Battle of Lacolle Mills (1812)

For homonymy, see Lacolle.
First Battle of Lacolle River
Part of the War of 1812

Lacolle Mills Blockhouse
DateNovember 20, 1812
LocationLacolle, Quebec
Result British-Mohawk victory
Belligerents
British Empire Lower Canada
Mokawk warriors
United States United States
Commanders and leaders
British Empire Charles de Salaberry United States Henry Dearborn
Strength
530 6000
Casualties and losses
None 5 Killed
5 Wounded[1]

The Battle of Lacolle River was fought on November 20, 1812, during the War of 1812. In this relatively short and fast battle, a very small garrison of Canadian militia, with the assistance of Kahnawake Mohawk warriors, defended a makeshift log guardhouse on the Montreal road at the bridge over the Lacolle River (present day village of Lacolle, Quebec).

The American invasion force, prepared and led by Major General Henry Dearborn, captured the blockhouse in the early morning, possibly following a brief confrontation with the outnumbered defending forces. In the dark, a second group of American militia attacked the troops at the guardhouse, resulting in a short battle between two groups of American forces. In the aftermath of this confusion, the Canadian forces under the command of Charles de Salaberry launched a counterattack against the shaken American forces, forcing a retreat to Champlain before the American forces withdrew from Lower Canada completely. After this defeat, the demoralized American forces would not attempt this assault again until 1814 in the Battle of Lacolle Mills (1814).

References

The First American Invasion of Quebec: The Battle of Lacolle River

Coordinates: 45°04′53″N 73°22′21″W / 45.0813°N 73.3726°W / 45.0813; -73.3726

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.