An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha Part 15

He awaited a more favorable turn in the wheel of fortune, and thought this would come with the war antic.i.p.ated between England and the United States.

Difficulties, growing out of the right a.s.sumed by the former, of boarding American vessels, to discover and remove any English sailors belonging to the crew, which frequently resulted in seizing American seamen and forcing them into the British navy, had now a.s.sumed so formidable an aspect, as to call forth from our government a proclamation of war against England, issued on the 19th of June, 1812.

In antic.i.p.ation of this event, as well as after it, means were employed by the agents of Britain, to secure the services of the Indians during this contest. The opportunity was gladly welcomed by the Miamis, Shawnees and other Indian tribes, who had recently been severely chastised by General Harrison. The Mohawks and other Indians in Canada were also induced to take up the hatchet, and efforts were made to influence such of the Six Nations, as resided within the state of New York, to take sides with the British in this war, but they were not successful.

The United States, instead of seeking among the Indians recruits for their army, advised the Senecas, and other tribes of the Iroquois within their borders, to remain neutral. A council was convened by the Indian agent, Mr. Erastus Granger, for the purpose of spreading the whole matter before them. It resulted in securing from them a pledge of neutrality. So well convinced were they of the wisdom of this course, they determined to send a deputation of their brethren to Canada, to dissuade them if possible, from taking any part in the war. It was sent, but did not accomplish the end desired; the Mohawks had fully resolved upon engaging in the contest.

It was difficult however, for the Senecas to enforce their decision upon their young braves, who were made restless by the sound of war, and were eager to engage in it; yet their sympathies were with the United States.

The stirring music, martial array, noise and pomp of war, wrought so effectually on their minds, they would fain have persuaded their nation to declare war on their own account. The circulation among them of a rumor that the British had taken possession of Grand Island, a part of their own domain, led them to convene a council, which Mr. Granger was invited to attend, and after stating the case to him, Red Jacket declared the purpose of the Senecas in the following language:--

"BROTHER: You have told us, that we have nothing to do with the war, that has taken place between you and the British. But we find that the war has come to our doors. Our property is taken possession of, by the British and their Indian friends. It is necessary for us now to take up the business, defend our property, and drive the enemy from it. If we sit still upon our seats, and take no means of redress, the British according to the customs of you white people, will hold it by conquest. And should you conquer the Canadas, you will claim it on the same principle, as though you had conquered it from the British. We therefore request permission to go with our warriors, and drive off those bad people, and take possession of our lands."

Their request was granted, and the chiefs regarding themselves as an independent nation, issued a formal declaration of war, against the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and summoned their warriors to protect their rights and liberties, with the Americans.

Four hundred warriors, armed and painted, and ready for the field, answered to this call, led by the brave though now aged Farmer's Brother, who was said by Colonel Worth, to have been "the n.o.blest Indian in form and mould, in carriage and in soul, of that generation of his race."

[Footnote: Col. Worth as given by Col. Stone.]

The princ.i.p.al scene of war at this time was on our north-western frontier.

Its commencement had been disastrous. The capture of Mackinaw, Chicago, and Detroit, attended by the surrender of General Hull, commander of the American forces at the latter place, spread a feeling of insecurity and dismay all along our western frontier settlements. For an immense extent they were without protection. But new troops were raised and brought on to the field, under the wise conduct of General Harrison, and the signal naval victory of Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, and the equally decisive battle on the river Thames, in the October following, very materially improved the prospect of the American arms. After this battle, the Western Indians were disposed to entertain propositions of peace.

Thus far they had proved to be efficient allies of the British, increasing their force by an addition of nearly eighteen hundred, commanded by the renowned Tec.u.mseh, who had been called the "Indian Bonaparte." His pre- eminence among them was now widely acknowledged, and he swayed by his influence a greater number of warriors, than any Indian of his time.

Before engaging in the Battle of the Thames, he seemed to have a presentiment of his death. He said to the chiefs about him, "brother warriors, we are about to enter into an engagement from which I shall never come out,--my body will remain on the field of battle." [Footnote: Life of Tec.u.mseh, by Benjamin Drake.]

His prediction was verified; as marking the field of strife where the Americans were victorious, the ashes of this celebrated warrior here repose, near the borders of a willow marsh, the willow and the wild rose weaving a chaplet over his grave.

The Indians who had volunteered their services in the American army, were first employed in the gallant defense made at Black Rock, during the month of July, of this same year, 1813.

A surprise party from the British head-quarters at Lundy's Lane, was sent against the American stores, collected at Black Rock and at Buffalo, and were not at this time strongly guarded. They were successful in their first attempt, but were in turn unexpectedly met by the adroit management of General Porter, under whose supervision the forces in this vicinity had been placed, who rallied volunteers at Buffalo, turned back the retreating garrison, and by a well planned attack, succeeded in driving the enemy from the post they had taken a short time before.

The Indians were soon after in another engagement, in the vicinity of Fort George, and from an official report made at the time, it appears that this formed a part of Red Jacket's military experience. A company of volunteers and Indians commanded by Major Chapin, to which was added a force of about two hundred regulars under Major c.u.mmings, amounting in all to about five hundred, the whole being under the direction of General Porter, proceeded to attack the British and Indian encampment, and were entirely successful.

In an official statement of this affair given by General Boyd, then commanding the post at St. George, he says:--"Those who partic.i.p.ated in this contest, particularly the Indians, conducted with great bravery and activity. General Porter volunteered in the affair, and Major Chapin evinced his accustomed zeal and courage. The princ.i.p.al chiefs who led the warriors this day were Farmer's Brother, Red Jacket, Little Billy, Pollard, Black Smoke, Johnson, Silver Heels, Captain Half Town, Major Henry O'Bail, and Captain Cold, who was wounded. In a council held with them yesterday, they covenanted not to scalp or murder; and I am happy to say, that they treated the prisoners with humanity, and committed no wanton cruelties on the dead."

CHAPTER XVII.

Taking of Fort Erie--Battle of Chippewa--Service rendered by the Indians-- General Porter's account of the campaign--Red Jacket commended--Withdrawal of Indian forces--Other successes--Conclusion of peace.

Directly across from Buffalo, at the head of Niagara river, on the Canada side, stood Fort Erie. Chippewa, at that time head-quarters of the British army, was eighteen miles below, on the same side. Fort Erie was garrisoned by about one hundred and seventy men; at Chippewa and within available distances from it, was stationed the princ.i.p.al part of the British force in this region.

The plan with which it was proposed to open the campaign of 1814, contemplated an attack on both of these places.

The campaign of the previous year, though favorable in a good degree, did not close with entire success to the American arms. The idea was entertained of descending the St. Lawrence, with a view of capturing Montreal, a design which signally failed. Taking advantage of the feeble defense of our frontier, by the withdrawal of the regular troops for the purpose named, the enemy, on the 18th of December, surprised and took Fort Niagara, and sweeping along our frontier settlements on the Niagara river, ravaged the country by fire and sword, as they pa.s.sed rapidly on, carrying the works at Lewiston, and Manchester, and laying in ashes the thriving villages of Black Rock and Buffalo. They burned also without opposition, a village of the Tuscaroras.

The voice of Red Jacket was thereupon heard, arousing his people again, to the necessity of taking up arms. And as the result, about six hundred warriors, mostly from the Seneca nation, were in readiness to offer their services, at the opening of the present campaign.

Buffalo was the appointed place of rendezvous, and on the first of July, General Brown, who commanded our forces, regarding them as sufficient to warrant the commencement of the plan of operations, began by reconnoitering Fort Erie. During the night of the second of July, General Ripley, with a part of his brigade, embarked in boats, with a view of landing on the opposite sh.o.r.e, one mile above the Fort, at about day break the next morning.

General Scott with his brigade was to cross the Niagara river, through a difficult pa.s.s in the Black Rock Rapids, and make a simultaneous landing below the fort. The two brigades enclosing the fort, could prevent the escape of the garrison, until artillery to reduce it, should be brought from Buffalo.

General Scott with his usual promptness, made good his landing, and was on the ground at the hour appointed, and by the aid of a few Indians and volunteers who accompanied him as guides, invested the fort, so as to secure its garrison. General Ripley though prompt in his departure, was delayed in reaching his position, by a dense fog which misled his pilots.

As the sun rose the British commandant and his officers, could see the busy operations going on in ferrying across from Buffalo, artillery, Indians and soldiers, with their various preparations of war. They discovered also how completely they were invested. At the demand of General Brown, without firing a gun or making any attempt at resistance, the fort and garrison were surrendered.

This part of their enterprise being accomplished, they next turned their thoughts toward Chippewa.

The Chippewa or Welland river, is a considerable stream not far from one hundred yards wide, and from twelve to twenty feet deep, entering the Niagara at right angles, as it flows in from the west.

On the north or left bank of this stream, near its mouth, the British army had its station and defenses, consisting of two block houses, connected and flanked by a parapet.

Street's creek was two miles above, or south of this, a small sluggish stream, which enters the Niagara in a direction parallel with the Chippewa. The mouth of this creek was selected by the American commanders, as affording a favorable position for their army before the battle.

On the evening of the same day of the capture of Fort Erie, General Scott with his brigade and Towson's artillery, proceeded down the river on his way toward Chippewa, and on the morning of the fourth, encamped in the open field, on the south side of Street's creek, having driven in some advanced posts of the enemy. In the evening he was joined by General Brown, with General Ripley's brigade, which took post in the same field, in rear of General Scott.

General Porter with the Indians, and Pennsylvania volunteers, crossed the Niagara at Black Rock during the night of the fourth, and on the morning of the fifth, marched for the camp, arriving there at about noon.

The two armies nearly equal in numbers, and well qualified by their thorough equipments, and the skill of their commanders, to harm each other effectually, were now encamped with only two miles, and the two streams, on whose banks they rested, between them.

But though thus near, intervening objects prevented their seeing each other. Between them was a strip of woodland about one-fourth of a mile in width, extending from the forest on the west, near to the bank of the river, where it was cleared for the public highway. This effectually shut out from the view of the other, the manoeuvres of each army.

The Indians and militia from the British army infested these woods, and became annoying to our forces. General Porter being well acquainted with the country, and having charge of the Indians, was requested to take them, and a part of his Pennsylvania volunteers, and dislodge this portion of the enemy; General Brown a.s.suring him, that none of the British regulars would be found south of the Chippewa on that day, and promising him in case of so improbable a contingency, the support of General Scott's brigade.

At about three o'clock of the same day of his arrival, General Porter formed his men, half a mile in rear of the main camp, into single or Indian file, placing the Indians on the left, and a part of the Pennsylvanians on the right.

"Thence he marched into the woods in the same order, in a line at right angles to the river, until the whole Indian force was immerged in the forest, leaving the white troops in the open field; they had only to halt and face to the right, when the whole were formed in line of battle, three-fourths of a mile long and one man deep, looking in the direction of Chippewa. Red Jacket was placed on the extreme left of the line, and General Porter took his station on the margin of the woods between his white and red troops, accompanied by Captain Pollard, a Seneca chief, who, in this campaign, was considered first in command among the Indians; Colonel Flemming, the Quarter-master of the Indian corps, Lieutenant Donald Fraser his aid, and Henry Johnson his interpreter. He was also accompanied by Major Jones, and Major Wood of the Engineers, as volunteers; and was supported by a company of regular infantry, marching in column in rear, as a reserve.

"The Indians were commanded by their war-chiefs, who were indulged in their own mode of conducting the attack, marching about twenty yards in advance of the warriors of their respective tribes. General Porter having sent out scouts to reconnoiter the enemy, the march was commenced by signal, and proceeded at first with great stillness and caution. The chiefs have signals, by which, on the discovery of any circ.u.mstance requiring consultation, or change of route or action, they convey notice through their ranks with great celerity, on which the whole line of warriors drop instantly on the ground, and remain there until further orders. Two manoeuvres of this kind occurred on the march, the first of little moment, but the second communicating through the scouts, the exact position of the enemy, who, apprised of their a.s.sailants' approach, lay concealed in a thicket of bushes, along the margin of Street's creek.

"A consultation was thereupon held, and new orders given, the purport of which was to change the line of march, so as to meet the enemy to more advantage, to increase the speed as much as was consistent with the preservation of order, and to receive their first fire, but not to return it except singly, and when it could be done with certain effect, and then to raise the war-whoop, pursue, capture, and slay as many as practicable, until they should reach the open ground in front of Chippewa, and thence return to camp.

"The march was accordingly resumed, the fire of the enemy received, and a rush accompanied with savage yells made upon them, and continued for more than a mile, through scenes of frightful havoc and slaughter, few only of the fugitives offering to surrender as prisoners, while others, believing that no quarter would be given, suffered themselves to be cut down with the tomahawk, or turning back upon their pursuers, fought hand to hand to the last.

"On reaching the open field in front of Chippewa, the a.s.sailants were met by a tremendous discharge of musketry, by which the warriors, who were princ.i.p.ally in front, were thrown back upon the volunteers and reserve, who for want of equal speed were a short distance in the rear. Presuming that the fire had come from the enemy he had been pursuing, and who had rallied on reaching the open ground, General Porter made an effort, not without success, to reform his line with volunteers, reserve and a portion of the warriors; but on again advancing to the margin of the woods, found himself within a few yards of the whole British regular army, formed in line of battle, and presenting within a given s.p.a.ce at least three men fresh from their camp, to a single one in his own attenuated and exhausted line. After receiving and returning two or three fires, the enemy rushed forward with charged bayonets, when hearing nothing from General Scott, he gave the order to retreat and form again on the left of General Scott's brigade, wherever it should be found.

"It appears that the British commander had resolved on making a general attack, that day, on the American camp; and in execution of this purpose had marched his whole force across the Chippewa, a short time before General Porter entered the woods with the Indians; and having sent forward his Indians and militia, which was the British force met in the woods, to commence his attack on the left flank of the Americans, formed in the meantime his battalions of regulars on the plain, under cover of the strip of woodland which divided the two camps, with his artillery on his left, near the gorge occupied by the road along the bank of the river; ready to act the moment the effect of the flank attack should be developed.

"The repulse of General Porter's command was thus effected by the main body of the British army, while General Scott's brigade was more than a mile in the rear, and had not yet crossed the bridge over Street's creek.... In a retreat of a mile in a diagonal direction to the right, so as to uncover the enemy to the fire of the American line, then just beginning to form, they gained but little distance on the British columns, who were in hot pursuit. When General Porter and his staff arrived at Street's creek, they were met by Major Jessup's battalion, then in the act of taking its position, which was on the left, and a short distance from the remainder of General Scott's brigade; and the volunteers fatigued as they were, aided Major Jessup's evolutions, which were executed with great order and celerity, by breaking down the fences to enable him to pa.s.s from the road bordering on Street's creek, to his position in the field.

"Nothing could exceed the coolness and order with which General Scott's brigade crossed the bridge and formed its line, under the galling fire of the enemy's artillery, and the headlong approach of his infantry, who, when only fifty yards distant, were received by a tremendous discharge of musketry from the American line, which forced them to fall back for a considerable distance. But they speedily rallied and advanced again, when they were met in the same gallant manner; and they thereupon fled, with as much precipitation as they had entered it, not halting until they had recrossed the Chippewa and destroyed their bridge.

"General Scott pursued them around the point of woods, beyond which he could only advance in face of their batteries, and these he could not reach by reason of the intervening river. He therefore deployed to the left, and forming a line in the open field, in front of Chippewa, directed his men to lie down with their heads toward the batteries, the better to avoid the effect of their fire.

"The battle between the regular troops, was but of a few minutes duration, with the exception of the artillery, which on both sides was earliest and longest engaged, and served with the most destructive effect; Colonel Towson occupying the right of the American line, on Street's creek, and the British artillery the left of theirs, at the point of woods, and both commencing with the first movements of the regular troops.

"Immediately after the two lines had encountered on Street's creek, a magnificent charger completely caparisoned, but without a rider, was seen prancing and curveting in the centre of the battle field, and endeavoring to make his escape through the American line to the rear. Presuming that he belonged to some officer who had fallen, he was forthwith secured by the servant of General Porter, and immediately mounted by the General, to whom he was a most acceptable acquisition, after the labors of the day, which he had performed on foot.

"Riding up to General Brown, who was also in the midst of the action, General Porter received his orders to march with the two hundred Pennsylvanians, who had been left in camp, to the support of General Scott; which orders were promptly executed by following General Scott's brigade around the point of woods, receiving the fire of the British batteries, and taking post on his left, with the men in the same rec.u.mbent position. Here they awaited the arrival of General Ripley's brigade, which on the first discovery that the whole British army was in the field, had been ordered to make a detour through the woods, and attack the enemy's right. They soon came up, in the same muddy plight with the volunteers and Indians, who had previously traversed the same ground; when the whole army at about sundown quietly retired to their camp, on the south side of Street's creek.