e detached to watch that
port while the remainder assembled at Niagara to cover the landing.

Vincent was accordingly thrown entirely upon the defensive. Had he only
had Dearborn's army to contend with, superior as it was, he might have
entertained a reasonable hope of being able to maintain his position but
the presence of the fleet would enable his antagonist to select the
point of attack at will and even to land a force in his rear.

Nor were the fortifications along the river in a satisfactory state. The
chief engineer had examined them during the winter and reported that
Fort George was still in a "ruinous and unfinished condition," although
the parapet facing the river had been somewhat strengthened. He had
recommended that it should be completed as a field work and that a
splinter-proof barracks capable of sheltering 400 men should be built
within, and the upper story of the blockhouses taken down to place them
on a level with the _terre pleine_. But these suggested improvements
could not be carried out for lack of materials and workmen. At this time
the fort mounted five guns; one twelve, two twenty four pounders, and
two mortars. On the left fronting Fort Niagara were no less than five
detached batteries armed with eleven guns, five of which were mortars.
All of these works were open in the rear, and could be enfiladed and
some of them taken in reverse by an enemy approaching on the lake. Six
other batteries had been constructed along the river between Fort George
and Queenston, two at Chippawa and three opposite Black Rock about two
miles below Fort Erie. All of these posts required men to occupy them
and there were besides thirty odd miles of frontier to be constantly
patrolled and guarded. About one-third of his regular troops and
two-thirds of the militia were unavoidably stationed along the upper
part of this line extending from Queenston to Point Abino, under the
command of Lieut.-Colonel Cecil Bishop. Vincent retained for the defence
of the eleven miles of front between Queenston and the mouth of the Four
Mile Creek, thirty gunners of the Royal Artillery with five field
pieces, under Major Holcroft, 1050 regular infantry, 350 militia, and
about fifty Indians. This force was subdivided into three diminutive
brigades of nearly equal numbers, the right under Lieut.-Colonel Harvey
being detailed to guard the river, and the left under Lieut.-Colonel
Myers, the lake front of this position, while the third unde