The War of 1812 in the Champlain Valley

12. Aftermath

12 AFTERMATH The battle of Plattsburgh, decisive as it was, still left many tangled threads to unravel. Smugglers continued to ply their trade on Lake Champlain, and Collector Sailly had difficulty holding good assistants until he promised to back them fully in all suits. One of the most serious confrontations with smugglers occurred in November 1814, when a rowboat containing $8,000 in merchandise eluded revenue officers at Rouses Point. Sailly sent a cutter and five men in pursuit. They found the goods concealed at Whitehall, but the owners and armed citizens recaptured them, severely injuring two of the revenue men in the process. Naval officers stationed nearby refused to help, and even struck one of the inspectors with a musket.' Meanwhile, Macdonough faced the problem of winter quarters for the two fleets under his COntrol. He and his officers expected a renewed land attack by the huge British army whose primary object would be to capture or destroy the fleets. Thus Macdonough decided to make winter quarters at the south end of the lake, as far removed from the scene ofanticipated trouble as possible. He repaired both fleets at Plattsburgh and on October 2 sent the Saratoga, Confiance, Ticonderoga, and Linnet to Whitehall. As the Saratoga passed Burlington, she fired a salute which Macdonough's grandson believes was "the last gun, probably, she ever fired."2 Macdonough kept the brig Eagle, Preble, Montgomery, the ten galleys, and the sloops Growler and Eagle (he quickly gave them back their original names) as provision vessels and living quarters for the men attached to the galleys. Early in November Macdonough recovered six tons of nine-inch shells which the British, expecting to return, had hidden in the waters off Chazy Landing. Then he raised the British sloop loaded with naval stores which had sunk off Isle La Motte during the retreat. From it he retrieved thousands of pounds of ammunition.3 193 194 THE WAR OF 1812 IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY Macdonough took the rest of his fleet to Whitehall on November 18, and turned over his command to Lieutenant Charles Budd of the Preble. He stayed in the area for another three weeks, however, with quarters on the Confiance. The fleet was moored stern to stern at the elbow below Taft's Island. Macdonough warned Budd to keep the ships in good shape and to watch for incendiaries. If he patrolled down the lake, he ought not go beyond Point au Fer, and he should return before the lake froze over. He should later be on the alert for a British attack over the ice. Early in December, Macdonough went to his home in Middletown on the first stage of travels that were supposed to take him to Washington. Rumors of a British attack on Whitehall kept surfacing, however, and early in January he was ordered back to the lake. He talked to Budd and went on to see the military commanders at Burlington and PlattSburgh. He came to the conclusion that no imminent attack was being planned, but that large-scale shipbuilding was going on at Isle-aux-Noix. If that were true, Americans would need to build also, but he asked for relief from his responsibilities on the lake, chiefly for the sake of his health. The reportS he picked up concerning British ship construction included twelve large galleys on the stocks and three ships with their keels already laid. Macdonough was not relieved ofcommand and spent the rest of the winter at Whitehall, but the arrival of a definitive peace treaty and its ratification by the Senate made a new naval race unnecessary. His fleet remained moored in its original location for about three years and was dismantled, probably in 1818. In that year all ships of war on Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes were outlawed by the Rush-Bagot Agreement with Great Britain. In 1825 the vessels at Whitehall were sold at public auction. The buyers sold off the materials and probably moved the ships into East Bay. There they finally sank near the mouth of the Poultney River. The military commanders at Plattsburgh and Burlington continued to expect a new British attack in force. ReportS even appeared in the newspapers about the thousand sleighs and ten thousand buffalo robes as well as the massing of men and cannon at Isle-aux-Noix. The armies on both sides of the lake were on the alert, as were Mooers's and Strong's militia. Macomb began the...