General George McClure (1777 - 1851)
Military records concerning U.S. General George McClure were found in the British Military and Naval records (index) (also here through here) in the Library and Archives Canada.
McClure, George, Brig'r Genl. U.S.A.
G.O. To retain command of troops in Forts Niagara & George; returns of prisoners, provisions &c.; restrictions on persons coming within lines of the Army; & c.
Adjt. Genl's Office, Hd. Qrs. Newark, 2-11-1813.
THE WAR OF 1812: Writings from America's Second War of Independence (see review here) had a chapter entitled Cyrenius Chapin to the Buffalo Gazette , subtitled "The Case Against George McClure: Niagara Frontier, December 1813."
In December, General McClure abandoned Fort George in the face of advancing British troops, after ordering the fort and the neighboring Canadian town of Newark to be burned. The British captured Fort Niagara and retaliated by burning towns in New York.
A quote from The War Of 1812....book: "A spirited resistance, led in part by Lieutenant Colonel Cyrenius Chapin, defended Buffalo, but dissolved when the colonel was captured. Six months later, upon his release from a Montreal jail, Chapin published the following indictment of McClure's command in the June 13 edition of the Buffalo Gazette."
Why did General George McClure order the American troops to burn the fort and the neighboring Canadian town of Nowark?
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