Ohio History Journal

SHIPS IN THE WILDERNESS A NOTE ON THE INVASION OF CANADA, 1813 by HOWARD S. MILLER and JACK ALDEN CLARKE At the beginning of 1813 Lake Erie was dominated by a British naval force. The English with their flotilla of transports came and went as they pleased, supplying the troops that had occupied the whole of Michigan and now threatened Ohio. It became increasingly apparent to President Madison and his closest military advisers that there was little chance of recovering Michigan, and even less of invading Upper Canada, until the American navy gained supremacy on the Great Lakes. Accordingly, in mid-February 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry, commander of a group of gunboats at Newport, Rhode Island, received orders from the navy department to report at once with his ablest seamen to Commodore Isaac Chauncey at Sackett's Harbor, New York, for service on the Great Lakes. Soon after, Secretary of War John Armstrong ordered Captain Thomas Sidney Jesup to proceed to Cleveland and there to construct a fleet of troop transports for General Harrison's Army of the Northwest. Thomas Jesup, though scarcely twenty-five years old, was already a sea- soned officer. Born in 1788 in Berkeley County, Virginia, and later a resi- dent of Cincinnati, Jesup in 1808 was commissioned a second lieutenant in NOTES ARE ON PACES 197-198

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the Seventh Infantry Regiment and served several years on the frontier.1

During the campaign of 1812 Jesup served as brigade major and adjutant

general under General William Hull. He was captured in the surrender of

Detroit, but soon arranged for his exchange. Jesup had a strong drive to

succeed as a military officer. "I . . . intend to direct all the energies of my

mind to my profession," he confided to a friend in February 1812. "I am

determined to become compleat master of every branch of it."2 Convinced

that his talents had gone unnoticed by the war department, Jesup often com-

plained that promotions had passed him by. "Did I not consider it cowardly

to leave my country at the present crisis," he wrote, "I would abandon all my

prospects here and court danger and distinction in the patriotic ranks in

South America."3

Happily for Jesup this was not necessary. The war department recog-

nized his services by promoting him to captain, January 20, 1813. Then

Secretary of War John Armstrong's decision to entrust him with the con-

struction of a fleet of transports--vital to the projected invasion of Canada--

gave the young captain an opportunity to demonstrate the judgment and

administrative ability that were to mark his long and distinguished career

in the United States Army as its quartermaster general from 1828 to 1860.

Jesup's orders, sent on March 9, 1813, instructed him to proceed to

Cleveland and there to build

 

a number of boats on Lake Erie for the purpose of transporting troops from

place to place on that Lake. . . . These Boats will be of the kind known by the

name of Schenactady [sic] Boats, narrow & sharp a-head & flat-bottomed. They

will carry from 40 to 50 men each, with their Baggage Arms & accoutrements &

provision for the voyage.⁴

Jesup subsequently noted that he was to build a sufficient number of boats,

each forty-five feet long and three feet deep, to transport a force of three

to four thousand men.⁵

Even before he arrived on the scene, Jesup was well aware of the prob-

lems confronting him. There was timber in abundance on the southern

shore of Lake Erie, but virtually all other naval stores, not to mention

skilled shipwrights and carpenters, had to be brought from Pittsburgh and

points east. This meant, at best, a four-day journey over wilderness roads.

Moreover, the presence of the British fleet and of hostile Indians in the

area added to Jesup's difficulties. "I deem it my duty to apprize you that

a Guard will probably be necessary for the protection of the boats and

materials," he warned the secretary of war in March 1813. "Cleveland

and Grand river are extreme frontier positions--their population is small--

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and the enemy cou'd easily land and destroy the transports before a militia

force sufficient to repel him cou'd be collected."6

Jesup also reported late in March that he had arranged with a contractor

for sixty-five boats at a cost of $125 apiece. Forty boats were to be delivered

on or before May 15, the rest within the following month.⁷ By the third of

April Jesup's small shipyard on the banks of the Cuyahoga River was in

full operation, and he wrote enthusiastically that "such arrangements have

been made that I feel confident the work will be compleated early in June."8

His optimism, however, was soon shaken by reports that "the enemy are

making great exertions to collect an Indian force from the North West,"

and by the knowledge that the British at Fort Malden on the Detroit River

were likewise "engaged . . . in building vessels for the Lake." Describing

them in some detail, he wrote: "They have one calculated to carry eighteen

guns ready to launch. The keel of another, to be of equal force, is laid, &

they have three or four gun boats on the stocks." Jesup warned again:

"Serious apprehensions are entertained for the safety of this place. The

large quantity of forage, provisions & stores collected here invite deprada-

tion, and the Enemy will certainly visit us if he possesses the smallest

particle of enterprize."9

By the second week in June, Jesup had more than fifty transports ready

for service. Then, on June 13, it seemed that his worst fears were to be

realized.

 

Two British vessels made their appearance yesterday morning off this port [he

wrote to Secretary Armstrong]. One of them carrying three masts, was known

to be the Queen Charlotte, the other carrying two, was supposed to be the Lady

Prevost. They continued during the whole day, within view, and not more than

seven or eight miles from the shore. A tremendous thunder storm which com-

menced about 12 o'clock, and continued during the greater part of the afternoon,

probably prevented them from attempting to get in. The fog is so intense this

morning that I have not been able to discover whether they have departed. I was

prepared to expect a visit from the enemy. Shou'd he make the attempt he will

meet with a warm reception.10

When the fog lifted, the British ships were gone, and a month later Jesup

reported that his task was nearly finished. His men had completed seventy-

seven transports on schedule. Of these, sixty-nine had passed inspection

and had been delivered to General Harrison. "Gen'l Harrison set out for

Lower Sandusky to day," Jesup wrote. "He has ordered all my transports

thither, where, I understand the army is concentrating. I shall have a suf-

ficient number of transports for from three to four thousand men."¹¹ On

August 1 Jesup reported that a total of seventy-eight boats had now been

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128                                                    OHIO HISTORY

 

"inspected and received, and I calculate that the whole number will be

completed this week."12

Jesup, who from the outset had realistically assessed the military situa-

tion in the Northwest, had done his job well. The transports were ready,

the men assembled. Only one obstacle remained. "Unless we obtain the

command of the Lake immediately," he observed on July 20, "nothing can

be accomplished by this Army. I have provided boats sufficient for the

transportation of three thousand men; but it will be impossible to put them

in motion unless we have armed vessels to protect them."13

Perry's naval victory at Put-in-Bay, September 10, provided that pro-

tection and cleared the way for the military expedition into Canada. Harrison

concentrated his force of some 4,500 troops near the mouth of the Portage

River (the site of present Port Clinton). On September 20 be began to

transport them, by ship and by the boats built at Cleveland, across the

lake, island hopping to Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, then to Middle

Sister Island, and finally on September 27 to the Canadian shore near

Amherstburg. There the landings were made in the small transport boats,

under the protection of the guns of Perry's fleet. Harrison immediately

began his pursuit of the retreating British army, and on October 5, 1813,

defeated it at the battle of the Thames.

 

THE AUTHORS: Howard S. Miller and Jack

Alden Clarke are on the staff of the University

of Wisconsin. Mr. Miller is an administrative

teaching assistant and Mr. Clarke an assistant

librarian.

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