Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 11

The Battle of Châteauguay

by Victor J. H. Suthren

Brief Sketch of Events to October 1813

With the declaration of war on 19 June 1812, President Madison wished to undertake a direct attack on a specific Canadian weak point. Where the initial attack was to be made proved difficult to agree upon, however, and a vague offensive plan developed in its place.

In the eyes of Isaac Brock commanding in Upper Canada, a war of offensive action seemed most appropriate; on the other hand, Sir George Provost, governor in chief at Quebec, was more inclined to husband resources and rely on his fortified position and support from the Royal Navy.

In July of 1812, American forces under General Hull crossed at Detroit to take the small settlement of Sandwich in Ontario. In the same month, the western American post of Michilimackinac was taken at little cost by a mixed group of British regulars, Indians and employees of the North West Company. In August, General Hull retired to Detroit, issuing an appeal to the governors of Ohio and Kentucky for militia aid. He received too little support, however, to induce him to resist the surrender demands of Major General Brock, who took Detroit and Hull's force with hardly a shot fired.

Arrival at Quebec of the news of the repeal of the Orders in Council, which had been one of the official causes of the American declaration of war, led Prevost to dispatch a messenger to General Dearborn in New York state, successfully arranging a brief cessation of hostilities; meanwhile, on the Niagara frontier, Major General Roger Sheaffe and Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer of the United States had concluded their own local truce, which provided for a halt in defence build-up. This hiatus lasted only until September, however, when Washington ordered a return to hostilities, and mutual raiding began almost immediately across the St. Lawrence.

In October 1812, United States regular and militia forces began to concentrate along the Niagara frontier, albeit hampered by internal disorganization and rivalries. American lake vessels under Commodore Chauncey undertook a blockade of the British lake port of Kingston. Finally, on 13 October, American troops crossed the Niagara River and assailed British positions on Queenston Heights. Major General Sir Isaac Brock was killed in an attempted counterattack against the American position. Weakened by the refusal of the state militia forces to cross the river, the American forces at Queenston surrendered under pressure from a circuitous attack led by Sheaffe, who had succeeded Brock in command. An armistice along the Niagara was arranged almost immediately.

An event of some importance took place on 23 October, when an American attack on the Iroquois reservation at Saint-Regis swayed most Indian support to the British, if it had not already been in that quarter.

In November came the first organized American move against Montreal. General Dearborn assembled 3,000 regulars and 3,000 militia at Plattsburg and moved north. The militia refused to enter Canada, and Dearborn's reduced force pushed as far as Lacolle, where a mixed force of Canadian troops and Indians repulsed a probe and induced Dearborn to retire into winter quarters at Plattsburg.

This incident, which occurred on 20 November, set a precedent for future defence of Lower Canada. Some eight days later, a brief and generally unsuccessful American thrust occurred across the Niagara River.

In January 1813, British forces under Procter managed to defeat a mixed American force of regulars and militia under Winchester at Frenchtown on the Raisin River, during which a deplorable massacre occurred. Meanwhile American naval activity on Lakes Ontario and Erie was intensifying, instigated by the new American naval secretary, William Jones.

On 7 February, a party of American riflemen under Forsyth raided the town of Brockville; it was partly in retaliation for this raid that on 22 February a successful attack under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel George Macdonell was mounted across the frozen river against American installations at Ogdensburg. In the same month, John Armstrong became the United States secretary of war, and by March had agreed to the Chauncey Dearborn plan to attack York (Toronto) and then Fort George and Kingston.

The month of April saw this plan become reality. Chauncey's ships and their cargo of American regulars arrived at York on 27 April and carried out a successful attack. Too wornout by illness and exertion, however, the force returned to Sackets Harbor without assaulting Fort George.

On 5 May, Procter invested the American forces of Major General Harrison in Fort Meigs, Ohio, retiring after inflicting substantial losses. American preparations continued for the attack on Fort George, and on 25 May the assault was launched, forcing the British units present to withdraw westward toward Burlington. Three days later, Sir James Yeo's ships carried out a landing attack on Sackets Harbor. This latter engagement might have had greater consequences had it been successfully prosecuted.

In June, British fortunes improved somewhat, and on 3 June a small naval victory was won on Lake Champlain. On 5 June, the night attack at Stoney Creek by British troops under Lieutenant Colonel Harvey surprised the American force marching toward Burlington and caused them to retire toward Fort George, harrassed by shore bombardment from Sir James Yeo's vessels. Establishing a defensive position at Fort George, the American military suffered another setback with the defeat at Beaver Dams on 24 June, the incident which involved Laura Secord.

Throughout July, Secretary of War Armstrong prepared his campaign plans for the St. Lawrence assault and appointed James Wilkinson to the northern command. On 30 July, British presence on Lake Champlain was restated in a raid on Plattsburg and Swanton, Vermont, under the direction of Commander Everard, R.N.

On 2 August, Procter's British force mounted an unsuccessful attack against Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky River, Ohio. By 20 August, General Wilkinson arrived at Sackets Harbor and determined to descend the St. Lawrence in conjunction with Major General Wade Hampton, who would advance northward with an army along the Lake Champlain valley.

British fortunes took a severe setback in September, when on the ninth, Barclay's British Lake Erie squadron was defeated by O. H. Perry's American squadron, reducing support for the hard-pressed Procter who was retiring eastward. Perry's ships ferried Harrison's American forces into Canada in pursuit of Procter, and on 5 October the British were ignominiously defeated on the Thames River, losing an important Indian ally, Tecumseh.

The defence picture in Canada looked somewhat bleak when on 16 October Hampton received clearance to move northward toward the meeting at Châteauguay, and when, on the following day, Wilkinson departed Sackets Harbor for his descent of the river.