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The Formative Years

    The namesake of Fort Leavenworth was a prominent soldier of the early years of the American republic and his story traces the growth and westward expansion of the nation.

     Henry’s grandfather, Thomas Leavenworth, was a medical doctor when he immigrated to New England from Britain.  Henry’s father, Jesse, was the colonel of a Connecticut regiment in the Continental army during the Revolution.  Henry, the youngest of seven children, was born in 1783, the year that the Treat of Paris was signed, ending the Revolution.  Henry’s mother, Catherine Frisbee Leavenworth, had a reputation as a scold and when Henry was still a lad, his father took him and left his wife and New Haven and settled in Danville, Vermont. 

    As a young man, Henry moved to Delhi, New York, in Delaware County.  He read law in the office of Erastus Root.  Root was a Revolutionary veteran and also a general in the state militia.  Henry was elected captain of the local militia company and he became involved in state politics.   

    In 1805, Henry married Elizabeth Morrison.  The Leavenworth’s had two children, Eunice and Jesse, but the marriage soon ended in divorce.  In 1810, Henry married seventeen year old Electa Knapp.  Unfortunately, Electa died in childbirth.  In 1813, Henry married Harriet Lovejoy and they had a daughter, Alida.

    America was still very much a young country in 1812.  There were now eighteen states and the population was six million, about twice as large as when America declared independence from Britain.  The country was overwhelmingly rural.  Only fifteen percent of the population lived in communities larger than five hundred people.  Another fifteen percent lived west of the Appalachians either on the frontier or in communities that had been frontier towns short years before. 

    In early 1812, when the situation with Great Britain was becoming increasingly serious, Congress ordered the expansion of the army.  Ship captains of the Royal Navy were routinely stopping American vessels on the high seas and removing seamen accused of being born in the British Empire.  These same British officers were seizing American ships and cargoes trying to trade with Britain’s enemies.  On the frontier, American settlers were convinced that British officials in Canada were encouraging Indian attacks.  As the army expanded, hundreds of upwardly mobile men sought commissions as officers.  Henry left a thriving law practice and was commissioned a captain in a new regiment, the 13^th Infantry.

    By the end of 1812, Leavenworth had himself transferred to the 25^th Infantry, a regiment recruited in Connecticut.  It was not uncommon for officers to serve in regiments that were not recruited in the officer’s state of origin.  Typically, the officers who sought transfer were searching for better opportunities for advancement.  During early 1813 the regiment served in Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain and later at Sackett’s Harbor in New York on Lake Ontario but it isn’t clear that Henry was present at these places.  

    In August 1813, the ever ambitious Henry sought and was rewarded with a promotion to major.  However, since each infantry regiment was allocated only two majors, he had to transfer to the 9^th Infantry which had a vacancy.  Leavenworth would see considerable combat with the 9^th.  In the late fall of 1813, the 9^th participated in General James Wilkinson’s ill-fated invasion of Canada.   

    A large American force departed Sackett’s Harbor in boats and rowed into the St. Lawrence River heading for the key Canadian city of Montreal.  Half way down the River, the men were put ashore so that skilled pilots could take the lightened bateau over the rapids.  At a large clearing on the land of John Chrysler, a small British force approached the rear of the American camp and offered battle.

    Seven thousand American soldiers faced about one thousand British, Canadians, and allied Indians.  The 9^th Infantry was assigned to General Leonard Covington’s Brigade.   The Americans made repeated attacks on the British lines.  However, clearly the British were better trained.  The British soldiers fired more rapidly and maneuvered to bring the weight of their fire effectively against the American ranks.  The American generals were unable to coordinate the movements of their brigades and the American soldiers fired haphazardly and without accuracy.  Covington lost his life leading his men.  At the ends of the day, the small British force had stood its ground and would not be pushed away by the larger American force.

    To his great discredit, Wilkinson broke off the attack and returned his army to New York.  The army went into winter quarters at French Mills.  The experience of the army at French Mills was akin to that suffered by Washington’s forces at Valley Forge.  Food arrived late.  The crude huts hardly kept out the harsh New York winds and snow.  Many officers were allowed to go on leave while the men froze.  Leavenworth stayed with his troops.  Henry and many of his peers saw what should have been obvious to all.  If the American Army was ever to win this war, then American soldiers were going to have to become more skillful at fighting.  This meant training and more training in maneuvering and firing.  Henry committed himself to being first and foremost a trainer so that the debacle at Chrysler’s Field would not re-occur. 

Chippawa and Lundy’s Lane 

    In the spring of 1814, Henry and the 9^th received orders to march westward for the upcoming campaign season.  Henry didn’t know it at the time but his life would be forever changed that year.  The President was slowly getting rid of unsuccessful generals and replacing them with younger leaders who had proved themselves in combat.  One of these men, Major General Jacob Brown, has designated to lead a new invasion of Canada.  Another, Brigadier General Winfield Scott, was given a brigade in Brown’s division.  Major Henry Leavenworth, ranking officer of the 9^th at French Mills, was given command of his regiment for the upcoming campaign. 

    Scott marched his brigade across New York State to the banks of the Niagara River near Buffalo.  There he established camp and set up a rigorous training schedule.   The men were in tatters as their uniforms from the previous year had fallen apart over the winter and spring.  Pay was late and the weather was typically snowy or rainy.  Leavenworth worked his men hard over the weeks and, under Scott’s watchful eye and guiding hand, turned the 9^th into a keen fighting machine. 

     There were a few companies of the 22^nd Infantry in camp without a senior officer.  Scott attached these companies to the 9^th.    With 549 soldiers, Leavenworth’s consolidated 9^th/22^nd was the largest battalion in Scott’s Brigade.   Finally, late in June, new uniforms arrived.  The British blockade had effectively cut off many imports and the blue dye used in coloring American wool infantry uniforms was in short supply.  When the boxes were opened, the soldiers of Scott’s Brigade saw that theirs would be gray coats worn over white trousers.  Scott himself was disappointed but the men were pleased to have any clothing at all.

     On the 3^rd of July, Leavenworth led his men across the Niagara River onto the Canadian shore.  Scott’s brigade was in the lead of Brown’s Division marching north toward the large British camp behind the Chippawa River which flowed into the larger Niagara.  All day long on the 4^th of July the Americans dealt with an annoying cloud of British skirmishers challenging every step northward.  On the 5^th of July, Scott’s brigade drew up to the British camp on the north side of the Chippawa River.  Scott gave his men a day of rest to celebrate the nation’s Independence Day.  However, after supper he ordered the Brigade to drill on the open field between the two camps.

     Henry Leavenworth led his battalion, and the brigade, out of the American camp and onto the open field.  Unknown to the Americans, the British commander at Chippawa had decided to challenge the Americans in open combat rather than waiting for them to come across the River.  He sent three battalions of regular infantry and a body of Canadian militia and native allies across the Chippawa directly onto the open plain that the Americans were entering from the opposite side.  A fight was now inevitable.

     As Leavenworth’s men formed their lines, the British artillery was sending grape and solid shot into the American ranks.  General Riall, the British commander, noting the gray uniforms of his adversaries, momentarily thought that this was a brigade of militia opposing his advance.  However, as the Americans maneuvered sharply into a long steady line, Riall realized his error and reputedly stated “Those are regulars!”

     The British advanced quickly but soon came against repeated volleys of American musketry.  The British lines stopped to return fire and the two lines exchanged deadly fire for long moments until the British line cracked and soon small groups of redcoats withdrew rearward.  Riall, seeing that it was impossible to maintain his battle line in the face of extraordinarily accurate fire, ordered a general withdrawal.  For the first time in the war, an American force had met a British force of similar size on a battlefield which offered no advantage, and the Americans won. 

     This notable victory was not without cost for the combined 9^th/22^nd Infantry took 21% casualties.  For his roll in conducting his battalion, Henry Leavenworth received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel.  In these days, there were no recognized awards for meritorious service or heroic conduct.  Instead, the President authorized brevet promotions to outstanding officers.  The officer wore the symbols of rank of his new position and could take jobs commensurate with his brevet rank, however, he would not receive the higher pay.

     Weeks later, some of Leavenworth’s men were assigned to picket duty across the Chippawa.  A picket line was composed of small groups of soldiers spread out around the camp to give early warning of enemy activity.  Leavenworth was checking his pickets when he learned that a number of British cavalry had been seen close by.  Leavenworth reported this to General Scott who in turn reported to General Brown.  Brown did not believe that there was a large British force anywhere near.  Nonetheless he authorized Scott to take his brigade forward to investigate. 

     By this time, the other companies of the 22^nd Infantry, and there commander, had arrived to join the army.  Thus, Leavenworth’s command consisted only of the 150 veterans of the 9^th Infantry.  Scott led the thousand soldiers of his brigade northward on a road which paralleled the Niagara River.  The men could see the column of spray from the great falls as it towered over the trees to their right as they pressed forward.  Then, as the Americans approached a wide clearing in the otherwise forested area, they saw a very large force of British drawn up on a ridge running at right angles to the road they were traveling.  The British line was anchored to Lundy’s Lane, a long dirt road running east-west.

     Scott was unwilling to pull back from the larger enemy force for fear of damaging the confidence of his troops.  He sent Leavenworth to start forming the line to the west of the road followed by two other battalions.  Scott sent the 25^th infantry into the woods to the right of the road with the task of working closer to the British lines using the cover of the forest.  Once in line, Scott ordered his men to open fire.   

    Unfortunately, Scott’s men were still 300 yards away from the British lines which were on higher ground.  The Americans expended ammunition while inflicting few casualties.  The British artillery, however, firing from their higher positions, tore gaps in the American lines.  As the minutes stretched into hours, Leavenworth’s battalion, like the other battalions in the American lines, was shot to pieces.  Scott was still unwilling to withdraw but he was also convinced that to advance was even more foolhardy.  The sun set and the battlefield grew ever darker.

    Fortunately, Brown arrived with the rest of his division in the dark.  Brown attacked with three fresh regiments and forced the British off the high ground.  Setting up his own lines atop the ridge, Brown waited for British counterattacks.  He did not have to wait too long.  The British conducted six counterattacks in the dark to regain the ridge and to recapture their artillery pieces.

    Meanwhile Scott consolidated the remains of his brigade and brought them up to the rear of the American lines on the ridge.  Leavenworth was instrumental in getting the Americans to form an attack column in the dark which Scott led through the American lines and toward the British.  However, Scott’s plan went astray almost as soon as his truncated brigade departed the relative safety of the friendly lines.  Scott’s men drew fire not only from the British firing into the sounds of the advancing troops but also from the American lines.  It seems that the rest of Brown’s division was unaware of Scott’s advance and the officers ordered their men to fire at the noises in front of them. 

    After marching through a gauntlet of fire – British on their right and Americans on their left – Scott brought his brigade to safety once more behind American lines.  Leavenworth, wounded by this time, was yet the only battalion commander in Scott’s Brigade still on his feet.  Scott ordered Leavenworth to prepare the men for yet another attack!  By now, Scott’s Brigade probably had no more than two hundred soldiers with the colors.  The rest were wounded or lost on the dark battlefield. 

     In the final hour of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, Scott led his miniscule force once again forward in the hopes of collapsing the British opposition.  This time his men hardly closed the gap between the lines when volleys of British fire caused the attack column to stagger to a halt and then to withdraw without orders.  The famous brigade had done all that could be expected and then some but had clearly reached the breaking point.  Scott left Leavenworth in charge of the remaining troops while he reported to Brown.  Within minutes, both Brown and Scott were seriously wounded and evacuated from the battlefield. 

     After the British withdrew, the Americans marched back to their camp south of the Chippawa to get water, to draw more ammunition, and to prepare to continue the fight at sun up.  Of the 150 men of the 9^th Infantry that Leavenworth led in to the fight at Lundy’s Lane, all but 22 were dead or wounded.  The Americans decided not to continue the battle but to withdraw to Fort Erie, across the Niagara from Buffalo.

 After the War

    For his heroism at Lundy’s Lane, Leavenworth received a second brevet, this time to colonel.  Leavenworth returned to his wife’s side in Delhi to convalesce.  With war’s end in January, 1815, he resumed his law practice and was elected to the State Assembly.  Leavenworth probably did not expect what happened next.  Congress ordered that the wartime army of forty-four infantry regiments be reduced to seven regiments.  A group of generals met to decide which of the officers would be invited to remain in the service.  Most expected that those selected would be from the pre-war regular officers but the Secretary of war gave instructions to pick the best, regardless of time in service.  The President offered Leavenworth the opportunity to remain as a major with the 2^nd Infantry. 

     Henry Leavenworth accepted his new life in the peacetime army even though it meant leaving the comforts of urban life on the east coast and serving instead on the frontier.  Promotion was slow in the peacetime army but Leavenworth was well respected by his men and his superiors.  In 1818, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served in the 5^th Infantry in the garrison at Sackett’s Harbor.  That was the site of the largest American naval base on the Great Lakes and home to a fleet securing the peace with Britain.  In 1821 the secretary of war transferred Henry to the 6^th Infantry and command of Fort Atkinson, on the upper Missouri River.   

    Leavenworth learned the Sioux language and personally negotiated with the plains Indians.  Harriet and Alida were living in St. Louis and Leavenworth wanted them closer.  He sent a small band of Indians to escort his wife and daughter to him on the frontier.  Carrying them on a palanquin of furs through the forests, this unlikely band covered 700 miles in thirty-four days.

     In 1819 Leavenworth and his men founded Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.  White settlers were penetrating deeper into native lands and the army was needed to prevent friction.  Some of the friction, however, was between Indian tribes and in that same year Leavenworth negotiated a peace between the Sioux and the Chippawa.

     The Arikara War of 1823 was the first full-scale engagement between the Plains Indians and the Army.  There had been years of friction between the Arikara and fur traders.  In June of 1823 a large band of Arikara attacked a group of fur traders, killing fifteen of them.  Leavenworth organized a force of regulars and volunteers from among the trappers and headed into Arikara territory.  This force was accompanied by hundreds of Sioux who hoped to participate in a major battle with their hereditary foes, the Arikara. 

    Moving up the Missouri River, Leavenworth’s column lost two keelboats, seven men, and tons of supplies in the dangerous waters.  On 9 August, the column approached the Arikara village.  Moving well in advance of the soldiers and fur trappers, the Sioux launched an immediate assault on the Arikara fighting in front of their palisaded village.  When Leavenworth brought up his soldiers and volunteers, the Arikara withdrew behind the walls of the palisade. 

     The next day, Leavenworth opened fire with two six pound guns.  The Sioux had withdrawn from the fight to observe the Americans.  There were 800 Arikara and Leavenworth had fewer than 300 whites with him.  The Arikara agreed to negotiate with Leavenworth.  The Sioux departed in disgust at losing the opportunity to sack the village.  Even the fur traders were livid because Leavenworth had not assaulted the village to crush Arikara power forever.   Back east, Leavenworth’s negotiated treaty was commended by President Monroe.

     In July 25^th, 1824, on the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane and Leavenworth’s brevet promotion to colonel, the Secretary of War awarded Leavenworth with a brevet promotion to brigadier general.  A year later, Leavenworth was promoted to colonel and given command of the 3^rd Infantry Regiment.  In 1826 the secretary of war sent Leavenworth with his regiment to the newly founded Jefferson barracks near St. Louis to start up a school for Infantry units.  The following year and while still at Jefferson Barracks, Leavenworth received orders to travel up the Missouri and to establish a post on the east side of the river.  Putting his men on keelboats, Leavenworth rode ahead to reconnoiter a potential site.  Finding unhealthy lowlands on the eastern bank, Leavenworth disobeyed orders and selected a site on the high ground on the western bank.  The War Department agreed with Leavenworth’s judgment and officially designated the new post Cantonment Leavenworth.  Leavenworth spent the next several years overseeing construction of permanent frame and brick buildings: barracks, officer quarters, warehouses, and a hospital. 

    In addition to establishing the post, Leavenworth devoted his time to keeping the peace between natives and whites and between the Indians themselves.  It was on one such expedition in 1834 that Leavenworth met his end.  Leavenworth was leading a force of four hundred dragoons and infantry into Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) when his party came across a buffalo herd.  Leavenworth was riding hard chasing a buffalo calf when his horse stepped into a gopher hole, throwing Leavenworth to the ground.  Leavenworth never recovered.  Within days he developed a fever and on 21 July, 1834, just four days short of the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, Henry Leavenworth passed away.  Orders promoting him to permanent brigadier general would have gone into effect on that day.

     Harriet escorted the body of her husband to Delhi.  At every stop along the route, there were public memorial services.  Dignitaries, regular army officers, the local militia, and the general public gathered to recognize Leavenworth’s contributions to the nation.  Henry was interred alongside his second wife, Electa. 

     Then, in 1902, the bodies of Henry, Electa, and their child were disinterred at Delhi and reburied at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery on Memorial Day.  Generals Arthur MacArthur and Frederick Funston were present along with 1500 veterans, all the regular troops at Fort Leavenworth, and a choir of 200 voices.  Also attending the ceremony were Leavenworth’s four surviving grand children, all the children of son Jesse. 

    Henry’s third wife, Harriet, died in 1865 and is buried in Newburgh, New York.  His daughter by Harriet, Alida, was unmarried and passed away in 1839.  Son, Jesse, by his first wife, Elizabeth Morrison, graduated from West Point in 1830.