# History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV.
THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
Early on Friday morning, General Napier who commands the regular troops in Upper Canada, received information of the crossing at Fort Erie. The evening previous, the Government had ordered 400 of the "Queen's Own" Rifles of Toronto to be in readiness to leave for Port Colborne at an early hour in the morning, they left on Friday morning early by the steamer City of Toronto for Port Dalhousie, and then proceeded by the Welland Railway to Port Colborne. Col. Dennis who was in command, being ordered to occupy, and if necessary to entrench a position there, and wait for re-inforcements and further orders, before any attack was made on the enemy.
The greater portion of the Volunteer Force of Western Canada, except the cavalry, was ordered out for active service at an early hour in the forenoon, and a proclamation issued placcing them under the Imperial Military authorities, arrangements were at once made for providing transport for troops, trains were held in readiness, and steamers detained for military purposes. But for some hours General Napier did not send any more troops to the Niagara Frontier, as from the numerous reports of landings of Fenians in different directions, he had reason to fear that the raid on Fort Erie was a feint to draw troops from other places. About 12 o'clock on Friday, finding all was quiet elsewhere, he began to concentrate troops for the purpose of driving out the force which had landed at Fort Erie.
Col. Peacock commanding the 16th Regiment, was at once placed in command of the whole force on the Niagara frontier, and instructed to proceed to his post. A Battery of the Royal Artillery under Lieut. Col. Hoste, and 200 of the 47th under Major Lodder were despatched about noon to Hamilton, and being joined there by Col. Peacock with 200 men of his ​battalion, the whole proceeded by Great Western Railway to St. Catharines. Col. Peacock's instructions were that he was to make St. Catharines his base, and to act according to his own discretion, as to advancing on Clifton or elsewhere, and to attack the enemy as soon as he could do so with force sufficient to ensure success.
At this time he had under his command, in addition to the force which accompanied him, seven companies of Volunteers stationed at St. Catharines under command of Lieut Colonel Currie, the "Queen's Own" at Port Colborne, under command of Lieut. Col. Dennis, and the 13th Battalion Hamilton Volunteers, under command of Lieut. Col. Booker at Dunnville, and he was informed he would be re-inforced at St. Catharines, that evening, by eight hundred men, and two troops of cavalry.
On Col. Peacock's arrival at St. Catharines, he received information that 800 Fenians were marching on the Suspension Bridge, and were actually within two or three miles of Chippawa. He immediately pushed on to the Bridge leaving directions for all troops arriving at St. Catharines to follow him as soon as possible. On arriving at the Bridge, he heard that the enemy had not as yet reached Chippawa, and being anxious to save the bridges over the Welland River, and being well aware of the importance of Chippawa as a strategical point, he pressed on with the 400 Infantry in the train, preceded by a pilot engine, ordering the Battery to march by the road, there being a doubt as to whether there was platform accommodation at Chippawa to unload the guns. It was dark when Col. Peacock and his force arrived at Chippawa, and consequently he bivouacked there that night, making his headquarters at the house of J. C. Kirkpatrick Esq., the Reeve.
Col. Peacock was at this time fairly entered on his first campaign, and during this night had to decide upon his plan of operations, and take steps to carry it into execution; and before relating any further the events of this night it will be well here to consider the circumstances under which he was placed, and the disadvantages under which he laboured.
​In the first place his greatest want was a small force of Cavalry for scouting purposes, in fact the frontier should have been picketed with a body of cavalry from the moment an attack became probable. Had that been done, perhaps the raid would never have taken place, and if it had, the mounted men hovering about the enemy would never have lost sight of them, would have prevented them from spreading over the country, would have saved the farmers' horses and provisions, would have found out the numbers and designs of the enemy, and our authorities would have received full and accurate information of all their movements. No cavalry were on the front, however, and none were ordered out until the last moment when it was too late for them to do real service. There is no doubt, whatever, that to this great want of cavalry may be attributed the failure of the whole campaign.
The cavalry force of this Province is small in numbers, and, consequently, weak in influence. All the officers in high positions in this country are either infantry or artillery officers, and consequently they have not any sympathy with the cavalry arm of the service, nor as full an appreciation of its value as a cavalry officer would have. In addition to this cavalry have latterly been much decried and neglected, and a strong prejudice exists among some members of the ministry against that force. They have heard it said that cavalry cannot break squares although the military history of the last 2000 years proves conclusively that they can; and although Napoleon hardly ever fought a battle where his Cuirassiers did not overthrow infantry squares. They have heard it said that this country is too much cut up with fences and woods to allow of charges of cavalry to be made, and for these reasons they jump to the conclusion that cavalry in future wars may be done away with.
They forget or do not know that cavalry are the eyes, the ears, the feelers and the feeders of an army. They forget that there are generally 20 or 30 days of marching and countermarching, of camping and bivouacking, for one day of ​battle, and that during these 20 or 30 days, the general depends for his information, the troops for the safe arrival of their provisions, the camp for its security while asleep, the men for time to rest, on the activity, vigilance, and efficiency of the light cavalry. Without cavalry the general can learn nothing of the movements of the enemy, the camp can never be secure against surprise, and the men compelled to keep up a great degree of vigilance would be wearied out with incessant watching.
It is particularly unfortunate that this prejudice, this unreasonable prejudice against cavalry should have so strong a hold upon some of our authorities and especially upon the mind of the Minister of Militia. Although we must admit that he is right not to waste the money of the people in supporting a branch of the service which he really believes is useless, and although he is to be commended for thus acting conscientiously in his administration of an office of public trust, still it cannot be too much regretted that he is unfortunately so imbued with this prejudice against the cavalry force, that he will not permit the increase of its numbers, or even make use of it for outpost duties, a service for which it is peculiarly applicable. In consequence of this feeling no cavalry were ordered out until Friday afternoon the 1st June, so that at the time they were really wanted Colonel Peacock was deficient in that force.
​It may be considered that as an officer of volunteer cavalry I have no right to criticize the acts of my superiors. I joined the volunteer cavalry from patriotic motives, from love of the service, and for the purpose of defending my country in case of need. During eleven and a half years spent in that service I have sacrificed large sums of money and injured my business seriously by time devoted to it gratuitously. I do not consider that these services, these sacrifices, take from me the right as a loyal subject to agitate as a citizen those principles which I believe advantageous to the country I belong to. If I see a campaign lost, a great moral advantage gained to the enemy through the effects of a prejudice on the part of the Minister of Militia, I consider it my duty as a loyal citizen to endeavour to have it rectified in the future. Again, as a cavalry officer, I would be unworthy to hold a commission in that noble arm of the service, did a desire to obtain favour for personal advantage prevent me from speaking out or writing plainly on behalf of the service to which I have the honor to belong.
Another great want that Col. Peacock laboured under was a good military map, one showing him the roads, villages, &c. He was supplied with Dewe's post office map, a map well suited for the purpose for which it was published, but calculated to be of more injury than benefit to an officer planning a campaign. The effect of the inaccuracies of this map will be explained hereafter.
The want of an efficient staff was also felt not only by Col. Peacock, but much more still the next day by Lieut.-Col. Booker when he was engaged with the enemy.
Colonel Peacock being deficient in cavalry endeavoured to improvise a scouting force, by getting a few mounted men in the neighbourhood to ride out in the direction of Fort Erie to seek information These men being civilians, most of them ​unarmed or but partially armed, without, any of the ideas of a soldier, without the feeling that they had embraced the duties of a soldier, and that their business was to fight, without the esprit de corps of a regular force, without the feeling of confidence which a small patrol will give to each other, formed but a sorry substitute for a cavalry scouting force. The consequence was that the information brought back by them was very conflicting and in many cases very erroneous. The numbers of the enemy were magnified, and although the general weight of evidence fixed the location of the Fenian camp at Frenchman's Creek, the fears of the scouts and their local feelings led them to imagine or to report upon very slight foundation that the whole force of the enemy were coming to Chippawa.
In planning his campaign, therefore, it will be seen that Colonel Peacock was at Chippawa on Friday Night with 400 regular infantry and a battery, and that he expected to be reinforced in the night or morning early, at Chippawa, by the St. Catherines volunteers, Lieut.-Col. Currie, the 10th Royals, Major Boxall, and 150 men of the 47th, under Lieut.-Col. Villiers, in all about 1500 men; at Port Colborne he had the Queens Own, Lieut.-Col. Dennis, and the 13th Battalion, Lieut.-Col. Booker, and the York and Caledonia Rifles, in all about 850 under command of Lieut.-Col. Booker; and as above stated the information was that the enemy were roughly entrenching at Frenchman's Creek, and were marching or
​likely to march towards Chippawa; and that their force was between 1000 and 1500 and likely to be reinforced before morning.
Colonel Peacock, although an officer who had never seen service in the field, is nevertheless a thoroughly educated military man, having obtained with the highest honors a first-class certificate in the senior class at the great Military College at Sandhurst. He is a strict disciplinarian, active, intelligent, and vigilant, cool, and calculating; and although a man of undoubted pluck, is nevertheless too good a soldier to risk the loss of his command for the sake of winning the doubtful reputation of bravery by a reckless carelessness in the management of his men.
Being, as I have said, a thoroughly educated military man, and of a decided military talent, he at once perceived the difficulty and probable danger of attacking on two lines of operations. He had several plans good and bad open to him.
1st. He might have marched by the river road to Fort Erie, and sent Lieut.-Col. Booker by the Grand Trunk Railway and along the River to Frenchman's Creek, and have cut off the Fenians, and attacked them in concert. This was the plan afterwards proposed by Lieut.-Col. Dennis and acceded to by Capt. Akers. This plan could only have originated in an unmilitary mind, and one perfectly ignorant of the military art. The first great principle of war is "always to oppose the mass of your army to fractions of the enemy;" and another great principle, a deduction from the first, is "always to act upon interior lines"—that is to say, upon the inner lines, so that your army may concentrate upon any one point before the enemy can concentrate there. Of course this is but to prevent the application of the first principle against yourself.
Now in this plan both these principles would be violated. Colonel Peacock's force and Lieut.-Col. Booker's would be acting upon exterior lines. The Fenians being between them, or upon the interior lines, by marching towards Chippawa or Port Colborne, could fall upon one column before the other ​could come up; or, in other words, oppose the mass of their army to the fractions of ours. This was what actually happened afterwards by the activity of the Fenian leaders.
Again, if the idea were to prevent them getting away, it is to be remembered that Colonel Peacock's duty was to protect the Welland Canal, to drive them out of the country, and to confine their depredations to as small a compass as possible. And it must be also remembered that if their retreat was cut off from the Niagara River, they would certainly endeavour to retreat some other way, and the road being open to the Welland Canal, they would make a dash for it, and seizing some of the numerous vessels which are always to be found upon it, they could embark and make their escape even if they did not delay long enough to destroy some of the locks on the canal. Taking all these points into consideration, there is no doubt that this plan was very injudicious, and not calculated to effect the end Colonel Peacock was ordered to keep in view.
2nd. Another plan would have been to have concentrated his whole force at Chippawa, Port Colborne, or Port Robinson; but this was not advisable, as by doing so he would have uncovered some of those places.
3rd. A third plan, and the one which he adopted, was to unite his forces from Port Colborne and Chippawa at some point midway between these places, and from there march united upon the Fenians. On looking at his map, Stevensville was the only place marked upon it at which he could unite. It was well chosen for the purpose; it was about ten miles from Chippawa, about thirteen miles from Port Colborne, and about ten miles from Fort Erie. If Colonel Peacock had his forces united at Stevensville, he was in a position to prevent their march towards Chippawa as well as towards Port Colborne, and would be able to fall upon them in full force whichever road they took; at the same time his position there would have thoroughly protected the Welland Canal. In order to carry out this plan, he telegraphed for all his ​reinforcements to push on and join him at Chippewa, ordering them at the same time to bring provisions with them in their havresacks, so that there should be no delay in breakfasting. In order to prevent the Fenians, as far as possible, from receiving reinforcements, or from escaping, if so inclined, he telegraphed to Port Colborne to Lieut.-Col. Dennis (Lieut.-Col. Booker not having arrived at this time) directing him to place a detachment on board the International Ferry Boat, which he had ordered round from Buffalo, and to send it down to Fort Erie to patrol the river and prevent reinforcements coming over, or, the Fenians from escaping. Lieut. Col. Dennis, finding that the International Ferry Boat was not coming, telegraphed to Dunnville for the tug "Robb," owned by Captain McCallum, to come down.
Colonel Peacock then made arrangements for the junction of his forces with Lieut.-Col. Booker's. At the time he decided upon the hour of meeting, the greater portion of his force was yet to arrive, and not knowing at what hour in the night or in the morning they might come in, he was unable to name an earlier hour to start than 6 a.m., which would make his hour of arrival at Stevensville between 10 and 11 a.m. Not having a map showing the roads about Port Colborne and between there and Stevensville, and being unable in Chippawa to obtain accurate information as to the roads or the condition of them, and having received at the same lime very conflicting information as to the movements of the enemy, he found that it was impossible for him to lay down the route Lieut.-Col. Booker should take, or the hour at which he should start in order to meet him at Stevensville between 10 and 11 a.m. Under these circumstances he thought it desirable to send an officer across to Lieut.-Col. Booker who should be thoroughly acquainted with his plan, and would be able, in case of doubt or difficulty, to consult with Lieut.-Col. Booker, and see that the spirit of the plan was carried out even if the details were varied.
Acting upon this idea, Colonel Peacock chose Capt. Akers, R.E., for this service, and explained his plan and the ​reasons which induced him to adopt it, and explained to him that he wished the junction to take place at Stevensville, between 10 and 11 a.m.; but, with reference to the roads, he left it entirely optional with Lieut.-Col. Booker and Capt. Akers to choose a road after making thorough enquiries as to the most available route, and the route most remote from the position of the enemy—going even so far as to tell Capt. Akers that they might go along the Welland Railway, northerly, to a point opposite Stevensville, and then march due east to Stevensville; or, take the Grand Trunk Railway for some miles and then cut across the country in a diagonal direction to the point of junction. Ridgeway was never mentioned as a point to leave the railway; and, there is little doubt that, with a correct map, Col. Peacock would have positively forbidden it—Ridgeway being nearer Fort Erie than Stevensville, and the further march being, consequently, brought nearer to the enemy's position than the occasion called for. From information obtained since there is no doubt that the shortest and safest road lay from Sherk's Crossing across country to Stevensville.
We will now leave Col. Peacock in Chippawa, listening to the reports of scouts, and farmers coming in, and obtaining information as to the roads, etc., and follow Capt. Akers to Port Colborne, and describe what happened there, and how the plan of campaign was carried out.
We must go back a little, in the order of our story, and give an account of what happened at Port Colborne, until the arrival of Capt. Akers. It will be remembered that Lieut.-Col. Dennis was sent there, on the morning of Friday, with 400 men of the Queen's Own, and directed to occupy and, if necessary, entrench a position there and wait for further orders before an attack was made. He arrived at Port Colorne about noon, and hearing the enemy were not very near the village, billeted the men, to enable them to get their dinners, and sent out scouts during the afternoon, to discover the position of the Fenians. The day and evening was occupied ​in this way; no attempt whatever at entrenching having been made. In the evening, about 11 p.m., Lieut.-Col Booker arrived with his battalion, the 13th of Hamilton, and being the senior officer, took command of the whole force.
At 10 p.m., Mr. Graham, the Collector of Customs at Fort Erie, arrived with information of the exact position of the Fenian camp. This was on Frenchman's Creek, a mile below the Lower Ferry, on Mr. Newbigging's farm. He had been in their camp at 6 o'clock that evening, and was of opinion there were not more than 700 men, and that, as they had been drinking hard during the day, they would certainly fall an easy prey to any force that might attack them. Lieut. Col. Dennis' orders were positive not to attack until further orders—the same orders were binding on Lieut.-Col. Booker—and, consequently, they could not properly move to the attack which Mr. Graham urged them to make, and which he stated would certainly be successful. In order to induce them to move at once to the attack, he suggested that, probably. Col. Peacock was endeavouring to keep the volunteers back in order that the regulars should have all the credit of capturing the Fenians.
This reasoning, and the prospect of success, was too much for Lieut.-Col. Dennis. Col. Dennis is a volunteer officer who, for a year, commanded the Toronto Field Battery; and, on leaving that, was appointed Brigade Major. When the Military School was first organized, he obtained a first class certificate; and, at the camp at Laprairie, was appointed a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General; but, at no time did the officers of the force look upon him as a good drill; although, as an office-man, in the position of Brigade Major, no one could do the duty better. He knew nothing of military science, or of the different branches of the art of war. He is possessed of an exceedingly sanguine and enthusiastic temperament; never thinks of defeat; is rather visionary in his plans, and never provides against disaster. He is not deficient in pluck, but has not that sound, cautious judgment ​which is absolutely necessary in a man holding a responsible command in the field.
It seems that, Lieut.-Col. Dennis prevailed upon Lieut.Col. Booker to decide upon moving at once to Fort Erie, by rail, to attack the Fenians at Frenchman's Creek. The troops were all put under arms about 12 or 1 o'clock that night, and were loaded upon the cars, and a message sent to Col. Peacock by Col. Booker, informing him that he had given orders to attack the enemy at Fort Erie, subject to his approval. Col. Peacock did not answer this knowing that Capt. Akers would be there before his answer could arrive, with orders for their guidance. Capt. Akers arrived at Port Colborne about 1.30 a.m. on Saturday morning and found the whole force under arms and in the cars. On his arrival, Lieut.-Col. Dennis was anxious to move off at once to the attack, and Lieut.-Colonel Booker was prepared to carry out the proposal if properly authorized. Whether any of the three had reflected on the propriety of moving a large force by rail, through a wooded country, at night, and through a section not properly reconnoitred, and in close proximity to an active enemy, does not appear in the official reports.
The result was, however, that the three decided upon a plan that may be best told in Capt. Akers' words: "The plan was as follows:—Lieut.-Col. Booker to proceed by rail to Erie, with the greater part of his force, to arrive at Fort Erie at 8 a.m. Lieut.-Col. Dennis and myself to go round the coast in a steam tug, taking a company of Volunteer Artillery to reconnoitre the shore between Fort Erie and Black Creek, and to return to Fort Erie in time to meet Col. Booker at 8. Should Col. Peacock approve of this he would march by the river road from Chippawa, and make a combined attack with Col. Booker at some point between Fort Erie and Black Creek, cutting off the enemy's retreat by the river,—the tug to be employed in cruising up and down the river, cutting off any boats that might attempt to escape, and communicating between the forces advancing from Chippawa and from Fort ​Erie. I communicated this proposed change to Col. Peacock both by letter and telegram.
The plan was merely a modification of that proposed by Lieut.-Col. Dennis who wished to move at once with the volunteers, without arranging a junction with Col. Peacock. Before receiving an answer from Col. Peacock, I went off in the tug with Col. Dennis and the Company of Artillery, leaving word with Lieut.-Col. Booker to take care and obtain Col. Peacock's approval to the proposed change before acting on it, and explaining the plan previously determined on, in case Col. Peacock should desire him to adhere to it."
The above official account by Capt. Akers shows at once the position Col. Peacock was placed in, the difficulties he laboured under, and the little chance he had of succeeding when his orders were disobeyed, as the report, above quoted from shows. In the first place, there was the commanding officer's plan changed by his subordinates, almost at the moment of execution. The three officers whom he had charged with the execution of his orders, even including the staff officer who carried them, coolly forming themselves into a mimic council of war, aided by a customs officer, and unitedly deciding upon a plan which has been previously shown to be absurd, a plan for cutting off their retreat to the east, but leaving the whole country open to them to the west, as well as uncovering the canal they were sent to protect.
Again, Lieut.-Col Dennis' instructions were to wait further orders before any attack was made, and yet Capt. Akers says he was anxious to move with the volunteers at once, without ​arranging a junction with Col. Peacock. Capt. Akers was sent to go with Lieut.-Col. Booker, and consult and advise with him on Col. Peacock's plan, and assist him in carrying it out. Col. Dennis was sent to command the "Queen's Own," and yet, before receiving any answer from Col. Peacock, both these officers, in disobedience of orders, went off in the tug to carry out their own plan.
The only way in which their conduct can be accounted for is, that they were so confident that Colonel Peacock would at once fall in with their plan of operation in lieu of his own, that they never, for one moment, calculated that his answer would be in the negative. Being imbued with this idea, it can readily be imagined that Capt. Akers would not be very particular in going into details, and explaining minutely to Lieut.-Col. Booker the plan which they both looked upon as virtually abandoned, it can also be conceived, even if Capt. Akers did enter minutely into the details of the plan laid down by Col. Peacock, that Lieut.-Col. Booker, believing that it was a useless precaution, would not give so close attention to it, or be able so clearly to remember it, as if he felt when he heard it that he was about setting out to put it in execution.
It also happened, unfortunately, that Capt. Akers, fearing the delays which so often occur in the movements of a large number of men, as a matter of precaution, directed them to start an hour earlier than they should, and to be an hour earlier at Stevensville, thinking that in all probability at least an hour would be lost in setting off or on the march, and that if they were before the time they might be kept back a little on the way. If he had staid with them to have kept them back, it would have been all right, but unfortunately he was away when he was wanted.
Lieut.-Col. Dennis and Capt. Akers, as stated in the report, without receiving any answer from Col. Peacock, left Port Colborne about 4 a. m. in the tug " Robb" which had at that time arrived, taking with them the Welland Garrison Battery under command of Capt. Richard S. King, and a few men of ​the Dunnville Naval Company under command of Capt. McCallum. The particulars of this expedition will be described in a later chapter.
After they had left Port Colborne, Lieut.-Col. Booker received in answer a telegram from Col. Peacock, directing him to adhere strictly to the first plan, the particulars of which had been carried to him by Capt. Akers. Lieut.-Col. Booker therefore had to set out upon his march, without the assistance it was intended he should have received from Capt. Akers, and without the opportunity of referring to him for enlightenment on those parts of his instructions which he did not clearly understand.
Having his men all ready to start in the cars, and having heard that the Railway was clear as far as Fort Erie, he decided to go by train as far as Ridgeway, and to keep his men in the cars, or at least under arms for the short time he would have to delay before starting. Having his men thus all ready to start, there occurred none of that delay which Capt. Akers had anticipated, and to provide against which, he had named an earlier hour for starting. Being all ready in the cars to start, and only waiting for a particular hour to arrive, it can readily be believed that he would be likely to start a little before the time, rather than after it. However this may be, there is no doubt, that Lieut.-Col. Booker started at least, as early as 5 a.m., an hour or more earlier than necessary. Immediately after the force had left, a telegraph arrived from Col. Peacock, directing Lieut.-Col. Booker to delay his march for one hour, which would make his time of arrival at Stevensville between 11 and 12, cautiously feeling his way in the direction of the rendezvous. Mr. Stovin of the Welland Railway, seeing the importance of the message, took a hand-car and followed Lieut.-Col. Booker as fast as he could. On ​getting near Ridgeway the men refused to go any further, and getting out he got a waggon and drove on in the direction of where the battle of Ridgeway was at this time commencing, after going as far as the man could drive him, he walked on and gave Lieut.-Col. Booker the message.
It will be necessary to leave Lieut.-Col. Booker's column on their way to Ridgeway, and go back to Col. Peacock whom we left at Chippawa gathering up information and trace the causes which led to his telegram directing Lieut.-Col. Booker to delay an hour.
As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, Col. Peacook's re-inforcements were to join him some time in the morning, and being anxious that there should be no delay in starting, he telegraphed back to Hamilton and St. Catharines, directing that the re-inforcements should bring with them a supply of cooked provisions, so that no delay should be occasioned by waiting to get breakfast for the men, after they arrived.
At about 4.30 a.m. the expected re-inforcements came up, and after being unloaded, Col. Peacock mentioned to the officers commanding that he should start at six o'clock, it being then nearly five. They at once objected on account of their men not having had any breakfast, and very little to eat the whole of the previous day, and they had been unable to bring anything with them, as they were unprovided with havresacks in which to carry it. Being unwilling to set out upon a very severe march, to finish probably with a severe battle, and through a country where it would be difficult to get food, Col. Peacock decided it would be better to wait an hour to enable the men to get breakfast, and immediately telegraphed to Lieut.-Col. Booker to delay his march an hour. This message, it will be remembered, did not reach Lieut.-Col. Booker till he was already engaged with the enemy. Had he started at the proper time, he would have received the message before he left, for even to have reached Stevensville at 9.30, it was not necessary for him to have left Port Colborne until 6, he ​was at the battle ground 3 miles from Stevensville at 7.30, and if not interrupted would have reached Stevensville at 8.30, about an hour earlier than Capt. Akers mentioned, and two hours before Col. Peacock's time of junction. This mistake of one hour led to his not receiving the message to delay, and therefore caused him to be really three hours too soon.
It must not be forgotten, that, at the time Col. Peacock decided to wait, that there was no reason for him to fear any ill result from the delay. At that time he expected that a heavy battle would take place, before the Fenians would be driven out, and that instead of the object being to prevent them getting out of the country, the opinion of every one was, that the great difficulty would be to drive them out, and that he was right in proceeding cautiously with that object in view. At any rate he anticipated that the tug would have prevented their escape.
Such was the plan of campaign adopted, such were the orders given, such the mistakes made, such the exact position of affairs, as each column marched off to perform its allotted share in the contemplated operations. How these combined movements dovetailed into each other, how they became disjointed in their working and confused in the execution, will be better understood by following the course of the three columns into which our forces were divided, considering first, Lieut.-Col. Booker's command and the engagement it entered into; secondly, the march of Col. Peacock's column; and thirdly, the expedition on the tug "Robb," under the guidance of Lieut.-Col. Dennis and Capt. Akers.
* ↑ It cannot be that Col. Macdougall can approve of the small number of cavalry in this country. In his very valuable work on the "Theory of War," he lays down the proportion of cavalry in an army; at one-fourth of the whole. In Canada, the cavalry consists of about one-seventieth of the whole!
* ↑ As an instance, it may be mentioned, that Captain Carter was posted on the frontier, in the eastern townships, with 200 infantry, as an outpost, and was ordered to fall back on his supports, in case of attack. Accordingly, on a rumour reaching him that the Fenians were coming, he retired, with such haste, that it is a question whether cavalry could have caught him. The section is very suitable for cavalry; but the Minister of Militia, not believing in that arm of the service, used infantry instead. The result proved he was right. It was more economical, which is a great point in war; and his fleet-footed infantry showed, by their speed, that there was no use paying for horses when the men's legs could carry them as fast as they could go mounted. The country should congratulate itself on the new description of force which it is producing.
* ↑ It has been said, that Col. Peacock should have mounted some of his officers and sent them out as scouts. The economy of this idea of sending educated men, (paid highly to act as officers in looking after their men,) away from their commands, to do duty which would be done better by a small force of cavalry, at a smaller cost, is so striking, that I suppose I will only have to hint it, to have it acted upon in the future.
* ↑ To show the value of scouts improvised in this way, an incident worthy of mention is said to have occurred in New Germany; while scouts were being gathered up a man volunteered to ride down to the Fenian camp and bring back valuable information if he was provided with a horse; being very enthusiastic in his loyalty and offers of service, a horse was pressed for his use, and he went off to the Fenian camp and gave them all the information possible about Colonel Peacock's force, and gave them the horse to use. He has not since been seen, the horse was found a day or two afterwards thoroughly used up, and our government have paid the value of it.
* ↑ The substance of these instructions were taken down in writing at the time, by Lieut.-Col. Booker, at Capt. Aker's dictation. They were as follows:— "Memo. "Move at not later than 5.30. 5, if Bread be ready. Move to depot, at Erie, and wait till 7. If not communicated with, before 7, march to Frenchman's Creek. "If 'no,' by telegraph:— "Disembark at Ridgeway and march to Stephensville at 9 to 9.30. Send pilot engine to communicate with Col. Dennis, at Erie, with telegrams."
* ↑ Col. Peacock's telegram was as follows: Chippawa, 3.45 a. m. Have received your message of 3 a.m. I do not approve of it. Follow original plan. Acknowledge receipt of this. George Peacock