|
Further Reading
The Battle of Lundy's Lane
Background to the Battle of Lundy's Lane
The Americans at Lundy's Lane
The British at Lundy's Lane
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
|
Two Accounts From 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
Jarvis
Hanks was a 14 year-old American drummer when he marched into battle
at Lundy’s Lane shortly after Winfield Scott attacked the British
army:
"Musicians are placed in the rear of the colors, in the center of the regiment or battalion, and as the aim of enemies respectively is mainly to shoot down the flags, and as the falling or striking of a flag is a signal of surrender; it seems to me that musicians thus situated are in equal danger with any other portion of the army. I remember, a trumpeter was riding back, furiously, wounded, with the blood streaming, profusely down his temples & cheeks. As I was also a musician, I felt much alarmed for my own safety, not knowing but I should be in as bad or a worse situation in a few minutes. There was no stopping, nor escape, into battle we must go."
In a letter to a friend written
in the days following the battle, British Lieutenant John
Le Couteur remembers the aftermath of the fighting at Lundy’s
Lane:
"I assure you, I never passed so awful a night as that of the action. The stillness of the evening after the firing ceased, the Groans of the dying and wounded, I went to several of them and got a Captain taken away. I could not sleep tho' I was quite fatigued and weak from 36 hours marching, fasting and Fighting. I was cold and wretched, what must not have been the misery of those Unfortunates who remained on the Field. A Soldier's life is very horrid sometimes....The scene of the morning was not more pleasant that the night's horrors. We had to wait on our slaughterhouse till 11 before we got a mouthful - when a great Camp Kettle full of thick chocolate revived us surprisingly, though we devoured it among dead bodies in all directions."
|
