Fort Holmes on Mackinac Island-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Fort Holmes is a fortified earthen redoubt located on the highest point of Mackinac Island.  Originally built by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812, it was improved by the Army throughout the rest of the war.  It was built to find additional defense to nearby Fort Mackinac which was at a lower elevation.

The British named the redoubt Fort George (not to confused with Fort George in Ontario) and reinforced it with cannon, a blockhouse and a magazine for gunpowder and other munitions.  However, it never functioned as an independent fortification, but always dependent on nearby Fort Mackinac.

When U.S. forces reoccupied Mackinac Island in 1815 under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, they took possession of Fort George.  After surveying and measuring it, they renamed it Fort Holmes in honor of Major Andrew Holmes, who was killed in the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.

However, they soon abandoned Fort Holmes.  The earthworks and buildings of the former redoubt slowly eroded and disappeared over the course of more than a century.

--Brock-Perry

John B. Montgomery, USN-- Part 4: On USS Niagara at Battle of Lake Erie

In August 1813, Montgomery volunteered for transfer to Lake Erie and joined the squadron commanded by Oliver Hazard Perry.  He was stationed on the brig USS Niagara under Captain Jesse Duncan Elliott and fought in the decisive Battle of Lake Erie on September 13, 1813.

He consequently received  a sword and thanks of Congress.  Though not directly involved  in the subsequent Perry-Elliott dispute, he  apparently sided with his commanding officer.

Montgomery remained on Lake Erie throughout the summerof 1814 and sailed with Commander  Arthur Sinclair during his ill-fated campaign against Mackinac on Lake Huron.

He spent the last weeks of the war performing courier duties on Lake Erie before arriving in New York City during the celebrations of peace.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin-- Part 20: Capture of the Scorpion

Just after dark, the now-captured Tigress anchored about two miles from the Scorpion.  Shortly before sun rise the next day the Tigress raised anchor and moved toward the Scorpion.  When they got within ten yards, the disguised British opened fire with their muskets then swarmed aboard the Scorpion.

The battle only lasted a few minutes.  Champlin was severely wounded by a canister shot through the thigh which shattered the bone, crippling him for life.

He was taken prisoner and held at Mackinac for 38 days before being paroled and being sent first to Erie and later back to Connecticut to die which didn't happen until 1870.

The captured American vessels were renamed.  The Scorpion became the Confidence (do not get it confused with the HMS Confiance which I have seen happen) and the Tigress became the Surprise (which it sure did to the Scorpion).  They remained in British service until 1817 when the Rush-Bagot Treaty was signed banning armed warships on the Great Lakes.

The two ships were then scuttled in Pentantaguishene Harbor.

Like I said, Sneaky British.  --Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 2: Wounded and Captured on USS Tigress

After the battle, he was placed in command of two captured British vessels, the Queen Charlotte and Detroit.

In 1814, while commanding the USS Tigress, he worked the blockade of the port of Mackinac for several months.  Under attack by a larger British force of 400 sailors and Indians, he was wounded by cannon fire with a shot that passed through one thigh and into the other.

He was captured and suffered while being held by the British for 38 days before he was paroled and returned to Connecticut to recover.

--Brock-Perry

Miller Worsley, RN-- Part 3: A Big Victory and "Lake Fever"

The Americans landed a superior force on infantry and attacked the HMS Nancy which resulted in the ship being burned.  Then Miller Worsley had his small command row 360 miles to Mackinac Island where he organized an attack against the two American ships blockading the place, the USS Tigress and USS Scorpion.

With the capture of both ships, as you can read about in my USS Tigress entries, this gave the British superiority  on Lake Huron for the remainder of the war.

Miller Worsley fell ill with "Lake Fever," a malady that struck many serving on the Great Lakes.  Worsley was able to perform no further naval service and was appointed commander with half-pay on 13 July 1815.

He returned to the Isle of Wright after the war.  From 1832-1834, he served as Commander of the Coastguard.  He died in 1835.

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 4: The USS Scorpion Captured As Well

The survivors of the USS Tigress were sent ashore as prisoners of war.  The majority of the British stayed on board the Tigress and kept the American flag flying in hopes of luring the other American ship, the Scorpion close enough to capture.

The Scorpion arrived September 6 and anchored two miles away from the Tigress.  British Lt. Worsley got the Tigress under way and ran it alongside the Scorpion and captured her as well.

Both ships and their captured crews were taken to Mackinac Island where the ships were renamed the HMS Surpise (Tigress) and HMS Confiance (Scorpion).

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 3: Captured In a Surprise Attack

The Tigress was under the command of Stephen Champlin at this time.

Four boatloads of British sailors and Indians secretly left Mackinac Island on the night of 3 September 1814.  They slipped alongside the Tigress, boarded and after a brief and bloody battle "warmly received" by the Tigress' crew, captured it in five minutes.  The Tigress only had a crew of 27.

"The defense of this vessel, wrote Lt. Miller Worsley, commander of the British, "did credit to her officers, who were all seriously wounded."

One of those seriously wounded was Acting Master Stephen Champlin.

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 2: Battle of the Thames and Mackinac Island

After the Battle of Lake Erie, the Americans took advantage of their new superiority captured Fort Malden and Detroit.  The Tigress, Scorpion and Porcupine, under command of Lt. Jesse Elliott went up the Thames River to support U.S. troops under General William Henry Harrison and the victory at the Battle of the Thames in which Indian warrior chief Tecumseh was killed.

Then the Tigress was sent to Lake Huron where it blockaded the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, the sole supply source for the British garrison on Mackinac Island.  By early September, the situation for the British on the island was dire.  Something had to be done.

It was under the command of Stephen Champlin.

Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 3: Seriously Wounded and Captured

Champlin's ship USS Tigress, blockaded the British port at Mackinac for several months.

The British decided to break the blockade and attacked the Tigress by small boats manned with 400 British sailors and Indians.  Champlin was seriously wounded by a cannon shot that went through both thighs.  he and his ship were captured.

He suffered tremendously during his imprisonment by the British for 38 days before being paroled and exchanged.  He returned to Connecticut to recuperate.

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Holmes Was Special Forces Pirate Hunter Before the Battle of Mackinac-- Part 1

From the July 12, 2014, Mackinac Island Town Crier "A Look at History: Fort Holmes Namesake Was Special Forces Pirate Hunter Before Mackinac" by Frank Straus.

Holmes Hill, a rocky mound and rock hazard in Wawashkama Golf Links is named for him as is the former British Fort George on Mackinac Island.  Andrew Hunter Holmes gave his life fighting for the United States in the War of 1812.  He was second in command of the American forces under George Croghan when they attacked Mackinac Island in 1814.

Before he was killed at the Battle of Mackinac, he assisted  the army against the notorious pirate brothers, Pierre and Jean Lafitte who were into smuggling slaves and anything else they could get their hands on in the Gulf of Mexico area.

--Brock-Perry

Mackinac Island's Fort Holmes-- Part 1: Originally Built by the British

From Mackinac Parks site.

I started writing about this fort on June 10, 2016.

Fort Holmes sits atop the highest elevation on the island and was recently reconstructed and free and open to the public during normal operating hours from May to October.  It is a small wooden and earthen fortification.

When the U.S. reoccupied Mackinac Island after the War of 1812, the name was changed from Fort George (the British built the fort and named it in honor of Britain's King George III) to Fort Holmes in honor of Major Andrew Hunter Holmes who was killed in the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.

After the war, the fort was also the site of at least two different viewing towers.

In 1936, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) used the original 1817 blueprints to rebuilt the fort, but it later fell into disrepair.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Holmes Rebuilt Atop Michigan's Mackinac Island-- Part 2

There were major American casualties during the unsuccessful attempt to regain control over Fort Mackinac on August 4, 1814.  This was led by Col. George Croghan, hero of Fort Stephenson in Ohio.

After the war, Fort Holmes was abandoned and fell into ruin.  A public works effort in the 1930s reconstructed the fort, but it again fell into disrepair until state legislation appropriated money in 2014 to rebuild it.  By then it had become a weedy mound of earth with scattered wood.

Reconstruction used the original plans housed in the National Archives.

It cost $500,000, part of the war's Bicentennial and is now open to visitors year round.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Holmes Rebuilt Atop Mackinac Island-- Part 1

From the August 17, 2015, M Live "Historic War of 1812 redoubt Fort Holmes built atop Mackinac Island" by Garrett Ellison.

The reconstructed Fort Holmes was dedicated August 15, 2015,  The earthen redoubt (fort) was built by the British and is one of Michigan's few War of 1812 sites.  It sits atop Mackinac Island and offers great views.

It was built to defend the vulnerable north side of Fort Mackinac.

The British built it and named it Fort George, but the United States changed the name to Holmes after it returned to the island July 18, 1815.

--Brock-Perry

George Croghan, "Boy Major" of War of 1812-- Part 2: War Service

George Croghan soon saw action and was at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe with General William Harrison fighting Tecumseh and his Indians.  During the War of 1812, he fought with distinction at Fort Meigs, again under command of Gen. William Henry Harrison.

For his defense of Fort Stephenson in Ohio, he was promoted to colonel and later led American troops at the loss of the Battle of Mackinac Island, Michigan Territory.

After the war, he resigned from the Army and became the postmaster in New Orleans.  In 1825 he became one of two inspector generals in the Army and fought at Monterrey as a colonel during the Mexican War.

He is buried at Fort Stephenson, Ohio (now Fremont).  The village of Croghan, New York is named after him, as is the street in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mackinac Celebrates 200 Years in American Hands

From the July 28, 2015, Great Lakes Echo by Kevin Lavery.

At the end of the War of 1812, the British fort on Mackinac Island was returned to the United States.  The Mackinac State Historic Parks system is currently celebrating the 200th anniversary of it.

The war played a huge role in shaping the territory which eventually became the state of Michigan.  The United Staes held the fort early in the war.  On July 17, 1812, British, Canadian and Indians captured it and held it until the war's end.

The U.S. got it back on July 18, 1815.

--Brock-Perry

Marking the True End of the War of 1812 on Mackinac Island

From the July 18, 2015, Toledo News "Snyder, others marking War of 1812-related bicentennial" by Jeff Karous, AP.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and others are helping mark the bicentennial of the true end in the War of 1812 on Mackinac Island.

The ceremony was held July 18th at Marquette Park near Fort Mackinac and featured a peace garden dedication.

The event marked the 200th anniversary of the British withdrawal from the island after the war had officially ended months earlier.They had recaptured the fort in 1812 with the help of hundreds on Indians in one of the war's earliest operations.

The Battle of Mackinac Island, which took a month, came two years later.

So, It Didn't End With the Treaty of Ghent.  --Brock-Perry

Michigan Commemorates the War

From the September 6th Michigan Radio (NPR) "Stateside: It's the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812."

Michigan was the site of the first major battles of the war around Detroit and Mackinac Island.  Both were very embarrassing for the United States, showing how ill-prepared we were for the war.  According to historian Jim McConnell, Mackinac, July 17, 1812, "wasn't really a battle because the British caught the fort by surprise and the fort surrendered without firing a shot."  That British General Issac Brock was brilliant.

Then, August 16, 1812, came the fall of Detroit and the fort there, a shock to President Madison and the country "it certainly broke the spirit of Americans at the start of the war."  Again, great generalship by Isaac Brock.  (I'd never heard of him until I started this blog.)

From September 5-10th, US and Canadian Naval ships, the US Coast Guard and the replica brig of the USS Niagara from the Battle of Lake Erie, are docked and open to the public at Detroit.

Detroit's Commemoration.  --Brock-Perry