thinking the day was lost, set fire to their stores and
to Chauncey's new ships. Then Baynes and Prevost suddenly
decided to retreat. Baynes explained to Prevost, and
Prevost explained in a covering dispatch to the British
government, that the fleet could not co-operate, that
the fort could not be taken, and that the landing party
was not strong enough. But, if this was true, why did
they make an attack at all; and, if it was not true, why
did they draw back when success seemed to be assured?

Meanwhile Chauncey, after helping to take Fort George,
had started back for Sackett's Harbour; and Dearborn,
left without the fleet, had moved on slowly and
disjointedly, in rear of Vincent, with whom he did not
regain touch for a week. On June 5 the Americans camped
at Stoney Creek, five miles from the site of Hamilton.
The steep zigzagging bank of the creek, which formed
their front, was about twenty feet high. Their right
rested on a mile-wide swamp, which ran down to Lake
Ontario. Their left touched the Heights, which ran from
Burlington to Queenston. They were also in superior
numbers, and ought to have been quite secure. But they
thought so much more of pursuit than of defence that they
were completely taken by surprise when '704 firelocks'
under Colonel Harvey suddenly attacked them just after
midnight. Harvey, chief staff officer to Vincent, was a
first-rate leader for such daring work as this, and his
men were all well disciplined. But the whole enterprise
might have failed, for all that. Some of the men opened
fire too soon, and the nearest Americans began to stand