Vincent J. Curtis
5 Feb 25
STONEY CREEK – (Special to Esprit de Corps): After a desperate night attack by British forces upon the invading American army, the Yanks have withdrawn to Grimsby, and left the battlefield in British possession.
After losing Fort George on May 27, British forces (Brig-Gen Jn Vincent commanding) withdrew to a position on the Burling Heights at the head of the Lake, disbanding militia units along the way. One brigade of Americans, (Brig-Gen Wm Winder commanding), pursued Vincent as far as Grimsby, where he halted and awaited reinforcements. Winder was joined by a second brigade, Brig-Gen Jn Chandler, commanding. This division advanced to Stoney Creek; and, on June 5th, halted at the farm of the Gage family. The plain object of the invaders was the capture of York.
Lt-Col Jn Harvey was dispatched by Gen Vincent to reconnoiter the invaders’ camp, returning with both a plan and the password. Harvey proposed a surprise night attack as the means of repulsing the American force, which greatly outnumbered the British and had a stronger artillery arm. Vincent agreed, and placed Harvey in command of the operation. Thus, a British force consisting of five companies of the 1/8 (King’s) Regt of Foot, the 49th Regt of Foot, approx. 700 men were to hurl themselves against a force five times their strength. Noteworthy among the gallant 700 were 30 militiamen (Lincoln, York, Oxford & others), and 12 native allies.
The gallant 700 was guided from Burlington Heights to their attack position by Mr. Wm Green, a local lad familiar with the terrain, the location, and the lay-out of the camp. Our fortitudinous British departed at 23:30 o’clock. They followed the old Indian trail called locally, “The King’s Street”, tromping in silence over ten miles to reach Stoney Creek, where they saw the campfires of the unsuspecting invaders. A couple of native allies dealt with a sentry, silently, in their usual fashion involving bow, arrow, and tomahawk. Cheers of success cost us the element of complete surprise, and the attack went in noisily. The plan had been to bayonet the sleeping invaders in their tents; but now the alarm was raised, and, though in a state of confusion, the alerted invaders stood to arms.
The charge was initially successful; but the terrible disparity in numbers began to tell. The invaders had time to form ranks and direct their musketry in the direction of the of coming commotion; their artillery became effective, and their center held. At this desperate moment, the brilliance of Yankee generalship commenced to turn the tide in our favor. Attempting a maneuver at night, the invaders left his artillery exposed. The gallant 49th (Maj Chas. Plenderleath commanding) charged and captured two guns. The impulse of their charge carried the 49th into a surprised invader regiment (believed to be the 23rd U.S. Infantry Regt), and in the course of pursuing the flying 23rd, our boys encountered and captured no less a personage than the invading commander himself, Brig-Gen Chandler, Esq. Not to be outdone by his superior, Brig-Gen Winder surrendered himself to the self-same captor of Gen Chandler, Pte A. Fraser, leaving the invaders leaderless, and hapless.
Retreat in confusion began by regiments. Both generals now being guests of the 49th,
Yankee command fell to a Col Jas. Burn, who ordered a retreat, which didn’t arrest
until the flying invaders reached their old camp near Grimsby. In less than three-quarters of an hour an
invading force strong enough in daylight to brush aside resistance and capture
York, sure in its superiority, was knocked on the head and driven back, their
commanding generals and four artillery pieces held as prises de guerre
by a force a fifth of their size. At dawn, a victorious Col Harvey ordered his
troops to withdraw into the woods lest invader scouts ascertain how few were
the victors. When it was clear that the
invaders were at Grimsby, Harvey’s men embraced the hospitality of the camp the
invaders had so graciously left to them.
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