Title

Chapter 7

Identifier

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?b=1&ref=oo&id=298114

page

118-137

Bibliographic Citation

A veteran of 1812 : the life of James FitzGibbon / by Mary Agnes FitzGibbon.

10168803

A veteran of 1812 : the life of James FitzGibbon / by Mary Agnes FitzGibbon.

Type

Text

extracted text

118

A VETERAN OF 1812.

OSWEGO.

Montreal, and the wisdom of others must decide the>
ultimate fate of this once efficient army. At all
events nothing will be done, unless compelled by the
enemy, before our sick are sent off"
According to the records of the 49th, that regiment
marched for the Forty Mile Creek on October 2nd,
embarked in bateaux for York on October 4th, and
re-embarked for Kingston on the 5th, reaching that
place on the 11th ; yet Major Glegg writes on the 14th,
without making any reference to the departure of his
own regiment, or of its having been separated from
the main body before their retreat from the frontier.
The rest in barracks in the more comfortable
quarters afforded them in Kingston was of short
duration. When the American army, under the command of General Wilkinson, crossed the St. Lawrence
below Kingston early in Novemb3r, the 49th was
brigaded with the 89th and detachments of the Canadian Fencibles and Voltigeurs, the whole under the
command of Colonel Plenderleath, and sent to watch
the movements of the enemy.
On the 11th, the battle of Chrysler's Farm was
fought, but of it FitzGibbon gives no detail. He was
still with his old regiment, as h3 distinctly says that
he did not join the Glengarry Fencibles, in which his
promotion had given him a company, until January,
1814. He remained with the 49th until that .regirnent reached Montreal on December 16th, and joined
the Fencibles at Kingston, where they were quartered
in January, 1814.

119

CHAPTER VII.
HE campaign of 1814 was begun soon after the
opening of navigation. The first important
engagement was the attack upo a Oswego on
May 6th, in which the light companies of the Glengarry Regiment were attached to De Watteville's
regiment.
The landing in the face of a shower of grape and
round shot, followed by the storming of the hill and
capture of the batteries, was a brilliant affair. The
Glengarries, who covered the left flank of the troops
in the advance, added a share in the honors of one
more victory to their former reputation.
The regiment remained stationed in Kingston until
early in June, when they were again ordered to York,
and in July were sent forward to the Niagara frontier, there to take part in the " most active and severe
campaigns of any during the war. But it afforded no
opportunity of doing anything individually," writes
FitzGibbon. " I was almost constantly employed in
the advance, and the Glengarry Regiment forming
part of the small brigade under Colonel (now Sir
Thomas) Pearson, he was best acquainted with me
that summer, and to him I would gladly refer for
his opinion of me." *
.

* Letter to Sir Augustus d'Este, May, 1841,

120

121

A VETERAN OF 1812.

REINFORCEMENTS NEEDED.

On the 5th of July the enemy, three thousand strong
were repulsed with spirit by a small British force from
Fort Mississauga, and Major-General Riall urged the
advance of troops from York to enable him to act
upon the offensive, " while the militia and Indians
are flushed with their success, and their enthusiasm
against the enemy is still burning with indignation"
at the wanton destruction of houses and property at
St. David's, every house between Queenston and the
Falls having been burned by them."*
Information was obtained from deserters (one of
whom candidly acknowledges " a fear of hard fighting " as his reason for deserting) of the advance of
the enemy upon Fort George,tseven or eight thousand
strong, with heavy guns and mortars ; of the building
of the batteries at Youngstown and other points to
bear upon the forts and prevent the advance of gunboats to their assistance ; of the confidence of success
which animated the enemy's ranks owing to their
superior numbers. This information is conveyed in
detail to Major-General Drummond in Major Riall's
despatches of this date:
It is not my intention to enter into the details of

the defending force, the weakness of the British, the
small garrisons, the sort of make-shifts of guns
mounted in Fort George, the anxiety caused by the
short-sighted policy of one of our officers in permitting the American Indians to attend a council meeting held by those allied to the British, " thereby
arousing much dissatisfaction amongst our Indians
and western people."
The delay in the arrival of the much-needed reinforcements created fear lest the ardor of the militia
for revenge should cool, or their numbers be decreased
by the necessity of returning to their farms to cut
the hay receiving damage already from neglect.
Major-General Riall does not exaggerate the situation when he speaks of himself as " being in a very
unpleasant predicament." He had not sufficient men
or guns at his command to relieve Fort George without
endangering the safety of the whole province. He
could not proceed against the enemy in one direction
without the risk of being outflanked and surrounded
on the one hand, or of losing the forts on the other.
Lieut.-Colonel Tucker who was in command at
Fort George, had watched with intense interest and
apprehension the great preparations being made by
the enemy to attack it. The report of the engineers
who had been sent some time previously to inspect
the condition of the defences of that important post,
was unfavorable. Fort George was not in a condition
to withstand a cannonade. The necessity for reinforcements and concerted measures, to enable the

,

* Canadian Archives.
t Fort George had been occupied by General Murray when evacuated by McClure on December 12th, 1813, who, on the 9th, had
committed the dastardly outrage of burning the town of Newark
( Niagara) in order to prevent the British being able to winter in
Fort George. Fort Niagara had been taken by assault on December 18th, and a bitter revenge wreaked on the American frontier in
retaliation for the burning of Niagara.

8

A VETERAN OF 1812.

LUNDY'S LANE.

British to attack the enemy before their offensive
works were completed, was imminent. The enemy
had crossed the River Niagara, had erected and were
still erecting further batteries, from which they might
attack the fort, or cover their retreat if they were
repulsed. Major-General Drummond had pushed on
all the force at his command, and was hastening himself to support Generals Riall and Tucker. Ite had
sent on the Glengarry Regiment in advance, and on
the 22nd of July we find General Riall again reiterating the necessity of haste and of all available support.
All the details may be gleaned from letters now in
the Canadian Archives, but I must endeavor to con-,
fine myself as much as is possible to those only in'
which FitzGibbon is mentioned.
" TWELVE MILE CREEK, July 22nd, 1814.

The waggons and baggage seemed to be halted at
Brown's. When Captain FitzGibbon left the hill,
which he was obliged to do by the advance of a body
of cavalry and riflemen, the column was moving
towards St. David's, and when about a thousand
centred into that direction, it was halted. Captain
FitzGibbon was obliged to retire with his party
through St. David's, and was pursued about a mile
upon the road leading from thence to this place. I
understand some riflemen have advanced to within
a mile of the Ten Mile Creek, which is the rendezvous
for Lieut.-Colonel. Parry's brigade of militia. That
officer has been indefatigable in his exertions, and has
acqiiired great influence with the militia. I have
directed Lieut.-Colonel Pearson to detach two companies of the Glengarry Regiment to his support, and
he has beside a considerable number of Indians with
him."—(General Riall to Major-General Drummond,
Canadian Archives.)

SIR,-I had the honor to write to you this morning by Captain Jarvis, and enclosed you a letter I had
from Lieut.-Colonel Tucker, stating his apprehensions
for the safety of Fort George, from the vast preparations the enemy seemed to be employed in making
for its reduction, and urging me to advance immediately to its relief. About 3 o'clock p.m., I received
a report from Captain FitzGibbon of the Glengarry
Regiment, whom I had sent out with a party for the
purpose of reconnoitring and gaining information of
the enemy's intentions, that he had withdrawn from
his position before Fort George, and was again falling
back upon Queenston. From the top of the hill over
that place, where Captain FitzGibbon was, he was
enabled to see his whole force, which was in column
extending from near the village to De Puisaye's house.

The battle of Lundy's Lane was one of the hardest
fought and most important engagements of the war.
Waged at night, in darkness and against a superior
force, augmented by relays of fresh troops, it was a
hand-to-hand conflict, and nobly did the British hold
their ground. The particulars of the struggle have so
of .en been recounted, that I need not dwell upon
them here. The Glengarry Regiment had been sent
in advance to reconnoitre the American camp at Chippewa, and watch the movements of the enemy. They
occupied the high ground near Lundy's Lane, and
were given the post they had occupied before—the
right wing of the army. At
first the principal attack

122

123

124

,A VETERAN OF 1812.

was sustained by the left and centre, but before the
close of the engagement the right had their share of
the fighting. On the defeat and retreat of the enemy,
who were in such haste to return to Fort Erie that
they threw the greater part of their camping equipage
and provisions into the rapids, the light troops were
detached in pursuit.
In General Drunimond's report of the battle, he
speaks of the Glengarry Regiment as displaying
" most valuable qualities as light troops." (Despatches, July 26th, 1814.)
A sharp affair of outposts took place between the
pickets of the rival camps before Fort Erie on the
8th of August.
The enemy threw out the whole of his riflemen
into the woods for the purpose of driving out the
British Indians. At first they appeared to be successful. The Indians retired rapidly on the advance pickets, carrying them with them. The retreat was, however, only temporary. The Glengarry Regiment advanced with promptitude and great spirit, and, being
supported by the reserve, the Americans were driven
back and the advance post re-established. In this
engagement the regiment had two men killed, seven
wounded, one taken prisoner and two reported as
missing.*
" I cannot forbear," writes Lieut.-General Drummond, from his headquarters camp before Fort Erie,
on August the 12th, " taking this occasion of express* Canadian Archives, 685, page 47.

A REQUEST FOR LEAVE.

125

ing to your Excellency my most marked approbation
of the uniform exemplary good conduct of the Glengarry Light Infantry and Incorporated Militia—the
former under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Battersby, and the latter under Mayor Kirby. These two
corps have constantly been in close contact with the
enemy's outposts and riflemen during the severe
service of the last fortnight. Their steadiness and
gallantry, as well as their superiority as light troops,
have on every occasion been conspicuous." Yet it
was just at this time that one of the officers of the
Glengarry Regiment asked for leave.
The story of FitzGibbon's marriage has been told
so often as a romantic incident of a soldier's life by
those who heard it at second or third hand from his
fellow-soldiers, that it is difficult to ascertain the
correct details of time and distance with sufficient
accuracy to put the story into print. I can find no
record of it among his papers, yet my readers will
readily recognize that a man of FitzGibbon's character would be of all men the most unlikely to tell
it on paper, although by a friendly fireside it might
be frequently alluded to among those who were his
companions in arms at the front.
FitzGibbon was certainly with his regiment during
the whole campaign, with the exception of the few
days
for which, to the astonishment of his colonel,
lie asked leave, asking without giving any reason
for such an apparently unreasonable request. It is
safe, perhaps, to say that no other officer but Fitz-

126

A VETERAN OE

1811.

A ROMANTIC MARRIAGE.

127

Gibbon would have had such a request granted. His
reputation as a capable officer and for great personal
bravery stood his friend.*
His word that the need of leave was important to
him, that he would return before any decisive battle
was fought and his presence required, was sufficient.
Permission was given, and the soldier set off to meet
his bride.
Despatches were sent to the Commander-in-Chief
at Kingston on the 8th of August, and again on the
10th. Whether FitzGibbon was the bearer of either
we have no means of ascertaining, but he certainly
found some means of sending a private despatch by one
or either of them to the girl he was engaged to marry.

He bade her meet him in Adolphustown, then an
important little town on the road between Kingston
and York.*
Landing at the Carrying-place, he rode sixty miles
to the church door. On Sunday, the 14th of August,
lie was married to Mary Haley, by the Rev. George
O'Kill Stewart, the Church of England minister at
Kingston, by license, in the presence of Gavin H.
Hamilton and R. MacKay.
The knot tied, the soldier said farewell to his wife
on the church steps, and rode back to keep his word
to his colonel.
The condition of affairs on the frontier, hard fighting, privation and sickness being the inevitable order

* Lieut. -Colonel Bullock in his " Operations of the Army under
General Wolfe," published in the columns of the Canadian Loyalist
and Spirit of 1812, Kingston, June 13th, 1844, tells the following
anecdote of FitzGibbon apropos of the bursting of shells from the
enemy's guns :
" Those shells are very dangerous customers, and yet they sometimes afford amusement, for I remember in August, 1814, Colonel
FitzGibbon and myself were on picket together near our batteries
before Fort Erie, he with his company of the Glengarry Light
Infantry, and I with my Grenadiers of the 41st. The batteries and
Fort Erie were exchanging fire. It was a fine summer day, and we
were seated on the ground amidst some young second-growth oak
trees. FitzGibbon was quoting with great volubility some parts of
the Rejected Addresses,' when suddenly a shell burst in the air
close to us, and my brave friend's tongue received an immediate
check, and no wonder, for the fragments of shell made an awful
clatter among the trees ; we were fortunate enough to remain
uninjured, and• away went my friend again at the Rejected
Addresses,' as rapidly as ever. Such is courage."

In an editorial column of the same paper from which the above
is taken is the following paragraph :
" Under the head of ' Operations of Wolfe's army before Quebec,'
the conclusion of which will be found in the first page, there is an
anecdote given by the gallant author (C. J. Bullock) which fully
hears out the character for resoluteness and sang-froid ever
attributed to the old Forty-ninther. Those only, however, will
feel an interest in the anecdote who have ever seen a shell forced
from an enemy into the heard of his own position. They, on the
contrary, whose knowledge of the effect of shells is confined to a
few field days when men play at soldiers, cannot be expected to
understand either the danger to which Colonel FitzGibbon was
exposed, or the piquancy of the composure he manifested on this
occasion."
*

Adolphustown was settled almost entirely by the U. E. Loyalists, who came over from the opposite shore of the lake upon the
Declaration of Independence. It boasted of a court house anti
registrar, and still possesses one of the oldest churches, if not
indeed the oldest, in the Province.

128

A VETERAN OF 1812.

of the day ; his regiment being always sent to the
front, and the officers exposed to constant danger ; the
possibility, indeed, the probability, of an American
bullet finding a billet in his breast, and the girl he
loved being thus left unprovided for, seemed to FitzGibbon ample justification for such an extraordinary
and romantic step. If he fell, as his widow she would
be entitled to a pension and thus be provided for.
The notes and letter; from which I have taken the
principal incidents of FitzGibbon's life were written
after his wife's death ; there is no particular mention
of her in them. Always delicate, the tragic death of
one of their sons in 1834 was a blow from which she
never recovered. She died in Toronto, on March 22nd,
1841, and was laid beside her brother-in-law, Simon
Washburn, in St. James' churchyard. His tombstone is still to be seen close under the walls of the
east aisle.
There are two or three fragments of loving letters
extant, written during their rare separations from
each other, but none of any interest to the public.
From several books, in my possession, such as the
`,f Beauties of Hervey," on the fly-leaf of which is
written her name and the words, " From a friend in
the 49th, Quebec," and in ink of a later date, the
initials, " J. F. G.," Mrs. FitzGibbon must have been
a woman of some taste and education. She was not
a society woman, and is only remembered among the
few remaining friends as one whose health kept her
a close prisoner to the house. FitzGibbon always

THE CAMP 13EFORE FORT ERIE.

119

spoke of her with sadness and loving pity ; her eldest
son with the devotion of one to whom she had been
a good mother and a tender dependent charge.
The privations suffered by the troops, the want
of provisions, ammunition and clothing, had begun
to assume alarming proportions by the 18th of
August, 1814.
Constant skirmishes with the enemy, the wanton
destruct:on of the crops, the harrying of the settlers'
cattle and burning of their barns, stores and mills,
roused the strongest feeling against the Americans,
and kept the force camped before Fort Erie constantly on the alert. The erection of batteries to be
directed against Fort Erie or reinforcements from
the American shore occupied every available man and
moment. The light troops were employed constantly
in the advance to protect the men at work. Early
in September the rain set in with such violence that
the discomfort of the men was much increased. The
roads were rendered almost impassable for artillery.
The ,enetny had been largely reinforced from the
opposite shores and hacran ample supply of ammunition, while the wen kened British force were 'reduced
to counting their rounds and were in hourly anticipation of attack. This was indeed ardently desired
by men and officers alike. Too weak to assume the
offensive, they yet felt themselves equal to resisting
an attack and proving t3 the enemy that they still
had British soldiers and British pluck against them.
General Drummond speaks about this period of the

-

130

A VETERAN OF 1812.

campaign, as one " which has been marked by a
series of unlucky circumstances, as well as, of late,
by severe hardships and privations on the part of the
troops, who, I am most happy in reporting, have borne
them with the utmost cheerfulness and have evinced
a degree of steadiness and spirit highly honorable
to them."
FitzGibbon was sent to Kingston in September
with despatches from the camp before Fort Erie,
which resulted in Major-General Stovin being ordered
to Lieut.-General Drummond's support. In a letter
now among the papers buried in the Militia Department at Ottawa, FitzGibbon is spoken of as being in
charge of a convoy with stores and necessaries for the
front. In another and later letter he is addressed
as " in command of the incorporated militia now on
the frontier at Niagara."
There are probably other letters among these buried
records in which FitzGibbon's name occurs, but the
bundles being as yet unsorted, I was not 'allowed
further access to them.
FitzGibbon accompanied Major-General Stovin
when he joined Drummond on September 17th. On
the 19th, the Americans attacked the batteries so
recently erected by the British, " the fire from which
annoyed them much." (Despatch to Washington.)
The attack was made under cover of a heavy fire
from their artillery, and with their whole force,
amounting to about five thousand men. The state of
the roads and the torrents of rain falling at the time

HARD FIGHTING.

131

enabled them to succeed in turning the right of the
line of pickets without being perceived. A simultaneous attack being made on the batteries, they
penetrated as far as No. 4 picket.
" I myself," writes Drummond, " witnessed the good
order and spirit with which the Glengarry Light Infantry under Lieut.-Colonel Battersby pushed into
the wood, and by their superior fire drove back the
enemy's light troops." (Canadian Archives.)
Lieut.-Colonel Pearson, with the Glengarry Light
Infantry under Lieut.-Colonel Battersby; pushed forward by the centre road, attacked and carried with
great gallantry the new entrenchment then in full
possession of the enemy. (Ibid.) The British line of
pickets was again established as it had been before
the attack.
The American general, writing from Fort Erie,
speaks of this sortie as one " which, as respects hard
fighting, is not excelled by any one since the war."
The American loss was much greater than the British,
the loss of officers being exceptionally great. The
situation on the Niagara frontier was critical. The
enemy were increasing their force at every point, and
had even induced their mi itia to cross t3 Fort Erie
to the number of three thousand.
Fort Niagara had been so damaged by the incessant
rain as to render it unfit to resist an attack. The
difficulty of obtaining provisions was increasing. Ammunition was short ; the men in need of clothing,
many of them in rags, and entire companies without

132

133

A VETERAN OF 1812.

RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS.

shoes ; the roads so bad that the heavy ordnance could
not be moved without great difficulty; their camps
pitched literally in the water on a swampy ground
the nights growing cold, the early mornings frosty;
and sickness increasing ; constant vigilance, frequent
roll calls, and skirmishes with the enemy harassing
the men. The sickness among the troops increased
to an alarming extent, while an incessant downpour of
thirteen consecutive days rendered the camp a lake
in the midst of a thick wood.
The extreme wretchedness caused by-these circumstinces determined Lieut.-General Drunnnond to order
a retreat towards Chiprewa, to about a mile from
their present camping-ground, where, " if attacked,
better conditions would enable the brave handful of
troops which I command to at least have the advantage of fighting on ground somewhat open.". (Gen.
Drummond's despatch, Sept. 21st.)
The retreat was well executed, disturbed merely by
the advance of the enemy's pickets, who were driven
back by the British, and the new canip occupied on
the 22nd. Here, too, we find the Glengarry Regiment
forming part of the advance, in case the enemy
" should attempt to penetrate towards Chippewa in
force," to " guard and prevent the enemy crossing
Black Creek." (Archives, page 268.)
Reports of the enemy having received large reinforcements of regular troops reaching him, General
Drummond decided to further concentrate his force
behind Chippewa, and with the advance composed of

the Light Companies of the 6th, 82nd, and 97th
regiments under Major Stewart, the Glengarry Light
Infantry, a squadron of the 9th Dragoons, and one
gun, the whole under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Battersby, be prepared " to withstand any attack he
(the enemy) mightmake upon the position."
The movements of the enemy and the rumored
extent of his reinforcements rendered it prudent to
withdraw the defending force yet nearer to Chippewa,
although advance posts were still left a little in front
of Black Creek: These advance posts were " fifty
men of the Glengarry Light Infantry." The remainder
of the regiment were stationed at Street's Grove.
(Canadian Archives, C. 686.)
" On the evening of the 13th, the enemy advanced
to Black Creek, and having effected the passage of
that creek during the night, he continued his advance
as far as Street's Grove on the following morning,
the Glengarry Light Infantry retiring before him
with the utmost regu4arity. A line of pickets was
taken up at a short distance in front of the te'te de
pont, and occupied until the morning, when they
were obliged to retire into the works before the
whole of the enemy's army." (Ibid. p. 31.)
The fire from his guns continued the whole day,
but at night he retired to his camp at Street's Grove.
During the 16th, he continued to deploy columns of
infantry in front of the British position at the mouth
of the Chippewa, without, however, venturing within
the range of the guns. About one,o'clock on the 17th,

A VETERAN OF MI

THE BRAVE GLENGARRY MEN.

his troops disappeared. Pickets were immediately
thrown out, and both cavalry and infantry pushed in
different directions to reconnoitre. The enemy had
abandoned Street's Grove and retired to Black Creek.
The steadiness of the retreat of the Glengarry Regiment, and the position of the British being stronger
than they had anticipated, as well as the rumored
approach of the British fleet on the lake, were the
probable causes of this sudden retreat on the part of
the Americans.
On the 18th, a large body moved up Black Creek
in the direction of Cook's Mills, on Lyon's Creek.
The Glengarry Light Infantry are here again to the
front. They, with seven companies of the 82nd, were
i mmediately sent in that direction. Upon the receipt
of further tidings of the enemy's force and probable
intentions, the 100th Regiment, and the three remaining companies of the 82nd, with one gun, were
ordered to join them. With this force, in all about
750, Colonel Meyers was ordered to " feel the enemy
very closely."
Colonel Meyers carried out his instructions, and, in
his letter to Major-General Drummond, speaks very
highly of the conduct of the Glengarry Infantry. " I
found the enemy's advance," he writes, " with a strong
support, posted on the right bank of a ravine which
runs to Lyon's Creek, a small distance from the mills.
A part of the Glengarry Regiment turned down a
small wood, which covered the front of the enemy,
and crossed the head of the ravine, whilst the remain-

der passed through the wood. By this movement the
enemy's light troops were driven back in admirable
style, whilst a part of his force crossed Lyon's Creek
for the purpose of annoying our left. Having chiefly
the recognizance in view, and finding that object not
to be attainable by a forward movement, from the
thickness of the woods, I retired the Glengarry Regiment, and fell back a small distance in the hope of
drawing the enemy forth to the open ground, and, if
circumstances would justify it, to bring him to a more
general action." (Canadian Archives.)
The force thus coaxed into action or skirmish, from
which they suffered greatly, amounted to from 1,500
to 2,000. " The conduct of the Glengarry Regiment
during the campaign has been so conspicuous, that
Lieut.-Colonel Battersby and the officers and men of the
corps can receive little further praise from any report
of mine, but on this occasion I cannot refrain from
adding my humble tribute of applause to their earned
fame." (Colonel Meyers' letter.)
This was repliel to by a letter to the troops from
the Lieut.-General, thanking them for their gallant
behaviour.

134

135

In the General Orders of October 22nd, the regiment is brigaded with Major-General De Watteville's,
and formed at Street's.
The success of Colonel Meyers' reconnaissance resulted in the retreat of the American army.
The American commander, General Brown, had
detached two of his regiments to cover his retreat

137

A VETERAN OF 1812.

CLOSE OF THE WAR.

from Cook's Mills, and so well had the Glengarry
Regiment " felt them " that they retreated in haste to
the shelter of the guns the state of the roads had
prevented their bringing with them, without stopping
to burn the mills, or pausing to hazard the engagement their pursuers were so anxious to provoke.
Falling back over the heights opposite Black Rock,
they crossed over to their own shores, leaving only a
few hundred in Fort Erie. Although General Drummond was able to report all the positions held by the
British troops in good order, he was too well aware
of the critical state of affairs, the want of provisions,
the state of the roads, and the uncertainty of Sir James
Yeo's movements on the lake, to heed the letters from
headquarters urging him " not to let the season pass
without striking some decisive blow."
The retreat of the American army might well have
been construed as a feint to draw the British on, that
by turning their position and outflanking them, they
might obtain by strategy what they had failed to
accomplish by force. The British, however, were too
well aware of the numerical superiority of their enemy
to either imagine such a course necessary or doubt
the reality of their retreat.
General Drummond had faith in his advance pickets,
in the vigilance of his officers, and in the impression
the valor of his light troops had made upon the
enemy.
A rumor reaching the commanding officer that the
enemy were about to evacuate Fort Erie, FitzGibbon

was detached with a small party to reconnoitre at
closer quarters.
True to his usual custom of going himself to the
front when there was any risk of capture, or the
information acted upon being incorrect, FitzGibbon
posted his party in the wood, and rode forward alone
to within a few ' yards of the fort. There appearing
to be none of the usual signs of activity or life within
its walls, he ventured nearer, and entering the fort
rode through every part of it.
The enemy had evacuated it only a few hours before, having blown up the works and in every other
respect completely dismantled and destroyed it, leaving nothing but ten or twelve kegs of damaged
musket ball and cartridge. (Canadian Archives.)
The Glengarry Regiment was destined for York,
to be quartered there during the winter, but the
movements of the enemy made it necessary to retain
a force on the frontier. FitzGibbon's company was
stationed at Turkey Point.
Although the war was.practically over, the country
along' the frontier and throughout the Niagara peninsula had been so desolated, and was still in such a
defenceless condition, a prey to bands of marauding
freebooters, that the Glengarry Regiment had still
some exercise for its abilities as light troops, in pur=
suing these wretches and protecting the inhabitants.
Upon the official declaration of the peace in March,
the Glengarry Regiment was stationed at York.
The knowledge of woodland warfare acquired dur-

136

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9