History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
THE CROSSING OF THE FENIANS.
During the last two or three days of May, 1866, the telegraphic despatches brought rumours of bodies of men moving northward, along the various railroads leading to the lake borders. These men travelled, for the greater part, unarmed; and, if interrogated as to their destination, stated that they were going to California, to work in the mines. When they stated this intention while moving northward, they had some colour for their statements; but, when they continued the story after turning eastward from Cleveland, towards Buffalo, the impudence of the falsehood was unparalleled. On the 31st May, it was reported that large numbers of these men, whom no one doubted were Fenians, had arrived in Buffalo and had left there for some unknown point; but that it was supposed they had gone further east.
This information led to a belief that the design of the Fenians was to effect a crossing on the St. Lawrence, or in the Eastern Townships, and not at Fort Erie. There were many, however, who were not deceived by this. It had long been anticipated by those who took the trouble to think upon the matter, and by those who, contrary to the general opinion, believed that the Fenians intended to attack Canada, that Fort Erie would be the first and most likely place to be attacked. There were many reasons on which to ground such a belief. In the first place, it was absolutely necessary that the movement should be conducted with the greatest celerity and secrecy; and, it was therefore absolutely impossible to concentrate a large number of men in a country place or a small town, without attracting a great deal of attention, and without experiencing a great difficulty in feeding them. In a large city, on the other hand, like Buffalo, 2 or 3,000 men could be easily accommodated, without any difficulty, as to food; and without, to any great extent, inconveniencing the inhabitants, or even attracting their attention. Their numbers could be more carefully concealed, and their movements could not be so easily interfered with. In Buffalo there were more resident Fenians than in any of the border cities; and, the immense amount of shipping in the harbours of Buffalo and Black Rock, rendered it easy for the Fenians to procure the means of effecting a crossing, while the enormous amount of trade which is continually going on there, the active movements, hither and thither, of numberless canal boats, tugs, schooners, and steamers, employed on legitimate business, rendered it almost impossible for the United States authorities to search out and discover which particular boat, or set of boats, was engaged to carry over the Fenians.
Again: there were no Canadian or regular forces in Fort Erie, or within 50 miles of it; and, the chance of taking it, and pushing on, and destroying the Welland Canal, was a prospect that appealed strongly to their feelings. The destruction of the Welland Canal; or, at least, the suspension of traffic on it for a time, would be an enormous injury to Canada and her trade, while it would be a great advantage to Buffalo, inasmuch as the whole trade, or the greater part of what now finds its way to the sea by the Welland Canal, would be diverted to Buffalo, and through the Erie Canal to Albany and New York.
On Thursday evening, the 31st May, the authorities in Canada first began seriously to apprehend an immediate crossing. The Fenians gathered that night, at their various head-quarters in Buffalo—many of them armed with muskets, bayonets, &c.—and it soon became currently rumoured about the streets that a movement would probably be attempted that night. At a later hour they separated at their head-quarters, apparently going home for the night. They marched off in straggling parties, by different roads, their movements being skillfully confused, until they reached Black Rock, where the several columns united, and proceeded, with silence and celerity, to Pratt's Furnace, a little below Black Rock, where some canal boats and a tug were in readiness to convoy them across the river. Nine waggons, heavily loaded with arms and ammunition, were also waiting for them. The whole force was carried across, carrying their stores with them, and were landed at the Lower Ferry dock—about a mile below the Village of Fort Erie—immediately in front of Mrs. Anderson's residence. They landed with loud cheers, and having distributed their arms, immediately threw out pickets in every direction.
The Fenians, shortly after landing, moved up to the village. Col. O'Neil, who was in command of the force, ordered Dr. Kempson, the reeve, to furnish rations at once for one thousand men: a meeting of the municipal council was hurriedly called and arrangements made to provide the food. Immediately after this was done. Col. O'Neil sent a force along the Grand Trunk Railway towards Port Colborne; this force burnt Sourwine's Bridge on that road. The main body moved down to Frenchman's Creek, and encamped on Mr. Newbigging's farm, hurriedly strengthening their position by rough breastworks formed with the fence rails. Small parties were sent out in every direction, seizing horses and hurriedly organizing a force of mounted men for scouting purposes. The greater part of Friday, the 1st June, was passed by the Fenians in this way.
It was, of course, impossible for our Canadian authorities to form any accurate idea of the intentions and plans of the Fenian leaders in this section of the country. There was little doubt, however, that the first object, on their part, would be the destruction of the Locks on the Welland Canal. To effect this, their proper course would have been as follows:—
From the description of the general features of the country, given in a former chapter, it will be remembered that Lake Erie, the Welland River and Canal, and the Niagara River, enclose a section of country very nearly square, with a railway running from Chippawa to Fort Erie, and another from Port Colborne to the same place. Col O'Neil would readily asume that our forces would come down upon him by one of these routes, and most probably would make use of both. His base of operations consisted of the Niagara River, between Chippawa and Fort Erie, with the possibility, in certain contingencies, of its being changed to the lake shore, between Port Colborne and Fort Erie. If he marched upon Port Colborne along the Grand Trunk Railway, he was leaving himself liable to be cut off from his base by a force coming down from Chippawa along the Erie and Ontario Railway.
The proper plan for Col. O'Neil to have adopted, assuming that the Welland Canal was his objective point, would have been to have landed a small portion of his command at the lower Ferry, who should have marched to the Village, there breakfasted, and then, pushed on along the line of the Grand Trunk Railway as far as they could get in the direction of Port Colborne, burning all the bridges along the road, and cutting the telegraph wires. With the main portion of his force, he should have dropped down the Niagara River in his boats, to Chippawa. He landed at the lower Ferry at half-past three in the morning, if he had gone straight to Chippawa he would have reached there at half-past five, two hours later. After breakfasting there, and burning the bridges over the Welland River, he should then have marched by the right bank of the river to Port Robinson, a distance of some eight miles, burning the Montrose Bridge on his way, the only bridge on the river between Chippawa and Port Robinson. At Port Robinson he would have been in a position to destroy the locks on the Canal, and also the Welland Railway which passes through the Village.
By pursuing this course, the Fenians would have thoroughly protected their right flank by the destruction of the bridges over the Welland River, that river being navigable throughout the whole distance, and being therefore perfectly unfordable. In addition to this, our forces were not prepared at the time with pontoon trains, and had no means of effecting a crossing. The left flank of the Fenians would by this plan have been protected by Lake Erie, and our forces would have been compelled to attack them from the front, between Welland and Port Colborne, they could then have easily fallen back to the river, and escaped on their boats to the other side, this could all have been accomplished in one day, had they been sufficiently energetic. Fortunate indeed was it for us that they bungled and hesitated as they did. Having thus considered and discussed what the Fenians might have done, and what our authorities had to fear, I shall proceed to show in the next chapter the movements made to counteract their designs.