When war was declared the United States possessed small means on the northern frontier for offensive or defensive operations. The first warlike measure was the construction, at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, of the brig Oneida, by Christian Berg and Henry Eckford, under the direction of Lieutenant Melancthon Woolsey, of the United States Navy. She was commenced in 1808, and was launched early in 1809. She was intended chiefly for employment in the enforcement of the revenue laws on the frontier, under the early embargo acts. For a similar purpose, a company of infantry and some artillery were posted at Sackett’s Harbor, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, 1 in 1808; and in March, 1809, militia detachments were stationed on the southern shores of the St. Lawrence, opposite Kingston, to prevent smuggling. This duty gave rise to many stirring scenes on the frontier in the violation and vindication of the revenue laws, which were generally evaded or openly defied until the spring of 1812, when a more stringent embargo act was passed [April 4, 1812.].

The Legislature of the State of New York, as vigilant as the national government, took measures early for enforcing the laws on the Canada frontier of that commonwealth. In February, 1808, the governor ordered five hundred stand of arms to be deposited at Champion, in the present county of Jefferson; and the following year an arsenal was built at Watertown, 2 on the Black River, twelve miles eastward of Sackett’s Harbor, under the direction of Hart Massey, 3 where arms, fixed ammunition, accoutrements, and other war supplies were speedily gathered for use on the Northern frontier. In May, 1812, a regiment of militia, under Colonel Christopher P. Bellinger, was stationed at Sackett’s Harbor, a part of which was kept on duty at Cape Vincent. Jacob Brown, an enterprising farmer from Pennsylvania, who had settled on the borders of the Black River about four miles from Watertown, and had been appointed a brigadier general of militia in 1811, was then in command of the first detachment of New York’s quota of the one hundred thousand militia which the President was authorized to call out by act of Congress [April 10, 1812.]. When war was declared he was charged with the defense of the frontier from Oswego to Lake St. Francis, a distance of two hundred miles. 4

In May, 1812, the schooner Lord Nelson, owned by parties at Niagara, Upper Canada, and laden with flour and merchandise, sailed from that port for Kingston. She was found in American waters, captured by the Oneida, under Lieutenant Commanding Woolsey, and condemned as a lawful prize for a violation of the Embargo Act. About a month later [June 14, 1812.], another British schooner, the Ontario, was captured at St. Vincent, but was soon afterward discharged; and at about the same time, still another British schooner, named Niagara, was seized, and sold because of a violation of the revenue laws. These events, as was expected, soon led to retaliation. When news of the declaration of war reached Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence, eight American schooners – trading vessels – lay in its harbor. They endeavored to escape [June 29.] to Lake Ontario, bearing away affrighted families and their effects. An active Canadian partisan named Jones, living not far from the present village of Maitland, had raised a company of volunteers to capture them. He gave chase in boats, overtook the fugitive unarmed flotilla at the foot of the Thousand Islands, 5 a little above Brockville, captured two of the schooners (Sophia and Island Packet), and emptied and burned them. The remainder retreated to Ogdensburg. 6

Woolsey, the best engineer officer present, left his brig in charge of his lieutenant, and took the general command on shore. He placed the 32-pounder in charge of Captain William Vaughan, a sailing-master of eminence then living at Sackett’s Harbor, 7 and directed Captain Camp to manage the others in battery. Meanwhile the enemy were slowly drawing near; and by the time Woolsey was prepared to receive them, the British flagship Royal George, closely followed by the Prince Regent, were close enough for action. Vaughan opened it at eight o’clock by a shot from the big gun, which was harmless, and drew from the people on the Royal George a response of derisive laughter, which could be plainly heard on the shore. This was followed by some shots from those two vessels in the advance at the distance of a mile, which were quickly answered by Vaughan. The firing was kept up for about two hours, the squadron standing off and on, out of range of the smaller guns. The most of the enemy’s shot fell against the rocks below the battery. One of these (a thirty-two-pound ball) came over the bluff, struck the earth not far from Sackett’s mansion (then occupied by Vaughan’s family), and plowed a deep furrow into the door-yard. 8 It was immediately caught up by Sergeant Spier, who ran with it to Captain Vaughan, exclaiming, "I’ve been playing ball with the red-coats, and have caught ’em out. See if the British can catch back again." At that moment the Royal George was wearing to give a broadside, when Vaughan’s gun sent back the captive ball with such force and precision 9 that it struck her stern, raked her completely, sent splinters as high as her mizzen top-sail yard, killed fourteen men, and wounded eighteen! 10 The flag-ship had already received a shot that went through her sides, and another between wind and water. The Prince Regent had lost her fore-topgallant-mast, and the Earl of Moira had been hulled. The laughter of the enemy had been changed into wailing. Disaster suggested the exercise of discretion, and a signal of retreat was speedily given after the returned ball had made its destructive passage through the ship. The squadron put about and sailed out of the harbor, while the band on shore played Yankee Doodle, and the troops and the citizens greeted their departure with loud cheers. Nothing, animate or inanimate, on shore had been injured in the least by the cannonading of two hours’ duration. 11 It was a serene Sabbath morning, and the village at evening was as quiet as if nothing remarkable had happened.

The Julia and her Durham consort went to the St. Lawrence that night. Although it was very dark, they arrived in safety at Cape Vincent. At early dawn, under a deeply-clouded sky, they pressed forward among the Thousand Islands, the wind blowing down the river, and, at three o’clock in the afternoon [July 31, 1812.], met the two British vessels off Morristown, eleven miles above Ogdensburg. They anchored at once, and opened fire upon each other. The action lasted more than three hours, during which the cannonading was almost incessant, and yet the Julia was only slightly injured by a single shot, and not one of the Americans was killed or wounded. The Earl of Moira was hulled several times, and both of the British vessels withdrew toward the Canada shore. Night came with intense darkness, but frequent flashes of lightning in the southern horizon revealed surrounding objects for a moment. With the aid of the Durham and her own yawl, the Julia made her way to Ogdensburg before morning [August 1.], when Lieutenant Wells left her in charge of Captain Vaughan, and returned to Sackett s Harbor. The armistice that soon followed 12 enabled the Julia, with the six schooners in her wake, to make her way to the lake [September 5.]. Meanwhile the guns of the Earl and Duke were landed at Elizabethtown (now Brockville), and placed in battery there. 13

Early in August Captain Benjamin Forsyth arrived at Sackett’s Harbor with a well-drilled company of riflemen. These were the first regular troops seen on that frontier, and were welcomed with much satisfaction. General Brown urged Forsyth to open a recruiting station at once, hoping to enlist two full companies of the sharpshooters. At the same time, the national government was putting forth vigorous efforts for acquiring the supremacy of the lakes. The appointment of a proper commander-in-chief of the navy to be created on them, who might properly superintend its formation, was the first and most important measure. Fortunately for the service, Captain Isaac Chauncey was chosen for this responsible and arduous duty. He was then at the head of the navy yard at Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the best practical seamen of his time, possessed a thorough knowledge of ships in whole and in detail, and was in the constant exercise of energy and industry of the highest order. On the 31st of August he was commissioned for that special service, and on the following day, Paul Hamilton, the then Secretary of the Navy, sent him a cipher alphabet and numerals, by which he might make secret communications to the Department. 14

Chauncey entered upon his new duties immediately after the receipt of his orders. In the first week in September he sent forward forty ship-carpenters, with Henry Eckford at their head. Others soon followed; and Commander Woolsey was directed to purchase some merchant vessels for the service. On the 18th of the same month, one hundred officers and seamen, with guns and other munitions of war, left New York for Sackett’s Harbor, and Chauncey arrived there himself on the 6th of October. The schooners Genesee Packet, Experiment, Collector, Lord Nelson, Charles and Ann, and Diana, were purchased, and manned and named respectively in the same order, Conquest, Growler, Pert, Scourge, Governor Tompkins, and Hamilton. Their armament consisted principally of long guns mounted on circles, with a few lighter ones that could be of very little service. Add to these the Oneida and Julia already in the service, and the entire flotilla, exclusive of the Madison, 24 (whose keel was laid before Chauncey’s arrival 15), mounted only forty guns, and was manned by four hundred and thirty men, the marines included. The Oneida carried sixteen guns, therefore there was an average of only five guns each among the remainder of the squadron. The British, at the same time, had made for service, on Lake Ontario, the ships Royal George, 22, and Earl of Moira, 14; and schooners Prince Regent, 16, Duke of Gloucester, 14, Simcoe, 12, and Seneca, 4. These, in weight of metal, were double the power of the American, while there was a corresponding disparity in the number of men. 16

Chauncey first appeared on Lake Ontario as the commander of a squadron on the 8th of November, a cold, raw, blustery day, with his broad pennant fluttering over the Oneida, his flag-ship, accompanied by six small vessels, 17 and bound on an expedition to intercept the entire British squadron on their return from Fort George, on the Niagara River, whither they had gone from Kingston with troops and munitions of war. Chauncey took his station near the False Ducks, some small islands nearly due west from Sackett’s Harbor, on the track to Kingston, and in the afternoon of the 9th [November, 1812.] fell in with the Royal George, Commodore Earl’s flag-ship, making her way for the latter place. Chauncey chased her into the Bay of Quinté, and lost sight of her in the darkness of the night that soon followed. On the morning of the 10th [November.] he captured and burnt a small schooner, and soon afterward espied the Royal George headed for Kingston. He gave chase with most of his squadron, 18 followed her into Kingston Harbor, and there engaged both her and five land batteries 19 for almost an hour. These were more formidable than Chauncey supposed; and a brisk wind having arisen, and the night coming on, he withdrew and anchored. The breeze had become almost a gale the next morning [November 11.], so Chauncey weighed anchor and stood out lakeward. The Tompkins, Hamilton, and Julia chased the Simcoe over a reef of rocks, and so riddled her that she sank before reaching Kingston. Soon afterward the Hamilton captured a large schooner from Niagara. The prize was sent past Kingston under convoy of the Growler, hoping to bring out the Royal George, but that vessel had been so much damaged in the action that she was compelled to haul on shore to keep from sinking. She had received several shots between wind and water, some of her guns were disabled, and a number of her crew had been killed.

In this short cruise Commodore Chauncey captured three merchant vessels, destroyed one armed schooner, and disabled the British flag-ship, and took several prisoners, 20 with a loss on his part of only one man killed and four wounded. 21 The loss of the British is not found on record.

Leaving the Governor Tompkins, Conquest, Hamilton, and Growler to blockade Kingston harbor until the ice should do so effectually, Chauncey sailed on the 19th, in the Oneida, for the head of the lake, accompanied by the remainder of the squadron. "I am in great hopes," he wrote to Governor Tompkins, "that I shall fall in with the Prince Regent, or some of the royal family which are cruising about York. Had we been one month sooner, we could have taken every town on this lake in three weeks; but the season is now so tempestuous that I am apprehensive we can not do much more this winter." His anticipations were realized. He was driven back by a gale in which the Growler was dismasted, and the ice formed so fast that all the vessels were in danger. He retired to Sackett’s Harbor, and early in December the lake navigation was closed by the frost. 22

While Chauncey was commencing vigorous measures for the construction of a navy at the east end of Lake Ontario, the land forces there and on the St. Lawrence were not idle, although no very important service was performed there during the remainder of 1812. The vigilant Captain Forsyth made a bold dash into Canada late in September. Having been informed that a large quantity of ammunition and other munitions of war were in a British store-house at Gananoqui, on the shores of the Lake of the Thousand Islands, in Canada, 23 and not heavily guarded, Forsyth asked and obtained permission of General Brown to make an attempt to capture them. He organized an expedition of one hundred and four men, consisting of seventy riflemen and thirty-four militia, the latter officered by Captain Samuel M‘Nitt, Lieutenant Brown, and Ensigns Hawkins and Johnson. They set out from Sackett’s Harbor on the 18th of September, and on the night of the 20th they left Cape Vincent in boats, threading their way in the dark among the upper group of the Thousand Islands. They landed a short distance from the village of Gananoqui, only ninety-five strong, without opposition; but as they approached the town they were confronted by a party of sixty British regulars and fifty Canadian militia drawn up in battle order, who poured heavy volleys upon them. Forsyth dashed forward with his men without firing a shot until within a hundred yards of the enemy, when the latter fled pell-mell to the town, closely pursued by the invaders. There the fugitives rallied and renewed the engagement, when they were again compelled to flee, leaving ten of their number dead on the field, several wounded, and eight regulars and four militiamen as prisoners. Forsyth lost only one man killed and one slightly wounded. For his own safety, he broke up the bridge over which he had pursued the enemy, and then returned to his boats, bearing away, as the spoils of victory, the eight regulars, sixty stand of arms, two barrels of fixed ammunition comprising three thousand ball-cartridges, one barrel of gunpowder, one of flints, forty-one muskets, and some other public property. In the store-house were found one hundred and fifty barrels of provisions, but, having no means of carrying them away, Captain Forsyth applied the torch, and store-house and provisions were consumed. 24 The public property secured on this occasion was given to the soldiers of the expedition as a reward for their valor.

While Forsyth was away on his expedition, Brigadier General Richard Dodge arrived at Watertown [September 21, 1812.] with a detachment of Mohawk Valley militia. He outranked General Brown, and on his arrival he ordered that officer to proceed to Ogdensburg, at the mouth of the Oswegatchie River, to garrison old Fort Presentation, or Oswegatchie, at that place. 25 General Brown was chagrined by this unlooked-for order, but, like a true soldier, he immediately obeyed it. A part of Captain Forsyth’s company went with him; and three weeks later, at the request of the governor, General Dodge sent to Brown [October 12.] the remainder of the riflemen, and the artillery companies of Captains Brown, King, and Foot, in all one hundred and sixty men, with two brass 9-pound cannon, one 4, and an ample supply of muskets and munitions of war.

General Brown arrived at Ogdensburg on the 1st of October. Already the militia had been employed in some hostile movements. At about the middle of September information reached Ogdensburg that some British bateaux, laden with stores, were ascending the St. Lawrence. It was resolved to capture them. A gun-boat, with a brass six-pounder and eighteen men, under Adjutant Daniel W. Church, accompanied by a party under Captain Griffin, in a Durham boat, went down the river in the night, and encountered the enemy near Toussaint Island. The Durham boat was lost in the affray, and the gun-boat was in great peril at one time. It was saved, however. The expedition was a failure. Five of Church’s men were wounded, and one was killed. The British lost several in killed and wounded. They were led by Adjutant Fitzgibbon. 26

On the day after General Brown’s arrival at Ogdensburg [October 2.], about forty British bateaux, escorted by a gun-boat, were seen approaching Prescott from below, and as they neared the town a battery at that place opened upon Ogdensburg to cover the flotilla. 27 The heavy guns at the latter place consisted of a brass six-pounder under the charge of Adjutant Church, and an iron twelve-pounder managed by Joseph York, sheriff of the county, and a volunteer citizen. These replied to the British battery for a while. On the following day the firing from Prescott was renewed, but was not answered; and on Sunday morning, the 4th [October, 1812.], two gun-boats and twenty-five bateaux, filled with about seven hundred and fifty armed men, under Colonels Lethbridge and Breckinridge, went up the river almost a mile, and then turned their prows toward Ogdensburg, with the evident intention of attacking it. Forsyth’s riflemen were encamped at the time near the old fort on the west side of the Oswegatchie, and General Brown, with regulars and militia, were stationed in the town. 28 The whole American force amounted to about twelve hundred effective men. These were immediately drawn up in battle order to receive the invaders. When the latter had approached to within a quarter of a mile of the town, nearly in mid-channel, the Americans opened such a severe fire from their two cannon that the enemy retreated in confusion and precipitation, with the loss of three men killed and four wounded. 29 About thirty rounds were fired from each of the two cannon, and the action lasted two hours. 30 Not one of the Americans was injured in the action, but some damage was done to the town by the cannon-shot of the British. "This enterprise," says Christie, a British author, "undertaken without the sanction of the commander of the forces, was censured by him, and the public opinion condemned it as rash and premature." 31

Eighteen days after the repulse of the British at Ogdensburg, Major Guilford Dudley Young, and a small detachment of militia, who were chiefly from Troy, New York, performed a gallant exploit at St. Regis, an Indian village lying upon the boundary-line between the United States and Canada. The dusky inhabitants of that settlement were placed in a very embarrassing position when war was declared. Their village lay within the boundaries of both governments, and up to that time the administration of their internal affairs, managed by twelve chiefs, had been nominally independent of both. The annuities and presents from both governments were equally divided among them, and in all matters of business and profits every thing was in common. That this relation should not be disturbed, commissioners, appointed by the two governments, agreed that the Indians should remain neutral, and that the troops of both parties should avoid intrusion of their reservation. But they became objects of suspicion and dread. The settlers in that region had been horrified with tales of Indian massacres remotely and recently, and these people could not pass the boundaries of their domain without being regarded as possible enemies. So vigilant was this general fear that the Indians were compelled, when they went abroad, to carry a pass from some well-known white inhabitant, among the most prominent of whom, appointed by the chiefs, was Captain Policy, late of Massena Springs. 32 These restrictions curtailed their hunting and fishing, and they were reduced to such great extremities that they were compelled to apply to Governor Tompkins for relief. 33 The governor listened to their request, and during the war they received about five hundred rations daily from the United States government stores at French Mills, 34 now Fort Covington, on the Salmon River.

The neutrality agreement was violated by Sir George Prevost, the British commander-in-chief in Canada, who placed Captain M‘Donell and a party of armed Canadian voyageurs in the village of St. Regis "for the security of that post," to "guard against any predatory incursions of the enemy, to inspire confidence in the Indians," and to give "support and countenance" to "Monsieur de Montigny, captain and resident agent at the village." 35 The real object appears to have been the seduction of the Indians from their neutrality by persuading them to join the British standard. In this they were successful, as the presence of more than eighty St. Regis warriors in the British army at different places on the frontiers subsequently fully proves. 36

Major Young was stationed at French Mills when M‘Donell took post at St. Regis, and he wished to attempt the capture of the whole party at about the 1st of October. William L. Gray, an Indian interpreter, was then running a mill on the site of the present village of Hogansburg, two miles above St. Regis, and consented to be Young’s guide. He took him and his command along an unfrequented way, that brought them out suddenly upon the eastern banks of the St. Regis, opposite the village. The stream was too deep to ford, and, having no boats, Major Young was compelled to abandon the project at that time. The British intruders were alarmed; but as day after day wore away without farther molestation, M‘Donell settled down into a feeling of absolute security. From that state he was soon aroused. Young left French Mills, with about two hundred men, on the night of the 21st of October, at eleven o’clock, crossed the St. Regis, at Gray’s Mills, at half past three in the morning [October 22, 1812.], in a boat and canoe and a hastily-constructed raft, and before dawn arrived within half a mile of St. Regis, where they concealed themselves, while taking some rest and refreshment, behind a gentle hill westward of the village. Having carefully reconnoitred the position, the little party moved in three columns toward the British part of the village, at the northern extremity of which, not far from the ancient and famous church, stood the houses of Montigny and M‘Donell, in which the officers and many of the men of the British detachment were stationed. Captain Lyon, editor of the Troy Budget, moved with his company along the road upon the bank of the St. Regis, so as to gain the rear of Montigny’s house and a small blockhouse, while Captain Tilden and his company made a detour westward, partly in rear of M‘Donell’s, for the purpose of reaching the St. Lawrence and securing the boats of the enemy. Major Young, with the companies of Captains Higbie and M‘Neil, moved through the village in front. Thus the enemy was surrounded. Lyon was first discovered by the British sentinel and attacked. Young was then within one hundred and fifty yards of Montigny’s house. At that instant an ensign of the enemy, attempting to pass in front after being ordered to stand, was shot dead; and a few minutes afterward complete success crowned the enterprise of the gallant major. Forty prisoners (exclusive of the commander and the Catholic priest), with their arms and accoutrements, thirty-eight muskets, two bateaux, a flag, and a quantity of baggage, including eight hundred blankets found at the Indian agent’s house, were the fruits of the victory. The British had seven men killed, including a lieutenant, ensign, and sergeant, while the Americans were all unhurt. The late distinguished civilian, William L. Marcy, 37 who was a lieutenant in Lyon’s company, and assailed the block-house, was the captor of the flag that waved over it. He bore it in triumph back to French Mills, where Young and his party arrived the same day, at eleven o’clock, with the prisoners and spoils – the latter in the captured bateaux, by way of Salmon River. 38 The prisoners were sent to Bloomfield’s head-quarters at Plattsburg. Early in January Major Young and his detachment returned to Troy, and with his own hand presented that British flag – the first trophy of the kind that had ever been taken on land – to the people of the State of New York in the capital at Albany. 39

During a brief sojourn at the Massena Springs, on the Racquette River, in the summer of 1855, I visited St. Regis, or Ak-wis-sas-ne, the place "where the partridge drums," as the Indians called it. 40 I rode out to Hogansburg, ten miles eastward of Massena, with some friends, over a newly cleared but pleasant country, with the great Wilderness of Northern New York lying on our right, and far in the southeast the blue summits of the Green Mountains bounding the horizon.

We dined at Hogansburg in company with the late Rev. Eleazer Williams, the reputed "Lost Prince" of the house of Bourbon, who was then pastor of a little congregation of Episcopalians, whose place of worship had just been erected in a pleasant pine grove on the borders of that village of two hundred inhabitants. Mr. Williams was connected with the Indians in that region during the War of 1812. He was with Major Young in his first attempt to surprise the British at St. Regis, and was afterward in military service at Plattsburg, in a company of volunteer Rangers. He gave me some useful information concerning the events of the war in that region, and showed me a portrait of himself, painted in water-colors in 1814, in which he appears in military costume, and his features and complexion not exhibiting the least indication of Indian blood. Mr. Williams’s biography, written by the Rev. Mr. Hanson, and published under the title of The Lost Prince, is a remarkable book. It contains a most strange story. 41

The gray old church, built of massive stone, its walls five feet thick, its roof covered with shingles and its belfry with glittering tin-plate, stood near. Its portal was invitingly open, and we entered. We found it quite plain in general construction, but the altar and its vicinity were highly ornamented and gilded. Upon the walls hung some rude pictures. Across the end over the entrance was a gallery for the use of strangers. The Indian worshipers usually kneel or sit on the floor during the service. The full liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church was used there, and the preaching was in the Mohawk language. 42 The present church edifice was erected in 1792. The dilapidated spire had lately been taken down, and the belfry was covered with a cupola surmounted by a glittering cross. Near the vestry-room, within the inclosure, was a frame-work on which hung three bells; the two upper ones made of the first one ever heard in St. Regis, mentioned in note 4, page 376. 43 The lower and larger one was cast in Troy in 1852, and had not yet been placed in the tower.

While sketching the old church 44 I was surrounded by the Indian children, all curious to know what I was about; while an old Indian woman stood in the door of a miserable log house near by, looking so intently with mute wonder, apparently, that I think she did not move during the half hour I was engaged with the pencil. The children kept up a continual conversation, intermingled with laughter, all of which came to the ear in sweet, low, musical cadences, like the murmuring of brooks. This is in the British portion of the town.

Just after leaving the church we met the venerable Captain Le Clerc, already mentioned, who had lived in St. Regis fifty-seven years. He accompanied us to the house of François Dupuy, one of the two merchants then in St. Regis. Dupuy’s store and dwelling were on the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, which is the dividing-line here between the United States and Canada. That line passed through his house; and while an attendant was preparing some lemonade for us within the dominions of Queen Victoria, we were sitting in the United States, but in the same room, waiting to be served. On the margin of the street opposite Dupuy’s stood one of the cast-iron obelisks, three feet and a half in height, which are placed at certain intervals along that frontier line as boundary monuments. Upon its four sides were cast appropriate inscriptions, in raised letters. 45

At the time we are considering that frontier was sparsely settled. Buffalo 46 was a little scattered village of about one hundred houses and stores, and a military post of sufficient consequence to invite the torch of British incendiaries at the close of 1813, when all but two dwellings were laid in ashes. It was only about sixty years ago that the tiny seed was planted of that now immense mart of inland commerce, containing one hundred thousand inhabitants. Where now are long lines of wharves, with forests of masts and stately warehouses, was seen a sinuous creek, navigable for small vessels only, winding its way through marshy ground into the lake, its low banks fringed with trees and tangled shrubbery. In 1814 it was a desolation, and the harbor presented the appearance delineated in the engraving on the following page.

A little south of Buffalo, stretching along Buffalo Creek, were the villages of the Seneca Indians, on a reservation of one hundred and sixty thousand acres of land, and then inhabited by about seven hundred souls. Two miles below Buffalo was Black Rock, a hamlet at the foot of Lake Erie and of powerful rapids, where there was a ferry; and almost opposite was Fort Erie, a British post of considerable strength. Nine miles below, at the Falls of Elliott’s Creek, was the village of Williamsville; and at the head of the rapids, above Niagara Falls, were the remains of old Fort Schlosser, about a mile below Schlosser Landing, near which is yet standing an immense chimney that belonged to the English "mess-house," or dining-hall of the garrison that were stationed there several years before the Revolution. 47

Opposite Schlosser, at the mouth of the Chippewa Creek, was the small village of Chippewa, inhabited by Canadians and Indians. At the Falls, on the American side, was the hamlet of Manchester; and seven miles below, at the foot of the Lower Rapids, was Lewiston, a little village, with a convenient landing at the base of a bluff. Opposite Lewiston was Queenston, overlooked from the south by lofty heights, sometimes called The Mountain. It was the landing-place for goods brought over Lake Ontario for the inhabitants above. At the mouth of Niagara River, on the American side, was (and still is) Fort Niagara, a strong post, erected by the combined skill and labor of the French and English engineers and troops at different times. 48 Just above the fort was the little village of Youngstown; and opposite this, on the Canada shore, was Fort George. Between the fort and the lake was the village of Newark, now Niagara. Along both banks of the river, its whole length, a farming population was scattered. Such was the Niagara frontier at the opening of the war of 1812. The reader will have occasion frequently to refer to the map of it on the following page.

Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, appointed by Governor Tompkins the commander-in-chief of the detached militia of the state, with Solomon Van Rensselaer, the adjutant general of New York, as his aid and military adviser, 49 and John Lovett, of Troy, as his secretary, arrived at Fort Niagara on the 13th of August, 50 and assumed command of the forces on that frontier. On the following day he made his head-quarters at Lewiston, seven miles farther up the river. General Amos Hall, commander of the militia of Western New York, was then at the little hamlet of Manchester, at Niagara Falls, with a few troops; and detachments of the same kind were scattered along the whole line of the river, a distance of thirty-five miles. But the whole force in the field, to guard that frontier from a threatened invasion of the enemy, did not amount to more than a thousand men. 51 These were scantily clothed, indifferently fed, and were clamorous for pay. There was not a single piece of heavy ordnance along the entire frontier, nor artillerists to man the light field-pieces in their possession. Of ammunition there were not ten rounds for each man. They had no tents. The medical department was in a most destitute condition, and insubordination was the rule and not the exception. 52

General Dearborn had been instructed [June 26, 1812.] to make such demonstrations on the frontier as should prevent re-enforcements being sent to Malden by the British, or their making a formidable movement against Hull at Detroit. This duty was wholly neglected, and, as late as the 8th of August, the commanding general wrote to the Secretary of War, saying, "Till now I did not consider the Niagara frontier as coming within the limits of my command." This extraordinary assertion was made in the face of no less than five dispatches from the War Department, in which such allusions were made to that frontier as to expressly, or by implication, give him to understand that the entire line of the Niagara River and the lakes were under his jurisdiction. 53 And on the very next day [August 9, 1812.] he signed an armistice agreeing to a cessation of hostilities along that entire dividing line between the two countries. That armistice still farther delayed preparations for offensive or defensive operations on the part of the Americans, and, on the 1st of September, the entire effective force under General Van Rensselaer on the Niagara frontier was only six hundred and ninety-one men, instead of five thousand, as he had been promised! 54 Notwithstanding Dearborn had been ordered peremptorily to put an end to the armistice, he continued it until the 29th of August, 55 for the purpose, as he alleged, 56 of forwarding stores to Sackett’s Harbor – a matter of small moment compared with the accruing disadvantages. Within the period of the armistice, Brock was enabled, after the capture of Hull and the Territory of Michigan, to return leisurely with his troops and prisoners to the Niagara frontier. When the armistice was ended, and Van Rensselaer was so weak in men and munitions of war, the British confronted him, on the opposite side of a narrow river, with a well-appointed and disciplined, though small army, commanded by skillful and experienced officers, while every important point from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, along the British side of the Niagara, was carefully guarded or had been materially strengthened.

Some of the most disastrous effects of the armistice were parried by a successful effort at diplomacy on the part of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, the commanding general’s aid, who was sent to Fort George to confer with the British general, Sheaffe, on the details of the operations of that agreement. Van Rensselaer insisted upon the unrestricted navigation of Lake Ontario for both parties, and this point was unexpectedly yielded, 57 restrictions upon the movements of troops, stores, etc., being confined to the country above Fort Erie. This was of vital importance to the Americans; for the much-needed supplies for the army, ordnance, and other munitions of war collected at Oswego could only be taken to the Niagara by water, the roads were in such a wretched condition. By this arrangement, the vessels at Ogdensburg, already mentioned, were released, 58 to be converted into warriors; and Colonel Fenwick, at Oswego, moved forward over the take to Niagara with a large quantity of supplies.

General Van Rensselaer 59 was charged with the duty of not only defending the frontier from invasion, but of an actual invasion of Canada himself. This was a part of the original plan of the campaign. While Hull invaded the province from Detroit, it was to be penetrated on the Niagara and St. Lawrence frontiers. But Van Rensselaer found himself in a most critical situation, and doubtful whether he could even protect the soil of his own state from the foot of the invader. The arrival of Colonel Fenwick, on the 4th of September, with ordnance and stores gave some relief; but the evidence of preparations for invasion on the part of the British became daily more and more positive and alarming.

At the middle of September Van Rensselaer informed both Governor Tompkins and General Dearborn of the gloomy prospects before him, and pleaded for re-enforcements, saying, "A retrograde movement of this army upon the back of that disaster which has befallen the one at Detroit would stamp a stigma upon the national character which time would never wipe away. I shall therefore try to hold out against superior force and every disadvantage until I shall be re-enforced." 60 But as late as the 26th of September General Dearborn could give him no sure promises of timely re-enforcements, while in the same letter that officer expressed a hope that Van Rensselaer would not only be able to meet the enemy, but to carry the war into Canada. "At all events," he said, "we must calculate on possessing Upper Canada before winter sets in." 61

Soon after this regular troops and militia began to arrive on the Niagara frontier. The former assembled at Buffalo and its vicinity, the latter at Lewiston; and when, in the first week of October [October 5, 1812.], General Van Rensselaer invited Major General Hall, of the militia of Western New York, Brigadier General Smythe, of the regular army and then inspector general, and the commandants of the United States regiments to meet him in council, he proposed a speedy invasion of Canada. "I propose," he said, "that we immediately concentrate the regular force in the neighborhood of Niagara and the militia here [Lewiston], make the best possible dispositions, and at the same time the regulars shall pass from Four-mile Creek to a point in the rear of the works of Fort George and take it by storm; I will pass the river here, and carry the heights of Queenstown. Should we succeed, we shall effect a great discomfiture of the enemy by breaking their line of communication, driving their shipping from the mouth of this [Niagara] river, leaving them no rallying-point in this part of the country, appalling the minds of the Canadians, and opening a wide and safe communication for our supplies. We shall save our land, wipe away part of the score of our past disgrace, get excellent barracks and winter quarters, and at least be prepared for an early campaign another year." 62 This proposed council was not held, owing to the failure of General Smyth to comply with the request of General Van Rensselaer, 63 and the latter was left wholly to the resources of himself and his military family in forming his plans. They were deliberately matured, and preparations for invading Canada went vigorously on. Toward the middle of October the American forces on the frontier were considered sufficient to warrant the undertaking.

While these preparations were in progress, a daring and successful exploit was performed near Buffalo, that won great applause for the actors and infused new spirit into the troops. We have already observed that Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, of the United States Navy, was sent by Commodore Chauncey to superintend the erection of a fleet on Lake Erie. By a letter from the commander, dated the 7th of September, he was instructed to report himself to General Van Rensselaer, on the Niagara frontier, consult with him as to "the best position to build, repair, and fit for service" such vessels as might be required to retain the command of Lake Erie, and, after selecting such place, to "purchase any number of merchant vessels or boats that might be converted into vessels of war or gun-boats," with the advice of General Van Rensselaer, and to commence their equipment immediately. He was also instructed to take measures for the construction of two vessels of three hundred tons each, six boats of considerable size, and quarters for three hundred men. These, and a variety of other relevant duties, were committed to the charge of Lieutenant Elliott by Chauncey, who said, "Knowing your zeal for the service and your discretion as an officer, I feel every confidence in your industry and exertions to accomplish the object of your mission in the shortest time possible." 64 Elliott was then twenty-seven years of age.

Black Rock, two miles below Buffalo, was selected as the place for Lake Erie’s first dock-yard in fitting out a navy. While busily engaged there, early in October, in the duties of his office, Elliott was informed that two British armed vessels had come down the lake, and anchored under the guns of Fort Erie. These were the brigs Adams, Lieutenant Rolette commander, and Caledonia, commanded by Mr. Irvine, the former a prize captured when Hull surrendered, and its name was changed to Detroit, the latter a vessel owned and employed by the Northwestern Fur Company on the Upper Lakes. 65 They were both well armed and manned, 66 and it was understood that the Caledonia bore a valuable cargo of skins from the forest. They appeared in front of Fort Erie on the morning of the 8th of October, and the zealous Elliott, emulous of distinction, immediately conceived a plan for their capture. Timely aid offered. On that very day a detachment of seamen for service under him arrived from New York. They were unarmed, and Elliott turned to the military authorities for assistance. Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott was at Black Rock. He entered warmly into Elliott’s plans, and readily obtained the consent of General Smyth, his commanding officer, to lend his aid. Captain Towson, of the Engineers’ Corps (2d Regiment of Artillery), was detailed, with fifty men, for the service, and the cordial acquiescence of General Smyth was evinced by a note, marked "confidential," to Colonel Winder, of the 14th Regiment, then encamped near Buffalo, in which he said, "Be pleased to turn out the hardy sailors in your regiment, and let them appear, under the care of a non-commissioned officer, in front of my quarters, precisely at three o’clock this evening. Send also all the pistols, swords, and sabres you can borrow at the risk of the lenders, and such public swords as you have." 67

Towson joined Elliott with arms and ammunition for the seamen, and both were accompanied by citizens. The combined force, rank and file, was one hundred and twenty-four men. 68 All the preparations for the enterprise were completed by four o’clock in the afternoon. Two large boats had been fitted up at Shogeoquady 69 Creek, just below Black Rock, and then were taken to the mouth of Buffalo Creek in the evening. The expedition embarked at midnight, and at one o’clock in the morning [October 9, 1812.], it left the creek silently, while scores of people on shore, who knew that an important movement was on foot, waited with anxiety in the gloom. At three o’clock the sharp crack of a pistol, followed by the flash and roll of a volley of musketry, a dead silence, and the moving of two dark objects down the river, proclaimed that the enterprise had been successful. A shout of joy rang out upon the night air from the shore between Buffalo and Black Rock, and lanterns and torches in abundance flashed light across the stream to illuminate the way of the victors. 70 The surprise and success were complete. The vessels were captured and the men in them made prisoners. "In less than ten minutes," wrote Elliott, "I had the prisoners all seized, the topsails sheeted home, and the vessels under weigh." 71 The Detroit was taken by the boat conducted by Elliott in person, assisted by Lieutenant Roach, 72 of the Engineers, and the Caledonia by the other boat conducted by Sailing-master Watts, 73 assisted by the military under Captain Towson. The first was taken with scarcely any opposition, the second after very brief resistance. The wind was light – too light to allow the vessels thereby to stem the current and reach the open lake; so they ran down the stream in the darkness, but not without annoyance. The turmoil of the capture, the shouts of the citizens at Black Rock and Buffalo, and the display of lights along the American shore, called every British officer and soldier to his post. The guns of Fort Erie, of two or three batteries, and of flying artillery, all guided by the lights that gleamed over the waters, were brought to bear upon the vessels. 74 The Detroit was compelled to anchor within reach of the enemy’s guns, while the Caledonia ran ashore, and was beached under the protection of the guns of an American battery between Buffalo and Black Rock. 75 The guns of the Detroit were all removed to her larboard side, and a mutual cannonading was kept up for some time. 76 Efforts were made by tow-line and warps to haul her to the American shore. These failed; and, regarding the destruction of the Detroit as certain in her exposed position, Elliott cut her cable and set her adrift. At that moment he discovered that his pilot had left. For ten minutes she went blindly down the swift current, and then brought up on the west side of Squaw Island, near the American shore, but still exposed to the guns of the enemy. 77 The prisoners, forty-six in number, were immediately landed below Squaw Island, but the current was so strong that the boats could not return to the vessel. She was soon boarded by a party of the British Forty-ninth Regiment, then stationed at Fort Erie, but they were driven off by some citizen soldiers of Buffalo, who, with a six-pound field-piece, crossed over to Squaw Island in a scow and boldly attacked them. 78 She was then placed in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Scott, at Black Rock, who gallantly defended her. Each party resolved that the other should not possess her, and the cannons of both were brought to bear upon the doomed vessel during the remainder of the day. At a little after sunset Sir Isaac Brock arrived, and made preparations to renew the attempt to recover the Detroit, with the aid of the crew of the Lady Prevost; but before these were perfected a party of the Fifth United States Infantry set her on fire and she was consumed. 79 The Caledonia was saved, and afterward performed good service in Perry’s fleet on Lake Erie.

In this really brilliant affair the Americans lost only two killed and five wounded. The loss of the British is not known. 80 The Caledonia was a rich prize, her cargo being valued at two hundred thousand dollars. The gallantry of all – Americans and British – on this occasion was highly commendable.

Elliott 81 made special mention of several of his companions, 82 and Congress [Jan. 26, 1813.], by a vote, awarded to that officer their thanks, and a sword, with suitable emblems and devices. 83 The exploit sent a thrill of joy throughout the United States, because it promised speedy success in efforts to obtain the mastery of Lake Erie, while it produced a corresponding depression on the other side, for a similar reason. "The event is particularly unfortunate," wrote General Brock, "and may reduce us to incalculable distress, The enemy is making every exertion to gain a naval superiority on both lakes, which, if they accomplish it, I do not see how we can possibly retain the country." 84

I have compiled the above statement from General Van Rensselaer’s first General Order, issued from his head-quarters at Albany on the 18th of June, 1812. * The following paragraph from his second General Order, issued on the 13th of July, indicates the special field of operations to which General Van Rensselaer was assigned: "Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer having been requested to repair to the command of the militia heretofore ordered into the service, and to be hereafter ordered into the service of the United States for the defense of the Northern and Western frontiers of this state between St. Regis and Pennsylvania, enters upon his command this day." In the same Order General Van Rensselaer declared that all the militia comprehended in the brigades organized by his General Order of the 18th of June, "together with the corps commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Swift, Flemming, and Bellinger, were subject to his division orders."

12 See note 2, page 293.

14 "After your arrival upon the lakes," wrote Mr. Hamilton, "you may experience some difficulty and risk in sending your dispatches to me; and you may find it necessary to employ a cipher in your communications, especially such of them as might do the service an injury by falling into the hands of the enemy. Under such circumstances, you will communicate to me in cipher by the following alphabet whenever you may judge it expedient." Here follows the cipher alphabet and numerals, of which a fac-simile is above given. The original is in the possession of the New York Historical Society. It was presented by the Rev. Mr. Chauncey, a son of the commodore, on the 5th of February, 1861.

32 These passes stated that the bearer was a quiet, peaceable person. It was their custom to hold these passes up on approaching a white person that they might not be alarmed. On the other hand, the Indians required persons traveling across their domain to exhibit passes. As few of these Indians could read, a device (see preceding page) was adopted to obviate the difficulties which that deficiency might give rise to. If a person was going through to French Mills, a simple bow was drawn on the paper; if he was intending to visit St. Regis village, an arrow was added to the bow.