Conjocta Creek

Lieutenant Colonel John Tucker led British troops in a bid to strike the American supply depots situated at Black Rock and Buffalo, an operation set in motion under orders from Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond, who hoped that such a strike might force an early American capitulation at Fort Erie. Early on August 3, 1814, Tucker's force encountered a modest contingent of American riflemen led by Major Lodwick Morgan.

The clash lasted roughly an hour before Tucker's troops broke off and retreated back across the Niagara river into Canada, having been beaten back by the defenders. This engagement proved crucial to the collapse of the siege at Fort Erie, since the depot at Black Rock remained intact and able to keep the American garrison supplied. Ultimately, the British abandoned their positions surrounding the fort, pulling back to Chippawa on September 21, 1814.

Background

After the costly stalemate at Lundy's Lane, the American forces under Brigadier General Edmund P. Gaines pulled back to Fort Erie, where they built extra defensive works stretching 800 yards southwest along Lake Erie's shoreline from the original stone structure. Gordon Drummond recognized the danger such an assault would pose, describing it as "An operation of Great Hazard." On August 2, seeking to wipe out American supply stores in Buffalo and Black Rock and thereby force a quick capitulation of the Fort Erie garrison, Drummond sent Lieutenant Colonel John Tucker, the ranking lieutenant colonel of the 41st Regiment of Foot, along with 600 troops to strike at both settlements.

Tucker organized his men into two columns. The first consisted of the two flank companies plus four centre companies drawn from the 41st Foot, placed under Lieutenant Colonel Evans of that same regiment. The second column brought together the light companies from the 2nd Battalion, the 89th Foot, and the 100th Foot, along with flank companies from the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment, all commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Drummond of Kelty, who was General Drummond's nephew. A detachment of artillerymen accompanied the expedition.

As Tucker's column made its way across the Niagara River into New York territory, American sentries under Major Lodowick Morgan caught sight of them. Once news of the crossing reached him, Morgan ordered his 240 riflemen, many of them inexperienced recruits, to tear up the planks from a bridge spanning Conjocta Creek. Morgan then dug in along the creek's southern bank, ready and waiting for Tucker's approaching force.

Aftermath

The clash at Conjocta Creek cost the British twelve dead and twenty one wounded, while the Americans came away with two killed and eight injured. Resentment simmered among the British soldiers who had taken part, many feeling that Tucker had mismanaged the fight. For his part, Tucker placed the blame squarely on his own men in a letter he sent to Drummond. Drummond's fury at the outcome led him to issue a general order faulting the troops involved, a move that only deepened the bitterness within the ranks. Within days, the 41st foot was withdrawn to Fort George, all except its two flank companies.

The skirmish left American forces more alert to British movements, and this heightened vigilance meant the supply depots the raid had aimed to destroy continued feeding the fort throughout the remainder of the siege. As a result, Drummond found himself unable to compel an American surrender, a failure that paved the way for the disastrous British night assault on August 14.

Among the wounded was Shadrack Byfield, a British private who lost his left forearm to amputation following the engagement. Once home, he built a prosthetic device that let him continue working as a weaver despite the injury, and he later set down an account of his military life in a memoir that was published.