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thedrifter
09-27-05, 09:27 PM
October 03, 2005
The Lore of the Corps
U.S. troops ambushed British forces in 1814
By Don Burzynski
Special to the Times

To combat the massive U.S. shipbuilding effort at Sackett’s Harbor, N.Y., during the War of 1812, the British tried to intercept any cannons, rigging and munitions coming to the harbor from the New York navy yard.

With the British fleet blockading Sackett’s, Navy Lt. Melancthon Woolsey was ordered to make a run along the coast and up the river to the harbor. His 19 boats were loaded with cannons intended for a new ship, the Superior, that would make it the most formidable vessel on Lake Ontario.

As the flotilla with 130 riflemen under Marine Maj. Daniel Appling made its way toward the harbor with its cargo, one of its boats went missing.

The British under Capt. Stephen Popham intercepted the wayward boat, interrogated the Americans aboard and dispatched two gunboats, three cutters and two ship’s boats manned by 160 Royal Marines intent on hunting down the convoy.

Anticipating a British attack following the disappearance of the vessel, Woolsey sent a messenger to the harbor asking for assistance. Army Brig. Gen. Edmund Gaines immediately sent a troop of dragoons — soldiers who traveled on horseback but also fought on foot. He also dispatched a couple of artillery pieces and 100 Marines.

A scouting party informed Woolsey of the inbound British force, so the Americans decided to lay an ambush. U.S. forces took positions on both sides of the waterway leading to Sackett’s Harbor and waited for the British to arrive.

Popham was warned about going up narrow, unfamiliar waterways such as the one at Sackett’s Harbor, but he favored a pursuit and especially the chance to capture the 34 heavy guns the American ships carried.

On May 30, 1814, the British moved upstream, firing the gunboat carronades into the brush as they went. Around 10 a.m., after rounding a bend, they caught sight of the masts of the flotilla’s ships only a half-mile away. Popham deployed his Royal Marines to the left and a force of seamen on the right. He kept blasting canisters of grapeshot from the 68-pound cannon mounted in the bow of his gunboat while the troops advanced.

Appling ordered his forces to open fire, and the Marines took the British by surprise, wounding two Royal Marine lieutenants and killing 17 British troops.

The Americans pressed the attack and encircled the detachments and gunboats. Popham was wounded and surrendered. The Americans stripped the British of their weapons, marched them off and later imprisoned them.

News of Popham’s disaster struck the British squadron like a hammer. In all, the British lost 220 Marines and seamen. The Americans suffered only one wounded soldier.

The writer is a War of 1812 Marine re-enactor. He can be reached at dburzynski2003@yahoo.com.

Ellie