at respect, etc.,
Edmund P. GAINES,
_Brigadier-General commanding_.

_____

_General Gaines to the Secretary of War._

To the Honourable Head-Quarters, left wing, 2d Division,
John ARMSTRONG, Fort Erie, U. C., August 23d, 1814.
Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.

Sir: I have the honour to communicate, for the information of the
department of war, the particulars of the battle fought at this
place, on the 15th instant, between the left wing of the 2d
division of the northern army, under my command, and the British
forces in the Peninsula of Upper Canada, commanded by
Lieutenant-General Drummond, which terminated in a signal victory
in favour of the united American arms.

Our position on the margin of the lake, at the entrance of the
Niagara river, being nearly a horizontal plain, twelve or fifteen
feet above the surface of the water, possessing few natural
advantages, had been strengthened in front by temporary parapet
breast works, entrenchments and abatis, with two batteries and
six field pieces. The small unfinished fort, Erie, with a 24, 18
and 12 pounder, forms the north-east, and the Douglass battery,
with an 18 and 6 pounder near the edge of the lake, the
south-east angle of our right. The left is defended by a redoubt
battery, with six field pieces just thrown up on a small ridge.
Our rear was left open to the lake, bordered by a rocky shore of
easy ascent. The battery on the left was defended by Captain (p. 228)
Towson; Fort Erie, by Captain Williams, with Major Trimble's
command of the 19th infantry; the batteries on the front, by
Captains Biddle and Fanning; the whole of the artillery commanded
by Major Hindman. Parts of the 11th, 9th and 22d infantry (of the
late veteran brigade of Major-General Scott) were posted on the
right, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Aspinwall. General
Ripley's brigade, consisting of the 21st and 23d, defended on the
left. General Porter's brigade of New York and Pennsylvania
volunteers, with our distinguished riflemen, occupied the centre.

I have heretofore omitted stating to you, that during the 13th
and 14th, the enemy had kept up a brisk cannonade, which was
sharply r