He built up a large army, soaking up federal resources, with the intent of heading to the frontier, sweeping the hostile Indians away, and re-taking Fort Detroit. Unfortunately, winter arrived and scotched his plan. But he did manage to send General James Winchester with a force of some 800 soldiers to the rapids of the Maumee River as a show of support for the citizens. Winchester, on his own volition, continued on to the Raisin River and Frenchtown, now Monroe, Michigan, where on 22 January 181 3, he was attacked by British troops and their Indian supporters. Winchester surrendered, but a band of Indians got drunk and massacred some thirty of the American soldiers and civilian residents of Frenchtown. Many had been wounded in the earlier battle. The battle cry of the northwest quickly became, "Remember the Raisin." The other two prongs of the plan failed with no less ceremony. By October of 1812, the American fort on the shores of Lake Ontario, right at the mouth of the Niagara River, held some 6,000 troops. Across the river in Fort George, less than 2,000 British regulars and their Indian allies waited for the inevitable attack. The high banks of the river on the Canadian side and the swift current running from the falls on the Niagara made any crossing tricky, but the American troops had their orders: take Fort George and the high ground adjacent to it, Queenston Heights. The commander, a militiaman, was Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, and though he had no military experience, his aide and relative, Colonel Solomon Van
Rensselaer, was a veteran of the Indian wars of the 1790s. The commander relied heavily on his aide for any military decisions. In addition, there was a regular Army officer, General Alexander Smyth, who shared the command. Unfortunately, Smyth's experience in things military rivaled that of his militiaman counterpart. Nonetheless, he tried to assume full command, refusing to take orders from a lowly militia solider. A recipe for disaster was brewing here, and of proportions rivaling that in the western theater. A comedy of errors ensued before the attack across the river, but in mid-October Solomon Van Rensselaer led his forces into battle. Smyth's men were ordered to take Fort George, some six miles to the south of Queenston Heights, while Van Rensselaer's troops would attack the Heights. Smyth, due to his status as a federal officer (and political appointee), would not cooperate, but the attack on Queenston Heights went forward anyway. Solomon Van Rensselaer was wounded six times before the Americans cou ld ascend the high riverbank, but a Captain John Wool found an unguarded path and led his men to the hilltop, driving off the occupying British. During a failed British attempt to unseat the Americans from their perch on Queenston Heights, now under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott, British General Brock was killed and the Americans he)d their ground. Recognizing that his men might be in an untenable position, General Stephen Van Rensselaer ordered his militia troops across the river to reinforce the remaining 600 Americans.
But the men refused to leave American territory, much as General Hull's militia had, citing their agreement to fight only in New York. A renewed British assault proved successful, and the Americans were driven from the Heights with huge losses and some 950 captured. The elder Van Rensselaer asked to be relieved and the War Department, in their infinite wisdom, turned over the command to Smyth. Nothing further would happen on that front, due mostly to Smyth's dithering. The eastern-and most strategically important-"front" involved the capture of Montreal. Once again, the army was under the command of sixty-one-year-old Henry Dearborn . While he had some status as a veteran, Dearborn had grown fat and lazy with prosperity and had little taste for the current struggle. He did everything he could imagine to delay attacking into Canada until finally, in November, the War Department gave him specific orders to do so. He had amassed an army of 6,000-8,000 troops, which he marched from Albany to Plattsburgh on the shores of Lake Champlain. A small detachment managed to cross the lake into Canada and encountered the British in an inconclusive skirmish just as darkness fell. In the confusion, the Americans fired at their own troops and, once again, though ordered across the lake to support their fellows, the American militia refused to leave American soil. And, with winter upon him, coupled with his lack of taste for decisive action, Dearborn gave up. A contemporary acco unt labeled hi s effort as "miscarriage without even the heroism of disaster."
USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere-1.9 August 1812. Paintings by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1845), oil on canvas, 32 x 48 inches. (left-right) The Engagement, Constitution is to the right making her approach; In Action shows Guerriere's mizzen mast falling over the the Guerriere is firing a gun to port-her unengaged side- to signify surrender. This battle was the first ship-to-ship victory for the Navy and
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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011