Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 6-Book Bundle. Richard Feltoe
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