Battle of Stoney Creek

The Battle of Stoney Creek, fought in the predawn hours of 6 June 1813, was small in scale – fewer than 4,000 men were engaged on both sides combined, and total killed amounted to approximately 40. Yet its consequences were far out of proportion to its size. The engagement halted an American advance that, had it continued unopposed, might have resulted in the capture of Burlington Heights and the effective collapse of the British position in Upper Canada.

The battle was a direct consequence of the American capture of Fort George on 27 May. Brigadier General John Vincent, forced out of his position at the mouth of the Niagara, had retreated westward with approximately 1,600 men to Burlington Heights at the head of Lake Ontario. It was a strong natural position, but Vincent was outnumbered and under-supplied. The American force at Fort George totalled some 7,000 men.

The American pursuit was lethargic. General Dearborn, the overall commander, was elderly and ill. A pursuit force was eventually assembled under Brigadier General William Winder, later reinforced by Brigadier General John Chandler, who took overall command. Their combined force of approximately 3,400 men advanced westward along the lake road and encamped at Stoney Creek on the evening of 5 June, roughly ten miles from Vincent’s position.

Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey, Vincent’s deputy adjutant general, personally reconnoitred the American camp and found it ripe for attack. The sentries were negligent, the camp was spread across too wide a position, and the troops were not maintaining proper security. Harvey proposed a night attack with 700 men – less than half the available force, selected for reliability. Vincent approved, though he accompanied the column rather than delegating entirely.

The attack was launched at approximately 2 a.m. on 6 June. The night was dark, and despite the element of surprise, the approach was not flawless – some accounts suggest that muskets discharged accidentally as the British closed on the camp, providing partial warning. What followed was chaotic in the extreme. In the darkness, neither side could reliably distinguish friend from foe. Bayonet charges collided with countercharges. Officers shouted orders that were drowned by gunfire and screaming.

In this confusion, both American commanding generals were captured. Chandler, wounded and disoriented, attempted to rally troops who turned out to be from the 49th Regiment and found himself a prisoner. Winder was captured separately in circumstances that were never entirely explained. With both generals removed from the field, command of the American force devolved upon Colonel James Burn of the 2nd Light Dragoons.

Burn, assessing a situation in which his two superiors had vanished, his ammunition was running low, and the scale and disposition of the attacking force was unknown, made the prudent decision to withdraw at dawn. The Americans retreated to Forty Mile Creek and eventually back to the vicinity of Fort George, where they would remain for the rest of the 1813 campaign season – penned into a narrow perimeter around the fort they had captured at such cost.

Vincent, it should be noted, nearly became a casualty of his own victory. He became separated from his force during the night fighting, lost his horse, and wandered through the dark until found the following morning, dazed and without his hat. The British victory at Stoney Creek was achieved despite, rather than because of, the commanding general’s presence.

The battle’s significance lay entirely in its strategic consequences. Had the Americans continued their advance to Burlington Heights, Vincent’s force would have been compelled to retreat further – potentially abandoning the entire western portion of Upper Canada. The capture of Burlington would have severed the supply line to the British positions further west and potentially ended the war in the province. Instead, Stoney Creek reversed the momentum entirely. Combined with the subsequent engagement at Beaver Dams on 24 June, it confined the American occupation of Upper Canada to a tiny perimeter around Fort George for the remainder of 1813.

As one Canadian historian observed, Stoney Creek was the engagement in which the war in Upper Canada turned. The Americans had their best opportunity to conquer the province in the days after Fort George. They squandered it through lethargy, and Harvey’s night attack ensured they would not get another.