Background
The British had captured the important American trading post at Fort Mackinac by surprise in the Siege of Fort Mackinac early in the war. Large numbers of Indians rallied to the British, who subsequently forced the surrender of an American army at the Siege of Detroit.
On 10 September 1813, the Americans won the decisive Battle of Lake Erie, which allowed them to recapture Detroit, and also cut the British supply line to Mackinac, although it was too late in the year for the Americans to send ships and troops into Lake Huron to attack Mackinac. During the ensuing winter and spring, the British established another supply line from York to Mackinac via the Nottawasaga River.
In 1814, the Americans mounted an expedition to recover Mackinac. The American force initially consisted of five vessels (the brigs Lawrence, Niagara and Caledonia, and the gunboats Scorpion and Tigress) under Commodore Arthur Sinclair, with 700 soldiers (half of them regulars from the 17th, 19th and 24th U.S. Infantry, the other half volunteers from the Ohio Militia) embarked under Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan.
The expedition sailed from Detroit and entered Lake Huron on 12 July. They first searched Matchedash Bay for the British supply base but failed to find it. They then attacked the British post at St. Joseph Island on 20 July but found that it had been abandoned. On 4 August, they attacked the main British position at Fort Mackinac but were repulsed with heavy losses at the Battle of Mackinac Island.
Read more about this topic: Engagements On Lake Huron
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