Event record · battle
Maumee River, Ohio · Old Northwest
First siege of Fort Meigs
28 April–9 May 1813
British and Indigenous forces besiege Harrison's base but withdraw after a failed effort to destroy the American position.
Participants
- William Henry Harrison's garrison
- British regulars and Canadian militia
- Indigenous forces led by Tecumseh
- Kentucky reinforcements
Outcome
The siege failed to take the fort, and the allied force withdrew.
Why it matters
Holding the Maumee base allowed the United States to continue its attempt to recover Detroit while testing an alliance whose members faced unequal risks.
Location evidence
41.551, -83.648 · site precision
Coordinates locate the named site, city, or broad region; they do not reconstruct unit movements.
Where it sits in the story
This record belongs to a connected military, political, and human sequence. The chapter supplies causes, consequences, competing perspectives, and the limits of the surviving evidence.
Follow the evidence
Evidence behind this event
- The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian AlliesAlfred A. Knopf · scholarly monograph
Alan Taylor's borderlands history of allegiance, migration, civil conflict, and the defense of the Canadas.
- Tecumseh: A LifeHenry Holt · scholarly biography
John Sugden's reconstruction of Tecumseh's diplomacy, coalition building, campaigns, and death from dispersed records.