Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 23

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 23

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1 Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812, p. 175.

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being a leader. A proposition to include France in the declaration re- ceived ten votes. The act passed the House on June 4, 1812, and with a few amendments, passed the Senate on the 17th. On the following day the House concurred and the act was promptly signed by the president. His proclamation declaring war under the act was issued on the 19th, in which he urged the people to support the adminis- tration.

Although strong opposition to the war policy developed and contin- ued throughout the conflict, it accomplished little else than the crea- tion of political strife. This opposition was chiefly centered in New England, where the ruinous effects on commerce were most severely felt. Congress passed measures providing means for carrying on the war, increasing the insignificant navy, and adjourned on the 6th of July. One of the measures provided for calling out 100,000 militia, the quota of which from New York was 13,500. On May 17 Colonel Swift, of Ontario county, arrived in Buffalo to take command on the frontier. On the 18th, as learned from the Gazette, the first detach- ment of militia marched through Buffalo on its way to Lewiston. Again the old-time anxiety arose as to the future attitude of the In- dians and efforts were made by both Americans and British to gain their alliance or secure their neutrality. On the 26th of May Indian Superintendent Granger, with Jones and Parrish, the interpreters, held a council with the chiefs of the Six Nations. No effort was made by Mr. Granger to enlist the services of the Indians, but they were strongly urged to remain neutral. To this they agreed, but intimated that they would send a delegation to consult their brethren in Canada.

Colonel Swift made his headquarters at Black Rock and by the last of June was in command of more than 600 militia, and there was, be- sides, a small garrison of regulars at Fort Niagara. Many early enlist- ments were made in the militia by residents of Erie county and several companies were also early organized from men who were too old to be subject to military duty. One of these was formed in Willink, with Phineas Stephens, captain; Ephraim Woodruff, lieutenant; and Oliver 'Pattengill, ensign. Another was organized in Hamburg of which Jo- tham Bemis was captain. These companies were commonly called "Sil- ver Greys." Preparations for war were at the same time progressing on the Canadian side, where 600 or 700 British regulars were disposed along the Niagara with about 100 pieces of artillery. Ere long Fort

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Erie was strengthened and a redoubt was constructed on the Canadian shore about opposite the residence of General Porter. Earthworks were also thrown up at Chippewa, Queenston and other points.

The British gained considerable advantage at the beginning of the contest through their early receipt of news of the declaration of war by a courier sent from Washington by their minister. Almost imme- diately thereafter measures were adopted by them to secure the result- ing benefits. Numbers of young Americans who were in business in Canada, either for themselves or others, were taken as war prisoners. The Buffalo Gazette of July 14 contained the following:

The British are understood to have about six or seven hundred regular troops sta- tioned between the lakes from Fort George to Fort Erie. These men are generally those who have seen service in various parts of the old world.

The militia of the province are ordered out en masse. Great discontent prevails in consequence of this requisition, there being no help to gather in the crops. . Many young tradesmen in Canada will be ruined. They are required to take up arms or leave the country. They cannot collect their debts, nor bring away their property, but many have come away and left their all in jeopardy.

The British are said to have more than one hundred pieces of flying, field and garrison artillery in the different defenses on the Niagara River. Fort Erie has been strengthened considerably; a redoubt of many rods in length was thrown up on Wednesday and Thursday last, on the hill, a few rods below the house of John Warren, jun., and directly opposite the dwelling house of Gen. Peter B. Porter, at Black Rock. . Immediately on the report of a declaration of war, the militia in the neighborhood of the lines were ordered out. Gen. Hopkins, who resided a few miles east of Buffalo, on what was called the "plains," ordered out his entire brigade. Gen. Porter, who had been to Washington, returned to his home at Black Rock and immediately assumed the direction of affairs. 1

Almost simultaneously with the declaration of war an event, insig- nificant in itself but important in its relation to the coming conflict, took place at the outlet of Lake Erie. On the morning of the 26th of June a small vessel loaded with salt left Black Rock and started west- ward. A British armed vessel from Fort Erie was now observed by citizens of Buffalo following the American vessel. The latter was soon overtaken, boarded and captured, and both returned to the fort. A few hours later an express rider came from the east bearing the president's proclamation of war.

Universal dismay now prevailed along the frontier and throughout Niagara county. The memory of then recent Indian and Tory barbari- ties was still fresh in the minds of most of the settlers, many of whom fled precipitately eastward to escape their anticipated repetition. To

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dispel the general alarm Ellicott issued an address to the settlers on the Holland Purchase, assuring them that the frontier was well guarded and British invasion impossible. By the 4th of July about 3,000 men were gathered on the Niagara frontier under command of Gen. William Wadsworth, which greatly relieved the fears of the inhabitants, and many who had fled returned and resumed their home pursuits.

The anxiety of the Americans was increased by the apparent fact of the superiority of the British on the lakes. While at the beginning of the war the Americans had not a single armed vessel afloat, the British had three-the Queen Charlotte, twenty two guns; the Hunter, twelve guns, and a small schooner. The first-named vessel cruised along the lake shore off Hamburg and Evans and kept the settlers in constant alarm during the first summer of the war. Her boats were frequently landed and their crews sent among the settlements for plunder. On several occasions men were captured, taken on board the vessel, and after being kept a few days were liberated. On one occasion a party of the British landed near the farm of Aaron Salisbury in Evans and began their work of plunder. Most of the neighboring settlers were absent, and young Salisbury took his musket, pursued and overtook the marauders and began firing on them from the wooded shore; they returned his fire but without effect. They then embarked and sailed northward. Believing they would seek the excellent landing-place at the mouth of Eighteen-mile Creek, Salisbury hastened thither and arrived just as a landing was being made. He again began firing on them. The astonished British, imagining the whole lake shore was swarming with desperate settlers, fled to their boats and the vessel.

The neutrality promised by the Indians did not long continue. At the council before mentioned Mr. Granger intimated to the young war- riors that if they were unable to control their desire to fight, he trusted that it would be on the side of the United States, and that under those circumstances a few hundred of their braves would probably be ac- cepted by the government. Red Jacket replied at the next meeting of the council, urging neutrality, and saying that he hoped no warriors would be accepted by the government without permission of the great council; he also asked leave to send a deputation to the Mohawks beg- ging them to abandon the war path. This was, of course, granted and five chiefs obtained permission from General Brock to visit their Mohawk brethren. Their mission was fruitless and the Canadian In- dians refused to bury the hatchet. A considerable number of the Senecas

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and Cayugas were found on the battlefields against the British during the war

In the month of July a report was circulated along the frontier that the British had taken possession of Grand Island, which was then under United States jurisdiction, and the title was in the Senecas. The exact facts serving as the foundation for this rumor are not acces- sible, but it is true that several hundred Indians appeared on the shore of the island opposite Tonawanda. There were then sixteen soldiers in the guard house there, who had been notified of the approach of the Indians, and citizens had also been called in, supplied with extra uniforms and paraded in view from the river shore. The enemy, how- ever, made no attempt to cross. Red Jacket now called a council and sought permission from Granger to drive off the enemy, using the fol- lowing language:

Our property is taken possession of by the British and their Indian friends. It is necessary now for us to take up the business, defend our property and drive the enemy from it. If we sit still upon our seats and take no means of redress, the British, according to the custom of you white people, will hold it by conquest. And should you conquer the Canadas you will hold it on the same principles; because you will have taken it from the British.

Fortunately there was no need for a battle on Grand Island. An- other council was held by the Indians soon afterward, and a formal declaration of war was adopted and placed in writing by an interpreter. This is probably the only document of the kind issued by an Indian nation in writing. It reads as follows:

We, the chiefs and counselors of the Six Nations of Indians, residing in the State of New York, do hereby proclaim to all the war chiefs and warriors of the Six Na- tions that war is declared on our part against the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Therefore, we command and advise all the war chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations to call forth immediately the warriors under them, and put them in mo- tion to protect their rights and liberties.

In spite of this declaration, however, and under the influence of such of their chiefs as really desired neutrality, and especially the still more powerful influence of early American disaster on the battle- field, the Indians shared very little in the conflict until the second . year.

There was no lack of enthusiasm among the hastily-formed militia that was hurrying to the frontier; but their organization in regiments and companies was only temporary and incomplete, and discipline and

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efficiency were impossible. Lieutenant-Colonel Chapman, of the Buffalo and Clarence Regiment, moved away about the time of the be- ginning of the war, and his place was not filled until its close. Samuel Hill, jr., was the senior officer; but most of the Buffalonians seem to have been formed into separate companies, and Hill's command was thus so much reduced that when the militia was called out en masse, it was joined with Warren's regiment. When this raw militia finally reached a field where the air was pungent with the smell of gunpowder and bloodshed and death ran riot, it was little wonder that they were unable to endure the trial.

Each of the two great political parties, between which the war policy had already drawn a sharply defined line, had its adherents in Erie county. While the war party was the more numerous in this section, there were many men of influence who anticipated and predicted only defeat and commercial disaster as consequences of the oncoming conflict. One feature of the political situation was the calling of a convention at Albany in September, where opponents of the war gathered to de- nounce the policy of the administration. Soon afterwards a call was published in Buffalo for a meeting of those who were termed the friends of "Peace, Liberty and Commerce " at "Pomeroy's long hall"; the proceedings of this meeting were, of course, in sympathy with those of the Albany convention. The real leader at that time in Buf- falo and its vicinity was Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, who, though an ardent Federalist, threw all his active energies into the defense of the imme- diate frontier.

The outline plan for the campaign of 1812 included the invasion of Upper Canada, in the West at Detroit and in the East at Niagara, and the employment of regulars, volunteers and militia. Some weight was given to the theory that a successful entry into Upper Canada would draw to the invaders a number of sympathizers with the republic, as it was known that many who had gone into Canada from the United States would not take up arms for Great Britain.

Early in the spring of 1812 Governor Hull, of Michigan, who was in Washington, informed the president that the British, in anticipation of war with the United States, had sent messengers throughout the Northwest, carrying arms and presents to the Indians and exhorting them to ally themselves with the English, should their anticipation prove a fact. On this account Governor Hull opposed the invasion of Canada from Detroit, as such a movement would throw his territory open to

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the destroying hand of the savages; he urged that provision be made for an ample military force to protect the western frontier and to hold the Indians in check, and laid particular stress upon the necessity for a fleet of vessels on Lake Erie. To a certain extent Hull's advice was taken ; Commander Stewart was sent to Lake Erie with orders to con- struct a fleet. The president called on Governor Meigs, of Ohio, for 1,200 militia, which, with a regiment of regulars, assembled at Dayton, Ohio, and were placed under the command of Governor Hull, who ar- rived on the 25th of May. The object of this organization was osten- sibly to protect the inhabitants of Northern Ohio and Michigan from the depredations of the Indians, but in reality to garrison the post at Detroit. Hull's march from Dayton to Detroit was a long and arduous one, roads having to be cut through dense forests much of the distance. He started on the 1st of June. As early as the 27th of June, Sir Isaac Brock while at York (Toronto) received information of the declaration of war, and within a few days every English post along the lakes had the news. When Hull arrived at Detroit, July 4, he discovered the English erecting fortifications across the river.

Hull's defense of Detroit was an ignominious failure, owing largely to his own incompetency, and the fort and troops, numbering about 2,000, were surrendered to the enemy on August 16. It was a humil- iating event.1

In August the massacre at Chicago occurred, which was incited by the British General Proctor, who was in command at Malden at the mouth of the Detroit River, a massacre unequaled in atrocity in the record of Indian barbarities. In the same month Proctor and Tecum- seh attacked Fort Wayne, but were repulsed. At the same time the Indians under British command attacked Fort Harrison on the Wabash, where Capt. Zachary Taylor was in command, which was successfully defended, though at the expense of much suffering, hard fighting and deprivation.

During the month of September, Gen. William Henry Harrison, who had been commissioned brigadier-general by President Madison in August, took command of the troops in the West, which had been freely furnished by Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, and began an active campaign to subdue the Indians in that section, and also, if

1 Hull was paroled, retired to his farm in Massachusetts, was court-martialed in 1813, found guilty of cowardice and sentenced to be shot. His age and service in the Revolution caused the court to recommend mercy and he was pardoned by the president.

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possible, to invade Canada. This army suffered untold hardships, but, inspired by soldierly commanders, they performed arduous service, and as a whole the result of the campaign was favorable to the Americans.

On the Northern and Niagara frontiers operations began on the 19th of July by an attack on Sackett's Harbor by the British. When war was declared Gen. Jacob Brown was in command of the New York militia and was charged with the defense of the frontier from Oswego to Lake St. Francis. The only vessels on Lake Ontario belonging to the United States at this time were the brig Oneida and the schooner Lord Nelson, which had been captured in May for violation of the em- bargo act. On the 19th of July a squadron of five of the enemy's vessels appeared off Sackett's Harbor. The commander of the squadron sent word by a boatman he had captured that all he wanted was the Oneida and the Lord Nelson. Lieutenant Woolsey left his brig. from which he had removed some of the guns for a land battery, and took command on shore. After an engagement of two hours, the squadron sailed away with three of its vessels disabled, to the music of the band on shore playing Yankee Doodle.

It was now clear that American success on the Northern and Niagara frontiers could be secured only with absolute control of Lake Ontario. On the 31st of August Com. Isaac Chauncey was detailed for the special service of constructing a navy on Lakes Ontario and Erie, and during the fore part of September had a body of ship carpenters at work at Sackett's Harbor. Lieutenant Woolsey was ordered to purchase a number of merchant vessels, which he did. In the second week of November Chauncey, with the Oneida and six small vessels, sailed on an expedition to intercept the British squadron which was returning from Fort George on the Niagara River to Kingston. He encountered the enemy and chased him into Kingston harbor, where he engaged him and five land batteries.' In December lake navigation was closed by ice.

In the mean time important events were taking place on the Niagara frontier. It was a thinly settled region at that time. Buffalo was only a small village, near which a sluggish stream, bordered with trees and thick undergrowth, flowed deviously to the bar over which only the

1 In this short cruise Commodore Chauncey captured three merchant vessels, destroyed one armed schooner, and disabled the British flag-ship, and took several prisoners, with a loss on his part of only one man killed and four wounded .- Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812. p. 322.

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smallest vessels could pass. Near at hand dwelt about 700 Seneca In- dians. Black Rock competed with Buffalo in importance, while imme- diately opposite Fort Erie menaced the Americans. On Ellicott's Creek, eight or nine miles farther north, was the hamlet of Williams- ville. At the beginning of the rapids that extend to the great cataract were the remains of old Fort Schlosser, opposite which was the village of Chippewa. Farther down the river was the hamlet at the falls, with Lewiston seven miles beyond and Queenston with its rugged heights opposite. At the mouth of the Niagara frowned Fort Niagara, the scene of many former military operations, and not far away the small village of Youngstown. Opposite on the Canada side were Fort George and the village of Newark (now Niagara).

Such was the Niagara frontier in 1812 when Major-Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, in command of the detached militia of New York State, arrived at Fort Niagara on August 13.

On the 12th of February, 1812, Henry Dearborn, who had served in the Revolution, had been commissioned first major-general and placed in command of the Northern Department; in June he was instructed to so engage the attention of the British by demonstrations on the frontier as to prevent them from sparing troops for Detroit. On Au- gust 8 he wrote to the secretary of war: " Till now I did not consider the Niagara frontier as coming within the limits of my command," and on the next day signed an armistice with Sir George Prevost suspending hostilities for an unspecified period.

About the 1st of September, 1812, a public meeting was held in the court house, Buffalo, the proceedings of which were thus described in the Gazette of the 8th of that month :

COUNTY MEETING .- A meeting of many citizens of Niagara county was held pur- suant to public notice, at the Court House, in Buffalo, on Thursday last; Gen. T. S. Hopkins, Chairman, Richard Smith, Esq., Clerk. . . A committee of five was appointed to address the Governor on the present critical situation on the frontiers, to acquaint him with the great deficiency of arms and ammunition, and pray relief. and a general committee of safety was appointed to give all necessary information of approaching danger, and also to prevent all unnecessary alarm from the thousand rumors and falsehoods that are constantly afloat.

On the 29th of the same month appeared the following:

About one hundred and forty warriors of the Seneca Nation of Indians from Alleghany river arrived in town last week and are encamped near the village. More are expected from different parts. . . They voluntarily offered to take up arms

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for defensive operations. Yesterday they performed a war dance in the streets of the village.

The condition of Niagara at this time was pitiable. General Van Rensselaer had been promised 5,000 men, but on September 1 his total force on the whole Niagara frontier was 690. When General Brock, after the surrender of Hull on the 16th of August, was enabled through the existence of the armistice to leisurely march his troops and prison- ers to Niagara, he confronted General Van Rensselaer with an army, not large, but well prepared for active work, while along the river from lake to lake, on the Canada side, every important point had been strengthened.

Dearborn had received peremptory orders from the War Department to end the armistice, which he finally did on the 29th of August; but the order did not reach Niagara until September 12. However, as the terms of the armistice left the navigation of Lake Ontario open to both Americans and British, the former were enabled to forward ordnance and munitions from Oswego to strengthen Niagara and to clothe and feed the then destitute troops.

About the middle of September Van Rensselaer sent to Governor Tompkins and General Dearborn for reinforcements, explaining fully his precarious situation. Late in that month detachments of regulars and bodies of militia began to concentrate on the Niagara line. The regulars halted at Buffalo, and were under command of Brig .- Gen. Alexander Smyth; ' and the militia assembled at Lewiston, and were commanded by Major-Gen. Amos Hall.

General Van Rensselaer was to concentrate the regulars near Niag- ara, where they were to cross, and, securing a position in the rear of Fort George, take it by storm; at the same time the militia were to be gathered at Lewiston, under Van Rensselaer's personal command, whence he would cross and carry the heights of Queenston. The plans were carefully made, but through the dilatoriness, if not crim- inal disobedience, of General Smyth, it was well on in October before Van Rensselaer felt safe in undertaking offensive operations. In the mean time one of the most brilliant and daring exploits of the war was enacted near Buffalo. Lieut. J. B. Elliott, of the United States navy,

1 Gen. Alexander Smyth was a proud Virginian, an officer of the regular army (inspector- general) and an aspirant for the chief command on the frontier. Unlike the true soldier and patriot, he could not bend to the necessity of obedience to a militia general, especially one of northern birth and a leading Federalist, who, for the time, was made his superior in rank and position .- Lossing.

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had been ordered to report to General Van Rensselaer to consult with him concerning the building of a fleet to operate on Lake Erie. Elliott was young, only twenty-seven, but a patriot full of zeal and bravery. He had, with the concurrence of General Van Rensselaer, selected Black Rock as the point at which to establish his embryo navy yard, and while occupied there the young lieutenant learned that two vessels of the enemy, armed for war, had arrived and anchored off Fort Erie on the opposite side of the river. They were the Detroit and the Caledonia, the former the brig Adams, taken at Hull's surrender; the latter the property of the Northwestern Fur Company, and reported as having on board a valuable cargo of furs. Elliott immediately laid plans for the capture of these vessels, and fortunately for his purpose a detachment of seamen arrived on the day his plans were laid-the 8th of October (1812). Lieut. Winfield Scott was in command at Black Rock and detailed an engineer with fifty men to aid in the under- taking, to which force were added a number of citizens, all armed by Scott's orders. The total force numbered 124 men. The expedition left the eastern shore at midnight, and at three o'clock both vessels were taken and their crews made prisoners. In his report to the secre- tary of the navy Elliott said:

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 23

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017