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When James Madison was elected to the presidency in 1808, he instructed Congress to prepare for war with Britain. On June 18, 1812, buoyed by the arrival of "war hawk" representatives, the United States formally declared war for the first time in the nation’s history. Citizens in the Northeast opposed the idea, but many others were enthusiastic about the nation’s "Second War of Independence" from British oppression.
Ironically, the British Parliament was already planning to repeal its trade restrictions. By the time the ship carrying news of the declaration of war reached Great Britain, almost a month and a half after war had been declared, the restrictions had been repealed. The British, however, after hearing of the declaration, chose to wait and see how the Americans would react to the repeal. The Americans, after hearing of the repeal, were still unsure how Great Britain would react to the declaration of war. Thus, although one of the main causes for war had vanished, fighting began anyway.
The poorly trained U.S. army, numbering roughly 6,700 men, now faced an experienced adversary fielding over 240,000 soldiers spread across the globe. America’s military fleet was large, but Britain’s was much larger.
The United States entered the war seeking to secure commercial rights and uphold national honor. The American strategy was to quickly bring Great Britain to the negotiating table on these issues by invading Canada. Captured Canadian territory could be used as a powerful bargaining chip against the crown.
The invasion of Canada, which began in the summer of 1812, ended in disaster. By the end of the year 1812, American forces had been routed at the Battle of Queenston Heights on the Niagara River, a thrust into modern-day Québec had been turned back after advancing fewer than a dozen miles, and Detroit had been surrendered to the Canadians. Meanwhile, British-allied Native Americans continued their raids in Indiana and Illinois, massacring many settlers.
The Americans performed better at sea. Although the British were able to set a semi-tight blockade along the Atlantic seaboard, American ships won several battles against British warships and captured a number of British trade vessels. The Americans continued to ably combat the formidable Royal Navy throughout the war.
See Also Tecumseh’s War of 1811
Gen. George Matthews increased his pressure for Capt. Hugh Campbell to send some of his naval force to assist him at Fernandina on Amelia Island.
Campbell pleaded with Secretary of Navy Paul Hamilton for his official instructions. Lacking any official instructions from Hamilton, Campbell at first refused all requests for aid from Matthews. But on March 17, Campbell sent 2 gunboats and positioned them at Fernandina. He said he did this to avoid spilling any blood. On March 19th, Fernandina was formally surrendered to the patriots
On March 16, 1812, Amelia Island was invaded and seized by insurgents from the United States calling themselves the "Patriots of Amelia Island," under the command of General George Mathews, a former governor of Georgia. This action was tacitly approved by President James Madison. General Mathews moved into a house at St. Marys, Georgia, just nine miles across Cumberland Sound from Fernandina on the northwest end of the island.
That same day, nine American gunboats under the command of Commodore Hugh Campbell formed a line in the harbor and aimed their guns at the town. From Point Peter, General Mathews ordered Colonel Lodowick Ashley to send a flag to Don Justo Lopez, commandant of the fort and Amelia Island, and demand his surrender.
The Spanish Commander, Justo Lopez, had insuffcient forces in town to oppose Mathew’s army, whose force soon numbered over 800 men after reinforcements from Georgia arrived, but he was concerned that Campbell’s gunboats, which had their guns trained on the town, would open fire. The Americans kept the Spanish from conducting any offensive operations against them.
Lopez surrendered the port and the town. John H. McIntosh, George J. F. Clarke, Justo Lopez, and others signed the articles of capitulation; the Patriots raised their own standard.
On March 17, a detachment of 250 regular United States troops were brought from Point Peter, and the newly constituted Patriot government surrendered the town to General Matthews. He took formal possession in the name of the United States, ordering the Patriot flag struck and the flag of the United States to be raised immediately.
This was part of a plan by General Mathews and President Madison to annex East Florida, but Congress became alarmed at the possibility of being drawn into war with Spain while engaged in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. The effort fell apart when Secretary of State James Monroe was forced to relieve Matthews of his commission. Negotiations began for the withdrawal of U.S. troops early in 1813.
On May 6, the army lowered the flag at Fernandina and took its remaining troops across the St. Marys River to Georgia. Spain seized the redoubt and regained control of the island. In 1816 the Spanish completed construction of the new Fort San Carlos to guard Fernandina.
Conclusion: American Victory.
On April 12, 1812, the 1st Regiment of United States Riflemen under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas A. Smith occupied Fort Moosa [Mose], Spanish East Florida as part of the Patriot War of East Florida.
The riflemen received little support from the US Government or the Patriots. Smith attempted a siege of St. Augustine, Florida, but his supply lines were not secure and the Spanish garrison of Castillo de San Marcos threatened his command.
The Spanish counterattacked Fort Mose and Smith retreated to an encampment further from St. Augustine, Florida.
On May 16, 1812, the Spanish set fire to Fort Mose to prevent its reoccupation but US reoccupy the fort on May 16, 1812.
Conclusion: Draw.
On May 13, 1812, HM brig-sloop Sappho fires on US gunboat No. 168, which had fired on loyalist merchant vessel Fernando to prevent it leaving port, outgunned, US gunboat withdraws, which enables several vessels to escape from the port.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: Unknown
The outbreak of war between the USA and the United Kingdom immediately changed the situation of the fort, as it was a hostile military encampment on what was arguably American soil.
A Revolutionary War veteran named Abner Hubbard gathered a couple neighbors (one of whom was a child) and set out to take the fort for the USA. Fort Haldimand had fallen into disrepair by the outbreak of the War of 1812, so this was an easier task than one would predict the conquest of a fortress to be. Details on the exact size of the garrison when Hubbard attacked are often contradictory, though the general consensus among these sources is that there was at most one able-bodied soldier as well as three wounded soldiers and two women.
Hubbard had been a Private in the Continental Army a few decades beforehand, and he had experience fighting against Britain before that day. He had joined the Army as a teenager, but he was 52 years old by 1812 and had worked as a tavern owner since the Revolutionary War ended. He lived in Jefferson County, New York, and was close enough to the Canadian border that he was able to lead an attack on the nearby fort on the same day that he heard of the outbreak of war. Hubbard was not authorized by the United States to act, but did so of his own will. He gathered another man as well as a boy, and the three of them embarked on what would become the first military engagement of the War of 1812.
They were able to take the fort without firing a shot due to the severely understaffed garrison. After capturing the fort, they took the six occupants prisoner, and so they became the first prisoners of the war. Hubbard’s force then loaded the fort’s stores onto a boat and burned down the derelict fort. News of this soon reached the British forces in the nearby city of Kingston, and while they searched for those responsible, they were unable to capture the destroyers of their fort.
After this point, the British made no serious effort to reclaim the island, and the island saw no military action throughout the rest of the war.
Conclusion: American Victory.
Casualties: American: 4-5k; British: 17c
On July 12, 1812, US Brig Gen William Hull invaded Canada and captured Sandwich. British commander, T.B. St. George, quickly consolidated his 41st Regiment of Foot, Indians, and Canadian militia at Fort Malden, and stationed at picquet at the bridge over the River Canard north of the town of Amherstburg. Two British soldiers, James Hancock and John Dean, defended the bridge over the River Canard.
On July 15, an advance party of 280 Americans under the command of militia Col Lewis Cass, started foraging south from Sandwich.
On July 16, they were stopped by shots from the picket guarding the bridge over the Canard River. Cass ordered his men to return fire. James Hancock was killed and another soldier John Dean was wounded and captured.
Hancock was the first British casualty of the war. The Americans captured the bridge. The rest of the British retreated to the fort.
Ohio militia Gen. Robert Lucas, serving as a field officer, claimed that, except for the failures of the officers, they could have captured 150 British soldiers and 50 Indians.
On July 17, Hull refused to give Col. Cass the supplies he demanded and Cass had to abandoned the position and withdraw his troops to Sandwich, but later returned several times to skirmish with the British, who reoccupied the post.
On July 18, the British started to drive back the American invaders with Indians, Canadian militia, UK regulars and Provincial Marine sloop Queen Charlotte.
On July 19 and 20, the Americans tried to advance again. By this time, the British had destroyed the bridge and stationed the warship Queen Charlotte at the mouth of the river. They were able to hold the Americans off.
On July 25 1812, the Americans suffer the first casualties on the war. There had been periodic skirmishes on the border, near the River Canard, since the invasion of Upper Canada by General Hull. According to Robert Lucas, the night before, Major Denny with a detachment of about 150 men had gone out
’for the purpose of Waylaying and Cutting of a Detachment of Indians that was reported to be ranging in the woods.’
The next day Major Denny was ambushed by native warriors near Turkey Creek Bridge. Lucas reports that six American soldiers were killed while others say four Americans were killed.
One of the dead was Avery Powers who received several shots thought his body was tomohawked but not scalped. According to some the ambush of the American force had been organized by Tecumseh.
The Americans fought back but eventually retreated back to Sandwich. Lucas reports that some native warriors were killed and one was scalped.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 6k, 0w, 0m, ; British: 1k, 1c
The first capture of an American ship by the British during the war. The American brig Nautilus was pursued and captured by the British frigate Shannon, which was part of a five-ship British squadron that also included HMS Africa, HMS Aeolis, HMS Belvidera, and HMS Guerrière that was cruising off the coast of New Jersey.
Nautilus was 24 hours out on a cruise from New York when Shannon and Aeolus captured her on 17 July. At the time of her capture she mounted 16 guns, had crew of 106 men and was under the command of Lieutenant William M. Crane.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
Before Commodore Issac Chauncey’s regime, the United States had only 1 war vessel on Lake Ontario. The USS Oneida was based at Sackett’s Harbor.
From April through July, it brought in 2 prizes. The Oneida’s depredations and the strategic importance of Sackett’s Harbor made the elderly British commander, Lt. Hugh Earle, determined to plan an attack on Sackett’s Harbor.
He sent word that if the American’s did not surrender Sackett’s Harbor, he would burn the harbor to the ground.
On July 29, Eaerle sailed from Kingston with what seemed like an overwhelming force. His fleet included the HMS Royal George with 24 guns, HMS Prince Regent with 16 guns, HMS Earl of Moira with 22 guns, HMS Simcoe with 8 guns, and the HMS Seneca with 8 guns.
The American naval commander of Sackett’s Harbor, Lt. Melancthon Woolsey, was not overawed with the British fleet and made preparations to resist the coming attack.
He brought ashore 1 entire broadside fron the Oneida and placed it next to an existing cannon. When earles’s fleet arrived, the American artillery fire punished the British ships so severely that they had to withdraw from the quick battle.
Conclusion: American Victory
Casualties:British: 8k
The British commander, Lt. Hugh Earle, sent 2 of his heaviest ships, the Provincial Marine schooners Earl of Moria and the Duke of Gloucester, down the St. Lawrence River to the village of Ogdensburg to destroy 6 American schooners that was moored there.
The American naval commander of Sackett’s Harbor, Lt. Melancthon Woolsey, had available a ship that was just recently acquired and fitted with some guns. The ship was the USS Julia, a schooner which carried one 32-lb. cannonade and two 6-lb guns.
Lt. Melancthon Woolsey sent the Julia in pursuit of the 2 British ships. Julia overtook the British ships before they could reach Ogdensburg.
On July 31, the British ships and Julia shot at each other for 3 hours. Since Julia had inflicted more damage than she recieved, in spite of her inferior armament, the British ships withdrew on the following day. They unslung their guns to be mounted in some shore batteries at Brockville.
The Julia and the 6 American schooners that she had protected were shut in the river until the armistice in September enabled them to reach the lake.
Conclusion: American Victory
Casualties: Unknown
In early August 1812, an American relief column was making it’s way to Detroit. Capt. Brush was in command of this company of Ohio Volunteers that had arrived at the River Raisin. They were bringing 300 head of cattle and 70 packhorses each laden with 200 pounds of flour and other supplies to Gen. William Hull’s Army.
While the column was at the River Raisin, Captain Brush sent a messenger to Hull, who was now in the Canadian town of Sandwich.
The message said that the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and some of his warriors had crossed the Detroit River and were now near or at the village of Brownstown. It also stated that Tecumseh was possibly being escorted by British regulars. Brush asked that troops be sent from Detroit to help protect his supply column.
On August 4th, 200 Ohio militia marched south under the command of Maj. Thomas Van Horne.
On August 5th, as Van Horne and his men were crossing the Brownstown Creek, 3 miles north of the village of Brownstown, British troops under Captain (local Major) Adam Muir of the 41st Regiment and 24 native warriors under Tecumseh and Roundhead ambushed the supply column to the south. The Americans became confused and started to retreat.
The Indians pursued the Americans as far as the Ecorces River, it was here that the Indians broke off their attack. The Americans lost 18 men killed, 12 wounded and 70 men missing. The Indians lost one man, a chief.
This was only a small skirmish, but it did show that the American supply line to Ohio was not secure. But more importantly General Hull became convinced that he was outnumbered by British and Indian forces.
Conclusion: Indian Victory.
Casualties: American: 18k, 12w, 70m ; Indian: 2k
The Battle of Maguaga was a small battle fought between 75 regular British troops, 65 Canadian militia and Chief Tecumseh’s 70 natives against a larger force of 600 American troops in Maguaga, Michigan. After the clearcut British victory at the Battle of Brownstown, Gen. William Hull decided to attack the British in Michigan. Once the battle was under way his troops accidentally shot the Indians on their right flank.
After the skirmish at Brownstown the American General William Hull decided that he would re-open his supply line to Ohio.
On August 8th, a force commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller departed Detroit and marched south to the River Raison. This force consisted 280 men of the, 1st and 4th regiments of U.S. regulars, a detachment of cavalry, two cannons and 330 militia units from Ohio and Michigan.
On the afternoon of August 9th the Americans arrived at the Indian village of Maguaga. The column was surprised and ambushed by Tecumseh who had about 70 warriors with him, 60 Canadian Militia and a detachment of 75 British regulars from the 41st Regiment.
This force was under the command of Major Adam Muir. In the confusion of the battle the British mistakenly fired at the Indians on their right flank. Facing heavy American fire power the British were forced to withdraw making their way quickly to the boats they retreated back to Fort Malden.
The British lost 1 man killed and 23 wounded. The Americans lost 18 killed and 63 wounded. Although Lieutenant-Colonel Miller held the ground he was ordered by General Hull to return to Detroit.
General Hull became convinced now that his supply line to Ohio was weak. It was after this skirmish that Hull made the decision to move his army back to Detroit.
Conclusion: Inconclusive.
Casualties: American: 18k, 63w, 70m ; British: 6k, 21w, 2c
On August 13, the Frigate USS Essex (36 guns), commanded by Capt. David Porter, was in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Essex sighted a Royal navy sloop, the HMS Alert (20 guns), commanded by Capt. T.L.O. Laugharne.
Porter kept his gunports closed making Laugharne believe that Essex was a merchantman. This gave confidence to Laugharne in maneuvering his ship within pistol shot range of Essex, which in turn ran out her carronades and devastated Alert.
The Alert ran down the Essex’s weather quarter, gave 3 cheers, and began to fire her broadside guns. The Essex returned fire and, after about 8 minutes, the Alert struck it’s colors. It had water in its hull, the mast was cut to pieces, and had 3 sailors wounded.
Porter ordered the Alert to disarm, which they did by throwing its guns overboard. Porter then sent his British prisoners that he already had on board the Essex over onto the Alert, and sent them to Halifax with Laugharne’s signed agreement to the parole of an equal number of American prisoners.
A shipment of 3rd pattern Brown Bess sea service muskets was found aboard Alert, which went towards arming the American Marines at the Washington and Boston Navy Yards. They were preferred for their larger caliber, longer bayonets, and shorter barrels.
The Essex returned to new York on September 7. Alert remained in United States service until 1829.
Conclusion: American Victory
Casualties: British: 1 Sloop and cargo captured
On September 3, Kickapoo warriors attacked this small settlement about 100 miles south of Indianapolis, Indiana, on 3 September 1812. They killed 24 men, women, and children in what was the most effective raid during the native campaign that saw major attempts on Forts Harrison and Wayne.
It was Tecumseh, not the british commanders, who now took up the offensive against the Americans. He peppered the western frontier with destructive Indian raids against American military forces and civilians alike.
On September 5, 1812, Warriors of the Sauk and Fox nations under Black Hawk attacked Fort Madison hoping to follow up on British victories at Michilimackinac and Detroit. Lieutenant Thomas Hamilton commanded a small detachment of the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment that successfully defended the fort.
Significant damage resulted to fort-related buildings, and the attack was only stopped when cannon fire destroyed a fortified Indian position.
On September 8, ther Black Hawk’s warriors attack was only stopped when cannon fire destroyed a fortified Indian position and having run low on ammunition. The indians withdrew after burning outlying buildings. Black Hawk, the Sauk chief, participated in the siege, and claimed to have personally shot the fort’s flag down.
Conclusion: American Victory
Seminoles and their Black allies boldly attack and destroy the storehouses at the American outpost at Picolata on the St. Johns River, despite the presence of 250 Georgia Volunteer soldiers.
Conclusion: Indian Victory.
Casualties: Unknown
During the Patriot War an important confrontation on Sept. 11, 1812, between Spanish and American fighting forces takes its name from the swamp: “The Ambush at Twelve-Mile Swamp.” After the face off, Americans who had been camped near St. Augustine, attempting to capture the Spanish town, withdrew. East Florida’s capital city was not really threatened again and the theater of war moved inland.
American expeditionary forces, composed mostly of Georgians, had invaded Spanish East Florida in March of 1812 with the ultimate goal of annexing the Spanish province to the United States. As the Americans referred to themselves as “Patriots,” the conflict became known as the Patriot War.
By late March, the Americans had reached as far south as the outskirts of St. Augustine and set up camp about two miles north of the city at the location where Fort Mose had been. U.S. President James Madison had first supported the invasion, but when it became unpopular with U.S. citizens, the president withdrew his approval and any military support. Yet the invaders stayed on in East Florida.
By September, the city of St. Augustine was suffering from lack of food and other supplies. Residents from the countryside had run to St. Augustine for refuge, drastically increasing the town’s population at a time when most of the surrounding farms had been destroyed by Patriot invaders and cattle confiscated to feed the American troops.
The Americans at Fort Mose were also in a bad way, low on food and medicines. Their clothes were in tatters and and there was little ammunition left. “We are now become sick,” wrote Capt. Fiedler Ridgeway.
Then, there seemed to be some relief in sight for the Patriots. Col. Thomas Smith at Fort Mose received news that there were fresh supplies at the Davis Creek blockhouse. The blockhouse was located upstream on Julington Creek, not far from the intersection of Interstate 95 and Old St. Augustine Road. The supplies were ready to be transferred to the Americans moldering at Fort Mose. On Sept. 11 Col. Smith sent out a wagon convoy from Mose headed for Davis Creek to bring back supplies.
The wagon train would have to pass through Twelve Mile Swamp. Surely the men sent to accompany the wagons were on edge about the assignment that forced them to pass through the swamp. War parties of black militia from St. Augustine and parties of Seminoles had recently ambushed other Americans on the same route. One scalped victim had been left on display in Twelve Mile Swamp.
Late on the night of Sept. 11, Spanish militia Lt. Prince Whitten and his party – 25 black militia men, 32 blacks from the Seminoles auxiliaries, and six Seminole men – waited in Twelve Mile Swamp for the wagon convoy. All of them were “painted and dressed like Indians,” according to James G. Cusick in his book, The Other War of 1812.
The Spanish troops fired on the rear of the American convoy. But the ambushed Americans kept the battle going for two hours. When the Americans ran out of powder, they held off their attackers hand to hand. Finally the Spanish militiamen burned one wagon and used another to haul away their own injured.
Cusick notes that the ambush at the swamp “finished” Col. Smith and his men at Fort Mose. Two days later, the American commander raised camp, burned his huts and began a retreat. St. Augustine was released from fear of attack and residents could now safely leave the confines of the town.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 1k, 7w
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Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
On September 16 1812, about 20 Americans under a Captain Griffin departed from Ogdensburg in two boats, one of which had a 6-pd rlong gun to intercept a British supply convoy of 40 bateaux coming upriver. They landed at Touissant’s Island, about 10 miles down river of Ogdensburg, waiting to spring their trap.
Major Rowland Heathcote, in charge of the detachment of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Regiment escorting the convoy, spotted the Americans and waswarned by a local citizen and went ashore. The Americans then advanced in the gunboat but were held off by Heathcote’s men while some of the regulars and part of the Leeds County Militia dragoons repulsed the second boat’s attempt to land.
The First Grenville County Militia also came to the fight. The American plan failed, and they suffered at least two dead and five wounded, while the British lost one killed and three wounded.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 2k, 5w ; British: 1k, 3w
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Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
A raid by a British landing party from the Royal George, in which the British seized the American merchantman Lady Murray and a smaller boat, with no resistance from the small American force present.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: Unknown
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Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
In retalliation for the for the September 21 American raid on Gananoque, Col. Robert Lethridge, British commander at Prescott, prepared to attack Ogdensburg. Ogdensburg was the main American station for harassing British river traffic.
On the morning of October 4, Lethridge directed a heavy cannomade across the St. Lawrence River. Under the cannonade, the British also launched 25 bateaux and 2 gunboats carrying 750 men, mixed regulars and militia, to the American shoreline.
The Americans reinforced the militia with some of the regular 1st U.S. Rifle Regiment under Major Benjamin Forsyth, returned their own cannonade from Ogdensburg, forcing Lethridge’s force back in midstream.
Governor General Sir ?? Prevost censured the expedition as a violation of his injunction against any offensive action. He then relieved Lethridge of his command and reassigned him to a minor position in Montreal. For some reason, Lethridge was promoted to major general on June 4.
Conclusion: American Victory
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
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Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
There were 5 English warships on Lake Erie and 1 warship on Lake Huron in the fall of 1812. The ships were: HMS Queen Charlotte with 20 32lb. guns, HMS Hunter with 10 12lb. guns, HMS Prevost with 14 9lb. guns, HMS Nancy with 8 6lb. guns, HMS Caledonia with 8 6lb. guns, and HMS Detroit with 14 guns. Against these, the United States had nothing except hopes. The first erosion of British superiority occured on November 9. Lt. Jesse D. Elliot, the American commander on Lake Erie, embarked at 1:00 A.M. from Buffalo with 100 men in 2 boats. They began to row silently across the Niagra River towards Fort Erie. Being undetected, his party boarded the Caledonia and the Detroit at 3:00 A.M. They overpowered the British crews on both ships and cut the ship’s cables. When the British crews were secured, the Americans fired a signal volley from onboard. This caused the shore on the American side of Lake Erie to become illuminated. Now, british shore artillery began to fire on them and forced the Detroit to be beached on the Canadian side. There was not anything that the American crews could do except to destroy the ship by burning it. The Caledonia was able to be saved and later became the nucleus of the American flotilla on Lake Erie.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
There were 5 English warships on Lake Erie and 1 warship on Lake Huron in the fall of 1812. The ships were: HMS Queen Charlotte with 20 32lb. guns, HMS Hunter with 10 12lb. guns, HMS Prevost with 14 9lb. guns, HMS Nancy with 8 6lb. guns, HMS Caledonia with 8 6lb. guns, and HMS Detroit with 14 guns. Against these, the United States had nothing except hopes. The first erosion of British superiority occured on November 9. Lt. Jesse D. Elliot, the American commander on Lake Erie, embarked at 1:00 A.M. from Buffalo with 100 men in 2 boats. They began to row silently across the Niagra River towards Fort Erie. Being undetected, his party boarded the Caledonia and the Detroit at 3:00 A.M. They overpowered the British crews on both ships and cut the ship’s cables. When the British crews were secured, the Americans fired a signal volley from onboard. This caused the shore on the American side of Lake Erie to become illuminated. Now, british shore artillery began to fire on them and forced the Detroit to be beached on the Canadian side. There was not anything that the American crews could do except to destroy the ship by burning it. The Caledonia was able to be saved and later became the nucleus of the American flotilla on Lake Erie.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
After the USS Wasp’s victory over the HMS Frolic earlier in the morning, the Wasp was overpowered and captured by a British warship later on in the same day.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
In retalliation for the for the September 21 American raid at Gananoque, Col. Robert Lethridge, British commander at Prescott, prepared to attack Ogdensburg. Ogdensburg was the main American station for harassing British river traffic. On the morning of October 4, Lethridge directed a heavy cannomade across the St. Lawrence River. Under the cannonade, the British also launched 25 bateaux and 2 gunboats carrying 750 men, mixed regulars and militia, to the American shoreline. The Americans returned their own cannonade from Ogdensburg, forcing Lethridge’s force back in midstream. Governor General Sir ?? Prevost censured the expedition as a violation of his injunction against any offensive action. He then relieved Lethridge of his command and reassigned him to a minor position in Montreal. For some reason, Lethridge was promoted to major general on June 4.
Conclusion: American Victory.
As soon as the temporary armistice had ended, Maj. Gen. Sir Roger Sheaffe ordered a bombardment of fort Niagra from his base at Fort George. He had hoped to distract the American commanders from the southern end of the Niagra River, where he believed lay the greastest danger to Canada. The artillery cannonade he had ordered evoked the Anmericans to respond with their own bombardment on Fort George. An artillery duel went on through November 21. When the duel was over, there were 6 killed and a few men wounded. There was some property damage but no important objectives had been achieved by Sheaffe.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
On the morning of October 22, 1812 the USS Vixen, a brig armed with twelve 18-pound carronades, departed its base at St Mary’s, Georgia, for a 30-day cruise raiding British commerce in the Caribbean. Vixen was commanded by 32 year old George Washington Reed, youngest son of George Washington’s adjutant general and had a crew of 110.
The crew was fairly uneventful from a combat and prize money point of view and on November 22, Vixen was homeward bound and two days out of St Mary’s. Then the adventure started.
At first light Vixen’s lookout reported a strange sail, only barely visible, on her starboard beam. Vixen turned to investigate and by 6 am they identified her as a frigate. It was about this time that the frigate spotted Vixen and they noted her setting all available sail.
By 10 am, it was obvious that the frigate was gaining and Vixen began starting, i.e. dumping, drinking water to lighten the ship. The wind died and they Vixen used its sweeps to continue moving while the frigate remained becalmed. The dumped their anchors and tossed their shot overboard. All the while the crew slaved at the sweeps.
Their luck didn’t hold. The wind picked up and the chase continued. At 2 pm they tossed their two bronze 6-pounder chase guns over the side.
By 3:45 shot was passing over the Vixen. Vixen raised its colors, fired one gun to windward, another to leeward, and then struck her colors. At 4 pm the British frigate pulled alongside and sent over a boarding party. They discovered that the frigate was the HMS Southampton (32) commanded by Captain James Lucas Yeo and noted the Southampton had “Constellation” painted on her stern.
Around midnight on Novemebr 27th, Southampton struck an uncharted rock. She immediately fired a signal gun and the Vixen maneuvered to her assistance. Vixen struck the same rock. While the Southampton was wedged on the rock and pumps could manage the leakage, Vixen was badly holed and quickly abandoned.
Crew and officers survived, however LT. Read died of Yellow Fever in Jamaica before he could be exchanged.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0m, ; British: 0c
Brig. Gen. Samuel Hopkins brooded over his previous failure and made plans to try again. He assembled 3 regiments of militia infantry from Kentucky, Capt. Zachary Taylor’s company of regulars, a company of Rangers, and some scouts. The American force totaled 1,200 men. Hopkins led his force out of Fort harrison on November 11. This time, he destroyed the 40 huts of Prophetstown without a fight and wiped out a Kickapoo village of 160 huts. His men cut down all of the growing corn that they came across. Detachments of the force split up for pursuits of the fleeing Indians. One detachment fell into an ambush and lost 18 men. The rest returned intact, and Hopkins was proud to lead them back through the snow to Fort Harrison. He was confident that he had permanently crippled the Indians in that quarter.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
On November 23, a British party of 20 regulars and 70 militiamen retaliated for the American raid on St. Regis on October 22. The British party raided an American fort at French Mills, on the Salmon River. The British captured 44 American militiamen, 4 boats, and 57 stands of arms.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 44c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown
On November 27, under the cover of darkness, Lt. Col. Charles Boerstler led 200 men of the 14th U.S. Infantry across the Niagra River to destroy a bridge over which the british reinforcements would have to pass to get to Queenstown.
At the same time, Capt. William King with 130 men of the 15th U.S. Infantry and 70 sailors went over to try to destroy the batteries across from Black Rock.
Brig. Gen Alexander Smyth had so often proclaimed his intentions, that the british were ready for him above the falls, and both advanced parties came under heavy fire.
King’s men, nevertheless, overran some batteries and spiked the guns, but became seperated in the darkness. They could not find any boats to return back to the American lines in, and in the end, they had to surrender to the British force.
Boerstler’s detachment could not destroy it’s target because of the approach of a superior British force. Indeed, it escaped encirclement only because Boerstler, in a series of loud orders to fictitious officers, convinced his opponents that his force was larger than theirs.
Thus, when his men charged with bayonets, they opened up an escape route to the bank of the river. Most of them returned to the American side, but a few were left on the other shore without any boats.
Conclusion: American Victory.
Casualties: American: 24k, 55w, 39c; British: 13k, 44w, 34c Unknown
As soon as the temporary armistice had ended, Maj. Gen. Sir Roger Sheaffe ordered a bombardment of fort Niagra from his base at Fort George. He had hoped to distract the American commanders from the southern end of the Niagra River, where he believed lay the greastest danger to Canada. The artillery cannonade he had ordered evoked the Anmericans to respond with their own bombardment on Fort George. An artillery duel went on through November 21. When the duel was over, there were 6 killed and a few men wounded. There was some property damage but no important objectives had been achieved by Sheaffe.
Conclusion: Inconclusive
Brig. Gen. Samuel Hopkins brooded over his previous failure and made plans to try again. He assembled 3 regiments of militia infantry from Kentucky, Capt. Zachary Taylor’s company of regulars, a company of Rangers, and some scouts. The American force totaled 1,200 men. Hopkins led his force out of Fort harrison on November 11. This time, he destroyed the 40 huts of Prophetstown without a fight and wiped out a Kickapoo village of 160 huts. His men cut down all of the growing corn that they came across. Detachments of the force split up for pursuits of the fleeing Indians. One detachment fell into an ambush and lost 18 men. The rest returned intact, and Hopkins was proud to lead them back through the snow to Fort Harrison. He was confident that he had permanently crippled the Indians in that quarter.
Conclusion: American Victory.
Casualties: American: 18k
On November 23, a British party of 20 regulars and 70 militiamen retaliated for the American raid on St. Regis on October 22. The British party raided an American fort at French Mills, on the Salmon River. The British captured 44 American militiamen, 4 boats, and 57 stands of arms.
Conclusion: British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 44c,
As soon as the temporary armistice had ended, Maj. Gen. Sir Roger Sheaffe ordered a bombardment of fort Niagra from his base at Fort George. He had hoped to distract the American commanders from the southern end of the Niagra River, where he believed lay the greastest danger to Canada. The artillery cannonade he had ordered evoked the Anmericans to respond with their own bombardment on Fort George. An artillery duel went on through November 21. When the duel was over, there were 6 killed and a few men wounded. There was some property damage but no important objectives had been achieved by Sheaffe.
Conclusion: Inconclusive.
On December 8, the HMS Caledonia and the HMS Detroit were anchored near and protected by the guns of Fort Erie. Lt. Jesse D. Elliot decided to capture the 2 British vessels and add them to the American squadron. After putting together a force of approximately 100 men. Some sailors, some drafts from the army. Lieutenant Elliot’s force left the American side of the Niagara River about 1:00 A.M. December 9 in 2 large boats. When they arrived by the 2 ships, the British opened fire with their muskets. The Americans began boarding the ships and after a great deal of fighting the ships were taken. The British kept up a heavy fire as the 2 ships tried to reach Black Rock, and the strong current in the Niagara River made this task even more difficult. The Caledonia finally reached the safety of the American shore. The Detroit was not so lucky, hit several times by British artillery as well as American fire, it became uncontrolable and ran aground on Squaw Island. The Americans set the Detroit on fire and destroyed her so the ship would not fall back into British hands.
Conclusion: American Victory British Victory.
Casualties: American: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m; British: 0k, 0w, 0c, 0m Unknown