USA > New York > Genesee County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Genesee County, New York, v. 1 > Part 16
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
The campaign of 1814 was as brilliant and successful, as a whole, as that of 1813 had been disastrous. Experience had been a bitter, but competent, teacher, and the campaign was now conducted by the Americans with more vigor and judgment. In the spring troops be- gan to arrive on the frontier. New officers were in command, and rigid discipline and general efficiency were inaugurated. General Riall commanded the Canadian frontier and had headquarters on Queenston Heights. The One Hundredth Regiment of the British army was stationed along the river from Chippewa to Fort Erie. April 10 General Winfield Scott arrived at Chippewa. A few weeks later Major-General Jacob Brown arrived on the frontier and assumed the chief command. His forces comprised two brigades, commanded re- spectively by General Scott and Colonel Eleazer W. Ripley, to each of which was attached a small body of artillery. There was also a small troop of cavalry All were under excellent discipline and high spirits. In addition to these troops were about eleven hundred volunteers from New York and Pennsylvania, and about six hundred Indians who had been inspired to help the Americans by the eloquence of the famous Red Jacket. These volunteers and Indians were under the chief com- mand of General Peter B. Porter.
In the latter part of May General Scott removed his headquarters to Buffalo, where the troops were constantly drilled and perfect discipline maintained. By July 1, the Americans were ready for action. The day following Generals Brown, Scott and Porter reconnoitered Fort Erie and laid plans for its capture. The capture of these works was comparatively easy. Sunday morning the army passed over the river. General Scott's brigade and the artillery corps of Major Hindman landed nearly a mile below Fort Erie, between two and three o'clock in the morning. General Ripley and his brigade landed about the same
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distance above the fort. A little later a small force of Indians crossed over. The enemy was completely surprised. The fort was approached on both sides by the army, while the Indians skirted the woods in the rear.
General Brown demanded the surrender of the garrison, giving the commander two hours to reach a determinatich. Meantime a battery of " long eighteens" was planted where it commanded the fort. But the enemy was overawed and surrendered at six o'clock, being im- mediately sent over the river to the American shore. The prisoners numbered over one hundred and seventy, all being in command of Major Burke. Several pieces of ordnance and some military stores were also captured. During the brief period of firing which took place in the morning one man was killed and two or three wounded on each side.1
This almost bloodless capture of Fort Erie was but the beginning of a vigorous and successful campaign. July 4 Scott and his brigade pro- ceeded to Black Creek, a few miles above Chippewa. Ripley advanced on the afternoon of the same day. The next day Scott was joined by General Porter with his volunteers and Indians. General Riall was still in command of the British forces, which in the meantime had also been considerably reinforced.
About daybreak of July 5 operations began by attacks on the Ameri- can picket lines, the chief purpose of the enemy being to divert atten- tion from the main attack against the American centre. But this plan failed. The American commander, feeling sure of his position and strength, gradually drew in his pickets and thereby led the enemy into a general action. The Indians fought splendidly under command of General Porter, Red Jacket and Captain Pollard, and the British were soon forced back towards Chippewa with heavy loss. General Porter's command followed, but on reaching the outskirts of the woods he en- countered the main body of the enemy, and most of his men, being un- accustomed to the din of battle, broke away in confusion. The re- mainder of the army, however, soon came upon the scene, and after a sharp conflict the entire British force broke and fled to the entrench- ments below Chippewa creek, destroying the bridge and thus prevent- ing the victorious Americans from pursuing them. In this battle the American loss was sixty-one killed, two hundred and fifty-five wounded
I This account of the capture of fort Erie is taken from the story published in the Buffalo Gazette in its issue next succeeding the event described.
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and nineteen missing. The British loss was six hundred and four, of whom two hundred and thirty-six were killed.
General Riall, in his retreat, proceeded to Queenston, occupying Fort George with part of his troops and making his headquarters twenty miles to the westward, near Lake Ontario. General Drum- mond, completely chagrined over the defeat of the British veterans by what he considered raw American troops, resolved that the British arms should redeem themselves. He therefore at once organized a large army, and with a force one third larger than that of the Americans under General Brown, advanced to give battle. Brown in the mean- time had moved forward to Queenston, where he hoped to find Chaun- cey's fleet awaiting on the Niagara river to co-operate with the land forces. But Commodore Chauncey's fleet did not appear and the army was compelled to prepare to fight it out alone. Riall, however, had received considerable reinforcements in the meantime. General Brown therefore ordered a retreat to Chippewa. On the morning of the 25th new's came from Lewiston that the British were at Queenston and on the Heights in considerable numbers, and that five of the enemy's fleet had arrived and were proceeding up the river. Soon after it was learned that they were landing at Lewiston. General Drummond had arrived from Kingston with reinforcements, while Riall's troops at the same time had been put in motion. That morning a large part of the forces under Lieutenant Colonel Pearson held a commanding position on an eminence in and near Lundy's Land. Brown evidently had not re- ceived intelligence of this movement, for he made plans to attack him at Queenston. Late in the afternoon he ordered a forward movement. Soon after he was informed that a large British force had been seen at Niagara Falls, but he believed that it was Drummond and his troops going up the river to capture the store of supplies at Schlosser. For the purpose of recalling the enemy he decided to menace the forts at the mouth of the river. Accordingly, about four o'clock he ordered General Scott to march rapidly after them with Towson's artillery and all the mounted men at his command.
Within twenty minutes after receiving his orders Scott's command was in motion. About half past five he crossed the Chippewa, believ- ing that a large body of the enemy was on the other side of the Niagara instead of directly in his front. But lie soon learned the true situation. He met the forces of Riall, and the memorable battle of Lundy's Lane followed.
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Scott's command consisted of about 1,200 men. The British force was greatly superior in point of numbers. Retreat would have been fatal to the Americans, and Scott heroically decided to fight, though the odds were so greatly against him. Halting a moment to send a dispatch to his commonder notifying the latter of the true situation, he began the attack. General Brown realized that the battle was in prog- ress even before he had received Scott's dispatch, for he could plainly hear the report of musketry and the cannonading. Ordering the brig- ade under Ripley to follow him, he hastened to the field at the head of his personal staff. Meeting Scott's messenger, he ordered the latter to continue on and bring the whole force into the field. As soon as Ripley's brigade reached the field, General Brown, seeing that Scott's brigade was becoming greatly exhausted by the severe fighting they had been doing, interposed a new line between them and the enemy, thereby holding the latter in readiness for a new conflict.
The British now fell back, their right resting on a height command- ing the whole plain on which they and the American forces were moving. It was now perceived that this height must be carried or the Americans would lose the battle. McRee was ordered to detach Col. James Miller with the Twenty-first Regiment for this hazardous and difficult duty, and to proceed with the remainder of the Second Brigade down the Queenston road in order to divert the attention of the enemy from his right, which was to be attacked. Turning to Colonel Miller, General Brown said :
" Colonel, can you storm that work and take it ?"
" I'll try, sir," was the laconic response. And he did take it.
Miller's assault was a brilliant one.' The British retired in confusion from the line of advancing bayonets, leaving their cannon and several prisoners in possession of the Twenty-first Regiment. About the same time Ripley's brigade advanced and encountered the enemy on the right of Miller's operations. A part of his brigade was broken under the galling fire of the British regulars, but the line was immediately formed again and brought into action. At this moment Major Jesup, of Scott's brigade, who had been ordered to act independently on the right
1 With three hundred men he moved up the ascent steadily in the darkness, along a fence lined with thick pushes that hid his troops from the view of the gunners and their protectors who lay near by. When within a short musket range of the battery, they could see the gunners with their glowing linstocks, ready toact at the word, fire. Select'ne good marksmen. Miller directed each to rest his rifle on the fence, select a sanner and five at a given signal. Very soon every gunner fell, when Miller and his men rushed forward and captured the battery. - Lossing.
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of the American army, after capturing and sending to camp General Riall and several other British officers, proceeded toward the heights as far as the Queenston road. At this point he was joined by General Brown, who directed him to advance up Lundy's Lane and form on the right of Ripley's brigade, whose left was resting upon the height de- fended by the captured cannon. Meantime General Porter had arrived with his command and was formed on Ripley's left.
Fresh troops had been sent from Queenston and Fort George to re- inforce the enemy, which now advanced in strong force. At the first fire, however, the British fled in great confusion. A second attack was made, and the enemy fought with great obstinacy, but two or three volleys sufficed to drive them down the height. Soon another desper- ate assault was made, but this, too, was repulsed after a terrific hand to hand contest, the enemy fleeing in great disorder and leaving many prisoners in the hands of the victorious Americans. In the last assault both Generals Brown and Scott were wounded. The former was shot twice, but remained on his horse. General Scott, however, was disabled and carried from the field.
The Americans now fell back to Chippewa, having effectually re- pulsed the enemy. Here General Brown ordered Ripley, upon whom the command had devolved, to rest awhile and then reoccupy the bat- thefield. The latter disobeyed orders and remained at Chippewa, and this so irritated General Brown that he sent to Sackett's Harbor for General Edmund P. Gaines with orders for the latter to assume tempo- rary command on the Niagara frontier. Through Ripley's disobe- dience the Americans were deprived of the substantial advantages of the hardly-earned victory, for the British returned, captured most of the cannon and again occupied the field.1
While the Americans were really the victors, the British also laid claim to the honor by reason of their having taken possession of the battlefield after the Americans had left it. In this engagement the American loss was one hundred and seventy one killed, five hundred and seventy-one wounded and one hundred and ten missing. The loss of the enemy was eighty-four killed, five hundred and fifty-nine wound- ed, one hundred and ninety-three missing, and forty-two prisoners.
On the morning of the day following the battle General Brown, Gen-
1 This battle was fought entirely between sunset and midnight. The moon was shining brightly, and as there was no breeze its later and more sanguinary incidents occurred among dense clouds of smoke caused by the burning powder.
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eral Scott, Major Jesup and the other wounded officers were taken to Buffalo, Colonel Ripley being left with orders to hold his strong posi- tion at Chippewa until he could be reinforced. Hardly had the wound- ed officers left the scene when Ripley destroyed the military works and stores, demolished the bridge and fled with his army to the Canadian end of the Black Rock ferry. But for the strenuous opposition offered by McRee, Wood, Towson, Porter and other officers he would have crossed with the army to the American shore. He actually rode to General Brown and asked for orders to do so, but that valiant com- mander treated the proposition with justifiable scorn. and ordered Rip. ley to move his army to a good position on the lake shore just above Fort Erie, strengthen the fort and erect new defenses in expectation of a siege.1
Within two or three days Drummond, having received eleven hun- dred reinforcements, prepared to move up the river. August ? the enemy drove in the American outposts surrounding the fort and camped two miles from the fort. In the meantime the works around the fort had been strengthened and three armed schooners were anchored near at hand. Within a few days a detachment of the enemy met two hun- dred and forty riflemen under Major Lodowick Morgan, near the Sca- jaquada creek; but the British were driven back across the river. While this fight was transpiring Drummond opened a cannonade on Fort Erie. This was of short duration, and at its close both sides worked hard for several days in strengthening their respective posi- tions.
August 4, General Gaines arrived at Fort Erie and assumed the chief command, Ripley again taking command of his brigade. On the ith the British began the siege by a heavy cannonade, which continued for a week. On the evening of the 14th a British shell exploded with ter- rific force in an empty magazine in the fort, and the enemy, believing that this would result in the demoralization of the American force, pre- pared for a direet assault upon the fort. At two o'clock on the morn- ing of the 13th a picket of one hundred men was attacked, and a few moments later fifteen hundred of the enemy assailed Towson's battery and an abattis between that work and the shore of the lake. After a brief but desperate struggle they retired. In the meantime the Doug- lass battery, a stone work with two guns on the extreme American
1 Had General Drummond known of the weakness of the American force at this junetare he might have successfully assailed their position.
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right, was attacked by five hundred infantry and artillery of the enemy. This force was soon repulsed, when a body under Drummond endeav- ored to force an entrance over the walls with the aid of sealing-ladders. After being repulsed twice at this point, the gallant British commander went around the ditch and, in the face of a hot fire and after several attempts, he reached the parapet with one hundred of the Royal Artillery.
The success of this endeavor fairly crazed Drummond. Ordering no quarter for the Americans, he posted a band of Indians where they could rush into the works at the first opportunity and aid in the anni- hilation of the garrison. The British now made a fierce bayonet charge, mortally wounding several American officers who were standing the brunt of the attack. Lieutenant McDonough was killed by Drummond himself after asking for quarter. The latter fell a minute later with a bullet through his heart. Three attempts were then made to drive the enemy from the fort. Just as a fourth charge was to be made the mag. azine was blown up, whether by accident or design has never been learned. Many of the enemy were killed in the explosion, and the remnant, being instantly attacked by artillery and infantry, broke and fled from the fort in the greatest confusion. The explosion of the mag- azine doubtless saved the American force from the utter annihilation which otherwise might have been their fate. In this terrible fight the British lost two hundred and twenty-one killed, one hundred and seventy- four wounded and one hundred and sixty-eight prisoners. The Ameri- can loss was seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded and eleven missing.
From this time until about the middle of September the Americans spent their time in strengthening their position and increasing their force. The British did likewise. Until the first of the month the en- emy threw shells, hot shot and rockets into the fort. During this bombardment, August 28, General Gaines was so injured by an ex- ploding shell that he was compelled to retire to Buffalo for the treat- ment of his wounds. Upon learning of this General Brown proceeded from Batavia and placed Ripley in command of the forces occupying the fort; but learning of the unpopularity of this officer he almost im- mediately assumed personal command, though still suffering from the wounds he had received in the previous action.
September 17 General Brown ordered a sortie, during which two of the British batteries were captured after thirty minutes' hot fighting. General Porter's forces accomplishing this victory. Immediately after-
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wards a block-house in the rear of another battery was taken, the gar. rison made prisoners, the cannon destroyed and the magazine blown up. But this brilliant victory was dearly purchased, for Brigadier General Daniel Davis,' Colonel Gibson and Lieutenant Colonel Wood all fell mortally wounded. In the meantime General Miller had taken two of the enemy's batteries and seized the block-houses in the rear. Toward the close of the action Ripley's reserve was ordered up and he was severely wounded. Within forty minutes after the beginning of the at- taek the Americans were in possession of the entire British works, and Fort Erie was saved. Not only this, but in all probability this magnifi- cent victory saved the entire Niagara frontier and Western New York. This sortie is recorded in history as more skillfully planned and gal- lantiy executed than any other, and as one of the very rare instances in which a single sortie resulted in the raising of a siege. The Americans lost seventy-nine killed and two hundred and fourteen wounded. The British lost five hundred killed, wounded and missing and four hundred prisoners. So complete was the demoralization of the enemy that on September 21 Drummond broke up his camp and retired to the in- trenchments behind Chippewa creek.
This splendid victory at Fort Erie was the most important closing event of the war on the Niagara frontier. Soon after, General Izard proceeded from Sackett's Harbor to Lewiston, reaching the latter place October 5. Six days later his forces encamped about two miles north of Fort Erie, where he assumed chief command, General Brown re- turning to his former post at Sackett's Harbor. Izard's command soon numbered eight thousand troops, with which he made preparations to march against the army under command of Drummond. Leaving Fort Erie well garrisoned, he proceeded toward Chippewa and endeavored to draw the enemy into an engagement-but in vain. The British commander had seen enough of the undisciplined Yankee farmers, and fell back to Fort George with as much haste as he could make without giving evidence of undue fear. Izard then returned to Black Rock
1 Brigadier General Daniel Davis resided in Le Roy and was the commander of the local volunteer soldiers. He was a man greatly beloved by those who served under him, though a strict disciplinarian. In the first military organization in Le Roy, in INI, he was chosen lieuten- ant. He had a strong passion for military ife. He was among the first to enlist in the war of 1-12. and was rapidly promoted for his coolness and bravery until he attained the rank of briga- dier general. These characteristics were especially conspicuous during the sortie from Fort Erie. With sword in h's land he led in advance of his division, and ascen led the parapet, though warned not to do so. Reaching this point he instantly was shot through the ar ck, falling into the arms of his alde- de-camp, who had bravely accompanied him. He was buried at Le Roy.
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FROM 1812 TO 1841.
ferry, whence the entire American army crossed over to the American side, abandoning Canada. This practically ended the war, as far as the participation of the inhabitants of Genesee county and Western New York therein was concerned. If some of the inhabitants of Genesee county had exhibited those traits in the early part of the war which brought upon their heads deserved censure, those who participated in the events of the last year of the war won undying fame by reason of their high patriotism, their coolness and bravery, their splendid obedi- ence to the commands of their officers and their general behavior dur- ing the most critical periods of the contests in which they took part.
CHAPTER XI.
Changes Along the Various Lines of Endeavor in Genesee County from the Close of the War of 1812 to the Erection of the Present County of Genesee in 1841-Some of the Sett'ers of Those Days-Early Hotels-The Establishment of Important Manufacturing Industries-Schools-Many New Churches Founded-Effort to Re- move the County Seat to Attica-The Farnsworth Trial-The Morgan Episode-A New Jail-The Land Office War-Discontent Among the Land Holders-Formation of the County Agricultural Society-Erection of the New Court House-Division of the Old and Creation of a New Genesee County.
At the close of the war of 1812 the county of Genesee was in a lament- able condition. Money was scarce, commerce and industry in its vari- ous branches either paralyzed or seriously crippled, and the settlement of the new districts almost at a standstill. Strangely enough, during the war many brave immigrants had taken up lands within the confines of the county, while, as soon as the war was ended, such settlement almost ceased. Batavia and Le Roy suffered less from the effects of the war than most other communities, yet even these centres of popu- lation were in a deplorable condition. A few persons from the East, possibly not realizing the situation, or not fearful of the probable hard- ships which they might be called upon to endure, had the hardihood to come west and locate in the county. In Batavia the following are re- corded as settling during the few years succeeding the war:
1814, R. O. Holden, John Hickox, Silas Hollister, Alphens Reynolds, T. B. Campbell. Joseph Wheaton; 1815, Guilliam Bartholf, T. Beck-
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with, Samuel Thomas, Richard Williams, M. Wurts, Alva Smith, E. M. Cook; 1816-1817, Libbeus Allen, Dr. John Cotes, Andrew Dibble, Richard Dibble, Oren Follett, Thomas Green, George W. Lay, Thomas McCulley, Lemon Miller, Tracy Pardee, Moses Taggart, James Wal. ton, William Sullings, Richard Smith, William Seaver, William Wat- kins; 1818, Ira Boutwell, James A. Billings, Clement Carpenter, Daniel Upton, Moses Wilcox, Aaron Wilcox; 1819, J. I. Bartholf, Thomas Bliss, Andrew Adams; 1820, Wheaton Mason, Seth Wakeman.
These settlements were recorded in the town of Le Roy during the same period:
1814, Levi Beardsley, William Le Roy Bishop, Manley Colton, Paul E. Day, John Gilbert, P. MeVane, Abel Noyes, John Richards, Elisha Severance, A. Williams; 1815. Jeremiah Buell. James Ballard, James Campbell, john Deming, Daniel Foster, Timothy Fitch, W. G. Gustin, Harry Holmes, Timothy Hatch, Joseph Keeney, Marshfield Parsons, Joseph Tompkins; 1816, Versal Bannister. Isaac Crocker, Elijah Crocker. Jacob Gallup, Daniel Harris, Timothy Judd. Harry Lathrop, Solomon Root, Deacon Clark Selden, Elliott L. Stanley, Joel White, Parker Weld; 1817, C. Butler, Nathaniel Farnham, E. Hart, Uni Hurlburt, A. Perry; 1818, Samuel Bishop, Silas Jones, Miles P. Lamp- son, Thomas C. Ladd, Charles Morgan, S. Tiffany, Levi Ward, jr. : 1819, Dr. S. O. Almy, Albert Hill; 1820, S. M. Gates, Daniel Le Barron.
In Alabama:
1814, John Richardson, James Richardson, jr., Hannah Carr, Samuel Sheldon; 1815, William Daniels; 1817, Jonas Kinne, Benjamin Gumaer, Henry Howard; 1819, E. F. Norton; 1821, Robert Harper, James Peter, Joseph Holmes; 1822, James Gardner; 1824, Samuel Whitcomb; 1825, Samuel Basom; 1826, Selah Vosburgh; 1827, Thomas R. Wolcott ; 1828, Jesse Lund, Gideon M. Taylor, David Webster, Leonard Webster, Nahum Loring; 1829, Sterling Hotchkiss; 1830, Daniel Thayer, Ryal Ingalsbe, Elijah B. Ingalsbe; 1832, Gideon Howland, Parley V. In- galsbe; 1834, Elijah and Ebenezer Ingalsbe, Samuel Burr, James Burr, Isaac Duell, N. Baker, jr .; 1835, Jacob Martin, David Martin; 1836, Anson Norton; 1837, James Filkins, George Wight, Abbott Wight.
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