The Battle of the Thames , also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory over British forces and Tecumseh's Confederacy during the War of 1812. The battle took place on October 5, 1813, in Upper Canada near what is now Thamesville, Ontario. The British lost control of the Western District of Upper Canada as a result of the battle. Tecumseh was killed, and his confederacy collapsed.
Overview
In August 1812, British forces commanded by Major General Isaac Brock, supported by Indigenous forces led by Tecumseh, captured Detroit. Detroit was occupied until the Americans gained control of Lake Erie in September 1813, and severed the British supply line. The British Right Division, led by Major General Henry Procter abandoned Detroit, as well as Amherstburg and Sandwich in Upper Canada. Procter withdrew east up the Thames River valley towards Burlington Heights at the head of Lake Ontario. Tecumseh and his followers reluctantly accompanied the British as they retreated.
Procter and Tecumseh made a stand a few miles west of the Christian Delaware settlement of Moraviantown. Major General William Henry Harrison's mounted infantry overran the British lines and engaged the Indigenous warriors who subsequently retreated after Tecumseh was killed. American control of Detroit and the Michigan Territory was reestablished, Amherstburg and Sandwich were occupied, and Procter was later court-martialed for his questionable leadership.
Background
In August 1812, two months after the United States declared war against the United Kingdom, Brigadier General William Hull surrendered Detroit to British and Indigenous forces led by Brock and Tecumseh. In September 1812, Harrison was given command of the American Army of the Northwest and began organizing a campaign to retake Detroit and British occupied Michigan territory and advance into Upper Canada. In January 1813, despite orders to wait for Harrison at the Maumee Rapids, Brigadier General James Winchester advanced to the River Raisin and retook Frenchtown, 33 miles (53 km) southwest of Detroit.
The British Right Division led by then Colonel Henry Procter and supported by Indigenous auxiliaries led by the Wyandot war leader Roundhead defeated Winchester at the Battle of Frenchtown on January 22, 1813. Close to 400 Americans were killed and 547 taken prisoner including Winchester. The costly defeat forced Harrison to cancel plans for a winter campaign to retake Detroit.
In recognition of his victory at Frenchtown, Procter was appointed a brigadier, and a few months later was promoted to major general.
The British depended on a steady supply of provisions, munitions and other goods brought to Amherstsburg from Fort Erie at the eastern end of Lake Erie by the vessels of the Provincial Marine. Although the British had maintained control of the lake since the beginning of the war, the American occupation of the west side of the Niagara River following the Battle of Fort George in May 1813 meant that supplies now had to be transported overland from Burlington Heights to Long Point.
In order to wrest control of the lake from the British, the Americans established a naval yard at Erie on Presque Isle Bay and began constructing six vessels including two brigs. In March 1813, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, arrived to take command. Four other vessels that had been trapped at Black Rock on the Niagara River sailed to Presque Isle Bay in early June.
At Amherstburg, the vessels of the Provincial Marine were turned over to the Royal Navy. Commander Robert Heriot Barclay arrived in early June to take command of the squadron. Barclay was able to keep Perry's squadron trapped inside Presque Isle Bay, but in early August briefly lifted the blockade in order to resupply. Perry took advantage of Barclay's absence to move his vessels across the sandbar at the entrance to the bay and out to the open waters of the lake.
With the supply line from Long Point under threat, Barclay's squadron of six vessels sailed from Amherstburg on September 9 to meet the American flotilla anchored at Put-in-Bay. The following day Perry defeated and captured all six of Barclay's ships at the Battle of Lake Erie. He hastily wrote a note to Harrison stating: "We have met the enemy and they are ours". The victory gave the Americans control of Lake Erie and completely ruptured Procter's supply line. Much of Fort Amherstburg's heavy artillery was lost as the guns had been placed aboard the British ships. Also lost were the men of the 41st Regiment and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment that Procter had assigned to Barclay's squadron as gunners and marines. Most were now prisoners of war.
Harrison immediately began a two-prong operation to retake Detroit and capture Amherstburg. A regiment of mounted infantry led by Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson rode north from Fort Meigs towards Detroit, while Harrison's regulars and militia boarded bateaux and Perry's ships and sailed from Sandusky Bay across Lake Erie to Amherstburg.
Procter's retreat
After receiving word of Barclay's defeat, Procter, without consulting his senior officers, decided to abandon the Detroit frontier and withdraw eastward up the Thames River towards Burlington Heights. Tecumseh, however, knew that a retreat would effectively end British support for his confederation, and attempted to dissuade Procter:
Our fleet has gone out, we know they have fought; we have heard the great guns but know nothing of what has happened to our Father with one Arm [Barclay]. Our ships have gone one way, and we are much astonished to see our Father [Procter] tying up everything and preparing to run the other, without letting his red children know what his intentions are.... We must compare our Father's conduct to a fat animal that carries its tail upon its back; but when affrighted, it drops it between its legs and runs off.
Aware that Harrison was preparing to attack, Procter could not justify defending Amherstburg or Detroit, as provisions were running short and much of his artillery had been removed and mounted on Barclay's vessels. Procter used his remaining three transports and two gunboats to move provisions, stores, munitions, baggage and 229 military dependants across Lake St. Clair to the mouth of the Thames River, and then upriver to the Forks of the Thames (Chatham). Fort Detroit, Fort Amherstburg and the naval yard were torched, and on 27 September, 880 British regulars marched away from Sandwich followed by Tecumseh and 1,200 warriors with their families.
The British retreat up the Thames River valley was slow due to bad roads and incessant rain. Procter was rarely with his men during the retreat and was frequently miles ahead scouting the terrain. He often failed to share his plans with his subordinates, notably his second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Warburton. The British soldiers grew increasingly demoralized, and Tecumseh's warriors grew ever more impatient with Procter for his unwillingness to stop and fight. Procter's Indigenous allies had been led to believe that the Forks had been fortified and that the British would make a stand there. Procter, however, felt that the terrain was unsuitable and that Moraviantown, 20 miles (32 km) further east, offered a better defensive position. Since the river east of the forks was too shallow for larger vessels, essential stores were loaded onto bateaux and sent onwards with the gunboats. All three of the transports were then scuttled and burned.
Late in the afternoon of 27 September, Harrison's main force landed three miles (5 km) below Amherstburg. They advanced to Sandwich the next day. Johnson's mounted infantry arrived at Detroit on September 30 and crossed over the Detroit River to Sandwich on October 1. On October 2, Harrison set off in pursuit of Procter and Tecumseh leaving most of the regulars behind to garrison Detroit, Amherstburg and Sandwich. He was able to move quickly as Procter had failed to destroy the bridges between Sandwich and the mouth of the Thames in order to facilitate the movement of Tecumseh's followers. On October 3, Harrison's forces surprised and captured a small British detachment in the process of destroying a bridge. On October 4, the Americans reached the Forks of the Thames.
Disillusioned by Procter's apparent refusal to make a stand, half of Tecumseh's warriors drifted away. Tecumseh and the remainder fought a brief rearguard action against Johnson's mounted infantry at the Forks but withdrew once Harrison brought up his artillery.
Harrison continued to move swiftly and on the morning of October 5 captured the two British gunboats and most of the bateaux carrying Procter's provisions, ammunition and entrenching tools along with 144 of his men. He caught up with Procter west of Moraviantown in the afternoon of 5 October.
Forces
In his report to John Armstrong, the Secretary of War, Harrison wrote that he fielded 3,000 men on the day of the battle, but later amended that number to 2,500. His force consisted of a detachment of 120 regulars from the 27th U.S. Infantry, five brigades of Kentucky militia led by Major General Isaac Shelby, and the 1,000 men of Johnson's mounted infantry. Also with Harrison was an artillery detachment with two six-pounders, and 260 Indigenous warriors, although neither took part in the battle. All were eager to take revenge for Winchester's loss at Frenchtown on the River Raisin.
Procter's men were mainly from the 41st Regiment, but there were also small detachments from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the 10th Royal Veteran's Battalion, the Canadian Light Dragoons, and the Royal Artillery. The veterans of the 1st Battalion of the 41st had been serving in Canada since 1803 and had suffered significant casualties at Frenchtown, Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson. 179 men who had been aboard Barclay's vessels had been lost at the Battle of Lake Erie. Although recently reinforced by soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the men of the 41st had suffered from the lack of tents and blankets. Their uniforms were in tatters, and they had not had a proper meal for several days.
Procter had begun the retreat with 880 regulars, but only 450 were present at the battle. The sick and wounded with their attendants had been moved well to the rear as had most of the artillery. A significant number of men had been taken prisoner when Harrison overtook Procter's gunboats, bateaux and wagons on the morning of October 5. Two days earlier Procter had lost 14 men when the detachment sent to destroy a bridge had been captured. Several men had also deserted.
Only about 500 Indigenous warriors remained with Tecumseh. The largest contingents were from the Shawnee and Odawa, but members of the Ojibwe, Wyandot, Potowatomi and other tribes were also present.
Battle
Due to the proximity of the Americans, Procter ordered a halt a mile and a half west of Moraviantown. His men formed two lines in an open wood between the riverbank and a forested swamp known as the Backmetack Marsh. A single artillery piece was positioned astride the road. Due to the lack of tools, the British were unable to construct defensive works such as an abatis that would impede Harrison's mounted troops. Tecumseh's remaining followers positioned themselves in the Backmetack Marsh hoping to outflank the Americans when they attacked Procter's lines. Tecumseh is said to have ridden along the British line, shaking hands with each officer before joining his warriors. Ensign James Cochran observed, "The attack was silently awaited, each determined to do his duty, but few with any doubt as to the result."
Harrison arranged his forces so that while his right faced the British, his left faced the direction from which an Indigenous attack was likely to occur. Instead of a bayonet charge with infantry, Harrison accepted Colonel Johnson's proposal to attack the British with mounted troops. Johnson later amended the plan so that while Lieutenant Colonel James Johnson's battalion would attack the British lines, the second battalion would pass through a small swampy area before moving against Tecumseh's warriors. Meanwhile, 120 regulars would advance along the thickly wooded riverbank and seize the British gun.