Battle of Fort Bowyer

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Ft. Bowyer captured by British.
Illustrated by Nathan Glick

Date	February 11, 1815
Location	Fort Bowyer, Alabama
Result	British Victory

Combatants

Commanders

Strength

1,000+

Around 370

Casualties

25 killed or wounded

Total force captured

American South
Creek War – Pensacola – New Orleans – Fort Bowyer

The Battle of Fort Bowyer was the last engagement between British and American forces in the War of 1812. It was fought after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed.

1 Move to engagement
2 The battle
3 Aftermath
4 External links

[edit] Move to engagement

Following their catastrophic defeat at the Battle of New Orleans, and unaware that the peace Treaty of Ghent had already been signed (though not yet ratified), British forces under Gen. John Lambert decided to launch a new assault, this time on Mobile, Alabama.

The first target of the assault was the wooden Fort Bowyer, situated at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The fort had beaten back a small British attack the previous year, and the American Colonel, Andrew Jackson, recognising its strategic importance, had strengthened the fort and garrisoned it with 370 officers and men of the 2nd U. S. Infantry Regiment, proclaiming "ten thousand men cannot take it".

[edit] The battle

Lambert landed a force of around 1,000 men east of the fort to block any reinforcements by land. Judging they would need a line of artillery to successfully reduce the fort, the British moved to within 200 yards of the fort and began to build their siege works.

While constructing their artillery lines, the British forces endured constant American fire and took light casualties, but continued their work undeterred. When the siege guns were in place, the British were ready to launch a devastating artillery attack on the now vulnerable wooden fort.

On February 12 Lambert, under a flag of truce, called on the fort to surrender. He asked the American commander, Major William Lawrence, to accept British terms and prevent the needless slaughter of his men. Lawrence reluctantly agreed to do so.

[edit] Aftermath

With Mobile Bay secured by British warships and Fort Bowyer now under British control, the remaining American forces in the area hurried to Mobile to prepare for the expected onslaught there. However, the following day, February 13, a British dispatch ship arrived off Mobile Bay with news of the signing of the peace treaty ending the war.

Fort Bowyer was subsequently returned to U.S. control, and would later be replaced with the more heavily fortified Fort Morgan.