Preface to Third Edition 17 



and took it by fair assault; and afterward lost 180 

 men who tried to cut out some American transports, 

 and were killed or captured to a man. All through 

 the spring and early summer the army on the Niag 

 ara frontier was. carefully drilled by Brown, and 

 more especially by Scott, and the results of this 

 drilling were seen in the immensely improved effec 

 tiveness of the soldiers in the campaign that opened 

 in July. Fort Erie was captured with little resist 

 ance, and on the 4th of July, at the river Chippeway, 

 Brown, with two brigades of regulars, each about 

 1,200 strong, under Scott and Ripley, and a brigade 

 of 800 militia and Indians under Porter, making a 

 total of about 3,200 men, won a stand-up fight 

 against the British General Riall, who had nearly 

 2,500 men, 1,800 of them regulars. Porter's bri 

 gade opened by driving in the Canadian militia and 

 the Indians; but was itself checked by the British 

 light-troops. Ripley 's brigade took very little part 

 in the battle, three of the regiments not being en 

 gaged at all, and the fourth so slightly as to lose but 

 five men. The entire brunt of the action was borne 

 by Scott's brigade, which was fiercely attacked by 

 the bulk of the British regulars under Riall. The 

 latter advanced with great bravery, but were ter 

 ribly cut up by the fire of Scott's regulars ; and when 

 they had come nearly up to him, Scott charged with 

 the bayonet and drove them clean off the field. The 

 American loss was 322, including 23 Indians; the 

 British loss was 515, excluding that of the Indians. 

 The number of Americans actually engaged did not 



