Military officer; born in
South Carolina in 1777; son of
Ralph Izard.
Having finished his education and
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Graves of the 11th Ohio battery-men. |
made a tour in
Europe, he entered the United States army, in 1794, as lieutenant of artillery.
He was appointed aide to
General Hamilton in 1799; resigned in 1803; commissioned colonel of artillery in the spring of 1812; and promoted to brigadier-general in March, 1813.
He was in command on
Lake Champlain and on the
Niagara frontier, in 1814, with the rank of major-general.
From 1825 until his death he was governor of
Arkansas Territory.
Early in September, 1814, he moved towards
Sackett's Harbor, under the direction of the
Secretary of War, with about 4,000 troops, where he received a despatch from
General Brown at
Fort Erie, Sept. 10, urging him to move on to his support, as he had not more than 2,000 effective men. The first division of
Izard's troops arrived at
Lewiston on Oct. 5.
He moved up to
Black Rock, crossed the
Niagara River, Oct. 10-11, and encamped 2 miles north of
Fort Erie.
Ranking
General Brown, he took the chief command of the combined forces, then numbering, with volunteers and militia, about 8,000 men. He prepared to march against
Drummond, who, after the sortie at Fort
[
90]
Erie, had moved down to
Queenston.
Izard moved towards
Chippewa, and vainly endeavored to draw
Drummond out. He had some skirmishing in an attempt to destroy a quantity of grain belonging to the
British, in which he lost twelve men killed and fifty-four wounded; the
British lost many more.
Drummond fell hack to
Fort George and
Burlington Heights.
Perceiving further operations in that region to be useless, and perhaps perilous,
Izard crossed the river and abandoned
Canada.
Knowing
Fort Erie to be of little service, he caused it to be mined and blown up, Nov. 5.
He died in
Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 22, 1828.
