The battle of Queenston Heights was a British victory early in the War of 1812 that turned back the first American attack on the Niagara front. Although the United States and Canada shared a very long border, in the north west there were only two realistic lines for American attack – from Detroit at the western end of Lake Erie, or across the Niagara River at the eastern end of the lake. The United States decided to attack in both of these areas, in the expectation that the weak British forces in Upper Canada would be unable to respond to the simultaneous attacks. Unfortunately for the Americans, their attacks could not be coordinated. The Detroit campaign began in July 1812 when an American army crossed the Detroit River, but ended in disaster on 16 August with the surrender of Detroit to Major-General Isaac Brock.
Brock had been able to travel west to take command around Detroit because the American forces on the Niagara front had remained inactive throughout the summer. The local American commander was Major-General Stephan van Rensselaer, a successful New York politician. He was supported by his cousin, Colonel Soloman van Rensselaer, who had at least observed some military manoeuvres. The Van Rensselaers, together with Major-General Henry Dearborn (the American commander-in-chief), felt that they needed 6,000 men to launch a successful invasion across the Niagara. News then reached America that the British had repealed the Orders in Council that had helped to provoke the war, and a short truce was arranged, lasting into early September.
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