Transactions of The Royal Society of Canada 



SECTION II 

 Series III JUNE 1914 Vol. VIII 



From Isle aux Noix to Chateauguay. 



A Study of Military Operations on the frontier of Lower Canada in 

 1812 and 1813. 



Part II, 1813. 



By Colonel E. A. Cruikshank. 



(Read May 26, 1914.) 



After a war one ought to write not only the history of what has 

 happened, but the history of what was intended; the narrative would 

 then be instructive. — Von der Goltz. 



During the autumn of 1812 and the early part of the following 

 winter, arrangements were successfully completed by Sir George Pré- 

 vost for obtaining accurate and constant intelligence respecting the 

 strength and prospective movements of the American forces in the 

 immediate vicinity of the Champlain frontier and for facilitating the 

 importation of provisions, timber and other supplies from the United 

 States in that quarter, which had become a matter of urgent importance. 

 The two principal agents employed in establishing a reliable channel 

 of communication were Leon Lalanne of Montreal and Edward Doyle 

 of Prescott, who entered into a secret understanding for this purpose 

 with several persons residing within the enemy's lines. The most 

 zealous and trustworthy of these agents were Joel Ackley, a land 

 surveyor, living at Plattsburg, having removed to that place from 

 Lower Canada a year or two prior to the declaration of war, and 

 William Price, whose father was a surgeon in the British army. The 

 method proposed by them and ultimately sanctioned for the trans- 

 mission of information was that they should be permitted to engage 

 in smuggling on an extensive scale as they would thus obtain a pretext' 

 for frequently crossing the frontier in either direction without exciting 

 much suspicion. 



"They seem to have great hope they would be indulged by the 

 authority of the States," Lalanne reported, "if they were enabled from 

 time to time to get out of this province a small quantity of such goods 



