Queenston Heights, Battle of, was an important British victory over United States forces during early stages of the War of 1812 (1812-1815). The October 1812 battle took place near the Canadian village of Queenston in what is now the province of Ontario . Much of the battle was fought on a bluff called Queenston Heights, which rises 350 feet (107 meters) above the Niagara River .
In June 1812, the U.S. Congress, citing years of British interference with the American maritime trade, declared war against the United Kingdom (also called Great Britain). In July, an American army advanced from Detroit, in the present-day state of Michigan in the Midwestern United States, into British-held Canada. The advance soon stalled, and the Americans soon withdrew from Canada. The following month, a British counterattack under Major General Sir Isaac Brock forced the Americans to surrender Detroit.
That autumn, the Americans focused on attacking British positions near the Niagara River, which flows between Canada and the state of New York. The American army, under Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer and Brigadier General Alexander Smyth, numbered more than 6,000 troops. Nearly two-thirds of the American force consisted of militia (citizen soldiers). Brock, the British commander, had about 3,000 soldiers scattered along the 35 miles (56 kilometers) of the Niagara River. Supporting Brock’s force were about 250 Mohawk, Delaware, and other Native American warriors.
Van Rensselaer gathered fewer than 4,000 troops at the American town of Lewiston, across the rough waters of the Niagara River from the Canadian village of Queenston. The towns were about 5 miles (8 kilometers) below Niagara Falls . Smyth’s force remained upriver at Buffalo. Van Rensselaer’s planned attack on October 11 was delayed. Brock thought the activity at Queenston was a diversion and did not strengthen the force of about 420 troops there. About 3 a.m. on October 13, the Americans began to ferry their attack force across the river to Queenston. A group led by Captain John Wool followed a narrow path to the top of the bluff, where they seized a heavy gun emplacement (position). Brock soon arrived from his downriver camp at Fort George. He gathered his forces and led a charge against the American position. Brock was shot and killed by an American soldier. Eventually, more than 1,000 Americans made it to the Canadian side of the river.
British Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe arrived from Fort George with reinforcements. Van Rensselaer called in his reserve forces—American militia from New York. Many of the militia refused to cross the river, claiming that it was beyond their lawful duty to fight on foreign soil. About 3 in the afternoon, Sheaffe attacked with about 900 troops. The Americans on the bluff ran low on ammunition and were unable to retreat across the Niagara. Facing a fierce British bayonet charge, Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott , the American commander, waved a white handkerchief as a symbol of surrender. During the course of the battle, about 90 Americans were killed, and more than 100 were wounded. More than 900 were taken prisoner. The British-allied force suffered fewer casualties, with about 100 killed or wounded.
