ets are still
raining from an invisible foe. Looking back he sees mounted men in
green coats passing and repassing across his trail, filing and
refiling. It is a trick of Fitzgibbons to give an impression he has
ten times forty men, but the Americans do not know. There is no
retreat, and Indians are to the fore. In the midst of confusion
Fitzgibbons comes forward with a white handkerchief on his sword point
and begs Boerstler to prevent bloodshed by instant surrender.
Boerstler demands to see the number of his enemies. Fitzgibbons says
he will repeat the request to his commanding officer. Luck is with
Fitzgibbons, for just as he goes back a small party of reenforcements
arrives, and one of its captains acts the part of commanding officer,
telling Boerstler's messenger haughtily that the demand to see the
enemy is an insult, and answer must be given in five minutes {363} or
the Canadians will not be responsible for the Indians. The fight has
lasted three hours. Boerstler surrenders with his entire force. Such
was the battle of Beaver Dams.

Ever since Brock had captured Detroit in 1812, General Procter, with
twenty-five hundred Canadians, had been holding the western part of
Ontario; and the defeat of the English at Fort George had placed him in
a desperate position. His men had been without pay for months; their
clothes were in tatters, and now, with the Americans in possession of
Niagara region, there was danger of Procter's food supply being cut
off. Procter himself had not been idle these six months. In fact, he
had been too active for the good of his supplies. Space forbids a
detailed account of the raids directed by him and carried out with the
aid of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee chief. January of 1813 saw a
detachment of Procter's men up Raisin River, west of Detroit, where
they defeated General Winchester and captured nearly five hundred
prisoners, to be set free on parole. Harrison, the American general,
is on his way to Lake Erie to rescue Detroit. Procter hastens in May
to meet him with one thousand Canadians and fifteen hundred Indians.
The clash takes place at a barricade known as Fort Meigs on Maumee
River, south of Lake Erie, when again, by the aid of Tecumseh, Procter
captures four hundred and fifty prisoners. It was on this occasion
that the Indians broke from control and tomahawked forty defenseless
American prisoners. August sees Procter raiding Sandusky; but the
Americans refuse to c