The Opening Salvo
During
the waning months of 1813, American forces under pressure from advancing
British forces, abandoned Fort George and burned it and the neighboring village
of Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake, before retreating across the Niagara River
to Fort Niagara.
1. Revenge! British
forces cross the Niagara river
In
retaliation, 1,500 British soldiers and Native warriors, on the night of
December 19th, 1813, at 4:00 am, crossed the Niagara river at Five
Mile Meadow. The main British force of
Regulars advance and silently and swiftly surprise and capture Fort Niagara. Simultaneously the British allied Native
Americans and some British Regulars advance on and attack Lewistown. .
2. The Destruction of Lewistown. The civilians escape east up the Ridge Road.
Lewistown
was poorly defended and the British allied Native Americans begun to loot and
burn houses. Also, because many of the
houses contained liquor, they become intoxicated and uncontrollable by the
British Indian Department agents. Some
residents are killed, some are captured but many escape east on Ridge Road, in
their night clothes, wrapped in blankets if they were lucky and had time and
the foresight to snatch them up, before running for their lives.
3. Tuscarora warriors attack to buy time for their neighbors
to escape
Despite
being outnumbered by 30 to 1, Tuscarora men rushed down from the
Escarpment and into the fight to help the people of Lewistown. From the heights of the Escarpment near their
village, three Tuscarora men blew horns to create the impress of a large unseen
force, approaching. At the same time, a
small group of Tuscarora warriors attacked the British forces. They were able to give the impression that “their
numbers were legion”. This confused
the British and their native allies who, fearing a trap, stopped pursuit of the
fleeing people of Lewistown, and temporarily retreated. The survivors of the attack on Lewistown,
with the help of the Tuscarora, fled east desperately trying to outrun their
attackers. The British forces pursued
them for about 9 miles (15 km), before abandoning the chase.
As
a reward for their bravery and kindness, the Tuscarora’s village was burnt to
the ground by the British forces, as was Lewistown.
Burning the Frontier
British
regular, Canadian Militia and Crown allied Native Americans began looting,
burning and destroying everything within seven to nine miles (11 to 15 km)
eastward from the river shore. This is a
prelude to a campaign that eventual destroyed all settlements on the American
side of the border for thirty miles. Almost
every structure, from the village of Lewistown to the village of Buffalo, was looted
and burned to the ground. Their
thousands of inhabitants, called the “sufferers”, were driven as refugees
as far east as Batavia, Rochester and Central New York.
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That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Sources
The
Historical Marker Database; “Tuscaroras Defend Lewiston Against 1813 British
Attack War of 1812”, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=80502, accessed August 8,
2026
Lundy's
Lane Historical Society; The Documentary History of the Campaigns upon The
Niagara Frontier in 1812-14, [Welland Tribune Office, 1908], page 28 to 29,
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Documentary_History_of_the_Campaign/tTNEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Documentary+history+of+the+campaigns+upon+the+niagara+frontier%22&pg=PP5&printsec=frontcover,
accessed August 8, 2026
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