Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 6-Book Bundle. Richard Feltoe
bearing various sized bundles of items.
With the military garrison subdued and emptied of its valuable weapons and supplies, the fortifications and military warehouses at Ogdensburg were set alight, as were two gunboats and the frozen-in armed schooners Niagara and Dolphin. Returning to Prescott, Major Macdonell forwarded his official report to Kingston for Sir George Prevost to read and react to.
Upon receipt of Macdonell’s report, Sir George was placed in an awkward position. The attack had been undertaken against his openly expressed verbal directions, and even against a letter written after he had departed Prescott. On the other hand, it had resulted in a resounding victory. To now criticize or censure Macdonell for disobedience of orders would only be seen as “sour grapes” and reflect badly on his own position and authority to control his subordinates. He therefore chose to turn a blind eye to this insubordination in his official public release on the action:
The Commander of the Forces was induced to authorize this attack, not by any means as an act of wanton aggression … but as one of just and necessary retaliation for that which was recently made on the British settlement of Brockville by a party from Ogdensburg … and in announcing its result, His Excellency feels much pleasure in publically expressing his entire approbation of the gallantry and judgment with which it appears to have been conducted….[7]
He also altered the phrasing of Macdonell’s official report to create a new version that was forwarded to London, implying that the initiative was, in fact, authorized by him.
Bulletin No. 46, Sir George Prevost to Earl Bathurst, London … I have the honour of transmitting to Your Lordship the report which Major Macdonnel of the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles has made to me of the spirited manner in which he carried into execution my orders on this occasion.[8]
Macdonell was officially “off the hook” and soon became the hero of the hour as the leader of the raid. Unfortunately, no credit was subsequently given to the true architect of the victory, Colonel Pearson — for it was entirely due to his training and preparation of the troops, his design of the plan of action, and his determination to eliminate Ogdensburg as a threat that preserved the slender vital-supply lifeline that linked Lower and Upper Canada.
In contrast, the American reaction to the attack was dramatic and panic stricken. At Sackets Harbor the whole of the local militias were called out and ordered to construct new earthworks and extensive lines of abattis around the base to fend off an anticipated immediate British attack. Regular troops at Plattsburg were rushed overland in sleighs to Sackets to enlarge the garrison, and even Major General Dearborn and the new naval commander Commodore Isaac Chauncey hastened to that post to prepare for the expected onslaught. When this attack failed to materialize, however, instead of standing down his forces, Dearborn decided to implement his invasion plan against Upper Canada, starting from Sackets Harbor. In part, this was from having some of the required troops already in position, but also because the populace of Ogdensburg had raised a hue and cry with the state and federal governments. Far from accepting the British attack as an inevitable result of the international conflict, they blamed Brown and Forsyth’s aggressions and the military policies of the government for causing their distressed plight and demanded that no replacement garrison be installed in their community.
Despite the strategic importance of Ogdensburg as the principal point at which the Americans could effectively cut the British supply line to Upper Canada, the upcoming state elections forced the American government to acquiesce to the citizen’s demands that for the remainder of the war no significant American military presence garrisoned Ogdensburg. In fact, later accounts report that within weeks, conditions had returned to an almost pre-war state of mutual neutrality between the two communities. Citizens of Prescott continued to shop in Ogdensburg and U.S. civilians were entertained as guests in several prominent local Canadian houses. In addition, extensive and lucrative private agreements were made by the British Army commissariat for the purchase of American cattle and other goods to feed the troops billeted in and around Prescott.
CHAPTER 3
Setting the Pendulum in Motion
In Washington the new secretary of war, John Armstrong, saw the New Year in by attempting to rejuvenate the American war effort. The military staff was reorganized and a system of “Rules and Regulations” was issued to the corps of officers, outlining their duties and responsibilities. In addition, a new cadre of generals were appointed to spearhead the spring campaign season.
Despite these changes, the public backlash from the disasters of the previous year was already threatening the incumbent pro-war Republican administration in the forthcoming April elections for New York State. Consequently the news of new defeats at Frenchtown in the west and Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence corridor, put Armstrong under intense pressure to produce a positive electoral response to the administration’s war policies. He therefore implemented an urgent and intensive schedule of shipbuilding at Sackets Harbor, pumping vast sums of money into the local economy and creating an industrial infrastructure with the goal of simultaneously gaining votes and creating a fleet of vessels that would ensure control of Lake Ontario. In addition, he decided that the new campaign would begin with a two-pronged infantry attack against Upper Canada through the Kingston and Niagara corridors. In a letter to General Dearborn, dated February 10, 1813, Armstrong stated that his immediate goal was to have a combined naval and land force of over 4,000 men eliminate the British fleet at Kingston and take control of Lake Ontario. This invasion force would then move on York (now Toronto) to seize the official capital of Upper Canada. At the same time, a second force of over 3,000 troops would be collected at Buffalo with orders to subdue the British defences on that frontier before pressing westward to cut off Proctor and, after linking up with the new forces being assembled for an attack from the west under Major General Harrison, retake the Michigan Territory and the Detroit River.[1]
Commander of the U.S. naval fleet on Lake Ontario, Commodore Isaac Chauncey.
Image from J. L.Thompson, Historical Sketches of the Late War between the United States and Great Britain, 1816.
However, almost as soon as preparations to implement the new strategy began, Commodore Isaac Chauncey proposed changes to the plan. Arguing that Kingston was too heavily defended to be attacked without heavy cost, Chauncey proposed that York (Toronto) be targeted first, followed by an all-out invasion upon the Niagara frontier — but in this alteration he was overruled. Unfortunately, a combination of poor weather conditions, difficulties assembling the necessary supplies, weapons, and troops, and a late spring thaw effectively delayed the planned attack on Kingston until it became impractical, and Chauncey’s plan was hurriedly adopted as the primary alternative.
The assault force began embarking on April 20th, and after three days of intense effort was ready to proceed, only to see the weather worsen. Overruling the advice of his naval commanders, Dearborn ordered the heavily overburdened American fleet to set sail, only to encounter a severe storm that forced the ships to come about and run back to Sackets Harbor for shelter. During the next two days the troops were either forced to endure being locked below decks in cramped unsanitary conditions, or sit exposed on the open decks under a drenching rain and below-normal temperatures. When the weather finally cleared, the fleet sailed on April 25, 1813.*[2] Major General Dearborn held overall command, while under him Commodore Isaac Chauncey led the naval squadron and Brigadier General Zebulon Pike commanded the landing forces.
Commander of the American landing forces at the Battle of York, Brigadier General Zebulon Pike.
Toronto Reference Library, JRR 1148.
As Chauncey had proposed, their destination was York, capital of Upper Canada and the site of a small dockyard that was building a new vessel, the Sir Isaac Brock, for the