MACDONOUGH’S VICTORY ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN
Before the British fleet had invaded Lake Champlain on September 11, 1814, Commodore Thomas Macdonough and his American fleet had complete control of the lake. The Saratoga, the largest American ship carried 26 guns, the Eagle the Ticonderoga, the Preble and ten other gunboats carried a total of 86 guns that could only do some damage from a short range. The British finally completed their largest ship, the Confiance, a large enough ship to hold 37 guns. Together with the Linnet, the Chub, and Finch and twelve other gunboats the British mounted a total of 92 guns, which were more effective at long range.
On September 4th the British arm under Sir George Prevost marched from Champlain to Chazy, where it split. The right wing went to West Chazy, following the modern Route 22 south to Plattsburgh, while the left wing followed what is now Route 9. Both wings were harassed by units of the American army as well as by Macdonough’s gunboats o the bay. Nevertheless, the British occupied all of Plattsburgh north of the Saranac River on September 6th.
Macdonough brought his entire fleet into Plattsburgh Bay, where he arranged the anchors and cables which gave him flexibility in battle, as well as forcing the British fleet on to enter the Bay and Fight at close range.
On September 11th the British squadron was finally ready for battle, and it engaged Macdonough in Cumberland Bay at about 9 o’clock in the morning. Simultaneously, units of the British army forded the Saranac River and started south in pursuit of the retreating Americans instead of attacking the forts as expected.
By 11 o’clock it was all over. In Cumberland Bay one British ship drifted out of control and was captured; another ran around off Crab Island. At a crucial point in the battle Macdonough was able to turn the Saratoga and continue firing from his unharmed guns. Finally, the remnants of the British fleet surrendered. Only heroic efforts kept the vessels of both sides afloat in the hours after the battle.
With the surrender of the fleet, Prevost recalled his units from south of the river. That night the whole army decamped for Canada. And so the siege of Plattsburgh and the threat to the entire Champlain Valley was dissipated. At the current peace conference in Europe, the British had expected to use their gains at Plattsburgh and elsewhere to obtain a more favorable treaty. But the defeat at Plattsburgh helped to deny them this leverage and the subsequent Treaty Of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, was more of a genuine compromise than it might otherwise have been.