Chippawa Battlefield Panel 2

At dawn on 5 July 1814, Canadian militia and British allied Native warriors scouted the American camp and began sniping from the bushes on the north side of Street's Creek, continuing throughout the morning. Around noon, General Brown ordered General Porter to take some of his men and end the 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 toward the Chippawa River. Brown rode to Ussher's Farm, where a forward company of the 21st U.S. was posted, to monitor Porter's progress, and 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 line of battle, and his men quickly withdrew to the cover of the woods. The smoothbore flintlock musket was the standard weapon of both armies, firing a ball almost 3/4 of an inch across out to 300 meters (328 yards) but accurate only to 75 meters (82 yards), and a standing soldier 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, the range at which musket fire becomes accurate. Smoothbore cannons on both sides used canister or case shot, effective out to 400 meters (437 yards), and each blast could unleash dozens of iron shot the size of golf balls. U.S. gunners won the battle by bringing their cannons, seven guns, against the British line and raking the length of the red-coated line from both flanks.

Ontario · Canada