"“Full of Confidence” The American Attack on Kingston " Topic

…Harbour in 1812 .

"A cold westerly wind coming off the lake chilled the American sailors as they hoisted the sails on seven armed vessels at Sackets Harbor, New York on November 9, 1812. All was in a bustle. Supply barrels were rolled on board, artillery pieces were loaded, marines stowed their knapsacks, and midshipmen called out orders through brass speaking trumpets to seamen on the masts above.

Arriving in early October,1 U.S. Commodore Isaac Chauncey was now ready to put his little fleet to the test and challenge Canadian control of Lake Ontario. An attack on Kingston, Upper Canada was also "in the wind"2 if a decisive naval victory could be achieved.

The first five months of the war in the Great Lakes region had been a disaster for the United States. Detroit had been captured and in October 1812, the American invasion of the Niagara peninsula was foiled on the heights overlooking Queenston and the enemy had taken Fort Mackinac. Since the
declaration of war in June, command of Lake Ontario, and indeed of all the lakes, had rested firmly in the hands of the British inland naval service known as the Provincial Marine…"
Free to read here
PDF link

Amicalement
Armand

Another nice find, Armand.

Thank you for sharing.

Eric

Thanks so much, Armand!

It's a fascinating account, vivid to read, and the most detailed history of that raid that I've seen.

To me, it also demonstrates how difficult -- if not nearly impossible -- it was in the Age of Sail to cut out an enemy ship against a fully alerted enemy, in daylight, in a harbor bristling with shore batteries and defended by warships on anchor springs.

True, the British shore guns were largely ineffective due to their small caliber and short range. But both sides learned from this and defenses were constantly upgraded at Kingston and Sacket's Harbor over the later course of the war. Even so, Chauncey's force was shot up and eventually forced to break off.

You can experiment for yourself with cutting-out raids in my boardgame, "A Glorious Chance: The Naval Struggle for Lake Onatrio, 1813," now available for preorder at Legion Wargames ( link )

Miniatures players can use it to run an overall campaign, and let the game generate the situations for your tabletop scenarios. You'd still need to make some decisions about finer details like wind direction and speed, and where precisely the ships should be placed in relation to each other and in relation to the land around Kingston Harbour. But the game will tell you the approximate date, the ships involved, some possible overall conditions ( haze or rainy squalls, for example ) , and which side has the starting weather gauge.

Happy you like it boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand