frontier began to excite serious alarm; and general M'Clure, too dastardly to meet in the field the avengers of the conflagration of Newark, had requested major-general Hall to take the command of the regulars and militia, then assembling from all parts, to repel any further. encroachments. On the morning of the 23d the major-general fixed his head-quarters at Batavia, a village about 40 miles from Buffaloe. On the morning of the 29th we find him at Buffaloe, reviewing his troops; which then amounted to 2011 men, but were afterwards, it appears, considerably reduced by desertion.*

On the 28th lieutenant-general Drummond took up his head-quarters at Chippeway; and, on the next day, within two miles of FortErie. Having reconnoitred the enemy's position at Black Rock, the lieutenant-general determined to attack him. Accordingly, on the night of the 30th, major-general Rial, having under his command four companies of the 8th, 250 men of the 41st, the light company. of the 89th, and the grenadiers of the 100th, regiments, numbering, with 50 volunteer-militia, about 590 rank and file, also a body of Indian warriors, not exceeding 120, crossed the Niagara, and landed, without opposition, about two miles below Black Rock. The light-company of the 89th advanced along the road, and secured an *Ilist. of the War, p. 161.

American piquet, as well as the bridge over the Conjuichity, or Schojeoquady,† the boards of which had already been loosened, preparatory to their removal. The 250 men of the 41st, and the grenadiers of the 100th, were joined to the light-company of the 89th; and the whole, amounting to about 400 rank and file, in order to secure the passage of the bridge, took up a position, a short distance beyond it, at a place called the Sailor's battery. In the course of the night several attempts were made by general Hall's militia to dislodge the British from their position; but," owing to the darkness of the night, and the confusion into which the militia were thrown by the enemy's fire,"* every attempt failed.

At day-dawn on the 31st, the royal Scots, about 800 strong, along with a detachment of the 19th dragoons, the whole commanded by lieutenant-colonel Gordon, of the royals, crossed over to land above Black Rock, for the purpose of turning the enemy's position, while majorgeneral Rial's force should attack him from below. Unfortunately, owing to some error in the pilots, several of the boats grounded; and became, in consequence, exposed to a heavy and destructive fire from one 6, one 24, and two 1-2-pounders, at the Black Rock battery, and from about 600 men‡ drawn up on the beach, * App. No. 6. + See Plate I. Ilist. of the War, p. 161.

flanked by a number of Indians. The gallant royals, thus sitting in their grounded boats, to be shot at like targets, lost 13 rank and file, killed, and three serjeants, and 29 rank and file wounded. Fortunately, a few well-directed shots from five field-pieces stationed on the opposite shore, and the near approach of majorgeneral Rial's force upon the enemy's right, caused a favorable diversion.

By this time a considerable force of militia, certainly not fewer than 1500, had assembled in the town; but, after a short resistance, the Americans abandoned Black Rock and its batteries, and fled towards Buffaloe, about 24 miles distant. To this town they were followed, in close pursuit; and, although protected by a field-piece posted on a height that commanded the road, made but a slight resistance, ere they fled in all directions to the neighbouring woods.

The British captured at these two posts eight pieces of ordnance, including a 24 and 18-pounder. For want of adequate means of conveyance the public stores, consisting of considerable quantities of clothing, spirits, and flour, were obliged to be destroyed. All the inhabitants having left Black Rock and Buffaloe, the two villages shared the fate of Newark. The United States' vessels Chippeway, Little Belt, and Trippe, were found aground near Buffaloe Creek; and, along with their stores, were also committed to the flames.

This fact is scarcely noticed by the American editors; although the smallest of these three vessels, when captured from us a short time previous, was, with the utmost gravity, styled, "His Britannic majesty's schooner Chippeway." The British loss on this occasion, including that of the royal Scots already given, amounted to 31 killed, 72 wounded, and nine missing. The American loss does not appear; except where general Hall states, that " many valuables were lost. Owing to the nimbleness of the American militia, and the contiguity of the woods, only 130 prisoners were made; among whom was the notorious colonel, or doctor Chapin. Major-general Hall himself, with nearly 300 of the most pursy of his soldiers, brought up at the Eleven-mile Creek, about three miles from Buffaloe.

The nine missing of our troops were some careless fellows who had strayed to the margin of the village, and were captured on the 1st of January, by an American scouting party, headed by a captain Stone. Two officers of this detachment were surprised, while on horseback, by a patrole of the 19th light dragoons, and one, "lieutenant Totman, of the Canadian volunteers," was shot. Mr. Thomson declars, that

James's Naval Occurrences, p. 286.

+ Nav. Hist. of the United States, Vol. II. p. 242. + App. No. 7.

to wait the chastisement that was preparing for them." He next furnishes us with a piece of useful information. "The enemy," says he, "having declared their conduct on the Niagara frontier to have been committed in retaliation for excesses said to have been committed by the American armies in Canada, the censure, or rather indignation, of the suffering inhabitants was turned against general M'Clure, who had the command. The general, previous to retiring from command, published an address to the public, in justification of his own conduct, in which he seems to have been pretty successful.”* His success did not, at all events, reach to the security of his person; for he was compelled, for a long while, to have a strong guard of regular troops stationed before his door, in order to restrain the justly enraged population from treating him as he deserved.

In the harbor at Erie,† distant 91 miles from Buffaloe, were lying the ships, brigs, and larger schooners of the American fleet; nor could they seek safety upon the lake, on account of the ice that surrounded them. The Americans, having good reason to fear an attack upon, had, by collecting troops and cutting away the ice from the sides of the vessels, made every arrangement for the security of, this important depôt. After the incompetency of the American militia to

* History of the War, p. 164. + Sec p. 49.