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 Wadsworth, who, however, did not
assume to control the movements. Two light batteries from the Canada
shore played on the boats attempting to cross, and there was no
artillery with which the Americans could resist.

Colonel Scott had volunteered his services for the expedition, but
they were declined, for the reason that arrangements had been made for
detachments under Colonel John R. Fenwick and Lieutenant-Colonel James
Robert Mullaney to sustain the assaulting columns. Permission was,
however, given to Colonel Scott to march his regiment to Lewiston and