maica. In this capacity he captured the 14-gun
sloop USS Vixenin November 1812, only to
lose both vessels on a reef. Cleared by a court
of inquiry for this accident, Yeo was taken
aback in March 1813, when his appointment
as naval commander of His Majesty’s naval
forces on the Great Lakes in Canada suddenly
arrived. This assignment carried a rank of
commodore, but the conditions and strategic
prerogatives encountered there were unlike
anything a seasoned naval officer like himself
could have imagined.
The War of 1812 was essentially a frontier
conflict in which armies marched, lived, and
fought on the periphery of civilization. The
primitive conditions encountered made uti-
lization of various lakes and waterways a pre-
requisite for success. On land, critical routes
of communication and supply were seldom
more than paths hewn through dense forests.
Extended winter thaws and spring rains
choked them with mud and rendered over-
land transportation impractical. Waterborne
transit obviated many of these problems,
however. The Great Lakes constituted an
elaborate communications network over
which men and supplies could be shuttled
year-round at a fraction of the money and
time. Furthermore, naval control of the Great
Lakes not only facilitated one’s own move-
ments but also forced an enemy to move and
feed his troops by land—a distinct liability.
Throughout the War of 1812, therefore, the
lakes remained vital conduits for the defense
of Canada and forays against it. This strategic
expedient was never lost on the United
States or Great Britain, for both initiated im-
pressive shipbuilding campaigns to acquire
and maintain naval supremacy. Considering
the scope of these endeavors, and the magni-
tude of supplies and personnel required, the
lake campaigns literally constitute a war
within a war.
Yeo reached Kingston, Ontario, the princi-
pal British naval base on Lake Ontario, in
early May 1813. There he conferred with Gov-
ernor-General George Prevostover strategy
and agreed to a preemptive strike against
Sackets Harbor, New York, home of the Amer-
ican lake squadron. At that time, Commodore
Isaac Chauncey and his ships were absent at
the Niagara frontier supporting army opera-
tions, so his base remained weakly defended.
Yeo and Prevost aspired to capture a new ves-
sel, the 28-gun brigGeneral Pike,and burn it
at the stocks. Such a strike would also force
Chauncey’s immediate recall from Niagara,
thereby relieving pressure upon Gen. John
Vincent’s forces. On May 28, 1813, Yeo’s
squadron hove to off his objective, but ad-
verse winds prevented a British landing until
the following day. Prevost was then put
ashore and defeated the militia of Gen. Jacob
Brown, but he proved unable to storm a last
line of fortifications and summarily withdrew.
Thus, the British suffered galling losses with-
out achieving anything. Yeo, for his part, came
ashore like a captain of marines instead of su-
pervising his fleet, and naval support of the
operation proved less than effective. Further-
more, the entire affair only served to sour re-
lations between him and his superior.
Control of the Great Lakes remained es-
sential to Upper Canada’s fate, so Yeo and
Chauncey enacted elaborate building pro-
grams to acquire new ships. However, Yeo
suffered from shortages of manpower as well
as supplies, so he declined to forward much
of his scarce resources to British naval forces
on Lake Erie. Consequently, Lt. Robert
Heriot Barclay’s small squadron was se-
verely disadvantaged and decisively defeated
when it encountered Commodore Oliver Haz-
ard Perry on September 10, 1813. Yeo himself
was also bested in a series of running engage-
ments at the far end of Lake Ontario, the so-
called Burlington Races. Chauncey, fortu-
nately for the British, was reluctant and
unwilling to jeopardize his ships by sailing
close to shore. Yeo escaped to Kingston, bat-
tered but intact. His opponent’s caution
played directly into British hands, for as long
as Yeo’s ships survived, he could contest
American control of the lake. Survival of the
British fleet had became tantamount to the
survival of Upper Canada.YEO, JAMESLUCAS