Raid on Gananoque

The raid on Gananoque on 21 September 1812 was one of the earliest engagements on the St. Lawrence frontier — a small-scale American cross-border operation that briefly seized some military stores before being driven back by local militia.

Captain Benjamin Forsyth of the 1st Rifle Regiment crossed the St. Lawrence from Cape Vincent with approximately 100 riflemen in boats, landing near the village of Gananoque at dawn. The village was a supply depot for the local militia, and Forsyth’s objective was to destroy the stores and disrupt British logistics along the river.

Colonel Joel Stone, commanding the Leeds County militia, mustered approximately 100 men and engaged Forsyth’s riflemen. The fighting was brief but sharp: one man was killed on each side, and the Leeds militia suffered 8 wounded and 4 captured. Forsyth’s men seized some arms, ammunition, and military stores before withdrawing across the river.

The Gananoque raid was tactically marginal — a pinprick that destroyed some supplies and briefly embarrassed the local garrison. But it inaugurated a pattern of cross-border raiding along the St. Lawrence that would continue throughout the war, culminating in the major American offensives down the river in late 1813. The Leeds militia’s response — rapid muster, immediate engagement, defence of their community — was characteristic of the Canadian militia at its best: motivated, local, and unwilling to cede ground to invaders.