Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 11

The Battle of Châteauguay

by Victor J. H. Suthren

Preliminary American Moves

American campaigns of the first year of the war left little but a sense of failure in American minds. The wise who realized the necessity of naval and river superiority had not entirely overcome the illusory idea that a "mere matter of marching" would put Canada in American hands. The unwieldy four-pronged general assault of 1812 ended in disaster at Detroit, defeat at Queenston, and varying degrees of disappointment along the St. Lawrence and Richelieu. The end of the year saw no American forces in command of Canadian soil.¹

It is unlikely that strategists on either side missed coming rapidly to the obvious conclusions about control of the water transport routes; clamour in the United States revolved around obtaining more effective leadership. The somewhat ineffective secretary of war, William Eustis, resigned on 3 December 1812, and was temporarily replaced by Secretary of State James Monroe. The man eventually chosen for the job, the energetic John Armstrong of New York, took office in February 1813, and by the tenth of that month was already ordering to Sackets Harbor, sufficient troops for a joint attack with Niagara forces on Kingston, York, or Fort George-Fort Erie, with priorities in that order.²

Armstrong also began to rearrange his field staff. Wade Hampton, who had been confirmed as major general in March 1813 after returning to military life five years previously, was given command of the Norfolk defences. A somewhat abler officer, George Izard, received the responsibility for the defences of New York. Both men figured in Armstrong's plan for the fall campaign, though none more so than a third officer, the New Orleans commander, Major General James Wilkinson, who received orders transferring him to Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario in March 1813.³ Armstrong appears to have had a clearer picture of the necessity of moving against the St. Lawrence than had Eustis; accordingly, on 23 July 1813, he formally presented President Madison with a plan for the assembly of a striking force under Wilkinson at Sackets Harbor, preparatory to an assault on Kingston. This attempt was to be accompanied by a secondary attack via the Champlain valley under Major General Hampton. Montreal was selected as an alternative to Kingston as target for a joint attack, with the commanding general to be at liberty to select which alternative he preferred, "to be determined by circumstances."⁴

Wilkinson's comments on the Montreal attack and fears as to the strength of the Kingston garrison led Armstrong to suggest that, while Kingston be considered the primary target, it could certainly be attacked "indirectly" in line with the suggested joint assault with Hampton on Montreal. In addition, Armstrong informed Wilkinson that he had ordered Hampton to proceed to Burlington, Vermont, there to organize his army. Hampton was to be under Wilkinson's orders and work with him in prosecution of the plan of the campaign "which has been given you." Arriving at Sackets Harbor on 20 August, Wilkinson began to assemble a 7,000-strong force, while Hampton, annoyed at subordination to Wilkinson and vowing to resign at the close of the campaign, proceeded to amass a slightly smaller force at Burlington.⁵

Hampton's army has been set at 5,520 infantry, 180 cavalry, and an artillery battery of "eight 6 pounders, one 12, and one howitzer, tolerably appointed, and found." Units making up this force are listed as comprising the 4th United States Infantry Regiment; detachments of the 5th, 10th, 29th, 31st, 33rd and 34th United States Infantry Regiments; a squadron of the 2nd United States Light Dragoons; a detachment of the United States Light Artillery Regiment, and numbers of an unidentified New York militia unit. Indeed, what militia units were involved remains a mystery, with the possible exception of a company of 109 men under Captain Nathaniel Benson of Little Falls, New York, mentioned as present at Châteauguay.⁶

At the beginning of September, Wilkinson travelled to Niagara to draw troops for his own force. Plans to begin the campaign on 25 September were delayed, however, when Wilkinson became ill. Nevertheless, Armstrong continued preparations until Wilkinson could return. Hampton. soothed somewhat by Armstrong's diplomacy, received and agreed to orders on 20 September to be ready to move on Canada from Plattsburg, New York.⁷

Brought up on the frontier in Virginia and South Carolina, Wade Hampton served meritoriously in the American Revolution under General Thomas Sumter. His parents and much of his family had been murdered in their home by Cherokees, a calamity Hampton escaped by chance. In the period between the wars, Hampton undertook several public responsibilities, among them membership in the Constitutional Convention, a seat in the Virginia legislature, several terms as a United States congressman and service as a presidential elector in 1801. Throughout these years, Hampton maintained his military connections. In 1808, he received a colonelcy and was made brigadier general in 1809, serving as commander of the Norfolk defenses until commissioned as major general and appointed to the northern campaign in 1813. His civilian life had been occupied with acquiring large and lucrative plantation holdings as well as achieving political status.⁸

A succinct description of Hampton pictures him as a man whose

many political and military responsibilities had not kept him from advancing his private interests. He had the qualities which made for success in the South Carolina up-country; energy, foresight, and the frontiersman's attitude toward land; that is, the will to possess without an over scrupulous regard for the means of acquiring possession.⁹

George Izard, his subordinate at Châteauguay, was a South Carolinian of "gentle" birth. His father had been a close friend of George Washington. Izard received a broad education and made the European tour. Between 1794 and 1803, he served as an officer of artillery, resigning to undertake military studies in England and France. In 1812 he received a colonelcy in the 2nd United States Artillery, and in 1813 was appointed brigadier general. After his competent performance at Châteauguay, Izard was appointed major general and some years later, in 1825, became the governor of Arkansas Territory. He died in that office on 22 November 1828. Of him has been written,

He was a man of fine physique and commanding presence. In his manners he evinced a consciousness of his commanding position, but was affable and agreeable in his intercourse with the humblest citizen.... He was eccentric in some respects, and viewed life from a matter-of-fact standpoint.¹⁰

James Wilkinson appears to have been an individual who owed the success of his career more to a political nimbleness than an unquenchable integrity. The animosity between him and Hampton may have sprung from the taint of intrigue which hung about Wilkinson, or from a simple jealous rivalry largely over political influence. The roots of this ill-feeling are obscure.

General Hampton's refusal to cooperate with his rival General Wilkinson, as some histories have it, was in order to foil what he thought was some kind of treachery or conspiracy. The idea seems to be that Wilkinson ordered him to make certain moves so that the entire United States force could be capitulated. This theory seems to make sense since, General Wilkinson was involved in one conspiracy after another, starting with the Conway Cabal of 1777 which sought to undercut General Washington and have him removed from command. It is recorded that he treasonably attempted to detach Kentucky from the Union and ally it with Spain. He was implicated in the Burr conspiracy and courtmartialled, but acquitted.¹¹

The true nature of the Hampton-Wilkinson animosity invites further research; for the purposes of the campaign of 1813, it was a factor which influenced the decision Wade Hampton would have to make, a decision of crucial importance to Canada and the defenders along the course of the Châteauguay River.

The other important field officer of the American force present at Châteauguay was Colonel Robert Purdy, of the 4th United States Infantry Regiment. Purdy was a native of Pennsylvania and entered the army as an ensign of infantry in the augmentation of the U.S. army which occurred in March, 1792. With the organization of the Legion of the United States under Major General Anthony Wayne, Ensign Purdy was assigned to the 4th Sublegion in September of 1792. On 19 April 1793 he was promoted to lieutenant. Although not mentioned in ac counts of the Battle of Fallen Timbers, 20 August 1794, Purdy may have been in garrison in one of the forts along the communications line to the rear. During the army reorganization of 1 November 1796 Purdy remained with the 4th Sublegion, which became the 4th United States Infantry. He became a captain on 3 March 1799. Although retained when the army was reduced in 1802, Purdy left the army for civilian life, returning again in 1809 to take the position of lieutenant colonel of the 7th Infantry. On 26 August 1812 Purdy was promoted to the colonelcy of the 4th Infantry, and joined that regiment for the 1813 campaign. In May 1815, he was not selected for retention and received an honourable discharge from the army.¹²

The slow-moving preparations at Sackets Harbor and the head of the St. Lawrence were galvanised by inaccurate but startling reports that Yeo's British lake squadron was soon to put into Kingston with a large force of troops brought from Burlington Bay. Wilkinson began to move his advance troops to Grenadier Island at the end of September, and Hampton readied his force for action. The news of Yeo's reinforcement consolidated the American plan. Overriding a suggestion by Wilkinson that Hampton's army be brought up to join in a mass assault on Kingston, Armstrong pressed Wilkinson, by written order, into commencing an immediate descent upon Montreal.¹³

Hampton was informed by letter on 16 October of Wilkinson's impending march, and received clear orders to "approach the mouth of the Châteauguay, or other point which shall better favour our junction, and hold the enemy in check."¹⁴ With this order Hampton received word to put his army in motion toward that extraordinary engagement of which Major (later Major General) John E. Wool, U.S. 29th Infantry Regiment, would later say, "No officer who had any regard for his reputation would voluntarily acknowledge himself as having been engaged in it."¹⁵