Some Account of the Public Life of the Late Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Bart Part 15

"But we should, indeed, be much wanting to your Excellency, as well as to ourselves, if we did not on this occasion, with grat.i.tude acknowledge the obligation which this province lies under to the valour and discipline of his Majesty's regular forces, whose courage and conduct, on the most trying emergencies, have done honour to the name and to the character of a British soldier.

"We are particularly gratified, and offer our most sincere thanks and acknowledgments for the vigorous exertions which have been made, and are still carrying on towards the strengthening our provincial marine, by order of your Excellency, fully convinced that to maintain a superiority upon the Lakes is an object of the first importance to this Province.

"Thankful for that success which has. .h.i.therto crowned his Majesty's arms under your command, we earnestly beg for its continuance, entertaining the pleasing hope, that by our own conduct, and the exertions of our brave defenders, we, in this Colony, by the blessing of G.o.d, may long remain under the protection of our parent State, a free, brave, and loyal people.

"THOMAS SCOTT, Chairman."

_Address from the Inhabitants of Kingston to Sir George Prevost._

"May it please your Excellency,

"We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Magistrates, Officers of the Militia, and other inhabitants of the town of Kingston, and other parts of the Midland District, beg leave respectfully to express the high sense we entertain of your Excellency's watchful care for the safety of this Province, which has led you at this inclement season to undertake a toilsome journey of many hundred miles for the purpose of visiting and inspecting its extensive frontiers. Your presence, Sir, cannot but diffuse fresh energy in all cla.s.ses of his Majesty's subjects, and encourage them to continue their zealous co-operation in the common cause; and we trust that under the judicious arrangement which has been made by your Excellency's orders, Divine Providence will continue to crown our exertions in defence of the Province against his Majesty's enemies with the same success by which they have been hitherto happily distinguished.

"_Kingston, March 7, 1813._"

_Address from the Inhabitants of the Eastern District of Upper Canada to Sir George Prevost._

"To his Excellency Sir George Prevost, Knight and Baronet, Captain General, &c. &c. &c. The loyal address of the Inhabitants of the Eastern District.

"We, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, inhabitants of the Eastern District of Upper Canada, beg leave to present to your Excellency our unfeigned, and heartfelt congratulations on your safe return from your long and fatiguing journey to the upper parts of this Province, which your ardent zeal for the service of your king and country, and paternal solicitude for the security of this portion of his Majesty's dominions only could induce you to undertake.

"We thank heaven for having preserved your Excellency's person from all the dangers to which you have been exposed, not only from the enemy in the long line of frontiers through which you had to pa.s.s, but from the contagious diseases, which rage through many parts of these Provinces, and other dangers incidental to a journey of upwards of a thousand miles in a country like this, still dest.i.tute of inns, and proper accommodations for travellers, and at the most inclement season of the year.

"So ill.u.s.trious an example of despising danger and sacrificing personal ease and comfort, exhibited by the representative of our beloved sovereign, both chears and animates us to bear with resignation our individual privations in the glorious cause in which we have to struggle. We now experience the truth which we have so often heard with wonder from others, that your Excellency's prudence carries with it an irresistible attraction and confidence among all cla.s.ses of people, wherever you go. We should consider it criminal to complain of the hards.h.i.+ps to which the present state of warfare has subjected us, in common with all our fellow-subjects in this Province; perfectly convinced, as we are, of your Excellency's earnest wish and readiness to alleviate our sufferings as much as lies in your power.

"The auspicious event which, in the late brilliant success of His Majesty's arms at Ogdensburg, so closely followed the arrival of your Excellency in Upper Canada, flatters us with the hope that this will be but one of the happy consequences of your visit. We cannot express to your Excellency in terms sufficiently strong, our satisfaction in thus having an opportunity of teaching the enemy that their repeated insults, and wanton attacks upon our sh.o.r.es, are not to be borne with impunity.

"To your Excellency's active and fertile mind we look up with much confidence for the vigorous and energetic measures, to prosecute a war, into which the insidious policy of a faithless and inveterate enemy has involved our country and ourselves, and in which are feared every thing which can render life desirable at stake.

"We are determined to stand or fall by the parent country, and to defend the crown and dignity of our revered sovereign, our families and our properties, with the last drop of our blood. We know that justice is on our side, and we trust that the G.o.d of battles will continue to favour our cause as he has. .h.i.therto done. Indeed we do not allow ourselves to entertain the smallest doubt of a glorious termination of the contest under your Excellency's government and Heaven's protection.

"_Glengary, March 8, 1813._"

No. XXII.

_Official Report of Col. Baynes, p. 81._

Extract of a Letter from Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost to Earl Bathurst, dated Head-Quarters, Kingston, June 1, 1813.

"Although as your Lords.h.i.+p will perceive by the report of Colonel Baynes, which I have the honour herewith to transmit, the expedition has not been attended with the complete success which was expected from it, I have great satisfaction in informing your Lords.h.i.+p that the courage and patience of the small band of troops employed on this occasion, under circ.u.mstances of peculiar hards.h.i.+p and privation, have been exceeded only by their intrepid conduct in the field, forcing a pa.s.sage at the point of the bayonet through a thickly wooded country, affording constant shelter and strong positions to the enemy; but not a single spot of cleared ground favourable to the operations of disciplined soldiers."

"_Kingston, May 30, 1813._

"Sir,

"I have the honour to report to your Excellency, that in conformity to an arranged plan of operations with Commodore Sir James Yeo, the fleet of boats a.s.sembled astern of his s.h.i.+p, at 10 o'clock in the night of the 28th inst., with the troops placed under my command, and led by a gun-boat under the direction of Captain Mulcaster, Royal Navy, proceeded towards Sackett's Harbour in the order prescribed to the troops, in case the detachment was obliged to march in column, viz. the Grenadier Company, 100th, with one section of the Royal Scots, two Companies of the 8th, or King's, four of the 104th, two of the Canadian Voltigeurs. Two six-pounders, with their gunners, and a Company of Glengary Light Infantry, were embarked on board a light schooner, which was proposed to be towed under the direction of Officers of the Navy, so as to insure the guns being landed in time to support the advance of the troops. Although the night was dark with rain, the boats a.s.sembled in the vicinity of Sackett's Harbour, by one o'clock, in compact and regular order; and in this position it was intended to remain until the day broke, in the hope of effecting a landing before the enemy could be prepared to line the woods with troops which surround the coast; but unfortunately, a strong current drifted the boats considerably, while the darkness of the night and ignorance of the coast, prevented them from recovering the proper station until the day dawned, when the whole pulled for the point of debarkation. It was my intention to have landed in the cove formed by Horse Island, but on approaching it, we discovered that the enemy were fully prepared by a very heavy fire of musketry, from the surrounding woods which were filled with Infantry, supported with a field-piece. I directed the boats to pull round to the other side of the Island, where a landing was effected in good order and with little loss, although executed in the face of a corps formed with a field-piece in the wood, and under the enfilade of a heavy gun of the enemy's princ.i.p.al battery. The advance was led by the Grenadiers of the 100th regiment, with undaunted gallantry which no obstacle could arrest; a narrow causeway, in many places under water, not more than four feet wide, and about four hundred paces in length, which connected the Island with the mainland, was occupied by the enemy in great force with a six-pounder. It was forced and carried in the most spirited manner, and the gun taken before a second discharge could be made from it: a tumbril, with a few rounds of ammunition was found; but, unfortunately, the artillerymen were still behind, the schooner not having been able to get up in time: and the troops were exposed to so heavy and galling a fire, from a numerous but almost invisible foe, as to render it impossible to halt for the artillery to come up. At this spot two paths led in opposite directions round the hill. I directed Colonel Young, of the King's regiment, with half of the detachment to penetrate by the left, and Major Drummond, of the 104th, to force the path by the right, which proved to be more open and was less occupied by the enemy. On the left the wood was very thick, and was most obstinately maintained by the enemy. The gun-boat which had covered our landing, afforded material aid by firing into the woods; but the American soldier, secure behind a tree, was only to be dislodged by the bayonet. The spirited advance of a section produced the flight of hundreds; from this observation all firing was directed to cease, and the detachment being formed in as regular order as the nature of the ground would admit, pushed forward through the wood upon the enemy, who although greatly superior in numbers, and supported by field-pieces, and a heavy fire from their fort, fled with precipitation to their block-house and fort, abandoning one of their guns.

The division under Colonel Young was joined in the charge by that under Major Drummond, which was executed with such spirit and promptness, that many of the enemy fell in their inclosed barracks, which were set on fire by our troops. At this point the further energies of the troops became unavailing. Their block-house and stockaded battery could not be carried by a.s.sault, nor reduced by field-pieces, had we been provided with them--the fire of the gun-boats proved inefficient to attain that end--light and adverse winds continued, and our large vessels were still far off. The enemy turned the heavy ordnance of the battery to the interior defence of his post. He had set fire to the store-house in the vicinity of the fort.

Seeing no object within our reach to attain that could compensate for the loss we were momentarily sustaining, from the heavy fire of the enemy's cannon, I directed the troops to take up the position on the crest of the hill we had charged from. From this position we were ordered to reimbark, which was performed at our leisure, and in perfect order, the enemy not presuming to show a single soldier without the limit of his fortress. Your Excellency having been a witness of the zeal and ardent courage of every soldier in the field, it is unnecessary in me to a.s.sure your Excellency that but one sentiment animated every breast--that of discharging to the utmost of their power their duty to their King and country; but one sentiment of regret and mortification prevailed, in being obliged to quit a beaten enemy, whom a small band of British soldiers had driven before them for three hours, through a country abounding in strong positions of defence, but not offering a single spot of cleared ground favourable for the operation of disciplined troops, without having fully accomplished the duty we were ordered to perform. The two divisions of the detachment were ably commanded by Colonel Young, of the King's, and Major Drummond of the 104th. The detachment of the King's and Major Evans n.o.bly sustained the high and established character of that distinguished corps; and Captain Burke availed himself of the ample field afforded him in leading the advance to display the intrepidity of British Grenadiers. The detachment of the 104th, under Major Moodie, Captain M'Pherson's company of Glengary Light Infantry, and two companies of Canadian Voltigeurs, under Major Herriot, all of them levies of the British Provinces of North America, evinced most striking proofs of their loyalty, steadiness, and courage. The detachment of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment behaved with great gallantry.

Your Excellency will lament the loss of that active and intelligent officer, Captain Gray, acting Deputy-Quarter-Master-General, who fell close to the enemy's work while reconnoitring it, in the hope to discover some opening to favour an a.s.sault. Commodore Sir James Yeo conducted the fleet of boats in the attack, and accompanying the advance of the troops directed the co-operation of the gun-boats. I feel most grateful for your Excellency's kind consideration in allowing your Aids-de-Camp, Majors Coore and Fulton, to accompany me in the field; and to these officers for the able a.s.sistance they afforded me.

"I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

(Signed) "EDWARD BAYNES.

"Colonel Glengary Light Infantry Commanding."

"_To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost, Bart., &c._"

_Return of killed, wounded, and missing, in an attack on Sackett's Harbour, on the 29th of May._

Total.--1 General Staff, 3 Serjeants, 44 Rank and File killed. 3 Majors, 3 Captains, 5 Lieutenants, 1 Ensign, 7 Serjeants, 2 Drummers, 172 Rank and File, 2 Gunners wounded. 2 Captains, 1 Ensign, 13 Rank and File wounded and missing.

No. XXIII.

_Extracts of Letters from Sir George Prevost to Brigadier-General Procter, p. 92._

(Private.)

"_Castle of St. Lewis, Quebec, 9th February, 1813_.

"Sir,

"I have received your despatch of the 26th ult. addressed to Major-General Sheaffe, reporting the glorious result of an attack, you had very judiciously deemed it expedient to make on the 22d, on a division of General Harrison's army advancing from the river Raisin, upon Sandwich, commanded by Brigadier-General Winchester.

"In congratulating you upon so honourable an event, and in expressing my entire approbation of the zeal and spirit which you have evinced on the arduous command committed to you, I cannot fail to notice the intrepidity manifested by Colonel St. George, and the other officers and men, regulars and militia, serving under your immediate command.

"Your singular judgment and decisive conduct in the affair of French Town, shall be pourtrayed for the gracious consideration of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and I will not fail in repeating your warm recommendation of Lieutenant M'Lean, who is acting as your Brigade-Major.

"I earnestly recommend upon all occasions a strict adherence to the control and restraint of our allies the Indians, that we may be enabled to repel the charges which have not unfrequently, though always falsely, been brought against our Government for resorting to the employment of them.

"I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed) "GEORGE PREVOST."

"_To Brigadier-General Procter, Detroit._"