longing to these institutions were consumed at the same time. The church was robbed and even the town library pillaged. "Commodore Chauncey" says Colonel John Clark in his memoirs, "was so ashamed of this last transaction, that he endeavoured to collect the books belonging to the

In 1811, Lieutenant-Governor Gore offered him the parish of York, and Brock offered him the chaplaincy of the troops. He accepted and reached York from Cornwall in 1812. In April, 1813, he was most active during an attack upon the town, and was one of those who conducted the negotiations for capitulation. The people owed much to his activity and fearless courage.

town and legislative library, and actually sent back two boxes filled with them; but hardly any were complete. Much private property was plundered and several houses left in a state of ruin." It was thus that the Americans observed the terms of the capitulation by which the safety of all private property and of the papers belonging to the civil officers was guaranteed.

The capture of York was the first serious misfortune that befell the British in Canada during the war, and it was one that might have been prevented. If York was not worth holding, there was no necessity for keeping troops there, but if it was worth holding, it should have had proper defences. If General Sheaffe, instead of a few pop-gun 6-pounders, with which he armed the batteries, had placed upon them the guns of the new ship that was being built, Chauncey's fleet would have been forced to keep at a respectable distance and a landing could hardly have been effected. These guns comprised a long 24-pounder, eight long 18, four short 68, and ten short 32-pounders. With such a battery as that at the entrance of the harbour, York would have been safe. General Sheaffe, who had been made a baronet of the United Kingdom for his services at Queenston, was not afforded another opportunity of mismanaging the military affairs of Upper Canada, but was soon afterwards superseded in the chief command of the province by Major-General De Rottenburg.

CHAPTER X

FORT GEORGE AND SACKETTS HARBOUR

As the Americans had no intention of holding York, their expedition to that place can only be regarded in the light of a raid for the destruction of property. They now proceeded to prepare for the main object of the campaign, the occupation of the Niagara frontier. Dearborn and Chauncey were detained in York by adverse winds and bad weather until the eighth of May, when they crossed the lake and encamped their troops at Four Mile Creek to the east of Fort Niagara. More troops and supplies were then hurried forward from Sacketts Harbour, and by the twentysixth of May, the day before the attack, there were about six thousand American soldiers available for an attack on Fort George in addition to the seamen of the fleet. These consisted of three brigades of infantry under Generals Boyd, Winder and Chandler, besides riflemen and artillery. There was also the garrison of Fort Niagara under General Morgan Lewis, and a reserve formed of the marines and seamen of the fleet and Macomb's regiment of artillery. A sufficient number of boats had been built to embark the whole force at once.

Against these extensive preparations for the conquest of Canada, the British had very little to show. The whole British force on the Niagara frontier was about one thousand eight hundred regulars and six hundred militia. The former consisted of the 49th Regiment and of detachments from the 8th, 41st, Glengarry and Newfoundland Regiments, and the Royal Artillery. The militia were from the counties of Norfolk, Lincoln and York. These troops were under

the command of Brigadier-General John Vincent. At Fort George, the point of attack, were eight companies of the 49th, five companies of the 8th, three companies of the Glengarry and two of the Newfoundland Regiment, a few men from the 41st Regiment, and thirty of the Royal Artillery with two, three, and five 6-pounders and a 5-inch howitzer. The whole numbered less than one thousand rank and file of regulars. There were also at Fort George three hundred and fifty militia and fifty Indians. Nor did

the character of the defences make amends for the inadequacy of the force. Four of the 24-pounders captured from Hull had been mounted on Fort George, but that work was so badly situated that it did not command the whole of the lake shore within the range of its cannon, as it should have done. A fifth 24-pounder was mounted en barbette on a battery near the lighthouse, half a mile to the north of Newark. A 9-pounder was also similarly mounted near One Mile Creek to the westward of Newark, the point where the Americans landed.

On the morning of the twenty-seventh all of the troops of the enemy with their artillery were embarked in the numerous boats and in the armed vessels, and before four o'clock the whole flotilla moved towards the mouth of the Niagara River. The morning was calm and foggy, a circumstance which proved of great advantage to the invaders as it

prevented the cannon of Fort George from playing upon them as they took their stations. As the sun rose the fog cleared away and disclosed the enemy in position for the attack. The schooners Julia and Growler were placed at the mouth of the Niagara River to silence the 24-pounder mounted en barbette near the lighthouse. Each of these vessels carried a long 32-pounder and a long 12-pounder, so that each was double the force of the battery. The Ontario, which also mounted a long 32-pounder and a long 12-pounder, took up a position north of the lighthouse so as to enfilade the same battery and cross the fire of the other two. The 24-pounder, which was manned by militia artillery, had to be spiked and abandoned after the cannonade had lasted about fifteen minutes. Mr. James, in his "Military Occurrences" expresses the opinion that this gun should have sunk one or two of the enemy's schooners and hints that those who manned it did not do their duty. But it must be remembered that the 24-pounder, besides the direct attack by the three long 32-pounders and three long 12-pounders on the schooners, was commanded by the guns of Fort Niagara, and exposed to deadly discharges of grape from that quarter. There is no doubt that the gun was worked as long as possible by the militia who manned it.

The schooners Tompkins and Conquest were stationed near One Mile Creek so as to command the 9-pounder mounted there, which was also manned by militia artillery. These vessels each carried a long 32-pounder, a long 12-pounder and four long 6-pounders. The point of landing for most of the troops was near this battery, and, for the purpose of covering this movement, the Hamilton, Asp and Scourge took stations as close to the shore as the depth of the water would allow. These vessels carried between them two long 32-pounders, two long 24-pounders, eight long 6-pounders and eight 12-pounder carronades. The ship Madison, carrying twenty-four 32-pounder carronades, brig Oneida, with sixteen 24-pounder carronades, and schooner Lady of the Lake with a long 9, were also placed so as to sweep the