Battle of Beaver Dams
Battle of Beaver Dams | |
---|---|
Part of the Thorold, Ontario 43°07′03.3″N 79°11′07.4″W / 43.117583°N 79.185389°W | |
Result | British victory |
First Nations
50 regulars
20–25 wounded[2][3]
The Battle of Beaver Dams took place on 24 June 1813, during the
Background
On 25 May 1813, the United States had won the
The U.S. Army commander at Fort George, Brigadier General John Parker Boyd, decided to clear the threat posed by enemy raiders and to restore his men's morale by making a surprise attack on the outpost at DeCou's.[8]
U.S. plan
The force assigned to the attack was led by the recently promoted Colonel Charles Boerstler of the 14th U.S. Infantry
Several American officers had earlier billeted themselves in the house of Canadian Militia Captain James Secord, who had been severely wounded the previous year at the Battle of Queenston Heights. His wife, Laura Secord, overheard the officers discussing their scheme. Very early on 22 June,[10] she set out to warn the British at DeCou's house, walking about 17 miles (27 km)[11] through the woods until she came upon a native encampment on the Twelve Mile Creek. The warriors took her to Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, who commanded the British outpost. The information she conveyed to FitzGibbon confirmed what natives had reported since they first observed the U.S. column near St. David's.
Battle
The main contingent of natives were 300 Kahnawake, also referred to as Caughnawaga in contemporary accounts,
Early on 24 June, U.S. forces set out for DeCou's stone house. At St. David's they proceeded along a trail at the base of the escarpment until they reached another trail leading up the "mountain". Reaching the top, they became aware of natives closing in on their flanks and rear, but Boerstler did not change his plans. When the natives opened fire, Boerstler was wounded and placed in one of the wagons. According to U.S. accounts,[12] they caused the Mohawks to flee and fought their way out of the woods into open fields where they could use their artillery, and the natives were not at such an advantage. This account is not supported by other witnesses.
At this point, FitzGibbon intervened. Addressing Boerstler under a flag of truce, he claimed that the Americans were outnumbered and surrounded, and that if they did not surrender he would be unable to restrain the natives from slaughtering them. The wounded Boerstler capitulated to Major de Haren of the
The U.S. force surrendered in a field just south of the Thorold Tunnel, east of the present-day Welland Canal. The prisoners were escorted first to DeCou's, then to the British base at Ball's Falls.[citation needed].
Casualties
The natives admitted to a total of five chiefs and warriors killed, and 20 wounded,[2] although Ducharme stated that 15 were killed and 25 wounded.[3]
The U.S. casualty report stated 25 killed and 50 wounded;[4] all of the wounded being among the prisoners, who numbered 23 officers and 489 enlisted men.[5] It was later claimed that many of the wounded U.S. troops were killed by Mohawks.[3]
Results
The loss of Boerstler's detachment demoralized the U.S. force at Fort George. From then until they abandoned the fort on 10 December, they rarely dared send any patrols more than a mile from the fort. To reinforce their fear of the Native people, there was another minor disaster on 8 July when a party from the
Legends and folk tales
Referring to the respective parts played by the various Native Americans and the British, local legend (perhaps started by Mohawk leader John Norton, who was present) had it that, "The Caughnawaga got the victory, the Mohawks got the plunder and FitzGibbon got the credit".[2][15]
In 1818,[2] FitzGibbon made a report to Captain Kerr which read in part:
With respect to the affair with Captain [sic] Boerstler, not a shot was fired on our side by any but the Indians. They beat the American detachment into a state of terror, and the only share I claim is taking advantage of a favorable moment to offer them protection from the tomahawk and scalping knife. The Indian Department did the rest.[13]
Captain Ducharme claimed that he himself did not demand the U.S. surrender because as a French Canadian by birth who had spent most of his life among the Indians, he spoke no English.[14]
Laura Secord
Much later, in 1827, FitzGibbon wrote:
I do hereby Certify that on the 22d. day of June 1813, Mrs. Secord, Wife of James Secord, Esqr. then of St. David's, came to me at the Beaver Dam after Sun Set, having come from her house at St. David's by a circuitous route a distance of twelve miles, and informed me that her Husband had learnt from an American officer the preceding night that a Detachment from the American Army then in Fort George would be sent out on the following morning (the 23d.) for the purpose of Surprising and capturing a Detachment of the 49th Regt. then at Beaver Dam under my Command. In Consequence of this information, I placed the Indians under Norton together with my own Detachment in a Situation to intercept the American Detachment and we occupied it during the night of the 22d. – but the Enemy did not come until the morning of the 24th when his Detachment was captured. Colonel Boerstler, their commander, in a conversation with me confirmed fully the information communicated to me by Mrs. Secord and accounted for the attempt not having been made on the 23rd. as at first intended.[16]
By this account, Laura Secord learned of the U.S. plans and made her exit from St. David's (near Queenston) on June 22, before the main body of U.S. troops had set out from Fort George.
National Historic Site
Original site: | 43°07′03.3″N 79°11′07.4″W / 43.117583°N 79.185389°W |
---|---|
Present site: | 43°07′21.5″N 79°12′05.1″W / 43.122639°N 79.201417°W |
Beaver Dams represents one of the earliest attempts to create a national historical park. In 1914, a convention of Ontario historical and patriotic groups resolved to ask the Department of the Interior "to develop a 40-acre site near Thorold as a national battlefield park commemorating the Battle of Beaver Dams."[17]
Although Beaver Dams was not made a national park, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board was created in 1919 to develop a heritage policy at the federal level for historic sites. In 1921, soon after the Board's formation, the Board recommended the designation of the Battle of Beaver Dams site as a National Historic Site, one of its earliest selections.[18][19]
A monument commemorating the battle was dedicated in 1923 and situated on the original site of the event (near the southeast corner of the intersection of Davis Road and Old Thorold Stone Road,[20] approximately 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) southeast of present-day Thorold), where it was located for several decades. In 1976, this monument (as well as one marking the site where in 1876, during construction of the 3rd Welland Canal, the remains of 16 U.S. soldiers from the battle were uncovered) was subsequently relocated several kilometres to the west when the Battle of Beaverdams [sic] Park was opened and there was talk of constructing a 5th Welland Canal near the battlefield. The original site of the battlefield was unmarked from 1976 until 2013,[21] the Battle of Beaverdams Committee discussed marking the site with a "historic boulder" for the bicentennial[20] and this was achieved on June 23, 2013.[22]
Related to the National Historic Site, the
-
Beaverdams Original Monument now located at Beaverdams Park Thorold
-
In memory of unknown U.S. soldiers at the Battle of Beaverdams
-
Main Plaque of Battle of Beaverdams Boulder
-
Second side of Battle of Beaverdams Boulder
-
Third Side of Battle of Beaverdams Boulder
Notes
- ^ Benn, p.115
- ^ a b c d Stanley, George F.G. The Indians in the War of 1812, in Zaslow (ed) p. 182
- ^ a b c Elting, p.134
- ^ a b Eaton, p. 10
- ^ a b Cruikshank, p. 141
- ^ Hitsman, p.151
- ^ a b S.A. Curzon, Laura Secord, in Zaslow (ed), p.307
- ^ a b Elting, p.132
- ^ Michael Betti, Township of Thorold, 1793-1967 : Centennial Project of the Township of Thorold, pg.47 "Our Roots / Nos Racines". Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ Michael Betti, Township of Thorold, 1793-1967 : Centennial Project of the Township of Thorold, pg.43 "Our Roots / Nos Racines". Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ "Trip Ideas". Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011., Laura Secord Trek
- ^ Elting, p.133
- ^ a b Hitsman, pp.151, 155
- ^ a b Stanley, George F.G. The Indians in the War of 1812, in Zaslow (ed) p. 183
- ^ The quote has also been ascribed to William Hamilton Merritt in Hitsman, p.335 endnote
- ^ Moir, John S. Laura Secord, in Zaslow (ed), p.313
- ^ Clarence M. Warner, president, Ontario Historical Society, to William J. Roche, Minister of the Interior, 3 July 1914. Cited in C.J. Taylor, Negotiating the Past: The Making of Canada's National Historic Parks and Sites, 1990, p. 30. The Dominion Parks Branch was under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior.
- ^ Battle of Beaver Dams[permanent dead link], Directory of Federal Heritage Designations
- ^ Battle of Beaver Dams Archived 9 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, National Register of Historic Places
- ^ a b History to Come Alive with War of 1812 Events Archived 13 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 1-55002-626-7.
- ^ Blay, Jeff (3 July 2013). "Beaverdams battle site rightfully re-marked". Postmedia. St Catharines Standard. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ "Friends of Laura Secord – …She remains an iconic figure who, perhaps more than anyone, represents the quiet determination and exceptional resolve of ordinary citizens to preserve and protect the values central to Canadian society that we enjoy today". Retrieved 22 June 2022.
References
- Benn, Carl (1999). The Iroquois in the War of 1812. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8145-2.
- Cruikshank, Ernest (1971) [1902]. The Documentary History of the Campaign upon the Niagara Frontier in the Year 1813. Part 2: June to August, 1813. New York: The Arno Press Inc. ISBN 0-405-02838-5. Archived from the originalon 27 May 2011.
- Eaton, Joseph H. (2000). Returns of Killed and Wounded in Battles or Engagements with Indians and British and Mexican Troops, 1790–1848, Compiled by Lt. Col J. H. Eaton (Eaton's Compilation). Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Microfilm Publications.
- Elting, John R. (1995). Amateurs to Arms. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-806533.
- Hitsman, J. Mackay; Graves, Donald E. (1999). The Incredible War of 1812. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio. ISBN 1-896941-13-3.
- ISBN 978-0-674-02584-4.
- Stanley, G.F.G. "The Significance of the Six Nations Participation in the War of 1812." Ontario History LV(4), 1963.
- Zaslow, Morris, ed. (1964). The Defended Border. Toronto: Macmillan. ISBN 0-7705-1242-9.
External links
- [1]. The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- Poems of the Battle of Beaverdams from the Niagara Falls Poetry Project