Lake Champlain: the forgotten battleground

 

On the New York shore of Lake Champlain, facing the southern end of Valcour Island.

 

Even if you are familiar with the major battles that took place in New York during the Revolutionary War (1775-1781), chances are, the battle of Valcour Island will not leap into mind.

That is, of course, if you've been studying American history.

This small commemorative monument now stands forlornly on the New York shoreline of Lake Champlain.

 

In the small lakeside town of Valcour, pinned between the rocky shore of Lake Champlain and the asphalt of Route 9, a small monument now stands as a forlorn reminder of the American flotilla that was defeated by British warships on October 11, 1776.

During this time, the Colonial Americans were in strong contest with the oppressive mother government of England. Due to unfair taxation policies imposed by British puppet governments, a movement of colonial rebellion swept through the American colonies, resulting in insurrections like the Boston Tea Party.

However, the well-garrisoned British royal armies and armadas were not to be daunted by such insolence; the Atlantic seaboard was soon blockaded and the inland waterways, provided through their northern territories in Canada, allowed them access to upstate New York and New England via Lake Champlain.

Things were looking grim for the rebel cause in the north; the colonial armies under General Benedict Arnold had spent a grueling winter fighting a losing battle in Quebec, and the British had occupied Boston. Battle-tired and ill, General Arnold was relieved from his offensive post in Canada and given orders, from Colonial Commander Horatio Gates, to build the first Colonial armada and move it northward on Lake Champlain.

The plan was to prevent British Canadian reinforcements from moving southward and rendezvousing with Lord Howe, who had recently ousted George Washington's Colonial Army in New York City.

Confused? Try a timeline!

Arnold had only a matter of months, and few supplies, to prepare for an impending naval advance of unknown size. And, well I've told you the rest.

How could such a crucial Revolutionary War battle go, virtually, without mention in the timeline of American history? To answer this question, I inquired Sylvie Beaudreau - a Plattsburgh State Canadian history professor - for answers.

"Because Britain, with the help of its Canadian allies, won the Battle of Valcour Island," she explains.

Could it be that generic American history tends to glaze over, or bury it's own mishaps and failures? Beaudreau thinks so.

"History is the propaganda of the victors," she says, quoting Ernst Toller, a deceased German playwright. "Take a look at this..."

She proceeds to hand out a photocopied flier that Plattsburgh City Assemblyman Chris Ortloff had distributed citywide last year. Within its text, Ortloff quotes:

"Our goal is simple," says Ortloff. "To see that every schoolchild in America learns that the war of 1812 was won in Plattsburgh." According to Beaudreau, Ortloff had disseminated the flier in an attempt to attract funding for a War of 1812 museum.

Now, the Battle of Plattsburgh is familiar to most "Burghians." The good people of the "lake city" have even erected a thirty-foot monument in salute to General Thomas Macdonough, who had commanded the victorious American fleet.

So, where is the discrepancy?

"Although the Battle of Plattsburgh was paramount in ending the War of 1812, it by no means won anything for anyone," Beaudreau asserts.
Beaudreau notes that few Americans realize that neither side won the War of 1812.

"In fact, the result was a stalemate," she says. "To say that we won the War of 1812 would be like saying America won the Vietnam War."
It stands to reason that most people don't remember much about the war at all, she adds. In light of this, I will summarize the events leading up to the dark horse conflict of 1812.

Off the southwestern corner Valcour Island, shown here,a major Revolutionary naval battle was fought.

In the 30-year-period following the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States of America was struggling to solidify itself as a nation and still relied heavily on European imports to support its economy.

Meanwhile, Great Britain and France were in the throes of the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815) and were extremely wary of American trading policies in Europe. Because the American navy in the early 19th century was relatively weak, it had not the sea power to effectively defend its trading enterprises.

When news reached Washington DC that American trading vessels were being confiscated by British warships, America responded with the threat of war. When Great Britain indignantly refused to yield to the American warning, Congress declared war on its nemesis once again.

Beaudreau, a connoisseur of local history, relates that although Macdonough's fleet did indeed prevail on September 11, 1814, there are many misconceptions that Americans have concerning the battle, and of the war as a whole.

"Seeing that nobody won the War of 1812, I was disturbed to see this kind of message being distributed by one of our assemblymen (Ortloff)," says Beaudreau.

Although Ortloff was not available to defend himself, Beaudreau insists that Great Britain, after learning of its defeat in Plattsburgh Bay, deemed the continuation of the War of 1812 futile.

Indeed, not much was accomplished during the early nineteenth-century war. After the Napoleonic War ended in the March of 1814, Britain's resolve to enforce harsh trading policies on the United States had weakened. Upon signing the treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, Britain agreed to halt further confiscation of American trading vessels.

And speaking of the Napoleonic War, Beaudreau says that regiments of Napoleonic war veterans, led by British Commander General Provost, were supposed to have assisted the British navy at Plattsburgh Bay. According to Beaudreau, Provost lost courage before crossing the Canadian border and never arrived to assist the British Navy. According to Beaudreau, these hardened veterans would probably have turned the tide of the battle for Britain.

According to a history book aptly titled Lake Champlain, by Ralph Nading Hill, citizens of the Plattsburgh area "curiously lined the shores of Cumberland Head (a small, nearby peninsula) to witness the foray in Plattsburgh Bay."

If its infantry counterpart had assisted the British fleet, perhaps the local citizens might have paid less attention to observing the naval battle, and more attention to keeping their lives intact.

All in all, it is important to realize that American history cannot always be taken for face value. The American Revolution, while a glorious tale, is left vague on many accounts, especially in the realm of naval warfare.

The little known, yet crucial defeat of the shoddily armed American fleet at Valcour Island stands in defiant reminder of this fact.

Also, when observing Assemblyman Ortloff's positive spin on the War of 1812, we can observe how American nationalism can skew our outlook on history.

"It would be better to simply state that the Battle of Plattsburgh was a significant turning point in the War of 1812," Beaudreau concludes.

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