CHAMPLAIN, Lake, Battle of, in the War of 1812. During 1812 and 1813 no im portant naval operations had taken place on Lake Champlain. On 3 June 1813 the British cleared the lake of the few small American vessels, and captured the commander, where upon Lieut. Thomas MacDonough (q.v.) was ordered to construct a new navy. During the following winter and spring both Americans and British pushed forward the building of sloops, brigs and gunboats: The British were first afloat but the summer passed in manoeu vres as Sir George Prevost with 11,000 men was preparing to cross the border. Brig.-Gen. Alexander Macomb (q.v.) with 1,500 regulars and 700 militia under Gen. Benjamin Mooers had encamped at Plattsburg at the mouth of the Saranac and had thrown up works on the southern side of the town just across the bridge over the Saranac, but as the village was untenable when the British approached from the north, Macomb destroyed the bridge and retired to his breastworks. From 6-11 Sept. 1814 the two armies continuously. skirmished and the British brought up heavy ordnance preparatory to assaulting the fort, but when Prevost beheld MacDonough's fleet in the bay he decided before attacking to await the arrival of the British fleet under Capt. George Downie. On the morning of 11 Sept. 1814 the fleet appeared, consisting of the Con fiance, Linnet, Chubb and Finch, besides 12 smaller gunboats. The American fleet consisted of the Saratoga, Eagle, Ticonderoga and Preble, be sides 10 gunboats. While the weight of metal thrown by the American fleet surpassed that of the British, the latter had 60 long range guns to MacDonough's 45 and thus if the battle were fought at long range the advantage lay with Downie. But MacDonough anchored his fleet so that Downie would be compelled to pass between him and the land and could not come to anchor on his broadside out of range of the American carronades. Downie anchored his flagship, the Confiance, 300 yards from MacDonough's flagship, the Saratoga, and at the first broadside nearly blew the American vessel out of the water, killing or wounding one-fifth of the crew. While these two ves sels were engaged, the Eagle disabled the Chubb but was herself soon driven out of the fight; the Ticonderoga drove the Finch to Crab Island where she surrendered; but the British galleys forced the Preble to seek shelter. This left the Linnet free to aid the
Con fiance, which, having suffered severely, lacked the power to silence the Saratoga Thus exposed to the concentrated fire of both ships the starboard guns of the Saratoga were soon silenced but MacDonough let go his stern anchor, winded his ship and brought the un used port battery to bear on the Confiance, with the result that in 15 minutes Downie struck his colors. The Saratoga next opened on the Linnet and compelled her to surrender, whereupon the remaining British galleys, with the aid of their sweeps, moved away and escaped with every ensign down. The Amer ican loss was 52 killed and 58 wounded and the British loss 57 killed and 92 wounded. Mean while Prevost was shelling Macomb's defenses and endeavoring to cross the Saranac in the hope of crushing the Americans by assault. As these efforts were fruitless and as control of the lake was in American hands Prevost, during the night of 12-13 September, sent away his baggage and artillery and retreated, leaving behind only his sick and wounded. The Americans pursued a short distance but quickly returned. Consult Adams, Henry, 'United States' (Vol. VIII, pp. 91-113);
State Papers, Naval Affairs) (Vol. I, pp. 310-311) ; Barnes, James, (Naval Actions of the War of 1812) (pp. 209-216); Bracken bridge, H. M.,
of the Late War' (p. 274) ; Clark, G. R., (Short History of the Navy) (pp. 189-198) ; Cooper, J. F., (Naval History) (Vol. II) ; Emmons, George F., `Statistical History of the Navy); Occur Wil liam,
Actions) and