USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 18
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12. The capture of this important post would have inflicted a heavy disaster upon the American cause. Large quantities of naval and military stores had been collected and deposited there; several vessels were in process of construction, and a prize Ves. sel, previously captured from the enemy, and two United schooners, lying in the harbor ; and the arsenal, various battery & cantonments, and other public buildings required for the service of the troops, were of the most valuable nature. The bravery and intrepidity of its defenders against a greatly superior forces deserved and received the highest appreciation of the national authorities.
13. The failure of the expeditions against Stoney Creek, .. d. the Beaver Dam Meadows, organized by Major-General I. born, and the prevalence of a general public feeling of his ine's ficiency and incompetency, about this time led to the removal os that officer from the command of the central division, and the substitution of Major-General WILKINSON, Secretary of War of the United States.
14. An attack upon the village of Black Rock, on the caster w bank of the Niagara River, on the 11th of July, by Lieutena: t Colonel Bishopp, of the British army, was gallantly repulsed by the American General PETER B. PORTER, - Colonel Bishop having been mortally wounded, and a large number of his men killed, wounded, or captured, while the Americans, though great - ly outnumbered, sustained a very trifling loss.
15. On the 14th of August the brig-of-war Argus, commandeed by Lieutenant William H. Allen, of Rhode Island, having ON board the American minister to France, the Hon. William H Crawford, was captured on her return voyage, after having destroyed twenty English vessels, by the British brig Peliccon Lieutenant Allen was mortally wounded. On the 5th of sep- tember the British brig Boxer, Captain Blyth, was captured ofs the coast of Maine by the Enterprise, Lieutenant William Bur rows, who was killed in the action.
Importance of the post. - Removal of General Dearborn. - Attack ups Black Rock. - Capture of the Argus by the Pelican. - The Boxer.
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183
PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE.
16. The most brilliant and important naval victory of the campaign and of the war, however, was that of Commodore OLIVER HAZARD PERRY on Lake Erie, on the morning of the 10th of September, over the British squadron commanded by Com- modore Barclay, consisting of six vessels mounting sixty-three guns. The American fleet consisted of the flag-ship Lawrence, the Niagara, --- of twenty guns each, - and eight smaller vessels with thirteen guns in all.
17. At sunrise, the enemy's fleet having been discovered in motion, the line of battle was formed under the direction of Commodore Perry, and in perfect order slowly approached the opposing squadron. At noon the signal for action - the blue flag of the Lawrence with the inspiriting motto "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP !"-was displayed, and the action commenced.
18. The Lawrence closed with the enemy at canister-shot distance, and for half an hour, assisted by the Ariel and Scor- pion, sustained a heavy and destructive fire from their long guns. Commodore Perry, advancing his ship to close quarters with the Detroit, the British flag-ship, and leaving behind him his whole force, with the exception of the Ariel and Scorpion, for two hours maintained the unequal contest, until nearly every gun of the Lawrence was disabled, her sails torn to pieces, her bulwarks beaten in, and of one hundred efficient men upwards of eighty killed or wounded.
19. At this crisis, Commander ELLIOTT, of the Niagara, per- ceiving the crippled and unmanageable condition of the Law- rence, and the imminent danger of her capture and the defeat of the fleet, ventured, without orders, to leave the line and go to her relief. While passing her to the windward in the midst of a heavy and raking fire from four of the enemy's vessels, Commodore Perry sprang aboard his cutter, with his brother, Midshipman J. Alexander Perry, and the flag of the Lawrence, and succeeded in reaching the Niagara.
20. The contest was again renewed with the utmost alacrity and spirit ; the entire fleet, with the exception of the Law- rence, brought into action, through the exertions of Commander Elliott ; a continuous shower of broadsides poured right and left
The Enterprise. - Battle of Lake Erie.
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SIXTH PERIOD.
into the enemy's vessels, and in half an hour the entire fleet surrendered. Returning to the deck of the shattered Lawrence Commodore Perry received the swords of the several hostile commanders, and indited and forwarded to General Harrison The laconic and memorable despatch, "WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY, - . AND THEY ARE OURS !"
21. This brilliant victory was followed on the 5th of October by the defeat of the British General Proctor and his entire army by General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, in which Te cumseh was slain, the territory of Michigan, ingloriously sur rendered at the commencement of the war by Hull, regained, and hostilities on the northwestern frontier terminated.
22. In the latter part of October an ineffectual movement was made, under the direction of General Wilkinson, by General Izard, for a descent upon Canada, and the capture of Montreal and Kingston. At Chateaugay, in Franklin County, near the confluence of the Chateaugay and Oudarde Rivers, within a few miles of the St. Lawrence, a force of about four thousand men, led by Generals Izard and Hampton, was repulsed by the Brit- ish under Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, and compelled to retreat with considerable loss, and the expedition against Mon- treal was temporarily abandoned.
23. Early in November, however, another expedition or- ganized under the command of Generals Brown and MMacomb, with about seventeen hundred men, proceeded from the vicinity of Lake Champlain down the St. Lawrence in a flotilla of three hundred boats extending over a distance of five miles, under the immediate direction of General Wilkinson in person. At Chrys- tler's Farm, near the Canadian village of Williamsburg, they . were encountered by a heavy British force under Lieutenant- Colonels Morrison and Pearson, in which Colonel E. P. GAINES, Lieutenant-Colonel Aspinwall, and Lioutenant W. J. WORTH dis- tinguished themselves, and after a severe contest of two hours, and with no material advantage on either side, a retreat to the boats was ordered by General Wilkinson, and the expedition again abandoned.
Battle of the Thames. - Defeat of the British army. - Death of Tecum- seh. - Recovery of Michigan Territory. - Abortive expeditions against Canada. - Action at Chateaugay. - Battle of Chrysler's Farm.
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SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
24. The transfer of the principal part of the American forces from the Niagara frontier to the vicinity of Sackett's Harbor and Lake Champlain, and the arrival of heavy reinforcements of the enemy under Licatenant-General Drummond to the former position, compelled General McClure to abandon Fort George. Accordingly, after having deposited his military stores in Fort Niagara, and burned the village of Newark, he opened a fire upon Queenstown and inflicted great and unnecessary distress upon the defenceless and unoffending citizens of those villages.
25. On the 18th of December a fearful series of retaliatory barbarities was commenced by a detachment of the Royal Ar- tillery under Colorel Murray, numbering about five hundred and fifty men. On the morning of the 19th, Fort Niagara was entered, and the entire garrison, with a few exceptions, includ- ing a large number of hospital patients, bayoneted without mercy, in revenge for the burning of Newark and Queens- town.
26. Another party, led by General Rial and Lieutenant-Colo- nel Gordon, consisting of detachments from the Royal Scots and a body of five hundred Indians, crossed over from Queenstown to Lewiston, which was burned and plundered, and the inhab- itants subjected to the most atrocious cruelties. Similar vindic- tive retaliation was extended to the villages of Youngstown, Manchester, Fort Schlosser, and the Indian settlement at Tus- carora, and for several- miles the entire frontier was desolated and ravaged.
27. On the 26th, General Hall, of the New York militia, took command of a large body of undisciplined troops at Buffalo, and Lieutenant-General Drummond, after having reconnoitred these forces, despatched General Rial on the 29th with a large body of regulars, Canadians, and Indians to the vicinity of the vil- lage of Black Rock, near Buffalo. On the next day a sanguin- ary engagement occurred between the two armies, resulting in the retreat of the Americans, and the abandonment of both the villages of Buffalo and Black Rock to the same fate which had swept over the neighboring settlements.
Evacuation of Fort George. - Burning of Newark and Queenstown. - Retaliatory descent upon Fort Niagara, -Lewiston, Youngstown, and other villages. - Capture and destruction of Buffalo and Black Rock.
186
SIXTH PERIOD.
28. This savage and merciless warfare, originally provok~1 by the unjustifiable and wanton aggression of General Mcclure. reflected the deepest disgrace upon both nations, and elicited from all quarters, both in England and America, the strong- est feeling of indignation and mutual recrimination. Its un- avoidable tendency was fearfully to imbitter the sanguinary contest in which the two countries were engaged, and to defer the period of reconciliation.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR TOMPKINS. - SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. - BATTLES OF CHIPPEWA AND LUNDY'S LANE.
1. THE Legislature convened on the 25th of January, 1814. Governor TOMPKINS, in his address to the Legislature.
1814. recommended the assumption by the State of its quota of the direct tax imposed by Congress for the support of the war. This proposition was favorably entertained by the Senate, but rejected by the Assembly by a strict party vote. General Root, Nathan Sandford, and Mr. Van Buren were the Democratic leaders in the Senate ; and the Federalists in the Assembly were marshalled by David B. Ogden, Samuel Jones, Jr., and Charles King of New York, and Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer of Dutch- ess. Chief-Justice KENT was appointed Chancellor in place of Mr. Lansing ; Smith Thompson succeeded him as Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court ; and Jonas Platt, of Oneida, was appointed Associate Justice in his place.
2. Liberal appropriations of money, to be raised by State lot- teries, were made, during the session, to Union, Columbia, and Hamilton Colleges, and to various medical colleges. The com- mon-school law of 1812 was remodelled, in accordance with the views of the superintendent, Mr. Hawley. The April elec- tions terminated in the complete success of the Republican
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Proceedings of the Legislature. - Appointments and removals. - Appro- priations to colleges. - Common-school law. - April elections. - Triumph of the Republicans.
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187
OSWEGO AND SACKETT'S HARBOR.
party in both branches of the Legislature, and the congressional representation.
3. In February, General Wilkinson moved from French Mills to Plattsburg, and General Brown, with two thousand men, oc- cupied Sackett's Harbor. In the ensuing March, Wilkinson, in an attack upon the British near Rouse's Point, was repulsed, and replaced by General Izard. On the 5th of May a British squadron, with three thousand inen, under the command of Lieutenant-General Drummond, appeared before Oswego, with the view of capturing the naval and military stores deposited at Oswego Falls, but met with so spirited a resistance from Colonel Mitchell, and a small flotilla under Captain Woolsey, that they withdrew with a heavy loss.
4. These stores, thus preserved from destruction, were trans- ferred, under the direction of Captain Woolsey, aided by a corps of riflemen commanded by Major Appling, to Sackett's Harbor. On reaching Sandy Creek, within eight miles of their destina- tion, through the treachery of the crew of one of the boats sent as a convoy, the British admiral, Sir James Yeo, was apprised of their destination, and immediately despatched a force to in- tercept them. Major Appling, on being apprised of this move- ment, placed his riflemen, artillery, dragoons, and a body of Indians in ambush ; and on the approach of the unsuspecting detachment gave them so sudden, and unwelcome a reception that they were driven back in confusion, and the convoy pro- ceeded to its destination.
5. Major-General JACOB BROWN, with Brigadier-Generals SCOTT and RIPLEY, were at this period in command on the Niagara frontier ; and instructions from the War Department having been received for the capture of Fort Erie, Chippewa, Fort George, and Burlington Heights, on the Canada shore, active prepara- tions were immediately made for the accomplishment of these results. On the morning of the 3d of July, General Scott, with four regiments, crossed the Niagara River, landing below Fort Erie, and was followed by General Ripley, with four additional
Movements of General Wilkinson and General Brown. - Unsuccessful attack upon Rouse's Point. - Removal of Wilkinson and appointment of General Izard. - Repulse of the British at Oswego - Transportation of military stores to Sackett's Harbor. - Action at Sandy Creek.
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188
SIXTH PERIOD.
regiments, occupying a position above the fort, which, with its garrison, was immediately surrendered to them.
6. The next morning, General Scott, with his brigade and . corps of artillery under Captain Towson, driving before him the British advance under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pear son, took position behind Street's Creek, a small stream enter ing the Niagara River about a mile and a half above Chippewa. On the same evening, General Ripley's brigade, the field all battery train, and Major Hindman's artillery corps, encamped in the rear of General Scott's position ; and on the morning of the 5th, General Peter B. Porter, with a part of the New York and Pennsylvania volunteers and a small party of Indians, oc- cupied a position in rear of General Ripley.
7. General Rial, with a force of about twenty-five hundred men, consisting of the flower of the British army, was posted behind a heavy line of intrenchments below the CHIPPEWA Creck, at the distance of about a mile and a half north of the American encampment, and separated from it by a large plain of about a mile in width, lying between the two creeks, bounded on the east by the Niagara River, and on the west by a heavy wood, with occasional openings of low ground.
8. Towards the middle of the day this wood was found to be occupied by strong bodies of the enemy's light troops and In- dians; and General Porter ,was despatched with his brigade for their dispersion, which was soon accomplished with considerable slaughter. On emerging from the wood, the enemy were dis- covered drawn up in battle array on the plain ; and the detach- ment, panic-stricken, dispersed in all directions, notwithstanding . the efforts of their gallant commander to rally them.
9. General Scott, in the mean time, ignorant of these move- ments of the enemy, had conducted his brigade across the creek into the plain, for martial exercise, at the same moment that the British line were entering it from the north. Displaying his force near its southern extremity, General Rial was confronted by the brigade of General Scott drawn up in line with military precision, and fully prepared, at all points, for the approaching combat.
Capture of Fort Erie. - Battle of Chippewa.
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189
SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
10. The battle instantly commenced with the utmost spirit and vigor on both sides, but with a numerical superiority of nearly two to one in favor of the British, -General Porter's command having become entirely demoralized, and General Rip- ley's forces not having been able to reach the position assigned them. The destructive effect of the American fire on his ex- posed lines soon compelled the British General to order a con- centrated charge on his opponent's front, which was so gallantly received that a retreat was immediately ordered. General Scott at once charged upon the whole line and triumphantly drove them from the field in uncontrollable disorder to their camp on the Chippewa.
11. The enemy's loss in this battle was six officers and two hundred and thirty men, including eighty-seven Indians killed, and twenty-six officers and about three hundred men wounded; while that of the Americans, during the action and the preced- ing skirmishes, was sixty men killed without the loss of a single officer, and nine officers and two hundred and thirty-eight men wounded.
12. General Rial soon afterwards broke up his encampment at Chippewa and fell back on Queenstown, and, having thrown part of his forces into Fort George and Mississaga, took post on Twenty Mile Creek. General Brown, on the 10th, advanced to Queenstown, where he encamped with his army ; and General Rial, having effected a junction with his reinforcements, occupied a new position at the Fifteen Mile Creek, about thirteen miles from Queenstown.
13. On the morning of the 20th, General Brown, in ac- co dance with the decision of a council of war, advanced from Queenstown to Fort George, with the design - in conjunction with the fleet of Commodore Chauncey on Lake Ontario - of investing and recapturing that fortress. Failing, however, in his efforts to secure the co-operation of the fleet, he withdrew his forces on the 24th to Chippewa, where he encamped on the south side of the Niagara River. On the morning of the 25th the advance of the British army, under Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, took position near LUNDY'S LANE, -a road entering
Movements of the two armies. - Battle of Lundy's Lane.
190
SIXTH PERIOD.
the main road below the Falls, - at a distance of about three miles from the American camp.
14. In ignorance of this movement of the enemy, General Brown ordered the First Brigade, Captain Towson's artillery, and the cavalry and mounted men, under the direction of General Scott, to move towards Queenstown, with the view of checking the progress of General Rial, in case he should have determined to cross the river and execute a flank movement up the eastern bank. In compliance with these orders, General Scott, between five and six o'clock in the afternoon, proceeded with his brigade down the road towards the Falls.
15. Overtaking a small detachment of British cavalry in the neighborhood of the Falls, information was immediately sent by Scott to the main body of the presence of the enemy in force, and of his intention to engage them. The column again moved forward in the direction of Lundy's Lane, in its march to Queens- town, and, passing a narrow strip of woods, suddenly emerged in front of General Rial's entire army, strengthened by a heavy reinforcement just arrived under Lieutenant-General Drum- mond, strongly posted on a commanding elevation, on the sum- mit of which frowned a battery of seven formidable pieces of artillery.
16. Against this overwhelming force, consisting of upwards of three thousand five hundred regulars, militia, and Indians, with its artillery in the centre and its wings thrown forward, ready to infold and crush all opposition, General Scott ad- vanced at sunset with his single brigade, numbering not more than thirteen hundred men in all, separated into two divisions, and with only two small field-pieces. A brisk fire was im- mediately opened upon the enemy's line by this small park of artillery ; and so vigorous was the attack of Major Jesup's regi- ment on the extreme right, that the British left, on its front, was partially forced back for some distance, and General Rial and his staff captured while on a reconnaissance, by Captain Ketchum.
17. In the mean time, General Brown had promptly de- spatched General Ripley with the Second Brigade, and General
General Scott's advance. - He encounters the entire British force. - He attacks with a single brigade.
191
LUNDY'S LANE.
Porter with the volunteers, to the support of General Scott, and proceeded himself to the field. Before the arrival of this reinforcement the night had closed in, and the battle continued to rage in its darkness. The incessant and deadly fire of the enemy's battery in the centre shattered the advancing columns as they approached, and the complete destruction of the gallant band seemed inevitable.
18. At this crisis, General Ripley inquired of Colonel MILLER and Captain McDonald whether it might not be possible, not- withstanding the great disparity of force, to capture and silence this formidable battery. The reply of Colonel Miller - " I'LL TRY, SIR !" - has passed into history. Preparations were im- mediately made for carrying this daring resolution into effect.
19. Colonel Miller's regiment was moved forward silently and cautiously, but in perfect order, to a fence on the slope of the hill in rear of the battery, where it drew up in line ; and, after pouring in a well-directed volley, the men rushed forward with their bayonets, and, driving before them the artillerists, took possession of the guns, and occupied the summit of the hill, surrounded by a legion of infuriated foes.
20. The First Brigade, under General Scott, continued in the face of a galling fire to maintain its position, although regiment after regiment of its brave defenders was decimated, and one alone remained to sustain, with a spirit and bravery bordering on desperation, the impetuous charge of the enemy. Major Jesup still held the ground he had wrested from the enemy on the Queenstown road. Not a ray of light, except the occasional flashes of the artillery or muskets of the combatants, illu- minated the darkness of the night ; and at half past ten the enemy's whole line, discomfited and defeated, had fallen back, and again attempted to rally their broken forces in rear of their former position.
21. During the ensuing two hours a series of bold and des- perate efforts were made by the British, reinforced by two com- panies. of artillery, to regain the captured battery, and with it the ground they had lost. Charge after charge, in the deep obscurity of midnight, was made with the bayonet, and resisted
Scott reinforced by Generals Ripley and Porter. - Colonel Miller. - Major Jesup.
192
SIXTH PERIOD.
with unflagging pertinacity by the same deadly weapon ; and after a hand-to-hand contest of two hours, waged with a brav. ery and determination unparalleled in the annals of modern war. fare, the enemy were again driven from the well-contested field.
22. Generals Brown and Scott having both been severely wounded, the command now devolved on General Ripley ; and. after maintaining their position for an hour after the retreat of the enemy, the American force retired, under orders received from General Brown, to their encampment at Chippewa, leaving the captured battery, which they had no means of removing, to fall into the possession of its original owners.
23. The loss of the Americans in this battle was ten officers, and one hundred and sixty-one men killed, and forty-eight offi- cers and five hundred and seventy-one men wounded ; while that of the British was five officers and seventy-nine men killed, Lieutenant-General Drummond, General Rial, thirty-seven of- ficers, and five hundred and eighteen men wounded or cap- tured.
CHAPTER IX.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR TOMPKINS. - SECOND WAR WITH GREAT 1 BRITAIN (concluded). - SIEGE OF FORT ERIE. - NAVAL VICTORY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. - ATTACK ON PLATTSBURG.
1. Ox the 26th of July the American army, under General Brown, fell back on Fort Erie, without being in any man-
1814. ner harassed or disturbed by the enemy. In this new position strong intrenchments and additional defences were thrown up, when, on the 3d of August, the British, again rein- forced, appeared in strength before the fort, and, after having opened fire upon it, employed themselves for several days in vigorous preparations for a siege.
2. At sunrise on the 7th of August the enemy's first battery was unmasked ; and from five pieces of artillery a volley was poured upon the American lines, from which the national flag
Retirement of the Americans. - Losses. - Siege of Fort Erie. - First attack.
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SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
was proudly displayed, amid the inspiriting strains of the vari- ous regimental bands. For an entire week the siege was prose- cuted with great vigor, the fire was unremitting and severe, and the defence, under the immediate direction of General Gaines, spirited and persistent.
3. At about two o'clock in the morning of the 15th, a com- bined assault was commenced on the extreme left of the Amer- ican lines by the enemy, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fischer, with from fifteen hundred to two thousand men. After having been repulsed four times, with great spirit and energy, and with a heavy loss, by the Twenty-First Regiment, under Major Wood of the Engineers, Captain Towson's artillerists, and the Twenty- Third Regiment, the attack in that quarter was abandoned.
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