CHAP. XXVIII.] AMERIC/.N^ CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. 



437 



by hostile Indians, and lawless adventurers, had all a 

 marked effect in forming the character c the people. 



The rifle in the frontier districts was as necessary an 

 implement as the axe. Everyone almost understood its 

 use, and great numbers were distinguished for the 

 unerring skill with which they could strike their aim. 

 The English regular armies in the Revolutionary war 

 felt the terrible efficiency of the American irregular troops 

 in the use of these weapons. In the war of 1812 the 

 Canadian volunteers, men of the same type, brought up 

 under the same influences, surrounded by the same 

 dangers and trials, but hardier and more enduring from 

 their more healthy and rugged climate, enabled the 

 English regular troops with their assistance to meet 

 boldly, and often to defeat, the American armies. 



One of the most remarkable instances of the capacity 

 of the Canadian militia in that kind of warfare was the 

 battle of Chateauguay in 1813. In this action some 

 four hundred Canadians, with their axes and their rifles, 

 posted themselves across the path of an American army 

 of some 7,000 men, under the command of General 

 Hampton. Skilful axemen, deadly shots with their 

 rifles, these Canavlians used both weapons, and slashing 

 down long lines of trees in the form of abattis, they 

 impeded the march of the American column, while with 

 their rifles they poured in well-directed volleys upon 

 the front and flanks of their enemy. The Americans, 

 entangled in the forest, unable to penetrate the masses 

 of fallen timber which surrounded them, and suffering 

 from the dropping fire of small arms, withdrew in haste, 

 followed and harassed by the victorious Canadians. 

 Every invasion of Canada was defeated by the bravery 

 and determination of the Canadian people, and when 

 the war ended the United States did not hold one inch 

 of Canada, while British troops held a large portion of 

 the State of Michigan. 



The traditions of this war and the frontier fights with 

 the Indians had given to the people of the United 

 States a high opinion of firearms. They had already 

 adopted the idea of mounted riflemen in 1812, having 



