# History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway/Chapter 7

CHAPTER VII.
THE EXPEDITION ON THE TUG "ROBB."
In a former chapter it will be remembered that we stated that Col. Peacock, in forming his plan of campaign, decided, as a portion of it, to send a vessel round from Port Colborne to Fort Erie, to patrol the river and prevent, if possible, reinforcements coming over, or the Fenians from escaping. It will also be remembered that Lieut.-Col. Dennis, in carrying out his orders, telegraphed for the Tug "Robb," from Dunville, which came down under Captain L. McCallum who also brought with him a portion of his company, the Dunnville Naval Brigade, and that on its arrival the Welland Canal Field Battery, under command of Captain R. S. King of Port Robinson (being armed with Enfield Rifles) were placed upon it, and that Lieut.-Col. Dennis and Captain Akers proceeded to the Niagara River to patrol between Fort Erie and Black Creek.
On passing down the river they saw the enemy's camp at Frenchman's Creek, which had been evacuated by the Fenians about 9 p.m. the previous evening; they moved on down as far as Black Creek, carefully examining the shore, but seeing no signs of any armed force. They went ashore there and were informed the enemy had moved from their camp during the night. After getting all the information possible from the inhabitants, they went back to Fort Erie, in order to keep their appointment with Lieut.-Col. Booker at eight, in accordance with the plan which, as before stated, had been agreed upon between them before starting. As Lieut.-Col. Booker and his command did not appear, Lieut.-Col. Dennis and Captain Akers came to the conclusion that Col. Peacock had disapproved of their plan, and that Lieut.-Col. Booker was carrying out the original arrangement.
Col. Dennis then landed the artillery company, and desired ​Captain Akers, with one half of it, to proceed inland about a mile and a-half or two miles, and to patrol down one of the side roads which lead to the river, in the direction of Black Creek; and ordered Captain King to patrol by the River Road in the same direction, with the other half of his command. These two parties, consisting of about 25 men in each, picked up a few stragglers, and took over some prisoners which had been captured by the citizens, and, meeting at some distance from Fort Erie, the whole company marched on by the River Road towards Chippawa.
After landing the artillery. Col. Dennis went on with the Tug to Black Creek, which is about eight miles from Fort Erie; in consequence of the swiftness of the current he reached that place while the force with Captains King and Akers were yet five or six miles from it. Between Fort Erie and Black Creek there is no dock at which the "Robb" could have put in to have embarked the artillery, consequently that corps, for some two or three hours, were blundering about inside (as we may say) the Fenian lines, and part of that time divided, without any opportunity of support if attacked, and without the slightest chance of escape in case of defeat. It was the merest accident that the fate which befel this command in the afternoon of the same day did not overtake them at any moment on this march. What was to be gained by sending them on shore, and especially by dividing them, cannot readily be imagined. The few prisoners that were captured, mere stragglers as they were, were certainly not worth the risk of disaster that was undergone in taking them, especially when it is considered that the object for which the vessel was sent was to prevent the escape of the whole force, and to secure its ultimate surrender.
Col. Dennis, on arriving at Black Creek the second time, communicated with the rear end of Col. Peacock's column, which, as we have seen, marched up the river road as far as that place, and then turned inland towards New Germany.
He did not see Col. Peacock, however, as that officer was ​riding at the head of the advanced guard, and was by that time some distance in the interior.
Colonel Dennis, on his returning to Fort Erie, met Captains King and Akers, and the force with them, about two miles from Black Creek. They were embarked by means of small boats and all the prisoners were taken on board and placed below; this occupied some little lime. The Tug then proceeded up the river as far as the village of Fort Erie, where she was moored to the dock, and a portion of the Artillery landed and some more prisoners which had been taken by the citizens of the place were taken over and placed on board. After staying there some time, Col Dennis, and Captain Akers, decided to leave the Welland Canal Field Battery at Fort Erie in charge of the prisoners and to go round with the tug to Port Colborne for information and further orders. Captain King remonstrated against this, and especially against leaving the prisoners with him, for fear of their being rescued. Dr. Kempson, also advised them not to leave them. It was decided however to billet the artillery in the village, and arrangements were being made to carry it out, when parties began to arrive from the interior, with news that the Fenians were coming in full force from the west, and that a battle had been fought on Ridge Road.
Lieut.-Col. Dennis, and Captain Akers, did not seem to lay much stress on this information, for Captain Akers, took a buggy and went off in the direction of the Railway telegraph office up the river to see if telegraphic communication had been reopened between Fort Erie and Port Colborne. Before he could get back the Fenians had cut him off from his ​force, and he made for Port Colborne by way of the Lake shore. Col. Dennis, after repealed solicitations from Captain King, allowed the men to embark on board the tug. They were scarcely all on board when he came over from a house which he had been using as a sort of head quarters and ordered them all on shore again, except a small portion of the Naval Company.
The force landed consisted of about 52 artillery and 18 of the Naval corps. He led them on to the road running along the front of the village between it and the dock and marched them up towards the Railway Station. A body of the Fenians were by this time coming down the road. The Volunteers were drawn up in line to meet them, but, almost immediately, a very large force appeared along the top of the hill (which runs parallel to the river at the distance of about 300 yards) they were moving northwards as if to surround them. The firing began at once, and after a volley or two Captain King, seeing they were outnumbered ten to one, ordered them to break, and get under cover, and fight independently, as they were thoroughly exposed in the position in which they were placed. At this time Lieut.-Col. Dennis, seeing he would soon be cut off ran down the river for about a quarter of a mile with two artillery men, and took refuge in Mr. Thomas' house, the three concealed themselves, the artillerymen were captured, but Col. Dennis, escaped and disguising himself made his way through the enemy's lines, and joined Col. Peacock in the night.
The remainder under Capt. King getting cover behind a pile of cordwood, and behind houses and fences kept up a heavy fire, keeping the Fenians at bay for some 15 or 20 minutes. About 25 or 30 who had taken refuge in the house of Mr. George Lewis the Postmaster, fought desperately for some time longer firing out of the house with the greatest spirit, inflicting heavy loss upon the Fenians. This house was a wooden one clapboarded on the outside, and lathed and plastered on the inside, and consequently afforded no ​protection against the bullets, which whistled through it by scores. When our forces entered Fort Erie this building showed proofs of the desperate nature of the fight which had taken place about it. The walls were perfectly riddled, one small room having some 32 bullet holes through it, all the windows were broken, and it seems a perfect miracle that any of them escaped. Seeing at length that it was impossible to prolong the resistance, this gallant little band of men were obliged to surrender.
Those who with Capt. King fought around the pile of cordwood behaved with the greatest gallantry, fighting desperately against overwhelming odds even until the Fenians had closed in upon them, some of them using the bayonet freely. There is no doubt that one man was killed by a bayonet thrust while endeavouring to effect an entrance into Lewis' house, and I myself found among the prisoners taken by my command the next morning, one man who had a terrible bayonet wound in his chest close up to his neck, this man was wounded by one of those fighting with Capt. King.
Capt. King himself behaved nobly, he stayed with his men encouraging them to fight to the last, and even when struck to the ground by a shot that caused him the loss of his leg, he still cheered on his men setting the example by emptying his revolver at the Fenians while lying on the ground. Seeing the enemy closing in upon him, and not wishing to be taken, he rolled himself off the dock into the river, and was carried by the current under the wharf used by the Waterloo ferry boat, where he held on to one of the piles keeping himself above water. After the fight was over he was taken out by some of the citizens and was sent over to Buffalo with Col. O'Neil's consent.
It would be useless to particularise instances of bravery in this affair, where all behaved so well, Capt. L. McCallum, with fifteen men, after fighting gallantly for some time, retreated along the river road, firing as they went, and were able, some distance down the river, to got on board the tug, ​which had been set adrift by the officer in charge, who saw that the vessel would, probably, be captured in case he delayed.
This little force, without doubt, in this affair, covered itself with glory; and, to them is due the highest post in the roll of honour in this campaign. Although completely overpowered, they fought to the last, suffering severely, several brave fellows, including the Captain, losing limbs, and many others being seriously wounded. As a proof of the pertinacity and stubbornness with which they fought, it may be stated that they killed and wounded more Fenians than had the Queen's Own and 13th both together at the fight at Ridge way the same morning.
Col. Bailey, one of the Fenian leaders who commanded the attacking party, was shot through the body while bravely riding at the head of his men leading them on. His being mounted drew all the fire on him, and he was very soon brought down, although the wound was thought mortal at the time, strange to say he has recovered from it. He was the only Fenian officer of rank wounded in the raid.
The Fenians lost at Ridge way six men killed dead, and probably one or two may have died since—how many were wounded it is impossible to say. At the engagement at Fort Erie seven were killed and a great many wounded, some of whom afterwards died. This was the entire loss, although the general impression has been that the loss was much greater. Wild stories have been circulated of immense graves filled with Fenian dead, and waggon loads carried away, but there is not a word of truth in them. They are only the effects of the strong imaginative powers of that class of people who indulge their love for the marvellous at the expense of the truth.
The result of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two commanding officers were wandering about the country, the main body of the men captured or lying wounded, about the village, the Captain of the Artillery struck down with ​the loss of a leg, and the "Tug" almost denuded of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of worthless prisoners as to be unable to undertake anything.
Capt. McCallum finding he had no force with which to effect anything, decided to go back to Port Colborne and place the prisoners in safely. In doing so he was obliged to run the gauntlet of the fire of the Fenians who posted along the shore, kept up a heavy fire on them as they were steaming past, fortunately no one was hurt, the only effect being a number of bullet marks in the vessel.
It was most unfortunate that Col. Dennis and Capt. Akers so exceeded their instructions as to land their command at all. Col. Peacock would never for one moment have authorized the disembarkation of so small a force, especially as there was no object to be gained by it. It is remarkable that neither of these officers and one of them an engineer officer, should have thought of trying to strengthen the bulwarks of their vessel, and place her in as favourable a condition for fighting as possible. There was a pile of cord wood on the dock at Fort Erie and plenty also at Black Creek, if that had been piled up against the bulwarks, sloping up from the inside it would have made them musket proof, and the men could have fought behind a defence of that kind with comparative safety. The wheel could also have been protected in a somewhat similar manner, and then the vessel and its crew could have moved about with perfect impunity.
What was to have been gained by landing the men at Fort Erie cannot be imagined. Why these officers should give up the advantage of their vessel to fight ten times their number on shore is perfectly unaccountable. Had they barricaded the vessel and staid in the stream they could have made the village too hot to hold the enemy, and would, without doubt, have inflicted great loss on them, and have prevented vessels from coming over to take them away, or if they had come over could have run them down if they attempted to leave. Even had they been unsuccessful in all these points still it ​would have been better than as it turned out, for they would not have been separated from their command, and would have had the satisfaction of knowing that they had obeyed orders, a satisfaction which under the present circumstances they are deprived of.