… it is a fact that cannot be concealed that the surrender of General Hull’s army has spread great alarm among the inhabitants of this Frontier, and I every day perceive strong symptoms of distrust among the troops. They have seen their countrymen surrendered without a single effort, and marched, prisoners, before their eyes. They cannot comprehend it.[14]
CHAPTER 4
Actions Along the St. Lawrence River, July to December 1812
At the eastern end of Upper Canada, following the initial foray against the small American flotilla at the outset of the war, the St. Lawrence frontier settled down to a state of relative calm as both sides sought to avoid “rocking the boat” and thereby triggering reprisals. From the British point of view, this was a practical necessity, as the river constituted their main lifeline of supplies and reinforcements up to Kingston, York, and the Niagara and Detroit frontiers. Equally, the residents on the American side had practical reasons for maintaining the peace. Most of the population were Federalist (anti-war) and many farmers and businessmen had lucrative dealings with the British commissariat department on the other side of the river that they were keen not to jeopardize. One prime example of this co-operative, non-belligerent attitude can be seen in the following case. A small flotilla of American boats had been returning upriver to Ogdensburg from Montreal in June, laden with a cargo of merchandise, when news of the declaration of war reached Cornwall. The boats were immediately impounded under the orders of the local garrison’s commanding officer, as enemy goods that were to be seized and sold by the Crown. However, within a matter of days, private negotiations between the interested parties at Prescott and Ogdensburg resulted in a petition being forwarded to General Brock from fourteen of Prescott’s leading citizens, including several who were officers in the Embodied Militias. In this petition the argument was made that as the goods in question were private property, and not military supplies, and the vital commissariat trade with Ogdensburg might suffer if the capture and sale was allowed to stand, that it was in the best interests of the British war effort to let the vessels and their cargo go. General Brock concurred and the vessels were released.[1]
The St. Lawrence frontier.
A detail from a contemporary map of the defences constructed during the war to protect the vital supply depot and shipbuilding centre of Kingston.
Library and Archives Canada, NMC, C-15700.
On the other hand, the potential threat level rose later in the month when the New York State militia officer, Brigadier General Jacob Brown, was sent to Ogdensburg with a detachment of troops and orders to shut down the British river traffic.
An initial attempt by Brown to mount a raid across the river, to capture the British armed schooner Duke of Gloucester, was planned for the night of July 22–23. However, although the boats were prepared, the call for militia volunteers fell flat, with only sixty-six of the requested 120 men stepping forward, forcing Brown to cancel the operation.[2]
On July 30, the American armed schooner Julia and a large gunboat, sailing out of Sackets Harbor, appeared upriver and proceeded to engage the Duke of Gloucester and another Provincial Marine vessel, the Earl of Moria, that were docked at Prescott. After an inconclusive engagement the two sides disengaged, and while the British ships sailed west, to Kingston, the Julia and the gunboat joined the vessels trapped at Ogdensburg.
Little occurred during the month of August, as news arrived from Quebec City that an armistice was to be imposed. This came about following word that the British government had repealed its contentious Orders-in-Council affecting American maritime trading rights with Britain’s wartime enemy, France. Because these issues were cited by the American government as the principal reason and cause of the war being declared, Sir George Provost had written to Major General Henry Dearborn, recommending an armistice until the U.S. government’s position on settling the outstanding issues between the two governments was known. An unofficial regional suspension of hostilities was therefore established. However, this armistice was subsequently rejected by President James Madison and Secretary of War William Eustis, who ordered a recommencement of hostilities to conquer Canada. From the British perspective, while the armistice had resulted in the withdrawal of most of the enemy’s troops from Ogdensburg, it had also seen the unimpeded release of the trapped vessels, which now made their way upriver to Lake Ontario and Sackets Harbor, becoming valuable additions to the American naval flotilla being assembled at that port.[3]
Kingston, Sir E.W. Grier, artist, circa 1896 (after Admiral Henry Bayfield R.N.). A view of the shipyards at Point Frederick (centre) and the town of Kingston (right distant), as it looked at the end of the war from the hillside alongside Fort Henry (left). Toronto Reference Library, JRR 1376.
Kingston, 1815, E.E. Vidal, artist, 1815. This image is a detail taken from a larger painting showing Fort Henry as the Americans would have seen it from their ships.
Courtesy of the Royal Military College, Massey Library, Kingston, Ontario.
Watercolours (artist not known) depicting two of many varieties of gunboat used during the War of 1812, showing how the combination of both sail and oar were required for manoeuvering through the narrow channels and swift currents