The Battle of Beaver Dams took place on 24 June 1813, during the War of 1812. A column of troops from the United States Army marched from Fort George and attempted to surprise a British outpost at Beaver Dams, billeting themselves overnight in the village of Queenston, Ontario. Laura Secord, a resident of Queenston, had earlier learned of the American plans and had struck out on a long and difficult trek to warn the British at Decou's stone house near present-day Brock University. When the Americans resumed their march, they were ambushed by Kahnawake and other native warriors and eventually surrendered to a small British detachment led by Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. About 500 U.S. troops, including their wounded commander, were taken prisoner. Background On 25 May 1813, the United States had won the Battle of Fort George, capturing the fort. The British fell back to a position at Burlington Heights near the western end of Lake Ontario, briefly abandoning the entire Niagara Peninsula to the invading force. The Americans attempted to pursue the British, but their advance was checked at the Battle of Stoney Creek by a British counter-attack. At the same time, the flotilla of warships of the United States Navy which had been supporting their army on the Niagara Peninsula was hastily withdrawn to face a threat to their own base, and a British flotilla threatened the American line of communications. The Americans fell back to Fort George. The British followed up and established an outpost at DeCou's house in the present-day city of Thorold, Ontario, from which natives and militia harassed the U.S. outposts. The U.S. Army commander at Fort George, Brigadier General John Parker Boyd, decided to clear the threat posed by enemy raiders and to restore his men's morale by making a surprise attack on the outpost at DeCou's. U.S. plan The force assigned to the attack was led by the recently promoted Colonel Charles Boerstler of the 14th U.S. Infantry and consisted of Boerstler's own 14th U.S. Regiment of Infantry, with detachments of the 6th, 13th and 23rd U.S. Regiments of Infantry, a company of artillery with one 12-pounder and one 6-pounder field guns, and twenty U.S. Dragoons. An irregular corps of forty mounted volunteers from the New York Militia under Cyrenius Chapin led the way. The force was accompanied by two large supply wagons. At dusk on 23 June, Boerstler's force moved in