Excerpt
I accordingly gave orders for all the arms, ammunition and public stores, of every description, to be sent across the river ... and ordered the town of Newark to be burnt.Historical wording and forms retained where stated.
The War Reaches Towns and Homes
Documentary edition · packet 09
Report on the destruction of Newark
McClure described burning Newark as a military necessity during retreat. Civilian petitions and British retaliation narratives turned the same act into evidence of calculated cruelty.
December 1813Military reportRead the chapter →
Modernized reading
McClure said he ordered public stores evacuated and Newark burned as the British approached.Plain-language reading; not a substitute for quotation.
Editorial method: Two clauses from one sentence are joined with an ellipsis marking the omitted words. Capitalization is reduced.
Annotations
- NewarkPresent-day Niagara-on-the-Lake, Upper Canada.
- orderedMcClure accepted responsibility while arguing that the evacuation made the destruction militarily necessary.
Witness and provenance
- Creator
- George McClure
- Witness used
- McClure's published defense as printed in John Brannan's 1823 compilation, page 291.
- Repository or edition
- Internet Archive
- Collection
- John Brannan, Official Letters of the Military and Naval Officers of the United States
- Identifier
- George McClure, published defense, p. 291
- Transmission
- McClure's statement was printed in the 1823 compilation. It is a retrospective defense by the responsible commander, not a neutral damage inventory.
- Rights
- Public-domain military correspondence and printed edition.