y were fast becoming demoralized and were making
preparations for flight. He complimented our men highly on their courage
and steadiness, and said that he had mistaken them for regular British
troops, and could not believe that they were merely Canadian volunteers,
without any previous experience in warfare.

An observer who was present at the battle states that "there were no
faint hearts in the whole Canadian line while under fire, but with the
steadfastness of old soldiers trained in battle, the gallant youths
stood up to perform honorably and creditably the stern task which they
saw was before them. The officers, by word and act, gave their men
whatever slight encouragement was needed, and each vied with the other
in enthusiasm and firmness of purpose."

On the retreat from Ridgeway the dead and severely wounded were of
necessity left on the field, but during the afternoon and evening were
collected by the people residing in the vicinity and conveyed to near-by
houses, where the wounded received every attention that it was possible
to bestow until the arrival of medical aid. As soon as it became known
in Toronto that a battle had been fought, the following surgeons left
for the front by the 1 p.m. train: Doctors Tempest, Rowell, Stevenson,
Howson, Agnew, Pollock, De Grassi and Dack. They arrived at Port
Colborne at 9 a.m. and Dr. Tempest immediately conferred with Dr.
Thorburn, Surgeon of the Queen's Own, who had retired to Port Colborne
with his regiment. It was just at this moment that Dr. Tempest received
the sad intelligence that his own son had been killed in the engagement,
which was a crushing blow to the patriotic father. He, however, remained
at his post of duty, carefully supervising details in the movement
of several surgeons to the battlefield, fourteen miles distant, and
directed affairs at Port Colborne to receive the wounded on their
arrival at that point. No vehicles were available at Port Colborne, but
Doctors Stevenson and Howson, noticing a farmer's waggon passing by,
impressed it into the service and started together for the battle
ground, where they arrived about 2 o'clock Sunday morning. They found
our wounded in the houses in the neighborhood, and with the assistance
of Dr. Clark, of St. Catharines, Doctors Brewster and Duncan, of Port
Colborne, and Dr. Allen, quickly dressed the wounds of all of the
wounded. The dead were sent on to Port Colborne in waggons, and a train
was ordered to procee