With the loss of a boat, and its subsequent discovery by British forces, the Americans lost the element of surprise prior to the battle.

After the successful attack on Fort Oswego on May 5–6, 1814, the British withdrew to the Galloo Islands in northern Lake Ontario where they could monitor and intercept any supplies on their way north to Sackets Harbor, New York.

At the American ship yards in Sackets Harbor, two brigs, USS Jefferson and Jones, and a frigate, Superior, waited for armament and rigging necessary for their launch.

On April 21, 1814, Commodore Isaac Chauncey sent orders from Sackets Harbor to Lieutenant Melancthon Taylor Woolsey directing him to choose five officers and twenty-five men to proceed in USS Lady of the Lake to Oswego and then bring the shipbuilding supplies north to the shipyards.

[citation needed] On the rainy evening of May 28, Woolsey set out with 150 riflemen under the command of Major Daniel Appling in 19 boats loaded with supplies.

At Big Salmon, the American forces met up with the Oneidas (estimates range from 120 to 130 Indians), who Woolsey had dispatched the previous day.