Pierre Berton's War of 1812 by Pierre Berton

Author:Pierre Berton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780385676502
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2011-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

The Battle of Stoney Creek

The American commander, Brigadier-General John Chandler, a former blacksmith, tavernkeeper and congressman, owes his appointment to political influence rather than military experience, of which he has none. He will spend the rest of his life defending his actions this night. As an associate remarks, “the march from the anvil and the dram shop in the wane of life to the dearest actions of the tented field is not to be achieved in a single campaign.”

The General is up at the first musket shot, galloping about on his horse, shouting orders, trying to rally his badly dispersed troops. He can see the British outlined against the cooking fires but not much more. On the crest of the hill, pocked by unexpected depressions and interspersed with stumps, brushwood, fence rails and slash, his horse stumbles, throws him to the ground, knocking him senseless. When he recovers, all is confusion. Badly crippled, he hobbles about in the darkness crying, “Where is the line? Where is the line?” until he sees a group of men by the guns, which to his dismay do not seem to be firing. He rushes forward, mistaking the men of the British 49th for his own 23rd, realizes his error too late, tries to hide under a gun carriage, and is ignominiously hauled out by Sergeant Fraser, who takes his sword and makes him prisoner.

Chandler’s second-in-command, Brigadier-General William Winder—a former Baltimore lawyer and another political appointee—is also lost. He too finds himself among the enemy, pulls a pistol from its holster, and is about to fire when Fraser appears.

“If you stir, Sir, you die,” says the sergeant.

Winder takes his word for it, throws down his pistol and sword, and surrenders.

The American command now falls to the cavalry officer, Colonel James Burn, whose troops have been placed too far in the rear to be effective during the attack. Burn and his horsemen roar down on the British, cut through the lines, and open fire, only to find that they are shooting at their comrades in the 16th Infantry, who, with their commander lost, are wandering about firing at one another. Friend and foe are now intertangled, both sides taking prisoners, neither knowing how the battle is going. General Vincent himself, knocked from his horse and separated from the British staff, is lost somewhere in the woods, stumbling about in the wrong direction.

Each force leaves the field believing the other victorious. Heavily outnumbered from the start, with a quarter of his force killed, wounded, or captured, Harvey decides to withdraw without Vincent, before the Americans can recover from their confusion. He takes with him three captured cannon, a brass howitzer, two American generals, and more than one hundred prisoners.

The Americans are also preparing to flee, as William Hamilton Merritt, the leader of the volunteer dragoons, discovers when he rides back to the field shortly after dawn, seeking the missing Vincent. An armed sentry at the Gage farmhouse orders him to halt, but the resourceful horseman decides on a bluff, raps out a query.

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