Class. 
 Book _^_ . 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
historical ® l^acts 
 
historical # Y^aets 
 
 A/^T) 
 
 TUBILUUfi IKIIIDEIITii 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y.: 
 Journal Print, 
 
Preface. 
 
 The Falls of Niag-ara are among tlie 
 most wonderful works of nature, and 
 since their first discovery by Father 
 Hennepin in 1678, rich and poor, high 
 and low, kings and piebians, have done 
 homage to this wonder of wonders. All 
 nations of the world have furnished 
 their quota of tourists to this center of 
 attraction. Consequently many stirring 
 events have taken place in this vicinity, 
 which prove the old adage that " Truth 
 is stranger than fiction." The Niagara 
 Frontier is rich in historical facts, many 
 battles having been fought near the 
 boundary line in the early days. The 
 writer, who has lived within the roar of 
 the mighty Cataract for more than half 
 a century, is well acquainted with some 
 of the incidents herein narrated, and 
 the facts contained in this book have 
 been secured from the mo&t authentic 
 sources. The book will be found very 
 valuable to all interested in our Frontier 
 Hi»tory, and will supply a want long 
 felt by the traveling public. 
 
 Huf 
 
^be n^^^^^^ Rii?er. 
 
 This picturesque river extends from 
 Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, a distance 
 of thirty-six miles, and through it pas- 
 ses all the waters of the grreat lakes of 
 the west, includinpj Lakes Superior, 
 Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie, 
 forming the largest and fiaest body of 
 fresh water in the world. It has a fall 
 from Lake Erie to the Falls of 68 feet 
 on the American and 78 on the Canadian 
 side. The American fall is 160 feet 
 high and the Canadian or horse-shoe 
 fall is 150 feet in height. From the 
 base of the falls to Lewiston, a distance 
 of seven miles, there is a fall of 104 
 feet: and from Lewiston to the mouth 
 of the river at Lake Ontario, a distance 
 of seven miles more, there is a fall of two 
 feet, making a fall of iJM feet from lake 
 to lake. 
 
 This river is dotted with numerous 
 beautiful islands, thirty six in all, the 
 largest of which is Grand Island con- 
 taining about eleven thousand acres of 
 laud. But the one which is of the mos* 
 interest to the tourist is Goat Island, 
 which divides the Amei-ican from the 
 Canadian or horse-shoe fall, and is now 
 included in the State Reservation. 
 
 As the river is the dividing line be- 
 tween the United States and Canada, 
 many stirring scenes have taken place 
 near its shores. Numerous and bloody 
 battles have been fought within its 
 vicinity. For more than a hundrerl 
 years there was war between France and 
 England, and the contest did not cease 
 
until 1703, when French rule in North 
 America was wiped out. So that from 
 the earliest days of the rule of the 
 American aborigines to the close of our 
 own war of 1812, its borders have been 
 the scenes of many conflicts and of deeds 
 of heroism and valor. 
 
 ^be Qpiffin. 
 
 Five miles above the falls, near the 
 mouth of Cayuga Creek, is a village 
 called LaSalle, so named after LaSalle, 
 who, in company with father Hennepin, 
 built the first boat at this place that 
 ever sailed on the great lakes. The 
 boat was called the Griffin and was 
 about sixty tons burden. It was early 
 in the year 1678 that the work of build- 
 ing this vessel began under great dif- 
 ficulties. The savages hovered around 
 the ship builders, and entered the camp 
 with a lack of ceremony rather alarm- 
 ing. They refused to sell their corn, 
 and plotted to burn the vessel on the 
 stocks. Suffering from cold, and often 
 from hunger, fearing always a hostile 
 descent of the savages, the men became 
 discontented, and it required Father 
 Hennepin's utmost endeavors to allay 
 their fears. Meanwhile LaSalle was at 
 Frontenac, whither he had returned 
 after driving the first bolt of the brig- 
 antine, endeavoring to counteract the 
 efforts of his enemies who were spread- 
 ing reports that he was about to engage 
 in an extremely dangerous undertaking, 
 enormously expensive and yielding but 
 little hope of his return. Their rumors 
 so alarmed his creditors in Quebec and 
 
Montreal that tlaey seized upon his 
 -effects there and sold them out at great 
 Joss to him. The delay which would be 
 necessary to rectify this would prevent 
 the success of his expedition, for this 
 year at least, so he submitted patiently 
 to his misfortunes. 
 
 At last the ship was ready and his 
 other preparations were complete. On 
 the seventh day of August, 1679, the 
 ■sails of the Griffin were spread to the 
 winds of Lake Erie, and making fear- 
 lessly for the midst of the great fresh 
 water sea, they descried, on the third 
 day the islands in the western end. A 
 storm beset them in Huron, and with 
 the usual bitterness of the followers of 
 great explorers, many of his men com- 
 plained of the dangers into which they 
 had been led. They escaped from the 
 storm, however, but only to meet with 
 new difficulties. Their first object was 
 to make a favorable impression upon 
 the Indians, whose friendship was so 
 necessary to their success ; but this task 
 was harder than they had anticipated. 
 While the natives received and enter- 
 tained LaSalle with great civility and 
 looked in wonder at the great wooden 
 <;anoe, their show of friendship was 
 more politic than sincere, and produced 
 aio effect upon their future conduct. 
 Nor was this the only disadvantage 
 under which they labored. Fifteen 
 men had been sent forward to collect 
 provisions, but had been tamp- 
 ered with, and had squandered 
 n part of the merchandise 
 with which they had been provided for 
 trading. However, hoping that some 
 would prove faithful to their trust, a 
 belief which later events justified, they 
 continued on their course. 
 
On his way across the lakes, LaSalle 
 marked Detroit as a suitable place for 
 a colony, gave name to Lake St. Clair, 
 planted a trading house at Mackinaw, 
 and finally cast anchor at Green Bay. 
 Here, to retrieve his fortune, he col- 
 lected a rich cargo of furs, and sent 
 back his brig to carry them io Niagara. 
 But unfortunately, the brig, with the 
 cargo, was lost on her way down the 
 lakes, and no reliable information was 
 ever obtained of her fate. 
 
 ^he old S^one G^>i'""€:i/*. 
 
 On the American side of the river, 
 about one and a half miles above the 
 falls, there is still standing an old chim- 
 ney as a relic of scenes of strife in 
 days that are past and gone. This 
 chimney stands on land now owned by 
 the Cataract Construction Company and 
 within a quarter of a mile of the power 
 house of the great tunnel. We under- 
 stand they intend to preserve it. It was 
 built by the French in 1750. And close 
 by are still marks of old Fort Schlosser, 
 which was then called Fort DuPortage. 
 All of which was destroyed by fire in 
 1759, the French making their escape 
 into Canada when being threatened 
 with an attack by the British under Sir 
 Wm. Johnson who had just captured 
 Fort Niagara. But this chimney was 
 so substantially constructed that it 
 passed through the fire unharmed. 
 Soon after this the fort and barracks 
 were rebuilt by the English troops 
 under command of Captain Joseph 
 Schlosser, a German who served in the 
 
7. 
 
 British army and was afterwards pro- 
 moted to the rank of colonel, and died 
 in the Fort. An oak slab on which his 
 name was cut was standing at his grave 
 just above the fort as late as the year 
 1808. On the west side of the aforesaid 
 chimney are still standing some of the 
 surviving trees of the first apple 
 orchard set out in this region, and as 
 early as 1796 it was described as being a 
 well fenced orchard, containing 1200 
 trees, only a few of which are now re- 
 maining. The building which was 
 erected by the English to the old chim- 
 ney was afterwards used as a dwelling 
 house by diflferent persons, among whom 
 w as the late Judge Porter, who occu- 
 pied it in the years of 1806,-7-8, when he 
 removed to the Porter homestead on 
 Buffalo street. This building was 
 afterwards converted into a tavern for 
 the accommodation of visitors to the 
 Falls and travelers en route to the west, 
 and was so occupied when again destroy- 
 ed in 1813 by the British who made a 
 raid on this side of the river. Some of 
 the inmates made their escape by hiding 
 in a deep ditch running through a large 
 meadow on the east side of the house, 
 and others, thinking to make their 
 escape by way of the orchard on the 
 west side, were met by the Indians, who 
 lay in ambush, and were either killed or 
 taken prisoner. 
 
 Afterwards another building was put 
 to the old chimney which was used for 
 a farm house for many years, in which 
 the writer had the pleasure of eating 
 some good meals that were cooked in 
 the fire place of the " Old Stone Chim- 
 ney," which has withstood the storms of 
 nearly 150 years and passed through a 
 fiery ordeal at three different times^ 
 
8. 
 
 The Hon. T. V. Welch, who has 
 taken a deep interest in (,ur frontier 
 history, has composed the following 
 
 verses : 
 
 Beside Niagara's lovely stream 
 
 An old stone chimney stands, 
 In winter's blast, and summer's beam, 
 
 Above the river sands ; 
 Oft on the hearth in childhood's day, 
 
 A glowing fire was made. 
 And in the summer gray, 
 
 'Kound the old stone chimney played. 
 
 Chorus :— 
 
 Touch not the old stone chimney; 
 
 Our grandsire's long ago. 
 Their youthful bride's beside that hearth. 
 
 Loved in the cheerful glow ; 
 Touch not the old stone chimney, 
 
 Where the red man used to dwell. 
 Where the pioneer and his sweetheart dear. 
 
 They sleep, they sleep, so well. 
 
 The fire-light fell, on the children there. 
 
 And youth dreamt in its blaze; 
 And gentle wives, and daughters fair. 
 
 Sweethearts of other days; 
 Oft since that day, has love held sway, 
 
 And plighted hearts and hands; 
 Beside Niagara's winding way, 
 
 Where the old stone chimney stands. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Long may the old stone chimney stand 
 
 Upon Niagara's shore; 
 The sons of France, and Britain's band. 
 
 They battle there no more; 
 The pioneer and sweetheart's dear, 
 
 Are sleeping on the hill. 
 Where lone the old stone chimney stands. 
 
 In the evening gi-ay and still. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
The Gcimpaign of ITSQ, 
 
 It is uot the intention to give a com- 
 plete history of the French and English 
 war, but simply so much of it as is of 
 local interest and some of the results. 
 The campaign of 1759 had for its object 
 the entire reduction of Canada. After 
 the disaster of Ticonderoga, the chief 
 command of the British forces was 
 given to Gen. Amherst. The army was 
 divided into three parts, exhibiting the 
 following order: The first division, 
 under Wolf, was to make a direct attempt 
 upon Quebec. The second, under 
 Amherst, was ordered to take Ticonder- 
 oga and Crown Point, and then proceed 
 northerly; and the third, under Gen. 
 Prideaux, consisting of provincials and 
 ludians. was to reduce Niagara, then to 
 go down the St. Lawrence, and, jointly 
 with the second detachment, attack 
 Montreal Thus the several detach- 
 ments were to enter Canada by different 
 routes, but were all destined, eventually, 
 to meet before Quebec, and it was 
 against that keystone of the arch, which 
 sustained the French power in America, 
 that that the grand final effort was to be 
 made. 
 
 Prideaux besieged Niagara on the 1st 
 of July. He was killed on the 15th by 
 the bursting of a 'il-pound brass mortar 
 and the command devolved upon Sir. 
 William Johnson. The French and 
 Indians, numbering about 1200, came to 
 the relief of the garrisonand gave battle 
 to the English, but the Indians in their 
 alliance deserted them in the heat of the 
 engagement, and victory was declared 
 in favor of the English. On the 25th of 
 July the garrison consisting of 600 men, 
 fell into the hands of the British, who 
 
10. 
 
 now possessed this important post, bar- 
 ring all communications between the 
 northern and southern possessions of 
 the French. We can not give a narra- 
 tive of all ©f the different battles in this 
 campaign, which were truly important, 
 but simply say that this war did not 
 cease until the treaty of peace was. 
 declared in Paris on February 10th, 
 17G3, when England got undisputed 
 possession (except by the IndiausJ) ol 
 the whole continent, i'rom the shores of 
 the Gulf of Mexico to the frozen north, 
 and from ocean to ocean. 
 
 Indian Strategjf, 
 
 In 1763, Pontiac, a sagacious Ottawa 
 chief, and a former ally of the French, 
 thought that if the English could 
 be subdued before they could gain 
 a firm foot-hold, the Indians would 
 again be lords of the forest. For this 
 purpose he secretly effected a con- 
 federation of several of the north-west- 
 ern tribes of Indians, and on the 7th of 
 July nine of the British forts were 
 captured by them, which were all of the 
 forts west of Oswego, excepting Fort 
 Niagara, Fort Pitt and Detroit. Pon- 
 tiac had arranged the following plans of 
 strategy: At Maumee, the command- 
 ing officer was lured forth by piteous 
 entreaties of a squaw, who feigned to 
 plead for a wounded man dying without 
 the fort, and he was immediately shot 
 by Indians in ambush. 
 
 At Mackinaw, a more important post, 
 the Indians had gathered by hundreds. 
 They began among themselves a spirited 
 
11. 
 
 *?ame of ball. One of the two partioa 
 who played, drove the other, as if by 
 accident, towards the palisades which 
 inclosed the grounds of the fort. They 
 came on, shouting and sporting, and 
 the soldiers went forth to view the 
 game. iVt length the ball was thrown 
 over the pickets, and the Indians jumped 
 after it within the inclosure. Then 
 began the butchery. The soldiers of 
 the garrison, appalled and unprepared, 
 could make no resistance. The com- 
 mander, Major Henry, was writing 
 within his room. He heard tie Indian 
 war-cry, and the shrieks of the murder- 
 ed; and from the window he saw four- 
 hundred savages cutting down with 
 their tomahawks, his dearest friends. 
 He saw them scalped while yet in their 
 death struggles, their necks beneath 
 their feet, or their heads held between 
 the knees of the scalpers. They had 
 already taken the fort, but Henry him- 
 self, through some strange perils, es- 
 caped to relate the horrible scene. 
 
 Pontiac chose to command in person 
 at Detroit, that post being regarded as 
 the key to the upper countr3^ On the 
 Gth, the Indians, to the number of six 
 hundred, had collected in the woods 
 around the fort. In the evening a squaw 
 who had been kindly treated, betrayed 
 to Major Gladwyn, the commander, the 
 designs of the savages. On the 7th, 
 Pontiac, with a party of his chiefs, 
 presented themselves as in peace, de- 
 siring to hold a council with the officers 
 within the fort. They were admitted, 
 but to their surprise, they were im- 
 mediately surrounded by the gariison, 
 fully armed. Major Gladwyn approach- 
 ed Pontiac, and lifting his blanket found a 
 short rifle concealed beneath it. Thus 
 unexpectedly discovered, Pontiac him- 
 
12. 
 
 self was disconcerted. The Indians 
 from without were not let in; but the 
 chief escaped, or was suffered to go 
 forth. 
 
 He then beseiged the fort, holding the 
 garrison confined for many months, and 
 cutting off supplies and reinforcements. 
 At length his allies grew weary of war, 
 and peace was declared. Pontiac died 
 three years afterwards. 
 
 pev)irs ^ole TVl^ssacre, 
 
 The Devil's Hole is a picturesque 
 place on the American side, about a 
 mile below the Whirlpool. It is here 
 where on the 14th of September, 17G3, 
 the Seneca Indians, smarting under 
 English rule, lay in ambush for a 
 British supply train on its way from 
 Schlosser to Lewiston. And as the 
 doomed company carelessly filed 
 along the brink of the chasm, a mur- 
 derous volley was fired ' by the hidden 
 savages, who then sprang forth thirty or 
 forty to one of the survivers, and but- 
 chered them with tomahawk and scalp- 
 ing knife. Crazed by the din of fire- 
 arms and the yells of the savages, part 
 of the teams went off' the rocky wall; 
 and even the men in some cases, - rather 
 than be hacked to pieces on the spot or 
 roasted at the stake, flung themselves 
 from the cliff". Among the latter was a 
 drummer boy named Mathews, who fell 
 into a tree top, from which he descended 
 without mortal injuries. It is said that 
 <mly three survived this savage onset. 
 John Steadman, who commanded the 
 supi)ly train, seeing the fatal snare at 
 
13. 
 
 the first fire of the Indians, spurred his 
 horse throuojh the leaden hail and made 
 his escape, reaching Fort Schlosser in 
 safety. A wounded soldier concealed 
 himself in the dense evergreen bushes 
 and thus escaped the knife and the 
 hatchet; and the drummer boy who was 
 saved by lodging in the tree top. 
 These were the only ones left to tell the 
 sad tale. 
 
 The firing had been heard by the 
 guard posted at the lower landing, and 
 suspecting the state of the case they 
 hastened up the Portage Road. The 
 savages had time to complete the de- 
 struction of the train and its escort and 
 ensconce themselves again in the bush- 
 es, with rifles reloaded and tomahawks 
 all ready, before the reinforcements 
 reached the spot, when the massacre 
 was renewed. A shower of bullets from 
 the thicket tore through the close lines 
 of the detachment, felling more than 
 one half of the troops; again the thirsty 
 savages, sallying from their cover, 
 swarmed around their prey, and the 
 scalping knives yet dripping with blood 
 from their latest use, were bathed anew 
 in human gore. Only eight men es- 
 caped with their lives, who bore the 
 horrible tidings to Fort Niagara. The 
 number of killed is variously estimated 
 as being from 80 to 250, 
 
 The little rivulet falling into the glen, 
 and called Bloody Run, first became 
 such on that dreadful day when its 
 waters were crimsoned by the butchery 
 upon its banks. The passerby now 
 looks from his carriage down the gloomy 
 pit, which yawns close beside the road- 
 way, into the bristling treetops that hide 
 its lowest depths, and shudder to think 
 of the situation of the men who judged it 
 best to cast themselves into this deep 
 
14. 
 
 and rugcrecl chasm. Yet one who made 
 this choice long outlived every other 
 actor in this awful trao^edy— the drum- 
 mer Mathews— who died in Queenston 
 at the advanced a^^e of 90 years. 
 
 T'uscapora Reservation. 
 
 About seven miles northeast of Nia^iara 
 Falls, is situated the Tuscarora Indian 
 Reservation. History tells us that in 
 1712 the Tuscaroras and other Indians 
 from North Carolina, formed, with aU 
 the subtlety of the savage character, a 
 plot for exterminating the entire white 
 population. Having kept their design 
 a profound secret until the night fixed 
 for its execution, they entered the 
 houses of the poor Palatines of Ger- 
 many who had settled on the Roanoke 
 and murdered men, women and child- 
 ren. A few who escaped gave the 
 alarm and the remaining inhabitants, 
 collecting into camp, kejjt guard night 
 and day until aid could he received 
 from South Carolina. That colony sent 
 to their relief 600 militia and 360 In- 
 dians under Barnwell. Although a 
 wilderness at this time separated the 
 northern from the southern settlements, 
 Barnwell penetrated it, boldly at- 
 tacked the Indians, killed 300 and took 
 100 prisoners. Those who escaped fled 
 to the chief town of the Tuscaroras, 
 where they erected wooden breastworks 
 for their security ; but here Barnwell's 
 troops surrounded them and they at 
 last sued for peace. The Tuscaroras 
 had lost a thousand men in the course 
 of this war and they soon after left their 
 
15. 
 
 country and settled in Central New 
 York, uniting with the Iroquois, mak- 
 ing the sixth nation of that confederacy. 
 During the struggle for American 
 independence part of tliis tribe joined 
 the British forces and part maintained 
 a strict neutrality. Such of the Tus- 
 caroras and Oueidas as had allied them- 
 selves with the English and fled before 
 the arrival of Sullivan's army sought 
 refuge within the British garrison at 
 Fort Niagara, reacliing there via the 
 Oneida Lake, Oswego Lake and Lake 
 Ontario. During the early part of the 
 following year part of them returned to 
 their hunting-grounds in Central New 
 York and part of them took possession 
 of a mile square on the mountain range, 
 which was given to them by the Senecas 
 who owned the territory there. At a 
 later period the Holland Land Co. 
 granted them two square miles adjoin- 
 ing their possessions and in 1808 they 
 purchased of the company an additional 
 tract, making, in the aggregate, 7.620 
 acres now in their possession. The 
 reservation has the appearance of any 
 other agricultural neighborhood. The 
 present population is about 460, few, if 
 any, looking like the "red man of the 
 forest" of whom we use to read in our 
 schoolboy days. They have two 
 churches— Presbyterian and Baptist, and 
 the community is a well behaved one 
 with few exceptions. The Indian chil- 
 dren now 1 eceive school training, and 
 many of them show a marked degree of 
 intelligence, and an aptitude for learn- 
 ing. There is considerable musical 
 talent among these Indians and the Tus- 
 caroraBand has played in some of the 
 principal cities of our country in con- 
 nection with a show of "Indian Beau- 
 ties," among whom were some Tuscarora 
 maidens. 
 
16. 
 
 The \^ar of 1812. 
 
 The reasons for the war with Eii.sflaud, 
 as stated by Mr. Madison, President of 
 the United States, in an able manifesto, 
 were: British excesses in violatiuo- the 
 American fia<x on the great hig^hway of 
 nations; the impressment of American 
 seamen ; harrassing American vessels as 
 they were entering their own harbors or 
 departing from them, and wantonly 
 spilling the blood of the citizens of 
 America within the limits of her terri- 
 torial jurisdiction; issuing orders by 
 which the ports of the enemies of Great 
 Britain were blockaded, and not sup- 
 porting these blockades bj' the adequate 
 jipplicatiou of fleets to render them 
 legal, and enforcing them from the date 
 of their proclamation, inconsequence 
 of which American commerce had been 
 plundered on every sea, and her pro- 
 ducts cut off from their legitimate 
 market ; employing secret agents to 
 subvert the government and dismember 
 the Union ; and linalJy encouraging the 
 Indian tri]:)es to hostility. Still the 
 American people long cherished the 
 hope that a sense of justice would induce 
 the British Ministry to bring to a speedy 
 and honorable termination the unfor- 
 tunate differences subsisting between 
 the two nations. They were unwilling 
 to resort to the ultimate means of 
 redress until all peaceful measures had 
 been exhausted, and, indeed, so tardy 
 was the government in its preparations 
 for war, that the people in many parts 
 of the country loudly complained of its 
 want of firmness and energy. But 
 delay brought no redress. Injury was 
 followed by indignity, until the peace- 
 
17. 
 
 fill policy of the Government at lena^th 
 yielded, and on the 18th of June, 1812, 
 wjir was formally declared against 
 Great IJritain and its dependencies, by 
 the Congress of the United States. 
 
 T"be Surrender of ^ull. 
 
 PrcTioiiB to the declaration of war, 
 Gen. Hull, in anticipation of that event, 
 had been appointed to the command of 
 a large and well furnished army, 
 intended for the invasion of Canada 
 from some point near Detroit. This 
 army passed Cincinnati the latter part 
 of May, left Dayton on the 1st of June, 
 arrived on the Maumee River on the 
 30th and crossed the River of Detroit — 
 for the invasion of Canada— on the 12th 
 of July. The expedition was attended 
 with the high hopes of the people, the 
 officers and the men. It was opposed 
 by no superior force, and when in front 
 of the enemy no sound of discontent 
 was heard, nor any appearance of 
 cowardice or dissatisfaction seen. On 
 the contrary every man awaited the 
 battle in sure anticipation of victory, ex- 
 pecting a proud day for his country and 
 himself. Notwithstanding all this pre- 
 paration, notwithstanding the superior- 
 ity of the force, and notwithstanding 
 these vivid anticipations of success and 
 glory, the entire army was, without 
 apparent cause, surrendered to the de- 
 mand of General Brock, on the 14th day 
 of August. 
 
 This event, so unexpected and so dis- 
 astrous, filled' the American people with 
 consternation and mortification. Indig - 
 
18. 
 
 nation, grief and sliame alternately 
 fiUed the hearts of the honest citizen 
 and the patriot soldier. It was a veil of 
 darkness drawn over the face of the 
 country. 
 
 Such was the commencement of the 
 war of 1812, unfortunate, disastrous and 
 melancholy. It was certainly no en- 
 couragement to those who soon after 
 commenced the campaign of the Niag- 
 ara, where bloody fields, brave actions 
 and positive achievements, reanimated 
 the hopes of the country, and gave a 
 durable glory to the American arms. 
 
 ^ n^^^l Engagement. 
 
 In July 1812 Winfield Scott received 
 the commission of Lieutenant-CJolonel 
 in the 2d artillery, (Izard's regiment), 
 and arrived on the Niagara frontier, 
 with companies of Towson and Barker. 
 He took post at Black Rock to protect 
 the navy yard there established. 
 
 Lieutenant Elliott of the navy had 
 planned an enterprise against two 
 armed brigs, then lying at anchor 
 under the guns of Fort Erie. For this 
 purpose he applied on the 8th of August, 
 1812, to Colonel Scott for assistance in 
 officers and men. Captain Towson and 
 a portion of his company were dispatch- 
 ed to the aid of Elliott. The attack was 
 successful. On the morning of the 
 ninth, both vessels were carried in the 
 most gallant manner. The "Adams" 
 was taken by Captain Elliott in person, 
 assisted by Lieutenant Isaac Roach: and 
 the " Caledonia " by the gallant Captain 
 Towson. In dropping down the Niag- 
 
 I 
 
19. 
 
 ara River the "Adams" became un- 
 managable through the occurrence of a 
 cahn, and drifted into the British chan- 
 nel. She got aground on Squaw Island, 
 directly under the guns of the enemy's 
 batteries, where it was impossible to 
 get her off. Captain Elliott, therefore, 
 having previously secured the prisoners, 
 abandoned her under a heavy fire from 
 the British shore. Then ensued an in- 
 teresting and exciting scene, the British 
 endeavoring to retake the abandoned 
 brig and Scott to prevent them. 
 The enemy sent out boats, and Scott 
 resisted them, in which effort he was 
 successful. The brig was recaptiired 
 and held until she was subsequently 
 burned by order of General Smythe, 
 who had then arrived. 
 
 As for the ' ' Caledonia " she was pres- 
 erved by the extraordinary efforts of 
 Captain Towson, and afterwards did 
 good service in the memorable and 
 glorious victory won on Lake Erie, by 
 the gallant Perry. 
 
 Although this was not so important an 
 engagement as the capture of the Brit- 
 ish frigate Guerriere, under command 
 of Captain Dacres, by the American 
 frigate Constitution, commanded by 
 Captain Hull, which took place off the 
 Grand Bank of Newfoundland, a few 
 days after the disgraceful surrender 
 of Detroit, yet this was one of those small 
 but honorable enterprises, of which many 
 occurred during the war. which should be 
 mentioned to the credit of the accors, 
 and as an example to those who here- 
 after may have similiar duties to per- 
 form in defence of their country. 
 
20. 
 
 ^be Rattle of Queenston 
 jgeigbts. 
 
 In the beginning of October, 1812, 
 Major-General Stephen Van Rensselaer 
 had collected together, at Lewiston, 
 about two thousand five hundred of the 
 New York Militia. The successful en- 
 terprise which resulted in the capture 
 of the "Adams" and "Caledonia" on the 
 9th of that month, had given such an 
 apparent ardor and impulse to these 
 troops that it was believed impossible to 
 restrain them. Indeed, the troops de- 
 clared they must act, or go home, an 
 alternative which imposed upon the 
 General the necessity of some active 
 movement. Accordingly, he planned 
 an attack on Queenston Heights. The 
 troops which he had at his command 
 were the New York militia and about 
 four hundred and fifty regulars under 
 the command of Colonels Fenwick and 
 Chrystie, who, with Major Mullaney, 
 had arrive the night before in detach- 
 ments from Fort Niagara for the pur- 
 pose of joining in this expedition. The 
 militia were raw, inexperienced, and un- 
 disciplined, circumstances which caused 
 the brunt of the battle ultimately to 
 fall on the regulars, and its final loss. 
 
 The plan was to throw over the river 
 two columns of troops, each about three 
 hundred strong. One was commanded 
 by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, 
 and the other by Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Chrystie The detachments of Fenwick 
 and Mullaney were to sustain, in the 
 best way they could, these columns. 
 These arrangements were made on the 
 12th of October. Late in the evening 
 
21. 
 
 of that day Col. Scott had arrived by a 
 forced march, partly by water and 
 partly through mud and rain, at Schlos- 
 ser, two miles above the Falls and nine 
 from Lewiston, with a view of joining 
 in the contemplated attack. He hast- 
 ened to Lewiston and volunteered his 
 services to General Van Rensselaer. 
 They were declined on account of the 
 arrangements already made; but 
 with permission that Scott should 
 bring his regiment immediately to 
 Lewiston, and there act as circumstances 
 rai^ht require, and opportunities offer. 
 This permission he at once availed him- 
 self of. and arrived at Lewiston with 
 his corps at four o'clock a. m. on the 
 13th. Finding no boats he placed his 
 train in battery on the American shore 
 under the immediate command of 
 Captains Towson and Barker, and when 
 daylight appeared opened au effective 
 fire on the enemy. 
 
 In the meantime the principal move- 
 ment, as originally planned, had gone 
 on. All the boats which could be col- 
 lected were employed to transport the 
 columns of Chrystie and Van Rensse- 
 laer. Unfortunately the boats were 
 insufficient to take the whole number at 
 once, and the passage was made by de- 
 tachments. The boat in which Chrystie 
 was became disabled, was mismanaged 
 by the pilot, and finally carried out of 
 the way by the eddies of the river. He 
 made a gallant attempt to land but was 
 wounded and had to return to the 
 American shore. In the after part of 
 the engagement he returned with re- 
 inforcements to the troops in Canada 
 and shared the fate of the day. 
 
 The main body of the first embark- 
 ation, under the direction of Colonel 
 Van Rensselaer, was more successful. 
 
22. 
 
 Two companies of the 13th Regiment, 
 ■with other small detachments of the 
 same regiment, were able to land, and 
 were successively reinforced from time 
 to time as the few servicible boats to be 
 had could transport them. They were 
 landed under a severe fire of the enemy. 
 At this time the numbers of both con- 
 tending parties were small. The 
 British force was composed of two 
 flank companies of the 4t9th and the 
 York militia. The Americans did not 
 number much over one hundred com- 
 batants. Notwithstanding the contin- 
 ued cannonade from the enemies bat- 
 teries this small force formed on the 
 bank and marched steadily forward. 
 
 In a few moments this fire had killed 
 or wounded every commissioned officer, 
 and among these Colonel Van Eeussel- 
 aer himself, who received four severe 
 wounds. Notwithstanding this, he sus- 
 tained himself long enough to impart 
 the local information he possessed to 
 other officers, who had in the meantime 
 come up. In leaving the field his last 
 command was that "all such as could 
 move should immediately mount the 
 hill and storm the batteries." This or- 
 der was promptly obeyed by Captain 
 Wool, on whom, as then senior officer 
 of the regular troops, the command de- 
 volved, and he was also bleeding from 
 his wounds, but distinguished himself 
 with Captains Ogilvie, Malcolm and 
 Armstrong and Lieutenant Randolph. 
 These brave officers stormed the heights, 
 took a battery, composed of an eighteen- 
 pounder and two mortars half way up 
 the declivity, and were soon in possess- 
 ion of the highest point, called the 
 'mountain." By this time the enemy 
 were beaten, routed, and driven into a 
 strong stone building near the water's 
 edgre. 
 
23. 
 
 Elated with their success, the Ameri- 
 cans had fallen into disorder, when 
 they again beheld 300 of their foe, ad- 
 vancing- under the intrepid Brock, the 
 lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, 
 who had just returned from the capture 
 of Hull to defend the Niagara frontier. 
 An officer raised a white flag in token 
 to surrender; Wool indignantly xmlled 
 it down. The British now drove the 
 Americans to the edge of the incline. 
 One soldier was about to descend; Wool 
 ordered him to be shot; but. as the 
 musket was leveled, he returned. Thus 
 prohibiting either surrender or retreat, 
 and being ably seconded by his officers, 
 he rallied and led on his troops to the 
 attack. The British in their turn gave 
 way, and retreated down the hill. 
 Brock, while attempting to rally them 
 in the midst of a galling fire, was mor- 
 tally wounded. His party no longer 
 attempted resistance, but fled in disor- 
 der. 
 
 Exactly at this period Lieutenant- 
 colonel Scott arrived on the heights 
 He had been permitted, as a volunteer, 
 to cross the river with his adjutant. 
 Roach, and assume the command of the 
 whole body engaged. On the Canada 
 side he unexpectedly found Brigadier- 
 General William Wadsworth of the 
 New York militia, who had crossed with- 
 out orders Scott therefore proposed 
 to limit his command to the reguhxrs, 
 but the generous and patriotic Wads- 
 worth would not consent. Scott then 
 assumed command, and throughout the 
 movements that ensued General Wads- 
 worth dared every danger in aiding the 
 views of the comma,nder. Beinforce- 
 ments having arrived during the previ- 
 ous engagements, the troops under 
 Scott now amounted in all to three hun- 
 
24. 
 
 (Irecl and fifty regulars, and two hun- 
 dred and fifty volunteers, under the di- 
 rection of General Wadswortli and Col- 
 onel Stranahan. These Scott, upon the 
 suggestion of Oai)tain Tatton, drew up 
 in a strong and commanding situation. 
 The object in view was not only to re- 
 ceive the enemy, but to cover the ferry 
 in expectation of being reinforced by 
 the whole of the militia at Lewiston. 
 
 The interval of rest was short. The 
 first gun which broke the silence of the 
 morning had also aroused the British 
 garrison of Fort Cxeorge eight miles be- 
 low. Their troops were instantly put in 
 motion. The Indians, who had been 
 concentrated in the vicinity, sprang in- 
 to activity. In a short time five hun- 
 dred of these forest warriors joined the 
 British light companies previously en- 
 gaged. A new battle ensued. The 
 Americans received the enemy with 
 firmness and drove them back in total 
 route. 
 
 Tlie protection of the ferry being the 
 main purpose, and as the Indians in the 
 wood presented no opportunity for a 
 charge, the Americans resumed their 
 original position, and there maintained 
 it valiantly against several successive at- 
 tacks, until the British reinforcements 
 arrived from Fort George. In one of 
 these affairs the advanced pickets of the 
 American lines were suddenly driven in 
 by superior numbers, and a general 
 massacre seemed inevitable. At this 
 critical moment Scott, who had been in 
 the rear showing how to unspike a cap- 
 tured cannon, hastily returned and by 
 great exertions brought his line, then 
 in the act of giving away, to the right- 
 about. His brilliant example produced 
 a sudden revulsion of feeling. They 
 caught the spirit of their leader. With 
 
25. 
 
 an unanimous burst of enthusiasm the 
 line suddenlj' rallied from rio^ht to left, 
 threw itself forward upon the enemy, 
 puttiut? him to a precipitate flight, and 
 strewing the ground with the dead and 
 wounded. In this manner successive 
 c< mfiicts were kept up till the main body 
 of the British reinforcements arrived. 
 This was a column eight hundred and 
 fifty strong under the command of 
 Major-Greneral Sheaflt'e, who was after- 
 wards made a baronet for the events of 
 the day. 
 
 During the action, which had now so 
 long proceeded with credit to the 
 American troops, the Militia who had 
 crossed the river and were engaged 
 with Wadsworth and Stranahan, had 
 fought well, and shared both the dan- 
 gers and the successes of the day. At 
 this crisis, however, when the result of 
 the battle depended entirely upon re- 
 inforcements, information was brought 
 to Scott and those engaged that the 
 Militia on the American shore refused to 
 cross. General Van Rensselaer rode 
 among them in all directions, urging 
 the men by every consideration to pass, 
 but in vain. Not a regiment nor a 
 company could be induced to 
 move. A panic had seized them; but 
 even had it been otherwise they could 
 not have crossed, as but a few crippled 
 boats remained to take them over. The 
 total number of boats in the beginning 
 was only thirteen. Severe was the 
 mortification of this disaster to the brave 
 men engaged, and mournful the result. 
 
 At this period the British was estim- 
 ated, regulars, militia and Indians, at 
 not less than thirteen hundred, while 
 the Americans were reduced to less than 
 three hundred. Retreat was as hope- 
 less as success; for there were no boats 
 
26. 
 
 on the Canadian shore, and the militia 
 on the other side refused to give them 
 aid. Scott took his position on the 
 grounds they then occupied, resolved to 
 abide the shock, and think of surrender 
 only when battle was impossible. He 
 mounted a log in front of his much- 
 diminished band. *' The enemy's balls,'" 
 said he, "begin to thin our ranks. His 
 numbers are overwhelming. In a mom- 
 ent the shock must come. We are in 
 the beginning of a national war. Hull's 
 surrender is to be redeemed. Let us 
 then die arms in hand. Our country 
 demands the sacrifice. The example 
 will not be lost. The blood of the shxin 
 will make heroes of the living. Those 
 who follow will avenge our fall and their 
 country's wrongs. Who dare to stand ? '* 
 "All! " was the answering cry. In the 
 meanwhile the British, under the com- 
 mand of Major-General Sheaffe, man- 
 oeuvred with great caution, and even 
 hesitation, conscious of the vigorous 
 resistance already made, and determined 
 fully to reconuoiter. They found it 
 difficult to believe that so small a body 
 of men was the whole force they had to 
 contend with, and supposed it rather an 
 outpost than an army. At length the 
 attack began. The Americans for a 
 time maintained their resolution, but 
 finally began to give way. When nearly 
 surrounded they let themselves (by 
 holding on limbs and bushes) down the 
 precipice to the river. Resistance was 
 now ended and after a brief consultation 
 it was determined to send a flag 
 to the enemy, with a proposition to 
 capitulate. Several persons were suc- 
 cessively sent, but neither answer nor 
 messenger returned; they were all shot 
 down or captured by the Indians. At 
 length Scott determined that he him- 
 
27. 
 
 self would make another attempt. He 
 prepared a fiao- of trace— a white hand- 
 kerchief fastened upou his sword -and 
 accompanied by Captains Totton and 
 Gibson went forth on a forlorn hope to 
 seek a parley. Keeping close to the 
 water's edge and under cover of the 
 precipice as much as possible, they des- 
 cended along the river. They were ex- 
 posed to a continual random tire from 
 the Indians, until they turned up an 
 easy slope to gain the road from the 
 village to the heights. They had just 
 attained this road when they were met 
 by two Indians, who sprang ui>on them. 
 It was in vain that Scott declared his 
 purpose and claimed the protection of 
 his tiag. They attempted to wrench it 
 from his hands, and at the same instant 
 Totton and Gibson drew their swords. 
 The Indians had just discharged their 
 rifles at the American ofiicers and were 
 on the point of using their knives and 
 hatchets, when a British officer, accom- 
 panied by some men, rushed forward 
 and prevented a further combat. 
 
 The three American officers were 
 conducted into the presence of General 
 Sheaife; terms of capitulation were 
 agreed upon; and Scott surrendered his 
 whole force with the honors of war. 
 The entire force thus surrendered, of 
 those who had been actually fighting, 
 were 139 regulars and 154 militia, mak- 
 ing in all 293. But to the intense mor- 
 tification of Scott, the number was soon 
 swelled by several hundreds of militia, 
 who had crossed to the Canada shore, 
 and in the confusion of the moment, 
 had concealed themselves under the 
 rocks higher up the river, and were not 
 in the slightest degree engaged in the 
 action of the day. 
 
28. 
 
 The total loss of the Americans in this 
 battle was estimated at 1000 men. About 
 100 were killed, 200 who had landed 
 with Major Mullaney early in the day 
 were forced by the current of the 
 river on the enemy's shores under his 
 batteries and were there captured. 293 
 surrendered with Scott, and the re- 
 mainder were those who had landed, but 
 were not in the battle . 
 
 Thus ended the battle of Queenston 
 Heights; an engagement desultory in 
 its movements, various in its incidents, 
 and unfortunate in its result; but not 
 with out consequent importance to the 
 spirit and vigor of the American arms. 
 Magnitude is not always necessary to 
 the dignity of an achievement, nor is 
 defeat always discouraging to the un- 
 successful party. It is the nature of the 
 action which gives character to the 
 actor. Judged by this standard, the 
 events of Queenston had their value, 
 and their inspiration to every patriot 
 American. Hull had surrendered with- 
 out a battle; disgrace, not from the 
 mere disaster, but from the mode by 
 which it was produced was inflicted 
 upon the country, and felt in the hearts 
 of its children. It was battle, and hon- 
 orable battle only, which could drive 
 this gloomy shadow from the country, 
 check the taunts of the enemies, remove 
 its own doubts, and re-establsh its self 
 respect. The battle of Queenston 
 Heights did this in no small degree. 
 While the mistakes, the errors, and the 
 losses of the day were deplored, the 
 American press and people recognized, 
 amid regrets and misfortune, a spirit of 
 achievement, a boldness in danger, and 
 a gallant bearing, which inspired new 
 hopes, and pointed out the way to 
 ultimate success. The daring gallantry 
 
•29. 
 
 of Colonel Van Kensselaer; the capture 
 of the British battery by Wool and his 
 heroic companions; the intrepid con- 
 duct of "Wadsworth, of Chrystie, of 
 Totton, and Scott, and many others, 
 had given a cheerfulness even to the 
 •darkness of defeat, and almost a glow of 
 satisfaction to the memory of Queen- 
 «ton Heights. 
 
 Soon after the surrender, the gallant 
 Brock was buried under one of the 
 bastons of Fort St. George, with the 
 highest of military honors. Fort 
 Niagara, directly opposite on the Amer- 
 ican shore was commanded at that time 
 by Captain McKeon. Colonel Scott 
 «eut over his compliments, and desired 
 that minute-guns might be fired during 
 the funeral ceremonies. Captain Mc- 
 Keon readily complied with the request, 
 for the noble qualities of Brock had 
 been held in equal esteem on both sides 
 of the line It is one of the privileges 
 which smooth the rough brow of war, 
 thus to render a just respect to the 
 worth3^ dead, whether they be of friends 
 or adversaries. It is the right of mag- 
 nanimity to carry no hostility beneath 
 the green covering of the grave, nor 
 beyond that line which peace has drawn 
 between noble spirits, that once were 
 foes, nor against those generous qualities 
 which dignify the man and adore the 
 races. 
 
 In later years the monument was 
 -erected in honor of General Brock 
 which now towers from the top of the 
 Queenston Heights. From this eminent 
 point it can be seen for miles around. 
 The exact spot where Brock fell, near 
 the foot of the hill, has also been ap- 
 propriately marked, and the place en- 
 closed with a small fence. 
 
30. 
 
 Gciptupe of ^ort Qeorge. 
 
 The campaign of 1813 opened with 
 one of the most brilliant actions of the 
 war. It was the capture of York, (now 
 Toronto) the capital of Upper Canada, 
 by the American troops under the com- 
 mand of General Dearborn. The army 
 was landed from the squadron of Com- 
 modore Chauncey. and the assistin<4- 
 party was led by Pike. The place was 
 captured, with a large number of 
 prisoners, and the British naval mater- 
 ial, there collected, destroyed. At the 
 moment of success a magazine exploded 
 and Pike was killed by the fall of a 
 stone. In a letter written to his father 
 the day before the battle, in speaking of 
 his expedition he was about to engage 
 in, he said: ''Should I be the happy 
 mortal destined to turn the scale of 
 war, will you not rejoice, oh my father ? 
 May heaven be propitious, and smile on 
 the cause of my country. But if we are 
 destined to fall, may my fall be like 
 Wolf's— to sleep in the arms of victory." 
 The wish was fulfilled. He died like 
 Wolf, in the arms of victory, and the 
 tears of grief and joy were mingled to- 
 gether at the story of the battle which 
 was won, and of the hero who died. 
 
 On the British side of the Niagara 
 was Fort George. This position, soon 
 after the last event, General Dearborn 
 determined to carry. He was then at the 
 head of four or five thousand men. and 
 was co-operated with by Commodore 
 Chauncey and his naval force. Arrange- 
 ments were made for an attack on the 
 morning of the 27th of May. At 3 a. m. 
 the fleet weighed anchor, and before 
 four the troops were all on board the 
 
31. 
 
 boats. The embarkation was made 
 about three miles east of Fort Niagara. 
 It was made in six divisions of boats. 
 In the first was Colonel Scott, who led 
 the advanced guard, or forlorn hope, a 
 service to which he had specially volun- 
 teered. In the second was Colonel 
 Moses Porter with the field train. Then 
 followed the brigades of Generals Boyd, 
 Winder, Chandler, and a reserve under 
 Colonel A. Macomb. In the meantime 
 Commodore Chauncey had directed his 
 schooners to anchor close in shore, so 
 near as to cover the lauding of the 
 troops, and scour by their fire the woods 
 and plain wherever the enemy might 
 make his appearance. Captain Perry, 
 from Erie, had joined Commodore 
 Chauncey on the evening of the 25th, 
 and gallantly volunteered his services 
 in superintending the debarkation of 
 the troops. It was a difficult operation, 
 in consequence of the wind, the current, 
 a heavy surf, and the early commenced 
 fire of the enemy. He was present 
 wherever he could be useful, under 
 showers of musketry. He accompanied 
 the advanced guard through the surf, 
 and rendered special services of which 
 mention has since been made in the 
 highest terms of commendation. It was 
 the budding forth of that professional 
 skill, and that brave and generous con- 
 duct, which soon bloomed out in the 
 glory which surrounds the name of the 
 hero of Lake Erie. The landing of 
 Col. Scott was effected on the 
 British shore of Lake Ontario, at nine 
 o'clock in the morning, in good order, 
 at half a mile from the village of Newark, 
 now Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the same 
 distance west of the mouth of the river. 
 He formed his line on the beach, cover- 
 ed by an irregular bank, which served 
 
32. 
 
 as a partial shield against the enemy's 
 fire. This bank, which was from seven 
 to twelve feet in height, he had to scale 
 against the bayonets of the enemy, 
 who had drawn up his forces, some 
 fifteen hundred men, immediately on its 
 brow. In the first attempt to ascend, 
 the enemy pushed back the assailants. 
 General Dearborn, who was still in the 
 Commodore's ship, seeing with his glass 
 Hcott fall backward upon the beach ex- 
 claimed, " He is lost ! He is killed ! " 
 Scott's fall was, however, only momen- 
 tary. Recovering himself and rallying 
 his men, he reascended the bank, knock- 
 ing aside the enemy's bayonets, and 
 took a position at the edge of a raviMe, 
 a little way in advance. A sharp action 
 of about twenty minutes in length en- 
 sued. It was short and desperate, end- 
 ing in the total rout of the enemy at 
 every point. 
 
 Meanwhile Porter with his artillery, 
 and Boyd with a part of his brigade, had 
 landed in the rear of the advance guard, 
 and slightly participated in the close of 
 the action. Scott pursued the rout as 
 far as the village, where he was joined 
 by the 6th regiment of infantry, under 
 the command of Colonel James Miller. 
 As the column was passing Fort Niagara 
 in pursuit, Scott learned from some 
 prisoners caught running out. that the 
 garrison was about to abandon and 
 blow up the place. Two companies 
 were instantly dispatched from the 
 head of the column to save the work, 
 its guns and stores. At the distance of 
 some eighty paces from the fort, one of 
 its magazines exploded. Scott was 
 struck with a piece of timber, thrown 
 from his horse and severely hurt. He 
 nevertheless caused the gate to be for- 
 ced, and was the first to enter, and tore 
 
S3. 
 
 down the British flag, then waving 
 over the works Being reminded by 
 Lis prisoners of the danger he incurred 
 from explosion, he directed Captains 
 Hindman and Stockton to snatch away 
 the matches which had been applied by 
 the retreating garrison to two other 
 small magazines. The Fort had been 
 rendered untenable by the American 
 batteries on the opposite shore, and its 
 capture was but the work of a few min- 
 utes. This accomplished Scott re- 
 mounted and was soon at the head of 
 his column, in hot pursuit. This pur- 
 suit was continued for five miles, until 
 at length he was recalled by General 
 Boyd in person He had already dis- 
 regarded two successive orders to the 
 same effect sent by General Lewis, say- 
 ing to the aids-de-camp who came to him 
 (one of them Lieutenant Worth and the 
 other Major Vandeventer) "Your 
 General does not know that I have the 
 enemy within my power ; in seventy 
 minutes I shall capture his whole force. 
 In point of fact, Scott was already in 
 the midst of the British stragglers, with 
 their main body in sight. He would 
 not have been overtaken by Boyd, but 
 that he had waited fifteen minutes for 
 Colonel Burns, his senior officer, who 
 had consented to serve under him. This 
 last Colonel had just crossed the river 
 from the Five-Mile Meadow, in rear of 
 the main body of the enemy, with one 
 troop of cavalry and was then waiting 
 the landing of another now more than 
 half way over. This force constituted 
 the precise additional force which was 
 wanted by Scott to make good the as- 
 surance he had sent to General Lewis. 
 With the recall of Scott from the pur- 
 suit of the enemy ended the battle and 
 capture of Fort George. The American 
 
34. 
 
 Joss was less than tliat of the Britisfe^ 
 and one of the objects set foi-th in the 
 plan of the campaign -was clecidedly ac- 
 complished. 
 
 AccordiJi^ to Genera] Dearborn's 
 letter to the Secretary of War. the 
 American loss was 17 killed and 45 
 wounded; British loss, 90 killed, 160 
 wounded and 100 prisoners. 
 
 This engagement was not without 
 some incidents, one of which may not 
 be out of place to relate. After the 
 capture of Scott, the year before, at 
 Queenston, he was supping with Gen- 
 eral Sheaffe, and a number of British 
 ofKcers, when one of them, a Colonel, 
 asked him if he had ever seen the neigh- 
 boring Falls. Scott replied, "Yes, from 
 the American side." To this the other 
 sarcastically replied, "Yon must have 
 the glory of a successful light before 
 you can view the cataract in all its 
 grandeur," meaning from the Canadian 
 shore. Scott rejoined, "If it be your 
 intention to insult me, sir, honor should 
 have prompted you first to return me 
 my sword! " General Sheaffe promptly 
 rebuked the British Colonel, and the 
 matter was dropped. At the battle of 
 Fort George among the earliest prison- 
 ers taken by the Americans was the 
 same British Colonel, badly wounded, 
 Scott politely borrowed the prisoner's 
 horse, not being able to bring his own 
 in the boats, and gave orders that the 
 prisoner should be treated with all 
 jHDSsible attention and kindness. That 
 evening, after the pursuit, and as often 
 as subsequent events permitted, Scott 
 called on the British Colonel. He re- 
 turned him the horse, and carefully 
 provided for all his wants. Indeed, he 
 obtained permission for him to return 
 to England on his parole, at a time 
 
35. 
 
 when the belligerents had begun to re- 
 fuse such favors, as well as all exchan- 
 ges. At the first of these visits the 
 prisoner delicately remarked, " I have 
 long owed you an apology, sir. You 
 have overwhelmed me with kindness. 
 You can now at your leisure, view the 
 Falls in all their glory." 
 
 It is such acts of magnanimity as 
 these which reflect honor on human 
 nature. Were they more frequent, the 
 rough brow of war would be smoothed 
 to smiles, and the field of battle be as 
 remarkable for the beautiful in character 
 as for the glorious in action. 
 
 Battle of Stony G**ee^. 
 
 To the successful actions of York, 
 Fort George, and of Sackett's Harbor, 
 there were soon added others of a less 
 fortunate result, and of a less pleasant 
 hue. On the 6th of June a small brigade 
 of about 800 American troops under the 
 command of General Winder, had been 
 thrown forward to Stony Creek, and 
 there reinforced by another corps under 
 Chandler. Their object was the pursuit 
 and capture of the British corps who 
 had retreated from Fort George, under 
 the command of Vincent. This officer 
 thought it better to risk a battle than to 
 give up his position. He prepared also 
 to make the attack. Accordingly on 
 the morning of the 6th, by night, a 
 British column was pushed into the 
 centre of the American line, which 
 Vincent had discovered to be weakened 
 by extension, and liable to surprise, by 
 
36. 
 
 the negligence of camp guards. Tlie 
 attack succeeded so far as to break the 
 American line, and by a strange mis- 
 fortune both of the American generals, 
 Winder and Chandler, fell into the 
 hands of the British. When the attack 
 was a made a scene of confusion and 
 carnage ensued, in which the Americans 
 could not distinguish friend from foe. 
 General Chandler ai)proached to rally a 
 party but they proved to be British 
 troops, who immediately secured him 
 as their })risoner. General Winder 
 shared bj^ a like mistake a simiiiar fate. 
 The Americans, however, maintained 
 their post, and forced the enemy to re- 
 retire, but the army, being without an 
 experienced commander, retreated by 
 the advice of a council of war. The 
 loss of the British exceeded that of the 
 Americans, and was more than one 
 hundred. 
 
 A few days after the battle of Stony 
 Creek, another incident still more dis- 
 astrous occurred On the 24th of June 
 Boerstler had been detached, with a 
 corps of 600 men, to take the British 
 post called Stone House, two miles 
 beyond the Beaver Dams, and 17 miles 
 from Fort George. The British force 
 was larger than was supposed. Boerst- 
 ler was suffered to advance without an- 
 noyance, till at length he was surround- 
 ed and compelled to surrender. 
 
 The principal reason given for the 
 success of the British on this occasion 
 is found in the following narrative, as 
 related by Mrs. J. J. Currie of St. 
 Catharines, and revised by J. B. Secord 
 of Niagara-on-the-Lake. 
 
 Looking from the right hand side ^ of 
 the Niagara Central train about five 
 miles above St. Catharines, the passen- 
 ger will observe a small obelisk. This 
 
37. 
 
 stone was erected to mark the spot 
 where ou the 2 tth of June, 1813, took 
 place what is now known as the Battle 
 of the Beaver Dams. At this time the 
 Americans were in full possession of 
 Niagara and the frontier as far as 
 Queenston with an outpost at St. Davids 
 and strong pickets out at all available 
 points. The British Army at Niagara 
 under General Vincent after their de- 
 feat by the Americans under Gen. Dear- 
 born had retreated to Burlington 
 Heights and there established themsel- 
 ves with outposts at Jordon, under Col. 
 Bishop and at a point near Homer un- 
 der Major DeHaren. A small party 
 consisting of about 50 men of the 4:9th 
 Regt. under Lieut. Fitzgibbon and 
 about 100 Indians under Capt. Duch- 
 arme were also stationed at the Beaver 
 Dams. Such was the situation of 
 affairs where our story commences. 
 That story is the record of a brave 
 woman whose deed of daring and 
 through whose information the British 
 Commander was enabled to achieve a 
 signal victory and to be the means 
 under Divine Providence of saving 
 Upper Canada to the British Crown. 
 Lieut. Fitzgibbon and his detachment 
 had been most active in annoying the 
 enemy, and to get rid of him and at the 
 same time obtain an advantageous base 
 of operations against Gen. Vincent's 
 position on Burlington Heights, it was 
 resolved by the American Commander 
 to capture the Lieut, and the British 
 position at the Beaver Dams. This 
 course was adopted at a Council of War 
 held at Fort George on the 18th of June, 
 1813. To carry out this determination 
 the American General selected a force 
 of about 650 men composed of about 400 
 light Infantry, two companies of mount- 
 
38. 
 
 ed Infantry, a companj^ of Artillery 
 with two field pieces, and a half troop 
 of Cavalry and placed them under the 
 command of Col. Boerstler, an officer 
 noted for his bravery and distinguished 
 for gallantry during the Indian wars. 
 
 heroine j^aura gecord, 
 
 As I before stated, the village of Queen - 
 ston was in possession of the Americans 
 and but few of the older inhabitants re- 
 mained there. Among the few was the 
 heroine of this story, LauraSecord, and 
 her husband. Mr. Secord was still suf- 
 fering and helpless from the wound he 
 received at the Battle of Queenston. 
 At their house the American officers 
 were billeted and among them was Col. 
 Boerstler. On June 23rd while these 
 officers were at dinner the Colonel talk- 
 ed freely of his intended enterprise — 
 told of his plans to capture Fitzgibbou 
 and his small party at the Beaver Dams. 
 How a base of operations would then 
 be had for the advance on the position 
 held by the British at Burlington. 
 "That position once captured -shouted 
 the gallant Colonel, and Upper Canada 
 is ours." Laura Secord li.stened to all 
 this, and when tne officers retired from 
 the house to perform their several duties 
 and Col. Boerstler had gone in the di- 
 rection of Niagara to join his 
 command for the capture of Fitzgibbon, 
 she consulted with her husband as to 
 the best course to pursue— some one 
 must go to warn Fitzgibbon, she said — 
 Mr. Secord could not go, and there was 
 
39. 
 
 no other to send and she resolved to go 
 herself. She did not for a moment 
 hesitate. Her courage rose to meet the 
 emergency. Bidding her husband and 
 children a hurried farewell, she, in the 
 early evening of the 23rd, left her home 
 for a long and perilous walk to the 
 Beaver Dams. 
 
 With a sunbonnet on her head aud a 
 milk pail in her hand she passed the 
 first sentinel and was not challeuged. 
 She sped onward and when about two 
 miles from her home she was challeng- 
 ed by another sentinel who roughly de- 
 manded to know where she was going. 
 Her story was that she was going to 
 visit a sick brother and with real tears 
 besought the guard not to detain her — 
 after some questioning she was allowed 
 to go on her way. Through the woods 
 she sped along, meeting many adven- 
 tures by the way until at last she reach- 
 ed the position where was encamped a 
 group of Indians who at once made her a 
 prisoner. She asked to be taken to their 
 chief. They complied with her request 
 and she at once made herself known and 
 demanded to be led to Lieut. Fitzgib- 
 bon for whom she said she had great 
 news. After some hesitation she was 
 taken to Fitzgibbon's quarters and at 
 once told her story. He realized its 
 importance. "Mrs. Secord." he said, 
 •'you have save me and you have saved 
 Vincent, God bless you." After seeing 
 Mrs. Secord comfortably housed for the 
 night the Lieutenant took his measures 
 to give the enemy a warm reception. 
 Posting his little army in advantageous 
 position and out of sight of an advanc- 
 ing enemy and directing Gen. Ducharme 
 to post his Indians, in a ravine in the 
 Beech woods which w^as selected as a good 
 place for an ambuscade, the little band 
 
40. 
 
 waited for the enemy to appear. About 
 9 o'clock the Americans appeared and 
 were received by a steady and incessant 
 fire from the woods on every side. 
 Boerstler ordered the artillery to open 
 fire on the woods, but this was ineliec- 
 tual and the repeated attempts to march 
 forward were repulsed, Boerstler sev- 
 eral times changed direction, meeting 
 each time an invisible enem\\ Believ- 
 ing himself to be surrounded by a large 
 force of the British and seeing no 
 other alternative he at last sent up a 
 flag of truce with an offer of surrender, 
 which offer was accepted, and articles 
 of capitulation signed. By this surren- 
 der Col. Boerstler, twenty-three 
 officers and five hundred and seventy-five 
 men became prisoners of war. Besides 
 were surrendered the colors of the 14th 
 U. S. Infantry, two cannons, two bag- 
 gage wagons and about 600 stand of 
 arms as substantial tokens of victory. 
 Laura Secord remained at DeCew's 
 house until the 25th when Lieut. Fitz- 
 gibbon had her conveyed home. Her 
 return was a happy one as her purpose 
 had been achieved and the results be- 
 yond the most sanguine expectations. 
 I cannot close this brief narrative with- 
 out recalling an incident of the Battle of 
 Queenston. Mrs. Secord and family 
 were living there at that time and Mr. 
 Secord was one of the part}'' that con- 
 vej'ed the remains of the dead Brock 
 from the place where he fell to the stone 
 house where he lay until taken to Fort 
 George in the afternoon. Mr. 
 Secord returned to take his share of 
 the battle and while following gallant 
 McDonnell up the heights receiv- 
 ed a severe wound on the shoulder. 
 Intelligence of this occurrence reached 
 Mrs. Secord and she at once hurried to 
 
41. 
 
 his side. Just as she arrived three 
 American st)ldiers arrived and raising 
 their muskets were about to chib him to 
 death. Eushing between them she threw 
 herself on the body of her hnsband, 
 thus shielding him and implored the 
 ruffians to spare her husband's life. 
 With rough words they pushed her aside 
 and were about to accomplish their 
 murderous intent, when Capt. Wool of 
 the American army came up, and call- 
 ing them cowards sternly demanded 
 how they dared do such a thing. He 
 liad them arrested and sent to Lewiston 
 where they were afterwards court-mar- 
 tialed and as a result received well 
 merited imprisonment for several 
 months for their infamous breach of 
 discipline. Captain Wool ordered a 
 party of men to take Mr. Secord to his 
 home, and did not even make him a 
 prisoner on parole. Captain Wool 
 never forgot the friend he made that 
 day. He rose to the high rank of 
 Major General and visited Mr. Secord 
 several times, and their friendship con- 
 tinued until Mr. Record's death. This 
 same Captain Wool stationed a guard at 
 the stone house where the dead body of 
 Brock was conveyed, to protect it from 
 in j ury and insult. It is pleasant amid 
 the horrors and cruelties of war to 
 record the noble actions of a generous 
 foe. Mr. Secord and family lived at 
 -Queenston for many years, when re- 
 lieving a government appointment, he 
 removed to Chippawa where he died in 
 1842. Laura Secord still continued to 
 reside at Chippawa and died in 1868 in 
 the 95th year of her age. In 1860 she 
 was presented to H. K. H.. the Prince 
 of Wales, and her brave exploit brought 
 to his notice. He afterwards generous- 
 ly sent her his check for £100, but no 
 
42. 
 
 acknowledgement of her services was 
 made by the government. She left six 
 children, five daughters and one son, 
 none of whom are now living. Her 
 only son purchased the stone house 
 hallowed by the presence of the dead 
 warrior and lived there until he remov- 
 to Niagara, Laura Secord and her 
 husVmnd are buried in the old cemeterj^ 
 on Drummond Hill. A simple stone 
 marks the spot where this true hearted 
 couple sleeps. This burying ground 
 was the battle field of Lundy's Lane 
 and many of the dead that fell in that 
 fierce conflict mingle their dust with 
 theirs. 
 
 ^ (general G<^"^P<^i^". 
 
 During this time, and for more than 
 three months, the main body remained 
 for the most part inactive, and entrench- 
 ed at Fort George, under the command 
 successively oi' Generals Pearborn, 
 Lewis, Boyd and Wilkinson. The dnty 
 of foraging devolved upon Colonel 
 Scott, which he did at least twice u 
 week. In these excursions repeated 
 skirmishes with snuxll parties of the 
 enemy occurred. Not a load of forage 
 was cut between the hostile camps with- 
 out a sharp combat, in which Scott 
 always came off victorious. 
 
 In September an expedition was plan- 
 ned against Burlington Heights, at the 
 head of Lake Ontario, reported to be 
 the depot of a large quantity of ]n-ovis- 
 ions and other British stores. In this 
 exr)edition Col. Scott volunteered to 
 command the land troops, and was taken 
 
43. 
 
 on board the fleet by Commodore 
 Chauucey. Burlington Heights were 
 visited, but neither enemy nor 
 stores were found there. On tlie return 
 it was determined to make a descent 
 upon York (now Toronto). According- 
 ly a landing of the soldiers and murines 
 was affected, under the command of 
 Col. Scott. The barracks and public 
 storehouses were burnt. Large depots 
 of provisions and clothing were taken, 
 together with eleven armed boats, and 
 a considerable quantity of ammunition 
 and several pieces of cannon. 
 
 At the close of this summer a plan of 
 campaign was devised, having for its 
 object Kingston, and then Montreal- 
 Without going into the details of the 
 objects of this plan and the movements 
 of the different armies, we will simply 
 say, that in accordance with the plan, 
 Wilkiuson embarked with the Niagara 
 army on the 2nd day of October, leav- 
 ing Colonel Scott commander of Fort 
 George with between seven and eight 
 hundred regulars, with a part of Col. 
 Swift's regiment of militia, to defend 
 the Fort. And as this fort had been 
 taken by Col. Scott and the British 
 colors taken down by his own hands, he 
 was proud of the capture, and determin- 
 ed to defend it as the post of honor. He 
 lost not a moment nor an effort to im- 
 prove the defences of the fort. Expect- 
 ing an assault at any moment, all hands, 
 including the commander, worked night 
 and day. A week accomplished much, 
 at the end of which, (Oct. 9th), the 
 enemy, contrary to all expectations, 
 broke up his camp, burning three 
 thousand blankets, many hundred stand 
 of arms, also the blankets in the men's 
 packs, and ever article of clothing not in 
 actual use and then followed Wilkinson 
 
44. 
 
 down the country. On the 13th of 
 October, 1813, by order of Major-Gen- 
 eral Wilkinson, Col. Scott left Fort 
 George, with the whole of the regular 
 troops of the garrison, being relieved- 
 by Brigadier-General McOlure, with a 
 body of the New York detached militia, 
 expecting to embark at the mouth of 
 Genesee River, where Wilkinson was to 
 provide means for his emV)arkation, but 
 failed to do so, so that he had to march 
 to Sackett's Harbor, through rain and 
 mud. 
 
 On the 12th of November the expedi- 
 tion down the St. Lawrence for the 
 conquest of Canada was abandoned, and 
 the army commenced a retreat. Sir, 
 George Provost being relieved from his 
 apprehension of an attack on Montreal, 
 ordered his forces under Generals Vin- 
 cent and Drummoud, to proceed to 
 Niagara. The Americans had left this 
 frontier defen.seless. except about 60 
 men of the New York Militia who were 
 left to garrison Fort George. Being 
 hard i)ressed by the enemy, McClure 
 concluded to abandon the post. So on 
 the lUth of December he left for Fort 
 Niagara, after, through a misconception 
 of his orders, he burned the village of 
 Newark, and the people, who were non- 
 combatants, were turned out into a deep 
 snow, in intensely cold weather. The 
 British officers resolved to retaliate, 
 although the act was promptly disavow- 
 ed by the American Government. 
 
45. 
 
 British Gi-ossmegordep. 
 
 On the ui-lit of December 18th 1,000 
 
 ./'- F.v'Tr/^ilV^'"? ^•^•«^«ed the river 
 !it Five Mile Meadow," slu,otiu- and 
 
 Pluuderino- the inhabitkiits and fayin^ 
 
 Col. Mnrra.>% with 550 recrulars, turned 
 toward the Fort of Niagara, prepared 
 to storm It. The pickets were captured 
 without givmo: any alarm, and the 
 enemy on reaching the fort about three 
 o clock in the morning actually found 
 the mam gate standing open and un 
 defended and the fortress at their 
 mercy. For a few minutes the ''south- 
 eastern blockhouse" and the "red bar 
 racks" withstood the entrance of the 
 foe so stoutly that several were killed or 
 v^^ounded, among the latter was OoT 
 Mum,y^ Most of the 450 occupants of 
 the Fort only awoke to find themsel- 
 ves prisoners The slight resisSnce 
 was made the pretext for'^ an inhuman 
 onslaught m which 80 of the helXss 
 garrison, including many hosS 
 patients, were slaughtered^ after C 
 rendering. Fourteen were wounded, 
 taken prisoner, 20 escaped- 27 cani 
 non 3000 stand of small arms, and gi-eat 
 quantities of ammunition, provisions 
 and camp equipage fell into the hands 
 of the victors. They held the fort unSl 
 the treaty of peace restored it 
 
 rhe portion of the British forces 
 which did not accompany Col. Murray 
 to the fort, including the Indians, pif 
 h^.f ^T^ destroyed the six or eight 
 houses then constituting Youngstown 
 T^ey then marched upon Lewiston" 
 where they plundered, burned and but! 
 cheredto their hearts content Mr 
 
46. 
 
 Lossin^ UDclerstood that 500 Indiiiiis 
 iiuder General Riall crossed from 
 QiieeDston to Lewiston on bearin<? a 
 cannon lired at Fort Niagara anuonn- 
 cir.g its capture. He quotes the follow- 
 ing extract of a letter from an officer of 
 high rank, (whom he conjectures to 
 have been General Drummoud) at 
 Queenston. written while the devasta- 
 tion was going on : 
 
 "A war-hoop from five hundred of 
 the most savage Indians (which they 
 gave just at daj'light, on hearinsr of the 
 success of the attack on Fort Niagara) 
 made the enemy (at Lewiston) take to 
 their heels, and our troops are in pur- 
 suit. We shall not stop until we have 
 cleared the whole frontier. The Indians 
 are retaliating the conflagration of 
 Newark. Not a house within my sight 
 but is in flames. This is a melancholy 
 but just retaliation." 
 
 Mr. Lossing, who quotes this letter, 
 remarks: "Fearful was the retaliation 
 for the destruction of half-inhabited 
 Newark, where not a life was sacrificed ! 
 Six villages, many isolated country 
 houses and four vessels were consumed, 
 and the butchery of innocent persons at 
 Fort Niagara, Lewiston, Schlosser, 
 Tuscarora Village, Black Rock and 
 Buffalo, and in farm houses, attested 
 the fierceness of the enemy's revenge." 
 
 But it is impossible to give the reader 
 such an account of the condition of 
 things on the Niagara frontier, during 
 that ill-fated winter as will enable him 
 to realize the alarm, the panic, and the 
 calamities that prevailed on every hand, 
 and of the sufferings that were endured 
 by the pioneers on the border. 
 
47. 
 
 Perri/ on C^H® G'*^^:, 
 
 On September 10th of this year, 1813, 
 an exciting battle took place on one of 
 those inland seas which separate the 
 possessions of the two governments. 
 The American fleet on Lake Erie, which 
 had l)een formed during the past sum- 
 mer, was under the command of Com- 
 modore Oliver Hazard Perry. It now 
 consisted of the Niagara and Lawrence, 
 each mounting twenty-five guns, and 
 several smaller vessels, carrying on an 
 average of two guns each. The enemy's 
 fleet was considered of equal force. 
 Commodore Barclay, its commander, 
 was a veteran ofiicer, while Perry was 
 yoiing and without experience as a 
 commander. The battle began on the 
 part of the Americans about 12 o'clock 
 at noon. Perry's flag ship, the Law- 
 rence, being disabled, he embarked in 
 an open boat, and amidst a shower of 
 bullets, carried the ensign of command 
 on board of the Niagara, and once 
 more bore down upon the enemy with 
 the remainder of the fleet. The action 
 became general and severe, and at four 
 o'clock the whole British squadron, con- 
 sisting of six vessels, carrying in all 
 sixty-three guns, surrendered to the 
 Americans. In giving information of 
 his victory to General Harrison. Perry 
 wrote : " We have met the enemy, and 
 they are ours." 
 
 This success on lake Erie opened a 
 passage to the territory which had been 
 surrendered by General Hull ; and 
 General Harrison lost no time in trans- 
 ferring the war thither. On the '22d of 
 September, he landed his troops near 
 Fort Maiden, but to his surprise, in- 
 
48. 
 
 stead of an armed force, he met, at the 
 entrance of the town, the maids and 
 matrons of Amherstburg, who, in their 
 best attire, had come forth to solicit the 
 protection of the Americans. 
 
 pressed. 
 
 In October, 1807 (jreat Britain, by 
 proclamation, recalled from foreign 
 service all seamen and sea-farino- men 
 who were natural born subjects, and 
 ordered them to withdraw themselves 
 and return home. At the same time it 
 declared that no foreign letters of 
 naturalization could divert its natural- 
 born subjects of their allegiance, or 
 alter their duty to their lawful sover- 
 eign. 
 
 In the United States, by the act of 
 naturalization, a foreigner becomes 
 entitled to all the privileges and im- 
 munities of natural born citizens, ex- 
 cept that of holding several offices, such 
 as President and Vice-President. The 
 two positions were those of absolute an- 
 tagonism, and were alone sufficient to 
 account for much of the controversy 
 and heat which attended the war of 1812. 
 Claims to the reclamation of British- 
 born subje(;ts naturalized in America, 
 and claims to impress them when found 
 in American ships, were made on the 
 one hand and resisted on the other. 
 This was the state of things when the 
 incidents took place which we are about 
 to relate. 
 
49. 
 
 The battle of Queenston closed with 
 the surrender of Scott and his small 
 force to the j^reatly superior uumbers 
 under the command of General Sheaffe. 
 These prisoners were sent to Quebec, 
 thence in a cartel to Boston. When the 
 prisoners were about to sail from Que- 
 bec, Scott, bein^: in the cabin of the 
 trans|)ort, heard a bustle upon deck, 
 and hastened up. There he found a 
 f)arty of British officers in the act of 
 mustering prisoners, and separating 
 from the rest such as, by confession or 
 the accent oi: the voice, were judged to 
 be Irishmen. The object was to send 
 them, in a frigate then alongside, to 
 England, to be tried and executed for 
 the crime of high treason, they being 
 taken in arms against their native alleg- 
 iance. Twenty-three had been thus set 
 apart when Scott reached the deck, and 
 there were at least forty more of the 
 «ame birth in the detachment. They 
 were all in deep affliction at what they 
 regarded as the certain prospect of a 
 shameful death. Many were adopted 
 citizens of the States, and several had 
 families in the land of their adoption. 
 The moment Scott ascertained the 
 object of the British officers, acting 
 under the express orders of the Gover- 
 nor-General, Sir. George Provost, he 
 commanded his men to answer no more 
 questions, in order that no other select- 
 ion should be made by the test of speech. 
 He commanded them to remain abso- 
 lutely silent, and they strictly obeyed. 
 This was done in spite of the threats of 
 the British officers, and not another 
 man was separated from his companions. 
 Scott was repeatedlyly commanded to 
 go below, and high altercations ensued. 
 He addressed the party selected, and 
 «xpliiined to them fully the reciprocal 
 
50. 
 
 obligations of allegiance and protection , 
 and assuring them that the United 
 States would not fail to avenge their 
 gallant and faithful soldiers; and finally 
 pledged himself, in the most solemn 
 manner, that retaliation, and, if neces- 
 sary, a refusal to give quarter in battle, 
 should follow the execution of any one 
 of the party. In the midst of this ani- 
 mated harangue he was frequently in- 
 terrupted by the British officers, but, 
 though unarmed, could not be silenced. 
 
 The Irishmen, whose names were as 
 follows : Henry Kelley, Henry Blaney, 
 George McCommon, John Dal ton, 
 Michael Condin, John Clark, Peter 
 Burr, Andrew Doyle, John McGowan, 
 James Gill, John Fulsom, Patrick Mc- 
 Braharty, Matthew Mooney, Patrick 
 Karns, John Fitzgerald, John Wiley, 
 John Douellj', John Curry, Nathan 
 Shaley, Edward McGarrigan, John 
 Dinuue, John Williams, George John- 
 son, were put in irons on board the 
 frigate and sent to England. When 
 Scott landed in Boston, he proceeded to 
 Washington and was duly exchanged. 
 He immediately related to the President 
 the scene which had occurred at Quebec, 
 and was by him instructed to make a 
 full report of the whole transaction, in 
 writing, to the Secretary of War. This 
 was done on the 13th of January, 1813. 
 The result was that on March 3rd, 1813, 
 an act was passed vesting the President 
 of the United States with the power of 
 retaliation. 
 
 Two months after this (May 27th, 
 1813,) in the battle and capture of Fort 
 George, Scott made a great number of 
 prisoners. True to his pledge given at 
 Quebec, he, as Adjutant-General, (chief 
 of staff) immediately selected twenty- 
 three of the number to be confined in 
 
51. 
 
 the interior of the United States, there 
 to abide the fate of the twenty-three 
 imprisoned and sent to England by the 
 British officers. In making this select- 
 ion he was careful not to include a 
 single Irishman, in order that Irishmen 
 might not be sacrificed for Irishmen. 
 This step led, on both sides, to the con- 
 finement as hostages of many other men 
 and officers, all of whom were, of course, 
 dependent for their lives on the fate of 
 the original twenty-three. 
 
 In July 1815, when peace had been 
 months concluded, and Scott (then a 
 a major-general) was passing along on 
 the East Kiver side of the city of New 
 York, he was attracted by loud cheers 
 and bustle on one side of the piers. He 
 approached the scene and great was his 
 delight to find that it was the cheers of 
 his old Irish friends, in whose behalf he 
 had interfered at Quebec, and who had 
 that moment landed in triumph, after a 
 a confinement of more than two years in 
 English prisons. He was quickly 
 recognized by them, hailed as their 
 deliverer, and nearly crushed by their 
 warm-hearted embraces. Twenty-one 
 were present, two having died natural 
 deaths. 
 
52. 
 
 T'be p[rm\/ Qiseiplined. 
 
 The campaign of 1813 ended in dis- 
 grace and disaster. The hopes of the 
 nation which had been excited by the 
 brilliant achievements with which it 
 opened, sank to despair, when the army, 
 after sustaining a partial defeat, made 
 an abrupt and hasty retreat. 
 
 Amidst the disasters of the campaign 
 there was one benefit. The touch-stone 
 of experience had been applied to the 
 temper of the army, and it was now 
 easy to take the pure metal from the 
 dross. It was a hard school of adver- 
 sity; but many a brave and highly gifted 
 young man was framed by its teachings 
 to become an accomplished and efficient 
 officer. On the other hand it detected 
 the emptiness and unfitness of many a 
 fop, both young and old. who had been 
 seduced into the service by the glitter of 
 uniform and the pomp of military pa- 
 rade. They were made to learn and 
 feel their incompetency to endure the 
 duties or the frowns of war. An ele- 
 gant writer has well remarked, that the 
 rude winter gales of Canada swept from 
 our ranks the painted insects, which 
 were fit only to spread their glittering 
 wings in the summer sun; but, at the 
 same time aroused and invigorated the 
 eagle-spirits, which during the calm 
 cower in solitude and silence, but, as the 
 tempest rises, come forth from obscuri- 
 ty to stem the storm and sport them- 
 selves in the gale. 
 
 The military spirit of the army was 
 lost. New levies of troops were to be 
 made and the spirit of daring, of confi- 
 dence and energy, was to be created 
 before they could take the field. 
 
53. 
 
 To accomplish these objects, Colonel 
 Scott, who, ou the 9th of March, 1814, 
 was promoted to the rank of Brisadier- 
 Geueral, immediately joined Major- 
 General Brown, then marched with the 
 army from the French Mills towards 
 the Nia;T:ara Frontier. 
 
 The army was rapidly assembled at 
 Buffalo. It consisted at that time of 
 iScott's briocade, Kipley's brigade, Hind- 
 man's battalion of artillery (all regulars,) 
 and Gen Porter's brigade of militia. 
 
 Bcott's brigade consisted of the bat- 
 talions of the 9th, the lltb and the 
 25th regiments of infantry, with a de- 
 tachment of the 22nd, and Touson's 
 company of artillery. The brigade of 
 Gen. Bipley was composed of the 1st, 
 21st and 23rd infantry. Porter's com- 
 mand was composed of bodies known as 
 Canadian Volunteers, New York Vol- 
 unteers and Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
 The signal services rendered at a 
 subsequent period, and the glory 
 which they won for their country on 
 hard-fonght battle-fields, renders it 
 proper tbat we should record and re- 
 member names so justly distinguished 
 in history. 
 
 These troops were placed in the 
 school of instruction at Buffalo, where 
 for three months they were drilled in 
 all the evolutions and tactics necessary 
 to give them the most accurate and 
 thorough discipline. Officers and men 
 were taught the proper distribution of 
 duties between each other, between the 
 different corps, and the different ser- 
 vices, from the formation of a column 
 of attack to the presentation of a salute, 
 and to the exchange of the minutest 
 courtesies. It is said that Scott, while 
 at Buff'alo observed a captain passing a 
 sentinel posted. The sentinel saluted 
 
54. 
 
 him bv carrying arms, makiu- his mus- 
 ket ring ^vith the action. The captain 
 passed without acknowledging the 
 saUite of the soldier. Gen. bcott sent 
 an aide to him to say that he (the cap- 
 tain) would take care to repass the seu- 
 tinel in 20 minutes, and repair the tault, 
 or take a trial before a court martial. 
 
 The vahie of discipline, ot obedience, 
 and of personal skill in their business, 
 thus acquired by the troops of an army 
 cannot be over-estimated For want ot 
 it the brave and gallant, but undisci- 
 plined volunteers of patriot armies have 
 been scattered and driven by veteian 
 soldiers fighting in a worse cause and 
 having far less of moral motive to sus- 
 to them. With it soldiers of despots 
 have fought with invincible fi/^^^^^^^f ; 
 ciioosino- graves where they stc^od, to 
 Hfe^nreti^eat. The armies of fuwar-w 
 would fall in the ranks, but without 
 orders never retreat. . 
 
 The troops of Cxreat Britain are well 
 disciplined; and it was m the shari)est 
 contest with them that the army ot 
 Niagara soon proved how much it had 
 gained in the camp of instruction at 
 
 ^ The apparent though not unprofitable 
 inactivity which had P«^'^,t^^^|^„.^ ^^ 
 American army of the north dm ng 
 the spring of 1814, disappeared before 
 the rising heat of the summer sun. in 
 t le atter part of June General Brown 
 returned ti ButMo, -nd thence orwar^ 
 the storm of war, with its hm^i^d 
 tramp, its load clanger, its heroic deeds 
 and its untimely deaths, ^vas heaid 
 swiftly sweeping along the shores ot the 
 Niagara. 
 
55. 
 
 Capture of fort grie, 
 
 Early in the mornmor of the 3rd of 
 July, 1814, Scott's brigade, with the 
 artillery corps of Major Hindman, 
 crossed the river and landed below Foi-t 
 Erie, while Ripley's brigade landed 
 above. Scott led the van, crossing in a 
 boat with Colonel Camp, who had vol- 
 unteered hig services, and was on the 
 shore before the enemy's piquet fired a 
 gun. The British garrison of Fort 
 Erie consisted of parts of the 8th and 
 100th regiments. It soon surrendered 
 and 170, including seven officers, were 
 taken prisoners, and sent to the Ameri- 
 can side. Preparations were immedi- 
 ately made to advance and attack the 
 army of General Riall at Chippawa. 
 
 The Battle of G^^ippawja. 
 
 On the morning of the Fourth, Scott's 
 brigade moved towards Chippawa, and 
 for 16 miles he had a running fight with 
 the Marquis of Tweedale, who com- 
 manded the British 100th regiment, 'till 
 at dusk the latter was driven across 
 Chippawa Creek, and joined the main 
 body of the British army under Gener- 
 al Riall. The Marquis has since said 
 that he could not account for the order 
 of the pursuit until he recollected the 
 fact that it was the A merican great an- 
 niversary. 
 
 The positions of the British and of 
 the Americans on the 5th of July may 
 
;6. 
 
 be easily understood. On the east side 
 was the Niagara River, and near it the 
 road to Ghippawa. On the west was a 
 heavy wood. Between these, running 
 from the woods to the river, were two 
 streams, the principal of which was 
 Ghippawa Creek. The other was a 
 small stream above, known m history 
 as Street's Creek. Behind, and below 
 Ghippawa Creek, lay the army of (gen- 
 eral Riall, with a heavy battery on one 
 side and a block house on the other 
 Scott's brigade had rested for the night 
 on and above Street's Creek Over 
 these streams the road to Ghippawa 
 passed on bridges, the one over Street s 
 iear the Americans and the other over 
 the Ghippawa near the British. inis 
 was the position of the respective par- 
 ties on the morning of the 5th when 
 General Brown was expecting to attacK 
 the British, and they in turn determin- 
 ed to anticipate it, by a sortie from the 
 lines of Ghippawa. It was a long day 
 in summer; the earth was dry and dusty, 
 and the sun bright and hot when the 
 best troops of Britain and America met 
 as in tournaments of old, to test their 
 skill, their firmness, and their courage 
 on the banks of the Niagara. 
 
 The day began with the skirmishes 
 of light troops. The British militia and 
 the Indians occupied the wood on the 
 Americans left, and about noon annoy- 
 ed the American piquets placed on the 
 flank. General Porter, with volunteers, 
 militia and some friendly Indians of the 
 Six Nations, soon engaged them, ana, 
 after some skirmishing, drove them 
 through the wood back upon Cliippawa. 
 Here the British, finding that their 
 main army under General Riall was ad- 
 vancing, rallied, and in turn attacked 
 
57. 
 
 Porter, compelling his command to 
 give way. In spite of his own efforts 
 and personal gallantry, these light 
 troops broke and tied, at sight of the 
 formidable array of Eiall. 
 
 It was now about four o'clock. Gen- 
 eral Brt)wn was then in the woods with 
 Porter; when a cloud of dust arose to- 
 ward Chippawa, and tiring was heard. 
 This ai)prised him that the British army 
 was advancing. At this very moment, 
 Gen.8cott,in ignorance of the British ad- 
 vance, \ya8 moving his brigade towards 
 the plain, simply for the purpose of 
 drill. Near the bridge over Street's 
 Creek he met General Brown, who said, 
 "the enemy is advancing. You will 
 have a light." Gen. Brown passed to 
 the rear, to put Ripley's brigade in 
 motion, and to reassemble the light 
 troops behind Street's Creek. It was 
 not till he arrived at the bridge, over 
 Street's Creek, 200 yards to the right 
 of his camp of the night before, that 
 Scott saw the enemy. The army of 
 liiall had crossed the bridge over Chip- 
 pa\\a Creek, and displayed itself on the 
 plain before described. It was compos- 
 ed of the 100th regimeut under Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Marquis of Tweedale, the 
 1st or Boyal Scots under Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Gordon, a portion of the 8th or 
 King's regiment, a detachment of the 
 Royal Artillery, a detachment of the 
 Royal 19th Light Dragoons, and a por- 
 tion of Canada militia and Indians. 
 The main body of these troops were 
 among the best in the British army. 
 
 This force was supported by a heavy 
 batterj^ of nine pieces, within point 
 blank range of the American troops. 
 Under the fire of this battery the corps 
 of Scott passed the bridge in perfect 
 
order but, with some loss. His first and 
 second battalions, under Majors Leaven- 
 worth and McNeil, after crossing form- 
 ed a line to the front, which brought 
 them opposed respectively to the left 
 and centre of the enemy. The third 
 battalion under Major Jesup obliqued 
 in column to the left, and advanced to 
 attack the right of the enemy, which 
 extended into the woods. Captain Tow- 
 son with his artillery was station ed on 
 the right, resting- in the road to Chip- 
 pawa. 
 
 Without going into further detail we 
 would simply say that the action now 
 became general. Major Jesup now in 
 the woods, and out of view, engaged 
 and held in check the enemy's right 
 wing. The plain widened on the flank, 
 and the enemy's main line continued to 
 advance. Jessup having thus held in 
 check one battalion in the woods, the 
 engagement there gave the enemy a 
 new right flank upon the plain. Gener- 
 al Scott, who had continued alternately 
 to advance and fire, was now not more 
 than 80 paces from the enemy. The 
 enemy having a new flank, Scott took 
 advantage of the enlarged interval be- 
 tween Leavenworth and McNeil, to 
 throw the left flank of McNeils's battal- 
 ian forward on its right, so that it stood 
 obliquely to the enemy's charge and 
 flanked him a little on his new right. 
 At this moment. Gen. Scott called aloud 
 to McNeil's battalion, which had not a 
 recruit in it : "The enemy says that 
 we are good at a long shot, but cannot 
 stand the cold iron, i call upon the 
 Eleventh instantly to give the lie to 
 that slander. Charge ! " This move- 
 ment was executed with decisive effect. 
 A corresponding charge was also made 
 
59. 
 
 by Leavenworth, who held an oblique 
 position on our right. These char^jjes, 
 sustained by the flank tire of Towson's 
 artillery on the right, quickly put 
 the enemy to rout. 
 
 lu the mean time, and nearly at the 
 same, Major Jesup, commanding the 
 left flank battalion, finding himself 
 pressed in front and flank, ordered his 
 men to ''support arms and advance." 
 This order was promptly obeyed amidst 
 a deadly and destructive fire. Having 
 gained a more secure position, he re- 
 turned so severe a fire as caused them 
 to retire. Thus was the whole British 
 line fairly routed in a field action on an 
 open plain. They fled to their intrench- 
 ments beyond Chippawa Creek, hotly 
 pursued by iScott to the distance of half 
 musket shot of Chippawa Bridge. He 
 took many prisoners, leaving the plain 
 behind strewn with the dead and 
 wounded of both nations. 
 
 The contending forces on the British 
 side, according to the British Adjutant- 
 General's report, dated the 13tb of July, 
 181-i, in giving a return of the kiiledi 
 and wounded, enumerates the 1st regi- 
 ment, (Royal Scots) the 8th, (Queen's) 
 the 100th, (Marquis of Twedale'sj a de- 
 tachment of Royal 19th, (dragoons) a 
 detachment of artillery and a portion 
 of Canada Militia. These regiments 
 were not full, but altogether numbered 
 about 2,100 men. Of which 138 were 
 killed, 319 wounded and 46 missing; 
 total loss 503. 
 
 The American troops were the 8th, 
 11th and 25th infantry, with a detach- 
 ment of the 22nd, Towson's artillery 
 and Porter's Volunteers, making 
 1900 men, all told, of which 60 were 
 killed, 248 wounded and 19 missing, 
 
60. 
 
 making a total loss of 327, making- a 
 grand total loss of 830 from about 4,000 
 men. 
 
 A Britisli officer who wrote at the 
 time said/*Niimerous as were the battles 
 of Napoleon, and brave as were his 
 soldiers, I do not believe that he, the 
 greatest warrior that ever lived, can 
 produce an instance of a contest so well 
 maintained, or, in proportion to num- 
 bers engaged, so bloody, as that at 
 Chippawa." 
 
 The battle was fought on the 5th day 
 of July, 1814, on Chippawa Plains, and 
 was an exciting and in some degree a 
 poetic scene. It was fought at the 
 close of a long, bright, summer day. 
 On one side rolled the waters of the 
 deep blue Niagara, on the other was 
 seen the verdure of the northern forest. 
 The plain on which the hostile forces met 
 was level and smooth, as if prepared for 
 the meeting of the warriors of ancient 
 knighthood. The best troops of England 
 wheeled into it over Chippawa Bridge 
 and the regiments of America, cool and 
 determined, marched to meet them in 
 combat. The sun shone down, and 
 brilliant arms Hashed in its beams. 
 Each movement of the troops was dis- 
 tinct. As the battle deepened, fine 
 bands of music mingled their mek)dy, in 
 sudden bursts, with the roar of artillery 
 and the moans of the wounded. 
 
 The battle ended and many were the 
 dead on that dusty plain, whose last 
 groans expired with the last rays of the 
 sun. Darkness came on, and wearied 
 with battle and thirsty from heat, each 
 army retired to its camp, the Americans 
 being victorious. The dead woke not 
 from their bloody beds, the living sank 
 to rest. 
 
61. 
 
 [Rattle of [^undj/*s [^ane. 
 
 After the campaign of 1813, Fort Mes- 
 sasang-ua was erected near the mouth of 
 Niagara river and added to the defences 
 of Fort George. These forts General 
 Eiall. the British commander, reinforc- 
 ed and then retired to Burlington 
 Heights, near the head of Lake Ontario, 
 soon after the battle of Chippawa. 
 
 On the 10th of July, 1814, the Ameri- 
 can camp was removed to Queenston, 
 with the view of capturing these 
 defences before commencing any inter- 
 ior operations. To accomplish this ob- 
 ject General Brown sent to Sackett's 
 Harbor for heavy cannon, which were 
 to have been transported by the Ameri- 
 can vessels to the place of action, but as 
 Commodore Chauncey lay sick at the 
 time, and the enemy had a momentary 
 superiority on the lake, the intentions 
 of the commander in regard to the ports 
 at the mouth of the Niagara were dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 Gen. Brown theh determined to attack 
 Burlington Heights; but to induce the 
 enemy to descend, and at the same time 
 draw a small supply of provisions from 
 Schlosser, he masked his intentions by 
 feigning a retreat up the Niagara, 
 recrossed Chippawa Creek and en- 
 camped. 
 
 Had this movement failed to with- 
 draw the British troops from the 
 Heights, it was intended to use the 25th 
 as a day of rest and on the 26th to send 
 General Scott forward by the road from 
 Queenston, and force Eiall to action, no 
 matter how strongly he might be posted. 
 But events determined otherwise, and 
 
G2. 
 
 what was intended to be a daj' of rest, 
 was one of the most active and bloody 
 days of the campaign. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 25th, amidst 
 general relaxation, General Brown 
 received a note from a colonel of militia 
 whose regiment occnpied two or three 
 posts on the American side of the 
 Niagara, stating in the most precise 
 terms, that the enemy had thrown 
 a thousand men across from Queenston to 
 Lewiston for some reason not exactly 
 understood. But General Brown con- 
 jectured that it was the enemy's inten- 
 tion to capture our magazines, and to 
 intercept supplies coming from Buffalo. 
 In order to recall him from this object. 
 Brown immediately determined to 
 threaten the forts at the mouth of the 
 Niagara. 
 
 In less than 20 minutes Scott's com- 
 mand was put in motion for that pur- 
 pose. His force consisted of four small 
 battalions, under Col. Brady, and 
 Majors Jesup, Leavenworth and McNeil, 
 Captain Towson's artillery, and Captain 
 Harris's detachment of regular and 
 volunteer cavalry; in all amounting to 
 1,300 men. So hurriedly did they start 
 that there was not time to call in the 
 guards belonging to these jorps. 
 
 About two miles from the camp and 
 just above the Falls, Scott discovered a 
 few British officers, mouted, who as it 
 turned out, were in advance to recon- 
 noitre, and soon learned that the enemy 
 was in some little force below and only 
 intercepted from view by a small 
 wood' 
 
 In this situation. General Scott reiiec- 
 ted a moment on what course would be 
 best to pursue. He was instructed to 
 march rapidly on the forts, under posi- 
 
63. 
 
 tive information (given as we have nar- 
 rated to General Brown,) that Riall had, 
 three hours before, thrown half his force 
 across the Niagara at Lewiston. Re- 
 flecting that the whole had been beaten 
 on the 5th inst.,he lost no time in recon- 
 noitreing, but dashed forward to dis- 
 perse what he thought was the remnant 
 of the British army opposed to him. 
 
 After dispatching Assistant Adjutant- 
 General Jones to General Brown with 
 the information that the enemy was in 
 front, he proceeded to pass the wood, 
 and was greatly astonished to find 
 directly in front, drawn up in order of 
 battle, on Lundy's Lane with nine pieces 
 of artillery, a larger fc»rce than he 
 had encountered at Chippawa 20 days 
 before. The position he was in was ex- 
 tremely critical. To stand fast wa» out 
 of the question, being already under a 
 heavy fire of the enemies artillery and 
 musketry. To retreat was equally as 
 hazardous: for there is always in such a 
 case the probability of confusion, and 
 at this time the danger of creating a 
 panic in the reserve, then supposed to 
 be coming up, and which had not been 
 in the previous battle. 
 
 Scott saw that no measure but one of 
 boldness would succeed. He therefore 
 determined to maintain the battle 
 against superior numbers and positions 
 until the reserve came up, thus giving 
 General Riall the idea that the whole 
 American army was at hand. This 
 would prevent him from profiting by 
 his numerical strength to attack our 
 flanks and rear. He would thus lose 
 the initial, a matter of no small impor- 
 tance* in military enterprise. The 
 scheme succeeded, and for a long time 
 the enemy was kept on the defensive. 
 
64. 
 
 till the American reserve came up and 
 entered into the action. 
 
 It appears from General Drummond's 
 report on July 26th, that he thought his 
 position in Lundy's Lane was attacked 
 by the whole American army. He 
 thanks the army for "repulsing the 
 efforts of a numerous and determined 
 enemy to carry the position of Lundy's 
 Lane." Bat tlie truth was that the 
 American combatants stood for more 
 than an hour and maintained a contest 
 against a force seven times their num- 
 ber. 
 
 In the meanwhile ' Scott had sent back 
 to General Brown, Lieutenant Doug- 
 lass, as well as Major Jones, to report 
 the condition of atiairs. The first was 
 to report that the remnant of Riall's 
 army was raaneouveriug to protect the 
 detachment thrown over the Niagara; 
 the second was to inform the general 
 that so far from being diminished, the 
 British army was actually reinforced, 
 and thus to hasten up the reserve. 
 
 On the British side the facts were 
 these: In the night before, the night of 
 the 24th, Lieutenant-General Sir Gor- 
 don Drummoud had arrived, in the 
 British fleet, at the mouth of the Niag- 
 ara, with a large reinforcement from 
 Kingston and Prescott. This was 
 wholly unknown to General Brown. 
 Drummoud had, in advance, sent instruc- 
 tions to Riall to meet him on the 25th, 
 on the Niagara. Accordingly Riall had 
 marched up the very road it had been 
 arranged Scott was to take on the 26th. 
 He had come b3^ Queenston without 
 putting a man over the Niagara. He 
 had continued his route, as the advance 
 of Drummond's army towards the 
 Falls. On the way he had already been 
 
G5. 
 
 joined by two of the battalions which 
 had come up in the fleet. The others 
 arrived successively, at intervals ot halt 
 an hour or an hour, after the action 
 had commenced. . 
 
 The battle began about 40 minutes be- 
 fore sunset and like its predecessor at 
 Ohippawa was the closing drama ot a 
 long and warm summer's day. AncUike 
 that, too, it signalized among the attairs 
 of men a spot which in the world ot 
 nature had been rendered illustrious 
 by one of the great and glorious works 
 
 of God. , . X u • 
 
 When the battle was about to begin 
 just as the setting sun sent his red 
 beams from the west, they fell upon 
 the spray, which continually goes up, 
 like incense, from the deep, dashing 
 torrent of Niagara. The bright light 
 was divided into its primal hues, and a 
 rainbow rose from the waters, encircling 
 the head of the advancing column. In 
 a more superstitious age such a sign 
 would have been regarded, like the 
 Eoman auguries, as a precursor of vic- 
 tory. Even now this bow of promise 
 furnished the inspiration of hope, with 
 the colors of beauty. 
 
 The sun had now gone down, and 
 darkness came on, but no reinforce- 
 ments had yet appeared. But the gal- 
 lant band maintained the battle, 
 although an officer reminded the gener- 
 al that the rule for retiring was accom- 
 plished since more than one-fourth of 
 his number was killed or wounded, 
 among whom were many of his officers. 
 The brave Col. Brady had been the first 
 to form his regiment, and on that the 
 loss fell the heaviest. Himself twice 
 wounded, he was entreated, by those 
 who observed him pale from the loss of 
 
blood, to quit the field. "Not while I 
 can stand," was the reply, worthy of 
 Lieonidas. 
 
 It was now nine o'clock. The ene- 
 my's right had been driven back from 
 its flank assault with great loss. His 
 left was turned and cut off. His center 
 alone remained firm. It was posted on 
 a ridge and supported by nine pieces of 
 artillery. 
 
 Another battalion of Uriimmond's 
 reinforcements had already arrived, and 
 a fourth one was only a few miles be- 
 hind. fSuch was the state of the field 
 when the reinforcements appeared. 
 Gen. Ripley, by whom it was command- 
 ed, had been ordered to form his bri- 
 gade, on the skirt of a wood to the right 
 of Gen. Scott. But, finding that this 
 position was not favorable, he took the 
 responsibility of first moving nearer to 
 the British. For this purpose he was 
 about to pass the brigade of Scott, bub 
 coming between him and the enemy, he 
 found that he was suffering severely 
 from their cannon. Ripley then con- 
 ceived the bold thought of storming the 
 formidable battery. "Col. Miller," 
 said he, "can^'^ou take yonder battery ?" 
 " I will try," was the answer of that heart 
 of oak— a phrase now familiar to all 
 American lips. At the head of the 
 21st regiment, he calmly took his 
 course, guided by Gen. Scott, who was 
 perfectly acquainted with the ground, 
 till he had the right direction, marched 
 up to the mouth of the blazing cannon, 
 around which the enemy had rallied, 
 bayonetted the men while firing and 
 possessed himself of their guns. Ripley 
 had moved at the same time, at the 
 head of the 23rd regiment, to the attack 
 of the infantry, and drove them down 
 
G7. 
 
 the eminence, which was the key of 
 of their position. 
 
 Here Ripley formed his brigude. 
 Gen. Porter, with his vohmteers, was 
 on the right and the artillery of Towson 
 in the center. The enemy rallied in 
 their might and advanced to regain 
 their position and artillery. The Amer- 
 icans perceived that the enemy was 
 coming on, but could not distinctly 
 ascertain from what point. The moon 
 had risen, but dark clouds were in the 
 heavens, and the light was fitful. 
 Sounds came indistinctly mingled from 
 every quarter. The roar of the catar- 
 act, the shrieks and groans of tlie ds^ing 
 and wounded, the discharge of artillery, 
 were all heard, as well as the rush of 
 the enemy's attack. In this situation 
 Kipley gave his troops the order to wait 
 til the enemy's bayonets touched their 
 own, and to take aim by the light from 
 the discharge of their muskets. The 
 aim of the Americans was good and 
 numbers of their brave enemy fell. 
 They closed up their ranks and came on 
 with the bayonet. The Americans 
 stood the charge and sturdily pushed 
 back the thrust. For 20 minutes this 
 deadly strife continued when the veter- 
 ans of the Duke of Wellington retreated 
 in disorder. But they renewed the at- 
 tack until they were four times 
 repulsed. At length, about midnight, 
 they ceased to contend, and left their 
 position and artillery to the Americans. 
 Although the brunt of the battle was 
 on the eminence, other efforts were 
 being made in different parts of the 
 field. The brigade of Scott, shattered 
 as it was, having formed anew, was not 
 content to look idly on, while their 
 bretheru, who had stepped between 
 
G8. 
 
 them and death, were now bleeding in 
 their turn. Gen. 8cott charged at 
 their head, through an opening in Rip- 
 ley's line, but in the contusion and 
 darkness of the scene, he passed be- 
 tween the fires of the combatants. Ht; 
 afterwards in the light took his post 
 on Ripley's left. In another quarter. 
 Col. Jessup, with only 200 men, advanced 
 upon the enemy, br(jught them to close 
 action, drove them from the 
 ground and captured Gen. Riall with 
 other officers and soldiers to a number 
 almost equal to his own. 
 
 Major Ketchum, of the 25th regiment 
 of iufantr3^ was the officer who person- 
 all}'^ made Gen. Riall a prisoner. The 
 British general was brought to Scott 
 by Major Ketchum, and directions were 
 given that the distinguished prisoner be 
 taken to the rear, and treated with the 
 greatest possible kindness. Riall, badly 
 wounded, lay some days in the same 
 house in Williamsville, with Scott, 
 yet more severely crippled. 
 
 The latter as a special favor, obtained 
 permission from our government, for 
 Riall to return to England on parole, 
 and the same permission for Riall's 
 friend, Major Wilson, also badly 
 wounded, captured at Chippawa. Such 
 favors were, however, at that time only, 
 granted by the American government; 
 Sir George Prevost and the British 
 ministry never consented to place on 
 parole or to exchange a pristmer after 
 the Americans confined the 23 hostages 
 in 1813. 
 
 In this sanguinary contest the total 
 loss of the British was 878. Generals 
 Drummond and Riall were among the 
 wounded. The American loss in killed, 
 wounded and missing was 860. Of 
 
60. 
 
 these 11 officers were killed, among 
 whom were Major McFarland and 
 Captain llitchie. 1^'ifty-six officers were 
 wounded, amonjjj whom were Generals 
 Brown and Scott; it was not, however, 
 until towards the close of the action that 
 the two officers highest in command 
 were disabled. Gen. Brown, on receiv- 
 ing his wound, gave notice to Gen. Rip- 
 ley that he was left in command, but or- 
 dered him to collect the wounded, re- 
 move the artillery and retire to the 
 camp at Chippawa. 
 
 General Brown in his official report 
 said. " While retiring from the field, I 
 saw and felt that the victory was com- 
 plete on our part, if proper measures 
 were promptly adopted to secure it. 
 The exhaustion of the men was, however, 
 such as made some refreshments 
 necessary. They particularly required 
 water." 
 
 Unfortunately the Americans lost the 
 trophies of their hard-earned victory 
 as no means of removing the captured 
 artillery were at hand, and General 
 Ripley was obliged to leave it on the 
 field of battle. The British on learning 
 that the Americans had abandoned the 
 field, re-occupied it immediately, and 
 taking advantage of this circumstance, 
 their officers in their dispatches to their 
 government boastfully claimed the vic- 
 tory. 
 
 The world has seen mightier armies 
 moved oyer more memorable fields and 
 followed by louder reports of the far 
 resounding trumpet of fame; a bloodier 
 scene for those engaged, a severer test 
 of courage and of discipline, or one 
 whose action was more closely associated 
 with the sublime and beautiful in nature 
 the world has not seen. The armies 
 
70. 
 
 were drawn out near the shores of that 
 rapid river wliose current mingles lake 
 with lake, and hard by was that cata- 
 ract whose world of Avaters rushes over 
 the precipice, and, rushing, roars into 
 the gulf below. The ceaseless si)ray 
 rises like incense to the Eternal Father. 
 The beams of sun, moon and stars fall 
 ceasely on that spray and are sent back 
 in many colored hues to the source of 
 light. So it was when wheeling into the 
 field of battle the slant rays of the set- 
 ting sun returning from the spray en- 
 circled the advancing column with rain- 
 bow colors. The sun went down, to 
 many an eye, to raise no more on 
 earth. 
 
 With the darkness came the greater 
 rage of battle— charge after charge was 
 made. For a time the faint beams of 
 the moon struggled with the smoke and 
 gave a little light to the combatants: but 
 it was but little. The moon itself be- 
 came obscured, and "no light save the 
 rapid Hashes of muHket and cannon 
 pierced the heav3^ clouds. 
 
 The tight raged in the darkness of the 
 night. From the height on the ridge 
 the batter3^ of the enemy still poured its 
 deadly tire. 
 
 It was then that the gallant Miller 
 said: " I will try." It was then that 
 Wcott piloted his column through the 
 darkness to Lundy's Lane. It was then 
 that the brave regiment charged to the 
 cannon's mouth. The battery was tak- 
 en and victory rests with the American 
 army. 
 
 It was midnight. The battle is ended. 
 The army faint and weary drags itself 
 from the field. The well sink to their 
 couch to dream of homes far away. 
 The wounded groan in their painful 
 
71. 
 
 hospital. The dead rest until the 
 last trumpet shall summon them to the 
 last array. The warrior with his gar- 
 ments rolled in blood has left the scene 
 of strugo-les. pain and death. Some 
 kind friend may have sought him wheth- 
 er dead or alive; but the war-drum has 
 ceased to beat; the artillery ceased to 
 roll; and now the solemn, sonorous fall 
 of Niagara is to the dead their requiem, 
 and to the living their song of glory. 
 
 Drummond at ft. Grie, 
 
 Gen. Brown had been taken wounded 
 from the field of Lundy's Lane. To- 
 wards the close of the battle, Scott, also 
 twice wounded, was borne out of the 
 action. 
 
 General Brown did not, however, at 
 once resign the command. He direct- 
 ed Gen. Ripley to return to camp, after 
 bringing off the dead, the wounded and 
 the artillery. But unfortunately, for 
 the want of horses, harness and drao-- 
 ropes, the captured artillery of the 
 enemy was left behind -a circumstance 
 much regretted. 
 
 The American army, now reduced to 
 1,000 men, fell back to Chippawa, and 
 there converted the works thrown up 
 by the enemy into defenses against 
 him. On the report that Gen. Drum- 
 mond, at the head of 5,000 British, was 
 fast approaching, the American camp 
 was hastily broken up, its position aban- 
 doned, and a retreat made to Fort 
 Erie, where they strongly intrenched 
 
72. 
 
 themselves by makmg such defences as 
 was in their power. On the 5th ot 
 August, by order of Gen. Brown, Briga- 
 dier-General Gaines f^'iyed from 
 Sackett's Harbor and took the com- 
 
 "^On'the 3rd of August, General 
 Drummond appeared in the neigbor- 
 hood of Fort Erie, and finding it impossi- 
 ble to carry it by storm, was compelled to 
 commence a regular siege bo between 
 the 3rd and 12th of August, Drummond 
 employed himself in endeavorin- to cut 
 oft the American's provisions, and in tlie 
 preparatory measures ot opening 
 trenches and establishing batteries. On 
 the morning of the 13th lie commenced 
 a cannonade and bombardment, ihis 
 was continued through the day, renew- 
 ed on the morning of the Uth and con- 
 tinued until seven o'clock m the evening, 
 bnt without any serious injury to tue 
 American ranks. On that day General 
 Gaines doubled his guards and Pyepai- 
 ed for an assault. At two o'clock m the 
 morning of the 15th a heavy Bntish 
 colamn was found approaching Tow- 
 son's battery, stationed at the northwest 
 an-le of the works, where it was received 
 by^the cannon of Towson and the mus- 
 ketry under the gallant Major Wood, 
 and was effectually repulsed. 
 
 A second attack was also repulsed, 
 when the British column changed its 
 direction and attacked the western 
 angle, with just as little success. 
 
 In the mean time tbe center column 
 under Colonel Drummond, alter a san- 
 crainary conflict, succeeded in scaling 
 the walls and taking possession of the 
 exterior bastions ot the ol^^ ^^J^; 
 While this savage man was denying 
 mercy to the conquered Americans, a 
 
73. 
 
 quantity of cartridges in a small stone 
 buildinor within the bastion, exploded 
 scattering death and confiisioH around 
 and expelling the British from the fort. 
 They suffered severely, having left be- 
 hind a large number of killed, wounded 
 and prisoners. According to the Brit- 
 ish official report their loss on this day 
 was 57 killed, of whom were Colonels 
 Scott audDrummond, 313 wounded and 
 539 missing. The total loss of the 
 Americans was but 84. 
 
 In fine, the British were most gallant- 
 ly and effectually defeated in their at- 
 tempt to storm Fort Erie. 
 
 After this repulse, both armies re- 
 mained in a state of inactivity for some 
 time. General Gaines having been 
 wounded by the bursting of a shell, the 
 command again devolved on General 
 Eipley. 
 
 Sortie ^rom yt. grie, 
 
 On the 2nd of September, General 
 Brown, though not yet fully recovered 
 from the wounds received at Lundy's 
 Lane, resumed the command of his di- 
 vision. After a full examination of the 
 topographical position of Drummond's 
 lines, he thought that a bold and vigor- 
 ous sortie would be more than mere 
 defence in relieving the American army 
 from the siege of the enemy. Accord- 
 ingly, on the morning of the 17th of 
 September General Brown, paraded his 
 troops, to the number of about 2,000, in 
 nearly equal proportion of regulars 
 and militia, for a sortie on the enemy's 
 
74. 
 
 works. The army of Sir Gordon 
 Drummond had then infested lort 
 Erie for 45 days. During that time 
 they had erected regiUar lines and bat- 
 teries. They had bombarded the 
 American defences and made an unsnc- 
 cessful attack upon them. At this tmie 
 they had erected two batteries and were 
 about two open a third. Their forces 
 were divided into three brigads, each 
 of which in turn guarded the batteries, 
 while the other two were encamped 
 about two miles distant, out of reach of 
 the American cannon, but near enough 
 to support the troops at the batteries. 
 
 In this position of aftairs Creneral 
 Brown determined to storm the bat- 
 teries, destroy the cannon and defeat 
 the brigade. So at 2.30 p. m. of the 
 17tb of August General Porter lett the 
 camp at the head of a detachment to 
 penetrate a passage through the woods. 
 Being perfectly acquainted with the 
 ground, he with his men, trod silently 
 and circuitously along, when, arrivmg 
 at their destined point, they rushed upon 
 the enemy and so successful was the en- 
 terprise that in 30 minutes batteries 
 No. 2 and 3 were in the posses- 
 sion of the Americans with two block 
 houses. Soon after battery No. 1 was 
 abandoned and the magazine of No. 
 3 blown up. The cannon were spiked 
 or dismantled and the garrison taken 
 prisoners, but the brave Colonels Gib- 
 son and Wood had fallen at the head ot 
 their columns. _ . . , , i.i i. -^ 
 
 So great was the British loss that it 
 became apparent that the siege of Fort 
 Erie could not be protracted with any 
 hope of success. 
 
 • Accordingly, Lieut. -General Drum- 
 mond broke up his camp during the 
 
75. 
 
 night of the 21st of September and re- 
 turned to his intrenchments behind 
 Chippawa Creek. 
 
 Soon after this, the arrival of General 
 Izard placed the Americans on a footing • 
 which once more enabled them to com- 
 mence offensive operations; and leaving 
 Fort Erie in command of Colonel Hind- 
 man, General Brown again advanced 
 towards Chippawa. Near this place 
 an affair occured on the 20th of October 
 in which Colonel Bissell, with a detach- 
 ment of 1,000 men, gained an advantage 
 over a detachment of 1,200, under the 
 Marquis of Tweedale. 
 
 On the 10th of November the Ameri- 
 ican army abandoned and destroyed 
 Fort Erie, crossed the river and retired 
 into winter quarters at Bufifalo,when the 
 war on the IS iagara Frontier was in fact 
 ended. 
 
 Resume. 
 
 During the year 1814 there had been a 
 succession of brilliant military actions, 
 and much courage, skill and energy 
 exhibited. Taken all in all, no cam- 
 paign in American history has displayed 
 more of the qualities of mind and body, 
 art and science, which are more to the 
 character of a true soldier or the success 
 of an army in action. In a little less 
 than three mouths the army of Riall 
 and Drummond, twice renewed and re- 
 inforced by troops from Europe, had 
 been defeated in four pitched battles. 
 
 In the descriptions we have given of 
 the several, the numbers engaged on 
 either side are stated in each one, as 
 
76. 
 
 near as the materials preserved by his- 
 tory will allow ns to estimate. 
 
 The following table v/ill show the 
 total loss in killed, wounded and prison- 
 ers taken by each army in the differ- 
 ent battles : 
 
 Americau British 
 Loss. Loss. 
 Battle of Chippawa, fought 
 
 July 5th, 1814 338 507 
 
 Battle of Lnndy's Lane, 
 
 fovif4ht July 25th, 1814 860 878 
 
 Assault on Fort Erie, Au- 
 
 g-ust 15th, 1814 84 815 
 
 Sortie from Fort Erie, 
 
 September 17th, 1814 511 900 
 
 1783 3100 
 
 If the total number of troops engaged 
 in the several battles on both sides was 
 about 12,000, it follows that nearly one 
 half were among the killed, wounded 
 and prisoners, which is a loss exceeding, 
 in proportion, that of the most bloody 
 battles of Napoleon. 
 
 I^urning of the G^iroline. 
 
 Although England had governed the 
 Canadas with great moderation, yet in 
 1837 by the instigation of W. L. Mc- 
 Kenzie, a party arose, who claiming 
 independence, passed from secession to 
 armed revolt. And when the flame 
 of insurrection was kindled in Canada, 
 it was not arrested by a mere line of 
 jurisdiction; but it reached and agitated 
 the frontier inhabitants of the United 
 States, along the border from the 
 hills of Vermont to the Huron of the 
 northwest. On the frontier, the citizens 
 
77, 
 
 enrolled themselves as Canadian patriots 
 or sympathizers until many of the 
 inhabitants capable of bearing arms 
 were proftessed fri-ends and abettors of 
 the Canadian movemeut. Thousands 
 .met in lodges along the border, oaths 
 ot secrecy were administered, principles 
 appointed, general and staff officers 
 chosen, an<i, at least for Upi>er Canada, 
 a provisional government formed. The 
 President of the Unittxi States issued 
 his proclamation ^njoiniug all good citi- 
 zens to observe the strictest neutrality 
 towards the British provinces, but it 
 had little effect. 
 
 The arms in the hands of the citizens 
 and even those in the State arsenals 
 within reach of the borders, were soon 
 seized or purloined, thus affording 
 equipments to the Canadian patriots. 
 A Mr. Van Eenssellear, with some 700 
 followers crossed from Schlosser, two 
 miles above Niagara Falls, and took 
 possession of Navy Island on the Brit- 
 ash side of Niagara River. 
 
 This idle invasion, though unimpor- 
 tant to the Canadas, was not without its 
 -consequences in history. It was follow- 
 •ed by a very serious incident, which ex- 
 cited deep feeling in the United States, 
 and was the subject of much diplomatic 
 correspondence. 
 
 A small steamer called the Caroline, 
 which was built at Charleston, S. C, in 
 1822, and had a c^H^acity of 45 tons, was 
 brought to New York, thence by river 
 and canal to Lake Ontario, where she 
 was employed for some time as a ferry 
 boat. She was then taken through the 
 Welland Canal to Lake Erie, and em- 
 ployed upon the Detroit River. In the 
 summer of 1837 she was seized 
 for smuggling, taken to Buffalo and 
 
78. 
 
 sold. It was then that she was engaged 
 by Van Rensselear to act as a ferry-boat 
 between Schlosser and Navy Island. 
 But the very night the Caroline com- 
 menced her voyages between these two 
 points, one hundred and fifty armed 
 men from the Canada side, in live boats 
 with muffled oars, proceeded to Bchlos-- 
 ser, cut the Caroline loose from her 
 moorings, and setting her on fire let 
 her drift over the falls. 8he happened 
 to be full of idle people, including 
 boys, not connected with Van Rensse- 
 lear, but who had been attracted to the 
 frontier by the ramor of war, and who 
 had simply begged a night's lodging. 
 One man named Durfee was killed and 
 several others wounded. When this 
 occurred a flame of excitement went up 
 throughout the interior of the United 
 States. The sentiment of patriotism 
 and the feeling of revenge were 
 frequently mingled together, and the 
 peace of this country, and perhaps of all 
 other civilized nations, was threatened 
 by this act of outrage committed on the 
 Caroline. 
 
 At that time the question was asked: 
 "Why did the English pass Navy Island 
 in Canada where the patriots had 
 hoisted their flags and waited for them, 
 and attack an unarmed boat in New 
 York State ? " At the anniversary dinner 
 in Toronto, in honor of the "heroes" 
 who defeated the Yankees, the Hon. 
 John Emsley, a member of the Head 
 Government was present and said: 
 "After a desperate engagement of some 
 minutes she was fired and rode the 
 waves a blazing beacon of infamy, until 
 she sank into the abyss below. (Loud 
 cheers.) Gentlemen I glOry in having 
 been one of those that destroyed this 
 
 J 
 
79. 
 
 boat." The Montreal Herald of 
 December 29, 1838, said: "Col. Holmers 
 and the officers of his brigade held their 
 first regimental mess dinner at Orr's 
 Hotel. The room was decorated with 
 transparencies of Her Majesty, the 
 Duke of Wellington, Brittania, the 
 steamer Caroline in flames going over 
 the Falls of Niagara, and a globe with 
 the motto: 'The British Empire, on 
 which the sun never sets.' Sir Allan 
 McNab was toasted and many a joke 
 was cracked at the expense of the un- 
 fortunate Americans on board the 
 Caroline." 
 
 The Caroline was destroyed Decem- 
 ber 29th, 1837, and the news reached 
 Washington January 4th. A Cabinet 
 meeting was called and General Scott 
 was told that blood had been spilled 
 •and he must hasten to the frontier. 
 Full power was give him to call for mil- 
 itia, to put himself in communication 
 with the United States district 
 attorneys, marshalls and collectors in 
 order, through them, to enforce the act 
 of neutrality, the good faith pledged to 
 Great Britain by treaty, and to defend 
 our own territory, if necessary against 
 invasion, or to maintain peace through- 
 out the borders. 
 
 In 1812 Scott appeared upon the same 
 theatre as the leader of battalions and 
 the victor of battles. But now, rhetoric 
 and diplomacy were to be his principal 
 weapons, his countrymen and friends 
 his object of conquest, and a little cor- 
 respondence with the British authorities 
 beyond the line, as an episode to the 
 whole. 
 
 In order to shorten this narrative we 
 will not stop to give a history of the 
 wild rumors that were afloat at that 
 
80. 
 
 time, agitating the minds of the people 
 and keeping them in a constant state of 
 excitement, causing them to get up in 
 the dead hours of the night to flee from 
 some imaginary foe. 
 
 Not many days after the burning of 
 the Oarohne, another steamer, the 
 Barcek)na, was cut out the ice in Buf- 
 falo harbor, and taken down the Niagara 
 river to be oliered to the patriots, who 
 were still on Navy Island. Scott wished 
 to compel them to discontinue their 
 criminal enterprise. He also desired to 
 have them, on returning within our 
 jurisdiction, arrested by the marshall, 
 who was always with him. For this 
 purpose, he sent an agent to hire the 
 Barcelona for the service of the United 
 States, before the patriots could get 
 means to pay for her, or find sureties to 
 idemify her owners in case of her cap- 
 ture or destruction by the British. He 
 succeeded in all these objects. The 
 Barcelona was taken back to Bufifalo, 
 and as she slowly ascended against the 
 current on the American side of Grand 
 Island, three armed British schooners, 
 besides batteries on land were in posi- 
 tion, as the day before, to sink her as 
 she came out from behind the island. 
 On the 16th of January, Scott and Gov. 
 Marcy stood on the American shore 
 opposite that point, watching events. 
 Tiie smoke of the approaching boat 
 could be seen in the distance, and the 
 purpose of the British was perfectly 
 evident in all their movements. The 
 batteries on our side were promptly 
 put into position. The matches were 
 lighted. All was ready to return 
 the lire of the British. There 
 was a crisis. 
 
81. 
 
 The day before this, when it was sup- 
 posed the Navy Island people were 
 coming lip the same channel in other 
 craft, and before it was known that the 
 Barcelona had accepted his offered 
 engagement, IScott wrote on his knee 
 and dispatched by an aide-de-camp the 
 lollowmg note: 
 
 Headquarters Eastern Division ^ 
 U. S. Army. ( 
 
 (two miles below Black Kock) [ 
 January 15th, 1838. J 
 To the Commander of the Armed Brit- 
 ish Vessels in the Niagara: 
 Sir— 
 
 ^y^vT^ ^i« Excellency the Gov- 
 ernor ot New York, who has troops at 
 hand, we are here to enforce neutrality 
 ot the United States, and to protect our 
 soil and waters from violation. The 
 proper civil authorities are also present 
 to arrest, It practicable, the leaders of 
 clTnadr '^'''' «n foot against Upper 
 
 Under these circumstances it gives me 
 pain to i)erceive the armed vessels men- 
 tioned anchored in our waters, with 
 probable intention to fire upon that 
 waiters moving in the same 
 
 Unless the expedition should first 
 attack-in which case we shall interfere 
 —we shall be obliged to consider a dis- 
 charge ot shot or shell from or into our 
 waters, from the armed schooners of 
 her Ma.iesty, as an act seriously com- 
 promising the neutrality of the two 
 nations. I hope, therefore, that no 
 such unpleasant incident may occur 
 
 1 have the honor to remain &c., 
 
 WiNDFiELD Scott. 
 
82. 
 
 The same intimatiou was repeated 
 aud explained the next morning, Janu- 
 ary IGth, to a cai)tain of the Britiali 
 army, who had occasion to wait npon 
 Scott on other business, aud who im- 
 mediately returned. It was just then 
 that the Barcelona moved np the cur- 
 rent of the Niagara. The cannon on 
 either side were pointed, the matches 
 lii^hted and thousands stood in suspense. 
 On Scott's note and his personal assur- 
 ance, alone depended the question of 
 peace or war. Hai)pily these assur- 
 ances had their just ell'ect. The Barce- 
 lona passed alon<^-. The British did not 
 lire. The matches were extinguished; 
 the two nations, guided bj' wise ct)un- 
 sel resumed their usual way, and war's 
 wild alarms were hushed into the whis- 
 pers of peace. 
 
 The patriots evacuated Navy Island 
 on the 15th inst., aud as soon as they 
 landed. Van Rensselaer and his associ- 
 ates were arrested, as Scott said they 
 should be, in his note written a few 
 hours previous to the arrests. A Mr. 
 McLeod was also arrested and tried by 
 a United States court, for the murder of 
 Durfee, but was acquitted. 
 
 As small a place as this incident may 
 occupy in history, it was a critical 
 moment in the affairs of nations. Had 
 one British gun been fired, and much 
 more had the Barcelona been destroyed 
 no authority nor influence would have 
 restrained our excited population from 
 taking up arms, aud an unpremeditated 
 war would have been the result. It 
 would have been a war from an 
 incident, and not from a national con- 
 troversy. 
 
83. 
 
 In April, 1838, at the annual dinner of 
 the St. George's Society in Canada the 
 fla.i? of the Caroline hung as a trophy 
 behind the president's chair, and the 
 officers present were applauding. Capt. 
 Marryast, the novelist, rose and pro- 
 posed as a voluntary toast, "Captain 
 Drew and his brave companions who 
 cut out the Caroline." It was received 
 with great applause. On May 20, 1838, 
 the steamboat Sir Robert Peel was 
 burnt at French creek as some retalia- 
 tion of the Caroline massacre. No lives 
 were taken or even threatened. This 
 was just seven days after Mr. Steven- 
 son, American minister in London, 
 had demanded satisfaction for the Caro- 
 line. To show how the act which 
 Americans looked upon as nothing but 
 a base butchery, was received on the 
 other side, it may be said that Capt. 
 Drew was raised to the rank of captain 
 of the royal navy and commanded on 
 Lake Erie. McNab was knighted and 
 received royal thanks, and Sir John 
 Colborne was created Lord Seaton. 
 
 The Lewiston Telegraph of Friday, 
 April 19, 1839, printed the following: 
 "John Mosier, late a captain on Lake 
 Ontario, and one of the murderers of 
 Durfee, has presented a petition to the 
 Upper Canadian Parliament praying 
 that land be granted the boarders of 
 ihe Caroline for a renumeration." Can- 
 ada, perhaps, is the only country where 
 murderers are recompensed. 
 
84. 
 
 ^be permit of [7i^S^^^« 
 
 In the afternoon of the 18th of June, 
 1823. a tall, well built and handsome 
 young man, dressed in a long loose 
 gown or cloak of a chocolate color, was 
 seen passing through the principal 
 street of the village of Niagara Falls. 
 Ho had under his arm a roll of blankets, 
 a flute, a port folio, and a large book; in 
 his right hand he carried a small stick. 
 He advanced towards the Eagle hotel, 
 (which is now part of the International) 
 attracting the gaze of visitors and others 
 by the singularity of his appearance. 
 With elastic stej) and animated motion, 
 he passed the hotel; he heeded not the 
 inquiring gaze of the idle multitude, 
 but Arm and erect he bent his course to 
 a more lowly, but respectable, inn. He 
 at once entered into stipulations with 
 the landlord that the room which he oc- 
 cupied should be solely his own, that he 
 Hliould have his table to himself, and 
 that only certain portions of his fare 
 Hhould be provided by the landlady. 
 He made the usual enquiries about the 
 falls, and, among other things, wished to 
 know if there was a reading room or 
 library in the village. Being informed 
 that there was a library, he immediately 
 repaired to the individual who kept it; 
 deposited three dollars and took a book; 
 purchased a violin; borrowed music 
 books; informed the librarian that his 
 name was Francis Abbott; that he should 
 remain a few days at the Falls, and con- 
 versed on many subjects with great 
 ease and ability. 
 
 The next day he returned to the same 
 person and; expatiated largely upon the 
 
85. 
 
 surrounding scenery, the cascades and 
 cataracts, and all oi that sublime spec- 
 tacle, the falls. In all his travels, he 
 said, he had never met with anything to 
 compare with this combination of all 
 that was great and beautiful. There 
 was nothing so grand as Niagara Falls, 
 except Mount ^tna, during an 
 eruption. 
 
 He inquired how long travellers usual- 
 ly remained, and being informed that 
 many stayed only one day, he observed 
 that he would stay at least a week, 
 and further remarked; "Can it be 
 that there are those who come to this 
 place and leave it in one day ! I am as- 
 tonished that persons can be found so lit- 
 tle interested in these astonishing works 
 of nature, as to spend so short a time in 
 passing around and beholding them. 
 As well might a traveller, in one or two 
 days, attempt to examine in detail the 
 various museums and curiosities in Par- 
 is, as to think of becoming acquaint- 
 ed with the magificeut scenery of Niag- 
 ara in such a short space of time." 
 
 In a few days he called again, and 
 again expatiated upon the re8i)lendent 
 scenery of the Falls, and said he had 
 Cf included to remain a month, and per- 
 haps six months. A short time after, 
 he determined to fix his abode on Goat 
 Island, and was desirous of erecting a 
 rustic hut, for the purpose of abstracting 
 himself from all society and of becom- 
 ing a solitary hermit. The proprietor 
 of the island, having become acquainted 
 with his eccentricities, was apprehensive 
 that his permanent residence there 
 might be alarming to strangers who did 
 not know him. For this reason he 
 thought it not proper to allow him to 
 
86. 
 
 erect a bniding for such a purpose, but 
 permitted liim to occupy u room iu the 
 oul}' house on the islaud. Iu this house 
 there lived a family that furuished him 
 at times with milk and bread. But he 
 often dispensed with these necessary 
 articles, providiuf? himself in such 
 other ways as suited himself, and pre- 
 l)aring his food to suit his own taste. 
 He observed once to a friend "that 
 people in their mode of living took a 
 great deal of trouble and unnecessary 
 pains; for my part I have adopted a 
 method which I find very pleasant and 
 agreeable. I take about a pint of water 
 iu which I mix a sufficient quantity of 
 wheat flour, to give it a proper consis- 
 tency, and then drink it down. I find 
 that it answers ever}^ purpose and saves 
 me much labor and inconvenience. 
 
 With his guitar by his side, support- 
 ed from his shoulder with a silken sash 
 like an eastern minstrel, he would per- 
 ambulate the banks of the river to the 
 Whirlpool and once or twice he extend- 
 ed his walk to Lewiston. 
 
 The inmates of the houses on the way 
 would suddenly hear the sounds of 
 strange and unknown music; the musi- 
 cian would be observed standing at a 
 distance in the road, but as soon as not- 
 iced or spoken to he would glide away 
 without giving any reply. 
 
 The island was his permanent resi- 
 dence for about one year and eight 
 months. At length the family removed 
 and to those few with whom he held 
 converse, he expressed his great satis- 
 faction to have it in his power to live 
 entirely alone. For some months he 
 seemed to enjoy himself very much, and 
 until another family entered the house. 
 
87. 
 
 He theu coDcludecl to erect a cottage of 
 his own and as he could not build on 
 the island he chose the hip:h bank near 
 to and in full view of the fall, which of 
 all other objects, it was his delijj;ht to 
 behold. He ()ccni)ied his new residence 
 for abont two inonths. 
 
 On ^Friday, the 10th of June, 1831, 
 he went twice below the bank oi the river 
 to bathe and was seen to ^^o a third 
 time. At two o'clock in the afternoon 
 the ferryman saw him in the water — he 
 partly iloatinij: i^^d ])artly restin<ic his 
 body on the shelvin-:^ rocks. As the 
 boat approached, to screen himself 
 from the i?aze of the passenoi'ers, he 
 would draw his head under the water. 
 It was not seriously thou.i^-ht of as he 
 had often been noticed in the same situ- 
 ation, and acting in the same manner. 
 When the ferry-man returned, Abbott's 
 clothes were seen on the rocks, w'here 
 he usuall}^ dei)osited them. An exami- 
 nation was immediately made but his 
 body could not be found. It was sup- 
 posed to have been carried aw^ay by the 
 current. 
 
 "The greedy surg-e bad swept him down. 
 Far, far from mortal ken." 
 
 On the 21st of June the body was 
 taken up at Fort Niagara, was clearly 
 identified, and was on the next dny 
 removed and decently interred in the 
 burial ground at Niagara Falls from 
 which place it has since been removed 
 to Oakwood Cemetery and a fine tomb- 
 stone erected to his memory. He and 
 Captain Webb now sleep side by 
 side. 
 
 Thus terminated the career of Francis 
 Abbott. Little, indeed, known to those 
 near whom he spent the last two years 
 
88. 
 
 of his life. A few gleanings can only be 
 given. He was an English gentleman 
 of a respectable family. He was en- 
 dowed with a good mind, highly culti- 
 vated and was pleasing in his manners. 
 He was not only master of several 
 languages, but deeply read in the arts 
 and sciences and possessed of all the 
 minor accomplishments of the finished 
 gentleman, fascinating colloquial pow- 
 ers, and music and drawing in great 
 perfection. 
 
 Many years of his life had been spent 
 in travelling. He had visited Egypt 
 and Palestine; had travelled through 
 Turkey and Greece, Italy, Spain, Por- 
 tugal and France, and had resided for 
 considerable periods of time m Naples, 
 Rome and Paris. While at Niagara 
 Falls business brought him in contact 
 with several inhabitants. W ith a few of 
 them he would sometimes be sociable; 
 to all others he was distant and reserv- 
 ed. His conversations were always 
 interesting and his descriptions of 
 countries and people glowing and ani- 
 mated. But at times, even with his 
 favored acquaintances, he would hold no 
 conversation; but communicated to 
 them his wishes on a slate and would re- 
 quest that nothing should be said to him. 
 He would frequently go unshaved for 
 two or three months, often with no 
 covering on his head and his body envel- 
 oped in a blanket; shunning all and 
 seeking the deepest solitude of the 
 island. He composed much and gener- 
 ally in Latin; but he destroyed his 
 composition almost as fast as he pro- 
 duced them. When his little cot was 
 examined hopes were entertained that 
 some manuscript or memorial, of his 
 
89. 
 
 own composition, might be foiiDcI, but 
 lie left nothiug of the kind. His faithful 
 dot? guarded iiis door, and it was with 
 difficulty that he was persuaded aside 
 while it w 18 opened. His cat occupied 
 his bed and his guitar, violin, flutes and 
 music were scatteredabout inconfusion. 
 There Wc\s a portfolio and the leaves of 
 a large book, but not a word, not even 
 his name was written in anj' of them. 
 
 Many spots of Goat Island are conse- 
 crated to the memory of Francis Abbott. 
 On the upper end of the island he had 
 established his walk and it had be- 
 come trodden and well beaten like that 
 on which a sentinel performs his tour 
 of duty. Between Goat and Moss 
 Islands there was embowered, in seclu- 
 sion and shade, one of the most charming 
 waterfalls or cascades imaginable. This 
 was his favorite retreat for bathing. 
 There he resorted at all times of the 
 year. In the coldest of weather, even 
 when snow was on the ground, and ice 
 in the water; he continued to bathe in 
 the Niagara. 
 
 On the lower extremity of the island 
 there is a bridge leading over what are 
 called the Terrapin Rocks and from this 
 bridge there extended a single piece 
 of timber, some twelve or fifteen 
 feet over the precipice. On this 
 it was his daily practice to walk; with a 
 quick step he would pass the bridge, 
 advance on the timber to the extreme 
 end. turn quickly on his heel and walk 
 back, and continue thus to walk for 
 hours. Sometimes he would let himself 
 down at the end of the timber and hang 
 under it by his liands and feet for 15 or 
 20 minutes at a time and this over a 
 chasm so terrific as to make dizzy the 
 
90. 
 
 strongest bead. On being remonstrat- 
 ed witb for thus exposing biinself, be 
 would reply tbat in crossing the ocean 
 he bad frequently seen tbe sea- boy in 
 mucb greater peril. and as be 
 should probably cross tbe ocean again 
 be wished to inure himself to such dan- 
 gers; if the nerves of others were dis- 
 turbed, bis were not. In the darkest 
 hours of the night he would be found 
 walking alone in tbe wildest and most 
 dangerous spots near tbe Falls. At such 
 times he would slum tbe approach of 
 men as if they were unwelcome intrud- 
 ers on bis solitude. 
 
 He had a stipend, allowed to him by 
 his friends in England, competent for 
 liis support. He attended to tbe state 
 of his accounts very carefully; was 
 economical in the expenditure of money 
 for bis own use; but generous in paying 
 for all favors and services, and never 
 receiving anything without making 
 immediate payment therefore. He had 
 a deep and abiding sense of religious 
 duties and decorum; mild in his behav- 
 ior and inoffensive in his conduct. 
 Religion was a subject he appreciated, 
 and seemed well to understand. The 
 charity he asked from others be extend- 
 ed to all mankind. 
 
 What could have broken up 
 and .destroyed such a mind as bis ? 
 What would drive him from 
 society, which be was so well fitted 
 to adorn— and what should transform 
 bim, noble in i)erson and intellect into 
 an isolated anchorite, shunning the as- 
 sociations of bis fellow-men. The 
 mystery he never unfolded, and his 
 friends have remained silent on the sub- 
 
91. 
 
 ject. He was about 28 years of acre at 
 the time of his death. 
 
 With the scenery of the Falls he was 
 perfectly infatuated and expressed him- 
 self in the most rapturous terms, when 
 he spoke of the beautiful retreats of 
 Goat Island. He was asked why he 
 did not take up his residence in Canada, 
 under his own government, among his 
 own people, and, as he preferred being 
 near the falls, he conld there select a 
 place to suit him, as the views on that 
 side were considered by many as being 
 the best. He replied that he' preferred 
 this side, because, in all that was inter- 
 esting and beautiful, the American 
 scenes around the falls were decidedly 
 superior. 
 
 H^uery on the Cog. 
 
 On the evening of July 18, 1853, a man 
 by the name of Hanniman and one by 
 the name of Avery, in the employ of 
 David Brown, who was engaged in 
 boating sand, left the French laudino- 
 (now called Port Day,) for Schlosser 
 where the boat, upon which they were 
 employed, was lying. But for some 
 reason they failed to reach their point, 
 and were carried out into the strou^^ 
 current and down into the rapids! 
 Hanniman was immediately carried 
 over the Falls, but Avery lodged on a 
 log, nearly midway between Goat Is- 
 land bridge and the fearful precipice, 
 it being the only place in that portion of 
 
92. 
 
 the rapids upon wbicli a human being 
 could find footing. The fearful truth of 
 a man being in the rapids just above 
 the verge of the Falls was first discov- 
 ered at about four o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of July 19th by one of the wa-tch- 
 men of the Cataract House. The fear- 
 ful intelligence spread like a fire alarm 
 throughout the village. Ropes were 
 the first thing thought of— no rope on 
 hand. Messrs. Gage & Haws, con- 
 tractors on the hydraulic canal, stripped 
 the rigging from their blocks and gin 
 poles. Citizens owning or having in 
 their possession a pound of rope 
 brought it forward. 
 
 Boats owned by rich and poor were 
 soon being borne on the shoulders of 
 the multitude to the spot, as an offering 
 of humanity, without a thought of rein- 
 bursement. Thus four boats and all 
 the rope in the village were made a free- 
 will ofifering by the owners to attempt 
 the deliverance of an unknown stran- 
 ger, but a human being, from a situa- 
 tion as perilous as the human mind can 
 conceive. A telegraph dispatch to Buf- 
 falo promptly brought a boat to the 
 spot, the owner not giving the probabil- 
 ities of remuneration a thought. 
 
 Thousands of persons crowded around 
 the scene, each having a plan to which 
 no one heeds but himself. Nothing, 
 absolutely nothing, could be done in 
 this chaotic state. A meeting is pro- 
 posed on Goat Island bridge by two of 
 the proprietors, to give direction to the 
 efforts about to be made. A vote is 
 taken, and a man is appointed by ac- 
 clamation, who selects his assistants. 
 
93. 
 
 A generous hearted captain from the 
 upper lakes, having heard of the acci- 
 dent at Buffalo hastened down to the 
 scene of action. He was invited to par- 
 ticipate in giving direction to the efforts 
 about to be made— he was prompt and 
 efficient. The boat experiment fails — 
 another plan is proposed which is 
 thought feasable— this failed also except 
 to give a knowledge of the currents and 
 the action of water through the differ- 
 ent channels— another plan is proposed 
 — ropes were with the life boat — three 
 hundred men man the line attached to 
 the life boat sunken in the rapids— the 
 line parts near the sunken boat and was 
 fortunately brought to shore— the raft is 
 completed and let down into the boiling 
 element from the center of the bridge 
 — (^a noble hearted sea captain, a stran- 
 ger, with a soul stamped with generos- 
 ity, took one of the managers by the 
 shoulders, and in a whisper, begged for 
 God's sake to let him go down on the 
 raft and help the man keep the ropes 
 clear, and on being refused he replied: 
 "I know I could help him," Generous 
 hearted man ! would that the world 
 knew thy name— the orignal design of 
 the raft is thwarted by one rope being 
 too short to reach the spot, it slips the 
 grasp of those holding it— the raft 
 swings on a line with the remaining 
 rope and bounds down and below the 
 fatal cliff that seemed to stand between 
 life and death — no more rope at hand — 
 nothing daunted the capstan moves on, 
 the raft swings to the embrace of the 
 unfortunate— he reaches the raft and 
 entwines himself among its ropes. He 
 gazes at the pail of provisions lashed to 
 the raft— he cannot eat, he sees nothing 
 
94. 
 
 but death before him. The raft moves 
 slowly sidewise, under the reef to an 
 almost inaccessible island. The rope 
 becomes entangled among the rocks. 
 What now shall be done ? Lower away 
 the raft, now haul her np, now lower 
 her down, the capstan moves tlje pon- 
 derous weight up and down at bidding, 
 a little lower the raft descends into the 
 swift current, the surges dash over the 
 head of the unfortunate passenger. The 
 capstan turns rapidly around, the raft 
 is again moved under the ledge in 
 smoother water, although the surges 
 had almost claimed their victim— the 
 unfortunate looses his lashing, stands 
 erect and rests his limbs which had 
 been stripped of their covering by the 
 boiling current. When sufficiently 
 recovered he again takes his seat and 
 makes himself fast, again the capstan 
 heaves, alas, the rope is again fast in the 
 rocks and cannot be moved except up 
 and down the stream, again the capstan 
 turns, the raft is brought close to the 
 perpendicular clifi" with sufficient force 
 to lift the the stern free from the water. 
 The rapids dash over the bow of the 
 raft and fall harmless in front of the 
 sorrow-stricken. What shall now be 
 done ? The rot)e is still fast, the sun is 
 fading in the western horizon and the 
 sable mantle of night will soon veil the 
 scene. Shall this man be left to spend 
 another gloomy night in the arms of 
 death? Another attempt must be made, 
 again the lightning flashes to Buffalo— a 
 boat wanted. A boat is furnished and 
 the railroad agent promptly placed the 
 same upon the cars. The engineer 
 taxes the speed of his engine to its ut- 
 most capacity, as human life might 
 
95. 
 
 dei)end upon the arrival of the cars, in 
 the shortest possible time— the cars 
 arrive— ere the speed of the cars is 
 arrested, the crowd bear the boat upon 
 their shoulders to the scene of peril- 
 all with one thouj^ht, the res- 
 cue. ISo there is yet hope that the 
 rescue may be accompliished before 
 nightfall. Again another call is made 
 for roi)e; another tackle block is found 
 and stripped; the boat lowered into the 
 stream, carefully the rope slides out 
 from the capstan, until she reaches the 
 fearful clitT, a surge strikes the boot, 
 she almost poises over the cascade; the 
 rope stretches but little and that little 
 loses her over the cliff, and forces a 
 plank from her side, the affrighted man 
 has unloosed his lashings and is stand- 
 ing up— the boat strikes the raft— the 
 concussion throws him off and he is seen 
 tottering from time into eternity. A 
 wail is heard from the lips of the thous- 
 ands of anxious spectators; some run to 
 the brink of the precipice to witness the 
 last struggle. Ladies swoon and drop 
 like soldiers on a battle field; the multi- 
 tude heave a sigh and turn their faces 
 homeward, few having tasted food since 
 the dawn of day. 
 
 The following article was written to 
 the Albany Register: 
 
 NiAGAB4 Falls, July, 19, 1853. 
 It is verging toward midnight 
 on the 18th of July, 1853, and the stars 
 shine calmly down through a delicious 
 atmosphere, upon tne village of Niagara 
 Falls. Music gives life to the joyous 
 dance at the Cataract and the Interna- 
 tional Hotels, and pleasure seekers here, 
 congregated from all parts of the couti- 
 
96. 
 
 nout, have found enjoyment. Many 
 fair women and brave men still 
 linger on Goat Island, uuwillino;' to 
 sever from scenes and sounds so full of 
 harmony — so coiigenial to the pure ac- 
 tivity of soul, which marks alike the 
 worshiper of God and the bemu" who 
 sins lightly, if at all, by indulging in 
 dreams of earthly love and honor. One 
 plighted coui)le are returning, and have 
 halted for a moment on the bridge, the 
 hand of each clasped in each other's, as 
 they look upward on the rapids. A thin 
 cloud is drawn for a few moments over 
 the resplendent stars, like the dropping 
 of a bridal veil, and the shadow rests 
 on the arrowy foam of the furious 
 river. And they whisper of approach- 
 ing union, and the years of happiness 
 which they doubt not the good God has 
 in store for them that love Him so. 
 J3ut what was that dark object w^hich so 
 suddenly sprung into view on the very 
 verge of the horizon above them, as 
 though swung heavenward by a huge 
 wave ? He says it was but a taller, 
 shadowed pitch of the wild waters or a 
 fioatiug log. What shook the bridge 
 then, and did you not hear a shreik, 
 faint and smothered, as though it came 
 from a cavern deep in the earth ? Oh 
 no! It was but the strong blow of a 
 eddying whirl of the fierce river which 
 made the bridge tremble a very little 
 more than it usually trembles; and if 
 you heard aery, it was but the near 
 shreik of some high-wheeling night 
 bird. There can be no misery near us 
 in a place, and at a time like this, where 
 all is so calm but the great river exult- 
 ing in its strength, and where we can 
 almo.st see God's good angels, half uu- 
 
97. 
 
 sphered, watching th« world. The 
 ^anzy cloud floats westward, and the 
 stars'^shiue out in glory, and the loyers 
 walk blissfully on and cross the bridge 
 and Heaven blesses them in dreams that 
 night, while the music of the joyous 
 dancers below sounds in their visions 
 a harmony of heaven. 
 
 Jiut it was no dead tree trunk, nor 
 single lifted, cloud shadowed wave, that 
 caught for a single second that gentle 
 maiden's eye. It was a boat and in it 
 were two men— around each were twined 
 loves as deep, if not so exalted and 
 pure, as those which hallow end beauti- 
 fy her and her's. It was not a strong 
 swirl of the wild waters that made the 
 firm bridge tremble a little more than it 
 always trembles in the strong current. 
 It was the crashing, like an eggshell, of 
 the stroug-built boat when it dashed 
 against the pier and whirled under the 
 l)ridge in fragments. It was not the 
 scream of a night-bird, whirling in the 
 dusky air above her, which startled the 
 soft-hearted maiden ; but was the con- 
 jofned agonies of two strong-lunged, 
 despairing men, which burst forth into 
 a yell, which was all but drowned in the 
 deep roar of the majestic river, and 
 came as but in a whisper to the ear 
 of the tender maiden, who was intently 
 listening, scarce two hundred feet away. 
 One of the strong men is carried 
 downward, unseen save by God and the 
 starry eyes of night. Fifteen hundred 
 or two thousand feet are but as a step 
 for the great torrent, though if they 
 lived until they reached the verge of 
 the fall, Heaven only knows how much 
 misery was endured, or how surely hope 
 eternal and well-founded sprung up in 
 
98. 
 
 his soul, while the wrathful river took 
 that step ere she dashed him ou the 
 pile of rocks one luiudred and fifty feet 
 below and broke forever the li<2:atures of 
 hope and love that bound him to the 
 world. 
 
 But for the second ! Far better 
 would it have been, in human judgment, 
 had he too been swept away at once 
 into eternity. But not so, for there are 
 many lessons to be drawn from the 
 troubled remnant of his life— at least l)y 
 those who witnessed it. 
 
 About 500 feet below the bridge, and 
 about one-third of the way across from 
 the main shore, a log is embedded in 
 the rapids. It lies in the direction of 
 the torrent, and at the lower end, for a 
 length of about fifteen feet rises above 
 water, then seems to sink a little, lilie 
 the hollow of a saddle, and is below wat- 
 er for a foot or two and then rises at an 
 angle of about forty-live degrees for 
 four or live feet and so ends abruptly. 
 At about four o'clock in the morning 
 the survivor, a lusty man of twenty 
 summers or thereabouts, was discover- 
 ed clinging to the upper part of the log. 
 and at once the village was astir. It was a 
 strange chance that threw him on this 
 mere point— the only one between the 
 bridge and fall where the foot of man 
 could rest. It would seem that Provi- 
 dence, by so miraculous an interposi- 
 tion for his present safety, grave assur- 
 ance for his final rescue. But God 
 knows best, and the world would be a 
 chaos were not the issue of our efforts 
 by Him directed. We have only our 
 duties before us and He will take care 
 of results. 
 
99. 
 
 What fascination there is in the peril 
 of another, though he be a stranger, and 
 whatever may be his rank in life, his 
 attainments or his qualities. 
 
 What a pity it is that the peril which 
 so fascinates us, and nerves us up to 
 deeds of heroism, and sacrifices of 
 money, and property, and comfort, 
 must, in the general, be an apparent 
 peril of life or limb. Those slow and 
 deadly dangers which besets our 
 neighbors and ourselves, those parents 
 of crime, which aims at the destruction 
 of physical vigor and moral purity, 
 which contaminate life in the fountain 
 wither it in maturity, which create the 
 drunkard, the libertine, the robber, and 
 the murderer, alas ! they fright but few 
 of us, but we put not on our armor to 
 battle against them unto the death. 
 
 I could hardly take my eyea from 
 that poor man from the first time I saw 
 him until nis fate was decided. There 
 were hundreds there, who would cheer- 
 fully imperiled their own lives, could 
 reason have been cajoled into holding 
 out the slightest hope of the risks con- 
 tributing to this salvation of the strang- 
 er. Property was sacrificed without 
 hesitation, for him, and one kind gentle- 
 man, a stranger, from— the Lord knows 
 where, but may he be remembered in 
 Heaven— offered a thousand dollars to 
 save the stranger. 
 
 When I first saw him in the morning 
 he was clinging to the log and occasion- 
 ally raising his head above the top and 
 looking from side to side. He must 
 have realized fully the almost hopeless 
 danger of his situation, and was sick at 
 heart, as well as chilled by the night 
 air, and the spray sapping his strength 
 
100. 
 
 for so mauy slow ebbiii;^ hours. His 
 Lead was bare, but otherwise he was 
 I'ally clothed. It wasimi)ossible for the 
 huiuau voice to reach him. No voice of 
 encoiiragemeut to reach him, but the 
 sympathizing spirit of the people was 
 not discouraged, and sought to uphold 
 him by sigus. He was a Germau aud 
 some kind persou caused to be painted 
 in big letters, in Germau, on canvas, the 
 words, "We will save you," and nailed 
 it, like a banner, on the front of a build- 
 ing on the bank. He saw and under- 
 stood it, and waved his hands, in grati- 
 tude, we trust, in gratitude. The peo- 
 ple, full of s^^nipathy, thronged the 
 shore, both island and bridge. Alas! 
 they could do nothing, unless it were 
 by their mere presence, to encourage 
 hope and strengthen his sometimes fail- 
 ing courage. 
 
 It is painful to record the efforts that 
 were made for his relief and extrication 
 aud yet a summary of them may not be 
 devoid of interest. In doinj? so it is 
 necessary to recall his position in the 
 torrent. All above was a wild waste 
 of water, rushing downward over 
 curved ledges of rock crossing awthart 
 the stream, and so was all below, save 
 that the log to which he clung was im- 
 bedded in a basin of foaming water 
 between two ledges, and the water there 
 seemed less unquiet. From the ledges 
 above the fall was more than a foot. 
 On his left the great mass of the river 
 came down in a tumult of green waves 
 and eddies, on his right lay first the 
 foaming basin, the strong current of a 
 minor channel of the river, and then 
 broken water and an eddy, at the foot 
 of which was a small mass of rocks 
 
101. 
 
 above water and blackeued logs, 
 from which access to a small 
 wooded island below seemed easy. 
 Ou that islaud he would 
 
 be safe, for it could be reached, thoujrh 
 Avith much difficulty, from Goat or Bath 
 Islaud, in a boat. To cross the furious 
 ciiaunel on his left to the main shore 
 was impossible. 
 
 There he laj^ from the time he was 
 discovered, until, I should think, about 
 half-past four in the afternoon, the sun 
 beating on his uncovered head, and 
 without food. Attempts were made to 
 lower food to him from the bridge, the 
 food being enclosed at one time in a 
 basket, and at least twice in air-tight tin 
 cans, but all these attempts were unsuc- 
 cessful. How he endured all he did 
 seems strange to me. Grod had certain- 
 ly given him a strong frame and a stout 
 heart and he would have made a gallant 
 sailor. 
 
 At nine o'clock the first attempt at 
 rescue was made. No one had any 
 confidence in it, but people were impa- 
 tient to do something, though a message 
 had been dispatched to Buffalo for a 
 life-boat, which was expected on the 
 next train. A strong light skiff was 
 launched from Bath Island, drawn 
 out into the stream, and let down by 
 two ropes in the lesser channel. Bhe 
 filled and upset, however, and was 
 lost. 
 
 But here comes the life-boat from 
 Buffalo, and the crowd sent up a cheer 
 which rises to Heaven, and even crosses 
 to the poor man on the log, and he 
 erects himself in expectation. It is 
 borne across the bridge, and the 
 gentleman having it in charge examines 
 
102. 
 
 from different points on the bank and 
 the bridge, the obstacles to be over- 
 come. It is almost evident that they 
 are insuperable, but there is a bare pos- 
 sibility of success, audthat is sufficient. 
 The boat is launched, and the bridge is 
 cleared of all but the workers, and she is 
 gradually lowered. What a beautiful 
 boat she is, and how triumphantly she 
 rides the wild swells ! Now she passes 
 down the main shute, and they begin to 
 work her toward the log, while the man 
 hangs with his hands on the top of it, 
 his eyes devouring the space be- 
 tween himself, and what he trusts, is his 
 preserver. And, indeed, there would 
 seem scarce room to doubt that he was 
 on the point of being: rescued. But 
 now the boat from the entangling of the 
 rope in the rocks below, or from some 
 other cause, upsets, and then she rises 
 like a duck — and now she is just 
 a little above the log, and in a second 
 more the man will be safe. My God ! 
 she swings a little beyond, in a swift 
 eddy, and does not right again. I shut 
 my eyes, and when I open them again, 
 she is far off in the broad channel by 
 the main shore, held by a single rope 
 and almost sunk by the weight and force 
 of the current. The man, the poor 
 man, who but just now was waving his 
 hands this way and that way to guide 
 the people in the management of the 
 ropes, and who, I could swear, from the 
 motion of his head, shouted with joy as 
 the boat neared him, was now clasping 
 the upright portion of the log. 
 His head droops, and despair, I fear, 
 is in his heart, and so he lies, inanimate 
 on the thing he rests on, for fully an 
 hour. 
 
103. 
 
 But the good people are not discour- 
 aged; they now commence building a 
 raft. It is made of two long square 
 timbers, with a platform firmly spiked 
 on at one end, and occasional cross- 
 pieces to the other end, on which is lash- 
 ed a barrel. While this is being done a 
 crowd of men bring upon poles on 
 their shoulders a large broad-beamed 
 skiff. It is concluded to try this before 
 the raft,and it is launched from Bath Is- 
 land, let down the channel and worked 
 across stream to the log. Thank God, 
 the man is safe now ! This boat has 
 worked admirably, and he is safe ! 
 Alas ! the rope has, somehow or other, 
 got entangled with the log, and though 
 her prow lies on the left and at the very 
 stem of the log, she cannot be moved a 
 foot. The man has been all attention, 
 for some time. He crawls along the 
 log and tries to move the boat. He can- 
 not stir it. He crawls in and bales out 
 some of the water with his hands, and 
 then pushes the log. He gets upon the 
 log and pushes the boat. Again he 
 gets into the boat and bales with his 
 hands. He then takes off both boots 
 and bales with one of them. He puts 
 on his boots and taking off his coat, 
 folds it and lays it in the bow of the boat. 
 He gets upon the log, and walks to the 
 further end, lies down upon it, and 
 thrusts his arm into the water. He gets 
 the rope, and pulls with all his might, 
 and then goes to the boat and pushes it. 
 And so he works,— how long it seemed 
 to me!— sometimes in one place and 
 sometimes in the other, and continually 
 in vain. How I longed for a voice to 
 tell him to keep still, and to husband 
 his strength, the whole of which might 
 
104. 
 
 yet be requisite to save liim. But now 
 be despairs a^faiu. God does seem to 
 have declared against him ! But now, 
 after a long interval, they are shooting 
 the raft over the rail of the bridge. 
 They have launched it and down it 
 floats. Now it is in the swift current, 
 and the barrel disappears in the over- 
 charging foam. But it holds together 
 nobly, and passes the shell, and is 
 drawn safely to the log. The man, so 
 long confined there, I am sure, gives a 
 cheer. He sits down on the plat- 
 form, and fixes his feet in and takes 
 hold of stays and loops fixed to the 
 floor of the raft, and they begin to 
 haul on the ropes. This ^ must have 
 been between four and five o'clock. 
 For a full hour, as it seemed to me, 
 they endeavored to draw the raft di- 
 rectly up the stream, but to drag it up 
 the first fall or ledge was impossible— 
 but still they pulled with a will and now 
 the raft fell back suddenly and swiftly; 
 surely the ropes must have parted, and 
 a perceptable shudder runs through the 
 mass of men around me. Bo, too, 
 thinks the man. for he stands upon his 
 feet, and with a hurried glance around 
 him, stands prepared to jump and swim 
 for his life; but he is instantly reassured, 
 and calmly resumes his seat, for they 
 had merel}' slackened the ropes prepar- 
 atory to trying to guide the raft to the 
 right or island shore. They do guide it 
 successfully— slowly, but steadily, it 
 swims far away from the log, and the 
 man sits there like a statue. He 
 lies upon the raft with his 
 head drooping, as thougb half 
 slumbering, and then raises it with a 
 start, like one contending with sleep or 
 exhaustion. And now the raft is ou the 
 
105. 
 
 ed<re, m the ragiu^ torrent, the water 
 arches over the barrel in front-the 
 ratt IS pressed down-aud he is waist 
 deep. i he waves force him backward 
 and rush up to his mouth, and he will 
 be drowned; but now, with a mighty 
 effort, he bows forward with his head 
 under water, draws out his feet and 
 throws them backwards so that he is 
 kneehnoj, holdin- on with his hands, 
 and with head erect. Again the raft 
 slides to the left, out or' the swiftest 
 water; and there she lies so long I 
 What IS the matter now? Alas! the 
 rope has caught in a ledge of rock above 
 vl'l TT. "^V"" «<^"ti-ivance must be 
 deterred, yes, almost crushed. 
 
 -Kut It IS now nearly six o'clock, and 
 the large ferry boat is put in the water, 
 t^..r f 1 ^"^.^"erienced say, it must be 
 easy to lay her alongside the raft. We 
 ?h««nl«^^P^ rekindle in the bosom of 
 ^otn^T""- C^?f«% the boat is let 
 
 moTf fn,f /' "?^'^^ *^^''^- '^^^ ^oat al- 
 most touches the raft, and the man 
 rises ready to step in. 'But, my God^ 
 the force of the current dashes her 
 
 the water ! Strike out for your life t 
 Cross but one rod of stormy water and 
 fSntlfL!?*"- >I^«-'> swims bul 
 
 backward, and a dark spot is seen hur- 
 rying toward the fall. Ashe reaches 
 vi\Jcff^^' Ti^ ^ spasmodic effort he 
 laises breast high from the water, and 
 the poor sufferer whom we have watch 
 
 earth kI'T"-^-^ ^u"- ^^ ^^^'^ «^ 
 earth He has joined his companion, 
 
 them ^^ ''^'' ^^^^ "^^"^-^ "P«^ 
 
106. 
 
 This melancholy affair may be sum- 
 med up in a few words: If the unfortu- 
 nate man had not loosened his fasten- 
 ings to the raft on the approach of the 
 boat, and if his strength had been suffi- 
 cient to endure the fatigue of another 
 ten hours on the raft, (as nothing couhl 
 be done for him in the darkness of the 
 night.) in all probability he might have 
 been brought to Chapin's Island the 
 following day, from which his rescue 
 would have been comparatively easy. 
 
 The body of the unfortunate Hanni- 
 man was found on the following Satur- 
 day, July 23rd, near Suspension Bridge, 
 and decently interred by Mr. Sternes, 
 the town poor master. The body of 
 Avery was never recovered. 
 
 Pierce's H^^^^ I^rigade. 
 
 At the junction of the Portage Boad 
 with Main Street in this city, there was 
 a public house for many years, which, 
 during the War of 1812, was kept by a 
 man named Gad Pierce, who was an 
 active frontier partisan. When hostili- 
 ties commenced between the two coun- 
 tries, there was a very small number 
 of troops on the American side of the 
 river, and only a single company to 
 garrison Fort Niagara. It was expect- 
 ed, every night, that the Fort would be 
 attacked by the British, who had a large 
 force of men at Fort George. Mr. 
 Pierce, aware of this state of affairs, one 
 day raised all the inhabitants in the 
 
107. 
 
 surroundiufr couDtry, and bad them 
 assemble at Lewiston. Horses of every 
 kind were brought into requisition, and, 
 when the citizens were mounted, they 
 appeared at a distance like a formidable 
 troop of cavalry. Among them, too, 
 were several of the Tuscarora Indians, 
 who entered with spirit into the man- 
 euver. Instead of swords, they used 
 walking canes, sticks and ramrods. 
 Several of the ramrods were of polished 
 steel or iron, which made a very bright 
 and flashy appearance. The cavalcade 
 moved from Lewiston, along the river 
 road, in sight of the enemy, and enter- 
 ed Fort Niagara. The blankets of the 
 Indians fluttering in the wind, the 
 various habiliments of the farmers, the 
 limping and over-strained plow horse, 
 the nibbling gait and twitching head of 
 the wild pony, with now and then a 
 noble looking horse, formed, to those 
 who were near, a most ludicrous spec-- 
 tacJe. In the fort, they dismounted, 
 and performed some slight evolutions 
 in a most laughable manner. At the 
 command to mount, some of the Indians 
 executed the order in such a masterly 
 way as to throw themselves entirely 
 over their ponies. To the British, the 
 imposing appearance of the troops with 
 their steel ramrods, which glittered in 
 the sun like broadswords, had the desir- 
 ed effect : the contemj)lated attack was 
 not made. 
 
 At the time of the general invasion of 
 the frontier, Mr. Pierce had his family 
 removed to a place of safety, but would 
 not himself quit the premises. He and 
 four others formed the little garrison, 
 with which he determined to defend 
 his home. They waited for the 
 
108. 
 
 av)proach of the enemy. At length a 
 company of British regulars appeared 
 and a fire was opened upon them. They 
 continued the defence for some time, 
 but, as their opponents were numerous, 
 it was impossible to keep them at a dis- 
 tance. A part advanced upon the front 
 of the house, and succeeded in break- 
 ing down the door, tiring their guns as 
 they entered. The defenders effected 
 their escape in an opposite direction 
 without any of their number being 
 wounded. Whether the attacking party 
 suffered any loss was not known. 
 
 J(,n Indian p^^duenture. 
 
 Just below the mountain and to the 
 right of the road which descends from 
 the Tuscarora village, there lived a man 
 by the name of Sparrow Sage, 
 who was driven away from his home, 
 on the 19th of December, 1813, during 
 the invasion of the Niagara Frontier by 
 the British. But, for the purpose of 
 securing his harvest, he and his wife 
 returned the following summer to their 
 exposed and solitary dwelling. One 
 day. while Mr. Sage was at work in a 
 field some distance from the house, an 
 Indian, attached to the British cause, 
 entered the house and demanded some- 
 thing to eat, speaking in broken 
 English. Mrs. Sage, being entirely 
 alone, immediately obeyed his bidding, 
 in hopes that after eating he would go 
 away. But in this she was disappointed. 
 
109. 
 
 for as soon as he had finished his repast 
 he informed her that he lived at GrLnd 
 Kiver, Canada, and that he had come af- 
 ter her to ^o with him as his squaw. She 
 rephed hat it could not be, as she 
 already had a husband. " No ' not "he 
 vnf ' -^ f^claimed, "you very pretty; 
 you must be my squaw; you shall ^o "' 
 In vam she told him that her husband 
 and others were near by and that he 
 
 mH' T^^ ^"^^^" t^«^ took down 
 nnf'^f 1^^ ? gun and,finding it unloaded, 
 1 It It back a-ain, He then ransacked 
 the house, commanding Mrs. Sage not 
 to leave his sight, at the same time 
 
 muTR V' ^^^1 ?P^^ ^^'- He took as 
 much as he could carry of such thin-s 
 as he mostly desired, and, seizing Mrf 
 Sage forcibly by the arm, he dragged 
 her out of the back door and tfelce 
 towards the woods, in the' direction of 
 
 thP RHl'5*''^Vrf *H^*^ */°^^ occupied by 
 the British. The husband hearing the 
 screams of his wife, hurried to^aldl 
 the house, seized an ax which was lying 
 at the door and followed in pursuit 
 He came up to them at a fence, on the 
 border of the forest. Not letting go his 
 hold the savage fired at Mr. Sa-e as he 
 ban '^"^r't f^"°J^ ^"^' luckily the 
 Indian was raising his victim to throw 
 brnl.«T-*^-^«^^°^1'^blow from the ax 
 broke his nfie and made him let go of 
 Mrs Sage. Hastily consulting his own 
 safety he leaped over the f?nce, b^t 
 while doing so he received another blow 
 from the ax The forest resounded with 
 his yells, as he made off with all possible 
 speed into, the thick woods. Mr. SaJe 
 did not think it proper to pursue, bit 
 
110. 
 
 returning with his wife, the}'- immedi- 
 ately left their dangerous habitation 
 for a place of safety. 
 
 Mr. William Molyneaux, the father of 
 Mrs. Sage, had occupied the same resi- 
 dence the winter before, but he and his 
 family were also compelled to llee to a 
 place of safety. About a month after 
 he returned, and, upon entering the 
 house, he found two dead Indiana lying 
 upon the floor. A party of American 
 soldiers had come upon them unex- 
 pectedly, while they were carousing 
 upon the good fare which the occupants 
 had left. They were, no doubt, abroad 
 for murder and destruction, and met 
 the fate which they intended for others. 
 Mr. Molyneaux dragged their bodies 
 from the house, and as he had no aid 
 nor time to bury them, he formed around 
 them a large pile of logs and rails, and, 
 setting fire to it, they w^ere con- 
 sumed. The British Indians consider- 
 ed it quite an affront, and threatened 
 vengeance, but it was an empty threat, 
 as they had already done all the harm 
 they could. 
 
 Jt fjarrow gscape, 
 
 It was in the early morning, on the 
 19th of December, 1813, the weather 
 being cold, and the bleak winds howl- 
 ing, when the inhabitants oi Lewiston 
 were aroused from their quiet slumbers 
 and compelled to leave their comforta- 
 ble homes and flee from a cruel and re- 
 
Hi. 
 
 lentless foe, wlio had juat crossed the 
 river, and was spreading death and 
 desolation all alouoj the border. The 
 roads had been badly broken up, and 
 were frozen in a state that it was impos- 
 sible to proceed with waj^ons, and, there 
 beinpT little snow, only slow progress 
 could be made with sleighs. In the rear 
 of the fugitives, who were hastening 
 with all possible speed along the Kidge 
 Road, was a two-horse sleigh, driven by 
 a young man who walked beside his 
 horses. In the sleigh lay his brother, 
 who one week before had his leg ampu- 
 tated just below the knee. He was in a 
 very feeble condition, and to proceed 
 rapidly, rough as the roads then were, 
 would have been death to him. 
 
 Although the enemy was not far in 
 the rear, there was no alternative but to 
 continue the moderate pace at which 
 they were moving. The driver, who 
 was armed with a trusty rifle, would 
 frequently cast anxious glances behind 
 him, knowing that the eneifiy was not 
 far in the rear. At length the war-whoop 
 of the British Indians, with its accom- 
 panying yells, broke upon his ears. 
 The disabled brother besought the 
 other to leave him to his fate and flee 
 for his life. " No," he replied, "if we 
 are to die, we will perish together." 
 The party of Indians that pursued them 
 was in full sight and one, far in advance 
 of the others, called upon them to stop, 
 making threatening gestures, and 
 raising his rifle as if to shoot. 
 
 With the same slow pace the horses 
 proceeded, and the driver was coolly 
 collecting himself for the conflict, in 
 which such fearful odds were against 
 him. The Indian sprang forward and 
 
112. 
 
 was within a few paces of the sleigh, 
 when the yonug man, suddenly 
 turning himself, quickly raised his rifle 
 and fired upmi his pursuer, who fell 
 forward a corpse, his body rolling out 
 of the road. A yell of vengeance, from 
 the band in the rear, came like a knell of 
 death upon the ears of the brothers. At 
 that moment a band of friendly Tusca- 
 roras were seen descending the adjacent 
 hill, and the well directed lire which 
 they t)pened on the British Indians, 
 obliged the latter to hastily retire. 
 
 The driver of the sleigh was the late 
 Hon. Bates Cook, and the invalid was 
 the late Latlirop Cook, names that have 
 been familiar household words for many 
 years. 
 
 ♦- 
 
 G^P^- W®^t>'s l^ast Swim. 
 
 Capt. Matthew Webb, the famous 
 English swimmer, made the attempt to 
 swim through the Kapids aud Whirl- 
 pool of Niagara River on the afternoon 
 of July 24th, 1883, and lost his life in 
 the effort. As he had publicly announc- 
 ed he would do, Capt. Webb left the 
 Clifton House, on the Canada side, at 4 
 o'clock, and proceeded down the bank 
 to the ferry landing. Here he stepped 
 into a small boat manned by Jack Mc- 
 Cloy, ferryman, and was rowed down the 
 river to opposite the old Pleasure 
 Grounds, just above the old Maid of 
 the Mist landing. At 4.25 he jumped 
 from the boat into the river. A mo- 
 
113. 
 
 ment later he rose gracefully to the sur- 
 face aud, swimmina: with infinite ease 
 and power, struck boldly out. He clear- 
 ed the water with strong and steady 
 strokes, swimming on his breast with 
 his head clear from the surface. He 
 kept in the centre of the stream and the 
 strong eddies which occasionally swirl- 
 ed past him seemed in no way to im- 
 pede or swerve him from his course. As 
 he api)roached the Railway Suspension 
 Bridge, which he passed at 5.33, the flow 
 of the current increased with remark- 
 able rapidity. There were about two 
 hundred spectators on the bridge who 
 saw the intrepid swimmer glide towards 
 them, pass beneath them, and ere they 
 could reach the north side of the struc- 
 ture, he was fifty yards down the cur- 
 rent. He was carried along as fast as 
 the eye could follow him. With speech- 
 less wonder and fear he was seen to 
 reach the first furious billows of the 
 rapids. Onward he sped like a feather 
 in the sea. High on the crest of a huge 
 billow his head and shoulders gleamed 
 for an instant and then he was lost in a 
 dark abyss of turmoiling water. Again 
 he appeared, his arms steadily moving 
 as if balancing himself for a plunge into 
 another mighty wave. The tumbling, 
 rushing, swirling element seemed to 
 give forth an angry, sullen roar as if 
 sounding the death knell of the ill-fated 
 swimmer. Once more away down the 
 Rapids he was seen still apparently brav- 
 ing fate and stemming the seething 
 waters with marvelous skill and endur- 
 ance. Instead of being whirled hither 
 and thither as might have been expect- 
 ed he was carried with furious rapidity 
 onward almost in a straight course. 
 
114. 
 
 For neailj'^ a mile he was hiirn'ecl for- 
 ward by the tumultuous rushinor waters 
 aud still he seemed to be riding tbe aw- 
 ful billows in safety. In two minutes 
 after he had passed under the Suspen- 
 sion Bridge he had been hurried 
 through the terrible Kapids and arrived 
 at the mouth of the great Whirlpool. 
 Reaching what seemed to bo less 
 troubled and dangerous waters, it was 
 said by some, that he raised his head 
 well above the surface, gazed for an 
 instant towards the American side and 
 then turned his face to the high bluff 
 on the Canadian side. A second later 
 he dived or sank aud was seen no more. 
 But Mr. Culhane, of the Canadian cus- 
 toms force, who was at the inclined rail- 
 way near the Whirpool, when Webb 
 came down the river, with a couple of 
 boys aud some ladies, says that he and 
 his party saw Webb distinctly for a 
 minute before he reached the Whirl- 
 pool, and they were confident that he 
 was either dead or insensible prior to 
 that time. As the bod}' approached the 
 Whirlpool, the head seemed to be hang- 
 ing to one side, and the body appeared 
 to have no life in it. Once it raised a 
 little out of the water by an extra eddy, 
 but fell back as if lifeless. He believes 
 that Webb had endurance enough to 
 swim a long distance, but was buffetted 
 to death by the pressure of tons upon 
 tons of water in the Rapids. Therefore 
 he must have been killed or rendered 
 insensible ere he got to the Whirlpool, 
 into which he was without doubt drawn. 
 The rapidity of the current that carried 
 Webb to his doom may be gathered 
 from the fact that it only took two 
 minutes to carry him from the bridge 
 
115. 
 
 to the Whirpool fully three-fourths of a 
 mile distant. Notwithstanding the 
 fact that Webb's fatal swim was wit- 
 nessed by a large number of people, 
 much doubt was expressed as to wheth- 
 er he might not have left the river 
 alive at some point beyond the 
 observation of the spectators. All un- 
 certainty on these points were, however, 
 removed by the finding of Capt. Webb's 
 body about noon on Saturday, July 28, 
 1883, four days after his disappearance, 
 by Richard VV. Turner, of Youngstown, 
 about a mile and a half below, Lewiston. 
 Capt. Matthew Webb was a native of 
 England and 35 years of age. His fath- 
 er lives in Shropshier, England, and 
 there were 13 children in the family, 
 eight being boys. He learned to swim 
 when eight years old, being encouraged 
 in his ventures by his father. While 
 yet a mere youth, he ran away to sea, 
 and during his career before the mast 
 became famous for his swimming feats, 
 several of which were performed in 
 saving human life. In 1872, while in 
 South Africa, he won his first laurels as 
 a public swimmer, and in a year follow- 
 ing received a purse of $500 from the 
 passengers of the steamer Russia and a 
 medal from the humane society of Lon- 
 don for saving the life ot a sailor who 
 was washed overboard. The achieve- 
 ment that gave him international fame 
 was swimming the English channel 
 naked and without aid of any kind, on 
 which occasion he was in the water 
 from 1 p. M. to 11 A. M. the next day. 
 When he was dragged out of the water 
 at the close of this exploit he was pre- 
 sented with $25,000 by the Prince of 
 Wales. On one occasion he swam 
 
116. 
 
 from Sandy Hook to Mauhatten Beach 
 daring a storm that drove vessels into 
 the harbor. In July, 1882, he beat 
 Wade at Coney Island lor the Ameri- 
 can championship and at diJEferent times 
 has performed wonderful feats in the 
 water, of which no record has been 
 made. He made his home in Bos- 
 ton, where his wife, also of English 
 birth and but a few years a resident iu 
 America, and two children were at the 
 time of his untimely death. Never 
 were physical prowess and courage 
 worse applied than iu the brave fellow's 
 last adventure, which, even if success- 
 ful, would have been of no pratical 
 service to the world. Captain Webb 
 seemed to have realized the danger of 
 his undertaking, for in an interview he 
 is reported to have said: " The current, 
 they say, runs thirty miles an hour, 
 and the river is ninety live feet deep. 
 It is wide just below the fall and nar- 
 rows at the rapids. I am only afraid of 
 the two awful ledges of rocks which 
 jut out from the shores into the Whirl- 
 pool. The water fairly shrieks and 
 hisses as it boils over them. Now, I 
 want to avoid the sides, and yet I dare 
 not go in the middle, for there lies the 
 vortex, and that means death. I will go 
 out into the river in a small boat just 
 above the Suspension Bridge. The 
 only clothing I shall wear will be the 
 silk trunks I had on when I swam the 
 English channel. At the time appoint- 
 ted I will leap into the river and float 
 into the rapids. Of course I will make 
 no attempt to go forward, for the fear- 
 ful speed of the water will carry me 
 through. When the water gets bad I 
 will go under the surface and remain 
 
117. 
 
 beneath until I am compelled to come 
 up lor breath. That will be pretty 
 often, I'll wager. When I strike the 
 Whirlpool I will strike out with all my 
 streuc?th, and try and keep away from 
 the suckhole in the centre. I will begin 
 with breast strokes and then use over- 
 hand strokes. My life will then depend 
 upon my mucles and my breath, with a 
 little touch of science behind them. It 
 may take me two or three hours to get 
 out of the Whirl |)ool which is about a 
 quarter of a mile long. When I do get 
 through I will try and land on the Can- 
 adian side, but if the current is too 
 strong and swift, as I think it is, I will 
 keep on down to Lewiston on the Amer- 
 ican side." Captain Webb's body now 
 lies in Oakwood Cemetery at Niagara 
 Falls, N. Y. , near the grave of Francis 
 Abbott, where it was buried July 31st, 
 1883, in the presence of his wife and 
 numerous spectators, a small but beau- 
 tiful monument marking his last resting 
 place. 
 
 The **0W Suspension 
 Bridge. 
 
 As this was the first Railway Suspen- 
 sion Bridge that was ever built in the 
 world, a brief history of its construc- 
 tion can not fail to be of some interest 
 to the reading public. 
 
 For many years the barrier which the 
 Niagara River chasm at this point, two 
 
118. 
 
 miles below the falls, placed between 
 Cauada and the States had been regard- 
 ed as an obstacle which should be sur- 
 mounted, and on April 23, 1846, the pres- 
 ent Suspension Bridge Co. received 
 its American charter, and on June 9th, 
 of the same year, it received its Cana- 
 dian charter. In 18 i7 the company or- 
 ganized with the following directors : 
 
 American Directors — Wash. Hunt, 
 Lot Clark, Samuel DeVeaux, George 
 Field, L. Spaulding, I. C. Colton, and 
 Charles Evans. 
 
 Canadian Directors— W. H. Merritt, 
 Thomas C. Street, James Cunningham, 
 Charles B. Stewart, James Oswald, 
 Samuel Zimmerman and William O. 
 Buchannan. 
 
 The work on the bridge was commenc- 
 ed in February, 1848, by Charles Elliet, 
 Jr. The first connection between the 
 two cliffs was made by a boy named 
 Homan Walsh flying a kite, for which 
 he received five dollars, across and 
 thereby spanning the gorge with a small 
 string. Later a cord was drawn over, 
 next a rope, and so on until one of suffi- 
 cient strength had been secured to draw 
 over an iron cable of 36 strands No, 10 
 wire. Two small wooden towers having 
 been erected one on each bank, the 
 wire cable, 1160 feet long, was hauled 
 across the chasm, and on the 13th of 
 March, 1848, Mr. Elliet and others cross- 
 ed in an iron basket suspended from the 
 cable. 
 
 This basket was made and designed 
 by Judge T. G. Hulett of this city to 
 aid in the construction of the suspension 
 bridge across the gorge. This basket 
 was made of strips of band iron from 
 one inch to one and one-half inches in 
 
119. 
 
 width and fastened with rivets. At 
 either end it was considerably hjo-her 
 than in the center. There was a seSt at 
 either end, their depth being about two 
 teet. Ihe manner in which its shape 
 was decided upon is interesting. Jud^-e 
 Hulett and General EUiet lirst met It 
 lu?.^]^ ^^^^^ Tavern in December, 
 1847, during the time Thomas W Funl 
 ning was proprietor. In the course of 
 a conversation upon the great work that 
 Cxeneral Elliet had the contract for the 
 question of establishing communication 
 between the banks by means of a cable 
 and basket was discussed and reco'^niz- 
 ed as possible. 
 
 The queetiou then arose whether the 
 basket siiould be of wood or iron The 
 first m^aied material was the choice of 
 Elliet, while Judge Hulett favored the 
 latter, ihe matter of weight was an im- 
 portant fact, and in calculations which 
 followed upon the plans of both men it 
 wafi founc. that a basket constructed 
 from Judge Hulett's plan would be 10 
 pounds lighter than one of wood, and it 
 was adopted The form of the basket 
 was quickly decided by Judge Hulett 
 and General EUiett arising from the 
 rocking chairs in which they had been 
 sitting and drawing them together, 
 there is the form of ihe basket," said 
 Judge Hulett. The basket proved a 
 source of considerable revenue, as the 
 charge tor transportation over and back 
 was!55lfor each person, and some days 
 as high as $125 were taken. 
 
 f'i?® }^^i^^ ¥. "^^ ^" t^e possession 
 of the Buflalo Historical Society. 
 
 A foot-bridge, three feet in width 
 was soon constructed, and over this a 
 great number of perons passed daily, 
 
joards. 
 
 Vhe 
 
 ^uaudw^ 
 
 ed 
 
 ke the- ",. 
 
 u 
 
 hAf 
 
 '-1- 
 
 120. 
 
 each paying 25 cents to the contractor. 
 A similar foot-bridge was now formed 
 parallel to this, and the basket cable 
 in the middle. 
 
 A terrific scene occurred just about 
 this time. While the workmen were 
 engaged on the second foot-bridge, 
 which was constructed about 250 feet 
 from the American shore, and about 150 
 feet from the British side, a tornado 
 from the southwest, struck it, turning 
 it quite over. Six men were at work on 
 the flooring of the bridge at this awful 
 moment, two of whom in a most unac- 
 countable manner made th'^^r vvaj t'^ the 
 shore upon fragments 
 untinished structure -■■ 
 backwards and i( r w ai. 
 web of a spider, and f 
 man beingo 200 feet -^ ^r =' , 
 
 supported by two strar.:- • '' , 
 
 were in consta;it exoer-;!* 
 long plunge into tlic r% . 
 who can fathom those 
 just then ? But the tin 
 held them to existence 
 enough to outlast tu i 
 
 the first cessation of the sw 3 
 
 a brave fellow workman mau. e 
 
 iron basket, and with a ladder proi., l- 
 ed among the pelting of the furious 
 rain to save the sufferers. He reached 
 the wreck, placed his ladder in com- 
 munication with it and the basket thus 
 affording a means by which all were 
 brought back safe to terra firma, unin- 
 jured in person, but well nigh scared to 
 death. 
 
 On the 26th of July following, Mr. 
 EUiet drove a span of horses and a 
 heavy carraige over and back, accom- 
 panied by his lady. 
 
121. 
 
 This was the first bridge built across 
 Niagara River and was completed in 
 1848° In 1853 the present railroad 
 bridf^e was commenced and it was com- 
 plete'd in the spring of 1855. The first 
 railway train passed over it March 23rd, 
 1^55. 
 
 The building of a suspension bridge 
 for the purposes for which this one is 
 used, was considered an experiment 
 when it was projected, and many well 
 known engineers predicted its failure. 
 Its founders,however,had faith in its able 
 engineer, John A. Roebling, who sup- 
 erintended its building and carried it to 
 completion. 
 
 The cost of the first wagon bridge 
 was about $60,000; that of the railway 
 structure about $450,000. 
 
 Many improvements have been made 
 within the past few years which have 
 added a large additional expense. All 
 of the woodwork, except the floor, has 
 been removed and replaced by iron. 
 The massive stone towers have given 
 way to steel, so that the bridge was 
 greatly beautified as well as strengthen- 
 ed by the change. 
 
 This is perhaps the strongest bridge 
 of its kind in the world, and not only 
 does it present a good view of the falls, 
 but also of the rapids below the bridge. 
 Under the superiutendance of Mr. 
 Thomas Reynolds this bridge is so well 
 taken care of that a person feels as safe 
 on it as he would on the solid ground. 
 The following are the dimensions of the 
 railway bridge : 
 
 Length of span from center to cen- 
 ter of towers 832 feet. 
 
 Heiwrbt of tower above rock on ^^ 
 
 American Shore 88 
 
322. 
 
 Heig'ht of tower above rock on 
 
 Canadian Shore 78 feet, 
 
 Hoig-bt of tower above floor of 
 
 railwaj^ — : 60 " 
 
 Height of track above water 258 "■ • 
 
 Number of wire cables 4 
 
 Diameter of each cable 10}4 in , 
 
 No. of No. 9 wires in each cable — i>,659 
 Ultimate aj^yregate strength of 
 
 cables 12,400 tons. 
 
 Weight of superstructure 800 " 
 
 Weight of superstructure and max- 
 imum loads 1,250 " 
 
 Maximum weight cables and stays 
 will support 7,")09 " 
 
 OL the lOtb of October, 18r;4, dnriEfr 
 the construction oi' the railway bridge, 
 a scaftolcl, upou which four iiieu were at 
 work, gave way, precipitating- two of 
 them into the gorge below, who struck 
 the rocks and rolled into the river, 
 while two caught onto the cables. From 
 this place they were rescued by Wil- 
 liam Ellis, who bravely oft'ered his ser- 
 vices when volunteers were called for to 
 go to their rescue, and for which service 
 he received $25. 
 
 The fare for foot passengers is 10 
 cents over and back if returning the 
 same day. 
 
 (5cintileY)er {fridge, 
 
 About 300 feet above the old suspen- 
 sion bridge is the great cantilever 
 bridge. This is a double track railroad 
 bridge designed to connect the New 
 York Central and Michigan Central 
 Railroads. The designs of this struc- 
 ture were worked out jointly by C. C._ 
 Schneider, chief engineer in charge of 
 
123. 
 
 the work, and Edward Hayes, engineer 
 of the Central Bridge Works. 
 
 The structure consists of two immense 
 steel towers, 139 feet 6^ inches high, 
 resting on stone piers 39 feet high. 
 Each of these towert supports a canti- 
 lever 595 feet 5f inches long. The shore 
 ends of the cantilevers are anchored to 
 the abutment masonry or anchorage 
 piers, and both river arms are connect- 
 ed by an intermediate span of 120 feet 
 which is suspended from the extreme 
 ends of the river arms. 
 
 The total length of the bridge proper 
 is 910 feet 4| inches between the centers 
 of the anchorage piers; the clear span 
 between towers being 470 feet. The 
 height from the surface of the water to 
 base of rail is 239 feet. 
 
 The first engine that ever passed over 
 this bridge was the pony engine of 
 Superintendent Burrows. They enter- 
 ed upon the bridge precisely at 11.43 on 
 the Gth day of December, 1883, and moved 
 forward quite slowly, and were two min- 
 utes in crossing the bridge proper. 
 Running close to the edge on the Cana- 
 dian shore, where a stop of some five 
 minutes was made, when the party re- 
 turned to this side in quicker time. 
 The final test was made on the 20th day 
 of the same month, when 20 heavy en- 
 gines and 40 loaded cars were run upon 
 the bridge at once. 
 
12i. 
 
 Hew Suspension Bi'iclge. 
 
 About oue-ei<?lith of a mile below the 
 falls is a carriage and foot bridge, Inbuilt 
 by Americaa and Canadian capitalists. 
 This bridge was built of iron and wood 
 and was completed in 1868, and was 
 opened for traffic Jan. 2, 1869. This 
 bridge stood the brunt of some terrible 
 gales in safety for a number of years. 
 It was afterwards remodeled and be- 
 came practically new. New steel tow- 
 ers, anchor pits, iron girders, needle 
 beams, suspenders, guys, a widened 
 wooden road-way, iron railings and 
 other improvements that made it more 
 than ever, as it was believed, thorough- 
 ly proof against any assault of the ele- 
 ments. But hardly had it been com- 
 pleted before the deatroyer came. 
 
 What proved to b3 a most disastrous 
 gale began to show its teeth on the af- 
 ternoon of the ninth of January 1889, 
 and gradually increased its force until 
 it gained during the night a velocity of 
 about 100 miles an hour. Trees, fences, 
 outbuildings and numerous other 
 things readily succumbed to this ter- 
 rific gale, and finally this beautiful 
 structure itself yielded to the force of 
 the wind and dropped into the gorge 
 below. 
 
 The bridge must have fallen about 
 3 o'clock on the morning of the 10th. 
 None of the bridge or customs officials 
 knew just when it fell, and it was not 
 until after daylight that the full disas- 
 ter became known. The steel towers, 
 the four great cables, the anchorages 
 and a lot of suspenders were still iu 
 
125. 
 
 place. Sections of the roadwaj'^ lay at the 
 bottom of the bauks ou either side of 
 the river, but by far the larger portion 
 had dropped into the river and sank to 
 the bottom. 
 
 Although no eye saw the disaster, 
 yet, at least, two men crossed the bridge 
 just before the bridge went down. Dr. 
 J. VV. Hodge, who had been called to 
 Canada about 10 o'clock, and on his 
 return to the American side about mid- 
 night, received such an experience that 
 he never will forget. He said that it 
 was almost impossible to make his way 
 across. The movement of the bridge 
 was indicative of broken stays, and as it 
 rose and fell in undulating swells and 
 then seemed to drop bodily many feet, 
 and the Doctor thought the roadway 
 would certainly break from the cables. 
 It is said that a man crossed over to 
 Canada, yet later, and had to creep 
 over on his hands and knees. 
 
 The length of this bridge, from shore 
 to shore, is 1268 ft. The length of cables 
 between anchorages is 1828 feet. The 
 height of bridge above the water, is 190 
 feet. Its towers are 100 feet high. 
 
 While the bridge was being rebuilt 
 the following fatal accident occurred : 
 About nine o'clock on the morning of 
 the 18th of April, 1889, an Italian named 
 James Mundi started from the Canadian 
 end with a box of bolts for workmen 
 some distance out. He carried the box 
 on his shoulder, distributing as he went, 
 but when he got some distance from the 
 Canadian shore he lost his balance and 
 fell into the river below, a distance of 
 175 feet. Strangely enough the fall did 
 not kill him, though one arm was seen 
 to be useless, he struck out for the 
 
12G. 
 
 shore. Planks were thrown from the 
 bridge for his assistance, but proved of no 
 avail. A boat started for him but be- 
 fore it could reach him the poor fellow 
 sank and was seen no more. 
 
 [iew)iston B^^^^^g, 
 
 The Lewistou bridge was commenced 
 in 1849, and finished in 1850. Oapt. 
 Edward Sorrell was its chief engineer 
 and Thomas M. Griffith assistant engi- 
 neer. The total length of cables was 
 1,245 feet and distance between the tow- 
 ers 1,040 feet. The bridge was support- 
 ed by 10 cables, live on each side, and 
 the strength of the bridge was estimated 
 at about 835 tons. It had a roadway 20 
 feet wide, giving ample room for teams 
 to pass and also for a footway. It was 
 blown down by a wind storm on April 
 16th, 1864, under peculiar circumstan- 
 ces. Some time previous there occur- 
 red a big ice Jam, and the ice rose higli 
 enough to fasten onto the guys and 
 those in charge of the structure fearing 
 that when the ice went oui it would 
 carry the In'idge with it, the guys were 
 taken up on the bridge. The ice passed 
 out without doing any injury and there 
 was a week or more of good weather 
 during which the bridge was used as 
 usual. But the bridge superintendent 
 neglected to replace the guys and the 
 wind carried it away as above stated. 
 There were two persons on the bridge 
 when the wind began to sway it prev- 
 
127- 
 
 ions to its fall, bnt tbey escaped without 
 injury. Tlie capital stock was .f GU.OOO — 
 $30,000 American and .i;30,00() Canadian 
 — but the American side cost the most 
 owing to the towers being somewhat 
 higher and were built of Lockport cut 
 stone. The Canadian towers were 
 built of stone from the Queenston 
 quarries near bj^ and were less expensive. 
 The old company sold out its franchise, 
 bridge, land and approaches thereto to 
 Theodore Irwin of Oswego, Sam Sloan 
 of New York, and their associates, the 
 directors of the R., W. & O. No effort 
 was ever made to rebuild the structure 
 and the cables and other parts of the 
 wreck hang suspended over the river to 
 this day. An old report says that some 
 years ago a desperate criminal climbed 
 over the cables hanging over the river, 
 and escaped into Canada from officers 
 who were in pursuit. A short time ago 
 a young man attempted to give an exhi- 
 bition in walking across and fell into 
 the water. He escaped with a ducking. 
 
 TWaid of me Mist, 
 
 The Maid of the Mist was a staunch 
 little steamer of about 110 tons burden, 
 built in 1854, (the first Maid of the 
 Mist was built in 1846) and was employ- 
 ed in carrying pleasure parties from her 
 landing, which was a little above the 
 Railwa}^ Suspension Bridge, to the 
 falls and back. It being employed in 
 this capacity for a number of years, her 
 owner conceived the idea of running 
 
128. 
 
 her tliroiigh the rapids for the purpose 
 of getting her clear of a certain mort- 
 gage to which she was subject while in 
 the locality she then was. For this 
 purpose he engaged two sailors who 
 were used to running the rapids in the 
 St. Lawrence river, but when the day 
 came for them to run down the Niagara 
 their courage failed them and they 
 refused to go, so Mr. Joel R. Robinson 
 was appealed to and he agreed to act as 
 pilot for this fearful voyage. Mr. 
 Jones, the engineer, consented to go 
 with him, and Mr. Mclutyre, a machin- 
 ist, volunteered his services. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon 
 on the sixth day of June, 186 1, these 
 three men went on board of the boat. 
 Jones took his place in the hold and 
 Mclntyre joined Robinson in the wheel 
 house, Robinson took his place at the 
 wheel. Self-possed and calm, he pulled 
 the bell which was the signal anxiously 
 waited for by the engineer, which was 
 to start them on their perilous journey. 
 With a shreik from her whistle and 
 the sound of escaping steam she started 
 up the stream for a little ways, then 
 turning she took her course down the 
 river. Many who saw her thought that 
 the courage of the intrepid Robinson 
 would fail and that he would turn again 
 before reaching the rapids below the 
 bridge, but on she rushed like a thing 
 of life with her crew of brave hearts, 
 and shot like an arrow, as many suppos- 
 ed into the very jaws of death. When 
 about a third of the way down to the 
 Whirlpool Rapids she was engulfed 
 beneath the mighty waters, her smoke- 
 stack was carried away and part of her 
 deck stove in, Mr. Robinson was thrown 
 
129. 
 
 fiat on bis back and Mr. Mclutyre was 
 tbrowu agaiust the wheel house with 
 such force as to break it through, while 
 Jones went down on his knees before 
 the glowing furnace, and, as he after- 
 wards said, a more earnest prayer never 
 was uttered. To that prayer he attrib- 
 utes their salvation from a watery 
 grave. But emerging from her fearful 
 baptism she rushed on at the mercy of 
 the waves until she reached the smooth 
 water in the Whirlpool on the American 
 side where for the iirst time since enter- 
 ing this tremendous current Mr. Robin- 
 sou again got her under his control. 
 Taking a short turn to the right she 
 again struck for the middle of the river 
 to battle with the mighty waves. Start- 
 liug the denizens of the neighboring 
 banks by the shrieks of her whistle and 
 fighting her way through the rapids 
 passing the Devil's Hole, she entered 
 the more placid water at Lewiston, a 
 triumphant conqueror, in 17^ minutes 
 from the time she passed under the 
 railway suspension bridge. 
 
 Thus was performed one of the most 
 daring feats on record, and many per- 
 sons enquire how it was possible for 
 them to get through these tremendous 
 waters without getting lost. The an- 
 swer'invariably is : "I don't know." 
 
 This can not be called a foolhardy 
 feat, for Mr. Robinson was a very cool 
 and heroic man. He had at various 
 times navigated the rapids above the 
 falls, when it was necessary for him to 
 do so for the purpose of saving life; 
 and he had full confidence in himself 
 that he could guide the little "Maid" 
 through this river of breakers and land 
 her safely in the smooth waters below. 
 
130. 
 
 But he found the water rougher than he 
 had anticipated. And to the public eye 
 it was simplj' luck and chance that the 
 voyage terminated so fortunately. As 
 an instance of the coolness of Mr. 
 Robinson during this hasty trip, we 
 would simply say, that, when Mr Mclu- 
 tyre was thrown against the wheel 
 house, for some reason or other he was 
 unable to arise, so Mr. Robinson put 
 his foot gently on his breast to keep 
 him from rolling to and fro and thus 
 held him until the end of the journey. 
 This trip had a decided effect upon Mr. 
 Robinson, and some attribute his death 
 to this cause, but this is not true, for the 
 disease which terminated his life was 
 contracted at New Orleans some time 
 after. 
 
 Joel R. Robinson, 
 
 Joel R. Robinson was born in Spring- 
 field, Mass., on the 27th day of Septem- 
 ber, 1808. and at an early date came to 
 Niagara Falls, which place he made his 
 home until his death. As a navigator 
 of the rapids he had no equal, and 
 whenever it became necessary to rescue 
 a human being from the jaws of those 
 fearful waters, Robinson was always 
 ready to render all the aid in his 
 power. 
 
 In the summer of 1838, while some 
 repairs were being made on the bridge 
 leading from the main shore to Bath 
 Island, a man by the name of Chapin 
 fell from the bridge and lodged on a 
 
131, 
 
 small islrtud below. This islaud which 
 is hiirdly more than 30 feet square is 
 covered with a few ever<?reeii trees and 
 bears his name, who, in all probabilit\ , 
 was its first occupant. All eyes were 
 turned on Robinson, as the only one 
 who could rescue the man from his per- 
 ilous position. Robinson launched his 
 boat from the foot of Bath Island, pick- 
 ing his way skillfully and cautiously 
 through the rapids to the little island, 
 took Ohapin and brought him safely to 
 shore. 
 
 The next instance we have of saving 
 life we copy from the work of G. W. 
 Hawley :, "In the summer of 1841 , a Mr. 
 Allen started for Ghippawa in a boat, 
 just before sunsel. Being anxious to 
 get across before dark, he applied 
 his oars with such vigor that one of 
 tbem was broken when he was about 
 opposite the middle Sister. With the 
 remaining oar he tried to reach the 
 head of Goat Island. 'I'he current, 
 however, set too strongly towards the 
 great Canadian Rapids and his only 
 hope was to reach the outer Sister. 
 Nearing this and not being able to run 
 his boat on it, he sprang out, and, being 
 a good swimmer, by a vigorous effort 
 succeeded in getting on it. Certain of 
 having a lonely, if not a quite unpleas- 
 ant night, and being the fortunate pos- 
 sessor of two stray matches, he lighted 
 a fire and solaced himself with his 
 thoughts and his pipe. Next morning, 
 taking off his red flannel shirt, he raised 
 a signal of distress. Townrds noon the 
 unusual smoke and red flag attracted 
 attention. The situation was soon as- 
 certained and Robinson informed of it. 
 Not long after a little red skiff 
 
132. 
 
 was carried across Goat Island aud 
 lauQched iu the cbauuel just below 
 Moss Islands. Robinson then pulled 
 himself across to the middle Sister and 
 tried iu vaiu to find a point where he 
 could cross to the outer one. 
 Ap{)roachin<j^ darkness compelled him 
 to suspeud operations. He rowed back 
 to Goat Island, procured some refresh- 
 ments, returned to the middle Sister, 
 threw them across to Allen and then 
 left him to his second night's solitude. 
 The next day Robinson took with him 
 two long, light, but strong cords, with a 
 properly shaped piece of lead weighing 
 about a pound. T3'ing the lead to one 
 of the lines he threw it across to Allen. 
 He then fastened the other end of Al- 
 len's line to the bow of the skiff; and 
 attaching his own cord to the boat also, 
 he shoved it oft. Allen drew it too him- 
 self, got into it. pushed off, and Robin- 
 son drew him to where he stood on the 
 middle island. Then seating Allen iu 
 the stern of the skiff he returned across 
 the rapids to Goat Island, where both 
 were assisted up the bank by the spec- 
 tators, and the little craft, too, which 
 seemed almost as much of a hero aud as 
 great a favorite with the crowd as Rob- 
 inson himself." 
 
 This WHS the second individual rescu- 
 ed by Robinson from islands which had 
 been considered totally inaccessible. 
 It is no exaggeration to say that there 
 was not another man on the globe that 
 could have saved Chapin and Alien as 
 he did. His laurels as *' Navigator of 
 the Rapids" can never fade or decay. 
 They are made perenial by the gener- 
 ous motives and humane acts through 
 which they were won. 
 
 Joel R. Robinson died June 30, 1863. 
 
133. 
 
 Index, 
 
 mi XT- T»- Page, 
 ihe Niaf2;ara Kiver 3 
 
 The Griffiu 4 
 
 The Old Stoue Chimney 6 
 
 The Campaign of 1759..! 9 
 
 Indian Strategy 10 
 
 Devil's Hole Massacre 12 
 
 Tuscaror a Reservation. 14 
 
 The War of 1812 16 
 
 The Surrender of Hull 17 
 
 A Naval Engagement 18 
 
 The battle of Qiieenstou Heights 20 
 
 Capture of Fort George 30 
 
 Battle of Stony Creek 35 
 
 Heroine Laura Secord 38 
 
 A General Campaign 42 
 
 British Cross the Border 45 
 
 Perry on Lake Erie 47 
 
 American Citizens Impressed 48 
 
 The Army Disciplined 52 
 
 Capture of Fort Erie 55 
 
 The Battle of Chippawa 55 
 
 Battle of Lundy's Lane 61 
 
 Drummond at Fort Erie 71 
 
 Sortie from Fort Erie 73 
 
 Resume 75 
 
 Burning of the Caroline 76 
 
 The Hermit of Niagara 84 
 
 Avery on the Log 91 
 
 Pierce's Novel Brigade 106 
 
 An Indian Adventure 108 
 
 A Narrow Escape 110^ 
 
 Capt. Webb's Last Swim 112- 
 
 The "Old" Suspension Bridge 117 
 
 Cantilever Bridge 122 
 
 New Suspension Bridge 124 
 
 Lewiston Bridge 126 
 
 Maid of the Mist 127 
 
 Joel R. Robinson 130 
 
To Sportsmen. 
 
 Persons Wishing for 
 
 A Good Day's Sport 
 
 Cannot do better than take a trip to the 
 ancient and beautiful vilhiye of 
 
 • LEVy^IST0N • 
 
 Situated at tlie head of navlf>at ion on the low- 
 er Niagara, where 
 
 Fish are in Abundance. 
 
 And the facilities for catching are 
 ample and convenient. There are no 
 dangerous rapids to be drawn into and 
 hurried over a mighty fall while fish- 
 ing, but the stream is placid and still. 
 
 Boats aud All Kinds of Fishing 
 Tackle can be Obtained 
 
 iipiEPJI HOTEL, 
 
 An old and well established house. 
 
 •H. G. Cornell, Prop,, 
 
 Will spare no pains to please all who 
 give him a call. 
 
Has become one of the 
 
 most Famous SDimoer Resorts 
 
 Ou Lake Ontario. 
 
 BHaBH 
 Not only does Lake Island Park draw its 
 
 The Facilities for Boating, Bathing and 
 Fishing are Unsurpassed, 
 
 ^""^ hn^^*^ Vf^^ *° ^"^«>^ *^^ comforts of a 
 SoTo'al till ""^"^"^' "^ ''^''^ «l^-t« <^-^ 
 
 Hotel SotiieriaDii, 
 
 Which is conveniently located. 
 
 The House is En tirely Ne w 
 
 And was built especially for the conven- 
 venience of tourists. It has many 
 rooms with all modern im- 
 provements, and its ge- 
 nial proprietor, 
 
 IF*. B. SEOOI^ID 
 
 Will do all in his power to please the 
 Most Fastidious. 
 
- To Reep Posted ^^^ 
 
 3 
 
 THe Slirriiig HiGidents of tHe 
 «s Kiapra Froijtier ® 
 
 
 Yoli should subscribe for 
 
 Tie lliagara Falls Journal. 
 
 $1.50 Per Vear. 
 
 Center Street, 
 
 TOURISTS' 
 
 LiGi aM Simple Room. 
 
 Headquarters Inter national\ ---^- 
 
 ; ; .• .• .* Brewing Go's. 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 CONGRESS