Background
The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, also known as the Battle of Crysler’s Field, or the Battle of Williamsburg, was fought on 11 November 1813, during the War of 1812, in the British province of Upper Canada. A British and Upper Canadian force defeated a much larger American invasion force, prompting the US to abandon the Saint Lawrence campaign, its plan to capture Montreal in the autumn of 1813.
The name of the battle comes from a farm owned by Captain John Crysler, an officer in the Dundas County Militia who participated in the battle. The farm served as the headquarters for British forces, although the battle itself occurred on properties towards the east.
As dawn broke on 11 November, it was cold and raining, though the rain later eased. Firing broke out in two places. On the river, Mulcaster’s gunboats began shooting at the American boats clustered around Cook’s Point, while a Mohawk fired a shot at an American party scouting near their encampment, who replied with a volley. Half a dozen Canadian Militia dragoons bolted back to the main British force, calling that the Americans were attacking. The British force dropped its half-cooked breakfast and formed up, which caused American sentries to report that the British were attacking, and forced the Americans in turn to form up and stand to arms.
At about 10:30 a.m., Wilkinson received a message from Jacob Brown, who reported that the previous evening he had defeated 500 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders militia at the Battle of Hoople’s Creek and the way ahead was clear. To proceed, however, the American boats would next have to face the Long Sault rapids and Wilkinson determined to drive Morrison off before attempting them. He himself had been ill for some time, and could not command the attack himself. His second-in-command, Major General Morgan Lewis, was also “indisposed”. This left Brigadier General Boyd in command. He had immediately available the 3rd Brigade under Brigadier General Leonard Covington(9th, 16th and 25th U.S. Infantry) and the 4th Brigade under Brigadier General Robert Swartwout (11th, 14th and 21st U.S. Infantry), with two 6-pounder guns. Some distance down-river were part of Boyd’s own 1st Brigade under the brigade’s second-in-command, Colonel Isaac Coles, (12th and 13th U.S. Infantry), four more 6-pounder guns and a squadron of the 2nd U.S. Dragoons. In all, Boyd commanded perhaps 2,500 men (though some sources put the figure at 4,000).
The British were disposed in echelon, with their right wing thrown forward:
- Lining a ravine close to the American positions and in the woods on the left was the skirmish line under Major Frederick Heriot of the Canadian Voltigeurs, consisting of three companies of the Voltigeurs and around two dozen Mohawks from Tyendinaga under Interpreter-Lieutenant Charles Anderson. A company of the Dundas Militia fought as skirmishers and stretcher bearers along the skirmish line, commanded by Capt. John Crysler. (A small rifle company of the Leeds Militia may also have been present.)
- The right wing was part of the detachment from Prescott under its commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Pearson. It consisted of the flank (i.e. light and grenadier) companies of the 49th Regiment and a detachment of the Canadian Fencibles (perhaps 150 men in total) with a six-pounder gun of the Canadian Provincial Artillery. They occupied some buildings on the river bank near the Americans, with a small gully protecting their front.
- Behind their left flank were three companies (150 men) of the 2/89th under Captain G. W. Barnes.
- Behind Barnes’s left flank, in turn, was the British main body; the centre companies of the 49th (160 men) under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Plenderleath on the right and six companies (300 men) of the 2/89th on the left under Morrison himself.
- Morrison stated that he disposed one each of his three 6-pounder guns to support each of his three detachments (Pearson, Barnes and the main body). However, various sources state that while the militia gun was posted with Pearson, the two 6-pounder guns of the Royal Artillery under Captain H. G. Jackson occupied a small hillock behind the 49th, and fired over their heads during the engagement.
Boyd did not order an assault until the middle of the afternoon. On the American right, the 21st U.S. Infantry under Colonel Eleazer Wheelock Ripley advanced and drove the British skirmish line back through the woods, for almost a mile. Here they paused, and were joined by the 12th and 13th U.S. Infantry from Coles’ brigade. (Where Swartwout’s other two regiments were at this point is unclear.) Ripley and Coles resumed their advance along the edge of the woods, but were startled to see a line of redcoats (the 2nd/89th, on Morrison’s left flank) rise up out of concealment and open fire. The American soldiers dived behind tree stumps and bushes to return fire, and their attack lost all order and momentum. As ammunition ran short, they began to retreat out of line.
Meanwhile, Covington’s brigade struggled across the ravine and deployed into line, under musket and shrapnel fire. Legend has it that at this point, Covington mistook the battle-hardened 49th Regiment in their grey greatcoats for Canadian Militia and called out to his men, “Come on, my lads! Let us see how you will deal with these militiamen!” A moment later, he was mortally wounded. His second-in-command took over, only to be killed almost immediately. The brigade quickly lost order and began to retreat.
Boyd could not bring all his six guns into action until his infantry were already falling back. When they did open fire from the road along the river bank, they were quite effective. Morrison’s second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey, ordered the 49th to capture them. The 49th made a charge in awkward echelon formation, suffering heavy casualties from the American guns as they struggled across several rail fences. The United States Dragoons (under Wilkinson’s adjutant general, Colonel John Walbach) now intervened, charging the exposed right flank of the 49th. The 49th halted their own advance, reformed line from echelon formation and wheeled back their right. Under heavy fire from the 49th, Pearson’s detachment and Jackson’s two guns, the dragoons renewed their charge twice but eventually fell back, leaving 18 killed and 12 wounded (out of 130). They had bought time for all but one of the American guns to be removed. Barnes’s companies of the 2/89th overtook the 49th and captured the one gun which had become bogged down and been abandoned.
It was now about half past four. Almost all of the American army was in full retreat. The 25th U.S. Infantry under Colonel Edmund P. Gaines and the collected boat guards under Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Upham held the ravine for a while, but Pearson threatened to get around their left flank, and they, too, fell back. As it was growing dark and the weather was turning stormy, the British halted their advance. The American army meanwhile retreated in great confusion to their boats and crossed to the south (American) bank of the river, although the British did not stand down from battle stations for some time, wary of the Americans renewing the attack. An American witness stated that 1,000 American stragglers had made their way across the river during the battle itself.
Although the British casualties were reported in Morrison’s despatches as 22 killed, 148 wounded and 9 missing, it has been demonstrated that a further nine men were killed and an additional four men were missing, giving a revised total of 31 killed, 148 wounded and 13 missing. The American casualties, from the official return, were 102 killed, and 237 wounded including Brigadier General Covington. No figures were given for men missing or captured but the official return notes that three of the sixteen officers listed as wounded were also captured. The number of American prisoners taken was initially reported as “upwards of 100” by Morrison but he wrote that more were still being brought in. The final tally was 120. Most of these were severely wounded men who had been left on the field but fourteen unwounded enlisted men were captured after trying to hide in a swamp. A Canadian who rode across the battlefield on the morning of 12 November remembered it being “covered with Americans killed and wounded”.
The Game
The game represents a battle between a large force and a small one that is spread out. I needed to make some adjustments to allow for the possibility of a historical British victory. I started by giving the US forces mediocre ratings, so the British would have an advantage in valour checks. The British also had a number of light infantry, that could form in open order.
I also decided to dip into the rules for traits for generals. I gave the US general a negative trait, so he would not help with Valour tests. The British had two commanders with bonus to rally and Valour.
The set up was based on the start positions before the initial US mass advance, after the earlier skirmish fight. The British had one brigade forward and one back. The woods were covered by a single battalion light infantry unit. I thought about having the small units reflected individually, but decided that would make them too fragile and provide too easy Fortitude tests.
The US started with two brigades on the table and the third would enter on turn two. The Cavalry was also on the table. The artillery would enter sometime from turn six or later. Basically, the US would roll a 4 plus at the beginning of each turn (starting on turn six) and the artillery would arrive. The US general (Boyd) would do the same, so he would not be available to the US in the early game.
I also introduced a “reorganization”rule for the scenario. This would basically allow units to run away (fail a Valour test and reappear later in the game. Basically, a full turn after the unit was removed, the player would do a rally test each turn. Once the unit had successfully removed all its markers, it would appear the next turn within two inches of its brigade commander, but over twelve inches from the enemy. The unit would have their combat and discipline ratings reduced by one. This was done to reflect he units running away during the battle, reforming and getting back into the fray (I think I will be using this more often in the future).
The game would end on a variable turn number. Starting on turn sixteen, we would roll a die. On a 1-3 the game would end and on a roll of 4-6 it would keep going. We had a five o’clock cut off, so that would be a hard end, no matter the turn.
The winner of the game would be the one with the highest Fortitude count at the end. The British had a secret objective to hold Chrysler’s Farm. If they lost it, they would give the US three Fortitude points. This was to make sure the British did not just keep falling back and win with long range fire.
The battlefield was very muddy, so I added rules for that. Any gun moving off road would roll a D3 and subtract that from their movement. All artillery would hit on a five, instead of four. I allowed all infantry to move over fences or through the woods with only a one inch penalty. If the infantry took a half move over the fences, they could remove a section, equal to their frontage. I thought the regular movement rules would slow things down far too much and was happy with the change during the game.
I also added a restrictive movement rule, as I find Valour and Fortitude allows a bit too much fluidity for a horse and musket game in this period. Basically, unit could move full speed within a ninety degree arc of their command stand forward. An other direction was half speed. Open order units, could do this both back and forth. Retreating units could do it to their rear.
In addition to the British forces on the table, there were two batteries worth of guns off board providing fire support from the Saint Lawrence river. These batteries were not required to fire at the closest target.
We got going, with the US brigades moving forward to engage the British. The British engaged with their artillery and started to move their reserve brigade forward. The second brigade in the field engaged first and got the worse of the fire from the British, as the third brigade worked their way slowly through the woods. The first US brigade arrived and joined in on the attack through the fields. The reserve British came up to form a battle line and all the British firepower was directed against the US troops in the fields, causing substantial casualties.
The US units started to fail their Valour tests and get pulled off the table, while the Fortitude failures started to pile up. It took some time, but the US first brigade cleared out the Canadian light troops in the woods and began their maneuvers to turn the British left flank. However, this did not happen until very late in the game. At the same time, some of the US battalions had reorganized and reappeared on the field. It was now a fight against time.
The US started their push, overwhelming the British with their numbers. Slowing but surly, the British left buckled and gave way, with the loss of two battalions. The British reorganization rolls were going poorly, so it was not clear if they would make an appearance (they did not). However, the game was three turns deep in overtime (turn nineteen), before the extra time roll was failed and the game decided. At this point, the British had lost three fortitude and the US five. The British were also in control of Cryler’s Farm, so the game ended in a marginal British victory that mostly followed the historical battle (except for the lack of a late game cavalry charge).
- Manteuffel