SHAKO: War of 1812, U.S. Successes on Land and Sea

HMS Boxer Captured

Enterprise Vs. Boxer (via Wikipedia)

After a sharp fight between two brigs, the British vessel, HMS Boxer, was captured  by the 16-gun USS Enterprise on Sept. 5, 1813.

The 14-gun Boxer, which had only been launched in July 1812, had its mast blown away by a broadside from the Enterprise during the 30-minute battle off the coast of Maine near Portland.

Both the Boxer’s commander, Captain Samuel Blyth, and the skipper of the Enterprise, Lieutenant William Burrows, were both killed in the 30-minute battle and were buried side-by-side in Portland’s Eastern Cemetery.

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Recapture of Detroit

Plan of Fort Detroit in 1812
(Archives of Ontario)

A little over a year after Detroit was surrendered to a smaller force of British, Canadian and Native American (First Nations) forces Fort Detroit and the nearby village were back in U.S. hands.

The naval victory of Oliver Hazard Perry a month earlier on Lake Erie ensured American control of the lake and cut off British and Canadian forces from their supply base in eastern Canada. They evacuated Detroit, which was retaken by U.S. troops under Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison on Sept. 29, 1813. British-led forces also abandon Fort Amherstburg across the river in Ontario.

Harrison’s forces pursued the retreating British and Canadians and their Indian allies — led by Tecumseh — into Ontario.

SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.