The Battle of Fort Erie: Bravery and Loss

A soldier, carrying a pike and with other soldiers, charges down a slope in the dark, shouting.

A re-enactor charges down a hill at Fort Erie. Sarah Brown, Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada for the Forty-first Regiment, fortyfirst.org.

Despite the miserable living conditions at Fort Erie, the de Watteville Regiment was ready.

When Colonel Fischer asked, many volunteered to be a “Forlorn Hope”. This is a small force whose mission is nearly suicidal, so dangerous that heavy casualties were likely.

Their efforts were undermined by an order to attack at night, only with bayonets. In addition, the Royal Engineers had erred. Their assault ladders were too short to scale the fort’s walls. Drummond doubted the abilities of these foreign soldiers and had unwittingly set them up to fail. Nevertheless, the de Watteville’s attacked several times, failing in each attempt. They retreated in the darkness, mixing with other oncoming troops. In the confusion, some men fell into the Niagara River and may have been swept away.

A coloured photograph of re-enactor soldiers in a ditch before a stone wall scrambling up a wooden ladder.

Re-enactors demonstrate a critical problem at the Siege of Fort Erie. Royal Engineers had miscalculated the height of ladders needed to scale the walls. Sarah Brown, Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada for the Forty-first Regiment, fortyfirst.org.

By the time the Battle of Fort Erie ended on August 16, the British had sustained heavy losses. Some 222 men were killed, including Anton Kassidka, of the Grand Duchy. 309 were wounded, and 360 captured – including half a dozen Lithuanians. Another 12 were missing, including Lithuanians Frantz Salosky, Anton Jatzowitz, and Jacob Borgossky.

Vintage coloured lithograph of roughly drawn American and British soldiers. The British are attacking up the rampart and are being repulsed by the Americans at the top. Wounded soldiers are at the base of the wall. At the bottom of the picture is printed: Repulsion of the British at Fort Erie. On the 15th of August 1814, at 2 O'Clock A.M. U.S. Military Magazine, Army and Navy, Vol 2nd. On the left side of the picture some Americans are identified by numbers over their heads: Capt. A.J. Williams, Lieut. McDonough, Lieut. Watmough. On the right are listed some British: Col. Drummond, Col. Scott, Midshipman Hyde.

Repulsion of the British at Fort Erie on the 15th of August, at 2 O”Clock A.M. Lithograph, James Queen. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection.

The Battle of Fort Erie: Morale and Misery Sinking Morale: The Fort Erie Sortie