As for the unfinished works at Plattsburg, had not Sir George Prevost halted the troops, led by experienced and often before distinguished generals, rapidly advancing against them, they must, with their commander and all his troops, have been, I have no hesitation in saying, in twenty minutes more in our possession; but as for the idea which was foolishly entertained by some at the time, of our being able, if successful in the assault of the works, to re-capture our lost ship and vessels, it was too absurd to merit a moment's consideration.
The following official document will, I expect, be read with interest, as it certainly removes much of the blame from Sir George Prevost for the attack having been made upon the American fleet by ours in an unprepared state; at least our Commodore (whether he was injudiciously urged to go forward or not I cannot tell) acted with a perfect knowledge of what he was about to attempt, and it would have been produced had the former been brought to a court-martial as intended. But the question should have been, why was the fine army, confided to Sir George Prevost, pushed forward at all into the United States, especially in the month of September, before our superiority on Lake Champlain had been established? Extract from a communication to Major-General De Rottenburg, dated Friday evening, 10 o'clock, P.M.:—
"I have this moment received from Captain Downie intelligence of his intention to weigh and proceed with the squadron, from its anchorage off Chazy, about midnight, with the expectation of rounding into the Bay of Plattsburg about the dawn of day, and with the intention of commencing an immediate attack on the enemy's ship, vessels, and gun-boats, if the anchorage they are in affords any chance of success; in consequence you are to hold the left division in readiness to execute the contemplated service at six o'clock to-morrow morning.
"The batteries directed to be completed and armed in the course of the night, are to open on the enemy's position the instant the naval action has commenced. You will cause the necessary preparations to be made for the rocket service of each battery.
(Signed), "G. Prevost,
"Commander of the Forces."
I shall pass this over without any remark, leaving it to the reader to judge for himself; but we had far too many commanders, for they were actually in each other's way. Here was Sir George Prevost himself, Baron De Rottenburg and his staff, a brilliant head-quarter staff, consisting of Adjutant and Quarter-master-general, assistants to both; Military Secretary, Aides-de-Camp, Chiefs of Engineers, Artillery, &c. &c., in short, enough to have caused confusion in an army three times our numbers, and much more so amongst the three brigades, whose experienced generals and staff wanted no help.
The moment the naval action commenced, the batteries, which had been constructed entirely under Sir Thomas Brisbane's directions, opened such a well-directed fire, that they apparently demolished all before them, and in a very short time nearly silenced that of the enemy's guns in their works. Under the protection of our artillery, the bridge over the Seranac, (the planks only of which the Americans in their retreat had been able to destroy or take up,) was repaired in a few minutes by materials we had ready for the purpose; part of the troops, under Sir Thomas Brisbane were moving down to pass by it to the assault, and the greater part were marching rapidly under General Sir Manley Power, and Sir Frederick Robinson, with the intention of effectually cutting off the enemy's retreat, when the order from Sir George Prevost to halt arrived, in consequence of our fleet having been discomfited upon the Lake. It is, however, to be regretted that the works were not allowed to be carried, for it would have prevented much boasting, and would have served in some manner to counterbalance the loss of our vessels. But what I witnessed during the whole of this unfortunate and miscalculated business, convinced me that the enterprise which embraced, as we understood, many extensive and important objects, no doubt suggested from England, had been begun without almost any fixed plan, carried on in considerable ignorance of the country, and ultimately abandoned, because of an event, the probability of which occurring, from the state of the two fleets, might, in a great measure, have been calculated upon.
Any one of the three strong brigades into which our force was divided was sufficient alone for all we had hitherto undertaken, and also for the reduction of Plattsburg, if properly handled by an able and experienced officer: but the ideas of military matters entertained by the Generals and Staff we found in possession of power were very different from ours; and I merely mention this to shew, that until our Staff had acquired experience under the Duke of Wellington, they were in general very deficient, and, as a further proof of this, I must observe, that nothing could betray greater weakness and indecision than the manner in which it was proposed to move upon Plattsburg.
It was at first intended that we were to have had a large body of Indian warriors along with us in our invasion of the States; and Sir Thomas Brisbane, attended by his Staff and several other officers, had to go through all the customary ceremonies of war councils, speeches, dances, presents, feastings, drinkings, &c., but after all we only took them with us as far as the village of Champlain, and from thence, to my great delight, at the request of Sir Thomas Brisbane, they were sent back into Canada.
It was also intended that the whole army were to have moved in one column, by the road leading to Plattsburg, which crosses the Dead Creek, near to its mouth, where there is a bridge, and a ford a little lower down, where it enters the Lake, and there we knew the enemy had for some time been preparing to receive us. Sir Thomas Brisbane, who led the advance, not looking upon this plan as judicious, and being also fully aware of the difficulties which this Creek even naturally presented, sent me from Champlain, accompanied by some flank companies and Indian warriors, which altogether formed a strong reconnoitring party, to ascertain if a road fit for the march of troops and cannon, (of which we had lately heard), could not be found to our right, and by which the formidable position of the Dead Creek might be turned. I marched by what is called the Batemantown road, and very soon found that it had been made, even as far as Plattsburg, fit for any military purposes, at least, at that time of the year.