Battle of Fort George The Battle of Fort George was a battle fought during the War of 1812 , in which the Americans defeated a British force and captured the Fort George in Upper Canada . The troops of the United States Army and vessels of the United States Navy cooperated in a very successful amphibious assault , although most of the opposing British force escaped encirclement . Background . Fort George was the westernmost of the British fortified posts on Lake Ontario , the others being York , the provincial capital of Upper Canada , and Kingston where most of the ships of the Provincial Marine were based . The fort was situated on the western bank of the Niagara River near its mouth . On the American side of the river lay Fort Niagara . Fort George was constructed to replace and counterbalance Fort Niagara , which the British lost to the Americans after Jay ' s Treaty in the year 1796 . Events in 1812 . At the beginning of the war both the British forces near Fort George and the American forces at Fort Niagara felt unprepared for conflict . On May 18 , 1812 Sir George Prévost , the Governor General of the Canadas , wrote a letter in response to the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies who was inquiring about the military situation in Canada . He stated that there were 400 soldiers of the 41st Regiment and a Captain ' s Command of Artillery stationed at Fort George . He also wrote that he felt Fort George would not be able to with stand an attack by the Americans if they came with a considerable force . On the American side , Colonel Philetus Swift and Benjamin Barton wrote before the war to the Governor of New York , Daniel Tompkins , that Fort Niagara would fall to the British if a war were to be declared . By July 1812 however , the American commander at Fort Niagara was expecting a British attack and was demanding more reinforcements . On October 8 , 1812 Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer of the New York state militia outlined a plan of attack to send a militia force from Lewiston to attack Queenston which would force the British to send soldiers from Fort George to Queenston . When that happened , a force of U . S . Regulars commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Smyth were to travel by boat from Four Mile Creek to the rear of Fort George and capture the fort . This plan failed to materialize in part because Smyth failed to cooperate . An attempt to carry out the plan on the night of October 10 / 11 was thwarted by bad weather . Smyth marched his detachment back to Black Rock , New York . Van Rensselaer attacked Queenston with the troops he had at Lewiston on the night of October 13 / 14 , without Smyth ' s troops . During the ensuing Battle of Queenston Heights , the guns of Fort George and Fort Niagara began to fire at the opposite fort . During the exchange the Americans ended up burning the court house , jail , and fifteen or sixteen other buildings . During this battle Fort George was left under the control of Major Evans and there were no more than twenty soldiers acting as the main guards . American plans . The Americans drafted a new plan on February 10 , 1813 . The plan was to attack Kingston , then York from Sackets Harbor with 4 , 000 soldiers . Only then were they to assault Fort George . Simultaneously 3 , 000 soldiers from Buffalo , New York were to capture Fort Erie then march on Fort George . This plan was changed to avoid Kingston because Major General Henry Dearborn , commander of the United States armies on the frontier with Canada , believed there were 6 , 000 to 8 , 000 British soldiers at Kingston due to a false report . On April 27 , the Americans on Lake Ontario under Dearborn and Commodore Isaac Chauncey gained success at the Battle of York , occupying the town for several days and capturing many guns and stores , although Brigadier General Zebulon Pike and several dozen soldiers were killed by an exploding magazine . The American army was then transported across the lake in Chauncey ' s ships to Fort Niagara . Dearborn planned to attack Fort George next , but his army required rest and reorganisation . No preparations had been made to accommodate the troops at Fort Niagara , and they suffered considerable shortages and privations for several days . In particular , the wounded were left without shelter or medical attention . On May 15 , Colonel Winfield Scott took up his appointment as Dearborn ' s Adjutant General ( i . e . Chief of Staff ) , having been exchanged after being captured at the Battle of Queenston Heights in the previous year . ( The British maintained that Scott had only been paroled pending an exchange , and protested when he took up the appointment . ) Scott improved the army ' s administration and pushed forward the plans for the forthcoming attack . At the same time , Lieutenant Oliver Hazard Perry of the United States Navy , who had arrived from Lake Erie to request sailors and supplies for his squadron and was temporarily serving as one of Chauncey ' s senior officers , reconnoitred the landing sites at the mouth of the Niagara River , taking bearings and placing marker buoys . At Fort George , the Americans planned to land on the shore of the lake rather than on the shore of the Niagara River . The troops would be supported as they landed by twelve schooners , each mounting one or more heavy cannon , which could approach the shore closely . Two larger vessels , the corvette " Madison " and the brig " Oneida " would engage the nearest British batteries . The American army numbered approximately 4 , 000 regular infantry . The force was divided into four waves , which would land in succession . The first wave was to be commanded by Scott himself , the second by Brigadier General John Parker Boyd , a professional soldier , and the third by Brigadier General William H . Winder , a recently commissioned lawyer . A brigade under a political appointee , Brigadier General John Chandler , formed the reserve , together with most of the artillery under Colonel Alexander Macomb . The Army ' s second - in - command , Major General Morgan Lewis , was nominally in overall command of the landing force . Dearborn , the commander in chief , would observe from aboard the " Madison " . As the American preparations proceeded , on May 25 they began to bombard Fort George from their positions along the river and from Fort Niagara , and also from Chauncey ' s schooners . The gunners in the fort and the nearby batteries were using cannonballs which had been heated in furnaces until they were red - hot , then quickly loaded into cannons and fired . Several log buildings within Fort George burned down , and the women and children in the fort were forced to take shelter within the bastions . British situation . The commander of the British forces on the Niagara peninsula was Brigadier General John Vincent . He had 1 , 000 regular soldiers ( the bulk of the 1st battalion of the 8th ( King ' s ) Regiment and the 49th Regiment , with detachments of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles and the Glengarry Light Infantry ) . There were also up to 300 militia present , including Captain Runchey ' s Company of Coloured Men . Although Vincent knew that an assault was imminent , he could not know from which direction it would come . To try to cover the entire threatened front , he split his regulars into three detachments and would counter attack the Americans when they landed . Most regulars were placed on the Niagara River , assuming that the Americans would attack under cover of their guns in Fort Niagara . Battle . The attack , however , did not come along the Niagara River . Just after dawn on May 27 , an early morning fog dispersed to reveal the American vessels off the lake shore to the west . Vincent believed he saw 14 or 15 vessels and 90 to 100 large boats and scows each with 50 or 60 soldiers . Scott ' s troops began landing west of the mouth of the Niagara River , while Perry ' s schooners silenced the nearby British batteries . Scott ' s force consisted of the U . S . 1st Rifle Regiment under Major Benjamin Forsyth , two companies of the U . S . 15th Infantry and the bulk of the U . S . 2nd Artillery , fighting as infantry . A company of the Glengarry Light Infantry charged the Americans with the bayonet as they waded ashore . Winfield Scott had to personally fight off a Glengarry soldier while falling into the water . The Glengarry company was outnumbered and forced to retreat , losing half their men . A company of the Royal Newfoundland also attacked but took heavy casualties from grapeshot fired by the schooners . Scott advanced from the beach but was counter - attacked by British troops ( the remnants of the troops which had already engaged Scott , plus five companies of the 8th ( King ' s ) , Runchey ' s company and 100 other militia ) which had been concentrated in a ravine out of the American fire . Scott was driven back , but once again the fire from Perry ' s schooners caused heavy losses among the British . Scott ' s force was reinforced by the leading troops of Boyd ' s brigade , which was just landing , and the British were driven back in turn . As Winder ' s brigade also began landing , Vincent realized that he was outnumbered and outflanked and decided to evacuate his soldiers before they were completely encircled . He ordered an immediate retreat south to Queenston . Although he ordered the fort ' s guns to be spiked and the magazines to be blown up , the task was so hastily performed and Scott pursued so closely that the Americans were able to secure the fort substantially intact . One small magazine did explode , and the blast threw Scott from his horse and broke his collarbone . ( Some British women and children had been left behind in the fort in the hasty retreat and would have suffered heavy casualties if the demolitions had proceeded as Vincent ordered . ) Scott continued to press after Vincent and the American batteries bombarded the retreating British from the other side of the river . Vincent ' s rearguards , including Merritt ' s Troop of Provincial Dragoons , held off Scott although several stragglers were captured . However , the American plan had allowed for only two companies of U . S . Dragoons commanded by Colonel James Burn to cross the Niagara above Fort George cut off Vincent ' s retreat . The dragoons were delayed in their crossing by a British battery , and Burn cautiously waited for both companies to assemble before moving against Vincent , by which time Scott had reached Burn ' s position . As Scott waited for the American dragoons to reorganise before pressing on again , Brigadier General Boyd brought him orders from Major General Lewis to abandon the pursuit and return to Fort George . Lewis feared that the British would lead Scott into an ambush . Casualties . The U . S . Army lost one officer and 39 enlisted men killed and five officers and 106 other ranks wounded , while the U . S . Navy lost one killed and two wounded , for a total 41 killed and 113 wounded . The British official casualty return , for the regular troops only , gave 52 killed , 44 wounded and 262 missing ; also mentioning that 16 men who had been " wounded on former occasions " had been left behind in the Fort George military hospital and were not included in the casualty total . The detachment of the ( local ) Lincoln Militia who fought at the battle lost 5 officers and 80 other ranks , although only four of these seem to have been killed . The Americans took 276 prisoners , 163 of them wounded . The wounded prisoners would have included the 16 wounded patients captured in the Fort George hospital . Including these 16 as unwounded prisoners ( because they were captured at this engagement but received their wounds in earlier ones ) , this gives total British casualties of 183 killed , wounded or deserted ; 147 wounded prisoners and 129 unwounded prisoners ; adding up to a loss of 459 men . Results . The Americans had inflicted heavy casualties and captured a strongly fortified position with fewer losses to themselves . The victory can be credited to excellent planning and leadership by two comparatively junior officers : Scott and Perry . When the Americans broke off the pursuit , Vincent continued his retreat to Beaver Dams , near present - day Thorold , Ontario , where he gathered in the other British regular detachments from Fort Erie and other posts higher up the Niagara , and temporarily disbanded the militia , before falling back to Burlington Heights near the western end of Lake Ontario . When the British abandoned Fort Erie , Perry was able to move several armed schooners which had been blockaded in Black Rock into Lake Erie , and these were to be instrumental in his victory later in the year in the Battle of Lake Erie . However , the American army was slow to exploit the capture of Fort George by advancing up the Niagara peninsula , and they allowed Vincent to launch a surprise attack at the Battle of Stoney Creek , after which the Americans withdrew to Fort George . By concentrating their naval squadron against Fort George , the Americans had also left themselves vulnerable to a counter - attack on their base , and only indecisive command by Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost allowed the Americans to fight him off at the Battle of Sackett ' s Harbor . The Americans subsequently remained in a small defensive enclave around Fort George . After a disaster when a sortie against a British outpost was surrounded and forced to surrender by Native Americans at the Battle of Beaver Dams , they remained largely inactive on this front until they abandoned Fort George in December 1813 . Ten currently active regular battalions of the United States Army ( 2 - 1 ADA , 3 - 4 ADA , 4 - 1 FA , 1 - 2 Inf , 2 - 2 Inf , 1 - 4 Inf , 2 - 4 Inf , 3 - 4 Inf , 1 - 5 Inf and 2 - 5 Inf ) perpetuate the lineages of a number of American units ( Crane ' s Company , 3rd Regiment of Artillery , Baker ' s Company , 2nd Regiment of Artillery , Leonard ' s Company , 1st Regiment of Artillery , and the old 6th , 13th , 14th , 20th , 21st , 22nd and 23rd Infantry Regiments ) that were engaged at Fort George .