Siege of Fort Meigs
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The Siege of Fort Meigs took place during the War of 1812 in northwestern Ohio. Despite heavy losses, the Siege was considered an important American victory (though technically indecisive and a tactical defeat) in the wake of recent defeats at the battles of Detroit and Frenchtown. The lifting of the siege marked a turning point in the war on the Northwest frontier in favor of the Americans.
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[edit] Background
Major-General William Henry Harrison was placed in command of the Army of the Northwest, replacing Brigadier-General William Hull after his surrender at Detroit. Harrison's first objective was the recapture of Detroit, but after the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Frenchtown, Harrison took up a defensive position. He gave orders for the construction of a series of forts —in particular, Fort Meigs (named for Ohio governor, Return J. Meigs, Jr.) along the Maumee or Miami du Lac River and Fort Stephenson along the Sandusky River, both in Ohio.
In the spring of 1813, Harrison left in search of reinforcements. The fort was located across the river from the ruins of the old British Fort Miami and the site of the Battle of Fallen Timbers, where Harrison and Tecumseh had both fought in 1794. Surrounding the eight-acre fort was supposed to be a fifteen-foot picket fence and eight blockhouses, but the commander left in charge, Joel B. Leftwich, had left with all his men because the term of the militia units assigned to the task had been expired.[1] Furthermore, the captain of the engineers had all the work stopped on the stockades and filling in the gaps from the picket-line. Within a short instance, Captain Eleazer D. Wood volunteered to finish the project and began to finish building what would become the largest wooden fortress in North America up to that point.
Protected by the rain and thickness of the night, a young captain named William Oliver was ordered to deliver an account of Harrison's disposition to Brigadier-General Green Clay, who would be destined to play a large role in the upcoming fighting.[2] Some of the officers Harrison's camp were badly trained adding to his frustration, however most of the Virginia militia were born on the vast frontier farms and were able to made quick work of Captain Wood's orders. Harrison on the other hand, makes light to the fact that the British are mere mercenaries as well as the Canadians having no claim to patriotism, and to boost morale, he reflects past triumphs over the Indians pointing directly across to where General "Mad Anthony" Wayne conquered Fallen Timbers.
As the British gun emplacements were being built on a ridge directly across from the fort, a second battery was hastily being built across the river, who were in no doubt covered by the large body of Indians surrounding the fort. Harrison and Wood quickly devised a plan to criss-cross the area with huge embankments of earth and caves dug out from under the base to shield the troops so that they could eat and sleep.[3] Rain fall began to slow down the numerous water wells and defence works however, the exposed line of tents were left to mask the work being done and the heavy rains also delayed Harrison's first exposure to British cannon fire.
[edit] Siege begins
Construction was barely completed when the British under Brigadier General Henry Procter arrived and fired sporadic artillery fire into the fort, beginning on April 28, 1813. Procter commanded a division comprising 423 men of the British 41st Regiment: 63 men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment: 31 men of the Royal Artillery: 16 men from other units, and 462 Canadian militia. He also had the support of roughly 1,250 American Indian warriors led by Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee.
When the siege began, Harrison's garrison consisted of about 1,200 American regulars and militia, though half of them were untrained and he was low on ammunition. Overstepping his authority, the major-general managed to convince the Governor of Kentucky, Isaac Shelby, to send 1,500 soldiers to help lift the siege. As the recruits from Kentucky marched down the Maumee River, Harrison made tremendous use of the $20,000 awarded each month by the government, and succeeded in bribing some of the men to hang on to Fort Meigs for an extra seven dollars a month.[4] About two-hundred Pennsylvanians agree to stay an extra fifteen days, but the men from Kentucky, knowing they will be fighting the men who massacred their comrades at Frenchtown, stayed without any extra incentives.
Before the first shot of Procter's artillery barrage is fired, he is nailed with a frustrating spectacle. It is May 1, 1813, and in short order the American work tents are dismantled concluding to the British gunners that in two short days, the workers have created a formidable defensive system - an immense shield of earth 300 feet long, 15 feet high, and 20 feet thick at the base.[5][6] The British shoot 24-pound solid pig iron balls into the fort, accentuated by fused bombs timed to explode over the heads of the Americans and smaller 12-pound artillery. For the next twelve hours, 250 of these missiles will be fired at the fort killing one man and wounding a handfull.
Inside the fort, Harrison has only 360 shots for his 18-pound cannon and likewise for his 12-pounders. Fortunately for the Americans, the British artillery could be reused and Harrison compels the men to return the unexploded shells for a gill of whiskey. Thanks to chief engineers' defensive works and rain fall, most of the British cannonballs were absorbed harmlessly by the muddy ground within the fort and over 1,000 gills of whiskey were issued out to the men.[7] Had the balls hit harder ground, they would have bounced and had another chance to hit members of the garrison or the magazines stored within the blockhouses. They would also have thrown up stones and shrapnel that would have caused greater American casualties. By the end of the siege, 1,000 shots were collected and reused and one militia man is bravely killed after warning his comrades of the incoming trajectory from the British cannon fire.
[edit] Breathing space
As the red-hot cannonballs boil the mud near the workers digging entrenchments, their commander Lieutenant Alexander Bourne informs Chief Engineer Eleazer D. Wood that he can't keep his men working in such conditions.[8] The captain reluctantly allows Bourne to issue the commission to an unlimited amount of whiskey as to get the men drunk enough to become indifferent to fear, but not so much that they can't complete the job. Thus with liquid bravery, the men reel about, drunkenly curse the British and shovel their way until the task is completed.
On the third day of the siege, frustrated by the lack of progress done by his four batteries, Procter sends a force across the river to establish another battery. Being only 250 yards from the fort, complete with cannon, mortars, and the incessant crack of musket fire, the threat of the new battery induces Captain Wood to counter with right angle traverses.[9] To protect themselves from the bombshells, the troops build planks and cover them with earth to provide themselves with sleeping quarters as well.
By May 4, the British gunners begin to slacken and the Americans give three cheers for every lost potential —countered by an echoing yell from Tecumseh's followers. Under a parley, Procter sent a threat of an Indian massacre, but Harrison made it clear that he was willing to fight to the last man.[10] Harrison has little reluctancy for Procter, the man who abandoned Kentucky troops to the Potawatomi at the River Raisin, however, if his ammunition is gone, they'll be sitting ducks for a better trained and more experienced army.
[edit] Relief force
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
A few days after the siege began, Harrison sent out a messenger to General Green Clay who commanded about 1,600 militia. Clay's militia had been given orders from Harrison to row down the Maumee River and split into two columns. One column was to fight their way through the Indian warriors and the other was to attack and spike a British battery. However, the column assigned to attack the battery did not receive complete instructions from Clay. On May 5, a detachment of 866 officers and men from Clay's command under Colonel William Dudley attacked and routed the British gunners; without waiting for tools to spike the cannon (which were on their way from inside the fort) they began using their muskets to damage the cannon and successfully destroyed the British battery. Harrison attempted to wave the militia on into the fort, but they thought he was cheering them for capturing the battery. While they were standing around either celebrating over their victory or trying to figure out what to do next, a British counter-attack led by Major Adam Muir came steaming into them. Some were killed and wounded, others surrendered, while still others fled into the woods. But they soon found that the woods were full of Tecumseh's warriors. The Kentuckians fought valiantly, but they were no match for the Indians at forest-fighting. The warriors kept falling back when the Americans charged, then firing at them when they re-grouped. Some of the Americans escaped from the woods to surrender to the British. Finally, all those left in the woods were killed or captured by Tecumseh's men. Of Dudley's force, only 169 men left to guard the boats escaped. Some 150 of Dudley's command were killed and 547 were taken prisoner. Of the prisoners, an estimated 150 were wounded. Many of the captives were taken to the abandoned Fort Miami nearby. At this place, a group of warriors who were frustrated at having arrived too late for the Battle massacred 38 of the severely wounded prisoners. Private Russell of the 41st Regiment of Foot waded into the assailants with his musket-butt only to be shot dead for his trouble. More Americans would have died, but for the arrival of Tecumseh, who got the warriors to stop.
Whilst the fighting was raging on the north bank of the Miami du Lac, Harrison decided on a sortie to distract the British. Colonel John Miller led 350 men out of the Fort. Miller stormed the British South Battery and captured it, along with 41 British soldiers. The Americans were starting to spike the guns when Captain Richard Bullock arrived with two companies of the 41st Regiment, one of Canadian Militia and a number of Indians. The British advanced in line, firing volleys. Miller's men responded. Despite the determined fight put up by the Americans, who included regular troops from the 1st Regiment of Light Dragoons and the 17th and 19th Regiments of Infantry {later both regiments became part of the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment}, the British gradually drove them back to the Fort. In this and two earlier, more minor, sorties on the South Bank, the garrison suffered 68 killed and 170 wounded.
The engagement on 5 May 1813 was called the Battle of the Miami by the British. The total American loss on both sides of the River was 218 killed, 170 wounded, 150 wounded prisoners and 397 other prisoners.
[edit] Lifting the siege
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Procter's artillery, though not a single gun was disabled by the Americans on 5 May, hardly fired a shot after that date. Procter had by now realized that he was not inflicting enough damage on the Fort or its garrison for the Siege to succeed. On 9 May, the British began moving out. As the Fort walls crowded with Americans watching the British depart, Procter decided to give them a "parting salute" before mounting his guns. In the ensuing bombardment, 12 of the garrison were killed and 25 were wounded. The entire casualties inflicted by the bombardment from 28 April to 5 May had been only 12 killed and 20 wounded.
The final bombardment therefore brought the American casualties for Siege (as opposed to the battle of 5 May) to 24 killed and 45 wounded. Together with the casualties at the Battle of the Miami, the American losses were 242 killed, 215 wounded, 150 wounded prisoners and 397 surrendered - a total of 1,004.
The British casualty return for 5 May 1813 gives 14 killed, 47 wounded and 41 taken prisoner. However, it is known that one of the wounded who is included, Captain Laurent Bondy of the Canadian Militia, received his wound on 3 May from the American artillery. This would suggest that the return covers all British casualties sustained up to the fifth of May. It is unlikely that there were any casualties after this date. The Indians are recorded as having had 19 warriors killed or wounded at the Battle of the Miami. This brings the reported British and Indian losses the Siege to 121 killed, wounded and captured. However, it should be noted that the Indians only counted severely wounded men as real casualties, and never mentioned slighter injuries.
Once the British had left, Harrison took much of the garrison to use as a mobile army. He left General Clay in command of the fort with some 100 militia. Tecumseh felt the whole siege had been half-hearted on the Procter's behalf and urged him to return again in July. Once again Procter's army approached the Fort. Tecumseh's warriors staged a mock battle in the woods to make it appear as if they were attacking a column of American reinforcements in attempts to lure Clay out of the fort to come to the aid of his supposed reinforcements and be ambushed by Procter's whole force. Clay saw through the plan because he knew that no reinforcements were coming. This second attempt on Fort Meigs amounted to virtually nothing, and Procter left Fort Meigs and turned his attention towards nearby Fort Stephenson.
[edit] Results
Despite their disaster at the Battle of the Miami, the Siege of Fort Meigs had been an important victory for the Americans since they had prevented the British and Indians from pursuing their invasion of Ohio and Indiana and taking the Fort, which was to provide Harrison with a launching point for any further offensives he might make. However, the British had kept Harrison from making an attack on Detroit. After failing to take both Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson, Procter retreated back to Detroit, and the fighting on the Northwest frontier became a stalemate.
Among the killed was Major Amos Stoddard, the first commandant of Upper Louisiana, for the United States.
Every year on the Memorial Day weekend, Fort Meigs hosts a historical re-enactment of the siege including Dudley's Massacre and a "patrol" where public members are acquainted with the sights and sounds that would have encountered by American foraging parties who were attacked by the British.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 103)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 108)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 109)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 104)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 109)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 112)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 113)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 114)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 115)
- ^ Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, pg 116)
[edit] References
- Antal, Sandy, "A Wampum Denied: Proctor's War of 1812" (Carleton University Press, Canada, 1997. ISBN 0-87013-443-4)
- Latimer, Jon, "1812: War with America", (Harvard University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-67402-584-9)
- Berton, Pierre, "Flames Across the Border", (Anchor Canada, 2001, ISBN 978-0385658386)
