11: Wellington Boots the French Out: The Peninsula to Waterloo in .NET framework

Creator QR Code ISO/IEC18004 in .NET framework 11: Wellington Boots the French Out: The Peninsula to Waterloo

landed 2000 regulars under Brigadier General John Boyd to deal with the threat When the two forces encountered each other at Chrysler s Farm, the Americans came into action piecemeal and the British drove them back to their boats, inflicting the loss of 249 killed or wounded and 100 captured Next day, discovering Hampton s retreat, Wilkinson abandoned the entire operation and went into winter quarters at French Mills on the Salmon river

The 1814 campaign began with Wilkinson renewing his advance into Canada from Plattsburg and Sackett s Harbor He had 4000 men under his command and promised to return victorious or not at all A wiser general would have kept quiet on the subject, because at Le Colle Mill, a small border fort held by only 600 men, he received a sharp check and immediately returned to Plattsburg Naturally, his superiors dismissed him on the spot His successor was Major General Jacob Brown, who had earlier conducted the successful defence of Sackett s Harbor (see the preceding section) Brown was an unusually efficient New York militia officer with the ability to get the best out of his men He did not approve of the present war, but that did not prevent him from performing his duty to the best of his ability His second-in-command and commander of his 1st Brigade was Brigadier General Winfield Scott, a regular officer whom the British had captured at Queenston Heights and then exchanged He was also present at Chrysler s Farm, where he was mortified by the performance of the American regulars A firm believer in the lessons to be taken from military history, he was well aware that in the present circumstances only strict discipline and constant training would produce the required results His men were regular soldiers, but as there was a shortage of blue cloth, they wore grey uniforms normally issued to the American militia

British naval blockades had so ruined the commerce of the New England states that there was serious talk of them withdrawing from the Union President Madison agreed to enter into peace talks with Great Britain, but sent word to Brown that an unqualified American success would strengthen the hand of his negotiators Brown s orders were to cross the Niagara, capture Fort Erie, and advance to the Chippewa river If he won a victory he was to exploit this by continuing his advance and capturing Forts George and Niagara Brown crossed the river on the night of 2/3 July and gained an unexpected success The British officer commanding Fort Erie, Major Thomas Buck, despatched a warning that the Americans had landed And with that he considered his duty done, placing so broad an interpretation on the words invasion in force that he simply handed over the fort News of the American landing reached British General Phineas Riall at Fort George at about 830 am on 3 July He immediately mobilised his troops and directed them to the Chippewa By the morning of 5 July he had assembled approximately 2400 men and six guns His snipers already had the American camp under fire and

his engineers were replacing the decking on the Chippewa bridge As yet unaware that Fort Erie had capitulated, he decided to advance across the river and drive the Americans back to their boats During the afternoon Riall crossed the Chippewa bridge and deployed in an area of cleared forest that became known as The Plain Shortly after, Scott s brigade reached the area from the south, wheeled smartly left, and formed their line of battle opposite At first Riall had taken the grey-uniformed regiments to be militia, but observing their drill and steady bearing, he remarked, Why, these are regulars! The respective artillery of the two sides was already in action, but Riall pushed the 1st and the 100th forward in anticipation of their firing two volleys and then charging with the bayonet This was a mistake, as the two regiments masked the fire of his guns Scott, on the other hand, told his artillerymen to ignore the British guns and concentrate their fire on the red-coated infantry The Americans fired the first volley at 90 metres (100 yards ) range It caused casualties, but the British closed in to within 45 metres (50 yards) before replying Far from letting the British intimidate them, Scott s men stood their ground A murderous fire fight ensued, lasting some 20 to 30 minutes The British sustained the heavier loss because of American artillery fire The battle reached resolution when four more guns reinforced Scott Riall, recognising that his regiments could not withstand the increased punishment for much longer, ordered a withdrawal across the Chippewa The Americans followed up, but heavy artillery fire from across the river halted them and they withdrew to their camp A recent detailed analysis of the casualties sustained puts the total killed on both sides, including Indians, at about 200 Riall had 321 men wounded and Scott 219 Chippewa was an undeniable American victory, the part played by Scott s brigade being commemorated in the grey dress uniform worn by the officer cadets at West Point Military Academy