Battle of Stoney Creek
| date | June 6, 1813 |
|---|---|
| place | in Canada at Stoney Creek (Ontario) |
| output | British victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| about 700 men | approx. 3,400 men (but only 1,328 on site) |
| losses | |
|
23 dead |
16 dead, |
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Theater of War St. Lawrence / Lake Champlain 1. Sacket's Harbor - 1. Lacolle Mills - Lake Ontario - Ogdensburg - New York - 2. Sacket's Harbor - Châteauguay - Chrysler's Farm - 2. Lacolle Mills - Fort Oswego - Big Sandy Creek - Plattsburgh
Niagara Theater of War
Queenston Heights - Frenchman's Creek - George - Stoney Creek - Beaver Dams - Black Rock - Fort Niagara - Buffalo - 1st Fort Erie - Chippewa - Lundy's Lane - 2nd Fort Erie - Cook's Mill
Detroit
Theater of War Tippecanoe - Fort Mackinac - Dearborn - Detroit - Fort Harrison - Fort Wayne - Wild Cat Creek - Mississinewa - Frenchtown - Fort Meigs - Fort Stephenson - Lake Erie - Thames River - Longwoods - Prarie du Chien - Rock Island Rapids - Mackinac Island - Malcom's Mills
Chesapeake
Theater of War Craney Island - St. Michaels - Chesapeake - Bladensburg - Washington - Caulk's Field - North Point - Baltimore
South Theater of War
Creek - 1. Fort Bowyer - Fayal - Pensacola - Lake Borgnes - New Orleans - Fort St. Philip - Fort Peter - 2. Fort Bowyer
The Battle of Stoney Creek on June 6, 1813 between British-Canadian and American troops took place near Lake Ontario during the British-American War in Canada and ended in a British victory.
After the American efforts to conquer Canada in 1812 had failed due to the defeats at Queenston Heights and Frenchman's Creek , the Americans began a new offensive in May 1813. A 7,000-strong army under Major General Henry Dearborn and naval units under Commodore Isaac Chauncey opened the offensive with an amphibious assault on the near the mouth of the Niagara River in Ontario location Fort George . Major General John Vincent's 1,400 defenders , which included regular army units, territorial troops and militias , recorded 52 dead, 360 wounded and missing in casualties and had to withdraw in the face of overwhelming American superiority.
The British fell back along the Niagara River and, despite the withdrawal of the militias, were able to bring their numbers to 1,600 men through reinforcements. Vincent first marched to Burlington Bay on Lake Ontario, where he was able to receive supplies from the British fleet under Captain Sir James Lucas Yeo . Its supply lines along the Niagara had been disrupted by the loss of Fort Erie and Fort George.
Brigadier General Winfield Scott took command of the US troops in Fort George because of an illness of Dearborn. Scott detached 3,000 infantrymen, 150 cavalrymen and a battery of four field guns under the two brigade generals William Winder and John Chandler , who were to advance westward and prevent Vincent's troops from merging with the British garrison of Detroit . The Americans marched off on June 3, and on June 5 they reached the small Canadian town of Stoney Creek , where they were about 10 km from Vincent's location on the Burlington Heights. The British were warned by a young local named Billy Green . Vincent's deputy, Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey , led a patrol to the American camp, found that it was poorly organized and had few guards, and recommended a nightly surprise attack, especially since a spy had learned the American slogan.
Vincent selected 700 men from two regular army units (8th and 49th Infantry Regiment) for the attack and transferred command to Lt. Col. Harvey. The British, led by Billy Green, arrived at the camp at 2:00 a.m. and attacked it with their bayonets attached and Indian war cries. However, the Americans had evacuated the camp for the night and withdrew to higher ground. While the British were loading their muskets and forming lines of battle, the Americans formed up and opened fire on the enemy now trapped. There has been significant loss and confusion there. While the British were already beginning to retreat, a command of about 20 soldiers under Major Charles Plenderleath stormed the American gun emplacement, turned the cannons and smeared their previous owners. The result was a chaotic aftermath in which both the British and American officers completely lost track. Brigadier General Chandler was captured while trying to regroup troops that turned out to be British. Winder also fell into the hands of the British, and command passed to Colonel James Burn . Burn held a meeting with the officers at hand and, due to a lack of ammunition, ordered the combat to be abandoned and a retreat to Forty Mile Creek on the lakeshore, where the troops could receive supplies from US warships. Major General Vincent, who had ridden after his troops, was also almost captured, lost his orientation and did not meet his soldiers again until June 7th. The British maintained the battlefield, but with 214 dead, wounded and missing, they suffered slightly higher losses than the Americans, who lost 168 men. Nevertheless, only 700 Britons had been able to assert themselves against 3,000 Americans - not least because they withdrew without being aware of their great superiority.
The Americans were fired on by British warships on June 8 in their camp at Forty Mile Creek and then fled to Fort George, where they began to reinforce the defenses instead of going on the offensive again. Although the battle was of no great importance in terms of the number of troops involved, the American defeat played a key role in the failure of the US campaign of 1813 and thus in the failure of the planned conquest of Canada.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b E. A. Cruikshank: The Documentary History of the Campaign Upon the Niagara Frontier . Part II. Lundy's Lane Historical Society, Welland (Ontario) 1908 (English, ourroots.ca ).