Stranica 61 [61]
OCR
HISTORY OF LEEDS AND GRENVILLE. 47 | the British armed steamers Cobourg and Victoria ar- | Ogdensburg, ‘in restraining any attempt at rein‘rived at Prescott with a reinforcement of troops, and | forcement. The dead and wounded lay on the at about seven o'clock, they, together with the £x- | field until the morning of the 14th (Wednesday), periment, opened a discharge of cannon, throwing | when the British sent a flag of truce for permission e; shot at the Windmill. The insurgents replied from | to bury the dead, and both parties were for a short “ _ their battery on shore. On Tuesday a detachment | time engaged in collecting and carrying off from of forty men of the 83rd regiment, under Lieutenant | the field the slain. On the forenoon of Thursday, Johnston, and thirty mariners under Lieutenant | Colonel North sent for several of the prominent Parker, were landed, and joined by detachments of | citizens of Ogdensburg, to ask their advice on the militia. At a quarter before seven the British ad- | propriety of applying to Colonel Young, the British vanced in two columns. The left, under Colonel D. | commander, to ask of him the privilege of staying Fraser, consisting of the mariners, Captain G. Mc- | the further effusion of blood, by being allowed to Donnell’s company of Highlanders, Captains Jones’ | remove the invaders, and becoming responsible and Fraser's companies of the znd regiment of | that they should attempt no further disturbance Grenville militia, and 100 men of Colonel Martle’s | on the frontier. men of Stormont militia. The right column was led The measure met with the approbation of those by Colonel Gowan, of the Queen’s Borderers, and | consulted, and a messenger was despatched to one hundred of Captain Martle’s regiment. Soon | consult with the British commander, who declined after a line of fire blazed along the summit of the | the proposition. hill, in the rear of the mill, for about eighty or one The steamers Cobourg and Victoria, having been hundred rods, and the report of small arms made an | dispatched to Kingston for guns of greater calibre, incessant roar. The invaders were mostly protected | and the machinery of the Axferiment being under by stone walls, and comparatively secure, while the repair, the citizens of Ogdensburg determined, if British were fully exposed in the open field, and | possible, to remove their countrymen from their d suffered greatly from the sharp shooters posted in | perilous position. This delicate and responsible b the upper portion of the mill. The British did not | service was entrusted to Preston King, Esq., at that . at that time have at Prescott guns of sufficient | time postmaster of the village. A sufficient number hs’ weight to make a sensible impression upon the | of volunteers were raised for the occasion, and the massive walls of the tower, their shot rebounding | steamer repaired to the vicinity of the windmill. from the surface without producing effect. Among the volunteers, was a man connected with After twenty or thirty minutes, the party gave the invaders, who was said to be an officer of their way, and retired over the hill. At the time when | Organization; he was, i these reasons, recomthe action commenced, the invading force was mended to open communication with them, and supposed to have numbered about one hundred | 5 sent on shore in a small row-poat, to announce the errand of the steamer, which, as the shore was and eighty, but during the engagement, a party consisting of about fifty, were separated from their shoal, and there was no wharf, was compelled to comrades, scattered, pursued and captured in detail. my saa several rods from the bank, to avoid The invaders lost in the engagement five killed and grounding. thirteen wounded. Finding that the stronghold | By subsequent information, it was ascertained resisted any means of attack which they possessed, | that some person who went ashore in the first the British resolved to await the arrival of heavier | boat, reported that a reinforcement of men and cannon, taking precautions, meanwhile, to prevent | SUpplies might soon be expected by the invaders, any reinforcement being sent over from the Amer- | and they were advised to maintain their position. ican shore. From nine till three there was but After waiting a considerable time for the return little excitement. An irregular firing was kept up | of the row-boat, Mr. King took a new boat, repaired on the windmill, and a body of regulars fired an | to the windmill, made known the nature of his occasional volley at a stone house in which a errand, stated the folly of looking for reinforceportion of the insurgents were established. At ments, and earnestly requested them to avail three o'clock in the afternoon, a barn was burned | themselves of the only chance of escape that ed the invaders, as sheltering the British. During | would be offered. The invaders refused to avail _this time, the force occupied the windmill and | themselves of the offer, and Mr. King was reluca : paveral of the houses adjoining, and the brow of tantly compelled to return, without having accomoo hill. On the evening of the 13th, a requisition plished his purpose, any further than to bring off Kent to Sacketts Harbour by the Americans | six or seven men from the mill. He had scarcely fo more troops, to assist those already at | returned to port, when the British armed steamer ibe ee fae + És ;
