On the 2nd of December, 1813
To the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Liverpool
Your Excellency,
I proudly inform you that, as expected, I won a decisive battle on the Champlain, at Fort Ticonderoga, the same place where the French stopped us half a century ago.
The Americans were well-entrenched, but I gave the order to attack in the early morning, as the mist of dawn and of winter hide our movement. Despite their better position, our troops and their troops started firing at the exact same distance. Then our troops charged in a well-coordonated force, and the enemy fell back in disarray. At first, Monsieur Izard was their commander, and while he proved to be efficient at the local level, as a Lieutenant, holding the position wherever he was commanding, he lacked the vision and the capacity to lead the battle as a General, and we broke through everywhere he was not in direct command. Monsieur Dearborn arrived during the battle, and gave, I understand from the prisoners, orders opposite to those of Izard. In the end, most of the enemy troops were left without instructions or in much confusions. When we could bring our guns to Sugar Loaf, like we once did, the battle was over and the Fort surrendered without needing a siege.
Unfortunately, on the Ontario, Fort Erié surrendered. This is not a surprised and most of the garrison was evacuated, except a few fixed guns and the crew to man them :
More worryingly, our landing fleet was intercepted and chased. Sir James Yeo gave the Americans a good fight, sinking a couple boats, but had to retreat back to Kingston, with most of the landing force intact :
In a nutshell, here is what happened :
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Here is the situation, your Excellency, and you will see it can be seen as both worrying or exalting :
You might want to compare it with the situation at the beginning of the year :
Or the one, at the beginning of the war :
Basically, we and the Americans exchanged our position during 1813 : Montréal is not threatened any more and Albany is within reach, but we lost control of most of the Ontario.
On the Ontario, Sir Georges Prevost has put himself in a real quagmire :
He is short on supply (he can still hold half a year, but he will not have anything extra for the wounded or the needy), and is between two forces that can stop him or even, in the case of Erié forces, defeat him once it receives reinforcements.
He also lost his port, and cannot be resupplied by boat.
On the other hand, on the Champlain, I believe I have destroyed all the American forces. Monsieur Dearborn's forces is exhausted, our of supply, and miles away from its closest supply points. I believe it can be written off. Monsieur Izard's forces is still quite in shape, but small. Since Monsieur Izard was leading reinforcement drawed from the Albany garrison, I believe there is nothing left to stop us between where I stand and Albany.
And we need Albany, because if a peace was negotiated today, we would be in a weak position :
My plan is simple :
- Take Albany with my force as soon as possible !
- Send Francis de Rottenburg in what will be an ice march to surprise the York garrison and seize the city. The cost in men - and the risks - are tremendous, but it is the only solution we have to save Sir Prevost forces from anniliation, and thus to keep control of the Ontario. If Burlington was to fall, Kingston and then Montréal would be next ! With York in our hands, men and supplies will flow from Montréal and allow us to control the Niagara again !
But again, this requires a two-months march, and might fail.
Here are the forces committed with Francis de Rottenburg (I use the opportunity to ask you to promote him at least at the same rank as Sir Georges Prevost, as he is at least as deserving, and because we need him and not Prevost as a commander there) :
Yours respectfully,
Sir Isaac Brock