Volume II Part 38 (1/2)
PART IX.
FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION OF SIR GEORGE PREVOST AND COMMODORE SIR JAMES YEO AGAINST SACKETT'S HARBOUR.
During the absence of Commodore Chauncey and his fleet from Sackett's Harbour, engaged in operations on the Niagara frontier, an expedition was planned and fitted out at Kingston against that chief depot of American naval supplies on Ontario. Sir George Prevost, Commander-in-Chief, and the British Commodore, Sir James L. Yeo (just arrived from England), were both at Kingston, and much was expected from their joint counsels, and the arrival of some naval officers and sailors from England. On the 27th of May a body of 800 or 1,000 men were embarked on board the British flotilla at Kingston, consisting of _Wolfe_, 24 guns; _Royal George_, 24; _Earl of Moira_, 18; and four schooners, carrying from ten to twelve guns each, with a sufficient number of batteaux; and at noon the following day they were off Sackett's Harbour. The weather was propitious, and the troops were transferred to the batteaux to make their landing under an escort of two gun-boats, commanded by Captain Mulcaster--the whole under the immediate direction of the land and naval commanders-in-chief. They had not proceeded far when a convoy of American boats, loaded with troops, was descried doubling Stanley Point, on their way from Oswego to Sackett's Harbour. The Indians, who had previously landed on an island, fired upon them as they pa.s.sed, and threw them into confusion, while the British boats and batteaux bore down and captured twelve of them, with about 150 men; the remainder escaped to Sackett's Harbour.
The landing was deferred until next day, thus giving the Americans time to spread the alarm throughout the country--to collect reinforcements from all quarters--to collect and station their soldiers, with a field-piece, in the surrounding woods, and make every possible preparation for their defence. The fine day was followed by a dark, rainy, and stormy night, which scattered the boats, so that the British could not succeed in landing in the morning before the Americans had lined the woods with their men. Nevertheless the British succeeded in landing; the enemy retreated, but posting themselves securely behind large trees, kept up a smart fire on the British.
The fleet in the meantime, as well as small vessels intended to have been landed in time to support the advance of the troops, were, through the light and adverse wind, a long way in the rear. Under these circ.u.mstances, Colonel Baynes, the Adjutant-General of the Forces in British North America, who was charged with this service, found it impossible to bring up or wait for the arrival of the artillery, and ordered his detachment to divide and scour the woods. The enemy, dislodged from the woods at the point of the bayonet, fled to their fort and block-houses, whither they were pursued by the British, who set fire to their barracks.
At this juncture it was thought by the commanding officer, Colonel Baynes, that the enemy's block-houses and stockaded battery could not be carried by a.s.sault, even with the a.s.sistance of the field-pieces, had they been landed. The fleet were still too far out of reach to aid in battering them, while the men were exposed to the fire of the enemy, secure within the works. The _signal of retreat_ was therefore given to the indignant a.s.sailants, and the enterprise was abandoned at a moment when the enemy had so far calculated upon a victory on the part of the British as to set fire to their naval stores, hospital, and marine barracks, by which all the booty previously taken at York, and the stores for their new s.h.i.+p, were consumed. They had also set fire to a frigate on the stocks; but on discovering the retreat of the British, they succeeded in suppressing the fire, and saved her. The troops were immediately re-embarked, and returned to Kingston, after having sustained a loss of 259 in killed, wounded, and missing, while the loss of the enemy must have been double that number.
Thus terminated this expedition, to the disappointment of the public, who, from the presence and co-operation of the two commanders-in-chief, fondly flattered themselves with a far more brilliant result. This miscarriage, with other reverses at the commencement of the present campaign, destroyed in the opinion of the enemy the invincibility our arms had acquired the preceding autumn.[212]
PART X.
OCCURRENCES ON LAKE ONTARIO--NAVAL MANOEUVRES AND BATTLES.
On Lake Ontario the two naval commanders strove with indefatigable emulation for the dominion of the lake. Chauncey, after the capture of Fort George, returned to Sackett's Harbour to await the equipment of his new s.h.i.+p, the _Pike_; while his adversary, Sir James Yeo, scoured the lake, and supplied the British army in the neighbourhood of Fort George with abundance of stores. In the early part of July, Sir James fitted out an expedition of boats for Sackett's Harbour, with a view of cutting out their new s.h.i.+p, then almost rigged and ready to appear on the lake.
He arrived un.o.bserved in the vicinity of that port, and would probably have effected his purpose had not the escape of two deserters from his party, which had landed for refreshments, and in order to remain concealed until night should favour the enterprise, given the alarm to the enemy. This unlucky incident induced him to relinquish the undertaking and return to Kingston.
Towards the end of July the American fleet again appeared with augmented force upon the lake, and Commodore Chauncey having received a company of artillery, with a considerable number of troops under Colonel Scott, proceeded for the head of the lake, with a view of seizing and destroying the stores at Burlington Heights, the princ.i.p.al depot of the army on the Niagara frontier, then occupied by a small detachment under Major Maule. The design of the enemy against this depot being suspected, Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby, commanding the Glengarry Regiment, upon being notified to that effect by Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, Deputy-Adjutant-General, moved forward from York, and, by a march of extraordinary celerity, arrived with a reinforcement in time to save the depot, which the enemy, on finding the British ready to receive them, did not deem it prudent to attack.
Commodore Chauncey, on learning that York, by the advance of Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby to Burlington Heights, was left dest.i.tute of troops, seized the opportunity and bore away for that port, which he entered on the 31st of July. Here the Americans landed without opposition, and having taken possession of a small quant.i.ty of stores found at that place, they set fire to the barracks and public store-houses, and having re-embarked their troops, bore away to Niagara.
It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that on the same day in which the American commander was employed in burning the barracks and stores at York, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray was no less actively employed on the same business at Plattsburg.
The British fleet sailed from Kingston on the last day of July, with supplies for the army at the head of the lake, and on the 8th of August looked into Niagara, where the enemy's fleet lay moored. The latter hove up and bore down upon the British fleet, with which they manoeuvred until the 10th, when a partial engagement ensued, in which two small vessels (the _Julia_ and _Growler_) were cut off and captured by the British.[213]
Commodore Chauncey, somewhat disheartened with the loss of these, and two other small vessels--the _Scourge_ of eight, and the _Hamilton_ of nine guns--upset by press of sail to escape, with the loss of all hands, except sixteen men picked up by the English, bore up for Niagara, from whence he sailed almost immediately for Sackett's Harbour, where he arrived on the 13th of August. Here he provisioned his fleet, and instantly made sail for Niagara, where he remained at anchor until the British fleet appeared off the harbour, early in the morning of the 7th of September, when the American fleet again weighed and bore down upon the British fleet, with which they manoeuvred until the 12th, when the latter returned into Amherst Bay, near Kingston. During these five days but few shots were exchanged between the larger s.h.i.+ps, without any injury to either side. The Americans, however, had much the advantage in weight of metal and long guns.
The fleets again met on the 28th of September, off York, when an engagement ensued for nearly two hours, in which the _Wolfe_, commanded by Sir James Yeo, lost her main and mizen-top-masts, and would probably have been captured had not the _Royal George_, commanded by Captain Mulcaster, run in between the _Wolfe_ and the _Pike_, taking the latter in a raking position, so as to afford the _Wolfe_ an opportunity of hauling off and clearing away the wreck. This affair terminated in the retreat of the British fleet under Burlington Heights, whither the enemy did not think proper to pursue it.
On the 1st of October, the American fleet set sail from Fort George with a convoy of troops for Sackett's Harbour, where an expedition was preparing whose destination was as yet unknown. The British fleet left their anchorage under Burlington Heights on the next day, and came in sight of the enemy; but no attempt was made to bring on a general engagement. The American fleet, on their way to Sackett's Harbour; fell in with and captured five small vessels out of seven, with upwards of 250 men of De Watteville's Regiment, from York, bound for Kingston, where an attack was apprehended. This loss, though apparently trifling in itself, was severely felt, by reason of the few forces in the Upper Provinces.
For the remainder of the season nothing of moment occurred on this lake; and indeed the naval commanders appeared to have considered the question of too great importance to their respective Governments to stake the fate of war in Upper Canada upon a decisive naval engagement.[214]
PART XI.
OCCURRENCES ON LAKE ERIE AND IN THE WEST--LOSS OF THE BRITISH FLEET--EVACUATION OF DETROIT AND THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN BY GENERAL PROCTOR, WHO IS PURSUED IN HIS RETREAT UP THE THAMES, AND DEFEATED BY GENERAL HARRISON, AND IS AFTERWARDS TRIED AND CONDEMNED TO BE SUSPENDED AND DEPRIVED OF HIS PAY FOR SIX MONTHS.
_The operations on Lake Erie and in the West_ were disastrous to the British cause during the latter part of the summer and early autumn of 1813. General Harrison, with an army of 8,000 men on the Miami river, only awaited for the equipment of the American fleet fitting out under Commodore Perry, at Presqu' Isle (Erie), to move his forces against Detroit, and to carry on offensive operations against the British in the neighbourhood of Lake Erie. Captain Barclay, who had early in the summer a.s.sumed the command of the British squadron on Lake Erie, blockaded the American fleet, so as to prevent their crossing the bar at Presqu' Isle (which they could not effect without uns.h.i.+pping their guns) until the end of August; when, having occasion to bear away for Long Point,[215]
the enemy seized the moment of his absence and crossed the bar. Finding on his return the enemy ready for the lake, and too powerful for his small squadron, he bore away for Amherstburg, to await the equipment of the _Detroit_, recently launched.
Commodore Perry sailed shortly after him for the head of the lake, and appeared at the commencement of September, for several days successively, off Amherstburg, in defiance of the British squadron, retiring every evening to his anchorage at _Put-in-Bay_. The British forces in Michigan territory and its neighbourhood, under General Proctor, falling short of supplies for which they depended solely upon the fleet, the captain had no other alternative than that of risking a general naval engagement. With this resolution he made sail from Amherstburg on the 9th of September, manned with only fifty or sixty seamen (including a small reinforcement of thirty-six men from Lake Ontario), and detachments from the 41st and Royal Newfoundland Regiment as marines. On the 10th, in the morning, the enemy's fleet was descried at anchor in _Put-in-Bay_, which immediately weighed and bore down upon the British squadron, while the wind blowing a gentle breeze from the south-west, turning round to the south-east, gave the enemy the weather gage. At a quarter before twelve the British commenced firing, which was in ten minutes afterwards returned by the enemy, who bore up for close action. The engagement continued with unabated fury until half-past two, when the enemy's princ.i.p.al s.h.i.+p being rendered unmanageable, Commodore Perry left her in charge of his first lieutenant, Yarnal, and hoisted the pendant on board the _Niagara_. Soon after Commodore Perry had left the _Lawrence_, her colours were struck, but the British, from weakness of their crews and destruction of their boats, were unable to take possession of her.
It was at this anxious and interesting juncture that the fate of the day seemed to poise in favour of the British; and Commodore Perry even despaired of the victory, when a sudden breeze revived his hopes, and turned the scale in his favour. This fortunate commander, finding the _Niagara_ had suffered lightly in the engagement, made a desperate effort to retrieve the fortune of the day, and taking advantage of the breeze, shot ahead of the _Lady Prevost, Queen Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, raking them with her starboard guns, and engaged the _Detroit_, which, being raked in all directions, soon became unmanageable. The _Niagara_ then bore around ahead of the _Queen Charlotte_, and hauling up on starboard tack, engaged that s.h.i.+p, giving at the same time a raking fire with her larboard guns to the _Chippewa_ and the _Little Belt_, while the smaller vessels, closing to grape and canister distance, maintained a most destructive fire. This masterly and but too successful manoeuvre decided the contest. Captain Barclay being severely and dangerously wounded, Captain Finnis, of the _Queen Charlotte_, killed, and every commander and officer second in command either killed or disabled, the _Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_, perfect wrecks, after a desperate engagement of upwards of three hours, were compelled to surrender.
By this decisive action, the whole of the British squadron on Lake Erie was captured by the enemy, who now became masters of the lake. The enemy lost in this action twenty-seven men in killed and ninety-six men wounded. The British lost three officers and thirty-eight men killed, and nine officers and eighty-five men wounded.