smore
YaBB God
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
Posts: 515
|
CRYSLER FARM BURIALS (Morrisburg, Ontario)
200 American, British, and Canadian soldiers died at the Battle of Crysler’s Farm.
"In later years James Croil learned from local civilians that most of the [200 American, British, and Canadian] corpses [of the Battle of Crysler's Farm] were placed in shallow trenches, with fifty `buried in one huge grave, on a sand knoll close by the nine-mile road, fifteen in another grave in an orchard by the riverside, thirty on Sophrenus Casselman's farm, and the rest chiefly where they fell`. Into these pits went the bodies of Sergeant William Bell, Drummer John Coppin and others of the 49th Foot, including Private John Torrance, who would never see Kerry again, Corporal John Murphy and Private Michel Janvin of the Canadian Fencibles, Corporal James Kain from Morton Salop in England and Private George Rose from Cork in Ireland, who were laid with their comrades of the 89th Foot, while Lieutenant David Hunter of the Twelfth Infantry was buried in one of the trenches excavated for the blue-uniformed American corpses, far from his home in Virginia. Nairne of the 49th was buried in a wooden coffin hastily knocked together but before it was closed Plenderleath cut off a lock of his hair to send to his family at Murray Bay. These mass burials were hasty affairs and Croil notes that the `hurried sepulture is attested' by many `skeletons having been turned up by the plough' in the years following the battle."(1)
“So complete is the destruction wrought by the Seaway that it is difficult, if not impossible, to stand on that mound and get any sense of the ground as it was in 1813. Almost half the original battlefield is under water, while the remainder has been disturbed by massive “land forming” that includes the elevation on which you are standing. Somewhere beneath the water in front of you are the graves of about two hundred Americans, Britons and Canadians, who, in the words of the old soldier’s song quoted above, will see ‘Lochaber no more.’ But it is still hard to comprehend that you are on a battlefield because everything has changed.”(2)
(1) Graves, Donald E., Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler's Farm, 1813, Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, 1999, pp. 272-273
(2) Ibid, p. 344
___________________
“The following is an extract from Gen. Wilkinson’s official account of the events of the 11th of November:
…Killed.--Subalterns 3; sergeants 7; corporals 3; musicians 1; privates 88; total 102.
Wounded.--Brigadier general 1; assistant adjutant general 1; aid-de-camp 1; colonel 1; major 1; captains 5; subalterns 6; sergeants 9; corporals 13; musicians 1; privates 198; total 237. Total killed and wounded, 339.
Names of the commissioned officers killed and wounded.--Killed, Lieut. Wm W. Smith, of the light artillery; Lieutenant David Hunter, of the 12th regiment of infantry; Lieutenant Edward Olmstead, 15th do., do.”
“Wounded.--Brig. Gen. Leonard Covington, mortally, (since dead); Major Talbot Chambers, assistant adjutant general, slightly; Maj. Darby Noon, aid-de-camp to Brigadier Gen. Swartwout, slightly; Colonel James P. Preston, of the 23d regiment infantry, severely, his right thigh fractured; Major W. Cummings, 8th regiment, severely; Captain Edward Foster, 9th do., slightly; Captain David S. Townsend, do. do., severely, (taken prisoner); Captain Mordecai Myers, 13th do., severely; Captain John Campbell, do., slightly; Captain John B. Murdoc, 25th do., slightly; Lieut. Wm. S. Heaton, 11th do., severely; Lieut. John Williams, 23d, do., slightly; Lieut. John Lynch, do. severely, (taken prisoner); Lieutenant Peter Pelham, 21st do., severely, (taken prisoner); Lieutenant James D. Brown, 25th do., slightly; Lieut. Archibald C. Crary, do. do., severely, in the skirmish the day before the action.”
A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Franklin B. Hough, A.M., M.D., corresponding member of the New York Historical Society, Regional Publishing Company, Baltimore, c1970, pages 645-646
“British Official Account of the Battle, dated LaChine, 15th Nov. 1813.”
…“It is with deep regret that Lieut. Col. Morrison transmit’s a list of casualties, containing the loss of several brave soldiers, but when the unequal contest, and the quadruple loss of the enemy, and the importance of this splendid victory are considered, the comparative British loss will appear less than might reasonably be expected.
[The particular returns of the several corps are omitted.]
Total.--1 captain, 2 drummers, and 19 rank and file, killed; 1 captain, 9 subalterns, 6 sergeants, and 131 rank and file wounded; twelve rank and file missing.
Names of Officers killed and wounded.-- 49th regiment, Capt. Nairne, killed; Lieut. Jones, wounded dangerously; Lieut. Clans, wounded, left leg amputated; Lieut. Morton, wounded severely, not dangerously; Lieut. Richmond, wounded slightly.
89th regiment-- Capt. Brown, wounded severely, not dangerously; Ensign Leaden, wounded slightly.
49th flank company-- Lieut. Holland, wounded severely.
Canadien Fencibles-- Lieut. Delorimiere, wounded dangerously, since dead; Lieut. Armstrong, wounded dangerously.
By his Excellency’s command,
Edward Bayner, Adj. Gen., N.A.”
A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Franklin B. Hough, A.M., M.D., corresponding member of the New York Historical Society, Regional Publishing Company, Baltimore, c1970, pages 646-647.
___________________
“The remains of Brigadier General Leonard Covington and Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Dix, who died from wounds received during the battle of Crysler’s Farm, along with those of Colonel James Preston, who died from illness, were moved from Fort Covington to Sackets Harbor in 1820. They were re-interred at Madison Barracks, the peacetime military post established at that place, apparently near the remains of Brigadier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, killed during the attack on York in April 1813. A wooden monument surmounted by a funeral urn was erected with names of the officers carved on it, but by 1860 when Covington’s son-in-law visited Sackets Harbor, this monument had almost disintegrated. In 1886, at the direction of General Phil Sheridan, an impressive stone monument to Pike and Covington was constructed in the new garrison cemetery but it is unclear whether the remains of the officers were actually transferred to this cemetery although some of the stone markers from the older cemetery appear to have been shifted. In 1943 the army left Madison Barracks, which passed into civilian hands. In 1989, a small memorial was erected near what may be the original site of the graves of the two generals but it does not bear their name, nor those of the officers who were buried with them. It is sad that two of the most meritorious generals of the northern army may be lying somewhere on the grounds of Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor in what are virtually unmarked graves. (17)”
Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, 1813, Donald E. Graves, Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, c1999, pages 322-323.
__________
General Dix, Secretary of the Treasury, United States Senator and Governor of New York, Died April 21, 1879
John Adams Dix was born in Boseawen, N.H., July 24, 1798. He graduated from Brown University, and completed his studies in a French college in Montreal. He entered the army as a cadet at the outbreak of the War of 1812, and was an aide to his father, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Dix at Fort McHenry…
Young Dix studied law in the army, and as his father died heroically at Chrysler’s Field, Captain Dix assumed the care of his mother and her nine children…
Today’s Story in New York History by Federick A. Godcharles
April 21, 1926
Oswego Palladium-Times
|
Home
Help
Search
Members
Login
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print
Author
Quote
Modify
IP Logged