Battle of Sävar

The Battle of Sävar was fought on Saturday, 19 August 1809, between Swedish and Russian forces, during the Finnish War; it was the last pitched battle to be fought in Sweden. After the Russian conquest of eastern Sweden (present-day Finland) in 1808, the Swedish forces retreated to actual Sweden. In March the following year, Russian emperor Alexander I launched a threefold attack on Sweden, to force the country into the Continental System and to cede Finland to the Russian Empire; despite early advantages at Kalix and the Åland Islands, the attack failed to achieve a quick ending to the war. After further campaigning in northern Sweden, with battles such as Skellefteå and Hörnefors, the Russian forces under Nikolay Kamensky occupied all of Västerbotten by June.

The Swedes, who were ready to cede Finland, disputed Alexander I's demands of having the border at the Kalix River. To improve the terms, a Swedish expedition to Västerbotten was prepared, under the command of Johan af Puke, to cut off Kamensky from Russian-occupied Finland by landing at Ratan (a village north of Umeå); Fabian Wrede would simultaneously come from the south, by which Kamensky would be crushed between the two Swedish forces. The Swedes landed at Ratan on 17 August and the army, led by Gustaf Wachtmeister, marched south towards Umeå. Wachtmeister, however, was excessively cautious and failed to reach Umeå before Kamensky had already passed through the city and marched straight at him, to break free.

On the 19th, the Swedish army was attacked in a disadvantageous position at Sävar and, instead of withdrawing across the river, Wachtmeister chose to fight over the vital heights of Krutbrånet. More fighting occurred further south towards Ytterboda as Kamensky sent a diversion force to attack the Swedish flank. Around midday, Wachtmeister withdrew his troops at Krutbrånet across the river to Sävar, even though he still had five battalions in reserve - while Kamensky was down to his last. Kamensky sent another force over the river of which half attacked the Swedes near Ytterboda, who had thus far been very successful, and the other assaulted Sävar itself. As he was now cut off from the Swedes at Ytterboda, and with intensified Russian pressure across the river, Wachtmeister chose to retreat; the battle was, along with the Battle of Oravais the previous year, the bloodiest of the war.

Instead of retaking a position at Djäkneboda, as planned, Wachtmeister fell back to Ratan, which allowed the Russians to use the main road north - Kamensky had thus managed to slip out of the intended trap; he sent a force the following day to attack the Swedes at Ratan, to cover his retreat. Wrede received word of the Swedish landing on the 19th (as the battle of Sävar had already ended) and set march north the following day. He took Umeå on the 24th, as the last Russian battalion marched north. The Swedish expedition had failed to destroy Kamensky's army, but it had been forced out of Västerbotten. According to the subsequent Treaty of Fredrikshamn, the Swedes ceded Finland to Russia all the way to the Torne River; the somewhat weaker Russian demands were most likely a result of the Västerbotten expedition.