HISTORY

Black Rock Artillery Duel

March 17-18 Artillery duel ends, Black Rock (New York, US) vs. Ft. Erie.

Part of the strategy for the first part of 1813 was an attempt to force the American army to shift forces. Gen. Vincent was, by early March, aware of the growing numbers of troops on the opposite side of the river and correctly deduced the target was Ft. George. Vincent wanted to convince American commanders that we was about to launch his own invasion, with the hope that American commanders would shift forces away from Ft. George.

In November 1812, a similar shelling of Black Rock had destroyed stores and damaged American morale, so on March 17th Ft. Erie opened up on Black Rock again. Local batteries returned fire. The shelling was inconclusive and stopped went local power stores on both sides were exhausted in the early morning hours of March 19th.