30 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



in Vermont for the purpose of making a raid upon Cornwall and per- 

 manently interrupting the communications between the provinces. 



In consequence of this intelligence, de Rottenburg considered 

 it prudent to delay a train of forty sleighs loaded with heavy guns 

 and valuable stores until the militia of the adjacent counties could 

 be assembled in force to act as an escort. The wisdom of his decision 

 was almost immediately justified by a successful attack upon Brock- 

 ville on the night of February 6-7. 



Several deserters from the regulars and militia had made their 

 escape to the American side, and on the night of February 4, a small 

 armed party from Prescott crossed the river and apprehended some 

 of these men who were committed for safe keeping to the district jail 

 at Brockville. During the absence of General Brown the command 

 of the garrison at Ogdensburg devolved upon Captain Forsyth, who 

 had already planned an attack upon Prescott which he had been un- 

 able to execute. The capture of these deserters furnished him with a 

 sufficient excuse for a raid upon Brockville, which he had ascertained 

 to be occupied by a small force of very inefficient militia. During the 

 night of February 6-7, he rapidly conveyed two hundred men from 

 Ogdensburg to Morristown in sleighs and crossed on the ice, taking 

 the precaution to leave a party with a fieldpiece near the middle of 

 the river in a position to cover his retreat in the event of being re- 

 pulsed. Owing to the inexcusable negligence of the officer in command, 

 he succeeded in surrounding the village before daylight without 

 being observed. The only sign of resistance was offered by a sentry 

 who fired a single shot and wounded one man. In retaliation the in- 

 vaders fired volleys into every house where a light was seen without 

 injuring a person. Captain Stuart who commanded the flank com- 

 pany was surprised in his sleep with several of his men. Major 

 Carley, Captain Jones, Ensign Morris with about twenty privates 

 of the embodied militia were taken prisoners, besides a number of 

 unarmed inhabitants who were doubtless also enrolled and liable to 

 military service, swelling the number to fifty-two. All persons con- 

 fined in the jail with the exception of a man named Irving, charged 

 with murder, but including no less than sixteen deserters, were liberated 

 and taken off. The building occupied as a barracks was burned. 

 Twenty rifles, thirty-one serviceable, and forty-seven unservice- 

 able muskets with a quantity of cartridges were carried away. No 

 other public stores could be found. 



As the place was considered of little consequence from a military 

 point of view, there being no regular officer to. take command and 

 the distance from Prescott too great to admit of effective support, 

 Pearson decided not to re-occupy it except by the resident seden- 



