Battle of Sackett's Harbor
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The Battle of Sacket's Harbor was fought in northwestern portion of the U.S. state of New York on May 29, 1813, during the War of 1812. The battle was an American victory in which a combined force of American militia, regulars and sailors repulsed a British invasion against Sackett's Harbor, New York, the main shipbuilding naval base on Lake Ontario.
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[edit] Background
At the start of the campaigning season of 1813, the main American forces on the border between the United States and Canada were stationed at Sacket's Harbor on Lake Ontario, under Major General Henry Dearborn and Commodore Isaac Chauncey. Chauncey's squadron was superior in numbers to the opposing British and Canadian-manned squadron at Kingston, and the troops concentrated under Dearborn would outnumber the British at any point on their extended front. The Americans had a chance to storm Kingston, but they exaggerated the number of British soldiers stationed there. Instead they proceeded to attack York, the Provincial capital at the other end of the lake. On April 27, the Americans won the Battle of York, occupying and looting the town. They then withdrew to the mouth of the Niagara River, preparing to attack the British position at Fort George.
Captain James Lucas Yeo had meanwhile been appointed to command the British naval force on the Great Lakes. He arrived at Quebec on May 5 and set off up the Saint Lawrence River with a party of 150 naval officers and sailors.[1] On the way, he overtook and joined the Governor General of Canada, Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost, who was making his second visit to Upper Canada in four months, as it would probably prove necessary to replace Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe who had lost the confidence of the Provincial Assembly after his defeat at York.
Prevost and Yeo arrived at Kingston on May 15. While Prevost reorganised his command and attempted to raise the morale of the militia and civil authorities, Yeo hastened the completion of several new warships. He knew that when they were completed, his squadron would be slightly superior to Chauncey's, but also that the Americans were building a 28-gun sloop of war at Sacket's Harbor, which would return the advantage to Chauncey.[2]
On May 25, Chauncey's squadron was sighted off Fort George. The British commander there, Brigadier General John Vincent, immediately sent a dispatch vessel to Kingston with the information. (The next day, he was driven from his position with heavy losses at the Battle of Fort George.)
On learning of Chauncey's presence off Fort George, Yeo and Prevost realised that his squadron would be probably be occupied there for several days. There was an opportunity to capture Sacket's Harbor, and deliver a decisive blow which would ensure that the British gained naval supremacy on the lake. The available British troops (the grenadier company of the 100th Regiment, two companies of the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot, four companies of the 104th Regiment, one company of the Glengarry Light Infantry and two companies of the Canadian Voltigeurs, with a detachment of Royal Artillery with two 6-pounder guns) were hastily assembled and embarked on Yeo's vessels. As no General officer was immediately available to command them, Prevost himself led the expedition (although he delegated command of the troops once they were ashore to his Adjutant General, Colonel Edward Baynes).[3]
[edit] Battle
The British force set out late on May 27 and arrived off Sacket's Harbor early the next morning. The wind was very light, which made it difficult for Yeo to manoevre close to the shore. He was also unfamiliar with the local conditions and depths of water. Shortly before midday, the troops began rowing ashore, but unknown sails were sighted in the distance. In case they might be Chauncey's fleet, the attack was called off, and the troops returned to the ships. The strange sails proved to belong to barges and other small craft carrying supplies to Sacket's Harbor. Yeo's ships captured 12 of these, with 115 men and their cargoes, while 7 escaped into Sacket's Harbor.[4]
This delay gave the Americans time to reinforce their defences. There were 400 regulars stationed at Sacket's Harbor, mainly the small detachments manning Fort Volunteer and Fort Tompkins at the harbour entrance, and various parties of reinforcements and invalids. The senior regular officer was Lieutenant Colonel Electus Backus, of the regiment of Dragoons. There were also 250 volunteers from the militia. 500 additional militia were hastily called up from the surrounding area. Under arrangements made by Henry Dearborn before he departed for York, Jacob Brown, who at the time held the rank of Major General in the New York state militia, took command of the troops.
In addition to Fort Volunteer and Fort Tompkins, the Americans had built several strong blockhouses south of the town, and a partially completed line of earthworks and timber fortifications surrounding the town and dockyard. These defences had been planned and laid out the previous year by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Macomb.
The next morning, May 29, Prevost resumed the attack. The British troops tried to land to the south of Horse Island, south of the town. Fire from two 6-pounder guns belonging to the militia and a naval 32-pounder forced them to struggle ashore on the north side instead. Once the landing force was fully assembled, they charged across the flooded causeway linking the island to the shore. The American militia fled, abandoning their guns, but Brown rallied about 100 of them. The British swung to their left, hoping to take the town and dockyard from the landward side, but the American regulars with some field guns gave ground only slowly, and fell back behind their blockhouses and defences from where they repulsed every British attempt to storm their fortifications.
Yeo did not bring his larger vessels into effective range. His gunboats, which could approach very close to the shore, were armed only with short-range carronades which were ineffective against the American defences. Eventually, one British ship (the Prince Regent, mounting 16 guns) worked close in, using sweeps (long oars). When its crew opened fire they quickly drove the American artillerymen from Fort Tompkins. Some of their shot went over the fort and landed in and around the dockyard. Under the mistaken impression that the fort had surrendered, an American officer (Lieutenant Woolcott Chauncey, younger brother of the Commodore) ordered the sloop General Pike which was under construction, to be set on fire along with large quantities of stores.[5]
By this time, Prevost was convinced that success was impossible to attain. His own field guns did not come into action, and without them he was unable to batter breaches in the American defences. The militia which Brown had rallied were attacking his own right flank and rear. He gave the order to retreat. Prevost later wrote that the enemy had been beaten and that the retreat was carried out in perfect order, but accounts by British soldiers stated that the re-embarkation took place in disorder and each unit acrimoniously blamed the others for the repulse. The British did capture three 6-pounder guns and 154 prisoners (including the boats' crews captured on July 28.)[6]
The Americans for their part claimed that had Prevost not retreated hastily when he did, he would never have returned to Kingston. The U.S. 9th Infantry had been force-marching to the sounds of battle, but the British had departed before they could intervene.[7]
[edit] Results
Although the General Pike had been set on fire, since it was still green wood it did not burn well, and the Americans were able to salvage the ship. The fires had nevertheless consumed $500,000 worth of stores and construction materials, which was to prove a handicap later in the year. The brig Duke of Gloucester, which had earlier been brought back as a prize from York, was also destroyed but was no great loss as it was in poor repair.
Jacob Brown received a commission as Brigadier General in the United States Army as a result of the American victory. Lieutenant Colonel Backus had been killed during the fighting. On the British side, Prevost's own prestige was badly damaged by the repulse, although he remained in command in Canada for another year and a half before another defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh ruined his reputation.
The British defeat compared badly with the victorious American opposed landings at York and Fort George. The chief reason was probably that the attack was launched without sufficient preparation, planning and rehearsal. The troops were an ad hoc collection of detachments, which had not been exercised together. (This applied to the American regulars also, but since they were fighting from behind fixed defences, this mattered less). Neither Prevost nor Baynes had seen much fighting during their careers. No attempt was made to outflank the American defences by landing in an unexpected place, or to force the defenders to disperse by means of feint landings. Yeo was new to the command and conditions on the lake, and cautiously kept most of his warships out of range.
[edit] Notes
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p.142
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p.143
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p.146
- ^ Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812, p.130
- ^ Rather than Woolcott Chauncey, a Lieutenant John Drury was accused of panicking and ordering the premature destruction. J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, p.332 n.
- ^ J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812, pp.148-149
- ^ John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms, p.131
[edit] References
- J. Mackay Hitsman & Donald E. Graves, The Incredible War of 1812, Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, ISBN 1 896941 13 2
- John R. Elting, Amateurs to Arms, Da Capo Press, New York, ISBN 0 306 80653 3
- Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, ISBN 0 67402 584 9
