Битва при Крайслерском ферме 1812 года

War of 1812 battle

The Battle of Crysler's Farm, also known as the Battle of Crysler's Field, was fought on 11 November 1813, during the War of 1812 (the name Chrysler's Farm is sometimes used for the engagement, but Crysler is the proper spelling). A British and Canadian force won a victory over a US force which greatly outnumbered them. The US defeat prompted them to abandon the St. Lawrence Campaign, their major strategic effort in the autumn of 1813.

The battle arose from a United States military campaign which was intended to capture Montreal. The resulting military actions, including the Battle of the Chateauguay, the Battle of Crysler's Farm and a number of skirmishes, are collectively known as the St. Lawrence Campaign. The US plan was devised by United States Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr., who originally intended to take the field himself. Because it was difficult to concentrate the necessary force in one place due to the initially scattered disposition of the troops and inadequate lines of communication, it involved two forces which were to combine for the final assault. Major General James Wilkinson's division of 8,000 was to concentrate at Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario, and proceed down the Saint Lawrence River in gunboats, batteaux and other small craft. At some point, they would rendezvous with a division of 4,000 under Major General Wade Hampton advancing north from Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain, to make the final attack on Montreal. Even as preparations proceeded, it was apparent that the plan had several shortcomings. Until the last minute, it was uncertain that Montreal was to be the objective, as Armstrong originally intended to attack Kingston, where the British naval squadron on Lake Ontario was based. However, Commodore Isaac Chauncey, commanding the US Navy squadron on the lake, refused to risk his ships in any attack against Kingston.

Wilkinson's force left Sackett's Harbor in 300 batteaux and other small craft on 17 October, bound at first for Grenadier Island at the head of the St. Lawrence. Mid October was very late in the year for serious campaigning in the Canadas and the American force was hampered by bad weather, losing several boats and suffering from sickness and exposure. It took several days for the last stragglers to reach Grenadier Island. On 1 November, the first boats set out from the island, and reached French Creek (near present day Clayton, New York) on 4 November. Here, the first shots of the campaign were fired. British brigs and gunboats under Commander William Mulcaster had left Kingston to rendezvous with and escort batteaux and canoes carrying supplies up the Saint Lawrence. The aggressive Mulcaster bombarded the American anchorages and encampments during the evening. The next morning, American artillerymen under Lieutenant Colonel Moses Porter drove him away, using hastily heated "hot shot". From French Creek, Wilkinson proceeded down the river. On 6 November, while at the settlement of Hoags, he received the news that Hampton had been repulsed at the Chateauguay River on 26 October. He sent fresh instructions to Hampton to march westward from his present position at Four Corners, New York and meet him at Cornwall. This delaying skirmish helped the Canadian forces bolster their defences and gave extra time for preparation in Cornwall. On the following day (9 November), Wilkinson held a council of war. All his senior officers appeared to be determined to proceed with the expedition, regardless of the difficulties and alarming reports of enemy strength. The advance guard was reinforced with the 2nd Brigade (6th, 15th and 22nd U. S. infantry) under Brigadier General Jacob Brown, who took command of the force which numbered 2.500. Brown's force marched eastward along the northern bank of the river, clearing a small British garrison from Fort Matilda, at the river's narrowest point. Before the main body could follow by water, Wilkinson learned that a British force was pursuing him. He landed almost all the other troops as a rearguard, under Brigadier General John Parker Boyd. Late on 10 November, after a day spent marching under intermittent fire from British gunboats and field guns, Wilkinson set up his headquarters in Cook's Tavern, with Boyd's troops bivouacked in the surrounding woods.

The British had been aware of the American concentration at Sackett's Harbor, but for a long time they had believed, with good reason, that their own main naval base at Kingston was the intended target of Wilkinson's force. Major General Francis de Rottenburg, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, had massed his available troops there. When Mulcaster returned from French Creek late on 5 November with news that the Americans were heading down the Saint Lawrence, de Rottenburg dispatched a Corps of Observation after them, in accordance with orders previously issued by Governor General Sir George Prevost. The corps initially numbered 650 men, and was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison, the commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, the 89th Regiment. They were embarked in the schooners Beresford and Sir Sydney Smith, accompanied by seven gunboats and several small craft, all commanded by Mulcaster. They departed from Kingston in thick weather late on 7 November and evaded the ships of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, which were blockading the base, among the Thousand Islands at the head of the Saint Lawrence River. On 9 November, they reached Prescott, where the troops disembarked as the schooners could proceed no farther (although Mulcaster continued to accompany them with three gunboats and some batteaux). Morrison was reinforced by a detachment of 240 men from the garrison of Prescott, for a total strength of about 900 men.

As dawn broke on 11 November, it was cold and raining, though the rain later eased. Firing broke out in two places. On the river, Mulcaster's gunboats began shooting at the American boats clustered around Cook's Point, while a Mohawk fired a shot at an American party scouting near their encampment, who replied with a volley. (though some sources put the figure at 4,000).

Boyd did not order an assault until the middle of the afternoon. On the American right, the 21st U. S. Infantry under Colonel Eleazer Wheelock Ripley advanced and drove the British skirmish line back through the woods, for almost a mile. Here they paused, and were joined by the 12th and 13th U. S. Infantry from Coles' brigade. Meanwhile, Covington's brigade struggled across the ravine and deployed into line, under musket and shrapnel fire. Legend has it that at this point, Covington mistook the battle hardened 49th Regiment in their grey greatcoats for Canadian Militia and called out to his men, "Come on, my lads! Let us see how you will deal with these militiamen!" A moment later, he was mortally wounded. His second in command took over, only to be killed almost immediately. The brigade quickly lost order and began to retreat. It was now about half past four. Almost all of the American army was in full retreat. The 25th U. S. Infantry under Colonel Edmund P. Gaines and the collected boat guards under Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Upham held the ravine for a while, but Pearson threatened to get around their left flank, and they, too, fell back.

Although the British casualties were reported in Morrison's despatches as 22 killed, 148 wounded and 9 missing, it has been demonstrated that a further nine men were killed and an additional four men were missing, No figures were given for men missing or captured but the official return notes that three of the sixteen officers listed as wounded were also captured. The number of American prisoners taken was initially reported as "upwards of 100" by Morrison but he wrote that more were still being brought in. The final tally was 120. Most of these were severely wounded men who had been left on the field but fourteen unwounded enlisted men were captured after trying to hide in a swamp. A Canadian who rode across the battlefield on the morning of 12 November remembered it being "covered with Americans killed and wounded".

On 12 November, the sullen American flotilla successfully navigated the Long Sault rapids. That evening, they reached a settlement known as Barnhardt's, 3 mile (5 km) above Cornwall, where they rendezvoused with Brown's detachment. There was no sign of Hampton's force, but Colonel Henry Atkinson, one of Hampton's staff officers, brought Hampton's reply to Wilkinson's letter of 6 November. Hampton stated that a shortage of supplies had forced him to retire to Plattsburgh. Wilkinson used this as pretext to call another council of war, which unanimously opted to end the campaign. The defeat of the American forces at the Battle of Crysler's Farm and, on 26 October, at the Battle of the Chateauguay, ended the American threat to Montreal in the late fall of 1813, and with it the risk that Canada would be cut into two parts. The army went into winter quarters at French Mills, 7 mile (11 km) from the Saint Lawrence, but the roads were almost impassable in this season, and Wilkinson was also forced by a lack of supplies and sickness among his army to retreat to Plattsburg. He was later dismissed from command shortly after a failed attack on a British outpost at Lacolle Mills. He subsequently faced a court martial on various charges of negligence and misconduct during the St. Lawrence Campaign, but was exonerated when most of the government's witnesses refused to testify. On the British side, Mulcaster was promoted to post captain to take command of a frigate but lost a leg in 1814 during the Raid on Fort Oswego, ending his active career. Morrison also was severely wounded later in 1814 at the Battle of Lundy's Lane. Morrison, Harvey and Pearson all eventually became generals, as did Major James B. Dennis, who commanded the militia which fought Brown at Hoople's Creek.