Raid on Port Dover
The Raid on Port Dover was an episode during the War of 1812. American troops crossed Lake Erie to capture or destroy stocks of grain and destroy mills at Port Dover, Ontario, which were used to provide flour for British troops stationed on the Niagara Peninsula. At the instigation of Lieutenant Colonel John B. Campbell and without sanction from his superiors or the government of the United States, the Americans also destroyed private houses and other property, prompting British commanders to demand reprisals in other theatres of the war. To some degree, the burning of Washington by the British later in the year was influenced by the American actions at Port Dover. Background In the spring of 1814, the Americans were preparing to make an attack across the Niagara River. As the Americans held undisputed control of Lake Erie, the troops at Presque Isle on the lake's southern shore were no longer needed to protect the improvised shipyard there, and were ordered to join the main American army at Buffalo, New York. The idea of raiding the Canadian settlements near Long Point and destroying the mills there en route to Buffalo occurred both to Captain Arthur Sinclair, commanding the armed