Second battle at Lacolle Mills

Second battle at Lacolle Mills

Part of: British-American War

Lacolle Mills log cabin

date	March 30, 1814
place	At a mill not far from Lacolle , Canada
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom	United States
Commander
Major Hancock	James Wilkinson
Troop strength
80 men (plus 180 men)	4,000 men
losses
61 dead and wounded	154 dead and wounded

During the British-American War took place on the thirtieth March 1814 to a battle between British - Canadian and American troops in the south of Montréal located Canadian city Lacolle ( Quebec ) in the focal point of the nearby mill (engl. Lacolle Mills ) was . A small British outpost, reinforced by a grenadier company, fought against an attack by a clearly superior force of American troops. The battle ended in a British victory, which American troops found extremely humiliating and which for a long time was almost completely ignored in American military history.

prehistory

In 1778 a sawmill was built near Lacolle, which was used to supply the wood required for the construction of fortifications in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Fort Chambly . Later, a log house was built under the direction of Major William Twiss, who had already designed the defenses at Coteau-du-Lac. At this point the Americans had already suffered a defeat against the British in 1812 when they tried to reach Montréal in the first battle at Lacolle Mills .

After a previous invasion in the Canadian border area failed after American defeats in the battle at Chrysler's Farm , Major General James Wilkinson withdrew with his troops to the winter camp just across the border on American territory. The British saw this as a threat to their line of communication along the Saint Lawrence River , although Wilkinson had no intention of doing so. His troops were poorly supplied; Due to the position of the camp, the unfavorable weather conditions and the poor condition of the roads, the supply lines for his troops were unstable.

In late January, the Secretary of War, John Armstrong Wilkinson, ordered a division of 2,000 soldiers under General Jacob Brown to be relieved at Sackett's Harbor and to join the main force in Plattsburgh . The British troops followed him almost to his new position and captured large quantities of the American supplies in the settlements in New York State. Wilkinson knew that due to the previous failure of the invasion, he was likely to be removed from his command. To prevent this, he planned some adventurous offensives, but only one of these options seemed feasible. A few miles north of the border one of the main roads crossed the Lacolle River by a mill . Lacolle Mills consisted of a stone mill and a wooden log house and was defended by a company of the British 13th Infantry Regiment , which comprised a total of about 80 men under Major Hancock. Not far from this post, other units were stationed and further outposts were set up. In view of the American threat, the soldiers were reinforced by the grenadier company of their regiment and some riflemen. In total, it is said to have been around 180 men.

Course of the battle

James Wilkinson

On March 27, 1814, Wilkinson marched north with his troops to attack the small outpost. His troops comprised 3 brigades , a total of about 4,000 men and 11 heavy artillery. Due to bad weather conditions and heavy snowfall, the march dragged on until it finally reached Lacolle Mills on March 30 and attacked.

The Americans opened fire with the heavy artillery , which, however, could only partially be used because of the softened ground. The British returned fire with the Congreve missiles, previously unknown to the Americans . Although these were imprecise, they caused a number of American losses. The disdain that the British felt for their opponents can be seen in the fact that, despite their inferiority, they even carried out two counter-attacks on American artillery, which, however, had to be broken off given the cover by US infantry.

Since the bombardment of the American artillery had little effect on the thick walls of the mill, further reinforcements for the British arrived and heavy artillery of the British Navy were in position, the Americans finally gave up their plan towards evening and moved across the border to Plattsburgh back. The Americans counted a total of 154 dead, wounded and missing, the British 61.

Aftermath

Wilkinson was removed from command on April 11th by Armstrong. According to historian Hitsman, this was not a direct consequence of the Lacolle debacle, but was probably based on a request for exemption submitted by Wilkinson himself on March 24. He was quoted at a hearing to assess his leadership in the invasion of Canada last year. This ultimately led to indictments in a military court, from which Wilkinson was acquitted of the allegations of negligence and misconduct. Nonetheless, the failure of his commander Armstrong allowed a number of relatively young officers to become commanders of the divisions and brigades. Major General George Izard was appointed to Wilkinson's post .

While the Americans in the western theater of war ( Niagara Peninsula ) presented the British with great difficulties in 1814 with better trained troops and capable commanders, Lacolle Mills showed the characteristic weaknesses of the US Army in the War of 1812: incompetent officers and one In view of the numerical superiority, it was downright puzzling half-heartedness, which led to the complete abandonment of campaign plans even with minor setbacks. The behavior of Wilkinson and other generals can only be explained by an inferiority complex towards the British and their excellently trained regular soldiers. So battles like this could take on a meaning out of proportion to their actually insignificant character.

literature

• John R. Elting: Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History Of The War Of 1812. Da Capo Press, New York NY 1995, ISBN 0-306-80653-3 .
• Donald R. Hickey: The War of 1812. A Forgotten Conflict. Illinois Book edition. University of Illinois Press, Urbana IL et al. 1990, ISBN 0-252-06059-8 .
• J. Mackay Hitsman, Donald E. Graves: The Incredible War of 1812. A Military History. Revised edition. Robin Brass Studio, Toronto 2000, ISBN 1-896941-13-3 .

Web links

• Robert Henderson: The Battle of Lacolle Mills . In: War of 1912 website . Retrieved February 22, 2009.
• His Majesty's Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry 1803-1816 . In: War of 1912 website . Retrieved February 22, 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Ayres: That's not in My American History Book. A Compilation of Little Known Events and Forgotten Heroes. Taylor Trade Publications, Dallas TX 2004, ISBN 1-58979-107-X , pp. 99-102.
2. ↑ J. Mackay Hitsman, Donald E. Graves: The Incredible War of 1812. A Military History. 2000, p. 205.
3. ↑ John R. Elting: Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History Of The War Of 1812. 1995, p. 152.
4. ↑ ^{a b} John R. Elting: Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History Of The War Of 1812. 1995, p. 176.
5. ↑ J. Mackay Hitsman, Donald E. Graves: The Incredible War of 1812. A Military History. 2000, p. 206.