Just in Time for Halloween, Haunted Buffalo-- Part 1: Old County Hall's Dismembered Apparitions

From the October 28, 2020, Buffalo (NY) Rising "Haunted History: Old County Hall is at the center of Buffalo's most dramatic moments" by Daniel Lendzian.

THE WAR OF 1812

The Old County Hall is the site where Colonel Cyrenius Chapin surrendered  the village of Buffalo to the British on December 10, 1813, to British Lieutenant General  Gordon Drummond after American Brigadier General George McClure abandoned the village saying, "They may all be destroyed, and I don't care how soon."  (Nice guy.)

Drummond rejected Chapin's authority to surrender and proceeded to burn the village in retaliation for the American burning  of the British settlement Newark (Niagara-On-the-Lake) and previously having burned the Canadian provincial capital of York (now Toronto).

Much business is still done at the building today, especially in the basement.  Accordingly, every so many years there will be many people down there waiting for appointments and they will all come running up the stairs saying they had seen something that scared them.

They described apparitions as human bodies missing limbs.  Was the County Hall a burying ground?

Like Boo!!  --Brock-Perry

Steps of a Traitor, Joseph Willcocks-- Part 3: The Burning of Newark

The Americans abandoned Fort George on December 10, 1813,   Near Fort George was the town of Newark where Joseph Willcocks had  lived and printed his controversial newspaper  for six years.

Following orders from the American officer in charge of the fort,  and upon Willcocks' urging, Brigadier General George McClure, the Americans forcibly removed the residents of Newark, mostly the young and old women and children and forced them out into the snow and freezing weather.  There were about 400 people who suffered this.

Then Willcocks and his raiders and other Americans, burned  around 150 homes to the ground, leaving just three buildings standing.  The townspeople were forced to cope as well as they could in the freezing temperatures and 2-3-foot snow drifts.

In one situation, Willcocks ordered two men to forcibly remove a sickly woman, bed and all, and deposit her in the snow.  Earlier that year, he had sent her husband, William Dickson, stateside as a prisoner.  While she was being taken out, Willcocks personally set fire to the two-story home.

After all the burnings, the Americans retreated across the Niagara River, with the Canadian Volunteers forming the rear guard.  They crossed just as the British and Canadians under Lt. General Sir Gordon Drummond arrived on the scene.

--Brock-Perry

The Battle of Buffalo-- Part 2: An Earlier Action Preceding the Battle of Black Rock

Lt. General Gordon Drummond was newly appointed Lt. Governor of Upper Canada, and was planning an offensive against the American side of the Niagara River.

In the early morning hours of December 18, 1813, a force under Col. John Murray captured Fort Niagara.  Another force under Major General Phineas Riall raided the American side of the river and destroyed Lewiston, Youngstown, Manchester and Tuscarora as well as small settlements around Fort Schlosser.

U.S. troops halted Riall and he recrossed the Niagara River, but with the intentions of attacking Black Rock and Buffalo.  With him he had 965 British regulars, 50 Canadian militia and 400 natives.  To oppose him, American General Amos Hall had more soldiers, 2,011, but they were all militia.

Riall crossed the Niagara River around midnight December 29, 1813, two miles downstream (north) of Black Rock, and easily effected a landing, driving a few Americans away.  General Hall then sent militia to investigate the fighting, but they were quickly driven off.

--Brock-Perry

Amos Hall-- Part 2: Lost the Battle of Black Rock (Also Called the Battle of Buffalo)

Amos Hall's militia force was inexperienced, poorly trained and poorly equipped to face the veteran British soldiers who were coming at them.  (However, Hall had been their commander so has to take some of the blame for their being poorly trained.)

Meanwhile, in Canada, Lt. General Sir Gordon Drummond was planning attacks on Buffalo and nearby Black Rock in retaliation for American General George McClure's destruction of Newark in Upper Canada a short time earlier.

By December 28, 1813, Amos Hall had deployed his American militia units inside of and along the periphery of Black Rock.  That night, British troops crossed the Shogeoquady Creek and Hall's militia fled.  American losses in the action amounted to around 800, most of whom had deserted or were in hiding.

Not a very good effort on the American side for this action.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Sir George Provost Relieved of Office

MARCH 2ND, 1815:  Sir George provost is relieved of his office as Governor-in-Chief of British North America; replaced by Gordon Drummond.  he had served in that position since July 15, 1815.  because of the debacle at the Battle of Lake Champlain, he will be asked to explain his actions at a court martial in England, but dies before he is due to appear.

--Brock-Perry

Gordon Drummond-- Part 2

Gordon Drummond, unlike Isaac Brock, ruled through intimidation with executions imprisonment of anyone suspected of having American ties, but other than that was respectful of citizens' rights other than that.

Drummond was always pressing Governor General Sir George Prevost for reinforcements.  Prevost liked to keep many troops at Quebec City despite it rarely being threatened.

By the end of te winter 1813-1814, Drummond's campaigning had driven the Americans from the Niagara Frontier

In July 1814, Drummond led his troops from York to Fort George which campaign resulted in the inconclusive Battle of Lundy's Lane., but the British retained control of the road.  Drummond was seriously wounded in the neck at this battle.

On 14 August he had the failed attack on Fort Erie with big losses and in September was forced to withdraw.

--Brock-Perry

Gordon Drummond-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Born 27 September 1772.  Died 10 October 1854.  First Canadian-born officer in command of its militia and civilian governor of the country.

He distinguished himself on the Niagara Front and later became Governor General and Administrator of Canada.

Born in Quebec City and entered the British Army in 1789.  saw service in the Mediterranean, then Ulster before being sent to Upper Canada as lieutenant governor in late 1813..  Drummond proved to be as aggressive a hero as Isaac Brock.  In December, he launched a surprise attack on Fort Niagara and captured it.

--Brock-Perry

Penetanguishene Road Steeped in History-- Part 3

Impetus to the road really picked up with the War of 1812 and the fall of Detroit.  With supplies cit, Fort Michilmackinac began to starve.  Gordon Drummond saw the urgency of building the new road.

The planned road would be 30 miles long and it was estimated that it would take 200 men at least three weeks to build it.

In December 1814, William Dunlop was pl;aced in charge of the project.  When finished, it was not much of a road by today's standards.  It was uneven, stump-ridden and essentially impassable in heavy rain.

Even so, this road which was originally built for military purposes, promoted settlement in Huronia.

On the Lake Simcoe end of it, a village originally named Kempenfelt (now northeast Barrie) began in 1819.

The Story of a Road.  --Brock-Perry

Ontario's Highway 93: Penetanguishene Road

From Wikipedia.

King's Highway 93, provincially maintained in Ontario is located entirely in Simcoe County, all 14.9 miles of it.

It follows the Penetanguishene Road, an early colonization road built to connect Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay.  It provides an overland route from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario via Yonge Street.

Prior to 1993, it was nearly 15 kilometers longer.

The Penetanguishene Road was built between 1814 and 1815 to the naval station established at Penetahnguishene.  Prior to that this base had been called the Penetanguishene Military Post.

It was surveyed in 1808 by Samuel Wilmot.  After the British capture of Fort Michilimackinac in 1812, there was a need for supplies.  The decision to cut the road was made in November 1814 by General Gordon Drummond and completed the following spring, but too late for use during the war.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago Today: Americans Blow Up Fort Erie

NOVEMBER 5TH, 1814:  American forces blow up Fort Erie, Upper Canada, and withdraw to Buffalo, New York.

On this date, general Izard's forces mined Fort Erie and set off a series of blasts to destroy the much-fought-over fort.

British General Drummond's scouts arrive shortly after to find the fort's walls destroyed, buildings ablaze and Izard's Army, suffering from severe food shortages, across the Niagara River and in winter quarters in Buffalo.

Drummond's Army then secured the Niagara Frontier.

And, After All That Fighting for the Fort.  --Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Battle of Cook's Mills, Upper Canada

OCTOBER 19, 1814:  After ending the unsuccessful siege of Fort Erie, British Lieutenant-General and Lieutenant Governor Gordon Drummond withdrew his forces to a position to protect Chippawa Creek.  U.S, Major General George Izzard followed Drummond, but did not attack the British defenses.

Learning of a supply of wheat at Cook's Mills, Izzard sent a force under Brigadier General Daniel Bissell to Lyon's Creek where he clashed with a smaller British detachment commanded by Lt.Col. Christopher Myers.  The larger American force drove the British back and burned the mills.

Outnumbered, General Drummond refused to be drawn into a major battle.  This was the final confrontation on the Niagara River frontier during the War of 1812.

An End to One Area of Conflict.  --Brock-Perry

British Night Attack on Fort Erie Fails

AUGUST 15TH, 1814:  On the night of 15 August, after an ineffective two-day bombardment, a British force commanded by Lt.-Governor Gordon Drummond stormed American-held Fort Erie.

Drummond sent three separate columns forward in the rain.  The attackers failed to surprise the Americans, and were unable to coordinate their attack properly in the dark.  Two of the columns were driven back with heavy losses.

The third column led by Lt.Colonel William Drummind (relative?) captured the fort's northeast bastion but were unable to advance farther, even though they turned a cannon around to fire on the Americans inside.

William Drummond was killed and the massive powder magazine below the bastion blew up.  The hideous explosion slaughtered the attackers and ended the assault.  The British lost over 900 men.

--Brock-Perry