neral Scott is
entitled to the highest praise our country can bestow; to him more
than to any other man am I indebted for the victory of July 5th. His
brigade covered itself with glory. Every officer and every man of the
Ninth, Twenty-second, Eleventh, and Twenty-fifth Regiments did his
duty with a zeal and energy worthy of the American character." Two
days after the battle of Chippewa General Scott forced a passage
across the Chippewa, driving the enemy.

[Illustration: NOTE.--The accompanying map indicates the
movements of the troops in the battle of Chippewa. A H show the
position of Majors McNeil and Leavenworth when they made the final
charge. _a_, _a_, _a_, the point to which General Porter drove the
British and Indians. _b_, Street's barn.]

A fort called Messasauga was built after the campaign of 1813 by the
British as a defense to Fort George, and being re-enforced by General
Riall, he moved to Burlington Heights on Lake Ontario. It was General
Brown's intention to capture these forts before beginning further or
more extended operations. With this purpose, he ordered some heavy
guns from Sackett's Harbor; but Commodore Chauncey being sick, and the
enemy having a superior fleet on the lake, the attack on these forts
was abandoned. General Brown then made a feint by moving up the
Niagara and recrossing the Chippewa, with a view to draw the enemy
down and to enable him to obtain supplies from Fort Schlosser. Failing
in this, it was his purpose to send General Scott by the road from
Queenstown and thus force Riall to battle.

On the afternoon of the 25th General Brown received a note from a
militia officer who occupied some posts on the American side of the
Niagara, that a thousand British troops had crossed from Queenstown to
Lewiston, a few miles below the Chippewa. It was thought that the
object of this movement was to capture the American magazines at
Schlosser and cut off supplies from Buffalo. General Brown having
determined to threaten the forts at the mouth of the Niagara, General
Scott's command was put in motion for this purpose. It consisted of
four battalions under Colonel Hugh Brady, and the commands of Majors
Jesup, Leavenworth, and McNeil, Captain Towson's artillery, and
Captain Harris's detachment of cavalry, the whole force aggregating
thirteen hundred men. After a march of two miles some mounted British
officers were discovered on a reconnoitering expedition, their forces
being a short dis