?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(WAR OF 1812.) Manuscript account of the Battle of the Châteauguay and more. 4 manuscript pages (numbered 9-12), 12 1/4 x 7 inches, on 2 leaves; folds, worn with occasional fading and text loss but generally legible, lacking the first 8 pages and the conclusion. No place, circa 1815
This fragmentary manuscript account offers a fresh participant's perspective on the failed effort to capture Montreal in the St. Lawrence Campaign, as well as the subsequent defense of Plattsburgh. It is written with passion and flair.
Two American forces headed north to attack the city from different directions. Our anonymous author was an officer serving under Major General Wade Hampton, heading north from Plattsburgh, NY. Reaching a British fort on the banks of the River Châteauguay, Hampton split his forces into two divisions to flank the defenders, but both divisions were crushed and forced to retreat in the 26 October 1813 Battle of the Châteauguay.
Setting the stage for the battle, our narrator notes that the British Lieutenant General Sir George Prévost recognized the threat to Montreal, so he "himself here commanded, for he well knew that [upon] the successful defence of this village, the safety of his rich & beautiful city depended." Hampton's Second Division, with the element of surprise, began well: the British "could not resist the impetuosity of the brave reg'ts in the attack & his left gave way & retrieted thro the pass. His right fearing its annihilation retreated also in great disorder, leaving many killed wounded and prisoners." Then Hampton looked for the expected flanking aid from the First Division under Colonel Purdy. The standard battle account has the Purdy's division becoming lost in an exhausting muddy night march. This narrative paints Purdy in a less flattering light. At the crucial moment in the battle, "If Col. Purdy had obeyed his orders such a victory would that day have been atchieved. . . . On the opposite side of the river! it was now with extreme mortification that we observed Col. Purdy, in direct violation of the orders he had rec'd, had not advanced within twenty-four hours than the 2nd Division had in twelve. He had permitted his men to sit down (just before we attacked the enemy) and eat their dinners! When we began the attack, we perceived them emerging from the woods, some without arms, to be spectators of the scene!" Both divisions were soon routed, and marched south in a humiliating retreat, their dreams of Montreal crushed: "The army sufferd much on this march, having no tents were obliged to lay down on the snow. Many a poor soldier met their death in consequence of such severe marches." Our narrator, in addition to his denunciation of Colonel Purdy, also notes the well-known hostility between the two American Major Generals who were supposed to be working jointly toward Montreal: "Had Hampton laying aside folly & pride joined Wilkinson and proceeded against Montreal, cooperating with each other and furthering all in their power the public service with such a respectable army as they might have had, nothing could have opposed them. Quebec would have fallen. . . . Such an army and obliged to fly from Canada! Great God! To retreat with disgrace! And all owing to the damned feuds of its commanders! "
The narrative continues with the arrival in Plattsburgh, where Wilkinson soon took charge of the army. His abortive final assault on Montreal and its termination in the 30 March 1814 Battle of Lacolle Mills are briefly noted. Finally, the events leading up to the September 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh are described in detail. Here the tone is quite different, with the British assembling a mighty and haughty invasion force which would be stopped by a small and scrappy group of American defenders: "The enemy had just rec'd reinforcements of Invincible troops together with a new supply of his most scientific gen'ls from Wellingtons army in Spain & France who had recently conquered Napoleon! With such an army he thought to make Yankees flee like sheep before him, nor stop untill he had sniffed the waters of the Atlantic! He thought we should make turkey tracks here quick on his advance towards us with 14,000 Invincibles. But the result to us, how glorious, to him how unfortunate!" It concludes with General Prevost's over-confident plans to install military governors throughout New York and New England: "Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia & N. York cities were to fall, and with them the Nation!"
