The Battle of Lundy's Lane

On the 3rd of July an American army of 2,500 led by Major General Jacob Brown crossed the Niagara River. They advanced quickly, capturing Fort Erie and beating off initial British resistance at the Battle of Chippewa. Brown reach Fort George but did not have the forces to immediately take it or properly besiege it. British naval control of Lake Ontario allowed for both British reinforcements to be sent from York (now Toronto) and simultaneously constricted Brown's options, especially regarding the heavy guns he needed to take Fort George.

Strategically, Brown was in a bind - if he advanced without taking Fort George the British forces in it could sever his supply lines south. The British control of the lake meant that the fort's garrison could be easily reinforced and become even more dangerous, potentially cutting him off from any retreat. He could not force the garrison to come out and fight. Even if he did and won the survivors could easily flee back inside and he would be back to square one, but now with even less men (as well as burdened with wounded), still no heavy guns to take the fort - and still facing the same strategic issues. Brown took stock and made a simple decision - fall back to the Niagara and maneuver for an open battle. The British, led by Maj. Gen. Phineas Riall, followed close behind him, maintaining contact with his rear guard as they rushed reinforcements into the area.

His army now numbering about 3,000 Riall advanced towards the Niagara River. Riall attempted to bluff Brown into a proper retreat but Brown instead turned back north and again threatened Fort George. Riall decided to fall back and consolidated his forces. However, Gordon Drummond, the Lt. Governor of the entire province, had travelled from York (Toronto) to join Riall and now directly countermanded him - they would stand and fight the Americans at the Niagara. Drummond took overall command, with Riall in tactical control of his troops.

As was common for the time and area a portage road ran along the Niagara river itself. On July 25th Riall identified some good rising ground on Lundy's Lane, a side track off the main Niagara portage road and led the army into position along the ridge. Brown was nearby but neither army knew exactly where the other was.

An American brigade under Winfield Scott probed forward from Brown's positions and blundered into the open in perfect range for the British artillery. 24 lb iron balls chopped terrible gaps through Scott's men and he quickly retreated back into the forest. Despite the cost the Americans now knew where the British were and Scott promptly sent the 25th Infantry Brigade on an outflanking march towards the British left.

The 25th fell upon some British Regulars and Canadian Militia as they were redeploying and drove them back towards the main British army, managing to also capture Maj. Gen. Riall himself. Scotts excellent tactical acumen threatened the entire flank of the British army yet he did not have enough troops to fully exploit his success. Even so, Scott maintained his pressure against steadier and steadier British resistance. Although suffering increasing casualties Scott was keep the British in place, tying them down as the rest of the American army rushed to join him.

Drummond was now in sole command of the British army. Although lacking Riall's finesse and ability he was experienced enough to nonetheless quickly consolidated his lines and general position. However, he inexplicably left his central artillery exposed, forward of the main infantry line.

By late afternoon Scott's forces were almost spent but by now Brown had joined him with the main body. Brown threw a diversionary attack against Drummond's right wing, at the opposite end of the British line from Scott's attack. Although the British flank held, the attack diverted Drummond's attention from Brown's true intent - attack and capture the center of the ridge. This was a complete success - Brown's infantry shot down the British gun crews, advanced past the cannons, up the hill and captured the center of the ridge.

Where as Riall might have fallen back or maneuvered reserves into place, Drummond simply assembled every unit he could into a line and counter-attacked. The basic assault was somewhat successful, at least in preventing Brown from exploiting his initial tactical success, but Drummond's limited military insight led him to simply repeat the tactic without much adjustment, assault after assault, into the growing darkness, until midnight.

This tactic worked eventually, through sheer weight of British numbers, to force a stalemate - Brown could not advance further, the British could not push him off the ridge and both sides had suffered enormously. Dead and wounded covered the slopes between the two armies and everyone was utterly exhausted.

Brown knew he was still outnumbered, with no further reinforcements coming. He could not say the same for Drummond, who for all Brown knew could have more infantry on the way. Despite his tactical ability Brown had not defeated Drummond and a counter attack in the morning could easily cause his surviving forces to collapse. Brown's strategic weakness (no control of Lake Ontario) had now manifested as dangerous tactical disadvantages - no reinforcements, no further supplies and no means to evacuate the wounded to proper rear bases. Brown, despite dissent from some of his officers, ordered a retreat.

He was able get away unmolested due to the heavy British casualties. Drummond's army was simply too depleted, too physically and mentally drained to mount an harassing attack. This was a direct consequence of Drummond's simplistic approach to the battle the night before, throwing in even his light troops into the main assaults. This now meant he had no available infantry to follow up his success, and by extension allowed Brown to keep his army together and under control, preventing the Battle of Lundy's Lane from being more than locally decisive.

Despite Drummond's losses he both still outnumbered Brown and held the strategic advantage. Brown continued to fall back and despite further maneuvers the summer's campaign on the Niagara peninsula had been decided.

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