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 24
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On the 10th of April there arrived on the frontier a stately
267
SCOTT AND BROWN.
young warrior, whose presence was already considered a har- binger of victory, and whose shoulders had lately been adorned by the epaulets of a brigadier-general. This was Winfield Scott, then thirty years old, and the beau ideal of a gallant soldier. Im- mediately afterwards came his superior officer, Major-General Brown, who had been rapidly advanced to the highest rank, on the strength of the vigor and skill he had shown as a commander at the foot of Lake Ontario.
An election was held in this month, at which General Porter was again chosen to Congress on the Democratic ticket. Clar- ence cast two hundred and twenty-three votes, while the whole town of Buffalo only furnished a hundred and forty- seven. It had only been a year and four months since the last congressional election, which was doubtless owing to some change in the law regarding the time of holding.
Jonas Williams was again elected to the assembly. The only supervisors known were Simeon Fillmore of Clarence, Lemuel Parmely of Eden, and Richard Smith of Hamburg.
A new " commission of the peace " was issued by which Dan- iel Chapin, Charles Townsend and Oliver Forward of Buf- falo, Richard Smith of Hamburg, and Archibald S. Clarke of Clarence, were named as judges ; and Jonas Williams, James Cronk, John Beach and David Eddy as assistant justices. The justices of the peace named in the new commission were John Seeley, Philip M. Holmes, Joseph Hershey and Edward S. Stew- art, of Buffalo ; Daniel McCleary, Daniel Rawson, and Levi Brown, of Clarence ; Joshua Henshaw, Calvin Clifford, James Wolcott, and Ebenezer Holmes, of Willink; Daniel Thurston and Amasa Smith, of Hamburg; Joseph Hanchett, of Concord; Asa Cary and John Hill, of Eden. Joseph Landon, Rowland Cotton and Henry Brothers were named as coroners.
Many changes were also taking place among the military men of the county. A new commission, announcing promotions and appointments in Lt .- Col. Warren's regiment, (the 48th New York infantry,) designated Ezekiel Cook as first major, and Ezra Nott as second; Lyman Blackmar, Peter Lewis; Frederick Richmond, Luther Colvin, Benjamin I. Clough, Timothy Fuller and James M. Stevens as captains ; Thomas Holmes, Aaron Salisbury, Dennis Riley, Moses Baker, William Austin, Oliver Alger,
268
THE DEATH PENALTY.
Micah B. Crook and Elihu Rice as lieutenants ; and John M. Holmes, Otis Wheelock, Lathrop Francis, Sumner Warren. George Hamilton, Calvin Doolittle, Giles Briggs and Asa War- ren as ensigns.
By the zoth of May there were three taverns in operation in Buffalo, four stores, three offices and twelve shops ; besides twenty-three houses, mostly occupied by families, and thirty or forty huts. Dr. Chapin, having been exchanged, got home about the first of June, and immediately began issuing statements.
Bodies of regular troops and some volunteers continued to concentrate at Williamsville and Buffalo. Scott removed his headquarters to the latter place toward the last of May, where the troops were encamped amid the ruins. Great efforts were made to introduce rigid discipline. The men were under con- stant drill, and desertion was mercilessly punished. Among the reminiscences of that era, no scene appears to have been more vividly impressed on the minds of the relators than the one which was displayed near the present corner of Maryland and Sixth streets, on the 4th of June, 1814.
Five men, convicted of desertion, knelt with bandaged eyes and pinioned arnis, each with an open coffin before him and a new-made grave behind him. Twenty paces in front stood a platoon of men, detailed to inflict the supreme penalty of mili- tary law. The whole army was drawn up on three sides of a hollow square, to witness the execution, the artillerymen stand- ing by their pieces with lighted matches, ready to suppress a possible mutiny, while Generals Brown, Scott and Ripley sat upon their horses, surrounded by their brilliant staffs, looking sternly on the scene.
When the firing party did their deadly work, four men fell in their coffins or their graves, but one, a youth under twenty-one, was unhurt. He sprang up, wrenched loose his pinioned arms, and tore the bandage from his eyes. Two men advanced to ex- tinguish the last remains of life in those who had fallen. He supposed they were about to dispatch him, and fell fainting to the ground. He was taken away without further injury. Doubtless it had been determined to spare him on account of his youth, and therefore all of his supposed executioners had been furnished with unloaded muskets.
269
THE SIX NATIONS IN ARMS.
The work of preparation went forward, though not very rap- idly. On the 28th of June a statement appeared in the Gazette that the rumors of an immediate advance which had been in circulation were not true, and that the transportation of the army was not ready. This was no doubt inserted by order, for on the 3d of July the advance began.
Brown's force consisted of two brigades of regulars under Generals Scott and Ripley, and one of volunteers under General Porter. This was composed of five hundred Pennsylvanians, six hundred New York volunteers, all of whom had not arrived when the movement began, and nearly six hundred Indians.
Six hundred was almost the entire strength of the Six Na- tions, and these had been gathered from all the reservations in Western New York. It is probable that the great age of Farm- er's Brother prevented him from crossing. Acting as a private in the ranks was Red Jacket, the principal civil leader of the Six Nations, who, notwithstanding the timidity usually attribu- ted to him, was unwilling to stay behind while his countrymen were winning glory on the field of carnage. Col. Robert Flem- ing was quartermaster of this peculiar battalion.
Fort Eric was garrisoned by a hundred and seventy British soldiers. The main body of the enemy was at Chippewa, two miles above the Falls, and eighteen miles below the fort.
On the 2d of July, Brown, Scott and Porter reconnoitred Fort Eric and concerted the plan of attack. Ripley, with part of his brigade, was to embark in boats at Buffalo in the night, and land a mile up the lake from the fort. Scott with his brigade was to cross from Black Rock, and land a mile below Fort Erie, which, in the morning, both brigades were to invest and capture.
Scott and Ripley both started at the time appointed, but, as in most military operations depending on concert of action be- tween separate corps, there was a difficulty not foreseen. Rip- ley's pilot was misled by a fog on the lake, and his command did not land until several hours past time. Scott, however, crossed promptly, and was able to invest the fort with his brig- ade alone. At sunrise the artillery and Indians crossed at the ferry, and after some parleying the fort surrendered, without awaiting an attack.
The campaign along the Niagara, which followed, was out-
270
DOWN THE NIAGARA.
side the bounds of Erie county. I shall, however, give a sketch of it for several reasons. It was participated in by many sol- diers of Erie county, in the ranks of the New York volun- teers, though I cannot ascertain whether they had any separ- ate organization. The Indians who took part in it on our side mostly belonged to the "oldest families" of Erie county. One of Brown's three brigades was commanded by the Erie county general, Peter B. Porter. And besides, my readers must be dis- gusted by the poor fighting done by the Americans on the Ni- agara during the previous years, and I want to take the taste out of their mouths.
The afternoon of the 3d, Scott marched several miles down the Niagara, and on the morning of the 4th drove in the en- emy's advanced posts. He was followed by Brown and Ripley, and both brigades established themselves on the south side of Street's creek, two miles south of Chippewa.
On their left, three fourths of a mile from the Niagara, was a dense and somewhat swampy forest on both sides of Street's creek, extending to within three fourths of a mile of Chippewa creek, which was bordered for that distance by a level, cleared plain. On the north side of that creek the British army lay in- trenched. The two armies were concealed from each other's sight by a narrow strip of woodland, reaching from the main forest to within a hundred yards of the river bank.
During the night of the 4th the Americans were much an- noyed by Indians and Canadians lurking in the forest, who drove in their pickets and threatened their flanks.
Late that night General Porter crossed the river with his In- dians and Pennsylvanians, and in the morning marched toward Chippewa. He was met on the road by General Brown, who spoke of the manner in which he had been annoyed by lurkers in the forest, and proposed that Porter should drive them out, declaring confidently that there would be no British regulars south of the Chippewa that day. Still, he said he would order Scott to occupy the open ground beyond Street's creek, in sup- port of Porter. The latter accepted the proposition of his chief, and at three o'clock started to put it in execution.
The Indians assumed their usual full battle-dress-of matur- nip-line, breech-clout, moccasins, feathers and paint-and the
27 1
, SOLDIERS AND WARRIORS.
war-chiefs then proceeded to elect a leader. Their choice fell on Captain Pollard, a veteran of Wyoming and many other fights.
Porter left two hundred of his Pennsylvanians in camp, think- ing their presence needless, and formed the other three hundred in one rank, on the open ground, half a mile south of Street's creek, their left resting on the forest. The whole five or six hundred Indians were also formed in one rank in the woods, their right reaching to the left of the whites. General Porter stationed himself between the two wings of his command, with Captain Pollard on his left. He was also attended by two or three staff officers, by Hank Johnson the interpreter, and by several regular officers, who had volunteered to see the fun. Red Jacket was on the extreme left of the Indian line. A company of regular infantry followed as a reserve. The war chiefs took their places twenty yards in front of their braves, and a few scouts were sent still farther in advance.
Then, at a given signal, the whole line moved forward, the whites marching steadily with shouldered arms on the plain, the naked Indians gliding through the forest with cat-like tread, their bodies bent forward, their rifles held ready for instant use, their feathers nodding at every step, their fierce eyes flash- ing in every direction. Suddenly one of the chiefs made a sig- nal, and the whole line of painted warriors sank to the ground, as quickly and as noiselessly as the sons of Clan Alpine at the command of Roderick Dhu. This maneuver was a part of their primitive tactics, and the chiefs rapidly assembled to consult over some report brought back by a scout.
At another signal the warriors sprang up, and the feather- crested line again moved through the forest. The maneuver was repeated when the scouts brought word that the enemy was awaiting them on the north bank of Street's creek. General Porter was informed of this fact, and made some slight changes in his arrangements, and again the line advanced with increased speed.
As the Indians approached the creek, they received the fire of a force of British Indians and Canadians stationed there. They instantly raised a war-whoop that resounded far over the Ni- agara, and charged at the top of their speed. The foe at once
272
AN INDIAN BATTLE.
fled. The Iroquois dashed through the little stream and bounded after them, whooping, yelling, shooting, cleaving skulls and tear- ing off scalps like so many demons. Many were overtaken, but few captured. Occasionally, however, a Seneca or Cayuga would seize an enemy, unwind his maturnip-line, bind him with surprising quickness, and then go trotting back to the rear, hold- ing one end of the maturnip, as a man might lead a horse by the halter.
Such speed and bottom were displayed by the Indians that neither the regulars nor volunteers were able to keep up with them. For more than a mile the pursuit was maintained, in the words of General Porter, "through scenes of frightful havoc." At length the Indians, who had got considerably in advance, emerged upon the open ground three quarters of a mile from Chippewa creek, when they were received with a tremendous fire from the greater part of the British regular army, drawn in line of battle on the plain.
It looks as if General Riall had determined to attack the Americans, and had sent forward his light troops to bring on a battle, expecting probably that the whole American force would get exhausted in pursuit, and become an easy prey to his fresh battalions. The fact that the pursuit was carried on by the American light troops and Indians alone broke up, and in fact reversed, this programme.
The warriors quickly fled from the destructive fire in front. General Porter, supposing that it came from the force they had been pursuing, rallied the greater part of them, formed then again on the left of his volunteers and moved forward to the edge of the wood. Again the long, red-coated battalions opened fire. The volunteers stood and exchanged two or three volleys with them, but when the enemy dashed forward with the bayonet Porter, seeing nothing of Scott with the supports, gave the order to retreat. Both whites and Indians fled in the greatest confusion.
On came the red-coats at their utmost speed, supposing they had gained another easy victory, and that all that was necessary was to catch the runaways. The Indians, being the best runners and unencumbered with clothing, got ahead in the retreat as they had in the advance, but the whites did their best to keep up with them. The flight continued for a mile, pursuers as
273
A SWIFT RETREAT.
well as pursued becoming greatly disorganized, and the speed of the fugitives being accelerated by the constant bursting of shells from the enemy's artillery.
Approaching Street's creek, Scott's brigade was found just crossing the bridge and forming line. They took up their posi- tion with the greatest coolness under the fire of the British artil- lery, but Porter claimed that, through the fault of either Scott or Brown, they were very much behind time. The former general was always celebrated for his promptness, and the fault, if there was one, was probably with Brown. Perhaps he didn't expect Porter's men to run so fast, either going or coming.
The result, however, was as satisfactory as if this precipitate retreat had been planned to draw forward the foc. Ripley's bri- gade was at once sent off to the left, through the woods, to flank the enemy. The fugitives, as they ran, also bore to the west- ward, and Scott's fresh battalions came into line in perfect order, making somewhat merry over the haste of their red and white comrades.
Some of the Indians had taken their sons, from twelve to six- teen years old, into battle, to initiate them in the business of war. One of these careful fathers was now seen running at his best speed, with his son on his shoulders. Just as he passed the left flank of Scott's brigade, near where the general and his staff sat on their horses, superintending the formation of the line, a shell burst directly over the head of the panting warrior. "Ugh," he exclaimed, in a voice of terror, bounding several feet from the ground. As he came down he fell to the earth, and the lad tumbled off. Springing up, the older Indian ran on at still greater speed than before, leaving the youngster to pick himself up and scamper away as best he might. The scene was greeted with a roar of laughter by the young officers around Scott, who re- buked them sharply for their levity. In a few moments they had plenty of serious work to occupy their attention.
The Americans reserved their fire till the enemy was within fifty yards, when they poured in so deadly a volley that the Brit- ish instantly fell back. They were quickly rallied and led to the attack, but were again met with a terrific fire, under which they retreated in hopeless disorder. Scott pursued them beyond the strip of woods before mentioned, when they fled across the
274
VICTORY.
Chippewa into their intrenchments, and tore up the bridge. Scott's brigade then lay down on the open plain north of the woods. The battle, so far as the regulars were concerned, lasted only a few moments, but was one of the most decisive of the whole war.
By order of Gen. Brown, who was in the midst of the fight, Porter took his two hundred reserve Pennsylvanians to the left of Scott's brigade, where they, too, lay down under the fire of the British artillery. After awhile Ripley's brigade came out of the woods, covered with mud, having had their march for noth- ing, as the enemy they had attempted to flank had run away before their flank could be reached. It not being deemed best to attack the foe in his intrenchments, directly in front, the Americans returned at nightfall to their encampment.
The battle of Chippewa was the first, during the war of 1812, in which a large body of British regulars were defeated in the open field, and the Americans were immensely encouraged by it. Enlistment was thereafter much more rapid than before.
The total British loss, as officially reported, was five hundred and fourteen, of whom between one and two hundred were found dead on the field by the victors. About two hundred and fifty were taken prisoners, mostly wounded. The Americans had about fifty killed, a hundred and forty wounded, and a few taken prisoners. The number of American regulars engaged was thirteen hundred. Gen. Porter estimated the British regu- lars in the fight at seventeen hundred, but I know not on what grounds, nor how correctly.
It will be noticed that I am frequently referring to Gen. Por- ter as authority. In fact it is from his statement, in Stone's " Life of Red Jacket," that this description of the battle of Chippewa is principally derived.
There was a somewhat amusing dispute as to whether the American or British Indians ran the fastest and farthest. It was asserted that our braves never stopped till they reached the Buffalo reservation. This Porter declared to be a slander, in- sisting that the only reason why the Indians reached the rear before the whites was because they could run faster. It is certain that the main body of them remained with the army some two weeks after the battle. The Canadian Indians were so roughly
275
A GRIM EPISODE.
handled that they fled at once to the head of Lake Ontario, and never after took any part in the war.
The next morning Gen. Porter was horrified by the appear- ance at his tent of some twenty chiefs, each attended by a war- rior of his band, bearing the bloody scalps they had stripped from their fallen foes. They had been informed that a bounty would be paid them for every scalp they produced. The startled general told them that nothing of the kind would be done, whereupon the ghastly trophies were burned or flung into the Niagara. The story that they were to be paid for scalps was in direct contravention of the agreement under which they had en- tered the American service, yet it found ready credence among the Indians. This tends to show that the stories of the British paying a bounty for scalps in the Revolution may have been without foundation, even though believed by the savages themselves.
After this grim episode, the chiefs obtained permission to visit the field and bring off their own dead. They brought in fifteen warriors, who were buried with the honors of war.
They also found three of their enemies mortally wounded but not yet dead. They cut the throats of two of these, but, recognizing the third as an old acquaintance, they furnished him with a canteen of water and left him to die in peace. On their relating what they had done, an officer angrily reproached Cat- taraugus Hank for this brutality.
" Well, Colonel," said Hank, casting down his eyes, and speak- ing with every appearance of contrition, "it does seem rather hard to kill men in that way, but then you must remember these are very hard times."
Red Jacket is said to have played his part at Chippewa as well as any of his brethren. Yet even his admirers used to rally him about his timidity. One of them was heard chaffing him, declaring that he had given the sachem a scalp in order that he, too, might have a trophy to show, but that the latter was afraid to carry it.
On the 7th of July, the six hundred volunteers from Western New York joined Porter's brigade. I have found no account of how they were organized, nor of the localities from which they came.
276
TO QUEENSTON AND BACK.
On the Sth, Ripley's brigade and these New York volunteers forced a passage of the Chippewa, three miles up, quickly driv- ing back the force stationed there. General Riall, finding him- self flanked, destroyed his works and retreated rapidly to Queen- ston, and then to Fort George. Brown pursued and took up his quarters at Queenston, but did not deem his force sufficient either to assault or besiege the fortress.
On the 16th, Porter's brigade skirmished around the fort, to give the engineers a chance to reconnoitre, but nothing came of it.
At this time Red Jacket, who had all along opposed his coun- trymen's taking part in the war, proposed that messengers should be sent to the Mohawks, to concert a withdrawal of the Indians on both sides. General Brown consented, and two young chiefs were dispatched on a secret mission for that pur- pose. They were favorably received by some of the chiefs, but no formal arrangement was made.
Meanwhile the British received reinforcements, and Brown de- termined to return to Fort Erie. Riall followed. Before arriv- ing at the Falls most of the Indians, through the management of Red Jacket, obtained permission to retire to their homes, agreeing to return if the British Indians should again take the field. But the latter were perfectly satisfied with that terrible drubbing in the Chippewa woods, and never again appeared in arms against the Americans. Nevertheless, some forty or fifty of our Indians remained with the army throughout the campaign.
On the 25th of July, Brown's army encamped near Chippewa creek. Riall was pressing so closely on the American rear that Brown sent back Scott's brigade to check him. Scott met the enemy at Bridgewater, just below the Falls. Sending back word to his superior, the impetuous Virginian led his columns to the attack. For an hour a desperate battle raged between Scott's single brigade and Riall's army, neither gaining any decided advantage.
At the end of that time, and but a little before night, Brown arrived with the brigades of Ripley and Porter. Determining to interpose a new line and disengage Scott's exhausted men, he ordered forward the two fresh brigades. The enemy's line was then near "Lundy's Lane," a road running at right angles
277
LUNDY'S LANE.
with the river, which it reaches a short distance below the Falls. His artillery was on a piece of rising ground, which was the key of the position. Colonel Miller, commanding a regiment of infantry, was asked by Brown if he could capture it. "I can try, sir," was the memorable response of the gallant officer.
Though the regiment which should have supported Miller's gave way, yet the latter moved steadily up the hill. Increasing its pace it swept forward, while its ranks were depleted at every step, and after a brief but desperate struggle carried the heights, and captured the hostile cannon at the point of the bayonet. At the same time Major Jessup's regiment drove back a part of the enemy's infantry, capturing Major-General Riall, their commander, and when General Ripley led forward his reserve regiment the British fell back and disappeared from the field.
It was now eight o'clock and entirely dark. In a short time the enemy rallied and attempted to regain his lost artillery. Seldom in all the annals of war has a conflict been fought under more strange and romantic circumstances. The darkness of night was over all the combatants. A little way to the north- castward rolled and roared the greatest cataract in the world, the wonderful Niagara. Its thunders, subdued yet distinct, could be heard whenever the cannon were silent. And there, in the darkness, upon that solitary hillside, within sound of that mighty avalanche of waters, the soldiers of the young republic, flushed with the triumph which had given them their enemy's battle-ground, and cannon, and commander, calmly awaited the onslaught of England's defeated but not disheartened veterans.
At half past eight the Americans saw the darkness turning red far down the slope, and soon in the gloom were dimly out- lined the advancing battalions of the foc. The red line came swiftly, silently, and gallantly up the hill, beneath the swaying banners of St. George, and all the while the subdued roar of Niagara was rolling gently over the field.
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