t infantry, under General Ripley,
was posted as a corps of reserve between the new bastions of Fort
Erie; all under cover and out of the view of the enemy.

About 20 minutes before 3 P.M. I found the left columns, under
the command of General Porter, which were destined to turn the
enemy's right, within a few rods of the British entrenchments.
They were ordered to advance and commence the action. Passing
down the ravine, I judged from the report of musketry, that the
action had commenced on our left; I now hastened to General
Miller and directed him to seize the moment and pierce the
enemy's entrenchments between batteries No. 2 and 3. My orders
were promptly and ably executed. Within 30 minutes after the
first gun was fired, batteries No. 3 and 2, the enemy's line of
entrenchments, and his two block houses, were in our possession.
Soon after, battery No. 1 was abandoned by the British. The guns
in each were spiked by us, or otherwise destroyed, and the
magazine of No. 3 was blown up.

A few minutes before the explosion, I had ordered up the reserve
under General Ripley. As he passed me at the head of his column,
I desired him, as he would be the senior in advance, to
ascertain, as near as possible, the situation of the troops in
general, and to have a care that not more was hazarded than the
occasion required; that, the object of the sortie effected, the
troops would retire in good order, &c. General Ripley passed
rapidly on; soon after, I became alarmed for General Miller, and
sent an order for the 21st to hasten to his support towards
battery No. 1. Colonel Upham received the order, and advanced to
the aid of General Miller. General Ripley had inclined to the
left, where Major Brooke's command was engaged, with a view of
making some necessary enquiries of that officer, and in the act
of doing so, was unfortunately wounded. By this time, the object
of the sortie was accomplished beyond my most sanguine
expectations. General Miller had consequently ordered the troops
on the right to fall back; observing this movement, I sent my
staff along the line to call in the other corps. Within a few
minutes they retired from the ravine, and from thence to camp.

Thus, one thousand regulars, and an equal portion of militia, in
one hour of close a