HISTORY

May 14, 1814
Raid on Port Dover

Since October 1813 Lake Erie had been quiet. The US completely controlled the lake and the British had mostly withdrawn, but there remained a few isolated outposts . . . on May14, the Americans landed at one of these outposts . . . Port Dover. The objective was to remove stores from the British forces (This may have been encouraged by the difficulty in getting supplies from the US government.) There was a minor skirmish between American forces and some Canadian militiamen and a troop of the 19th Light Dragoons over some goods in a storehouse.

The next day, the Americans burned the village of Dover. The troops then returned to the fleet, but landed again the next day to burn more outlying buildings. They then returned to Presque Isle.

This action was another example of US forces having no strategic plan, simply raiding and destroying facilities that might be of use to the British without any ability to capture and hold territory.