Fort Erie

“ On the morning of July fourth, a courier, on a foam-flecked steed, dashed into Fort George and announced to the officer of the day the startling intelligence of the invasion by the enemy in force and the surrender of Fort Erie. Soon all was activity, knapsacks were packed, extra rations cooked and served out, ammunition waggons loaded, cartridge-boxes filled, and the whole garrison, except a small guard, were under orders to march to meet the enemy at dawn the following morning. ”

“ The garrison road running from the west towards Fort Erie ascends the ridge crossing the Ridge road almost at right angles, about half a mile or perhaps a little farther there runs a road parallel with the garrison road which also leads to Fort Erie. It will thus be seen that in moving along the Ridge road from Ridgeway that the ground rises gradually for about a quarter of a mile on the right, and slopes downwards for about the same distance to the left; on both sides there are cultivated fields ”

“ As the British had constructed the fort, it was a small, unfinished work, about one hundred and fifty yards from the Lake-shore, open in the rear, and mounting three guns. The American engineers completed its rear bastions, and constructed an earthwork seven feet high, with a ditch, to the shore, where a small stone-work completed the defence on that side, and brought [71] the lines to the water’s edge. The stone-work was called the Douglass battery, after the lieutenant of engineers who built it. Fort Erie, Battery Douglass, and their connecting breastwork secured the camp on the right. ”

“ What was to have been gained by landing the men at Fort Erie cannot be imagined. Why these officers should give up the advantage of their vessel to fight ten times their number on shore is perfectly unaccountable. Had they barricaded the vessel and staid in the stream they could have made the village too hot to hold the enemy, and would, without doubt, have inflicted great loss on them, and have prevented vessels from coming over to take them away, or if they had come over could have run them down if they attempted to leave. ”

“ Towards the close of May 1813, the Americans, after having hotly bombarded Fort George on the Niagara frontier, for two successive days, crossed the river and succeeded in establishing themselves in that post which was evacuated as untenable. The British loss on this occasion was considerable, and General Vincent, who commanded the army of the centre, retreated with much precipitation towards Burlington Heights, withdrawing at the same time the garrison from Fort Erie. ”

“ It is true that at first, flushed with their almost bloodless victory at Fort Erie, the Fenians advanced fiercely upon their opponents, and for the moment repulsed them; but in the end the Canadians triumphed, and succeeded in putting the invaders to flight, driving them back to Fort Erie a frenzied, ungovernable mob, only too thankful to be taken as prisoners by the United States war steamer Michigan, and protected from total annihilation at the hands of the, by this time, thoroughly aroused and wrathful Canadian citizens. ”

“ Colonel Dennis, on his returning to Fort Erie, met Captains King and Akers, and the force with them, about two miles from Black Creek. They were embarked by means of small boats and all the prisoners were taken on board and placed below; this occupied some little lime. The Tug then proceeded up the river as far as the village of Fort Erie, where she was moored to the dock, and a portion of the Artillery landed and some more prisoners which had been taken by the citizens of the place were taken over and placed on board. ”

“ But the army was in rags and tatters; many men had no shoes; before Brock captured the guns at Detroit there had not been muskets to go round the men, and there were not cannon enough to mount the batteries cast up along Niagara River facing the American defenses. As the boats came down Lake Erie and disembarked the American prisoners on August 24, at Fort Erie on the Canadian side, opposite Black Rock and Buffalo, wild yells of jubilation rent the air. ”

“ During the Fort Erie fight nine Fenians lost their lives and fourteen were wounded, most of them seriously.
The bravery and courage of the men who composed the Welland Canal Field Battery and the Dunnville Naval Brigade in standing up before an enemy nearly ten times their number, and fighting valiantly until the last round of their ammunition was expended and they were obliged to succumb to overpowering forces, will serve to show the resolute spirit and determination of these gallant troops. ”

“ After resting the men for about an hour at the scene of the battle of the day before, the command marched quietly into Fort Erie, and were encamped on the high ground above the village, where the other corps had already been stationed. By noon on Sunday, about 3500 men were concentrated on the heights above Fort Erie, while the 13th Battalion held Port Colborne, and a battalion of 450 men under command of Lieut.-Col. ”

“ The irregular regiments of Hull's command, under the terms of surrender, were on board on their way to their Ohio homes, via Lake Erie and Buffalo. The two vessels reached Fort Erie harbour safely, and being rightly regarded by the British as immune from attack, were left undefended, in charge of an officer and nine men only, most of whom were voyageurs. In addition to the prisoners, the two brigs carried great quantities of fur and 600 packs of deer skins. During darkness Lieutenant Ellis, with three armed boats and 150 United States troops and sailors, dropped alongside. ”

“ From the description of the general features of the country, given in a former chapter, it will be remembered that Lake Erie, the Welland River and Canal, and the Niagara River, enclose a section of country very nearly square, with a railway running from Chippawa to Fort Erie, and another from Port Colborne to the same place. ”

“ Fort Erie is upon the Canadian shore, opposite Buffalo, just at the point where the Niagara river runs out of lake Erie. It was destroyed during the war of 1812.
I have scarcely enjoyed any thing so much as that sail over Lake Erie. The lake is here five or six miles broad. The water rushes swiftly past, as if eager to accomplish its glorious destiny of plunging over the rocks of Niagara, there to be a spectacle which nations come from afar to gaze upon. We caught the excitement which seemed to animate the water, as we were tossed upon its wavelets with{73} quick, gay, tilting motion ”

“ I returned three days ago from an excursion to Fort Erie—the Grand River, where the Indians of the Six Nations are settled—and back by the head of the lake. Every gentleman, with whom I had an opportunity of conversing, assured me that an exceedingly good disposition prevailed among the people. The flank companies, in the districts in which they have been established, were instantly completed with volunteers, and indeed an almost unanimous disposition to serve is daily manifested. ”

“ Seventeen hundred men, Britons and Americans, lay side by side, dead or wounded, on that field of battle. The position of the British was too strong to be taken and held, and the invaders, realizing the futility of further effort, withdrew from the field, returning to Fort Erie, which they had already captured, and where they more adequately intrenched their position. ”

“ The landing of a body of about five thousand men, mostly regular troops, was aided by a squadron of war-ships in undisputed command of Lake Erie, and the co-operation of a more powerful fleet on Lake Ontario was arranged for when the invaders had fought their way to its shores. Fort Erie was taken with scarcely a show of resistance, and an ill-judged attack by an inferior British brigade near Chippawa was sharply repelled with severe loss. ”

“ Gansevoort and a sergeant in the United States Artillery, who happened to be on the Canadian side were made prisoners, and the ferry boats plying across the river at Queenston and Fort Erie, were seized by the British troops at those places. The people of Buffalo received their first intimation of the declaration of war by witnessing the capture of a merchant schooner off the harbor by boats from Fort Erie.
The flank companies of militia marched immediately to the frontier, and were distributed along the river in taverns and farm houses. ”

“ The Americans were still strong in Upper Canada. On the 17th, General Brown sallied from Fort Erie, and, though driven back, caused a severe loss to the British, who soon after raised the siege. Being pressed by a large additional force under Izard, General Drummond retreated to the old position at Burlington Heights; but receiving a reinforcement, consisting of a detachment of the troops newly arrived from Europe, he again advanced. Izard evacuated Fort Erie, and took up winter quarters on the opposite side of the river. ”

“ On one side are the Canadian forts, on the other the American, slab-walled all of them, with scarcely a stone foundation except in bastions used as powder magazines. Fort Erie on the Canadian side faces Buffalo and Black Rock on the American side. Where the old French voyageurs used to portage past the Falls, about halfway on the Canadian side south of the precipice, is the village of Chippewa. Here Brock has stationed {342} a garrison with cannon. ”

“ Any delays in transport of troops so far as relates to the service of the G. W. R. have arisen chiefly from the fact that on the Erie and Ontario Railway (being but a single line of track and with sidings still incomplete) there were no means of shunting or of passing trains, whilst that part of the line approaching Fort Erie is still in a very unfinished and unserviceable state. It was impossible therefore even with the most prompt assistance afforded by Mr. Swinyard, the manager and all the subordinate officials of the G. W. R. to secure the desired rapidity of movement. ”

“ The young men's Christian association has a library of 4,710 volumes. There are one daily and six weekly (two German) newspapers, an academy, marine hospital, city hospital, jail, orphan asylum, and 29 churches.—The French had a fort on the site of Erie, known as Fort de la Presqu'isle, about 1749, The town was laid out in 1795. ”

“ It is remarkable that neither of these officers and one of them an engineer officer, should have thought of trying to strengthen the bulwarks of their vessel, and place her in as favourable a condition for fighting as possible. There was a pile of cord wood on the dock at Fort Erie and plenty also at Black Creek, if that had been piled up against the bulwarks, sloping up from the inside it would have made them musket proof, and the men could have fought behind a defence of that kind with comparative safety. ”

“ But come, spur on, we have far to ride—spur on. Here we are upon their works. Here is the stone water-battery, and there the two strong redoubts, and back of them the remains of their lines, and deep entrenchments. [119] These are the works which were carried in the memorable and desperate sortie of Fort Erie. The right by Davis and Miller; the left by Porter and his volunteers. Here, on the left, quoth the Major, fell my gallant, my accomplished friend, Lieut. Col. Wood, at the head of his column. He was one of the most brilliant officers in the service, and as beautiful as a girl. ”

“ Recalling some of the scouts we then proceeded on the gallop up the river road towards Fort Erie, being informed by the people we met that a number of Fenians were still there; on coming in sight of the village we saw men dodging in every direction, but when we got up nearly all were hidden or gone ”

“ On this occasion the Royal Scots had to mourn the loss of many brave officers and gallant men, nearly 160 being killed, wounded, or prisoners. The siege and capture of Fort Erie is distinguished not merely for the gallantry of our Royals, but possesses, moreover, a melancholy 119interest, from the lamentable catastrophe—the explosion of a mine—which destroyed many of our brave soldiers, who, struggling on, had effected a footing in the breach. ”

“ Thus situated, and not knowing what was going on elsewhere, I decided that the best course was to return to Fort Erie and ascertain if crossings had been made at other points; and, if so, I was content to sacrifice myself and my noble little command for the sake of leaving the way open.
“I returned to the old fort (Erie) , and about six o’clock sent word to Captain W. J. Hynes, and his friends at Buffalo, that the enemy would surround me with 5000 men before morning, fully provided with artillery; that my little command, which had by this time considerably decreased, could not hold out long ”

“ Peacocke, presumed then under previously concocted arrangement, to be near there moving up, and we returned with the Tug in accordance with that arrangement to meet Col. Booker and the Port Colborne Force at the Upper R.R. Depot, at Fort Erie.
On our arrival there we could see or hear nothing of them. This was accounted for subsequently, by the fact that Lt.-Col. Booker had received after we left an order from Col. Peacocke directing him to turn off the R.R. at Ridgeway, some 8 miles above Fort Erie and cross the country in order to meet and attack in concert. ”

“ The Fenians lost at Ridge way six men killed dead, and probably one or two may have died since—how many were wounded it is impossible to say. At the engagement at Fort Erie seven were killed and a great many wounded, some of whom afterwards died. This was the entire loss, although the general impression has been that the loss was much greater. ”

“ Robb as to future proceedings, we then determined on account of being encumbered with so many prisoners on board (fifty-seven in number) and so very few men left to guard them, to run to Port Colborne and send the prisoners to a place of safety. In passing Fort Erie up the river we, for a distance of a mile's run, were under a heavy fire of musketry from the Canada shore; we passed without any casualties worth mentioning and arrived safely at Port Colborne, at half-past six, p.m. of same day, and delivered the prisoners over to Lieut. ”