command near Plattsburg and
Greenbush, and was the commanding officer of all the forces on the
northern frontier. A portion of his army was camped at Lewistown under
the command of General Stephen Van Rensselaer, of New York. General
Alexander Smyth was at Buffalo with some fifteen hundred regular
troops. Besides these, there were small detachments at Ogdensburg,
Sackett's Harbor, and Black Rock.

General Van Rensselaer conceived the plan of making a bold and sudden
move into Canada, with a view of capturing Jamestown, and there
establishing winter quarters. The affair of the capture of the two
English brigs with fifty men had roused great enthusiasm, and the
country was anxious for some success of arms to alleviate the
depression occasioned by Hull's surrender. General Van Rensselaer
confided the immediate command of the expedition to his relative,
Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, an officer of coolness and courage,
who, with three hundred militia and three hundred regulars, under
Colonel Chrystie, on October 13th began crossing the river.

The troops were on the river bank ready to embark an hour before
daylight, but from some mismanagement there was not a sufficient
number of boats to transport the whole, and they were compelled to
cross in detachments. Colonel Chrystie's boat was swept down the river
by the current, and he was wounded. On a second attempt he succeeded
in landing. With about a hundred men Colonel Van Rensselaer led them
up the bank, and halted to await the arrival of the remainder. It was
now daylight, and the little command was in full view of the enemy,
who opened a deadly fire. Every commissioned officer was either killed
or wounded. Finding that the river bank afforded but little
protection, Colonel Van Rensselaer determined to storm the Queenstown
heights. He had now received four wounds, and was compelled to
relinquish the command to Captains Peter Ogilvie, Jr., and John Ellis
Wool. In a very short time the fort was taken and the heights occupied
by the Americans. The enemy took refuge in a stone house, from which
they opened a destructive fire and made two unsuccessful attempts to
recapture the lost ground. General Brock rallied his men and led them
on, but while moving at the head of the Forty-ninth Grenadiers he fell
mortally wounded. General Van Rensselaer recrossed the river and
assumed command, but hastening back to urge forward re-enforcements,
the command fell to General Decius Wadswor