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Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 18:04:45 EDT
THE WAR OF 1812
Fort Niagara was woefully unprepared for war. The fortifications had again
deteriorated during the decade after 1800 as the garrison became increasingly
smaller. Many of the old buildings, some of them relics of the French
occupation, disappeared during those years. The land side walls remained in place, but
the garrison could provide few workmen to keep them in good condition. At the
outbreak of hostilities the Americans could muster only 150 men at Fort Niagara.
If United States forces along the Niagara Frontier were unprepared for war,
so too were their British adversaries. The demands of the Napoleonic Wars in
Europe meant that Canada could be only weakly guarded. There were, in 1812, only
two thousand British regular soldiers in all of Upper Canada (today's
Ontario). Although supplemented by the Canadian militia, the number of troops was far
fewer than that which could be assembled by the United States.
This disparity of forces proved to be of less importance than it at first
appeared. The bulk of the United States Army was composed of newly organized
units filled with untrained recruits. Many senior American leaders were equally
inexperienced or had last seen action thirty years earlier during the American
Revolution. The vast numbers of militia, so impressive on paper, proved
virtually worthless in the field. American troops, initially confident that they need
only march into the major Canadian cities, found a more difficult conflict
than they had anticipated. Some of the bloodiest fighting would occur along the
Niagara River.
Fort Niagara's tiny garrison prepared for a British assault as soon as they
learned of the declaration of war. Short of artillery, supplies and soldiers,
Captain Nathaniel Leonard did what he could to improve his defenses. A British
attack failed to materialize, however, because they too feared attack and
concentrated on organizing a defense. Much of the summer was spent in preparation
as units of New York Militia were called into service and marched to the
Niagara Frontier. In order to avoid friction between officers of the militia and
the regular army, the militia established their camp at Lewiston, six miles up
the river. Fort Niagara was left in the hands of its regular garrison, soon
augmented by new arrivals.
Aside from all this frantic preparation, the summer and early fall of 1812
proved to be a quiet time on the Niagara Frontier. The local commanders soon
arranged a truce in order to strengthen their respective positions. Though this
gained time to gather forces, the more numerous American troops thereby lost
the initiative. Worse, the truce allowed the British to transfer soldiers to the
West and achieve an important victory at Detroit in August.
By the time the truce expired in October the British forces had returned to
their Niagara positions. Though still outnumbered, they were prepared for a
defensive action. They did not have long to wait. On October 13, 1812, United
States troops began crossing the river from Lewiston and landing at the Canadian
village of Queenston. Originally planned to include United States regulars and
New York Militia, the operation was soon jeopardized when the militia refused
to leave the bounds of the United States! Many of the regulars had already
crossed the treacherous river and established a beachhead on the opposite shore.
Unsupported, they achieved initial success and struck the British a heavy
blow by killing their capable commander, General Isaac Brock. The isolated
Americans were unable to withstand a British counterattack, however, and the troops
on the Canadian bank of the river were forced to surrender.
Fort Niagara played its own part in this hard fought battle. The garrison was
ordered to create a diversion by commencing a bombardment of Fort George. The
fire was returned, and a brisk exchange ensued. The vulnerability of Fort
Niagara became painfully apparent during this action. Although the American
gunners caused damage to the enemy post, the heavy return fire eventually drove
them from their positions and caused Fort Niagara to be abandoned. With its
batteries silenced and the garrison huddled outside the walls, the post was exposed
to a British assault. Realizing this, the American officers gathered a group
of volunteers and reoccupied the fort. The British, their resources stretched
to the limit by the fighting raging at Queenston, made no attempt to cross the
river and take Fort Niagara.
Although quiet returned to the Frontier following the Battle of Queenston
Heights, Fort Niagara was the scene of much work as United States Engineers
attempted to improve the old fortifications. The exposed river side of the fort was
strengthened with temporary walls. The greatest problem, however, was caused
by the fact that Fort George stood on higher ground than the American post. In
an attempt to counter this advantage, the roofs were removed from the two
Redoubts and the "French Castle." Cannon were then mounted on the upper floors.
This improved the gunners' effectiveness in returning the fire of the British
batteries.
The alterations to Fort Niagara came just in time. On November 21 the guns of
Fort George opened fire once again. On this occasion the Americans gave
better than they got, though it was still clear that the old fort was badly exposed
to the Canadian shore. The action of November 21 gave Fort Niagara a heroine
as well. At the height of the battle, a cannon mounted on the roof of the
French Castle lost one of its crewmen. Into the gap stepped a soldier's wife,
Betsy Doyle, who served the gun with great courage and skill.
Active military operations at Niagara ceased with the onset of winter. Both
sides spent the season preparing for the spring campaign. For the garrison of
Fort Niagara this meant additional drill and training and much labor on
fortifications. The defenses were further improved. Five batteries for heavy guns
were also constructed along the riverbank, upstream from Fort Niagara, where they
could fire on Fort George.
The spring of 1813 proved to be a momentous time along the Niagara Frontier.
After disappointing performance on most fronts during 1812 United States
forces, by now better equipped and trained, successfully took the offensive. It was
a difficult year for the British in Upper Canada and would prove to be the
high water mark for the Americans.
The campaign on Lake Ontario began in April when United States naval vessels
sailed from Sackets Harbor on the eastern end of the lake. On board the
men-of-war was an army commanded by General Henry Dearborn. This powerful force made
short work of York, capital of Upper Canada (today Toronto) on April 27. The
squadron then crossed the lake to the mouth of the Niagara River. There,
combining with the troops already assigned to the Niagara Frontier, Dearborn's army
prepared for an attack on Fort George.
On May 25-26, 1813, the guns of Fort Niagara and its detached batteries
joined by the fleet, commenced an all-out bombardment of Fort George. The British
gunners resisted valiantly, but their batteries were silenced and the wooden
buildings of Fort George were burned to the ground. On the morning of May 27 the
fleet anchored off the mouth of the river. Following another cannonade, waves
of troop-filled boats headed for the beach. Once ashore the American soldiers
encountered fierce resistance from disciplined British regulars. By the end
of the day, however, the smoldering remains of Fort George had fallen, and the
British were retreating westward along Lake Ontario. For the first time the
mouth of the Niagara River was entirely in American hands. Unfortunately for the
United States troops, this auspicious beginning did not indicate what was to
come. Once in control of Fort George the American leadership began to waver.
The British army was not pursued and was thus able to escape and regroup. By
the time American troops left Fort George to attack the British, their forces
were too few and too late. The invaders were attacked and defeated at Stoney
Creek on June 6 and Beaver Dams on June 24. The momentum of the American army was
irretrievably lost, and the troops were soon bottled up in the forts at the
mouth of the river, subject to disease and boredom and growing increasingly
dispirited.
As autumn neared, American strength at Fort George was further reduced by
troop transfers as the offensive effort of the United States Army shifted to the
eastern end of Lake Ontario. By autumn the defense of the Niagara area was
largely in the hands of the New York Militia. In December their commander,
General George McClure, decided that Fort George was untenable. He ordered a
withdrawal to the New York side of the river. Fort George was then ordered destroyed
to prevent its use by the British. McClure greatly exceeded his instructions,
however, and gave an unfortunate second order - the adjacent town of Newark
(or Niagara-on-the-Lake) was also to be burned. Private property was destroyed
and civilians were left without shelter. This unwarranted and destructive
action would lead to British retaliation and result, by war's end, in the nearly
complete devastation of both sides of the Niagara River.
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