Daily American telegraph., 1852-10-13
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
ANECDOTES SOF
WINFIELD SCOTT,
ASSoLDIER AND AS CITIZEN.
BY Edward William johnson.
g PART SIX.
1al Is BaffLe of .N1nqH,,a

-a Battle Of Niagara
need not relate how, Just twenty days after
the fight Of Chippewa, came about, most unex-
pectedly, almost at sunset on Sunday, the goth
July, the still more feroey contested combat OF
Niagara, OF Lumdy'sLane, prolonged, by desper-
ate valor on both Sides till near midnight, before
we finally drove the enemy, our superior in mum
bers and position, from the field. To the received
account of that remarkable conflict can add little
except certain particulars from the British gen
erals report, which, though not nnexaggerated,
give curious Idea Of the fury Of the fight Lieu
tenant General Sir Gordon Drummond says1
sin the centre, the repeated and determined
ATTACKS of the enemy were met by the thirty ninth
regiment, the detachment Of the Royal and the
Kings, and the light company Of the forty fret
with the most perfect steadiuess and intrepid gal.
lantry; and the enemy was constantly repulsed,
with very heavy loss. In 30 determined q manner
were these attacks directed against our guns, tina
our artillerymen were bayoneted by the enemy in
the act Of loading; and the muzsles of the enemys
| guns were advanced within few yards of our
own The darkness Of the night, during this ex-
traudinary conflict, occasioned several uncommon
incidents Our troops having for moment been
pushed back some Of our guns remained for few
moments in the hands of the enemy: they were,
however, not only quickly recovered, but the two
| pieces Ia six-pounder and fve-and-a-halfinch
howitzer) which the enemy had brought up were
captured by US, together with the several tum-
Drills. But in imbering up our guns, at one Pc
riod one Of the enemy's ix-pounders was put by
mistake upon Timber OF ours, and one of our six
Founders limbered on one of his--by which means
the pieces we're exchanged and thus, though we
captured two of his guns, yet, as he obtained one
of ours we gained only one gun"
| This is in part it will be perceived, General
| Drummond's not very ingenious mode Of hiding
the loss of all his cannon" he turns it into Smap
\ of one piece for two-forgetting how notorious
the Yankees ars for never swapping on any such
| disadvantageous terms But, besides, the gallant
story of Col Miler's modest words, IL will try, "
when he marched his regiment to the taking Of
those very cannon, Sootts volunteering to pilot
the attack through the darkness of night and
smoke, and the complete and final success of that
assault, are things. which history has long ago
settled beyond dispute.
| From the first moment of his joining battle,
Scott, rushing on his enemy upon information
seemingly the surest, had Judged II wiser to ac-
oept all the disadvantages of the fight than to at
1 tempt q retreat. He at once committed every
thing, therefore, to desperate valor and staunch
discipline. Tbs little OF dsylight left afforded
small room for maneuvre: he seiAed that little,
| however, and, by skilful movements, secured ev.
cry possible advantage saving himself by bold
show, from being overwhelmed defesting the ad.
versarys left wing, and putting him, though every
way the stronger, upon the mere defensive. Then
| came down the night, with al the horrors of a
| combat at onoe blind and furious whose only
i guides were TO be courage which nothing could
shake and the deadly glare Of the volleys them
| selves, which alone lighted one charging column
| to the other. All modern war can present no cx-
ample of fercer or longer.continued struggle.
II was constantly what Is rarely seem bayonet-
work for, in that ptchy darkness, the bullet was
almost useless because aimless Scott as If almost
unimpeded by the night, fought by turns at every
point where the greatest bravery Was needed,
| and performed prodigies of personal daring A
| horse was killed under him, by a cannon ball In
| one charge he mounted another, and drove back
| the enemy. In another charge his second horse
| fell dead he bestrid third and was soon again
| forem In the Hght. IL is fact little known,
| but that third horse was also mortally wounded
under him AT last, near the close of the battle,
| he himself fell desperately wounded by cannon
shot along the right side Of his body and all the
bones of his left shoulder shattered by musket-
bali. From the latter wound, he lay at tho point
Of death sor two months; and 1t still mains all
his use Of that arm. For this hsrdestfought Of
all our land battles he was al once breveted ma
jor. general, at the age Of twenty-cight AT each
/ previous step Of his rapid promotion, President
Msdison had objected to his youth he now said
| aSet him down q msjor general have done with
objectinr TO his youth Indeed, he soon after
offered to the came youth the Secretaryship OF
War-which was, however, modestly declined
| He was thereupon sent abroad, partly for the
benefit Of our military establishment and partly
on secret diplomstio mission, connected with the
island Of Cuba.