|
 Before proceeding to
describe, with some fullness of detail, the conspicuous part taken by
Scotsmen in civil government, it will be necessary to devote at least a
chapter to struggle between Canada and the United States, during the
three years from 1812 to 1815. Numerous accounts of the war have been
written on both sides of the boundary line, setting forth, with more or
less fairness and accuracy, the events of that stirring time.
Unfortunately the American histories are seldom or never completely
trustworthy; on the other hand, Canada’s modest and truthful
vindication of the loyal prowess of her sons, has not received the
attention to which it is entitled. The same perverse bias, begotten of
national jealousy, which prompted the apotheosis of Napoleon I. by
Abbott, crops up, with rank luxuriance, when the events of the last war
are dealt with. It is outside the purpose of this work to give a full
account of that memorable conflict; still, for the sake of completeness,
a succinct sketch, in outline, of the causes and progress of the war
seems desirable. Special prominence will, of course, necessarily be
given to Scots who had a conspicuous share in the events of the time. To
all Canadians—including under that term as well those of French as of
British origin, natives no less than home-born residents—the war left
behind it a legacy rich in glorious and fragrant memories. There are
happily still living among us some whose aged blood is even now stirred
by reminiscences of that memorable episode in our national history.
Certainly no people, so few in numbers, and so sparsely settled over a
wide tract of wilderness, ever emerged more triumphantly from a struggle
apparently hopeless at the outset. To the brave population of that day,
the declaration of war must have come with almost the benumbing shock of
a death-warrant. But if the omen of disaster and defeat obtruded itself,
it passed away unregarded. Instead of shrinking before the grandiloquent
periods of Hull, they rose, as one man, fired by British loyalty and
pluck, resolved to o’er-master fate, and hurl the invader, dazed and
reeling, from the land which was their own. [Brock’s words at the
opening of the Legislature in July, 1812, must have inspired many a
heart with courage: "We are engaged in an awful and eventful
contest. By unanimity and dispatch in our councils, and by vigour in our
operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended
by freemen, enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their king and
constitution, can never be conquered." [Tupper: Life and
Correspondence of Brock. London, 1845, p. 203. The Upper Canada
Assembly at once issued a strong appeal to the yeomanry of the Province.
Thompson: History of the late War. Niagara, 1832. p. 102
Auchinleck’s History, p. 46.] The patriotism of the people rose
superior to the difficulties which lay in their path; and these were
neither few nor insignificant. The population of the United States,
according to the census of 1810, numbered nearly seven millions and a
quarter; [American Almanac (1880), p. 18.] that of Lower Canada
was 400,000, while in Upper Canada there were about 70,000. [Quebec
Almanac for 1816, p. 188. Gourlay: Statistical Account of Upper
Canada, vol. i. p. 139. The latter, in his General Summary (ibid.
p. 16), reckons the Upper Canada population at 83,250 some years after
the war. See also Surveyor-General Bouchette’s British Dominions in
North America, vol. i. pp. 75 & 347. McMillen, however, states
the lower Canadian population at only 220,000. History, p. 255.]
To defend a frontier of 1,700 miles— of which 1,300 lie between Upper
Canada and the United States-including the garrisons of Quebec and
Kingston, there were only 4,500 regulars, of whom only 1,450 were
quartered in the Upper Province. The militia numbered "about 2,000
in Lower Canada, and perhaps 1,800 in Upper Canada." [See Coffin: 1812:
The War and its Moral, p. 35. James: Military Occurrences, p.
52. Christie: Lower Canada, vol. I p. 343.] In order to conquer
this insignificant array, 100,000 militia were called out in the United
States—a large proportion of them from States bordering on Canada.
Besides these there were 5,500 regulars already trained and under arms.
[Thompson (late of the Scots Greys): History. Niagara, 1832. p.
101.] Moreover, no substantial assistance was to be expected from the
mother-country, whose entire resources in men and money were strained to
the utmost in the most desperate struggle of modern times. England’s
hour of conflict was America’s opportunity. At the outbreak of the
French Revolution, the party led by Jefferson clamoured for intervention
on behalf of the new-born Republic. Whilst he remained at the head of
affairs, Washington and the Federal party strenuously opposed war with
England; and yet so vehement was the popular feeling that "the
father of his country" was denounced as a traitor and a spy, only
less culpable than Benedict Arnold. In 1796, three years before
Washington’s death, John Adams was elected to the Presidency, and
faithfully adhered to the policy of his illustrious predecessor; but in
1800, and again in 1804, Jefferson reached the highest place in the
state, and thenceforward the descent was rapid towards the abyss of war.
It would be tedious to trace the various stages of this downward
process. Throughout, the attitude of France was insolently aggressive in
the highest degree; and yet every indignity was borne by the Washington
government in a spirit of abject submission. Bonaparte had already
crossed swords with the American Republic in a brief war; and the peace
he concluded was perfidiously broken. [Coffin, p. 27.] He had engaged to
maintain the international maxim, agreed to by the Baltic powers,
according to which the flag was to cover the merchandize. Yet he
contemptuously violated his obligations and preyed upon the American
commercial marine, not casually, but on system. [In the Prince Regent’s
speech (January, 1813), we find the following: "All these acts of
violence on the part of France produced from the government of the
United States only such complaints as end in acquiescence and
submission." See Thompson, p. 13.] Nevertheless, the famous Berlin
Decrees of 1806 were unresented in America. It was only when the British
Order in Council appeared in reply to it, that the eagle’s feathers
were ruffled and his beak and talons sharpened for the fray. The Milan
Decree was dated the 21st November, 1806, and it was received without a
murmur of expostulation on the other side of the Atlantic; but no sooner
did the retaliatory Order-in-Council make its appearance than a lusty
outcry was raised against Great Britain. Nor did Napoleon’s Milan
Decree of December 11th arouse the indignation of America. Enmity
against Britain and abject submission to France were, no doubt, to some
extent the fruit of Revolutionary bitterness; but there was also a cool
estimate of the profit to be made out of a rupture with the former
country. The prize was Canada— the expulsion of Britain from the
American Continent, and territorial aggrandizement for the Union.
["Everything in the United States was to be settled by a
calculation of profit and loss. France had numerous allies; England
scarcely any. France had no continuous territory; England had the
Canadas ready to be invaded at a moment’s notice. France had no
commerce; England had richly burdened merchantmen traversing every sea.
England, therefore, it was against whom the death blows of America were
to be leveled." – James’s Naval History, quoted in
Tupper’s Life of Brock, p. 117. See also Auchinleck’s War
of 1812, chaps. i, and ii.; Thompson, chaps. i to vii; McMullen’s History
of Canada, pp. 250-253, and Dr. Ryerson’s Loyalties of America,
vol. ii., chap. xivii. and xiviii.] The British claim to the right
of search was not a new one, and had been exercised by most of the
principal European nations. It appeared humiliating no doubt; still it
was the usage of the time, and was not mentioned in 1814 in the Treaty
of Ghent. [Lieut. Coffin points out in his work (p. 29), that the last
assertion of the right of search was made by Commodore Wilkes in 1861,
when he seized Messrs. Mason and Slidell, passengers in the West Indian
Mail Steamer Trent, - an act for which he was rewarded by
Congress. For the Treaty, see Auchinleck’s History, p. 404.] As
for the Orders-in-Council, they were repealed before the declaration of
war was known in England. [American Act declaring war singed June 18th,
1812; repeal of the Orders-on-Council, June 23rd, 1812;
English declaration of war, October 13th, 1812 – Auchinleck,
p. 43: Coffin, i. p. 33; Thompson, pp. 39-99; McMullen, p. 253.] The
British Government naturally expected that Congress would at once revoke
their warlike measures, so soon as intelligence of the withdrawal of the
Orders reached America. Mr. Madison stated that had that conciliatory
step been taken in time, war would not have been declared by the United
States. He had before him, however, the conditional promise of
withdrawal given on April 1st. Beside that, Great Britain did not
proclaim hostilities until October, four months after Congress had taken
the initiative. This hasty and ill-considered action of the Americans
was perhaps, to a large extent, due to the fear that some such
concession would be made in England. They wished, also, to surprise
Canada, and capture the West Indian vessels then on their way homeward.
The hostile tone in Congress, as displayed in violent speeches, like
that of Henry Clay, exposed clearly, not only the animus of the war
party, but also its aims. [Tupper’s Brock, p. 237. Mr. Clay
called for the extinction of British power on the continent. He thought
it absurd to suppose that they could not succeed. God had given them the
power and the means, and they ought not to rest until they obtained
possession of the Continent. "I wish," said he, "never to
see a peace till we do." Two years and six months after Henry Clay
signed an ignoble Treaty of Peace at Ghent, as one of the United States’
Commissioners, on December 24th, 1814.] Neither Mr. Madison
nor the majority in Congress, however accurately represented the
feelings of the sober-minded portion of the American people. Mr.
Randolph denounced the war, as also did Mr. Sheffey, both from Virginia.
So did the Assemblies of Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, &c. At a
New York Convention, the delegates, in a series of resolutions, strongly
deprecated the war, ["That we contemplate with abhorrence even the
possibility of an alliance with the present Emperor of France, every
action of whose life has demonstrated that the attainment, by any means,
of universal empire, and the consequent extinction of every vestige of
freedom, are the sole objects of his incessant, unbounded and
remorseless ambition." – Auchinleck, p. 27; McMullen, p. 254.]
and there can be little doubt that it was intensely unpopular amongst
the manufacturing and commercial classes in the Eastern States. The
electoral vote for President in 1812 shows very clearly the sectional
character of the war-fever. Unfortunately no complete popular vote was
recorded until 1824. [The candidates for the Presidency for 1812 were
James Madison (second term) and De Witt Clinton, of New York. The vote
stood 128 to 89; but Madison received all his support from the South,
only Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont being in favour of him. For Clinton
were recorded the votes of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland (half-vote),
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island. – American
Almanac, 1880. p. 261. War was, of course, the prominent issue, and,
like all subsequent conflicts waged by, or in, the United States, it was
distinctly a slave-holder’s war.] This division in the camp of the
enemy was a fortunate circumstance for Canada, considering her scanty
population and military resources. The apathy, or avowed abhorrence of
the war, in New England preserved the frontier from invasion over the
vast expanse of territory from Halifax to Lake Champlain. The war began
at midsummer, and yet no attempt was made to repeat, under more
auspicious circumstances, the perilous march to Quebec, in 1775, up the
valley of the Chaudière.
The preparations made in
Canada to meet the impending shock were directed by the brave and
vigorous Brock, who had arrived in Canada, as Colonel of the 49th
Regiment, in 1802. From 1806, he was engaged in unremitting exertions to
place the Province in a state of defence. In 1807, the first effort was
put forth to enrol the loyal Highlanders; and shortly afterwards the men
of Glengarry appear upon the scene in which they played so conspicuous
and gallant a part. Writing to Mr. Windham (February 12th), Colonel
Brock transmitted "for consideration the proposals of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonell, late of the Royal Canadian
Volunteers, for raising a corps among the Scotch settlers in the County
of Glengarry, Upper Canada." He strongly recommended the acceptance
of the offer, and the Highlanders being all Catholics, proposed the Rev.
Alexander Macdonell as Chaplain. ["His zeal and attachment to
Government," he writes, "were strongly evinced whilst filling
the office of Chaplain to the Glengarry Fencibles during the Rebellion
in Ireland, and were generously acknowledged by His Royal Highness the
Commander-in-Chief. His influence over the men is deservedly great, and
I have every reason to think the corps, by his exertions, will soon be
completed, and hereafter form a nursery from which the army might draw a
number of hardy recruits." – Life and Correspondence, pp.
32-34. Colonel Macdonell, to whom reference will be made hereafter,
became Brock’s A.D.C., and fell shortly after his chief at Queenston;
the patriotic chaplain was subsequently Roman Catholic Bishop of
Regiopolis (Kingston).] In 1811, Colonel Baynes writes to Brock of
proposals made by "an officer of the King’s Regiment, a Captain
George Macdonell," to form a corps. He is described as "a
relation of the Glengarry priest of the name." In the first
instance it was to be a small battalion, with Macdonell as major. [We
shall hear of this brave Highlander again at Chateauguay. See Life of
Brock, p. 111.]
War was declared, by the
United States, on the 18th of June, 1812; but no intimation of the fact
reached Canada until the 7th of July. General Brock, however, was on the
alert; and, when the tidings reached him, had already made his
preparations. A distinguished Scot, Major-General Aeneas Shaw, sprung of
a fighting stock, deserves mention here. His father fought for the
Stuart, at Culloden, [Genealogical Account of the Shaws, London:
1877, p. 97. At Culloden, said the Provost of Inverness, in 1745,
"the brunt of the battle fell on the Clan Chattan," for out of
the twenty-one officers of their regiment, eighteen were left dead on
the field.] and the Clan Chattan (Shaw), has always had fighting men in
the army and volunteers. The Major-General had served in the
Revolutionary war as Captain of the Queen’s Rangers. (64th Foot). [Simcoe
was Colonel during the Revolution, and has left a full account of the
operations in his Military Journal. New York: 1844. Colonel
Stephen Jarvis, of the Queen’s Rangers, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel
Simcoe, in describing several engagements with Washington’s army in
August, 1777, says: "I was eye-witness to a very brave exploit
performed by the Left Division of the Highland Company, under the
command of Lieutenant, afterwards Major-General Aeneas Shaw. One of the
field pieces, belonging to the Light Infantry, had got fast in a
quagmire, and at last was abandoned by the Artillery attached to it. The
rebels gave a shout, ‘Huzza! the cannon is our own,’ and advanced to
take possession, when Lieutenant Shaw ordered his Division to the
right-about, charged the enemy, and brought off the cannon, which was
ever after attached to the Regiment." Colonel Shaw late of the 10th
Royals, and Mr. S.M. Jarvis are our authorities in this sketch of the
Shaws.] Rising to the rank of Major-General, he was afterwards appointed
Adjutant-General and a member of the Legislative Council of Upper
Canada. He died of sheer fatigue, in 1813, leaving five sons—all
officers in the army [It may be interesting to note how the military
spirit has run in the veins of the Shaws. The Major-General’s eldest
son, Alexander, was Captain in the 35th and 69th
Foot, and fought in seven general engagements. His son, Captain
Alexander Shaw, was an officer in the Incorporated Militia and Queen’s
Rangers, in 1837-8. Alexander’s son, Geo. A. Shaw, was, until lately,
Colonel of the 10th Royals.]—and four daughters.
Brock was at Fort George,
when the first attack was made by the enemy. General A. P. Hull crossed
the Detroit river, with 2,500 men, landed at Sandwich, and issued a
grandiloquent proclamation. It may be remarked here, that no belligerent
nation ever indulged so much in brag and bathos, followed by so slender
performance, as the Americans during this war. Hull’s next move was a
march upon Amherstburg, where a very small force of a few hundreds was
posted. The first blood was drawn on the River Canard; and the earliest
names of wounded officers are those of Scots—Captain Muir and Lieut.
Sutherland. [These gallant officers belonged to the 41st
Regiment.] They had been ordered to attack a village on the American
side, and both were severely wounded,—Sutherland was borne off the
field, having received a ball in the neck, which passed completely
through it. Muir, although twice wounded, insisted on keeping his place
in the field. [McMullen p. 260; Christie, ii. 27; Coffin, p. 42;
Auchinleck, p. 57; Thompson (Scots Greys), p. 108; Major
Richardson: Operation of the Right Division, &c.; Toronto,
1842, p. 19; Tupper: Life of Brock, p. 249.] At about the same
time, the important post of Mackinac capitulated, the small British
force owing its success largely to the valuable assistance of Scots
belonging to the North-West Company. Hull, having found that his
supplies and communications were in danger, re-crossed the river,
renounced his schemes of Canadian conquest, and entrenched himself at
Detroit. The indefatigable Brock had no sooner arrived at Sandwich than
he summoned Hull to surrender. The demand was refused, though in a
rather tame and unspirited way. The British commander’s demand was
certainly a bold one, seeing that, whilst the enemy had nearly 3,000
men, fighting under shelter, Brock’s force did not exceed seven
hundred. However, he probably had some idea of the man he had to deal
with, and the event proved that his judgment was correct. With
characteristic promptitude, our gallant general at once crossed the
river, and Hull lost heart and head at once. Detroit, and the whole of
Michigan territory, was surrendered, along with 2,500 men, 33 pieces of
cannon, and colours, besides an immense quantity of stores.
[Lieut.-Colonel John Macdonell, of the Glengarry Corps, and A.D.C. to
Brock, negotiated for the surrender, with Major Glegg; but more of him
hereafter.]
Meanwhile danger
threatened Canada on the lower Niagara, where Major-General Van
Rensselaer had, concentrated 5,200 men, besides 300 field and light
artillery, with 800 more at Fort Niagara. Matters having been adjusted
in the west, Brock hurried to the scene. The forces at his disposal
consisted of detachments from the 41st and 49th regiments, a few
companies of militia, and between 200 and 300 Indians. Nothing strikes
one more than the great disparity between the American and British
forces, whether on sea or land, throughout the war. It seems almost
inexplicable, looking at the true record, instead of the false
statistics of American historians, how those little bands of loyal and
patriotic men could have stood their ground and repelled for three years
a succession of attacks from superior numbers. The American general was
not bombastic, in the way of proclamation, like Hull, at the outset, and
Smyth, still more ridiculously, at a subsequent stage of the war. Still,
Van Rensselaer fancied that the task before him was an easy one.
"At all events," said Gen. Dearborn, with a confidence which
all the American commanders shared, "we must calculate upon
possessing Upper Canada before winter sets in." [Wilkinson’s Memoirs,
quoted in Auchinleck, p. 101.] There certainly appeared some reason for
anticipating such an event. From Black Rock to Fort Niagara the General
in command could count upon no fewer than five thousand two hundred men,
exclusive of three hundred artillery and the eight hundred of the 6th,
13th and 23rd regiments actually garrisoning Fort Niagara. On the other
hand, the British force of only 1,500 men against over 6,000 was
dispersed along the frontier from Fort Erie to Fort George, a distance
of thirty-six miles. [These figures are taken from the General Order
Book in MS. The headquarters of the four divisions were at Fort Erie,
Chippawa, Queenston and Fort George. Auchinleck (p. 101) states the
force at 1,200.]
On the morning of the
13th of October, in the gray dawn of a bleak and stormy day, the
American troops began to embark for the Canadian shore. The dun and
lowering sky was not as yet pierced by the beams of a rising sun when
the alarm was sounded. A spy had mistakenly informed Van Rensselaer that
Brock had departed hurriedly for Detroit, and the Americans deemed it
advisable to attack the enemy in his absence. A small band of British
soldiers were at the landing-place ready for the invaders, who rowed
across the deep blue waters flecked with whitish foam—the relic of a
fiercer struggle up the river. The Canadian ordnance consisted of but
one gun on the shore and one on the heights. And yet the gallant
defenders of the British soil would have beaten back the enemy, had not
some of them discovered a path up the rocks, down which not a few were
fated to descend with greater rapidity than they had clambered up. The
heights were gained and the single gun captured. At that moment Brock
and his aides appeared upon the scene, and his cheery cry, "Follow
me, boys," nerved the hearts of his slender command. The odds were
apparently against him, but the stout hearts of the General and his
gallant following knew no fear. Their watchword was duty, and they were
content to leave the rest to God. Brock fell too early in the struggle,
where he was always ready to die—at his post. Like the conqueror of
Quebec, the hero of Queenston was taken away in the prime of life. Wolfe
was only in his thirty-fourth year when he expired on the plains of
Abraham; Brock, exactly a week before his death, had but completed his
forty-third year. The memories of both are enshrined in the hearts of
all true Canadians—green and precious now as when they perished by an
untimely death. In both instances victory crowned the dying heroes, but
Wolfe’s task had been virtually accomplished; the brave and chivalrous
Brock’s had only begun. [For an admirable account of the General’s
life, the reader is referred to the biography by his nephew, F. Brock
Tupper. London: 1845.]
The odds in this heroic
struggle were heavily on the side of the invader. Thirteen hundred
Americans were on the heights, and opposed to them were only two
companies of the 49th and about two hundred York militia. To add to the
difficulties of defence, Captain Wool with an American detachment,
having mounted by the fisherman’s path, poured down fresh volleys of
musketry upon the devoted band of loyalists. It was in charging up the
hill, with the cry of, "Push on, brave York volunteers," that
the gallant Brock met a soldier’s death. Not long after, another brave
officer, of whom it is proper to speak at length, fell—a companion of
his General in the tomb until this day. Lieut.-Col. Macdonell, the
faithful and trusted aide-de-camp of Brock, had already seen service
with his chief up the Detroit river, and he, with Captain Glegg,
negotiated and signed the treaty of surrender by Hull. [In a letter to
Sir George Prevost, published in the Gazette in London, Brock
says speaking of Hull’s surrender, "In the attainment of this
important point, gentlemen of the first character and influence showed
an example exceedingly creditable to them, and I cannot on this occasion
avoid mentioning the essential service I derived from John Macdonell,
Esq., His Majesty’s Attorney-General, who, from the beginning of the
war, has honoured me with his services as my Provincial
aide-de-camp."] As the foremost Scot at Queenston, he deserves a
somewhat extended notice. John Macdonell was born at Greenfield,
Inverness, Scotland, in 1787, so that he was only twenty-five years of
age when he met his death. His father, Alexander, emigrated to
Glengarry, in Upper Canada, in 1790; and his mother, Janet, was the
daughter of an aide-de-camp of Charles Stuart, and brother of
Lieut.-Col. John Macdonell, of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, and
Speaker of the Upper Canada Assembly in 1792. [The Macdonells were
essentially a fighting clan. The grandfather of this John fought at
Culloden, escaped to France, and became a colonel in the French service,
being on the account excepted from the Indemnity Act of 1747. His son
was made colonel of the 76th Macdonell Highlanders in 1777,
having previously been a major in the Fraser Regiment. He died, after
taking part in the American war, a colonel in the army and a
brigadier-general in the Portuguese service.] The family was a large
one. The Colonel’s brother, Hugh, died at the Scotch College of
Valladolid in Spain. Duncan commanded a company at the taking of
Ogdensburgh, and at Fort Carrington in 1813, and lived until 1865,
having been Registrar for many years. Angus was a partner in the
North-West Company and was murdered at Red River during the Selkirk
troubles. Alexander was successively M.P.P. and Sheriff of the Ottawa
District. Donald was also an M.P.P., Sheriff of the Eastern District,
Colonel, and, in 1813-14, Assistant Quarter-Master General. The hero of
Queenston was called to the bar in 1808, became Attorney-General in
1811, and, at the breaking out of the war, was appointed A.D.C. to
General Brock. At Detroit, he received General Hull’s sword, and the
gold medal commemorative of the surrender was transmitted to the family
after his untimely death. Col. Macdonell, who had been stationed some
few miles from Queenston, hastened to the scene. He had only two
companies with him, but these men, exasperated at the death of their
beloved General, rushed valiantly up the steep, bent on vengeance. In
the course of the charge, the gallant Macdonell fell, having been
wounded in four places. He lived for twenty hours, continually lamenting
the death of his illustrious chief. ["His Provincial aide-de-camp,
Lieut.-Macdonell, the Attorney-General of Upper Canada – a fine,
promising young man – was mortally wounded soon after his chief, and
died the next day at the early age of twenty-five years. Although one
bullet passed through his body, and he was wounded in four places, yet
he survived twenty hours, and during a period of excruciating agony, his
thoughts and words were constantly occupied with lamentations for his
deceased commander and friend. He died while gallantly charging up the
hill with 190 men, chiefly of the York volunteers, by which assault the
enemy was compelled to spike the eighteen-pounder in the battery
there."-Tupper’s Brock, p. 322. See also, James’ Military
Occurrences, i. 90, and the other histories in loco,
previously cited.] It was fitting that this brave young Highlander
should repose in death by the side of the hero he loved so well. Gallant
and chivalrous in their lives, in death they were not divided. But for
the loss of the Colonel [Earl Bathurst, writing to Sir Geo. Prevost, in
December, 1812, speaking for the Prince Regent, observes: "His
Royal Highness has been also pleased to express his regret at the loss
which the Province must experience by the death of the Attorney-General,
Mr Macdonell, whose zealous co-operation with Sir Isaac Brock will
reflect lasting honour on his memory." Early in 1813, the Prince
Regent again acknowledged the service of the Colonel; and in 1820,
Frederick Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, transmitted the Detroit
medal to his family, "as a token of the respect which His Majesty
entertains for the memory of that officer." In 1853, when the Brock
Monument was again in process of erection at Queenston, the
Administrator of the Government nominated Colonel Donald Macdonell to
represent him at the re-interment. In the Militia General Order,
"His Excellency has much pleasure in nominating for this duty the
brother of the gallant officer who fell nobly by the side of the
Major-General in the performance of his duty as Provincial
Aide-de-camp." It may be stated that we are indebted to his
relative, Mr. John A. Macdonell, of Toronto, for the information
contained above.] there can be no question that the invaders would at
once have been driven over the rocks, although they numbered at least
four to one. As it was, help, unfortunately tardy, was at hand. The
reinforcements came from Fort George, and although they amounted to
three hundred and eighty, were but a handful as compared with the enemy;
still they were strong and valiant enough to drive the enemy across the
river. Of these fresh troops the names of Scottish origin occupy a
prominent place. Lieut. McIntyre led the advance with the light company
of the 41st Foot; then follow, of the militia, Capt.. James Crooks,
Capt. McEwan (1st Lincoln), with Cameron and Chisholm, of the little
Yorkers. General Sheaffe assumed the command, and after one volley the
British bayonet was brought into requisition, and the Americans fled
towards the Falls. Finding no succour at hand, many of them flung
themselves over the rocks, others were observed attempting to swim
across the river; but the rest, to the number of between eight and nine
hundred, surrendered. [Van Rensselaer and several boat loads had gone
over previously. It may be well to remark there that this unfortunate
General was, perhaps, more sinned against than sinning. Personally, he
was, unquestionably, a brave man, but he had not strategic ability. With
at least 6,300 men between Fort Niagara and Black Rock, he should have
done better, considering the well known weakness of the opposing force.
Thompson, at that time Secretary of War, tried to depreciate Van
Rensselaer’s personal bravery; but at Queenston he was wounded in four
places. See a defence of the American General by his nephew and
aide-de-camp, entitled Narrative of the Affair at Queenston in the
War of 1812. New York: 1836. There is a great deal of curious
information in this book.] It is not necessary here to refer to the
transparent falsehood of the American chroniclers, who multiply their
enemy’s army by five and divide their own by three. It may suffice to
note that two of them introduce, as present, the entire 49th Regiment,
whereas there were only two companies there.
It is now time to look at
the part taken by some other Scots or Scotsmen’s sons in the war. No
less than three gentlemen destined to be Chief Justices took up arms in
defence of their country in the conflict of 1812-15, and of these, two
were of Scottish blood. [The third, Sir John Beverley Robinson, was the
son of a U.E. Loyalist, and of English extraction.] Sir James Buchanan
Macaulay, C.B., was the son of James Macaulay, M.D., formerly of the
33rd Foot, and grandson of the Rev. Mr. Macaulay, of Glasgow, Scotland.
He thus closely resembled in his pedigree the great English historian.
His father emigrated to Canada, and was quartered with his regiment at
Niagara, in 1792. There, in December of the following year, the future
Chief Justice was born. Educated at Cornwall under another Scot, Dr.
(afterwards Bishop) Strachan, he entered the 98th Regiment as ensign.
When the war broke out, Macaulay longed to assist in the defence of his
country, and joined, with that object, the redoubtable Glengarry
Fencibles. He served at Ogdensburg, Oswego, Lundy’s Lane, and Fort
Erie, always in the thick of the conflict. He was, nevertheless,
fortunate in never having received a wound. After the war, Macaulay
entered upon the profession of the law, and was called to the Bar in
1822. In 1829 he became a puisne Judge of the Queen’s Bench; in 1849
the first Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; and in 1856 he was
chosen as a Judge of the Court of Error and Appeal. A man of singular
ability and of a most amiable disposition, he was a sincere friend to
the student as well as to the barrister. The crowning work of his life
was perfected when the statutes of the Province were satisfactorily
consolidated; and he died in 1859, highly esteemed and deeply regretted.
[He left three daughters, of whom one became the wife of B. Homer Dixon,
Esq., K.N.L., of Homewood, Consul of the Netherlands. The above account
is mainly taken from Morgan’s Celebrated Canadians, p. 468.]
A rare old fighting-stock—the
McLean family—must now claim our attention, and here there is almost
an embarras de richesses. [The information contained herein is
entirely derived from manuscript notes kindly furnished by Miss McLean,
Messrs. John McLean (Cornwall), Thos. A. McLean, Allan McLean Howard,
and J. T. Pringle (Cornwall), and from a funeral sermon by the Rev. Dr.
Barclay, published at Toronto, 1865.] The clan McLean, or Gillean, seems
to have turned out as many sturdy fighters as any of the Highland septs,
if not more. [See Keltie: Scottish Highlanders, ii. 223.] So far
back as the grey dawn which intervened between legend and history,
partaking largely of both, [Before us lies a genealogical table of the
Clan Maclean, beginning with the founder of the race Gillean (A.D.
1176), and reaching down to the close of last century.] there was a
Gillean to the fore, fighting in the reign of Alexander III. against the
Norsemen at the battle of Largs. A Lachlan Mor McLean was bent upon
exterminating the Macdonalds, and got the worst of it; his son, Hector,
however, redressed the balance and expelled the other Macs, invading
Isla, and ravaging it in primitive fashion. A younger brother was one of
the Nova Scotia baronets—Sir Lachlan Maclean by name. The clan was
devotedly loyal to the Stuarts throughout; they belonged to Mull, and
were not likely to be infected with the constitutional theories of the
far-away Southron. At Inverlochy and Inverkeithing they fought
desperately on the side of Montrose and the Stuarts. At the battle of
Killiecrankie, Sir John Maclean was on Dundee’s right; in 1715, the
clan was again to the fore under Mar, and busy at Sheriffmuir. At
Culloden, where the sun set upon the Stuart fortunes, five hundred of
the clan fought for Charlie. It would lead us too far-afield to trace
the various branches of the clan; and it is not necessary for the
present purpose to distinguish them. Before referring, however, to the
McLean who is of special interest in this immediate connection, it seems
proper to refer to others who distinguished themselves on the field.
Archibald McLean was descended from Hector Mhor McLean, Lord of Duart,
and son of Hector of Mull. He was captain of a Loyalist corps, a troop
of horse in the New York volunteers, and served under Lord Rawdon in the
American Revolution. He especially distinguished himself at the battle
of Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina, where he was severely wounded.
Removing to New Brunswick after the war, he was for twenty-two years a
member of the Legislature. In 1812 he was staff-adjutant of Militia in
New Brunswick, and died in 1830. His son, Allan McLean, volunteered with
his regiment to go to Canada during the troubles of 1837. [He was a
cousin of the Gen. Allan McLean to be mentioned immediately, and uncle
of General Thomas Allan McLean, well known as colonel of the 13th
Hussars, also of Rev. John McLean Ballard. Allan McLean Howard, of
Toronto, another nephew, is in possession of his sword, pistol-holsters
and military accoutrements.] Major (now Colonel) McLean served with
distinction during the Crimean War, and was in Canada with his regiment,
the 13th Hussars. He will succeed to the Baronetcy as well as
chieftainship of clan on the death of his father, Sir Fitzroy Grafton
McLean. General Allan McLean, who defended Quebec, belongs to a branch
eminently distinguished for its bravery. "It may be said of
them," says our informant, "that they lived by the sword and
died by the sword, for they all fell in battle, and there is not an
individual remaining in the whole line, so far as I am aware of."
Allan’s grand-daughter had, in addition, a cousin who was a General,
and her husband was also a General. Another McLean (John) was in the
Hudson Bay Company’s service, and published a work on the North-West.
General Lachlan McLean owed his promotion to his good looks. Unlike most
of his clan, he did little or no fighting. The Duke of York, Commander
in Chief, had a weakness for handsome officers; the consequence was
Lachlan’s rapid promotion as successively Lieutenant-Colonel,
Brigadier-General, Major-General, and Lieutenant-General. At Quebec, as
senior General, he secured the post of commandant of the garrison with
its emoluments. The Hon. Neil McLean also hailed from Mull. Born in
1759, he entered the Royal Highland Emigrants as Ensign, and was
subsequently gazetted a Lieutenant of the 84th. When that
regiment was disbanded he remained on half-pay until 1796, when he was
made Captain of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, serving at Montreal,
Quebec, and York, taking part in the battle of Chrysler’s farm. He
finally settled at St. Andrews, Stormont, marrying a Miss Macdonald (of
the brave Glengarry stock), by whom he had three sons, John, Archibald,
and Alexander. The eldest was for years Sheriff of Kingston; Alexander
entered the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and saw considerable service in
the war of 1812; and he subsequently enlisted in the Stormont Militia,
being wounded at the capture of Ogdensburg. He was subsequently M.P.P.
and Treasurer of Stormont and Glengarry. The second son is more widely
known to the present generation. Archibald McLean (afterwards
Chief-Justice of Ontario and President of the Court of Error and Appeal)
was born at St. Andrews, near Cornwall, in 1791. At the breaking out of
the war of 1812, McLean was Second Lieutenant in the 1st or flank
company of the York Volunteers, [The Volunteers were attached to the 3rd
York Militia, and their officers were: 1st, Captain Duncan
Cameron, Senior Lieut. William Jarvis, Junior, Archibald McLean, 3rd
Lieut. George Ridout. This being the right flank, now called the
Grenadier Company, the Light Company was officered by Captain Stephen
Howard, with three Lieutenants – John Beverley Robinson, S.P. Jarvis,
and Robert Stanton.] commanded by a Scot, Capt. Cameron. When Brock
inspected the companies he asked for volunteers to accompany him to
Amherstburg, and, to his surprise, all offered to go. It was impossible,
however, to accept them all, and finally Heward, Jarvis, and Robinson
(Sir John) were selected to command a portion of the force. Although it
does not bear upon the immediate subject of this work, it may not be
amiss to note an incident which shows the patriotic conduct of the
"brave York Volunteers." Mr. Jarvis, of the Light Company, had
been despatched after Gen. Brock in charge of a few Indians, with
instructions to return, after accomplishing his mission. Jarvis had no
notion of returning, however, and was temporarily attached to one of the
companies. Lieut. McLean was stationed at Brown’s or Field’s Point,
about midway between Queenston and Niagara. When the noise of artillery
and the rattle of musketry was heard, McLean at once rushed to the scene
of action. He was in charge of the solitary 18-pounder which was placed
on the brink of the river. When the early dawn of morning disclosed the
enemy, the gallant Lieutenant was anxious to get into the midst of the
fray; and when the Americans had gained the heights by the
"fisherman’s path," he could be restrained no longer.
Flinging aside his heavy overcoat, McLean and his little following
joined the York Volunteers. His captain (Duncan Cameron) was wounded by
a spent ball in the elbow, and thus rendered helpless; McLean himself
was severely wounded in the thigh. Then followed Macdonell’s gallant
charge up the steep, and the surrender of the American forces. Macdonell
fell close to McLean, and his first cry was to him, "Archie, help
me." The reinforcements from Fort George had finished the business;
but the victory was dearly purchased by the deaths of Brock and
Macdonell. The ill-advised armistice concluded by Gen. Sheaffe
terminated the campaign, and McLean returned to York, with a
view of prosecuting his studies and the legal profession. Visiting his
friends in eastern Ontario, he was commissioned to recruit a company in
the battalion which his father, Neil McLean, was about to raise. So
conspicuous was the Lieutenant’s gallantry, that Sir George Prevost
offered him a commission in the line – a tempting offer in those days—but
declined by McLean, who fought only for his native land. During his
visit, Lieut. McLean came in contact with the good Bishop Macdonell; and
the failure of means of transport and the deep snow accidentally
brought him once more into the middle of the fray at Prescott and
Ogdensburgh. The Bishop was on the ice in a great state of agitation, as
the troops had been repulsed, and the whole north shore was exposed to
the mercy of the American marauders. There were in the western division
only a company of the Glengarry Fencibles and a remnant of the Glengarry
Militia. McLean and his brother obtained arms from wounded men, and
hurried in haste over the ice-clad river. They, however, arrived too
late. The eastern division consisted of a company of the 8th or King’s
Regiment, a detachment of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, and a number
of the Glengarry, Stormont and Dundas Militia. These were almost wholly
Scots, or of Scottish extraction. They made a gallant assault upon the
works, which were defended by an American force under Captain Forsyth
(presumably of Scottish descent). The works were carried; but Lieut.
McLean only reached the scene to find his younger brother, Alexander,
severely wounded by a round-shot in the thigh. The stores, &c., were
carried over on the ice to Prescott. In March, Lieut. McLean returned to
York, with the intention of applying for call to the bar. At an
interview with General Sheaffe he announced his intention of raising a
company of incorporated Militia, as Captain Jarvis had done, but was
induced to accept the Assistant Quartermaster-Generalship of Militia,
and consequently was placed on the Staff. He continued in active service
until the battle of Lundy’s Lane, where he had the misfortune to be
taken prisoner, with a reconnoitring party, and, after suffering some
hardships, was detained, on parole, until the close of the war. He was
at York when it was captured by the Americans, and bore away the York
Volunteers’ colours during the retreat. His after career is well
known. Pursuing his legal course, he eventually became Chief-Justice of
Ontario, and died President of the Court of Error and Appeal in 1865.
His wife came also of a
distinguished Highland line. Her father, a Macpherson, and her
grandfather a Cameron, were amongst the defenders of the Sault au
Matelot, when Montgomery assaulted Quebec in 1775. Cameron had followed
Prince Charlie under Lochiel in the ‘45, but escaped to France. On his
return to Scotland with a brother of Lochiel, both were taken prisoners.
The latter was executed—the last of the hangman’s victims. Cameron
was offered a commission in the army, but preferred emigrating to
Canada. After fighting bravely at Quebec, he refused any pay for his
services, with the characteristic pride of a Highlandman. "I will
help," he said, "to defend the country from our invader, but I
will not take service under the House of Hanover." [Before leaving
the McLeans, an incident connecting past with present – the old
generation with the new – seems deserving of mention. On the 24th
of May, 1855, Chief Justice McLean laid the corner-stone of the Sandwich
Court-house, and was presented with a silver trowel by "a brither
Scot," the contractor, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, since Premier of
the Dominion.]
Allan McNab was the
father of Sir Allan, of Dundurn Castle, Hamilton. His family, like the
Shaws and McLeans were soldiers by hereditary descent. Old Allan’s
father belonged to the 42nd or Black Watch, was Royal Forester of
Scotland, and owned a small property called Dundurn at the head of Loch
Earn. The son was originally an officer in the 71st, but during the
Revolutionary war, he served as a Lieutenant of cavalry in the Queen’s
Rangers under General Simcoe. While thus employed he received no less
than thirteen wounds. Following the fortunes of his General he repaired
to Upper Canada, and subsequently with his son (afterwards Sir Allan,
then so young as hardly to be able to carry a musket) took part in the
war of 1812. Sir Allan Napier McNab was born at Niagara in 1798, and
received his second name from the mother’s side, Captain Napier, his
grandfather having been Commissioner of the port of Quebec. He was at
York when the enemy captured the town, and followed General Sheaffe in
the retreat to Kingston. Here he became a "middy" in Sir James
Yeo’s squadron, and went to Sackett’s Harbour where Prevost made so
notorious a failure. We next find him in the 100th Regiment under
Colonel Murray on the Niagara frontier, with the advanced guard; he was
foremost at the taking of Fort Niagara, and received an ensigncy in the
49th as a reward for his valour. At the burning of Black Rock and
Buffalo, in retaliation for the wanton destruction of Niagara, he was
present with General Riall’s command. When this campaign ended he
joined his regiment at Montreal, and was again so unfortunate as to be a
participant in that other fiasco of Sir George Prevost at Plattsburg.
There again Sir Allan was of the advanced guard. Placed on half-pay some
years after the war, he devoted himself to the study of the law and rose
to the dignity of a silk-gown. His parliamentary career began in 1829,
when he was returned for Wentworth,—a seat he occupied during three
Parliaments. From that time until his retirement from the House in 1857,
Sir Allan represented the City of Hamilton, and he was subsequently (in
1860) a member, and Speaker, of the Legislative Council. The political
portion of his career will demand attention in a subsequent chapter, as
also his connection with the burning of the Caroline in 1837. As
leader of "the men of Gore" he always appeared ready to take
up arms in the service of his country. A bluff, frank, honest old man,
albeit gouty, he was, in spite of the irascibility produced by physical
suffering, much beloved by the people of his district and although, by
heredity and education, a strong Tory, never lost the respect of his
Reform friends and neighbours. In 1859, during a brief residence in
England, he failed to secure a seat for Brighton. [Morgan: Celebrated
Canadians, p. 473. Dr. Ryerson: The Loyalists of America, ii.
202; and Simcoe: Military Journal, passim.]
The Hon. James Crooks
(father of the Ontario Minister of Education) was one of the earliest
settlers in Upper Canada. Born at Kilmarnock in 1778, he established
himself at Niagara in 1794. [Three of the name are mentioned in Toronto
of Old, all residents of Niagara – William, James and Matthew. The
two first-named were in partnership as merchants. In the Gazette and
Oracle of October 11th, 1797, appeared the following
advertisement, which did not look strange at the time: "Wanted to
purchase a Negro girl, from seven to twelve years of age, of good
disposition. For further particulars apply to the subscribers, W. and J.
Crooks, West Niagara. Scadding, p. 295.] As a merchant he sent
the first load of wheat and flour from Upper Canada to Montreal [Celebrated
Canadians, p. 315.] and established the first paper mill. Unlike
Jack Cade’s victim, Lord Say, Mr. Crooks did not lose his head on
account of the latter enterprise. [That portion of the rebel’s
indictment against this Lordship must be familiar to the Shakespearian
reader: "And whereas before, our fathers had no other books but the
score and tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and contrary to
the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill." 2
Henry VI. Act iv. Sc. vii.] During the war Mr. Crooks, and at least one
of his brothers, distinguished themselves in the field at Queenston and
elsewhere on the Niagara frontier. He was soon after elected to the
Assembly, [In a debate on a measure to legalize marriages solemnized by
Methodist clergymen, he is reported in the York Observer, (January
17th, 1822) to have said, "He thought it was necessary
that this Bill should make valid marriage heretofore contracted, and he
hoped to God it would take place." In the York Almanac
and Royal Calendar for 1823, he appears as member for Halton,
residing in Dundas.] and subsequently became a member of the Legislative
Council. Throughout his public life he was regarded as a singularly
upright man, and thoroughly independent. He died so late as 1860, in the
82nd year of his age, on the same property in West Flamboro’ where his
son, the Minister of Education, first saw the light in 1827. In politics
the Hon. James Crooks was a Conservative, and therefore came under the
notice of Robert Gourlay, of whom hereafter.
The Hon. George
Crookshank, in his later years, "the oldest resident of
Toronto," was born in the City of New York, in 1773. His father, a
native of the island of Hoy, Orkney, had emigrated to Shrewsbury, New
Jersey, upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. He was a devoted
loyalist, and emigrated, early in the troubled time, to New Brunswick.
There his sister Catherine married the Hon. John McGill. Mr. Crookshank’s
brother-in-law had already preceded him to Canada, and in 1796, he was
induced to follow, by the offer of an important post in the Commissariat
Department. The immediate cause of the migration of the Crookshanks and
McGills, was the earnest desire of General Simcoe, when appointed to the
Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada, to have some of the old
loyalists about him. Mr. Crookshank’s chief work was the building of
military roads, and the transportation of cannon, &c., for the army.
When the town of York was evacuated, he followed the forces to Kingston,
and his house [The well-known homestead was on the east side of the
intersection of Peter and Front streets. "Passing westward,"
says Dr. Scadding, "we had on the right the spacious home of Mr.
Crookshank, a benevolent and excellent man, sometime Receiver-General of
the Province." – Toronto of Old: p. 62.] became the
head-quarters of the American General. He retired on half-pay, in 1820,
when he also received a grant of three hundred acres of land, known
afterwards as the Crookshank estate. The hon. gentleman died a member of
the Legislative Council, of many years’ standing, on the 21st of July,
1859. He was a warm-hearted and energetic man, a worthy exemplar of the
sterling loyalist virtues, and ended a long and eventful life, leaving
no blot upon his escutcheon. In those days when systematized charity was
unknown, Mr. Crookshank was eminently charitable upon a national and
well-designed basis. As a churchman, his name is linked with the
fortunes of St. James’ Cathedral, to the erection of which he largely
contributed. After the Union of 1841, he does not appear to have taken
any part in political life. The Provinces he had so earnestly laboured
to build up had passed into a new phase of existence, and he could well
afford to leave the work of progress to his juniors. Mr. Crookshank was
pre-eminently a pioneer, and as the pioneer’s work was done, the
evening of his days was passed in quiet retirement. His only son had
gone before him, and his property fell to his only surviving child, a
daughter, [His daughter married Mr. Stephen Heward, and to her kindness
the writer is indebted for most of the information given above.] when he
died on the 21st of July, 1859.
On the last day of the
year 1834, as we learn from the Patriot, of January 20th,
1835, the Hon. John McGill died in Toronto, as little York was by that
time called. Mr. Mackenzie’s paper, the Advocate, announced his
decease, in these characteristic words: "Died—yesterday, the Hon.
John McGill, and Old Pensioner in His Majesty’s Government." A
correspondent of the Patriot, after rebuking the Radical editor,
for his want of feeling, proceeds to give an account of the departed
official. He was born in Auchland in Wigtonshire, Scotland, at the
beginning of March, 1752. Thanks to the admirable parochial system of
his native land, he was well educated, and piously brought up. His
father apprenticed him to a merchant at Ayr, where he may have come in
contact with Robert Burns. In 1773, his enterprising spirit led him to
emigrate to the colonies, and he landed in Virginia, in October. When
the storm of revolution broke over the land, Mr. McGill, firm in loyalty
to king and country, sacrificed his mercantile prospects, and cast in
his lot with what proved to be the losing cause. The rebels, although
they loved liberty for themselves, were not over tolerant where the
honest opinions of opponents were in question. Mr. McGill was one of
those described as "unmanageable traitors," and with
difficulty succeeded in making good his escape on Lord Dunmore’s
fleet. In 1777, he was Lieutenant in the Loyal Virginians, and
afterwards became Captain, under General Simcoe, in the Queen’s
Rangers. [A full account of the exploits of the Queen’s Rangers will
be found in Simcoe’s Military Journal, originally printed, for
private circulation, at Exeter, and published at New York with a memoir,
in 1844.] In 1779, the Colonel and others of the corps fell into an
ambuscade, and into the hands of the rebels, by whom they were harshly
treated. Mr. McGill offered to aid his superior officer’s escape, by
taking his place in bed and remaining behind. But the plan failed owing
to the breaking of a false key in the door-lock. In 1783, Mr. McGill,
with other loyalists, made his way to St. John, New Brunswick, where he
remained seven or eight years. During this time he married Miss
Catharine Crookshank, a lady of singular benevolence and amiability of
character, with whom he lived happily for over thirty years. [Mrs.
McGill died on the 21st of September, 1819. An obituary
notice of her, warmly eulogistic in tone, appeared in the Upper
Canada Gazette of the 25th, a copy of which lies before
us.] Another Miss Crookshank (Rachel) was the second wife of Dr.
Macaulay, whose death is recorded in the York Observer of January
7th, 1822. By his first wife the doctor left a number of descendants
well known in Toronto. [Dr. Macaulay was the father of Sir J.B. Macaulay.
Mrs. Macaulay survived her husband for eighteen years, dying in 1840.
The residence called Teraulay was on Yonge Street, about where the
Church of the Holy Trinity now stands.]
In the winter of 1792,
Mr. McGill, at the invitation of General Simcoe, removed to Upper
Canada. The founder of Toronto was, throughout, a fast friend to him,
and, at the peace of 1783, with other reduced officers, he repaired in
company with his chief to New Brunswick. When Simcoe was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, he, at once, wrote for Crookshank
and McGill, in 1791. The latter received the post of Commissary of
Stores, &c.,—an office to which, as already noted, his
brother-in-law succeeded on his arrival in 1796. The records show that
General Simcoe reposed the utmost confidence in Colonel McGill. On the
arrival of General Hunter—a brother of the celebrated physician, John,
and a Scot,—there appeared to be a pressing necessity for a general
supervisor of the Provincial finances. Mr. McGill, therefore, was named
as Inspector-General of Accounts, with the munificent salary of £164
5s. currency; he did not accept the appointment, however, until 1801.
[He was certainly no gainer, seeing that he was compelled, out of this
paltry pittance, to pay a clerk 126 pounds, and furnish office, fire and
candles, out of the balance.] His labours in the audit department appear
to have been thorough and effective. For forty years, Mr. McGill appears
to have laboured with conspicuous ability. He had been an Executive
Councillor, early in his public life, having been appointed to succeed a
brither Scot, Colonel Shaw in 1796; and in 1797, he was called to the
Legislative Council, at the time of his death, being by far, the oldest
member of that body. [The particulars in the text are taken from a
tribute to the memory of Mr. McGill, by the Hon. Peter McGill, of whom
mention will be made hereafter.]
In 1818, Sir Roger
Sheaffe nominated him to the Receiver Generalship of the Province. When
at the age of seventy, worn out by active service, with impaired sight,
and partial paralysis of the right arm and hand, caused by unremitting
labours at the desk, he asked leave, to retire, and received from the
Lords of the Treasury a pension of £450 sterling per annum. [Scadding,
pp. 286-7.] That he fully deserved this mark of appreciation, is evident
from the highly eulogistic terms in which contemporaries spoke of his
career. On his retirement, Lieutenant-Governor Gore wrote to him from
London, thus: "Your long, honourable, and meritorious services, had
I the power, should be better rewarded." As an instance of McGill’s
probity, it may be mentioned that he over-credited the Government with
£1,700, from a sensitive delicacy as to what he was legally entitled to
as Receiver-General. It was decided in England, at the instance of the
Chief Justice, that he ought to be re-imbursed; yet, strange to say,
only one-half of it was actually received by him. Mr. McGill owned a
large park-lot in what is now the heart of Toronto. His residence stood,
until about ten years ago, on the plot now occupied by the Metropolitan
Church, formerly known as McGill Square. His name is still preserved by
McGill Street, further to the North. [Dr. Scadding (p. 260), notes a
copy of an advertisement from the Upper Canada Gazette for 1793,
in which is given some idea of the work of Mr. McGill’s first
department: "Ten Guineas Reward is offered for the recovery of a
Government grindstone, stolen from the King’s Wharf, between the 30th
of April and the 6th inst. Signed, John McGill, Com. of
Stores, &c. Queenstown, 16 May, 1793.] Mr. McGill died at the close
of 1834, at the advanced age of eighty-two, leaving his property to his
nephew Peter McCutcheon, who, in obedience to the testator’s
injunction, assumed the name of McGill.
The Hon. James McGill,
founder of McGill University, Montreal, was distinguished for his
benevolence and public spirit. Born at Glasgow, in 1744 (Oct. 6th), he
came to Canada at an early age, and became a merchant. Having amassed a
large fortune, he thenceforth devoted himself to the advancement of his
adopted country. He became a member of the House, and subsequently of
the Legislative and Executive Councils of Lower Canada. During the war
of 1812, so valuable were his services that he rose to the position of
Brigadier-general. He was chiefly known, however, for his charity, and
the warm interest he took in the cause of education. Towards the close
of 1813, he died at the age of sixty-seven, leaving a monument behind
more precious and enduring than marble. [Morgan, p. 316.] The Hon. Peter
McGill, though properly belonging to a later period, and not connected
with the war, but afterwards a Colonel of Militia, may be introduced
here, in connection with his namesake. His father, John McCutcheon,
belonged to Newton Stewart in Galloway, and his mother a McGill. He
himself was born at Cree Bridge, Wigtonshire, in August, 1789, emigrated
to Canada in 1809, and settled in Montreal. His family name was
McCutcheon, but he afterwards changed it to McGill, at the request of
the Hon. John McGill, of Toronto, whose heir he became. His firm, that
of Peter McGill & Co., was well known throughout the Provinces. From
June, 1834 until June, 1840, he was President of the Bank of Montreal,
and in September of the latter year, died in that city. Like James, he
was famed for his philanthropy, and occupied prominent positions in the
commercial metropolis. He was a Governor of the McGill University,
Director of the Grand Trunk Railway, Governor of the Montreal General
Hospital, President of the Lay Association of the Scotch Church, of the
Bible Society, and of the School Society, as well as Trustee of the
Queen’s University, of Kingston. After the union he became a
Legislative Councillor (1841), Executive Councillor, and Speaker of the
Legislative Council in 1847, shortly after the arrival of Lord Elgin,
resigning the following year. He appears to have been a man of the
Scottish type pre-eminently - a race representative. Educated only in
the parish school, he had gained a position before his uncle’s will,
in 1824, which made him independent. Possessed of a strong physical
constitution, upwards of six feet high, he still looks, with his benign
countenance, in photograph, a model of vigour and beaming good nature.
Instinctively liberal in his views, he nevertheless appears to have had
ingrained in his constitution some stubborn old-world principles, both
in religion and politics; still he was not bigoted and knew how to adapt
his views to the varying phases of modern progress. Had he been gifted
with the superficial graces of far inferior men, he might have made a
conspicuous figure; but he could not have done more essential service in
his day and generation. Whether as Mayor of Montreal, Master of the
Masonic Grand Lodge, President of the St. Andrew’s Society, or
chairman of the first railway company in Canada (1834)—the St.
Lawrence and Champlain—he was a conscientious worker, a man of whom
Scotland may still be proud, though she is affluent in worthy sons, and
one also whose memory will not soon be forgotten in the city of
Montreal. He had passed the seventieth year when he was called to his
rest. Mr. McGill’s Reform principles had been tested frequently;
differences, to which we shall refer elsewhere, arose from time to time
in the Council, and were not healed until Lord Elgin was firmly seated
in power. The Hon. Peter McGill was concerned, with more or less
prominence, in events which must be traced in their entirety hereafter;
meanwhile it is well to draw attention to the sterling character of this
strong-headed and warmhearted Scot, who laboured to do well, and felt
ardently the needs of the young Canadian nationality.
Major-General McDouall
was another Scottish hero of the last war; but we have failed to get any
further particulars of him than are to be found in Morgan. [p. 216.] It
appears that he entered the army in 1796, and, rising through the
various steps of promotion, was Colonel during the conflict with the
United States. The most notable exploit he performed was the defence of
Fort Michilimackinac against a very superior force. In 1841, McDouall
was gazetted as Major-General and died at Stranraer in 1848. General Sir
George Murray, was born in Perthshire, and educated at Edinburgh
University. Entering the army in 1789, at the age of 17, he served in
almost all the quarters of the globe. In 1812, he became Brock’s
successor as Lieut.-Governor, but he had no sooner heard of Napoleon’s
escape from Elba, than he returned home, and joined the English army in
France. Subsequently Murray became Governor of Edinburgh Castle;
Governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, Lieut.General of
Ordnance, and M.P. for Perthshire. He also filled the subordinate
position of Master-General of the Ordnance department under Sir Robert
Peel in 1834 and 1841. He had previously been Secretary of State for the
Colonies for a short period in 1828. Captain Martin McLeod, who
subsequently lived near Bond’s Lake on Yonge Street, hailed from the
Island of Skye. He "was a Scot of the Norse Vikinger type,"
writes Dr. Scadding, [Toronto of Old, p. 466.] "of robust,
manly frame, and tender spirit; an Ossianist also, and in the
Scandinavian direction, a philologist." The eldest of eight
brothers—all officers in the army, he served from 1808 to 1832 in the
27th, 29th, and 25th Regiments successively. Early in 1812 he came to
Canada with the forces and distinguished himself conspicuously at
Plattsburg and at New Orleans. In the Peninsular war, he had received
four clasps; but missed Waterloo, having only just completed his
American campaign. Three of his uncles were general officers, and his
son, a Major, was decorated for gallant service in the Red River
Expedition (1870). Before entering upon the next campaign it may be
mentioned that in the action on Queenston Heights were engaged the
following Scottish officers: Capts. Duncan, Cameron and Chisholm, of the
York Militia, Crooks and McEwen of the 1st Lincoln, William Crooks of
the 4th Lincoln, R. Hamilton of the 4th Lincoln, Lieutenant Kerr of the
Glengarry Fencibles, and Shaw and Thomson, attached temporally to the
49th Regiment.
It is still a moot point
whether General Sheaffe was justified in according an armistice to the
Americans. The weight of authority is certainly against him, and it
seems quite certain that had Brock survived, he could and would have
made short work of it on the Niagara frontier. There was nothing to
prevent his successor from capturing Fort Niagara, and sweeping the
whole line from Fort Erie to Fort George. It is true as Coffin
generously suggests, that the force was small; [p. 65.] still it must
not be forgotten that an effective demonstration here might possibly
have saved much trouble in the future. The fatal results in the
following year, in the western part of the Province, are directly
attributable to the armistice. The American commanders had ample
opportunity to collect their forces, and revive the drooping courage of
the troops already engaged. It is always a blunder for a small army to
give breathing time to a foe it has vanquished. All depends upon prompt
and unremitting vigour under such circumstances. It is quite probable
that the evil genius of Sir George Prevost was at work here as
elsewhere; and it may be as well not to press too heavily upon General
Sheaffe. The troubles, which ensued in future campaigns, however, are
clearly traceable to the false step into which the General was betrayed,
and they culminated in the capture of the seat of Government.
Shortly after the battle
of Queenston, General Van Rensselaer was superseded. He appears to have
been as competent as most of the political commanders of the time, and
his conduct has been ably defended by his nephew and aide-de-camp,
against the strictures of General Armstrong, Secretary of the War
Department. His successor, on the Niagara frontier was General Smyth,
who was simply an incompetent braggart, apparently no less destitute of
courage than of military skill. A large force was assembled at Buffalo,
and Smyth was eager for the fray; at all events, he affected to be so.
His proclamation to the men of New York was certainly an advance on Hull’s
at Amherstburg; that is to say, if a more inflated and bombastic style
may be characterized as an improvement. He made one attempt which was
repelled by a small detachment of the 49th, and a few companies of
militia, and projected another on a more magnificent scale; but after
embarking the troops, his valour appears to have oozed out at his
fingers’ ends, for a retreat was ordered, and "the invasion of
Canada" he announced, "had been abandoned for the
season." The American forces were ordered into winter quarters, and
so ended the ludicrous fiasco. Even after this display of incompetency,
Smyth had the assurance to summon Colonel Bishop to surrender Fort Erie.
The answer he received was brief and to the point: "Let your
General come and take the fort and the troops."
Meanwhile the American
General Dearborn had collected a force of 13,000 men for the invasion of
Montreal. It is hardly necessary to mention that these gallant troops
never reached their destination. Small raids were made at St. Regis,
where four hundred surprised and captured a picquet, consisting of
twenty-three men, together with a Union Jack used on holiday occasions
by the Indian interpreter. This the American Major ventured to call
"a stand of colours—the first taken during the war." [In
this skirmish eight men were killed, including Sergeant McGillivray, who
seems to have been a Glengarry man.] Reprisals, however, were soon
taken, for on the 23rd of November, a small force of the Cornwall and
Glengarry Scots with a few regulars, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
McMillan, attacked the Salmon River post, and forced it to surrender
unconditionally. During the same month occurred the affair of Lacolle
Mills, in which the advance of Dearborn, fourteen hundred strong, was
driven back, and retreated once more to Plattsburg. They had enough of
war for that year, and, like the redoubtable Smyth, went into winter
quarters; so the campaign of 1812 was over. The inequality of the forces
engaged, as compared with the signal failure of the enemy, is
noteworthy. Dearborn, according to Armstrong, the Secretary of War, had
13,000 men; Sir George Prevost had but 3,000 of all arms; of the
American left division from Sackett’s Harbour to Prescott, there were
3,000 regulars and 2,000 militia; opposed to them and scattered along
the shore from Kingston downwards, were about 1,500 men. On the Niagara
frontier there were at least 6,000 men; whilst the British had 1,700 at
Fort George, and 600 scattered over 36 miles. Finally in the west,
Harrison and Winchester had according to the former’s own statement,
"eight thousand effective men to overpower Proctor with 2,200,
including Indians."
The campaign of 1813
opened auspiciously at both extremities of the line. In the west,
General Winchester had, by some fatality, been led to advance to
Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, some eighteen miles from Detroit. He
had about 1,100 men with him, while Proctor had only between six and
seven hundred; Winchester, moreover, could hope for reinforcements; his
opponent was absolutely cut off from his eastern comrades. Yet, in a
brief space of time, the defeat of the enemy was complete. Six hundred,
including the General, surrendered, and nearly four hundred were either
killed or wounded. Proctor’s loss was only twenty-four killed and one
hundred and sixty-one wounded. [A graphic account of this conflict will
be found in Major Richardson’s War of 1812, p. 76. The author
was himself a participant in the fight, and describes the affair with
characteristic vivacity. Among the British wounded were a number of
Scotsmen.]
On the St. Lawrence,
success was also achieved by Canadian valour. The frontier presented
admirable opportunities for raiding, and our people were kept in a state
of continual apprehension and alarm. An American captain—Forsyth by
name, and, it is to be feared, of Scottish descent—had been plundering
and harrying at Gananoque and Elizabethtown (now Brockville), taking
back with him cattle, pigs and poultry, and not these alone, but
non-belligerents as prisoners. Another Macdonell now comes to the front—the
hero of a dashing exploit. This was no less than a retaliatory attack
upon Ogdensburgh on the ice. Lieutenant-Colonel George Macdonell—a
relative, it would appear, of the patriotic priest afterwards Bishop of
Regiopolis—was the hero of the occasion. General Brock had recommended
him for appointment prior to the outbreak of the war, and he fully
justified the good opinion of his gallant and sagacious chief. [See
Tupper’s Life of Brock, p. 111.] Sir George Prevost was on his
way from Quebec to Upper Canada, and was, as usual cautious in the
matter of attack. [It is beside our purpose either to defend or expose
Sir George Prevost. It is probable that at this stage of the war he was
fettered by instructions, for in a letter to Brock (dated July 10th,
1812, he directs him to remain on the defensive for fear of uniting the
American people. – Ibid. p. 179. Prevost’s Sackett’s Harbour and
Plattsburgh expedition were notable failures, not to say disgraceful
ones. A strong case is made, with great acerbity against Prevost in
The Letters
of Veritas and replied to in Auchinleck’s History of the War.]
He sanctioned the expedition certainly, but gave Macdonell to understand
that it must not be a real assault, but only a reconnoissance to feel
the enemy, not to fight him. As Colonel Coffin observes, [1812: The
War and its Moral, p. 90.] "like the free lance of former days,
he was given to fighting on his own inspiration" only, and was not
inclined to obey Sir George Prevost’s timid orders. Sprung of the
stock of old Glengarry, and, at the head of his Fencibles, he felt
himself more than a match for the garrison of Ogdensburgh. Besides that,
he had, against his will, been deterred from accepting a challenge to
fight on the ice. No sooner, however, was Prevost on his way to Kingston
than he went to work like a brave Scot who "meant business."
"George the Red," as he was termed, gathered his forces behind
the earth-works at Prescott, and prepared for his winter attack on
Ogdensburgh across the ice of the frozen St. Lawrence. It was not for
them to hesitate, since the season for action had come. They needed no
martial address or inflated proclamation. The Highland blood was up, and
had been heated to the extreme of fighting ardour by marauding raids on
the border. On the 23rd of February; 1813, Macdonell advanced upon the
ice with only 480 men, two-thirds of whom were Glengarry Highlanders.
Obeying so far the command of Prevost, the Colonel, for some time,
played with the enemy. The American Forsyth was at his breakfast, and
affected to ridicule the demonstration. The snow lay deep on the ice,
and the advance of the little corps was tedious and difficult. The enemy
was not long in discovering that there was no child’s play or mere
"British fun" in the business. Macdonell had divided his small
force into two-columns, and at the first serious onset the Americans
fled to their works. The first battery was carried by the Colonel at the
point of the bayonet; Eustace forced his way into the main fort; Jenkins
had some difficulty in securing his footing against a seven-gun battery,
covered by two hundred infantry. The muskets and the guns kept up a
continuous fire, and Jenkins fell, wounded by a grape-shot, which tore
his side to pieces. Nothing daunted, Lieutenant Macaulay, who succeeded
to the command of the company, carried the day. The gallant little band—worthy
sons of the Gaelic clans, had nobly vindicated their claim to ancestral
valour. Ogdensburgh was theirs, and an end was put to frontier raids
from the other side. Macdonell distinguished himself, not less by his
intrepid dash on the field, than by his courtesy to prisoners and his
determined opposition to plunder. He placed a sentry at every door in
Ogdensburgh, and strictly forbade anything in the shape of reprisals. In
his despatch to Sir George Prevost, mention is made of the following
officers (Scots) who distinguished themselves: Lieut. Macaulay, Ensign
Macdonell, Ensign McKay and Ensign Kerr; and also the support given by
Col. Fraser and the Newfoundland contingent. [Auchinleck. p. 131;
Coffin, pp. 95-6; Christie, ii. p. 71.] A Scottish volunteer, then
unknown to fame, took part in the affair at Ogdensburgh. The Hon.
William Morris—for he was afterwards a member of the Legislative
Council and of the Cabinet—was born at Paisley on the last day of
October, 1786. He came out with his parents in 1801, and in 1804 was
assisting his father in business in Montreal. Business reverses overtook
the latter, and he retired to a farm near Brockville. When the war broke
out, young Morris received a commission as ensign in the militia, from
General Brock. In October, 1812, he volunteered, with Col. Lethbridge,
for the first attack on Ogdensburgh; and in 1813 he was active in the
successful assault under Col. Macdonell, just described. He was highly
esteemed for bravery by his comrades, and continued to serve until 1814,
when the arrival of troops from England, and the absence of any further
danger in Eastern Canada, induced him to retire. In 1820, his political
career began as member for Lanark; but that portion of his biography
belongs to another chapter. During the Rebellion of 1837, he was senior
Colonel of the Lanark Militia, which he was active in drilling. He died
at Montreal in June, 1858. The Hon. Alex. Morris, late Lieut Governor of
Manitoba, and now M.P.P. for East Toronto, was his eldest son, and
ex-Alderman J.H. Morris, of the same city, his nephew. [Morgan, p. 429.]
Gen. Proctor’s
operations on the Miami do not call for detailed notice. This expedition
had simply, for its purpose, the disturbance of the enemy in their task
of erecting works at Fort Meigs, and his force was less than a thousand.
Nevertheless, he inflicted a severe blow on Harrison’s army, and
retired, not because he feared defeat, but from the fact that large
numbers of the militia and Indians had left for their homes and wigwams.
In his despatch from Sandwich, he mentions especially Capt. Muir, Capt.
Chambers, Lieut. McLean, Lieut. Gardiner and Volunteer Laing. The
unaccountable inaction of Sir George Prevost had enabled the Americans
to equip a considerable flotilla at Sackett’s Harbour, and the results
were soon apparent. Two thousand embarked under General Dearborn, the
vessels being under the command of Commodore Chauncey. After a valorous
defence, York, now Toronto, the seat of Government, was taken, but an
explosion in the magazine caused a serious loss of life. The Canadian
force was in the neighbourhood of seven hundred, and they were compelled
to give way to superior force, three hundred of them being made
prisoners of war. The American loss was three hundred and seventy-eight,
and of these, thirty-eight (including General Pike) were killed, and two
hundred and twenty-two wounded by the blowing up of the magazine. Some
of the Glengarry men were present on this occasion, but in small
numbers. The officers killed were, Capt. McNeal, of the 8th (King’s),
and Volunteer Donald McLean, Clerk of the House of Assembly. The latter
was killed "while bravely opposing the landing of the
Americans". The strong box of the Receiver General had been removed
to his house for safe keeping. After his death, it was broken open by
the captors, and a thousand silver dollars stolen. [Scadding, Toronto
of Old, p. 484. Col. (afterwards General) Winfield Scott, although
paroled at Queenston, where he was taken prisoner, fought both at York
and Niagara. – James’ Military History, i. p. 236.] There was
no disgrace in a defeat of this character, since the contest was
maintained with obstinate courage for eight hours. [Gen. Sheaffe in his
dispatch, says, "He led about six hundred, including militia and
dockyard men. The quality of these troops was of so superior a
description that under less favourable circumstances, I should have felt
confident of success, in spite of the disparity of numbers."] Among
the officers who were compelled to surrender, there are a number who
were probably Scots; some of them certainly so— Major Allan, of 3rd
York Militia, Capts. Duncan Cameron and John Burn, and Ensign Donald
McArthur. The number of prisoners was not large; but there appears a
worse feature in the case. The naval stores were at York; the ships, in
an advanced state of construction, fell into the hands of the enemy; and
much of the public property was either carried off or destroyed. It is
difficult to acquit both Sir George Prevost and General Sheaffe of
wanton neglect of duty. Here, at the capital, within a few hours’ sail
of the frontier, were not only the public treasury and records, but also
the only means at hand of recovering naval supremacy on the lake. All
the disasters which befell the Province are distinctly traceable to the
culpable inactivity of those properly responsible for the defence of the
Province. It was they who left the capital open to the invader; and the
brave men of York were sacrificed in vain. ["Young Allan McNab, a
lad of 14 years, whose name has ever since been identified with Canadian
story, stood side by side with a veteran father, shattered with wounds,
sire and son eager for the fray." – Coffin, p. 100.]
Commodore Chauncey sailed
away for the Niagara River, where he expected, on good grounds, another
temporary triumph. He had abandoned the original project of an attack on
Kingston, as being too hazardous. The Americans had been reinforced from
Sackett’s Harbour, and had now six thousand men, according to
Armstrong, the Secretary of War; the British force, on the other hand,
says James, "amounted to less than a thousand rank and file."
The result was inevitable, since the garrison was short of powder.
Assailed from Fort Niagara, from the fleet, and by the troops which had
landed at Four-mile Creek, General Vincent, after attempting to resist,
was compelled to retreat, blowing up the magazines and destroying the
stores. The out-lying posts at Fort Erie and Chippewa were ordered to
join their comrades by way of Lundy’s Lane, at the Beaver-dam. [Here
for the first time we meet the name of Captain Barclay, R.N., of whom
more hereafter. The bearer of Vincent’s dispatch was Mr. Mathieson, a
volunteer on the 27th, to whose conduct the General bears
strong testimony.] Considering that fifty-one broadside guns on the
American fleet had been fired almost without reply, the Canadian loss
was not so great as might have been expected. At Beaver-dam, with the
other detachments, Vincent found himself in command of 1,600 men, and it
was deemed necessary to retreat to Burlington Heights. This could not
have been effected but for the American General Dearborn’s blunder.
Had he landed his troops between Queenston and Fort George he might have
completely invested the latter, and the whole garrison would have been
forced to surrender. Dearborn however, "who seems never to have
been in a hurry," so far delayed the pursuit that no movement along
the shore was made until Vincent was in a position to entrench himself
on the Heights. In fact, throughout the war, there seems to have been a
fatuousness, an incapacity, or a want of dash and courage amongst the
American commanders almost inexplicable. Numerically their forces were
almost invariably superior; and yet their success was utterly out of
proportion to their strength. They had now gained a footing on British
soil, and yet failed to make good their advantage. As many as 3,500 of
them advanced from Forty-mile Creek along the lake shore to attack
Vincent. At Stoney Creek, after a march of seven miles they halted for
the night. At about midnight 704 British soldiers attacked them, under
the veil of darkness, and completely routed them. The Generals, Chandler
and Winder, with about 100 officers and men, were taken prisoners, and
the rest of the enemy retreated, after having precipitately destroyed
their baggage. The conflict appears to have been a desperate one, and
the loss on our side was very heavy. On their return to Forty-mile
Creek, the Americans were reinforced by an accession of 2,000 fresh
troops to their ranks; but the army was thoroughly demoralized, and
there was little difficulty in locking them up at Fort George. The
affair at the Beaver-dam was a salient instance of American weakness.
This was the notable occasion on which Mrs. Secord distinguished herself
by marching through the woods, in peril by savages, to warn the officer
of a small force of his danger. Here 570 men, [Coffin (p. 147) states
the American detachment at 673. Speaking of Mrs. Secord’s achievement,
he says, "Such was the man (Fitzgibbon) to whom, on the night of
the 25th June, there came a warning inspired by woman’s
wit, and conveyed with more than female energy." Of Mrs. Secord’s
nationality we know nothing; but she ought to have been a countrywoman
of Flora Macdonald.] under Colonel Boerstler, surrendered to Lieutenant
Fitzgibbon and thirty men! It is unnecessary to dwell upon the
successful raids by Colonel Thomas Clarke, ["Clarke, a Scotchman by
birth, was an Indian trader, and forwarder of goods to the western
hunting grounds, a member of the firm of Street & Clarke." –
Coffin, p. 159.] of the 2nd Lincoln Militia, or Bishop’s gallant
achievement at Black Rock. By degrees the Americans were cooped up in
Fort George, where, as occasion offered, they engaged in forays upon
farm-yards in the neighbourhood. One officer, McClure, made himself
conspicuous in this way, and was forcibly driven into the fort by
Colonel Murray, with a small force.
The attack on Sackett’s
Harbour was one of the most discreditable episodes of the war. On the
28th of May, Sir John Yeo, the commodore, with Sir George Prevost as
commander, started out with a view of destroying the enemy’s stores
and dockyard at that place. The first assault was eminently successful;
but somebody blundered. The blame is usually laid upon Sir George
Prevost, and, from what occurred at Plattsburg subsequently, not without
cause one would think. The enemy were thoroughly frightened, and, so far
from making a defence, or being capable of doing so, fired their
buildings and burned a frigate on the stocks not long after the British
forces had been ordered, much to their indignation, to return to the
boats. In fact, it was an anticipation of Bull’s Run, half a century
later. Of the Scots, those who were eager for the fray were
Adjutant-General Baynes, Colonel of the Glengarry Light Infantry,
Colonel Young, of the 8th; Major Drummond, and Major Mudie, of the
104th; Captain McPherson; of the Glengarrys, and Grey, of the 8th.
[James: Military History, i. 413.] The American position at Fort
George was growing more critical day by day. Yeo had menaced McClure
from the lake side, and the gallant American, finding his position
untenable, was guilty of a nefarious act. He might have destroyed the
fort, which he was perfectly justified in doing, but he pillaged and
burnt the town of Newark (Niagara). Colonel Murray made a dash at Fort
George, and McClure, without attempting to show fight even with his
superior force, fled across the river. [James, ii. p. 6.] Colonel
(afterwards Major-General) John Murray subsequently followed him over
the stream and captured Fort Niagara by assault at the point of the
bayonet. Of the force at the storming of this important post there were
sixty Indians—one chief, Norton, who volunteered, was, according to
James, a Scot. The Scots Greys, or at least the Grenadier company of
that regiment, bore the brunt of the assault. The enterprise was a
gallant one, and, for the first time, placed the British forces on
American soil.
John Murray, though of a
Scottish family, was born in Jamaica, where his father resided at St.
James’s. The future General entered the army, in the ordinary course,
as an ensign of the 37th Regiment, in 1792, and distinguished himself in
the Netherlands; was wounded early at Ostend, and taken prisoner. He
subsequently served in the 4th and 39th. When the 100th Regiment was
raised he received the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was sent
to Canada, where he was at once nominated Inspecting Field Officer of
the Militia, and in that capacity commanded the advance corps in the
Niagara district, to keep in check a much superior force. His occupation
of Fort Niagara was a brilliant exploit, according to the General
Orders, and "reflected the highest honour upon Colonel Murray and
the small detachment under his command." After the peace he
returned to England in broken health, and sought relief in Southern
France; there he lost his wife, and not long after died at Brighton,
leaving an only daughter. [Morgan, p. 189.] Had General Murray been so
fortunate as to have had a wider field for the display of his courage
and ability, there can be little doubt that he would have risen to a
very high position in the army.
Passing further to the
west, we find Gen. Proctor with some nine hundred men, and twelve
hundred Indians, assailing Gen. Harrison on the Miami, at Fort Meigs.
Batteries were constructed, and Gen. Clay was detailed to assault them
with thirteen hundred men, he having arrived to reinforce Harrison. His
movements were quick, and he had nearly succeeded, when the reserve
troop under Capt. Muir, of the 41st, already famous in frontier warfare,
aided by the brave and intrepid Capt. Chambers, charged boldly and
changed the fortunes of the day. "This will not do," said
Chambers, "we must charge them." Emerging from the wood, his
little band of two hundred "rushed upon the right of the enemy’s
column." The enemy paused, wavered, and gave way, and the whole
line was panic-stricken. Before they could reach their boats, six
hundred and fifty were killed by the Indians. Amongst the other Scots
who distinguished themselves in this affair, were the gallant Lieut.
Gordon, who, unhappily, was killed, fighting foremost in the fray, Capt.
Muir, and Lieut. McIntyre, who were both wounded.
Unfortunately the serious
reverses of the war now occurred. The first being the total defeat of
the English flotilla, by Perry, on Lake Erie. Commander Barclay, R. N.,
who had already distinguished himself during the war, found himself in a
position of great difficulty. The American force was greatly superior,
as usual, and much better equipped. The British commander was so short
of men that he was compelled to obtain the assistance of a detachment of
the 41st, since only fifty seamen had arrived to equip five vessels. The
Americans had nine ships of a better class, and they were well manned.
The disparity between the forces will be better understood in figures.
The enemy had 580 men, the British 385; and the weight of metal was 928
lbs. against 459. [Auchinleck, p. 211; Christie, ii., p. 106; Thompson,
p. 203; Coffin, p. 215; Major Richardson, p. 111; McMullen. P. 285; and
James’ Naval History, in loco.] The force arrayed against
Barclay was, therefore, almost doubly superior—fully so if the
equipment of the fleets is taken into the reckoning. Nevertheless, a
hard and bloody struggle was maintained, and Barclay’s flag-ship
emerged from the conflict a perfect wreck. Notwithstanding the notorious
facts, Congress passed a resolution of thanks to Captain Oliver Hazard
Perry for "the decisive and glorious victory gained on Lake Erie,
on the 10th September, in the year 1813, over a British
squadron of superior force." It is to Commodore Perry’s
credit, that his despatch makes no such allegation. In addition to his
own superiority in men and metal, he had also the additional advantage
of a favourable breeze—a matter of no slight importance in those
sailing days. Captain R H. Barclay was a Scot, and had lost an arm at
Trafalgar. From the time he landed in Canada, he displayed the greatest
energy and intrepidity. His difficulties were almost insurmountable; yet
he struggled bravely against them, and his defeat, although unfortunate
in more respects than one, was inevitable. After the three hours’
engagement on Lake Erie, he declined to surrender, until he and all his
officers were either killed or wounded, and more than a third of the
crew had shared the same fate. According to usage, he was by
court-martial, and honourably acquitted. The gallant officer died at
Edinburgh in 1837, and one can only regret that he had no opportunity,
in those piping times of peace, for a display of his valour.
Then followed the
crowning reverse of the war. The defeat of Barclay, and the destruction
of the fleet, had cut all hope of supplies or reinforcements for the
army of the west. A number of boats had been collected by the enemy at
Forts Sandusky and Meigs, to carry over a force of invaders. Thus in
straits, Proctor had no choice for it, but to retreat, so as to keep up
his lines of communication with the centre division. He proposed to
retire on Niagara; but was stoutly remonstrated with by the great Indian
warrior, Tecumseth. It was finally decided to evacuate Detroit and
Amherstburg, and to retire on Moraviantown, nearly half-way between the
latter position and the central out-posts, and there resist the enemy.
The result was fatal to the success of Proctor, and lost to us the
services of Tecumseth. The British force consisted of 830 men, beside
about 500 Indians; whilst the Americans had no less than 5,000. Nor does
this represent the figures with accuracy, for previous to the battle, of
the 830 or 840 men, 174 had been captured in the batteau, and nearly 170
were either in the hospital or on duty guarding the baggage." [Auchinleck.
P. 218.] Thus there were, in fact, only four hundred and seventy-six
white men in the field. Only a portion of the American army was engaged;
still there were twelve hundred cavalry, nineteen hundred and fifty
infantry, and about one hundred and fifty Indians, exclusive of
officers; so that Proctor was outnumbered sevenfold. He chose his
position judiciously, and the struggle was maintained with desperate
valour; but the odds were too great against us, and the result might
have been expected—defeat and disaster. [It is not necessary to enter
into the controversy as to who was in fault. Sir George Prevost tried to
throw the blame upon the 41st Regiment, and others have
blamed Proctor, but the reputation of both the corps and the General was
beyond dispute. Major Richardson, who was taken prisoner at Moraviantown,
inveighs bitterly against Prevost. – "A commander whose
imbecility and want of resolution on more than one occasion (reflecting
the deepest disgrace on the British arms), had, doubtless, been ordained
as a fitting punishment for his arrogant censure of a corps, whose
general excellence he was incompetent to appreciate, and whose only
positive crime was that of the weakness, its physical disorganization
and its utter destitution." – History, p. 126. The weight
of odium, however, fell upon Proctor, and he was severely censured by
the Prince Regent. Major Richardson, it will be remarked, in passing,
belonged to the 92nd Highlanders subsequently, and served
with the British legion in Spain in 1835, under Sir De Lacy Evans.] Affairs
never looked so gloomy as in the autumn of 1813. The Americans commanded
the two lower lakes; York was sacked a second time; Wilkinson had a
large force on the Niagara frontier; Harrison could do as he pleased in
the west, and Hampton, at Plattsburg, was approaching Montreal with
16,000 men, exclusive of 10,000 militia. But the tide was about to turn
definitively. Hampton had been ordered to threaten the commercial
metropolis of Lower Canada. The troops there were but few, and the
defence of the Province was left to the gallant people, French and
British, whose country was invaded. There was no hesitation for a
moment, notwithstanding the imposing force arrayed against them. General
Hampton crossed the frontier with 7,000 infantry, a squadron of cavalry,
and ten field-pieces. Wilkinson, according to the plan, ought, at the
same time, to have descended the St. Lawrence; but he was delayed, as
American Generals were apt to be, until November, when his 10,000 men
embarked to meet the fate of his coadjutor at Chrysler’s Farm.
The force under Gen.
Hampton’s immediate command has been variously estimated: but it is
quite certain that it was overwhelmingly superior to that opposed to
him. After some preliminary skirmishing, in which Hampton gave way, the
forces went into action at the famous battle of Chateauguay. The chief
merit of this redoubtable victory unquestionably belongs to Charles
Michel de Salaberry, Seigneur of Chambly. He was not a novice in arms,
since he and three brothers had served in the British army. Two died
under Indian skies, another perished at Badajoz; and our brave Canadian
defender had fought in the fourth battalion of the 60th, at Martinique
and Walcheren, [Somewhat tardily, yet not too late, our French
compatriots are erecting a memorial to the brave old warrior. It would
be well that English-speaking men of today should contribute to this
worthy purpose. De Salaberry makes a grand figure at the turning point
of the war, and deserves such posthumous honour as may be given him in
sculptured stone.] He had already been at Lacolle, and was ready now
with his Voltigeurs to meet the force marching against him. The American
advance had been repeatedly driven in by the Canadian militia, and now
came the decisive struggle. It is impossible to read the story of
Chateauguay without wondering of what sort of stuff the American army
was made up. So early as July, Colonel Murray had worked havoc at the
Isle-aux-Noix, in Hampton’s immediate neighbourhood, and now the main
force was to suffer ignominious defeat. It was on the 21st of
October, that Hampton’s advance drove in the British outposts; one
brigade, however, which was intended to reach the rear, got bewildered
in the woods, and did not reach the field until the battle had been
lost. De Salaberry had chosen an admirable position for defensive
purposes; since the ground was rough and scored by deep ravines. There
he made a triple line of defence by abattis formed of felled trees and
brushwood, with a space of two hundred yards between each two. The first
line was in the form of an obtuse angle, following the tortuous bendings
of the ravine. Still a fresh work was constructed, running across so as
to defend the ford. On the right of the river lay a thick wood, which
afforded shelter for a picquet; the bridges were destroyed, and the
trees felled across the path to obstruct the enemy’s cavalry and
artillery. At length Hampton appeared with seven thousand men to
discomfit about three hundred Voltigeurs, a band of Glengarries under
Lieut.-Col. Macdonell, and a few Indians. De Salaberry had now recourse
to a ruse de guerre, of a novel kind. His buglers were dispersed
and stationed at wide intervals, so that when they sounded the advance,
the enemy imagined the opposing force was at least considerable.
Macdonell occupied the post of honour, and met the first brush of the
assault. Hampton finding he could make no impression upon the gallant
Canadian militia, and not relishing a trial with the bayonet withdrew
his forces at three in the afternoon, after a fight which lasted four
hours. [Garneau, Book 14, chap. ii. McMullen, p. 290. &c.] The
Highlanders played a most conspicuous though subordinate part, in this
engagement, and were exceedingly active in harassing Hampton’s
retreat. The chief merit of this great military achievement belongs to
Colonel de Salaberry, [See Fennings Taylor’s Sketch of De Salaberry in
Portraits of British Americans, p. 247; Morgan, p. 197; and
Lemoine’s Maple Leaves, 2nd series, p. 146.] but the
Glengarry Scots were as active and gallant as their French comrades.
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, "the same who had taken
Ogdensburg," was in charge of the second line of defence, and
exhibited all his characteristic dash and bravery. He crossed the ford
with his force, and drove the Americans off at the first onset, with an
impetuosity peculiarly Celtic. ["Here the bugles indicated the
advance, and Col. Macdonell, eager to add to the laurels he had won at
Ogdensburg, moved rapidly in the direction of the fire with two
companies from the first-second line of retrenchments under Captain
Levesque. The Beauharnois militia, defending the ford, had been attacked
by Purdy in superior force, and had been compelled to retire. Macdonell
ordered Captain Daly, with his Company of the 5th
Incorporated, to cross the ford to their support." – Coffin, p.
256.]
An interesting account is
given in Colonel Coffin’s History (p. 262), of the way in which
Macdonell came to be at Chateauguay; and it is worth repeating in a
condensed form. The frontier was menaced by both Hampton and. Wilkinson,
and everything depended on defeating the one before encountering the
other. Macdonell was at this time drilling the Canadian Fencibles, and
was asked by Prevost when the corps would be ready to set out against
Hampton. "As soon as they have finished their dinner," was the
Highlander’s prompt reply. He had now to find boats, Indians and
pilots, with which to descend the rapids, but no difficulties could
daunt a Macdonell. In a few hours his brave 600 were under way, reached
the Beauharnois shore, and, threading the forest at dead of night in
Indian file arrived at the place of action. Sir George Prevost, who had
reached the spot before, inquired next morning surprisedly, "and
where are your men?" "There sir," replied Macdonell,
pointing to 600 exhausted soldiers sleeping on the ground—"not
one was absent." They had travelled 170 miles by water and 20 by
land in 60 hours of actual travel! Col. Coffin compares this feat with
the march of the British Light Division before Talavera, as described by
Sir W. Napier. [The Macdonells distinguished themselves on behalf of
king and country in the revolted colonies, as well as in 1812. In the
King’s Royal Regiment of New York, under Sir James Johnson, no less
than five Macdonells – Angus, John, Archibald, Alexander, and Allan
– were Captains; in fact, there was only one other Captain not
Scottish – Patrick Daly; Munro and Anderson making up the list. In the
same corps Hugh Macdonell was lieutenant, and Miles Macdonell, ensign.
Indeed, most of the officers of this regiment were Scots.]
When his superior officer
went in pursuit, Macdonell was placed in command of the abattis, as
there seemed every probability that the attack might be renewed; but in
spite of his superior numbers, Hampton deemed discretion the better part
of valour, and never halted until he reached Plattsburg. Another Scot
who particularly distinguished himself at Chateauguay was Captain
Fergusson, of the Canadian Fencibles, posted on De Salaberry’s right.
He took part in the first fire, having three companies under his
command, and his intrepid conduct is specially mentioned by the
historians.
It has been already
stated that General Wilkinson was to have joined Hampton for a combined
attack on Montreal. It was not altogether his fault that the junction
was not effected. There were difficulties in his way, chiefly arising
from tempestuous weather, and it was not until early in November that he
and his 10,000 men got under way from Grenadier Island. In passing
Prescott, his boats suffered considerably from a heavy cannonade; and,
close in his wake, came Colonel J.W. Morrison, from Kingston, with about
eight hundred regulars and militia. Being somewhat annoyed by the enemy
hovering upon his rear, Wilkinson sent General Boyd ashore at
Williamsburg with 3,500 infantry and a regiment of cavalry to
exterminate Morrison’s force. On the afternoon of the 12th of
November, Boyd found the Canadian force drawn up in an excellent
position, with the river on the right and the woods on the left. The
enemy attempted, by repeated charges with their cavalry, to turn the
British flank; but in vain. Colonel Morrison had prepared for this
strategem by arranging the men belonging to the 49th and 89th in
echelon. The American infantry were then ordered to the charge, but
succeeded no better than the horse. Finally, after frequent sallies,
Colonel Morrison formed his troops in close column, and drove the enemy
to their boats in disorder. The British lost one hundred and sixty-eight
killed and wounded; the Americans three hundred and thirty-nine killed,
wounded and missing. Thus ended the Battle at Chrysler’s Farm, and
with it American efforts in Eastern Canada.
There are not sufficient
data at hand to decide upon the national origin of the chief actor in
this gallant action; yet it seems fair to conclude that he was of
Scottish parentage, since he joined a Highland regiment, the 89th.
Joseph Wanton Morrison was himself born in New York, but his father was
Deputy Commissary-General in America, and to all appearance a Scot. The
Colonel served in more regiments than one—he was in the 83rd, the
84th, the 89th, the 17th and 44th; and was engaged in Holland, the
Mediterranean, West Indies, Nova Scotia and Canada. For his
distinguished exploit at Chrysler’s Farm he received a medal, a vote
of thanks from the Lower Canada Assembly, and a sword from the merchants
of Liverpool. In 1814 he was severely wounded at Lundy’s Lane, and it
was not until 1821 that he was taken off the half-pay list and sent to
India as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 44th. He was engaged at Arracan and
elsewhere, but succumbed to the climate, and died at sea on his way to
England in February, 1826. He was a gallant officer in the highest
sense, and if he were not the son of a Scot, it is certain that he ought
to have been.
On the 17th of November,
the Sedentary Militia of Montreal, in which Colonels Peter McGill and
McKenzie held commands, were disbanded, all immediate danger being at an
end in the East. Early in 1814, the Americans broke up their camp on the
Salmon, Wilkinson falling back on Plattsburg, whilst Brown repaired to
Sackett’s Harbour. The former made a show of renewing the attack, but
was repulsed at the first onset, and retreated once more across the
border.
In 1814, the sky began to
clear, and victory once more crowned our arms. Towards the close of the
year, Sir Gordon Drummond assumed command, and the aspect of affairs was
rapidly altered for the better. Gordon Drummond belonged to a Perthshire
family, whose seat was at Megginch. His father, when Gordon was born, in
1771, was paymaster-General of the forces at Quebec. The son entered the
army as ensign, in the 1st (Royals), in 1789. In 1794 he had already
risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and received the command of the
8th, or King’s Regiment. He served with great distinction in Holland,
especially at the siege of Nimeguen, in 1795. In 1800 he was at Minorca,
and accompanied Sir Ralph Abercrombie to Egypt, taking part in all the
engagements, including that in which his chief fell, until the surrender
of Cairo and Alexandria. Returning he proceeded to Gibraltar, where he
formed a friendship with her Majesty’s father, the Duke of Kent, which
lasted during the life of his Royal Highness. An expedition to the West
Indies had been contemplated, and Major-General Drummond was named as
second in command; but, for some reason or other, the plan was
abandoned, and Drummond served first for a short time in Canada and then
in Ireland. In August, 1813, he was despatched to Canada, as second in
command under Sir George Prevost, and arrived at Quebec in November. The
gallant General lost no time in settling down to his active duties. In
December, he stormed Fort Niagara, and captured a vast amount of stores,
naval and military. The attack on Black Rock was planned by Drummond,
and successfully executed with a small force by Sir P. Riall, who had
been an officer of the 92nd Highlanders; but his nationality is not
recorded in the authorities.
Operations began rather
late in 1814; but, early in May, the military force under
Lieutenant-General Drummond, and the fleet under Sir James Yeo, attacked
Oswego. A sixty-four gun ship had just been completed, and with the
stores, &c., accumulated there made the place a tempting prize, if
it could be successfully assaulted. The Americans occupied a strong
position on the hill-crest, and the odds were against the assailants;
yet in half an hour from the landing everything was in Drummond’s
hands. The ship was burned, with barracks, store-houses, and all beside.
In this expedition, amongst other names, the General mentions Lieutenant
Colonel Malcolm, and Lieutenant Laurie, of the Royal Marines, and
Captain McMillan who commanded the light company of the ubiquitous
Glengarries. [It was in the engagement that the Rev. James Richardson,
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, then a lake captain and
volunteer under Sir James Yeo, lost his arm.] Another interesting
episode of the year was the successful defence of Michilimackinac by
Colonel McDouall, and the capture of Prairie du Chien by
Lieutenant-Colonel McKay. [Lieut.-Colonel McDouall, the hero of this
gallant exploit, was afterwards the Major-General already alluded to.
His voyage from Nottawasago harbour (Collingwood) in the Georgian Bay to
Michilimackinac occupied no less than twenty-five days, nineteen of
which were passed in continual battling with the elements. James: Military
History, ii. p. 186. The Americans had previously pillaged and
burned St. Mary’s (Sault Ste. Marie) under General Holmes. "The
brutal Holmes," says Veritas (Letters, p. 101), "was
killed in the attack on Michilimackinac." His "brutality"
consisted in wantonly burning a horse to death, and in destroying every
edible which he could not carry away.] In the latter exploit, Captain
Anderson was a prominent actor. When it is considered that this distant
post on the Mississippi was four hundred and fifty miles from McKay’s
base of operations, the nature of the feat may be understood.
Sir George Prevost had at
last made up his mind to assume the offensive. Reinforcements from
England had arrived, and there was no longer any excuse for timidity or
half-measures in the prosecution of the war. Drummond was still in want
of men, and the enemy were making active preparations for another
invasion of Canadian soil. General Brown had been engaged in marshalling
his forces during the previous three months; and on the 2nd of July
issued a General Order, strikingly modest in its terms, announcing the
fifth invasion of Canada. [It may be mentioned that some slight
skirmishing had taken place, earlier in the year, on the Thames, in
which the light companies of the Royal Scots, and the 89th
with Captain Grigor’s Kent Militia, took part – the force which was
a small one, under Stewart of the Scots, effected little against a
superior force.] Next morning, the two American divisions crossed the
river, and invested Fort Erie, which was "in a defenceless
condition," as General Wilkinson admitted. Its surrender was,
therefore, inevitable. General Riall, on hearing that the enemy had
landed, despatched five companies of the Royal Scots under Colonel
Gordon to reinforce the garrison; but the surrender had taken place
before their arrival. Other troops were also hurried to the scene, and a
brisk action took place, in which the small force was badly cut up,
Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon and the Marquis of Tweeddale of the 100th
being wounded, as were most of the other officers. On this occasion
another Scot, Major Macconochie, distinguished himself at the head of
the artillery. In the engagement known as the battle of Chippawa, about
five hundred fell on both sides; but notwithstanding the reverse
suffered on our side not a prisoner, except the wounded, fell into the
hands of the enemy. The Americans had at least six thousand engaged, in
addition to their subsequent reinforcement, whilst Riall had only
fifteen hundred, exclusive of some Lincoln Militia and a few Indians,
amounting together to about three hundred. [See Riall’s dispatch to
Sir Gordon Drummond, quoted at length in Auchinleck, p. 314.] The
immediate result was a retreat to Niagara, and Brown, the American
General, rested quietly at Chippawa for a fortnight.
Meanwhile reinforcements
had come in to Riall’s assistance; and yet the odds were against him;
but he once more advanced towards the Falls, bent upon an engagement.
General Drummond reached Niagara from York towards the end of July with
eight hundred men collected from the various garrisons, and marched to
the assistance of Riall. When approaching the summit of the height at
Lundy’s Lane, he found Riall in retreat once more. Promptly
countermanding the order to retire, he formed the troops in order of
battle at the rising ground near the end of Lundy’s Lane, on the road
from Queenston to Chippawa. Brown who had been in full retreat until
thus interrupted, was engaged in occupying the position; but, although
of superior strength, was dislodged in about ten minutes at the point of
the bayonet. General Drummond now disposed his forces in fighting form,
and thus began the most obstinately contested battle of the war. The
combat appears to have been somewhat confused, and for a time the enemy
succeeded in gaining possession of the road, and partially turning the
British left. The action commenced at six in the evening and lasted
until nine without intermission. After a pause another attack was made
by the Americans which continued until midnight; then, finding all his
efforts vain, Brown retreated to Chippawa, and thence, on the following
day, to Fort Erie. ["He (Brown) retreated with great precipitation
to his camp beyond Chippewa. On the following day he abandoned his camp,
threw the greater part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions
into the Rapids, and having set fire to Street’s mills and destroyed
the bridge at Chippawa, continued his retreat in great disorder to Fort
Erie." Sir G. Drummond’s Despatch to Sir George Prevost, July 27th,
1814. The mills were at Bridgewater, hence not inappropriately the
Americans name the battle.] The American force engaged amounted to about
5,000 men, whilst, as Drummond states, he had only 1,600 until
reinforced by Colonel Scott and the 103rd, when they amounted to not
more than 2,800 of every description. Of the troops in this action, the
chief corps were the head-quarters division of the Royal Scots, under
Lieutenant Gordon and Lieutenant Fraser; divisions of the 8th under
Colonel Campbell, of the 103rd under Colonel Scott, flank companies of
the 104th, some Glengarries under Colonel Battersby, and a body of
militia under Colonel Hamilton. The artillery were in charge of Captains
Mackonochie and McLachlan; and Major Maule was Quarter-Master-General.
It will thus be seen that in this last and severest battle of the war,
the "auld fire" of the Scots was still "aye the
foremost." The loss of the enemy is stated by Drummond at 1,500;
his own was 878. [Brown states his loss at 858, but several hundred
prisoners were taken, and he only estimates the missing at 117. Very
little reliance can be placed upon his statement.]
General Drummond then
proceeded in pursuit and invested Fort Erie. Here a misfortune occurred
which entirely defeated the General’s plans. He had planned the attack
skilfully, the forces being disposed in three divisions—one under
Colonel Fisher, of the Regiment DeWatteville, with flank companies of
the 89th Highlanders and the 100th; a second, which bore the brunt of
the struggle under Lieutenant Colonel Drummond of the 104th, and acting
directly against the fort; the third under Colonel Scott with the 103rd
and some companies of the Royal Scots. The two latter divisions
assaulted the works. Scott’s force was partially turned, but soon
rallied, and in the meantime Colonel Drummond succeeded in penetrating
the works. Thompson, of the Royal Scots, may be permitted to give the
particulars of the catastrophe: "Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond,
during the conflict within the fort, performed most extraordinary acts
of valour; in the hottest of the battle he would present himself
encouraging his men both by example and precept. But in the very moment
when victory was declaring itself in favour of the British arms, some
ammunition which had been placed under the platform ignited from firing
of guns in the rear, and a dreadful explosion was the result, by which
the greater part of the British forces which had entered the fort, were
literally blown into the air." [History, p. 240.] It was now
impossible to retain the ground which had been won, and the troops
retired within their works. By this disaster and otherwise, no less than
904 men were lost, amongst them, unhappily, the gallant Colonels Scott
and Drummond.
Colonel Hercules Scott
was a native of Brotherton, Scotland, and had commanded the 103rd in
Canada ever since the beginning of this campaign. After the outworks had
been carried by assault, and the fort by escalade, Scott received a
musket-shot in the heart, which was instantly fatal. He was buried the
same evening, with the only three officers who had escaped unharmed as
his chief mourners. Colonel William Drummond of the 104th—a typical
Scottish soldier—was the son of John Drummond, of Keltie, in
Perthshire. Early in life he commenced a series of valiant actions. At
St. Vincent, when a lieutenant of the 2nd W. I. Regiment, he specially
distinguished himself; at the taking of Surinam his commander
recommended him as an officer of the greatest promise. In 1804, the
Lloyd’s committee voted him a sword of 100 guineas’ value for his
intrepidity in rallying the crew of a merchant-ship so successfully
that, two French privateers which had attacked her were driven off.
During the war on our Canadian frontier, the Colonel occupied a
prominent position from the moment of his arrival. Wounded severely at
Sackett’s Harbour, he subsequently was in action at Chippawa and every
subsequent engagement, until his untimely death, just at the close of
the war. A braver and more self-sacrificing Scot never wore the King’s
uniform, and his death was deeply deplored by his surviving comrades—indeed
by the entire service. [Morgan: Celebrated Canadians, &c.,
pp. 222-3.]
Thus ended the war so far
as the Niagara frontier was concerned. General Brown occasionally
threatened to resume the offensive, but scarcely attempted anything.
About the middle of September, an assault was made on the British
batteries before Fort Erie, but although the enemy’s superior force
partly penetrated the works, it was driven out at the point of the
bayonet, with a loss of six hundred. [Thompson, p. 242.] A succession of
heavy rains rendered the repair of the batteries impracticable, and
therefore, on the 21st, Sir G. Drummond ordered a retreat to Chippawa.
Brown affected some intention of harassing the rear, but never came to
close quarters, although Drummond tried every expedient to lure him into
action. The American General knew that the game was up, and what
remained of the large army of invasion, so soon as the British were out
of the way, evacuated Fort Erie, and recrossed the river. The energy and
skill of Sir Gordon Drummond, had thus cleared Canadian soil of the
invaders, and although the last incident of the war was disastrous, the
entire campaign was, in the highest degree creditable, both to the
strategy of the general and the bravery of the men. [It may not be amiss
to note that both Sir Gordon’s sons died in the service of their
country. The younger, Russell Gordon, was killed on H.M.S. Satellite,
when a lieutenant, during an insurrection at Callao, in 1835. Gordon,
the elder, was a Colonel in the Coldstream Guards, and served in the
Crimea, where he commanded the Brigade of Guards at the final assault on
Sebastopol. He died of fatigue, prematurely worn out, in November, 1856.
Sir Gordon himself lived until October, 1854, when he died in London, in
the eighty-fourth year of his age.] As Thompson remarks (p. 243),
whatever object the Americans may have proposed to themselves by this
last invasion, "it is certain that nothing was acquired, if we
except a fresh proof of the loyalty of the Canadian people to their
sovereign, and their unshaken zeal to defend their country from the
grasp of its’ enemy, at whatever time he might think proper to invade
it."
So far as the old
Provinces of Canada were concerned, the last event was Sir George
Prevost’s abortive expedition to Plattsburg. Into that disastrous
affair, our immediate purpose does not call upon us to enquire. The
General had a large force and yet failed, sacrificing to his incapacity
the lives of a gallant Irishman, Commodore Downie, R. N., and
eighty-four of his command. There were in addition ninety sailors
wounded, while the land forces, in eight or nine days, lost about two
hundred and fifty. [See The Letters of Veritas. Montreal: W.
Gray, 1815, pp. 111,122.] The capture of Washington by General Ross, and
the battle of New Orleans in 1815, are outside our present subject,
while the taking of Moose Island, and the Penobscot expedition only
concern Canada, in so far as they resulted in the capture of a large
part of Massachusetts, afterwards surrendered by the treaty of peace. It
is worthy of notice, however, that three of the best admirals on the
Atlantic board, Cockburn, Malcolm and Cochrane, were Scots.
The Americans, being now
heartily tired of the war, the peace party gained strength day by day.
The conflict had been precipitated by Mr. Madison, in the hour of
England’s difficulty, and now the fall of Bonaparte had freed the
right arm of the mother country. Canada was to have fallen an easy prey
to the invader, and yet, although not less than fifty thousand men had
landed on her shores, in five successive invasions, they had effected
nothing, and achieved nothing except defeat and disgrace. The war was
pre-eminently a political—indeed a sectional war; the Generals were
elevated to the positions they so inadequately filled by partizan
influence. New England, New York, and most States on the north Atlantic
coast, were opposed to the war, and other States were only half-hearted
in their support. Nothing had been won by the enemy, after all his
boasting and all his exertions. There was nothing for it, therefore, but
to make peace. The plenipotentiaries met at Ghent, and on the 24th of
December, 1814, a treaty was signed, which finally ended the war, so
dishonourably begun by the one side, and so gallantly conducted on the
other. The Orders in Council were repealed by England before the
declaration of war was known there, and now in the Treaty, the only
other pretext for hostility, the impressment of seamen from American
ships, and the limits of blockade quietly dropped out of sight. The
United States thus secured no object by their wanton expenditure of
blood and treasure, whilst they lost seriously in the weightier matters
of national prestige and national honour.
In presenting this slight
sketch of the war of 1812, it has necessarily been our primary object to
show how prominently Scotsmen figured in those trying times. The record
speaks for itself, and does not need special emphasis and enforcement
here. From the time when Muir and Sutherland shed their blood on the
Detroit river, until the gallant Drummond perished at Fort Erie, their
names, and the names of Scottish corps, regular and militia, appear
constantly upon the historic scrolls. Nothing that could be added by way
of comment or word would shed additional lustre upon the glorious part
they took in Canadian defence. However, although it has been our
immediate purpose to deal with the Scot, nothing could be further from
the design of the work than to undervalue the inestimable services of
the Canadians, French or other, and the gallant Englishmen and Irishmen
who fought by their sides. The names which strike us as peculiary
heroic, are those of Brock and De Salaberry; yet neither of them had
much to do with the final issue. The former perished, all too soon, on
the field of glory; the latter freed Lower Canada from the invader, and
was only inactive because he was unemployed. No national jealousies
troubled the people of those days; they had a duty to fulfil to
king and country, and acquitted themselves like brave men in ardent
co-operation, without regard to creed or origin. If, on the whole, the
Scots occupied the foremost place in the conflict, the statement of the
fact is only a matter of justice to them, and implies no invidious
comparison with the worthy deeds of their brethren in arms.
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