te state with respect to clothing,
and all that regards bedding and barrack comforts in general, these
wants cause discontent and desertion, but the conduct of a great
majority is highly honorable to them, and I have not failed to encourage
it by noticing it in public orders." In the order to which reference is
made he had said; "Major General Sheaffe has witnessed with the highest
satisfaction, the manly and cheerful spirit with which the militia on
this frontier have borne the privations which peculiar circumstances
have imposed upon them. He cannot but feel that their conduct entitles
them to every attention he can bestow upon them. It has furnished
examples of those best characteristics of a soldier, manly constancy
under fatigue and privation and determined bravery in the face of the
enemy."

On the 23rd of the same month he observed that the number of the militia
in service had constantly increased since the termination of the
armistice and that they seemed very alert and well disposed. Their duty
during the next three weeks was of the most wearisome and harassing kind
as none of them were permitted to take off their clothes by night, and
in the day they were kept fully accoutred with arms in their hands.
Strong patrols constantly moved along the river, keeping up the
communication between the posts, and owing to the smallness of the force
assembled to watch such an extensive line, the same men were frequently
placed on guard for several nights in succession. Their clothing was
insufficient to protect them from the cold, and numbers were actually
confined to barracks from want of shoes. Disease carried off Lieut. Col.
Butler, Captain John Lottridge, Lieut. John May, Sergeant Jacob Balmer,
and twenty privates of the Lincoln Regiments during the month of
December, and there was much sickness among those who survived. Many,
distressed beyond all endurance by the miserable condition of their
families in their absence, returned home without leave.

Late in November the Governor General issued a proclamation directing
all citizens of the United States residing in Upper Canada who still
declined to take an oath of allegiance, to leave the Province before the
first day of January, 1813. Among those who were banished at this time,
was Michael Smith, already mentioned, who published a few months later a
small volume, entitled "A Geographical view of the Province of Upper
Canada." This book met with such a favorable recepti