Battle of Frenchman's Creek

Battle of Frenchman's Creek

Part of: British-American War

date	November 28, 1812
place	in Canada at Frenchman's Creek (Ontario) on the Niagara River
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
Great Britain	United States
Commander
Cecil Bisshopp	Alexander Smyth
Troop strength
approx. 650 men	approx. 770 men
losses
13 dead 44 wounded 34 missing	88 dead and wounded 39 missing

The Battle of Frenchman's Creek from 28. November 1812 between the British and Americans took place during the British-American War at the Niagara River on the border between Canada and the United States and ended with a British victory.

After the American defeat in the Battle of Queenston Heights , the commander in charge of the Army of the Center , Stephen van Rensselaer, resigned. His successor Alexander Smyth announced on November 9, 1812 an invasion of Canada within 15 days. Due to a lack of secrecy, the British also found out about this project and on November 17th opened a heavy bombardment from the other side of the Niagara River on Smyth's headquarters in Black Rock (Buffalo) , which destroyed part of the barracks there and exploded an ammunition depot .

Nevertheless, by November 27, Smyth had assembled 4,500 men for the planned invasion of Black Rock. In the early morning of November 28, two advance detachments under Colonels William Winder and Charles Boerstler crossed the river in boats. Winder was to take a British gun battery across the Niagara River across from Black Rock , and Boerstler was to destroy a bridge over Frenchman's Creek , which flows into the Niagara River, preventing British reinforcements from coming from Fort George and Chippewa . After that, Smyth's main army was supposed to cross over and form a bridgehead. When US forces landed on the other side of the river, the British were warned and opened fire. A chaotic night of fighting ensued , during which Winder's troops were able to seize the British gun emplacement and nail up the cannons . Boerstler's soldiers reached the bridge over Frenchman's Creek , but then found that they had left their axes and tools in the boats and could not do anything. The British regrouped, destroyed some of the boats with artillery fire and, in a counterattack, captured some of the Americans while the rest escaped across the river. After this battle, both sides had about 100 dead, wounded and prisoners to mourn.

Although the skirmish, like many others in this war, was insignificant in terms of the number of troops involved and the losses, it had serious consequences, as an invasion of Canada had failed again. Smyth stopped his offensive efforts after this setback. A resulting quarrel with his subordinate Brigadier General Peter B. Porter , who publicly called him a coward, even led to a duel between the two generals, which both of them survived unharmed. Smyth then asked permission to retire with his family and was discharged from the army three months later.

See also

• List of battles

Web links

• Battle of Frenchman's Creek (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernest Cruikshank (ed.): The Documentary History of the Campaigns on the Niagara Frontier. Volume 2. Arno Press Inc., New York NY 1971, ISBN 0-405-02838-5 .
2. ^ William James: A full and correct account of the military occurrences of the late war between Great Britain and the United States of America. Volume 1. Printed for the Author, and sold by Black et al., London 1818.