The Niagara River

On the 12th, Fort Niagara was invested. So negligent were the officers that on the morning of the 13th one of the gates was found open, and the enemy entered without opposition to a victory which might have been almost bloodless had not the attacking force, incensed by the burning of Newark, been led to revenge; a number of the garrison were bayoneted; Lewiston was sacked, plundered, and almost entirely destroyed. A body of soldiers pressed on to the town of Niagara Falls. They were met on the heights by a small force which was not able to check them and the whole Niagara region was laid waste. The Indians were turned loose and many innocent persons perished at their hands. The advance on Buffalo and Black Rock was only temporarily checked and on the 30th these cities were captured and plundered as elsewhere described. Only four houses were left in Buffalo and one in Black Rock. Such was the revenge of the burning of Newark. These were dark days along the Niagara, when hatred never bred in honest warfare flamed up in the hearts of men, and the beginning of the story goes back to the inhuman destruction of old Newark.

Toward the latter part of March the campaign of 1814 was opened by General Wilkinson in the north, but little being accomplished he was soon superseded by General Brown. By the end of June the Northern army was gathered under Brown, once more prepared to carry the war into Canada, Buffalo being the headquarters. On the morning of the 3d of July, before daylight, General Scott crossed the river from Black Rock to invest Fort Erie. General Ripley was to have followed immediately, but he was delayed so long that it was broad day before he reached the Canadian shore. Scott pushed forward and drove the enemy's pickets into the fort. Brown, not waiting for Ripley, pushed into the forest in the rear of the fort, extending his lines so as to enclose the post. Ripley then appeared and took position in connection with Scott's command. The fort was then summoned to surrender, which summons, on account of its weak condition, was soon complied with just as reinforcements were on their way to give aid.

To stop the advance of these troops, Scott was sent with his command down the river. His march of about sixteen miles was a continual skirmish with the British, and finding the enemy in force across the Chippewa Creek he encamped for the night. Before morning of the fifth he was joined by the main body of Brown's army. On the east was the river, on the west a heavy wood, and between the armies the Chippewa and Street's creeks. The British had also received reinforcements during the night, and the battle of Chippewa was opened by each army attempting to test the other's strength.

The American pickets on Scott's left were in trouble by four o'clock and Porter was sent to relieve them; he drove back the British and Indians, but in following up his success found himself suddenly confronted by almost the whole of the enemy's army which attacked immediately. Porter maintained his ground at first but was finally compelled to give the order to retreat and this soon became a panic. General Brown noticed this and correctly supposed that the whole force of the enemy was advancing. Ripley and Scott were immediately rushed to the rescue, Ripley to fall on the rear of the British right by stealing through the wood, Scott to make a frontal attack.

The latter advanced across Street's Creek and the engagement became general along the whole line of both armies. Time and again the British line was broken but it sternly closed and continued the contest. Scott finally decided to take advantage of what he considered the unskilful manoeuvres of his foe; advancing, he ordered his forces to charge through an opening in the lines. Almost at the same instant Leavenworth executed a like movement, while Towson's battery poured canister into the British ranks. They were completely demoralised and gave back. Jesup on the American left had suffered greatly during the battle; forced to fall back, he finally found a better position, and now poured such a well-directed fire that the troops before him also retired. The British retreat did not stop until the troops were behind their entrenchments below Chippewa and the bridge across its waters destroyed. This stronghold could not be taken by the Americans; the command was given to retreat, and the same relative positions were occupied by the armies the night after the battle as the night before.

On the eighth the whole American force again moved forward. The British broke camp and retreated down the river closely pursued by Brown, who took possession of Queenston on the 10th. The enemy occupied Fort George and Fort Mississauga. Here Brown decided to await reinforcements from Chauncey and his fleet. News, however, soon came of the commander's illness and his blockade in Sacketts Harbour, whereupon Brown on the 23d fell back to the Chippewa. In case Riall did not follow, he expected to unlimber and fight wherever the enemy might be found; the night of the 24th, the army encamped on the battle-ground of the 5th, unconscious of the laurels to be won in a few short hours at far-famed Lundy's Lane.

The morning of the 25th dawned clear and beautiful. Unconscious of the proximity of the enemy, the Americans were enjoying a much-needed rest behind the village of Chippewa, when about noon news came that the British were in force at Queenston and on the heights, and that Yea's fleet had appeared in the river. Next came information that the British were landing at Lewiston and were threatening the supplies at Fort Schlosser. These reports were partly true. Pearson had advanced, unknown to the Americans, and taken position at Lundy's Lane a short distance from the Falls. Brown seemed impressed with the idea that the British were after the supplies at Schlosser and he was ignorant of the size of the force opposed to him. He at once determined that the best way to recall the British was to threaten the forts at the mouth of the river and Scott was detailed to accomplish this task. Eager for the conflict his whole command was in motion twenty minutes after having received the order. Between four and five o'clock the march of twelve hundred men began toward the forts.

Near Table Rock, Scott was informed that General Riall and his staff had just departed. In fact the Americans saw the troops move off from the house as they were advancing toward it, and the informant also stated that the enemy were in force behind a small strip of woods in front; but so convinced was the American leader that Fort Schlosser was the objective point of the British movement that he would not credit the story. Believing that but a small force was in front, he dashed into the woods to dispel them. Imagine his surprise when he found himself faced at Lundy's Lane by Riall's whole force! Scott's position was indeed perilous. To advance seemed destruction, to stand still would be equally fatal, while to retreat would probably throw the whole army into confusion. With that resource which always distinguished him, he quickly decided to engage the enemy, and if possible deceive them into believing that the whole American army was present while he sent back for reinforcements.

General Brown had been misinformed as to the enemy's movements. No soldiers had crossed to Lewiston, but the whole force was with Riall preparing for the present move. Scott found himself opposed to fully eighteen hundred men. The English lines extended over the hill in a crescent form with the horns extending forward. In its centre and on the brow of the hill, the strongest point of the position, was placed a battery of seven guns. Into the very centre of this crescent he had unconsciously led his army.

Scott immediately perceived on the enemy's left flank an unprotected space of brushwood along the river and instantly he ordered Major Jesup to seize this and turn the flank if possible. While this move was being accomplished Scott's troops engaged the enemy in front, only hoping to hold the army in check until the reserves arrived.

Jesup was more than successful. He turned the left flank of the enemy, gained his rear, and kept the reinforcements sent to Riall's aid from joining the body of the army. Besides this he had captured Riall himself with a number of his staff. By nine o'clock at night Jesup had accomplished this and in the meantime Scott had beaten back a fierce charge made by the British right; only the centre stood firm now.

Informed of the true state of affairs, and leaving orders for Ripley to make all haste possible with the whole reserve force, Brown mounted his horse and rode to the field, arriving just at this critical juncture. He immediately saw that the hill crowned with cannon was the key to the enemy's position; Ripley was advancing along the Queenston road; Scott's worn men had been recalled. The commander turned to Colonel Miller, saying, "Colonel, take your regiment, storm that work, and take it." "I'll try, Sir," said Miller, and at once moved forward. At this moment the regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas, which was to draw the enemy's fire from Miller, gave way. Nothing daunted, the young commander, with three hundred followers, crept up the hill in the shadow of an old rail fence thickly grown over with shrubbery. In this way they reached unobserved a point only several rods distant from the enemy, whom they saw around the guns waiting the order to fire. Resting their pieces across the old fence the little command took deliberate aim, the order was given by Miller in a whisper, a sheet of flame broke from the shrubbery, and not a man was left to apply a match to the British artillery. The men then broke from cover with a shout and rushed forward, and all seven of the cannon were captured. A fierce hand-to-hand contest was waged for a short time with the body of infantry stationed behind the guns, but they were finally forced from the hill. Four different attempts were made to recapture the position but all were unsuccessful.

While these events were taking place Scott was maintaining his position with great difficulty. His regiments were being literally cut to pieces and, finally, he gathered the remnants into one mass, formed in line for storming, and had given the order to move forward when the battery was taken by Miller. Scott countermanded his order and returned to his position at the base of the hill.

Brown and Scott were both severely wounded and the command devolved now on Ripley. When the battle was finally won Brown ordered Ripley to fall back to the Chippewa to give the soldiers a much-needed rest during the night, but to be back at Lundy's Lane by daybreak the next morning to obtain the fruits of the victory. Day came and Ripley had not moved from his quarters, but the British had returned and the two armies occupied almost the same ground as before the battle. Ripley advanced but the enemy's position was too strong to attack, so he discreetly returned to camp. Brown was so disgusted that he sent to Sacketts Harbour for General Gaines to come and assume command.

Generals Brown and Scott's troops were moved from the field supposing that Ripley would at least hold his position. Hardly had they gotten out of sight when Ripley ordered a retreat to Black Rock. Here he was forbidden by Brown to cross the river, so he took up a position above Fort Erie; at the same time the fortifications were strengthened in order to repel the expected siege.

The work on Fort Erie went forward unmolested until the 3d of August. Drummond then appeared before the fort with his army, which had been resting at Lundy's Lane since the battle of the 20th of July. Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker was sent across the river with a body of troops to capture Black Rock and Buffalo. These were met so gallantly by Morgan and his riflemen that they were compelled to return. Drummond at the same time opened fire on the fort; this was discontinued until the seventh, the respite being spent by both parties in preparing for the siege. Gaines arrived on the 5th and assumed command while Ripley returned to the head of his own brigade. On the 6th Morgan and his riflemen attempted to draw the enemy from his trenches but were unsuccessful; the cannonade was opened on the fort on the morning of the 7th and was continued until the 13th. On the next day all the guns possible were brought to bear on the fort, causing its commander to believe that an assault was planned and arrangements were made to receive the enemy. The guns were heavily shotted, vigilance of the guards doubled, and things made ready for the warm reception of the enemy. At midnight of the 14th, all was still quiet; a body of a hundred men under Belknap had been thrown out toward the British army to do picket duty as the night was so dark that the movements of the enemy could not be seen. Their stealthy advance, though cautious, was detected by the sharp ears of the waiting men; an alarm gun was fired and the advance party fell back toward the fort. Fifteen hundred men came charging against Towson's battery on the left, expecting to find the soldiers asleep, but a broad sheet of flame burst from the long twenty-four pounders here which made the line waver in its advance. At the same moment the line of the 21st shone forth in its own light, then all was darkness except as the guns were loaded and fired. Five times the attack was renewed by the two columns; each time they were beaten back.

Almost simultaneous with the attack on the left, another was made on the American right, against the old fort; this was repelled, but Drummond, valiant man, could not be held in check, and under cover of a heavy cloud of smoke, followed by a hundred of the Royal Artillery, he crept silently around the fort and by means of scaling ladders gained the parapet almost unobserved. All attempts to dislodge the enemy failed. Time and again they were charged, but each time they beat back their assailants. Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond commanded his men to give no quarter, and in a short time he fell, pierced through the heart by a man to whom he refused mercy. Daylight dawned with the enemy repulsed on the left. Reinforcements were brought to the right but there was no room to use them. The Americans were finally gathered for a furious charge, when that part of the fort which the British had seized was blown suddenly a hundred feet into the air and fell in ruins. At the same instant a galling fire was opened from the batteries and the enemy was compelled to retire.

Both armies now received reinforcements and kept preparing for a second engagement. A continual cannonade was kept up, when on the 28th of August General Gaines was so injured by a shell that he had to retire from action. General Brown, though shattered in health then resumed command. The British were continually strengthening their works and he saw that his only hopes lay in a sortie. The weather had been rainy which inconvenienced the enemy as their works were located on the low ground. Their numbers had also been greatly reduced by fever. These facts were learned from prisoners which had been captured. The sortie was planned for the 17th of September, all the officers acquiescing except General Ripley. The plan was laid with great secrecy and was favoured by heavy fog on the morning of the proposed action. The Americans were entirely successful, the enemy being driven from their works and almost all their supplies captured. This victory was hailed with delight by the whole country. This, with the brilliant achievement at Plattsburg, and the repulse of the British from Baltimore caused rejoicing all over the nation, and restored the people from that gloom into which they had been cast by the fall of the national capital.

On the 5th day of October General Izard arrived with reinforcements and took command. With almost eight thousand troops he now prepared to attack Drummond, but all attempts to draw him out of his trenches failed.

Learning that there was a large store of grain at the mill on Lyons Creek, Bissell was sent to destroy it. On the night of the 18th, he was attacked but was successful in driving off the enemy and accomplishing his task. Drummond, now perceiving that he could not hope to cope successfully with the superior forces brought against him, fell back to Fort George and Burlington Heights. General Izard soon removed his whole force from Canada. On the 5th of November Fort Erie was blown up, to keep it from falling again into the hands of the British.

On September 11th, the brilliant victory, mentioned before, was gained by the Americans at Plattsburg and with the opening of winter, the militia was disbanded and the war closed on the Canadian frontier.

In 1837 the Niagara was again the scene of military operations on a slight scale when the Patriot War broke out, an uprising of revolutionists who planned the overturning of the Canadian Government. Navy Island was for a time the headquarters of the ferment, and from here, under the date of December 17th, the leader, William Lyon Mackenzie, issued a proclamation to the citizens of Canada. This strong, misguided man is most perfectly described in Bourinot's The Story of Canada:

The Caroline incident most closely connects the immediate Niagara region with the Patriot rebellion. This small steamer was chartered by Buffalo parties to run between that city, Navy Island, and Schlosser, the American landing above the Falls. The Canadian authorities very properly looked upon this as a bold attempt to provide the freebooters on Navy Island with the sinews of rebellion. Colonel Allan McNab was sent to seize the vessel, and the fact that it was found moored at the American shore in no way troubled the determined loyalists. It was about midnight December 29th when the attacking party found the ship. In the melée one man was killed; the boat was fired and set adrift in the river, passing over the Horseshoe Fall while still partly afire.

Chapter XII

Toronto

It is believed that the word Toronto is of Huron origin, and that it signified "Place of Meeting." This has been contested; in any case it should be spelled To-ron-tah. The word is also interpreted as "Oak Trees beside the Lake," a derivation rather divergent from the above version and we must leave this to the learned etymologists.

Glancing over maps of the middle of the eighteenth century designed after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), we see the names of many forts and posts intended to keep up "the communications" between Canada and Louisiana, and overawe the English colonies then confined to their narrow strip of territory on the Atlantic coast. Conscious of the mistake that they had made in giving up Acadia, the French at this moment claimed that its "ancient limits" did not extend beyond the isthmus of Chignecto—in other words, included Nova Scotia. Accordingly they proceeded to construct the forts of Gaspereau and Beauséjour on that neck of land, and also one on the St. John River, so that they might control the land and sea approaches to Cape Breton from the St. Lawrence, where Quebec, enthroned on her picturesque heights, and Montreal at the confluence of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, held the keys to Canada. The approaches from New England by the way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu were defended by the fort of St. John, near the northern extremity of the lake, and by the more formidable works known as Fort Frederick or Crown Point—to give the better known English name—on a peninsula at the narrows towards the South. The latter was the most advanced post of the French until they built Fort Ticonderoga or Carillon on a high, rocky promontory at the head of Lake St. Sacrament. At the foot of this lake, associated with so many memorable episodes in American history, Sir William Johnson erected Fort William Henry, about fourteen miles from Fort Edward or Layman, at the great carrying place on the upper waters of the Hudson. Returning to the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, we find Fort Frontenac at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the old city of Kingston now stands.

Within the limits of the present city of Toronto, La Gallissonière then built Fort Rouille[38] as an attempt to control the trade of the Indians of the North, who were finding their way to the English fort of Oswego which had been commenced with the consent of the Iroquois by Governor Burnet of New York, and was now a menace to the French dominion of Lake Ontario. At the other extremity lay Fort Niagara. When the French were establishing this chain of forts or posts through the West and down the Mississippi valley Fort Rouille was founded on a site even then commonly called "Fort Toronto." It does not seem ever to have been a dominant strategic point; the probabilities are there was no force stationed here worth mentioning and, possibly, it was a mere dependency of Fort Niagara. It was destroyed in 1756 to prevent its fall into the hands of the English.

Little is known about the region of Toronto prior to Revolutionary times save the above records. It was untrodden wilderness. But when the fort was erected here the district in a general sense appears to have been known as "Toronto." Under French dominion it was a royal trading post and in the course of time the name attached itself to the fort and village at the neighbouring bay, which have grown to be the beautiful Capital City of Ontario. But the Toronto of the river Don and the great bay is strictly of English origin, and had for its Romulus Lieutenant-General Simcoe (1752-1806), first governor of Upper Canada.

When John Graves Simcoe arrived in Canada in 1792, the site of the present city of Toronto was covered by the primeval forest, its only human tenants being two or three families of wandering savages who had happened to select the spot for the erection of their temporary wigwams. One hundred years later we find at that very spot a magnificent city having a population of 250,000 people, a prosperous and enterprising community, possessed of all the comforts and appliances of modern civilisation and refinement,—and, instead of the sombre, impenetrable wilderness, the most wealthy and populous city of Upper Canada, with streets and private dwellings, and public edifices that will compare favourably with those of many other cities which have had centuries for their development. For its rapid rise to its present eminence Toronto is almost exclusively indebted to its admirable commercial position, its advantages in that respect having been appreciated by the far-seeing sagacity of Governor Simcoe, when selecting the site for a capital.

In 1791, when the former province of Quebec was divided into the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, Upper Canada contained about ten thousand inhabitants, chiefly Loyalists, who, as noted elsewhere, when the United States threw off allegiance to Great Britain, sought new hope in the wilds of Canada; where, though deprived of many comforts, they had the satisfaction of feeling that they kept inviolate their loyalty to their sovereign and preserved their connection with the beloved mother country.

In 1792 General Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; and in the summer of that year arrived in the colony. In the first instance the Government was established at Niagara, and there the first Legislature of Upper Canada was convened on the 17th of September, 1792. It was seen, however, that from its position on the frontier, Niagara was not well adapted for being the seat of government, and one of the first subjects which occupied the attention of Governor Simcoe was the selection of another site for a capital. On this point he very soon came into collision with the views of the Governor-General, Lord Dorchester, who was in favour of making Kingston the capital on account of its proximity to Lower Canada which he regarded as a matter of the first importance from a standpoint of trade, and also because of its possibility of defence, as, in the event of an invasion, troops from Lower Canada could be more easily forwarded to Kingston than to a more westerly point. Governor Simcoe, however, had visited Toronto Harbour, and had traversed the route thence to Penetanguishene on the Georgian Bay. He perceived that that was the most advantageous route for the then existing North-west trade,—the vast development of which since his time he may have dimly foreseen—and that so soon as a road was opened up to Lake Simcoe (then Lacaux Claics) merchandise from New York for the North-west, would be sent by Oswego to Toronto, and then via Lake Simcoe to Lake Huron, avoiding the circuitous passage of Lake Erie. Finally the Lieutenant-Governor's views prevailed, and the site of a town having been surveyed on the margin of Toronto Bay, his first step thereafter was to commence the construction of a road (Yonge Street) to Lake Simcoe. In recent years the idea which thus originated with the first governor has been completely carried out until to-day Toronto is, with Montreal, the chief railway centre and the second city of the Dominion. How long ere it will outrank its rival?

Governor Simcoe gave the name of York to the capital he had selected, and the rivers on either side received the names of the Don and Humber. His own residence he built at the brow of the hill overlooking the valley of the Don, at the junction of what was a few generations later Saint James Cemetery with the property of F. Cayley, Esq., calling it "Castle Frank," the name which the property still retains.

While the gubernatorial residence was being erected Governor Simcoe returned to Niagara, where he opened the third session of the Upper Canada Parliament on June 20, 1794. In the fall of that year, orders were given for the construction of Parliament buildings at York on a site at the foot of what in 1857 was Parliament Street, adjoining the place where the "gaol stands." In 1795 the Duc de Rochefoucauld was in Upper Canada, and in his published Travels alludes to a visit paid to York by some of his companions:

Nothing shows better than this that we must remember that Old World measurements of growth and cultural life cannot be applied to the condition of a new continent where every foot of land had to be taken from the aborigines, a continent in its agricultural infancy, devastated by wars, changing ownership thrice within one hundred years. The Indians in the district one hundred and fifty miles around Toronto have been replaced to-day by a million of people as enterprising as they can be found on the surface of the globe. In lieu of the dozen huts described by our noble writer in 1795, you will find to-day a city of a quarter million inhabitants, steamships, railroads, telegraph, electric light—the "City of Churches."

Toronto, as noted, owes the progress it has made almost entirely to its advantageous commercial position, which was the chief circumstance that originally weighed with General Simcoe in selecting this as a site for the capital of Upper Canada. The city is built on a slope, rising with a very slight inclination from the bay, sufficient to secure its salubrity, and to admit of a complete system of sewerage; but not enough to give its architectural beauties the advantage they deserve to gratify the æsthetic taste which would be disposed to seek on the shores of Lake Ontario for a parallel to the grand old cities of Europe.

Governor Simcoe's amenities and hospitalities, his simplicity, his cares and troubles are all parts of the early history of the province; his administration in Canada has been generally commended, despite the displays of prejudice against the United States. His schemes for improving the province were "extremely wise and well arranged." But his stay was abruptly cut short. It seems to-day that England was fearful he might involve the mother-country in a new war with the young Republic and he was rather hastily recalled to England in 1796, although at the same time promoted a full lieutenant-general in the army.

In 1804 a census of the inhabitants of Toronto was taken, and it was found that they numbered 456. At that time the town was bounded by Berkeley Street on the east, Lot, now Queen Street on the north, and New, now Nelson Street on the west. In 1806, Toronto or York was visited by George Heriot, Esq., Deputy Postmaster-General of British North America, and from the terms in which he speaks of it in his Travels through the Canadas, it appears that it had then made considerable progress. He says:

The Parliament buildings, when Heriot visited Toronto, were two buildings of brick, at the eastern extremity of the town, which had been designed as wings to a centre, and which were occupied as chambers for the Upper and Lower House of Assembly.

In 1807 the inhabitants numbered 1058, and continued slowly to rise till 1813, when the American War brought calamities on to Toronto, from the disastrous effects of which it took more than a decade to recover.

In 1813 the campaigns of the war centred, as we have seen, around Lake Erie. The Navy had lately restored American confidence, and a second invasion of Canada was a principal feature in the programme. At the middle of April Dearborn and Chauncey matured a plan of operations. A joint land and naval expedition was proposed, to first capture York, and then to cross Lake Ontario and reduce Fort George. At the same time troops were to cross the Niagara, from Buffalo and Black Rock, capture Fort Erie and Chippewa, join the fleet and army at Fort George, and all proceed to attack Kingston. Everything being arranged, Dearborn embarked about 1700 men on Chauncey's fleet, at Sacketts Harbour on the 22d of April, and on the 25th the fleet, crowded with soldiers, sailed for York. After a boisterous voyage it appeared before the little town early in the morning of the 27th, when General Dearborn, suffering from ill health, placed the land forces under charge of General Pike, and resolved to remain on board the Commodore's flagship during the attack.

The little village of York, numbering somewhat more than one thousand inhabitants at the time, was then chiefly at the bottom of the bay near a marshy flat, through which the Don, coming down from the beautiful fertile valleys, flowed sluggishly into Lake Ontario, and, because of the softness of the earth there, it was often called "Muddy Little York." It gradually grew to the westward, and, while deserting the Don, it wooed the Humber, once a famous salmon stream, that flows into a broad bay two or three miles west of Toronto. In that direction stood the remains of old Fort Toronto, erected by the French. On the shore eastward of it, between the present new barracks and the city, were two batteries, the most easterly one being in the form of a crescent. A little farther east, on the borders of a deep ravine and small stream, was a picketed block-house, some intrenchments with cannon, and a garrison of about eight hundred men under Major-General Sheaffe. On "Gibraltar Point," the extreme western arm of the peninsula, that embraced the harbour with its protecting arm, was a small blockhouse; another stood on the high east bank of the Don, just beyond a bridge at the eastern termination of King and Queen streets. These defences had been strangely neglected. Some of the cannon were without trunnions, others, destined for the war-vessel then on the stocks, were in frozen mud and half covered with snow. Fortunately for the garrison, the Duke of Gloucester was then in port, undergoing some repairs, and her guns furnished some armament for the batteries. These, however, only amounted to a few six-pounders. The whole country around, excepting a few spots on the lake shore, was covered with a dense forest.

On the day when the expedition sailed from Sacketts Harbour General Pike issued minute instructions concerning the manner of landing and attack.

It was intended to land at a clearing near old Fort Toronto. An easterly wind, blowing with violence, drove the small boats in which the troops left the fleet full half a mile farther westward, and beyond an effectual covering by the guns of the navy. Major Forsyth and his riflemen, in two bateaux led the van, and when within rifle shot of the shore they were assailed by a deadly volley of bullets by a company of Glengary Fencibles and a party of Indians under Major Givens, who were concealed in the woods that fringe the shore. "Rest on your oars! Prime!" said Forsyth in a low tone. Pike, standing on the deck of the Madison, saw this halting, and impatiently exclaimed, with an expletive: "I cannot stay here any longer! Come," he said, addressing his staff, "jump into the boat." He was instantly obeyed, and very soon they and their gallant commander were in the midst of a fight, for Forsyth's men had opened fire, and the enemy at the shore were returning it briskly. The vanguard soon landed, and were immediately followed, in support, by Major King and a battalion of infantry. Pike and the main body soon followed, and the whole column, consisting of the Sixth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-First Regiments of Infantry, and detachments of light and heavy artillery, with Major Forsyth's riflemen and Lieutenant McClure's volunteers as flankers, pressed forward into the woods.

The British skirmishes meanwhile had been re-enforced by two companies of the Eighth or King's Regiment of Regulars, two hundred strong, a company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a large body of militia, and some Indians. They took position in the woods, and were soon encountered by the advancing Americans, whose artillery it was difficult to move. Perceiving this, the British, led by General Sheaffe in person, attacked the American flank with a six-pounder and howitzer. A very sharp conflict ensued, and both parties suffered much. Captain McNeil, of the King's Regiment, was killed. The British were overpowered, and fell back, when General Pike, at the head of the American column, ordered his bugler to sound, and at the same time dashed gallantly forward. That bugle blast thrilled like electric fire along the nerves of the Indians. They gave one horrid yell, then fled like frightened deer to cover, deep into the forest. That bugle blast was heard in the fleet, in the face of the wind and high above the voices of the gale, and evoked long and loud responsive cheers. At the same time Chauncey was sending to the shore, under the direction of Commander Elliott, something more effective than huzzas for he was hurling deadly grape-shot upon the foe, which added to the consternation of the savages, and gave fleetness to their feet. They also hastened the retreat of Sheaffe's white troops to their defences in the direction of the village, while the drum and fife of the pursuers were briskly playing Yankee Doodle.

The Americans now pressed forward rapidly along the lake shore in platoons by sections. They were not allowed to load their muskets, and were compelled to rely upon the bayonet. Because of many ravines and little streams the artillery was moved with difficulty, for the enemy had destroyed the bridges. By great exertions a field-piece and a howitzer, under Lieutenant Fanning, of the Third Artillery, was moved steadily with the column. As that column emerged from thick woods, flanked by McClure's volunteers, divided equally as light troops under Colonel Ripley, it was confronted by twenty-four pounders on the Western Battery. Upon this battery the guns of some of Chauncey's vessels which had beat up against the wind in range of the enemy's works were pouring heavy shot. Captain Walworth was ordered to storm it with his grenadiers, of the Sixteenth. They immediately trailed their arms, quickened their pace, and were about to charge, when the wooden magazine of the battery, that had been carelessly left open, blew up, killing some of the men, and seriously damaging the defences. The dismayed enemy spiked their cannon, and fled to the next, or Half-Moon, Battery. Walworth pressed forward; when that, too, was abandoned and he found nothing within but spiked cannon. Sheaffe and his little army, deserted by the Indians, fled to the garrison near the Governor's house, and there opened a fire of round and grape-shot upon the Americans. Pike ordered his troops to halt, and lie flat upon the grass, while Major Eustis, with his artillery-battery moved to the front, and soon silenced the great guns of the enemy.