July 25, 1814. One of the bloodiest and most vicious battles of the War of 1812 was fought in the dark right next to Niagara Falls, close enough that soldiers could hear the roar of the water over the guns.
The war had dragged on for two years, and American forces had pushed across the border trying to take Canada from the British. Near the falls, at a spot called Lundy's Lane, the two armies slammed into each other late in the day and kept fighting well into the night.
It was a brutal, confused, close range slugfest in the darkness. Men fought hand to hand over a single hilltop and its cannon, taking and retaking it in the smoke and confusion, often unable to tell friend from foe. By the time it was over, both sides had been mauled, with well over a thousand casualties on that small patch of ground.
Neither side could really claim a clean victory, but the exhausted, battered Americans pulled back afterward, and their invasion of Canada stalled out for good. It stands as a grim reminder that a war Americans often barely remember was, in places like this, as savage as any the country ever fought. All of it unfolded by the falls on this day.
The war had dragged on for two years, and American forces had pushed across the border trying to take Canada from the British. Near the falls, at a spot called Lundy's Lane, the two armies slammed into each other late in the day and kept fighting well into the night.
It was a brutal, confused, close range slugfest in the darkness. Men fought hand to hand over a single hilltop and its cannon, taking and retaking it in the smoke and confusion, often unable to tell friend from foe. By the time it was over, both sides had been mauled, with well over a thousand casualties on that small patch of ground.
Neither side could really claim a clean victory, but the exhausted, battered Americans pulled back afterward, and their invasion of Canada stalled out for good. It stands as a grim reminder that a war Americans often barely remember was, in places like this, as savage as any the country ever fought. All of it unfolded by the falls on this day.
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