Did You Know America Fought the British Twice? Once on the Niagara!
The Burning of Black Rock on the Niagara River, part of the Battle of Buffalo!
Did You Know America Fought the British Twice? Once on the Niagara!
The War of 1812: Buffalo’s Forgotten Battlefront and Commodore Perry’s Legacy
The War of 1812 is one of the most overlooked chapters in American history, but it shook the Niagara region like few events before or since. Imagine warships clashing on Lake Erie, cannons thundering across the Niagara River, and soldiers battling along its banks—right where Buffalo now stands. At the time, the area was divided into two communities, Buffalo and Black Rock, both perched along this vital military corridor between the U.S. and British Canada.
One of the war’s most iconic figures, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, helped build a shipyard near present-day Buffalo State University. From this very stretch of river, ships were launched into the Great Lakes to take the fight to the British. Perry’s daring leadership at the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, just west of here, turned the tide of the war. His bold words—“We have met the enemy and they are ours”—became legend.
But the fight came home, too. In December 1813, British troops and their Native allies—primarily Mohawk warriors allied with the British—crossed the Niagara and burned both Buffalo and Black Rock to the ground. But the fight came home, too. In December 1813, British troops and their Native allies crossed the Niagara and burned Buffalo and Black Rock to the ground. The flames were visible across the river. Yet from the ashes, the region rebuilt stronger, and those two towns eventually became one: Buffalo.
At first, the nearby Seneca Nation, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, chose neutrality in the War of 1812, unwilling to fight against their fellow confederacy members, the Mohawks, who had allied with the British. But when invading forces began moving down the Seneca Trail, burning homes and threatening local families, the Senecas took up arms in defense. They fought back fiercely, helping to repel the attackers and offering food, shelter, and support to the devastated American settlers along the trail. Similarly, members of the Tuscarora Nation, also part of the Haudenosaunee, bravely defended civilians during the British assault on Lewiston, NY, helping them escape under fire. An image of the Tuscarora Heroes Monument in Lewiston is pictured above.
Today, Perry’s memory lives on in the region he helped defend. A monument to him still stands in Buffalo—silent now, but echoing the roar of cannons and the courage of a city forged in war. (Pictured below.)
Bonus Fact: Oliver Hazard Perry had a younger brother—Matthew C. Perry—who made history of his own by sailing into Tokyo Bay in 1853 and opening Japan to the West after centuries of isolation. Two brothers, two oceans, two defining moments in American history. Pictured below is a picture of a monument in Buffalo, NY of Oliver Hazard Perry, which is located at Front Park.
