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i^LiBRARY OF Congress.^! 
 
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The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 An Episode of the War of 1812 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUIS L BABGOCK 
 
 The campaign of 1814. on the Niagara frontier fully determined that 
 American citizens furnished the choicest materials for an army ; that when 
 well disciplined, instructed in the art of war. and led hy l)rave and enter- 
 t>rising generals, they were fully able to meet on equal ground the best 
 English troops. 
 
 — Perkins. 
 
 BUFFALO: 
 
 The Petkr Paul Book Company, 
 J 899. 
 
ou-f 
 
Preface, 
 
 One of the most brilliant events of the War of 1S12 
 was the successful defense of Fort Erie by the Americans 
 against the veteran troops of the British. Yet, I dare 
 say, very few residents along the Niagara frontier are 
 aware that within an hour's journey of the city of Buffalo 
 occurred some of the most severe fighting the nation 
 has ever seen, or that the ruined and tottering wall of 
 the old fort, still to be seen, marks the spot where sev- 
 eral hundred brave men gave up their lives in desperate 
 
 struggle. 
 
 A period of enforced leisure gave me an opportunity 
 to examine the various authorities bearing upon the 
 siege of Fort Erie, and this sketch grew out of the 
 notes I then made. Undoubtedly errors exist, although 
 considerable pains has been taken to carefully verify 
 each statement. I trust that they will be pardoned and 
 that this sketch may serve to stimulate among a few, at 
 least, the study of the history of the Niagara frontier 
 during this period, than which nothing could be more 
 interesting. 
 
 Buffalo, July lo, iSg^. 
 
Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. A Brief Sketch of Fort Erie up to 1 8 14, . . 7 
 
 II. Before the Invasion, . . . . . ■ 12 
 
 III. The Campaign down the Niagara, . . . 18 
 
 IV. The Beginning of the Siege, .... 25 
 V. The Attack on the Fort, 34 
 
 VI. The Period between the Assault and the Sortie, . 46 
 
 VII. The Sortie, 55 
 
THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 
 
 An Episode of the IVar of 1812. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Brief Sketch of Fori Erie up to 1S14. 
 
 One of the first travelers who describes the vicinity of 
 Buffalo — the first man, in fact, who appreciated the advantages 
 of the site where Buffalo now stands — was Baron La Hontan, 
 lord lieutenant of the French colony in Newfoundland, wlio, 
 after paying a compliment to Niagara Falls by describing them 
 as seven hundred or eight hundred feet high, says: 
 
 "The Lake Erie is justly dignified with the illustrious name 
 of Couti, for assuredly 'tis the finest Lake upon Earth. You 
 may judge of the goodness of the climate from the latitudes of 
 the Countries that surround it. Its circumference extends to two 
 hundred and thirty leagues but it affords everywhere such a 
 charming Prospect that its Banks are deck'd with Oak-Trees, 
 Elms, Chestnut-Trees, Walnut-Trees, Apple-Trees, Plum-Trees, 
 and Vines which bear their fine clusters up to the very top of 
 the Trees upon a sort of ground that lies as smooth as one's 
 Hand. Such ornaments as these are sufficient to give rise to the 
 most agreeable idea of Landskape in the WorU." 
 
 He describes the locality as abounding in wild game and 
 fish and filled with warlike Indians. In a map annexed to his 
 journal he locates a prospective fort precisely where the city of 
 Buffalo now stands, which he calls Fort Suppose, and advocates 
 the erection of a post, which was never built. 
 
 7 
 
8 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 In 1764, Bradstreet, in the course of an expedition against 
 the Indians, saw the necessity of erecting a fortified trading post 
 near where Fort Erie now stands, and wrote Sir William John- 
 son suggesting that the acquisition of sufficient land for this 
 purpose was desirable. Before the English Crown succeeded in 
 obtaining title to the ground the trading post was abuilding, and 
 subsequent ev^ents soon legalized this trespass upon the hunting 
 grounds of the Senecas. 
 
 After the collapse of Pontiac's conspiracy, the Senecas, fear- 
 ing lest the English would punish them for their participation in 
 his scheme, sent some four hundred warriors to Sir William 
 Johnson to sue for peace. And it was about time, for the terrible 
 massacre at Devil's Hole, perpetrated by this tribe, was fresh in 
 the minds of all. This occurred on September fourteenth, 1763, 
 at Devil's Hole, a few miles from Fort Niagara, when an escort to 
 a train of twenty-five wagons on the trail from Fort Schlosser to 
 Fort Niagara was ambushed and almost annihilated by the wily 
 Senecas, only three men escaping. A small garrison of two 
 companies at Lewiston, hearing the attack, rushed to the 
 rescue and was in turn ambushed. All but eight of these were 
 killed. When the garrison from Fort Niagara reached the scene, 
 the ruins of the train, and some eighty scalped bodies, including 
 those of six officers, alone remained. When the Seneca dele- 
 gation arrived, Sir William, doubtless bearing this and similar 
 events in mind, insisted upon a substantial grant of land. This 
 the Senecas promised to give. Soon afterward they reluctantly 
 met Sir William Johnson at Fort Niagara and by formal treaty 
 the English acquired a strip of land four miles wide on each side 
 of the Niagara from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. This treaty 
 was concluded on August sixth, 1764. 
 
 A clause of the treaty granting this land is here inserted, as 
 it is of considerable local interest. Parkman's graphic description 
 of this gathering of the Indians, in his Conspiracy of Pontine, 
 will well repay a perusal, for the concourse comprised not only 
 the Senecas but upwards of two thousand other Indians. Some, 
 
A Brief Sketch of Fort Erie up to i8i^ 9 
 
 even, came from west of the Mississippi. The clause of the 
 treaty referred to is as follows: 
 
 "Article Fifth. In addition to the grant made by the 
 Chenussio Deputys to His Majesty at Johnson Hall in April of 
 the Lands from Fort Niagara to the upper end of the carrying 
 place beyond Fort Schlosser and four miles in breadth on each 
 side of the River the Chenussios now surrender up all the lands 
 from the upper end of the former Grant (and of the same breadth ) 
 to the Rapids of Lake Erie to His Majesty for His sole use and 
 that of the garrisons but not as private property it being near 
 some of their hunting grounds so that all that Tract of the breadth 
 before mentioned from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie shall become 
 vested in the Crown in manner as before mentioned excepting 
 the Islands between the Great Falls and the Rapids which the 
 Chenussios bestow upon Sir William Johnson as a proof of their 
 regard and of their knowledge of the trouble lie has had with them 
 from time to time. All which the Chenussios hope will be accept- 
 able to His Majesty and trust that they may have some token of 
 his favor." 
 
 Sir William promptly granted to the Crown all his rights in 
 the land ceded to him. Porter, in his extremely accurate and 
 interesting History of Old Fort Niagara, says : 
 
 " This was the first tract of land in the limits of the present 
 Western New York to which the Indian title was absolutely 
 extinguished; and this remarkable land deal, so vast in the 
 amount of territory involved, so beneficial to the whites in the 
 power it gave them for trade and the settlement of the country, 
 and of such enormous subsequent value in view of very recent 
 developments along this frontier, was closed * * * within the 
 historic fortifications of Fort Niagara " 
 
 The ground having been acquired, the post at Fort Erie was 
 soon pressed to completion. A wharf was constructed just above 
 the rapids, and, no doubt, trade actively commenced with the 
 
10 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 Indians. Marshall, in his article on the Niagara frontier, de- 
 scribes the post as located at some distance below the remains 
 of the fort now standing. The part facing the river was built of 
 stone surrounded by squared pickets, while the balance was 
 stockaded. He says: 
 
 "The foundations of the present fort were laid in 1791. It 
 must have been a rude fortification as originally constructed, for 
 the Duke of Liancourt describes it in 1795 as a cluster of build- 
 ings surrounded with rough, crazy palisades destitute of ram- 
 parts, covered ways, or earthworks. Outside of the fort were a 
 few log houses for the shelter of the officers, soldiers, and work- 
 men. There was also a large government warehouse with an 
 overhanging story pierced with loopholes for the use of mus- 
 ketry. The stone portion, the ruins of which still remain, was 
 built in 1806, in the form of a quadrangle, and subsequently 
 enlarged to more formidable dimensions. The Indian name of 
 the locality, Gai-gwaah-geh, signifies 'The Place of Hats.' Sen- 
 eca tradition relates as its origin that in olden times soon after 
 the first visit of the white man a battle occurred on the lake 
 between a party of French in batteaux and Indians in canoes. 
 The latter were victorious and the French boats were sunk and 
 the crews drowned. Their hats floated ashore where the fort was 
 subsequently built, and, attracting the attention of the Indians 
 from their novelty, they called the locality 'The Place of Hats.'". 
 
 Prior to the beginning of this century the route usually trav- 
 eled from Niagara Falls to Buffalo Creek was up the present Cana- 
 dian side of the river to the Black Rock ferry, where the river was 
 crossed near where the ferry now plies. The customary route 
 to Detroit was past Fort Erie and along the northern shore of 
 Lake Erie. The old fort was built by Bradstreet for the security 
 of vessels and to provide a safe place for laying them up in winter, 
 as well as for a trading post. Its early history was apparently 
 too prosaic to have left any trace in the writings of travelers 
 beyond a mere occasional allusion or a meager description. 
 
A Brief Sketch of Fort Erie tip to 1814. 11 
 
 Christian Schultz, junior, visited Fort Erie in 1807, and 
 describes it as a small post garrisoned by twenty-eight men, who 
 at that time were employed in building new works. He remarks 
 upon the fact that the Americans have no fort or garrison on their 
 side, "although there is a most commanding situation for that 
 purpose." A few days before Schultz visited the post the 
 English had occasion to move one of the guns of the fort. A 
 curious Yankee, after having looked into the bore, went to the 
 breech, and, sighting along the piece, discovered it was pointing 
 directly toward Buffalo. He became enraged, and cursed King 
 George, his officers, and his soldiers with all his ability, and 
 promised to return the ne.xt day with a party of his " choice 
 fellows, and if he found the gun in the same position he would 
 hang every mother's son of them without judge or jury." It is 
 probable either that the gun was moved or that the Yankee 
 failed to keep his promise, for the garrison continued to exist. 
 
 The fort's sole claim to importance consisted in its location 
 upon the trail along the northern shore of Lake Erie and in the 
 existence of the harbor and the trading place to which it afforded 
 protection. At no time in its history was its possession of great 
 strategical value either to the English or to the Americans. 
 
1 2 TJic Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 before the Invasion. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the war of 1776- 1783 
 was the War of the Revolution, but the war of independence still 
 remained to be fought. Events during Jefferson's and Madison's 
 administrations proved the truth of the remark, for the infant 
 nation was vexed and harassed not only by England and Francfe 
 but by the pirates of the Mediterranean and the Indians at home 
 as well. Through the operation of Orders in Council, and the 
 Berlin and Milan Decrees promulgated by both England and 
 France, our commerce, just beginning to flourish, was almost 
 driven from the seas; thousands of our seamen were compelled 
 to serve in British vessels through the infamous practice of 
 impressment: our ships were stopped and searched on the high 
 seas for alleged British subjects or suspected breaches of neu- 
 trality; Indians formerly friendly to us were armed and incited 
 to revolt: and these things occurred not once, but many times. 
 Indeed, as Madison put it in his communication to Congress of 
 June first, 181 2: 
 
 "We behold, in fine, on the side of Great Britain a state of 
 war against the United States, and on the side of the United 
 States a state of peace toward Great Britain." 
 
 The United States dreaded hostilities, and Madison would 
 gladly have avoided them, yet there seemed no alternative if we 
 desired to take our place among the nations of the world. Con- 
 gress accordingly declared war on June eighteenth, 18 12, and 
 the next day it was proclaimed by the president. 
 
 The declaration of war found the country totally unprepared 
 for hostilities. Our army consisted of barely six thousand men, 
 while our navy was composed of about twenty-five war ships 
 carrying three hundred guns, against the thousand war vessels of 
 
Before the Invasion 1 3 
 
 the British. Not only in men and war ships were we lacking, but 
 in munitions of war of every description as well; and to further 
 embarrass the administration, both the Federal Party and the New 
 England states strongly opposed the war, and mass meetings 
 were held and pamphlets continually circulated by the peace 
 
 party. 
 
 The war opened disastrously with the surrender of Detroit 
 by Hull, and, as a result, the loss of the territory of Michigan. 
 During the years 18 12 and 1813 nearly all the land operations 
 displayed the incompetency of American commanders and the 
 cowardice of American militia. In short, we were as uniformly 
 unsuccessful on land as we were successful on the sea; and no 
 part of our territory suffered more severely than the Niagara 
 frontier. It is not within the scope of this chapter to recount 
 these defeats or dwell upon the victories — few and far between — 
 which served to hearten up the people. 
 
 Buffalo, then a village of about one hundred and twenty-five 
 houses, was burned by the British and Indians on the thirty-first 
 of December, 1813, and the first of January, 1814. Only one 
 house, a blacksmith shop, and the jail were left standing. Between 
 forty and fifty people of both sexes were killed, stripped to the 
 skin, and scalped by the Canadian Indians accompanying the 
 column. 
 
 While the burning of Buffalo was contrary to the laws of 
 war, it was an act of retaliation for the wanton burning of the 
 flourishing village of Newark (now Niagara) situated near Fort 
 George in Canada, consisting of one hundred and fifty houses. 
 This was done by the Americans under General McClure, who 
 acted entirely without orders or any justification or excuse what- 
 ever. Doubtless many of the scenes at the burning of Buffalo 
 were only repetitions of those at Newark, as each side was assisted 
 by a large number of Indians, who at such times were uncontrol- 
 lable. The homeless settlers managed to survive the winter 
 
14 TJie Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 through assistance afforded by the people of the state, who gen- 
 erously contributed supplies. Money was voted by the Legis- 
 lature and by various cities, amounting in the aggregate to 
 upwards of fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 The dreary winter at last came to a close, and things began 
 to look brighter. A brickyard was put into operation; building 
 was commenced; and, owing to the presence of a considerable 
 body of troops quartered at Buffalo, money was quite plentiful. 
 Johnson, in his History of Eric Comity, is authority for the state- 
 ment that by May twentieth the village boasted three taverns, 
 four stores, twelve shops, twenty-three houses, and thirty or forty 
 huts, besides many buildings in process of erection. 
 
 Along in June rumors of an invasion of Canada began to be 
 current. The force at Buffalo then consisted of two brigades of 
 regulars, the First and Second, under General Winfield Scott 
 and General Ripley respectively, and a portion of one brigade of 
 militia under General Porter, besides about six hundred Senecas. 
 The monthly return of General Brown's division for July first, 
 1 8 14, was as follows: 
 
 N. 
 
 Present fur 
 C. 0. and Men. 
 
 Dutv. 
 Officers. 
 
 Agsregate 
 Present and Absent. 
 
 Artillery, 
 
 330 
 
 15 
 
 413 
 
 .Scott's Brisjade, 
 
 I,3'2 
 
 65 
 
 2,122 
 
 Ripley's Brigade, 
 
 992 
 
 36 
 
 1,415 
 
 Porter's Brigade, 
 
 710 
 
 43 
 159 
 
 830 
 
 Total, 
 
 3>344 
 
 4,780 
 
 A portion of General Porter's brigade did not join him until July 
 seventh, after the invasion had begun. 
 
 The whole force numbered about four thousand men effective 
 for duty. Considerable attention had been given to disciplining 
 and drilling the regulars, until these troops were in a fair state of 
 efficiency and eager for an invasion of Canada. As an instance 
 of the discipline that prevailed, it is related that four privates 
 from the regulars convicted of desertion were shot in the presence 
 of General Scott, his staff, and the army, near the present corner 
 
Before the Invasion 1 5 
 
 of Front Avenue and Maryland Street, in June, 18 14. The 
 volunteers, however, were in poor condition for service. On 
 many occasions during the war these troops had shown not only 
 inefficiency but absolute cowardice. The reason for this is clear 
 enough. The militia of that day consisted of men who would 
 volunteer only for short terms, and a man who had served five 
 or six months was looked upon as a veteran, the average term 
 of service being but a few weeks. They were poorly armed, 
 equipped, and commanded; and it is no wonder that they were 
 content to endure the hardships incident to a soldier's life for 
 only a few weeks. 
 
 The late war with Spain has clearly shown how difficult it is 
 to supply an army with the thousand and one things it requires, 
 although at the present tim.e the resources of this country are 
 practically inexhaustible. When the condition of the country 
 during the War of 1812 is considered, the statement that the 
 volunteers were scantily supplied with equipment will cause no 
 astonishment. For instance, on July third, the day Fort Erie 
 was captured and the Canadian invasion was begun, Porter's 
 brigade had not been issued a rifle, saber, bayonet, or blanket, 
 and but a small number of tents. 
 
 The volunteers were green troops, and badly handled; and, 
 being jeered at and made a convenience of by the regulars in the 
 fatigue work, it is of small wonder that army life was distasteful 
 and that poor service resulted. In the training and control of 
 these volunteers, General Peter B. Porter, then a Buffalonian, 
 showed great ability; and, as he was one of the foremost men of 
 this locality — and, indeed, of the state — a gentleman born and 
 bred, of fine bearing and courtly manners, he commanded their 
 respect and admiration. General Brown, in a letter to Governor 
 Tompkins, referring to Porter, only stated a fact when he said, 
 " In the midst of the greatest danger I have found his mind cool 
 and collected and his judgment to be relied upon." He was full 
 of resources and prompt to seize a favorable opportunity to secure 
 an advantage, although not bred a soldier. His conduct during 
 
1 6 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 this war was justly recognized by the government, which bre- 
 vetted him a Major General; and for his gallantry and bravery 
 during the war Congress voted him a gold medal. Volunteer 
 crenerals of capacity and aggressiveness even unto this day are 
 j'ealous of the regular army officers and a trifle msubordmate. 
 Porter appears to have been no exception to the rule, as his let- 
 ters to Governor Tompkins disclose, but when it came to a fight 
 he loyally supported his superiors and freely exposed his life to 
 gain a victory. Under Porter tlie militia stood up against the 
 Trained troops of the British like veterans, and at Chippewa, 
 Lundy's Lane, and Fort Erie their conduct went far to redeem 
 the bad reputation the American militia had acquired during the 
 preceding years of the war. 
 
 Porter died at Niagara Falls, aged seventy-one. A beautitul 
 monument was erected over his grave, and upon it is engraved 
 the following epitaph, which is so apt an estimate of his services 
 and character that a portion of it, at least, is well worth quoting. 
 
 PETER BUEL PORTER. 
 
 A pioneer in western New York ; a statesman emi- 
 nent in the annals of the nation and the state ; a general 
 in the armies of America defending in the hejd what he 
 had Maintained in the council.. * *.* Known and 
 mourned throughout that extensive region which he had 
 been among the foremost to explore and to defend. 
 
 The characters of Brown, Scott, and Ripley are well known. 
 Each was uniformly successful. Brown and Scott were brave 
 even to recklessness, and ready to fight under any and all circum- 
 stances, while Ripley inclined to overcautiousness. 
 
 The monthly return of the regulars for June thirtieth, 1814. 
 
 was as follows: present for Duty. ^ggr^^ate 
 
 N. C. O. and Men. Officers. Present and Absent. 
 
 Scott's Brigade (First). 
 
 Ninth Regiment, 332 iC o4;J 
 
 Eleventh Regiment, 4i6 17 ^i' 
 
 Twenty-second Regiment, 217 12 ^^/ 
 
 Twenty-fifth Regiment, 354 ^^ ^^9 
 
 General staff, _4 ^ 
 
 Total, 1,319 65 2,129 
 
Before the Iiivasio7i \ j 
 
 Present for Duty. Aggregate 
 
 N. CO. and Men. Officers. Present kncfAbsent. 
 
 Ripley's Brigade (Second). 
 
 Twenty-first Regiment, 651 25 917 
 
 Twenty-third Regiment, 341 8 496 
 
 General staff, 2 2 
 
 Total, 992 35 
 
 Williams's, 62 
 
 1,415 
 
 Artillery ( Major Hindman ). 
 
 Towson's, 89 
 
 Riddle's. 80 104 
 
 Ritchie's, nfi t^^ 
 
 \\r;n; — „,„ Z 'j'-' 
 
 loi 
 
 73 
 
 Total, 327 416 
 
1 8 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Campaign down the Niagara. 
 
 Besides the brilliant incidents in the minor operations of the campaign, the splendid 
 victories gained on the Canadian side of the Niagara by the American forces under Major 
 General Brown and Brigadiers Scott and Gaines have gained for these heroes and their emu- 
 lating companions the most unfading \2i\xre\%.— Madison. 
 
 On the second day of July, 1814, General Brown issued an 
 order to his command stating that he was authorized by the 
 government to put it in motion against the enemy; and on the 
 same day, accompanied by Generals Scott and Ripley, he made a 
 careful reconnoissance of Fort Erie to determine upon a plan of 
 attack. Fort Erie will be described later on. It is sufficient to 
 state here that it was a poorly fortified stone fort defended by a 
 small garrison of about one hundred and forty officers and men 
 under command of Major Buck of the British army. 
 
 On the third of July, pursuant to the plan agreed upon, 
 Scott, with his brigade and some artillery and Indians, crossed 
 the river from Black Rock, about a mile below the fort, whilst 
 Ripley, with a portion of his brigade, crossed about a mile above. 
 Scott reached the fort first (as Ripley from some cause — a fog, 
 some authorities say — seems to have been delayed), and alone 
 invested the fort at daylight. Scott posted some eighteen- 
 pounders within easy range of the fort, and his Indians scoured 
 the woods. Ripley soon joined Scott, and the fort was given 
 two hours to surrender. Much to the disgust of the British 
 commander in chief, the fort capitulated Sunday afternoon, July 
 third, 18 14, and the Americans took possession with a loss of only 
 four men wounded, the garrison marching out and stacking arms. 
 The British appeared to feel its loss keenly. General Drummond, 
 writing to Sir George Prevost July tenth, says: 
 
 " I regret exceedingly the loss of this place, which I had the 
 strongest hopes would have made an excellent defence, or, at all 
 events, held the enemy in check for several days." 
 
The Campaign dow7i the Niagara 19 
 
 As the British forces were stationed at Chippewa Creek, only 
 a day's march away, reinforcements could have reached the fort 
 during the night and possibly have outnumbered and routed the 
 Americans. In fact, several companies of the Royal Scots were 
 marching to the assistance of the fort when the news reached 
 them that it had capitulated. In a general order issued by the 
 governor in chief of Canada, that official expresses his surprise 
 and mortification that the fort surrendered "without having made 
 an adequate defence." 
 
 General Brown's forces camped about the fort that night; 
 but early the next day, leaving Lieutenant McDonough and a 
 small force to garrison the fort. Brown put his army in motion to 
 attack the British forces who were encamped near Chippewa 
 Creek, eighteen miles away down the Niagara River. By early 
 morning of the fifth the American army had taken up position 
 in front of the enemy, and on that day the severe engagement of 
 Chippewa took place. Both sides claimed a victory in the official 
 reports; but the Americans clearly had the best of the battle in 
 every respect, and our forces were jubilant over the showing they 
 had made against the British regulars. * 
 
 General Brown soon set to work cutting a road through the 
 woods to Chippewa Creek, and working parties protected by the 
 riflemen and Indians built a bridge across the creek, as the old 
 bridge was occupied by the British. The building of the bridge 
 enabled Brown to turn the enemy's right flank, which Riall, the 
 British commander, was quick to perceive. He, therefore, on 
 the eighth of July, retreated to Fort George, at the mouth of the 
 Niagara, the American army following and investing the fort. 
 Here the Americans remained until July twenty-fifth, when Brown, 
 failing to secure the cooperation of the fleet on Lake Ontario, 
 and finding his communications threatened, determined to move 
 his army against Burlington, where the enemy had troops and 
 
 * " We had never seen those gray jackets before. We supposed it was only a line ot 
 militia men, and wondered why yon did hot run at the first fire. We began to doubt when 
 we found you stood firmly three or four rounds and when at length in the midst of our battery 
 blaze we saw you ' port arms ' and advance upon us we were utterly amazed. It was clear 
 enough we had something besides militia men to deal with."— .4 British officer to Douglass. 
 
20 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 stores, first falling back to Chippewa in order to deceive the 
 enemy as to his intentions. 
 
 While before Fort George no engagements worth mention- 
 ing occurred; but, in accordance, apparently, with the well-settled 
 custom at that time, the Americans carried on a predatory war- 
 fare against the defenseless noncombatant Canadians. Major 
 MacFarland, of the Twenty-third United States Infantry, in a 
 letter to his wife, written at the time, says: 
 
 " The [American] militia and Indians plundered and burnt 
 everything. The whole population is against us; not a foraging 
 party but is fired on, and not infrequently returns with missing 
 numbers. This state was to be anticipated. The militia have 
 burnt several private dwelling houses and on the 19th inst. burnt 
 the village of St. Davids, consisting of 30 or 40 houses. This 
 was done within three miles of our camp, and my battalion was 
 sent to cover the retreat, as they had been sent to scour the 
 country and it was presumed they might be pursued. My God, 
 what a service! I never witnessed such a scene, and had not the 
 commanding officer of the party, Lieut. Colonel Stone been dis- 
 graced and sent out of the army I would have resigned." * 
 
 In short, no one can examine the history of this period witii- 
 out coming to the conclusion that the well-recognized laws of war- 
 fare were ignored by both sides and that each burned and sacked 
 defenseless hamlets almost as often as an opportunity presented 
 itself 
 
 On the afternoon of the twenty-fifth of July the movement 
 to Chippewa began, General Scott, with the First Brigade and 
 the artillery, having the advance. When Scott reached the vicin- 
 ity of Niagara Falls he received intelligence that the enemy was 
 posted at Lundy's Lane, one half mile west of the falls, and, 
 although it was nearly sunset, he resolved to attack at once, which 
 he did with great vigor, first sending word back to Brown, who 
 
 * Poor MacFarland fell a few days afterwards at Lundy's Lane. 
 
The Campaign dozvn the Niagara 2 i 
 
 was with the main body. Scott maintained the contest alone with 
 great skill for almost an hour, but after a time Ripley and Porter 
 came up with their brigades and the battle became general. 
 
 The story of the fight has been well told by Colonel Cruik- 
 shank. As the battle was fought partly in the dark (from six 
 o'clock to eleven) many curious mistakes occurred. General 
 Riall, accompanied by his staff and preceded by an aide, was 
 riding over the field when he came upon a regiment. The aide 
 shouted, "Make room there, men, for General Riall." The ranks 
 gave way, and the general and his staff started to ride through 
 the regiment, when, much to his surprise, he was suddenly seized 
 and pulled off his horse. Astonished beyond measure he shouted, 
 "What does all this mean?" "You are prisoners, sir," was the 
 answer. "But I am General Riall." "There is no doubt of that," 
 responded his captor, "and I am Captain Ketchum,of the United 
 States army." Seeing that resistance was useless, the general 
 was heard to remark sotto I'occ, "Captain Ketchum — Ketchum. 
 Well, you have caught us, sure enough." 
 
 Both sides claimed a victory — the British because the Ameri- 
 cans retreated from the field of battle, leaving their killed and 
 wounded, all the captured guns but one, and many small arms ; 
 the Americans because they drove the British from their position 
 and held it until it seemed advisable to fall back to their camp, 
 two miles away, for supplies and water. Porter, speaking of this 
 fight in writing Governor Tompkins, says: 
 
 "Our victory was complete, but, alas, this victory, gained by 
 exhibitions of bravery never surpassed in this country, was con- 
 verted into a defeat by a precipitate retreat, leaving the dead, the 
 wounded, and captured artillery and our hard-earned honor to 
 the enemy. I entered my remonstrance against this measure, 
 and I confess at the time I almost wished that fate had swept 
 another General from the combat.* But it is certain that no 
 Militia General is to gain any military fame while united to a 
 
 * Porter would then have succeeded to the command. 
 
2 2 Tlie Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 regular force and commanded by their officers. * * * j^ 
 short, I have been brigadiered until 1 am quite satisfied." 
 
 Colonel Hercules Scott, of the One-hundred-and-third Regi- 
 ment, writing to his sister, says: 
 
 "On the 5th of this month a severe action [Chippewa] was 
 fought within about five miles of this place, wherein our troops 
 were defeated with heavy loss. In the first action I was not 
 engaged, but we had another severe one on the 25th, when we 
 had ratJicr the advantage." 
 
 A table of the losses at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane will be 
 found at the end of this chapter, which will show how desperate 
 was the fiehtine. As Generals Brown and Scott were both 
 severely wounded, the command devolved upon Ripley, who, 
 acting under Brown's directions, withdrew the army to Fort Erie, 
 which he reached at eleven o'clock on the night of July twenty- 
 sixth. He immediately took up the strongest position possible, 
 and awaited the attack he knew was inevitable. 
 
 As an illustration of how severe the losses were at Lundy's 
 Lane: Colonel Miller's regiment lost one hundred and twenty-six 
 killed, wounded, and missing out of about three hundred men. 
 Colonel Miller was the man who, being asked during the battle 
 if his regiment (the Twenty-first infantry) could take a certain 
 battery made the historic response, " I will try, sir." Listen to 
 Miller's report: 
 
 " It was then evening, but moonlight. General Brown turned 
 to me, and said: 'Col. Miller, take your regiment and storm that 
 work and take it.' I had short of three hundred men with me, 
 as my regiment had been much weakened by the numerous 
 details made from it during the day. I, however, immediately 
 obeyed the order." 
 
 Of the First Brigade, the commander ( Scott), his aide, a staff 
 major, and every commander of battalion were either killed or 
 
The Campaign down the Niagara 23 
 
 wounded. In fact, Scott's brigade was all cut to pieces, and its 
 remnants were collected and served during the siege of Fort Erie 
 under a lieutenant colonel. 
 
 The following table of losses is interesting: 
 
 Chippewa. 
 
 Killed. Wouiidefl. Missing. Total. 
 
 American, 60 249 19 328 
 
 British, 148 221 46 415 
 
 Lundy's Lane. 
 
 American, lyr 570 117 858 
 
 Britisii, 84 554 235 873* 
 
 * Colonel Scott stated the English loss at 939 killed, wounded, and missing. 
 
The Beginning of the Siege 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Beginning of the Siege. 
 
 As already stated, Fort Erie was constructed by the British 
 in 1764, and was intended more as a fortified trading post than a 
 fort to withstand a siege. A careful and technical description 
 of the fort will be found in Volume II., page 216, of The Histor- 
 ical Magazine (third series), to which the reader is referred. 
 When captured by us it consisted of two bastions, one on the north 
 and the other on the south face of a rectangular stone structure, 
 these being connected on the westerly side by a line of pickets, 
 an abattis, and a ditch.' Two blockhouses, or mess buildino-s, 
 were situated on a continuation of the easterly faces of the bas- 
 tions, leaving a space between the blockhouses of barely forty feet. 
 This space was fortified by a curtain running from one blockhouse 
 to the other, in which was located the main gate of the fort. On 
 the easterly side of the fort was a ravelin. The fort was of stone, 
 and the construction was too light to resist anything but the field- 
 pieces of that period. The woods on the north and west came 
 down to within sixty rods of our works; but, save a ravine two 
 hundred yards to the north, the terrain was generally level and 
 inclined to be swampy. It had been in our possession before 
 during the war. On May twenty-sixth, 1813, the commandant 
 of the fort, who held the place with some Canadian militia, having 
 bombarded Black Rock since the day before, and fearing an 
 attack, blew up his magazine, destroyed his supplies, and, after 
 dismissing his troops, evacuated the fort, whereupon the Amer- 
 icans promptly crossed over the river and took possession of it. 
 Subsequent events, however, compelled us in turn to abandon it. 
 
 As previously stated, Lieutenant McDonough and a small 
 garrison were left in the fort while Brown was operating down the 
 Niagara. This officer worked diligently strengthening the fort 
 by deepening the ditches and raising the bastions. He also took 
 
26 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 out the line of pickets on the west flank and began the construc- 
 tion of a redoubt to protect the bastions. 
 
 When Ripley reached the fort it was in a very poor condition 
 to resist a determined assault; but there were several excellent 
 regular army engineers in the army, and the work of fortifying 
 the position was entrusted to them. General Ripley took up the 
 strongest available position, with his right resting in the fort and 
 his left extending nearly parallel to the lake some seven hundred 
 yards southerly to a small hillock called Snake Hill, where the 
 water line curved in towards the west. This brought our left 
 only about fifty yards from the lake. Nature added nothing to 
 the strength of the position, and, as its weakness was appreciated, 
 strenuous efforts were soon made to strengthen it in every way 
 possible. The following improvements were commenced: an 
 earthwork from the southerly side of the fort to the hillock on 
 our extreme left; an embrasure on the hillock for Towson's 
 battery of five guns; two bastions on the west side of the fort; 
 embrasures for Riddle's and Fontaine's batteries; an earthwork 
 running easterly from the fort towards Niagara River, with an 
 embrasure for Douglass's battery on the easterly end;* numerous 
 camp traverses; an abattis from the Niagara River on our right, 
 extending clear around the works to the river on our left; and the 
 completion of the redoubt commenced by McDonough. It will 
 be seen that these improvements converted a very weak fort into 
 a rather strong position, and the fort changed into a fortified camp 
 with the rear open and protected by the Niagara. 
 
 While this work was being vigorously prosecuted, on the 
 first of August, Sir Gordon Drummond, who held the rank of 
 lieutenant general, appeared before the fort with upwards of four 
 thousand men,t drove in the American pickets, and took up a 
 
 ♦Lossing states that Douglass's batterv was mounted en barbette in a small stonework, 
 but more reliable authorities state that the battery was finally planted in an earthwork like the 
 others. It was at first laid en barbette and afterwards changed. 
 
 + Many of these men were veterans fresh from Wellington's army. After the battle of 
 Lundv's Lane Drummond had been reinforced by De VVatteviUe's regiment one thousand or 
 twdve hundred strong, recruited in Spain, and composed of Poles, Spaniards, Germans, and 
 Portuguese. 
 
The Beginnmg of the Siege ■ 27 
 
 position on the hills opposite Black Rock. Apparently at this 
 time he did not anticipate a very stout resistance from the fort, but 
 subsequent events increased his respect for American prowess. 
 
 On the second of August occurred the first clash between 
 the opposing forces, and this on American soil, within the present 
 Hmits of Buffalo. General Brown had posted some two hundred 
 and forty men, composing the First Battalion of the First Regi- 
 ment of riflemen under Major Morgan, an extremely capable offi- 
 cer, on the American side of the river as a guard to protect Black 
 Rock and Buffalo. General Drummond immediately perceived 
 that if he could destroy the stores of ordnance and supplies, and 
 defeat the militia at Black Rock and Buffalo, it would seriously 
 embarass the defenders of Fort Erie, if it did not cause them to 
 surrender. He therefore directed Lieutenant Colonel Tucker, 
 with a force of six hundred men, to cross the river before day- 
 light on the third and carry out the project. 
 
 On the evening of the second Major Morgan observed 
 movements of the enemy on the Canadian side of the river which 
 led him to suspect he might be attacked. He immediately took 
 up a position on the south bank of Scajaquada Creek command- 
 ing the bridge, threw up log breastworks, and awaited develop- 
 ments. At two o'clock in the morning of the third, Morgan's 
 pickets reported Tucker to be crossing the river. Morgan there- 
 upon took up a portion of the planks forming the roadway across 
 the bridge and awaited the attack. 
 
 Shortly after four that morning Tucker attacked Morgan's 
 position, endeavoring to cross the bridge and carry it by assault. 
 The British bravely advanced to the attack ; but when the rushing 
 column perceived the absence of the roadway of the bridge it 
 recoiled, the Americans in the meantime pouring in a withering 
 fire, and in the confusion some of the assailants were crowded off 
 the bridge into the waters of the creek. The assault failed, but, 
 not disheartened, the British endeavored to repair the bridge 
 under fire. This attempt also failed, as the bridge was completely 
 commanded by the fire of Morgan's men. Retiring, the British 
 
2 8 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 started up a fire at long range, and, detaching a column, endeav- 
 ored to ford the creek above the bridge; but Morgan, on the 
 alert for such a move, sent sixty men to oppose the movement, 
 who completely repulsed the British. Tucker, after consultation 
 with his officers, determined to retreat, and thereupon skillfully 
 withdrew across the Niagara with his killed and wounded, "ow- 
 ing [as he says] to the enemy having destroyed the bridge over 
 Conguichity* Creek prior to our arrival at that point, and there 
 being no possibility of fording it." Tucker, in his official report, 
 attributes the failure of the attack to the cowardice of his men. 
 He reports a loss of twelve killed, seventeen wounded, and five 
 missing. Our loss was two killed and eight wounded. This 
 skirmish greatly encouraged the Americans; and, besides, it 
 resulted in an increase of the force at Buffalo, which deterred 
 Drummond from making another attempt. This skirmish was 
 afterwards known as the Battle of Conjockety,and Morgan as the 
 " hero of Conjockety." 
 
 Drummond, always prone to find fault, issued an order 
 publicly censuring the troops for their cowardice. The following 
 is an extract from the order: 
 
 " The indignation excited in the mind of the Lieut.-General 
 from discovering that the failure of an expedition the success of 
 which by destroying the enemy's means of subsistence would 
 have compelled his force on this side to have surrendered to the 
 troops by which he is invested or by risquing an action with the 
 Lieut.-General in the field to have met certain defeat has been 
 solely caused by the misbehavior of the troops employed on this 
 honorable service will not permit him to expatiate on a subject 
 so unmilitary and disgraceful. * * * To the troops most, 
 particularly alluded to it is the Lieut-General's determination to 
 afford an immediate opportunity of at once effacing from his mind 
 the impression which the report of the officers and his own 
 observation have produced and of averting that report of their 
 
 * That is, Conjockety. 
 
The Beginning of the Siege 29 
 
 conduct which he shall feel it his indispensable and imperious 
 duty to lay at the feet of his sovereign. 
 
 " Crouching, ducking, or laying down when advancing under 
 fire are bad habits and must be corrected." 
 
 If Drummond had taken Buffalo the American base of com- 
 munications would have been cut off and our army compelled 
 to evacuate the fort at once. If Drummond laid so much impor- 
 tance to this skirmish it is difficult to see why he did not attempt 
 the movement later on with a larger force, to which the Americans 
 could have made little, if any, resistance. The American army 
 would have then been placed in a serious predicament. 
 
 On the day this fight occurred General Drummond pushed 
 forward a brigade to the edge of the woods surrounding Fort 
 Erie, and, making a careful reconnoissance of the position, decided 
 after " mature consideration " not to assault until after the guns 
 of heavy caliber he had sent for from Fort George were mounted 
 and had made a breach in the walls. In coming to this decision, 
 Drummond made his first serious mistake, which the Americans 
 hailed with considerable satisfaction. The works were weak and ill 
 fitted to stand the determined assault Drummond's veterans were 
 capable of making, and which they afterward made; and each day 
 was improved by our forces in putting them into better condition. 
 Never was delay more fatal to the success of a movement. 
 
 An assault was not made until the fifteenth of August, when 
 all the batteries were in position; but at this time (August 
 fourth) Towson's battery, on our left, which gave the British the 
 most trouble during the assault, was not planted, which would 
 have rendered our left easily flanked and turned. This battery 
 was not completed until the tenth. The mistake was most serious. 
 The Americans, although somewhat surprised, immediately laid 
 aside their muskets and went to work with their spades; and, 
 although the proposed improvements had not all been made by 
 August fifteenth, the defenses were soon in a tolerable condition 
 to resist an attack. 
 
30 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 Brown, it appears, was not satisfied with Ripley's conduct 
 during his term of command after Lundy's Lane. One reason 
 for Brown's complaint was that he claims to have ordered Ripley 
 to retake possession of the battlefield of Lundy's Lane early in 
 the morning following the battle, and that Ripley failed to carry 
 out the order. In any event. Brown and Scott both being dis- 
 abled by wounds, Major General Edmund P. Gaines was sent 
 for to come on from Sackett's Harbor. He arrived on August 
 fourth, and at once assumed command. Although General Rip- 
 ley was superseded, he appears to have always conducted himself 
 with conspicuous gallantry, and led his troops with more than 
 ordinary ability. He was a loyal, brave man. Gaines at this time 
 was thirty-seven years old, and a man of fine presence. His 
 high reputation had preceded him, and his arrival at Fort Erie 
 caused great enthusiasm in the little army. He was a soldier by 
 profession, and had worked his way from a lieutenancy through 
 the various grades to that of a brigadier generalship in the reg- 
 ular army. He was brevetted a major general, and received a gold 
 medal and the thanks of Congress for his services and bravery 
 at Fort Erie; and, in addition to these honors, three states pre- 
 sented him with swords. He died at New Orleans, at the age 
 of seventy-two. 
 
 While the Americans were engaged in strengthening their 
 works, the British were not idle. Parallel lines of earthworks 
 and abattis were constructed northwesterly from Fort Erie, the 
 nearest of which was about five hundred yards away, running 
 from the river almost due west for one thousand yards. Two 
 blockhouses were built and embrasures constructed for two bat- 
 teries — Number One situated near the river, nearly a thousand 
 yards from our works, and Number Two situated about two 
 hundred and fifty yards nearer the fort and about two hundred 
 yards from the river.* It took some time to complete them, 
 Battery Number Two not opening fire until August nineteenth, 
 or even later. It consisted of two long eighteen-pounders, one 
 
 *The location of these batteries is shown upon the map on page 24. 
 
The Beginfiiiig of the Siege 3 1 
 
 twenty-four-pound carronade, and an eight-inch howitzer. These 
 batteries were planted in the woods, and when completed ave- 
 nues were cut through the trees to admit of their playing upon 
 our lines; but, owing to the construction of the artillery of that 
 day, it was soon found that both batteries were laid too far away 
 to admit of their doing very effective execution. It was thought 
 when they were erected they would soon batter down the fort, 
 because they took our works in reverse, but throughout the 
 whole siege they did comparatively little mischief The British 
 had their camp at Waterloo, nearly two miles from their lines, 
 one brigade being constantly on duty at the front. 
 
 The map found at the front of this sketch, to which the 
 attention of the reader is called, will make clear the relative posi- 
 tions of the two armies. 
 
 The British army consisted of upwards of four thousand, 
 while our forces at first did not exceed two thousand eight hun- 
 dred. On August first, Lieutenant Douglass fired one of his 
 pieces at an advance party of the enemy, and on the second some 
 American soldiers, without orders, fired a cannon at the British; 
 but neither side really opened fire with any energy until August 
 seventh, when the British opened with all their available guns. 
 The Americans displayed their colors from every staff; the field 
 music and regimental bands struck up Yankee Doodle; and amid 
 the cheers of the garrison the fire was returned with spirit, if not 
 with effect. The cannonading continued with only slight inter- 
 missions until August fifteenth. Up to this time skirmishing 
 was daily going on between the lines, in which many more were 
 killed and wounded than the importance of the results accom- 
 plished by the movements seem to justify. On the twelfth of 
 August, in a skirmish. Major Morgan, the "hero of Conjockety " 
 was killed — a loss which our army felt severely. General Drum- 
 mond, in a letter to Sir George Prevost, dated August twelfth, 
 not only refers to this skirmishing, but makes a statement very 
 significant of the mode of warfare then apparently regarded as 
 entirely proper. He says: 
 
32 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 "The enemy makes daily efforts with his riflemen to dislodge 
 our advanced picquets and to obtain a reconnoissance of what 
 we are doing. These attacks, tho' feeble and invariably repulsed, 
 yet harass our troops and occasion us some loss. I enclose 
 returns of those of the loth and of this day. Your Excellency 
 will observe with concern that on both occasions we have lost an 
 officer killed. I am happy to report that on every occasion the 
 troops show great steadiness and invariably inflict a loss on the 
 enemy more considerable than their own. The Indians went 
 forward with great spirit the day before yesterday, and in the 
 affair of this day it has just been reported to me they surprised, 
 took, and scalped every man of one of the enemy s picquets." 
 
 This last sentence is italicized, not to emphasize how de- 
 praved the British were, but to show the mode of warfare of the 
 period. 
 
 The almost incessant fire of the enemy greatly annoyed the 
 garrison, and more especially the parties told off to work on the 
 fortifications, although great pains were taken to protect them. 
 Notwithstanding the precautions used, it was a not infrequent 
 occurrence for a shot to strike amongst a party with great effect. 
 The enemy elevated their pieces, and by using small charges of 
 powder dropped shells and round shot into the fort from such 
 an elevation that the traverses were of little protection. For 
 instance: a sergeant was being shaved in a spot protected by the 
 traverse, when both his head and the hand of the barber were 
 taken off by a single shot. Such casualties happened altogether 
 too frequently for the peace of mind of the little army, although 
 the men soon became somewhat accustomed to the danger. 
 
 On the twelfth of August the Americans opened on the 
 British with a battery situated at Black Rock, almost the first 
 discharge wounding a sergeant and five men. This fire annoyed 
 the enemy considerably during the siege, and compelled them to 
 construct numerous camp traverses to protect themselves from 
 the flank fire. 
 
The Beginnmg of the Siege '^'^ 
 
 Three armed American schooners of small tonnage, formerly 
 belonging to Perry's fleet, were anchored off the fort, and by a 
 flank fire added greatly to the strength of our position. Captain 
 Dobbs, of the Royal Navy, conceived the idea of embarking a 
 force in small boats, and, by representing them to be provision 
 boats from Fort Erie, to board and capture the schooners. 
 Accordingly, on the night of the twelfth, with a party of seventy 
 sailors and marines, Dobbs, under cover of the darkness, suc- 
 ceeded, with small loss, in capturing the Ohio and the Somers, 
 the Porcupine, the third schooner, escaping. These schooners 
 mounted three long twelve-pounders, and carried thirty-five men 
 each. The loss to us, while not very severe, was considerable. 
 
 Colonel Hercules Scott, in a letter to his brother dated 
 August twelfth, a part of which was written August fourteenth, 
 says : 
 
 "Since writing the above our battery (No. i) has opened 
 against the Fort and continued the whole of yesterday without 
 having the smallest effect. It is at much too great a distance. I 
 expect we shall be ordered to storm tomorrow. I have little hope 
 of success from this manoeuvre. I shall probably write you more, 
 that is, if I get over this present business." 
 
 Colonel Scott fell August fifteenth at the head of his regiment. 
 
34 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Attack on tlie Fort. 
 
 " The attack on this place was perhaps the most gallant of the ^^;_l^'^e wan''^^ 
 
 The narrative now reaches a point where the first hard fight- 
 ing occurred. General Drummond, having made several careful 
 reconnoissances of the American position, came to the conclusion 
 it could be carried by assault. Our works did present several vul- 
 nerable places ; for, notwithstanding the great efforts made by the 
 Americans during the past fortnight, the abattis was weak, and 
 openings existed beween Douglass's battery and the river on 
 our right and between the fort and the breastworks runnmg east- 
 erly to the river. Our left Drummond also considered somewhat 
 weak, but subsequent events proved otherwise. It may be well 
 at this point to again recur to our position and see how our 
 forces were disposed. It will be remembered that Douglass's 
 batterv, consisting of a six-pounder and an eighteen-pounder, was 
 situated on our extreme right and rear; that Towson's battery 
 of six guns, all fieldpieces, occupied Snake Hill on our extreme 
 left, and was elevated some twenty feet, so as to completely com- 
 mand the esplanade; that Fontaine's, afterwards Tanning's, battery 
 of two guns was planted near the fort at the northerly end of 
 the breastwork, while Biddle's battery of three guns was posted 
 on the breastwork about two hundred and fifty yards fi'om the 
 fort The fort mounted a twenty-four-pounder, an eighteen- 
 pounder, and a twelve-pounder. The artillery was all under the 
 command of Major Hindman, of the regulars, and apparently was 
 handled with great skill. Parts of the Eleventh, Ninth, and 
 Twenty-second regiments of regulars, under command of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Aspinwall, were posted on our right; Porter, with 
 his militia and the First and Fourth regiments of riflemen held 
 the center; while on the left General Ripley was posted with the 
 
The Attack on the Fort 35 
 
 Twenty-first and Twenty-third regulars. Fort Erie was defended 
 by the Nineteenth United States Infantry under Captain WilHams. 
 
 General Drummond, having determined to assault on the 
 fifteenth of August, decided to pave the way by a vigorous can- 
 nonading, which he began at sunrise on the thirteenth and con- 
 tinued until eight o'clock in the evening of that day. He resumed 
 firing on the fourteenth at daybreak, and it was then continued 
 without intermission up to an hour before the time the assault 
 was made. We returned the fire briskly a portion of the time. 
 During this period we lost ten killed and thirty-five wounded, 
 and our troops were greatly annoyed by the incessant fire. The 
 works, however, were not seriously damaged, although Drum- 
 mond reported that "the stone building had been much injured 
 and the general outline of the parapet and embrasures very much 
 altered." 
 
 General Drummond carefully planned his attack. His 
 " arrangement " is here set out in full, because, as he engaged all 
 his organizations, it will show the different ones that composed 
 his army, as well as the disposition of his troops. 
 
 (secret.) 
 
 " Headquarters, 
 "Camp before Fort Erie, 14th Aug., 1814. 
 
 Arrangement. 
 
 "Right Colnnin — Lt.-Col. FiscJicr : 
 
 King's Regiment. 
 
 Volunteers — Regt. De Watteville. 
 
 Light Companies — 89th and looth Regts. 
 
 Detachment Royal Artillery, one officer and 12 men and a 
 rocketeer with a couple of 12-pound rockets. 
 
 Capt. Eustace's picquet of cavalry. 
 
 Capt. Powell, Deputy- Asst.-Quartermaster General will con- 
 duct this column, which is to attack the left of the enemy's position. 
 
36 TJic Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 ''Centre Column — Lt.-Col. Dninunond: 
 
 Flank Companies — 41st Regiment. 
 
 do, do. 104th do. 
 
 Royal Marines — 50. 
 Seamen — 90. 
 
 Detachment Royal Artillery, one subaltern and 12 men. 
 Capt. Barney, 89th Regt., will guide this column, which is 
 to attack the fort. 
 
 "Left Column — Col. Scott, lojd Regt.: 
 
 103d Regt. 
 
 Capt. Elliott, Deputy-Asst.-Quartermaster-General, will con- 
 duct this column, which will attack the right of the enemy's 
 position towards the lake, and endeavor to penetrate by the 
 opening between the fort and the entrenchment, using the short 
 ladders at the same time to pass the entrenchment which is 
 reported to be defended only by the enemy's 9th Regt., 250 
 strong. 
 
 "The infantry picquets on Buck's road to be pushed on with 
 the Indians to attack the enemy's picquets on that road. 
 Lt.-Col. Nichols, Quartermaster-General of Militia, will conduct 
 this column. 
 
 "The rest of the troops, viz.: 
 1st Battalion Royals, 
 Remainder of De Watteville's Regt., 
 Glengarry Light Infantry and Incorporated Militia, 
 will remain in reserve under Lt.-Col. Tucker and are to be posted 
 on the ground at present occupied by our picquets and covering 
 parties. 
 
 "Squadron of 19th Dragoons in rear of the battery nearest 
 to the advance, ready to receive charge of prisoners and conduct 
 them to the rear. 
 
 "The Lieut-General will station himself at or near the bat- 
 tery, where reports are to be made to him. 
 
The Attack on the Fort 2)1 
 
 "Lt.-Col. Fischer, commanding the right column, will follow 
 the instructions he has received, copy of which is communicated 
 to Col. Scott and Lt.-Col. Drummond for their guidance. 
 
 "The Lieut. -General most strongty recommends a free use of 
 the bayonet. The enemy's force does not exceed 1500 fit for 
 duty, and those are represented as much dispirited. 
 
 "The ground on which the columns of attack are to be 
 formed will be pointed out, and the orders for their guidance 
 will be given by the Lieut. -General commanding. 
 
 "J. HARVEY, 
 
 "D. A. G." 
 
 As nearly as can be estimated these columns were of the 
 following strength ; 
 
 Fischer's column, 
 
 1,100 
 
 Driimmond's column, 
 
 700 
 
 Scott's column. 
 
 750 
 
 2,550 
 
 Most careful and explicit written instructions were issued to 
 Lieutenant Colonel Fischer,directing how the details of the assault 
 on our left should be carried out, and copies of these were given 
 Colonels Drummond and Scott, the leaders of the other columns. 
 Fischer was directed to move out from his camp before dark on the 
 fourteenth and take up a position in the woods as close to our left 
 as possible, exercising the greatest care that the enemy be not 
 advised of his presence through deserters. Loud talking was 
 forbidden; no fires were to be lit; and hourly roll calls were directed 
 to be held. The American troops were thought by the British 
 to be " diminished and dispirited," and possibly this fact caused 
 Drummond to make another curious but serious mistake. In 
 Fischer's letter of instructions from Drummond he is directed to 
 have his men (except the reserve) remove the flints from their 
 muskets to obviate any chance of their firing prematurely and " to 
 insure secrecy." His order says : 
 
38 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 " The advantages which will arise from taking out the flints 
 are obvious. Combined with darkness and silence, it will effec- 
 tually conceal the situation and number of our troops ; and those 
 of the enemy being exposed by his fire and his white trousers, 
 which are very conspicuous marks to our view, it will enable 
 them to use the bayonet with effect, which that valuable weapon 
 has been ever found to possess in the hands of British soldiers." 
 
 These instructions in respect to the flints also applied to the 
 other columns. 
 
 So much for the plan. 
 
 While the American troops were engaged in the usual 
 evening parade on the fourteenth, a shell from the enemy struck 
 within the fort and exploded a small magazine, which blew up 
 with a tremendous report heard for miles. The English, thinking 
 the shell had done serious damage, set up a " loud and joyous 
 shout," which the Americans were not slow to answer by 
 hearty cheers ; and the gallant Captain Williams, killed a few 
 hours afterwards, before the smoke of the explosion had lifted, 
 renewed the cannonading from the largest gun within the fort. 
 
 Gaines during the past few days had observed several things 
 which made it clear to him an assault was imminent, and thinking 
 the explosion of the magazine might encourage the enemy to 
 make it that night took every precaution to insure a successful 
 defense. One third of the garrison was kept on duty, and the 
 balance lay down on their arms ready to fall in at a minute's 
 notice. Lighted dark lanterns were placed at the guns ; bags of 
 canister were hung within easy reach ; and the guns were charged 
 afresh. Before turning in, Gaines, accompanied by his engineers, 
 went carefully over the works, spoke a word of encouragement to 
 the men, and saw that his command was prepared to make a 
 prompt and stout defense. When McRea, the chief engineer, 
 visited Douglass, he told him if the threatened attack did come 
 he could rely upon it his battery would be one of the points 
 assailed. Douglass relates how bags of musket balls suited to the 
 
The Attack on the Fort ' 39 
 
 caliber of his guns were hung beside each piece, how linstocks 
 were placed where they could be easily reached and dark lanterns 
 lit, and how the guns were charged so heavily with grape shot 
 that the last wad could be touched with the hand. The gun 
 crews lay on the platforms ready to leap to the guns at the first 
 alarm, which all felt sure would soon come. The garrison had 
 not the slightest intimation of an attack, so far as the English 
 could observe. The timely precautions so wisely taken by Gaines 
 undoubtedly saved the day for the Americans. 
 
 The night was pitch dark, and during the fore part of the 
 evening rain had been falling. A picket of one hundred men 
 under Lieutenant Belknap of the Twenty-third Infantry, along 
 about two in the morning of the fifteenth heard suspicious sounds 
 coming from the direction the enemy would naturally advance. 
 Not wishing to alarm the garrison needlessly, he waited until he 
 was sure a column ( Fischer's ) was approaching, when he fired a 
 volley and slowly retreated upon the fort firing as he came. He 
 gallantly kept the enemy in check for a short time, which was of 
 great value to our forces; and as he brought up the rear he re- 
 ceived a severe bayonet wound just as he was about to enter the 
 fort, so close did the enemy's advance press him. The objective 
 of Fischer's attack was the space between our left and the river ; 
 but the enemy carried scaling ladders and were prepared to mount 
 our works wherever opportunity offered. But instead of over- 
 powering the small interior guard and bayoneting the sleepy 
 occupants of the garrison before a resolute defense could be made, 
 as the British hoped to do, they found they were confronted with 
 an entirely different situation. No sooner was the first shot heard 
 than the officers ran down the lines of tents crying " To arms ! to 
 arms ! " The reserves, all dressed and ready for the fight, ran to 
 the parapets to assist their comrades, while the trained gun crews 
 leaped to their pieces and freshly primed them ; and while some 
 of the crew held their hands over the priming to protect it from 
 the dampness others grasped the linstocks, opened the dark lan- 
 terns, and lit the slow matches, all in less time than it takes to tell 
 
40 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 it. The silent infantry lined the parapets and peered into the 
 darkness eager for the fight to commence and the period of sus- 
 pense to be over. Gaines says in his official report : 
 
 " The night was dark and the early part of it raining but the 
 faithfidsetiiinelsXe^i not. One third of the troops were up at their 
 posts. At half past two o'clock the right column of the enemy 
 approached and though enveloped in darkness black as his designs 
 and principles was distinctly heard on our left and promptly 
 marked by our musketry under Major Wood and artillery under 
 Captain Towson." 
 
 As soon as the approaching British were faintly discerned 
 through the darkness, Towson's battery and the Twenty-first and 
 Twenty-third infantry opened with a tremendous crash, lighting 
 up the night with the glare of the fire. Towson's battery, for its 
 work that night, received the nickname of " Towson's lighthouse." 
 The enemy bravely stood the fire and advanced to within a few 
 feet of our lines before recoiling. A portion of his forces, by 
 wading breast-deep in the river, succeeded in passing around the 
 abattis and were about to attack our position from the rear, when 
 two companies of the Twenty-first Regiment, posted to meet such 
 an emergency, rushed up and opened so deadly a fire that very 
 few of the enemy escaped. Many were carried dead or wounded 
 down the river by the swift current. Again and again the enemy 
 gallantly assaulted, and as often were they repulsed with great 
 loss by the battery and musketry fire. Five distinct assaults were 
 made. Disheartened and worn out, the shattered column finally 
 withdrew, leaving their dead upon the field and one hundred and 
 forty-seven prisoners in our hands. No further attempt was made 
 to assault our left, and the attack of the largest column of the 
 enemy and the one upon which General Drummond relied to 
 accomplish the most important results had utterly failed, notwith- 
 standing the bravery it displayed. 
 
 When Lieutenant Colonel Drummond and Colonel Scott 
 heard the attack of Fischer in progress they put their columns 
 
The Attack on the Fort 41 
 
 in motion, and, pursuant to the instructions, Drummond directed 
 his forces against the fort, while Scott, proceeding south along 
 the river, attacked Douglass's battery and the earthwork on that 
 side. Colonel Scott, with the One-hundred-and-third Regiment, 
 advanced bravely to the attack. He was met by the fire of the 
 Ninth Regiment and two companies of volunteers (Broughton's 
 and Harding's), besides the volleys of canister from Douglass's 
 battery and a six-pounder posted between the battery and the 
 river and commanded by Major McRea of the engineers. Even 
 the One-hundred-and-third, veterans of many a hard-fought 
 field, could not make headway against such a fire, and when 
 about fifty yards away the column was seen by the anxious 
 watchers in the fort to first hesitate, then waver, and then retreat 
 in confusion, leaving many dead and wounded. So intense was 
 the fire that one of the garrison compared the roar of the artillery 
 and the musketry fire to the close double drag of a drum on a 
 grand scale. About the time Scott's column fell back, loud cries 
 to cease firing were heard, coming apparently from the fort. 
 Douglass, supposing the order came from our officers, ceased 
 working his guns, but seeing Scott's column again preparing to 
 rush to the assault, and suspecting a ruse de guerre, immediately 
 reopened fire and again repulsed the assault.* Brackenridge is 
 responsible for the statement that the One-hundred-and-third 
 Regiment left one third of its number upon the field, including its 
 brave colonel, who, while leading the charge, was shot through 
 the head.f No further attack was made at this point, although 
 most of the attacking force afterwards mingled with Drummond's 
 column and assisted it in the assault on the bastion. 
 
 Two of the three columns had utterly failed to effect a 
 lodgment in the works. The third was more successful. Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Drummond, the commander chosen to lead the 
 troops against the fort, was a professional soldier of great bravery 
 
 * Douglass says he heard a voice cry in a foreign accent, " Cease firing ; you're firing 
 upon your own men," and immediately after a stentorian Yankee voice angrily yelled from 
 the fort, "Go to hell! Fire away there! why don't you?" He claims his fire had not 
 ceased, but that that of the infantry, or, at least, a part of it, had. 
 
 fThe British accounts say that Scott was killed within the fort. 
 
42 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 and possessed of that stubbornness so characteristic of the 
 British soldier — a quality which renders him incapable of appre- 
 ciating when he is beaten. A Spanish report of an engagement 
 during the late war describes the Americans as still pressing 
 forward, notwithstanding the fact that they were already defeated 
 by the well-directed fire of the Spaniards. Colonel Drummond 
 was a fighter of this description. While Fischer and Scott were 
 enofaeine the left and the rigrht, Lieutenant Colonel Drummond. 
 with the force described in the order ( consisting of about seven 
 hundred men), assaulted the center with an almost irresistible 
 impetuosity. He was, however, beaten back by the men of the 
 Nineteenth Regiment and by the artillery fire. Again and again, 
 rallying his men, he returned to the attack, only to be repulsed. 
 Finally, owing to the dense cloud of smoke from the guns and to 
 the darkness of the night (for the day was only just about to dawn), 
 with some men belonging to the Royal Artillery, he crept along 
 the ditch of the fort, and, planting scaling ladders, with which his 
 column was provided, climbed into the northern bastion, closely 
 followed by many of the attacking party, before the Americans 
 realized what had happened. Bayoneting the defenders of the 
 bastion, they seized the guns and turned them against the fort. 
 
 Among the artillerists defending the bastion was Lieutenant 
 McDonough, who, it will be remembered, was left in charge of 
 the fort during Brown's campaign down the Niagara. As he was 
 severely wounded by a bayonet thrust he asked for quarter. 
 Gaines, in his official report, thus describes the scene: 
 
 "Lieut. McDonough, being severely wounded, demanded 
 quarter; it was refused by Col. 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 reiterated the order ' Give the damned Yankees 
 no quarter.' " 
 
 Colonel Drummond was shot through the heart and bayon- 
 eted a few moments afterwards. He immediately expired. His 
 
The Attack oil the Fort 43 
 
 body was blown up when the explosion of the bastion occurred, 
 but when his remains were afterwards searched, a copy of General 
 Drummond's order, directing the assault, was found, and it was 
 observed that the bayonet, in entering his body, had passed 
 through that portion of the order wherein General Drummond 
 " recommends a free use of the bayonet." 
 
 Near the bastion stood a stone blockhouse, which was 
 manned by the Americans, and an attempt made to drive the 
 British from the bastion ; but they evinced no disposition to retire 
 from their hard-won position, and the fight waged furiously. 
 
 About two hours and a half had elapsed since the attack 
 first developed, and it was now daylight. This enabled our 
 batteries, especially Fanning's,* to keep reinforcements from 
 reaching the British, as the guns now swept the unobstructed 
 clearing in front of the fort, while all the other pieces were 
 trained upon the captured bastion. Gaines called upon Ripley 
 and Porter for reinforcements, who promptly sent them, and a 
 determined assault was made upon the bastion. Owing, how- 
 ever, to the narrowness of the passage leading up to it ( only 
 two or three men being able to charge abreast), our forces were 
 repulsed; but the Americans, nothing daunted, charged again 
 and again with no success beyond wearing down the enemy. 
 
 While the officers were forming our men for another assault 
 an event happened which had a decisive bearing upon the assault 
 and which was as unexpected as it was fortunate for our arms. 
 Underneath the platform of the captured bastion was stored a 
 large quantity of cartridges and ammunition of various sorts. 
 Suddenly, and from some cause never ascertained, a tremendous 
 explosion, heard for miles around, occurred, which blew the bas- 
 tion, with the men and guns upon it, high into the air. The bastion 
 was crowded principally with men from the One-hundred-and- 
 third Regiment ( Scott's ), and the explosion was of so much force 
 that this regiment was literally blown to pieces. The cries of the 
 wounded, the loud report, the enormous clouds of dust, the dis- 
 
 * Fanning outranked Fontaine, and so now was in command of the battery named after 
 the latter. 
 
44 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 tance objects were thrown, and the suddenness with which so 
 many brave men were blown to eternity or terribly mangled made 
 a profound impression upon the spectators. Its cause was long 
 a matter of speculation and wonderment, not only along the fron- 
 tier, but throughout the country as well. Lieutenant Douglass 
 graphically describes the explosion in the following language : 
 
 "Every sound was hushed by the sense of an unnatural 
 tremor beneath our feet like the first heave of an earthquake. 
 Almost at the same instant the center of the bastion blew up with 
 a terrific explosion and a jet of flame mingled with fragments of 
 timber, earth, stone, and bodies of men rose to the height of one 
 or two hundred feet in the air and fell in a shower of ruins to a 
 great distance all around." 
 
 Panic seized the uninjured, and after a few minutes the sur- 
 viving remnant of the British force retired to their intrenchments 
 under a heavy fire from the fort, protected by a battalion of the 
 King's Royals, which was pushed forward by General Drummond 
 to cover the retreat. 
 
 The battle was over, and the daylight revealed the dismantled 
 bastion still smoking from the effects of the explosion. In front 
 of our position, and especially the bastion, the ground was piled 
 with the dead and wounded, many terribly mangled and muti- 
 lated by the explosion. The garrison immediately set to work 
 to care for the wounded and to bury the dead.* 
 
 During the attack the people of Black Rock and Buffalo had 
 listened to the sounds of the combat, which drifted across the 
 river, and had watched the discharge of the pieces, fearing lest our 
 army would be overpowered and that there would be a repetition 
 of the horrible events of the preceding New Year's Day. When 
 the bastion blew up they were filled with dismay, for it was 
 thought it meant either an abandonment of the fort or its capture 
 by the British. But at last, with daylight, came a rowboat from 
 
 * Long trenches were dug near the fort, and forty or fifty men were buried in each trench 
 The prisoners and wounded were taken across the river to Buffalo, ' 
 
The Attack oil the Fort 45 
 
 the fort, which conveyed the news of the victory to the anxious 
 watchers. It was received with great rejoicing, and spread 
 throughout the country with rapidity, for it was the most decisive 
 victory of the war up to that time. 
 
46 The Siege of Foi^t Erie 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Period between the Assault and the Sortie. 
 
 Another of our annoyances was from the bombshells. These could be avoided without 
 much difficulty if one had time to attend to them, * * * but this could not always be 
 done. — Douglass. 
 
 When the smoke of battle had cleared away and each side 
 had taken a check roll call, it was found that for a " diminished 
 and dispirited force," the Americans had done exceedingly well. 
 The Americans lost two captains, one lieutenant, six subalterns, 
 two sergeants, one corporal, and seventy-two privates killed, 
 wounded, and missing. Seventeen were killed. The total loss of 
 the British was nine hundred and five, according to their official 
 report, but, judging from the men left upon the field and from un- 
 official accounts, it was probably over one thousand, of whom 
 about forty were officers. Drummond's official return apparently 
 does not include the loss in De Watteville's regiment, which must 
 have been quite severe. Drummond frankly states in his report 
 that many of the missing were probably killed in the explosion 
 of the bastion. 
 
 The blowing up of the bastion has been attributed to many 
 different causes. The following are among those assigned: 
 
 L Drummond states that ammunition under the platform 
 of the bastion caught fire owing to the fact that the guns in the 
 bastion were fired to the rear. 
 
 II. Lieutenant MacMahon, in a private letter to a friend, 
 written on the twenty-second of August, says: 
 
 " It [the ammunition] was not, however, intentionally placed 
 there for the purpose, but, seeing the opportunity, and availing 
 himself of it, a corporal of American artillery, having got on a 
 red coat and the cap of a British deserter, and while it was scarce 
 daylight, got in amongst our men, who were principally in and 
 near this bastion, and appeared to make himself very busy in 
 
The Period between the Assault and the Sortie 47 
 
 working the gun which by this time had been turned against the 
 enemy, and in the bustle he got under the platform and effected 
 his purpose by a slow match. He had but just time himself to 
 slink off and get behind a stone building in the fort when this 
 unfortunate explosion took place, which has left the One-hundred- 
 and-third Regiment, who were principally at that point, but a 
 mere skeleton." 
 
 III. Lossing, in his Field Book of the War of 18 12, relates 
 the following, which shows the power of imagination of the pri- 
 vate soldier, the most unreliable chronicler in the world: 
 
 "The venerable Jabez Fisk, now (1867) living near Adrian, 
 Michigan, who was in the fight, is not so reticent concerning the 
 explosion. In a letter to me dated May 20, 1863, he writes: 
 ' Three or four hundred of the enemy had got into the bastion. 
 At this time an American officer came running up and said, 
 ' General Gaines, the bastion is full. I can blow them all to hell 
 in a minute.' They both passed back through a stone building 
 and in a short time the bastion and the British were high in the 
 air. General Gaines soon returned, swinging his hat and shout- 
 ing, ' Hurrah for Little York!' This was in allusion to the 
 blowing up of the British magazine at Little York, where General 
 Pike was killed." 
 
 IV. A more romantic version, which gained considerable 
 credence at the time, was that the dying McDonough, determining 
 to sell his life as dearly as possible, threw a light into an ammu- 
 nition chest and so caused the explosion. 
 
 V. In the haste with which the guns were served, a cart- 
 ridge was accidentally broken, and the powder, scattering on the 
 platform, formed a train from it to the magazine, which, being 
 ignited, caused the explosion. 
 
 VI. The explosion was caused by an American shell. 
 
 So many causes are here assigned that the reader will 
 doubtless find no difficulty in making a satisfactory choice, for 
 each has this merit — it cannot be successfully controverted. 
 
48 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 The British had made a most gallant assault, and done all 
 that could be expected of flesh and blood. Not only failing to 
 carry the fort, but suffering a most severe loss, the soldiers gave 
 way to great depression. Upon retiring, they lined their intrench- 
 ments, prepared to resist a counter attack, but none came, and 
 the caring for the dead and wounded occupied the balance of the 
 day. A force of less than four thousand men had lost about one 
 thousand in killed, wounded, and missing — more than one fourth, 
 — and in Colonels Drummond and Scott's columns the loss was 
 even heavier. For instance, Scott's regiment, the One-hundred- 
 and-third, lost three hundred and seventy men, and out of eighteen 
 officers fourteen were killed or wounded. In fact, some of the 
 organizations were practically destroyed. Doctor Young, an 
 English surgeon, in a private letter to Colonel Scott's brother, 
 informing him of the colonel's death, writes that Scott was buried 
 on the evening of the fifteenth, and that the funeral was attended 
 by only three officers and himself, ''the zvliole that remained 
 untouched after the attacks 
 
 The following pathetic extract seems worthy of quoting to 
 show how dispirited even the officers were after the assault had 
 failed. It is from a letter written by Colonel J. Le Couteur to 
 his brother, and is dated July twenty-ninth, i8 — . 
 
 " After we were blown up, some three or four hundred men 
 by the springing of the mine or magazine in Fort Erie, on recov- 
 ering my senses from being blown off the parapet some twenty 
 feet into the ditch which was filled with burned and maimed men 
 the Yankees relined their works and fired heavily into the ditch. 
 My colonel, Drummond of Keltic, had commanded the right 
 attack. Col. Scott the left attack. Finding that the ditch was 
 not to be held under such disarray and such a fire, several of us 
 jumped over the scarp and ran over the plain to our lines. Lieut. 
 Fallon of the 103d, who was desperately wounded, was caught by 
 his sling belt in a log and thought to die there; however, I 
 said to my grenadier friend: 'Jack, my boy, put your arm over 
 
The Period between the Assault and the Sortie 49 
 
 my neck and I will take you round the waist and run you into 
 the lines.' The Yankees were then pelting us with grape and 
 musketry. As we jogged on I saw an officer carried on his back 
 in some sort of a stretcher and I said to the four men, 'Who is 
 that officer?' 'Col. Scott, sir, shot through the head,' where I 
 saw the bullet mark in the noble man's forehead. When I got 
 my friend into the lines, regardless of who was by, in a fit of sor- 
 row I threw my sabre down exclaiming, 'This is a disgraceful 
 day for Old England ! ' Col. M — , who heard me, said, ' For shame, 
 Mr. Le Couteur! The men are sufficiently discouraged by 
 defeat' Col. Pearson said, ' Don't blame him. It is the high 
 feeling of a young soldier.' To my surprise the Commander-in- 
 chief, Sir Gordon Drummond, had heard all this as he was close 
 behind and he asked me, 'Where is Col. Scott? ' 'Oh! Sir! He 
 is killed, just being brought in by his men.' 'Where is Col. 
 Drummond?' 'Alas! Sir! He is killed too. Bayonetted.' And 
 I burst into tears at the loss of my beloved commander and three 
 parts of my men. * * * Poor Drummond's body remained 
 in the American lines, blown up. Col. Scott received a soldier's 
 funeral — a most amiable and gallant soldier; indeed, there were 
 no two more heroic men in our army." 
 
 General Drummond, who had decided ability for evading 
 responsibility, attributed the defeat to the cowardice of the troops 
 in Fischer's column, at the same time, as was his custom, praising 
 the conduct of the officers. But the great loss the troops sus- 
 tained of itself showed their bravery, and Sir George Prevost 
 gently reproves Drummond for depriving the soldiers of their 
 flints and for ordering a night attack. The preparedness of our 
 forces and the precautions taken by Gaines account for the deci- 
 sive defeat we administered. Our comparatively small loss was 
 due to the fact that our fire could not be returned to any great 
 extent, as the enemy's muskets were disabled, and to the fact that 
 we were behind fortifications, although the British speak of the 
 bravery of our troops. We lost two brave and capable officers, 
 
50 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 Captain Williams and Lieutenant McDonough. Six subalterns 
 were severely wounded. Fontaine was blown up in the explosion 
 and captured by the Indians, who promptly relieved him of his 
 money and valuables but otherwise treated him kindly, which 
 prompted the grim remark of Brown, that "It would seem, then, 
 that these savages had not joined in the resolution to give no 
 quarter." 
 
 After the assault the garrison settled down to the wearisome 
 life of the besieged, only enlivened by a skirmish between pickets 
 or an occasional shell from the enemy. Fatigue parties were 
 constantly at work repairing the damage done to the bastion 
 and works during the assault and by the shells of the enemy.* 
 These fatigue parties suffered severely in the prosecution of the 
 work. Lieutenant Douglass is authority for the statement that 
 the daily losses averaged one to every sixteen men at work, for 
 the enemy's artillery fired nearly two hundred shots each day, 
 mostly round shot. The fire from Battery Number Two was 
 directed against the works, while that of Number One was used 
 to annoy and injure the garrison. Indeed, it is stated by one of 
 the survivors that the thirty days following the assault was the 
 most trying period of the siege. Men were continually falling; 
 fatigue work around the garrison was incessant, and, as we have 
 seen, extremely dangerous. One third of the force was continually 
 on duty. The others, at night, slept upon their muskets, with 
 bayonets fixed, prepared to resist the assault which might come 
 at any time. Douglass says: 
 
 " On the 2nd of August my own little battery though not 
 quite finished was platformed and the guns mounted. I made 
 my bed on the platform that night; and for many weeks after- 
 wards took no rest except on the trailed handspikes of one of the 
 guns with an old tent spread upon them and wrapped in a horse- 
 man's coat." 
 
 * A large number of pikes were picked up or taken from the British during the assault 
 on the fifteenth, and reiected bayonets were fastened to poles. These, being as long as the 
 parapet was thick, were laid every evening at intervals along the parapet for use in the event 
 of an escalade, and it was thought they would be of great assistance in repelling an attack, 
 
TJie Period between the Assault and the Sortie 5 i 
 
 As matters stood in this wise, it is not strange that the nerves 
 of the strongest men became unstrung and that some seventy 
 of the weaker sort deserted from the American forces. 
 
 An Irishman, a subaltern in the Eleventh Infantry, upon re- 
 turning to his tent from fatigue work discovered that a round 
 shot had taken the tail completely off from his uniform coat. 
 Taking it by the collar he proudly showed it to his brother offi- 
 cers, saying he had had a narrow escape, as he had thought of 
 putting on that very coat that morning. 
 
 Many acts of gallantry occurred during this period. Colonel 
 Brooke (then a major), while oilficer of the day, with two men, 
 stole out of the fort with a lantern concealed in a watch coat, and, 
 proceeding through the enemy's line of sentinels, affixed the lan- 
 tern in a tree directly in line between the fort and Battery Num- 
 ber Three, then in process of construction. A cord was attached 
 to the coat, by means of which the coat was pulled off the lantern 
 when the colonel and his men reached the end of the cord. The 
 Boston Patriot, referring to this exploit, says : 
 
 "The American batteries, directed by the light of the lantern 
 in the tree, opened their fire upon the unsuspecting workmen, 
 who could not divine what secret spirit had betrayed the position 
 of their laborers until they observed the light swinging in the air 
 nor then could form any conjecture by what daring hand it had 
 been there suspended." 
 
 The British, by reason of the severe losses which they had 
 sustained, awaited reinforcements from York (now Toronto), 
 and occupied their forces meantime in planting guns in Battery 
 Number Three, situated only about five hundred and fifty yards 
 from our works. From this new battery great things were ex- 
 pected. 
 
 Minor fights took place almost daily between the lines. On the 
 twentieth of August one of these skirmishes apparently occurred, 
 for General Drummond, in a matter-of-fact way, writes to the 
 governor of Canada, August twenty-first, that ''From the number 
 
52 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 of scalps that xvere taken by the Indians and the number of dead 
 and wounded which were seen carried into the Fort, the enemy 
 must have lost 40 or 50 men in this affair." 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of August, while Gaines was lying down 
 in his quarters, a shell crashed into the room through the roof, 
 and, exploding, injured him so severely that he was obliged to 
 turn the command over to Ripley. When Brown heard of 
 Gaines's injury, although not fully recovered from the wound 
 received at Lundy's Lane, he hastened to Fort Erie, and, after a 
 few days, assumed command, which he retained as long as the 
 siege lasted. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of August and the fifth of September 
 there were quite severe skirmishes, in which the Americans drove 
 the English into their works and in which each side displayed 
 great gallantry. In fact, Ripley issued a general order on the 
 affair of the fifth, congratulating the participants upon their gal- 
 lantry. 
 
 On the seventh of September the enemy detached a force, 
 and, moving out at daylight, surprised our Picket Number Four, 
 killing fourteen men and capturing seven, the entire advance 
 party, forcing the balance of the picket to retire into the fort with 
 considerable loss. 
 
 The enemy during this period was reinforced by the Sixth 
 and the Eighty-second regular regiments, consisting of one thou- 
 sand and forty men, which just about compensated for the losses 
 during the assault. On the fourth of September the new battery 
 was completed. It mounted three twenty-four-pounders, an eight- 
 inch howitzer, and a mortar, — a formidable armament for that 
 period, when the effective range of a fieldpiece about equaled the 
 point-blank range of the modern rifle. 
 
 The official despatches at this period of the siege reveal the 
 fact that both sides were becoming extremely apprehensive over 
 their respective situations. The Americans had burned the mills 
 and destroyed the stores in all this part of Canada. Winter 
 was coming on, and not only were the English far from their 
 
The Period between the Assault and the Sortie 5 3 
 
 base of supplies but there seemed to be small prospect of a further 
 supply reaching them at all. Then, too, ammunition was run- 
 ning so low it had to be husbanded, and Drummond's army 
 was threatened with an epidemic of typhus and typhoid fevers. 
 Our forces were so greatly weakened by long and severe fighting 
 that on September tenth we could muster only about two thou- 
 sand men for field duty, although more were able to do duty within 
 the fort. In addition, the garrison was subsisted on salt meat 
 and stale bread, as fresh meat and vegetables were so high in 
 price and hard to get that they were beyond reach of the majority 
 of the men. 
 
 In response to the urgent appeals of Gaines and Brown, vol- 
 unteers were called for, and the militia of western New York was 
 ordered out by Governor Tompkins. These men were directed 
 to assemble at Buffalo, which they did in considerable numbers 
 from all the western part of the state. Porter called a meeting 
 of the officers, and after a sharp talk ascertained that nearly all 
 would volunteer to cross the river, although at first few would 
 go. The men were then addressed by Porter in an eloquent 
 speech, and nearly one thousand five hundred were persuaded to 
 volunteer — about half the number assembled. 
 
 Dorsheimer, in an interesting paper entitled Buffalo during 
 the War of 18 12, contained in the first volume of the publications 
 of the Buffalo Historical Society, relates the following: 
 
 Porter formed his column at what is now the corner of 
 Niagara and Pearl streets. When the command to move off was 
 given, and it was apparent the line of march was towards Black 
 Rock, a lawyer — probably not from Buffalo, — " who," says Dors- 
 heimer, "in such times are scrupulous as to the law in propor- 
 tion to the value they set upon their lives, stepped out of the 
 ranks and shouted out, 'We are militia of New York and cannot 
 be ordered out of the state. It is unconstitutional.' It was 
 wonderful how suddenly a love for the constitution developed 
 itself in the breasts of the militiamen. Large numbers left the 
 ranks and began to clamor against the order. But Porter and a 
 
54 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 few determined officers spurred among the malcontents, arrested 
 the ringleader, awed his followers, and, aided by a small detach- 
 ment of regulars, restored order." The refractory jurist was 
 hustled into a wagon and sent under arrest to Williamsville with 
 the information that if he ever returned to Buffalo he would be 
 shot without benefit of clergy. 
 
 The force then moved off without further trouble, crossed 
 the river, and camped on the lake shore to the left of Towson's 
 battery, throwing up a sod breastwork for protection. This 
 occurred on September tenth. Their arrival was not hailed with 
 great enthusiasm by the regular army contingent of the garri- 
 son, whose confidence in militia seems to have been somewhat 
 shaken. But these same troops, ununiformed, and poorly drilled 
 and equipped, soon showed that if they could not drill they could 
 fight; and by their gallant conduct they did more than their share 
 toward redeeming the reputation of the American militiaman 
 during this war. 
 
 The monthly return of our forces on August thirty-first, 1814, 
 was as follows: 
 
 
 
 Present for Duty. 
 
 Aggregate 
 
 
 N.C.O. 
 
 and Privates. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Present and Absent 
 
 Dragoons, 
 
 
 27 
 
 I 
 
 48 
 
 Bombardiers, etc.. 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 51 
 
 Artillery Corps, 
 
 
 206 
 
 10 
 
 369 
 
 First Brigade, 
 
 
 725 
 
 39 
 
 2,3ir 
 
 Second Brigade, 
 
 
 698 
 
 42 
 
 1,646 
 
 Porter's Brigade, 
 
 
 220 
 
 16 
 
 599 
 
 First and Fourth Rifles, 
 
 217 
 
 II 
 
 504 
 
 Total, 2,127 119 5.528 
 
The Sortie 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Sortie. 
 
 A brilliant achievement — the only instance in history where a besieging army was 
 entirely broken up and routed by a single sortie. — Sir IViUiam Napier. 
 
 Although the Americans had received reinforcements, their 
 position was still regarded as critical. Battery Number Three, 
 mounting the long twenty-four-pounders, had not as yet opened 
 fire; but we had suffered quite severely from the fire of Number 
 One and Number Two, and the new battery was much feared by 
 Brown because it would rake our position. The spirits of the 
 men were sinking under the long and constant strain and confine- 
 ment, and, to make matters worse, the weather was bad, much rain 
 falling. Brown, therefore, determined to risk a sortie, damage the 
 enemy's works as much as possible without too severe a loss to 
 himself, and then retreat upon the fort. , 
 
 It will be remembered that the works of the enemy were 
 occupied by only one brigade of the enemy, each of his three 
 brigades alternating in this duty, while the balance of the army 
 remained in camp, nearly two miles away through the woods. 
 Brown's plan, briefly stated, was as follows : 
 
 Porter, with a force of about one thousand six hundred, 
 composed of regulars, militia, and Indians, was to move out from 
 the left, make a wide detour, strike into the woods, and, following 
 roads prepared in advance, come upon the enemy's right at 
 Battery Number Three, and, after crushing the right and spiking 
 the guns of the battery, to turn towards the center and assist in 
 the capture of batteries Number Two and Number One. Colonel 
 Miller, "for whom batteries had no terrors," with five hundred 
 men from the Ninth, Eleventh, and Nineteenth regiments of reg- 
 ulars, was to take up a position in a ravine formed by a water- 
 course running into the lake, situate some three hundred yards 
 
 LofC. 
 
5,6 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 southerly from the enemy's hne, and, when the noise of Porter's 
 attack was heard, to rush in between batteries Number Two and 
 Number Three, and attack Battery Number Two and then Num- 
 ber One. General Ripley, who, it is claimed, had no confidence in 
 the success of the enterprise, and, as Brown states, wished to take 
 no part in it, was stationed with the Twenty-first Regiment as a 
 reserve out of sight between the westerly bastions of the fort. 
 Major Jessup, recently wounded, was left to garrison the fort with 
 the Twenty-fifth Regiment, only one hundred and fifty strong. 
 The plan of attack was simple, and, if success is any criterion, 
 extremely effective. 
 
 On September sixteenth Lieutenants Frazer and Riddle, with 
 one hundred men each, fifty armed with muskets and fifty with 
 axes, labored all day without being discovered, constructing rough 
 roads for Porter's columns up to within one hundred and fifty 
 yards of the British position. They also built underbrush roads 
 back to the fort from a point near the front of the British position 
 in order that the retreat might be unobstructed and the miry and 
 impassable places avoided. Much rain had fallen during the past 
 twelve days, and the ground in front of our position was little 
 better than a swamp. 
 
 The morning of the seventeenth dawned cloudy and dis- 
 agreeable, and a light rain was falling. During the forenoon the 
 volunteers were paraded, and, after arousing their enthusiasm by 
 the announcement of the recent American victories at Plattsburg 
 and Lake Champlain, the plan of the proposed sortie was revealed 
 to them. It was enthusiastically received. Each volunteer was 
 thereupon directed to take off his headgear and tie a red hand- 
 kerchief or red cloth around his head so that he might be readily 
 distinguished, none of them being uniformed. As the day wore 
 on the rain increased, and a hard thunderstorm, almost a gale, 
 came up, which continued during the attack. This undoubtedly 
 aided our forces in advancing unperceived to the attack until 
 right onto the enemy's works, but many of our muskets were 
 disabled through water getting into the pans of the guns. 
 
The Sortie 57 
 
 In the afternoon Porter moved out to take up his position on 
 the enemy's right. He sent forward as an advance two hundred 
 riflemen, with some Indians, under Colonel Gibson. The balance 
 of his force was divided into two columns, which marched parallel 
 to each other, following the brush roads. They were guided 
 respectively by Riddle and Frazer. Lieutenant Colonel Wood 
 commanded the right column, which was composed of four 
 hundred regulars and five hundred militia. These troops were 
 to attack the enemy's position. Brigadier General Davis, of 
 Batavia, who, while senior to Porter, volunteered to muster his 
 brigade and fight under him, waiving all question of rank, com- 
 manded the left column consisting of five hundred militia newly 
 raised. This column was intended to engage the enemy's rein- 
 forcements if any should be thrown in. 
 
 These columns reached their position a few yards from the 
 right of the enemy's position without discovery, and at about 
 three in the afternoon Brown gave Porter the order to attack. 
 This order was executed with great vigor, and the cheers of the 
 Americans as they rushed to the assault were plainly heard by 
 the anxious listeners upon the American shore, notwithstanding 
 the storm that raged. 
 
 The British lines that day were guarded by the Second 
 Brigade, consisting of the Eighth and De Watteville's regiments of 
 regulars. The swiftness of the attack utterly surprised these 
 troops, and the Americans soon captured a blockhouse in the 
 rear of Battery Number Three, and then the battery itself, destroy- 
 ing the much dreaded twenty-four-pounders and their carriages 
 and blowing up a magazine. Here the brave Wood* and Brig- 
 adier General Davis fell mortally wounded. The loss of both of 
 these men was greatly mourned. 
 
 Porter then swung his forces around and attacked Battery 
 Number Two conjointly with Major Miller, who had rushed for- 
 ward as soon as Porter's attack was heard. After a sharp struggle 
 
 * In the cemetery at West Point, a short distance from the grave of General Scott, stands 
 a cenotaph erected by General Brown to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel Wood. It was 
 dedicated in iSiS, and the inscription states that he fell while leading a charge at the sortie of 
 Fort Erie, September seventeenth, 1S14, in the thirty-first year of his age. 
 
58 The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 this battery was captured. Battery Number One was, so Brown 
 says, abandoned by the enemy. At all events, it was captured; 
 but by reason of the confusion, and the stout defense the British 
 soon made, the Americans neglected or were unable to perma- 
 nently injure batteries Number One and Number Two, although 
 they were temporarily disabled. 
 
 Owing to the suddenness and impetuosity of the American 
 attack, the Second Brigade of the enemy was crumpled up and 
 driven away before any arrangements could be made to meet the 
 attack. It is a maxim of war that "when a force is not deployed 
 but is struck suddenly and violently on its flank, resistance is 
 impracticable." Chancellorsville, where the Eleventh Corps of 
 the Union army melted away before Jackson's fierce onslaught, 
 was an illustration of the truth of this maxim. This attack was 
 another; and our troops soon swept the front line of intrench- 
 ments almost clear of the enemy. 
 
 So far the Americans had accomplished much with little 
 loss, but the end was not yet. As soon as the American attack 
 was heard, De Watteville promptly sent back to the British camp 
 for reinforcements, and the First and Third brigades hastened to 
 the succor of the Second Brigade. In the meantime the Second 
 Brigade was rapidly reQovering from the demoralization from 
 which it had at first suffered. 
 
 The British lines were defended by felled trees, entangle- 
 ments, and abattis, and whilst the Americans were struggling to 
 penetrate these defenses they were met with a hot fire from the 
 enemy posted in the traverses and along the parallel lines of 
 intrenchments. Then too, at this stage of the attack the enemy's 
 reinforcements arrived and commenced a determined resistance 
 to the further advance of the Americans. The fight now raged 
 furiously. Hand-to-hand encounters occurred all along the line, 
 and sometimes with the bayonet and sometimes with rifle fire the 
 enemy sought to regain possession of the lines and drive off the 
 Americans, now somewhat confused by the constant fire concen- 
 trated upon them from all points and through penetrating the 
 
The SoT'tie 59 
 
 abattis and entanglements. Although outnumbered, the Amer- 
 icans stubbornly resisted, and, regardless of the hot fire, gave 
 back blow for blow. 
 
 Brown, fearing for Miller's safety, ordered Ripley forward to 
 his assistance, who prompty advanced with the Twenty-first In- 
 fantry. Ripley soon received a serious wound in the neck, and 
 was borne to the rear.* 
 
 Miller, with excellent judgment, appreciating that nothing 
 further could be accomplished, and in view of the superior force 
 of the British, began an orderly retreat towards the fort ; and 
 Brown soon ordered the other columns to do the same, for the 
 object of the sortie had been accomplished. They all reached 
 the fort in good order, but with considerable loss, for by this time 
 the British were pressing them fiercely. Thus in barely two hours 
 the result attempted had been achieved, the enemy irreparably 
 crippled, and one thousand men killed, injured, or taken prisoners. 
 
 General Drummond speaks of the retreat of the Americans as 
 a " precipitate retrograde movement made by the enemy from the 
 different points of our position of which he had gained a short pos- 
 session." It should be observed, however, that Drummond, what- 
 ever his faults were as a soldier, was a pronounced success at what 
 might be termed an explanatory writer. Some one has remarked 
 of Cellini that he created his own atmosphere. The same remark 
 applies to Drummond. His despatches to his government are 
 well worth a perusal. Ingersoll, in his history of the war, dryly 
 remarks apropos of this part of Drummond's report: 
 
 "The coincident exertions of both commanders. Brown to 
 withdraw his men from, and Drummond with his to recover, the 
 British entrenchments, soon effected it." 
 
 In this sortie we lost seventy-nine killed, two hundred and 
 sixteen wounded, and two hundred and sixteen missing, a total 
 of five hundred and eleven. Of this number twelve officers were 
 
 •Ripley never fully recovered from this wound, althous^h he afterward served a term 
 in Congress, 
 
6o ' The Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 killed, twenty-two wounded, and ten were missing — a most seri- 
 ous blow to the effectiveness of so small an army. 
 
 The enemy's loss in killed, wounded, and missing was some- 
 what under one thousand, and, according to the American ac- 
 counts, we captured nearly four hundred prisoners. In any event, 
 the Americans totally disabled his best battery and injured the 
 others, besides destroying the morale of his troops. Only the pen 
 of a Drummond could convert this disaster into a repulse of the 
 Americans, which he did with ease. According to Drummond's 
 report his loss was one hundred and fifteen killed, one hundred 
 and forty-eight wounded, and three hundred and sixteen missing 
 — a total of five hundred and seventy-nine. 
 
 During the progress of the fight crowds lined the American 
 shore and listened to the combat during the lulls in the severe 
 storm which raged that afternoon. Dorsheimer thus dramatically 
 describes what was probably a very simple incident: 
 
 "All through the afternoon no tidings came. Just at dusk 
 a small boat was seen struggling in the rapids. An eager crowd 
 soon gathered on the beach. In the midst of the breakers the 
 little bark upset. One of its crew was seen floating in the waves. 
 The bystanders made a line by holding on to each other's clothes, 
 and, stretching out from the shore, seized the drowning man. As, 
 exhausted and chilled, he staggered up the beach, he gasped into 
 the ears of his rescuers the first news they had of the great con- 
 flict and victory." 
 
 Many friends of General Porter have contended that the 
 sortie was planned by him and that he suggested it to Brown. 
 Brown makes no mention of this in his official report or in his 
 manuscript memoirs. Porter was a man of much more capacity 
 than Brown, and it is quite likely he had to do with planning the 
 attack, although Brown was by no means averse to any plan 
 which would insure fighting. In any event, Porter was selected 
 to lead the most important column, composed partly of regulars 
 not in his brigade, which is a significant fact in Porter's favor. 
 
The Sortie 6i 
 
 HoUey, at one time secretary to Porter, in an article in volume six 
 of TJic Magadne of American History, says: 
 
 " Before battery No. 3 was completed, one bright morning 
 early in September, as General Porter, Lt.-Col. Wood, and Major 
 McRea of the engineers were walking from Towson's battery 
 towards the Fort and discussing the progress of the enemy's 
 offensive operations, Lt.-Col. Wood half-jestingly suggested that 
 it might be expedient to attempt a sortie. But no serious pro- 
 posal of such an enterprise was made until some days later, 
 when General Porter invited his two friends to his quarters to 
 examine a plan for it which he had prepared. This plan was 
 discussed and fully matured in several confidential meetings of 
 the three officers. It was then submitted to General Brown, who 
 was still at Buffalo, whither he had retired, as has been stated, 
 after being wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He neither 
 encouraged nor discouraged it at the outset, but, on examination 
 of it as thoroughly as possible in his absence from the ground, he 
 rather objected to the project. 
 
 " General Porter, however, continued to urge it, and his views 
 were warmly seconded by the two able engineers to whom he 
 had fully explained his plan. The whole army, General Brown 
 included, reposed the greatest confidence in these two officers, 
 particularly in Lt.-Col. Wood. 
 
 " General Brown finally required General Porter, whom he 
 considered responsible for the plan, to give him a written state- 
 ment of its details over his own signature. After receiving this 
 document General Brown consented that the enterprise should be 
 undertaken, and directed General Porter to lead it." 
 
 On the other hand, Major Jessup, at that time serving in the 
 garrison, states positively that the sortie was planned solely by 
 Brown; and he was certainly in a position to be well informed as 
 to what transpired in the little garrison. Major General Brown 
 was in command, and as he assumed the responsibility for the 
 movement he is entitled to the credit of its success. 
 
62 TJie Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 An incident during the sortie, in which General Porter was 
 the hero, is worth repeating. General Porter, so the story runs, 
 while accompanied only by his orderly, was proceeding between 
 batteries Number One and Number Two, when, too late to retreat, 
 he suddenly came upon a small company of the enemy standing 
 at ease apparently waiting orders. Coming up as though at the 
 head of a regiment. Porter cried, "That's right, my good fellows, 
 surrender, and we'll take good care of you." The ruse succeeded, 
 and man by man the company from right to left threw down 
 their arms and marched to the rear. Everything went well until 
 the man next to the left guide was reached, who, not seeing any 
 soldiers supporting Porter, and suspecting the trick, came to 
 charge bayonet and demanded that Porter surrender. The boot 
 was now on the other leg, but Porter dextrously seized the mus- 
 ket and endeavored to wrest it away from the soldier. Several 
 comrades came to the man's assistance, and in the melee Porter 
 was thrown down and wounded in the hand. Struggling to his 
 feet, he told his assailants they were surrounded and if they 
 did not cease their resistance he would put them to death. 
 This created a slight diversion, and at this juncture Lieutenant 
 Chatfield, of the militia, at the head of the Cayuga Rifles, came 
 up, thus relieving Porter of an embarrassing situation and securing 
 the prisoners as well. This story smacks of the political cam- 
 paign more than of the particular campaign with which this 
 narrative deals, but it may be true. In any event. Porter, in his 
 official report, mentions Chatfield as one "by whose intrepidity I 
 was, during the action, extricated from the most luipleasant situ- 
 ation." 
 
 On the twenty-first Drummond in great haste retired to the 
 old position of the British at Chippewa Creek, leaving some of 
 his stores at Fort Erie and destroying others at Frenchman's 
 Creek. The raising of the siege showed how severely Drummond 
 felt the sortie if his reports do not. It practically closed the 
 campaign upon the Niagara frontier, which since July third, 1814, 
 had waged with great fierceness. 
 
The Sortie 6^ 
 
 v) 
 
 The following table of losses is interesting, although it should 
 be remembered it does not include the losses in skirmishes and 
 minor combats, which were constantly taking place. It is taken 
 from General Wright's Life of Scott, and differs very slightly from 
 the figures already given. 
 
 Total Total 
 
 British American 
 Loss. Loss. 
 
 Battle of Chippewa, July fifth, 1814, 507 328 
 
 Battle of Niagara (Lundy's Lane), July twenty-fifth, 1814, 878 860 
 
 Battle of Fort Erie, August fifteenth, 1814, 905 84 
 
 Sortie at Fort Erie, September seventeenth, 1814, 800 511 
 
 Total, 3.090 1,783 
 
 When we consider that neither side had over four thousand, 
 if that number of men, engaged at any time, the immense per- 
 centage of loss will be appreciated. 
 
 General James Miller, writing two days after the sortie, says: 
 
 " I was ordered to advance and get into the enemy's works 
 before the column had beaten the enemy sufficiently to meet us 
 at the batteries. We had no alternative but to fall on them, beat 
 them, and take them. It was a sore job for us. My command 
 consisted of the 9th, i ith, and 19th Regiments. Colonel Aspin- 
 wall commanded the 9th and 19th and Colonel Bedel the nth. 
 Colonel Aspinwall lost his left arm. Major Trimble of the 19th 
 was severely, I believe mortally, wounded through the body. 
 Captain Hale of the nth killed; Captain IngersoU of the 9th 
 wounded in the head, and eight other officers severely wounded 
 some of them mortally. Colonel Bedel was the only officer 
 higher than a lieutenant in my whole command but what was 
 killed or wounded." 
 
 After Drummond left our front the fort was garrisoned with 
 a small force; and the volunteers, who were praised on all sides 
 for their steadiness and bravery during the whole campaign, and 
 especially the sortie, were dismissed to their homes. General 
 
64 TJie Siege of Fort Erie 
 
 Brown put the matter in a few words when he said in a letter to 
 Governor Tompkins, "The militia of New York have redeemed 
 their character — they behaved gallantly." 
 
 The raising of the siege was completely decisive, and the 
 pioneers along the frontier could again rest in peace without the 
 disturbing thought that they might be scalped or burned out, or 
 both, before another day dawned. The fort was occupied until 
 November fifth, 18 14, when it was blown up and destroyed and 
 the stores and garrison withdrawn to Buffalo, its possession being 
 no longer of value. 
 
 The War of 1812 has been overshadowed by the more im- 
 portant events which preceded and followed it, but when an 
 adequate history of this trying period of our country's history is 
 written, and the battles along the Niagara frontier are recounted, 
 Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and Fort Erie will be awarded places 
 high up in the record of the many valorous deeds the history of 
 our country affords. And while the history of our brave men is 
 written, let due praise be accorded to our former foes, who, through 
 the mutation of time and circumstance, are now our nearest neigh- 
 bors and best friends. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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