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The Battle of Fort George, May 27, 1813

Learning of the fall of York, Brigadier General John Vincent, commander of the British forces on the Niagara, was painfully aware that his army was effectively cut off from reinforcement and support. In addition, his main reserves of food, ammunition, weapons, etc., previously thought safe at York, were now in the hands of the enemy. Knowing he would be the next target, Vincent’s disposable defence force consisted of just over 1,000 regular troops and militia, stationed across over thirty miles (50 kilometers) of frontier.*[1] On May 8th the main American fleet appeared and landed the regiments used in the capture of York to the east of Fort Niagara, out of range of the British guns.

Although ill and effectively unable to fulfil his duties, General Dearborn continued to act as commander of the American army. However, despite the significant number of troops already assembled around Fort Niagara, Dearborn felt that it was important to augment this force. He therefore sent orders to Oswego for 700 men of that garrison (under Colonel Winfield Scott) to march for the Niagara frontier. In addition, Brigadier General Morgan Lewis was ordered to transfer a sizeable portion of the troops stationed around Buffalo to Fort Niagara. Finally, Commodore Chauncey was directed to return to Sackets Harbor and, after offloading the goods captured at York, embark additional reinforcements, artillery, and supplies for delivery to the Niagara to complete the invasion force.

Leaving the vessels, Governor Tompkins and Conquest, as guards off the mouth of the Niagara River, Chauncey sailed back to Sackets Harbor with the bulk of his fleet, only to find that once again the garrison was in an extreme state of alarm over rumours that the British were preparing to attack from Kingston. As a result, Chauncey deemed it prudent to leave three vessels at Sackets Harbor for its defence, while the remaining ships were despatched in pairs over a number of days, carrying troops under the command of Brigadier General John Chandler. Chauncey himself did not sail for the Niagara River until May 21st.

Upon Chauncey’s arrival, he found that in his absence General Dearborn had overruled his orders and used the Conquest and Governor Tompkins to transport about a hundred men of the Twelfth Regiment (Captain Morgan) on a raid to the Head-of-the-Lake. Their goal was to destroy both the British supply base at Burlington Heights and the local grain mills west of that position. On May 11th this force had landed on the sand spit that marked the harbour at Burlington Heights and, after driving off a small detachment of militiamen guarding a storehouse, had burned both it and the nearby King’s Head Tavern. Intending to advance further, they heard that a force of Canadian militia and Native allies were advancing on their position. They therefore returned to their boats and set sail for Niagara to report their “victory.”

The King’s Head, O. Staples, artist, 1910. This later rendition shows the sand bar dividing the western end of Lake Ontario (right) from the harbour of Burlington Bay (left). The building (centre) is the King’s Head Tavern, which was burned by the American’s during their visit in May 1813.

Toronto Reference Library, JRR-3263.

Not impressed that Dearborn had countermanded his directives for the use of his ships, Chauncey also found that while land-related preparations for the invasion had been made no one had thought to include acquiring the longboats by which the army could make its landing on the enemy’s shore. Chauncey was consequently left with the job of locating the essential craft if the invasion was to take place on time.

Watching the American preparations, Vincent was woefully aware of his precarious position. More than a third of his regular infantry, half his artillery, and two-thirds of the militia were guarding the southern end of the Niagara River under Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp. In the centre, below the gorge, the six detached batteries located between Queenston and Fort George all required manning and infantry support in case the Americans attempted a repeat of their October crossing. Finally, at the river mouth, Fort George was still in a “very ruinous and unfinished condition,”[2] as other military priorities had used up the limited resources of men and materiel elsewhere, while the detached batteries fronting the river and lake were all exposed to flanking fire from the American fleet. Only a month earlier Vincent had proposed making a pre-emptive strike on Fort Niagara, to eliminate the then-undermanned American base. However, Sheaffe had vetoed this operation. Now the opportunity had slipped away and Vincent was facing a significantly superior force of land-based troops, fully supported by riverside artillery batteries and a naval flotilla that could land troops anywhere along the Lake Ontario shore in his rear, thus cutting him off from reinforcement or escape.

Without knowing where this enemy blow would fall, Vincent was forced to disperse his command to cover all eventualities. On the right flank Lieutenant Colonel Harvey’s troops watched the riverbank between Fort George and Queenston, while on the left flank Lieutenant Colonel Myers supervised the troops stationed at the river mouth and lakefront. Between the two detachments, at Fort George, Vincent held back a reserve of 300 men from the 49th Regiment, plus a number of ad hoc detachments, composed principally of sick and non-combatant troops, in order to move to whichever flank might come under attack. As the threat of invasion intensified, Vincent ordered his troops to be placed on alert each night.

For over a week the men turned out at 2:00 a.m. and remained under arms until daylight revealed that yet another night’s sleep had been lost without result. By the night of May 24–25th, the British and Canadian troops were exhausted and nerves were stretched to breaking point. Consequently, when sentries upriver heard noises at the American “Five Mile” meadow they raised the alarm and began firing, which cascaded toward Fort George as the sounds moved downriver. Dawn revealed the sounds to be a small flotilla of lightly manned boats skirting the American shore and making for Fort Niagara. As the boats passed by Fort George, the garrison opened up with five pieces of ordnance. In response, the American riverside batteries retaliated with no less than twenty-five cannon and mortars, deluging the fort with shell and incendiary “hot-shot.” By noon almost every building inside the fort, as well as the surrounding wooden stockade, was burning fiercely and the artillery crews, although initially attempting to maintain the unequal contest with the American batteries, were soon forced to abandon their posts.

A view of Fort George, Navy Hall and New Niagara, taken from the United States Fort of Old Niagara, E. Walsh, artist, circa 1805. A detail from a view showing the Canadian bank of the Niagara River at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) in 1805. Fort George and Navy Hall lie to the left, while Newark is to the right.

Image courtesy of the Clement Library, University of Michigan.

The modern reconstruction of Fort George, as seen from the American side of the Niagara River.

The reconstructed officer’s mess (top), blockhouse barracks (middle), and earthwork bastions/ditch (bottom) at the Fort George National Historic site.

Downriver, the river-mouth batteries had been forced to remain idle, being under orders not to engage the enemy unless directly fired upon, because it was feared that any American shot that missed its target would land upon Newark. As a result, throughout the afternoon sentries watched impotently as boats from the American fleet edged along the Lake Ontario shoreline, making soundings and placing buoys, clearly indicating that the American fleet would place itself in the rear of the British positions to provide fire support for any landings in that quarter. Much of the civilian populace had already evacuated the town in favour of a more secure position some miles inland, including St. Davids, the Crossroads (Virgil), and Shipman’s Corners (St. Catharines). Fort George was effectively a gutted wreck and incapable of maintaining any kind of defence, while Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp’s force remained pinned above Niagara Falls in case of any assault on that flank. However, no attack materialized on the 26th due to Commodore Chauncey’s inability to collect sufficient longboats to ferry the troops from the ships to the shore, necessitating a delay while additional boats were brought up from further along the lake.

Plan for the Point Mississauga Lighthouse, 1804, H.R. Holmden, artist, 1804. In 1813 the lighthouse keeper and his wife tended to the wounded from both sides during the battle for Fort George.

Toronto Reference Library, JRR-202.

Before dawn on the morning of May 27, 1813, and under the cover of a thick fog, the American fleet rowed out into the lake until they reached a position directly behind the British left flank, between the lighthouse at Mississauga Point and Two Mile Creek, whereupon they anchored to await the dawn. To distract Vincent, the guns of Fort Niagara and the riverside batteries opened a fresh bombardment upon Fort George, persuading the British commander that it was indeed the fort that would be the target of the main American assault. With daylight came a slight breeze, which rolled away the curtain of fog from the lake to reveal the impressive sight of some sixteen sailing vessels stationed across the mouth of the river, their guns targeting the line of British defences and proposed landing ground. Alongside the fleet could be seen three lines of over 130 smaller boats, crammed with infantry.*[3]

At a signal from the flagship, the larger ships began firing at the exposed shore batteries, while the smaller armed vessels edged inshore to cover the landings. Between them the first wave of twenty landing boats pulled for the shore, packed with over 800 troops and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott. This officer had been previously captured at Queenston Heights and then allowed to return to the U.S. after having sworn a parole not to engage in any military action until officially exchanged, and was, therefore, in the official opinion of Sir George Prevost and the British government, blatantly breaking his word of honour and parole, as no mutually agreed exchange had taken place.

On shore, although General Vincent ordered an immediate redeployment toward the lakefront, the first defenders destined to face the Americans were detachments from the Glengarry Light Infantry, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Runchey’s Coloured Corps, the Lincoln Militia, and a party of Norton’s Native warriors, totalling no more than 300 men.*[4] However, despite being stationed directly in front of the approaching enemy, they could not immediately engage them, as cannon fire from the American fleet scoured the elevated open ground overlooking the landing beach. As a result, they were forced to take cover under the lee of a nearby small ravine, while the crew of the solitary artillery battery positioned above the landing ground were also soon forced to abandon their position for cover.

The Invasion at Fort George. This published image was copied from an eye-witness pencil sketch made by surgeon A. Trowbridge while he was serving with the American fleet. Fort Niagara is the flagged fortification on the left bank of the river. Fort George, the flagged fortification on the right bank. The town of Newark and Mississauga Point Lighthouse (centre). The British Two Mile Creek battery (flagged small fortification at right), toward which the American vanguard of boats are pulling. The huge cloud of white “smoke” behind the main forts is actually spray from the Great Falls, clearly visible, over twelve miles (20 kilometers) away.

Library and Archives Canada, C-23675.

Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, commander of the initial wave of invading American troops. By leading this attack he was, according to the British, in flagrant breach of his parole, given at the time of his capture at Queenston the previous October.

From the Conger Goodyear Manuscript Collection, Volume 9, Courtesy of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Research Library, Buffalo, NY.

As the American boats moved further inshore, they masked (blocked the firing of) the naval guns, allowing the small force of defenders to advance and fire into the packed boats as they pressed toward the shoreline. Once the Americans began to land, however, the defenders positions on the higher ground made them prominent targets and they began to suffer casualties accordingly. Falling back, they were quickly followed by American troops, who scaled the sandy escarpment fronting the beach and engaged the composite defensive units in a severe firefight and hand-to-hand combat. Eventually, the Americans were driven back to the beach, from which they continued firing at the once-again-exposed British troops. For a second time, the British retired and Americans pressed forward, culminating in another cycle of hand-to-hand combat, the Americans withdrawing to the beach to await yet more reinforcements and the renewed deadly fire of the American naval artillery curtailing the temporary victory by the defenders. With the backing of additional American troops from General Boyd’s brigade, Winfield Scott led his men onto the upper ground for the third time, only to find the surviving defenders had retired about 200 yards (183 meters) and had also been reinforced by a detachment of around 300 men of the 8th (King’s) Regiment. On the British side, Colonel Myers had assembled a force around 570 men, while General Boyd’s brigade of troops augmented Scott’s force to create an attacking strength of over 2,300 infantry. After advancing toward the British troops, the opposing lines blazed away at each other, sometimes at a range of less than fifteen yards (13 meters) apart.

Inevitably, the overwhelmingly superior firepower of the American combined force tore apart the British line, killing or wounding almost every field officer. After suffering over 300 casualties, the British began to give way and retired toward the town by way of the wooded gully of One Mile Creek. Farther back, Lieutenant Colonel Harvey had been able to move up a composite force of several companies of the 49th Regiment, two of Incorporated Militia, and his ad hoc units of Embodied Militia volunteers and invalids, backed by every available artillery crew and their field guns. These troops, supplemented as time passed by detachments retreating from the beachhead fight, now took up a new position in front of the town, near the Presbyterian church, and awaited the appearance of the enemy.

Looking east along the Lake Ontario shoreline toward the location of the American landing. Note the high embankment, which the invading Americans had to scale to engage the British forces on the open ground above.

The Presbyterian church at Newark, the site of heavy fighting during the May 27 battle. The church was burned down by the Americans later that summer.

Toronto Reference Library, JRR-1253.

Back at the landing zone, the Americans did not follow the retreating British through the woods. Instead, they formed into three columns and advanced across the open ground, paralleling the shoreline, thus ensuring that they remained under the cover of the guns aboard their fleet. On the right, Winfield Scott’s column included detachments that infiltrated the woods, securing that flank and probing ahead, trying to outflank the British left flank. In the centre was Boyd’s main infantry force of the Sixth, Fifteenth, and part of the Sixteenth Regiments, supported by four artillery pieces; while on the left, nearest the waterfront, were the remainder of the Sixteenth Regiment with four more artillery pieces. Since no limber horses had accompanied the artillery on shore, moving the guns and limbers was done by “volunteers” from the infantry and the gun crews, who manhandled the heavy equipment over the uneven ground. Despite facing this overwhelming number of troops, Harvey’s line opened fire on the approaching American columns and, despite taking significant casualties, held back the repeated attacks of the American centre for over half an hour — and it should be noted that it was the guns of the British artillery that were particularly successful in stalling the enemy’s advance. But once Scott’s Light troops successfully outflanked the British left wing and the main line was in danger of being surrounded, Harvey was forced to order a retreat through the town to the garrison common, behind Fort George.

Seeing the British line moving away, several of the American senior officers prepared for a rapid advance, but were immediately curtailed by Major General Morgan Lewis, the senior officer in the field and effective commander of the army (as the ailing General Dearborn had chosen to remain onboard ship during the attack). Lewis was a savvy politician and former governor of New York State, but was an officer of virtually no battlefield experience and had the disasters of Hull, Van Rensselaer, and Smyth looming before him. Fearful of a trap, Lewis delayed for over an hour while the final landings augmented his force to over 4,000 men before ordering the advance continue.

By this time, Harvey and Vincent had rallied their depleted forces behind the burned-out remnants of Fort George and were prepared to make a last stand here. However, this decision was soon rendered moot when vessels from the American flotilla anchored in the river and brought their guns to bear upon the open ground both in front and behind the fort, thus cutting off any hope of making a stand in the open, or getting reinforcements from upriver. In addition, reports came in of American troop movements at Youngstown, threatening an American envelopment of the defenders from the rear. Fronted by a force vastly outnumbering his own, and threatened on his flanks and rear by potential movements of the enemy, Vincent ordered the evacuation of the ruined Fort George, the destruction of all supplies and ammunition that could not be carried off, and the spiking of all guns that could not be withdrawn. To the sounds of detonation, Vincent and his remaining troops retreated through the woods toward Queenston, while Norton’s Native warriors and a detachment of Incorporated Militia provided the rearguard.

Brigadier General Vincent initially considered retiring to Fort Erie, where he hoped to dig-in while awaiting reinforcements from Proctor’s force at Amherstburg. However, after being warned by Colonel Nichol and Lieutenant Colonel Harvey that this would effectively trap the British forces if the Americans pressed their victory, Vincent ordered the retreat be made to Beaver Dams instead, while orders were sent to Bisshopp’s troops to destroy their posts and retire on Vincent’s new position.*[5]

Butler’s Barracks, J.P. Cockburn, artist, 1829. A view of the road leading into Newark, with Butler’s Barracks on the right and Fort Niagara visible in the distance (centre) beyond the Niagara River, detail from the larger painting.

Library and Archives Canada, C-040034.

Meanwhile, when the American force eventually emerged from the town and cautiously approached Fort George (fearing the explosions they heard would presage a detonation similar to that of York), they found the main force of defenders gone and the only prisoners that fell into their hands were the wounded, the sick, some wives and dependants of the soldiers, and a detachment that had delayed too long in their assignment of destroying anything that would prove useful to the enemy. They also found an unconscious Winfield Scott, who had pressed ahead of his own troops into the fort and been struck by debris from an exploding magazine. Fortunately for the American cause, his only injury was a broken collarbone, which did not slow the warrior down one jot. The first secure foothold in Upper Canada had been attained — the only problem was that the enemy was gone, so which direction should the victorious army march to do battle and rout the retreating foe? Colonel Scott was in little doubt of the direction taken by the British and “deemed it his duty to institute and continue a pursuit of five miles; not merely without orders, but in evasion of such as were given.”[6] But he was soon frustrated by General Lewis, who feared a trap and counterattack within the dense woods surrounding the area and sent Scott an order “of a character so decided and peremptory as by leaving nothing to discretion, could not fail to recall him to Fort George.”[7]

Late that afternoon, Vincent’s order to retire reached Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp at Fort Erie and the evacuation of all regular troops and field guns was begun. Only a detachment of the 3rd Lincoln Militia was left behind to destroy the magazines and spike the heavier garrison artillery that could not be removed. Instead of fruitlessly disposing of this resource, however, Major John Warren and his detachment undertook to expend every pound of powder and shot by bombarding the enemy batteries on the opposite shore — a task they kept up for most of the night. Around dawn they set about destroying the remaining stores and fortifications. Having accomplished this task, Warren officially dismissed his militiamen to either return to their homes, or retreat and join up with the militia units stationed along the Grand River. The Niagara frontier was now open for an American occupation. According to the official American history of that day, Fort Erie was “captured” by a detachment of the Twelfth Infantry Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Preston). However, what is not in the official history is that prior to Preston’s occupation, an American naval surgeon, Usher Parsons, had made his own entirely unofficial “capture” of the fort.

At 7 o’clock this morning the enemy blew up their magazines at the fort. In the afternoon Dr. Purcell and myself, with one citizen and about 20 others (sailors), seeing no Centinels on the opposite shore crossed over … we were provided with a white handkerchief to wave if the enemy appeared…. We found no enemy and ventured to march towards Fort Erie not without some apprehensions of danger. But we met no one until near the fort when two portly looking gentlemen came out with a flag of truce. I left the men with Dr. Purcell and went with the gentlemen…. They asked for protection of their private property … but first desired me to calm the fears of the women who were assembled in a room and much frightened, which I did in a brief speech. I found an abundance of military stores, cloathing, arms, etc. and calling to my troops rigged them out with a full suit and then marched them back to the boat…. We returned to Black Rock and sent an anonymous note to the Col. at Buffalo that the enemy had left Fort Erie. I feared to send my name because I had violated all rules and discipline by my expedition. He embarked his regiment (first ascertaining that the Centinels were not to be seen) and crossed over in the evening and took possession of Fort Erie. I crossed over again in the evening and stayed all night.[8]

— Diary of Usher Parsons,

May 28, 1813

By the following day, the burned out British positions at Chippawa, Queenston, and Fort George were all being garrisoned by American troops. One immediate consequence of this loss of British control of the upper reaches of the Niagara River was that the Americans were able to tow out five armed vessels from their navy yard on the Scajaquada Creek and load them with vitally needed supplies for delivery to the shipbuilding yards at Erie, Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie, completely reversing the balance of naval power on that lake.

Despite having suffered severely in losses of manpower and supplies, most of Vincent’s surviving troops, especially the militia and Native allies, expected that their commander would concentrate his forces at Beaver Dams and then make a counteroffensive on the American invaders, especially once the troops from Chippawa, Fort Erie, Burlington Heights, and additional parties of Native warriors from the Grand River were added to the sum. Instead, and to their grave concern, directives arrived for the commandeering of every wagon in the area and the destruction of any stores and supplies that could not be immediately transported, as the army was ordered to retreat to Forty Mile Creek.

This further withdrawal was ordered because Vincent had received disturbing reports of the Americans re-embarking a substantial number of troops on board their fleet with orders to sail along the lake and land behind his already diminished army, thus trapping it between two enemy divisions. It was therefore essential that he move quickly, before his options ran out. Despite this valid tactical necessity, many of the officers of the militia, as well as Norton and his Native warriors, took this action as proof that Vincent’s intention was to completely abandon the Niagara to the Americans and possibly retire on York or even Kingston. Indeed, after remaining less than two days at the eminently defendable position at Forty Mile Creek, when new orders were issued that the army was to continue in its retreat to Burlington Heights their fear became a virtual certainty. Furthermore, far from being encouraged to stay with the regulars and continue to fight the invaders, most of the militia units were officially disbanded and told to return to their homes to await the advancing Americans and submit to certain capture and possible imprisonment or parole. As a result, morale plummeted, the Native warriors left en masse to see to the protection of their families and homes along the Grand River, and even the most ardent Crown supporters wondered if this was the end of Upper Canada as a province. Everything now hinged on the actions of the Americans.