USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 21
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The first of the three attempts resulted in the disastrous expedition of Hull to Detroit, ending in the surrender of the post with all its troops and stores, to the enemy, on the 16th of August, 1812. General Hull, who had been a Rev- olutionary officer, and was governor of the Territory of Michigan at this time, was severely criticised and condemned for his course. He was afterwards tried by court-martial and condemned to be shot, but on account of his age and the services he had rendered during the Revolution, his sentence was commuted to dishonorable discharge from the army. Before he died, however, in 1825, he so far vindicated his course by his own statements and with the help of those who were with him, and whose judgments and criticisms had become merciful under cooler consideration of his offense, that the people looked upon his error more with compassion than indignation. "To-day the character of General William Hull, purified of unwarranted stains, appears in history without a blem- ish in the history of just appreciation." I
The results of the efforts of the second division of the invading army, while not burdened with success, were far more encouraging than those of the Detroit
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campaign. On the 9th of August, 1812, General Dearborn, commanding the third invading wing at Plattsburg, had signed an armistice with Sir George Provost, governor-general of Canada, in consequence of negotiations for a sus- pension of hostilities between the contending powers then proposed. The armistice was rejected by the United States government, but Dearborn contin- ued it until the 29th of August, on the ground that by doing so he was aided in forwarding stores to Sackett's Harbor. This armistice so delayed the prep- arations for invasion on the Niagara frontier that General Van Rensselaer, who commanded at that post, found himself on the Ist of September at the head of only seven hundred men. After the armistice was suspended troops, both reg- ulars and militia, gathered on the frontier, along the river from Lewiston to Buffalo, to the number of six thousand. In the early morning of October 12th, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer crossed the river with a portion of his force, and after a sharp contest captured Lewiston Heights. Emboldened by their success, the assailants, reinforced with a small detachment of regulars under Captain (after General) John E. Wool, pressed the British back and finally gained possession of Queenstown Heights. Colonel Van Rensselaer, as well as Captain Wool, had been wounded, but the latter refused to leave the com- mand until the arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie. At Fort George, seven miles below Queenstown, General Brock, who had heard the firing, pushed hastily, with his staff, to the scene of action. He found the little fortress in the possession of Captain Wool, who, though wounded, still remained with his men. General Brock gathered a body of the defeated British and attempted to drive Wool from his post, but unsuccessfully. A second assault was made, in which General Brock fell mortally wounded, and Wool was left master of the Heights. Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie, who had arrived soon after the last assault, was followed by General Wadsworth, of the New York militia; he took the chief command. The British General Sheaffe, who succeeded Brock, once more ral- lied the scattered English troops. Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott (after- wards well known as the commander-in-chief of the army), having arrived as a volunteer, at the request of General Wadsworth, took the active command. Soon after noon, under the lead of the Mohawk chief, John Brant, his sav- age horde fell with a rush and war-whoop upon the outer American lines. The militia wavered and were about to break into retreat, when the stentorian voice of Scott arrested their flight. He urged them to turn upon the savages, which they did to such purpose that the barbarians fled in terror to the woods. General Stephen Van Rensselaer, who had come over to ascertain the state of affairs, hastened back to Lewiston to send over more militia. But the latter refused to go, claiming that they were not obliged to leave the soil of their own country. General Sheaffe, who had received reinforcements from Fort George, pressed forward with overwhelming numbers (the Americans on the heights did not number more than nine hundred), and compelled the plucky
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Americans to surrender - a needless sacrifice, had their cowardly comrades on the other side of the river hastened to their assistance when ordered by Gen- eral Van Rensselaer. The militia were paroled, but the regulars were held as prisoners. Had the commanding general been possessed of a sufficient num- ber of boats to have transported his whole force across the river in the morn- ing, at the time the first attack was made, no doubt final success would have been the award of their bravery. As it was, while the expedition as a whole was disastrous, the brave militia who had earned victory under their spirited officers, felt no shame at their defeat - excepting the cowardly majority who refused their aid when needed.
The third element in the plan of invasion was the division of Northern New York. About the first of September, 1812, General Bloomfield had col- lected a force of about 8,000 men, composed of regulars, militia and volunteers, at Plattsburg ; in addition a few scattered detachments were stationed at ad- vanced points along the lake and at Chazy. Major-General Henry Dearborn arrived later and assumed command of the department, and on the 16th of November moved with 5,000 troops towards Canada. He reached the La Colle, a small stream emptying into the Sorel, where he met a considerable force of British and Canadian troops and Indians, commanded by an energetic British officer, Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry. At early dawn on the 20th Colonel Zebulon Pike crossed the La Colle and surrounded a block-house. A body of New York militia sent to support him were seen approaching, and, in the dim light, were supposed to be British; fire was opened upon them, and they, equally mistaken in believing the fire to be from a sallying party from the block-house, returned it, and for half an hour a sharp engagement was maintained. Finally when the error was discovered, De Salaberry was seen approaching with an overwhelming force, cutting off their only path of escape. The Americans made a fierce attack upon the advancing columns, hoping to make an opening for retreat ; in this they succeeded, but at the cost of leav- ing their dead and wounded on the field. This unpropitious opening of the campaign disheartened the army, and it returned to Plattsburg. Dearborn was charged with incompetency, and in June of the next year, he was super- seded. He asked in vain for a court of inquiry.
Thus ended for the year the grandly-planned invasion of Canada. Noth- ing was gained to the Americans, while its losses in men and material far ex- ceeded that of the British.
One of the first warlike measures undertaken by the Americans before hos- tilities actually began on the northern frontier, was the construction of the brig Oneida, of sixteen guns, at Sackett's Harbor. She was launched in 1809, and was intended to serve the two-fold purpose of enforcing the revenue laws un- der the Embargo Act, and to defend American property on the lake in case of a war with England, of which ominous mutterings even then were heard all
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over the country. The first duty of the Oneida occurred in 1812, while under the command of Lieutenant Woolsey. A schooner, the Lord Nelson, owned by British subjects at Niagara, was on her way, laden with flour and other merchandise, to Kingston, where she was captured by the Oneida and con- demned as a lawful prize. The Oneida captured several other vessels, which were condemed under the revenue laws.
Early in July a rumor reached Sackett's Harbor that the Oneida had been captured by the British, and that a squadron was on the way from Kingston to recapture the Lord Nelson, which lay at Sackett's Harbor. The rumor was false ; but eighteen days after five British vessels, carrying an aggregate of eighty-two guns, commanded by Commodore Earle, of Canada, appeared off the town. Earle communicated to Colonel Bellinger, commanding the militia at Sackett's Harbor, that all he wanted was the Oneida and Lord Nelson, and that in case resistance was made the town would be destroyed, The Oneida, failing in an attempt to run by the approaching fleet into the lake, anchored off Navy Point in position to use her broadside of nine guns on the nearing ves- sels. The remainder of her guns were taken out and placed in battery on the shore. An iron thirty-two pounder, which had been lying in the sand on the shore, whereby it gained the name of the " Old Sow," was placed in battery on a bluff with three other heavy guns. A company of artillery also had four guns. With this inadequate supply of artillery the Americans proposed to de- fend the place. The fleet slowly entered the harbor, and were fired upon by the Americans, whose shots fell so far short of their object, that shouts of laughter and ridicule were heard on board the British vessels by the people on shore. For about two hours a lively cannonading was kept up, the vessels standing off and on, but keeping out of range of the Americans' smaller guns. Finally a thirty-two pound shot from one of the vessels struck the ground, plowed a furrow, and stopped near the battery wherein the " Old Sow" was placed. Sergeant Spier caught up the shot and ran with it to Captain Vaughn, an old sailing-master who was in charge of the battery, saying : "I have been playing ball with the redcoats and have caught them out. See if the British can catch it back again." The Royal George, the larger vessel of the fleet, at that moment was nearing to deliver a broadside. The captured ball was immediately sent back by Captain Vaughn's " Old Sow" with such force and accuracy that it crushed through the stern of the Royal George, raked her decks to the stem, sending splinters as high as her mizzen topsail, killing fourteen men and wounding eighteen. She had already received a shot between wind and water and been pierced by another, which forced her to sig- nal retreat. The whole squadron sailed out of the harbor to the strains of " Yankee Doodle," played by the fifes and drums of the defenders. The Americans received no injury.
About the first of October, 1812, General Jacob Brown was sent to Og-
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densburg to garrison old Fort Presentation or Oswegatchie, to repel a threat- ened invasion by the British in that quarter. On the second of October the British left Prescott, immediately opposite Ogdensburg, with a flotilla of two gunboats and twenty-five bateaux, and 750 armed men for the purpose of cap- turing Ogdensburg.
Brown had about twelve hundred men in the village, and company of rifle- men encamped on the bank of the river near Fort Presentation. The latter were stationed in line of battle upon the river bank to dispute the landing of the invaders. Brown had but two field-pieces, and when the approaching flotilla had reached the middle of the river the two guns were operated with such effect that the enemy retreated with the utmost alacrity. This repulse reflected much credit upon Brown.
In October, 1812, Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, then but twenty-seven years of age, was in command of an incipient dockyard which had been established by the government at Black Rock, two miles below Buffalo. On the morning of the 8th two British vessels, the Caledonia and the Detroit (the latter had been the John Adams and was taken at the surrender of Hull and its name changed), had anchored off Fort Erie. Elliott conceived a plan for their cap -. ture, which, with the aid of a squad of seamen just arrived from New York, fifty artillerymen, and several sailors and citizens from Buffalo, was successfully carried out on the morning of the 9th at one o'clock. The vessels and their men were made captives in less than ten minutes. A battery at Fort Erie was brought to bear upon the vessels before they could be got away, and a severe struggle for their possession ensued. The Detroit was finally burned, but the Caledonia was got away. She proved a rich prize, her cargo being worth $200,000. The Americans lost one man killed and five wounded.
In February, 1813, the British again attacked Ogdensburg. On the 22d about eight hundred British, commanded by Colonel McDonell, appeared in front of the village on the ice in two columns. Colonel Forsyth, with his rifle- men, were stationed at Fort Presentation, and against them moved one column, three hundred strong. Awaiting the near approach of the British, Forsyth's men attacked them vigorously with rifle and the two field-pieces that had done such effective service in the hands of General Brown. The attacking column was repulsed with considerable loss, and retreated to the opposite side of the St. Lawrence. While this was going on the second column of five hundred had entered the town and captured a twelve-pound cannon and the gunners. The invaders supposed their conquest complete, but were soon confronted by two pieces of artillery under Captain Kellogg and Sheriff York. The gun of the former becoming disabled, he and his men crossed the Oswegatchie and joined Colonel Forsyth, leaving York to fight the battle alone; the latter was soon compelled to surrender. McDonell then proceeded to dislodge Forsyth, and demanded his surrender, in these words: "If you surrender it shall be
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well; if not, every man shall be put to the bayonet." "Tell ¡Colonel Mc- Donell," replied Forsyth, " that there must be more fighting done yet." But an assault by an overwhelming force compelled the spirited commander, after he had thrown them once into disorder with grape and canister, to order a re- treat, and he and his little force made their way to Black Lake, nine miles distant. The town was plundered by the Indians and camp-followers of both sexes, who came over from Canada. After burning the barracks and two schooners fast in the ice, and sacking every house but three, the British and their tribe of marauders returned to Prescott.
In May, 1813, the British, hearing that Chauncey and Dearborn had de- pleted the forces at Sackett's Harbor to strengthen the expedition for the cap- ture of York, determined to attack the place. It was then the chief place of deposit of the goverment military stores, and its possession by the British was desirable. On the evening of the 27th rumors reached Sackett's Harbor that Sir James Yeo had sailed from Kingston with a formidable squadron. Colonel Backus was in command of the forces at the Harbor. General Jacob Brown, who was at his home a few miles from Watertown, had promised to take chief command in case of an attack; he was therefore summoned, and on the morn- ing of the 28th was in Backus's camp. He immediately summoned all the militia in the vicinity to the field, and as fast as they arrived they were armed and sent to Horse Island, where the lighthouse now stands. This island was connected with the mainland by an isthmus covered with water of fordable depth; here it was expected the British would attempt to land. About noon of the 28th six vessels and forty bateaux, carrying over one thousand British land troops, appeared off the town. They were under command of Governor- general Sir George Provost. The troops were embarked in the bateaux, but were soon ordered back, and the whole squadron went out on the open lake. Sir George had been frightened by the appearance outside the harbor of a flotilla of American gunboats that were bringing part of a regiment from Os- wego to aid the post at Sackett's Harbor. As soon as Sir George discovered the weakness of this force he returned, and on the morning of the 29th landed a considerable force with artillery and muskets on Horse Island. The militia had been withdrawn behind a gravel ridge on the mainland. They fled at the first fire of the British. General Brown vainly attempted to rally the fleeing militia, while Colonel Backus, with his regulars and Albany volunteers, contested the ground, inch by inch, with the enemy, and a heavy gun at Fort Tompkins sent its missiles among the British ranks. At this moment a dense smoke was seen rising in the rear of the Americans. The storehouses with their valuable contents, and a ship on the stocks, had been fired by the officers in charge, who, upon seeing the flying militia, believed the fort would be captured. For a moment Brown, who supposed the British to be the incendiaries, was dis- heartened ; but when he learned that the destruction was the act of an over-
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zealous and unwise friend, he redoubled his exertions to make an effective de- fense. He finally succeeded in rallying the militia, and was returning with them in good order to the field, which led General Prevost, who, perched upon a stump, discerned them with his field-glass, to believe that the Americans had received reinforcements. Without taking further measures to prove the truth of his surmise, he sounded a retreat, which soon turned to a disorderly rout, and left his dead and wounded where they fell. By noon the whole fleet had left the harbor. The fired ship was saved, but the stores, to the amount of half a million dollars, were destroyed. For this gallant defense General Brown was made a brigadier in the regular army.
These few detailed accounts are given that an idea may be formed of the nature and results of the conflict on the northern border. Almost invariably the Americans, in defending their positions, were successful; when acting on the offensive, seldom so.
The brilliant victories of the navy, both on the lakes and the ocean, served to encourage and strengthen the Americans, and to fill with bitterness the English heart that had always been firm in the belief of the invulnerability of its navy. On the land in other parts of the country occurred engagements of more or less importance in their results; particularly the burning of the public buildings at Washington and the defense of Fort McHenry at Bal- timore.
But on the northeastern frontier nothing of note occurred until the summer of 1814, when the attack upon and successful defense of Plattsburg brought the war so near to the residents of Warren county, that every inhabitant was charged with its excitement.
The British plans for the campaign of 1814 on the northern New York frontier resembled closely those made for Burgoyne in 1777. The programme involved the invasion of the State, the possession of Lakes Champlain and George, the penetration of the country to Albany and below, and by the co- operation of a land and naval force, the capture of New York; and, by hold- ing the Hudson River, separate by military posts the New England States from the remainder of the Union. It was expected that the downfall of Na- poleon would release a large number of troops, and allow them to be sent to America to aid in crushing the Americans. This prospect gave joy to the " Peace party," who did not hesitate to openly flaunt their joyful hopes in the faces of the patriots, who felt at times that the struggle against their fire- side foes, though bloodless, was far more bitter than the armed war against their foreign enemy. The crushing of Napoleon did release many British troops on the Continent, and several thousands of them were immediately sent to Canada to reinforce General Prevost. They arrived in July and were imme- diately pushed forward to Montreal. In the mean time Prevost had been en- gaged in extensive preparations for invading New York, increasing his flotilla
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of vessels in the Sorel, and otherwise strengthening his force. Early in May General George Izard was put in command of the right division of the army of the North. On the 19th of that month he was informed that the the ene- my below were approaching. Captain Pring, commanding the British flotilla, moved up the Sorel, and on the 13th attacked the American flotilla under Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, then lying at Vergennes, Vt., at the head of navigation on Otter Creek. Macdonough, having been apprised of the move- ment, sent a party to reinforce a detachment of light artillery who had a small battery at the mouth of the creek. Governor Chittenden, of Vermont, also ordered out some militia to assist in repelling the expected attack. On the morning of the 14th Pring's boats and a bomb sloop anchored off the mouth of the creek, where they met a warm welcome from the little battery. For an hour the cannonade continued, when Pring found it necessary to retreat. He then crossed the lake and passed a short distance up the Boquet River for the purpose of destroying a quantity of flour stored there. On his return he was assailed by a number of militia, who had gathered at the mouth of the river. Many of the British were killed and wounded. Meeting with stern repulse in each attack, Pring returned to the Sorel, a wiser man ; for he had learned that the people of Vermont were ready to fight, even if their governor was opposed to the war. A few days after Macdonough sailed out of Otter Creek and anch- ored in Plattsburg Bay.
All through the month of May both parties were making additional prep- arations to settle the question of the supremacy of Lake Champlain and the route to the Hudson. Both sides were reinforced with men and material.
General Izard, contrary to the orders of the secretary of war, erected a bat- tery of four eighteen-pounders at Cumberland Head, instead of at Rouse's Point at the mouth of the Soul, where the secretary, urged by Major Totten, chief engineer, ordered it placed.
In June General Izard made preparations for an offensive movement into Canada. He sent General Smith with about fourteen hundred men to occupy Champlain, five miles below the Canada line. He had eight hundred men at Chazy under Colonel Pearce; and about twelve hundred occupied the penin- sula at Plattsburg between the lake and Saranac River, the works on Cumber- land Head, and a position on Dead Creek, two miles below Plattsburg. Mac- donough was below Cumberland Head, watching the British flotilla, which lay at the Isle aux Têtes. The British had a force of five thousand five hundred men, with a reserve of two thousand at Montreal.
Frequent skirmishes occurred along the border, each side exhibiting a continued restlessness, and apparently anxious to draw out the other. But no movement of great moment occurred till late in July, when General Macomb's brigade embarked at Cumberland Head for Chazy Landing at the mouth of Chazy Creek. At the same time Bissell's brigade started by land for Chazy
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village. While the removal of these troops depleted the force at Plattsburg, the enemy was continually growing stronger. During July and August not less than fifteen thousand men, chiefly veterans from Wellington's armies, ar- rived at Montreal. All but one brigade of these forces were held to participate in the invasion of New York.
Soon after the advance of the Americans to Champlain and Chazy, Gene- ral Prevost arrived at Isle aux Noix, where he had sent a large body of vete- rans, and took the command in person. It was plainly evident that the Brit- ish commander was contemplating a speedy invasion of Northern New York; and yet, with full information of the circumstances, the United States govern- ment ordered Izard to march a larger part of his force westward to co-operate with the army of Niagara. The army and the people were astonished at the order ; it was an open invitation to invasion. The disappointed Izard could suppress his indignation, but wrote the Secretary of War, saying : "I will make the movement you direct, if possible: but I shall do it with the apprehension of risking the forces under my command, and with the certainty that every thing in this vicinity but the lately erected works at Plattsburg and Cumber- land Head will, in less than three days after my departure, be in possession of the enemy." But while continuing to protest, he obeyed orders. Though short of means of transportation, he soon put four thousand men in motion by way of Lake George, Schenectady and the Mohawk valley, and arrived with them at Sackett's Harbor in September. He left but twelve hundred effective men to garrison Plattsburg and Cumberland Head, and made a requisition upon General Mooers for the available militia of the district to assemble at Chazy. The command was left to Brigadier-General Alexander Macomb, with headquarters at Plattsburg.
Macomb used every available method to increase his force. At the end of August he had about three thousand four hundred troops; but these were in a weak condition, full fourteen hundred of theni being invalids or non-combat- ants; the ordnance and stores were in confusion, and the works of defense were all incomplete. Yet Macomb, concentrating all his forces at Plattsburg, worked with energy on preparations for defense.
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