Following the defeat of Napoleon in the spring of 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, intended to compel the United States to negotiate a peace that restored the pre-war status quo. Thousands of seasoned British soldiers were deployed to British North America. Most went to the Canadas to re-enforce the defenders (the British Army, Canadian militias, and their First Nations allies drove the American invaders back into the United States, but without naval control of the Great Lakes they were unable to receive supplies, resulting in the failure to capture Plattsburgh in the Second Battle of Lake Champlain and the withdrawal from US territory), but a brigade under the command of Major General Robert Ross was sent in early July with several naval vessels to join the forces already operating from Bermuda. The combined forces were to be used for diversionary raids along the Atlantic coast, intended to force the Americans to withdraw forces from Canada. They were under orders not to carry out any extended operations and were restricted to targets on the coast.