at Fort Erie, the commanding officer, Major Ormsby (49th Regiment), responded to the sounds of gunfire by leading a detachment of about eighty rank and file of the 49th in a circuitous route toward the batteries, avoiding the main riverside road that was potentially occupied by an enemy force of unknown size. Receiving information of the capture of the guns from Lieutenant Bryson, Ormsby changed his line of march and cut across the open fields behind the riverbank road, with the intention of collecting additional troops from a detachment of the 49th under Lieutenant Bartley before advancing on the enemy from downriver (north). Approaching this position, however, he found that they too had been involved in a firefight and forced to retire after suffering several casualties.
The source of these casualties was the second flotilla of eleven boats, containing some 250 men under Lieutenant Colonel Boerstler. This assault had fared even less well in their initial approach to the Canadian shore as they came under heavy fire from Bartley’s troops, one of whom, John Chapman, later wrote the following account:
… a large number of bateaux came over filled with men to make an attack upon us. One of them had got near the British shore before we perceived them. We rushed up in double-quick time & began to fire upon them with muskets, but by the time we had fired five or six times, a six-pounder was brought up & fired into them. Three or four of the boats were destroyed, & terrible havoc was made among the men that landed. Our officers gave the command to cease firing, but … the men were greatly exasperated & fired several times after this command had been given.[9]
After being under fire for almost twenty minutes, with two boats sunk and several others holed, the majority of the assault wave abandoned the crossing and retired to their own shore, bailing for all they were worth. The remaining boats, containing a force of perhaps 150 troops, completed their crossing, landed, and advanced on the British defenders. In a sharp skirmish, these Americans forced Bartley’s surviving men to retreat back (south) over the bridge and took occupation of the vital crossing. However, in total darkness, and without guides or any knowledge of how strong the enemy forces were, Boerstler’s troops failed to advance as planned to link up with King’s detachment. Instead, Boerstler retired to his landing ground, while leaving behind a detachment with orders to destroy the bridge.
At the same time, King’s landing party, depleted by casualties and swollen by prisoners, was attempting to solve its predicament of being stranded on the enemy’s shore by searching the shoreline for alternate transport. Unable to locate any boats around the ferry dock, King left detachments to guard the captured batteries and marched north, attempting to reach Boerstler’s position. After more than half an hour of marching around in the darkness without contacting Boerstler, King’s men finally came across two small boats pulled up on shore. Recognizing that no hope of success for the mission remained, King ordered that his wounded, the British prisoners, and then as many men as possible fill the boats and cross to the American side, while he remained with the rest to hold onto the beachhead from a nearby house until the boats could return and take them off.
Notified of the Americans’ capture of the bridge by Bartley’s retreating detachment, Ormsby decided to advance on Boerstler’s position to reopen communications with Chippawa and the relief force that would surely arrive, as Bartley had already dispatched a warning to Chippawa as soon as the American intentions were determined. Approaching the bridge at Frenchman’s Creek, the British again came under fire, this time from the picket guard covering the small demolition team, who were using their bare hands and bayonets in an attempt to destroy the bridge (as the proper tools for the work had been left in the boats). Coming under increasingly heavy return fire from the advancing British, the small American detachment abandoned their efforts and retreated into the darkness to effect their escape. Reaching the beach, they found that upon hearing the sounds of gunfire, Boerstler and his troops had already embarked and quit the Canadian side of the river, leaving them stranded and alone. Having regained the bridge and unable to see his enemy, Ormby acted with caution by holding the bridge and waiting for the approaching daylight to better assess the situation. At dawn, Ormsby’s detachment was augmented by a relief force from Chippawa under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Clark. Together, the combined units, under the overall command of Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Bisshopp, captured the abandoned Americans and secured the riverbank at Frenchman’s Creek before moving toward Fort Erie and the remaining scattered remnants of King’s troops. Seeing the overwhelming number of enemy troops before them, Captain King and his party of thirty-eight men were left with no option but to surrender.
With their communication lines secure, Bisshopp’s column advanced on Fort Erie. Bands of Native warriors augmented the column and the combined force easily retook the batteries from their American captors, only to see a fresh wave of boats approaching the Canadian shore. This new force, taken from Colonel Winder’s command, was attempting a crossing in support of King and Boerstler’s landing and the intended invasion. However, a few volleys from a quickly formed British line-of-battle and associated field artillery pieces persuaded the Americans to come about and pull out of range, but not before suffering between six to ten killed and twenty-two wounded.[10] Upon inspection, all of the guns in the batteries were found to have been dismounted and spiked but were otherwise undamaged. Without delay, Bisshopp ordered a militia officer, Captain James Kerby (2nd Lincoln Militia Artillery), to oversee the restoration of the barrels to firing condition and the manning of the guns in case the Americans made another assault
On the American side of the river, Smyth watched the remnants of his scheme filter back into camp.*[11] These included three of Angus’s sailors, who had become separated from their unit during the night and hidden until daylight allowed them to locate a small skiff. They then set fire to three civilian houses at the ferry dock and rowed back across the river, fully expecting to be hailed as heroes. Instead, they were arrested and severely censured for having destroyed private property and causing a hardening of attitudes for revenge on the part of the Canadians. Despite this military humiliation, and the fact that the enemy was now fully alerted and ready, Smyth had a force of men embark in boats in full view of the enemy and then sent across a repeat of his previous demand, that Fort Erie and the troops defending it should surrender immediately “to spare further effusion of blood.”[12] On the other side of the river, with his batteries once more in action and with a sizeable force of defenders, Bisshopp ignored Smyth’s bombastic demands and later had the satisfaction of watching the Americans unload their troops and march away from the boats — all without a shot being fired.
The following day, Smyth ordered up the detachments of troops that had been sent downriver to the Navy Yard only the night before, and demanded the completion of repairs to his depleted supply of boats in order that another assault could take place during the night of November 30–December 1, 1812. By now Smyth’s credibility had totally evaporated and, once again, units of the militia refused to participate in any actions beyond their State lines. Even the regular troops procrastinated in the loading of the boats so that by the time the supposed invasion force was embarked, the sun had risen and the fleet would have been an easy target for every musket and cannon on the Canadian side of the river. Totally frustrated in his schemes, Smyth held a council of his officers (that is to say, his regular army officers, as the militia commanders were deliberately snubbed and excluded from the meeting), which concluded that conducting further offensive operations was an impossibility. As a result, Smyth abandoned the assault, blaming everyone but himself for the debacle.
Discipline
