Siege of Fort Meigs
Siege of Fort Meigs | |||||||
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Part of the War of 1812 and Tecumseh's War | |||||||
Fort Meigs | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom Native Americans Upper Canada | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Henry Procter Tecumseh Roundhead |
William Henry Harrison Green Clay William Dudley † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,250 Native Americans 433 regulars 462 Canadian militia |
1,200 regulars 1,600 militia | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
British 14 killed 47 wounded 41 captured[6] Indians 19 killed and wounded Total 121[7] |
160 killed 190 wounded 100 wounded prisoners 530 captured 6 missing Total 986[8] |
The siege of Fort Meigs took place in late April to early May 1813 during the
Background
In the early days of the War of 1812 (1812–1815), an American Army under Brigadier General
Harrison's advance was hampered by bad weather and shortage of supplies. On 22 January 1813, the leading detachment of his army (commanded by Winchester) was defeated at the
Harrison descended the Maumee to the proposed site of Fort Meigs with an army which ultimately numbered 4,000 men (mainly militia) and began construction of the fort on 1 February 1813. He contemplated making a hit-and-run attack across the frozen
As the enlistments of Harrison's
The fort was on the south bank of the Maumee, near the Miami Rapids. Across the river were the ruins of the old British Fort Miami and the site of the pivotal 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. Fort Meigs occupied an area of 8 acres (32,000 m2), the largest fortification constructed in North America to that date. The perimeter consisted of a fifteen-foot picket fence, linking eight blockhouses. The north face was protected by the Maumee, and the east and west faces by ravines. The south face was cleared of all timber to create an open glacis.[11]
The poor weather of early spring prevented a British attack while the fort was still vulnerable.[12] The British Army commander on the Detroit frontier, Major General Henry Procter, had been urged to attack Fort Presque Isle (present day Erie, Pennsylvania), where the Americans were constructing a flotilla intended to seize control of Lake Erie, but Procter refused unless he received substantial reinforcements. Instead, he decided upon an attack on Fort Meigs, to disrupt American preparations for a summer campaign and hopefully capture supplies.[13] Harrison received word of Procter's preparations, and hastened down the Maumee with 300 reinforcements, increasing the garrison of the fort to a total of 1,100 men.[11] He had persuaded Isaac Shelby, the Governor of Kentucky, to call up a brigade of 1,200 Kentucky militia under Brigadier General Green Clay. Clay's brigade followed Harrison down the Maumee, but had not reached the fort before it was besieged.
Siege begins
Procter's force disembarked at the mouth of the Maumee on 26 April. His force consisted of 31 men of the
It took several days for the British force to move up the Maumee and set up batteries. Most of these were on the north side of the river, but one was set up on the south side. Most of the Natives also were on the south side of the river, loosely investing the fort. As the British established their batteries, Harrison ordered "traverses", embankments 12 feet (3.7 m) high, to be hastily thrown up within the fort. The British batteries opened fire on 1 May, but most of the cannon shot fired sank harmlessly into the wet earth of the traverses and embankments.
Battle of the Miami
On 2 May, Harrison sent a courier to Clay's force, with orders for part of them to spike the British guns on the north bank and then withdraw into the fort, while a sortie from the fort attacked the battery on the south bank.
The Kentuckians gained complete surprise. Early on the morning of 5 May, a detachment from Clay's brigade under
On the south bank, the American sortie against the British battery was partially successful. Colonel John Miller, at the head of 350 regulars and volunteers, captured the battery and took 41 prisoners. However, Captain Richard Bullock, with the flank companies of the 1/41st Foot, two companies of militia and 300 Indians, counterattacked and, in hard fighting, drove Miller's detachment back into the fort with heavy casualties.[19]
Aftermath
After the battle, the prisoners from Dudley's command were taken for confinement to the ruined Fort Miami near the British camp. Here, some of the Native warriors began massacring the prisoners and several Americans were killed before Tecumseh, Lieutenant Colonel
The battle of 5 May was known to the British as "the Battle of the Miami", having taken place beside the Miami du Lac River (now known as the Maumee River). The 41st Regiment, whose successor in the British Army is the Royal Welsh Regiment, was awarded the battle honour, "Miami", in commemoration of its successful action during the battle.[23]
Within the
Casualties
The British official casualty return gave 14 killed, 47 wounded and 40 captured.[24] It was headed as being for May 5 but it appears to have been for the entire siege up to and including May 5, since it included among the wounded Captain Laurent Bondy of the Canadian militia, who is known to have received his (ultimately fatal) wound from artillery fire on May 3. The Native Americans allied to the British had 19 men killed and wounded, including Roundhead's brother Jean-Baptiste.[7]
Harrison reported the casualties sustained by his garrison in the entire siege, from 28 April to 9 May, as 80 killed and 190 wounded, of whom 12 were killed and 20 wounded by artillery fire.[25] This would indicate 68 killed and 170 wounded during the engagement on 5 May. An official British return of prisoners details 547 captured Americans but a note from Procter states that "since the above return was made out more than eighty prisoners have been brought by the Indians".[26] This would give a total of about 630 Americans captured at the battle.[27] Harrison reported no men missing or captured from his garrison,[28] so all of the prisoners taken on 5 May must have been from Dudley's troops on the north bank of the river. The official casualty report for Dudley's command, compiled after the Kentucky Militia prisoners were paroled, details 80 men killed and 100 wounded (all of whom had been captured).[29] This gives total casualties for Dudley's 866-strong detachment of 80 killed, 100 wounded prisoners, 530 unwounded prisoners and 6 missing; and an overall American loss on May 5 of 148 killed, 170 wounded, 100 wounded prisoners, 530 unwounded prisoners and 6 missing.
End of the siege
On 7 May, terms were arranged providing for the mutual exchange of all regular prisoners and the parole of the Kentucky Militia prisoners, who were convoyed to Sandusky under pledge of performing no further military service until formally exchanged for British prisoners.[27] On the same day, Procter's artillery resumed fire, but most of the Natives had abandoned the army and the Canadian militia were anxious to get back to their farms. The renewed bombardment had little effect, and the garrison of the fort now outnumbered the besiegers. Procter abandoned the siege on 9 May. The total American loss in the siege came to 160 killed, 190 wounded, 100 wounded prisoners, 530 other prisoners and 6 missing: 986 in all.[8] John Sugden says that 14 killed, 47 wounded and 41 captured were Procter's entire (non-Indian) casualties for the siege, which indicates that 1 man was captured after 5 May.[6]
Order of battle
British/Native American order of battle | American order of battle |
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British Army: Brigadier General Henry Procter
Canadian Militia, including:
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Army of the Northwest: Major General William Henry Harrison
|
Second siege
Once the British had departed, Harrison left Clay in command of the fort with about 100 militiamen. Tecumseh urged Procter to make a renewed effort to capture the fort in July. Tecumseh's warriors staged a mock battle in the woods to make it appear as if they were attacking a column of American reinforcements to lure Clay out of the fort. However, Clay knew no reinforcements were coming, and the ruse failed. Procter quickly abandoned the second siege.
Notes
- ^ Nelson, p. 41
- ^ battlefields.org
- ^ "...leaving the Americans with a victory."
- ^ Averill p.29 "...Proctor raised the siege and retreated..."
- ^ Hickey p.136
- ^ a b Sugden, p. 338
- ^ a b Cruikshank, p. 297
- ^ a b Eaton, pp. 8-9; Wood, p. 39; Lossing, p. 485; Gilpin, pp. 188-189 and 193
- ^ Skaggs, David Curtis (October 2008). "The Making of a Major General: the Politics of Command of the North West Army, 1812-13". Retrieved October 12, 2009.
- ^ Elting, p.64
- ^ a b c Elting, p.105
- ^ Elting, p.104
- ^ Hitsman and Mackay, p.141
- ^ a b Lossing, p. 486
- ^ a b Sugden, p. 332
- ^ Antal, p. 225
- ^ James, p. 188
- ^ a b Gilpin, p. 187
- ^ James, pp. 199-200
- ^ Antal, p. 226
- ^ Sugden, p. 337
- ^ Sugden, p. 335
- ^ Yaworsky, Jim, The 41st Regiment and the War of 1812
- ^ James, p. 430
- ^ Eaton, p. 8
- ^ Wood, p. 39
- ^ a b Gilpin, p. 189
- ^ Gilpin, pp. 188, 193
- ^ Eaton, p. 9
- ^ a b Fort Meigs: A Condensed History
- ^ A Biographical History of Drake County, Ohio Archived 2011-03-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Fort Meigs: A Turning Point
- ^ William Dudley
References
- Averill, James (1885), Fort Meigs: A Condensed History, Blade Printing and Paper Company
- Antal, Sandy (1997). A Wampum Denied: Proct[e]r's War of 1812. Carleton University Press. ISBN 0-87013-443-4.
- ISBN 978-0-385-65838-6.
- ISBN 0-405-02838-5.
- Eaton, Joseph H. (2000). Returns of Killed and Wounded in Battles or Engagements with Indians and British and Mexican Troops, 1790-1848, Compiled by Lt. Col J. H. Eaton (Eaton's Compilation). Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Microfilm Publications.
- ISBN 0-306-80653-3.
- Gilpin, Alec R. (1968) [1958]. The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest (Reprint ed.). East Lansing, MI: The Michigan State University Press.
- Hickey, Donald (1989). The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict. Urbana; Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01613-0.
- Hitsman, J. Mackay; Donald E. Graves (1999). The Incredible War of 1812. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio. 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 I. London: Printed for the Author. ISBN 0-665-35743-5.
- ISBN 978-0-674-02584-4.
- Lossing, Benson J. (1976) [1868]. The Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812. Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing Company. ISBN 0-912274-31-X.
- Nelson, Larry L. (2006). "Dudley's Defeat and the Relief of Fort Meigs during the War of 1812". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 104 (1): 5–42. JSTOR 23386734. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ISBN 0-7126-6508-0.
- Wood, William (1968) [1923]. Select British Documents of the Canadian War of 1812, Volume II. New York: Greenwood Press.
External links
- The War of 1812
- "The Siege of Fort Meigs". Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society. 19 (56): 54–62. 1921. JSTOR 23369553.
- Events: Fort Meigs