THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 43 



Such a ludicrous travesty of events has scarcely ever been 

 placed on record. It is not to be wondered at, that with official 

 reports of this nature to draw from, historical writers of the United 

 States should fall into the most egregious errors in their accounts of 

 the War of 1812. The loss on the British side is given as 250. 

 The casualty return shows that of killed, the total was 23, namely, 

 I officer, 3 sergeants and 19 rank and file ; wounded 136, namely, 

 12 officers, 9 sergeants, 2 drummers and 113 rank and file ; and of 

 missing, 3 sergeants and 52 rank and file, many of whom subse- 

 quently found their way back to headquarters. As to the loss of the 

 United States troops given by Dearborn as 30, the number of 

 prisoners alone, besides the two Brigadiers, was 100 ; the number of 

 those killed does not appear. It is unnecessary to criticise the other 

 statements in General Dearborn's letter, which are sufficiently 

 refuted by the clearly ascertained tacts. 



The flight of Proctor from Moravian Village left the Niagara 

 frontier open to the enemy, and led to the following proposal, 

 addressed to Noah Freer, Military Secretary to Sir George Prevost 

 (Canadian Archives, Series C, Vol. 680, p. 322.) 



Sir : I beg leave to acquaint you for the information of His 

 Excellency the Governor-General, that having taken a step of an 

 extraordinary nature, I think it my duty to make my designs and 

 motives known to his Excellency. The country between Stony 

 Creek and Fort George being abandoned to the enemy, I have 

 presumed (induced by personal ambition and a desire to be of 

 service to my country), to select a township in the neighborhood of 

 Fort George and erect it into an independent district pro tempore, 

 and declare it in a state of neutrality ; in this manner to prevent the 

 marauding of the enemy, and to organize it so that when our army 

 advances in the spring I shall be able to join it with two or three 

 hundred men. When that happens the nominal and temporary 

 independence will of course cease. Should it happen (which Heaven 

 forbid), that that part of the country is to be totally abandoned to 

 the enemy, I hope to continue its independence, and by forming an 

 English party make the possession of the country never cease to be 

 a thorn to the Government of the United States ; by this means I 

 am confident I can be of more service to myself and country than if 



