In the spring of 1814, the war between the young United
States of America and Great Britain was reaching a climax. The now celebrated Battle of New Orleans
(December 23, 1814 – January 8, 1815) would turn out to be anti-climactic. Both sides knew the war was nearly over and
they were fighting mostly for advantage in negotiations. For instance, where would the border be drawn
between Canada and the United States? Who
would get Lake Champlain, and who would control the Great Lakes? Those questions made the Battle of
Plattsburg, New York, of critical importance.
In the spring of 1813, Abel Bingham and his wife Hannah
Olmstead Bingham sold their farm in Jay, New York, with the intention of
joining Hannah’s father and other friends who had moved to Caledonia. But Bingham’s militia company was called up
for duty in Plattsburg. Bingham was an
orderly sergeant at the time, and though some militiamen in Bingham’s company paid
the allowable bounty for being excused from service, Abel Bingham said, “I will
go.” According to his daughter’s memoir, Bingham “wrote his friends at
Caledonia that he must first serve his country before he could join them in
their new and pleasant home.” Though the
tour of duty was supposed to be for three months, Bingham did not return home
for a year and a half, and at one point his wife was convinced that he would
not return home alive at all.
During the campaign in New York, Bingham’s company made
several incursions into Canada, engaging the British and taking prisoners near
Lake Champlain. In the spring of 1814,
Bingham was promoted to lieutenant, and when the company captain was granted
leave, Bingham assumed command. In early
September, 1814, the British launched an infantry assault on the American
positions across the Saranac River near Plattsburg. On September 11, the naval assault began, and
in a fierce two-hour naval battle, the American fleet forced the British to
strike their colors, thereby cutting off all support to the British ground
troops. General George Prévost, seeing
that any further military action would be useless, ordered a British bugler to
sound retreat. But the 76th Regiment of Foot, which had been
diverted from the main assault force by a fierce skirmish with the New York militia,
did not hear the retreat signal. The
regiment was surrounded and captured by the militia, one detachment of which
was commanded by Lieutenant Abel Bingham.
During the battle Bingham was struck in the forehead by a
British musket ball and fell bleeding on the field of battle. As his apparently lifeless body was being
carried off the field, a militiaman cried out, “Lieutenant Bingham has been
killed!” News of his death spread through the ranks before his real condition could be confirmed. Although the ball had fractured his
skull, Bingham showed signs of life and was carried to a nearby farmhouse where
his wound was dressed. Soon after
regaining consciousness, Bingham returned to the battle!
Hannah, still living in Jay, was near enough to the battle
to hear the rumble of cannon shot, so news of her husband’s death arrived quickly. She had hardly begun to grieve when to
her joyous shock and elation, Abel showed up at the door!
Abel Bingham was a good story-teller, which undoubtedly
contributed to his later success as a missionary. In recounting his near-death experience in
the Battle of Plattsburg, he mesmerized audiences to the point that some forgot who was telling the story. On one occasion, when he got
to his vivid description of the ball striking his head, one spell-bound
listener exclaimed, “Did it kill you?” General
Winfield Scott, upon hearing the account on another occasion, remarked, “Well,
Mr. Bingham, you had your face the right way.”
The American victories at Plattsburg and Baltimore secured
American rights to Lake Champlain and guaranteed shared access to the Great
Lakes in the Treaty of Ghent, signed December 24, 1814.
Copyright 2014 by Thomas L. Jones
