After taking Fort Erie, the American Brigadier General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Porter to remain at the fort with his force while the main force marched north. The British commander, Major General Phineas Riall, had taken a defensive position on the north side of the Chippawa Creek, now the Welland River, at the village of Chippawa. Riall's information about the Americans was inaccurate and he thought that the British outnumbered the Americans, who had in fact a large superiority. Experience had also shown him that Americans were inferior to the British on a frontal attack. So he decided to cross the Chippawa River and attack. Scott however had drilled his army until they were as strong and polished as the British. They answered the British attack with a bayonet attack of their own, forcing Riall's men back across the Chippawa River.

Because of a shortage, the American soldiers wore grey uniforms. The cadets at the American military academy at West Point still wear grey (or as the Americans spell it, gray) uniforms to honour the victory at Chippawa.