tely advanced. On approaching the fortress, sentries,
planted on the outer works, were surprised and taken, the countersign
obtained, and in a few minutes the fort was carried at the point of the
bayonet.

The loss on the part of the British in this affair was only six killed
and five wounded: that of the enemy amounted to sixty-five killed and
fourteen wounded (all with the bayonet), and the whole garrison was made
prisoners, consisting of nearly 350. There were in the fort, at the time
of its capture, twenty-seven pieces of ordnance of weighty calibre,
3,000 muskets with apparatus, besides large magazines of camp equipage
and military clothing, which of course fell into the hands of the
victors.

On the same day on which Fort Niagara was captured, the town of
Lewiston, about eight miles above Fort Niagara, was taken possession of
by a British force under Major-General Riall, without opposition; in
which place the public magazines were well filled with provisions and
other military stores.

Towards the latter end of the same month, General Riall crowed the
Niagara river at Black Rock, at the head of a force consisting of about
600 men, detachments from the 8th or the King's Regiment, 41st, 89th,
and 100th Regiments, with a few Militia volunteers, exclusive of six or
seven companies of the Royal Scots, under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, who were directed to land between the
villages of Buffalo and Black Rock, about two miles distant from each
other, with a view to divert the garrison of Black Rock, while the other
troops were landing in front of that port; but in consequence of the
severity of the weather, a number of the boats were stranded; by which
means the troops were unable to land in time to effect the object for
which they had been intended; however, the enemy was driven from both
positions in a short time.

The American loss in this affair was upwards of five hundred, 130 of
whom were prisoners of war; the loss of the British was inconsiderable
compared with that of the enemy.

The state of exasperation to which the mind of every British subject had
been wrought by the conduct of McClure in burning the town of Newark,
and exposing all to the inclemency of a Canadian winter, both the
helpless infant and infirm old age, was such that nothing but a similar
retaliation could assuage; the whole line of frontier, from Buffalo to
Fort Niagara, was therefore burnt to ashes.

Ample vengeance having