Historical jottings, War of 1812, River Cemetery, Bunker Hill, article (Tonawanda Herald c. 1880).pdf

AI Summary:

Summary: Writing under the initial “L.,” a correspondent recounts the destruction along the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812, then offers an explanation for two early Tonawanda burial grounds. According to the account, settlers Anguish and Black recovered British soldiers’ bodies drifting downriver after an August 1814 engagement and buried them beside the river. This supposedly established a cemetery subsequently used by local residents and enclosed with a rough board fence. Bodies recovered farther downstream were reportedly buried at “Bunker Hill,” giving that location its name. These are the writer’s historical claims, rather than independently verified findings.

Transcription

Paragraph breaks added for readability; brackets indicate obscured or uncertain text. The date beneath the neighboring article does not clearly date this one.

HISTORICAL JOTTINGS.

An Interesting Chapter of Local History—Tonawanda During the War of 1812—Old Graveyards.

EDITORS HERALD:—The communication from me which appeared a short time ago in your columns resulted in what I hoped for, but scarcely expected, viz., to awaken an interest in our history, and, if possible, to obtain a concise account of many things connected with the earlier parts thereof. I am particularly indebted to [Wm. King?] for his correction of my article, and hope he will keep a constant watch of my contributions, which may from time to time appear in your paper, and lend me such assistance as may be possible.

The war of 1812 was an eventful one to this village, or what there was of it at that time. But after the first outbreak suddenly ceased, and the inhabitants on the border quieted down until Van Rensselaer made his assault on Queenston, and from that time until peace was declared it was a series of lively, but petty, skirmishes of no practical utility to either side. Nearly two years of war showed that the whole gain to the United States was but the little village of Newark and Fort George. In December the enemy crossed and surprised Niagara, and then the whole frontier was at their mercy. Their motions were deliberate, and severely and terribly did the settlers pay for McClure’s dastardly conduct, who, some time before had crossed into Canada and, without scarcely giving the inhabitants time to secure their clothing, burned their houses.

On the 19th of December, 1813, the Ridge Road presented some of the [horrid?] features of war. The inhabitants retreated en masse, closely followed by the enemy, who encountered but little resistance except at Lewiston Heights. At 18-mile Creek a day or so after the mill of Van Horn [was destroyed], and settlers on the lake road were as houseless as were those on the river. The torch had been applied to all the houses between Fort Niagara and the mouth of Tonawanda Creek. Porter’s mill and the hamlet of Schlosser had disappeared, and though the orders were stringent yet the commanding officers managed to discharge their duties with a slight semblance of humanity.

On the 29th of December occurred the attack and destruction of Buffalo, and from lake to lake not above a dozen buildings alone marked where had been the happy and, in many cases, the luxuriant homes of the American frontiersmen. A dwelling house, a smithy, and a little building used as an office, announced the [illegible] “Queen of the Lakes,” and one log house, built by Fielder, was the nucleus of this now prosperous village.

But though the living refused to return and rebuild until the treaty of Ghent assured them their savings would not be swept away in an hour, yet the silent city of Tonawanda began to assume proportions which rapidly increased as the red harvest was gathered in by the reaper, Death. Till then no particular place had been set [apart] for the dead, as all of the early settlers who [died] were buried on their own land. I refer to the (shall I say, desolate) old graveyard on the banks of the river, and it happened in this way:

In August, 1814, Lieut. Col. Tucker, with 1,300 of the enemy, had crossed over from Canada to make an attack on the few houses built on the site of Buffalo. He was met at Scajaquada Creek by a detachment of 750 riflemen, under command of Major Morgan, and in an engagement which ensued was completely routed. The enemy, pursued by Morgan, fled to their boats, which were lying at the mouth of Conjoclias Creek, but being so closely pressed by the Americans a great number threw away their accoutrements and took to the water, where they, while swimming helplessly for their boats, were shot, and their bodies drifted with the current down past this village.

Two early settlers, Anguish and Black, to whom I shall often refer, both pushed their boats out in the river and stopped as many as they could, dragged them on shore, stripped them of all clothing, and buried the bodies where now is situated that much neglected city of the dead. So many being interred in this spot made it at once the resting place for all that died here for years after, and in the course of time boundaries were given it and a rude board fence erected as protection for the graves.

Some of the many bodies of the British soldiery escaped Anguish and his friend, but the current set farther than “Bunker Hill,” where one or two families that had lately arrived stopped them, and after disrobing them buried them on that rise of ground, and so gave origin to its present name of “Bunker Hill.”

L.