THIS WEEK in the War of 1812 (October 26-November 1, 1814)

Trouble on the Frontier

October 26

The Last Raid

(Courtesy of westerncorridor1812.com)

U.S. Brigadier General Duncan McArthur leads a force of 700 mounted infantry out of Fort Detroit across into Lower Canada (modern day Ontario) to raid the Thames River Valley. McArthur plans to burn out settlements along the Grand River and up around the head of Lake Ontario, an area that supplies flour for British forces on the Niagara frontier.

The raid may also divert British attention from U.S. occupied Fort Erie in Canada opposite Buffalo, New York, which U.S. troops are preparing to evacuate.

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Another Fort Fails

The U.S. Army’s fortunes continue to fade in the Upper Mississippi Valley.

After losing Fort Madison, in what is now the state of Iowa in 1813, and Fort Shelby near modern day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin earlier in 1814, to Indian attacks, the Army is getting ready to abandon Fort Johnson in Illinois Territory.

Established just a month earlier by future U.S. president Major Zachary Taylor after defeat his troops are repelled by the Sauk and other allied Indian tribes at the Battle of Credit Island, Fort Johnson sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi.

However, the company of soldiers stationed there abandon the hastily constructed fort when provisions run out and there is no word of resupply. They make their way down river to Cap au Gris near St. Louis in Missouri Territory.

MAP: via Wikipedia

The Upper Mississippi River during the War of 1812. 1: Fort Bellefontaine U.S. headquarters; 2: Fort Osage, abandoned 1813; 3: Fort Madison, defeated 1813; 4: Fort Shelby, defeated 1814; 5: Battle of Rock Island Rapids, July 1814 and the Battle of Credit Island, Sept. 1814; 6: Fort Johnson, abandoned 1814; 7: Fort Cap au Gris and the Battle of the Sink Hole, May 1815