The British and Indians Force the Americans to Surrender at Frenchtown: January 22, 1813
- Catholic Textbook Project
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This text comes from our book, From Sea to Shining Sea.
The United States was not very well prepared to go to war with Great Britain. The British had a much larger army and the largest and most powerful navy in the world. Fortunately for the Americans, the British could not send many troops to America, since most of them were fighting Napoleon’s armies in Europe. Even so, in the early part of the war, the Americans lost most of their battles against the British.
The War Hawks hoped that the United States could conquer Canada in this war. On July 12, American General William Hull marched his untrained troops out of Detroit across the river into Ontario, Canada. There, without even firing a shot, he called on the Canadians to surrender and join his forces. Hull was jumping the gun, as it turned out. British general Isaac Brock, leading a force of British and Indians, pushed Hull back into Detroit. On August 16, Hull surrendered his troops and Detroit itself to Brock. Far from surrendering to the Americans, the British now had a military base in the United States.
Two other American attempts to invade Canada also failed. The problem was not only that the American generals were inept but also that the American volunteers were stubborn. They had not joined the army, they said, to invade Canada but to defend their country. To lead them into Canada was against their constitutional rights, they said.
The loss of Detroit was serious, for the British and their Indian allies could now easily invade the American frontier. The Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh, who earlier had attempted to unite the midwestern Indian tribes against the encroaching European settlers, but whose warriors had been defeated at Tippecanoe in 1811, led raids against frontier settlements, striking terror into the hearts of settlers. General William Henry Harrison gathered a force of regular army troops and volunteers to fight Tecumseh. Leading a part of Harrison’s army, General James Winchester at first had some success against the British and the Indians in northeastern Indiana. But in January 1813, the British and the Indians defeated Winchester at Frenchtown, forcing the Americans to surrender.
With Winchester out of the way, the British general Proctor—with 1,000 Canadians and 1,200 of Tecumseh’s Indians—went hunting for Harrison. Proctor first attacked Ft. Meigs and lay siege to it. But unable to take the fort, in August he continued his hunt for Harrison. In his path lay Fort Stephenson, which was defended by only 160 Americans under George Croghan. Harrison had told Croghan to abandon Fort Stephenson, but Croghan had bravely replied, “We are determined to maintain this place, and by heaven we will!” And maintain it they did. Though surrounded and vastly outnumbered by 500 British regulars and 700 Indians, Croghan and the Americans stoutly defended their fort. Firing from behind their log walls, the Americans targeted the British officers and killed them all, as well as many of the regular soldiers. Unable to capture Fort Stephenson, the British retreated. Because of Croghan’s brave defense, Harrison’s army was safe.
During the first year of the war, the American navy had more luck than the army. Under Commodore John Rodgers, the small American fleet set sail from New York harbor into the North Atlantic. By the end of summer, two American ships, the USS Constitution and the USS United States, had captured or sunk three British ships of war. These were not great victories; but they humiliated the British, who were very proud of their sea power. They also showed that the American navy, at least, had some skill and daring.
