Macdonough, Thomas

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Thomas Macdonough

born Dec. 31, 1783, The Trap, Del., U.S.

died Nov. 10, 1825, at sea en route from the Mediterranean Sea to New York City

U.S. naval officer.

He joined the navy in 1800 and served with Stephen Decatur in the Tripolitan War. In the War of 1812 he was ordered to cruise the lakes between Canada and the U.S. When British troops threatened Plattsburg, N.Y., site of U.S. Army headquarters on the northern frontier, he sailed his 14-ship fleet to meet the British 16-ship squadron on Lake Champlain. His victory there (Sept. 11, 1814) saved New York and Vermont from invasion.

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Macdonough, Thomas - U.S. naval officer who won one of the most important victories in the War of 1812 at the Battle of Plattsburg (or Lake Champlain) against the British.

Plattsburgh - city, seat (1788) of Clinton county, northeastern New York, U.S., on the west shore of Lake Champlain, at the mouth of the Saranac River, 60 miles (97 km) south of Montreal, Canada. It was founded by Zephaniah Platt in 1784. During the War of 1812, it was the scene of an important U.S. victory on Lake Champlain that saved New York from possible British invasion via the Hudson River valley. A ...

Champlain, Lake - lake extending 107 miles (172 km) southward from Missisquoi Bay and the Richelieu River in Quebec province, Can., where it empties into the St. Lawrence River, to South Bay, near Whitehall, N.Y., U.S. It forms the boundary between Vermont and New York for most of its length and lies in a broad valley between the Adirondack and Green mountains. The lake has a maximum width of 14 miles (23 km) and ...

1812, War of - Neither the British in Canada nor the United States were prepared for war. Americans were inordinately optimistic in 1812. William Eustis, the U.S. secretary of war, stated, "We can take the Canadas without soldiers, we have only to send officers into the province and the peoplewill rally round our standard." Henry Clay said that "the militia of Kentucky are alone competent to place Montreal and ...

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