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The Niagara Campaign of 1814: The Battle of Lundy's Lane
“This, then, was no mere parade...no stage play for effect...it was a single and a sublime reality... IT WAS WAR”.
Further Reading Background to the Battle of Lundy's Lane Surgeon William Dunlop Tends to the Wounded William Dunlop Remembers a Tragic Scene
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The Battle of Lundy's LaneIn the early evening of July 25, word reached Major General Jacob Brown that the British were on the move. Rumour had it that his enemy was staging a two-pronged advance; some of the British troops at Queenston were advancing toward them while others were crossing the Niagara in an attempt to take over the American supply depot at Fort Schlosser, to then threaten the American rear. Without confirming these accounts, Brown sent forward a brigade under the ever-eager Winfield Scott in order to harass the enemy near Queenston and get an idea of their numbers.Three miles into his outing Scott’s men discovered just how inaccurate those rumours were when they marched right into the army of Phineas Riall perched on a hill by Lundy’s Lane. Riall’s men looked down upon the Americans from beside the little church on the high knoll where they had placed an impressive number of cannon. The rest of Riall’s line stretched down both sides of the hill forming a crescent shape in the center of which Scott’s men were standing. They could hear the British bugles calling, as the first arrivals of Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond’s 800 troops formed up. Scott knew that not only the lives of his men, but the reputation of his brigade hung in the balance. A prudent commander would likely fall back. Within moments, Scott made his decision and a dispatch was sent to Brown: "Brig.-Gen. Scott will engage the British - send reinforcements." Scott’s defiant stand opened the bloodiest battle of the war so far. These cannon on the high ground devastated the lone American brigade who could only respond with musket fire. Many of the battalion’s commanders were killed or wounded early on. Brown arrived on the field but did not realize the size of the opposing force and engaged his army piecemeal, sending only Eleazar Ripley’s brigade forward to help Scott’s battered men. These officers soon concluded that they had to take the guns if they were to control the battle. James Miller, a young colonel under Ripley’s command, was asked to make a frontal assault on the guns. His understated response was, “I’ll try, sir”, which would earn him a place in American history. Darkness would become the common enemy of both armies and it would become difficult to distinguish friend from foe. Throughout this long night, the darkness led to numerous blunders: General Phineas Riall unwittingly delivered himself into the hands of American troops; British regulars on the knoll opened fire on their fellow Glengarry Fencibles, and troops mistakenly beat and bayoneted comrades while wandering about blindly searching for their ranks.
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