USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I > Part 36
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The afternoon had waned; it was 4 o'clock and General Brown was with Porter in the woods; the pickets reported a great cloud of dust and some firing ahead. It was the British army advanc- ing. Scott in the open plain was unaware of this and was moving his troops in drill formation; reaching the bridge, he met General Brown, who informed him of the enemy's approach, and that he would have to fight; this was Scott's only order that day; if it was "fight," he would fight. Two hundred yards ahead was the bridge; Scott reached it and there saw the foe, until then hidden by a screen of trees and bushes; here, in battle array, before our soldiers was the celebrated One Hundredth Regiment under Twee- dale, the First of the Royal Scots under Colonel Gordon, a portion of the Eighth (King's) Regiment, a detachment of the Royal Ar- tillery, a part of the Nineteenth Light Dragoons and a consider-
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able body of the Canadian militia and their Indian allies. Scott further remarked before him a heavy battery of nine pieces com- manding the bridge, which fired at him point blank; but the men went over the bridge in perfect order, with few casualities. The battalions under Leavenworth and McNeil advanced and formed a front line, which brought them directly before the center and left of the enemy. Major Jesup, commanding the Third Bat- talion, advanced, obliqued in column to the left to attack the enemy's right in the woods; Captain Towson with his artillery moving down the road was stationed on the right, resting against the Chippewa road. There was one defect in the placement of our troops, which Scott undertook to remedy: the British right wing outflanked our left; Jesup's battalion moved out to cover the British right and the space between Leavenworth and McNeil was enlarged. It took real stamina to execute these manoeuvers under the steady fire of the British cannon and musketry, but Scott soon had his troops arranged in a manner that satisfied him. Jesup was in the woods out of sight engaging the enemy; the latter ad- vanced and so did Scott, alternately advancing, halting and firing. Eighty paces separated the contending forces, when Scott, seeing the enemy's new flank, opposed McNeil's battalion obliquely to the charge, and flanking a bit to the right. Scott now shouted to McNeil's men, "The enemy say that we are good at a long shot but can not stand cold steel. I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander. CHARGE!" McNeil at once charged, and almost at the same time Leavenworth advanced, while Towson supported by a flank fire upon the enemy; the Brit- ish army meeting cold steel from the long shots, recoiled and fled in confusion. Jesup, in the woods, finding himself sorely pressed, ordered his men to "support arms and advance;" this they did under a galling fire. A better position was gained, and, once established, Jesup's men poured forth such an effective fire that the wood-protected enemy began to retire. The whole British army was now routed, and fled precipitously to their intrench- ments beyond the Chippewa. Scott gave hot pursuit to within a distance of half a musket's shot from Chippewa bridge. The plain was strewn with dead and dying; Scott gathered in many prisoners. Brown, learning of the engagement, hastened to bring up Ripley's brigade for support, but arrived too late.
Our forces lost 328 killed, wounded and missing; the British
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losses were 514, including prisoners. It was a fair fight, in an open plain, breast to breast and man to man. Though outnum- bered, the Americans had driven off a seasoned foe. It was a pointed lesson, that trained Americans were the match of trained Britishers, a fact that the British had before repudiated. Mean- while, a large body of British troops, commanded by General Drummond, were bivouacked at Burlington Heights, near the head of Lake Ontario, and others at York (Toronto). After the battle of Chippewa this body of troops was augmented by those of General Riall, both generals concentrating at Fort George, with a combined force of 5,000 men.
The American camp on July 10th was moved to Chippewa, General Brown intending to invest Fort George, but difficulties arose which compelled him to retire on the 23rd to Chippewa. All heavy baggage and the wounded and sick were sent across the river to Schlosser, under the care of General Swift. The British began to threaten the American positions. On the 25th they were at Queenston and had sent a detachment to menace the stores at Schlosser. General Brown knew of no better man to meet this menace than General Scott; the latter took his brigade and Towson's artillery, with the intention of manoeuvering near Queenston and divert the enemy's purpose to seize the supplies. This movement was the preface to a major engagement that went down in history. Let us see what happened.
The repeated attacks of the Americans upon the Niagara forti- fications in Canada led the British commander to erect Fort Mis- sasauga near the mouth of the river, as an additional reinforce- ment of Fort George. Niagara then, and in the days of the French and English struggle for the supremacy of a continent, as now, is one of the keys to continental power. This was well understood by the British; it was quite as obvious to General Brown in the summer campaign of 1814. To accomplish the de- struction of the British forts, General Brown sent to Sackett's Harbor for heavy guns, which were to be brought by Chauncey's boats; Chauncey, however, lay sick and the guns were not forth- coming. The British, therefore, for the time being had the as- cendancy on the lakes, and their forts were safe enough. Brown, eager for action, did not let this condition disconcert him. He planned to attack Burlington Heights, and, with the intention of deceiving the enemy, make a feigned retreat, which might draw
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the enemy out, and, while thus engaging the attention of the Brit- ish, permit him to utilize his supplies across the river, at the same time quite likely precipitating a fight. This plan failing, Brown hoped to make July 25th a day of rest and preparation, and the 26th a time when he might sent Scott forward to Queenston to force General Riall into an engagement. All went well through- out the morning of the 25th, which was given over to relaxation; no one dreamed that the closing hours of the day would be forever memorable.
During the afternoon a messenger reported to General Brown that the commanding officer of the forces on the American side of the Niagara had observed the movement of a thousand British troops across the river from Queenston to Lewiston. Brown construed this as a threat against his base of supplies, including ammunition and wagon trains and boats coming down from Buf- falo, which, as we have explained, he sought to counteract by a movement against the British forts at the mouth of the river. Twenty minutes after receiving this information, Scott's com- mand was on the march. There were 1,300 men in four small battalions under Colonel Brady, Major Jesup, Major Leaven- worth, Major McNeil, Captain Towson, with artillery, and Cap- tain Harris with his cavalry. The guards were left behind for lack of time to bring them up. When this little body of men had reached a point just above Niagara Falls, Scott saw before him a scattered group of mounted British officers on a reconnoitering tour, and also observed that the enemy was in considerable force below, screened from view by a narrow strip of woods. Scott hurriedly reviewed the situation, as it presented itself to him: the enemy, he argued, had been defeated and these troops were but remnants; their forces had been divided by their expedition across the Niagara, and they must be now at great disadvantage. He, accordingly, ordered his troops forward, confident of a short, decisive fight. He passed the woods, and at Lundy's Lane found himself facing a British force in battle array, and of greater size than he had engaged at Chippewa! It was a critical moment; what should be done? To remain fast was not possible, on account of the enemy's artillery and musket fire; to retreat meant disor- ganization, confusion and, perhaps, panic on the part of the re- serves, which might even now be coming up, all unseasoned by lack of battle experience in the previous encounter. There was
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but one thing to do-advance and fight. Come what might, Scott determined to employ his men against this superior force. The initial attack counted for much, for it kept the enemy on the defensive until reserves could be brought up to sustain the front. Scott lost no time in sending back Major Jones and Lieutenant D. B. Douglass,3 of the Engineers, to report the condition of affairs to General Brown. Jones was to report that the British force, far from being a mere detachment, was a well supported army; Douglass was to report the manoeuvering of the remnants of Ri- all's forces, to protect the divisions sent over the Niagara; he was also to request that the reserves be sent forward quickly.
Let us pause a moment to recall that during the night of the 24th General Drummond had arrived with heavy reinforcements, having come in transports to the mouth of the Niagara; his men were from the bases at Prescott and Kingston. Riall had been ordered to meet him on the 25th, at Niagara, and had marched up from Queenston over the very road that Scott had been ordered to take the next day; not a man had actually gone over the Niagara. These facts were all unknown to Brown and Scott, and they were completely surprised by the formidable character of the army now employed against them. Forty minutes before sunset the battle started, the British lines opening fire upon Scott's battalions at a distance of a hundred and fifty paces. It was the case of 1,800 well posted men against a surprised body of 1,300, but the smaller group under the brave Scott sustained the fire. The British were drawn up on a ridge running on a course nearly ninety degrees to the river and a little below the falls; their left was on a road parallel to the river and nearly a quarter of a mile from it, but hidden from the river by brushwood. Scott, quick to comprehend the situation, ordered Major Jesup, sustained by Colonel Brady, to take advantage of it. Jesup took position in the woods and, concealed by the heavy shrubbery, made very effective use of it. The other troops had been quickly de- ployed into line, with Brady on the right and Towson's artillery supporting, cavalry units on both sides were held in reserve. The enemy, perceiving that he outflanked us on the left, threw forward a battalion to attack in rear and flank; Scott's response was to order McNeil's battalion forward to meet it. The results were
3 Douglass afterward became a professor at West Point and subsequently the president of Kenyon College.
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swift and bloody. Brady, with Leavenworth and Towson, now held the front line; Jesup had succeeded in his bushland fight and General Riall and several of his officers were made prisoners, Major Ketchum of Jesup's forces making the capture in person.
Twilight had now faded to dusk, but the fighting raged on. By nine o'clock the enemy's right had been beaten back from its flank assault with heavy loss. The British center, however, re- mained firm; its position, on the ridge was supported by a battery of nine guns mounted on a knoll; two of the guns were brass 24-pounders. Scott's position was becoming desperate, for the enemy center was inflicting terrible punishment. The British commander only awaited the moment when his reinforcements should come up, to move forward and crush the American forces. Scott, too, awaited fresh troops, and both sides, as if exhausted for the moment, ceased fire and lay in the darkness. The cessa- tion of fire made audible the groans of the wounded above the roar of the cataract, but, while men groaned in agony, fresh troops were on their way to add to the quota of both contestants. The battle was renewed with the appearance of Porter and his volunteers, General Ripley's battalion and Hindman's artillery. Ripley, sometimes accused of being inefficient and delinquent, saw where the power of the enemy lay; it was in the battery of artil- lery. There is some dispute on the part of historians as to who first conceived the idea of storming the battery; both Brown and Ripley are said to have turned to Major James Miller and shouted "Sir, can you take that battery?" "I will try," came Miller's brief but pointed answer. Scott, though wounded, conducted Miller in the direction of the eminence, and then returned to attack the front, in order to favor Miller's advance. "Close up, steady, men !" shouted Miller, and the gallant 21st walked into the very fire of the enemy's artillery, until they swept them from their guns. The Americans were now in control of the stronghold, the possession of which should determine the victory.
Again and again the British rallied to recapture the battery, but as often they were repulsed, the Americans at times not fir- ing until the enemy's bayonets touched their own, so dark was the night. The onslaught continued, but at length the veterans of Wellington gave way and left the battery and the field to the American forces. The American army was suffering greatly from an insufficient water supply; men were not only wailing
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from wounds, but were craving a sip of water to assuage their burning thirst. General Ripley, now in command, restored his line to order. Scott's shattered brigade was consolidated into one battalion and placed in the rear behind the second brigade, under Colonel Leavenworth. It was ordered to move forward to Lundy's Lane and form, with its right toward the Niagara road and its left to the rear of the artillery. A half hour passed; Drummond was again heard coming up in the darkness and there was an immediate assault; the Americans were ready and responded with a terrible fire, both artillery and musketry being employed. After the first discharge, the British threw their en- tire forces against the American center, where the gallant 21st resisted effectually, though a few platoons faltered, later to be brought into line by General Ripley himself. Two charges were led by General Scott, the first against the enemy's left, and the second against his right, flank. Neither attack succeeded beyond holding the enemy's attention; the British, however, fell back again, their principal accomplishment being in wounding Scott.
The third British attack, more terrible than those preceding it, was repulsed, and the British withdrew. The field was un- tenable for either army, the Americans suffering from want of water and the British unable to hold their ground against the American resistance. The Americans retired to their base fur- ther north at Chippewa. Both Scott and Brown were suffering from severe wounds, and the command devolved upon General Ripley, who was ordered to return the next morning and bring back the captured cannon; this could not be done the night of the battle for lack of horses. Ripley failed to return as ordered, and the British, finding a vacated field returned and recovered their field pieces. They, therefore, claimed, and with some justi- fication, that they won the battle and recaptured their guns after the Americans had retreated. Ripley was reproached by his
commander and later removed.
Our forces at the battle of Niagara Falls, more commonly called the battle of Lundy's Lane, consisted of about 2,600 men, and while the British had at least 4,500. In the contest each side lost about 900 men in killed and wounded including prison- ers. The abandonment of the field gave the enemy a considerable advantage, even though he suffered heavily. It meant that the American base at Chippewa was the target for attack; General
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Ripley realized that this was the case, and ordered a hasty re- treat to Fort Erie, destroying the bridge over the Chippewa River and hurling his baggage and stores into the Niagara River. Had the British under Drummond followed Ripley, not a man in the latter's forces could have escaped. Moreover, his ill-advised and almost panic-stricken retreat put Chippewa, the fortifica- tions, the artillery and the military supplies into the hands of the British and gave them command of the entire Niagara frontier.
The army now fell back upon Fort Erie, General Brown placing General Gaines, formerly of Sackett's Harbor, in com- mand. Fort Erie became a new storm center, when General De Waterville, of the British army, moved against it on August 3rd with 1,000 men. On the same day Colonel Tucker crossed the Niagara, with the intention of attacking Buffalo and recovering General Riall, then behind our lines as a prisoner of war. An additional 200 men came over to reinforce this expedition, but Major Lodowick Morgan with a rifle corps of 240 repulsed the enemy at Conjockety Creek and drove them back over the river. The next day (August 4), General Gaines arrived at Fort Erie, to take command of the besieged fort. Works were being built with rapidity and the new commandant pushed the defenses to completion. For more than a week there was an incessant can- nonade by the batteries of both armies; frequent skirmishes took place outside the walls, in one of which (August 11) the brave Morgan lost his life. Indications pointed to an assault by the British; a heavy bombardment took place on the 13th and was kept up until seven o'clock of the 14th. Late in the afternoon of the 14th a British shell fell into a small magazine exploding it with a loud noise; the enemy were greatly encouraged by this, imagining that the Americans had suffered heavily, though as a matter of fact not a man was killed.
Drummond, the British general, planned to invest the fort on all three sides at once, right, center and left. The attack was to be made shortly after midnight, a rain storm favoring the enemy's purpose. Accordingly, at half past two in the morning of the 15th, Drummond sent forward his right column of 1,300 men under Colonel Fischer. Their march was swift and steady, and within a short time, passing around the abattis, they at- tacked both Towson's batteries and the works towards the lake.
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Their scaling ladders were thrown up against the walls, but they found it impossible in the face of the galling fire to enter the fortification. Fisher's attempt to pass around the abattis failed and two hundred of his men fell, dead or wounded. The right column thus busy, the left and center, under Colonels Scott and Drummond, advanced to the assault. The enemy fell upon the fort with great fury, and, though gallantly defended, were in a measure successful. The scaling party drove our men from a bastion, and Drummond, maddened by his losses, mounted the height and shouted to his men, "Give the Yankees no quarter!" A hand to hand fight ensued with the survivors. Captain Wil- liams fell, and Lieutenants McDonough and Watmough were se- verely wounded. McDonough called for quarter, but Drummond, having ordered his men to give none, refused it. McDonough now determined to fight until he could do so no longer, and, seizing a handspike, he defended himself from his assailants until the infuriated Drummond sent a bullet into the wounded man; one of McDonough's friends, seeing this, killed Drummond with a single shot. The savage attack of the British was de- signed to set an example to the Indians, who waited outside until the time came for them to enter the fort and execute their ven- geance in approved style. A mystery here presents itself : it may be inquired where the wounded McDonough went after Drum- mond shot him; did he roll off the parapet, or was a serious injury feigned? These questions are pertinent when we know what followed the British attempt to hold the bastion, and the futile struggle of the Americans to recapture it, the narrow passage way preventing the latter from getting in. Suddenly, and just at the moment when another desperate attempt was being made to drive out the enemy, there was a terrific explosion, the earth trembling and a column of flame and smoke shooting high in the air. The bastion had been blown up by the ignition of a powder magazine beneath it! Thus were the British driven out, and the fort cleared. But how did the explosion occur? Did the wounded McDonough drop the match that caused the explosion? Historians speculate, but none can answer the riddle; at any rate, howsoever the event happened, it saved our garrison from a terrible massacre.
Following this incident, the batteries of Biddle and Fanning opened on the British, causing their lines to break and flee to their
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entrenchments, leaving 221 dead, 174 wounded and 186 prisoners. Was humane treatment accorded these foemen who had been in- structed to give none? It was. The Americans lost seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded, and eleven missing. The British losses (Adjutant-General Baynes gives figures somewhat different) were reported as fifty-seven killed, 309 wounded and 539 missing. The British had been repulsed but they had not given up. While the Americans were mounting additional guns, to the number of twenty-seven, and augmenting their forces to 3,000, the enemy had also received reinforcements. On August 28th they again began a bombardment, throwing hot shot, shells and rockets into the fort. One shell fell into General Gaines' headquarters and, exploding, so wounded him that he was compelled to retire to Buffalo. General Brown, recovering at Batavia from wounds, came on to the scene and ordered General Ripley to take com- mand, but Ripley's unpopularity with a certain group forced Brown to relieve him and to assume personal command. Fort Erie was in grave danger of a successful investment, but nature interposed with heavy rains, making the terrain a poor field for battle, leaving the British camp a marsh and causing an outbreak of fever. This predicament of the enemy furnished to General Brown an opportunity for an aggressive movement. After a council with his officers, he planned a sortie on the morning of September 17th, in which he would "* * storm the batteries, destroy the cannon, and roughly handle the brigade upon duty before those in reserve could be brought into action."4 Toward noon on the 17th the forces were ready. General Porter was to have the left with his volunteers and militia, and, by a cautious and circuitous route, was to creep through the woods and assail the enemy's right. General James Miller was to move from the right and attack the British center. The remainder of the Twenty-first Regiment, under Ripley, was to be posted as a re- serve out of sight of the enemy. Porter did not fail in his move- ment and was within a few yards of the enemy's works before his presence was suspected. The amazed British fell back, two of their batteries were stormed and within a half hour were cap- tured. Immediately a block house in the rear of another battery fell, the garrison made prisoners, the cannon destroyed and the
4 General Brown's report to the Secretary of War.
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magazine blown up. The fight was not an easy one, for the Brit- ish lines were protected by entanglements of three branches and an abattis, the latter in this instance being lines of stakes driven into the ground obliquely with the sharpened ends facing the enemy; to penetrate these defenses meant a vigorous struggle in the face of British fire. While the Americans were crawling through the entanglements the British reserves came up and be- gan to fire. Hand-to-hand fighting commenced with great ferocity, and, though the Americans penetrated the defense line, they were compelled to endure a disconcerting cross-fire; they were not discouraged and held their ground stubbornly.
During this sortie the officers were everywhere in the face of danger and often got into situations of great risk. General Porter at one time found himself alone, and a few steps showed that he had run into a detachment standing between One and Two bat- teries. He could neither advance nor retreat, and, thus placed, partially screened by the undergrowth, he called out boldly, "That's right, my good fellows; surrender and we will take good care of you." The deception was so perfect that every man in the company threw down his gun and turned to march to the rear. All went well until the soldier who stood next to the left guide saw that Porter was without even a squad to support him; with a flash of intiution, he grabbed a bayonet, came to the posi- tion of charge and demanded Porter's surrender. Porter was now in an awkward situation, but, with a tiger-like spring, he grasped the musket and began to wrestle for its possession, injuring his hand as he struggled; others of the enemy now set upon him, and Porter was on the point of yielding, when he called out for them to cease resistance, for they were all surrounded and would be put to death if they continued their struggle. Fortunately for Porter, Lieutenant Chatfield, of the Cayuga Rifles, heard the com- motion and came to the rescue with his riflemen, thus saving the General, and the latter in his report writes of Chatfield as one «* * by whose intrepidity I was, during the action, extri- cated from the most unpleasant situation."5
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