of the cliff overhanging the
river.

The American soldiers, to quote United States historians, now "fled like
sheep," and scuttled off in all directions. Some raced headlong down the
main road, seeking shelter under the muzzles of Holcroft's guns; some
sought refuge in the houses; others raced to the landing only to find
the boats no longer there. Not a few, hot pressed by Brant's avenging
Mohawks, threw themselves over the precipice, preferring suicide to the
redman's tomahawk. Others plunged into the Niagara, essaying to swim its
irresistible eddies, only to be blown out of the green water by
Holcroft's grapeshot or sucked down by the river's silent whirlpools.

One boat, with fifty struggling refugees, sank with its entire crew. Two
others similarly laden were beached below the village, with only one
dozen out of one hundred souls still living. The river presented a
shocking scene. On the face of the water men, many maimed and wounded,
fought and struggled for survival. This pitiful spectacle was actually
taking place under the eyes of several thousands of American soldiers on
the Lewiston bank, who, almost impossible to believe, and to their
lasting disgrace, refused to join, or attempt even to succour, their
comrades--deaf to all entreaty--allowing them to perish. Every room and
shack at Queenston was an improvised hospital or morgue, filled with the
mangled bodies of the quick and dead.

Cruikshank says 120 wounded United States officers and men were taken,
of whom thirty died at hospital in Queenston and Niagara, while 140 more
were ferried across to Lewiston. Lossing, the American historian,
solemnly records the "fact" that "less than 600 American troops of all
ranks ever landed at Queenston," and that "of these only 300 were
overpowered"--some of the United States histories of the colonial wars
need drastic revision--yet 958 American soldiers were taken prisoners by
the British; "captured by a force," so officially wrote Colonel Van
Rensselaer, after the battle, "amounting to only about _one-third_ of
the united number of the American troops." Captain Gist, of the U.S.
army, placed their own killed at 400.

Among those who, when defeat was certain, fled to the water's edge,
after fighting valiantly, was Colonel Winfield Scott, General
Wadsworth, and other United States officers. Pursued by the Indians,
they lowered themselves from shrub to shrub. When escape was hopeless,
Scott tied the white cravat of his