zer, one five and a-half inch howitzer--in all
thirty-three pieces of ordnance; and defended by upwards of 2,500
regular soldiers and militia.

But there was this essential difference between the two armies: the
little Canadian army had homes, families, and liberties to defend,
connection with the mother country to maintain, and the consciousness of
right; the great American army, with its fortifications, had the
consciousness of long-continued and wide-spread wrongs in depredations
against their western Indian neighbours, bloated avarice for conquest,
and inveterate hatred of Great Britain.

There are several incidents connected with this remarkable military
achievement. Mr. Thompson, in his History of the War of 1812, says:
"General Brock having made such arrangements, in the government of the
province, as were necessary during his absence from York, proceeded
thence to Fort George, and thence to _Long Point, on Lake Erie, where he
was joined by two hundred and sixty of the militia, who had, in a few
days, and in the very height of their harvest, gallantly volunteered
their services to share the dangers of the field in defence of their
country_, together with the detachment of the 41st Regiment, who had
been previously sent to that quarter." (Thompson's History of the War of
1812, p. 106.)

Among the 260 volunteers from the county of Norfolk--Long Point, Lake
Erie--were the elder brother and brother-in-law of the writer of these
pages (he being then ten years of age); the one of them was lieutenant
and the other captain, who, with a great number of their neighbours,
proceeded in a vessel from Port Ryerse to Amherstburg--making the
passage in forty-eight hours--General Brock marching by land. The vessel
with the militia volunteers reached Amherstburg some five days before
General Brock, and, under the command of Colonel Proctor and the
direction of a skilful engineer, commenced erecting a battery at
Windsor, opposite to Detroit, behind a tuft of trees which skirted the
river shore. Sentries were stationed at convenient distances along the
north shore of the river, to prevent any intercourse with the American
side; while the militia, officers and men, worked each night with the
utmost quietness, in the erection of the battery, retiring at the
approach of day. In four nights the battery was erected and mounted with
cannon, when General Brock arrived, approved of what had been done,
called a Council of the Indian allie