Siege of Fort Niagra

DATE: December 18-19, 1813
LOCATION: Fort Niagra, New York
VICTORY: British
COMMANDERS: unknown (American)/ Gordon Drummond and John Murray (British)
CASUALTIES:
AMERICAN................ (unknown) 65 -KILLED/ 6 -WOUNDED
BRITISH/INDIANS...... (unknown) 6 -KILLED/ 5 -WOUNDED



BATTLE DESCRIPTION:
The Siege of Fort Niagara was a surprise attack and a raid on the American-owned Fort Niagara in December 1813. The Siege would eventually lead to the Capture of Fort Niagara.
Sir Gordon Drummond was appointed the administrator of Upper Canada and he wasted no time in devising a quick, efficient plan on the Americans so the important fort can be captured. The 41st and 100th Regiments of Foot went on a daring night attack on December 18.
The regiments had to cross a two-mile ravine in order to get ot heir objectives. The fort was taken by a bayonet charge until the Americans withdrew.
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The American defeats in the province of Lower Canada had an influence on the situation on the Niagara frontier. The large armies transferred to the campaign in Lower Canada left the American posts on the Niagara border defended mostly by inexperienced militia, and even they began to return to their homes as their term of service began to end.
Brig. Gen. George McClure, a milita officer at Fort George, was forced to abandon the fort. Before retreating, though, the general gave orders for the city of Newark to be burned to deny the advancing British forces shelter. On December 10, McClure's forces burned the town, leaving 400 people without homes in the cold winter.
This act outraged the British and Canadians, and many called for immediate retribution. On December 16, British Lt. Gen. Gordon Drummond, recently appointed second-in-command to Sir George Prevost, governor of Upper Canada, assumed command of the British forces that re-occupied Fort George. Accompanied by Maj. Gen. Phineas Riall, who replaced the ill Major General John Vincent as the commander of British troops on the Niagara frontier, Drummon immediately planned and executed an attack on the American Fort Niagara.
Over 500 soldiers crossed the Niagara River on the night of December 18. The British soldiers approached the fort and forced their way through the gate. The battle was brief and with little gunfire - the soldiers mostly used bayonets. A number of prisoners, cannons, supplies and firearms were captured. The British army under Riall then marched to Lewiston.
After destroying the town of Lewiston, he prepared to attack Buffalo. With 1,500 soldiers and 700 Amerindians, he captured and burned Buffalo and Black Rock as retaliation for the destruction of Newark.
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The burning of Newark caused even the battle hardened British regulars to seek vengence. The Canadian militia also wanted to get revenge after seeing their families and neighbours living in appalling conditions, some under canvas in the dead of winter.
McClure's therory that it was necessary to burn the town so the British would not have shelter was rather weak when Butler's Barracks, with it's store of tents and other military equipment was not touched at all. McClure's comment that "the enemy is much exasperated" was an understatement to say the least. The call for retribution was universal.
On 13 December events moved forward that would see the rage felt by the British and Canadian Militia unleashed on the American frontier. On that day Sir Gordon Drummond was appointed president of the council and administrator of Upper Canada. He also assumed command of all the troops in the province.
Drummond wasted no time. He arrived at Vincent's headquarters in St. Davids on the seventeenth and ordered an immediate attack on Fort Niagara. Colonel John Murray was put in command to lead a surprise night attack. Captain Merritt's Dragoons went all over the country side looking for boats. Members of the Lincoln militia hauled some boats all the way from Burlington Bay, this was no small task. Captain Merritt himself would not be able to take part in this raid due to illness and exhaustion.
Late on the night of 18 December Colonel John Murray embarked his troops at a ravine some two miles up stream from their objective. The force consisted of detachments of the 100th Regiment of Foot, the Royal Scots and the flank companies of the 41st Regiment of Foot. The Lincoln Militia acted as boat handlers and guides.
Private Shadrack Byfield of the 41st Foot stood in the narrow ravine waiting to enter the boats for the slip down river to Fort Niagara. His attempts to restore some feeling in his feet by stamping them brought a whispered order to keep quiet from Lieutenant Bullock. To the sergeant he added take that man's name. Not only was Byfield cold but if he survived the attack on Fort Niagara he could expect extra duties.
The boats quietly made their way down the Niagara River and landed near Youngstown. As Byfield formed his company he saw Sergeant Andrew Spearman of the Grenadier company of the 100th Foot slip by. It would be hard to miss the huge bulk of Spearman. For all his size though Spearman moved liked a cat. He surprised the lone picket outside a tavern and choked him into silence. After forcing the password from him he dispatched him with a single thrust of his bayonet. The rest of the picket inside met the same fate.
As they approached the main gate Byfield let out a big sigh of relief. All was quiet. His company was to follow up on the main attack by the 100th. His feet and cold were forgotten as a sudden challenge from the main gate broke the silence.
Sergeant Spearman had walked across the drawbridge and gave the sentry the password in answer to his challenge "who goes there". As the guard opened the sally port Spearman strangled him with his massive hands.
A shout of alarm came from the fort as the gate swung open. Byfield charged through and formed up with the rest of his company in reserve. Nothing had been left to chance. Even in the darkness he could see Daniel Servos, an officer in the Lincoln Militia standing with a piece of wood to jam in the gate to keep it from being closed behind them.
There was an eerie feeling of fantasy about the battle that followed. Except for a volley from the Royal Scots, who were holding the salient angle of the fort, little musket fire was in evidence. The fort was taken at the point of the bayonet and in the stillness of the night the cries of the wounded seemed to be magnified.
The Americans lost sixty-five dead and six wounded, the British lost six dead and five wounded. Also captured were twenty-nine guns, seven thousand muskets, seven thousand pairs of shoes and a huge supply of clothing that originally was captured by the Americans from the British.
One of the prize trophies of the victory was the American battle flag that flew from the flag pole during daylight hours. Byfield knew that it would be sent to England as a spoil of war.
The jails at the fort had eight Canadians in them that had been arrested by Joseph Willcocks, among them was eighty year old Peter McMicking of Stamford. Those same cells were quickly filled with the four hundred prisoners taken.
Shadrack Byfield stood warming himself by the fireplace in the comfortable stone house in Youngstown. He had marched out to take picket duty with the rest of his company. His sergeant gave each man fifteen minutes in the commandeered house to thaw out from the bitter cold. Looking around, he could feel some pity for the owners. Tommorow it probably would be a pile of ashes.
With the morning of December 19, reinforcements arrived under Maj. Gen. Phineas Riall. He gave the order to burn Youngstown and the Tuscarora village before marching on to Lewiston. The Americans on Lewiston Heights decamped as the British approached leaving behind some guns and 200 barrels of flour. After torching Lewiston, Riall pushed on to Manchester and Fort Schlosser. Since the bridge at Tonawanda Creek had been destroyed by retreating American forces, the Riall turned back to Lewiston, crossing the Niagara River there into Queenston, leaving the American frontier in flames.
In the meantime, Drummond was putting plans into motion to end the threat to the peninsula for the balance of the winter. His next objective was the destruction of the American Forces at Buffalo and the town itself.