of November," he complains, "the British garrison of Montreal
consisted solely of 400 marines and 200 soldiers. What a golden,
glorious opportunity has been lost by the caprice of Major-General
Hampton!"[51] Poor man, he was to have pretty much the same luck
himself just afterwards! Wilkinson's army proceeded on its own course
down the river, but was almost as ignominiously defeated at Chrysler's
Farm on the 10th of November, where his 3,000 or 4,000 men were
matched, partly in open field and partly with the assistance of a ruse
as at Chateauguay, against 800 British and thirty Indians, under
Colonel Morison, a man equally brave and able with McDonell and De
Salaberry.

Mr. Dion, of Chambly, to whom the erection of a fine bronze statue of
De Salaberry is due, has related to me a number of particulars from De
Salaberry's letters held by his relatives. The hero complains bitterly
of Prevost and De Watteville--"those two Swiss"--and that on account
of his religion he could get no higher than a Lieut.-Colonel. From the
same letters it appears that the "Temoin Oculaire" was a young lawyer
named O'Sullivan, later, Judge O'Sullivan, a man partly of Irish
family, in person large and handsome, and a great friend of De
Salaberry, who ever remained grateful to him for preserving record of
his deed in his celebrated letter. It is commonly attributed to D.B.
Viger. Another little fact mentioned in the correspondence of De
Salaberry is that his men in the battle were barefooted.

The almost unique nature of the victory strikes one. Its keystone was
De Salaberry's masterly use of illusion. Of it was the choice of a
thick wood to conceal his small force, their entrenchment behind the
abatis and in bush positions, the unexpected fire from the left bank
upon Purdy, the Indians in the woods, and, more than everything, the
ruse of the multiplied bugles. But besides illusion there was the
ablest possible disposition, for there seems no doubt but that no
spot could have keen chosen along his projected route greater in
strength when fortified and guarded just as that was. The enemy could
only reach it fatigued, and far from sources of supply, the wood was
thick, the ravines occurred happily, the river was free from fords for
a long distance, and a frightful swamp occupied the opposite bank. How
would De Watteville's small and raw army have acted in the open
country had this position not been tried?

Next, how ought the credit of the affair