The Loyalists of America and Their Times Volume II Part 39
On the 21st of October, General Hampton again entered Lower Canada, having early in the morning of that day dispatched his light troops and a regiment of the line, under Brigadier-General Izard, to dislodge a small picquet of sedentary militia, at the junction of the Outarde and Chateauguay rivers, where the main body arrived on the 22nd. On the 24th, having opened and completed a large and practicable road from his position at Four Corners (a distance of twenty-four miles), through woods and mora.s.ses, which Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, on returning from the Four Corners, had broken up and embarra.s.sed with abatis, General Hampton brought forward the whole of his artillery (ten field-pieces) and stores to his new position--about seven miles from Lieut.-Colonel De Salaberry's post.
From this point General Hampton dispatched Colonel Purdy with a light brigade, and a strong body of infantry of the line, at an early hour of the night of the 25th, with orders to gain the Ford, and fall on the rear of Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry's position; while the main body were to commence the attack in front. Purdy's brigade proceeded, but were misled and bewildered in the woods, and did not gain the point of attack as directed by the commanding officer. General Hampton, however, advanced next morning (26th October) under the expectation of having the intended attack at the Ford, and at ten o'clock made his appearance with about _three thousand five hundred men_, under General Izard, on the high road leading to the abatis, and drove in a picket of twenty-five men, who falling back on a second picket made a resolute stand, and maintained a smart fire upon the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, upon hearing the musketry, promptly advanced with the light company of the Canadian Fencibles, commanded by Captain Ferguson, and two companies of his Voltigeurs, commanded by Captains Chevalier and Jucheseau d.u.c.h.esnay. The first of these companies he posted on the right, in front of the abatis, in extended order, its right skirting on the adjoining woods and abatis, among which were distributed a few Abenaqui Indians.
Captains Chevalier and d.u.c.h.esnay's companies of Voltigeurs, in extended order, occupied the ground from the left of this company to the River Chateauguay, and the third company, under Captain L. Jucheseau d.u.c.h.esnay, with the sedentary militia, under Captain Lougtain, were thrown back _en potence_ along the margin of the river for the purpose of flanking, or preventing a flank fire from the enemy in the event of his appearing on the opposite side of the river. The enemy in the meantime advanced with steadiness in open column of sections to within musket shot, when Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry discharged his rifle as signal to commence firing, at which a mounted officer was seen to fall. The bugles sounded, and a quick fire was immediately opened upon the enemy who wheeled up into line, and commenced a fire in battalion vollies, which, from the position of their line, was almost totally thrown to the right of the Canadians, and of no effect whatever. They, however, soon changed their front parallel to their adversaries, by facing to the right, and filing up with speed, when the engagement became general.
The retirement of the few skirmishers, rather advanced in the centre of the line, being mistaken by the enemy for a flight, an universal shout ensued, which was re-echoed by the Canadians, and the reinforcements in reserve under Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donnell, while Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry as a _ruse de guerre_ (like Gideon with his trumpets and 300 men, Judges, vii.), ordered the bugles placed at intervals, in the abatis, to sound an advance; this had the desired effect, and checked the ardour of the enemy, who suspected that the Canadians were advancing in great numbers to circ.u.mvent them. The noise of the engagement brought Colonel Purdy's division on the opposite side of the river, which, having driven in the picket of the sedentary militia under Captain Bruguier, were pressing on for the ford at which Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry ordered the light company of the 3rd Battalion embodied militia, under Captain Daly, to cross and take up the ground abandoned by the picquet, Captain Daly with his company crossed the ford, and having advanced fell in with and drove back the advanced guard of the Americans on the main body, which still pressed forward and compelled him in his turn to fall back. Having repulsed Captain Daly's company, they were moving on in overwhelming numbers with eagerness and speed close to the bank of the river, until opposite to Captain L. Jucheseau d.u.c.h.esnay's company, which hitherto lay concealed, and now at the word of command from Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, opened so unexpected and effectual a fire upon the enemy, as to throw him into the utmost disorder, and to occasion a tumultuous and precipitate retreat.
General Hampton finding his arrangements disconcerted by the total route of the division on the right bank, withdrew his forces in good order at half-past two in the afternoon, without having made a single effort to carry the abatis and entrenchments at the point of the bayonet, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry, with scarcely 300 Canadians, masters of the field of action.
Towards the close of the engagement, Sir George Prevost, with Major-General De Watteville, arrived on the ground, and witnessed in person the judicious arrangements and successful exertions of Lieutenant-Colonel De Salaberry and his gallant comrades and countrymen, whose prowess on the occasion called forth the warmest encomiums of the commander of the forces, and gave them a just claim to the disinterested and impartial applause of history.
The fatigues and privations experienced by General Hampton's troops, exposed for several weeks to the inclemency of the season, demoralized them to the native rawness of new recruits, and rendered them no more capable of co-operating with General Wilkinson's division in the combined movement against Montreal. They shortly after fell back on Plattsburg and retired to winter quarters.
_The Canadian Victory of "Chrystler's Farm."_--The next expedition against Montreal was to proceed down the St. Lawrence, under the command of General Wilkinson.[216] The American forces to about 10,000 men rendezvoused towards the end of October on Grenadier Island, near Kingston, where General De Rottenburgh confidently expected an attack, and was prepared for it; but General Wilkinson was not so disposed, and, after experiencing much foul weather, commenced his movement under cover of the American fleet, and on the 3rd of November slipt into the St.
Lawrence with a flotilla of upwards of _three hundred_ boats of various sizes, escorted by a division of gun-boats. He proceeded to within three miles of Prescott and landed his troops on the American sh.o.r.e, who proceeded downwards by land to a bay or cove, two miles below Ogdensburg, in order to avoid the British batteries at Prescott, while the flotilla pa.s.sed them in the night of the 6th, with little injury from the cannonade of the British batteries.
The movements of the flotilla down the St. Lawrence having been ascertained at Kingston, General De Rottenburgh detached a small force from that port, consisting of the 49th Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Plenderleath, of the 89th Regiment, and some Voltigeurs, which, when reinforced by Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson with a party of the Canadian Fencibles from Prescott, amounted to about 800 rank and file, the whole commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, of the 89th Regiment, and accompanied by the Deputy-Adjutant-General.
This corps of observation proceeded under the escort of a small division of gun-boats, commanded by Captain Mulcaster, R.N., in pursuit of the enemy; and on the 8th came up with them at Point Iroquois. General Wilkinson had on the preceding day directed Colonel Macomb to land on the British sh.o.r.e with 1,200 men, in order to clear the coast to the head of the Long Sault, of the militia along the sh.o.r.e, from various parts of the country. On the 18th this division was reinforced by Brigadier-General Brown's Brigade, with a body of dragoons from the American sh.o.r.e. On arriving at the head of the Long Sault, the whole of the effective men, except such as were required to navigate the boats down the Rapids, were landed under the orders of Brigadier-General Boyd, who was to proceed down the land in the rear of General Brown's division to the foot of the Long Sault.
On the 10th Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, with his gun-boats, visited the American post at Hamilton, where he landed and took possession of a considerable quant.i.ty of provisions and stores belonging to the American army, with two pieces of ordnance. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, in the meantime, followed up the enemy, who in the evening were observed advancing from the woods in considerable numbers, with a body of cavalry; but upon receiving a few rounds from three field-pieces fell back for the night. (Some smart cannonading took place in the meantime between the British and American gun-boats.)
_Battle of Chrystler's Farm._--On the ensuing day, Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison pressed so closely upon the rear of General Boyd's division as to compel him to concentrate his forces and give battle. The enemy's force, consisting of two brigades of infantry and a regiment of cavalry, amounting to _between three and four thousand men_, moved forward about two o'clock in the afternoon from Chrystler's Point, and attacked the British advance, which gradually fell back to the position which had been selected for the detachment to occupy--the right resting on the river, and the left on a pine wood, between which there were about 700 yards of open ground, the troops on which were thus disposed:
The flank companies of the 49th Regiment, the detachment from the Canadian regiment, with one field-piece, under Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, on the right, a little advanced on the road. Three companies of the 89th Regiment, under Captain Barnes, with a gun, formed in echelon, with the advance on its left supporting it. The 49th and the 89th, thrown more to the rear, with a gun, formed the main body and reserve, extending to the woods on the left, which were occupied by the Voltigeurs under Major Herriot, and the Indians under Lieutenant Anderson.
At about half past two the action became general, and the enemy endeavoured, by moving forward a brigade from his right, to turn the British left, but was repulsed by the 89th Regiment forming _en potence_ with the 49th Regiment, and moving forward in that direction, in echelon, followed by the 89th. When within half musket shot, the line was formed under a heavy but irregular fire from the enemy. The 49th was directed to charge the American guns, posted opposite the Canadian guns, but it became necessary, when within a short distance of them, to check this forward movement in consequence of a charge from the American cavalry on the right, lest they should wheel about and fall upon the rear; but they were received in so gallant a manner by the companies of the 89th under Captain Barnes, and the well-directed fire of the artillery, that they quickly retreated; and by a charge from those companies one gun was gained. The enemy immediately concentrated their force to check the British advance, but such was the steady continuance and well-directed fire of the troops and artillery that about half-past four they gave way at all points from an exceeding strong position, endeavouring by their light infantry to cover their retreat, who were soon driven away by a judicious movement made by Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson.
The British detachment for the night occupied the ground from which the enemy had been driven.
This (called the Battle of Chrystler's Farm, from the ground on which it occurred) is, in the estimation of military men, considered the handsomest affair during the war, from the professional skill displayed in the course of the action by the adverse commanders; and when we consider the prodigious preparations of the American Government for that expedition, with the failure of which their hopes of conquest banished, the battle of Chrystler's Farm may be cla.s.sed as an event of the first importance in the defence of the Canadas.
The American division, after leaving the field, re-embarked in haste, while the dragoons, with five field-pieces of light artillery, proceeded down towards Cornwall, in the rear of General Brown's division, who, unaware of the battle of Chrystler's Farm, had continued his march for that place.
The loss of the enemy, by their own statements, amounted to three officers and ninety-nine men killed, and sixteen officers and one hundred and twenty-one men wounded. The loss of the British amounted to three officers (Captain Nairne of the 49th Regiment, and Lieutenants Lorimier and Armstrong), and twenty-one men killed, and one hundred and thirty-seven wounded, and twelve missing.
General Wilkinson, who, during the action, lay confined to his barge from a protracted illness, in his official despatch to his Government, bears strong testimony to the loyalty of the inhabitants on the Canada side of the St. Lawrence, and to the bravery and discipline of the troops he had to contend with at Chrystler's Farm.
The day after the engagement, the American flotilla proceeded down the Long Sault, and joined near Cornwall the division which had moved towards that place, where General Wilkinson confidently expected to hear of the arrival of General Hampton on the opposite sh.o.r.e, to whom he had written on the 6th, to that effect, not being then acquainted with his late defeat. Here, to his unspeakable mortification and surprise, he received a letter from General Hampton, informing him that the division under his command was falling back upon Lake Champlain.[217]
This information, with the countless difficulties momentarily crowding upon the American army, effectually blasted every prospect of further success. So circ.u.mstanced, the American commander immediately held a Council of War, in which it was unanimously resolved, "That the attack upon Montreal should be abandoned for the present season, and that the army near Cornwall should immediately cross to the American sh.o.r.e, in order to take up winter quarters," a resolution which was carried into effect the following day, by their proceeding for Salmon river, where their boats and batteaux were scuttled, and extensive barracks for the whole army were erected with extraordinary celerity, surrounded on all sides by abatis, so as to render a surprise unpracticable.
Every appearance of danger having subsided, the commander of the Canadian forces dismissed the sedentary militia, by a General Order of the 17th of November, with acknowledgments of the cheerful alacrity with which they had repaired to their posts, and the loyalty and zeal they had manifested at the prospect of encountering the enemy.
With these operations terminated the campaigns of 1813 in Lower Canada; but new triumphs still awaited the British arms in the Province of Upper Canada before the end of the year.[218]
PART XIII.
GENERAL DRUMMOND ARRIVES IN UPPER CANADA--COLONEL MURRAY SENT TO ARREST THE PREDATORY INCURSIONS OF THE BRUTAL GENERAL McCLURE UPON THE INHABITANTS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF FORT GEORGE--McCLURE'S BARBAROUS BURNING OF THE TOWN OF NEWARK (NIAGARA), EXPOSING 400 WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO THE INTENSE COLD OF THE 10TH OF DECEMBER--McCLURE'S FLIGHT TO FORT NIAGARA ON THE AMERICAN SIDE OF THE RIVER--COLONEL MURRAY, BY SURPRISING FORT NIAGARA, TAKES THE WHOLE GARRISON PRISONERS, AND SEIZES LARGE QUANt.i.tIES OF MILITARY STORES--GENERAL RIALL RETALIATES IN THE SAME WAY, IN REGARD TO LEWISTON, BLACK ROCK, AND BUFFALO--GENERAL DRUMMOND ISSUES A PROCLAMATION DEPRECATING SUCH SAVAGE POLICY AS INITIALED BY THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.
Early in December, Major General De Rottenburgh was relieved in the command of Upper Canada by Lieutenant-General Drummond, who proceeded from Kingston to York, and from thence to the head of the lake, where the army again resumed an offensive position. The country along the St.
Lawrence, being freed from the incursions of the enemy, Colonel Murray, of the 100th Regiment, was ordered to advance from Burlington Heights towards Fort George, with a view at that time to prevent predatory incursions of the enemy under General McClure (then in possession of that fort) on the defenceless inhabitants of the surrounding country.
But General McClure, having heard of the disasters which had befallen the army destined for Montreal, and conscious that a like fate might probably await him and his army, with that dastardly cowardice peculiar to himself and a few of his compatriots and traitors who joined themselves to his train, and against the very spirit of the law of nations and of civilized warfare, immersed the flourishing town of Newark (Niagara) in one continued sheet of flame, and ign.o.bly fled with his followers into his territory. The historian laments that it is not in his power to record one magnanimous act of that recreant General, to rescue his name from that gulf of infamy to which his nefarious conduct has forever doomed it.[219]
But retaliation was only delayed a week. On the evening of the 18th of December, preparations were made for taking Fort Niagara from the enemy, for which service Colonel Murray, of the 100th Regiment, was selected to take the command; and long before daylight next morning this gallant officer, at the head of the grenadier company of the Royal Scots, the grenadier and light companies of the 41st Regiment, and a detachment of his own corps, crossed the river about two miles above the fort, upon which they immediately advanced. On approaching the fortress, sentries, planted on the outer works, were surprised and taken, the countersign obtained, and in a few minutes the fort was carried at the point of the bayonet.
The loss on the part of the British in this affair was only six killed and five wounded: that of the enemy amounted to sixty-five killed and fourteen wounded (all with the bayonet), and the whole garrison was made prisoners, consisting of nearly 350. There were in the fort, at the time of its capture, twenty-seven pieces of ordnance of weighty calibre, 3,000 muskets with apparatus, besides large magazines of camp equipage and military clothing, which of course fell into the hands of the victors.
On the same day on which Fort Niagara was captured, the town of Lewiston, about eight miles above Fort Niagara, was taken possession of by a British force under Major-General Riall, without opposition; in which place the public magazines were well filled with provisions and other military stores.
Towards the latter end of the same month, General Riall crowed the Niagara river at Black Rock, at the head of a force consisting of about 600 men, detachments from the 8th or the King's Regiment, 41st, 89th, and 100th Regiments, with a few Militia volunteers, exclusive of six or seven companies of the Royal Scots, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, who were directed to land between the villages of Buffalo and Black Rock, about two miles distant from each other, with a view to divert the garrison of Black Rock, while the other troops were landing in front of that port; but in consequence of the severity of the weather, a number of the boats were stranded; by which means the troops were unable to land in time to effect the object for which they had been intended; however, the enemy was driven from both positions in a short time.
The American loss in this affair was upwards of five hundred, 130 of whom were prisoners of war; the loss of the British was inconsiderable compared with that of the enemy.
The state of exasperation to which the mind of every British subject had been wrought by the conduct of McClure in burning the town of Newark, and exposing all to the inclemency of a Canadian winter, both the helpless infant and infirm old age, was such that nothing but a similar retaliation could a.s.suage; the whole line of frontier, from Buffalo to Fort Niagara, was therefore burnt to ashes.
Ample vengeance having thus been taken for the wanton conflagration and cruel outrages committed upon the defenceless inhabitants of Newark and neighbourhood, Lieutenant-General Drummond, on the 12th of January, 1814, issued a proclamation, in which he strongly deprecated the savage mode of warfare to which the enemy, by a departure from the established usages of war, had compelled him to resort. He traced with faithful precision and correctness the conduct that had marked the progress of the war on the part of the enemy, and concluded by lamenting the necessity imposed upon him of retaliating upon the subjects of America the miseries inflicted upon the inhabitants of Newark, but at the same time declared it not to be his intention further to pursue a system so revolting to his own feelings, and so little congenial to the British character, unless he should be compelled by the future measures of the enemy.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 204: Thompson's History of the War of 1812, Chap. xxii., pp.
179-181.
"Terms of capitulation were agreed upon, by which the whole of General Winchester's command that had survived the fury of the battle were surrendered prisoners of war, amounting to upwards of 600. In this sanguinary engagement, the loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was nearly 500; while that of the British was only twenty-four killed and 161 wounded."--_Ib._, pp. 176, 177.]
[Footnote 205: Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. v., pp. 100, 101.]
[Footnote 206: Tuttle, Chap. x.x.xviii., p. 396.
"The 104th (or New Brunswick Regiment) marched through from Fredericton to Upper Canada, several hundreds of miles, with extraordinary celerity, in the month of March, though their route from Fredericton to the River St. Lawrence lay through an uninhabited wilderness buried in snow, and never before traversed by troops." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, p. 103.)]
[Footnote 207: Tuttle, Chap. x.x.xviii., pp. 396, 397.]
[Footnote 208: "The American troops had been preparing for this expedition the whole winter; and no pains had been spared in their discipline."]
[Footnote 209: "The people, hitherto unaccustomed to hear of reverses, were irritated at this success of the enemy, and, as usual upon such occasions, clamoured against the General [Sheaffe], who a few weeks afterwards was succeeded in the administration of the civil government by Major-General De Rottenburgh, and on his return to the Lower Province a.s.sumed the command of the forces in the district of Montreal. It is not ascertained whether his removal was the result of the displeasure of the commander of the forces [Sir George Prevost]; but upon a cool survey of the battle of York, it must be owned that the honour of the British arms was strenuously and ably maintained by the small party of men under his command, who, including regulars, militia, and Indians, did not exceed 600." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. v., p. 105.)]
[Footnote 210: Among the killed of the British party was Mr. Allan MacLean, Clerk of the House of a.s.sembly of Upper Canada, who volunteered his services with a musket.
"The Americans moved forward in three strong brigades, under Generals Chandler, Winder, and Boyd, with an advance of light troops and riflemen, under Colonels Scott and Forsyth, the whole commanded by General Lewis, the next in command to General Dearborn, whose low state of health compelled him to keep his bed, from whence he issued his orders." (Thompson's History of the War of 1812, Chap, xxiii., p. 185.)]
[Footnote 211: Thompson's War of 1812, Chap. xxiii.
In General Vincent's official despatch relating to this brilliant and intrepid action, he gives the credit of it to Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey.
He says: "To Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the Deputy-Adjutant-General, my obligations are particularly due. From the first moment the enemy's approach was known, he watched his movements, and afforded me the earliest information. To him, indeed, I am indebted for the suggestion and plan of operations; nothing could have been more clear than his arrangements, nor more completely successful in the result." (Christie, Chap. v.)]
[Footnote 212: Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. v.]