Melancthon Taylor Woolsey

Melancthon Taylor Woolsey (1782 – 18 May 1838) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and battles on the Great Lakes.

Given the increase of tensions with Britain, the US Navy established a shipyard for warships and rapidly built eleven ships at the facility, employing 3,000 men at the yard, many recruited from New York City.

Instead, he returned to Sackett's Harbor, landed half his battery, and after a sharp two-hour exchange the British squadron broke off the engagement and sailed for Kingston.

Early in October, Commodore Isaac Chauncey arrived on the scene and assumed overall command of American naval activities on the Great Lakes.

Throughout the entire war, a construction race caused naval dominance on Lake Ontario to alternate between the British and Americans.

Woolsey enabled America to grab the lead in the fall of 1812 by acquiring eight schooners to augment Oneida and the three-gun USS Julia.

On November 8, he commanded Oneida when the 19-gun warship and four of the newly acquired schooners encountered HMS Royal George —a large, 24-gun, ship-rigged sloop-of-war off Kingston and chased her into that port.

Late in September 1813, he commanded his ship in a running fight between the American lake flotilla and British Commodore James Lucas Yeo's force.

By spreading false intelligence about his destination, Woolsey was able to take advantage of a dark night and make good his escape.

Woolsey had prepared an ambush in concert with Major Daniel Appling and his 150-man contingent of the United States Rifle Regiment.