Battle of Fort Oswego ( 1814 ) The Battle of Fort Oswego was a partially successful British raid on an American fort and village in May 1814 during the War of 1812 . Background . During the early months of 1814 , while Lake Ontario was frozen , the British and American naval squadrons had been building two frigate s each , with which to contest command of the lake during the coming campaigning season . The British under Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo were first to complete their frigates on 14 April , but when the Americans under Commodore Isaac Chauncey had completed their own , more powerful , frigates , Yeo ' s squadron would be outclassed . Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Drummond , the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada , suggested using the interval during which Yeo ' s squadron was stronger than Chauncey ' s to attack the main American harbour and base at Sackett ' s Harbor , New York . Most of its garrison had marched off to the Niagara River , leaving only 1 , 000 regular troops as its garrison . Nevertheless , Drummond would require reinforcements to mount a successful attack on the strongly fortified town , and the Governor General of Canada , Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost , refused to provide these . Instead , Drummond and Yeo decided to attack the smaller post at Fort Oswego . This fort , with the nearby village of Oswego , New York , was a vital staging point on the American supply route from New York . Ordnance , food and other supplies were carried up the Mohawk River and across Lake Oneida , to Oswego , before making the final leg of the journey across the southeast corner of Lake Ontario to Sackett ' s Harbor . Drummond and Yeo had reliable information that the garrison of the fort numbered only 290 regulars , and believed that thirty or more heavy guns intended for Chauncey ' s ships under construction at Sackett ' s Harbor were waiting there . They planned , by capturing Oswego , to capture these guns and thereby retain Yeo ' s advantage over Chauncey . Attack . Yeo ' s squadron embarked the landing force and set out from Kingston late on 3 May . They arrived off Oswego early in the morning , on 5 May . The troops prepared to land shortly after midday , but a southerly breeze sprang up , which made it impossible for Yeo ' s ships to get close enough to the shore to provide support from their guns . That evening , a storm blew up , forcing the British ships to withdraw for the night . The British ships returned to Oswego at eleven o ' clock the next morning , and the landing proceeded . The landing force consisted of the 2nd battalion of Royal Marines under Lieutenant Colonel James Malcolm , a company of the Glengarry Light Infantry under Captain Alexander MacMillan , a company of the Regiment de Watteville and a detachment of 200 sailors armed with boarding pike s under Captain William Mulcaster . Four more companies of the Regiment de Watteville were in reserve . Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fischer , the commanding officer of the Regiment de Watteville , was in charge of the landing . Opposed to them was an American force of 242 officers and enlisted men of the 3rd U . S . Regiment of Artillery , 25 sailors of the U . S . Navy and about 200 of the New York Militia , under the command of Major George Mitchell of the 3rd Artillery . The fort was in a state of disrepair , but the delay imposed on the landing had allowed them to shift extra guns to face the lake , with a total of five guns in a battery in the fort : one 9 - pounder and four 4 or 6 - pounders . While the two British frigates ( HMS " Prince Regent " and " Princess Charlotte " ) engaged the fort , the guns of six sloops and brig s swept the woods and landing beaches . The British landed at about two o ' clock . Almost all the troops landed in deep water and their ammunition was soaked and made useless . Nevertheless , they fixed their bayonet s and advanced under heavy fire . While the company of the Glengarry Light Infantry cleared woods to the left of the main attack and the sailors advanced on the village , the main body of the troops made a frontal attack against the fort . American foot soldiers drawn up on the glacis fell back into the fort . As the attackers reached the top of the glacis , the defenders abandoned the fort and fled . Casualties . The official British Army casualty return , signed by Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey , the Deputy Adjutant - General , gave 7 killed and 33 wounded for the 2nd Battalion , Royal Marines , 8 killed and 17 wounded for the Regiment de Watteville and 9 wounded for the Glengarry Light Infantry . The separate Royal Navy casualty return for the engagement , signed by Yeo , gave 3 killed and 10 wounded for the Navy and 6 killed and 27 wounded for the Royal Marines . This would give a grand total of either 18 killed and 69 wounded or 17 killed and 63 wounded , depending upon whether the Army or Navy casualty list is correct for the Royal Marines ' losses . Captain Mulcaster was seriously wounded by grapeshot , losing a leg . The American losses are hard to determine . Mitchell ' s casualty return , which apparently included the U . S . regular troops only , stated the loss as 6 killed , 38 wounded and 25 missing . General Drummond ' s report of the engagement to Sir George Prevost stated that the British captured " about 60 men , half of them severely wounded " . Another British report , however , said that only 25 American soldiers and 1 " civilian " ( possibly a militiaman ) were captured . Still another British account said that 1 officer and 20 enlisted men of the Americans were found dead on the battlefield . Result . The British gathered 2 , 400 barrels of useful supplies of all description ; flour , pork , salt , bread and ordnance stores . They also captured a few small schooner s , including , which had previously been captured by the British the year before but then recaptured by the Americans . " Growler " contained seven of the invaluable cannon destined for Chauncey . Although the Americans had hastily scuttled the schooner to prevent it being captured , the British were able to raise it . After destroying the fort and barracks , and stores which could not be moved , the British withdrew at about four o ' clock in the morning on 7 May . The British had missed twenty - one more guns which had still been en route to Oswego , and were away at Oswego Falls . Rather than launch an expedition up the Oswego River , Yeo mounted a blockade of Sackett ' s Harbor to prevent them reaching Chauncey . The Americans tried to move them to Sackett ' s Harbor in launches and small boats but were intercepted . British marines and sailors then mounted a " cutting - out " attack against them but failed , with 200 marines and sailors ambushed and captured at the Battle of Big Sandy Creek . Once Chauncey had received the guns and fitted out his squadron , he commanded the lake from the end of July 1814 until late in the year .