Part 32 (2/2)
_Letter from Captain Wool to Colonel Van Rensselaer._
”BUFFALOE, October 23, 1812.
”I have the honor to communicate to you the circ.u.mstances attending the storming of Queenstown battery, on the 13th instant; with those which happened previously you are already well acquainted.
”In pursuance of your order, we proceeded round the point and ascended the rocks, which brought us partly in rear of the battery. We took it without much resistance. I immediately formed the troops in rear of the battery, and fronting the village, when I observed General Brock with his troops formed, consisting of four companies of the 49th regiment, and a few militia, marching for our left flank. I immediately detached a party of one hundred and fifty men, to take possession of the heights above Queenstown battery, and to hold General Brock in check; but in consequence of his superior force they retreated.
I sent a reinforcement; notwithstanding which, the enemy drove us to the edge of the bank: when, with the greatest exertions, we brought the troops to a stand, and ordered the officers to bring their men to a charge as soon as the ammunition was expended, which was executed with some confusion, and in a few moments the enemy retreated. We pursued them to the edge of the heights, when Colonel M'Donell had his horse shot from under him, and himself was mortally wounded. In the interim, General Brock, in attempting to rally his forces, was killed, when the enemy dispersed in every direction. As soon as it was practicable, I formed the troops in a line on the heights fronting the village, and immediately detached flanking parties, which consisted of Captain Machesney, of the 6th regiment, Lieutenant Smith and Ensign Grosvenor, with a small detachment of riflemen, who had that moment arrived; at the same time, I ordered Lieutenant Ganesvoort and Lieutenant Randolph, with a detachment of artillery, to drill out an 18-pounder which had been previously spiked, and, if possible, to bring it to bear upon the village. The wounded and prisoners I ordered to be collected, and sent to the guard-house. About this time, which was about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, Lieut.-Colonel Christie arrived, and took the command. He ordered me across the river to get my wounds dressed. I remained a short time. Our flanking parties had been driven in by the Indians; but General Wadsworth and other officers arriving, we had a short skirmish with them, and they retreated, and I crossed the river.”
[NOTE.--Captain Wool, in stating that he was opposed to four companies of the 49th, _only_ doubled the number of companies; but this exaggeration is a trifle compared with the following gross and _hudibrastic_ mis-statements, relative to the battle of Queenstown in ”Ramsay's History of the United States,” viz: ”The 49th British regiment, signalized in Egypt under Colonel, since Lieut.-General, Brock, and usually called the 'Egyptian Invincibles,' was among the prominent corps, and was led by its favorite commander. In the second engagement, this regiment of British regulars, 600 strong, encountered a body of 320 American regulars, supported by a few militia and volunteers, the whole under Colonel Chrystie. They mutually resorted to the bayonet, and after a b.l.o.o.d.y conflict, the famous invincibles yielded to the superior energy of their antagonists, although the latter were so far inferior in numbers. They were rallied by Lieut.-General Brock, who was killed in conducting them a second time to the charge. The American prisoners were kindly treated by this brave regiment, who, after the battle was over, acknowledged they had never opposed more gallant adversaries.”--The 49th, not having been with the British army in Egypt, could not be called the ”Egyptian Invincibles;” and instead of this regiment, 600 strong, being led by Major (not Lieutenant) General Brock, only the flank companies were present, with a small body of militia, together about 300 men. In fact, four companies of the 49th were at Kingston, 160 miles distant, and the remaining four battalion companies were, we believe, at Fort Erie, 27 or 28 miles from Queenstown; and therefore, the a.s.sertion that the ”famous invincibles” yielded to far Inferior numbers, is something worse than ridiculous. Such, however, is the correctness of this American historian on the subject, and with such materials is history too often compiled.--ED.]
”REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN.”--(Extracts.)
”Captain Wool discovered the British troops forming at Queenstown, and formed the troops under his command in line.
General Brock was at the head of the British troops, and led them round about to the heights in the rear of the battery.
Captain Wool detached 160 men to meet the British; this detachment was driven back, reinforced, and the whole driven to the brink of the precipice, forming the bank of the Niagara river, above Queenstown.
”At this moment some of the officers put a white handkerchief on a bayonet to hoist as a flag, with intention to surrender.
Captain Wool inquired the object. It was answered that the party were nearly without ammunition, and that it was useless to sacrifice the lives of brave men. Captain Wool tore off the flag, ordered the officers to rally the men, and bring them to the charge. The order was executed, but in some confusion. The boasted 49th could not stand the American bayonet. The British troops were routed, and Major-General Brock, in gallantly exerting himself to rally them, was killed. His aid, Colonel M'Donell, fell mortally wounded at the same time.
”The British being completely driven from the heights about ten o'clock, the line was reformed and flanking parties sent out.”--_Niles' Weekly Register, 1812._
_Extracts from Niles' Weekly Register, Baltimore, 1812._
”Extract of a letter from a gentleman at Detroit to his friend in Pittsburg, dated July 7, 1812.--'General Hull is making preparations to cross the river this evening or to-morrow, and it is expected that an immediate attack is contemplated on Maiden (Amherstburg). The army are all in health and good spirits, and wait with anxiety to be put on the other sh.o.r.e: they are certainly as fine looking men as I ever saw.'
”We have several reports of the capture of Fort Malden. General Hull has sent expresses to the governors of Ohio and Kentucky for further supplies of troops, supposed for the purpose of maintaining the ground he may take, and to keep the allies in check. We trust he may religiously adhere to his proclamation, whatever General Brock may say, and give no quarters to the white savages when found fighting by the side of the Indians, for whose extensive murders the British should be made responsible.”
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 156: ”The 'Letters of Veritas' were originally printed in a weekly paper published at Montreal, in Lower Canada, and subsequently collected into the little volume before us. Within a small compa.s.s, these unpretending Letters contain a greater body of useful information upon the campaigns in the Canadas than is any where else to be found.
They are, we believe, the production of a gentleman in Montreal, of known respectability. Though not a military man, he enjoyed the best opportunities for acquaintance with the circ.u.mstances of the war; and as these letters, which excited great attention in the Canadas, appeared in successive papers while Montreal was filled with almost all the officers of rank who had served in the country, it may reasonably be presumed that his errors, had he committed any, would not have escaped without censure. Yet no reply was ever attempted to his statements, no doubt ever expressed in the provinces, of the correctness of his a.s.sertions.”--_Quarterly Review, July_, 1822.]
[Footnote 157: Wampum is the current money among the Indians. It is of two sorts, white and purple: the white is worked out of the insides of the great Congues into the form of a bead, and perforated so as to be strung on leather; the purple is worked out of the inside of the muscle sh.e.l.l. They are wove as broad as one's hand, and about two feet long; these they call belts, and give and receive them at their treaties, as the seals of friends.h.i.+p. For lesser motives, a single string is given; every bead is of a known value; and a belt of a less number is made to equal one of a greater, by so many as is wanted being fastened to the belt by a string.--_Buchanan's North American Indians._]
[Footnote 158: It is impossible here to forget (however different were the circ.u.mstances and character of the two warriors) that fine pa.s.sage by the splendid historian of Rome, wherein he immortalizes the death and funeral of the ferocious Attila, in language at once musical and sublime, and which is probably without an equal in the whole range of English literature: ”His body was solemnly exposed in the midst of the plain, under a silken pavilion; and the chosen squadrons of the Huns, wheeling round in measured evolutions, chaunted a funeral song to the memory of a hero, glorious in his life, invincible in his death, the father of his people, the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the world.”]
[Footnote 159: The monument itself is not yet finished; we shall therefore defer our description of the edifice until it is completed.]
[Footnote 160: It is remarkable that, on inspecting the remains, the body of Colonel M'Donell was found to be almost entirely decomposed,--whilst that of the general was still firm and nearly entire; some of the flesh and lineaments of his martial countenance being yet visible.]
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