Background
During the last months of 1812 and for much of 1813, the American Army of the Northwest under William Henry Harrison was attempting to recover Detroit and capture Fort Amherstburg at Amherstburg from the "Right Division" of the British Army in Upper Canada, which was commanded by Major General Henry Procter.
The British position depended on maintaining command of Lake Erie. The sparsely populated region produced insufficient crops and cattle to feed Procter's troops, the sailors of the British ships on the Lake, and above all the large numbers of Native warriors and their families gathered at Amherstburg under Tecumseh; supplies could effectively be brought to them only by ships on the lake. Also, if naval command of Lake Erie passed to the Americans, they would be able to land an army on the north shore at any point of their choosing, cutting off Procter from reinforcement from the east.
From the start of the war to the end of July 1813, the British ships, which since May 5, 1813 were led by Commander Robert Heriot Barclay, had maintained control of the lake. They contained the American squadron under Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry at Presque Isle harbour. When Barclay lifted the blockade for two days in order to receive supplies, Perry was able to move his ships across the sandbar at the entrance to the harbour and into the lake. Barclay declined to attack them.
Once it was fully armed and manned, Perry's superior squadron instituted a counter-blockade of Amherstburg, and supplies of food there rapidly ran short. Finally, with supplies almost exhausted, Barclay put out to seek battle with Perry. On September 13, Perry gained a complete victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, after a hard-fought battle. On receiving Perry's hastily written note that "We have met the enemy and they are ours", Harrison knew that Procter would be forced to retreat, and ordered an advance. One thousand mounted troops began advancing along the lake shore to Detroit, and 2,500 foot soldiers were carried there and to Amherstburg by Perry's ships once the damage they had received in the battle had been repaired.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of The Thames
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