Siege of Fort Meigs

The Siege of Fort Meigs took place during the War of 1812 , in northwestern Ohio in late April-early May, 1813. A small British Army unit with support from Indians attempted to capture the recently constructed fort to forestall an American offensive against Detroit, and its Fort Detroit in the Great Lakes region which the British from the north in Canada had captured the previous year. An American sortie and relief attempt failed with heavy casualties, but the British failed to capture the fort and were forced to raise the siege.

In the early days of the War of 1812, an American Army under Brigadier General William Hull , surrendered following the Siege of Detroit. To recover the town of Detroit and Fort Detroit, the Americans formed the Army of the Northwest. Brigadier General James Winchester , briefly commanded this Army before William Henry Harrison , Congressional delegate and then Secretary of the old Northwest Territory, then first Governor of the Indiana Territory and future 9th President was commissioned a Major General in the regular United States Army and appointed to the command by fourth President James Madison.

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