I would definitely be remiss in my duties if I did not relate what Mike and I learned on our Mansfield, Ohio Artillery Show trip in the spring of 2006. The most devastating use of a gun in a Caponier in the United States occurred during the defense of the north ditch of Fort Stephenson by American forces against a vigorous attack by 500 British regulars, most of whom were battle hardened veterans and had been with Wellington’s forces in the Peninsular Campaign. This happened during the Battle of Fort Stephenson, 1 and 2 August 1813, just after a very young, 21 year old, Major George Croghan, assumed command of this Sandusky River outpost.
We were fortunate to meet the author of
The Complete Cannoneer, Matt Switlik at the show and he told us the story of the famous cannon named ‘Betsy’ and how it helped win that desperate battle long ago on a hill in what now is Fremont, Ohio. He advised us to visit the gun, still there after all these years, on the very hill where it once dispensed death with every blast of double canister into that north ditch. We did visit the gun and the historic fort site just behind it. We found this information in a document we located at the Birchard Public Library which occupies most of the ground once within the fort’s walls. The cannon is outside on the north side pointing at the fort’s north ditch which is now Croghan Street.
Another document we saw at the Library was Titled,
An Authentic History of the Second War of Independence, containing a chapter, The Battle of Fort Stephenson by Samuel R. Brown which was an account of the battle by Henry Howe and Moses Dawson, first published in 1815. It was this account, the most logical of several that we read over the years, that provided the information that we impart here.
In a nutshell, The British selected the small garrison at the fort, 160 men under Croghan as a relatively easy conquest to be followed by bigger and more grand objectives. 700 British troops and their artillery, three six pounders by most accounts, were landed from Commander Barclay’s fleet near the stockade fort. From 1,000 to 2,000 Indian allies joined the British force there. They pretty much stayed in the woods and avoided the cleared land surrounding the fort. After bombarding the northwest angle from 250 yards nearly all day on the 1st, the British main force of 500 attackedthe fort, with approximately 300 attacking the north wall which they thought was weak from the extensive 6 Pdr bombardment. Constant repair and reinforcement by Croghan’s men kept it strong.
The battle smoke was so thick that when Lt. Col. Short’s force came within 20 paces of the fort, they were momentarily stunned by the fierce, galling fire of the defenders. The Col. rallied them and leapt into the ditch followed by about 100 of his force, many of whom had axes which they used with vigor. Out of sight in the Caponier, which was called a blockhouse on the frontier, sat the American’s only cannon, a six-pounder named ‘Betsy’. At Croghan’s signal the wooden port door was flung open suddenly and Betsy let fly her double load of canister into the British attack force in the ditch. The ditch was raked from one end to the other by this gun and the British force melted away under this hailstorm of lead balls. A second wave entered the ditch and met the same fate.
Over 150 of the attackers were killed in that ditch. By all accounts only 10 to 20 left it alive. If the typical Blockhouse construction had been used, the cannon would have been elevated by 12 to 15 feet and the canister ball beaten zone would have been much shorter due to the steeper angle of attack. As it was, with the blockhouse built like a Caponier, the cannon was on the ground, right at the top edge of the 6 foot deep ditch, a perfect situation for devastating results. The remaining British, seeing the folly of further assaults, retired from the field in relatively good order and the entire force left the area the following day. The Indians, except for a few, did not participate in the attack. The Americans had one killed and seven slightly wounded.
Fort Stephenson is truly unique in being the only fort in the United States preserved in its original form with its original cannon and with the body of its defending force's Leader.
Tracy
This first two images are from a post card site called ‘Card Cow’. The third we saved from a site that we visited back in 2006. Our original pics of the cannon and historic site were lost when our "Free" photo hosting site hiccuped and lost those first ever, for us, digital pics. It's been low-cost, FOTOTIME for us for 5 years now with ZERO problems.
A 1930 photo of Birchard Library and the cannon, 'Old Betsy'.
A map of the battlefield showing the 'Blockhouse Caponier' on the fort's north side and the Sandusky River where Barclay's fleet landed the British force of 700.
