The Battle of Fort Erie: Morale and Misery
Fort Erie lies at the head of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side directly opposite Buffalo, New York. The Americans had taken the fort in early July and the British, under the overall leadership of Lt. Gen. Gordon Drummond, spent the next month preparing to take it back. The British force, including the de Wattevilles, had been brought in from all over southern Upper Canada. They worked steadily to construct artillery batteries to support the assault.
An excerpt of the Suttling Booth, 1808. Etching with aquatint. Artist: John Augustus Atkinson and John Hill after John Augustus Atkinson. Published by William Miller and James Walker. London. 1 January 1808. National Army Museum (UK) online collection.
The weather had been miserable all summer and the men had to bivouac in the woods under constant rain. They were beset by illness and short of rations and comforts. Morale had reached a low point by August 15, when the order was given for an attack that night.
It was rather a bivouac than a camp, the troops sheltering themselves under some branches of trees that only collected scattered drops of rain, and sent them down in a stream on the heads of the inhabitants…neither clothes nor bedding could be kept dry.
– Assistant Surgeon William Dunlop, 89th Foot