The Niagara Campaign of 1814: The Battle of Lundy's Lane “The poor fellows...could not have anticipated such a dreadful slaughter as they have since awfully witnessed" US Representative Samuel Sherwood on Lundy’s aftermath Further Reading The Battle of Lundy's Lane Background to the Battle of Lundy's Lane The British at Lundy's Lane Two Accounts From The Battle The Aftermath of Lundy's Lane Surgeon William Dunlop Tends to the Wounded William Dunlop Remembers a Tragic Scene Books Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy's Lane, 1814 Donald E Graves

The Americans at Lundy's Lane Winfield Scott's messenger reported to Jacob Brown that the fighting is "close and desperate". Brown did not know the half of it. Scott knew a frontal assault against the well-positioned British would be suicide, but he was unwilling to entertain the thought of a retreat. All he could do was order his men to stand fast, as they were pounded by the British guns. Viewing it from the British line, Iroquois chief John Norton remembered how Winfield Scott “remained firm in the position which he had first assumed, exposed to a galling fire in front and flank - dread seemed to forbid his advance and shame to restrain his flight.” Scott could do little more than wait for help, hoping that his stand would convince the British that the entire American army had to be just out of sight. In an auspicious move, Scott sent Major Thomas Jesup's 25th Regiment into the woods to assess the British left flank. Swinging wide of their enemy's main line, this regiment was mistaken for British regulars and left untouched until they captured the wounded Major General Phineas Riall and his entourage. The return of the American 25th with their trophies, and the arrival of Brown's reinforcements, provided Scott's men with some relief. The Americans soon realized that the British were more than willing to stay put and wait for a frontal assault. They had nothing to gain by breaking their well-established lines crowned by the gun battery on the high ground. Jacob Brown's immediate assessment was that this position had to be taken and held. After a quick consultation of the officers, a plan was agreed upon involving Eleazar Ripley's fresh troops and young Colonel James Miller of the 21st Regiment. Ripley's regiment relieved Scott's battered men on the front line of the galling British fire, and they prepared for a direct attack up the south side of the hill. Militia private Alexander McMullen remembers marching to the front passing over "the dead and dying, who were literally in heaps." For the moment, the enemy guns could only guess at where Ripley's men were since night has fallen on the battlefield and all was dark, except a moonlit section of the hilltop.