36 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



and Macdonell concurred in the opinion that this would be an oppor- 

 tune time for an attack on Ogdensburg. They had carefully recon- 

 noitered its defences and ascertained that its garrison had been dimin- 

 ished by desertions and other casualties to less than five hundred, 

 of whom more than half were regular troops. The troops assembled 

 at Frescott then consisted of a non-commissioned officer's party of 

 the Royal Artillery, one company of the Glengarry Light Infantry, 

 fifty men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, and the flank com- 

 panies of the 1st Glengarry, Stormont, Dundas, and 1st and 2nd 

 regiments of Grenville militia. With this force and the two strong 

 companies of the 8th, success seemed more than probable. Yet the 

 Governor General hesitated to sanction the enterprise as he was 

 extremely unwilling to intensify the spirit of hostility by assuming 

 the offensive. During the night, however, two soldiers deserted 

 and as his personal escort was small, he gave reluctant permission to 

 Macdonell, to whom Pearson had transferred the command, to make 

 a demonstration with discretion to convert it into a real attack if 

 he thought proper. Prévost accompanied by Pearson set off for King- 

 ston before daybreak and all the troops at Prescott were at once placed 

 under arms. Having detailed a small force to occupy the batteries, 

 Macdonell formed the remainder into two columns on the ice-bound 

 river in front. The right column, commanded by Captain Jenkins 

 of the Glengarry Light Infantry, was composed of his own flank com- 

 pany of that corps, supported by seventy militia, numbering in all 

 one hundred and twenty of all ranks, with a field piece, was directed 

 to attack the batteries on the right bank of the Oswegatchie river 

 near the lighthouse and the stone barracks on site of the old French 

 fort, which were occupied by Forsyth's riflemen. This movement 

 threatened the enemy's line of retreat to Black River and Sackett's 

 Harbour. With the left column, composed of one hundred and twenty 

 men of the 8th, forty of the Royal Newfoundland, and two hundred 

 militia supported by two field pieces mounted on sleds, Macdonell 

 proposed to deliver the main attack on two redan batteries and a 

 timber breastwork directly in front of the town on the left bank of 

 the Oswegatchie and an unfinished quadrangular redoubt, called Fort 

 Oswegatchie, where the main body of the American troops was usually 

 stationed. He had lately obtained a good view of these defenses 

 and now intended to turn them by their right flank and thus escape 

 the fire of most of their guns. Before the order for the advance was 

 given the fervour of the Scottish militia of Glengarry and Stormont 

 was raised to a high pitch by a stirring address from their patriotic 

 parish priest, the Reverend Alexander Macdonnell. As the river 

 at this point is more than a mile in width and the garrison of Prescott 



