War of 1812, Part 6: The Battle of the Thames

The New Nation
Written By Tom Hand

With Captain Oliver Hazard Perry's great victory on Lake Erie, General William Henry Harrison knew the time had finally come for the invasion of Upper Canada. On September 27, 1813, Captain Perry’s fleet transported Harrison’s army across the lake to the Canadian shore, three miles below Fort Malden. To oppose the American force, British General Henry Proctor commanded an army of 400 regulars and approximately 3,000 Indians. But Proctor was a cautious man and retreated east up the Thames River valley to the disgust of Tecumseh and his warriors, many of whom returned home rather than join in the retreat. Proctor halted his retreat on October 5 and drew up his dwindling army, consisting of just 400 regulars and 500 Indians, in line of battle adjacent to the Thames River just west of Moraviantown. Upon observing the thin British line, General Harrison opened the assault with a mounted charge, and the fury of the American assault quickly broke the British line. 

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses the Battle of the Thames and why it still matters today.  

 

Images courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, National Archives, Brown University Library, Toledo Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Army Museum - United Kingdom, National Guard, Yale University Art Gallery, Toronto Public Library, Wikimedia. 

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War of 1812, Part 5: We Have Met the Enemy