Yeo spent the entire winter building new
ships at Kingston while Chauncey performed
identical work at Sackets Harbor. The British
were first to emerge on the lake in May 1814,
and Yeo, assisted by the newly arrived and
highly aggressive Gen. Gordon Drummond,
sought to make another attempt at Sackets
Harbor—only this time with bigger ships and
more men. The governor-general, however, re-
mained wedded to his cautious, defensive
policy and refused reinforcements. Therefore,
on May 5 Yeo and Drummond selected the
smaller American entrepôt at Oswego, New
York, as their target. This place, defended by
Col. George E. Mitchell, was gallantly carried
with some loss. The British also failed to cap-
ture the heavy cannons intended for
Chauncey’s new vessels, so Yeo imposed a
tight blockade on Sackets Harbor to prevent
their acquisition. At length, navy Capt.
Melancthon T. Woolsey and army Capt. Daniel
Appling contrived a scheme whereby the can-
nons would be shipped to Chauncey at night
by small bateaux. When two Royal Navy cap-
tains followed the Americans up Sandy Creek
on May 29, 1814—against Yeo’s explicit in-
structions—their entire force was ambushed
and captured. This loss forced Yeo to lift his
blockade and return to Kingston, where he
concentrated upon finishing his trump card,
the 112-gun ship-of-the-line HMS St. Law-
rence.Because this was the largest warship to
ever sail the Great Lakes, its appearance in
October ensured British control of Lake On-
tario for the rest of the war. He also spent the
rest of the summer shuttling men and sup-
plies to General Drummond at Niagara, where
his effort proved crucial in containing Gen-
eral Brown’s 1814 Niagara offensive.
In the fall of 1814, Prevost was directed by
the British government to attack northern
New York with 10,000 veteran troops, newly
arrived from Spain. To accomplish this, he re-
quired naval control of Lake Champlain to as-
sist his supplies and communications. Yeo
subsequently assigned Capt. George Downie
to construct and command the fleet, although,
as previously, Yeo deflected only minimal
amounts of men and supplies from his own
building efforts. Downie’s fleet was still under
construction when Prevost hurried it into bat-
tle at Plattsburgh, New York, and on Septem-
ber 11, 1814, it was totally defeated by Com-
modore Thomas MacDonough. Yeo was so
angered by Prevost’s prodding that he pre-
ferred charges against him, and the governor-
general was recalled back to England. Back
on Lake Ontario, Chauncey had emerged once
more on the lake with a bigger fleet, so Yeo
slipped back into Kingston. Furthermore, he
refused to further supply General Drum-
mond’s army until the St. Lawrencewas ready
to sail. This reluctance to cooperate strained
relations between them, but Yeo refused to
sail unless he was ready. When the British
squadron finally departed Kingston that Octo-
ber, Chauncey typically withdrew back to
Sackets Harbor and commenced building
mammoth ships of his own. But Yeo’s gamble
finally paid off. The mighty St. Lawrence
proved the final arbiter of naval events on
Lake Ontario. Moreover, its appearance in-
duced Gen. George Izard, then confronting
Drummond at Niagara, to abandon Fort Erie
and return to American soil. The war ended
shortly after with little fanfare along the bor-
der. Consequently, a vast array of giant war-
ships of every description were mothballed at
Kingston and Sackets Harbor, never to fight
again.
After the war, Yeo received command of
the antislavery patrol off the West Africa
coast. He spent several weeks in England be-
forehand testifying on behalf of his surviving
officers on Lake Champlain—and against Pre-
vost, who died before his court-martial con-
vened. Yeo remained off Africa until August
21, 1818, when he died of fever at sea. His
principal legacy from the lake war was mixed,
but ultimately it was a success. On balance,
both sides had performed remarkably well in
constructing powerful squadrons in the mid-
dle of the wilderness. But the British, with
smaller crews and less access to supplies,
managed to fight Chauncey to a draw. It
proved a less than glorious termination for anYEO, JAMESLUCAS