McArthur's Raid destroyed many of the mills on which the British army on the Niagara depended for flour and bread. Only three mills in the southern part of the Niagara peninsula were spared, either because of the close pursuit, as the British claimed, or through the entreaties of some American officers to spare the district from famine during the coming winter. Although the British commanded Lake Ontario at the time and were able to use their fleet to resupply their army on the Niagara before the lake froze, the region was so badly stripped of resources that the British were unable to mount any operations against Detroit before the end of the war.