After the militia arrived in camp, Brown took Porter, McRee, and Wood into his confidence and directed them to draw up a detailed attack plan for his approval. These three met several evenings and Brown accepted their plan. On 16 September Porter sent his aide, Major Donald Fraser out into the forest with an odd mission. Fraser, without being told the purpose of his efforts, directed a large party of axemen to blaze two parallel trails from Snake Hill all the way to within 150 yards of battery number three. That they were undiscovered can only be attributed to the noise of the bombardment and the steady rainfall.
That evening, Brown called together the officers who would lead the attack. He did not invite Ripley to this secret meeting. Brown issued his attack order and was pleased that the officers received it with enthusiasm. Brown directed a two pronged attack. Porter would lead one force through the forest and fall on battery number three. Meanwhile, brevet Brigadier General James Miller, commanding First Brigade, would lead a second force into the ravine between Fort Erie and the forest.
Once the sound of Porter's attack was heard, Miller would attack battery number two. Once the guns were destroyed, the two forces would withdraw. After this meeting, Brown sent a final “deserter” into the British camp with the story that all was calm in Fort Erie. At 8 a.m. on the following morning Brown sent for Ripley and briefed him on the operation that was to begin in a few hours. Ripley expressed his fears that British scouts, who peered into the American camp from tree tops, would see the attack columns leave the fort. Given this advance warning, Drummond would send his reserves into the entrenchments before the Americans arrived. As an afterthought, Brown offered command of the reserve to Ripley who accepted. Ripley's mission was to support the withdrawal of Porter's and Miller's men back into the fort.
Map - Sortie - 17 September 1814
Porter started forming his men southwest of Snake Hill in mid-morning and gave a stirring speech in which he presented his plan of attack. He divided his men into two columns preceded by an advance guard. Colonel James Gibson, a West Pointer, led the advance guard composed of two hundred riflemen of the 1st and 4th Rifles and a handful of Indians. Porter's right column was under command of the versatile engineer Eleazar Wood, also a West Pointer. Wood led Major George Brooke's combined battalion of the 1st and 23rd Infantry regiments, about four hundred men. Behind Brooke marched a small brigade of five hundred New York volunteers and militiamen under Lieutenant Colonels James McBurney and George Fleming and Major Shearman Lee. Lee commanded the remnants of Dobbin's Regiment that had joined the Left Division shortly after Chippawa.
Porter's left column was commanded by Brigadier General Daniel Davis and consisted of another small battalion, about five hundred militiamen, under Lieutenant Colonels Caleb Hopkins, William Churchill, and Isaac Crosby. Wood's column was to attack batteries three and two in order while Davis's column was to protect them from interference. Since most of the New Yorkers were in civilian clothing, Porter had them tie red scarves around their heads. At about noon Porter's force departed camp in a drizzle and picked up the marked trail leading to battery number three.
Soon thereafter, General James Miller infiltrated his men out of Fort Erie and into the ravine where they lay down to conceal themselves. Miller's force consisted of two units. Colonel Moody Bedel commanded the 11th Infantry and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Aspinwall led a combined battalion of the 9th and 19th Infantry Regiments. When they were in position, Miller informed his men of the victory at Plattsburg, news of which had just arrived. General Ripley formed the reserve just outside the walls of Fort Erie in the concealed area between the two new western bastions of the fort. The reserve consisted of the 21st Infantry and two companies of the 17th Infantry. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Jesup, his arm still in a sling from the wounds received at Lundy's Lane, commanded the 25th Infantry inside Fort Erie. Brown watched the deployment of Miller's and Ripley's commands from the walls of Fort Erie and then he joined Miller in the ravine to wait for Porter's attack to begin.
In the British pickets and entrenchments guarding the siege batteries, Colonel Fischer's duty brigade consisting of De Watteville's Regiment and the 8th Foot stood in the rain. They were taken by surprise at about 2:30 when Wood's and Davis's columns appeared out of a light fog. The Americans overran battery number three and its protecting blockhouse, the defenders fleeing or surrendering. Porter's men knocked the trunnions off the siege guns with sledge hammers and smashed the carriages as best they could. They exploded the gunpowder before moving on to battery number two. When Brown heard the sound of the attack, he launched Miller into the gap between batteries two and three. Miller's command linked up with Porter's and the converged columns thundered into battery number two. The British were waiting for them but numbers told. Lieutenant Barstow died while rallying a group of De Watteville's to defend their post. Within minutes the Americans held undisputed possession of two batteries and the connecting trenches.
When the noise of the battle at battery three reached the British camp, the men sprang into formation without orders. Major General de Watteville came on the scene first and organized the Royal Scots and the 89th Foot. He sent them, under command of Lieutenant Colonel John Gordon, to counterattack battery number three. Drummond arrived as the noise moved toward battery number two. Drummond ordered de Watteville to counterattack toward that battery with the 6th and 82nd Foot. Drummond formed up the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles, a disciplined Canadian battalion, and sent them forward under their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Battersby. The Americans stayed too long. Their units became increasingly confused and separated in the rain and darkness of the forest. As they moved on battery number one, they were met by the British reserves. Fighting was hand to hand, fierce, and bloody in the extreme.
By all reports, the New Yorkers fought like regulars. Many of the rain-soaked muskets would not fire and the men resorted to cold steel or using their weapons as clubs. General Davis died at the head of his brigade near battery number one. Porter received a sword cut to his hand and was momentarily captured but a small party led by a sergeant rescued him. The accomplished engineer Eleazar Wood fell nearby. He died later that night, mourned by the entire army.
His fellow West Pointer, Colonel Gibson, was killed in action at the head of his riflemen. Brown sent in Ripley and the reserve to extricate the others. Not twenty yards from the British, Ripley has struck in the neck by a musket ball. The bullet passed completely through his neck and the general fell to the ground momentarily unconscious. Command of the reserve devolved upon Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Upham. A bullet wound cost Aspinwall his arm. Ever so slowly Miller and Porter, aided by Upham, pulled their men out of the maze of entrenchments and abatis and returned to the woodline.
The British pushed them forward. Lieutenant Colonels Fischer, Gordon, and Pearson were all seriously wounded. Surgeon Dunlop, with the 89th Foot, recalled that as the Americans withdrew, the western Indians fighting with the British “bounded forward with a horrible yell, threw themselves on the retreating enemy with their tomahawks, and were soon out of sight; but as we advanced, we saw they left their trace behind them in sundry cleft skulls.” Once to the woodline, the British allowed the Americans to withdraw into Fort Erie unmolested. Nearly two hours had elapsed since the fighting began
In terms of casualties, the Americans had somewhat the better result. Brown reported a total of 511 casualties: 79 killed, 216 wounded, and 216 missing. Drummond reported capturing about two hundred which accounts for those Brown reported as missing. Drummond reported 719 casualties: 115 killed, 178 wounded, and 426 missing. Most of the missing were prisoners as Brown stated that he captured about four hundred of the enemy. De Watteville's Regiment, which had been in the trenches at the beginning of the attack, suffered the heaviest casualties: 62 killed, 36 wounded, and 166 missing.
In spite of the heavy casualties Brown was very pleased with the results of the sortie. He was effusive in his praise of his engineers - McRee and Wood. “No two officers of their grade could have contributed more to the safety and honor of this army,” he wrote. As for Wood, Brown continued that he “died as he had lived, without a feeling but for the honor of his country and the glory of her arms.”
Brown was gratified by the contribution of his fellow New Yorkers. “The militia of New York have redeemed their character; they behaved gallantly,” he reported to the Governor. Indeed they had. Porter's attack force included about one thousand New Yorkers - two hundred volunteers and the rest militia. These militiamen, unlike those at Queenston, agreed to cross into Canada. When formed for the attack, they did not balk. In the forest they more than held their own for two hours against battle-hardened regulars. When their powder was wet and their weapons failed to fire, they fought on. In spite of the death of General Davis and the capture of General Porter, they did not panic but obeyed their officers and maintained their ranks. The conduct of the officers and men of the Third brigade stands in stark contrast to the common understanding of the militia’s reputation for craven behavior during the War of 1812.
Overshadowed Heroes Part III: The Siege of Fort Erie
Part II: Chippawa and Lundy’s Lane
Part I: Third Brigade of the Left Division
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© Copyright 2002 by Rich Barbuto.
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