Commemoration
On September 21, 1812, a United States force of some 200 regulars and militia under Capt. Benjamin Forsyth attacked Gananoque. The village was an important forwarding point for supplies moving up the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Kingston and was garrisoned by a detachment of the 2nd Leeds Militia under Col. Moel Stone. After spirited resistance, Stone withdrew his force comprising two subalterns and about forty soldiers, and the Americans seized the stores and burned the government depot. As a result of this raid, a blockhouse was begun in Gananoque the following month and completed in 1813.
Background
Like the later raid on Elizabethtown, this one was launched by Forsyth from Ogdensburg. Forsyth’s group of 110 regulars and American militia defeated a force of about 100 local militia. 8 British and 1 American died in the struggle.