Combat· War of 1812
Battle of Lake Champlain
The most strategically decisive naval battle of the war.
As a British army of some 10,000 men advanced on Plattsburgh, everything hinged on control of Lake Champlain, and Commodore Thomas Macdonough anchored his squadron in Plattsburgh Bay to force the British to fight at close range where his carronades could tell. When Captain George Downie's squadron rounded Cumberland Head on 11 September, the two lines hammered each other for over two hours; Macdonough's flagship Saratoga, winched around on a kedge anchor to bring a fresh broadside to bear, decided the day, and the British ships struck one after another. Marines served the muskets in the tops of the Saratoga and her consorts throughout the brutal fight. The naval defeat broke the British offensive, and Sir George Prevost's army retreated to Canada. The victory helped turn the negotiations at Ghent toward peace.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 234