The Glengarry Light Infantry-- Part 2: The Battles of Ogdensburg

Edward Baynes was appointed the regiment's colonel, Major Francis Battersby became the units lieutenant colonel and Captain George MacDonnell became the major.

The Glengarry Light Infantry gathered and trained first at Trois-Rivieres in the first half of 1812 and then for the latter part its companies were  deployed to various sites in Upper Canada.

On 3 October, two of its companies were at  Prescott on the St. Lawrence River and were involved in the failed attack on Ogdensburg on the American side of the river.

(Civil War/Fort Fisher hero Newton Martin Curtis is buried in Ogdensburg, New York.)

However, the American town remained a target.  George MacDonnell, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and commanded the garrison at Prescott, mounted a successful attack in Ogdensburg, this time across a frozen St. Lawrence River.

A company of Glengarry Light Infantry and some militia made a frontal attack while the main body of MacDonell's force turned the  American right flank.  The Reverend Alexander Macdonell was conspicuous  in urging the militia and Glengarry soldiers in their advance.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: British Complete Construction on Fort Wellington

DECEMBER 1814:  British complete construction of Fort Wellington, Prescott, Upper Canada.  One of the few British fortifications in Upper Canada commenced during the War of 1812, Fort Wellington was authorized in early 1813, but construction delays meant that it wasn't completed until late 1814.

The fort consisted of a single story wooden blockhouse 100 feet square which could accommodate 144 soldiers.  The blockhouse was surrounded by massive earthworks that contained bombproof storerooms while the post's artillery commanded the surrounding countryside.

The fortification was a redoubt of substantial strength designed to assert British control over the St. Lawrence River at Prescott, a vital port in the line of communications from Montreal to Kingston.

Although never attacked, Fort Wellington's guns were used to fire on Major General James Wilkinson's flotilla in autumn 1813.

--Brock-Perry

Canada's Fort Wellington-- Part 3

Even though the fort was never involved in a battle, it served as a staging and rallying point for local militia and regular British troops.

On February 22, 1813, about 500 men crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River and attacked Ogdensburg where they destroyed American military barracks and burned four ships frozen in the river. They returned with food, ammunition cannon and prisoners. This attack was in reprisal for the American raid earlier in the month on Ganonoque and Elizabethtown.

In November 1813, American General Wilkinson's army, on its way to attack Montreal, feared Fort Wellington's cannons so much that they disembarked from their ships above Ogdensburg and marched through town at night while the boats slipped by unloaded.

Once Wilkinson's army had slipped by, the fort's garrison followed them along the King's Highway (modern Highway 21) and on November 11th met at the Battle of Crysler's Farm near present-day Morrisburg, Ontario, and the much-larger American army was defeated. The attack on Montreal was abandoned and Canada was saved.

The fort fell into disrepair after the war and finally was abandoned in 1832.

Story of a Fort. --Brock-Perry

Canada's Fort Wellington-- Part 2

THE FIRST FORT WELLINGTON

This is the one from the War of 1812.

The first fort was built with earth ramparts reinforced with a verticle palisade fence and a glacis. The North Facade had a masonry gate. Timber buildings were inside the fort and casemates were tunneled into the ramparts for storage.

The fort's main armament was a pair of 24-pdr. cannons mounted on the southeast and southwest corners. Smaller guns defended other parts of the fort.

Unlike other British forts in the area, Fort Wellington was never attacked by the Americans.

A Strong Fort for the Era. --Brock-Perry

Canada's Fort Wellington-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Fort Wellington National Historic Site is a historic military fortification located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River by Prescott, Ontario, orginally built in 1813 on land given by Major Edward Jessup, a prominent Loyalist who left Connecticut after the American Revolution and founded the town of Prescott in 1784.

The British government built it at the head of the Gallup Rapids. Prior to the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1950, these were a series of rapids that ran downriver from Prescott to Montreal. Shipping freight or passengers on regular lake ships was impossible and they would have to shift to smaller batteaux for this segment of the journey.

Prescott is located just a mile from Ogdensburg, New York, on the American side of the river and because of this, was especially vulnerable to military action.

Pretty Close to Have an Enemy. --Brock-Perry

This Date in the War of 1812: British Fort Wellington

From the Parks Canada site.

Two hundred years ago today, an American army led by General Wilkinson successfully passed by Fort Wellington on their way to attack Montreal.

"One consequence of the American Revolution was the emergence of a hostile country to the south of Great Britain's Canadian colonies." Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) was particularly at risk because of the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Montreal which could be easily cutoff by the Americans on the south shore.

The declaration of war in 1812 caused the British to move fast to the area's defense and Fort Wellington was built at the town of Prescott.

Prescott was founded in 1784 by United Empire Loyalists who fled to Canada from the United States. The capture of Prescott would effectively close the St. Lawrence River.

Initially, local militia occupied two buuildings on the eastern edge of town and built a stockade around them. An advanced battery was built and mounted two 9-pounder cannons.

In December 1812, the commander of British North American forces ordered that a more permanent fort be built. A substantial one-story blockhouse enclosed in earthen ramparts was built over a two-year period.

The fort was never attacked but served as a staging area for regular troops and militia. Early in 1813 an attack was launched across the frozen St. Lawrence River on Odensburg, New York.

After the war, the garrison was gradually removed and the fort deterirated until it was abandoned in 1833. It was rebuilt in 1837.

The Story of a Fort. --Brock-Perry

The First Battle of Ogdensburg 200 Years Ago Today

Or, perhaps yesterday, I found conflicting reports.

From Wikipedia.

After the war broke out, there was much illicit trade between Ogdensburg and Prescott, Upper Canada (now Ontario) across the St. Lawrence River.

This trade was checked in early October when the local militia was reinforced with a detachment of the 1st U.S. Rifle Regiment under Major Benjamin Forsyth.

On October 3, 1812, British militia attacked, but were quickly repulsed and dispersed.  During the next few months, Forsyth made several raids across the river, sniped at british troops and occasionally captured boatloads of supplies on their way to Kingston, Upper Canada.

Not All That Much.  --Brock-Perry