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The British Retreat
from Amherstburg to Moraviantown

British Commander Henry Procter's problems really begin almost a month before the disastrous battle which will lead to his disgrace and suspension from military service. The events that will lead to Procter's court martial begins at the Battle of Lake Erie. On September 9th, Oliver Hazard Perry and the U.S. Navy score a brilliant victory over the British squadron at Put-in-Bay. The Americans now control the water and can circle Amherstburg from behind. Procter faces the danger of being outflanked and having to fight off an attack from two sides.

Besides the tactical disadvantages facing the British, Procter's men are tired, hungry and demoralized by the US naval victory. They are also worried about the Natives. Procter initially lied to the tribes, telling them that it was actually the Royal Navy which won the confrontation at Put-in-Bay. The Natives aren't fooled and suspect the British are getting ready to retreat. The warriors outnumber the British troops three-to-one. Tecumseh is furious and there is talk that his followers will revolt and massacre Procter and his men.

Amherstburg's Fort Malden is defenseless, its cannon having been used to outfit the Royal Navy. One-third of Procter's army has been taken prisoner in the defeat at Put-in-Bay. His Lake Erie supply line is no longer open. Winter is approaching and there aren't nearly enough provisions to keep the British-Native army going until the spring. Procter decides to retreat and make his stand on the Thames River near Chatham.

The withdrawal is a massive undertaking. Procter must first smooth over relations with his native allies and convince Tecumseh that the Thames Valley is a better place to face the enemy. He then has to coordinate the retreat of 10,000 men, women and children along with their military supplies and personal possessions. Amherstburg is abandoned on September 24, 1813, and the general retreat from Detroit and Sandwich starts four days later.

General William Harrison

Procter has taken his time organizing the withdrawal. This proves to be a big mistake. By the time the British leave Sandwich, the enemy is already ferrying troops over to the Canadian side of the Detroit River. The retreat proceeds agonizingly slowly. It rains continually and the roads are nothing more than rutted, muddy tracks.

By now, the British forces are in complete disarray. The men are wet and insufficiently clothed for the autumn weather. Most importantly, the mounted Kentuckians are in close pursuit. Some Indian families lag behind the main body of the retreat. This leads to another costly mistake. The British decide not to destroy the bridges; they don't want to run the risk of alienating the tribes by giving the impression that they are abandoning the warriors' families. Now there is nothing stopping the advancing American cavalry.

Procter has promised Tecumseh that the British-Native army will turn and make its stand at Chatham. In order to survey the battle site, Procter rushes ahead of the main body of the retreat. Not happy with the situation he finds at Chatham, he instead orders his men to build defenses at Dolsen's farm several miles downstream. The British commander is still unsatisfied, however, and once again heads off up the Thames. He goes to Moraviantown, which he has heard is the best position to defend against the Americans. The settlement also happens to be sheltering his wife and children.

When Captain William Crowther attempts to follow orders and fortify Dolsen's farm he learns that all the entrenching tools have been sent further up the Thames to a clearing called Bowles'. By this point there is no way for Crowther to get the gear back.

The British-Indian army is in chaos. Tecumseh and his followers are consumed with fury. They are threatening to kill Matthew Elliot , the British Indian agent and militia colonel. The Indians agreed to the retreat reluctantly. Procter has promised them he will make a stand at Chatham. They have reached the designated battlefield and what do they find? Nothing. No fortifications, no defensive measures and most of the British army across the river at Dolsen's Farm. The general is even further in the rear at Moraviantown.

Procter's management of the withdrawal has been a disaster. He has abandoned his troops during his scouting trips upriver and has failed to leave his officers with clear instructions.

The British at the Battle of Moraviantown

During the retreat from Amherstburg to Moraviantown Procter loses faith in his senior officers. He deliberately keeps Augustus Warburton, his second-in-command, in the dark about his plans. No one on the British side knows what is happening. There are reports that some officers are pressuring Warburton to relieve Procter of his command.

On October 4, 1813, Lieutenant Colonel Warburton learns that Tecumseh will withdrawing to Moraviantown. He also learns that Procter is headed in the opposite direction; the British commander is leaving the village to come downriver and join his army. Warburton can hear the Indians skirmishing with the enemy across the river. He decides he can no longer wait for Procter and orders his troops to march towards Moraviantown. In the ensuing confusion, almost all the British supplies are overrun and captured by the Americans. The troops will be limited to the ammunition they have been carrying with them.

On the night before the battle, Procter makes another inexcusable mistake. When he should have been making badly-needed plans for the imminent confrontation, he once again leaves his army and goes to spend the night with his wife. When he reappears on October 5th, his troops haven't eaten in more than a day. Tired, hungry and ill-equipped, the British turn to fight in a light hardwood forest about two miles downstream from Moraviantown.

Procter's position is not a bad one. His left flank is protected by the Thames. To the right is a dense swamp. Procter positions a field gun on the main road which runs parallel to the riverbank. He deploys his men across the opening of the wedge-shaped area between the Thames and the swamp. Tecumseh and his warriors will fight from the swamp and attempt to squeeze the Americans towards the river like a door swinging shut on its hinges. The British and Indians are outnumbered three-to-one by the Americans. Procter has about 450 regulars while Tecumseh is down to 500 warriors.

For the British soldiers, the battle ends quickly. American buglers signal the start of the conflict. Within five minutes, the British start to retreat. The main American attack on the British positions is made with cavalry at full gallop. The U.S. horsemen immediately break through the British front line. The six-pound gun Procter has placed on the main road fails to get off a single shot. The gun's horses spook at the first sound of gunfire and get tangled in the underbrush. The entire battle lasts fifty-five minutes but most of that period is taken up as the Kentuckians battle the Indians along the swamp. The Natives put up a fierce fight and only withdraw when they hear of the death of Tecumseh.

Procter flees down the main road as soon as he realizes his line has been broken. He briefly considers trying to reach the Indians but American horsemen have penetrated the area between the road and the swamp. There is nothing he can do to stop the rout. He gallops to safety, leaving his carriage and papers behind to be captured by the Americans. The British have suffered about a dozen casualties, but some sources will later say not a single American was killed in the attack on the British line.

Procter and the remnants of his army eventually regroup with the Centre Division at Burlington on Lake Ontario. Six hundred British soldiers have been taken prisoner since leaving Sandwich. Procter is eventually called before a court martial where he is publicly reprimanded. He is suspended from his post and abandons the army in disgrace.

The Americans at Moraviantown

The U.S. Army under William Henry Harrison moves quickly once it crosses the Detroit River. The US troops manage to cover the distance to Moraviantown in less than half the time it takes the British. In one day, the three thousand Americans gain 25 miles. The foot soldiers have to almost run in order to keep up with the cavalry.

The rapid US advance has been prepared by Oliver Hazard Perry’s defeat of the British squadron at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. The Americans have cut off Procter’s main supply line and have complete mobility on the water. The US troops outnumber their enemy three-to-one and sense Procter’s vulnerability.

The Kentucky volunteers are so eager to fight the British, that Harrison has trouble convincing some of them to stay behind to garrison Fort Detroit. The rugged frontiersmen can’t wait for an opportunity to avenge the previous winter’s massacre at the River Raisin. Many of Richard and James Johnson’s volunteers are from the same counties as those killed at the Raisin. “Remember the Raisin” is the recruiting slogan, which inspired them to join the army. It will soon become their battle cry as they charge the British lines.

Tecumseh and some of his warriors try to slow down the US advance near Chatham. The Indians stand little chance against the bulk of Harrison’s army and are quickly overwhelmed. The Americans capture all the British reserve ammunition as well as an important arms store.

On October 5, Procter turns to make his stand. After surveying the ground Procter has chosen to defend, Harrison makes an unconventional decision; James Johnson’s mounted troops will charge the British line in a frontal attack.

Before the battle gets underway Colonel John Calloway addresses his men. “Boys, we must either whip these British and Indians or they will kill and scalp every one of us,” he says. “We cannot escape if we lose.” The British threat that they cannot control the Indians backfires; the American troops feel they have no choice but to win, if they surrender they can expect no quarter from the enemy.

Within a matter of minutes, James Johnson’s horsemen succeed in charging clear through the British line. They quickly turn to their left and fall upon the redcoats who are still in position. The British soldiers break formation almost immediately and run for their lives.

Meanwhile, Tecumseh and his warriors are putting up a fierce resistance in the swamp to the left of the British. James Johnson’s brother, Colonel Richard Johnson has ridden ahead of the main body of his force with 20 other men. They are a “Forlorn Hope” squad attempting to empty the Indians’ guns and give the rest of the American attackers a better chance. Johnson’s squad rides straight into a wall of bullets. The Colonel is wounded five times and all but five of his comrades are killed.

The main body of the Kentuckians follow but are unable to cross the mud and undergrowth of the swamp with their horses. They dismount and fight the Natives on the ground. Tecumseh is killed and extra American troops freed by the collapse of the British line pour into action. As word spreads of Tecumseh’s death and British Retreat, the Indians withdraw into the forest.

Mounted U.S. troops scour the surrounding trails and forests for the remnants of the British army. By nightfall US soldiers are burning and looting the village of Moraviantown. Harrison has scored a decisive victory and there appears to be little stopping him from continuing his lightning advance right to the head of Lake Ontario. British officials are afraid that the Americans are poised to conquer all of Upper Canada west of Kingston.

Harrison is facing his own set of problems, however. The Thames Valley is now a wasteland of burned-out farms and ransacked settlements. The American supply lines are over-extended and the region’s provisions have already been exhausted by two desperate armies. To make matters worse, most of Harrison’s troops are volunteers who have signed up for short-term duty. It would be almost impossible to turn these militiamen into an army of occupation. Facing the onset of the bitter Canadian winter, Harrison decides to retreat to Sandwich on October 7, 1813.

Additional Sources:

www.history1700s.com
www.jmu.edu
www.ngb.army.mil
www.ohiokids.org
www.windsorpubliclibrary.com
www.ohiohistorycentral.org
ohiobio.org

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 26:
1702 Dr Philip Doddridge England, nonconformist clergyman
1730 Charles Messier cataloguer of "M objects"
1742 Arthur Middleton signer Declaration of Independence
1763 George Morland England, artist of rural landscapes
1819 Abner Doubleday credited with inventing American baseball
1824 William Thomson Lord Kelvin, engineer/mathematician/physicist
1854 Sir Robert Laird Borden (C), 8th Canadian PM (1911-20)
1865 Bernard Berenson art critic (Italian Painters of the Renaissance)
1887 Anthony G de Rothschild Britain, philanthropist
1892 Hubert Julian (Jay) Stowitts the first American star in the Russian ballet, and Anna Pavlova's only American partner
1892 Pearl S Buck China, author (Good Earth-Nobel 1938)
1893 Big Bill Broonzy Miss, blues singer/guitarist (Blues by Broonzy)
1894 Bill Wirges Buffalo NY, orch leader (Growing Paynes)
19-- Travis Fine actor (Ike McSwain-The Young Riders)
1901 Stuart Symington (Sen-D-Mo)
1902 Antonia Brico Rotterdam Holland, conductor/pianist (Antonia)
1903 Floyd "Babe" Herman Brooklyn Dodgers' slugger (.324 lifetime average)
1904 Peter Lorre actor (M, Casablanca, Beast with 5 Fingers)
1909 Col Tom Parker Elvis Presley's manager
1911 Edward Levi professor (Intro to Legal Reasoning)
1913 Maurice Wilkes inventor (stored program concept for computers)
1914 Richard Maltby orch leader (Vaughn Monroe Show)
1914 Wolfgang Windgassen Annemasse Germany, tenor (Stuttgart Opera)
1916 Alex Dreier Honolulu Hawaii, newscaster (Whats it all about World?)
1922 Eleanor Parker Ohio, actress (Caged, Detective Story, Hans Brinker)
1922 Frances Rafferty Sioux City Iowa, actress (December Bride)
1925 Pavel Belyayev USSR, cosmonaut (Voskhod 2)
1928 Jacob Druckman Philadelphia, composer (Animus I Auerole)
1933 Claudio Abbado Milan Italy, conductor (London Symph-1982)
1933 Noriyuki "Pat" Morita Calif, actor (Happy Days, Karate Kid)
1934 John V Tunney (Rep/Sen-D-Calif)
1939 Charles Robb (Sen-D-Va)/husband of Lynda Bird Johnson
1940 Billy Davis Jr St Louis Mo, singer (5th Dimension-One Less Bell)
1942 Larry Taylor rocker (Canned Heat-On the Road Again)
1943 Georgie Fame rocker (Get Away, Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde)
1946 Clive Francis London England, actor (Masada)
1951 Pamela Bellwood NYC, actress (Ellen-W.E.B., Claudia-Dynasty)
1954 Robert Davi actor (Raw Deal)
1955 Mick Jones rocker (Big Audio Dynamite-Tighten Up)
1960 Barbara Edwards Albuqueque NM, playmate of the year (Sept, 1983)
1961 - Greg LeMond, US bicyclist (Tour de France winner-1986, 1989, 1990)
1963 Devin Rene‚ De Vasquez Baton Rouge La, playmate (June, 1985)
1964 Zeng Jinlian Hunan China, became tallest woman known (2.46 m, 8'1")

Deaths which occurred on June 26:
363 Flavius C Julianus, [Apostata], emperor of Rome (361-63), dies
1541 Franciscp Pizarro, Spanish conquistador, dies

1906 Alexander Muir poet (The Maple Leaf Forever), dies at 76
1938 James Weldon Johnson dies of injuries received in car crash
1967 Francoise Dorl‚ac actress (That Man From Rio), dies at 35
1983 Walter O'Keefe songwriter/TV host (Mayor of Hollywood), dies at 82
1984 Carl Foreman producer, dies of cancer at 69
1993 - Roy Campanella, 3xMVP catcher (Dodgers), dies of a heart attack at 71

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 CORNELIUS JOHNNIE C. WILLIAMS AFB AZ.
1968 WOODS ROBERT FRANCIS SALT LAKE CITY UT.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
684 St Benedict II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1096 Peter the Hermit's crusaders force their way across Sava, Hungary.
1243 The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor is wiped out by the Mongols
1284 - Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away
1483 Richard III usurps English throne
1721 - Dr Zabdiel Boylston gives 1st smallpox inoculations in America
1797 Charles Newbold patents 1st cast-iron plow. He can't sell it to farmers, though, they fear effects of iron on soil!
1804 The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles.
1844 US pres John Tyler marries Julia Gardiner in NYC
1848 1st pure food law enacted in US
1862 Battle of Beaver Dam Creek-Union repulse Confederacy in Virginia
1862 Day 2 of the 7 Days-Battle of Mechanicsville
1870 1st section of Atlantic City (NJ) Boardwalk opens
1900 Dr Walter Reed begins research that beats Yellow Fever
1902 England establishes Order of Merit
1902 M Wolf & L Carnera discovers asteroid #488 Kreusa
1902 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of the 3 Garidebs" (BG)
1911 Nieuport sets an aircraft speed record of 83 mph (133 kph)
1916 Cleveland Indians experiment with #s on their jerseys (one game)
1917 1st American Expeditionary Force arrive in France during WW I
1919 1st issue of NY Daily News published
1924 After 8 years of occupation, US troops leave the Domincan Republic
1934 FDR signs Federal Credit Union Act establishing credit unions
1934 W E B Du Bois resigns position at NAACP
1936 L Boyer discovers asteroid #2021 Poincare
1940 End of USSR experimental calendar; Gregorian readopted 6/27
1941 Finland enters WW II against Russia
1942 The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter flies for the first time.
1945 UN Charter signed by 50 nations in SF
1948 US denounces Soviet blockade of Berlin
1949 Walter Baade discovers asteroid Icarus inside orbit of Mercury
1957 Hurricane Audrey strikes Louisiana claiming 500 lives
1958 Mackinac Straits Bridge, Michigan dedicated
1958 Vanguard SLV-2 launched for Earth orbit (failed)
1959 Ingemar Johansson of Sweden defeats Floyd Patterson as boxing champ
1959 Queen Elizabeth & Pres Eisenhower open the St Lawrence Seaway
1960 British Somaliland (now Somalia) gains independence from Britain
1960 Madagascar gains independence from France (National Day)
1961 A Kuwaiti vote opposes Iraq's annexation plans.
1962 Boston Red Sox Earl Wilson no-hits LA Angels, 2-0
1963 Kennedy visits W Berlin "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner)
1964 Beatles release "A Hard Day's Night" album
1968 Iwo Jima & Bonin Islands returned to Japan by US
1970 Frank Robinson hits 2 grand slams as Orioles beat Senators 12-2
1974 Liz Taylor's 5th divorce (Richard Burton)
1975 Indian PM Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency
1977 42 die in fire inmate causes at Maury County Jail in Columbia Tenn
1978 Brittany separatists bomb Palace of Versailles in France
1978 First dedicated oceanographic satellite, SEASAT 1, launched
1982 A Gilmore & P Kilmartin discovers asteroid #3521
1982 Marie Osmond marries Steve Craig
1982 US vetos UN Security Council resolution for a limited withdrawal from Beirut of Israeli & Palestine Liberation Organization forces
1983 "Loving" premiers on TV
1984 1st flight of Shuttle Discovery (41-D) scrubbed at T -4s
1984 Barbra Striesand records "Here We Are at Last"
1987 Losing 9-0 to Red Sox, Yanks score 11 in 3rd & win 12-11 in 10 inn
1989 Melanie Griffith & Don Johnson marry for the 2nd time
1990 122ø F in Phoenix Arizona

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Malagasy Republic & British Somaliland : Independence Day (1960)
Newfoundland : Discovery Day (1497-John Cabot) - - - - - ( Monday )
National Adopt-a-Cat Month

Religious Observances
RC : Feast of SS John & Paul, martyrs in Rome

Religious History
1097 The armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) occupied the ancient Byzantine city of Nicea.
1702 Birth of Philip Doddridge, an English Nonconformist clergyman. Doddridge authored 370 hymn- texts, of which 'O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice' is still sung today.
1839 Scottish clergyman and missionary Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Joy is increased by spreading it to others.'
1892 Birth of Pearl S. Buck, American Presbyterian missionary to China and author of the 1931 best-seller, 'The Good Earth.'
1955 The first Southern Baptist congregation was formally organized in Las Vegas, with 33 charter members. It was the second Southern Baptist church established in Nevada.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Statistics are often used as a drunk uses a light pole: For support rather than illumination."