valour and well directed fire of the British they gave way at all points. Nearly 4,000 had been in fact beaten by 800, from an exceedingly strong position. They sought to cover their retreat by their light infantry; but they were soon routed. The detachment that night occupied the ground from which the enemy had been driven. His whole infantry fled to the boats and sought the American shore. Some three weeks earlier Colonel de Salaberry, with a few hundred Canadians, confronted Hampton with a force which must have been near eight thousand, seeking to enter Canada by the Chateauguay River on his march to Montreal. On the 26th of October, Hampton's light troops forming his advance were seen moving up both sides of the Chateauguay. By an admirable disposition of his troops Colonel de Salaberry checked the advance .on the left bank of the river, the enemy causing his light troops and the whole main body of the army to retire, while his advance on the right bank of the river was turned by Captain Daly's company of the Third Battalion of embodied militia and Captain Bruyere's company of Chateauguay chasseurs. The enemy made frequent attempts during the day to advance. He was each time repulsed, and under cover of night he retreated across the St. Lawrence. In the general orders of October 27th, special mention is made of Captain Daly's "spirited advance," and we are told that Lieutenant-Colonel de Salaberry experienced the most able support from, amongst others, Adjutant O'Sullivan. Wilkinson had ordered Hampton to join him at St. Regis. We have seen how Wilkinson himself behaved. When he received a letter from Hampton on the 12th November, the day after he had fled before Morrison's little band, he declared his hopes were blasted. The invasion planned on so large a scale had failed miserably. An American journal said democracy had rolled herself up in weeds and lain down for its last wallowing in the slough of disgrace. All danger having been removed by the retreat of the two American generals the Sedentary Canadian Militia was dismissed on the 17th November. General McClure was still in the possession of Fort George, and Boston Gazette FORT NIAGARA TAKEN. 231 his soldiers greatly distressed the neighbourhood. General Murray of the 100th, was sent by Vincent to check the depredations on the farmers. General McClure decamped with haste from Twenty Mile Creek, and hearing of the disastrous termination of Wilkinson's expedition he precipitately abandoned Fort George, having first, however, contrary to plighted faith, set fire to Newark. That beautiful peaceful little town which every summer gleams afar over the steely silvery water to the eye of the inhabitants of Toronto going over in "the boat" to the Queen's Royal, or making for the hundredth time the pilgrimage to the Falls, was one mass of flame; those wooded, mirrored shores, which are known best as varied with glaring sunlight and illuminated mist, sweeping away in long links until lost in silver haze, where the lake and sky are one, were then bare of leaf; every tiny limb had its burden of snow; and on receding bay and frozen branch the conflagration cast a glow which had its companion flare in the wintry heavens. The blue wooded heights which form so appropriate a back-ground to the picture, in the month of June, were splendid with the reflection of the flames, and where so much comfort and hospitality and good cheer reigns to-day there was nothing but cold and want and misery. Every house save one was a smoking ruin. Of a valuable library, the property of Counsellor Dickson, and which had cost a vast sum, not a book remained. Dickson was a prisoner. His wife lay on a sick bed. The ruffians who fired her house took her and placed her on the snow before her devoted building. On a December night of an unusually severe winter four hundred helpless women and children were compelled to seek shelter where they might. Colonel Murray now proposed an attack on Fort Niagara and the proposal was approved by General Drummond. A surprise was resolved on. The embarkation commenced on the night of the 18th December. The whole of the troops had landed three miles from the fort early on the following morning. The force was as follows, and consisted as will be seen largely of Irish, fighting happily side by side with their English and Scotch brethren. The order of attack is adhered to, and as the reader cannot fail to observe the Irish 100th was assigned the post of honour: an advance guard, one subaltern and twenty rank and file, grenadiers of the 100th Regt., Royal Artillery with grenadiers, five com panies of the 100th Regt. under Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, to assault the main gate and escalade the walls adjacent; three companies of the 100th under Captain Martin-an Irishmanto storm the eastern demi-bastion; Captain Bailey with the grenadiers and Royal Scots was directed to attack the salient angle of the fortification, and the flank companies of the 41st Regt. were ordered to support the principal attack. Each party had scaling ladders and axes. The fortress was carried by assault after a short but spirited resistance. Among the officers singled out for distinguished bravery were Captain Martin, who stormed the demi-bastion in the most intrepid manner, and Lieutenant Dawson and Captain Fawcett, both of the 100th. They were respectively in command of the advance and grenadiers, and cut off two of the enemy's piquets, surprised the sentries on the glacis and at the gate, and thus obtained the watchword, "to which," says Colonel Murray, "may be attributed our trifling loss." The exertions of Quarter-master Pilkington, of the 100th, are eulogized, as are those of Captain Kirby, Lieutenants Ball, * *The Resolution of the Honourable the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. Resolved unanimously:-That a sword, value of fifty guineas, be presented to Capt. Jas. Kirby, of the Incorporated Militia, as a memoral of the high sense they entertain of the very important services which he rendered in crossing the troops to the territory of the United States, and the gallantry displayed by him at the capture by assault of Fort Niagara on the 19th of October, 1813. York, 12th of April, 1815. (Signed) GRANT POWELL, Inscription upon the Sword:-" From the House of Assembly of Upper Canada to Captain James Kirby for his judicious and gallant conduct at the assault and reduction of Fort Niagara on the 19th December 1813." His glorious achievement "which left the Niagara shores free from the enemy and contributed in a high degree to the result of the next campaign," so writes Allan Maclean, speaker of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada in a congratulatory letter dated Kingston, 10th October, 1815. It seems incredible but I am assured it is true nevertheless that owing to the surprise some American officers were found playing cards in the officers' quarters. James McFarland piloted a party of Irishmen, and as they opened the door on a number of officers who were playing "High, low, Jack and game," the question was asked " What is trumps?"" British bayonets, be-!" cried the foremost of the party. In visiting so me of the battle-fields of 1812-14, I found Mr. Duncan McFarland, of Niagara, an entertaining guide. This gentleman's father was Scotch and his mother Irish--she the daughter of Irish John Wilson who brought a large family into Canada at the close of the war He himself while yet a boy served in the war, first as oxen driver and afterwards as driver of horses. He says he was promoted to drive horses for what was deemed Scroos, and Hamilton of different provincial corps. The British force consisted of 500 rank and file. Twenty-seven pieces of cannon were on the works. There were upwards of 3,000 stand of arms in the arsenal. The store-houses were full of clothing and camp equipage of every description. On the same day the Village of Lewiston was taken possession of, and together with Youngstown and Manchester, in revenge for Newark, given to the flames. It would have been better to have acted more magnanimously. Later on Black Rock was taken by Major General Ryall with a force composed of portions of the 89th, the 41st and 100th regiments, with about fifty militia volunteers, and a body of Indian warriors. The language of "Acadian" paints for us the feelings of the hour in vigorous terms, Homeric in their simplicity : The foe had safely reached his native shore, Not long these drunken wassails spread their noise, Newark's bright flame made her defenders warm, bravery, but which was in reality cowardice. The first Congreve rockets which were used in the war were about to be tried and all were ordered to squat. Young McFarland stood erect. "Why did you not squat?" asked General Murray. "What do I care for your rockets, was the saucy reply of the boy, whereupon he was promoted to to the rank of driver of horses. I asked how he came to have "D" after his name. The "D" was adopted to save his father's rations. There was another man named McFarlane in the regiment, and he used to drink his rum. The change of a letter secured the grog. Duncan McFarland tells how he was standing on the road near the old McFarland ravine about two miles from Niagara, when an Indian asked him where the sentry was. The boy who had not yet taken the reins in hand told him, whereupon the Indian crept on his belly like an eel, and in a few minutes a shot was heard and the sentry fell, which was the signal for a skirmish. Duncan McFarland saw Moore sitting under an oak tree where the Lewiston road now runs by the McFarland farm, composing and writing poetry. It was probably here he wrote part of his letter to Lady Charlotte Rawdon-the description of Niagara would be penned in the heat of early impressions. In the ravine two bayonets which are now in the possession of my friend T. A. Keefer, of Toronto, were found, one English and the other American, and no doubt, on the spot two soldiers fell at the same moment, as I have seen them fall during the Franco-Germanic war. In McFarland's house are clocks, mirrors, and other household gear which had been buried during the war. "Newark!" was echoed as the Yankees fled; Blazing reprisals through the gloomy shade. Mr. Isaac Todd, on the 25th December writes from Montreal, (and his words not only indicate the improved state of public feeling, but give us a glimpse of the way the Governor and the merchants occasionally spent their evenings, amid all the difficulties):-" Public matters look much better in the Upper Province. We are again in possession of Fort George, and all our former line to Fort Erie; and your brother has given to Sir George an opinion which if followed will, I hope, protect Michilimakinac and Lake Huron, and, of course, the usual communication by the Grand River. I think we will [note the Irish use of will,] have a decided superiority on Lake Ontario next summer. We have a frigate of forty guns, and two smaller vessels, that will be ready to launch by April, and before if necessary. Sir George left this last week for Quebec. I feel his loss, having a general invitation to dine and play a rubber every evening. Indeed he has been particularly civil to me; and since he went to Quebec he has reminded me of my promise to visit him there.” The blazing and smoking ruins of the American frontier from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, furnished the drop scene of the second act of the war. The conquest of Canada was as remote as ever. There was not a foot of Canadian soil in possession of the enemy, excepting Amherstburg, in the far west, against the loss of which British possession of Fort Niagara might fairly be set; while the American seaboard was blockaded, and American commerce was paralyzed. The fourth letter of "Acadian Acadian" concludes with a bitter attack on American life and manners. The writer's hatred of the rule of the many is as great as Mr. Lowe's; and two of his lines would recall the famous description of democracy, "that barren plain where every mole-hill is a mountain, and every thistle a forest tree": All here are great-all legislate and rule, To dwell further on "Acadian's" poem is foreign to my purpose. |