Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 6-Book Bundle. Richard Feltoe
of the boats took place and in the blackness of the night, the initial wave pushed out for the opposite shore — the invasion had begun.
Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer (artist unknown). Cousin to General Simon Van Rensselaer and military commander of the initial American attack at Queenston.
From Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812.
CHAPTER 6
Plans Gone Wrong, The Battle of Queenston Heights, October 13, 1812
Emerging from the shelter of the bank, the thirteen heavily laden boats were hard pressed to maintain formation within the strong river current.Attempting to avoid the known positions of the enemy in the village itself, the convoy aimed for a landing upstream, directly below the escarpment and in a dead zone below the firing arc covered by the “redan” battery on the hillside overlooking the village. Unfortunately, the strong mid-river current carried several boats downstream until they reached calmer waters near the Canadian shore, where they were able to begin the strenuous task of rowing back upstream toward the rest of the flotilla. According to a later account, the leading boat, containing Colonel Van Rensselaer and men from Captain Armstrong and Captain Malcolm’s companies
View at Queens Town of West Landing, Upper Canada, Sempronius Stretton, artist, 1805. The Hamilton House is prominent in this early view of Queenston, as are the “heights” and Portage Road, winding its way up the escarpment. The redan battery would later be built just below the right-hand sweeping curve of the road.
Library and Archives Canada, C-002742.
… reached the British shore before any of the others … and … remained under the bank unobserved for the space of five minutes; which time the officers employed in creeping up the bank for the purpose of reconnoitring the ground…. The men in the boat, being left to themselves, and dispensing with the restraint which their superiors had thus far required in imposing silence, began talking audibly, & the presence of the party was soon detected by a British sentinel posted upon the very bank from which the reconnaissance had been sought, tho’ somewhat to the right of the boat at which he fired, wounding a Sergeant of Cap’t Malcolm’s Company — the sentinel to the left next fired, & thus, in quick succession the alarm was extended along the whole river front — The bugler upon the Heights then sounded it, & immediately after, that battery opened.[1]
To the men still rowing across the river, the dark outline of the approaching riverbank must have seemed to explode as the defending units and supporting artillery opened fire. Behind them, the American support batteries at Lewiston and Fort Gray also opened up once the element of surprise was lost. Through this hail of crossfire, the boats pulled onto shore and those troops not already wounded piled out into the cold water of the river before scrambling up onto the slippery riverside embankment and the main landing dock occupied by British troops.
Huts near the landing (Queenston), E. Simcoe, artist, circa 1793. The government dock at the village of Queenston in 1793, as seen from immediately above the 1812 American embarkation point. The American landing zone at the foot of the escarpment is to the left, hidden behind the rising ground and two tree stumps. (Below) The “landing” in 2012.
Library and Archives Canada, C-013928.
The assailants quickly ascended the bank, & on reaching the plateau endeavoured to form line, but the darkness was extreme, and this, rendering both noise and confusion … attendant upon their efforts to effect an organisation, their precise position was not long a secret to two British Companies … who from flank positions … opened a crossfire upon their front — Under this state of things, it was evident the American party had no time for delay — their men were falling fast and a line was hastily, if not very scrupulously formed.[2]
There was nowhere to go but forward, and despite having been wounded in the ankle while still in the boat, Van Rensselaer led his troops to clear the riverbank of the enemy before the second wave arrived. After a brief but intense firefight, the defenders were initially forced to retreat into the village, but soon returned with reinforcements and a small artillery piece, forcing the American line, itself partially reinforced and now under the supervising command of Captain John Wool (Thirteenth Infantry), to reposition to face this new threat.
Capt’ Wool, without waiting for orders from Col. VanRanslaer, immediately changed his front, pivoting upon his right. With his small arms against the enemy’s artillery and musketry, commenced his military career by throwing a well directed fire into the [enemy]…. A short but sharp contest now commenced in which the line-firings quickly succeeding each other were followed by cheers & were interchanged by both parties respectively.[3]
After another round of fierce gunfire, both sides retired to regroup. Having now been wounded a further five times and having suffered the loss of five of his senior officers, along with some twenty-five to thirty men, Colonel Van Rensselaer was compelled to order a retreat toward the American landing area, where he looked for Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie (Thirteenth Infantry) to hand over command. However the lieutenant colonel was nowhere to be found. In fact, the unfortunate officer was back on the U.S. side of the river.
During the crossing, Chrystie’s boat had been one of those that had been swept downstream and come under musket fire. In a panic, the boat’s pilot swung the boat away, back into midstream. Fighting with the pilot for control of the boat, Chrystie attempted to rejoin the flotilla, but soon recognized the futility of rowing up against the strong current. Beaching the boat on the American shore, well downriver of Lewiston, Chrystie walked back up the riverbank to join the next wave. Upon his arrival at the dockside, he was horrified to see
… a scene of confusion hardly to be described. The enemy concentrated their fire upon our embarking place; no person being charged with directing the boats and embarkation or with the government of the boatmen, they forsook their duty. Persons unacquainted with the river … would occasionally hurry into a boat as they could find one, cross and leave it on the shore, perhaps to go adrift or else to be brought back by the wounded and their attendants and others returning without order or permission; and these would land where they found it convenient and leave the boat where they landed.[4]
— Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie to General Cushing, February 22, 1813
Despite these difficulties, boats filled with men made the dangerous crossing, only to either join Van Rensselaer’s troops trapped along the shore, or be pulled downstream by the current and come under heavy fire from additional defenders stationed on the dock below the Hamilton house near the northern end of the village. Two of these boats, both containing a high proportion of officers, suffered enough casualties that they floated helplessly ashore and fell immediately into the hands of the waiting Canadian militia. Others attempted to make a landing at the dock but were soon overwhelmed by the defenders, after a stiff firefight that left many of the American’s dead or wounded. The situation had all the makings of a disaster of the first magnitude. Back on the embattled beach, Solomon Van Rensselaer initially considered a frontal attack on the massing troops before him. Instead, he and Captain Wool determined that the only hope was to attempt a flanking movement toward the angle of the escarpment where it entered the