Free The War of 1812 by Wesley B. Turner Page A

had won him the respect of many Americans. Harrison’s aim was to recapture Detroit and then invade Upper Canada.
    In January, Harrison led over six thousand men north towards Detroit. Winchester went ahead with an advance guard and captured Frenchtown, but he took no precautions against a British counterattack, which came before dawn on January 22. Across the frozen river and through deep snow, Procter led over five hundred regulars, militia, and sailors. With the support of about six hundred Indians, they captured some five hundred Americans, including Winchester, and killed nearly four hundred more. On hearing this, Harrison fled up the Maumee River. Finding that Procter did not pursue him, he returned downriver and built a fort, which he named Fort Meigs after the governor of Ohio.
    Procter was not the decisive leader that Brock had been. Instead of attacking while the Americans were building Fort Meigs, he waited for reinforcements. By the time they arrived in May, the fort was ready, and even with reinforcements Procter could not capture it. He ended the siege and returned to Amherstburg. Later in the year, he would try again, but his attacks achieved nothing worthwhile.
    There had been fighting early in the year along the St. Lawrence River as well. American militia from Ogdensburg had several times raided across the river, threatening the supply route to Upper Canada. Ignoring Prevost’s orders not to attack Ogdensburg, Lieutenant-Colonel George Macdonell (known as “Red” George), the commander at Fort Wellington, decided to march against the American post in order to put an end to these raids. On February 22, British regulars and militia crossed the ice from Prescott. They captured the American guns, moved into the town, and then attacked the strong fort nearby. The Americans withdrew, leaving the whole position in Macdonell’s hands. He burned the barracks and boats before re-crossing the river with supplies and prisoners.
    For the rest of the war there was no garrison in Ogdensburg and therefore no need to fight there. In fact, people from Prescott occasionally went over to the American side to shop at David Parish’s store, while Americans often crossed to have dinner with Macdonell. The inhabitants of this part of the frontier wanted to live in peace with each other, a feeling that was unfortunately not shared by most Americans.
CANADA INVADED
    In his planning for the campaign of 1813, Armstrong recognized the importance of Montreal but did not think Dearborn’s army would be strong enough early in the year to attack it. He, therefore, wanted Dearborn to capture Kingston, which would cut the St. Lawrence route to Lower Canada and give the Americans control of Lake Ontario. Their success would isolate York and the British forts along the Niagara thereby making their conquest easy. This was not a bad plan, but Armstrong failed to stick to it.
    Reinforcements were arriving at Quebec and Prevost sent some of them, including the 104th Regiment, to Upper Canada. In February, he went there himself to inspect the posts. All this movement made Dearborn and Chauncey think the British were too strong to be attacked successfully at Kingston. They proposed the seizure of York to be followed by attacks along the Niagara River. If all these assaults succeeded, they would then move against Kingston. Although this proposal reversed his original plan and made less sense strategically, Armstrong agreed to it.

    A Grenadier Private of the 8 th (King’s) Regiment of Foot, Fort York.
    [Courtesy of the author.]
    The Americans achieved the first part of their plan when they captured York in April. The next part, to take over the Niagara frontier, also succeeded, with Chauncey’s fleet playing a major role.
    On May 25, Chauncey’s ships began to bombard Fort George and soon set its log buildings on fire. Two days later, between four thousand and five thousand Americans landed, led by Colonel