Henry Procter
Encyclopedia
Henry Procter or Proctor (1763 – 31 October 1822) was a British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 Major-General who served in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. He is best known as the commander who was decisively defeated in 1813 by the Americans and left western Ontario in American hands. Procter is regarded by many as an inept leader who relied heavily on textbook procedure. His "going by the book" is attributed to his lack of any combat experience before coming to Canada. The canadian historian Pierre Berton
Pierre Berton
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, was a noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist....

 concludes:
"To the Americans he remains a monster, to the Canadians a coward. He is neither--merely a victim of circumstances, a brave officer but weak, capable enough except in moments of stress, a man of modest pretensions....The prisoner of events beyond his control, Procter dallied and equivocated until he was crushed. His career is ended."

Early life

Procter was born in Ireland. His father, Richard Procter, was a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 in the British Army.

Henry Procter began his military career at the age of 18 as an ensign in the 43rd Regiment of Foot in April 1781. He served as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 in New York in the final months of the American War of Independence. His promotion was slow, probably indicating a lack of means, since commissions were usually obtained by purchase
Sale of commissions
The sale of commissions was a common practice in most European armies where wealthy and noble officers purchased their rank. Only the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army never used such a system. While initially shunned in the French Revolutionary Army, it was eventually revived in the...

. Procter married in Ireland in 1792, the year he became a captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...

. He was promoted to major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 three years later, and October 1800 became a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 in command of the 1st battalion of the 41st Regiment of Foot
41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot
The 41st Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1719 and amalgamated into The Welch Regiment in 1881....

.

Procter joined his new regiment in Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 in 1802. He served in Canada for the next ten years. Inspecting officers, including Major General Isaac Brock
Isaac Brock
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB was a British Army officer and administrator. Brock was assigned to Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he commanded his regiment in Upper Canada successfully for many years...

, noted that Procter's regiment was "very sharp", indicating a good standard of drill and discipline, and that this was due to Procter's "indefatigable industry".

War of 1812

When the war began in June 1812, the 41st were stationed in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

. Procter was sent to Amherstburg near the westernmost part of the Province, to relieve the commandant of Fort Malden and defend the fort against a possible American assault. He fought several skirmishes, which helped isolate the American post at Fort Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 and contributed to its capture by General Brock. When Brock departed, Procter was left in command on the Detroit frontier. He was soon faced with an attack by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...

, who intended to expel the British from Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

.

Procter won a resounding victory over an American brigade commanded by Brigadier-General James Winchester
James Winchester
James Winchester was an officer in the American Revolutionary War and a brigadier general during the War of 1812. He commanded the American forces at the Battle of Frenchtown, which led to the Massacre of the River Raisin....

 at the Battle of Frenchtown
Battle of Frenchtown
The Battle of Frenchtown, also known as the Battle of the River Raisin or the River Raisin Massacre, was a series of conflicts that took place from January 18–23, 1813 during the War of 1812...

, though his tactics did not escape criticism. He had allowed his men to open fire too soon, which alerted the Americans to his attack. He also placed his artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 within American rifle range, which resulted in his gunners becoming casualties unnecessarily. Nevertheless, his surprise attack overwhelmed the Americans and forced Winchester to surrender. Following his victory, he learned that General Harrison's main army was coming to Winchester's support. Procter had only enough carts to transport his own severely wounded, and in his haste to retreat, he left 68 severely wounded American prisoners behind with only a small guard of Canadian militiamen. That night, Procter's Indian allies murdered the wounded prisoners in what became known as the Massacre of the River Raisin. This gave American troops a new battle-cry: "Remember the Raisin!"

On 8 February 1813, Procter was promoted to brigadier general
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 by Sir George Prévost
George Prevost
Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustine Prévost, he joined the British Army as a youth and became a captain in 1784. Prévost served in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary...

, the Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

. A few months later, he was made a major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

.

In April and May 1813, Procter besieged Harrison at Fort Meigs
Fort Meigs
Fort Meigs was a fortification along the Maumee River in Ohio during the War of 1812. It is named in honor of Ohio governor Return J. Meigs, Jr., for his support in providing General William Henry Harrison with militia and supplies for the line of forts along the Old Northwest...

, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. His artillery pounded the fort for days but the muddy ground inside the fort absorbed most of the cannon balls. On 5 May 1813, at the Battle of the Miami Rapids
Siege of Fort Meigs
The Siege of Fort Meigs took place during the War of 1812, in northwestern Ohio. A small British army with support from Indians attempted to capture the recently-constructed fort to forestall an American offensive against Detroit, which the British had captured the previous year...

, Procter and the Indians inflicted a devastating defeat on Brigadier-General Green Clay
Green Clay
Green Clay was a United States politician and a soldier in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812....

's brigade of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 militia, who were trying to reinforce the garrison. A sortie from the fort by Harrison's command was also turned back. Many American prisoners were taken, and 38 wounded men who had been captured were moved to the disused Fort Miami
Fort Miami
Fort Miami was the name of several forts in what is now the United States.*Fort Miami *Fort Miami *Fort Miami...

. Once again, some of the wounded prisoners were massacred by Indians who had arrived too late to take part in the battle. The Shawnee chief Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...

 reviled Procter for his failure to prevent the killings. The siege ultimately ended in failure, as did the subsequent Battle of Fort Stephenson
Battle of Fort Stephenson
The Battle of Fort Stephenson was an American victory during the War of 1812.-Background:After failing to defeat American forces in the siege of Fort Meigs, the British under Henry Procter withdrew. Procter attempted to take Fort Meigs again in July by staging a mock battle to lure the defenders...

.

On 20 June, Procter's command was recognised as the "Right Division of the Army of Upper Canada". However, he received very few reinforcements and his "division" consisted essentially of the 41st Foot only, with whatever militia could be gathered for any operation and unreliable numbers of Native Americans.

Following an American naval victory in the Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of Great Britain's Royal Navy...

, Procter's supply lines were cut, and he was forced to retreat from Detroit and Amherstburg towards Burlington Heights
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington , is a city located in Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is also included in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. Physically, Burlington lies between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment...

 at the western end of Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

, to obtain supplies. Tecumseh reviled Procter for retreating as "a fat animal which slinks away, its tail between its legs" and demanded that Fort Malden be handed over to the Natives to defend. However, there was no food for them and the fort's artillery had been placed on the British fleet for the naval battle and was consequently lost. Tecumseh and his warriors were forced to accompany Procter as he retreated.

Procter's retreat was slow and poorly organised, and the Americans under Harrison caught up with him near Moraviantown. By now, Procter's troops were exhausted and starving on half-rations. At the Battle of the Thames
Battle of the Thames
The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was a decisive American victory in the War of 1812. It took place on October 5, 1813, near present-day Chatham, Ontario in Upper Canada...

, the 41st fired a single ineffectual volley before breaking. About 250 fled and the remainder (under 600) surrendered, leaving their Indian allies to fight alone. Tecumseh and Roundhead
Roundhead (Wyandot)
Roundhead , also known as Bark Carrier, Round Head, Stayeghtha, and Stiahta, was a Native American chief of the Wyandot tribe...

 were killed and their forces soundly defeated.

Proctor claimed he had attempted to rally his troops before he galloped off himself, but this was generally disbelieved. He admitted the conduct of the 41st Foot "was not upon this unfortunate occasion, such as I have on every other witnessed with pride and satisfaction ...". Having rallied some men at the Grand River, Procter recommended that there was no need to abandon Burlington Heights. However, his division was disbanded, his remaining men merged into the "Centre Division", and Procter himself was relieved of duty.

Court-martial

In December 1814, Procter was tried by court martial at Quebec for his conduct during the retreat and at the Battle of the Thames. He was found guilty of "deficiency in energy and judgement", and suspended for six months without pay. The Prince Regent
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 insisted that the findings and sentence be read to every regiment in the Army. Procter's sentence was later reduced to a reprimand, but the conviction effectively ended his military service.

Procter returned to England in 1815, but was semi-retired. He died in 1822 at the age of 59 in Bath.

Evaluation

Opinions on Procter are divided. Some scholars dismiss him as incompetent, while others point out that he was denied adequate resources by his superiors and was unfairly held responsible for the conduct of his Indian allies (except where accompanied by Tecumseh himself). Most sources agree that Procter was a good regimental officer, but was out of his depth when in charge of an independent command, especially one which required him to handle unpredictable Native American allies. Procter never achieved the instant rapport with Tecumseh which Brock had gained, and Tecumseh was dismissive or even contemptuous towards Procter on occasions such the the Battle of Miami Rapids and the retreat from Amherstburg. Procter's conduct at the Battle of the Thames bears a strong correlation with signs of (then undiagnosable) battle fatigue, after a long campaign with insufficient supplies.

Personal Life

Procter married Elizabeth Cockburn in Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

 in Ireland, in 1792. They had one son and four daughters.

Further reading

  • Antal, Sandy. A Wampum Denied: Procter's War of 1812 (Carleton University Press, Ottawa
    Ottawa
    Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

    , Canada, 1997. ISBN 0-87013-443-4)

External links

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