Battle of Mackinac Island (1814) - Battle

Battle

The American ships attempted to bombard the fort for two days, with most of the shot falling harmlessly in vegetable gardens around the fort. Sinclair discovered that the new British blockhouse, Fort George, stood too high for the naval guns to reach. A dense fog then forced the American squadron away from the island for a week. When they returned, Croghan decided on 4 August to land on the north side of the island roughly where the British had landed in 1812 (the present-day community of British Landing) and work his way through the woods to attack the blockhouse. The American brigs and gunboats bombarded the woods around the landing site to flush out any Natives, further sacrificing any chance of gaining surprise.

Rather than wait to be attacked, McDouall left only 25 militiamen in Fort Mackinac and another 25 in the blockhouse and advanced with the main body of his force to occupy low breastworks which faced a clearing which lay on the Americans' line of advance. His force consisted of 140 men of the Royal Newfoundland and the locally raised Michigan Fencibles, and 150 Menominee Indians from the Wisconsin River, who McDouall considered to be the best fighters at his disposal, and one 6-pounder and one 3-pounder field guns.

When the Americans emerged from the woods into the clearing, they were easy targets for the British guns. Croghan brought up two 6-pounder guns, but meanwhile he sent his Ohio Volunteers, leading the advance, to outflank the British left, and sent the detachment of regulars through the woods around the British right. These manoeuvres proceeded very slowly, because of the difficult terrain. While they were in progress, a false report of another American landing west of the fort caused McDouall to withdraw the Newfoundland and Michigan Fencibles, but the American regulars were ambushed by the Indians. Thirteen Americans were killed, including Major Holmes and two other officers, fifty-one were wounded (including Captain Benjamin Desha, second in command of the regulars) and the Americans were thrown into confusion. McDouall meanwhile discovered that there was no landing behind him, and moved his redcoated infantry back into their positions.

The heavy losses and confusion among the United States regulars, and the return of McDouall's infantry, forced Croghan to order his men to retreat through the woods to the beach. Two wounded Americans were left to be taken prisoner. The Americans rowed back to their ships, leaving the fort in the British hands until the end of the war.