Jacob Brown was a New York Militia brigadier general at the time of the British raid on Sackett’s Harbor. As such, he was legally the ranking officer in the vicinity of the American naval base but was sensitive to the feelings of the regulars permanently charged with the defenses of the shipyard. When Brown was satisfied that this would not be a problem, he went to Sackett’s to take charge. As a militia general, Brown owed his first allegiance to the governor of New York, Daniel Tompkins. This article relates extracts of his official report to Tompkins written on 1 June 1813 which amplifies his shorter report written on 29 May. I have taken the liberty to correct the most distracting errors in spelling and punctuation. First, brown outlined his plan which is remarkable in that he introduced several “fall back” positions should the British achieve any level of success. It is also remarkable in that it describes, to an interesting degree, the actual flow of the battle. “At the water’s edge near Horse Island where I believed the enemy would land I was resolved to meet them and with this view the plan of defense was settled between myself, Col. Backus, Col. Mills, Lieut. Chauncey, Major Swan & Major Brown. I was to meet the enemy at the water’s edge where I believed that they would land with all the militia that came in and the Albany Volunteers under Lieut. Col. Mills. At the alarm or order given by me, Col. Backus was to order a body of regulars to advance so as to meet the enemy after they had broken or disposed of the force with me. The force with me being broken, I was to rally them and fall upon the enemy’s right flank so as to retard their approach towards Fort Tompkins as long as possible always hoping that the country would send forth all its means to our assistance & believing that to gain time was to ensure victory. If however the enemy should overcome the assembled regulars & militia and drive us the whole length of way from Horse Island to Fort Tompkins & carry that fort, Lieut. Chauncey would then & in that case see the stores on Navy Point destroyed, the new ship burned & retire with his schooners and the men he had left to the south shore of the bay, east of Fort Volunteer. The force remaining with me were to retire to Fort Volunteer, being the highest ground as our dernier resort [last resort] and if the enemy should prove too hard for Lieut. Chauncey, he was to land his men, blow up his vessels & join me in Fort Volunteer, when he would be governed by circumstances. This being our plan & the enemy having first struck us as contemplated, it remains to see how well our plan was executed.” Brown apparently expected the militia to falter and he also expected to be able to rally them and bring them back into the fight. Your wargame morale rules should take this into account. Once Brown saw the British bateaux approaching shore, he moved the volunteers and militia to a point on the beach to resist them. “The Albany Volunteers under Col. Mills were then laid down on the right behind a small natural breastwork on the beach & all the militia under Col. Sprague behind the same natural breastwork on the left & those under Col. Tuttle to take a position that I pointed out about thirty rods upon my left flank by the edge of the woods near the bay to prevent a surprise from savages that I apprehended would come in from that quarter. The enemy by this time had landed a body of men at the head of Horse Island who were advancing in open column upon a line with the enemy’s front gun boats. Every exertion was then made to inspire my little force with confidence. If they would but lay firm & refrain their fire I was confident that every man must surely kill his man.” “The enemy rapidly approaching and keeping up as heavy a fire as possible from their boats, not a shot was fired from the column, the front approaching, charging bayonets. It appeared impossible to restrain raw troops so as to make them in any high degree useful. Those with me did fire & would fire before I intended. The enemy were however pretty near and as I was attentively watching their movements & the happy effects of our fire to my utter astonishment my men rose from their cover, broke & before I could realize the disgraceful scene there was scarcely a man within several rods of where I stood. Col. Mills fell gallantly struggling to stop his men.” “At a very little distance however I had the good fortune to come up [to] Capt. McNitt who had succeeded in rallying a few men and they were doing all they could from behind some large logs by the edge of the field.” “I then ordered an advance upon the rear of the enemy’s right flank & I trust some execution was done, but my party did not exceed one hundred….” At this point Brown left the immediate fight to rally more militia. He came upon a body of them and eventually brought some more back into the fight. While this was going on, the regular infantry and dragoons were very slowly being pushed back to the barracks where they held fast. Brown made sure his presence was felt by every scattered body of Americans on the battlefield. Other than his presence, which no doubt instilled a level of confidence and determination to resist, it is not at all certain that Brown made any key decisions in the defense. Nor did he claim to. Brown ended his official report by praising the regulars and castigating the militia. Within months, Brown received his commission as brigadier general in the regular army. He went on to successfully command the advanced guard on the otherwise humiliating Crysler’s Farm campaign. With promotion to major general in 1814, Jacob Brown commanded the Left Division on its glorious campaign along the Niagara River. Back to Table of Contents -- War of 1812 #1 Back to War of 1812 List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Rich Barbuto. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com