The War of 1812 (9 page)

At Kingston and York, during the winter of 1812–1813, construction of warships hurried ahead. These were to have twenty-four guns each so that they could match the
Madison
. Chauncey started an even larger vessel at Sackets Harbor. A pattern developed of each side trying to out-build the other on the lakes. The Americans had the advantage of plenty of supplies, good shipbuilders, and seamen. Naval personnel and equipment for Canada had to come from Halifax and even England. Both sides knew that such aid would be limited while the war with Napoleon dragged on.

The naval contest on Lake Ontario would differ from that on lakes Erie and Champlain. On those lakes, decisive naval battles were to be fought that in both cases would result in American victories. On Ontario, Yeo's and Chauncey's fleets would sail near each other but they would avoid a major engagement, preferring instead to attack each other's naval bases and supply depots.

The Americans made the first raid against York on April 27. In addition to the prestige of capturing the provincial capital, the Americans hoped to take the vessels in the harbour and destroy the ship under construction there. Despite the importance of York, its garrison was small (about three hundred regulars, four hundred militia and
dockyard workers, fifty to one hundred Indians) and its defences weak. These consisted of a few heavy guns mounted west of the town by the lakeshore. There was a small fort, but its only strong part was the stone magazine where ammunition was stored.

View of the taking of Little York by Commodore Chauncy and General Pike.

[Amasa Trowbridge Papers, Manuscript Room, Library of Congress.]

The American effort was big: 1,700 regulars carried on fourteen ships led by the
Madison
. Chauncey commanded the fleet and Dearborn the troops. Shortly before dawn, the Americans landed west of the town where only a few Indians and regulars were present to oppose them. These defenders were easily driven back while American warships knocked out the shore batteries.

General Sheaffe, the British commander, seeing that his forces were greatly outnumbered and suffering heavy losses, realized he could not hold York. He advised the militia officers to surrender the town, and ordered the unfinished ship and the naval storehouse and the big magazine blown up. His intention was to destroy anything that could be of value to the Americans, but the explosion also caused them unexpected losses.

Falling stones crushed Brigadier-General Zebulon Pike — the American commander on shore — and at least 250 American soldiers were killed or wounded. Dearborn then came ashore to assume command.

Sheaffe saved the regulars to fight another day, but as they marched away, they left the people, “standing in the street like a parcel of sheep,” in the words of York's sheriff, John Beikie.
⁴
Although the Americans had been angered by the magazine explosion (seeing it as an unfair trick), a surrender was negotiated, the militia were allowed to go to their homes, and private property was to be left alone. Nevertheless, there was theft and destruction of property during the enemy's six-day occupation. Government House, the Parliament Building, other public buildings, and a private schooner were all burned by the Americans. A number of private homes and stores were robbed.

In terms of the war, however, the most important consequences were the loss to the British of the badly needed naval and military stores, the ship under construction, and the
Duke of Gloucester
, which the Americans took away. The loss of supplies in particular contributed to the later, fatal, weakness of the Lake Erie squadron.

In January 1813, Chauncey had established a naval base at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania), and several ships were soon under construction there. Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry,
a regular naval officer, was given command of the Lake Erie squadron. The British naval squadron on that lake was under Commander Robert H. Barclay. His naval service had begun in 1798, he had served in the Battle of Waterloo, and, several years afterwards, he had lost his left arm after being wounded in action.

The British position on Lake Erie was weaker than that of the Americans, who could easily send seamen and equipment from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to Presque Isle. When British seamen arrived at Kingston in May, Yeo thought he needed most of them for Lake Ontario. He did not allow Barclay to take any to Lake Erie, even though there were not enough seamen on Erie to work the gunboats. Moreover, Barclay received insufficient guns and supplies to properly equip his ships.

Chauncey used his naval force again in May to support an American attack on Fort George. While he was away from Sackets Harbor, Prevost and Yeo attempted to capture it. During the assault, an American officer set fire to the shipyard containing a schooner, a vessel under construction, and naval stores to keep them out of British hands. But lack of wind prevented Yeo's ships from approaching close enough to use their guns effectively. Deciding that the attack could not succeed, Prevost called it off. The Americans put out the fires before they did much harm. Prevost thus failed to capture Sackets Harbor or even inflict serious damage. Among his men and officers, he was criticized for not pressing on with the attack. “It was a scandalously managed affair. . . . The murmurs against Sir George were deep, not loud,” wrote a young lieutenant who was present.
⁵

Chauncey hurried back to his threatened base while Yeo sailed in the opposite direction, towards Burlington, carrying troops and supplies for the army that had been driven away from Fort George. Yeo used his ships to capture American supply boats and to cannonade the enemy on shore.

For the next two months the cautious Chauncey kept his fleet in Sackets Harbor and sent out only small naval patrols. He feared to face Yeo's new ship,
Wolfe
(twenty-two guns), until his next warship,
General Pike
(twenty-six guns) was completed. It was launched and fitted by the last week of July whereupon Chauncey sailed his fleet westward. On July 31, the Americans again occupied York, seized supplies, and burned storehouses.

O.H. Perry. A young naval officer when he was sent to Lake Erie,
Perry gained fame and promotion to captain from his victory there
in September 1813. But his naval service was cut short when in
1819, at the age of 34, he died from yellow fever while on active
duty in South America.

[Courtesy of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.]

During August, Yeo and Chauncey sailed near each other, but one or the other always thought conditions wrong for a real battle. The British ships had mostly short-range guns (carronades) and the Americans long-range guns. Yeo therefore wanted to get close to the Americans, while Chauncey wanted to fight at a distance when the water was calm. The result was that they never fought a decisive action.

Chauncey's force was weakened by the loss of two schooners, the
Hamilton
and the
Scourge
, which overturned in a storm and sank, taking most of their crewmen with them. Their approximate location in Lake Ontario was known but it would take years of searching underwater
before they would be located in 1975, just offshore from Port Dalhousie. Seven years later they would be thoroughly photographed and the results published.
⁶
In spring 1990, they would again be examined by a remote-controlled submersible and this time video images would be transmitted to audiences of scientists and school children. The pictures of the two vessels would show them resting upright on the lake bottom, containing a great deal of their original equipment and skeletal remains of the sailors, all remarkably well-preserved by the ice cold water. Perhaps, someday, the plans to raise them and place them on a museum in Hamilton, Ontario, will be carried out. Then, instead of knowing only representations of warships from 1812–14, the public will be able to see two ships actually preserved from that era.

Aside from chasing each other, the two fleets did fight two brief battles in September 1813. Yeo got the worst of both although in the second, he managed to inflict severe losses on the enemy. After a running battle lasting almost three hours, both sides broke off the action and Yeo anchored near Burlington Bay while Chauncey fought strong winds and high waves as he sailed to the Niagara River. He then headed for Sackets Harbor and on the way recaptured two schooners Yeo had taken in August, and seized six ships carrying troops from York to Kingston.

Meanwhile, on Lake Erie, Perry had built a fleet within Presque Isle's sheltered harbour. But the large vessels (brigs) appeared to be trapped because they drew about three metres of water and there was less than two metres over the sand bar that lay across the entrance. Beyond the bar, Barclay's little fleet maintained a blockade until the end of July when it sailed away. During its absence until August 4, Perry had the brigs hauled over the barrier (the smaller ships were able to sail over it) and out onto the lake. The emergence of Perry's fleet created an immediate threat to Fort Malden and Procter's forces. In spite of the weaknesses of his fleet, Barclay had no choice but to fight Perry in order to eliminate the American naval menace.

On September 10, the two fleets approached each other among the Bass Islands near Put-in-Bay. Barclay had six ships, only three of them adequately armed, mostly with guns taken from Fort Malden. Perry had nine ships, all well-armed with proper naval guns including some that could be swivelled around to shoot over either side. The two squadrons manoeuvred for three hours before the wind shifted in Perry's favour, but his slow approach allowed Barclay to concentrate his broadsides on his opponent's flagship
Lawrence
(named after his friend, the heroic Captain Lawrence). Firing began about noon and by mid-afternoon, the
Lawrence
was reduced to “a defenseless hulk.”
⁷
Remarkably, Perry was unhurt and so transferred to his second large brig, the
Niagara
, to continue the fight, and by late afternoon had defeated the British. The men on each side had fought bravely and had suffered terrible losses. Barclay, badly wounded in the thigh and his remaining arm, was taken prisoner along with all the other survivors. Perry now controlled Lake Erie, a result that would change the entire military situation for western Upper Canada.

A Naval Battle on Lake Ontario.
The United States sloop of war,
General Pike
, and the British sloop
of war,
Wolfe
September 28, 1813.

[Courtesy of the Archives of Ontario, S1431.]

During the final weeks of the navigation season, Chauncey pretty well controlled Lake Ontario. Nonetheless, regulars and militia going by bateaux from York made it safely to Kingston, one indication that Chauncey's evanescent control did not decisively affect the war. Yeo's fleet was secure in Kingston harbour and being made stronger for the next year's fighting. The two fleets, however, never again fought a battle.