Vincent joined Harvey with the reserve, and the whole force remained in position on the Common for nearly half an hour. Commodore Chauncey's flagship entered the river and anchored abreast of Fort George. The troops at Youngstown began to enter their boats while the enemy in front were steadily prolonging their lines to the right with the evident purpose of occupying the only possible avenue of retreat, and surrounding the British forces.
At noon, General Vincent despatched an order to Lieut.-Colonel Claus, to evacuate Fort George and join him upon the Queenston road. He immediately began his retreat upon St. Davids, the infantry retiring through the woods, and the artillery and baggage by the road. This movement was so quietly accomplished that it seems to have almost escaped the attention of the enemy who were busily engaged in reforming their line.
General Dearborn had become so much enfeebled by his exertions, and the effects of his previous illness, that he had to be lifted from his horse and supported to a boat which conveyed him on board the flagship, from which he viewed the landing of his troops, although unable to keep his feet for more than a few minutes at a time. The command accordingly devolved upon Major General Morgan Lewis, an officer of little experience and less military knowledge, but an active and influential politician, who had been in turn Chief Justice and Governor of the State of New York and was a brother-in-law of the Secretary of War. He was absurdly fond of military pomp, parade and display, and his opponents delighted to ridicule a speech he had made to the militia when Governor in which he had remarked that "the drum was all important in the day of battle." Having the fate of Van Rensselaer and Winchester fresh in his memory, his movements were cautious to the verge of timidity. An hour and a half elapsed after Harvey retreated before he ventured to advance beyond the village. He had then not less than 4,000 men in order of battle besides the reserve of marines and seamen. His line extended without a break from the lighthouse on Mississauga Point to the river above Fort George. That work was approached with excessive caution as the sound of repeated explosions within, caused them to dread a recurrence of their disastrous experience at York, and even the lighthouse was avoided lest it should be hurled in fragments on their heads. Colonel Scott was in fact unhorsed by a large splinter which broke his collar bone, but there were no other casualties. When the fort was entered, it was found that the garrison had disappeared with the exception of a few soldiers of the 49th Regiment, who were still engaged in dismantling the works. Some of the men were surprised in the act of cutting down the flagstaff to obtain the garrison flag from which thehalliards had been shot away, and others were taken prisoners as they attempted to escape through the main gate. More than a hundred sick and wounded were found in the hospital. The village of Niagara was entirely deserted, and many of the houses had been much damaged by cannon shot.
During the afternoon the Second Regiment of United States Dragoons was brought over from Youngstown, but scarcely any pursuit was attempted as the American army was described as much exhausted from being under arms for eleven hours. No one seemed to know positively which way the British had retreated. Colonel Scott with some of the riflemen seems to have advanced a few miles along the Queenston road, but was peremptorily recalled by General Lewis who feared an ambush. Meanwhile Vincent's column had retired in almost perfect order, leaving scarcely a straggler behind and marched with such speed that the rear guard arrived that night at DeCew's house, where a small magazine of provisions had been formed a few days before in anticipation of a reverse.
About four o'clock in the afternoon a dragoon reached Fort Erie with information of the loss of Fort George, and Lieut.-Colonel Bishop immediately began his retreat with the regular troops and field guns stationed there, leaving Major John Warren with a few men of the Third Lincoln Regiment of militia to occupy the works and engage the attention of the enemy on the opposite bank. Soon after his departure, Warren opened fire on Black Rock from all the batteries, and continued the cannonade all night. At daybreak the destruction of the stores and fortifications began. The barracks and public buildings were burnt, the magazines blown up, the guns burst or otherwise rendered unserviceable along the whole line from Point Abino to Chippawa. When this had been thoroughly accomplished, Warren disbanded his men, and an American force crossed from Black Rock and took possession of the dismantled works. A quantity of stores which had been abandoned at Queenston, was destroyed on the same day, by Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Clark, at the head of a small party of the Third Lincoln Regiment, who had returned from Beaver Dams for the purpose.
Scarcely had this been done, when a strong brigade of American troops advanced from Fort George and occupied that village.
During these operations General Vincent had lost the whole of his garrison ordnance and a considerable quantity of spare arms and military stores. His regular force had been diminished by 350 officers and men, nearly all of whom were killed or wounded, but he was joined during the night of the 27th by two strong companies of the 8th Regiment which had advanced that day as far as the mouth of the Twelve Mile Creek on their way to Fort George. The loss of the regulars in the battle was officially stated at fifty-two killed, forty-four wounded, and 262 missing, nearly all of those reported missing being either killed or left wounded on the field. The small detachment of Lincoln militia engaged is stated to have lost fiveofficers and eighty men, killed or wounded, but no official return seems to have been preserved. The names only of Captain Martin McClellan and Privates Charles Wright and William Cameron, who were killed, have been recorded. Two Mohawk Indians, Joseph Claus and Tsigotea, were also among the slain. General Boyd stated that his men found 107 dead and 175 wounded of the British troops upon the field. The losses of some of the detachments actually engaged were truly appalling. The five companies of the 8th Regiment lost, Lieut. Drummie killed, Major Cotton, Lieuts. Nicholson, McMahon, and Lloyd, and Ensign Nicholson wounded, and 196 non-commissioned officers and privates killed, wounded, or missing out of 310 of all ranks who went into action. The Glengarry Light Infantry lost Captain Liddle and Ensign McLean killed, Captain Roxborough and Lieut. Kerr wounded, and 73 non-commissioned officers and men out of an aggregate of 108. The grenadier company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment lost Capt. Winter, Lieut. Stewart, and fourteen others out of forty.
The total loss of the American army was officially stated at 150, of whom thirty-nine were killed. The only officer killed was Lieut. Henry Hobart, a grandson of General Dearborn. Covered as their landing was by the fire of so many cannon, it is, perhaps, remarkable that their loss was so great. As a proof, however, of the severity of the short struggle on the plain. Dr. Mann, the American army surgeon, who was present, remarked that he found 27 dead and 87 severely wounded on the field when he landed and that nearly 400 of both armies lay stretched on a plot of ground not more than 200 yards in length and fifteen in breadth.
On the 28th, the whole of the militia except Merritt's troop of Provincial Cavalry, Runchey's company of negroes, and about sixty picked men of other corps who were determined to follow the fortunes of the army, were disbanded, and Vincent continued his retreat to Grimsby and finally to Burlington Heights where he arrived on the 2nd June with eleven field guns and 1800 seasoned soldiers, who, in spite of their recent reverse were in high spirits and eager to meet the enemy again on more equal terms. The brilliant result of the action at Stoney Creek three days later amply atoned for a defeat by which they had lost no credit.
The Americans were justly disappointed by the incompleteness of their success. For nearly two days they appear to have absolutely lost all track of their enemy. "When we marched for Queenston on the 28th," wrote an officer in the United States army whose letter was published at the time in theBaltimore Whig, "we found the British far advanced on their retreat by the back road toward the lower part of the Province. They collected their force very actively. Our friends hereabouts are greatly relieved by our visit. They had been terribly persecuted by the Scotch myrmidons of England. Their present joy is equal to their past misery. This is acharming country but its uncertain destiny together with the vexations the farmers endured by being dragged out in the militia left the fields in a great degree uncultivated. The British Indians are not of much use to them. They run as soon as the battle grows hot. I saw but one Indian and one Negro with the Glengarry uniform on, dead on the field. Their Eighth fought very resolutely and suffered severely."
Many American historians have condemned General Dearborn for not having accomplished more with the means at his disposal but they have made little or no allowance for the physical weakness which actually rendered him unfit to command at all. General Armstrong, who, as Secretary of War, was eager to justify his own conduct, declared that "if instead of concentrating his whole force, naval and military, on the water side of the enemy's defences he had divided the attack and crossed the Niagara below Lewiston and advanced on Fort George by the Queenston road, the investment of that place would have been complete and a retreat of the garrison rendered impracticable." This, however, was actually the movement which Dearborn had planned but failed to execute in time. Ingersol, a member of Congress and a leader of the war party, bitterly observed that "the British General effected his retreat (probably without Dearborn knowing it for he stayed on shipboard) to the mountain passes where he employed his troops in attacking, defeating, and capturing ours during all the rest of that year of discomfitures."
THE END.
N. B.—For the engraving, "The Taking of Fort George," we are indebted to the kindness and courtesy of the Hon. P. A. Porter, Niagara Falls. It is from the portfolio published in Philadelphia, 1817, and is particularly interesting to us as giving the appearance of the churches St. Mark's and St. Andrew's before the town was burnt down, as also the Lighthouse situated nearly where the Queen's Royal Hotel stands now.
N. B.—For the engraving, "The Taking of Fort George," we are indebted to the kindness and courtesy of the Hon. P. A. Porter, Niagara Falls. It is from the portfolio published in Philadelphia, 1817, and is particularly interesting to us as giving the appearance of the churches St. Mark's and St. Andrew's before the town was burnt down, as also the Lighthouse situated nearly where the Queen's Royal Hotel stands now.
Transcriber's NoteSome inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document has been preserved.Typographical errors corrected in the text:Page 5 huudred changed to hundredPage 6 uninhabitated changed to uninhabitedPage 7 Presqu'le changed to Presqu'ilePage 9 patroling changed to patrollingPage 12 armisfice changed to armisticePage 14 Rensslaer changed to RensselaerPage 15 permited changed to permittedPage 19 resourses changed to resourcesPage 21 Deleware changed to DelawarePage 21 patroled changed to patrolledPage 21 Bisshop changed to BishopPage 22 detatchment changed to detachmentPage 24 missles changed to missiles
Transcriber's Note