gether.

It was July 31 before Chauncey set sail from Sackett's Harbor. He now
had under his command a squadron of eight vessels, two of which were
frigates, two ship sloops-of-war, and eight brig-sloops of no mean
power. Yeo had, to oppose this force, a fleet of no less respectable
proportions. Yet, for the remainder of the year, these two squadrons
cruised about the lake, or blockaded each other in turn, without once
coming to battle. As transports, the vessels were of some service to
their respective governments; but, so far as any actual naval
operations were concerned, they might as well never have been built.
The war closed, leaving the two cautious commanders still waiting for
a satisfactory occasion for giving battle.

Such was the course of the naval war upon the Great Lakes; but the
thunder of hostile cannon and the cheers of sailors were heard upon
yet another sheet of fresh water, before the quarrel between England
and the United States was settled. In the north-east corner of New
York State, and slightly overlapping the Canada line, lies Lake
Champlain,--a picturesque sheet of water, narrow, and dotted with
wooded islands. From the northern end of the lake flows the Richelieu
River, which follows a straight course through Canada to the St.
Lawrence, into which it empties. The long, navigable water-way thus
open from Canada to the very heart of New York was to the British a
most tempting path for an invading expedition. By the shore of the
lake a road wound along; thus smoothing the way for a land force,
whose advance might be protected by the fire of the naval force that
should proceed up the lake. Naturally, so admirable an international
highway early attracted the attention of the military authorities of
both belligerents; and, while the British pressed forward their
preparations for an invading expedition, the Americans hastened to
make such arrangements as should give them control of the lake. Her
European wars, however, made so great a demand for soldiers upon Great
Britain, that not until 1814 could she send to America a sufficient
force to undertake the invasion of the United States from the north.
In the spring of that year, a force of from ten thousand to fifteen
thousand troops, including several thousand veterans who had served
under Wellington, were massed at Montreal; and in May a move was made
by the British to get control of the lake, before sending their
invading forces into New York. The