Opening Strikes

At dawn 5 July 1814, parties of Canadian-Militia and British allied Native Warriors scouted the American camp. They began sniping from the bushes on the north side of Street's Creek and this continued throughout the morning. Around noon, General Brown ordered General Porter to take some of his men and end this harassing fire.

At about 2pm, Porter led his New York and Pennsylvania Militia and allied Warriors into the woods to the west, crossed the creek and drove the scouting parties through the woods towards the Chippawa River. General Brown rode to Ussher's Farm, where a forward company of the 21st U.S. was posted, in order to monitor Porter's progress. He noticed the tempo of fire in the woods change to disciplined volleys as British regular light infantry joined the battle. When Porter's troops reached the edge of the woods near the Chippawa River they found themselves within a few yards of the British army drawn up in the line of battle. Porter's men quickly withdrew to the cover of the woods.

Muskets

The smoothbore flintlock musket was the standard weapon of both armies. They fired a ball almost 3/4 of an inch across out to 300 meters (328 yards) but were only accurate to 75 meters (82 yards). If a soldier stood he could fire his muzzle loader four or five rounds a minute. The battle lines at Chippawa stood for the fastest rate of fire and the two lines faced off at less than 75 paces at the range when the musket fire becomes accurate.

Cannons

The smoothbore cannons on both sides were using canister or case shot. Effective out to 400 meters (437 yards) each blast of a gun could unleash dozens of iron shot the size of golf balls. U.S. gunners won this battle by bringing their cannons (7 guns) against the British line and raking the length of the red coated line from both flanks.

Marker can be reached from Niagara River Parkway just west of Edgworth Road, on the right when traveling south.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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