th hostile Indians, lay between her home and the British camp, she
tramped the distance unattended, though not unmolested, and reached the
Stone House in time to warn the plucky grenadier. The wily Irishman at
once despatched a party of Caughnawaga Indians to divert the enemy's
attention. Advancing with a few soldiers, and finding Boerstler and his
force drawn up in an opening of the woods, uncertain what to do, he
boldly ordered that officer to surrender with his entire command of 540
soldiers, though he had but forty-seven men to enforce the conditions.
His demand was instantly complied with.

To equalize in part this game of international see-saw, Chauncey again
visited York with fourteen ships, mounting 114 guns, and plundered the
defenceless capital.

On Lake Erie, Perry, with nine ships and a total broadside of 936 pounds
of metal, defeated Barclay's six Canadian ships, with a total broadside
of 459 pounds. These facts must be taken into impartial consideration in
weighing the issue. In the west, Procter, still suffering from the shock
received at Fort Meigs, with 407 troops and 800 Indians, retreated up
the Thames valley, neglecting to burn his bridges in his retreat, with
General Harrison and an army of 3,500 men in hot pursuit. The American
general brought him to bay at Moraviantown, and in the frozen swamps the
dispirited British, having lost all confidence in their fleeing
commander, surrendered or escaped. It was here that the gallant and
high-minded Tecumseh met his death, under distressing circumstances. The
story was circulated that, mortified at Procter's proposed flight, the
Shawanese chief was only restrained from shooting that officer by the
interference of Colonel Elliott. For his conduct and the unexplained
disaster at Moraviantown, Procter was court-martialed, severely
condemned, and suspended from his command for six months.

[Illustration: TAKING OF NIAGARA, MAY 27TH, 1813. From an old Print]

The defeat of Procter was counterbalanced, however, by Colonel de
Salaberry's dramatic victory over General Hampton. With 350 French
Canadian Voltigeurs he hypnotized 3,500 United States troops at
Chateauguay. When the fight was hottest the gallant Frenchman ordered
his buglers to sound the advance, an alarming fanfare, accompanied by
discharges of musketry from various points of the surrounding forest,
and the enemy, thinking he was about to be attacked and flanked by
superior numbers, was seized with p