Battle of Lundy's Lane

“ Reading the other day in the Canadian Illustrated paper an account of the reinterment of the soldiers' bodies found near Lundy's Lane, and having in my possession a paper, which I enclose, thinking it might be acceptable to the society of which you are the president as a curiosity, and probably the only one extant. ”

“ It is fair to call Lundy's Lane a drawn battle. The casualties were something more than eight hundred for each side, and the troops engaged were about twenty-five hundred Americans and a like number of British. Both the shattered columns soon retired behind strong defenses. General Drummond led the British troops into camp at Niagara Falls, and General Ripley, in temporary command of the American brigades, Scott and Brown having been wounded, occupied the unfinished works of Fort Erie, on the Canadian side, just where the waters of Lake Erie enter the Niagara River. ”

“ Is it the characteristic of a victorious army to leave the conquered field and retire two miles from it? Lossing also admits that the Americans did not return to the battle-field next morning, but burnt the bridge which separated the British army from them, and retreated up the Niagara river. Is this the conduct of a conquering army, to flee from the enemy whom he pretends to have conquered? Mr. Lossing's admissions of details contradict the pretence of American victory at Lundy's Lane, and prove American defeat. ”

“ General Brown in difficulties; retreats towards Chippewa; is pursued by General
Riall; burns the village of St. David's; makes a stand at Lundy's Lane—called Bridgewater by the Americans 437 Battle of Lundy's Lane; preliminaries to it 438 The battle itself; protracted and bloody struggle; Americans retreat to beyond Chippewa 439 Forces engaged; losses on both sides; victory absurdly claimed on the American side 441 American army retreats to Fort Erie, pursued by General Drummond, who invests the fort 443 Storming the fort; terrible conflict ”

“ Secord passed away, and was laid beside her husband in the burying ground of Lundy's Lane, or Drummondville, or still again Niagara Falls South, as it is called. This burying ground was surely suitable for the last resting place of one who had gone through so many of the storms of life, for it was the old battlefield of Lundy's Lane, the most sanguinary and so far as Canada was concerned the most successful battle of the war, (July 26, 1814) , though it cost so many precious lives. In 1901 the Ontario Historical Society erected a handsome monument over the grave of Laura Secord. ”

“ When all have behaved nobly, it is unnecessary to hold up particular instances of merit in Corps or Individuals. The Lieut, General cannot however refrain from expressing in the strongest manner his admiration of the gallantry and steadiness of the 89th Regiment, under Lieut. ”

“ The Hornet captures the Peacock. The Americans take York (Toronto) , and the British are repulsed at Sackett’s Harbor. Capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon. The Boxer taken by the Enterprise. Commodore Perry wins the battle of Lake Erie.
1814. General Jackson defeats the Creek Indians. The Essex surrenders to the Phœbe and the Cherub. The Americans are victorious at Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. Battle of Lake Champlain. In Europe the year was chiefly notable for the entry of the Allies into Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and his withdrawal to Elba. ”

“ Adjutant General, the service has lost a gallant, intelligent, and meritorious young officer.
The Lieut. General and President has great pleasure in dismissing to their homes the whole of the Sedentary Militia who have so handsomely come forward on the occasion, confident that on any future emergency, their Loyalty will be again equally conspicuous — He will perform a grateful duty in representing to His Majesty's Government, the zeal, bravery, and alacrity with which the Militia have co-operated with His Majesty's Troops.
(Signed) J. HARVEY.
Lt. ”

“ What is certain is that from the moment Londonderry was menaced by the troops of King James, Lundy used all his endeavours to paralyse the defence of the city. In April 1689 he was in command of a force of Protestants who encountered some troops under Richard Hamilton at Strabane, when, instead of holding his ground, he told his men that all was lost and ordered them to shift for themselves; he himself was the first to take flight back to Derry. ”

“ While the Twenty-third was thus engaged on the right, the Twenty-first silently advanced in front, covered by shrubbery and the darkness, within a few rods of the British battery undiscovered, and with a sudden rush carried the guns, bayoneting the artillery-men where they stood.
So superb a feat of arms might well startle the British general, who could not see that less than five hundred men were engaged in it; but according to the British account [78] the guns stood immediately in front of a British line numbering at least twenty-six hundred men in ranks along Lundy’s Lane. ”

“ He was enlisted in a warfare captained by financiers of major caliber and committed to a struggle out of which victory would bring him not only wealth, but a place of his own among such financiers—a place which Glory could not share.
He and his principals alike were fighting for the prizes of the looting victor in a battle without chivalry, and whether he won or was crushed by American Oil and Gas, the native landholder must be ground and bruised between the impact of clashing forces. In the trail of his victory, no less than theirs, would be human wreckage. ”

“ George Walker, rector of Donaghmore, who had raised a regiment for the defence of the protestants, conveyed this intelligence to Lundy the governor. This officer directed him to join colonel Grafton, and take post at the Long-causey, which he maintained a whole night against the advanced guard of the enemy; until being overpowered by numbers, he retreated to Londonderry and exhorted the governor to take the field, as the army of king James was not yet completely formed. Lundy assembling a council of war, at which Cunningham and Richards assisted ”

“ The Captain of chasseurs again waved his hand. Every man of the battery was killed before the guns were in position. It took an entire company of infantry—half of them being [Pg 203] killed in the action—to haul those guns back into the Lunéville road, thus to clear the way for another advance.
From then on until 1 o'clock in the afternoon there were more infantry attacks, all failing as lamentably as the first. The seventy-five were holding off the 12,000. At the last attack they let the Germans advance to the entrance of the bridge. They invited them with taunts to advance. ”

“ The principal event in the history of Lundy is its capture by a party of Frenchmen, in the reign of William and Mary. A ship of war, under Dutch colours, brought up in the roadstead, and sent ashore for some milk, pretending that the captain was sick. The islanders supplied the milk for several days, when at length the crew informed them that their captain was dead, and asked permission to bury him in consecrated ground. This was immediately granted, and the inhabitants assisted in carrying the coffin to the grave. ”

“ They openly declared Lundy a traitor, and, if they could have found him, would have killed him on the spot. He had, however, concealed himself, and at night was enabled, by connivance of his friends, to escape over the walls in disguise. As night approached, the people, to their astonishment, found the gates set open, and the keys were not to be found. People said they had seen the confederates of Lundy stealing out, and the alarm flew through the place. The townsmen came together, and called all to arms by beat of drum. A message was despatched to Cunningham to bring in his forces ”

“ Mountjoy soon left Londonderry, and Lundy was entrusted with the command of the small protestant garrison, being readily accepted by the citizens as their ‘governor.’ The sentiment of Lundy's soldiers, as well as of the citizens, very quickly declared itself against James, and early in 1689 Lundy gave in his own adhesion to William III, and signed a declaration by which he bound himself to stand by the new government on pain of being considered a coward and a traitor. ”

“ One band was led by the brave young chief of Glengarry, shouting his war-cry, with the faithful and affectionate Allan of Lundy by his side, intent on little else but to protect his precious charge from harm.
There were but few men of the MacKenzies there to make a stand, and those who tried to do so were scattered, overpowered, and cut down. Wild were the shrieks that arose, as the miserable and comparatively defenceless people, leaving their wretched houses and boats to destruction, and their effects and cattle to be plundered, fled away towards the mountains. ”

“ Instantly the
mighty watcher on the summit is alert and tense; and as the great snowy
image of the swan floats by, in mid-air and midway of the broad expanse
of water, he meets it. No battle is fought up there—the two are not
well matched; and thus, separated from all that is little and
struggling far above all that is low, with the daylight dying on his
spotlessness, the swan receives the blow in its heart. ”

“ Availing himself of the temporary check which his pursuers had thus met with, Allan of Lundy and his party made extraordinary exertions, by which they gained so much ground on their pursuers, that they fairly left the MacKenzies out of sight. They were thus enabled to rest [189] for a little while, like a tired herd of chased deer, in the hills near the burn of Altsay. But their repose was short. The pack of their enemies, who were following on their track, soon opened in yells like those of hounds when they came in view of them, and they were compelled to stand to their arms. ”

“ The pillage was not wholesale, the incendiarism only extended to one part of the town, the Faubourg d’Einville, and one or two single buildings in other quarters, including the Jewish synagogue, and the cases of cold-blooded murder of civilians were not very numerous. Lunéville is not an obscure village, and it is not unfair to say that, as a general rule, the larger the place which the fortune of war had placed at the mercy of the German troops, the more careful they were in the way in which they treated it. ”

“ But the Sioux braves were upon the gallant band like an avalanche of death, an Indian police officer upon the [Pg 29] other side of Sitting Bull was shot through the heart, and that one crack of a rifle opened the crash of battle.
"We must beat them back! Turn your Winchesters upon them. Fire!"
The order of the gallant soldier of the Seventh was obeyed, as the rush of the braves was made upon the little band fighting against such desperate odds, and then the death-knell of the mighty medicine man rang out, for in the battle to rescue their chief, he received a bullet in his heart. ”

“ Therefore it was when Colonel Lundy had directed him to place himself under Macpherson ́s orders, with some prospect of service, he had obeyed with alacrity, hopeful that their destination might be one of those towns upon the Bann where the Protestant forces were awaiting the coming of the Irish army which was rapidly advancing north. In this he had been disappointed, but he was glad to forsake for a time the comparative inactivity of garrison life, and almost hoped that Macpherson ́s anticipation of danger might be realized. ”

“ Spurrier intended that when the smoke cleared from the field upon which the forces of Harrison and those of Trabue had been embattled, the Harrison banners should be victoriously afloat and the Trabue standards dust trailed. But also he intended that the native land-holders, upon whom both combatants had looked as mere unfortunate onlookers raked by the cross fire of opposing artillery, should emerge as real and substantial gainers.
Of late the man had not escaped the penalty of one who faces responsibility and wields power. ”

“ Now Dearborn’s men are charging with the bayonet, and sharpshooters are picking off the British officers. Human beings could not stand under such an onslaught. The enemy’s lines wavered, and then were swept off the field by the soldiers they had ridiculed. What will the King of France think when he hears of this?
Ah! there rides Frazer, gallant soldier, rallying the disheartened British troops. Frazer is a host in himself. If he succeeds, he may turn the tide of battle. ”

“ Its home is the battle-field of black roaring tempests; the red lightnings play among its roots ; all night seamless snow-drifts are woven around its heart; no bee ever rises to it from the valley below where the green spring is kneeling; no morning bird ever soars past it with observant song ”

“ On the fourteenth of April ships from England anchored in the bay. They had on board two regiments which had been sent, under the command of a Colonel named Cunningham, to reinforce the garrison. Cunningham and several of his officers went on shore and conferred with Lundy. Lundy dissuaded them from landing their men. The place, he said, could not hold out. To throw more troops into it would therefore be worse than useless: for the more numerous the garrison, the more prisoners would fall into the hands of the enemy. ”

“ Back they go to the hill behind, where there are reinforcements waiting with cannon, the riflemen at their heels. Oh, the cruelty of it all, shooting, stabbing, yelling!
Now the British swarm upon the meagre lines of the Rangers and the latter are forced back, literally by weight of numbers. And, as they retreat, a British detachment is sent around to attack them on the flank. They press forward, expecting to crumple up Morgan’s men like tall grain in the hand of the reaper! They will teach those rude fellows a lesson, that Americans can’t stand before the trained soldiers of Europe. ”