War of 1812, Part 18: Macdonough Triumphant on Lake Champlain

The New Nation
Written By Tom Hand

One of the most strategically impactful battles in the War of 1812 was the naval contest for the control of Lake Champlain, the two-hundred-mile waterway that had served as the main invasion route for American, British, and French troops since the 1750s. The British fleet was commanded by Captain George Downie, while the American navy was entrusted to 31-year-old Captain Thomas Macdonough. On the morning of September 11, the first broadside from the British ship Confiance was devastating to the American vessel Saratoga, with forty sailors killed or wounded. But Macdonough reorganized his men and began a murderous fire on the Confiance. Fifteen minutes later, a shot from Saratoga hit a cannon on Confiance, which sent the gun hurtling across the deck and crushed Captain Downie, a critical loss to the Brits.

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses what transpired during the battle for Lake Champlain and why it still matters today. 

Images courtesy of National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Naval History and Heritage Command, Internet Archive, Library of Congress, McCord Stewart Museum Montreal, New York Public Library, University of Michigan Library, Smithsonian Institution, Wikimedia.

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Tom Hand
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War of 1812, Part 17: British Invade the North