Battle of Malcolm ' s Mills The Battle of Malcolm ' s Mills was a brief skirmish during the War of 1812 in which a force of American cavalry overran and scattered a force of Canadian militia . The battle was fought on November 6 , 1814 , near the village of Oakland , in Brant County , Ontario . The skirmish was part of a series of battles fought by American Brigadier General Duncan McArthur on an extended raid into Upper Canada . Background . McArthur ' s raid . In October 1814 , an invading American force of about 700 men under Brigadier General Duncan McArthur advanced rapidly as they left Detroit and raided the Thames Valley . The plan was to devastate the Grand River settlements and the region around the head of Lake Ontario which supplied British forces on the Niagara frontier . The Canadian militia in the region was caught unaware by this swift raid from the west , and McArthur ' s force continued east at a fairly rapid pace , arriving at Brant ' s Ford on the Grand River on November 5 . Brant ' s Ford . McArthur reached Brant ' s Ford to find that the higher ground on the east bank of the ford was occupied by Major Adam Muir ' s 50 militia and 50 Haudenosaunee warriors who were prepared to dispute the passage . Teyoninhokovrawen states in his memoires that he was not present at the Ford at the time After exchanging fire with the Canadian defenders , and knowing that Canadian reinforcements were on the march from Burlington Heights , McArthur decided he was not willing to risk attempting to force a passage . In his journals , McArthur wrote that heavy rainfall had made fording the river impossible . McArthur turned his force south to raid the settlements along the north shore of Lake Erie along a route that would lead them back to Detroit . Malcolm ' s Mills . On November 6 , 1814 McArthur ' s men encountered a group of 400 Canadian militia drawn from elements of the 1st and 2nd Norfolk , 1st Oxford , and 1st Middlesex regiments . The aim of the Canadian militia was to deflect McArthur ' s force back the way they had come , or to keep them busy until reinforcements arrived from Burlington Heights . Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bostwick of the Oxford Militia , the Canadians formed a defensive position at Malcolm ' s Mills , now the village of Oakland , nine miles ( 15 km ) southwest of Brant ' s Ford and blocked McArthur ' s route to the Lake Erie shoreline . The militia were stationed along the crest of a fairly steep slope overlooking a bridge at the bottom of a marshy valley . The planking on the bridge had been taken up , and a barricade was improvised on the road . The Americans arrived early in the day and succeeded in sending a flanking force downstream unseen . When the attack began , the American cavalry easily forded the creek and began careful skirmishing to pin down the Canadian force while two columns flanked the Canadian position on both sides . The flanking manoeuvre caught the militia by surprise , and the more experienced American force quickly drove them from the field . In his journals , McArthur stated that his cavalry lost 1 man with 6 wounded . The Canadian militia suffered several dead and many wounded , but most of them escaped in the panic that ensued during the rout . Forces . The Canadian forces engaged at Malcolm ' s Mills included : Aftermath . The battle at Malcolm ' s Mill was the last land battle of the War of 1812 fought in Upper Canada . McArthur ' s force continued to the Lake Erie shore , burning and pillaging , then headed north and back to the Thames River before continuing down the Thames and along the southern shore of Lake St . Clair , arriving back at Detroit on November 17 , 1814 . A small party of the British 19th Light Dragoons , led by Major Peter Chambers , shadowed McArthur ' s force for a large part of their return to Detroit , but the two forces did not engage in fighting . Although McArthur ' s cavalry forces were strong enough to overpower and scatter the Canadian militia at Malcolm ' s Mills and to pillage along the Lake Erie shore , they lacked the power to push east of the Grand River and McArthur chose to retreat them to Detroit .