nothing but loss and defeat. He soon after resigned his commission, and was succeeded by General Izard.

At the instance of the American generals, Brown and Scott, a new army of invasion was collected in the vicinity of Niagara. Between three and four thousand men were transported across the river at Buffalo, on the night of July 2d, and after accomplishing the seizure of Fort Erie, pushed on towards Chippewa, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Falls, where a British army, of equal force, commanded by General Riall, lay encamped. A severe engagement took place on the 5th, in which the British were defeated, with a loss of five hundred men. Riall retreated to Burlington heights. A few weeks later he was joined by large additional forces from York, under General Drummond.

The American army, marching towards Queenstown, (July 25th,) encountered the enemy at Bridgewater, hard by the Falls of Niagara. Although the British had taken a position in which their artillery, posted upon a hill, could command the field, and although the day was nearly spent, the Americans commenced an attack without hesitation.

A regiment under Major Jessup, making a detour, came upon the rear of the enemy, while General Scott, with the advanced division of the army, attacked in front. The main force coming up, the battle became general, and a bloody and desperate conflict was waged through half the night, by the light of the moon. The British battery, which had at first proved terribly destructive, was gallantly stormed by Colonel Miller, with a battalion from the artillery corps. Possession of the hill was maintained against repeated assaults until the fighting ceased.

The Americans kept temporary possession of the field, and therefore claimed the victory. The loss on either side was heavy, amounting to seven or eight hundred. The British general Riall was wounded, and taken prisoner by Jessup's detachment. Generals Brown and Scott were both so severely wounded as to incapacitate them from present service, and General Ripley assumed command. Little advantage was gained in the engagement, further than as it inspired general confidence in the capacity of the American officers, and the bravery of the troops. The battle has commonly received its designation from the neighbouring locality of "Lundy's Lane." It was impossible to remove the cannon from the British battery, and they were therefore recovered upon the departure of the Americans.

The latter retreated to Fort Erie, where they strer gthened their position in anticipation of siege by a superior force. The post was beset accordingly on the 4th of August, by General Drummond, with over four thousand men. On the 15th, an attempt to carry by storm was signally repulsed. In September, General Brown rëassumed command of the forces at Fort Erie, and, as the siege had continued for more than a month, and supplies were with difficulty to be procured, he attempted a sortie. So skillfully and boldly was the movement conducted, that the British guns were spiked, their magazines blown up, and some four or five hundred prisoners taken. The whole loss of the besiegers fell little short of a thousand men; that of the sallying party was about five hundred. Drummond

shortly after drew off his forces.

Relieved from the burden of maintaining war upon the European continent, and with abundance of veteran troops, and a powerful navy, at liberty for transatlantic service, Great Britain commenced more directly offensive operations in America. A fleet commanded by Admiral Cochrane entered the Chesapeake, and, passing up Patuxent river, reached Benedict on the 19th of August (1814). Between four and five thousand troops, mostly trained in the school of continental service, were landed at this point, and, under command of General Ross, took up their line of march towards Washington. As the army approached Marlborough, the American fleet of gun-boats, &c., lying at that place, was destroyed, to prevent its seizure by the enemy. General Winder, of Baltimore, who held command in that quarter, with a thousand regulars, and authority to call out the militia within a specified district, made what preparations were practicable to resist the British advance. The whole force that he was enabled to collect and arm, fell short of four thousand men, and these were in the most unserviceable and undisciplined condition-what stand could they be expected to make against a superior force of the "veterans of the Peninsula ?"

The British march was unopposed, until the army, on the 24th, reached Bladensburgh, six miles from the capitol, on the East bank of the Potomac. Here the American forces were posted on the right bank, the bridge over the stream being commanded by several pieces of artillery, in charge of Commodore Barney, who was present with his corps of five hundred marines, before attached to the flotilla destroyed at Marlborough. This body of men fought bravely and obstinately, holding the enemy in check after the militia had