Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 5-Book Bundle by Richard Feltoe

Author:Richard Feltoe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2014-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

The two armies now faced each other at a range of well under a hundred yards, separated only by the east ravine, and the scene was now set for a face-to-face pounding match, where only the determination to stand and fight would determine which side broke first.

After exchanging a number of volleys, it was the Americans who “blinked,” as increasing numbers of individuals from each of the three partially reformed American brigades began to fall back in the face of the imminent volleys from the seemingly indestructible redcoats. Attempting to prevent a cascade of this disorder, Boyd made the decision to withdraw back to the edge of the woodlines. By this he sought to maximize the range for the British artillery, force the British infantry to become disrupted in their crossing of the ravine, and thus render them more vulnerable to any American fire. However, as each U.S. regiment and detachment made its move eastward the losses through desertion continued to mount, and some detachments simply decided not to stop at the edge of the wood, leaving the field entirely. Nonetheless, due to the initial American superiority of numbers there were still sufficient coherent units to make a determined stand, especially as the final reinforcements under Lieutenant Colonel Upham were literally only moments away from arriving. This stand never took place, however, as an order was seemingly delivered to Boyd to break off the action and retire on the boats. In the aftermath of the battle neither Wilkinson nor Lewis admitted to having issued such an order. Nor could Boyd recall who delivered it. Its effect, though, was immediate and decisive, as it was obeyed by each regiment and brigade commander without demur, and the entire American force marched away toward the treeline, assisted in its final retreat by a renewed barrage of long-range artillery fire from the British guns.

While there seemed to be nothing stopping Morrison from ordering a general advance with his remaining force, apart from the obvious fact that his men were in dire straits themselves, near to exhaustion and low on ammunition. The decision was taken away from him, when an entirely new American force began to appear along the riverbank road and adjoining woodline. This was Upham’s reserve force of almost 600 entirely fresh troops, who advanced towards the east ravine and then began to form their own line-of-battle and appeared quite ready to continue the fight. Appearances could be deceiving, however, as this force’s determination had been previously eroded by the sight of successively greater bodies of their fellow regimental companies retreating in differing degrees of disorder. This situation was not helped by the added factor of Upham being entirely unable to get any coherent direction or orders from any of the senior officers he encountered retreating from the field, with or without their regiments. Not even a meeting with Boyd elicited anything beyond an exhortation to “rush on.” As a result, once on the battlefield, and after forming their seemingly formidable line-of-battle, Upham’s units became the focused target of every British gun that was in range, and suffered accordingly.

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