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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 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.
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. When he returned to his headquarters along the Maumee, he was surprised to find that none of the work he ordered on Fort Meigs was completed. The term of the militia units assigned to the task had expired, and they went home before work had begun. Harrison hurried to begin building what would become the largest wooden fortress in North America up to that point. 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.
Construction was barely completed when the British under Brigadier General Henry Procter arrived and laid siege to the Fort, beginning on April 28, 1813. Procter commanded a division comprising 423 of the British 41st Regiment, 63 of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 31 of the Royal Artillery, 16 men from other units and 462 Canadian Militia. He had the support of roughly 1,000 American Indian warriors led by Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee.
When the siege began, Harrison had a garrison of about 1,200 American regulars and militia behind the strong walls of the fort, though he was low on ammunition. The British bombarded the fort relentlessly, having ammunition to spare. The British were using 24-pound and 12-pound shot. Fortunately for the Americans, the fort's artillery were 12-pounders also. Harrison was able to persuade the garrison to collect any usable 12-pound shot the British fired into the fort with a promise of whiskey upon turning the cannon ball in to the fort's army.
Most of the British cannonballs were absorbed harmlessly by the muddy ground within the Fort. Had the balls hit harder ground, they would have bounced and had another chance to hit members of the garrison. They would also have thrown up stones that would have caused greater American casualties. By the end of the siege 1,000 shots were collected and reused.
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.
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.
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.
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created by jr on Jan 24, 2008 at 10:34:31 am
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