170 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



mined to i-etuni to the camp and the retreat was accomplished in such 

 haste that fi\e wounded men were left behind in the woods where the)'' 

 were fountl and made prisoners by the Indians. Their total loss was 

 unofficial!}' reported to amount to two killed, thirteen wounded and 

 five missing, ^ome forty deaths from disease contracted on the ex- 

 pedition were subsequently added to the account. Several deserters 

 came into the British advanced posts within a few days and gave the 

 usual exaggerated accounts of the affair in which they represented 

 that more than fifty men had been killed or wounded.* 



At best Dearborn could scarcely have expected to accomplish, 

 more than the surprise of an unimportant outpost but the actual result 

 was most disastrous to the morale of his troops already much weakened 

 by sickness and unpleasant weather. Three thousand militia had been 

 induced to advance as far as Rouse's Point but two-thirds of them had 

 positively refused to enter Canada. One company had actually 

 accompanied Pike's force to the boundary and then declined to go 

 further, t 



The movement from Plattsburg had been made in sufficient strength 

 to indicate that a serious invasion was contemplated, and on November 

 22, Prévost published a general order warning the whole of the militia 

 of the province to be in readiness for active service. Colonel John 

 Murray was directed to advance on the Odelltown road with a company 

 of the 8th and 300 men of Cuthbert's battalion of militia. Lieut. 

 Colonel Deschambault crossed the river from Lachine to Caughnawaga 

 with the battalions from Pointe Claire, Riviere du Chene, Vaudreuil 

 and Longue Point and marched to Ij'Acadie. The sight of several 

 hundreds of prisoners belonging to the regular army of the United States, 

 taken at Detroit at Queenston, passing down the St. Lawrence on their 

 way to Quebec had done much to reanimate the confidence of the 

 people and the sedentary militia assembled with unmistakeable 

 alacrity and good will. The opportune arrival of a transport from 

 England with a large supply of muskets and accoutrements furnished 

 the means of ai-ming and equipping many of them who were quartered 

 in the villages near Montreal. Prévost was no doubt fully justified 

 in declaring that "the whole population manifests the most cheering 

 spirit of loyalty and the most animated determination to oppose with 

 all their might the entrance of the American army into Canada. " J 



*Prevost to Bathurst, Nov. 21 ; Prévost to the Duke of York, Nov. 30; Christie, 

 History of Canada, Vol. II, pp. .52-.'^; Wliitinp;, Life of Pike; Canadian Courant, 1812; 

 Quebec Mercury, 1812. 



tlngcrsoll, Histroy or the War, I, p. 121. 



JPrevost to de Salaberry, Nov. 21; Prévost to Bathurst, Nov. 21; Prévost to 

 Sheaffe, Nov. 23; Prévost to the Duke of York, Nov. 30. 



