USA > New York > Niagara County > Outpost of empires; a short history of Niagara County > Part 8
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A serious illness usually meant death. Death came often on the frontier. A family buried its dead in blankets or animal skins. And the dead were buried deep, for wolves and other animals might dig them up. The pioneer father read a few words from the family Bible over the grave, which was marked with a slab of field stone.
Amusements were But pioneer life was not all hard work and suffering. Frontier families did enjoy them- few
selves.
The most common amusement was the "bee," generally called to help a neighbor. Not only did a "bee" give pioneers a chance to enjoy themselves but it also accomplished useful work. Frontier folks enjoyed many kinds of bees-quilting, house raising, tree cut- ting, husking bees, and others. Packing food and tools, the whole family piled into the wagon and headed for the neighbor holding a bee.
The husking bee was a favorite with young men and women. Neighbors gathered at harvest time to husk red, blue, and purple speckled corn. Boys and girls sat in rows facing each other and every time a boy or girl husked a red ear he or she had to kiss the person sitting opposite.
At most bees younger boys and girls played tag and hide and seek while older people worked, talked, and drank. Then in the cool autumn evening, after the husking was done, the feasting and merry-making began. Much of the fun at a husking bee was the eating. At harvest time food was plentiful. After the eating came the dancing. In a cleared space neighbors built a great log fire. As the fire burned brightly in the night, settlers forgot work and worry and whirled to lively tunes played by a frontier fiddler. They jumped and clapped and laughed and joked. Even smaller boys and girls danced.
But as the night wore on, one by one the younger children crawled into warm beds made in wagons. And as the fiddler played and older folks danced and laughed, the children slowly drifted off to sleep. Perhaps they did not even awaken as the wagons bounced home under a harvest moon.
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Weddings, hunts, and visiting also helped to break the boredom of everyday life. But mostly pioneer life was loneliness and hard work.
How did pioneer life begin to change after 1805?
As more and more white-topped wagons rattled into Niagara County, pioneer life slowly changed, especially after 1805. In that year several leading men in Niagara County formed a transpor- tation company .. With markets easier to reach, pioneers began to prosper and money became less scarce.
Pioneers could now afford teachers and ministers. Their chil- dren could go to school and attend "meeting" on Sundays, at least in Lewiston. In the rest of Niagara County schools and churches did not become an important part of pioneer life until after the War of 1812.
Villages take root
How did a frontier settlement become a village?
Money also helped villages take root. When pioneers had money, they wanted to buy things they could not make or raise. And when settlers want to buy goods, traders appear to sell them. This ex- plains how some earlier villages started. Usually a tavern appeared first-perhaps at the expense of Joseph Ellicott's Company. Then, nearby, other shops opened-blacksmith, cobbler, hardware dealer, harness maker -- and eventually there were enough buildings to form a village.
Along with these shops came the country store. It sold every- thing from wagons to candy but it was more than a store. Settlers gathered for miles around on Saturdays to trade, exchange gossip, and argue politics. Several villages, including Youngstown, sprouted because of a country store and the country storekeeper was the most important man in the village for a long time. The country store was especially important in the later frontier life.
By 1812, Niagara County was well on the way to settlement. Yet, in their struggle to live, few pioneers saw the disaster of war that loomed in the near future. Soon all their hard work would end in smoke and flames. In the next chapter we shall see war destroy part of Niagara County.
6. War strikes the Niagara Frontier
Pioneers who had just begun to turn the wilderness into farms found themselves unprepared for war. They lacked equipment and leaders and, even worse, they lacked the desire to fight. But they did not know this as they marched gaily off to conquer Canada, with banners snapping in the breeze and drums and bugles stirring their hearts. They felt unbeatable then and waited for the chance to prove it. But when the British and Indians stormed towards them, they forgot parades and bands and conquest. They threw down their guns, sometimes without firing a shot, and fled in wild disorder. As the armies that had expected to conquer Canada ran in blind panic, Niagara County lay open and defenseless before the British, whose torches left black scars in some places where farms and settlements once stood.
But during the first shocking years of blundering, cowardice, and death, Americans were hammered into a tough army. In the final years of the war, American soldiers buckled down and in battles where they could have retreated they stayed and died. Finally they drove the British from American soil.
The War of 1812 begins
What were the causes of the war?
The War of 1812 broke out in Europe, British seized American ships and sailors where the British and French fought each other in a death struggle. Napoleon's well- trained French army held Europe, and British hopes for victory lay in starving the French into surrender. British warships sailed the sea and captured vessels and supplies bound for France, and they didn't hesitate to include American ships among those they attacked.
The British fleets, however, never had enough men to keep the naval blockade at full strength. Sailors deserted in large numbers. Many of them found jobs on American merchant ships. Aboard a British warship sailors ate bad food, earned little money, and were mistreated and sometimes flogged. Besides, many men had been kidnapped by press gangs and forced into the British navy. Life on American ships, on the other hand, was much better. Food was wholesome, pay much better, and discipline was fairly easy. Few British sailors could resist this easier life if they had the chance to join the crew of an American ship.
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Great Britain was aware of this and had warships halt Ameri- can merchant ships and hunt out deserters. The scene was usually the same-the boom of a cannon, the yell to "heave-to," and two ships rocking quietly on the ocean. While sails flapped slackly, the American ship was boarded. And under the muzzles of British can- non, seamen were taken from their comrades to fight in the British navy. The British claimed these seamen were British deserters. But they were not particular which sailors they seized. Any husky, skillful seaman was a prize.
The loss of cargoes and men to the British angered the Ameri- cans. In Washington, Congressmen, who became known as War Hawks, made violent speeches, waving clenched fists, and pounding desks. They demanded war if the British continued seizing Ameri- can ships and men. Newspapers supported the War Hawks' de- mand for freedom of the seas. The British seizing of American seamen and goods, then, was one cause of the War of 1812.
Westerners wanted war to end the Indian problem and to conquer Canada Another cause was land hunger and the desire to control the western fur trade. Americans pressing ever westward cast greedy eyes at Canada. The badly out- numbered British fought off American frontiersmen who were seeking land and fur. They used what help they could get and stirred up the Indians against the Americans. Along the frontier, small war parties struck at lonely farms. In- dians burst suddenly from the forest. Wild screams and the crack of muskets rang in the air. Soon only smoke billowing skyward remained of what was once a pioneer home.
American frontiersmen were unable to fight both the British and the Indians. So they asked help from the United States Govern- ment. They had elected the young War Hawks to Congress because they had continually demanded war with Britain. Frontiersmen wanted war because they felt that Canada would fall into their hands with little fighting. But for many Americans it was not desire for Canada that brought the War of 1812, but the British seizing of American goods and seamen.
War came The British ignored American threats of war and continued to capture American ships. Their struggle with France worried them more than a war with the United States. Every new act by the British brought a growing howl of rage from the War Hawks in Congress. War was only a matter of time.
British attacks continued. Newspapers, politicians, and hot- headed War Hawks got their wish for war. Niagara Congressman Peter B. Porter and his fellow War Hawks celebrated with an In- dian war dance. The cry was, "On to Canada! On to Canada!" Some western frontiersmen pushed through the forests to invade Canada even before war broke out.
War had come. Some Americans greeted the news with cheers and boasting. But they would have been less joyful if they had known the suffering, horror, and death that was soon to be their lot. And a great part of their misery was their own doing.
What were the American war plans?
Americans planned to invade Canada from three points under three leaders: General William Hull by way of Detroit, Michigan ; General Henry Dearborn north through New York; and General Stephen Van Rensselaer across the Niagara River from Niagara County. General Hull blundered in blind fear and was overwhelmed by General Isaac Brock and Detroit fell to the British and Indians. General Dearborn reached the Canadian border but his militia re- fused to leave New York and his invasion failed. Meanwhile, General Van Rensselaer's campaign in Niagara County was un- successful.
Niagara County looks to war
How did the people of Niagara feel toward war?
On June 26, 1812, the war news arrived and spread quickly to settlements and farms. Excited settlers streamed into nearby vil- lages and war talk buzzed everywhere. In taverns, stores, and shops, peopled argued, questioned, and compared the British and American fighters. Newspapers, Congress, and local tavern crowds were sure Americans would easily smash the British armies. Young men especially, could hardly wait to show the British how to fight. They pictured an exciting and glorious war lasting a few weeks or months and then-home with a chest full of medals to be greeted by bands and admiring crowds. "On to Canada!", echoed through the settlements and forests with an ever-increasing roar.
But not everyone wanted war. Settlers in Niagara County and the rest of New York had friends in Canada. Besides the breaking of old friendships, war also meant a loss of trade. But the voices of those who wanted Canada drowned out the voices of those desir- ing peace.
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What were the armed forces of Niagara like?
The home guard and militia lacked train- ing, discipline, and equipment
And so Niagara County, like the nation, began to raise men for the "militia," an army raised and paid by the state. The militia was the main part of the army that was to invade Canada. As a state army, it had little to do with the regular United States Army except in time of war when both forces worked together.
The militia had serious weaknesses as a fighting force. For one thing, officers appointed by the governor had had little war experi- ence. In many cases they knew less than the men they trained and commanded. For another thing, the short, six-month enlistments lasted just long enough to train men. Then, when they were most valuable, the men left for home. As a result, most fighting was done by green troops who had never been under fire. A final weakness was that the militia refused to fight outside the border of their own state.
Some communities formed small armies of their own, a "home guard" of men and boys. The home guard was not much of a fight- ing force, either. The men usually elected the best liked men for officers, and few of the storekeepers or blacksmiths they chose had had military experience. If officers gave orders that the men did not like, they elected new officers. The men felt they had formed the guard and so they could do as they pleased.
The home guard took its training seriously but drilling was more like a field day than a military exercise. It was a ragged group that gathered Saturday mornings in the village square. Most of them carried equipment that had been used in the Revolution- rusted swords and bayonets, three-cornered hats and parts of uni- forms and other odds and ends. Any piece of official military equip- ment was a source of pride. Few thought about things like tents, wagons, horses, and other items needed by an army.
Most men brought their own guns. Those without them marched around with sticks on their shoulders. But ragged or not, when the whole settlement turned out to watch, the home guard burned with pride as they marched back and forth in the dusty streets. After two or three hours of march and counter march, they broke ranks for lunch. Training was over for the day, but not the talking. In the afternoon they gathered in the tavern, the blacksmith's shop or the general store and compared their fighting ability with that of the British. Somehow the British always came out second best.
The militia and the home guard, then, were the main military forces for the protection of American settlements in Niagara County. Ill-trained, ill-equipped, and ill-disciplined mobs, they nevertheless expected to prove their courage and ability. Not until they saw the enemy did they realize the show was over. Then it was too late and they deserted under fire by the hundreds.
The militia and home A part of the regular United States Army guard could not get along with the United States Army regulars was also in Niagara County. Trouble broke out between the regulars on one side and the militia and home guard on the other. The militia and home guard disliked the bossiness of the United States Army and refused to take orders. But there was other trouble also. The regulars laughed at the militia and home guard and looked upon them as stupid, make- believe soldiers who would break and run at the first shot. But like it or not, the small regular army needed help from the militia and home guard.
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Canada repels Niagara invaders
How did the first attack upon Canada progress?
General Van Rens- General Stephen Van Rensselaer of the selaer took command New York State Militia took command in at Niagara Niagara County in August, 1812. From his headquarters at Lewiston, he planned the invasion of Canada. He decided to attack the small British fort on Queenston Heights, whose guns covered part of the Niagara River and the plain north of the escarpment. It was not an easy fort to take because it was surrounded by cliffs on the east and north and slopes on the west and south. His forces outnumbered the British three to one, however, and Van Rensselaer thought Queenston would be an easy victory. As the weeks passed, he gathered his forces and by autumn he was ready to strike.
General Brock outwitted General Van Rensselaer But facing Van Rensselaer was Isaac Brock, victor over General Hull at Detroit. Brock's spies reported that Van Rensselaer was gathering his forces for an invasion. Brock posted sentries along the Niagara River to sound the alarm when Americans started to cross over. On October 10, Brock learned that Van Rensselaer's army was breaking camp. He knew the attack was coming, so he faked a counter attack at Fort Ni- agara to confuse Van Rensselaer. He also ordered his batteries of cannon at Fort George to bombard Fort Niagara. Some Americans in Fort Niagara deserted and fled into the woods. Van Rensselaer was now unable to get cannon from Fort Niagara to cover his in- vasion of Canada.
But Van Rensselaer decided to invade Canada anyway. His men moved down to the river bank during the night of October 10, 1812. But he had failed to order enough boats and the thirteen boats that he had lacked oars. His men milled around in the dark. It was nearly light before any of his soldiers started for Queenston. By daylight of the eleventh the boats would have made excellent targets for Brock's cannons so Van Rensselaer called off the attack.
For the next two days Van Rensselaer's yelling and swearing militia officers lined up boats and made sure the men knew their assigned places. On October 12, again under the cover of night, General Van Rensselaer ordered an assault. Early next morning, his troops crossed the swirling Niagara River and landed at Queenston. Their landing was no surprise. Brock had been watch- ing Van Rensselaer's preparations for two days. And while the
Americans fought the river current, Brock's soldiers had them in their musket sights.
Brock's outnumbered British troops held Van Rensselaer's soldiers to a small foot-hold by the river. By daylight, a stream of American wounded was arriving at Lewiston. The invasion tem- porarily stalled and both sides waited for reinforcements.
Van Rensselaer's position was dangerous. Brock's regulars stood firm on Queenston Heights and the American landing forces faced a constant threat from British cannons. Besides, Brock him- self was marching reinforcements up from Fort George. Van Rens- selaer's army had two choices: retreat and face cannon fire while crossing the river, or make one last attempt to take Queenston Heights.
One of the enemies of the frontier farmer in early Western New York - the wolf.
Captain Wool and the United States Army regulars took Queenston Heights, October 13, 1812
The Americans decided to attack the heights. Captain Wool of the United States Army, with two hundred regulars, crawled along the river bank to a position where the escarpment rears sharply from the river. Wool gambled that the British would not have the escarpment fortified. He and his regulars hauled them- selves up the cliffs using scrub trees and brush as hand-holds. They gained the top safely. Wool's guess was right. The British soldiers, cannons, and trenches faced down the slopes away from the cliff.
Wool's regulars hit the British forces from the rear and drove them from the heights. Now in control there, Wool waited for American reinforcements. If the Americans were to hold this im- portant point against the coming attack, they needed help. At first none came.
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As the autumn afternoon wore on, Brock's reinforcements arrived from Fort George. They stormed the heights repeatedly. In one of these charges Brock fell with a death wound. Captain Wool beat off the repeated attacks but his situation was becoming desperate. Many of his men had fallen before British musket fire, his ammunition was low, and he himself was badly wounded. Be- sides, more British troops were on the way to join those at Queens- ton.
The New York Militia Finally Colonel Winfield Scott taking com- refused to reinforce Wool and Scott mand, led three hundred Americans to join Wool. One look at the condition of the tiny American force on the heights convinced Scott that without reinforcements the heights could not be held. The American line was too thin to stop a determined charge even with the help of his men. Scott knew that if the British broke the American lines at any point he had no reserves to throw into the break. While the Americans on the heights faced certain disaster, large numbers of New York militia just across the river, camped minutes away. But the militia refused to leave New York State: first, because the battle was lost, and second, there were not enough boats to move a sizeable number of troops across.
From Queenston Heights, Scott watched approaching British and Mohawk reinforcements. He heard the faint ruffle of drums on the still autumn air as the long column of redcoats crawled toward Queenston. On both sides of the column, swarms of Indians loped through the bright-colored forests.
Americans lost the Battle of Queenston Heights Across the river in Lewiston several thou- sand American militia watched the final battle. The British and Indian reinforce- ments joined their comrades at Queenston, formed lines, and charged up the slopes. Slowly, stubbornly, the Americans gave way under the heavy pounding. The British charge smashed into the American line. It buckled and then collapsed and the Americans withdrew toward the cliffs. Backed against the edge, they could retreat no further. They died as they stood firing at charging British and Indians.
Those not killed plunged off the cliffs to the river bank in a last desperate attempt to escape. Even those still alive were trapped. The men who had landed the troops had taken the boats and fled back to Lewiston. Crowded to the water's edge, pounded, bloody, and helpless, Colonel Scott and his men could do nothing but sur- render. Scott was later released in an exchange of prisoners.
What happened during the second attack upon Canada?
Americans captured Fort George Eight months after the Battle of Queenston Heights, Americans struck Fort George. This fort protected the area around the mouth of the Niagara River from American invasion. This time General Henry Dearborn commanded the Americans. Dearborn planned carefully. He gathered a large and well-equipped army. He ordered more boats to carry his army across the mouth of the river to Canada, and had the aid of the United States fleet on Lake Ontario. By spring Dearborn was ready to attack.
On May 27, 1813, Dearborn's forces swept into Canada while cannons in Fort Niagara and on the United States fleet blasted Fort George. When the cannons stopped firing, Americans about Fort George charged forward into the sputtering fire of British muskets. They flung themselves at the walls of the fort and broke through gaps made by the cannons. By noon it was over. The American flag floated quietly over Canadian soil. But it would have been better for Niagara County if this attack had failed. After the battle, Dearborn marched eastward with most of his army to make another invasion of Canada. General McClure with the militia remained to hold Fort George.
Through the summer and autumn the Americans held the fort. Then in December, 1813, McClure got wind of a large force of British and Mohawks marching to retake Fort George. McClure worried over his lack of reinforcements. On December 10, he de- cided to retreat from Canada.
McClure foolishly burned Newark At McClure's orders, defenseless Newark, (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), also disap- peared in flames that wintry day of De- cember thirteenth. The angry people of Newark stood helplessly in the snow watching the Americans burn their homes. As they shuddered before the icy wind sweeping off Lake Ontario, they wondered how they would stay alive. After this fateful day's work, General McClure recrossed the river. Niagara would pay a dread- ful price at British hands for McClure's blunder.
Staring at Newark's smoking ruins, the British soldiers swore to burn American settlements across the river. Three forts guard- ing the American side of the Niagara River were Fort Niagara, tiny Fort Gray on Lewiston Heights, and Fort Schlosser at Niagara Falls. If these forts fell, most of the American settlements would be defenseless. Six days after the burning of Newark, the British struck.
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The American frontier suffers
How did the British avenge the burning of Newark?
The British took Youngstown and Fort Niagara
One night, a week before Christmas (De- cember 18, 1813), British and Mohawks crossed the Niagara River and landed at Five Mile Meadow just south of Fort Niagara. At four o'clock the next morning part of the force led by Colonel Murray, moved silently toward darkened Fort Niagara. In order not to alert the fort, not a shot was fired. Tomahawk, scalping knife, and bayonet cut down the sentries.
Many prisoners at Fort Niagara were killed Meanwhile, soldiers at the nearby fort slumbered quietly through the cold Decem- ber morning. Parts of the walls were left unguarded and the main gate was partly open. While sentries huddled inside to keep warm, British and Mohawks slipped through the darkness to the fort. At a whispered command, Indians tomahawked the few sentries on guard and poured into the main drill area before a shot was fired. When the alarm sounded, troops groggy with sleep hardly picked up weapons before the Indians leaped upon them. The fort fell quickly. Almost four hundred Americans surrendered. But seizing the fort did not satisfy the British for the burning of Newark. They turned the Mohawks loose. The Indians butchered sixty-seven helpless pris- oners. Finally the slaughter stopped. Again the fort was quiet.
The British now held the most important fort on the American side of the river. Only small Fort Gray and Fort Schlosser remained. The British and Indians overran Fort Gray and Lewiston After capturing Fort Niagara, Colonel John Murray fired a cannon to signal General Phineas Riall and his army which had crossed earlier. Hearing the signal, Riall and his Mohawks moved on Lewiston and Fort Gray. They were later joined by the force from Five Mile Meadow.
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