measured tramp of armed men forming in companies to attack the
enemy. Sixty men of the 49th Grenadiers, under the command of
Captain Dennis, and Captain Halt's company of militia advance with
a light 3-pounder gun against the first division of the enemy,
under Colonel Van Renssclaer, who has formed his men on the beach
and is waiting the arrival of the next boats. These are seen
rapidly approaching, but to get them safely across the river is a
work of great difficulty and danger. The current is swift, and the
swirling eddies are strong and constantly changing their position.
On leaving the American shore, they were obliged to pull up stream
as far as possible. But when caught by the resistless sweep of the
current, they were borne rapidly down, their track being an acute
diagonal across the stream. To reach the only available landing-
place, they must again row up stream in the slack water on the
Canadian side, their whole course being thus like the outline of
the letter 'N'. [Footnote: The present writer has a vivid
remembrance of a night-passage of the river under circumstances of
some peril. It was in a small flat-bottomed scow. Shortly after
leaving the American shore, a tremendous storm of thunder,
lightning, rain, and hail burst over the river. The waves, crested
with snowy foam which gleamed ghastly in the dim light of our
lantern, threatened to engulf our frail bark. The boatman strained
every nerve and muscle, but was borne a mile down the river before
he made the land. That distance he had to retrace along the
rugged, boulder-strewn, and log-encumbered shore. We reached the
landing in a still more demoralized condition than the American
invaders, but met a warmly hospitable, not hostile, reception.]

Of the thirteen boats that left the American shore, three were
driven back by the British fire--the little three-pounder and the