The Mohawks and the Battle of Crysler's Farm

In the fall of 1813 the war between Britain and the US was stumbling towards a stalemate. The Americans under US Secretary of War John Armstrong had developed a strategy to invade the provinces of Quebec and Ontario (Lower and Upper Canada) using a two-pronged attack from the south and southwest.  Two armies, one encamped in Burlington, Vermont and the other at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario were to coordinate an assault again Montreal and thereby split the colonies in half and isolate the British-Canadian-Native forces in the west, cutting off their supplies and compelling their surrender.

The meeting point for the two units was to be at Akwesasne since it was east of the treacherous Long Sault rapids and had an abundance of natural resources. Serving as a scout for the Americans was the Mohawk Eleazer Williams and small contingent of Akwesasronons. Opposing the Americans were the greater part of the Mohawk men including those Onondaga-Oneidas expelled from their community on the Oswegatchie in 1806 as the result of the controversial 1796 Seven Nations of Canada treaty.

While the Oswegatchie Iroquois were part of the Seven Nations alliance (others were the Algonquin-Nippissing-Mohawks of Oka, the Mohawks of Kahnawake, the Hurons of Lorette and the Abenakis of Odanak: Akwesasne was considered an offshoot of Kahnawake) they were not a part of the treaty nor signatories to the final document, nonetheless New York evicted them from their homes causing great bitterness against the Americans to those who were granted land in the east section of Akwesasne.

The British had been successful in securing the active participation of many Natives who were led by Tecumseh of the Shawnee nation, the Native most feared by the Americans. Mohawks from Ohsweken, Akwesasne and Kahnawake were ready to take up arms to protect Canada even as other Iroquois elected to fight alongside the Americans. In October Tecumseh was killed at Moraviantown in western Ontario while the US suffered a military defeat at Chateauguay. These two events were momentous but did not stop the Americans from trying to recruit more Iroquois men to join their side. The Iroquois hesitated for it was apparent to them the American forces were poorly led, had no great appreciation for the Native manner of conducting warfare and were reluctant to act on intelligence given to them by the natives.

Adding to the Iroquois doubts was the discord within the higher ranks of the US military. General James Wilkinson at Sackets Harbor despised General Wade Hampton in Burlington. He refused to move aggressively to support Hampton’s movement north into Quebec, ignoring his orders to strike at Akwesasne, with the result that the Canadian and Mohawk forces were able to concentrate their forces at Chateauguay and on October 26 drive him back south of the border.

General Hampton proved equally indecisive. While some under his command wanted to attack the British garrison at Kingston, thereby abandoning Hampton completely, Wilkinson delayed moving for weeks.

When he ordered his 8,600 strong army into Lake Ontario the weather was beginning to drift hard into November. Fearful of a strike by the British naval forces based in Kingston Wilkinson encamped at Grenadier Island on October 28 near the entrance to the Thousand Islands. His intelligence was so poor he had no idea of Hampton’s defeat two days previous. He took a very long time in moving down the St. Lawrence, ever fearful of the British at his back and the possibility of encountering hostile forces along the north banks of the river.

Wilkinson and his soldiers were poorly fed and inadequately dressed for the region’s climate. Many of the troops were from the south and were caught unprepared for the drop in temperatures in the air and on the water. They had difficulty securing food from the New York farmers who preferred to sell their crops to the British who paid in gold. It was simply a matter of smuggling the goods across the river.

Like Hampton to the northeast Wilkinson was confounded by the lack of enthusiasm for the war in northern New York and the outright hostility by the Canadians to his appeals for an alliance. Making his situation even more dangerous were the Mohawks who provided the British with exceptional information as to the movements of the Americans and served as guides in an area they considered home.

When Wilkinson arrived at a point just before the Long Sault rapids just west of Cornwall he elected to leave his watercraft and take to the land. Had he Mohawk support his supplies and troops could have been piloted through the rapids and arrived in Montreal in a few short days but he was an intruder, a representative of a government most Mohawks distrusted.

The ground at Crysler’s Farm was fairly level. Wilkinson was, however, seriously ill with dysentery, a disease caused by drinking contaminated food and/or water.  It causes severe dehydration and diarrhea. Left untreated it can result in death. Wilkinson left the field command to his subordinate generals Jacob Brown and Leonard Covington.  They realized the slow pace of their advance had enabled the British under Colonel Joseph Morrison to catch up to the Americans and prepare to engage to the west of the invading army.

The British have 900 soldiers composed of formally trained regulars, Canadian Voltigeurs, the Fencible militia and 30 Mohawks from Tyendinaga whose reputation for battlefield ferocity has the Americans on edge.  They had sought to bring along their own Iroquois fighters but no Native person would risk their lives with such an incompetently led invasion.

The weather on the morning is cold-the kind of frigid temperatures made worse by the dampness blowing off the St. Lawrence. The sun is obscured by heavy clouds which drop rain and sleet on the American troops huddled around campfires, hungry and dispirited with hundreds among them sick with a host of illnesses.

The British and their allies are much better fed and dressed for the climate. The regulars march swiftly to a fence line 300 meters to the west of the Americans. They prepare a wooden wall five feet in height and are aligned in classic European formations. The Canadians and Mohawks are in front and to either flank ready to draw the Americans into the British lines where their commanders are optimistic that despite being vastly outnumbered their discipline and rigid order of fire will break the Americans.

The clash begins when US general John Boyd elects to move away from the river to avoid shelling by the British boats.  At dawn one of the Mohawks takes the first shot at the Americans and is joined by the Voltigeurs. The Americans believe they are under the full attack of the British and raise the alarm.  General Boyd delays his counterattack, however seeking additional intelligence before he commits his men.  Wilkinson, lying prone on a nearby vessel, does nothing. Hours later Boyd orders Colonel Eleazer Ripley to probe the British lines. A volley from the Voltigeur-Mohawks drives the Americans back in panic. They reorganize then counterattack, forcing the Mohawks and Canadians to retreat.

General Boyd believes the British turn has opened their center and he orders a charge across the open field. The British wheel back to their right and open fire while their cannons rake the American line. The British volleys force the American soldiers to seek protection behind tree stumps and in a small gully, clutching the now muddy earth. General Covington tries to rally his soldiers yelling, “come on lads” above the sounds of the gunfire. He is spotted and shot dead as is his second in command.

The Americans are without a battlefield commander and begin to withdraw, a retreat that is confused as it is terrifying. Panic is avoided when the reserves come up but there is no fight left in those Americans.   

As the retreat begins General Morrison notices the American cavalry is attempting a flanking tactic by attacking from the north in an effort to compress the British line. Morrison orders his troops to wheel left and greets the Americans with a wave of bullets as they fire in sequence and in sharp contrast to their opponents whose ragged response proves to be ineffectual.  The horsemen leave the field, leaving their wounded men and dying horses behind. So effective are the British actions that the Americans believe they number in the thousands.

The Americans had artillery on nearby gunboats but failed to use them effectively. Instead, the boats would carry the soldiers away from the battleground. The Americans went across the river to Barnhart Island, adjacent to the rapids and across the river from Cornwall.  Rather than risk more deaths Wilkinson has the army cross a narrow river channel back into the US and then through Akwesasne. He encamps for the winter at nearby French Mills which is renamed Fort Covington in honor of the dead American general.

Over the next few months hundreds of American soldiers would sicken and many die at Ft. Covington. Their ranks are devastated by pneumonia, dysentery, and typhoid fever. Over a quarter of the soldiers are too ill to fight, there are desertions by the dozens although reaching the south is extremely difficult as there are hundreds of miles of mountains, marshes and heavy forests before them.

While the Americans starve on the Salmon River the British and Canadians take their leisure, well fed with American meat and produce. Their garrison is but a few miles from their opponents and in the middle are the Mohawks, ever alert.

Wilkinson holds on until February then orders his army back to Sackets Harbor. He is court-martialed but exonerated. He is later to be found in the employ of Spain and dies in 1825 in Mexico attempting to secure a land grant.

The casualties at Crysler’s Farm are 103 American dead, 237 wounded, 120 captured. For the British-Canadians there are 31 dead, 148 wounded and 13 missing.

After Crysler’s Farm the Americans abandoned all hope of attacking along the St. Lawrence seeking to capture Montreal. Akwesasne would return to its fishing but its men would take part in other battles. In their defense of Canada.