Accidental Hero

The Genesee country:

"One of my father's brothers became accidentally a hero at Black Rock.  The Americans were keeping a sharp watch day and night against surprose.  One evening my uncle was in a squad that was reconnoitering with lanterns near the edge of the cliff.  The officer decided to send some of the men down to the water's edge.  My uncle, in moving forward, lost his footing and tumbled down to the bottom.  He almost fell upon three British soldiers.  Taking in the situation at once, he shouted, 'Here they are, men, come on.'  The poor Britishers begged permission to surrender; and he took the three of them back to camp.  When they asked him how he captured them, he said, 'O, I surrounded them.'"

David Eaton, Veteran

David Easton's service listed in the History, Genealogical and Biographical, of the Eaton Families:

 

Memorial at FindAGrave.

Intelligence From The London Gazette

Return Of Casualties At Black Rock from The European Magazine, and London Review, Volumes 63-64:

The Richardsons Of Livingston County

Source - Illustration of Conesus Lake

From the History of the Town of Conesus...:

When the news that Buffalo was burned reached Conesus, through Captain Tyler of Livonia (who was killed in the war,) two brothers, Joseph Richardson, a cripple, and Jonathan, resolved to take their teams and convey soldiers to the lines.  Joseph was killed at Black Rock by a ball which passed through his heart. The friends sent to Buffalo for his remains and they were buried in Livonia. Jonathan was taken prisoner, carried to Montreal and Halifax, and after six months reached home. On his way to Montreal he was urged forward, on the march, at the point of the bayonet. While in prison he was nearly starved to death. Joseph Richardson, Jr., son of the Joseph named above, made his escape before Buffalo was taken.

Nathan Towson Portrait

Source

Nathan Towson

See a post about his heroics.  At Black Rock he was with General Winfield Scott.  He was a member of the 2nd Artillery (as was my ancestor, William Hinds).

Thomas Holdup Stevens

  Source Page 543

Thomas Holdup was "an inmate and pupil of the Orphan Asylum in Charleston."  "He became a protege of General [Daniel] Stevens, of that City...". [Source, Page 528]

From an Arlington Cemetery website:

Volunteering for lake service, he went to the Niagara frontier, and in a night assault on the enemy works opposite Black Rock, November 27-28, 1812, was one of the leaders of a detachment which captured two enemy guns and dislodged an enemy force by firing their barracks. A canister shot through his right hand in this action inflicted permanent injury.

Young as he was, he had distinguished himself in the War of 1812, even before Perry's brilliant victory on Lake Erie, and he commanded one of the vessels in that ever-memorable battle.  National Intelligencer, Monday, January 25, 1841

Thomas Holdup Stevens eventually reached the rank of Commodore.  He died in 1841 (FindAGrave says 1845).

Source

Presentation Sword, LT Thomas Holdup Stevens, War of 1812
By Naval History & Heritage Command from Washington, DC, USA

1812 View Of Buffalo, New York

Source

THE SECOND OLDEST VIEW OF BUFFALO

Published in Philadelphia, 1845, From An Original Sketch by Lt. Jesse D. Elliott Accompanying His Report To The Secretary Of The Navy On The Capture Of The Detroit And Caledonia, 

Dated Black Rock, Oct. 9, 1812

Winfield Scott Assigned To Black Rock

Source: Portrait of General Winfield Scott

In July, 1812, Scott received the commission of lieutenant-colonel in the 2d artillery, (Izard's regiment,) and arrived on the Niagara frontier, with the companies of Towson and Barker.  He took post at Black Rock, to protect the navy-yard there established. [Source]


Another blog post here and here.

General Peter Buell Porter (1773-1844)

Portrait from The military heroes of the war of 1812: with a narrative of the war , by Charles Jacobs Peterson:

 General Peter Buell Porter

 "If any small group of people is to be blamed for bringing about the 1812 conflict, Peter Buell Porter is certainly among them" [Source] 

 
When Black Rock fell into the hands of the British in November 1812, General Porter's house became the headquarters of the enemy and he rallied a force and expelled them. He was engaged in General Alexander Smyth's attempt to invade Canada a few days later and his remarks on the affair led to a duel with Smyth. [Source]

A link to the Buell Family history.  It was also noted that Peter B. Porter and Jesse Root Grant [General Ulysses S. Grant's father] were both great-grandsons of Martha Buell [from The ancestry of General Grant, and their contemporaries...]