War of 1812 – M.A. Kleen

The 1814 Pultneyville Raid

A sharp fight sent British soldiers fleeing back to their boats when a routine raid on an American coastal town went awry during the War of 1812.

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The Pultneyville Raid was conducted by British forces commanded by Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo on May 15, 1814 against the hamlet of Pultneyville, New York on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. They were opposed by American militia commanded by Brigadier General John Swift. The raid ended in a close American victory, as British forces retreated with a few captured supplies.

Lake Ontario was a strategic conduit for ships and supplies during the war, and both sides sought to control it. The American government kept military store houses at various points along the lake to resupply its fleet. The British sought to capture or destroy those supplies in a series of raids. On the morning of May 14, six miles west of Pultneyville, British troops from a ship called the King George landed and kidnapped Thomas Fuller and Captain Church. They forced the men to guide them to Pultneyville in a thick fog.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. John Swift had gathered 130 volunteers and militia to confront the British. When the fog lifted the next morning, the British sent out an ultimatum demanding surrender of the supplies or they would fire on the hamlet. Three townspeople rowed out to the British ship and negotiated surrender of the supplies in exchange for assurances the residents would be unmolested. As arranged, several hundred British soldiers landed and took the supplies, however, they also began to loot local homes.

Battle of Crysler’s Farm National Historic Site

Canadians are so polite, they physically erased this humiliating loss for the American Army from existence, except for this small monument and museum overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

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The Battle of Crysler’s Farm was fought on November 11, 1813 between American forces under the command of Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson and British forces commanded by Lt. Col. Joseph Wanton Morrison near Morrisburg, Ontario during the War of 1812. It was a complete victory for the British, and this, alongside another defeat at the Battle of the Chateauguay, persuaded the Americans to abandon plans to march on Montreal.

The American effort to capture Montreal in 1813 was known as the St. Lawrence Campaign, since it focused on militarily dominating the St. Lawrence River, at the border of the United States and British Canada. In September, Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson and 8,000 men departed from Sackets Harbor, New York and advanced east along the river, while Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton and 4,000 men advanced north from Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. Hampton was defeated at the Battle of the Chateauguay on October 26.

Lt. Col. Joseph Wanton Morrison’s much smaller force of 900 to 1,200 men had pursued the American expedition to Morrisburg, where the two sides made camp on November 10. The next morning, battle occurred almost by accident when scouts began firing at each other, making both armies believe an attack was imminent. Morrison had chosen Crysler’s Farm because of its open terrain, while the Americans had to slog through swampy ground to reach the British.

Black Rock Battlefield

A roadside sign is all that reminds us of that time the British savagely burned the towns of Buffalo and Black Rock, New York to the ground.

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The Battle of Black Rock was fought on December 30, 1813 between British forces commanded by Major General Phineas Riall and American militia commanded by Major General Amos Hall in the present day city of Buffalo, New York along the Niagara River during the War of 1812. The engagement was a decisive British victory, resulting in the burning of Black Rock and Buffalo.

On December 10, 1813, Brigadier General George McClure decided to abandon Fort George on the eastern bank of the Niagara River, which the United States had captured in May. His troops burned the nearby village of Newark to the ground before retreating across the river. The British wasted little time in retaliating, and they captured Fort Niagara by surprise on December 18th.

Maj. Gen. Phineas Riall then floated 600 British regulars, 50 Canadian militia, and 400 American Indian allies to a landing site two miles downstream from Black Rock. Lt. Col. John Gordon and 370 men from the Royal Scots Regiment landed at Black Rock. Opposing them was Maj. Gen. Amos Hall and approximately 2,000 New York militiamen.

Battle of Scajaquada Creek Bridge

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A detachment of American riflemen turn back the last British attack on Buffalo is this little-known War of 1812 skirmish.

The Battle of Scajaquada Creek Bridge (also known as Conjockety Creek) was fought on August 3, 1814 between British forces commanded by Lt. Col. John Tucker and American forces commanded by Major Ludowick Morgan in modern-day Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812. The battle was an American victory, ending British raids over the Niagara River and saving the American soldiers holed up in Fort Erie.

After the bloody Battle of Lundy’s Lane on July 25, 1814 on the western shore of the Niagara River, the American Army withdrew to recently-captured Fort Erie to lick its wounds. The British, under the command of Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond, pursued and laid siege to the fort. The Americans received supplies from Black Rock and Buffalo by boat, so Lt. Gen. Drummond ordered Lt. Col. John “Brigadier Shindy” Tucker to take 600 men, raid the villages, and burn military supplies, as the British had successfully done in December 1813.

To reach those military store houses, Tucker had to cross the Niagara River and Unity Island, then Conjockety Creek. Scouts warned Major Ludowick Morgan of the British approach, and he ordered his men to tear up planks on the Conjockety Creek bridge. His 240 militiamen found cover on the southern shore and waited for the British to appear. The British, armed with smoothbore muskets, were no match for the American riflemen.

The British attempted to repair the bridge under fire, but this proved futile. Tucker then sent a detachment up stream to try to force a crossing at a different point, but they were met by steady and accurate fire from the defenders. After a frustrating hour of fighting, the British withdrew having lost approximately 12 killed and 17 wounded to the Americans’ two killed and eight wounded. Supplies continued flowing to Fort Erie, and the British eventually broke off the siege after heavy losses.

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Troupville Battlefield at Sodus Point, New York

This unassuming strip of Lake Ontario shore was once the scene of a destructive British raid during the War of 1812.

The Battle of Troupville was fought on the evening of June 19, 1813 between a British raiding party and American militia commanded by Captain Elias Hull at Sodus Point, New York during the War of 1812. It was initially a victory for the Americans, but the next day British troops returned and successfully raided and burned the village.

Lake Ontario was a strategic conduit for ships and supplies during the war, and both sides sought to control it. The American government kept military store houses at various points along the lake. On June 15, 1813, the British destroyed one storehouse in the village of Charlotte (today a neighborhood of Rochester), at the mouth of the Genesee River.

Two militia units were called out, and residents of Troupville buried anything they thought the British might steal or destroy. On the morning of June 19, however, since no British ships had appeared, the militia disbursed. As fate would have it, that night under cover of darkness approximately 125 British soldiers came ashore and around 60 men from the village grabbed their rifles to meet them. They initially chose Elder Seba Norton, a preacher and veteran of the Revolutionary War, as their leader, but Captain Elias Hull of the militia soon arrived to take command.

The battle was short. The American militia, hiding in the woods, exchanged fire with the British, but neither side could see how many men they were facing, and both sides retreated after firing a few rounds. Two British soldiers were killed, and two Americans were mortally wounded and three captured. An unknown number were wounded. The next day, British ships fired cannon into the town and landed unopposed. They burned every building but the tavern (where they had left a wounded militiaman the night before) and sailed away.

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Fort Ontario State Historic Site in Oswego, New York

Fort Ontario has a rather exciting and complicated history. It saw action in three wars: French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812. Held by the British from 1755 to 1796, it passed to the Americans in the Jay Treaty, which resolved disputes stemming from the Revolutionary War. The fort was one of three guarding the mouth of the Oswego River at Lake Ontario. Today, it is a State Historic Site and museum.

In 1755, the British built a wooden stockade at that location called the Fort of the Six Nations. French General Marquis de Montcalm destroyed it and other surrounding forts in August 1756 during the French and Indian War. Three years later, the British rebuilt the fort and named it Fort Ontario. During the Revolutionary War, in July 1778, Colonial soldiers found it abandoned and burned it.

At the Battle of Oswego, May 6, 1814, during the War of 1812, British Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fischer and a force of 550 soldiers and 400 marines attacked Fort Ontario and its garrison of 242 regulars and 200 militia. The British suffered 80-87 casualties to the Americans’ 69-119. They succeeded in destroying the fort after its capture.

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USS Constitution and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts

Compared to modern warships and aircraft carriers, the USS Constitution might not look like much, but it was once the most storied ship in the U.S. Navy. It was launched on October 21, 1797, and is still considered to be in active service.

The USS Constitution was originally a 44-gun frigate with a crew of 450 sailors, including 55 Marines. She earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812. Today, she is still crewed by 60 active duty U.S. Navy personnel, though she has been in dry dock at the former Charleston Navy Yard in Boston under restoration for the past three years.

The USS Constitution Museum is a private, nonprofit museum located in a restored shipyard building nearby. It is a first class effort at telling the USS Constitution’s history through art, models and dioramas, hands on displays, and volunteers.

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