The War of 1812 saw several naval conflicts before it was over. One of the most strategically important battles took place on Lake Champlain from September 6 to 11, 1814. Lieutenant General George Prévost marched British forces, including fresh reinforcements, south towards Plattsburgh. Captain George Downie led a coordinated naval squadron. If the British had won the Battle of Plattsburgh, they likely would have used the Hudson River Valley to strike New York. Although the Americans were vastly outnumbered both on land and in the water, they came through victorious. Downie was killed and the British squadron surrendered after seeing there was no other option. Prévost withdrew his land attack, commanded that his force return to Canada, and was very heavily criticized for his performance.
The "General Simcoe" was a gunboat crewed by the British during the Battle of Plattsburgh, which retreated north following the American naval victory. According to the excerpts from the diary of a British soldier aboard the gunboat, the crew spent a night in Chazy Village and Chazy Landing. The soldier wrote about the onslaught of insults and boasts shouted at them from the townspeople when they pulled ashore. He also mentioned how they removed the few remaining deceased men on board the gunboat, and buried them in the middle of the night. As many as seven British soldiers may be buried near Lake Shore Road.
This historical marker was put up by the town of Chazy in 2011. Robert Cheeseman, Chazy's town Historian, worked with Roy Carter to install it. One of Mr. Carter's ancestors was a British soldier who passed through Chazy and was killed in the fighting at Beekmantown.
Comments