er father, "and
Major Stoddard of the First Regiment, a soldier of the Revolution, was
so badly wounded by a shell that he died ten days later of lockjaw.

"The British were building a third battery on the other side of the
river; they finished it that night, and all the next day kept up a
brisk cannonade.

"Within the next twenty-four hours a fourth battery was opened. The
British had been making mounds in the thickets near the angles of the
fort, and that night a detachment of artillerists and engineers
crossed the river and mounted guns and mortars upon them. One was a
mortar battery, the other a three-gun gun battery. The Americans had
expected something of the kind, and had raised traverses in time to
foil their enemy; and when toward noon of the 3d the three cannon and
the howitzers suddenly began firing upon the rear angles of the fort,
they did scarcely any damage.

"A few shots by our men from their eighteen-pounders soon silenced the
gun battery, and the British hastily moved the cannon and placed them
near the ravine. During the 3d they hurled shot and shell steadily
upon the fort, but with so little effect that the besiegers grew
discouraged, and on the 4th the fire was not nearly so constant.

"Then Proctor sent Major Chambers with a demand for the surrender of
the fort, and Harrison promptly responded, 'Tell General Proctor that
if he shall take the fort it will be under circumstances that will do
him more honor than a thousand surrenders.'

"The cannonade from the fort was feeble because of the scarcity of
ammunition, but the guns were admirably managed, and did good
execution at every discharge. Captain Wood wrote, 'With plenty of it
we should have blown John Bull from the Miami.'

"The Americans showed their ability to keep their foe at bay by
frequently mounting the ramparts, swinging their hats, and shouting
defiance at their besiegers. They were well supplied with food and
water and could afford to spend time and weary their assailants by
merely defensive warfare.

"Still Harrison was anxious, thinking how strong were the foe, and how
Hull and Winchester had failed and suffered; he was looking hourly and
anxiously up the Maumee for the hoped for re-enforcements. Since
Navarre and Oliver went out he had heard nothing from those whom he
had expected to come to his aid. But near midnight on the 4th, Captain
Oliver, Major Trimble, and 15 men who had come down the river in a
boat, made their way