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able as being the last aggressive attempt of the French on lake Ontario. The British loss was two killed; two officers and eleven men wounded. *

Prideaux, on leaving Oswego on the 1st of July, followed the southern line of coast of lake Ontario; the distance to Niagara is about seventy miles. It would have been a navigation attended with danger to the bateaux, boats and canoes of which the expedition was composed, to have made the transit direct, passing far into the lake. There was another powerful motive for this proceeding. An armed schooner, "l'Iroquois," in the service of the French garrison, was constantly cruising about lake Ontario, and might have inflicted damage on the boats. As several of the bateaux were mounted with artillery, the fire of the schooner could have been returned. The armed vessel, nevertheless, might have proved troublesome, and that it failed to discover the expedition was fortunate for the boats composing it; the fact is even mentioned, as a matter to be blamed on the part of her captain.

The officer in command of the fort was captain Pouchot, of the regiment of Béarn, a good and experienced officer, and in other respects a man of capacity. He had never anticipated any such attack, having relied on his relations with the Six Nations, and had felt certain that any contemplated movement I would have been communicated to him. The Indians had moreover, assured him, that he had no cause for apprehension. What, to some extent, also made the expedition a surprise, was the belief that Amherst would descend the Saint Lawrence and endeavour to effect all that was attainable in one campaign, and it was greatly feared in the colony that this course would be taken. He had, however, done his best to make the fort

Both Pouchot and de Lévis mention the panic with which the French troops were seized. De Lévis places it during the first attack [Journal, p. 189.] From the narrative of the events by Haldimand, who knew nothing of the panic, it must have taken place immediately prior to their re-embarkation.

In 1781, at Yverdun, in Switzerland, he published a work upon the war,

"Mémoires sur la dernière guerre de l'Amérique,

*

suivis d'observations

dont plusieurs sont rélatives au théatre actuel de la guerre, de nouveaux détails sur les mœurs, les usages des Sauvages avec des Cartes Typographiques."

W

secure, and had extended and improved the defences so far as his means permitted. The fort was situated on the spot occupied by the present building, at the corner of the western angle at the discharge of the river Niagara into lake Ontario: it was defended by bastions, with guns en barbette, directed towards the lake. On the land side the defences were more elaborate they consisted of two bastions and a curtain, occupying the full extent of ground between the two waters. They had been built of casks, filled with earth, while along the lake shore, balks, fourteen inches square and fifteen feet long, had been placed side by side. The garrison consisted of 149 regulars, 183 of the colonial troops, 133 Canadian militia, 21 gunners, the whole amounting to 486 men. There were two posts connected with Niagara; one where Lewiston now stands, at the foot of the ascent, was known as the "fort du portage:" while on the height at the foot of Grand island, opposite to the mouth of the Welland river,* known, after the conquest, as Chippewa creek, a second post was established, afterwards, called fort Schlosser. It was at this point that goods were received from, or transferred to the canoes which ascended between Grand island and the main land. The first post was held by Joncaire de Chabert, a half-breed officer, with a small force.

Pouchot, considering himself secure, had weakened his force by sending detachments to the Ohio. The first intelligence he heard of the landing was from a soldier, who, with two comrades in the woods shooting pigeons, had been attacked. He escaped, while the other men were seized. Pouchot, considering that it was the proceeding of some stray Indians, sent out a party of ten. As they were marching with no anticipation of danger, they found themselves surrounded. Five were taken prisoners, and two wounded; thus Pouchot, for the first time, knew that the British were upon him in force. He sent out his scouts to examine the enemy's position. He was then informed that Prideaux had established himself at what was

By proclamation of 1792 this stream was officially described as Welland river, it took some years for the name to be generally recognized.

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ATTACK OF FORT NIAGARA.

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known as the little Marsh, with a portion of the force encamped in the woods, the barges, under a guard, were drawn up on shore.

Pouchot immediately sent orders to Joncaire de Chabert to abandon the "fort de portage," and to join him by the east side of the river, while he despatched an officer with orders to the commandants at Presqu'ile and Machault, to come to Niagara with all possible despatch, bringing what force they could gather of French and Indians. Chabert found his way to Niagara, first burning his fort as untenable. Having taken these precautions, Pouchot resolutely prepared for the defence of the place. On the afternoon of the 8th an officer appeared with a white flag; a captain of the Royal Americans. Blindfolded, he was led through the brush wood, and brought to Pouchot, to whom he gave a letter from Prideaux, to the effect that the king had appointed him governor of fort Niagara, and he was present to cause its surrender, if necessary, by force. Pouchot replied he did not understand English, and had no reply to make. However, he invited the officer to breakfast, when he said that he felt himself in a condition to defend the fortress, which he hoped Mr. Prideaux would never enter; and before making terms with him, at least he would seek an opportunity of gaining his esteem.

Prideaux proceeded to invest the place; on the 11th a battery was completed but the fire was without effect the works had been commenced in the wrong spot. At this time many of the engineer officers of the army are represented as being ignorant and incompetent; there were, doubtless, exceptions to whom. this censure did not apply. Often, however, their work was worse than useless, for it was misleading, and imposed on the troops much unnecessary severe labour. A curious scene took place in the fort on the 12th, between some Iroquois allies of the French and those on the English side, when each party endeavoured to persuade the other to abandon the cause it had embraced. A French Indian had first visited the British camp, where he had been received by a chief in Johnson's presence, who looked

upon the event in the light of a jest. Pouchot was present at the interview in the fort. As might have been looked for, the meeting was without result; it had been acceded to on both sides to conciliate the Indians. All that followed was that Pouchot gave each of his visitors a loaf, as in the British camp they had only cakes cooked in a pan.

The British continued to advance their lines, but the bombs did little damage, and they themselves somewhat suffered from the fire of the besieged. On the 15th and 16th a new position was chosen, and the British commenced to fire musketry from their trenches. The ground had been selected with the design of the battery enfilading the covered way, and so obtain protection against sorties. Shells were now thrown into the fort with more effect. It rained heavily on the 16th, and the following day was foggy. The British were, therefore, enabled to push forward a battery within 780 yards of the bastion angle, the fire of which was troublesome to the defenders. On the following day the works were advanced nearly two hundred feet, and a heavy fire directed against the fort from cannon, mortars and howitzers.

An unfortunate accident happened on the 20th. A shell burst on leaving the gun, a piece of which struck brigadier Prideaux, causing instant death. Johnson consequently assumed the command and energetically urged on the works; by the 23rd an eight-gun battery was opened within 150 yards of the place.

Pouchot received a reply to his letter to the Ohio forts, written by him to summon those garrisons to his assistance, in which he was asked which was the best course to be taken to relieve him. He had replied that the enemy was divided; a detachment was guarding the canoes, and the rest of the force was on the side of the little marsh; if de Ligneris thought himself capable of successfully attacking the British in one of these positions, he should make the attempt, for should he defeat them, it would be the means of raising the siege. reinforcements accordingly started for Niagara. In addition to the Ohio garrisons, they included several traders and Indians,

The

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DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH.

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gathered from Detroit and the Illinois, numbering twelve hundred men. The material was good as far as courage was considered; but it was an irregular force without discipline, except on the side of the men sent from the garrisons. The trader's wild and reckless life taught him to be daring, and he had learned every stratagem which an Indian might practise ; generally he was without that steady, sustained courage, so necessary in an emergency.

Johnson's scouts gave him notice of the approach of this reinforcement, and he determined to intercept it on its march. He posted himself below the falls, and on the evening of the 23rd he advanced some light infantry pickets to intercept any force descending the road. During the night he marched some grenadiers and a part of the 46th to sustain the attack. The French column reached the ground about half-past nine in the morning. They were met in front by a strong body of the British and Indians. As an attempt was made to force a way through this column, an attack was made upon the flank. It proved disastrous to the French in an hour, after great loss, they were completely routed. Many prisoners were taken, among them nine officers, including Aubry, de Ligneris, Marin, de Montigny, and de Répentigny.

The troops, scattered and broken, hurried from the field to the fort above the falls, where Rocheblave, a trader, had been left with one hundred and fifty men in charge of the canoes and bateaux. Many made their way to fort Presqu'ile, where they were joined by the few troops of that place and of fort Machault, who had not taken part in the expedition. De Bellaître, who from illness had been unable to be present, now assumed command. The loss in the action of those belonging to the garrisons of these places had been two hundred and fifty, mostly of the marine force. A great many of the traders from Illinois had likewise been killed, or taken. What remained, of those who had constituted the expedition, ascended lake Erie, and made their way as rapidly as possible to Detroit.

While the fight was going on west of the fort, a French ser