he fleet amounted to
fifty-one guns, many of them being heavy long-range pieces mounted upon
pivots which could fire in any direction, and the weather was so calm
that they were afterwards able to increase the number by shifting guns
from the other side. The whole of the artillery in Fort Niagara and the
batteries on that bank of the river had also opened fire. Two sides of
the British position were thus simultaneously assailed by the fire of
more than seventy guns and mortars which swept the roads and fields in
every direction with scarcely a shot in reply. A picquet of the
Glengarry Light Infantry which had been stationed with about 50 Indians
of the Six Nations under Captain John Norton among the thickets near the
mouth of the Two Mile Creek hastily retired to avoid utter destruction
by the storm of missiles hurled against their covert. Two Indians were
killed and several wounded before they could escape.

A heavy column of troops was then discovered marching from the American
camp in rear of Fort Niagara near Youngstown. This consisted principally
of dismounted dragoons and heavy artillery commanded by Colonel Burn who
had been instructed to cross the river there and intercept the retreat
of the British garrison towards Queenston. Their appearance had the
effect of detaining a large part of Harvey's brigade on that flank to
watch their movements.

It was about nine o'clock when the landing began at Crookston in the
following order. The advanced guard in twenty boats was composed of
four hundred picked light infantry selected from several regiments,
Forsyth's battalion of riflemen, and the flank companies of the 15th
United States Infantry, amounting in the whole to about 800 rank and
file, with a detachment of artillery in charge of a three-pounder field
piece, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Winfield Scott, an able and
energetic young officer who had been taken prisoner at Queenston the
year before, and was destined to be the future conqueror of Mexico. This
force was strictly enjoined not to advance more than three hundred paces
from the water's edge before it was supported by General Boyd's brigade
of infantry, with Eustis's battalion of artillery and McClure's rifle
volunteers on its flanks. This was succeeded by Winder's brigade with
Towson's artillery, and Chandler's brigade with Macomb's artillery,
which were instructed to form upon Boyd's right and left respectively.
Each of these brigades must certainl