house and barracks, others spiked the heavy guns in the battery and took away the field-pieces, and others went through the village cap- turing and taking across the river four or five principal citizens, while the officers, so secure did they feel, ordered breakfast at General Porter's. At the same time considerable reinforcements of provincial militia crossed the river in boats, to share the fruits of the casy victory.
235
THE AMERICANS RALLY.
But a storm was gathering. When the militia first began its retreat a messenger was sent to Buffalo, on whose arrival Capt. Cummings mustered his recruits and marched toward the scene of action. On his way he met General Porter, who ordered him to proceed to a piece of open ground not far from the site of the reservoir,and await reinforcements.
Taking a horse, sword, and other equipments from one of Cummings' dragoons, the general galloped down to the village, where he found everything in confusion, the women and chil- dren in a state of terror, and the men in the streets with arms in their hands, but doubtful whether to fight or flec. Being as- sured that there was a chance of success, forty or fifty of them formed ranks under Captain Bull, the commander of the Buffalo volunteer company, and marched to join Cummings.
Of the retreating militia some had fled into the woods and never stopped till they reached home ; but about a hundred had been kept together by Lieutenant Phineas Staunton, the adju- tant of the battalion, a resolute young officer, who was allowed to assume entire command by his major. The supineness of the latter is excused by General Porter on the ground of ill health. Staunton and his men, who had retreated up the beach, left it and took post near the Buffalo road.
Meanwhile Major King, of the regular army, who was acci- dentally at Black Rock, on seeing the sudden retreat of the militia hurried through the woods to Judge Granger's, whence the alarm was speedily carried to the scattered inhabitants of " Buffalo Plains." Farmer's Brother at once gathered his war- riors and made them a little speech, telling them that they must now go and fight the red-coats ; that their country was invaded; that they had a common interest with the people of the United States, and that they must show their friendship for their Am- erican brethren by deeds, not words. The octogenarian chieftain then led his little band to join his friend Conashustah, (the Indian name of General Porter).
Volunteers, too, came hurrying to the village from the Plains and Cold Spring, until about thirty were gathered, who were placed under the command of Captain William Hull, of the militia. General Porter now felt able to cope with the enemy. Bringing together his forces, numbering but about three hundred
236
PREPARING FOR ACTION.
all told, at the open ground before mentioned, he made his dis- positions for an attack. As the foc held a strong position at Major Adams' encampment, Porter determined to attack him on three sides at once, to prevent the destructive use of artillery on a column massed in front.
The regulars and Captain Bull's Buffalo volunteers formed the centre. The Genesee militia, under Staunton, were on the left, nearest the river, while Captain Hull's men were directed to co- operate with the Indians, who had gathered in the woods on the right front. Farmer's Brother prepared for action, and his braves followed ; cach dusky warrior stripping to the skin, all save his breech clout and a plaited cord around the waist, (called a ma- turnip,) which sustained his powder horn, tomahawk and knife, and which could be used to bind prisoners if any were taken. Then, grasping their rifles, the stalwart Senecas quickly ranged themselves in line, with their chiefs a few yards in front.
At eight o'clock the signal for attack was given. Just as the three detachments moved forward, however, Major King arrived on the ground and claimed the command of the regulars from Captain Cummings. A slight delay ensued ere the command was transferred, and then the major did not fully understand the general's orders. Consequently the central detachment was de- tained a few moments, and meanwhile the militia, gallantly led on by Staunton and ashamed of their recent flight, dashed for- ward against the enemy.
A fight of some fifteen or twenty minutes ensued, in which the militia stood up against the British regulars without flinch- ing, though three of their men were killed and five wounded, no slight loss out of a hundred in so short a time. The right flank of the Americans came up, the Indians raised the war- whoop and opened fire, and it has often been found that the capacity of these painted warriors for inspiring fear is much greater than the actual injury they inflict. Col. Bishop, who had obtained a mount on this side, was severely though not fatally wounded, and fell from his horse. His men became demoral- ized, and when the regulars appeared in front the enemy fled toward the water's edge with great precipitation, before Major King's command had time to take part in the fight.
The whole American force then pressed forward together, the
237
CONFLICT AND VICTORY.
Indians making the forest resound with savage yells. The chief, Young King, and another warrior were wounded. Part of the British wounded were carried off, but part were left on the field. A sergeant, shot in the leg, lay under the bank, near the pres- ent residence of L. F. Allen, on Niagara street. A Sencca war- rior jumped down and stopped to load his rifle a short distance from him. The sergeant sat up and snapped his musket at him, but it missed fire. Without waiting to finish loading, the In- dian sprang upon his enemy, snatched away his gun, and at one blow knocked out his brains, at the same time breaking the musket short off at the brecch.
At the Black Rock landing the British rallicd, but on the ap- proach of the Americans, hastily retreated into some boats which they found there, leaving fifteen prisoners in the hands of their pursuers. Many were killed and wounded after enter- ing the boats, but the chief loss fell on the last onc. It con- tained sixty men and most of the officers, including Colonel Bishop, who, notwithstanding his wound, had insisted on re- maining to the last. The whole American force came up to the bank and opened fire on this boat, inflicting terrible injury. Two or three Indians even sprang into the water, seized the boat by the gunwale and endcavored to direct it ashore, but were compelled to desist by the fire of their friends in the rear.
Captain Saunders, of the British Forty-first, was severely wounded at the water's edge and left a prisoner. Colonel Bishop was pierced with several bullets, receiving wounds of which he soon died, and several other officers were killed or wounded. Presently the men dropped their oars and made signals of sur- render. The firing ceased and the boat dropped down the river, followed along the bank by some of the Americans, who or- dered the occupants to come ashore, which they declared them- selves willing to do, but so disabled they could not.
Meanwhile, however, our Indians had begun stripping the dead and prisoners. They seized on Captain Saunders' sword, belt and epaulets, and perhaps some of his garments. The men in the boat thought, or claimed they thought, that the war- riors were tomahawking and scalping him. Either actually be- lieving this or using it as an excuse, they would not come ashore in accordance with their surrender, but, after dropping down to
238
THE ENEMY'S LOSS.
the head of Squaw Island, suddenly seized their oars and by desperate exertions got under its shelter, though not without again suffering severely from the bullets of the Americans. In fact, however, Captain Saunders, though badly wounded by balls, bore no mark of tomahawk or knife, and, after being carefully tended for several weeks at General Porter's residence, finally recovered and was for more than thirty years a British pensioner.
The enemy left eight killed and seven wounded on the field, besides a number carried into the boats and a still larger num- ber hit after the embarkation. They were said at the time to have acknowledged a total loss in killed, wounded and prisoners of nearly a hundred. The Americans lost none but those al- ready mentioned, who all, except the two Indians, belonged to that same body of militia that had fled so ingloriously in the early morning. They were in the front of the fray throughout, and gallantly retrieved their tarnished reputation. Their good conduct was doubtless due largely to the example of Adjutant Staunton, whom major and captains allowed to take full com- mand, who also distinguished himself on several other occasions in the war of 1812, and whose soldierly qualities were trans- mitted to his son, Phineas Staunton, the gallant first lieutenant- colonel of the 100th New York volunteers in the war for the Union.
All the accounts speak in high terms of the conduct of the Seneca warriors. They fought well and were not especially savage. They stripped their dead enemies, however, of every rag of clothing, and young Aigin, who went upon the field after the fight, relates having seen the whole eight bodies lying together, thus stark and white, in the forest.
Although the numbers engaged in this affair were not large, it was a quite exciting conflict for Erie county, and is of im- portance as showing the value of one or two resolute officers in rallying and inspiriting a body of raw troops, utterly demoralized by less efficient leadership.
General Dearborn had resigned the command of the northern frontier just before this event, and a little after it General Wil- kinson added another to the long list of occupants of that un- fortunate position.
Colonel Chapin having returned, General Porter and he
239
SKIRMISII AT FORT GEORGE.
gathered up another body of volunteers, and went down to Fort George, taking a hundred or so Indians with them. "Being," ac- cording to General Boyd's report, "very impatient to engage the enemy," that officer kindly got up an expedition to accommodate them. A plan was concerted to cut off one of the enemy's pickets on the morning of the 17th of August.
Chapin was sent out west from Fort George for the purpose, with about three hundred volunteers and Indians, supported by two hundred regulars under Major Cummings. Porter volun- teered in the affair and probably commanded the whole, though the report does not definitely say so. A heavy rain retarded their progress, so the picket was not captured, but a fight ensued in which the volunteers and Indians captured sixteen prisoners, and killed a considerable number of the enemy who were left on the field ; one account says seventy-five, but this is doubtful. The principal chiefs who took part in this affair were Farmer's Brother, Red Jacket, Little Billy, Captain Pollard, Black Snake, Hank Johnson (the white man), Silver Heels, Captain Half- town, Major Henry O'Bail (Young Cornplanter), and Captain Cold (an Onondaga chief), who was wounded.
Chapin and his volunteers, and most of the Indians, continued to operate in the vicinity of Fort George until the seventh of September, when they returned to Buffalo.
A few days later came news of a battle which, though fought a hundred and fifty miles away, has always been contemplated with feelings of especial interest and sympathy by the people of Erie county, since it decided the supremacy of the great lake from which that county is named, whose waters wash its shores and whose commerce passes along its borders. I refer of course to "Perry's Victory." Glad were the hearts of our people and great were their rejoicings, when they learned that after a desperate contest the gallant Perry, with a force inferior both in men and guns, had captured or destroyed the whole British fleet. In Buffalo the ever-prominent Chapin fired a rousing salute, and at night every window in the village was a blaze of light.
Among those who took a prominent part in that victory was a young officer, a cousin of Perry, then a sailing-master in com- mand of the Scorpion, afterwards a well-known and highly-
240
A PATRIOTIC DIGRESSION.
respected citizen of Buffalo, Commodore Stephen Champlin. From his ship were fired the first and the last shots in the battle of Lake Eric.
And here I will venture on a digression inspired by the con- templation of the dazzling victory won by that boyish New England commodore on the 10th of September, 1813. What subtle influence is it which makes the American sailor always a hero? The most devoted patriot cannot pretend but that our generals and soldiers have frequently failed in their duty, and their conduct las sometimes been positively disgraceful. We have had scores of able generals and hundreds of thousands of val- iant soldiers, but we have had enough who were neither able nor valiant to give a decided check to our national egotism. The war of 1812, especially, shows numerous instances of folly, or cowardice, or both, on the part of our land-forces and their com- manders, flagrant enough to make an American, even at this late day, overflow with anger and shame.
But the annals of the American navy are one long and bril- liant record of heroism, with hardly a solitary blemish. Our sailors have been defeated, for victory is not always in mortal power to compass, but their defeats have been scarcely less glorious than their victories. Paul Jones compelling the surren- der of a British man-of-war after his own decks had been swept almost clear of men ; Preble triumphing over the pirates of the Mediterranean ; Decatur, and Hull, and Stewart, and Bain- bridge, bringing down the haughty flag of St. George on the Atlantic; Lawrence, defeated and dying, whispering with his latest breath, "Don't give up the ship;" Perry, passing in a fra- gile boat amid a storm of shot to a fresh vessel, and snatching victory from the grasp of defeat; McDonough annihilating the foe on Lake Champlain; Morris going down to a watery grave with the Cumberland; Worden matching his little Monitor against the mighty Merrimac; Winslow sinking the Alabama with his terrible broadsides; old Farragut at the mast-head dashing past the flaming forts of Mobile Bay ; young Cushing, bravest of all the brave, blowing up the Albemarle and his own ship with his own hand; from first to last, from highest to low- est, from oldest to youngest, in victory or defeat, American ad- mirals, commodores, captains, lieutenants, sailors, middies, cabin-
241
FOURTEEN-DAY SOLDIERS.
boys, with hardly a solitary exception, have ever borne themselves so as to fill their countrymen with glowing enthusiasm, and com- pel the admiration of their bitterest foes.
Immediately succeeding Perry's victory came that of Harri- son over Proctor, and the death of Tecumseh. It being sup- posed that the upper peninsula was pretty well cleared of foes, Gen. Wilkinson's forces were nearly all withdrawn to the lower end of Lake Ontario.
Just before he left, a correspondence took place, which shows how little comprehension even the most public-spirited men had of the needs of the military service. Porter, Chapin and Col. Joseph McClure wrote to Wilkinson from Black Rock, stating that in expectation of a decisive movement they had repaired to Fort George, with five hundred men-militia, volunteers and In- dians. "Most of us," said the writers, "remained there twelve or fourteen days, but our hopes not being realized, the men con- tinually dispersed and went home."
The three gentlemen then offered to raise a thousand or twelve hundred men, either to aid Wilkinson in a sally from Fort George, or, on being furnished with a battery of artillery, "to invade the enemy's country," with a view to dispersing his forces before Wilkinson should withdraw.
The most disastrous experience had not yet convinced our ablest men of the impossibility of making an effective aggres- sive movement with a crowd of undisciplined, ungoverned men, who would leave camp if they could not have a fight in fourteen days. Wilkinson forwarded the proposition to the Secretary of War, who did not accept it.
The force left behind by Wilkinson was under the command of Gen. George McClure, of Steuben county, a brigadier-gene- ral of the New York militia, who made his headquarters at Fort George, and immediately issued several flaming proclamations.
On the 6th of October, Col. Chapin, with one of those heter- ogeneous collections of men so common at that time, had an all-day skirmish with some British outposts, near Fort George. He claimed to have killed cighteen of the enemy, while but three of his own men were slain. Doubtful. He had with him "Crosby's and Sackrider's companies" of militia, a few other men and some Indians.
242
M'CLURE AND CHAPIN.
On the 24th of October, Harrison and Perry, with their vic- torious army and fleet, came down the lake to Buffalo. The little town was aglow to do honor to the heroes, and on the 25th a dinner was given to the two commanders at "Pomeroy's Eagle," which had been refitted and reopened a short time be- forc. At the head of the committee of arrangements, composed of the principal citizens, was the ubiquitous Chapin. At the dinner Porter presided, with Chapin, Townsend and Trowbridge, as vice-presidents. The next day Harrison and his army crossed the river and went down to Fort George, and thence in a short time to Sacket's Harbor.
Gen. McClure was thus left with about a thousand militia, two hundred and fifty Indians, and sixty regulars. The terms of the militia were fast expiring, and they would not stay a day beyond them. Another draft was accordingly ordered, about the middle of November, of six hundred men from Hopkins' brigade, under Lt .- Col. Warren. These marched to Ft. George and remained nearly a month.
On the 7th of December, Gen. McClure sent out an expedi- tion along the south shore of Lake Ontario. Lt .- Col. Chapin was in command of the advance. He afterwards declared that McClure had not only left him unsupported, but had expressed his desire that Chapin should be captured. A very bitter feel- ing had certainly grown up between them, and it is evident that Chapin had a peculiar faculty for getting into trouble. He is- sued as many statements as any of the generals, and denounced without stint those whom he did not admire.
When the term of Warren's regiment of militia was about to expire, McClure determined to abandon Fort George. In this he was unquestionably justifiable, as his remaining force would have been entirely inadequate to defend it. But he at the same time took a step cruel in itself, and fraught with woc to the Am- erican frontier. He ordered the burning of the flourishing vil- lage of Newark, situated close to the fort, and containing about a hundred and fifty houses. The inhabitants were turned out into the snow, and the torch applied to every building in the place.
McClure claimed that he acted under orders from the Secre- tary of War, but he produced no such orders, and it appears that
243
M'CLURE'S FLIGHT.
there were none, except that the general was authorized to burn Newark if necessary to defend the fort. As he had already de- cided to abandon the fort, of course these orders did not apply. Chapin and the general had another bitter quarrel, the former roundly denouncing the destruction of the village. Soon after, Chapin resigned his command.
McClure moved the remnant of his force across the river, closely pressed by the enraged British. Leaving Fort Niagara defended by a hundred and fifty regulars, he called two hundred others from Canandaigua to Buffalo.
On the morning of December 19th, Fort Niagara was sur- prised and captured by a small British force, through the crim- inal negligence of its commander, who was at his residence four miles away. McClure was not to blame for the transaction, but nevertheless he, more than any other one man, was responsible for the burning of Buffalo, and the devastation of the whole fron- tier. He needlessly destroyed Newark, which of course pro- voked retaliation, and then ran away. As soon as Niagara was captured he took his two hundred regulars and retreated to Ba- tavia, against the earnest protest of the citizens of Buffalo. Had they remained as a nucleus for the gathering militia, the result might have been entirely different.
Affidavits were afterwards published, showing that McClure said in his anger that he hoped Buffalo would be burned ; that he would remain and defend it provided the citizens would catch "that damned rascal, Chapin," and deliver him bound into his (McClure's) hands. Several of his staff officers, also, were proven to have indulged in similar disgraceful language in his presence, unrebuked ; expressing their entire willingness that the village should be burned. In a properly disciplined army General McClure would have been shot.
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