Volume 12, Issue 08
The PEACEKEEPER
Page 8
Trivia From the Library Computer
RADM
Thomas Pawelczak
Security
&
Morale
Officer
THE BRITISH ASSAULT ON FORT ERIE. A er the ba les of Chip?
pawa and Lundy’s Lane in the summer of 1814, American
troops on the Niagara front withdrew to Fort Erie. On August
125 Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond launched a four?
pronged night assault on the fort, but the a ack ended in dis?
aster. An Indian demonstra on on the west side of the fort
failed to materialize. At the southern end of the fort, Bri sh
soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fischer were ordered
to remove their ?ints to ensure that they did not lose the ele?
ment of surprise by ?ring their muskets prematurely, but their
scaling ladders were too short. Hence they could neither get
over the fort’s wall nor respond to American ?re with musket
?re of their own. A er sustaining heavy losses, they retreated
in confusion. At the northern end of the fort, one Bri sh assault force under Colonel Hercules Sco was defeated, while
a second under Lieutenant Colonel William Drummond managed to penetrate a bas on that anchored the American
posi on, but then a huge explosion blew Drummond’s force to bits. This e?ec vely ended the ba le. The Bri sh had
sustained 905 killed, wounded, and missing (compared to only 130 for the Americans) and had nothing to show for their
casual es.
WHAT CAUSED THE DEADLY EXPLOSION? At the me Bri sh soldiers claimed that the explosion in the bas on of Fort
Erie was caused by a mine that had been placed there in advance or that a magazine had been inten onally detonated
by an American soldier, an American in a Bri sh uniform, or a Bri sh deserter. But there is no evidence that a mine was
planted or that anyone purposely touched o? the explosion. Rather, the explosion was probably an accident, most likely
caused when a magazine was detonated by the intense ?re?ght that was taking place around it.
DID COLONEL DRUMMOND REFUSE QUARTER? Brigadier General Edmund P. Gaines, who was in charge of the defense
of Fort Erie, claimed in his o?cial report that Lieutenant Colonel William Drummond had repeatedly said, “Give the
damn Yankees no quarter.” Second Lieutenant John Watmough also thought he heard repeated cries of “no quarter”.
Although some have denied that Drummond u ered these words, the evidence seems strong enough to establish the
case. It is not clear whether Drummond spoke without thinking in the heat of ba le or meant to give a direct order, alt?
hough any words u ered by a commanding o?cer in ba le must be taken as the la er, and soldiers in mortal combat
probably would not need much encouragement to follow such an order.
Does this mean that there would have been a bloodbath at Fort Erie if the Bri sh had prevailed. Hardly. Once
American resistance had come to an end, a few soldier sin the front lines might have been killed, but then Drummond or
some other o?cer probably would have ordered an end to the killing. Any other scenario would have been unlikely be?
cause killing defenseless soliders in this situa on would have served no end and might have invited retalia on.