The Battle of Stoney Creek halts the U.S. invasion of Canada - June 6th, 1813

On this day in 1813, British forces launched a surprise attack on U.S. troops encamped at Stoney Creek, Ontario. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that tallies the wins and losses of everyday history.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're talking about a lesser
known battle of the War of eighteen twelve, a British

(00:22):
sneak attack in the dead of night that dashed America's
hopes of conquering its neighbor to the north. The day
was June sixth, eighteen thirteen. British forces launched a surprise
attack on US troops encamped at Stony Creek, Ontario. It

(00:46):
wasn't the biggest or the bloodiest battle of the War
of eighteen twelve, but the skirmish struck a crucial blow
to the Americans' chances of capturing Upper Canada, as they
had been poised to do. Instead, the night rand put
the invading US forces on the defensive, and after the
Battle of Beaver Dams two weeks later, the American threat

(01:07):
on the Niagara Peninsula was well and truly finished. As
a colony of Great Britain, Canada was caught up in
the War of eighteen twelve and was invaded several times
by American forces. The latest in a series of attempts
began a few weeks before the Battle of Stony Creek,
when approximately four thousand American soldiers and militiamen landed on

(01:30):
the Lake Ontario side of the Niagara Peninsula. They marched
to the small town of Newark, Ontario, and easily captured
Fort George, an outpost used by the British Army and
the Canadian militia. From there, the majority of the US
invasion force headed west in pursuit of the retreating British.
The goal was to wipe out the remaining Red Coats

(01:53):
and then capture the Upper Canadian capital of York or
Toronto as it's known today. If that mission had proven successful,
the year long war likely would have been over in
a matter of weeks, and the young U. S. Nation
would have gained itself vast new territories to the north.
But of course that's not quite how things played out.

(02:16):
The U. S. Army, under the command of Brigadier General
John Chandler, finally caught up to the British on the
evening of June fifth. They decided to make camp for
the night at the Gage Farmhouse. About five miles east
of the village of Stoney Creek. Meanwhile, British General John
Vincent and his forces were holed up at nearby Burlington Heights.

(02:38):
They were visited there by a local teenager on horseback
named Billy Green, who had caught sight of the approaching
Americans and happily shared their position with Vincent and his men.
The general dispatched his right hand man, Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey,
to scout the camp at Stoney Creek and confirm Green's story.
When Harvey returned, he reported that the am Mayamerican camp

(03:00):
was right where Green had said, and better, yet, it
seemed to be in total disarray, with only a few
centuries posted around the perimeter, and the remaining troops positioned
in such a way that they wouldn't be able to
form battle lines very quickly. If that weren't promising enough,
the British had also obtained the counter sign or password

(03:20):
that would grant them access to the enemy's camp. It's
unclear how exactly Vincent came to possess that information. Some
sources say Billy Green supplied it, having observed the counter
sign himself, but others say that Harvey learned it from
a recently paroled prisoner. In either case, the chance to
catch the Americans off guard was just too good to

(03:42):
pass up. Even though the British were outnumbered more than
four to one, Vincent ordered a daring nighttime raid on
the American camp. He delegated control of the operation to
Lieutenant Colonel Harvey and set out with him in seven
hundred soldiers at about eleven thirty pm on June fifth.
The small force quietly marched east through the darkness, with

(04:05):
Billy Green leading the way through the forest. Hoping to
keep the element of surprise, Harvey ordered his men to
remove the flints from their muskets to prevent any accidental firing. Unfortunately,
some of the soldiers ignored that order, and around two am,
as they reached the edge of the camp, some of
the men fired their muskets a little early. The Americans

(04:27):
awoke to the noise and found themselves surrounded, but it
wasn't the total blood bath you might expect, as most
of the British hadn't reinserted their flints yet and were
virtually unarmed. By the time the British were ready to fight,
many of the Americans had already scrambled a higher ground,
making their attackers job that much harder. The darkness added

(04:48):
to the general sense of confusion as both sides struggled
to identify anyone who was illuminated by firelight. American General
John Chandler had an especially tough time. At one point,
he ran to give orders to a group of men
he thought were his own, only to be captured at
bayonet point by some highly amused British soldiers. Another American

(05:11):
officer was also captured, along with all the field artillery
in the camp. Those losses dashed the hopes of an
American comeback, but since it was hard to tell who
was winning, the British decided to retreat anyway. The entire
fight had lasted about an hour and ended with both
sides believing the other had won. In terms of casualties,

(05:34):
the British came out worse, having lost twenty three men
compared to the Americans seventeen. However, the British had taken
more prisoners, including two commanding officers, as well as vital
supplies and weapons. As a result, the Americans were forced
to beat a hasty retreat back to Fort George, with
British scouts, chasing them all the way. It quickly became

(05:58):
apparent that despite their losses, the British had won a
decisive victory at the Battle of Stony Creek, because even
though the Americans still controlled Fort George, they were now
penned in by British outposts and indigenous warriors, making it
nearly impossible for them to extend their gain any further.
Two weeks later, with few options remaining, a column of

(06:21):
US troops left Fort George, hoping to launch a sneak
attack on a British outpost at Beaver Dams. Once again,
though the British were alerted to their presence by local
Canadians and were able to thwart the attack and force
the surrender of about six hundred US troops. That defeat,
along with the one at Stony Creek, returned control of

(06:43):
the Niagara Peninsula to British and Canadian forces, and while
the dwindling U s Army remained on the defensive for
the rest of the year, the invasion of Canada was
effectively over. The Battle of Stony Creek was a bold
and reckless gambit on the part of the British, one
whose success depended more on luck than any strategy or skill.

(07:06):
The chaotic nighttime raid could have just as easily blown
up in their faces, and very nearly did, But in
the end it's hard to argue with the results. Plenty
of Canadians feel the same way, regarding the battle, though
small in scope, as a pivotal moment in their country's history,
the day when a foreign invasion was routed by the

(07:26):
brazen action of a small band of soldiers and the
unlikely aid of a local teen. To celebrate that historic victory,
the Gage Farmhouse where the battle was waged was converted
into a National Historic site, and a monument was later
erected on the grounds. Now each June, historic re enactors
from Canada and the US don period attire and gather

(07:49):
on the battlefield to relive the fateful engagement. Oh and
don't worry about there being any hard feelings over the
failed invasion. The real armies of the UN, US and
Canada have been peaceful allies ever since more or left.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and hopefully you now know a little

(08:10):
more about history today than you did yesterday. If you
have a second and you're so inclined, consider following us
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can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts,
or you can write to me directly at this Day
at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben

(08:34):
Hackett for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day
in history class.