Date Published:
March 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Battle of the Châteauguay

Châteauguay, battle of, an engagement which took place on the banks of the Châteauguay river, in Lower Canada, on October 26, 1813, between an invading American force of about 7,000 men under General Hampton and a defending force of about 700 French-Canadian Voltigeurs and Fencibles, with about 50 Indians, under Colonels de Salaberry and Macdonell. Hampton was moving on Montreal by the valley of the Châteauguay river, which empties into the St. Lawrence opposite Lachine. About six miles above the confluence of the Châteauguay and English rivers, he encountered Salaberry's force, drawn up in a strong position in the woods, with its left flank resting on the river, and its right on an impassable swamp. By scattering his buglers, and sounding the "Advance", Salaberry gave the Americans the impression that they were faced with a force of equal strength to their own, and after a flank attack from the south of the river, had been driven back by Macdonell's Fencibles, the Americans retired to Châteauguay Four Corners, just north of the American border; and the attack on Montreal was abandoned. See Sir C. Lucas, The Canadian War of 1812 (Oxford, 1906) and William Wood (ed.), Select British documents of the Canadian War of 1812 (4 vols., Toronto, 1920-28).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 39.