Battle of Fort Oswego (1814)
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Battle of Fort Ontario | |||||||
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Part of the War of 1812 | |||||||
The attack on Fort Ontario, 1814. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
James Lucas Yeo Karl Viktor Fischer William Mulcaster | George Mitchell | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
550 soldiers 400 marines[1] 200 sailors 8 warships |
242 regulars 25 U.S. Navy 200 militia[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
17-18 killed 63-69 wounded Total: 80-87[3][4] |
6-21 killed 38 wounded 25-60 captured Total: 69-119[5][6][7] |
The Battle of Fort Ontario was a partially successful British raid on Fort Ontario and the village of Oswego, New York on May 6, 1814 during the War of 1812.
Background
During the early months of 1814, while Lake Ontario was frozen, the British and American naval squadrons had been building two frigates each, with which to contest command of the lake during the coming campaigning season. The British under Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo were first to complete their frigates on 14 April, but when the Americans under Commodore Isaac Chauncey had completed their own, more powerful, frigates, Yeo's squadron would be outclassed.
Lieutenant General Sir
Instead, Drummond and Yeo decided to attack the smaller post at
Drummond and Yeo had reliable information that the garrison of the fort numbered only 290 regulars, and believed that thirty or more heavy guns intended for Chauncey's ships under construction at Sackett's Harbor were waiting there. They planned, by capturing Oswego, to capture these guns and thereby retain Yeo's advantage over Chauncey.[9]
Attack
Yeo's squadron embarked the landing force and set out from Kingston late on 3 May. They arrived off Oswego early in the morning, on 5 May. The troops prepared to land shortly after midday, but a southerly breeze sprang up, which made it impossible for Yeo's ships to get close enough to the shore to provide support from their guns.[10] That evening, a storm blew up, forcing the British squadron to withdraw for the night.
The British squadron returned to Oswego at eleven o'clock the next morning, and the landing proceeded. The landing force consisted of the
Opposed to them was an American force of 242 officers and enlisted men of the 3rd U.S. Regiment of Artillery, 25 sailors of the U.S. Navy, and about 200 of the New York Militia,[2] under the command of Major George Mitchell of the 3rd Artillery. Mitchell attempted a ruse by pitching large numbers of tents near the village to exaggerate his numbers.[13][14][15] The fort was in a state of disrepair, but the delay imposed on the landing had allowed the defenders to shift extra guns to face the lake,[10] with a total of five guns in a battery in the fort: one 9-pounder and four 4 or 6-pounders.[2]
While the two British frigates (HMS
Casualties
The official British Army casualty return, signed by Lieutenant Colonel
The American losses are hard to determine. Mitchell's casualty return, which apparently included the U.S. regular troops only, stated the loss as 6 killed, 38 wounded and 25 missing.[5] Captain Rufus McIntire of the 3rd U.S. Artillery reported to an associate, "Our loss is five killed, 28 wounded, 3 since dead, about 24 prisoners and 11 missing. Lt. [Daniel] Blaney killed and only one other officer slightly wounded."[18] General Drummond's report of the engagement to Sir George Prevost stated that the British captured "about 60 men, half of them severely wounded".[6] Another British report, however, said that only 25 American soldiers and 1 "civilian" (possibly a militiaman) were captured.[7] Still another British account said that 1 officer and 20 enlisted men of the Americans were found dead on the battlefield.[7]
Result
The British gathered 2,400 barrels of useful supplies of all description; flour, pork, salt, bread and ordnance stores. They also captured a few small
The British had missed twenty-one more guns which had still been en route to Oswego, and were 12 miles (19 km) away at Oswego Falls. Rather than launch an expedition up the Oswego River, Yeo mounted a blockade of Sackett's Harbor to prevent them reaching Chauncey. The Americans tried to move them to Sackett's Harbor in launches and small boats but were intercepted. British marines and sailors then mounted a "cutting-out" attack against them but failed, with 200 marines and sailors ambushed and captured at the Battle of Big Sandy Creek.
Once Chauncey had received the guns and fitted out his squadron, he commanded the lake from the end of July 1814 until late in the year.
See also
- Battle of Fort Oswego (1756)
Notes
- ^ Letter from General Drummond to Sir George Prevost dated 3 May 1814, citing a land forces strength of 24 Artillerymen, 20 Sappers, 450 De Wattevilles, 50 Glengarry Light Infantry, along with 9 Marine rocketeers and 350 men of the 2nd (Royal Marines) Battalion, in addition to the Sailors and Marines of the Lake Ontario squadron [1]
- ^ a b c Johnston, p.139
- ^ a b Wood, p.59
- ^ a b Wood, pp.64-65
- ^ a b Quimby, p.509
- ^ a b Cruikshank, p.336
- ^ a b c Johnston, p.142
- ^ Hitsman, p.208
- ^ Hitsman, p.209
- ^ a b c "Contemporary British account of the battle". napoleonic-series.org. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- ^ Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. p. 796.
- ^ a b "THE WAR OF 1812: European Traces in a British-American Conflict" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 December 2021.
- ^ Crawford, pp.474-476
- ^ Hannings, pp. 212-211
- ^ Lossing, pp.704-798
- ^ Roosevelt, p.198
- ^ Hitsman, p.210
- ^ McIntire, p. 314.
- ^ Roosevelt, p.199
- ^ Porter, Maj Gen Whitworth (1889). History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol I. Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers. p. 258.
References
- Crawford, Michael J. (2003). The Naval War of 1812, A Documentary History, V. 3: 1814-1815, Chesapeake Bay, Northern Lakes, and Pacific Ocean. Bolton Landing, NY: Dept. of the Navy; 1st edition. ISBN 0-16-051224-7.
- Cruikshank, Ernest A. (1971) [1908]. The Documentary History of the Campaign upon the Niagara Frontier in 1812-14. Volume IX: December, 1813 to May, 1814 (Reprint ed.). by Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-02838-5.
- Chester, Gregory Battle of Big Sandy: War Of 1812 Publisher: George "Greg" Gregory Chester, 2007 http://hasjny.tripod.com/id11.html ISBN 978-0-9791135-0-5contains the names of the casualties at Oswego
- Hannings, Bud (2012). The War of 1812: A Complete Chronology with Biographies of 63 General Officers. Jefferson, NC: McFarland; 1st edition. ASIN B00BP5MZZC – via Google Books.
- Hitsman, J. Mackay, The incredible War of 1812, Robin Brass Studio, Toronto, ISBN 1-896941-13-3
- James, William (1818). A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of the Late War Between Great Britain and the United States of America, Volume II. London: Published for the Author. ISBN 0-665-35743-5.
- Johnson, Crisfield. ... History of Oswego County, New York. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts &, 1877.
- Johnston, Winston (1998). The Glengarry Light Infantry, 1812-1816. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: Benson Publishing. ISBN 0-9730501-0-1.
- K. G. S. "The Raid on Oswego in 1814: A Documentary History" (self-published), 2020.
- Lossing, Benson J. (2014). The pictorial field-book of the war of 1812; or, Illustrations, by pen and pencil, of the history, biography, scenery, relics, and traditions of the last war for American independence. Pearl Street, NY: Harper & brothers. ASIN B00IQ84RM0 – via Google Books.
- McIntire, Rufus, correspondence, New York State Library, Manuscripts & Special Collections, SC4150, transcribed in Fredriksen, John C., ed., “The War of 1812 in Northern New York: The Observations of Captain Rufus McIntire,” New York History, Vol. 68 (July, 1987), 297-324.
- NICOLAS, Paul Harris (1845) [2010]. Historical Record of the Royal Marine Forces, Volume 2, 1805-1842. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 257–259. ISBN 1-142-42683-1.
- Quimby, Robert S. (1997). The U.S. Army in the War of 1812: An Operational and Command Study. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. ISBN 0-87013-441-8.
- Roosevelt, Theodore, The Naval War of 1812, Modern Library, New York, ISBN 0-375-75419-9
- Wood, William (1968). Select British Documents of the Canadian War of 1812. Volume III, Part 1. New York: Greenwood Press.
External links
- Media related to Battle of Fort Oswego (1814) at Wikimedia Commons
- "Contemporary British account of the battle". napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 8 October 2022.