70 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



way or were led astray by their guides in the darkness. Snelling 

 arrived at Odelltown about daybreak. An outlying piquet was easily 

 dispersed and four men who sought refuge in a house were surrounded 

 and taken. The main body of the outpost consisting of a detachment 

 of the Frontier Light Infantry and a few Indians commanded by Cap- 

 tain St. Valier Mailloux, held its ground staunchly behind the abatis 

 until reinforced in the first instance by Major Perrault with the flank 

 companies of the Fourth Embodied Militia and a few hours later by 

 Major de Salaberry with two companies of Voltigeurs from L'Acadie. 1 

 During the day Hampton's whole force came up and encamped 

 near Odelltown, a primitive hamlet composed of a few small log houses, 

 surrounded on all sides by woods. A dense forest or rather a swamp 

 of hemlock trees, penetrated only by a narrow winding road, which 

 was certain to be obstructed in many places by felled timber, lay be- 

 tween it and the nearest Canadian settlements. The infantry carried 

 five day's provisions and Hampton had undoubtedly intended to press 

 on rapidly as far as L'Acadie. A large body of axemen and labourers 

 accompanied the troops for the purpose of clearing the road and re- 

 building bridges for the passage of carriages. In the course of that 

 afternoon his outposts were several times alarmed or briskly attacked 

 by small parties who killed one man and wounded others. They quick- 

 ly retired or were driven off and the thickets affording concealment 

 were searched but they continued to hover about and disturb the camp 

 during the night. When day dawned it was discovered that all the 

 wells and springs had become completely exhausted and no water 

 could be had for either cooking or drinking. It became necessary to 

 send all the animals back to the village of Champlain, four miles in 

 rear, to be watered. The troops were already suffering from thirst 

 and there seemed to be no means of supplying them on the march 

 as it was reported that the streams in front were entirely dry. A 

 council of war composed of all the commanding officers decided without 

 a dissenting voice that any further advance was clearly impracticable 

 and advised that the road leading down the Chateauguay should be 

 selected instead. The distance to be traversed was seventy miles 

 longer but water was reported plentiful, the road was as yet unob- 

 structed and unguarded, and the two divisions of the army would 

 be brought much closer together. The problem of supply, already 

 difficult, would, indeed, be considerably aggravated, but it would 

 no longer be necessary to mask Isle aux Noix, or provide against a 

 possible flank attack. The new objective was Caughnawaga, nearly 

 opposite Lachine, forty miles from Chateauguay Four Corners, in 

 the State of New York, which was designated as an advanced base. 

 1 Coffin. The War and its moral, p. 243. 



