By 1813, British forces, now under General Proctor, continued to hold off the
inexperienced American armies back. William Henry Harrison pushed northward
out of Kentucky to try to retake Detroit, spending the winter of 1812 in Ohio
and maneuvering in opposition to Proctor's forces.
Meanwhile, a young US naval officer named Oliver Hazard Perry, only 28 at
the time, took over the American effort to retake the Great Lakes. Perry
arrived and quickly energized the construction of a ten-boat fleet on Lake Erie.
On September 9, 1813, on Lake Erie, Perry's freshly built ships with their
inexperienced crews challenged British commander Barclay's smaller but more
experienced fleet. All of Barclay's officers died during the battle, and the
British fleet was forced to surrender.
Perry's victories on Lake Erie created a strategic nightmare for Proctor and his
men; he retreated to Niagara. Harrison followed after, catching Proctor's
forces in early October at the Thames River. In the ensuing Battle of the
Thames, the Americans defeated the British and their Indian allies. During
the battle, the Indian leader Tecumseh, was killed along with his most
committed Indian allies. Tecumseh's Indian Confederation, which had been allied
to the British, quickly collapsed.
The US sought to follow Harrison's victory with an all out assault against
Montreal. Two American contingents, one marching from Sacketts Harbor on Lake
Ontario and the other from Plattsburgh, were to converge at Montreal. Each set
out in mid October. The advance guard of the men from Sacketts Harbor, led by
Major General James Wilkinson, met with an embarrassing loss to a much smaller
force of 800 British. Major General Wade Hampton, the commander of the
Americans from Plattsburgh, immediately stopped his advance on hearing of his
comrade's loss. Both contingents quickly withdrew, leaving Britain unthreatened
in Canada, and once more pushing southward into New York.
Commentary
With the notable exceptions of Harrison and Perry, American troops and
commanders in 1813 continued to display the remarkable lack of talent they had
made so manifest in 1812. American militias consistently refused to march into
Canada on the grounds that they could not be legally impelled to leave their
country. American reserve forces thus often stood and watched on one side of
the border while their compatriots fought and lost. With its vast advantages in
men and resources, however, the victories of Harrison and Perry were enough to
keep the American war effort in the North afloat.
Perry's and Harrison's victories, in fact seemed a turning of the tide.
Tecumseh and the threat of the Indian Alliance were gone, the British were on
the retreat, and the US had gained control of the Great Lakes. Perry's famous
dispatch to Harrison upon defeating Barclay reverberated throughout the nation
and became a part of American popular lore: "We have met the enemy and they are
ours." The disastrous and aborted attack on Montreal demolished that confidence
and momentum, however, and put a halt to future American assaults against
Canada. By the end of 1813 the British were encroaching on American territory
just as they had been at the end of 1812.
