[CRUIKSHANK] A STUDY OF DISAFFECTION IN UPPER CANADA 49 
McClure wrote to the Secretary of War, “and from his vigilance and 
attention to our cause, I think he deserves your notice.’’! 
Three days later he supplied Willcocks with a letter to the Secretary 
in which he said:— 
“Tt is impossible for me to describe the melancholy situation in 
which our friends in Canada are placed. They are arrested by the 
British soldiery, and no sooner arrested than inhumanly butchered. 
Many instances of this kind have lately occurred which evinces the 
necessity of establishing some measure or other for their immediate 
relief. Lieut.-Colonel Willcox will probably hand you this letter, and 
as he is acquainted with its subject and indeed my arrangements 
generally, I beg you will make inquiries of him as you may deem ex- 
pedient. Permit me to introduce to you Lieut.-Colonel Willcox. He 
has been very serviceable and, I believe, is firmly attached to our cause 
in which he has embarked and is worthy of notice.’’? 
Willcocks naturally lost no time in journeying to Washington to 
improve the opportunity of ingratiating himself with the American 
government. 
Forty men of his corps under Mallory were shortly after ordered 
to Lewiston and Schlosser to protect the frontier at those points. They 
were attacked on December 21 by a superior British force commanded 
by General Riall and lost eight killed and several taken prisoners. 
Ninety-seven of all ranks were subsequently assembled for the defence 
of Buffalo, whence they were driven out on December 30, and retired 
to Williamsville. Lieut. Joshua B. Totman, the adjutant of the corps 
and a refugee from Upper Canada but a native of Massachusetts, was 
killed in a skirmish near Buffalo on January 1, 1814. 
During the following spring a considerable number of recruits 
were enrolled and a reorganization effected. Abraham Markle was 
commissioned as captain of a company and sent to Erie accompanied 
by Oliver Grace, another refugee, to conduct an expedition against 
Port Dover where he had the satisfaction of witnessing the.destruction 
by fire of the mills and dwellings of several militia officers and other 
active loyalists. Robert Nichol who had moved that Markle should 
be expelled from the legislature suffered a loss of property on this occa- 
sion valued at £5000. 
In his official report of this raid, Captain Sinclair of the United 
States navy remarked :— 
“T am sorry to learn that several private houses were also de- 
stroyed, which was contrary to my wish and to the idea I have of our 

‘ McClure to the Secretary of War, December 12, 1813. 
? McClure to the Secretary of War and to Governor Tompkins of New York, 
December 15, 1813. 
