The War of 1812
Posted: 2012-02-06 13:44:30Sunnybrook Farm Estate Winery is located on land that was owned by Jonathon Ball. Below are portions of an article sent to us by a researcher in Salisbury, England. - Thank you, Kathy!
Action at Butlers Farm, July 8, 1813 - Battle of Ball's Farm.
A small skirmish surrounding the recovery of British medical supplies. No clear victor
The British guerrilla style campaign against the Americans at Fort George was seriously undermining American morale. American General Peter Porter described the situation well. He said of the American forces: 'this army lies panic-struck, shut up and whipped in by a few hundred miserable savages, leaving the whole of this frontier, except the mile in extent which they (the Americans) occupy, exposed to the inroads and depredations of the enemy.'
A few such skirmishes fought in the fields of the Corus, Ball and Butler farms are worthy of note.The first action began as a small British force, protected by Native warriors, went to the farm of Casper Corus to retrieve a large cache of medicines buried by Corus following the capture of Fort George in May. On July 6, Hamilton Merritt of the Provincial Dragoons (cavalry) accompanied by several men, including Jonathon Ball, reconnoitred Corus' farm and learned that the medicines were still hidden. While on their scout, they chased away the nearby American piquet but were in turn chased by a large force of American dragoons and infantry. On the following day, July 8, a hundred First Nations warriors led by John Norton took position in the woods on Ball's farm. Merritt led a force of British soldiers to Corus' farm, retrieved the medicines and sent them back to the British camp with the soldiers. He then went with a few comrades to Peter Ball's house for breakfast and afterwards went towards John Ball's farm to find Norton.
At this point, the First Nations men began to skirmish with American soldiers. Eventually, several hundred US infantry accompanied by dragoons (cavalry) advanced on this force which took cover by Corus' farm. The greater part of the American force retired out of musket range but a group of some 40 or 50 men of the 13th US Infantry Regiment under their adjutant, Lieutenant Eldridge, came from the vicinity of the Butler farm to try to outflank the First Nations men. The warriors saw the move and raced to cut this group off from the main American force. After a sharp action on Butler's farm, twenty of the Americans lay dead and the balance surrendered. Eldridge shot one of the warriors after being surrounded (possibly after he had surrendered) and he in turn was killed by the warriors.
Four days after this incident, Ball's fields again rang with fire. About 19 Alonkin and Nippissing warriors advanced across the field and came up against a party of American dragoons. They killed two dragoons and took one prisoner.
On July 17, the British attacked and drove in several of the American piquets and again Ball's fields saw action. At this point, First Nations men under Blackbird and John Norton advanced across Ball's farm, driving off several hundred American troops. The Americans were reinforced with artillery and more infantry and re-advanced, driving the First Nations force to the far side of Ball's farm. Three companies of British regulars advanced, also with artillery and for some time the two forces fired at each other from either side of Ball's farm. Eventually the Americans retreated.
Again on July 31, the British drove in the American piquets along the entire American defensive line. On August 24, Governor General Prevost who had been in the area since early August ordered a general assault on all piquets and a reconnaissance in force. British troops entered the Town of Niagara and had dinner there while the Americans remained shut up within the defences of Fort George.
These skirmishes continued until early October when news of the defeat of the British at the Battle of the Thames forced them to consolidate their forces at Burlington Heights in anticipation of an American attack that never came