Robert McDouall

Major-General Robert McDouall, CB (March 1774 – 15 November 1848) was a Scottish-born officer in the British Army, who saw much action during the Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-American War of 1812. He is best known for serving as the commandant of Fort Mackinac from 1814 until the end of the War of 1812.

Early life and career

Robert was born in

Egyptian campaign in 1801, and as a Captain at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and in the Invasion of Martinique (1809)

.

Service in Canada

The 1st Battalion of the 8th Foot were posted to

aide de camp to the Governor General of Canada, Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost

.

On 24 June 1813, he was appointed major in the

Glengarry Light Infantry, a Scottish unit raised in Canada. He was sent to Britain with despatches, was made a brevet

lieutenant colonel in the Army on 29 July, and returned to Canada.

Mackinac Island

No doubt due to Prevost's influence, McDouall was appointed Commandant of the post on Mackinac Island. The island was an important American trading post on Lake Huron. It had been captured by the British and Indians by surprise early in the war, thereby inducing many more Indians to ally themselves with Britain. In 1813, the Americans had won the Battle of Lake Erie, which had isolated the island from supply via Lake Erie.

McDouall and a party of soldiers from the

Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, voyageurs and craftsmen journeyed north in the depths of winter from York, the provincial capital of Upper Canada, to the Nottawasaga River near present day Edenvale, Ontario, where they constructed batteaux. (Glengarry Landing on the Nottawasaga River, where McDouall oversaw the construction of the flotilla, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923.^[1]^[2]) When the river unfroze in the spring, they sailed and paddled the length of Georgian Bay

and Lake Huron to reach Mackinac with vital supplies. McDouall took up his post as commandant and began improving the defences of the island.

McDouall's responsibilities covered a very large geographical area. Shortly after his arrival, he learned that the Americans had captured the post of

Prairie du Chien, threatening the allegiance of some of the Indians. He dispatched an expedition under William McKay

which succeeded in recapturing Prairie du Chien, although it reduced his own strength.

An American expedition for the recapture of Mackinac Island, consisting of five warships with 700 troops, appeared off the island on 26 July 1814. McDouall's defences withstood an American bombardment and in the

Engagement on Lake Huron

, the blockading vessels were captured, securing the British hold on the entire region for the remainder of the war.

The War ended in 1815. McDouall publicly regretted that the

Drummond Island

, retaining command of the remaining British forces in the area, until leaving for home in June 1816.