from which place
they will come by water." Elliott had reported from Buffalo that "the
roads are good, except for thirteen miles, which is intolerably bad;
so bad that ordnance cannot be brought in wagons; it must come when
snow is on the ground, and then in sleds." All expectation of
contesting Lake Erie was therefore abandoned for that year, and
effort concentrated on Ontario. There the misfortune of the American
position was that the only harbor on their side of the lake,
Sackett's, close to the entrance of the St. Lawrence, was remote from
the highways of United States internal traffic. The roads described by
Chauncey cut it off from communications by land, except in winter and
the height of summer; while the historic water route by the Mohawk
River, Lake Oneida, and the outlet of the latter through the Oswego
River, debouched upon Ontario at a point utterly insecure against
weather or hostilities. It was necessary, therefore, to accept
Sackett's Harbor as the only possible navy yard and station, under the
disadvantage that the maintenance of it--and through it, of the naval
command of Ontario--depended upon this water transport of forty miles
of open lake from the Oswego River. The danger, when superiority of
force lapsed, as at times it did, was lessened by the existence of
several creeks or small rivers, within which coasting craft could take
refuge and find protection from attack under the muskets of the
soldiery. Sackett's Harbor itself, though of small area, was a safe
port, and under proper precautions defensible; but in neither point of
view was it comparable with Kingston.

While in New York, Chauncey's preparations had not been limited to
what could be done there. By communication with Elliott and Woolsey,
he had informed himself well as to conditions, and had initiated the
purchase and equipment of lake craft, chiefly schooners of from forty
to eighty tons, which were fitted to carry one or two heavy guns; the
weight of battery being determined partly by their capacity to bear
it, and partly by the guns on hand. Elliott's report concerning Lake
Erie led to his being diverted, at his own suggestion, to the mouth of
the Genesee and to Oswego, to equip four schooners lying there; for
arming which cannon before destined to Buffalo were likewise turned
aside to those points. When Chauncey reached Sackett's, he found there
also five schooners belonging mainly to the St. Lawrence trade, which
had been bought u