In the greatest danger he was distinguished alike by the fertility of his resources, the coolness of his courage, and the amiable simplicity of his manners. In his operations on the northern frontier, his gallant conduct received the highest commendation. At the battle of Chrystler’s Fields, on the 11th of November, 1813, Colonel Gaines commanded the twenty-fifth regiment of United States infantry. He was deprived of the honor of a participation in the glory of Harrison’s victory on the Thames, by a long and serious illness; but his brave regiment was one of the most effective, on the memorable 11th, covering the retreat of our several corps, after the check received by the enemy, to their re-embarkation on the St. Lawrence.
The relative strength of the two armies, when Colonel Gaines, who had recently been promoted to the rank of Major-General, arrived at Fort Erie, and took command on the morning of the 4th of August, 1814, was as follows:—the British veteran force amounted to a fraction over three thousand six hundred officers and men, besides six hundred Canadians and Indians—making altogether an aggregate of more than four thousand two hundred. This force was opposed by only nineteen hundred United States regulars, and six hundred New York and Pennsylvania volunteers, making the aggregate strength for duty, nearly two thousand five hundred. On the following day, August 5th, commenced the first of those actions, consisting of a vigorous cannonade and bombardment, with alternate sharp conflicts between the infantry and rifle corps of the two armies, with occasional skirmishing, which were kept up with a degree of vigor, daily and successively, until the morning of the 15th. These daily conflicts were so conducted as to pave the way for the more important victory which was to follow.
Although the losses in these smaller actions amounted to considerably more than those sustained in the battle of the 15th, still they were carried on in a spirit and temper, evincing a determination on the part of every officer and soldier to maintain the old-fashioned maxim, namely, “Victory or Death.” This sanguinary battle of the 15th, with the other actions of the following fourteen days, were altogether so conducted as to secure to a moral certainty, not only the safety of the whole northwestern frontier, but to cover the war-worn division with imperishable fame, by a series of triumphs extending throughout the months of August and September, 1814, the value and moral effect of which, can only be rightly estimated by the statesman or soldier capable of counting the cost of blood and treasure, which must have followed the sacrifice of that division—and the consequent recombination of a British army flushed with victory—and their lately whipt, and, therefore, doubly ferocious savage friends and allies—with free access to a sparsely settled and unprotected frontier of near twelve hundred miles in extent, from Buffalo to Lake Michigan, and thence to the upper Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas: a frontier embracing an extensive section of the then suffering northwestern settlements, that had during the first fourteen months of the war been bleeding at every pore. And this deplorable catastrophe to have followed upon the heels of the fiendish and disgraceful scenes which terminated in the taking, sacking, and burning the capitol of our beloved Union. The total defeat of this crippled and maimed remnant of Brown’s heroic division, a catastrophe which, from the night of the 25th of July, to the fourth of the following month—to many brave officers of high rank—(one of whom was at the head of a brigade,) seemed to be inevitable, without an immediate abandonment of Canada, might have prolonged the war, with its increasing horrors of the massacre and scalping of women and children, for seven years. This mutilated remnant of our noble division, however, gallantly met and gloriously triumphed over a veteran British army of near double our numbers during twenty consecutive days, and some nights, and accomplished these triumphs before the harassed and broken down war department could send on the requisite reinforcements, to give our operations the offensive in place of the defensive cast, and increased vigorous character.
The great and gallant state of New York, with her Tomkins, and her Clintons, and her Porter, and her Spencer, and hosts of other master spirits of this state, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, soon devised measures to put in rapid motion the chivalry—constituting the minute-men of the volunteers around them—and these sanguinary conflicts, which commenced on the 5th, and continued until the 28th of August, under the direction of the gallant Gaines, from thence until the 5th of September, under Miller, and to the 10th, under Ripley, were brilliantly terminated on the 17th of that month, under Brown.
It may safely be left to the future statesman and soldier to decide—and to the impartial historian to record—how far these triumphs of August, 1814, may have contributed to allay the panic produced by the victory of the British at Bladensburg, the capture of Alexandria and the city of Washington, with the destruction of the capitol; or to what extent they may have tended to arrest the exultation which this victory, and these captures produced in the ranks of the enemy; and to establish throughout the Union the moral power, and unshaken confidence reposed in the efficiency of our volunteers. They had never, before the month of August, 1814, given such indubitable evidence of their being in all respects equal to the best of veteran regulars, in an open field fight, and in the close conflict of repeated heavy charges of veteran infantry with the bayonet—in the deepest darkness of night. It is for posterity to decide (when the actors are all in the grave), how far the moral effect of those sanguinary struggles, and long-continued triumphs, may or may not have contributed to seal the fate of the enemy, from the 29th of August to the 17th of September, on the Niagara frontier, at Baltimore, at Plattsburg, and at New Orleans, in December, 1814, and January, 1815. The description of troops here referred to as so eminently distinguished at each place, had long been known to be invincible in the woods against Indians and their white allies, and behind breastworks, against the best of British veterans. But they had never, before the month of August, 1814, afforded such incontestable proofs of their entire fitness for the close conflicts of the open field, as at that time near Fort Erie.
These triumphs were duly appreciated by the wise, the just, the virtuous Madison, as well as by the supreme judiciary of the United States; by the assembled wisdom of both houses of Congress, and by the enlightened and patriotic public authorities of the sovereign states of the Union—who promptly, and in most cases unanimously, testified in terms of high approbation, their sense of the value of the services rendered by that division of the army during the period here referred to.
General Gaines, in his official report to the war department, gives the following account of the battle of the 15th of August: He says, “I hasten to communicate particulars of the battle fought at this place (Fort Erie, Upper Canada), on the 15th inst., between the left wing of the second division of the northern army, under my command, and the British forces in the Peninsula of Upper Canada.
“At half past two o’clock, on the morning of the 15th, the right column of the enemy approached; and though enveloped in darkness, was distinctly heard on our left, and promptly marked by our musketry, under Major Wood, and artillery under Captain Towson. Being mounted at the moment, I repaired to the point of attack, where the sheet of fire rolling from Towson’s battery and the musketry of the left wing of the 21st infantry, under Major Wood, enabled me to see the enemy’s column, of about fifteen hundred men, approaching on that point; his advance was not checked until it approached within ten feet of our infantry; a line of loose brush, representing an abattis, only intervened; a column of the enemy attempted to pass round the abattis, through the water where it was nearly breast-deep. Apprehending that this point would be carried, I ordered a detachment of riflemen and infantry to its support; but having met with the gallant commander, Major Wood, was assured by him that he could defend his position without reinforcements. At this moment the enemy were repulsed; but instantly renewed the charge, and were again repulsed.
“My attention was now called to the right, where our batteries and lines were soon lighted by a most brilliant fire of cannon and musketry. It announced the approach of the centre and left columns of the enemy, under Colonels Drummond and Scott. The latter was received by the veteran ninth, under the command of Captain Foster and Captains Broughton and Harding’s companies of New York and Pennsylvania volunteers, and were repulsed. That of the centre, led by Colonel Drummond, was not long kept in check; it approached, at once, every available point of the fort, and, with scaling ladders, ascended the parapet, but was repulsed with dreadful carnage. The assault was twice repeated, and as often checked; but the enemy, having moved around in the ditch, covered by darkness, added to the heavy cloud of smoke which had rolled from our cannon and musketry, enveloping surrounding objects, repeated the charge, re-ascended the ladders—their pikes, bayonets and spears, fell upon our gallant artillerists. The gallant spirits of our favorite Captain Williams, and Lieutenants M’Donough and Watmough, with their brave men, were overcome—the two former, and several of their men, received deadly wounds—our bastion was lost. Lieutenant M’Donough, being severely wounded, demanded quarter. It was refused by Colonel Drummond;—the Lieutenant then seized a handspike and nobly defended himself, until he was shot down with a pistol, by the monster who had refused him quarter, who often was heard to reiterate the order, ‘Give the damned Yankees no quarter.’ This officer, whose bravery, had it been seasoned with virtue, would have entitled him to the admiration of every soldier; this hardened murderer soon met his fate: he was shot through the heart by ——, of the —— regiment, while repeating the order to ‘give no quarter.’ The battle now raged with increased fury on the right; but on the left, the enemy was repulsed and put to flight; thence, and from the centre, I ordered reinforcements—they were promptly sent by Brigadier-Generals Ripley and Porter. Captain Fanning, of the corps of artillery, kept a spirited and destructive fire, with his field-pieces, on the enemy attempting to approach the fort. At this moment, every operation was arrested by the explosion of some cartridges, deposited in the end of the stone building, adjoining the contested bastion—the explosion was tremendous—it was decisive—the bastion was restored. At this moment, Captain Biddle, with his field-piece, enfiladed the exterior plain and salient glacis: although not recovered from a severe injury in the shoulder by one of the enemy’s shells, promptly served his field-piece with vivacity and effect. Captain Fanning’s battery, likewise, played upon them at this time with great effect—the enemy were, in a few moments, entirely defeated, taken, or put to flight, leaving on the field two hundred and twenty-one killed, one hundred and seventy-four wounded, and one hundred and eighty-six prisoners—total five hundred and eighty-one, including fourteen officers killed, and seven wounded and prisoners. Americans, seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded, eleven missing, total eighty-four.
“I have the honor, &c.”