The operations during the year 1813 were on a larger scale, and success was not always on the side of the British. The year commenced with the defeat of the Americans at Fort Detroit by a mixed force under Colonel Procter; but was followed by the capture of York, the capital of Upper Canada. The lakes became the scene of very active hostilities. A severe engagement took place at the rapids of the Miami, a river flowing into Lake Erie, in which the English were successful, but could not maintain their position. Russell. The loss of Fort George, at Niagara, by the English followed; and this became for a time the American General’s head-quarters. Disasters on the lakes, which ensued, made the English position in Upper Canada very feeble; but affairs brightened in the autumn with the discomfiture of the Americans in their attempted invasion of Lower Canada. Operations were therefore ordered to be resumed in the west with vigour; and it having been found that the Americans had evacuated Fort George and set fire to many Canadian villages, the English followed them across the frontier, and took Fort Niagara and Buffalo, setting fire to the latter city in retaliation for the injury done to the Canadian settlements.
The attempts made by the Americans in the beginning of 1814 to invade Lower Canada were so unsuccessful, that the Cust. war was now limited to the more western districts, where they had the advantage on the lakes. The commencement of the campaign in the west was favourable to the Americans, but the arrival of reinforcements from the Duke of Wellington’s army in France speedily gave a change to the aspect of affairs. While the British troops were retreating in good order before the Americans, they were joined by General Drummond, with these fresh troops, and had hardly formed up before they were attacked by the enemy, and the combat known as the battle of Lundy’s Lane followed. It was a very fierce engagement, and lasted till midnight; and Ibid. so closely was it fought, that “several of the British Artillerymen were bayoneted at their guns;” but it ultimately resulted in the precipitate retreat of the Americans. This part of the enemy’s force was subsequently cooped up in Fort Erie, which was invested by General Drummond during the rest of the war. The strength of the Royal Artillery Kane’s List. in Canada had increased in 1814 to eight companies, under the command of Major-General Glasgow.
The commanding officers of Artillery at the various affairs which took place during the war in Canada, hardly worthy of the name of battles, were as follows:—
Browne’s ‘England’s Artillerymen.’
At Detroit: Lieutenant Felix Troughton.
At Queenstown: Captain Holcroft.
At Fort Erie, in Nov. 1812: Lieutenant King, who was wounded, and subsequently died of his wounds.
At Frenchtown, in Jan. 1813: Lieutenant Troughton:—wounded.
At Fort George, in 1813: Major Holcroft.
At Black Rock, in July 1813: Lieutenant R. S. Armstrong.
At Christler’s Farm, in Nov. 1813: Captain H. G. Jackson.
At Fort Niagara: Captain Bridge.
At Fort Oswego, 1814: Captain Edwin Cruttenden.
At Lundy’s Lane, 1814: Captain Mackonochie.
At Fort Erie, 1814: Major Phillott, assisted by Captain (now Sir Edward) Sabine.
At Moose Island, 1814: Captain W. Dunn.
At Hamden, 1814: Lieutenant Garstin.
At Castine, 1814: Major G. Crawford.
At Machias, 1814: Lieutenant J. Daniel.
It had been decided by the English Government to carry the war into the enemy’s country in another direction, and the energy of the officer who commanded the expedition against Washington—Major-General Ross—was a marked contrast to the nervous indecision of Sir George Prevost, in the operations of the latter against the States from Canada. General Ross’s force came from France, and the companies of Artillery were those commanded by Captain—afterwards Sir John—Michell, Captain Carmichael, and Captain Crawford. Some rocket detachments, under Captain Deacon, formed part of the force. The engagements in which this army was engaged were the battle of Bladensburg, the capture of Washington, and the battle of Baltimore; on all which occasions—as in the previous operations in Canada—the Artillery earned the commendations of the Generals under whom they served. In one despatch it was said, that “the Royal Artillery, in the laborious duties they performed, displayed their usual unwearied zeal.” It is pleasant to find how often, in various campaigns, the services of the Corps are alluded to in almost these words. Courage is expected from every soldier; but a zeal, which no labour can weary, is a nobler, and as necessary a quality.
The next episode in the war is one which it is intended to treat at somewhat greater length,—the New Orleans expedition. On the 25th November, 1814, a squadron arrived MS. Journal of the operations against New Orleans by Major Forrest, A. Q.-M.-Gen. from England, with a body of troops under the command of Major-General Keane, and cast anchor in Negril Bay, Jamaica. Here the force, lately commanded by General Ross, who had been killed at the battle of Baltimore, was also assembled; and General Keane, as senior officer, assumed command of the whole, viz.:—
| No. | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 squadron 14th Light Dragoons | 160 | |
| Royal Artillery | 320 | |
| Captain Lane’s Rocket Brigade | 40 | |
| 1st Brigade, Major-Gen. Keane | 93rd Regiment | 907 |
| 1st West India Regiment | 0 | |
| 5th West India Regiment | 643 | |
| 2nd Brigade, Colonel Brooke, 44th Regiment | 4th Foot | 893 |
| 44th Foot | 647 | |
| 21st Foot | 995 | |
| Advance, Colonel Thornton, 85th Regiment | 85th Light Infantry | 456 |
| 95th Rifles | 488 | |
| Total | 5,549 | |
It will be observed, that the numbers of the 1st West India Regiment are not given. This is because at the date of both forces uniting, only seventy men of that Regiment had yet arrived.
Some modifications in the strength of the Royal Artillery took place during the campaign, but it may be as well to anticipate matters, and to give now the exact details of the force as it ultimately stood, on Christmas Day, 1814.