[History] American Revolution - Siege of Fort Meigs

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

Author: vizi
Original Thread: American Revolution - Siege of Fort Meigs

American Revolution - Siege of Fort Meigs

Siege of Fort Meigs -May 1-9, 1813. The Siege took place in what is now the cities of Maumee and Perrysburg.

The Siege took place after the recent defeats at Deroit and Frenchtown and the lifting of the siege marked the turning point in the war for the USA.

After Major General William Henry Harrison lost at Frenchtown he ordered the construction of several forts. One fort was built on the Maumee River and was named after the governor of Ohio, Return J Meigs Jr. In the spring of 1813 Harrison left in search of reinforcements and when he returned he was suprised to find that none of the work he had ordered to be done had been completed. The miltia units had returned home rather than build the fort. Harrison hurried to build the largest wooden fort in America at that point. The fort was placed across the river from the old British Fort Miami and the site of the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Both those places were to hold a historic backround between two of the combatants, Harrison and Tecumseh had fought each other there in 1794.

On May 1st, shortly after the construction of the fort had been completed, Brigadier General Henry Procter laid siege to the fort. The 2,000 British were supported by 1,000 American Indians lead by Tecumseh. Harrison only had 1,200 regulars garrisoned in the fort at the time of the siege. The British had plenty of ammo and bombarded the fort relentlessly. The British had 24-pound and 12-pound shot and bombarded the fort ceaselessly. Harrison seeing that the British were using 12-pound shot and that his artillery was also 12-pound shot promised his men whiskey to anyone who could bring back usable 12-pound shot. The US forces collected over 1,000 shots and fired them back into the British.

A few days after the siege had began Harrison had sent a message to General Green Clay and his militia force of 1,600 men. They rowed down the Maumee river and split into two columns, one column to fight its way through the Indian forces and the other to spike the siege. On May 5th Green's forces routed the British gunners and lacking in orders destroyed the battery with there muskets. Green failed to tell that column that the fort was sending tools to properly spike the battery. After the battery was destroyed the militia had run out of orders and began to cheer their victory. Harrison's forces saw that the Indians had ambushed the column, which was lead by a man named, Dudley. He attempted to wave the militia into the fort but they thought he was cheering them for capturing the battery. The Indians attacked the column and took them prisoner, several Indians began to kill the prisoners but Tecumshe put a stop to the slaughter. Only 150 men of the 2nd column made it across the river and into the safety of the fort. On May 9th Procter realised that he could not break the walls of the fort and retreated up the Maumee river.

Fort Meigs would be Harrison's launching point for the US offensive near the end of the war. The site of the British battery and the capture and slaughter of US militia men is now called Dudley's Massacre and is the site of the Old Maumee Courthouse and the present day library. Speaking of that, I have an overdue book and I had best go visit that old battleground and return the book.