CHAPTER XIV. BROWN'S CAMPAIGN ON THE NIAGARA.
The March to Buffalo—Capture of Fort Erie—Battle of Chippewa—Brown's Plans—Battle of Lundy's Lane—Siege of Fort Erie by the British.
Colonel Winfield Scott, who after the failure of Wilkinson's expedition had spent a large part of the winter at Albany, arranging with Governor Tompkins the plans for the opening year, was made a brigadier-general in March, and with General Brown put the army at Plattsburg in motion for the Niagara frontier. Brown soon went to Sackett's Harbor, leaving Scott to conduct the long march alone. After passing Utica, the route lay largely through a wilderness. Where now stands Rochester, a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants, there was then but a single log house, and the scenery about the Genesee Falls, now closely hemmed in with tall buildings, was picturesque with forests and lively with rattlesnakes.
The army that assembled at Buffalo consisted of Scott's and Ripley's brigades of regulars, Porter's brigade of militia, and Hindman's battalion of regular artillery. A camp of instruction was formed at once, the modern French system being adopted, and for three months drilling went on every day with the most rigid regularity. The commanding General drilled the officers in squads, and they in turn drilled the men; after which came company and battalion drills, and finally evolutions in line. It is said that Scott had but a single copy of the French work on tactics, on which all his instruction was based, and this had to be explained to the officers individually, most of whom were not able to read French.
Late in June, General Brown reached Buffalo, and a campaign across the river was planned at once. Early in the morning of July 3d the troops of Scott and Hindman crossed the Niagara from Black Rock, landing below Fort Erie, while Ripley's crossed a little later and landed above the fort. The work was invested, and after the exchange of a few shots, by which four Americans and one man of the garrison were killed, it surrendered. A hundred and seventy men were made prisoners and sent across the river.
The main body of the British forces, commanded by General Riall, was at Chippewa, on the bank of the Niagara just above the great falls, about sixteen miles below Fort Erie. A detachment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, had been thrown forward as a corps of observation nearly to the fort.
On the 4th of July the Americans marched on Chippewa. Scott's brigade, starting in the morning, led the van, and had a running fight the whole sixteen miles with Pearson's detachment. That officer afterward remarked that he was surprised at the vigor of the pursuit, and could not account for it till he remembered what day it was. When they arrived at Chippewa River, it was nightfall, and Pearson crossed it and joined Riall. Scott rested or the night on the south bank of Street's Creek, which is two miles south of the Chippewa. These two streams flow by nearly parallel courses into the Niagara, and on the plain between them the battle of Chippewa was fought next day, July 5th. Near the bank of the Niagara ran the high road. About a mile west of it was a heavy wood.
The corps of observation pursued by Scott had destroyed the bridges over the small streams as it retreated; and it was assumed by General Brown that when he approached the Chippewa, the bridge over that stream would also be destroyed. He therefore delayed his attack while materials for a new bridge were prepared, so that when pursuit was begun it might not be interrupted. But General Riall, as it proved, so far from contemplating retreat, determined to assume the offensive himself.
Early in the day, skirmishing began along the edge of the wood on the left, by the light troops and Indians. This at last became so annoying to the American pickets, that Porter's militia and the Indians under Red Jacket were moved through the woods still farther to the left, to flank the enemy's skirmishers. Scouts carried intelligence of this movement to Riall, and Porter's force, which began the action in good order, was soon charged by a heavy column of British regulars, before which it broke and fled.
General Brown, who had been at the front watching this movement, seeing a great cloud of dust on the left of the British lines, rode in that direction and found that Riall was pushing forward his whole force. Then he rode straight for the American rear, to hasten up Ripley's troops, who were considerably behind those of Scott. Soon after he had crossed the bridge over Street's Creek, he met Scott, who was marching over for a dress parade on the plain. "The enemy is advancing. You will have a fight," said Brown to Scott as he passed him.
The British were already deployed in the plain, but hidden from Scott by a fringe of foliage along the creek. "Nothing but Buffalo militia!" said Riall, as the American column came in sight, and opened his guns upon it. But when he saw them pass the bridge without wavering under a heavy fire, and deploy in order of battle, he changed his mind. "Why, these are regulars!" he exclaimed.
Towson's battery, of three guns, included in Scott's command, was planted on the high road, and the British artillery, nine pieces, had a similar position some distance to the north. Of Scott's three battalions. Major Jesup's was thrown out on the left, Major McNeil's had the centre, and Major Leavenworth's the right. The firing along the lines began at once. Seeing that by the retreat of Porter his force was likely to be flanked on the left, Scott ordered Jesup to move obliquely in that direction, and attack the extreme right of the enemy in the woods, which order Jesup's men executed, under fire, with precision and success.
The British right wing, in conflict with Jesup, became detached from the main body, whose right was thereby left exposed. Scott instantly saw his advantage and profited by it. He ordered McNeil's battalion to charge obliquely upon the broken right of the main body of the enemy, and Leavenworth's at the same time to charge obliquely upon its left; the two battalions moving as if to unite at a point behind the British line. When this movement was made, the opposing lines were within eighty paces of each other, and the firing had all the time been increasing in rapidity and destructiveness. Two guns of Towson's battery—for one had been dismounted by a shot from the enemy's —wheeled into a position from which they could pour grape and canister through the British ranks, and their last discharge before the infantry crossed bayonets was an enfilading fire that wrought dreadful havoc.
Thus decimated by the artillery, the enemy's line soon crumbled and broke into a disorderly retreat before the steady charge of the infantry. About the same time Jesup repelled a heavy charge by a counter charge, and the entire body of Riall's forces fled with all haste across the Chippewa, Scott's men following closely and securing some prisoners.
It was a clean victory, gained by hard fighting and skilful manoeuvring; and as the battle took place in a plain where there was scarcely any cover of any kind for the troops on either side, the losses were exceedingly heavy. Just how many men were actually engaged, is a matter of dispute. But on the side of the Americans the number appears not to have been over nineteen hundred, Porter's troops going out of the action before it was fairly begun, and Ripley's not arriving in time to take any part. The number of Riall's troops in the fight appears to have been about twenty-one hundred. The loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and missing, was three hundred and twenty-seven; that of the British, five hundred and three. These are the figures of the official reports, which exclude the Indians.
Riall did not tarry long to hold his position on the Chippewa. He soon sent a portion of his troops to the forts on the lower Niagara, while with the remainder he retreated to Burlington Heights. His Indian allies, eighty-seven of whom had been killed, while they had not taken a single scalp, all deserted him in disgust.
This first battle of the new campaign on the Niagara was a great inspiration to the American people, showing them that American soldiers, if properly drilled and handled, could face and defeat the best troops of the British army; for those under Riall at Chippewa were some of the crack regiments—the Royal Scots, the King's, and the Hundredth. An English writer said: "We have now got an enemy who fights as bravely as ourselves. For some time the Americans cut no figure on land. They have now proved to us that they only wanted time to acquire a little discipline. They have now proved to us what they are made of, and they are the same sort of men as those who captured whole armies under Burgoyne and Cornwallis; that they are neither to be frightened nor silenced; and that if we should beat them at last, we cannot expect to do it without expending three or four hundred millions of money, keeping up all our present taxes, and adding to their amount, or imposing new taxes. These are the natural consequences of battles such as that of Chippewa."
Two days after the battle, the Americans crossed Chippewa River, and marched on Fort George. On the way, Colonel Stone, of the New York militia, burned the village of St. Davids, for which he was promptly court-martialled and dismissed from the service. Fort George was invested, and then General Brown sent to Sackett's Harbor to procure heavy guns for its reduction. But Commodore Chauncey was ill, and it seems not to have occurred to him that any other officer could command the fleet for their transportation. So Brown, unable to procure siege guns, abandoned the siege, and marched back to Queenstown, whence he sent his sick across the river, and then prepared for an active campaign.
His idea was, to move against Burlington Heights and capture them, then continue his march along the northern shore of the lake and capture York, and thence, still following the lake shore, march on Kingston. But for the execution of this plan he relied upon the cooperation of Chauncey's fleet, and that he soon found he was not likely to have.
On the 24th of July he continued his retreat to Chippewa, with the hope of drawing out Riall. In the afternoon of the 25th he received information that the enemy had thrown a thousand men across the Niagara, from Queenstown to Lewiston. Supposing they intended to capture the magazine at Schlosser and intercept supplies coming from Buffalo, General Brown determined to draw them back if possible by again threatening the forts at the mouth of the river. With this purpose, he at once sent forward General Scott with thirteen hundred men, consisting of the battalions of Colonel Brady and Majors Jesup, Leavenworth, and McNeil, Tow-son's artillery, and a detachment of cavalry under Captain Harris.
This force, starting about five o'clock in the afternoon, marched down the road to the Falls. As they approached the house of a widow Wilson, near Table Rock, several British officers were seen to come out, mount hastily, and ride away, but not till they had reconnoitred, through their field-glasses, the American column. The widow informed Scott that the officers were Riall and his staff, and that the enemy's advance consisted of eight hundred regulars and three hundred militia, with two pieces of artillery; the truth being that the force had nearly twice that strength.
Scott pressed forward eagerly, throwing out a part of his men to the left, and sent back word to General Brown that the enemy was in front. As the Americans emerged into a cleared field, they suddenly found themselves confronted by the British line, eighteen hundred strong, which was drawn up in Lundy's Lane, a road that starts from a point near the great Falls and runs westward. In the centre of the enemy's line was a battery of nine pieces, which occupied a rounded hillock of gentle slope just high enough to give it command of the entire field. Scott saw at once that he was in presence of a greatly superior force; but retreat was almost impossible, and he judged it best to attack boldly, and trust to Brown for prompt reenforcement. As the Americans deployed in line of battle, the hostile forces were not more than a hundred and fifty paces apart, and firing began at once. The sun was now less than an hour high.
Towson's three guns made a gallant fight, but could effect little against the nine guns of the enemy, which were served rapidly and skilfully. The British left was east of the road that skirted the river, and was separated from the rest of the line by a space of two hundred yards, which was filled with brushwood. Jesup's and Brady's commands, partly hidden by this brushwood in the twilight, attacked the detached wing, and after considerable fighting forced it back upon the centre, capturing General Riall and several officers of his staff, after which Jesup and Brady resumed their place in the line. At the same time, the British right wing, which was longer than the American left, was thrown forward in an attempt to envelop it. To meet this danger, Scott sent McNeil's battalion against it, and after severe fighting, with heavy losses, the enemy's flanking movement was frustrated.
Both the messenger sent back by Scott and the sound of the guns announced to General Brown what was going on, and he ordered Ripley's brigade and Porter's volunteers to advance and join in the action. At the report of the first gun, Ripley had put his men in marching order, and when the word came to move they moved without a minute's delay. General Brown rode before them to the battle-field, and by the time of their arrival it was dark. About the same time, the enemy also was reënforced.
Ripley's brigade formed on Scott's right, and joined in the battle, which had not in the least abated at the departure of daylight. He soon saw that the strength of the enemy lay in the destructive battery that crowned the hill in the centre, and called upon Colonel James Miller, of the Twenty-first Regiment, to take it. "I'll try, Sir," was the now famous answer of Miller, who at once put his men in motion toward the battery. They crept silently up to a fence at the foot of the slope, put their muskets softly through it, took deliberate aim at the gunners, who had lighted matches in their hands, and at a whispered command fired in volley, shooting down every one of them. Miller's men then rose, pushed the fence flat upon the ground, rushed forward, and cleared the hill of the enemy. Meanwhile Scott's men, obstinately holding their first position, had kept on steadily firing, receiving as constant a fire in return, and both inflicted and suffered heavy loss. McNeil's battalion, having lost its commander and every one of its captains, and fired away all its ammunition, retired from the field; and a little later, Colonel Brady being disabled, his regiment also retired for a similar reason. But a considerable number of the men of these two commands joined themselves to the regiments that still stood firm, and reentered the fight.
After Miller's capture of the battery, the American line was re-formed, nearly at right angles to its former position, facing west, and advanced so as to hold the ground occupied by the battery. The enemy also formed a new line, and for two hours made the most desperate efforts to re-take the guns. There was constant firing, aim being taken by the flashes along the opposing lines, and more than once the bayonets were crossed in bloody hand-to-hand work in the darkness. It is said that at one time the continuous blaze of the cannon and small arms made that part of the field almost as light as day. During the struggle, both parties were reenforced by fresh troops, but Ripley's men firmly held the ground, repelling every attack, till the enemy gave it up and retired.
General Brown and General Scott were both wounded, and the command devolved upon General Ripley, who, an hour after the enemy had retired, withdrew the entire American force from the field, carrying off the wounded, and before morning was in camp at Chippewa. As all the artillery horses had been killed, the guns for which so costly a struggle had been made were left where they stood, and of course they fell into the hands of the enemy when he returned next morning and encamped on the deserted battle-ground. The principal reason why the Americans abandoned the field was, the want of water. The whole number of Americans engaged in this battle was about two thousand six hundred; the whole number of British, about four thousand five hundred. The American loss was one hundred and seventy-four killed, five hundred and sixty-five wounded, and one hundred and five missing—almost one third of the entire force. Among the killed or mortally wounded were Colonel Brady and Majors Leavenworth, McNeil, and McFarland. The British loss was eighty-four killed, five hundred and fifty-seven wounded, and two hundred and thirty-five missing or prisoners. The action has been called the Battle of Niagara, and the Battle of Bridgewater, but the most commonly accepted name is Battle of Lundy's Lane.
Ripley soon afterward destroyed the bridge over the Chippewa, and retired toward Buffalo. By Brown's orders, the troops were thrown into Fort Erie, where they were reenforced, and General Ripley was superseded by General Edmund P. Gaines.
As soon as he was able to move, General Drummond, who had succeeded to the command of the British forces, marched on Fort Erie. A detachment which he sent across the river to attack Buffalo was met and defeated at Black Rock, but a party in boats captured two of Perry's vessels which were moored under the guns of the fort. At midnight on the 14th of August, the enemy, who had been busy for two weeks planting batteries and occasionally bombarding the works, attempted to carry them by storm. The Americans were expecting the attack, and the preparations for making it were not more careful and elaborate than those for receiving it. The flints were withdrawn from the British muskets, both to insure silence in the approach and because General Drummond had issued a secret order in which he "strongly recommended a free use of the bayonet," and after dark a great number of scaling-ladders were carried forward and placed in convenient positions. The Americans had their guns charged with grape and canister, dark lanterns burning, and every musket at hand and ready for immediate use. At one battery, for lack of canister, bags were made of tent-cloth, filled with musket-balls, and loaded into the guns.
The storming party was in three columns. That which assaulted the American left, where Towson's battery was placed, marched up in the face of a continuous blaze of artillery and musketry, and, in spite of the storm of shot that rolled through it, tried to scale the defences, and actually crossed bayonets with the defenders. But in vain. Four such assaults were made by this column, and all were bloodily repelled. The rapidity with which the guns of the American battery were served, making an almost constant flash, gave it the name of "Tow-son's lighthouse."
On the right of the American works a similar assault was made at the same time by another column, which was met in a similar way. Major Douglass filled his guns to the muzzle with the bags of musket-balls, and though his cannoneers could not distinctly see their enemies, they were so familiar with the contour of the ground in front that they knew how to sweep it as effectively as if it had been broad daylight. Here also the attack failed.
The central column was a little more successful. The assailants dashed forward with their scaling-ladders, and mounted the parapet of the main fort, but were met at the edge by the Americans, who in a bloody fight hand-to-hand hurled them back. Three times this was repeated, with the same result. The column then moved silently around to another point, put up the ladders again, and mounted so quickly as to get a foothold within the bastion before the Americans could rally in sufficient force at the new point of attack to prevent them. Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, was at their head, and repeatedly called out to his men to "give the Yankees no quarter." Troops were rapidly drawn to this point from other parts of the fort, and here the bloodiest work of the night was done. The highest officers present mingled personally in the fray. Lieutenant McDonough, an American, being badly wounded, asked for quarter, which Drummond refused, at the same time repeating his order to his men to refuse it in all cases. McDonough roused himself for one more effort, seized a handspike, and kept several assailants at bay, till Drummond disabled him with a pistol-shot. An American who saw this at once shot Colonel Drummond through the breast, and followed the shot with a bayonet-thrust. The Colonel had in his pocket a copy of General Drummond's secret order, and the bayonet passed through the sentence in which "a free use of the bayonet" was recommended. *
At daylight the enemy still held the bastion he had gained in the night, and several determined attempts to dislodge him failed, though the number of men he had thrown into it was being continually reduced by an irregular fire directed upon it. The British reserve was now brought up to reenforce the party in the bastion, while Douglass turned the guns of his battery so as to sweep diagonally the
* This blood-stained document is now in the possession of the New York Historical Society.
ground over which it must pass, and Fanning's battery was already playing upon the enemy with considerable effect. But at the moment when the reserves were ready to make a rush for the bastion, there was a tremendous explosion, and the platform of the bastion, with all the men upon it, was hurled into the air. Masses of earth, stones, broken timbers, and dead and living bodies of men rose two hundred feet, and in falling were scattered to a great distance. It was a chest of ammunition that had exploded; but how it happened is unknown. Some of the American officers present believed it to be purely accidental, others said that Lieutenant McDonough, lying wounded at the foot of the bastion, being exasperated at the treatment he had received, applied the match and sacrificed himself for the sake of defeating his barbarous foe. The British reserves at once fell back, the contest was abandoned, and the shattered columns returned to their camp. According to General Drummond's official report, his loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was nine hundred and five. But as he gives the number of his killed as only fifty-eight, while the Americans found two hundred and twenty-two British soldiers dead on the field, it may be that even his acknowledged total loss of nearly a thousand is an understatement. The Americans lost eighty-four, besides forty-five men disabled by the cannonade that preceded the night assault.
General Gaines set to work at once to rebuild the ruined bastion and strengthen the whole line of works, while the enemy, after receiving reenforcements, began a siege by regular approaches. They soon brought their parallels so close that they were able to throw shells and hot shot into the fort every day. One shell descended through the roof of General Gaines's headquarters, and exploded at his feet, so injuring him that he was forced to give up the command to General Brown, and retire to Buffalo. The Americans in the fort, as well as the besiegers, had been reenforced, and General Brown planned a grand sortie to break up the siege works. The enemy's camp was two miles in the rear, and one third of his force was thrown forward at a time to work on the parallels. The Americans secretly marked out a road through the woods, leading from their left around to a point close upon the right of the besiegers. On the 17th of September two columns, of about one thousand men each, sallied out from the fort. One column followed the road through the woods and suddenly burst upon the British right, while the other marched through a ravine, against the centre. Before reënforcements could come from the British camp, the Americans leaped into the siege works, after bloody fighting overcame all resistance, dismounted the guns and rendered them useless, exploded the magazines, and returned to the fort with many prisoners. This operation cost the Americans five hundred and twenty men, killed, wounded, or missing, and the British six hundred and nine.
In the night of the 21st, General Drummond raised the siege, and retired beyond the Chippewa. In October the Americans dismantled Fort Erie, and returned to the eastern shore of the Niagara.