combat did begin, of having neglected
to storm the batteries, as had been agreed on, so as to have occasioned
the destruction of the flotilla and caused the failure of the
expedition.

The result of the Plattsburgh expedition was exhilarating to the
Americans. It seemed to be compensation for the misfortunes and
disasters of Hull, of Hampton, and of Wilkinson. In the interior of
Fort Erie even a kind of contempt was entertained for the British. In
their joy at the discomfiture of Downie and the catastrophe of Prevost,
they began to look with contempt even upon General Drummond, who had
cooped them up where they were. Hardly had the news reached these
unfortunate besieged people than a sortie was determined upon, and such
is the effect of good fortune that it infuses new spirit, and generally
insures further success. In the onset the Americans gained some
advantages. During a thick mist and heavy rain, they succeeded in
turning the right of the British picquets, and made themselves masters
of the batteries, doing great damage to the British works. But no
sooner was the alarm given than re-inforcements were obtained, and the
besiegers drove the besieged back again into their works, with great
slaughter. The loss on each side was about equal. The Americans lost
509 men in killed, wounded, and missing, including 11 officers killed
and 23 wounded, while the British loss was 3 officers and 112 men
killed, 17 officers and 161 men wounded, and 13 officers and 303 men
missing. On the 21st of September, General Drummond, finding the low
situation in which his troops were engaged very unhealthy, by reason of
continued rain, shifted his quarters to the neighborhood of Chippewa,
after in vain endeavoring to provoke the American General to battle.
General Izzard had, meanwhile, arrived from Sackett's Harbour with
4,000 troops from Plattsburgh, but General Brown, having heard that Sir
James Yeo had completed a new ship, the _St. Lawrence_, of 100 guns,
and had sailed from Kingston for the head of the lake, with a
re-inforcement of troops and supplies for the army, Commodore Chauncey
having previously retired to Sackett's Harbour, instead of prosecuting
the advantages which the addition of 4,000 men promised, blew up Fort
Erie and withdrew with his whole troops into American territory,
realizing the prediction of General Izzard, that his expedition would
terminate in disappointment and disgrace.

It indeed seems quite evident that th