Sharp Practice 2: War of 1812 – The Re-Supply of Fort Neots

The British have established a new small fort outpost on the shores of Lake Erie. However, US forces have spotted the build and sent a flying column to disrupt the final re-supply of the fort. The US commander, Major Donny T Rump (Mal), knows that he lacked the forces to assault the fort directly, but instead aimed to cut off the re-supply, having spotted a RN ship making landfall near the fort.

In the meantime, the Royal Navy had actually landed the ammunition supplies on the shore, a short distance from the fort and loaded them onto a cart, but spotting the US flying column marching to intercept, Captain Wolfe (Rob) also landed a force of Marines and seamen, to escort the supplies across to the fort.

British forces deployed from a Deployment Point in the North-West corner (A2), with one Canadian militia unit already deployed in the fort. The US forces deployed from the Deployment Point on the South table edge (G8).

The British opened with a strong deployment, landing all 3 groups of Marines, a group of 6 Seamen skirmishers and a group of 12 seamen with melee weapons. The US main column (3 units of Regular infantry) was a bit slower deploying, but Major Rump did manage to push his 2 groups of skirmishers into the field to the left of the road and the militia group to the right of the road, to face-off with the Canadian militia in the fort.

As the Marine column advanced Eastward, toward the fort, screening the re-supply wagon, the US Light Infantry advanced across the field, opening up long range fire onto the right flank of the Marine column. The British responded by advancing the seamen skirmishers, to distract the US light infantry, but the midshipman leading this group was quickly wounded.

In the meantime, the US Regular infantry column mounted a lightening march up to the ‘T’ junction, followed by a fairly nifty deployment into line, facing the Royal Marines. Sadly for the marines, the rather galling fire from the US light infantry delayed their forming into an opposing line.

To try to drive off the US light infantry, Captain Wolfe dashed his Seamen melee group into the field, causing the US lights to recoil back behind the house. However, these US lights quickly about-turned and poured a devastating volley into the advancing seamen. A couple of disciplined discharges from the US lights saw the seamen streaming back to the shore!

The main US line opened fire on the marine line, as it tried to form-up, inflicting large amounts of shock, but the discipline of the marines meant that the line held and slowly started to return fire. The marine’s Sharp Practice now really started to pay off, with both side’s trading Presented volleys, but the faster volleys of the marines soon started to open more gaps in the US ranks, than were occurring in the marine ranks.

On the East side of the table, the Canadian militia had sallied out of the fort, to engage the US militia. Honours were fairly even here, until the Americans suffered from the effects of dirty powder and were forced to retire.

Back at the dual between the main lines, the US were really beginning to suffer from the marine’s higher rate of fire (& Rob’s luck!) and the US line looked to be crumbling, until the marines found that some of their powder had also got damp during the landing. During the delay, while they resupplied from the ammo cart, the US line reformed and more importantly, the US Light Infantry pushed forward up to the field edge and started to pour close range fire into the right flank of the marine line.

At this point, both lines had been severely mauled and Captain Wolf realised that he would not be able to reach the fort. So, with a flourish of his sword, he saluted Major Rump and called his marines back to the boats. Major Rump surveyed his battered line and momentarily thought about pursuing the marines, but instead simply returned the salute and started the work of treating his casualties. A bloody but glorious draw!