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A Veteran of the War of 1812—fle Death Yesterday Morning. The venerable Nathaniel W. Niles, well known to everybody in this village, died at his residence on Clinton street yes terday morning, at the age of 87 years, 6 months. Mr. Niles was a veteran of the war of 1812 and had long been ac customed to take part in the fourth of July celebrations and on the occasion of celebrating the day last year he was one of three others who formed a prominent feature in the procession. The day af ter he was taken sick and from that time did not ses his house, but gradually failed—not from any real disease but merely from the giving way of his con stitutional powers. The following which was found among his papers is a correct account of the most important events connected with his life. It was written, some four years ago, and ihears his sig nature written in a bold hand, “To was born on the 8th of July, 1791, in the town of Groton, Connecticut, and in the yenr 1800 my father emigrated to Burlington, N. Y., and there I resided until 1813, when the United States de clared war again at Great Britain. On the 17th of June,1812,I was drafted in the militia by a misunderstanding between the captain and myself. I with twelve of my comrades left this company and enlisted in the regular army. During the war we marched to Rome, thence to Albany and Greenbush, and then to Buf falo, 320 miles, all the way on foul, late in the fall, and it was very muddy. Our regiment was about 900 strong. We lay in tents a little north of Buffalo. On the 2d of December our troops were ordered to march to Black Rock to cross the Ni agara river to take Fort Erie. In the af ternoon We had smart firing. At length our orders were countermanded and we returned to our tents again in the cold mud with a little snow We lay there until some time in Feb, 1818, then marched down the Niagara river to Port Niagara, stayed there until the 27th of April, 1813, when we were ordered to embark on board vessels and cross the lake to Little York, now called Toronto,. We took the place with some loss of our troops in consequence of a mmagazine being blown up. We returned to Fort NiAdgara and on the 27th May the same year took Fort George and made a bold stand in Canada. We then marched up to Stony Creek where we had a smact battle and drove them from the ground. A good many were killed on both sides Chis was on the sixth of June, 1813 Then we were ordered to marc a Sack to Port George, then up to Queenstown, thence to the Beaver dam, Clos was on the 24th June of the same year. Our force amounted to about 1700 strong, all tal. We were attacked by 700 Indians Who were reinforced by 550 English regulars. We fought them three hours by our Colonel’s wate, when our am munition giving out we were oblig ed to surrender to Lieutenant Colonel FitzGiven of the 49th regiment of his Britaiie majesty’s force Then the hardships of prison life began, We were marched 100 miles on foot, to To ronto jal, then to Kingston jail, 180 miles on foot, where we stayed a short time, when we were put on batteray to go down the St Lawrence to Montreal jail Were we remained three weeks when we were put on board a man of war ,bound for Halifax, 700 miles further from home, where we landed and were march ed to the land prison on Mellville Island. We stayed there two months then there was a draft made for 150 prisoners, and Ieing among the number we were taken out and put on bord the Nemesis [ri ycate, 44 us, bound for old England. I do not pretend to state any particulars of the ill usage we received but merely to give the names of the places I was in. We set sail Nov 20, and after an awful passuve landed in old Portsmouth Spit head harbor on One 23th Dee, ISL. Stayed there until the 15th Jan 1814, when we were sent down to Chatham, 380 miles from London. There was a large number of prison ships lying in the harbor. We were confined on board the Crown Prince Frederik, among about RHC poor captives of all countrymen, and such a jargon of dialects have never heard buture or since. We were contin eii there until the next October when Mr Weasly, our American agent and minister, chartered the ship st. Philip, and put us on board with 160 sailors, the crew of the brig Argus, which made 300 with our own soldier., We set sail on the 20th Yet., and after being out a week ran into a severe gale which compelled us to return to Plymouth and have a new mizzen must put in. On the 4th Nov. we put in at Tencheffe Island for provis ions and water. On the 8th Jan., 1815, we set sail for home and on the 24th Feb. we landed in Norfolk, Va., after an ab sence of twenty months a prisoner of war. I have not words to express our joy in setting our feet once more on our own soil We did duty there until our time was out when we demanded our dis charge, but It was refused, and we were sent to Fort Metlenry in Baltimore. There we refused to do duty and were marched out of the fort and told to go. We finally consulted an attorney and in six weeks he had obtained our discharges and we were free. This was on the 16th May, 1815, and I bid good bye to all the boys and started for home Mr. Niles was always a hard working man and for some time followed the lum bering business in Canada. At one time he lived in Springwater and then in Lima and Nunda, and finally about sixteen years ago he moved to this village. He was looked upon by all who knew him as a worthy christian gentleman, and he had many friends among the older resi dents of the town. The funeral will take prace tomorrow at 11 o'clock at his late residence on Clinton street.
Newspaper Details
Dansville Express
Dansville, New York, US
Thu, Jan 16, 1879
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Kevin D.
USA 09 Dec 2025
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