There was to be one other battle on the lakes, that of Lake Champlain,
which was to have momentous consequences quite equal to that of Lake
Erie, and place the name of young Thomas MacDonough high on the list
of benefactors of his country. MacDonough, on September 28, 1812, had
been directed to proceed immediately and take command on the lake, the
control having previously been under a young lieutenant, Sydney Smith.
There was, however, little to command. The Americans had three armed
sloops and a few small gunboats and galleys (the latter propelled only
by oars). But this was larger than that of the British, until on June
3, 1813, two of the sloops, the _Growler_ and the _Eagle_, in pursuit
of some of the British flotilla which had ventured into the American
part of the lake, found themselves in the narrow reaches of the north
end with a south wind against which it was impossible to work back.
Here they were attacked both by gunboats and by troops on both shores
of the narrow waters, and had to surrender. Thenceforward, until May,
1814, the British by the addition of the captured American sloops were
in control. Manned temporarily by seamen from the sloop-of-war _Wasp_
at Quebec, the British flotilla raided Plattsburgh on June 30, 1813,
destroyed the public buildings there and at Swanton in Vermont, and
threatened the destruction of the new vessels building by MacDonough.
On April 11, 1814, he launched the ship _Saratoga_. By the end of May
he was afloat with the _Saratoga_, of 26 guns, 8 of which were long
24-pounders, the remainder being 32 and 42 pounder carronades; the
schooner _Ticonderoga_, the sloop _Preble_, and ten galleys. Once
more the Americans were in control. The British, however, were urging
forward with all haste, to assist in the coming invasion, a ship much
more than the _Saratoga’s_ equal. This was the _Confiance_, of 37 guns,
27 of which were long 24-pounders and the others carronades of 24 and
32 pounds. On August 25th she was launched. With her tonnage of over
1,200 against the 734 of the _Saratoga_ and with her great superiority
in long guns, she was an enemy to be reckoned with.
The European wars had now closed. Four brigades of Wellington’s army
had been sent to Canada from Bordeaux. They came with orders to “give
immediate protection to his Majesty’s possessions in America,” by the
entire destruction of Sackett’s Harbor and of the naval establishments
on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain.[39]
The governor-general of Canada, Sir George Prevost, who also was in
command of the army, now had, exclusive of officers, 29,437 men,
nearly all of whom were regulars seasoned by years of service under
Wellington. He decided to advance by the west side of the lake
reporting that as “Vermont has shown a disinclination to the war, and,
as it is sending in specie and provisions, I will confine offensive
operations to the west side of Lake Champlain.”[40]
On August 31st Prevost moved south with an army variously estimated at
from 11,000 to 14,000 men. The American army under General Alexander
Macomb was less than 2,000, but by September 4th came in 700 militia
from the neighborhood, and by the 11th “other militia from New York
and volunteers from Vermont ... in encouraging contrast to their
fellow-citizens who were making money by abetting the enemy.” The
British entered Plattsburgh on the 6th. Macomb retreated across
the Saranac, a small, fordable river on which the town stands, and
entrenched. Had Prevost had the courage to attack Macomb with his large
and seasoned army, Macdonough would have had either to withdraw up the
lake or risk a battle in the open lake, where the _Confiance_ would
have been more than a match for his whole squadron. He had anchored
under Cumberland Head, somewhat over a mile from the west shore with
the _Eagle_, _Saratoga_, _Ticonderoga_, and _Preble_ in a line from
north to south in the order named. West of this line were his ten
gunboats. His fourteen vessels totalled but 2,244 tons, with 86 guns
and 882 men. The British commodore, Downie, had sixteen vessels,
amounting in all to 2,402 tons, with 92 guns and 937 men, but his
flagship, as mentioned, was nearly twice the size and force of the
_Saratoga_.
But now came to the aid of the Americans the nervousness of the
incapable British general who insisted upon immediate action by the
British squadron in his support. The _Confiance_ had only been
launched on August 25th; to make her ready for action in seventeen
days was a task of Hercules, and that she was, in a way, made ready,
reflects the highest credit upon the energy and ability of those in
charge. Commodore Downie had joined only on September 2d; the crew had
been hastily gathered from ships at Quebec, the last detachment coming
aboard only the night but one before the battle. The men were thus
largely unknown to the officers and to one another. The ship hauled
into the stream on September 7th with the artificers still hard at
work on the hundreds of fittings so necessary in the equipment of a
man-of-war. They did not leave her until two hours before the beginning
of battle. The situation of unpreparedness was very comparable to that
of the _Chesapeake_ in like circumstances, except that Macdonough’s own
ship had been launched but four months earlier.
Prevost, by the fact of his position as governor-general, was in a
position to command obedience, and his peremptory insistence caused
Downie to move earlier than he should, undoubtedly against the latter’s
better judgment. He thus on the morning of September 11, 1814, stood
up the narrow reaches of the northern part of the lake, with a fair
wind from the northeast. He had every reason to expect a simultaneous
attack by Prevost on the American troops, but none came. Having passed
Cumberland Head, it was too late to await any action by Prevost.
Macdonough had so admirably chosen his position that the British in
rounding Cumberland Head were forced to stand nearly northwest and
almost head on to the American line. They were thus subjected to a
raking fire (lengthwise of the ship). The _Confiance_, being in the
lead and having thus a concentration upon her of the American fire,
suffered severely before anchoring within five hundred yards of
the line. Within fifteen minutes her captain was dead. The day was
finally won by “winding” the _Saratoga_ (turning her end for end),
for which excellent previous arrangements had been made. A new and,
in great degree, uninjured broadside was thus brought into use, and
shortly after, about 11, the _Confiance_ hauled down her colors. The
whole action lasted, by Macdonough’s report, two hours and twenty
minutes.[41]
The immediate effect of the victory was Prevost’s retreat without delay
into Canada. The general result was the end of the war, of which it was
really the “decisive” battle. No longer could Castlereagh, the British
foreign minister, hold Great Britain “entitled to claim the use of the
lakes as a military barrier.”[42]
To Macdonough and Perry, the former under thirty-one, the latter but
twenty-eight years old at the time of their victories, our country owes
the preservation of its northern boundaries at the coming peace. It is
a great debt.