were devoted and remained happily married
their entire lives.
In time Harvey gained a reputation as a
brave soldier and an efficient administrator.
He was performing garrison duty in England
when on June 25, 1812, he was promoted to
lieutenant colonel and posted as a staff offi-
cer to Gen. John Vincentin Canada. Vincent
was a longtime regular soldier with relatively
little combat experience, and he came to rely
upon Harvey’s sound tactical judgment ex-
plicitly. Harvey himself arrived at Halifax that
December but was so eager to report for duty
that he strapped on snowshoes and trudged
across New Brunswick in the dead of winter.
By spring he had joined Vincent’s staff as a
deputy adjutant general at Niagara, soon to be
the object of an American invasion. In this ca-
pacity he arranged for the parole of several
American officers, including Winfield Scott,
whom he later befriended. In May 1813, Har-
vey witnessed the fall of Fort George to Gen.
Henry Dearborn, and he accompanied Vin-
cent’s retreat back to Burlington Heights. The
Americans were slow to follow, and it was not
until early June that two brigades under Gens.
John Chandler and William H. Winder—3,000
strong—stumbled along in pursuit. On June 5,
1813, they carelessly encamped along Stoney
Creek for the night, intent upon attacking the
outnumbered British at Burlington Heights
within a few days. But Harvey resolved to
strike them first.
Realizing that the British were unable to
be reinforced anytime soon, and that a fur-
ther withdrawal would concede the Niagara
frontier to the invaders, he conducted a dar-
ing and dangerous personal reconnaissance
of the American camp, assisted by Lt.
James Fitzgibbon. He concluded that the
artillery was poorly posted for defense and
that various parts of the army were not posi-
tioned in mutually supporting distances.
Armed with such information, Harvey pre-
vailed upon Vincent to attack the camp,
their only other option being to abandon
most of Upper Canada. Vincent agreed, and
on the night of June 5 Harvey led his 700
men to within striking distance of Stoney
Creek. He was aided by the youthful Cana-
dian scout Billy Green, who knew the region
intimately. It was a dangerous, all-or-nothing
proposition, but John Harvey was just the
officer to lead it.
Early on the morning of June 6, 1813, Har-
vey positioned his soldiers to strike the unsus-
pecting Americans, who were asleep in their
camp. Unfortunately, one drunken soldier
began shouting too soon, and the commotion
roused the defenders to life. But with sword in
hand, Harvey led his soldiers on and carried
the center of the encampment along with the
artillery park. In the confused fighting that fol-
lowed, the Americans rallied and, finding the
British backlit behind their campfires, shot
them down in droves. However, before the ma-
rauders could be driven off, both Chandler and
Winder were taken prisoner. The action finally
concluded around daybreak, with the British
suffering around 250 casualties to an enemy
tally of 200. However, the loss of all senior
leadership paralyzed the surviving Americans,
who elected to fall back to Fort George. Thus,
at a stroke Harvey’s desperate action at Stoney
Creek saved the Niagara Peninsula from being
overrun. It was one of the decisive British vic-
tories of the War of 1812.
After Stoney Creek, Harvey served as a
staff officer under Col. Joseph Wanton Mor-
risonat Crysler’s Farm that fall, winning a
medal. He next accompanied Gen. Gordon
Drummondback to Niagara and rendered
useful service at the storming of Oswego, the
Battle of Lundy’s Lane, and the siege of Fort
Erie. On August 6, 1814, he was wounded out-
side the fort by an American cannonball, but
he declined hospitalization and remained in
the field. By the conclusion of the war that
Christmas, Harvey was heralded as among the
best staff officers then serving in Canada. His
leadership style was a unique combination of
decisive action, personal bravery, and clerical
succinctness.
After the war Harvey returned to England,
where the old problem of social status mili-
tated against his finding much employment.HARVEY, JOHN