USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 62
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Of the stirring and diversified scenes of flight and refuge, pre- sented upon the south route, via Willink and the old "Big Tree" road on the 30th of December, the author is enabled to give some account from personal observation and recollection. Detached members of many of the families of Buffalo, took that route. During the latter part of the 30th, and forenoon of the 31st, the road from Willink to Turner's Corners in Sheldon, presented one continuous column of retreating soldiers, men, women and children from Buffalo, families from the settlements in all the southern por- tion of what is now Erie county, and the Indians en masse, from the Buffalo Reservation. An ox sled would come along bearing wounded soldiers, whose companions had perhaps pressed the slow team into their service; another, with the family of a settler, a few "household goods that had been hustled upon it, and one, two or three, wearied females from Buffalo, who had begged the privilege of a ride and the rest that it afforded; then a litter, borne upon men's shoulders, upon which was reclined, a wounded soldier, or an infirm citizen; then squads of women and children on foot; then a remnant of some dispersed corps of militia, hugging as booty, "as spoils of the vanquished," the arms they had neglected to use; then squads and families of Indians, on foot and on ponies, the squaw with her pappoos upon her back, and a bevy of juvenile Senecas in her train; and all this is but a stinted programm of the scene that was presen- ted. Bread, meats and drinks, soon vanished from the log taverns on the routes, and the stationary and fleeing settlers divided their scanty stores with the almost famished that came from the frontiers.
It was a crisis of suffering and privation; a winter of gloom and
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despondeney. Language, at this distant day, is inadequate to enable the reader fully to realize the then condition of the Holland Purchase. Throughout all the back settlements, there were the half deserted neighborhoods; the solitary log house, no smoke rising from its stick chimney; cattle, sheep, and swine, hovering around, and looking in vain for some one to deal out their accus- tomed food. Upon the immediate frontier, stretching out in a long continuous line, from a strong fortress, where the invaders were entrenched, were the blackened remains of once happy homes, scathed and desolated; a gloomy stillness brooding over the scene, so profound, that the gaunt wolf, usually stealthy and prowling, came out of his forest haunts at mid day, and lapped the elotted snow, or snatched the dismembered limb of a human corse that in haste and flight had been denied the right of sepulture !
Thus ended the disastrous campaign of 1813. To give the reader, in a concise form, that which will furnish a vivid and truth- ful description of the condition of the Holland Purchase, after the invasion, the author selects some cotemporary accounts. The first is a circular letter, the nature and objects of which are sufficiently explained by its contents :-
CANANDAIGUA, 8th Jan. 1814.
GENTLEMEN -
Niagara county and that part of Genesee which lies west of Batavia are completely depopulated. All the settlements in a section of country forty miles square, and which contained more than twelve thousand souls, are effectually broken up. These facts you are undoubtedly acquainted with; but the distresses they have produced, none but an eye witness can thoroughly appreciate. Our roads are filled with people, many of whom have been reduced from a state of competency aud good prospects to the last degree of want and sorrow. So sudden was the blow by which they have been crushed, that no provisions could be made either to elude or to meet it. The fugitives from Niagara county especially were dispersed under circumstances of so much terror that in some cases, mothers find themselves wandering with strange children, and children are seen accom- panied by such as have no other sympathies with them than those of common sufferings. Of the families thus separated, all the members can never again meet in this life; for the same violence which has made them beggars, has forever deprived them of their heads, and others of their branches. Afflictions of the mind so deep as have been allotted to these unhappy people, we cannot cure. They can probably be subdued only by His power who can wipe away all tears. But shall we not endeavor to assuage them! To their bodily wants we can certainly administer. The inhabitants of this village have made large contributions for their relief, in provisions, clothing and money. And we have been appointed, among other things, to solicit further relief for them, from our wealthy and liberal minded fellow citizens. In pursuance of this appointment, may we ask you, gentlemen, to interest yourselves particularly in their behalf. We believe that no occasion has ever occured in our country which presented stronger claims upon indi-
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vidual benevolence, and we humbly trust that whoever is willing to answer these claims will always entitle himself to the precious reward of active charity. We are gentlemen, with great respect.
WM. SHEPARD, THAD'S CHAPIN, MOSES ATWATER, N. GORHAM, MYRON HOLLEY,
THOMAS BEALS, PHINEAS P. BATES.
Com. of safety and relief at Canandaigua.
To the HON. PHILIP S. VAN RENSSELAER, HON. JAMES KENT,
HON. AMBROSE SPENCER,
STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, EsQ.
ELISHA JENKINS, EsQ.
REV. TIMOTHY CLOWES,
REV. WILLIAM NEILL,
REV. JOHN M. BRADFORD.
In answer to this stirring and timely appeal for aid, the Legisla- ture of the State made an immediate appropriation of fifty thousand dollars; the Common Council of Albany, one thousand; that of New York, three thousand; and liberal subscriptions were made by the citizens of Albany, New York, Canandaigua and in other localities; to which, among other donations were added, a donation of two thousand dollars by the Holland Company, and one of two hundred dollars, by Joseph Ellicott. In the forepart of March, the Commit- tee at Canandaigua, reported that they had received from different sources, over thirteen thousand dollars; making, with the Legislative appropriation, over sixty three thousand dollars. It was a much needed and timely aid, and did much to relieve the immediate necessities of the sufferers.
As soon as the news of the invasion reached Washington, Presi- dent Madison despatched Gen. Cass to the Niagara frontier, to enquire into the causes of the disasters, and recommend such meas- ures of relief and defence as should seem necessary. The following letter was addressed by him to the Secretary of War :-
WILLIAMSVILLE, January 12th, 1814.
I passed this day the ruins of Buffalo. It exhibits a scene of distress and destruc- tion, such as I have never before witnessed. The events which have recently transpired in this quarter, have been so astonishing and unexpected, that I have been induced to make some inquiry into their causes and progress; and doubting whether you have received any correct information upon the subject. I now trouble you with the detail.
The fall of Niagara has been owing to the most criminal negligence. The force in it was fully competent to its defence. The commanding officer, Captain Leonard, it is
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confidently said, was at his own house, three miles from the fort, and all the other offi- cers appear to have rested in as much security as though no enemy was near them. Captains Rogers and Hampton, both of the 24th, had companies in the fort. Both of them were absent from it. Their conduct ought to be strictly investigated. I am also told that Major Wallace of the 5th, was in the fort. He escaped and is now at Erie. The circumstances attending the destruction of Buffalo, you will have learned before this reaches you. But the force of the enemy has been greatly magnified. From the most careful examination, I am satisfied that not more than six hundred and fifty men, of regulars, militia and Indians, landed at Black Rock. To oppose these we had from two thousand five hundred to three thousand militia. All except a very few of them, behaved in the most cowardly manner. They fled without discharging a musket. The enemy continued on this side of the river until Saturday. All their movements betrayed symptoms of apprehension. A vast quantity of property was left in the town uninjured, and the Ariel, which lies four miles above, is safe. Since the first inst., they have made no movement. They continue to possess Niagara, and will probably retain it until a force competent to its reduction arrives in its vicinity.
LEWIS CASS.
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Niagara county, to his friend in Oneida county, copied from the Buffalo Gazette of Feb. Ist. 1814 :-
". I have visited the smoking ruins of the once pleasant, delightful and flourishing village of Buffalo. Black Rock, Manchester, Lewiston, and the whole frontier, which were, not long since, enjoyed by hundreds of families, now present a scene of desolation; all swept by the besom of destruction. The wretched tenants of this whole frontier have been driven from their homes in the severity of winter; many, in their haste to snatch their wives and children from the tomahawk and scalping knife, were enabled to preserve but little of their effects from the flames; and many, whose houses were not burned by the enemy, after having abandoned their dwellings, to escape the ravages of their foe, returning after the alarm was over, found that their effects were plundered, by the villians who prowl about the deserted country, too cowardly to face an enemy of infe- rior force, and base enough to rob their neighbors of the property the enemy had spared.
" It would make your heart ache to see the women and children of the county fleeing from their homes and fire sides, to encounter the wintry blast, and all the miserios of a deprivation of all the necessaries and comforts of life. Many poor families have lost all - many persons in trade have been ruined-and many, whose circumstances were affluent, have been brought almost to beggary. I cannot, for a moment, suppose that the general government, will turn a deaf ear to the legal demands of the sufferers. Should Congress not act promptly on this occasion an application should be made to our State Legislature; and in order that immediate relief should be extended to the sufferers, a subscription ought to be circulated in our principal cities; and from their liberality on occasions less operative on the public sympathy, we have every hope of something very efficient being done, by the exertions of individuals."
During the last winter, Major Douglass, an officer in the U. S. army, serving upon the Niagara frontier in the war of 1812, effi- ciently and bravely, as the records of that period testify, delivered a course of lectures before the Young Men's Association in Buf- falo, replete with interesting personal recollections, of war events.
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The following was his graphie description of Buffalo, as he first saw it: -
"On the 9th of July, at noon, we arrived at Buffalo - not the enterprising and busy metropolis of Western New York, that it now is, spreading its noble avenues miles in length on every side, and rearing aloft its stately edifices and glittering domes - but a wide and desolate expanse - with only two small houses visible - a few rude sheds and shanties - a soiled tent here and there -and in one or two places, a row of marquees, of the better sort -apparently giving shelter to some wounded men. They were all the habitations, or substitutes for habitations, that the place afforded. Half a dozen isolated sentinels were seen on post keeping guard over as many irregular piles of loose stone and camp equipage; and the grounds recently occupied by the camp, thick set with rows of measured squares, worn smooth on the surface, and scattered here and there with fragments of soldiers' clothes, old belts and accoutrements of various kinds, gave an air of desolation to the whole scene only rendered more striking by these details; - and in fact, Buffalo, just deserted by the busy groups which had a few days before occupied it -was desert and comfortless beyond any power of mine to describe. The two build- ings were, above and below, filled with wounded officers from the battle of Chippewa; -- and here during an hour's halt, under no very pleasing auspices, commenced our intercourse with the realities of war."
As promised in some remarks made at the commencement of this chapter, the author adds to these brief glimpses of the war of 1812, a passage of its history, of a far different character than the one that precedes it. The gallant conduct of the volunteers of the Holland Purchase, and all Western New York, at the Sortie of Fort Erie, goes far to redeem the character of our local militia, so tarnished and forfeited, by cowardice and flight-by the unnecessary surren- der of the whole frontier to a weak invasion; - as a finale to a cam- paign of failures and disasters.
About the first of September, 1814, the militia in all the counties west of the Genesee river, were called out en masse, and ordered to march to Buffalo; the object of this extraordinary movement was well known and fully appreciated by most of the pioneers on the Holland Purchase. The whole body of our regular troops on the Niagara frontier, being about one thousand effective men, were closely beseiged in Fort Erie, a position of no considerable strength being little better than an open encampment, by an army of about four thousand well disciplined British troops and a body of Canadian militia: under this state of things, our little army could not be expected, long to retain their position, neither could they safely evacuate the fort and retreat. These considerations fired the breast of every patriot; if the prescribed regulations of the militia law were in many instances disregarded, they were in most instances over-leaped on the side of patriotism: the enquiry was not "am I
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subject to perform militia duty," but "how and when can I be of most service to my country." The land office was shut; the mer- chants' stores were closed; the mechanics' shops ceased to produce their wonted din of industry, and the husbandman's working cattle enjoyed a long sabbath; rich and poor, youth and old age, were impelled more forcibly by the voice of patriotism, than by the warning summons of the officiating sergeant: they were all wend- ing their way to Buffalo to assist our brave soldiers who had then so lately crowned themselves with glory at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane.
Buffalo, at that period, exhibited nothing but the ruins of a sacked and burnt village. Some twelve or fifteen roofs only had been raised over those ruins, and a portion of these were erected on the ground, over the old cellars. After the militia had chiefly congre- gated, they were paraded two successive days, where now stand the lofty edifices of the city, and volunteers solicited to cross the Niagara and repair to Fort Erie. The call was generally respon- ded to with alacrity, although there were some who had left their homes under charge of officers, merely to save their fines; men who availed themselves of their constitutional privilege of refusing to cross the lines. These scrupulous heroes were not suffered to return to their homes, but were retained and organized into a sepa- rate corps, called " Buffalo Guards."
Fort Erie, or rather the encampment called by that name, lying at the outlet of lake Erie into the Niagara river, on the Canada side, was, at that time, composed of "Old Fort Erie," consisting of two large stone mess-houses and one bastion, mounted with eannon, situated near the margin of Niagara river, and a high, artificial mound, transformed from Snake Hill, about one hundred and fifty rods southerly of the old fort. . This mound was sur- mounted by breast-works and planted with cannon, and was called Towson's battery. This redoubt was connected with the old fort by a parapet of earth thrown up between them with a western angle; from this parapet traverses extended into the encampment. The open esplanade on the west and north of our works was but from sixty to eighty rods wide, where it terminated in a dense forest; standing on a marshy or swamp bottom between this lengthy parapet and the shores of the Niagara river and lake Erie, was the encampment of our regular soldiers.
The British invested this encampment or fort, the latter part of
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July. In the first place, they erected a battery at the water's edge on the Niagara river below the fort, to annoy the navigation between the fort and Buffalo, and proceeded to approach the fort regularly by erecting batteries in the edge of the woods farther and farther south, and unmasking them in the night by chopping out a vista towards our works .* Thus was Fort Erie circum- stanced when our volunteers were conveyed in boats, from Buffalo to Fort Erie, which was effected principally in the night, to guard against the British fire from their water battery. The ground designated for the encampment of the volunteers, about fifteen hundred in number, was on the lake shore, above Towson's bat- tery, extending some fifty rods westward to near the corner of the woods; on the summit of the bank thrown up by the surges of the lake in boisterous weather, there was a sod breast-work, hastily erected by the volunteers, between which and the lake shore they encamped on the 8th, 9th and 10th of September, and were placed under the immediate command of Gen. Peter B. Porter, who bivouaced in their midst.
Maj. Gen. Brown, commander-in-chief of our forces on the Niagara frontier, having his head quarters in the regular encamp- ment, was well informed of the situation and proceedings of the British army. The main encampment of the British was on a farm about one and a half miles west of the fort. The British force was divided into three divisions or brigades, of fourteen or fifteen hundred men each, one of which was kept on duty at the batteries, four and twenty hours, every three days, and quartered in the main encampment the rest of the time. They had unmasked two swamp batteries and had nearly completed another which was nearer our works and was placed in a better position for raking our encampment than either of the others. One of the British brig- ades was composed chiefly of Germans, called the De Waterville brigade, and Gen. Brown knew that this brigade would be on duty at the batteries on the 17th of the month, and determined on a sortie from the fort on that day, as it would precede the time of unmasking the third battery. On the 16th, Majors Frazer and Riddle, volunteer aids to Gen. Porter, with a party of one hundred men each, half having axes and the other half carrying their arms, proceeded in a circuitous route through the woods to within a few
* On the night of the 15th of August they attempted to carry it by storm, but being repulsed, they continued the siege, pushing their advances nearer the fort.
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yards of their third battery, which was on the south of the others, from whence each party underbrushed a track back, curving and diverging, to escape the most miry swamps; this they effected in good order without even exciting the suspicion of the enemy.
On the morning of the 17th, although the sky was lowery, the faces of the volunteers were bright and cheerful, they had learned that something was to be done that day to bring the siege to a close, many knew and most of the others suspected the manner in which it was intended to be effected; during the forenoon the several companies were paraded, the object of the intended movement explained, and excuses for not participating therein received. During this time, one of the "Batavia volunteers," (a kind of independent partizan corps,) while on Towson's battery, heard read a hand-bill announcing the victory obtained by our sailors and militia at Plattsburg six days before; the volunteer solicited the handbill of Col. Towson, to be read to the volunteers on parade, which was granted. The effect the reading of this handbill before the several companies had on the volunteers, can be easier imagined than described, although an almost unanimous assent had been cheerfully given to participate in the fortunes of the enterprise; headaches, colds, and lameness, which had been mentioned, were instantly dispensed with for the time being; a new impetus was given to the valor of the whole; all were anxious to march .* Each volunteer, officers as well as privates, was required to dispense with his hat or cap, and substitute a pocket handkerchief or a strip of red glazed cloth, of which large rolls were furnished; not a hat or cap was worn except by Gen. Porter.
At noon, the whole of the volunteers were formed in two col- umns, each headed by a detachment of regular riflemen and dis- mounted dragoons as vanguards, the whole under the immediate command of Gen. Porter. They were marched a short distance up the lake shore to the two paths, traced by Majors Frazer and Riddle, when they merged into the dense miry forest. At the commencement of the march, the two columns were flanked by about twenty Seneca Indians and the Batavia volunteers under
* Several years after this campaign, while General Miller and another gentleman were reviewing this ground, the General pointed out to the gentleman the ravine in which the regular troops lay awaiting the attack, and observed that the handbill above- mentioned was brought into the ravine and read to his men while there, to which cir- cumstance he attributed their spirited conducted and undaunted bravery at the time of the attack, which followed immediately
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Capt. Robert Fleming.
The Indians, however, finding that their position would become the most hazardous of any, huddled together and refused to proceed; on which the two columns were halted, a portion of the regulars were detached to carry the left wing, and the Batavia volunteers and Indians ordered between the two col- umns. About this time it began to rain, which continued the residue of the day. After a slow and silent march of upwards of two hours, having halted several times to regulate disorders occa- sioned by the rough and mazy paths pursued, the heads of the col- umns arrived, unperceived by the enemy, within pistol shot of the new battery, No. 3. A musket was hardly discharged by the sentinel on duty, when the whole assailing party brought into requistion the full strength of their lungs. In giving their shouts or whoops, which literally "made the welkin ring," they were dis- tinctly heard at Buffalo and Black Rock. The German troops posted at this battery and blockhouse, being taken by entire surprise, at mid-day, at once surrendered. The volunteers pursued their victory to battery No. 2, and were taking possession of that at the point of the bayonet, when the regulars appeared in front, issuing from the ravine in which they had lain concealed. The volunteers and regular soldiers now joined, attacked and carried battery No. 1, although large reinforcements were constantly arriv- ing from the main encampment of the British army. The object of the sortie, being to drive away the besiegers, spike their guns, and blow up their magazines, being effected, a retreat was ordered, and the American troops returned to the fort, the rear arriving about sunset.
In this battle the rules of discipline were, from necessity, entirely waived by the regular soldiers as well as by the militia; the surface of the ground was covered with mud and mire; strewed with logs and brush, interspersed with ditches and ridges. The rain had wet the priming in many of the muskets, and rendered them useless as firearms, therefore it was in a great measure fought man to man and hand to hand, so much so that Gen. Porter was once made a prisoner, he having his hand cut with the sword of his antagonist in the scuffle, but was soon rescued by a small party of his own men.
In this action, the loss suffered by the volunteers, in killed, wounded, and prisioners, in point of numbers, was not great, although they lost their local commander, Maj. Gen. Daniel Davis of Le Roy, Genesee county, who fell while bravely mounting a
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Amor, Lamax and Iliten Foundations.
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C. G CREHEN.
P.B. Porter
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parapet between batteries Nos. 2 and 1, and urging his volunteers to "press forward," at which time a musket ball pierced his neck and caused instant death. Some twenty or thirty valuable citizens shared a similar fate; others were wounded, and Colonel W. L. Churchill and Maj. O. Wilson, together with several other patriotic officers and privates were taken prisoners, while bravely meeting and opposing the British reinforcements as they approached from their main encampment. On the other hand the British loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was at least one thousand men and as many stand of small arms. They were compelled to raise the siege, and four days thereafter broke up their main encampment and retired down the Niagara river. On which the volunteers were discharged and returned to their respective homes, with a consciousness of having "rendered to their country some service."
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