This essay was originally published in the 1940 OCHS Yearbook. Please note that this essay was published over 80 years ago. While still useful for general education, language may be outdated and at times offensive. The Oswego County Historical Society does not stand by the language used in this essay. All photos were added in 2024 when this article was uploaded to the web. To view the original document, please visit NYHeritage.org.
Paper Presented Before Oswego Historical Society, May 6, 1940 on 126th Anniversary of Battle by Francis T. Riley of Oswego High School History Faculty
One hundred and twenty-six years ago, conditions in and around Oswego were somewhat different from those of today. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon of May 6, 1814, the Battle of Oswego had terminated with a success for the British, under the command of Sir James L. Yeo. Before going into the circumstances which finally led up to the Battle of Oswego, and the capture and destruction of its fort by the English, let us consider some of the differences which existed between England and the United States which finally brought about the War of 1812, in which the attack on the fort at Oswego was only an incident.
Jefferson’s second term (1805- 1809) was destined to be an unhappy one for reasons beyond his control After a short truce the Napoleonic Wars again broke out in Europe (1803) and for the next twelve years the world was in a turmoil. By 1805, Napoleon had crushed his chief adversaries, Austria and Russia, and regained mastery of the continent. Great Britain had repulsed the French fleet and was the acknowledged mistress of the seas. This war now settled down to a life and death struggle between Great Britain and Napoleon, with the far-flung British colonial empire in the balance. Jefferson, in accordance with American policy, remained neutral, but soon experienced all the unpleasantness of our previous British-French relationships and more. The British soon reasoned that if the war-mad Napoleon could not be conquered on land, perhaps he could be starved into submission by cutting off his source of supplies. Napoleon had reached the same conclusion respecting the British.
While Europe was spending its energy in war, the United States was rapidly expanding its trade. In the years from 1789 to 1807, American shipping had increased more than sixfold in tonnage. From 1792 to 1807, exports had jumped more than five-fold, and imports had increased more than eight-fold. American shipping, moreover, was carrying in 1807 more than 90 percent of these increased imports and exports, as compared with less than 25 percent in 1789. Farmers, shipbuilders, merchants and workers enjoyed a prosperity created by European war demands similar to that of the early years of the World War (1914-18). This was all halted in 1807.
Causes Which Led to War
In a series of British ‘Orders in Council’ (1806-07), that country blockaded the French coast from the Elbe to Brest, and finally extended the restrictions to practically the entire western European coast as well as to India. However, if neutral ships first paid a duty in British ports they might under certain conditions trade with France. Napoleon countered with a series of French Decrees (1806-07), in which he declared the British Isles blockaded, a blockade later extended to the British Colonies, and finally ordered that any neutral vessels submitting to the British orders and duties were subject to capture. While these orders, and especially the French Decrees, created ‘paper blockades,’ largely— that is, one which is ordered and announced, but which is not or cannot be enforced—the fact remained that if we as a neutral obeyed the British orders we were liable to capture by the French, and if we observed the French Decrees the ever-vigilant British Navy was likely to seize our ships. This was the intolerable situation which confronted the United States during those trying years of her early history.
Jefferson, following precedent, turned to diplomacy rather than war. A treaty was finally negotiated with Britain, but it proved so unfavorable that Jefferson never sent it to the Senate. Although the European blockades resulted in the capture of about 1600 American ships and $60,000,000 worth of property, the large profits of successful blockade-running kept the American flag on the seas. The British captured twice as many vessels as the French due to their superior naval strength, and not to any friendly act toward us on the part of Napoleon. The impressment of American seamen by the belligerents was another act which made us complain loudly. The wages and conditions of labor on the American vessels were so far superior to those on the British vessels that British seamen deserted the British flag for the American vessels. In search for these deserters, British officers would frequently impress native Americans, for the British Navy was hard pressed for man power. The British deserters tried to protect themselves by taking advantage of our naturalization laws, but this proved to be no protection, as the British refused to recognize their new allegiance, declaring that ‘once an Englishman, always an Englishman.’ We refused to accept the right of the British to order us about on the high seas. The British cruisers continued to search for contraband, forbidden goods, and deserters, sometimes even coming well within the coastal three mile limit. Thousands of seamen were impressed and the number of ships seized increased daily.
The “Chesapeake Affair”
As evidence of this deplorable condition which existed between the two countries, “the Chesapeake affair” may be cited. The British man-of-war, Leopard overhauled the Chesapeake off the Virginia coast, and fired a broadside into the vessel, killing or wounding 21 men. The Cresapeake was totally unprepared for action, as her guns were unmounted, and after firing a single shot she was forced to strike her colors. Three of the four seamen who were seized were Americans. Public opinion demanded action as a result of this insult. Jefferson, therefore, ordered all British vessels out of American waters, demanded an apology from Great Britain, and called Congress into session.
Next Jefferson followed a policy of ‘peaceful coercion.’ Congress passed (1806) the Non-Importation Act which closed American ports to certain British products; the Embargo Act (1807) which prohibited American and foreign vessels engaged in foreign commerce from entering or leaving our ports. This last act was very injurious to the entire country, and in particular to the New England shipping and commercial groups. American exports and imports dropped off sharply. It is estimated that 55,000 sailors, and 100,- 000 merchants and laborers were without work. American shipping lost $12,500,000 and the government’s revenues from customs dropped from $16,000,000 to a few thousands. Under these circumstances, the Embargo was repealed and replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act in 1809.
When Jefferson’s successor, Madison, took office, Congress passed the Macon Act, without waiting for the Non-Intercourse Act to expire. Under the terms of the Macon Act, as soon as Great Britain or France withdrew its decrees against our shipping, the Non-intercourse Act would be revived against the other. Napoleon agreed to withdraw the decrees, and the United States revived the Non-Intercourse Act against the British. This placed us in a position of favoring the French. Madison’s peace proposals were leading us into war. Conditions went from bad to worse in regard to our relationship with the British. There was the conflict which occurred off the Virginia coast between the American frigate, President, and the British ship, Little Belt, which revived the ill-feeling between the countries which had been stirred up by the ChesapeakeLeopard affair. This situation was aggravated by a young nationalistic group in Congress called the “War Hawks,” and finally Congress declared war on Great Britain, June 18, 1812. “On to Canada” became the war cry.
In his war message to Congress, Madison summarized our grievances against Britain since 1803. They were insults to our flag on the high seas, illegal impressment of seamen, blockading of our ports, seizure of our ships, refusal to withdraw the Orders in Council, and incitement of Indian attacks against our frontier. The House of Commons finally did repeal the Orders in Council in so far as they affected the United States, but by the time the word reached the states war had already been declared. It might be interesting to note that had either the telegraph, telephone, wireless, or the radio been invented and in operation at the time, the wax probably would have been avoided.
Country Unprepared For War
The country was unprepared for war. Our army of 7,000 was generated largely by Revolutionary leaders. The war was fought mostly in the Northwest, New York, and the South. The Conquest of Canada, though frequently attempted, was not accomplished. General William Hull surrendered Detroit to the British and all land west of Lake Erie fell into the hands of the enemy without a battle. William Henry Harrison regained Detroit and the western territory, and repulsed the British in the decisive battle of the Thames north of Lake Erie. We were able to regain the Northwest, largely through the gallant action of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, whose hastily built fleet defeated the British fleet on Lake Erie in September of 1813. Perry gave us control of Lake Erie and contributed to naval tradition by his frequently quoted dispatch concerning the victory: “We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours. Two Ships, Two Brigs, One Schooner and One Sloop.” In our attempt to invade Canada, we did not get above Lundy’s Lane. The British, on the other hand, were decisively defeated by Capt. Thomas Macdonough at the Battle of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain. Thus it may be seen that the Great Lakes played an important part in the general conflict.
One of the most important military objectives during the war was Oswego. Most of the supplies needed for the shipbuilding at Sacketts Harbor, under Commodore Chauncey, commanding the American fleet, were brought to Oswego by way of the Oswego River, from Onondaga, which later was called Syracuse. From here the supplies were transported either by lake or overland to Saketts Harbor. The British at Kingston were aware of this, and made plans to cut off this base of supplies and stores before they could reach Chauncey to assist in completing the armament of the fleet he was building. It was the hope of the British to attack the fort at Oswego as soon as possible after the ice broke up in the spring of 1814. This plan of the British to attack Oswego was known to Chauncey, and in April, 1814, a battallion of 336 regular artillerymen, armed as infantry, proceeded by road from Sacketts Harbor to Oswego to defend the Fort here and protect such supplies and property as might be gathered there.
Cooper’s Description of Oswego
What was Oswego like in those days? James Fenimore Cooper, an Ensign in the United States forces and the author of Naval History of the United States has this to say: “In 1808 Oswego was a mere hamlet of some twenty or fiveand twenty houses that stood on a very irregular sort of a line, near the water, the surrounding country for 30 or 40 miles being very little more than a wilderness. On the eastern bank of the river, and opposite to the village, or on the other side of the stream on which the Oneida (a 16-gun brig) was, there was but a solitary log house, and the ruins of the last English fort.
“The arrival of a party of officers, together with a strong gang of ship-carpenters, riggers, blacksmiths, etc., produced a great commotion in that retired hamlet, though port it was, and made a sensible change in its condition. For the first time money began to be seen in the place, the circulating medium having previously been salt. The place was entirely supported by the carrying of the salt manufactured at Salina. Eight or ten schooners and sloops were employed in this business, and the inhabitants of Oswego then consisted of four or five traders who were mostly ship owners, the masters and people of the vessels, boatmen who brought the salt down the river, a few merchants and a quarter educated personage who called himself a doctor.”
The women and children, and non-combatants who were living in Oswego 126 years ago were preparing to leave in anticipation of the attack by the British forces. Some went into the nearby country, and others went much farther inland, up the Oswego river to places of greater safety. The men of military years remained to defend the village and the fort. A certain Mrs. Hawley started in an open boat with her child for Little Falls, as her husband had been captured and was being held a prisoner in Canada for taking food to the United States troop in Canada.
The houses standing in Oswego in 1814 were all located on the “flats,” as that part of the present First Ward which slopes toward the river was then called, as it sometimes is today. The Wentworth residence was near the Bradner Burt mill at the dam, about where the lower dam is now located. The Burt family lived farther south on the West River road, as did the Van Burens, Mooneys, Schencks, and Walradts. William Burt and Dr. Deodotus Clark lived on what is now known as “the State road,” (East Oneida street). The Stones, and the Halls lived on the Hall road. Near Fruit Valley, earlier called “Unionville”, was a thriving settlement of the Ries, Farnhams, Bishops, Braces, Clarks, Peases, Thompsons, Perrys, Robinsons, Fords, and Dr. Coe. The Baldwin family lived on the Lake road. In the village of Oswego, close by the west bank of the Oswego River, lived the Hugunins, Rasmussens, Sages, Jacobs, Stevens, Hawks, Parsons, Bronsons, McNairs, Burts, Tylers, Coltons, Cooleys, and others of the early families. ‘There was no settlement then on the East side of the river.
Oswego Prepares For Struggle
As soon as war was declared in 1812, Oswego became a very busy place. The United States Government appointed Matthew McNair commissary of subsistance. and Alvin Bronson naval and military storekeeper. Vast stores of arms and ammunition, and supplies were brought down the Oswego River, and sent by boat to Sacketts Harbor, where large shipbuilding operations were in progress. The British forces in Canada made plans to cut off this base of supplies at Oswego, and to destroy the supplies, if possible, before they could be taken to Sacketts Harbor to arm Chauncey’s fleet under construction there.
Information reached Chauncey at Sacketts Harbor that the British were outfitting an expedition to attack Oswego. The quartermaster sent instruction to Alvin Bronson at Oswego, to halt any supply trains at Oswego Falls (now a part of the city of Fulton), and to send all possible stores to Sacketts Harbor and Niagara, the rest to be hidden in the woods.
General Gaines at Sacketts Harbor sent Lieut. Colonel George E. Mitchell with five companies of artillery, armed as infantry, to Fort Ontario to protect the cannon, ammunition, and stores at Oswego and at the Oswego Falls. (Some sources place the number in this command at less than 300, while others contend that it numbered over 300.) They marched overland over very crude roads and arrived at Fort Ontario on April 30, 1814, but five days before the British opened fire on the Oswego fort. They found five rusty guns, three of them without trunions, and the stockade in decay. On the old breastworks of Fort Oswego were mounted four brass cannon. Colonel Mitchell pitched tents near the ruins of Fort Oswego (on the west side of the river) to make it appear that there were troops encamped there.
Land Forces Came With Yeo
Sir James Yeo, in command of the British fleet left Kingston on May 4, 1814. The fleet consisted of the frigate Princess Charlotte, the flagship, of 1200 tons and 42 guns; the Montreal, Niagara, Charwell and Magnet, carrying 32 pounders; and the Star, a 14 gun schooner. They towed gunboats, big open barges, some of which were lugger-rigged with thwarts across so two men could pull on each of the three dozen oars, with one or two guns on platforms, stern and bow. They carried a large number of small boats for landing parties. The fleet had 222 guns, with a crew of about 1,000 sailors.
image: Portrait of James Lucas Yeo, 1810 by Adam Buck. Courtesy of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.
The fleet transported with it landing forces, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Drummond, consisting of two companies of DeWatteville’s regiments of infantry under Captain De Bersey; one company of the celebrated Glengary regiment under Captain McMillan; a battalion of marines under Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm of the Royal Navy; two hundred seamen armed with pikes under Captain Mulcaster; all commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Fischer. (Editor’s Note: Other regiments which served with the British at Oswego were: The Royal Marine, the Royal Newfoundland, the King’s 8th and 100th Regiments.)
The British fleet was sighted off Fort Ontario early in the morning of May 5. Colonel Mitchell in command of the United States forces at once sent horsemen through the country to call out the militia. The Growler, a U. S. ship loaded with supplies, was sunk in the Harbor. Lieutenant Pearce, with part of her crew, joined Mitchell’s forces. A squad under Captain Boyle and Lieutenant Legate set up a twelvepounder just west of the fort. The fleet came about onefourth mile off shore, and made ready fifteen boats to be loaded with men to attempt a landing. They were preceded by gunboats to rake the woods, while the larger vessels opened fire upon the fort.
As soon as the debarking boats got within range of the fort, troops therein under Captain Boyle opened a successful fire and compelled them twice to retire. Several of the boats were perforated so that they were abandoned. One of them was sixty feet long, with three sails, and of a capacity to transport 150 men. She had received a shot through her bow and had filled with water. The boats returned to their ships without effecting a landing. The British lost several men, killed and wounded, in these boats. Then a storm came up, forcing the fleet to put out into the lake for safety.
Lieut. Blaney Killed in Repulse
Second Lieutenant Daniel Blaney, 3rd Artillery, U. S. A., a young officer of great promise, was killed while directing fire of guns which repulsed the first landing attempt. Many years later Theodore Roosevelt, then president of the United States, recognized the young lieutenant’s heroism by directing that one of the defensive works protecting San Francisco Bay be named “Battery Blaney.”
The British fleet spent the night in the shelter of the Big Galloo Island, half way between Oswego and Kingston. During the wild lake storm that was raging several of the gunboats were lost and their crews transferred to larger boats.
The horsemen riding throughout the countryside spreading the alarm, and the boom of the hundreds of guns of the fleet during the first day’s attack, which was heard as far away as Onondaga (Syracuse) served to set in motion towards Oswego all the militia for miles around marching to the assistance of Colonel Mitchell’s outclassed force. Major Jonathan Parkhurst’s battalion from Oneida County, one of whose captains was Heil Stone, arrived together with many small bands of militia. Oswego citizens who served with those at the fort included Abram Hugunin, William Squires, and Peter Hugunin.
Colonel Mitchell stationed the militia in the woods to protect the hidden stores and to stop any attempt by the British, if they landed, to proceed south to Oswego Falls. They were also in a position to help defend the fort and repulse landing parties.
Eleven Ships In Yeo’s Fleet
On the morning of May 6th, the British fleet appeared again and renewed the attack. The Magnet was in front of Oswego, the Star and the Charweil near the mouth of the river, and eight other ships were to the north and east. The heavy ships directly against the fort kept up an incessant cannonade from 10 a. m. to 1 p. m. while they made ready to land their main infantry force near Baldwin’s Bay. Colonel Mitchell put out most of his force east of the fort to engage this advancing column, and left only a few to work the guns of the battery in the fort.
Several of the British boats were set on fire by the red hot cannon balls fired from the guns of the fort. Captain Popham ot the Montreal had his right hand shot away while holding his trumpet to give an order. Sir William Howe Mulcaster landed with 200 bluejackets and stormed up the steep hill against the works of the fort. They advanced over the ramparts, led by Lieut. Laurie.
Colonel Mitchell withdrew his small force to the rear of the fort and with Captain Romeyn’s and Captain Melvin’s companies met the advancing British columns, while the other companies attacked the British flanks. Seeing that the fort was being taken, and that he was hopelessly outnumbered Col. Mitchell gave the order for retreat.
In the northwestern bastion of the fort stood the flag staff to which by order of Colonel Mitchell the flag of the United States had been nailed. While attempting to tear it down two British sailors were shot and Captain Mulcaster was wounded.
After the capture, the British destroyed the fort, blew up the guns, burned the barracks, captured tons of powder and shot 500 pounds of pork, 800 pounds of flour, and much bread in barrels. They found and raised the -chooner Growler which the Americans had sunk in the river with her cargo of three long 32 pounders, and four long 24 pounders, intended for the Superior, then nearing completion at Sacketts Harbor. This, with a long string of batteaux. a schooner or two, sixty prisoners, and large quantities of stores and rigging for ships, they took with them back to Kingston. Among the prisoners was Alvin Bronson, naval and military storekeeper at Oswego, (and later known as first president of village and long-lived, prominent citizen). Through his prompt action before the attack on May 5 all books and papers were secreted, and great stores hidden in the woods.
Strong measures were adopted by the British in an attempt to induce Bronson to tell where the stores which the British had failed to locate had been secreted. When he steadfastly refused to give information he was taken away as a prisoner.
The chair in which he was taken over the side of the British man-of-war from the small boat in which he was taken from shore is one of the cherished possessions of the Oswego Historical Society. Several months after his capture, Bronson was released, unharmed, and returned to Oswego, bringing with him by special permission the chair in which he had been lifted over the side of the ship when he was carried away as a prisoner.
There was no general injury to private property in Oswego by the British landed forces. No attempt was made by the British to hold the fort and the fleet soon sailed away with its booty.
Aftermath of the Battle
James Fenimore Cooper relates in his Naval History of the United States that when the British evacuated Oswego and sailed away on the morning of May 7, the stores which the Americans had so carefully hidden were taken from their hiding place, loaded into boats, and under command of Major Appling were started for Sacketts Harbor. The boats had arrived off Sandy Creek when they found themselves covered by the British scout boats. Major Appling turned into Sandy Creek, landed, secreted the boats, and prepared an ambuscade. The British followed into the creek and were completely overpowered and surrendered. In an engagement which lasted only twenty minutes, none of the Americans was wounded. The supplies were taken to Sacketts Harbor without further incident.
After the stores had successfully reached Sacketts Harbor, Mitchell returned to command Fort Ontario, but the fort was not again attacked during the remainder of the war.
With the completion of the Surprise at Sacketts Harbor, Chauncey had supremacy on Lake Ontario and successfully blockaded Kingston and Toronto, daring Sir James Yeo to come out and fight, which, however, the latter refused to do. An order dated Jan. 11, 1815, announced the declaration of peace.
Considering the casualties in the Battle of Oswego, we find that the British lost 19 killed, 75 wounded. The bodies of the British dead, with the exception of those of the officers, were collected and burned.
The Americans lost, killed, wounded, or missing, a total of 69. Captain Hiel Stone’s tavern at Fredericksburg (now Scriba Corners) was used as a hospital for the wounded.
In his official reports to the United States War Department, Colonel Mitchell -praised for conspicuous bravery Lieutenant Daniel Blaney, killed in the battle; Subalterns Legate, McComb, Ansart, King, Robb, Carle, McClintock and Newkirk, and Captain Boyle.
It might be interesting to note, in connection with the heroic sacrifice made by Lieutenant Blaney in this engagement at Oswego, that for some time past there has been a movement on foot, sponsored by the officers of Fort Ontario, Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Oswego Historical Society, to take the necessary steps to have a suitable tablet inscribed and a memorial erected to his memory near the site where he fell, to refresh the minds of Oswego residents and visitors to our city as to events in the past of Oswego and their relationship to our national history.
Memorial Suggested For Lieut. Blaney
Lieutenant Daniel Blaney, U. S. Army, was killed May 5, 1814, while directing the service of a 12 pounder gun, mounted on the shore, east of Fort Ontario, the fire of which gun prevented a landing from the fleet of Admiral Sir James Lucas Yeo, R. N. on that day, when the British temporarily were repulsed.
He was born in Delaware, probably at Newcastle, and was commissioned as an ensign in the 15th infantry, July 19, 1813, and promoted to second lieutenant October 1, 1813, and assigned to the 3rd artillery. He was serving under Lieut, Col. George E. Mitchell, U. S. A., commanding the 3rd battalion of that artillery regiment which was known (and still is known) as the “Spartan Battalion.” He was present at the taking of York, Ontario, with Mitchell, and came with the 3rd battalion from Sacketts Harbor to Oswego for defense of Fort Ontario.
His body was interred in Oswego, first in the Old Cemetery at the foot of West First street; next in the City Cemetery, where Kingsford Park school now stands; and finally in Riverside Cemetery, where it now rests.
One of the seacoast batteries defending San Francisco was named Blaney Battery in his honor by direction of President Theodore Roosevelt, who was a keen student of the War of 1812 and author of a history of this same war.
Most of the information about the Battle of Oswego in 1814 printed heretofore, deals with the American phase of the struggle. It might be well at this point to give some consideration to the British concept as related by the Canadians. Malachi Malone, who participated in the attack on the fort aboard the Canadian gunboat Sir Sydney Smith (later called the Magnet, which name she bore at the time of the attack) relates in an article “How We Stormed Oswego” copied by the Toronto Telegram: “We lay closest to the fort and they hailed red-hot shot at us from the ramparts. We came back with cold grape and round. They slithered our sails to ribbons and cut our rigging till it hung in tangled bunches of hemp. ‘We can’t get out of here, lads,’ hailed Captain Popham, ‘for our gear’s all gone.’ But a ball whizzed and his right hand holding the trumpet, dropped, mangled, but he raised the trumpet with the other and finished, ‘We’ll give them the worth of their money since they want us to stay so badly.’
Description Given by Canadians
“Up the steep slope of the hill to the Fort swarmed two hundred blue-jackets with their boarding pikes, Sir William Howe Mulcaster of the old Royal George at their head. Sir James Yeo, the Commodore, was ashore, too. Along the bank of the fort hill from the landing place streamed the kilted Glengaries and the DeWattevilles in red tunics and white breeches, and Royal Marines in their glazed stiff hats red coats, and blue trousers. But they could fight, those same Johnnies, and the Yanks who potted them from the shelter of the woods were now on the run for the fort.
“By this time we were on fire. The red hot shot from the furnaces in the fort made our tarred rigging sizzle and the flame licked up the masts. ‘Buckets aloft’, called Captain Popham, and the topmen scrambled up the flaming ratlines and laid out along the scorching yards with their buckets on long lines and soused everything. I could see through the smoke that the bluejackets were up the bank now and Lieutenant Laurie, Sir James Yeo’s secretary, was scrambling over the ramparts first of all. Then another burst o’ flame along our decks made everybody’s heart jump, for fire in a wooden ship, ballasted with gunpowder, is a pretty sure passport to the big beyond.
“The Bulkworks had taken fire, but we smothered them with hand and tarpaulins when there came a yell from aloft. A brace of red hot chain had struck the foretop and swept away the maintopmast stays where it was stowed there. It floated down like a flaming parachute on to the fo’c’sle head by the powder gangway. The sailing master rushed forward with a boarding pike, caught the mass as it fell, and pitched it overboard. Then with a scream he dropped the pike and rolled down the gangway. Where his left arm had been, hung a bloody mass of seared flesh and shredded jacket sleeve. A red hot round shot had got him.
Fighting Seaman Turned Bishop
“I helped carry him to the cockpit. ‘It’ll have to come off at the shoulder,’ I heard the surgeon say. Jimmy Richardson gritted his teeth, and then above the roar of the guns I heard rounds of cheers on cheers. I rushed on deck, sick with the smell of surgeon’s shambles, and there on the hilltop, with his legs locked around the head of the fort flagpole, I could see a marine hanging. It was Lieut. Hewett. He had swarmed up, as nimble as a man-o-wars-man and had torn the big Stars and Stripes down with his hands. The colors had been nailed to the pole.” James Richardson, Jr., the sailing master mentioned, a native of Kingston, Ont., later became an itinerant bishop in the Methodist Episcopal church.
Regarding Richardson, we find these remarks of General E. A. Cruickshank, speaking in Kingston on the 6th of May, 1938, on the anniversary of Yeo’s success at Oswego, at a gathering commemorating the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Kingston, and reported in a Kingston newspaper: “Young Richardson, who with his comrade in arms, Lieut. Joseph Dennis, had laid aside his gold epaulets for a pilot’s tarpaulin, became sailing master to the Commodore. A red hot shot took off his left arm in the battle of Oswego, one hundred and twenty-four years ago this afternoon. As soon as the stump was healed he resumed duty. He was pilot of the St. Lawrence, of 2,304 tons burthen, and 23 feet draft, and never stranded her. the greatest feat of sailing ship pilotage ever accomplished on fresh water. With peace he became a pastor and bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as he once ploughed Ontario’s waves he now rode Ontario’s forests on circuit, a one-armed horseman of the Lord.”
In the same article the general has this to say concerning the work of the Royal Marines- “They did their work at Oswego. for it was Lieut. John Hewett of the Royal Marines who climbed the flagstaff of the fort, and captured the Stars and Stripes nailed to the masthead. He and his company had been stationed to cover the retreat should the attack fail. But he received permission to lead what was optimistically called the ‘forlorn hope’. His party forced an en trance and he cut his way to the flagstaff. While climbing he was wounded by several bullets. Having gained the flag, he leaned against the foot of the mast, faint with loss of blood. A wounded defender on the ground raised his musket to fire at him again. The color-sergeant’s bayonet saved the young lieutenant’s life.
“When Lieut. Hewett delivered the captured colors to Sir Gordon Drummond, the general said: ‘No one is so worthy of them as yourself. Annually thereafter on the anniversary of this day, Lieut. Hewett’s men used to present him with a wreath of laurel.”
Yeo Attack Gained Its Purpose
Continuing in the same article, we read concerning the attack on the Oswego fort: “The object of the Battle of Oswego was to prevent the enemy from completing new ships before the St. Lawrence (the largest Canadian man-of-war on the lakes, then building) could be launched at Kingston. This object was accomplished. The British captured or carried off three thousand barrels of provisions, several miles of large rope, and seven big ship’s guns. They destroyed some others, and all the barracks and public buildings. They captured three transport schooners. Not one civilian was injured, insulted, or robbed. Equipment of the contemplated American ships was delayed, and although they learned of the St. Lawrence, and began a still larger ship to meet her, the war was over before this ship was launched. She was never launched. Britain had that control of the lake which was vital.
“They knew how to make war in 1812. That is why we have had 124 years of peace and a frontier of 4,000 miles defended by fenceposts since the battle of Oswego. As I said, no war can be fought without bloodshed. But no war has left cleaner wounds or fewer scars than the war of 1812.”
It is unique in the history of nations that two peoples live close together as neighbors without any fortification along so extensive a border. This is indeed a credit to the American and Canadian people. It is regretable [sic] that more nations in other parts of the world have not found it possible, or desirable, to emulate this splendid record of peaceful relationship between two great peoples.
Baldwin Discovered Approach of British
Fred P. Wright, secretary of our Historical Society, and himself a great-grandson of Major Philo Stone, who served as a captain in Major Jonatho n Parkhurst’s milita battalion and who was promoted to major during the war, records in his collection of 1812 war data the following statement of Albert L. Baldwin, 94 Mitchell St., Oswego, March 9, 1923: “He is a grandson of Mori-is Baldwin, who came here from Connecticut in the year 1811, bought land of the government where the Richardson Theatre now stands, and out East along the lake shore for three miles. His name was given to the bay east of Oswego, Baldwin’s Bay, and the road . through the woods out through Scriba was called “Baldwin Road.” He was a man six feet, six inches tall in stocking feet, and thought nothing of walking to Mexico and return in a day. His flintlock musket is in the possession of his grandson named above.
“He lived east of the city, and the day the British came to Oswego to attack the fort he discovered them coming into the bay. He acted as a scout for the fort and mounting his white horse he set out post-haste to alarm the garrison. The British landed. There was a battery planted by them back of what is now St. Paul’s Cemetery. The remains of the earthworks were discernable up to a few years ago. Many small cannon balls and Indian arrowheads are found around this locality. Mr. Baldwin relates that the militia were told to wait until the British soldiers were near enough to see the whites of their eyes, and then if they kept coming on and it appeared impossible to stop them, to ‘Run like hell toward Oswego Falls’ where the stores were secreted, and from which direction they expected to receive reinforcements. Some of the Men followed these instructions, and met the reinforcements. They joined them and returned to take further part in the battle.
“Some of the fallen British soldiers were buried near Baldwin’s Bay. Their burial place was known and the spot pointed out by old Mr. Baltes, a schoolboy friend of Morris Baldwin for many years.”
Diary of Orrin Stone
Mrs. George M. Penney, wife of our present Surrogate, is in possession of a very interesting diary kept by Orrin Stone, her grandfather, who was an eyewitness of the battle of Oswego and took part in the engagement. Orrin Stone was the son of Major Hiel Stone and with his brothers Anson, Erastus, John, and Philo served in his father’s company during the war. Let me quote some excerpts from Orrin’s 1814 diary:
“Sunday, May 1: About home.
Mon, 2: A. M. hoing in wheat round store; P. M. sowed onion seeds and makeing garden.
T. 3: A. M. went to Oswego; P. M. fixed hog pasture fence and turned my hog out to grass.
W. 4: Chopping E. of the house.
Th. 5: An alarm at Oswego, turned out and went down, the British shiping lay off. Sent out their gun boats and fired upon the fort and village. Did not land this day.
F. 6: This morning the British fleet stood in and at 12 o’clock commenced a verry [sic] heavy cannonadeing [sic] upon the fort and fired upon the village, put out their boats and landed below the fort marched up and carryed [sic] the fort about three o’clock. Our troops retreated up the river.
S. 7: This morning went to Oswego and the British had burnt the barracks and plundered the place and evacuated the place.
S. 8: at home.
M. 9: Went to Oswego, dug cannon balls.
T. 10: Diging [sic] cannonball on the state lot.
W. 11: Planting beans and beet seed
Th. 12: Went to Oswego, dug cannon balls
F. 13: Went with horses and waggon, gathered cannon ball
S. 14: no entry
S. 15: Brought my cow home
M. 16: Plowing for corn on Father’s farm
T. 17: Plowing, British fleet lay Oswego, sent in a flag; p. m. went to Oswego
W. 18: Plowing some in P. M.
Th. 19: Plowing for corn
F. 20: P. M. Plowing
S. 21: Chopt some shelled corn
S. 22: no entry
M. 23: Began to plant corn and hoeing in the nursery
T. 24: Planting corn and potatoes
W. 25: A. M. went down to Father’s to see the troops; P. M. planting corn
Th. 26: A. M. Planting corn; P. M. went to the widow Peeler’s loging bee
Pioneers’ Interest Self Centered
In looking over this diary of an early Oswegonian, one cannot help but be impressed with the fact that Orrin Stone was primarily a pioneer and a builder rather than a soldier. True, he served in the militia, and was ready to lay down his life in defense of his home. It is obvious from the lines that he penned 126 years ago that his first thoughts were for his home, his family, and his land. The destructive forces of war made little appeal to this sturdy farmer, who was concerned primarily with bringing civilization to a wilderness.
No mention is made in the diary of the fact that the U. S. had planned to invade Canada, and that the English were attempting to invade the States. No recognition is given to the momentous struggle which was occurring on the continent with the Allies pressing Napoleon harder and harder, until finally in March of 1814 he was defeated at Leipsic and later exiled to Elba. Not one word is recorded of these historic landmarks at a time when the United States was actually a belligerent against one of the Allies, Great Britain. How different it is today, with the world in a similar situation! In our daily conversations, in our newspapers, over the air, we are constantly being reminded of the latest developments in Europe, even though we are standing on the sidelines as a neutral; most of us are as well informed as though we were actually participating in the conflict.
Perhaps in Orrin Stone’s diary we can see a man who looks upon the war as an aggravating influence which takes him from his work, for to lay down the plowshare and take up the musket interrupted the every-day processes which were necessary if the land was to be cleared and made productive. The attack on Oswego and the war of 1812 were incidents which had to be given some immediate attention when they came uncomfortably too close to home, but they were certainly far from the major concern of this early Oswego pioneer. He had a job to do, and he hankered to get back to it.
In preparing this paper, valuable assistance was rendered by Mr. E. M. Waterbury, Mr. Fred P. Wright, Principal Ralph M. Faust, Mrs. George M. Penney, and Joseph Louis, the youthful artist who painted a picture of the attack on the fort, and prepared the chart which was used in describing the attack and Thomas Crabtree who made the frame for the chart. To all of these people, hearty thanks are returned.
