Battle of Longwoods - Background

Background

In October, 1813, in the aftermath of the American naval victory of the Battle of Lake Erie, an American army under Major General William Henry Harrison recovered Detroit (which the British had captured early in the war), captured the abandoned British post at Fort Malden at Amherstburg, and defeated a retreating British and Native American force at the Battle of the Thames. The British feared that the Americans might follow up their victory and strike at their position at Burlington at the western end of Lake Ontario, but the period of enlistment of most of the militia troops in Harrison's army was about to expire, and the Americans withdrew.

During the subsequent months, there was a "no man's land" stretching almost 200 miles (320 km) between Amherstburg and Burlington, where Canadian militia skirmished with occasional American raiding or scouting parties. Late in December, 1813, the British established an outpost at Delaware, roughly halfway between these two positions, and another at Port Talbot on the shore of Lake Erie. On 23 December, the garrison of the post at Delaware surprised and captured a small American outpost near Chatham.

The American commander at Amherstburg was Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Butler of the 28th U.S. Infantry. He sent an expedition under Captain Andrew Holmes to capture one of these two British posts, as circumstances allowed. The expedition consisted of mounted detachments from the 24th, 26th, 27th and 28th U.S. Regiments of Infantry and two six-pounder cannon, and was later joined by some rangers and militia dragoons from Michigan. The raiders, including the regulars, were dressed in buckskins against the cold and were armed with rifles and tomahawks.